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CLARK'S

FOREIGN

THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY.

FOURTH SEEIES.
VOL. XLIV.

©tiler's Cijeologn of tl)e ©IB Ceiitammt.

VOL. I.

EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET.
18 74.

PRINTED BY MURRAY AND SIBB,
FOR
T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH.
LONDON, . ... HAMILTON, ADAMS, AMD CO.
DUBLIN,  JOHN ROBERTSON AND CO.
NEW YORK, . . . SCRIBNER, WELFORD, AND ARMSTRONG.

THEOLOGY

THE OLD TESTAMENT.

BY
Dr. GUST. Fr. OEHLER,
in
LATE PEOFESSOE OEDINARIUS OF THEOLOGY IN TUBINGEN.

VOLUME I.

TRANSLATED BT
ELLEN D. SMITH.

EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET.
1874.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

EsoS

WENTY/-EIGHT years ago, my father expressed in his
Prolegomena zur Theologie- des Alien Testaments his
intention to publish a handbook of Old Testament
theology. Although thenceforth the appearance of this work was
eagerly, looked for on many sides, he was not permitted to carry
out his plan, ' and it would seem that in the closing years of his
life he had almost given it up. The numerous labours of his
vocation, and in particular his laborious double duty after he was
called to Tubingen in the year 1852, did not leave him the necessary
leisure ; and at the same time his conscientiousness did not permit him
to let the work out of his hands without the last thorough revision to
which he had intended to subject it. He published only detached
though considerable portions of his Old Testament Theology, mainly in
Herzog's JRealencyklopadie. — Thus the present work is certainly marked
by the defects of an opus posthumum, and with respect to these must
claim the indulgence of critics ; but on the other hand, it is safe to
assume that a course of lectures which was so often delivered and
revised from the summer of 1839 to the winter of 1870-71, gained
during that long time a thoroughness and depth which make it
worthy of publication. — The points of view which guided the author
in the discussion of Old Testament theology now offered to the reader,
as well as the value of this science in general, are set forth in the
address prefixed to the work. In reference to the life and labours of
my father, I point the reader to the Worte der Erinnerung an G.
Fr. Oehler, Tubingen 1872, and the numerous obituary notices (e.g.
in Luthardt's Kirchenzeitung of March 8 ; in the Neue evangelische
Kirclienzeitung of June 8, 1872, etc.) ; and in particular, to the most
complete of these, by Diakonus J. Knapp, in the Wurttemberg Kirchen-

VI EDITOR'S PREFACE.
und Schulblatt, from September 1872 onwards (not yet completed).
It only remains for me to speak shortly of my own work as editor.
My father's manuscript, which was never fully written out, was
on this account rather difficult to read ; still, by the help of a number
of students' note-books, it was possible to put into shape the text of
the paragraphs, and to make this part very exact. The contents of a
large part of the notes on the paragraphs were only indicated in the
manuscript by a few words, and the author when delivering them was
accustomed to allow himself considerable freedom. As, moreover, the
delivery of this matter was quicker, the note-books on which I was
thrown did not always give me these notes in the best form. As far
as was possible, they were adopted in their latest form, but not seldom
older note-books had to be consulted. Another part of the notes
attached to the introduction to the work is taken from the above-
named Prolegomena, and in the rest of the book many notes are
derived from the numerous well-known articles of the author in Her
zog's Realencyklopadie ; some from Schmid's pddagogische Encyklo-
padie, mainly from the article, " Padagogik des Alten Testaments."
The heads of these articles were in many instances embodied in the
manuscript, and then the explanatory details which were given in the
lectures were put in brackets. Often, too, if there was an article on
the subject, the author expressed himself more briefly, and referred to
the details to be found there. Thus I was compelled to make exten
sive use of the articles for the notes, and was enabled to remove in
this way the inequality of treatment which the form of the work
would otherwise have displayed, owing to the circumstance that the
author in many parts of the lectures was compelled by lack of time to
abstain from fully discussing the contents of the paragraphs. Where
literal quotations have been made from the Prolegomena or articles,
this is expressly stated; it was only in rare cases that it seemed
desirable to me to insert single sentences from those articles, even in
the paragraphs themselves, and this I have generally done within
brackets. This volume contains about two-thirds of the whole work. I have
also already begun to work on the second volume (Prophecy and
Chochma). A complete register of names, matters treated, and quota
tions, will be given when the work is completed.

EDITOR'S PREFACE. vii
My father wished above all things that the result of his lectures
might be to produce in his hearers an impression of the holy greatness
of the Old Testament, which, as he assured them, had at one time
affected himself in an overpowering way ; and an impression of the
grand connection of both Testaments, which appeared to him to be
their strongest apology against objections drawn from many undeniable
stumblingblocks, due to the servile form of revelation. He was there
fore wont to address the request to his hearers, that whatever side, pro '
or contra, some might have already taken, all would approach the Old
Testament with that desire for truth which is concerned only to under
stand the subject, and so gladly accepts every extension of knowledge.
May this work, under the blessing of God, be thus received, and pro
duce such results among many who, after the author's death, still
trust themselves to his well-tried guidance in their study of the Old
Testament.
Hermann Oehler,
Librarian to the Evangelical Seminary.
Tubingen, July 1873.

The first volume of the German original (Tubingen, 1873), to
which the Editor s Preface properly applies, contains the Jntroduction
and the whole discussion of Mosaism. The volume now offered to the
public does not go quite so far, about one-fourth of the theology of
Mosaism being reserved for the second part of the translation. I have
only to add that a few notes, consisting almost exclusively of references
to literature subsequent in date to the late Professor Oehler's last
revision of his lectures, have been added by my brother, Prof. W. R.
Smith of Aberdeen, who kindly read my MS. before it went to press.
These notes are generally distinguished by being enclosed in a brace
{thus} .
E. D. Smith.

CONTENTS

Opening Words at the last Delivery of the Lectures, October 21,
1870  .1
INTRODUCTION.
I. Notion of Old Testament Theology, ..... 7
II. Fuller Statement of the Scientific Standpoint of Old Testament
Theology, . . . . . ... . . . .20
III. The History of the Cultivation of Old Testament Theology in the
Christian Church, ....... 33
IV. Method of Biblical Theology. Division of Old Testament Theology, . 65

PART I.— MOSAISM.
First Section: The History of Revelation from the Creation to the
Settlement of the Covenant People in the Holy Land.
I. The Olden Times, . . . . . .72
II. The Second Age of the "World,  81
III. The Time of the Three Patriarchs, ..... 87
IV. Fourth Age, the Time of Moses and Joshua, .... 98
1. The Deliverance of Israel from Egyptian Bondage, . . 98
2. The Conclusion of the Covenant of the Law, and the March
through the Wilderness, ..... 106
3. The Settlement of Israel in the Holy Land, . . . 119

Second Section: The Doctrines and Ordinances of Mosaism.
First Division : The Doctrine of God, and His Relation to the World,
First Chapter : The Mosaic Idea of God, ....
I. The most General Designations of the Divine Being, El, Eloah
Elohim, El-eljon, .....
II. El-shaddai, ......

126126
128 132

X CONTENTS. PA9E
III. The Name Jehovah, ...... 134
IV. God as the Holy One, . . . . . .154
Second Chapter : The Relation of God to the World, . . . 168
First Doctrine : On the Creation and Maintenance of the World —
I. On the Creation, ....... 169
II. On the Maintenance of the World, .... 173
Second Doctrine : The Divine Aim of the World. Divine Providence, 175
Third Doctrine : Of the Revelation, ..... 180
I. On the Revelation-side of the Divine Essence, . . . 181
II. The Forms of Revelation,' ..... 187
Second Division : The Doctrine of Man, ..... 210
First Chapter : The Nature of Man in its Main Unchangeable Features —
I. The Idea of Man, ....... 210
II. Sexual Relations of Man, ...... 213
III. The Elements of Human Nature, ..... 216
Second Chapter : The Doctrine of Man in reference to the Contradictory
Elements which entered by Sin into its Development —
I. The Primitive State of Man, ..... 227
II. Of Sin—
1. The Origin of Sin, ...... 229
2. The State of Sin, ...... 235
III. On Death and the State after Death, .... 242

Third Division : The Covenant of God with Israel and the Theocracy —
First Chapter : The Nature of the Covenant,
First Doctrine : The Divine Election, .
Second Doctrine : Man's Obligation, .
Third Doctrine : Divine Retribution, .
Second Chapter : The Theocracy,
First Doctrine : The Theocratic Organism, and the Ordinances of Law
and Justice connected therewith —
I. The Theocratic Organization of the People,
1. The Levites, ......
2. The Priesthood, ......
3. The High Priest, ......
II. The Theocratic Authority —
1. The Legislative Authority, ....
2. The Judicial Power, .
3. The Executive Power, .....

254256
262284289

291
295
303 312
318
321 328

Second Doctrine : The Mosaic Cultus, .
I. The Place of Worship, .
II. The Actions of the Mosaic Cultus,
1. The Material of the Offerings,
2. The Ritual of Sacrifice,
3. On the Various Kinds of Offerings, with reference to their
. Purpose, .......

367 374388 397 409 423

OPENING WORDS
AT THE LAST DELIVERY OF THE LECTURES,
OCTOBER 21, 1870.

ENTLEMEN, in resuming our academic activity after long
interruption, we all doubtless feel emotions of mingled
joy and sorrow. We thank God for the deeds of deliver
ance by which He hath glorified Himself in our nation,
and for the gracious protection which makes it possible for us to
pursue here the works of peace while the conflict still surges without ;
we trust that He will bring forth judgment to victory, and from the
pangs of these days bring forth for our nation a felicity worthy of
the sacrifices offered. But, on the other side, we may not doubt
that the duration of the serious crisis of history in which we stand is
still incalculable ; that perhaps it bears in its lap many new sufferings,
and will yet add many to the lamented sacrifices which already have
fallen on the altar of our Fatherland. In such critical moments, in
which man would gladly have leave to ask a question at fate, and in
lieu of this is ready to cradle himself in sanguine dreams, the Christian
is referred to the word of God, as the light by which we ever learn
to read God's ways, as the source from which in all circumstances
we are to draw doctrine and counsel, admonition and comfort. Iu
this blessing, by the divine word, the Old Testament has its proper
share, as a prophetic word unveiling the divine purposes and the goal
of all God's ways, and displaying in every crisis of the fortunes of
nations the coming of the God who judgeth and delivereth the world,
perfecting His own kingdom ; — as an historic word holding up to
us a mirror in which we see the severity and goodness of God in the
guiding of men : His severity against those who, revolting from Him,
harden themselves in pride and lies ; His goodness to those who, in
repentance and humility, give Him honour and walk in His paths ; —
VOL. I. A

* OPENING WORDS.
finally, as a word of prayer which teaches us in every case to seek
God's face, and to seek help from Him. In the course of recent
years it has often been said, especially in ecclesiastical assemblies,
that a special need of the age is a better recognition of the importance
of the Old Testament for religious knowledge and life — that the
treasures of this book, so little known, especially to so-called persons
of culture, be more fully laid open to the body of the Church. To
this end the first requisite is, that theologians shall form a more
thorough acquaintance with the Old Testament, especially that they
become more familiar with it as a whole. It is true of every intel
lectual product, that it cannot be rightly esteemed by those who
concern themselves only with its outer features, or with individual
fragments of it ; and of the Bible this is peculiarly true. What is
here unfolded is one great economy of salvation — unum continuum
systema, as Bengel puts it — an organism of divine deeds and testi
monies, which, beginning in Genesis with the creation, advances
progressively to its completion in the person and work of Christ, and
shall find its close in the new heaven and earth predicted in the
Apocalypse ; and only in connection with this whole can details be
rightly estimated. He who cannot apprehend the Old Testament in
its historical context may produce in detail much that is valuable and
worth knowing, but he lacks the right key to its meaning, and there
fore true joy in the study of it ; then he easily stops short at the
puzzles which lie everywhere on the surface of the Old Testament,
and from them he condemns the whole. Now, to introduce to organic
historical knowledge of the Old Testament, is the very business of the
discipline to which these lectures are to be devoted. We must not
think it below its dignity to serve the practical need just indicated ;
nay, in general, he is no true theologian who leaves an open breach
between science and life. But we vindicate for Old Testament
theology no small importance also for science, especially for systematic
theology. It possesses this importance as a part of biblical theology
since, in virtue of the Protestant principle of the authority of
Scripture, every question for which the Protestant theologian seeks an
answer leads back directly or indirectly to Scripture, and the historical
investigation of the divine revelation it contains.
In its development as an independent science, biblical theology is

OPENING WORDS. 3
one of the most recent branches of theology. We shall see by and
by that the name and conception of biblical theology as a special
historical science arose only in the course of last century, and the
division of Old and New Testament theology was made still later.
Older theologians did not separate dogmatic and biblical theology,
and were still further from the idea of dividing1 Old and New Tes
tament theology, ignoring the gradual progress of revelation, the
constant connection of the revealing word with the advance of the
revealing history, and treating the Old and New Testament as a sort
of promptuarium which could be used alike in all its parts — proof-
texts for every Christian doctrine being brought together from the
various parts of the Bible. We are now far beyond such onesidedness,
although some recent Old Testament theologians (Hengstenberg)
still show a tendency to confuse the two Testaments after the fashion
of the older orthodoxy. On the other hand, we are confronted in
recent times by a view of the Old Testament which entirely cuts
loose the Old Testament religion from specific connection with the
New Testament, placing it on one line with the other pre-Christian
religions, which also in their own way were a preparation for
Christianity, — a view of the Old Testament which scarcely allows its
theology to claim a higher significance for the theologic knowledge
of the Christian, than could, for example, be ascribed to Homeric
theology. This antipathy to the Old Testament in the spirit of
Marcion and Schleiermacher is still prevalent among theologians,
though far less so than it was twenty or thirty years ago. From this
point of view the name Old Testament religion is as far as pos
sible avoided, and Judaism and Judish religion are spoken of by
preference, although every one may learn from history that the Old
Testament and Judaism are distinct — that Judaism begins when the
Old Testament is about to end, viz. with Ezra and the wisdom of the
scribes founded by him. This view consistently leads to the ignoring
of the specific character as revelation of the New Testament also — of
Christianity. On this point we must not allow ourselves to be de
ceived. The relation of the New Testament to the Old is such, that
both stand or fall together. The New Testament has no other view
than that Old Testament law and prophecy form its positive pre
supposition. According to the New Testament, God built up Christi-

4 OPENING WORDS.
anity out of other elements than those with which modern destructive
criticism is accustomed to calculate. We cannot have the redeeming
God of the new covenant, without the Creator and covenant God
preached in the old ; we cannot place the Redeemer out of connec
tion with Old Testament predictions which He appeared to fulfil.
No New Testament idea, indeed, is already fully set forth in the Old
Testament, but the genesis of all the ideas of New Testament sal
vation lie in the Old Testament; and Schleiermacher himself was
compelled to give a striking testimony to the organic connection of
the two Testaments, which in principle he denies, when he reintro
duced into dogmatic the treatment of the work of Christ on the type
of the threefold office. Against the assertion that, to gain the true
sense of Scripture, we must put aside everything that is Israelitish, or,
as people say, everything that is Jewish, or, in Bunsen's words, must
translate from Semitic into Japhetic, we must teach, with Hofmann
(in his Schriftbeweis), that the history contained in Scripture being
the history of Israel, is what makes it Holy Scripture ; for Israel is
the people whose vocation lies in the history of salvation. 'H acoT'npia
eK tQiv 'IovSaioov eariv, says our Lord to the woman of Samaria. Not
to conceal God from the world, but to reveal Him to the world as
the Holy One whom heathenism knows not, is the work for which
Israel was chosen. In Israel were implanted such living forces, that
only in this people could be born the God-man, the Redeemer of the
world. The whole national figure of Israel; the election and the
rejection ; the curse that lies upon the nation, which Hitzig has com
pared to the oyster, which produces the pearl by its own destruction,
— all these are revelations of God to the world.
Therefore Old Testament theology still retains its importance for
Christian dogma, though not in the same way in which the older
Protestant theology utilized the Old Testament in dogmatic. The
old atomistic system of Scripture proof must be superseded by one
that shows that the truths of salvation formulated in doo-mas arise
as the result of the whole historical process through which Revelation
has passed. The possibility of such a Scripture proof is demonstrated
just by biblical theology, which presents the Bible revelation in its
totality and in its gradual historical course, and so displays the genesis
of the scriptural notions from which dogmatic propositions are to be

OPENING WORDS. 5
coined, and the context in which they appear in the divine economy
of salvation. When dogmatic makes use of the structure of biblical
theology, this not only serves continually to renew and deepen the
former in regard to existing dogmas ; but also those biblical doctrines
which, in the dogmatic labours of former centuries, fell too much
into ,the shade, will receive more justice. For Scripture is, as
Oetinger has called it, the store-book of the world, the store-book of
all times : it offers to the Church in every age just such instruction
as it specially requires. Thus, to give a single example, recent times
have directed to biblical eschatology an interest in which the older
Protestant theology had no share.
In these remarks I think I have brought forward the principal
points of view by which the importance of Old Testament theology is
to be estimated, and which are my guides in dealing with the Old Tes
tament. Of the greatness and difficulty of the task, no one can have a
livelier conviction than I myself. There are good reasons why there
are innumerable monographs on isolated portions of biblical theology,
but only few discussions of the whole subject, and also few separate
books on Old Testament theology, and that some of these are posthu
mous. If these lectures awake in one or other of you an inclination
to labour at the solution of this problem independently, not through
the glasses of a theological system or a critical school, but to devote
to the Old Testament a thorough study, with a receptive sense of its
holy grandeur, this will be the best result which I could wish for
these lectures. So, then, let us begin the journey that lies before us
with trust in God, that we may pass through it without disturbance
to its goal, and, arrived thither, may thank Him for His help in the
way.

INTRODUCTION.

§1.
Summary.
The Introduction has —
1. To determine the notion of the theology of the Old Testa
ment, and its relation to cognate biblical disciplines.
2. To lay down the conception of Old Testament religion
presupposed in our statement, and the scientific standpoint
of Old Testament theology which flows from it.
Thereupon follows —
3. A general glance at the history of the discipline, and
A. The discussion of the method of Old Testament theology,
and its divisions.

I.— NOTION OF OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY.
§ 2.
DEFINITION OP OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY. ITS EXTENSION OVEE
THE DELINEATION OF THE WHOLE DISPENSATION OF OLD
TESTAMENT REVELATION.
The theology of the Old Testament, the first main division of
biblical theology, is the historico-genetic delineation of the religion
contained in the canonical writings of the Old Testament.
As a historical science, biblical theology is distinguished from the
systematic statement of biblical doctrine by this, that while the
latter seeks out the unity of divine saving truth, which flows from
the whole course of revelation, and the sum of its manifestation, the
former, on the other hand, has the task of delineating the biblical
7

8 INTRODUCTION. [§ 2.
religion according to its progressive development, and the multi
plicity of the forms in which it appears. The theology of the
Old Testament has therefore to follow the gradual progress by
which Old 'Testament revelation advances to the completion of
salvation in Christ ; and it has to bring into view from all sides the
forms in which, under the old covenant, the communion between
God and man found its expression.
Now, since Old Testament revelation (cf. § 6) did not present
itself simply as a divine doctrinal witness in words, but was realized
in a connected line of divine deeds and institutions, and on the basis
of these produced a peculiarly shaped religious life ; and further, as
all knowledge due to revelation is not given independently of the
facts of the history of salvation and tlie divinely instituted rules of
life, but developes itself in continual connection with them ; so the
theology of the Old Testament cannot limit itself to the directly
didactic matter in the Old Testament. It has to take up the essential
factors of the history of the divine kingdom in the old covenant : its
task is, in short, the delineation of the whole dispensation of Old
Testament revelation (1).
Even on this view of the subject the name Old Testament theology
is still too wide (2), but at least is more suitable than other names
which have been chosen for the delineation of the Old Testament
revelation, particularly than the term Old Testament Dogmatic (3).
(1) The conception of the Old Testament here drawn out attaches
to the conception of biblical theology represented mainly by Ch. Fr.
Schmid (in a treatise On the Interests and Position of the Biblical
Theology of the New Testament in our Time, Tub. Zeitschr. f . Theol.
1838, H. 4, S. 125 ff. ; and in his well-known Handbook of New
Testament Theology). This conception has, however, met with much
opposition. The common conception is, that this discipline should
limit itself to the delineation of the specially didactic contents of both
Testaments. But here arises in the Old Testament the great diffi
culty, that this contains' proportionally very little directly didactic
matter. A separate representation of Old Testament religious teaching
is, to be sure, possible ; but if it is not to prove quite incomplete, it
will not be able to dispense with a reference at all points to the
history of the covenant people and the institutions of the theocracy.
This has also been urged, for instance, by Steudel (Vorlesungen iiber

§ 2.] DEFINITION OF OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY. 9
die Theol. des A. T., 1840), although he limits our discipline to
the delineation of the contents of Old Testament doctrine. He
says with truth (p. 18 f .) : " We should form for ourselves an in
complete representation of the substance of Old Testament religion,
and of biblical religion in general, if we looked upon it only as
doctrine. It is the most definite facts which are held before us as
the source of the growth of religious conceptions and religious life.
It was not on the basis of consciousness that objective views in
religion established themselves. Consciousness did not create the
thing held forth as fact ; but, on the contrary, the consciousness was
produced by the facts, and often the facts lie before us, from which
only a later time deduced the religious element which they represented
and offered as their lesson." Now, though this is recognised by
biblical theologians, it is generally thought to be quite enough to give
merely introductory surveys of the history of revelation, as has been
done by Steudel, and also by Schultz, in the most recent Old Testa
ment theology. But on this plan it is not possible to bring properly
to light the internal connection of the doctrine of Revelation with
the revealing history — the continual progress of the former in con
nection with the latter. We include, therefore, in Old Testament
theology the chief features of the history of the divine kingdom in
the old covenant.
(2) Properly speaking, all biblical sciences, i.e. biblical introduc
tion, hermeneutics, etc., should fall under the name biblical theology,
as has been done by> Rosenkranz in his Encyclopcedia of Theological
Science, and by others.
(3) The designation dogmatic (which, for example, de Wette and
Rosenkranz substitute), or even history of Old Testament dogma, is
not suitable even for the statement of the doctrinal contents of the
Old Testament, even if we extend the notion of dogmatic (s. Rothe,
sur Dogmatik, p. 11) to the practical sphere, in the sense Soy/tara,
Eph. ii. 15, Col. ii. 14. Dogmas, the positive doctrines of faith and
life which demand acknowledgment and obedience, are found in the
Old Testament, for the most part only in the Pentateuch (as, for
example, that doubly sacred word : " Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our
God, Jehovah is one" — Deut. vi. 4). The further development of
religious knowledge, which is found in the prophetic books, the
Psalms, and the monuments of the Chochma, are inaccurately charac
terized by this expression. Even the prophetic announcement of the
Messiah and His kingdom, of the resurrection of the dead, and the
like, first became dogmatic propositions — essential parts of religious
confession — on the standpoint of the New Testament fulfilment. Still

10 INTRODUCTION. [§ 3.
less does that wrestling of the Israelitish spirit with the problems of
life, brought out in many psalms and in the book of Job, lead to a
dogmatical conclusion. The theology of the Old Testament has to
handle as, such what is only in germ, and of the nature of presenti
ment ; it has to show how the Old Testament, in the narrowness and
unfinished state which attaches in many parts to its doctrinal contents,
points from itself to something higher. The Old Testament is
naturally considered in another way by the later Judaism. Judaism
finds in the Old Testament the completion of dogma, as Mohammed
anism does in the Koran. Compare the enumeration of the thirteen
fundamental articles of Judaism in the treatise of Moses Maimonides
On Tract. Sanhedrin, c. 10 (s. Pococke, porta Mosis, p. 164 ff.).
They are as. follows : 1. That God is the Creator ; 2. The unity of
God; 3. His incorporeal nature; 4. His eternity; 5. That this God
is to be honoured ; 6. That there is a prophecy ; 7. That Moses was
a prophet, and stood above all prophets ; 8. That the law was revealed
from heaven ; 9. That this law shall not be abrogated — lex perpetua ;
10. That God, as omniscient, knows all the dealings of men; 11.
That God is a recompenser; 12. That the Messiah will come; 13.
The resurrection of the dead. However, it is characteristic of the
Jewish theology, that it always takes pains to prove from the Penta
teuch even the doctrines primarily drawn from prophecy, such as that
of the Messiah and the resurrection, in order to lend to them a
dogmatical character.

§3.
RELATION OF OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY TO OTHER OLD
TESTAMENT DISCIPLINES.
Among the other sciences that bear on the Old Testament, what is
called Introduction to the Old Testament, or the history of the Old
Testament writings, falls quite outside of the sphere of Old Testa
ment theology; both stand, moreover, in a relation of mutual de
pendence on each other, in virtue of which the criticism of the Old
Testament writings has also to have respect to the results of Old
Testament theology (1). On the other hand, Old Testament theo
logy has a part of its contents in common with biblical archasology,
which has to represent the whole natural and social condition of the
old Israelitish people ; for, in fact, all the important relations of life
in Israel are religiously laid down, and belong essentially to the mani-

§ 3.] RELATION OF 0. T. THEOLOGY TO OTHER 0. T. DISCIPLINES. 11
festation of Old Testament religion, because the stamp of the com
munion of the people with the holy covenant God was to be imprinted
upon them. Still, even such common constituents in the above-
mentioned disciplines will demand in each case a treatment differing
not merely in fulness, but in some measure also in point of form.
With regard to the ordinances of worship, the theology of the Old
Testament has to represent these in as far as the communion of God
and the people is carried out in them, and they consequently present
a system of religious symbols. On the contrary, the discussion of
all purely technical questions is to be left over to archseology (2).
Finally, as to the relation of Old Testament theology to the
Israelitish history, the former has certainly to represent the chief
features in the facts of revelation which form the historical ground
of Old Testament religion, and in the divine leading of Israel, but
always does so only as this history lived in the spirit of the organs
of revelation, and was the object of religious faith. It is bound to
reproduce faithfully, and without admixture of modern ways of
looking at history, the very view which the Holy Scriptures give of
the design of salvation which is carried out in Israel. The history of
Israel has, on the other hand, not only to represent the historical
development of the people of Israel on all sides, even in purely
worldly respects, — and in connection with this, particularly to enter
upon chronological and such like questions, — but to sift and vindicate,
by historico-critical research, the real historical facts which the theo
logy of the Old Testament reproduces as the contents of faith (3).
(1) The prevalent manner of treatment places biblical theology
in an entirely onesided dependent relationship to the criticism of the
biblical writings. This process is represented, for instance, by Rothe
(zur Dogmatik, p. 304 ff.) as follows : " In order to expiscate the actual
facts of revelation from the Bible, the theologian ought beforehand, by
critical methods, to make the Bible 'available' for his purpose. For
only when he has completed his investigation of the circumstances of
the origin of the biblical books, and has tested on this basis their
value as historical sources, can he win from them, by correct interpre
tation, the true reflection* of revelation." There would be nothing to
object against this proposition of Rothe, were it not that the position
towards the contents of the records of revelation, which the critic
takes up beforehand, in many respects determines for him the way in

12 INTRODUCTION C§ 3.
which he conceives of the origin of the biblical books. A critic
shapes for himself a notion of revelation which is far from harmonious
with the biblical one, and devises a scheme of elements, operative
factors in the sacred history, which the history itself does not acknow
ledge ; and from these presuppositions he must naturally judge of the
time when these books originated, and of other things, quite differently
from what they themselves lay down. For the rest, Rothe does not
himself claim for the critic an absolute want of preconceived notions,
when he says, p. 309 : " The one important point here is, that to us
revelation is in itself, apart from the Bible, actually a reality. He
before whose eyes — just by means of the Bible as its record — revela
tion stands, in all its living majesty, as a powerful historical fact, — he
can exercise with good heart the most stringent and impartial criticism
on the Holy Scriptures — he takes up towards it a free position of
faith, without any anxiety whatever."
On the point " that revelation in itself, without respect to the Bible,
is something real," there can be no strife. The Bible is not revela
tion itself ; it is the record of revelation. Just as little do we oppose
the opinion, that he to whom the reality of the revelation is made
certain by means of the Bible as its record, takes up towards the
Scriptures " a free position of faith." But now, if it is only through
the Bible that the theologian receives that impression of the majesty
of revelation as a powerful historical fact, it should rather be ex
pected of him that, before he criticises the Bible, he should first
surrender himself to its contents without preconceived opinion, — let
the revelation in its majesty work directly upon him, in order, as
Rothe (p. 329) strikingly expresses it, " to make it a constant factor
in the experiences of his personal life." He who has won in this way
the conviction that Holy Scripture is the truly witnessing record of
the divine council of salvation, and of the historical facts which serve
to its realization, and that in it is contained the word of God which
is the means to the appropriation of salvation by each, — him the
joyful self-consciousness of his faith in revelation will certainly
forbid to surrender himself to traditions of man about Holy Scrip
ture, whether these originate with the Jewish scribes, or with the
old Church, or with our older Protestant theology, — whatever the
respect which he may feel due to them; but he will certainly as
little surrender himself to a criticism in which we can everywhere
mark that it has not for its basis that self-consciousness praised
by Rothe. He knows then that a criticism, with whose results
that meaning of the Bible is incompatible, cannot have found the
truth, because it fails to explain that which the Bible in the Church

§ 3.] RELATION OF 0. T. THEOLOGY TO OTHER 0. T. DISCIPLINES. 13
has proved itself to be, and so leaves unsolved the very problem of
historical criticism — the explanation of the actual state of the facts.
He simply makes the counter-calculation, What sort of a Bible would
come out of the factors with which that criticism reckons ? Would it
be a Bible which presents to us this grand course of development of
revelation, this grand system of facts and witnesses in word? which,
moreover, finds its proof in men's hearts, as the Bible has done for
two thousand years? Especially in regard to the Old Testament
the believer in revelation recognises it as his task, before all things,
to follow the gradual path of development presented therein, and at
the same time to value the continuous connection in which the Old
Testament Scriptures stand to the ever-advancing revelation. In
this respect it is inexplicable, when, for example, Schultz in his new
Theology of the Old Testament, which contains so much excellent
matter, on the one hand sets Moses so high as an organ of revelation,
but will permit this man, who lived in a time in which, as shown by
the Egyptian antiquities, writing was quite a familiar art, to write
absolutely only a few very scanty scraps. We must not forget that
the Old Testament Scriptures stand in such essential connection with
the history of the revelation, that the fulfiller of Old Testament
revelation could at the same time represent himself as fulfiller of Old
Testament Scripture.
As regards the mutual relations between Introduction and Old
Testament theology, it will often be shown in the course of the
delineation of Old Testament theology how the Old Testament, in
reference to its didactic contents, does by no means represent a uniform
whole, how it contains a regular progression even of religious know
ledge. Moreover, it is not merely the general view which we have of
the gradual scale of Old Testament revelation which influences the
determination of the position which is due to any one book in the whole
of the Old Testament, but the criticism of the Old Testament has
also to fix its eyes on the path of development of the separate doctrines
of the Old Testament. Now, for example, how can a genetic de
lineation of the Old Testament doctrine of the nature and attributes
of God, of angelology, and of the doctrine of the condition. of man
after death, etc., be reached from the presupposition that the Penta
teuch is a comparatively recent production? We shall see how
manifestly in many cases the Pentateuch contains that which forms
the basis for the development of the didactic matter in Prophecy
and Chochma. This is a feature which the criticism of the Old
Testament books, as a rule, either completely overlooks or handles in
the most superficial manner. It gives, to be sure, no proof that the

14 INTRODUCTION. [§ 3.
Pentateuch in its present form is a production of Moses ; but it does
show the relative age of the Pentateuch, even in its construction, as
compared with the prophetic books. {The importance of the history
of religious ideas for Old Testament criticism is specially urged by
Kuenen, Theol. Tijdschrift, vol. iv. p. 391 f.}
(2) The notion of archaeology is, as is well known, variously de
fined in every province where a science of this name appears ; so we
also find biblical archseology taken up sometimes in a wider, some
times in a narrower sense. If, with Hupfeld (On the Notion and
Method of so-called BibUcal Introduction, p. 8), its compass is so widely
extended that it must embrace the whole knowledge of Bible lands
and people, — that is, the geography, history, customs, and regulations
of domestic, civil, and church life of the nations which act or appear in
the Bible, — the largest part of its material falls, of course, quite outside
of Old Testament theology. If, on the other hand, its task is limited
to the delineation of the peculiar conditions, natural and social, of
the people of Israel, in as far as that nation is the stage of the biblical
religion (so de Wette. Lehrbuch der hebr. jild. Arch. § 1 and 2), or
more shortly expressed (with Keil, Handb. der bibl. Arch. § 1), to
represent the shape taken by the life of Israel as the people elected
as the bearers of revelation, — if this is so, it must have a considerable
portion of its contents in common with Old Testament theology, as all
the more notable relations and situations of Israel's life are religiously
laid down. Still the two disciplines will not completely harmonize in
any of their constituents. Much which is essential in bringing to
view the natural and social condition of the people does not belong to
the manifestation of religion as such, and therefore forms no consti
tutive feature of religious life, but belongs only to its presuppositions.
Thus, for example, the religious position of the Israelites in the world,
the whole character of their religious institutions which presuppose an
agrarian life, particularly the regulations of festivals and of offerings,
stand in close connection with the natural constitution of Canaan.
But the natural relations of the land, as a thing merely presupposed
for the religious life of the people, are not to be described in biblical
theology, but in archaeology, and the former has only to refer to them
briefly. Thus, too, in matters of worship we have not to do with the
activity of ancient Israel in art and trade, on which the forms of
worship are naturally based in many ways, but to leave that to
archseology, which has to represent these developments independently
of their religious bearings.
(3) In reference to the relation of Old Testament theology to the
history of Israel, I agree with Schmid (comp. § ii. 1), and differ most

§ 3.] RELATION OF 0. T. THEOLOGY TO OTHER 0. T, DISCIPLINES. 15
from the general conception. Old Testament history contains a series
of facts which form a basis for Old Testament religion. If we think
away Israel's exodus from Egypt, and the giving of the law from
Sinai, Old Testament religion hovers in the air. Such facts ought
just as little to be separated from Old Testament religion, as the
historical facts of Christ's person should be from Christianity.
Hence Old Testament theology has to absorb the chief features of
the history of the divine kingdom, inasmuch as it ought to present
Old Testament religion not only as doctrine, but in the completeness
of its manifestation. But because it ought to report what men
believed in the Old Testament, in which faith they lived and died, it
has to represent the history as Israel believed it. As it cannot be
our task in an Old Testament theology to harmonize the Old Testa
ment history of creation and other things of this kind with the pro
positions of the newer physical sciences, we have, in the statement
of the history of revelation, only to reproduce the view which Holy
Scripture itself has, and accordingly have absolutely nothing to
do with such, things as ethnological and geographical research. We
thus conceive the relation of the theology of the Old Testament
to the Israelitish history, in a similar way to that in which C. F.
Nagelsbach, in his praiseworthy and well-known work, has defined the
relationship of the Homeric theology to mythology, when he states, as
the object of the former (Preface to first edition of the Homerische Theol.
p. vi. ed. 2, p. xiv.), " the knowledge which Homer's people had of the
Deity, and the effects produced by this knowledge in life and faith,"
and defines, on the other hand, as the work of the mythologist, " the
criticism and deciphering of the historical development of mythological
representations." That Old Testament theology has, as its critical
sister science, a history, while Homeric theology has only a mythology,
depends on the different character of the two religions. Here, indeed,
there must be strife between those who — and I avow myself to belong
to this party — acknowledge as such that which the Old Testament
religion lays down as facts, and are consequently convinced that
the thing believed was also a thing which happened; and between
those who see in the contents of Old Testament faith mainly a
production of religious imaginative conception, whose historical basis
can be revealed only through a critical process which rests on
rationalistic presuppositions. The latter party, who despise the key
offered by the Old Testament itself for the comprehension of its
history, have been so fortunate in their attempts at explanation, as
to have turned the providential leading of Israel into a dark riddle.
(Rosenkranz, in his biography of Hegel, p. 49, communicates to us

16 INTRODUCTION. [§ 4.
that the Jewish history repelled him (Hegel) just as violently as it
captivated him, and troubled him like a dark riddle all his life.) But
even he who in this connection occupies the historico-critical stand
point, should acknowledge the problem of endeavouring to get at the
point of view of the Bible itself in its purity, without admixture of
modern views. But in the common treatment of the theology of the
Old Testament we find a peculiar fluctuation, where it is acknow
ledged that the Old Testament religion rests on facts ; but then, what
these facts are, is stated as indefinitely as possible. On the other
hand, no criticism has as yet weakened the judgment which Herder
(in his 12th letter on the study of theology — das Studium der Theologie
betr.) passes on the history of the Old Testament : " A thing of that
kind cannot be invented ; such history, with all that depends on it, and
all that is connected with it, — in short, such a people cannot be a
fiction. Its yet uncompleted providential guidance is the greatest
poem of the ages, and reaches on probably (we say certainly, on the
ground of Rom. xi. 25 ff.) to the development of the great nodus of
all the nations of the world, which is as yet untouched."

§4.
THE LIMITATION OF OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY TO THE CANONICAL
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
The theology of the Old Testament has, for the notion laid down
in § 2, to limit itself to the books of the Old Testament canon as
established by the scribes in Palestine, and acknowledged by the
Protestant Church, thus excluding the Apocrypha. For the canonical
writings alone are a monument of the history of revelation, and a
genuine production of the spirit which ruled as life-principle in the
Old Testament economy. After the declarations of Christ in Luke
xxiv. 44, Matt. xi. 13, etc., and from the whole apostolic doctrine,
there can be no doubt about the limits of the Holy Scriptures of the
old covenant (1). Looking from the biblical standpoint, a specific
difference must be made between the law, which steps forward with
divine authority, and the ordinances which spin it out further and
fence it round,— between the prophecy which knows itself to be the
organ of the Divine Spirit, and the scribes in their collective capacity,
who lean only on human reputation, since, even for the highly cele
brated Ezra, who stands at the head of the latter, the value of an

§ 4.] LIMITATION OF 0. T. THEOLOGY TO THE CANONICAL BOOKS. 17
organ of revelation was claimed (2). The difference between the
Hagiographa and their cognate Apocrypha might more readily appear
incapable of precise determination (as also the composition of some of
the Hagiographa falls later than the epoch which is marked by the
silence of prophecy). Yet even in the better apocryphal books it is
impossible to ignore a lack of the depth of meaning that is found
in the Old Testament, and in many cases an admixture of foreign
elements (3). At all events, as soon as the theology of the Old
Testament goes beyond the canonical books, there is a want of a firm
principle on which to fix its limits (4).
(1) In most statements of Old Testament theology the so-called
Apocrypha are included (Schultz, i. p. 18 f., excludes them). In
this way the significance of the Old Testament canon is mistaken.
We take the following lemmata from the Introduction to the Old
Testament (compare my article, "Kanon des A. T.," in Herzog's
Theol. Realencyklop. vii. p. 244 ff.). The Hebrew writings in the
Old Testament form one corpus, which falls into three parts: 1. rnin,
the Pentateuch ; 2. BWaa, including (a) D'JiB'&a, prophetce anterior es^
the historical books from Joshua to Kings, — (b) D'Oiinx, prophetce
posteriores, the three greater and the twelve lesser prophets ; 3. Cliro,
Hagiographa. From this comes the joint title of the Hebrew Bible,
QUirO! D^n:) min. With the books contained in the Hebrew Bible
are united, in the Alexandrian translation, a number of writings of
later origin, and thus a more extensive collection of Old Testament
writings has been formed. In the question, what value is due to
the writings added in the Greek Bible, in comparison with those in
the Hebrew collection, the dispute has been chiefly as to the estab
lishment of the Old Testament canon in the Christian Church. The
Catholic Church sanctioned as canonical in the Tridentinum the
books which are added in the Septuagint, called in the old Church
Anagignoskomena or ecclesiastical lessons (wherefore a theology of the
Old Testament drawn up from the standpoint of the Romish Church
must of necessity take up along with it the theology of these books).
But the Protestant Church, following the example of Hieronymus,
gives the Anagignoskomena of the Romish Church the not quite
suitable name Apocrypha, and rejects them. That the canon of the
Evangelical Church is that of the Judaism of Palestine is not
disputed. As certainly must it be maintained, that the canon of the
Judaism of Palestine, as established in the last century before Christ,
and then re-sanctioned after passing fluctuation at the Synedrium in
VOL. I. B

18 INTRODUCTION. [§ 4-
Jamnia towards the end of the first century of our era, or a few years
later, did not, as has been maintained, rest upon an interest of simply
literary nature, viz. to unite all the remains of Hebrew writings which
were still to be had ; for then it would be inconceivable why the book
of the Son of Sirach, which existed long in the original Hebrew text,
was not incorporated in it. The point in question in the collection of
Old Testament writings was rather, as Josephus distinctly says in the
well-known passage on the canon (c. Ap. i. 8), about the Bt/caioj? 6ela
Trenricrrevyikva fiifikia. In the same passage Josephus limits the Old
Testament canon to the time of Artaxerxes, because from that time
forward an exact succession of prophets is wanting. It may be said
that this is a capricious limitation of the Palestinian scribes, and it
has lately become the fashion (Ewald, Dillmann, Noeldeke) to efface
this difference between canonical and non-canonical Scriptures. But
if we look into the New Testament, no doubt can remain where the
word of the old and new covenant is connected ; since, in fact (com
pare Matt. xi. 13 f.), the New Testament history of revelation loops
immediately on to the conclusion of Old Testament prophecy in
Malachi. — A sharp controversy on the Apocrypha was carried on
during the sixth decade of this century among the German theologians,
for which, in especial, the prize essay prescribed by the Baden Council
for Home Mission gave the signal. From the copious literature
of this controversy are to be mentioned : — Against the Apocrypha,
besides the smaller writings of Joh. Schiller, Kluge, and others,
which are more in a popular style, the writings of Ph. Fr. Keerl,
which enter thoroughly on all disputed points (The Apocrypha of the
Old Testament, crowned prize essay, 1852 ; Tlie Word of God and
the Apocrypha of the Old Testament, 1853 ; Epistles to the Friends of
the pure Word of God, 1854 ; and lastly, the most important, The
Apocrypha Question newly Illuminated, 1855) ; next to these, Wild's
paper, There is an Accursed Thing in thee, Israel, etc., 1854. — On the
opposite side : Stier, The Apocrypha, the Defence of its ancient Annexa
tion to the Bible, 1853 ; the discussion of Hengstenbero- in the
Evangelische Kirchenzeitung, 1853, Nr. 54 ff., and 1854, Nr. 29 ff. ;
further, Bleek's essay on " The Position of the Apocrypha of the Old
Testament in the Christian Canon" (Studien und Kritihn, 1853, ii.).
On both sides weighty arguments were brought forward side by side
with many exaggerations, in which polemic zeal finds utterance. The
conclusion is, that that word of the Old Testament, which is so often
brought forward in the New Testament as a fulfilled word, is found
merely in the writings of the Hebrew canon ; that even if we admit
it as possible that there are allusions to passages out of the book of

§ 4] LIMITATION OF 0. T. THEOLOGY TO THE CANONICAL BOOKS. 19
the Son of Sirach and the book of Wisdom contained in some of the
apostolic letters, particularly in the Epistle of James, " yet there is
never more than a simple allusion, and never an exact quotation," as
even Stier, who is particularly zealous in searching out such corre
spondences (I. c. p. 12), has candidly avowed.
(2) With Graf (The Historical Booh of the Old Testament,
1866), the criticism of the Pentateuch has taken this turn, that many,
declaring the legislation of Deuteronomy to be older than the law in
the middle books, think the Pentateuch to have reached its final
shape only in the time of Ezra by the labours of a supplementing
editor ; but it is historically certain that, in the time after the exile,
the Pentateuch was regarded as an inviolable whole, because of
which the fencing in (J^D) of the Pentateuch then begins in those
ordinances to which our Lord assumes an attitude quite different
from His relation to the vopos.
(3). This concerns mainly that celebrated book of the Son of
Sirach, which, to bring forward only one point, takes over the
Pentateuchal doctrine of retribution in the extremest shape, amount
ing to repugnant Eudsemonism, without any introduction of the
features through which the Old Testament itself breaks through the
externalism of the doctrine of retribution. (See my remarks on the
theological character of the book in the article, " Psedagogik des
A. T.," in Schmid's pwdagog. Encyklop. v. p. 694 f.). The same
thing is true of the book of Wisdom, the most beautiful and ex
cellent of the books of the Apocrypha, in virtue of the way in which
ideas of the Greek philosophy are here bound up with Old Testament
doctrine, without any organic union of these elements being reached.
A tendency to syncretism is altogether characteristic of the later
Jewish theology ; whereas, in the development of the Old Testament
religion carried out in the canonical writings, the Old Testament
principles have enough of energy to subdue and assimilate the
strange elements which are taken up, — a judgment which can be
verified especially in the traditions of Genesis and the institutions of
the Mosaic cultus, but which can also be clearly justified in reference
to doctrines of the later books, such as the doctrine of Satan and the
Angels, if, as is the custom, we assume in these cases the presence of
extraneous influence.
(4) No settled doctrinal types are found in the Old Testament
Apocrypha ; and a thorough statement of the system of the book of
Wisdom leads over into the discussion of Jewish Alexandrinism.
But if the historical influence which the forms of post-canonical
Judaism exercised on the development of Christian teaching were

20 INTRODUCTION. [§ &
taken as our rule, we should have to take up, along with the history
of the Jewish Alexandrian philosophy of religion, the not less
interesting and weighty history of the Jewish Apocalyptic, with its
products, the book of Enoch, the fourth book of Ezra, and the
Psalter of Solomon ; and besides this, the Jewish religious sects, and
the pieces of older rabbinic theology handed down in the older
Targums and Midraschim, as well as in the Mishna, etc., would fall to
be represented, as is done in the text-books of De Wette and von
Colin. Instead of burdening the Old Testament with such ballast, it
will be more proper to refer the delineation of post-canonical Judaism
to a special theological discipline, which Schneckenburger (in the
lectures published by Loehlein, 1862) sketches under the name of
the History of the Times of the New Testament. {Since Schnecken
burger,' the same subject has been treated by several writers — by
Holtzmann, Hausrath, and finally by Schiirer, Lehrbuch der Neutesta-
mentlichen Zeitgeschichte, Leipzig 1874.}

IL— FULLER STATEMENT OP THE SCIENTIFIC STANDPOINT
OP OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY.
§5.
THE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT RELIGION PROPER TO
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
The Christian theological standpoint for the theology of the Old
Testament is already expressed in its name, by virtue of which it does
not treat its subject as Jewish religion, but as the divine revelation
of the old covenant, which on the one side stands to all heathen
religion in an opposition of principle, and on the other side forms the
preliminary stage to the revelation of the new covenant, which is
with it comprehended in one divine economy of salvation (1). Since
the notion of Old Testament revelation itself finds its exact discus
sion within Old Testament theology (comp. § 55 ff,), only the more
general propositions are here to be advanced.
(1) That view of the Old Testament which now chiefly presents
itself with the claim that it desires to understand the Old Testament
historically, and yet at the same time to be just to its religious value

§ 5.] VIEW OF THE 0. T. RELIGION PROPER TO CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY. 21
amounts essentially to this : that Israel, by virtue of a certain religious
genius rooted in the peculiarities of the nature of the Semitic stem,
was happier in the pursuit of true religion than other nations of
antiquity, and soared higher than the rest towards the purest divine
thoughts and endeavours. As the Greeks were the people of art and
philosophy, and the Romans were the people of law, to the old world,
even so did the religious people /car' e^oyfjv arise by natural growth
from the Semitic stem. Whilst it pleased the earlier rationalists to
draw down the contents of the Old Testament as much as possible
to things of little value, and then to condemn the whole as Jewish
popular delusion, this newer view, whose principal representative is
Ewald, yields full recognition to the depth of thought and moral
loftiness of the Old Testament; indeed, it finds there already, more
or less distinctly expressed, the eternal truths which Christianity
thereafter placed in full light.
Yet, although individual contributions made to the matter of
Old Testament theology from this standpoint have very great value,
the Old Testament can never be historically understood in this way.
Does even one single leaf of the Old Testament agree with this
view, by which Israel is represented as a people of such genius in the
production of religious thoughts, and the Old Testament religion as a
natural growth of the spirit of Israel ? The Bible only recognises
the decided opposition in which the Old Testament religion stood
from the very beginning to all that Israel had sought and found in
the path of nature. Altogether does this view fail to recognise the
weight of that divine pedagogic expressed in the words, Isa. xliii.
24 : " Thou hast made me labour with thy sins, thou hast wearied
me with thine iniquities." In Jer. ii. 10 f. we find Israel's position
towards revelation pointed out very characteristically. When it says
there, " Pass over the isles of Chittim, and see ; and send unto
Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing :
Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods ? but my
people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit," this
fact becomes intelligible, if we remember that the gods of the heathens
were a production of the natural national mind, but not so the God of
Israel. And therefore the heathen nations do not exchange their gods,
— as long, that is, as such a heathen principle of religion has power to
develope organically ; but Israel required to exercise on itself a certain
compulsion to raise itself to the sphere of spiritual Jehovah-worship,
and grasps, therefore, at the gods of the heathen,— syncretism, in
fact, being characteristic of Israel, in as far as it is not subject to the
revelation.

22 INTRODUCTION. [§ &
The whole Old Testament remains a sealed book, if we shut our
eyes to the knowledge that the subduing of the natural character of
the people is the aim of the whole divine pedagogic ; and because of
this, the whole providential guidance of the nation moves in a dualism.
{This section does not characterize the views of Ewald and his
scholars quite accurately. Ewald's theory of revelation is most fully
found in the first vol. of his recent Lehre der Bibel von Gott, Leipzig
1871. See also Dillmann, Ursprung der A.Tlichen Religion, Giessen
1865.}
§6.
THE BIBLICAL NOTION OF REVELATION. — I. GENERAL AND
SPECIAL REVELATION.
The biblical notion of revelation is rooted in the notion of Creation.
Revelation is just the development of the relation in which God
placed Himself to the world in bringing it into existence. Whilst
the world is called into existence by God's word, and is animated by
His Spirit, the principles of revelation are already fixed. The pro
duction of different classes of beings advances teleologically, and
reaches its goal only when God has created man in His own image.
In this progression the foundation of revelation is laid. For revela
tion is, in general, just God's own testimony and communication of
Himself to the world for the realization of the end implanted in the
universe at its creation, and directed to the establishment of perfected
communion of life of man with God. After the tearing asunder .of
the bond of the original communion of man with God through sin,
God testifies, partly in nature and historical guidance of mankind,
and partly in each one's conscience, of His power, goodness, and
justice, and thus draws man to seek God ; comp. how even the Old
Testament points to this witness of God, which is perceptible even to'
the heathen, Isa. xl. 21-26 ; Jer. x. ; Ps. xix. 2 ff., xciv. 8-10 (1).
The outer and inner forms of this general revelation stand in a con
tinual relation of reciprocity, as man's inward experience of the divine
testimony. awakens through the objective outward witness of God;
but this outward witness is first understood by the inward (s. Acts
xvii. 28, in its relation to ver. 27). Yet the personal communion in
life of man with God, as demanded by the ideal constitution of man,

§ 6.] THE BIBLICAL NOTION OF REVELATION. 23
is not won again through this general revelation. The living God
remains to the natural man, in all his searchings, a hidden God
(comp. Isa. xiv. 15 ; Jer. xxiii. 18 ; John i. 18). The knowledge of
His aiJSto? SiW/ms ical Oeiorr)? does not yet lead to the knowledge of
the true living God, nor the knowledge that we are bound to Him in
conscience to personal communion in life with Him. Indeed, conscience
itself testifies to man of his separation from God, and that he has
disowned the reality of God testified to him in nature and history ;
and because of this, the Old Testament calls the heathen such as forget
God, Ps. ix. 18 (2). Only by God's stooping to man in personal
testimony to Himself, and objective presentation of Himself, is actual
communion in life established between Him and man. This is the
special revelation (3), which first appears in the form of the founding
of a covenant between God and a chosen race, and the founding of a
kingdom of God among the latter, which reaches its climax in the
manifestation of God in the flesh, advances from this point to the
gathering of a people of God in all nations, and is completed in the
formation of a new heaven and a new earth (Isa. lxv. 17, lxvi. 22 ;
Rev. xxi. 1 ff.), where God shall be all in all (1 Cor. xv. 28). The
relation between general and special revelation is such, that the
former is the continual basis of the latter, the latter the aim and
completion of the former, as, according to the Old Testament view,
the covenant in the theocracy has its presupposition in the worldwide
covenant with Noah. As in nature each realm has its own laws, and
yet again the separate realms stand in inseparable connection, since
they reciprocally condition each other, — the lower steps always form
ing a basis for the higher, and the higher a corroboration and com
pletion of the lower, — even so the general and special revelation, the
order of nature and salvation in the system of the world, are knit
together in organic unity, as, according to the doctrine of the New
Testament, the Logos is the Mediator of both (4).
(1) What we call the physico-theological, the moral evidence of
God's existence, etc., is already several times indicated in the Old
Testament in a popular form ; it comes up in the polemic of prophecy
against heathenism. Comp. Isa. xl. 21-26: " Do ye not know ? do
ye not hear ? hath it not been told you from the beginning ? have ye
no understanding of the founding of the earth ? He that sits en
throned over the circle of the earth . . . that stretcheth out the heavens

24 INTRODUCTION. [§ 6.
as a curtain . . . that bringeth the princes to nothing, and maketh the
judges of the earth like a waste," etc. Ver. 26 points to the starry sky.
Jer. x. brings to mind the God who rules and lives in the universe.
Ps. xix. 2 ff. shows specially how God has revealed His splendour and
order-establishing sway in the sun and its course. Ps. xciv. 9 makes
this conclusion : " He who plants the ear, shall He not hear ? He who
formed the eye, shall not He see ? " This verse is subject to no
difference of exposition. The thought is this : the Creator of hearing
and sight must Himself have an analogous knowledge — must be a
living God, who sees all things, and hears prayer. Ver. 10, " He who
chastises the nations, shall not He punish ? He who teaches man know
ledge ? " is often explained thus : He who punishes the nations in
genera], shall not He also punish in the concrete occasion which is
before us ? To me, the exposition of Hupfeld and Hitzig appears to
be more correct, according to which the D?13 "ID* refers to divine cor
rection in man's conscience. Then we get a good parallelism to the
second member. The verse is then a reference to the revelation of
God in man's conscience and reason: He who has given conscience
and reason, He who proclaims Himself in them to be a God of retribu
tion, should He not also proclaim Himself so in reality, in His pro
vidences towards the nations ?
(2) The expression B*n% ^ro^ Ps. ix. 18, is not, with Umbreit, to
be connected directly with the forgetting of a purer ancient religion,
but with the forgetting and denying of God's testimony, as it comes
continually to the D]13 themselves.
(3) In treating of the notion of special revelation, we are met
chiefly in one point by a difference between the biblical notion of
revelation, and that notion as it is wont to be developed in the
so-called Vermittelungstheologie (comp. Schultz's Old Testament
Theol.). This school limits the notion of revelation as much as
possible to the inner sphere of man's life ; revelation comes essentially
to be viewed as a divine "self-communication in man inspired by
God." Revelation operates by working in the heart of man "an
immediate certainty of divine life" (s. Schultz, i. p. 66, and my
review in Zoeckler und Andrew Allg. literar. Anzeiqer Februarh.
1870, p. 104 f.). The objective fact is not entirely disowned ; it is
not denied that events did occur in the history of the Israelites to
which that inward self-communication of God to the prophets (of
whom Moses may be regarded as the first) attached itself. But the
objective personal self-presentation of God which the Bible un
doubtedly asserts is not admitted, for fear of too dangerous an
approach to the sphere of the miraculous, or else it is spoken of in a

§ 7.] HISTORICAL CHARACTER AND GRADUAL PROGRESS OF REVELATION. 25
very indefinite way. But if revelation is at bottom only God's
communication of Himself to inspired men, if it acts only to awaken
in the mind of certain chosen men an immediate certainty of divine
life, no specific difference between a prophet and a heathen sage can
be made out; for even in the heathen an immediate certainty of
divine life was generated. In order that such a relation of personal
communion between God and man be accomplished as the idea of
humanity involves, we must have that objective presentation of Him
self by God which is pointed out in the word, " Here am I," Isa. Iii.
6, Ixv. 1.
Luther, for example, has with reason, in his commentary on Ps.
xviii. (Eteegetica opera latina, Erl. Ausg. xvi. p. 71), pointed out how,
from the beginning, the divine government aimed at binding the
revelation of God to a given object : " Voluit enim dominus et ab
initio semper id curavit, ut esset aliquod monumentum et signum
memoriale externum, quo alligaret fidem credentium in se, ne ad-
ducerentur variis et peregrinis fervoribus in spontaneas religiones seu
potius idololatrius.'' Divine revelation must enter the world as a
proclamation, in which the personality of God as such meets man,
not as an inexpressible numen or Divinity, but as God Himself.
When that is made clear to us, we discern the pedagogic character
of the divine forms of revelation. To mankind in its childhood,
God's existence must be brought to knowledge in theophany from
without, and then from that point revelation advances towards the
manifestation of the reality of this God in spirit (comp. § 55).
(4) Though an older supernatural view places revelation in the
narrower sense exactly in opposition to the order of nature, and
causes special revelation to enter into the world as a Deus ex
machina, this is in no way the biblical view.
§7.
II. HISTORICAL CHARACTER AND GRADUAL PROGRESS OF REVELA
TION — ITS RELATION TO THE WHOLE OF MAN'S LIFE.
Its Supernatural Character.
According to this, the special revelation of God, as it enters the
sphere of human life, becomes subject to the ordinances and laws of
historical development which are grounded on the general divine
system of the world. It does not all at once enter the world prepared
and completed ; but from a limited and relatively incomplete begin
ning, giving itself particularly to one separate people and race, it

26 INTRODUCTION. [§ "'¦
advances to its completion in Christ in a gradual scale corresponding
with the natural path of the development of mankind, and leading
that development into the path of the divine order of salvation, and
so completed, is able to communicate again to man, by an historical
process, the fulness of God which Christ bears in Himself. And
because revelation aims at the restoration of full communion between
God and man, it is directed to the whole of man's life. It does not
complete its work by operating either exclusively or mainly upon
man's faculties of knowledge ; but in constant advance it produces
and shapes the communion of God and man, as well by divine
witness in word as by objective facts, — manifestations of God in the
objective world, institution of a commonwealth and its regulations, —
and by revelations of God in the inner sphere of life, by the sending
forth of the Spirit, and by awakenings into life; and all this so
that a continual relation has place between the revealing history of
salvation and the revealed word, inasmuch as each divine fact is
preceded by the word which discloses the counsel of God (Amos iii. 7)
now to be completed ; and again, the word of God arises from the
completed fact, and testifies thereto (1). In these operations revelation
makes itself discernible in its difference from the natural self-revela
tion of the spirit of man, not only through the continuity and the
organic connection of the facts which constitute the history of
salvation, but also through its special character (miracle), which
points backward in a definite manner to a divine causality, while it
is recognised by the organs of revelation themselves through a special
working of the Spirit, which comes to their consciousness as a divine
infusion, and in conclusion recommends itself to all who in faith enter
into the revelation by their living experience of salvation (2).
(1) The biblical notion of revelation, as here developed, is distin
guished from that of the older Protestant theology in two respects.
On the old view, revelation was essentially, and almost exclusively,
regarded as the doctrine of revelation. In other words, what was
urged was for the most part only God's working on man's
knowledge, — a defect which appeared still more onesidedly in
the older supernaturalism, which regarded revelation as concerned
with the communication of a higher knowledge, which human reason
either would not have found at all, or, as rationalistic supernaturalism
teaches, at least not so soon nor so perfectly. But if this was all it

'§ 7.] HISTORICAL CHARACTER AND GRADUAL PROGRESS OF REVELATION. 27
would in fact have been better if it had pleased God to send directly
from heaven a ready-made system of doctrine. This is, as is well
known, the Mohammedan notion of revelation. And what need was
there of this vast historical apparatus ? Just in order to bring to the
world a divine doctrine, which should then be accredited through the
facts of revelation. The second point in which the older notion of
revelation was unjust to the biblical one, is the denying of the steps
of development which revelation passes through in the Scripture
itself. The Bible, , as the record of the doctrine of revelation, was
supposed to attest uniformly, in the Old and New Testaments, the
truths which the Church has stamped as dogmas ; — the doctrine of
the Trinity, for example, was found even in the Old Testament.
If we look into the Scriptures, we see that, without doubt, revela
tion involves an influence on man's knowledge, but not this exclusively,
and never so as to make this stand in the foreground. A people of God
is to be created from this sinful humanity ; a community bearing in
itself divine life is to be planted, and mankind thus to be transformed
into a kingdom of God, a tabernacle of God among men (Rev. xxi.).
Revelation, then, cannot possibly look only to the cognitive side of
man. Biblical theology must be a theology of divine facts ; not,
indeed, in the limited view which has also found supporters (comp.
Ad. Koehler's paper in Ullmann's Stud. u. Krit. 1852, Nr. 4, p.
875 ff.), as if the work of revelation simply rose in divine deeds,
and then all knowledge originated merely through reflection on the
facts of revelation ; — on a similarly limited view of Hofmann, in his
Weissagung und Erfiillung, comp. § 14. The matter stands thus, that
between the line of facts of revelation, or between the history of
revelation on one side and the divine word-witness on the other, a
continual relation of interchange takes place : for example, the flood
is announced as a divine judgment of God — the signal word precedes
it ; and again, after the fact has taken place, a further word of God
grows from it. This goes down to the resurrection of our Lord. —
Amos iii. 7 : " The Lord Jehovah does nothing without revealing His
secret to His servants the prophets." This passage points to the close
connection of the divine words and deeds of revelation.
(2) The notion of miracle and inspiration will be discussed further
on. — The living experience of salvation is indeed first found complete
on the ground of New Testament revelation. It is here the testimony
of the new creation, by virtue of which he who bears it within him
knows that what he owes to the word of God differs specifically
from that which he could have found in the path of nature. But
there lies also in the Old Testament a mighty witness in the word,

28 INTRODUCTION. K 8-
"Who is a God like unto Thee?" (Ex. xv. 11), as well as in the
acknowledgment that Israel had a law such as no other people on
earth had (Deut. iv. 6-8 ; Ps. cxlvii. 19 f., etc.).
§8.
III. THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS IN THEIR RELATION TO
HEATHENISM AND TO EACH OTHER.
Revelation falls into two chief divisions, the Old and New Testa
ments, which stand to each other in the relation of preparation and
fulfilment, and confront the religions outside of the Testaments as a
connected dispensation of salvation ; comp. specially Eph. ii. 12 (1).
The law and the prophets are fulfilled in Christianity ; while, on the
contrary, the heathen religions are not fulfilled in Christianity, but
dissolved. It is true that heathenism prepared for Christianity, not
simply negatively in the exhaustion of the forms of religious life
which it had produced, and the awakening of a need for salvation,
but also, by bringing the intellectual and moral strength of man to a
richer development, added to the gospel — which wants to make all
the powers of man's nature serviceable to it — many conformable
elements, thus opening to the truth many paths among men. But
heathenism not only lacks the series of divine facts through which
the completion of salvation in Christ was positively prepared, and
lacks all knowledge about the divine counsel of salvation (comp. Isa.
xii. 22, xliii. 9 ff., xliv. 7 ff., etc.) (2) ; but it has not so much as pre
pared the human basis from which the redemption of man could take
its historical egress. For, on the one hand, all heathen culture, even
if capable of being shaped by revelation, is yet no necessary condition
for the redemptive operation of the gospel ; and, on the other hand,
heathenism, which has no knowledge of the holiness of God, and so
no full notion of sin, but only a keen sense of injustice, lacks those
conditions under which alone a sphere of life could be generated
which presented fit soil for the founding of the work of redemption
(cf. Rothe's Theol. Ethik, 1st ed. ii. p. 264 ff., 2d ed. ii. p. 120 ff.) (3).
But the unity of the Old and New Testaments must not be
understood as sameness. The Old Testament itself, while it regards
the decree of salvation revealed in it, and the kingdom of God
founded thereupon, as eternal, as extending to all times and to all

§ 8.] THE 0. AND N. T. IN THEIR RELATION TO HEATHENISM. 29
races of man (from Gen. xii. 3 onwards, comp. also the parallel passages;
further, Isa. xiv. 23 f., liv. 10, etc.), acknowledges that the manifesta
tion of God's kingdom at that time was imperfect and perishable ;
for it points onwards to a new revelation, in which that which is
demanded by the letter of the law and signified by its ordinances
shall become a reality through divine communication of life (comp.
already Deut. xxx. 6) ; indeed, exactly in the days in which the
old form of the theocracy was brought to ruin, it predicted the new
eternal covenant which God should conclude with His people (Jer.
xxxi. 31 ff.) (4). — But still more distinctly does the New Testament
emphasize the difference from the Old which subsists within the
unity of the two covenants. The eternal counsel of salvation,
although announced by the prophets, is nevertheless not completely
revealed till after its actual realization (Rom. xvi. 25 f. ; 1 Pet. i. 10 ff. :
Eph. i. 9 f., iii. 5) ; the pedagogy of the law has reached its goal
in the grace and truth of Christ (John i. 17 ; Rom. x. 4 ; Gal. iii.
24 f .) ; in the benefits of salvation of the new covenant, the shadow of
the old dispensation is become reality (Col. ii. 17 ; Heb. x. 1 ff.) :
therefore the greatest man in the old covenant is less than the least
in the kingdom of Christ (Matt. xi. 11) ; indeed, for him who takes
away from the Old Testament productions and institutions their
fulfilment in Christ, for him these sink down into poor, needy
rudiments (Gal. iv. 9).
(1) According to Eph. ii. 12, the heathen, as cnrr}X\,OTpt,a)[iivoi, t?5?
7ro\tTet05 tov 'Iapar/X, are also %evoi tuv BiaOnKwv t?}9 iirayyeXias.
Israel has hope, the heathen are iXirlBa fif] e^res ; Israel has the
living God, the heathen are adeoi ev to Koa^m.
(2) What has heathenism transmitted to the coming generations
after its bloom was dead, as the fruit of its seers or oracles, as a per
manent knowledge for comfort and animation of hope in times of
sadness ? The answer to this can only be, that the Mantic art which
searched heaven and earth to find signs of God's will, which even
knocked questioningly at the gate of death's kingdom, which listened
to the divine voice in the depth of the human breast, yet gained no
knowledge of the counsel of the living God ; so that the old heathen
ism at the close of its development stands helpless,— in spite of all its
searching, possessing no key to the comprehension of God's ways, and
no knowledge of the goal of history. Or did the knowledge of the

30 INTRODUCTION. [§ 8-
divine counsel take flight to poesy, philosophy, and political wisdom,
when the spirit of man emancipated itself from the decaying power
of the Mantic art ? The notion of a providence, of a moral order of
the world, doubtless appears on all hands as witness of the religious
disposition of man's nature and the indestructible power of the con
science. But with this thought wrestles the belief in dark fate ; and
this, as is forcibly brought out by Wuttke (Gesohichte des Heiden-
thums, i. p. 98), is "the evil conscience of heathenism continually
admonishing and tormenting, — the consciousness of the guilt of the
gods becoming evident that they are not what they ought to be ;
that they are of this world, whilst they ought to be a spiritual power
over it, and therefore bear in themselves the germ of death." —
Whether destiny or virtue determines the world, or how the opera
tions of both are divided, is a riddle which always turns up again
unsolved, although boldly answered now in this way, now in that.
Observe, for example, to cite but a few proofs, how a Demosthenes
in his early time testifies to the sway of divine justice in the history
of nations ; how he prophetically announces the fall of the power
which was grounded on falsehood and perjury; how he concedes,
indeed, that destiny determines the issue of all things, but holds its
gifts of fortune possible only where there exists a moral claim on the
favour of the gods (Olynth. ii. 10. 22) ; and how, in the evening of
his life, he knows no better explanation of the misfortune of his people
than that the destiny of all men, as it rules at present, is hard and
dreadful, and that therefore Athens must also receive its share of the
common human misfortune, in spite of its own good fortune (de cor.
p. 311). Or see how a Plutarch, who, in his remarkable book on the
late execution of divine punishment, shows a deeper understanding of
the divine method of judgment, but acknowledges in his consolatory
epistle to Apollonius, chap. vi. ff ., no higher law for human things than
the law of change, — see how he answers the above-mentioned question in
his treatise on the fate of Rome ; how he seeks to comprehend the course
of the history of the world by the combination of the two principles,
destiny and virtue. He teaches (chap, ii.), that as in the universe the
earth has established itself gradually out of the conflict and tumult of
elementary matter, and has lent to the other things a firm position,
so also the history of man transacts itself. The largest dominions
and kingdoms in the world were pulled about and knocked against
each other by chance, and thus began a total confusion and destruc
tion of all things. Then Time, which with the Godhead founded
Rome, mixed fortune and virtue, that, taking from both what was
their own, it might set up for all men a holy hearth, an abiding stay

§ 8.] THE 0. AND N. T. IN THEIR RELATION TO HEATHENISM. 31
and eternal foundation, an anchor for things driven about midst storm
and waves. Thus in the Roman empire the weightiest matters have
found stability and security ; everything is in order, and has entered
on an immoveable orbit of government. \Programm ueber das Verhdlt-
niss der alttest. Prophetie zur heidnischen Mantik, 1861.]
(3) In asserting on biblical grounds the essential connection of the
Old and New Testaments, we stand in opposition specially to that
view of the Old Testament which has been laid down by Schleier
macher in his Glaubenslehre. Schleiermacher's position (§ 12) runs
thus : " Christianity stands, indeed, in a special historical connection
with Judaism ; but in the matter of its historical existence and aim,
its relation is the same to Judaism and heathenism." This view of
the Old Testament has become so prevalent, especially of late years,
that it is the more necessary to look at it closely. When Schleier
macher, in the first place, bases his proposition on the assertion that
Judaism required to be re-fashioned by means of non-Jewish elements
before Christianity could proceed from it, this is an assertion in the
highest degree contrary to history. To what, then, does Christ attach
His gospel of the kingdom ? Is it to Judaism, as re-shaped by Greek
philosophy into Hellenism ? or is it not rather to the law and promise
of the old covenant ? Even where the New Testament does stand
in connection with ideas of Alexandrian Judaism, as in the Epistle
to the" Hebrews, there is still an essential difference between that
Alexandrian self-redemption and the Christian facts of redemption.
This is so clear and certain, that it is not necessary to lose more words
upon the subject. Rather we must say, conversely, that heathenism,
before receiving Christianity, had to be prepared monotheistically ;
which in the Roman world was mainly effected by that mission of
the Jewish Diaspora, which had so great an influence on the history
of the world. Schleiermacher is right when he argues, in the second
place, that it is possible to pass directly from heathenism to Christi
anity without passing through Judaism ; but it must be remembered,
that in heathenism the pedagogic influence of the law is partly
supplied by conscience (Ep. to the Romans), and that also even the
gospel includes the preaching of the law, when it commences with
the word "Repent." To Schleiermacher's third objection, that
though Christ sprang out of Judaism, yet many more heathens than
Jews have gone over to Christianity, we have to say that Israel
hardened its heart because it had originally a possession with which
it was then content, whilst in heathenism a need of salvation and a
seeking after God existed.
Naegelsbach has well pointed out (Vorredezur Homer. Theol. 1st ed.

32 INTRODUCTION. K 8-
p. xii., 2d ed. p. xix.) how the "search after God was the living
pulse in the whole religious development of antiquity." " But,'- he con
tinues, " that this search advanced much further in the vague feeling
of a want and longing for its supply, than in the capacity to satisfy it
by its own power, appears as clearly as possible." The attempts " to
get possession of the real and substantial Divinity " failed altogether.
Schleiermacher's fourth argument is as follows : What is most valu
able for the Christian use of the Old Testament is also to be found
in" just as close and harmonious sympathy in the utterances of the
more noble and purer heathens — for example, in the Greek philosophy
(a view often expressed ; comp. v. Lasaulx, Socrates' Life, Teaching,
and Death, 1858) ; whilst, on the other hand, that is least valuable
which is most distinctly Jewish. Now it is undoubtedly correct that
much is abolished in the New Testament which belongs specifically
to the Old Testament. But if we ask what is specific and essential
to the Old and New Testaments in opposition to heathenism, the
answer is not Monotheism ; for there is a monotheistic heathenism
as well, and heathenism wrestles to lay hold on the Deity as a unity ;
but for the Old and New Testament in opposition to heathenism, the
common bond is, above all, the knowledge of God's holiness. But with
this it follows, as shown in the text, that, because the heathens had
not the knowledge of the divine holiness, they also had not a complete
sense of sin (comp. the striking remarks of Carl Ludw. Roth 'in his
critique of Naegelsbach's " homer. Theol.," Erlanger Zeitschrift fur
Protestantismus und Kirche, i. 1841, p. 387 ff.). But as regards
those expressions harmonizing with Christianity which can be traced
in heathenism, it must be noticed that all those dispersed rays of light
do not make a sun, — that, with all these, the conditions were not given
for the founding a community of salvation.
It remains undeniable that the community which was gathered out
of Israel forms the true root of the Christian Church (comp. Rom.
xi.). With good reason has Steudel (in his Theologie des A. T. p. 541)
opposed Schleiermacher with the question where it could be said to
the heathen in the same way as to the Jews : " He is there to whom
all the men of God have pointed, and for whom they have waited."
This is not simply an outward historical connection.
(4) It lies in the nature of the case, that the law in the time in
which it was given did not present itself as a law again to be abro
gated, for thereby the law would have weakened itself. Certainly
the Mosaic regulations are given very positively, as everlasting regu
lations, from which Israel ought not to deviate ; but that the position
of the people towards the law shall in the future be different from

§ 9.] THEOLOGICAL CONCEPTION OF THE 0. T. IN THE OLD CHURCH. 33
what it is iii the present time, is stated in the Pentateuch very pre
cisely, viz. Deut. xxx. 6, where it is pointed out, that in the last times
God will circumcise the heart of the people, and so will not confront
the people imperiously, but awaken in them susceptibility for the
fulfilment of the law. Thus the germ of the prophecy of a new
covenant of an essentially different character, as it was uttered by
Jeremiah just in those days when the battlements of the old city of
David sank in the dust, lies already in the Pentateuch.
(5) Since such a difference exists betwixt the Old and New Testa
ments, — a difference which is chiefly concentrated in the contrast of
the law and the gospel, — it is to be expected from the outset that this
practical difference must correspond with a theoretical one, and that
we shall not find in the Old Testament the metaphysical dogmas of
Christianity. This is the point in which the earlier theology erred.

IIL— THE HISTORY OP THE CULTIVATION OF OLD TESTAMENT
THEOLOGY IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH (1).
§9.
THEOLOGICAL CONCEPTION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE
OLD CHURCH AND IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
Old Testament theology, as an independent historical science, is,
like biblical theology in general, a production of modern times.
During the whole development of churchly dogmatic, up to the
Reformation, and also under the old Protestant theology, there was
no distinct difference made between the substantial contents of
revelation as they are laid down in the Scriptures, and the dogma by
which these are worked up ; and still less was the difference of the
steps of the revelation and the types of doctrine which are presented
in Scripture acknowledged. Whilst, on the one side, the old Church
happily overcame the heresy of Marcion, which completely separated
Christianity from Old Testament revelation, it did not avoid the
opposite error of confounding the two Testaments. The proposi
tion, Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet, Vetus Testamentum in
Novo patet, which is in itself correct, was so turned, that it was
thought possible to show, in the Old Testament, almost the whole
contents of the doctrine of Christian faith, — veiled, to be sure, but
VOL. I. O

34 INTRODUCTION. E§ 9-
already fully formed under the veil (2). Especially was this the case
in the Alexandrian theology, which also changed the contrast of the
law and the gospel into a mere difference of degree, and attributed
to the prophets in general the same illumination as to the apostles (3).
But even those doctors of the Church who, like Augustine, dis
tinguished more exactly the relation of the law and the gospel, and
the difference of grade between the revelation in the Old and in the
New Testament, with respect to the benefits of salvation appertaining
to each, overlooked, notwithstanding the same difference in the
theoretical sphere, and, so far as the more enlightened men of the
Old Testament are concerned, again almost completely did away
with, the difference which was allowed in the former connection (4).
Still Augustine's treatment of Old Testament history in his work
de Civitate Dei, lib. xv.-xvii., is not without interest in its bearing
on biblical theology (5). On the other hand, the chronicle of
Sulpicius Severus (6), which, in the first book and the beginning of
the second, discourses compendiously on the whole Old Testament
history, is of no importance to biblical theology, though it is not
wanting in interest in individual points (7).
Still less was the cultivation of biblical theology as an historical
science possible under the government of the theology of the middle
ages, or at all consistent with the tendencies of that period. Even
the mystical tendency, which goes back more on the Bible, was
wanting in healthy hermeneutical principles, so that it, no less than
scholasticism, fathered all its speculations on the Scriptures. Even
those who, like the theologians of St. Victor, had a presentiment of a
. more legitimate treatment of Scripture, were unable to carry their
ideas out (8).
(1) The- review of the history of our science will show how far
the conception of the Old Testament which we have expressed in
the preceding pages, has been carried out up to the present by those
who have written on Old Testament theology. Comp. with this my
Prolegomena to the Theology of the Old Testament, 1845 (also my
article " Weissagung" in Herzog's Realencyklop. xvii.), and Diestel's
History of the Old Testament in the Christian Church, Jena 1869.
The very excellent work of Diestel not only gives a history of the
way in which the Old Testament has been viewed and expounded
in Christian theology, but seeks to portray at the same time the

§ 9.] THEOLOGICAL CONCEPTION OF THE 0. T. IN THE OLD CHURCH. 35
influence which the Old Testament has exercised in the course of
centuries on the life of the Church, on constitution, cultus, and
doctrine, on the art and justicial regulations of Christian nations.
This attempt has succeeded so well, that we find a tolerably complete
material placed together in the most instructive manner. (See my
review of the work in Andrew und Brachmann, Allg. litter ar.
Anzeiger, April 1869, p. 245 ff.)
(2) The first impulse to a treatment of the Old Testament not
simply practical, but theological, lies already in the New Testament ;
comp. especially the Epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews.
The strife between the young Christian body and the wisdom of the
scribes soon led to biblico-theological questions, and this was con
tinued between the orthodox Church teachers and the heretics. The
questions which, as we see from Justin Martyr's Dialogue with
Tryphon, and Tertullian's treatise adversus Judwos, were chiefly
discussed between rabbis and Christian theologians, were concen
trated on Christology. On that topic we find already such questions
of debate as the following : Does the Old Testament teach the divine
dignity of the Messiah, and does it announce a TradrjTos XpiaTos ?
In the Gnostic controversy, the whole position of Christianity towards
the Old Testament became matter of discussion ; in particular, in
opposition to the Manicheans, a question arose, which remains yet
unsettled, viz. how it stands with the Old Testament in relation to the
knowledge of the immortality of the soul and eternal life (comp. on
this subject my Commentationes ad theologiam biblicam pertinentes,
1846, p. 2 ff.). But these questions were not treated in the way that
is followed by biblical theology in the strict sense of the word, in
which the historical interest is dominant, but purely in the interests
of dogma, so that the Church Fathers sought to point out the Christian
dogma already in the Old Testament ; and above all, the deficiency
of their knowledge of "the language hindered the doctors of the
Church from studying the Old Testament thoroughly.
(3) On the position of the Alexandrine school to the Old Tes
tament, and their confounding of the two Testaments, we refer
especially to the account of Origen by Redepenning, Origenes, i.
p. 273 ff. The allegorical interpretation, which he brought to its
perfection, rendered Origen incapable of perceiving in the Old
Testament a development of doctrine, and of representing the his
torical progress of revelation impartially.
(4) In proof of this, comp. Augustin. c. Adim. cap. iii. 4 : " Certis
quibusdam umbris et figuris . . . populus ille tenebatur, qui Testa
mentum Vetus accepit : tamen in eo tanta pradicatio et prsenun-

36 INTRODUCTION. C§ 9
ciatio Novi Testamenti est, ut nulla (in Retract, i. 22. 2 : pcene nulla)
in evangelica atque apostolica disciplina reperiantur, quamvis ardua et
divina prwcepta et promissa, quo? illis etiam libris veteribus desint.
(5) We may regard these three books in Augustin's great work
as in a certain sense the first treatment of the theology of the Old
Testament. Augustin (cf. I.e. xxii. 30 fin. ; c. Faust, xii. 8) bases
his statement on the thought that the history of the divine kingdom
is transacted in seven periods, of which the week of creation forms
the type. The first five periods fall in the Old Testament times
bounded by Noah, Abraham, David, the Babylonian captivity, and
the manifestation of Christ ; the sixth is the present age of the
Church ; and the Sabbath of the world follows as tlie seventh. We
shall see how, in the reformed theology at a later period, this thought
was appropriated in what is called the system of periods (§ 11).
(6) In connection with the chronicle of Sulpicius Severus, which
Diestel has singularly overlooked, the essay of Bernays deserves to
be read: " Tlie Chronicle of Sulpicius Severus; a contribution to the
history of classical and biblical studies." 1861. The chronicle was
written a little after 400. It is interesting to see how neatly Sulpicius
Severus translates the Mosaic law into the Latin of a Roman jurist
(7) The treatment of the Old Testament in the old Church
reaches its close with Gregory the Great ; but his gigantic work,
Moralia in Jobum, and his other works on the Old Testament, are
particularly important only in so far as they make us more closely
acquainted with the way of exegesis in the old Church.
(8) S. Liebner, " Hugo von St. Viktor und die theologischen
Richtungen seiner Zeit" 1832, p. 128 ff. — True, much detached
matter valuable for the Old Testament was brought to light in the
middle ages, and especially on the Song of Solomon, in which the
mysticism of the middle ages lives, and into which it is woven, as
Bernard of Clairvaux's lectures on Canticles show ; but this is
not anything belonging to biblical theology. Nay, the simpler ex
planations of the Bible appeared so despicable to the ruling scholas
ticism, that the name biblical theologian came to mean the same as
a narrow-minded person (s. Liebner, I.e. p. 166). The rabbis of the
middle ages accomplished more, especially Moses Maimonides, who
must often be consulted on Old Testament theology, especially as
the collector of the institutions and expositions of the Mosaic law.

§ 10.] THEOLOGICAL CONCEPTION OF 0. T. AT THE REFORMATION. 37
§10.
THEOLOGICAL CONCEPTION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE AGE
OF THE REFORMATION.
The Reformation principle of the authority of Scripture directed
theological activity to the Old Testament as well as to the New. A
more lively interest in it had been already awakened by Johann
Reuchlin ; though in the case of Reuchlin himself this interest was
directed less to the simple theological comprehension of the Old
Testament, than to the old mysterious learning which was supposed to
be laid down in it. Nevertheless Hieronymus redivivus, as Reuchlin
was called because of his trilinguis erudhio, rendered great service to
the "rise of the Holy Scriptures," not simply by opening a path
for the study of Hebrew in Germany, but particularly by the firm
ness with which he lays it down as the duty of the expositor of
Scripture to go back on the original text expounded according to its
literal sense, and to refuse to be dependent on the Vulgate, and the
traditional expositions of the Church which are connected with it.
Thus Reuchlin became the father of Protestant Hermeneutic, little
as he himself acknowledged the full range of his principles (1). The
knowledge of the contrast of , law and gospel drawn from Paul's
epistles was the first thing that gave a key to the theological compre
hension of the Old Testament to the Reformers, who sought in the
Scriptures, not, like Reuchlin, theurgic wisdom, but the simple way of
salvation. Scholasticism had substituted for the antithesis of law and
gospel the difference of the vetus and nova lea; ; the former of which
demands only a justice fixed by outward motives, and therefore
incomplete, while the latter binds to the complete virtue which is
supported by love. The Reformers, on the other hand, brought into
a truer light the moral worth of the Old Testament law, and the
corresponding pedagogic design of the Old Testament ceconomy ; and
they also correctly recognised, that even in the old covenant a revela
tion of God's gracious will in the promise of salvation goes side by side
with the revelation of the demands of the divine will in the law (2).
For all that is connected with this practical sphere in the Old Testa
ment, Luther especially shows a deep understanding, springing from a
lively personal experience (3). But just because it is from the expe-

38 INTRODUCTION. C§ 10-
riences of a Christian, which even when analogous are not necessarily
identical, that light is sought for the comprehension of the conditions
of Old Testament life, the practico-theological exposition does not do
full justice to the historical apprehension of the Old Testament.
That moral and religious knowledge was gradually deepened under
the pedagogic guidance of the law, which advanced ' from the outside
to the inside ; that the promise of salvation arises from germ-like
beginnings, and advances step by step in connection with the pro
vidential guidance of the history of the people, — is all the less
acknowledged, because in the sphere of dogma proper the two
Testaments are so closely drawn together. In the view which the
Reformers (and especially Melanchthon) were so fond of developing,
that the Church began in Paradise and continues throughout all
time, the whole emphasis is laid on the unity of the doctrine of
revelation, existing under all change of outward forms (4). Grace
is indeed multiformis, adjusting its revelation according to the need of
different times, and the childhood of the human race ''has special need
of simple speech and story (5) ; but the faith of the Old Testament
saints in the coming Saviour is nevertheless essentially one with our
faith in the Saviour who has come (6). It is true that exegesis has
become subject to the laws of the original language ; the fourfold
sense of the scholastics is set aside, and the simple sensus literalis is
pressed ; but the second principle of exegesis, the analogia fdei,
though now in itself correctly understood as the analogia scripture, —
the rule that Scripture must be expounded by Scripture, — is taken in
the sense of full dogmatic conformity between the two Testaments (7).
The reformed theology, which does not urge the opposition of the law
and the gospel in the same way as the Lutherans, agrees with them
entirely as to the dogmatic use of the Old Testament. Even Calvin,
who has really laid a foundation for the historical exposition of the
Old Testament, places the difference of the two Testaments mainly
in the outward form, which changes according to the different powers
of man's capacity (8).
(1) Most writers content themselves with praising the service
which Reuchlin rendered in founding the study of the Hebrew
language in Germany. But he is also worthy of notice in a theo
logical respect ; not, indeed, because of his cabalistic studies (de verbo

§ 10.] THEOLOGICAL CONCEPTION OF 0. T. AT THE REFORMATION. 39
mirifico, 1494 ; de doctrina cabalislica, 1517), which were esteemed by
himself as the crown of knowledge. The Reformers indulgently took
no notice of his cabalisticism, though each one could easily draw for
himself, from the sharp judgment to which Luther subjects the Jewish
" Alfanzerei " in his book on the Schem ham'phorasch, his opinion on
what Reuchlin taught about " the miraculous word." But Reuchlin's .
immortal service consists in this, that he was the first to claim with the
greatest emphasis 'the independence of exegesis from the traditions of
the Church, contained especially in the Vulgate and the commentaries
of Hieronymus. From him sprang the well-known sentence : " Quam-
quam Hieronymum sanctum veneror ut angelum et Lyram colo ut
magistrum, tamen adoro veritatem ut Deum" (Preface to the third book
of the rudimenta Hebraica) ; and he utters this principle, " Is est plane
verus et germanus scripturse sensus, quern nativa verbi cujusque pro-
prietas expedita solet aperire," in his book de accentibus et orthographia
linguae hebraicw, fol. iii. b. This important service of Reuchlin was
also acknowledged by Luther, when he wrote to him, 1518 (lllustrium
virorum epistolw hebraicw, grwcw et latinw ad Joannem Reuchlin, etc.,
1514 and 1518, 3 b.) : " Fuisti tu sane organum consilii divini, sicut
tibi ipsi incognitum, ita omnibus purse theologise studiosis exspectatis-
simum." Reuchlin has also given his opinion on the duty of studying
the Holy Scriptures independently in their original text, in his letters
to Abbot Leonhard in Ottenbeuern (s. Schelhorn's amwnitates hist. eecl.
et literar. ii. p. 593 ff.). Amongst other things, he writes : " Tantus
mihi est erga linguarum idiomata et proprietates ardor, ut non valde
laborare consueverim librum habere aliquem in alia lingua, quam in
ea, in qua est conditus omnium primo, semper ipse timens de translatis,
quse me saepe quondam errare fecerunt. Quare N. T. grsece lego,
Vetus hebraice, in cujus expositione malo confidere meo quam alterius
ingenio." It is only too true that Reuchlin himself did not know
the force of his own views ; he was highly dissatisfied even with the
Reformation. For the rest, comp. my biography of Reuchlin in
Schmid's Encyklop. des gesammten Erziehungs- und Vnterrichtswesens,
ii. p. 113 ff., and my review of Geiger's paper on Melanchthon's
oratio continens historiam Capnionis, 1868, in the Zeitschr. fur lutlier.
Theol. 1869, iii. p. 505 ff. ; and also of Geiger's book, Johann Reuchlin,
his Life and Works, 1871, in the same Zeitschr. 1872, i. p. 145 ff.
{See rather Geiger's book, which is indispensable to the student of
Reuchlin.} (2) On this subject compare the first ed. of Melanchthon's Loci,
im Corpus Reform., ed. Bretschneider und Bindseil, xxi. p. 139 ff.
(3) What the Old Testament testifies of the solemnity of the

40 INTRODUCTION. [§ 10.
divine law and divine judgment, of the curse of sin and the wretched
ness of a life without God, and also of the desire for forgiveness of
sins and the purifying of the heart, and of faith in divine promises, in
doctrine and history, is set forth by Luther with much impressiveness,
especially in his Exposition of the Psalms, in which, as in the Pattern-
book of all Saints, the history of his own inward life met him.
(4) From Luther, compare especially, with regard to this, the
exposition to Ps. xix. (xx.) in the exegetica opp., Lat. ed., Erl., xvi. p.
190 f. : " Sicut alia persona, alia causa aliud tempus, alius locus in nova
lege sunt, ita et aliud sacrificium, eadem tamen fides et idem spiritus
per omnia ssecula, loca, opera, personas manent. Externa variant,
interna manent. — Oportet enim ecclesiam ab initio mundi adstare
Christo circumdatam varietate, et dispensatricem esse multiformis
gratis Dei secundum diversitatem membrorum, temporum, locorum
et causarum, quse mutabilia sint et varia, ipsa tamen una semper
eademque perseveret ecclesia." Grace has many forms, but the
Church is one; and Luther would add, So is also Church doctrine.
Luther finds the dogma of the 6eav8p<oiTo<; even in Gen. iv. 1. It
is remarkable that, side by side with his free position towards some
Old Testament writings, there is a very decided strictness in regard
to the dogma which is supposed to lie iu the Old Testament. From
Melanchthon, comp. Loci, Corpus ref. xxi. p. 800 : " Una est per-
petua ecclesia Dei inde usque a creatione hominis et edita promissione
post lapsum Adas ; sed doctrinal propagatio alia in aliis politiis fuit.
Ac prodest considerare seriem historian," etc. ; — p. 801 : " Nam ut
sciremus, doctrinam ecclesise solam, primam et veram esse, Deus
singulari beneficio scribi perpetuam historiam ab initio voluit . . .
et huic libro . . . addidit testimonia editis ingentibus miraculis, ut
sciremus, unde et quomodo ab initio propagata sit ecclesiee doctrina."
(5) See Luther's preface to the Old Testament of 1523, s. W.
Erl. ed. Ixiii. p. 8 : " Here (in the Old Testament) shalt thou find
the swaddling-clothes and the manger in which Christ lies. — Poor and
of little value are the swaddling-clothes, but dear is Christ, the treasure
that lies in them."
(6) Comp. Luther on Gal. iv. 2 : " (Christus) patribus in V. T.
in spiritu veniebat, antequam in came appareret. Habebant illi in
spiritu Christum, in quern revelandum, ut nos in jam revelatum
credebant, ac sequaB per eum salvati sunt ut nos, juxta illud : < Jesus
Christus heri et hodie idem est etin SEecula' (Heb. xiii. 8)."
(7) On the hermeneutic principles of the Reformation theology,
we give the following additional details :— The principle that the true
meaning of each scriptural passage is the literal meaning, was taken

§ 10.] THEOLOGICAL CONCEPTION OF 0. T. AT THE REFORMATION. 41
from Reuchlin ; Luther had spoken sharply against the making of
allegories, and would tolerate allegories at best only as ornament
and setting, as he expressed it. To this was added the properly
theological principle of exposition by the analogia fidei. This Pro
testant principle of the analogia fidei is different from that of the old
Church. In the latter, the sum of the tradition of doctrine in the
apostolic churches formed the regula fidei ; but the analogia fidei of
the Reformers was to be drawn from Holy Scripture, and so becomes
analogia scripturw — Scripture ought to be explained by Scripture.
This principle is in itself perfectly correct ; and to have stated it, is
one of the greatest merits of Protestant theology. But it was not
properly turned to account ; the unity of the Old and New Testa
ments was not conceived as brought about by a gradually advancing
process of development, but as conformity of dogma. In order to
justify this, and to be able to show the dogma as actually present,
it was necessary to use a figurative exegesis. This, as every one
knows, is the kind of exegesis which takes the place of allegorizing
interpretations, especially in the treatment of prophecy. Compare
Luther's preface to the Old Testament, Erl. ed. lxiii. p. 22 : " Moses
is the fountain of all wisdom and understanding, out of which welled
all that was known, and told by all the prophets. The New Testa
ment also flows from it, and is grounded therein. — If thou wilt inter
pret well and surely, take Christ for thee ; for He is the man to whom
alone all refers. So, then, in the high priest Aaron see no one, but
Christ alone," etc.
(8) Calvin was so much an historical expositor in his exposition of
the prophets, that he was reproached later by the Lutheran polemic
as the Judaizing Calvin. But in the dogmatic treatment of the Old
Testament he took up just as rigorous, or indeed a more rigorous,
standpoint than Luther and Melanchthon ; compare as the principal
passage, the Institutiones of 1559, ii. chap. 11, " de differentia unius
testamenti ab altero," § 1 f . : There are indeed differences between
the Old and New Testaments, but they rather refer ad modum
administrationis than ad substantiam ; the temporal promises of the
Old Testament are a type of the heavenly inheritance. "Sub hac
psedagogia illos continuit Dominus, ut spirituals promissiones non
ita nudas et apertas illis daret, sed terrenis quodammodo adumbratas."
Then it is said, §13: "In eo elucet Dei constantia, quod eandem
omnibus swculis doctrinam tradidit ; quern ab initio prsecepit nominis
sui cultum, in eo requirendo perseverat. Quod externum formam et
modum mutavit in eo non se ostendit mutationi obnoxium : sed
hominum captui, qui varius ac mutabilis est, eatenus se attemperavit.

42 INTRODUCTION. C§ U-
§11.
THEOLOGICAL CONCEPTION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE
OLDER PROTESTANT THEOLOGY.
The treatment of the Old Testament in the older Protestant
theology was determined by the principles stated in last paragraph.
Because the dogmatic of the Evangelical Church sought to support
itself wholly on Bible doctrine, the distinction between biblical
theology and church dogma was not carried out after the thread of
cecumenico-catholic development of doctrine was again taken up.
The contents of the Scriptures were set forth with strict regard to
the systematic doctrines of the Church, not with regard to the
historical multiplicity of the Scriptures themselves, and the Old
Testament was applied in all its parts, just like the New Testament,
for dogmatic demonstration. In opposition to the Romish theolo
gians, — e.g. Bellarmin, who now distinguished the doctrine of the Old
and New Testaments as doctrina inchoata and perfecta, and main
tained that the mysteries of faith, and especially the doctrine of the
Trinity, were only obscurely and imperfectly contained in the Old
Testament, — it was taught on the side of the Protestants, that, in
respect of fundamental doctrines, the Old Testament was in no way
incomplete, and that these were only repeated more distinctly in the
New Testament (comp. for Lutheran dogma, Gerhard's Loci, ed.
Cotta, vi. p. 138 (1) ; on the reformed side, Schweizer, reformirte
Glaubenslehre, i. p. 212 f.). The expressions grew sharper in the
polemic against the Socinians ; and the same point was also disputed
in the syncretistic controversies. Among those points which raised
Lutheran orthodoxy against Georg Calixtus, was the fact that
Calixtus had denied the existence of the dogma of the Trinitv in the
Old Testament. — The first notable reaction against the scholastic
treatment of the Old Testament proceeded from the reformed theo
logy, which took a wider interest than Lutheranism in the Scrip
tures as a whole. What is called the system of periods, and still
more, the Cocceian federal theology, here fall to be considered (2).
The former was mainly grounded on the Apocalypse, which sug
gested the division of the history of the Christian Church into periods
based on the number seven, which several times recurs in the book.
In the Coccejinian school this plan of division was extended to

§ 11.] CONCEPTION OF 0. T. IN THE OLDER PROTESTANT THEOLOGY 43
the Old Testament. Cocceius (born 1603 in Bremen, placed as Pro
fessor in Leyden 1650, died 1669) proceeded in his views on biblical
theology from the idea of a double covenant between God and man :
the first, the covenant of nature and works, was made with Adam in
his state of innocence ; the second, the covenant of grace and faith,
which came in after the fall, has three dispensations — before the law,
under the law, and under the gospel. Cocceius has the undeniable
merit of having energetically maintained the rights of the theologian
in his study of the Scriptures, in opposition to the scholastic dogma
and the exegetic tradition ruled by it, as well as in opposition to
a onesided philological exegesis. His hermeneutic principles also
deserve favourable recognition. The literal meaning must be reached
as purely as possible, but at the same time with careful attention to
the immediate context ; but since the Scripture is an organism, the
whole Scripture must always be kept before the eye in the theological
explanation at each passage. The method of allegory was rejected
by him on principle : he acknowledged the typical character of the
Old Testament, in distinction from the reality of the atonement of
the new covenant ; and, indeed, it was one of the most contested
doctrines of Cocceius, that (comp. Rom. iii. 25, Heb. ix. 15) the
Old Testament granted only a -napecns afiaprtav, transmissio pecca
torum, but not a real a<peen<s. But by the way in which Cocceius
connected all the different dispensations, and confounded the thought
meant by the Holy Spirit, with its application to analogous times and
occurrences in the Church, arose that caprice of exegesis which made
Coccejinianism proverbial (3). How, on the ground of this view, the
history of the divine kingdom is enclosed in an artificial scheme, can
be seen in a singular way in Giirtler's Sy sterna theologiw propheticce,
2d ed. 1724. (Giirtler makes three great periods, — the first from
Adam to Moses, the second extending to the death of Christ, and the
third to the end of the world ; each of these is divided into seven
periods, and the numerically corresponding periods in each of the
three rows of seven are supposed to have also corresponding charac
teristics.) Among the pupils of Cocceius, the following did special
service to biblical theology : — Momma, de varia conditione et statu
ecclesiw Dei sub triplici wconomia ; the excellent Witsius, " de '
ceconomia fcederum " (exercitationes sacrw, miscellanea sacra) (4) ;

44 INTRODUCTION. U IL
Vitringa, the famous commentator on Isaiah (" de synagoga vetere,"
Observations sacrw ; and in particular, his Hypotyposis historiw
et clironologiw sacrce). Among the opponents of Cocceius we name
especially Melchior Leydecker (de republica Hebrworum, 1704).
Among the Lutheran theologians, Joh. Heinrich Majus (Professor
in Giessen) was specially influenced by the reformed biblical
theology (CEeonornia temporum V. T, 1712; Synopsis theologia!
judaicw, 1698) ; his Theologia prophetica ex selectioribus V. T. oraculis,
1710, claims particular notice, in which the Tlieologia Davidis ex
psalmis appears as a distinct part, and along with it a theologia
Jesajana, theologia Jeremiana, and a theologia prophetica ex vatibus
xii. minoribus. The arrangement in these works, which are not
without interest, is fixed by the local method (5).
(1) Gerhard brings forward the following propositions : Quod ad rem
ipsam sive mysteria fidei attinet, doctrina veteris testamenti nequaquam
est imperfecta, siquidem eosdem fundamentales fidei articulos tradit,
quos Christus et apostoli in novo testamento repetunt. Quod ad
docendi modum attinet, fatemur, quaadam fidei mysteria clarius et
dilucidius in novo testamento expressa esse, sed hoc perfectioni reali
nihil quidquam derogat, cum ad perspicuitatem potius pertineat quam
ad res ipsas cognoscendas.
(2) To see how the orthodox view of the Old Testament is con
firmed in the struggle against the Socinians, compare Diestel, " iiber
die socinianische Anschauung vom A. T.,:' Jahrb. fur deutsche Tlieol.
1862, Nr. 4, p. 709 ff.; how, on the other side, a path was opened by
the reformed theology for a theology of the Old Testament, may be
read in Diestel's " Studien zur Foederaltheologie," in the same journal,
1865, Nr. 2, p. 219 ff.
(3) The main work by Cocceius on this topic is the beautiful
little book, Summa doctrina de fwdere et testamento Dei, ed. 2, 1654,
68; note specially the preface to this book, in order to value its
standpoint aright, as well as chapters eleventh and twelfth. There is
nothing to be said against several of his hermeneutic principles ; his
hermeneutic theory is better than his practice. He has with great
clearness charged exegesis with the task of freeing itself from the
atomistic character which belongs to separate texts, and learning, on
the other hand, to comprehend the Scriptures as an oro-anism. But
what was won on tlie one side was lost on the other by the artificial
parallels drawn between the various stages of revelation, and by the
typical exposition which Cocceius used. From this arose that plurality

§ 12.] CONCEPTION AND TREATMENT OF 0. T. FROM END OF 17TH CENTURY. 45
of senses in interpretation which brought on him the reproach that he
could make each passage mean everything ; and from this came such
Coccejinian oddities as the notion that Isa. xxxiii. 7, " Behold, their
valiant ones shall cry without ; the ambassadors of peace shall weep
bitterly," is a prophecy of the death of Gustavus Adolphus. — Among
his pupils, Witsius and Vitringa in particular returned to more prudent
paths. (4) De Witsius' work, de wconomia fwderum Dei cum hominibus,
libri quatuor (ed. 4, 1712), contains what may be called a theology of
the Old Testament in the first and fourth volumes, and still deserves
to be known and valued ; in the treatment of the types, indeed (iv. 6),
much irregular caprice prevails, although he seeks to find general rules
of procedure. (The conscientiousness of the writer appears in such
passages as cec. fwd. p. 639, where he says : in omnibus caute agen
dum est, fiera fyojBov teal Tpofiov, ne mysteria fingamus ex proprio corde
nostro, horsumve obtorto collo trahamus, qua3 alioforsum spectant.
Injuria Deo et ipsius verbo fit, quando nostris inventis deberi volumus,
ut sapienter aliquid dixisse vel fecisse videatur.) [Prol.]
(5) The writings of Majus are interesting in the first place, because
he proceeds to consider separate books of Scripture in their theological
value. This, indeed, is carried out in an artificial way, for he simply
takes the loci of the dogmatic system as his framework (Hengstenberg
has done the same with the Psalms) ; but it is worth seeing what a ful
ness of theological matter is contained in many of the separate biblical
books. Secondly, it is interesting to see how Majus, in his Theologia
prophetica, places a dictum classicum at the head of each locus, which
he treats as pertaining to the Old Testament theology, attaching to
the interpretation of this leading passage his doctrinal matter ; for
example, the locus of the unity and trinity of God is headed by Deut.
vi. 4, " Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Lord !" the locus
of the creation by Gen. i. 1, " In the beginning God created," etc. ;
the locus of sin by Ps. xiv. 3, " They are all gone aside," etc. ; the
locus of Christ by Prov. viii. 22, the passage on pre-existent Wisdom ;
the locus de ecclesia by Ps. xlvi. 5 f.
§12.
CONCEPTION AND TREATMENT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT FROM THE
END OF THE SEVENTEENTH TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY.In the Lutheran Church, collegia biblica, or topical lectures, be
came common from the end of the seventeenth century onwards (e.g.

46 INTRODUCTION. [§ 12.
Schmid, Collegium biblicum ; Baier, Analysis et vindicatio illustrium
script, s. dictorum). These lectures, which contained exegetico-
dogmatical discussions of the biblical proof-texts most valuable for
the doctrine of the Church, gave some impulse to the treatment of
biblical theology apart from dogmatic, but one which is not to be
highly estimated. The treatises on the Church history of the Old
Testament, as they were called, which came out about the same time,
are of more value for the theology of the Old Testament. The most
important of these is the Historia ecclesiastica veteris testamenti of
Buddeus, 3d ed. vol. ii. 1726-29 (1). The biblicism of Spener
and his school had, indeed, influence in breaking the doctrinal
rigqrousness of the orthodox dogma ; but since the tendency of
pietism was directed predominantly to edifying expositions of Scrip
ture, and the value of the separate portions of the Bible was measured
by the degree of their adaptation to personal edification, pietism
could not reach biblical theology as an historical science. This one
circumstance which was valuable for prophetic theology was, that
Spener did justice to the scriptural view of the completion in this
world of the kingdom of God (2). It was Johann Albrecht Bengel
who, upon the ground of his view of the divine kingdom as an wconomia
divind circa mundum universum, circa genus humanum, insisted on an
organic and historical conception of biblical revelation with strict
regard to the difference of its stages. The Wurtemberg school, which
took its origin from him, regarded as its task not only practical
edification from separate Bible texts, but especially the awakening of
a knowledge of salvation resting on insight into the whole course of
the divine kingdom (3). In this connection, Roos, Burk, Hiller (4),
Oetinger, and others brought deep thoughts to light in a plain and
simple form. The Leipzig theologian Christian August Crusius is
akin to the school of Bengel : we name as his chief work the Hypo-
mnemata ad theologiam propheticam, in three volumes (5). Still the
seed scattered by Bengel and his school found little receptive ground
amidst the revolution which passed in the course of the eighteenth
century over German Protestant theology. The English deism had
become powerful in Germany also, and a onesided subjectivism
stepped into the place of the scholasticism of Church dogma, which,
believing only in itself, admitted that alone to be truth which the

§ 12.] CONCEPTION AND TREATMENT OF 0. T. FROM END OF 17TH CENTURY. 47
subject, alienated from the Christian experience of salvation, still felt
able to produce from itself. What is given in the Bible as revelation
was now to be explained as the arbitrary deed of human individuals
who made bold to institute religions. The works of the apologists
(Lardner, Warburton, Shuckford, Lilienthal The Good Cause of Divine
Revelation, 16 parts) did indeed bring forward some materials available
for the biblical branches of theology ; but they could effect but little
in opposition to their opponents, since they agreed Nith. them in the
subsumption of the biblical, and in particular of the Old Testament,
institutions under the category of the commonest utility (6). This
system of referring the plan of the Old Testament revelation to the
standpoint of the most trivial shrewdness which Joh. Spencer (7) in his
learned work, de legibus Hebrworum ritualibus earumque rationibus, 1686
(published again by Pfaff, 1732), and Clericus had prepared, became
quite predominant in Germany through the works of the learned
orientalist of Goettingen, Joh. David Michaelis, who, in his Mosaic
Law, did the utmost for the theory of utility (8). Semler's tendency
has a more ethical character. It is rooted in pietism, save that Semler
regards that which is serviceable for moral improvement, not that
which edifies the Christian, as the one thing of importance, and as
that by which, therefore, in the Holy Scriptures, the divine and the
human, the material and the immaterial, must be separated. He
maintains none the less that the Bible and Church doctrine contradict
each other, — a proposition which from his time onwards is shared
equally by rationalists and supernaturalists. Thus was biblical theo
logy completely freed from Church dogma.
(1) Comp. Hengstenberg's Gesohichte des Reiches Gottes unter
dem A . Bunde, Periode I. p. 92. (In Clark's For. Theol. Library.)
(2) Comp. on this point, and part of what follows, Delitzsch, die
biblisch-prophetische .Theologie ihre Fortbildung durch Chr. A. Crusius
und ihre neuste Entwickelung, 1845.
(3) Bengel himself wrote nothing on the Old Testament, except
that his Ordo temporum includes the Old Testament. We must
observe, however, that disjointed suggestive hints in connection with
the Old Testament are to be found scattered everywhere in his
numerous writings, also in the Gnomon to the Nero Testament, etc.
The propositions in opposition to the dogmatism of the period in the
Ordo temporum, chap. 8, " de futuris in scriptura provisis ac revelatis,"

48 INTRODUCTION. [§ 12.
ought especially to be noticed. In the second of the hermeneutic rules
there set up, Bengel states the proposition, which at that time was
quite new (2d ed. p. 257) : " Gradatim Deus in patefaciendis regni
sui mysteriis progreditur, sive res ipsse spectentur, sive tempora.
Opertum tenetur initio, quod deinde apertum cernitur. Quod quavis
wtate datur, id sancti debent amplecti, non plus sumere, non minus
accipere." (4) Magnus Friederich Roos is Bengel's most notable pupil.
Among his works we have here to mention : Fundamenta psychologiw
ex sacra scriptura collecta, a work rich in fine remarks ; Einleitung in
die biblische Gesohichte, 1770 ff. (reprinted in Tubingen, 1835 ff., in
three volumes), in a plain popular form, and likewise offering a wealth
of subtle thought ; Exposition of the Prophecies of Daniel, and others.
The main works of Burk and Hiller are cited by Delitzsch, I.e. p. 10.
Compare also the introduction to Auberlen's book, Die Theosophie
Friedr. Christ. Oetingers.
(5) On Crusius compare Delitzsch (I.e. p. 1 ff.), who gives his
views in detail, but values him too highly.
(6) In this connection, the argument adopted by Warburton in
his work, The Divine Legation of Moses, is best known. If Morgan
had asserted, against the divinity of the Mosaic religion, the want of
faith in immortality and retribution after death, Warburton argued,
on the contrary, that just because, under a common providence, civil
government cannot be kept up without the belief in future rewards
and punishments, the Jewish state must have been ruled by a special
providence, because the Mosaic religion was wanting in this faith. —
Sam. Shuckford offers a quite similar example. The Deists had
declared the Mosaic service of offerings to be unreasonable ; now
Shuckford argued that, because the worship of God by offerino-s could
not have been arrived at by mere reason (for " I cannot see what sort
of rational argument could have brought them to fancy that it was
required of them to expiate their sins, and show their thankfulness for
divine benefits, by an offering "), the Lord God must Himself have set
up this service (The Sacred and Profane History of the World Con
nected, translated by Theodor Arnold, with a preface by Wolle 1731,
i. p. 27, comp. p. 57; the original appeared in 1727) [Pro!.]. — The
chief work on the history of English Deism is by Lechler, 1847.
(7) Spencer's view on the Mosaic ritual law is expressed completely
and concisely in his dissertation de Urim, sec. xii. (ed. Pfaff p. 974)
in the following sentences : " Verisimile est rituum Mosaicorum
partem multo maximam ex hoc triplici fonte manasse : (1) e moribus
quibusdam religiosis, quibus patriarcharum exempla et antiquitatis

§ 13.] RISE OF A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY DISTINCT FROM DOGMATIC. 49
supremse canities reverentiam conciliarant. — (2) Quidam ritus et
leges Mosaicas e malis sasculi moribus, ut bonse leges solent, nasce-
bantur. Cum enim Israelitarum mores post curvitatem diuturnam in
-ZEgypto contractam ad rectum duci, nisi in contrarium flectendo,
non potuerint; leges ritusque multos cum moribus olim receptis e
diametro pugnantes instituit Deus. — (3) Alii originem petiere e con-
suetudine aliqua, quse apud iEgyptios et alios e vicino populos inve-
teravit; quam Deus integram pasne reservavit Israelitis, ut eorum
animos sibi conciliaret, qui gentium moribus assueverant, et iis in-
genia sua penitus immiscuissent."— What is characteristic of Spencer's
conception of Mosaism lies principally in what is said in number 3.
The subtilty which the century loves to ascribe to founders of religions
is transferred to God Himself. (To this Witsius has replied well,
in his jEgyptiaca, Amst. 1683, lib. iii. cap. xiv., which are directed
against Marsham's Canon Chronicus, and Spencer's diss, de Urim et
Thummim.) " God appears as a Jesuit, who makes use of a bad
means for reaching a good aim" (Bahr, Symbolik des mosaischen
Kultus, i. p. 41). [Prol.]
(8) Hengstenberg has given a thorough critique of the three last
named in his Contributions to the Introduction to the Old Testament,
ii. p. iv. ff.
(9) On Semler, compare Diestel's essay in the Jalirbuch fur Deutsche
Theol. 1867, vol. iii. p. 471 ff., " Zur Wurdigung Sender's." Sem-
ler's merits lie more in the department of the history of dogma, not
so much in the Old Testament.

§13.
RISE OF A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY DISTINCT FROM DOGMATIC. TREAT
MENT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT BY RATIONALISM, AND BY THE
NEWER HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION (1).
John Philip Gabler is regarded as the man who, in his academic
oration, de justo discrimine theologiw biblicw et dogmaticw, 1787,
first clearly expressed the idea of biblical theology as an historical
science. The name, indeed, is older, but was used to denote some
times a collection of proof-texts for dogmatic, sometimes a popular
system of doctrine and ethic, sometimes a systematic statement of
biblical doctrine held apart from the dogmatic of the Church, or
designed to serve in criticising the latter. The most important book
VOL. i. D

50 INTRODUCTION. [§ 13.
of the last-named class is Zachariae's Biblical Theology, 4 parts,
1772-75 (2). — Gabler, on the other hand, defined the work of biblical
theology as the statement of "the religious ideas of Scripture as an
historical fact, so as to distinguish the different times and subjects,
and so also the different stages in the development of these ideas." —
This necessarily demanded the separation of Old and New Testa
ment theology. A separate discussion of each was soon given by
Lorenz Bauer, Professor of the Doctrine of Reason and of Oriental
Languages at Altorf (Theology ofthe Old Testament, 1796; Appen
dices to the work, 1801) (3). But with an interest in historical
treatment of the subject was not united an equal effort to go
really deep into the contents of the Old Testament. The "vulgar
rationalism " of the period of which Lorenz Bauer is a representative,
had neither received from the suggestions of Lessing (4) and Kant (5)
an impulse to understand the pedagogic value of the Old Testament,
nor learned from Herder to turn an open eye upon its human beauties.
The main endeavour was to put aside everything which was called
temporary form, orientalism, and so forth, and thus reduce the
essential contents of the Bible to the thinnest possible series of a few
very ordinary commonplaces. The superficiality of this standpoint is
in great measure shared by the unfinished work of Gramberg, Critical
History of the Religious Ideas of the Old Testament, 1829-30 (6).
Baumgarten Crusius' Outlines of Biblical Theology, 1828 (which
again gives up the separation of Old and New Testament theology),
and Daniel v. Coelln's Biblical Theology (1836, 2 vols.), are the first
works that mark the transition to a thorough treatment of our subject.
The hints towards an organic historical apprehension of the Old Tes
tament, which had been offered by Herder (7), mainly under stimulus
from Hamann, were taken up by De Wette with discriminating
sympathy. But in his christ. Dogmatik, which stands under the
influence of the philosophy of Fries (3d ed. 1831), this view is not
carried through (8). Of recent theologians, it is Umbreit who has most
fully accepted the standpoint of Herder, developiug it in a positive
direction (Practical Commentary on the Old Testament Prophets 1841 ff.;
Sin, a contribution to Old Testament Theoloyy, 1853; The Epistle
to the Romans expounded on' the basis of the Old Testament, 1856).
Ewald, in his History of the People of Israel (four vols, of the seven

§ 13.] RISE OF A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY DISTINCT FROM DOGMATIC. 51
belong to the Old Testament, 3d ed. 1864 ff., and with these goes the
volume on the Antiquities of Israel, 3d ed. 1866), has interwoven with
his narrative a full account of the growth of the Old Testament
religion, but his vague notion of revelation does not raise him essen
tially above the rationalistic method which he despises; yet this
diffusely written work contains, along with much that is arbitrary,
many individual details that are just and suggestive.1
The new phase into which the study of the history of religion has
entered in our century, mainly through the influence of Creuzer, has
exerted a considerable influence on the treatment of the Old Testa
ment. Many, especially, have been the attempts to throw light on
the traditions of Genesis and the institutions of Moses, from the
comparative history of religion ; cf . Buttmann's Mythologus, and several
essays of Baur in the Tubinger Zeitschrift fur Theologie (9). Kaiser,
in his Biblical Theology (1813, 2 vols.), proposed to treat the whole
biblical religion " in accordance with a free theological position, giving
it its place in critico-comparative general history and in universal
religion." But the comparative method is applied so wholly out of
measure and rule, especially in the first volume, that the author him
self subsequently gave sentence against his own book (10). The
chief defect in this comparison of religions was a too great dependence
on outward similarities, without sufficiently deep perception of the
specific peculiarities of the religions compared. The characteristic
idea of each religion was taken mainly from Schleiermacher and
Hegel, both of whom had failed to do justice to the specific connec
tion of the Old and New Testaments ; while Schelling's philosophy
of revelation, on the other hand, does recognise the specific relation of
the old covenant to Christianity, in spite of the fact that the philo
sopher regards the basis and immediate presuppositions of the Old
Testament as identical with those of heathenism, and represents the
religion of the old covenant not as exempt from the mythological
process, but as working through it (11). The Old Testament was
constructed from the standpoint of Hegel, by Rust (Philosophy and
Christianity, 2d ed. 1833), Vatke (Religion of the Old Testament, 1835.
1 {Ewald's vieivs on biblical theology are now in course of publication on a large
scale, in his Lehre der Bibel von Gott, oder Theologie des Alten und Neuen Bundes,
1st vol., Leipzig 1871.}-

52 INTRODUCTION. C§ 13.
Only the first part appeared. In point of form the work is very
finished), and Bruno Bauer (Religion of the Old Testament, 2 vols.
1838) ; but from the same philosophical standpoint the two last named
came to quite opposite results (12).
(1) Specially valuable for the history of biblical theology, since
the end of last century, is the above-cited essay of Schmid, " on the
interests and position of biblical theology of the New Testament in
our time," Tub. Zeitschr. f. Theol. 1838, H. 4, p. 125 ff.
(2) Zachariae discusses the doctrines of the Old Testament at
length, but generally only in a subsidiary way. Only seldom (e.g. in
§ 81) are they taken up in a purely historical manner. [Prol.]
(3) Lorenz Bauer wrote on all the Old Testament disciplines (not
only on biblical theology, but on — Hermeneutica sacra V. T, Introduction
to the Old Testament Antiquities, and History of the Hebrew Nation),
and wrote commentaries on some of the Old Testament books. The
applause with which these writings of a theologian who made the Old
Testament "readable" were greeted, appears from the reviews in the
theological journal of Ammon and Haenlein (afterwards of Gabler).
He may be viewed, therefore, as a leading representative of the
rationalistic treatment of the Old Testament at that period. The
historical process by which he gets at the successive development of
religion is to distinguish the doctrine (1) of Genesis, (2) of the other
books of the Pentateuch, (3) of the book of Joshua, (4) of Judges,
and so on — 14 divisions in all. (This is in his appendices, for he was
afraid that in the book itself his method had been still too dogmatic.)
This is enough to show how external is the apprehension of the historic
development. The critical treatment consists in judging the contents
of the Old Testament from the principles of the most commonplace
intelligence, and sometimes in condemning them as superstitious or
immoral ; or at times " the less strong philosophy of the Hebrews ''
is treated with more indulgence, or we are told that this was " the
extent of the religious enlightenment of the Hebrews." [Prol.]
(4) The writing of Lessing's which falls to be mentioned here is
The Education of the Human Race. Some have said that Lessing
was not in earnest with this book ; but the right judgment on the
author is that of Lotze in his History of Aesthetic in Germany, p. 24 :
"He touched no subject without casting much licdit on it; but the
great intellectual agitator to whom the culture of his nation owes a
debt that cannot be estimated, did not in any field of inquiry advance
to the systematic connection of the fruitful threads of thought which
he spun. We are put in mind of his own saying, that the endless

§ 13.] RISE OF A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY DISTINCT FROM DOGMATIC. 53
search for truth, even though it were without result, is better than
the unlaborious possession of truth : we comprehend how this earnest
joy in investigation, and deep reverence for truth, made him indisposed
to come to a final conclusion, which is generally harder to retract than
an error of detail."
(5) Kant's work, Religion within the Limits of Pure Reason, which
is regarded as the starting-point of recent philosophy of religion, takes
notice, though but briefly, of the Old Testament. Kant asserted the
relative necessity of a positive religion. The absolute demand of the
moral law, that the radical evil must be overcome by what is good, can
be accomplished in mankind as a whole only by the founding of an
ethical society in which the moral law becomes the general principle.
But such an ethical society can be founded only by a religion which,
in order to the visible manifestation of the ethical commonwealth, must
take statutory shape, as men always desire a sensible confirmation of
rational truths. But a statutory law must be prescribed under divine
authority : it is the vehicle of the religion of reason by which man
must train himself to free morality. — One would suppose that these
propositions opened the way in an unexpected manner for the philo
sophic apprehension of Mosaism ; but Kant made no such application
of them. He had a strong antipathy to the Old Testament, saying
- that the law of Moses contains not moral, but mere political precepts —
does not prescribe moral disposition as a motive ; and that the Old
Testament has no doctrine of immortality, and is particularistic.
[Prol.] (6) Gramberg's 1st vol. contains hierarchy and cultus ; vol. 2,
theocracy and prophecy. — Vols. 3 and 4 were to contain dogmatic and
ethic, but the author died before they were complete. [Pro].]
(7) Special reference is due to Herder's Letters respecting the Study
of Theology ; cf. e.g. the 18th letter in vol. ix. of his religious and
theological works. The leading proposition which Herder there states
is : " The whole Old Testament rests on an ever fuller development of
certain primitive promises, images, results, and their whole combined
sense — their ever wider and more spiritual purpose : the New Testa
ment was therefore a fulfilling of the Old, as the kernel appears
when all the shells and husks tliat hid it are stripped off. They were
stripped off gradually, and with ever increasing delicacy, till Christ
appeared ; and they shall yet be universally recognised as one purpose
of God, when He shall come with His kingdom."
(8) Of De Wette's writings we have here specially to mention
two ingenious essays, — his " Contribution to the Description of the
Character of Hebraism," in Creuzer and Daub's Studien; and a paper

54 INTRODUCTION. [§ 13.
on " The Symbolico-typical Method of the Doctrine of the Epistle to
the Hebrews," in the theological Zeitschrift, edited by him in fellow-.
ship with Schleiermacher and Liicke. Here we find such statements
as the following : " As every phenomenon in time is interwoven with
the time that precedes and follows, so Christianity proceeded from
Judaism. — The whole Old Testament is one great prophecy, one great
type of that which was to come, and is come," etc. In De Wette's
Biblical Dogmatic this view recurs only in general statements (parti
cularly § 211). In the anthropological introduction to this book, the
idea of religion is determined according to the philosophy of Fries.
This idea is then applied to the religious material of the Old and New
Testaments ; and everything in them which does not square with
the utterances and laws of the ideal rational faith, and of religious
sentiment, is excluded or regarded as irrelevant disguise, while only
what remains is taken as the true essence of the religion (§ 50, 51).
In this process, Old and New Testament are to be accurately dis
tinguished, but also again compared together (§ 58). — It appears from
his essay on " the exposition of the Psalms for edification" (Basel,
1836), that De Wette regards the development of the notions expressed
in the essays cited above as the proper work not of scientific theology,
but of the practical treatment of the Old Testament for ends of
edification. [Pro!.]
(9) To this head belong especially Baur's essays " on the original
meaning of Passover and Circumcision," and " the Hebrew Sabbath
and the national festivals of the Mosaic cultus," — both in Tueb.
Zeitschr. f Theol. 1832. In the former essay Baur thus defines
the standpoint of his investigation : " Mosaism must be viewed as a
great religious reform ; the renewal and restoration of a purer religion
periodically darkened and threatened by still greater darkness and
decay. It contains so many elements accepted by tradition from
primeval antiquity ; and the further these elements lie beyond the
strictly limited sphere of Mosaism, the more clearly do they point
back to a freer and wider region of religion, in which later polytheism
has also its proper share — to a common primeval religion, from which
special forms of religion proceeded and gradually fell apart." [Prol.]
(10) On Kaiser's biblical theology, see the essay of Schmid cited
above, p. 140.
(11) On Schleiermacher, cf. § 8, note 3 ; on Schelling, cf. Adolf
Planck, Schelling's Posthumous Works, and their Importance for '
Theology and Philosophy, 1858.
(12) Hegel distinguishes three stages of religion : the religion of
nature, the religion of spiritual individuality or subjectivity, and the

§ 13.] RISE OF A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY DISTINCT FROM DOGMATIC. 55
absolute religion. The Jewish religion belongs to the second stage,
in which the religious consciousness is no longer determined by nature,
but, on the contrary, the subject has grasped itself in its being-for-
itself [Fiirsichseyn], and is that which absolutely determines the
natural. Divinity, therefore, is at this stage known as freely deter
mining itself by itself, and acting for ends. This stage of religion is
evolved in three forms. In the first, the Jewish religion, the spiritual
being-for-itself comes forth as the spiritual God, one and self-consistent,
to whom all that is natural and finite stands in a relation of absolute lack
of independence. This God manifests Himself in nature, but so that He
is higher than His manifestation in the natural world, and distinguishes
Himself therefrom. Thus nature loses all divine quality — religion of
loftiness. God is Wisdom, inasmuch as He is Himself the end to which
all things are directed ; and is the Holy One, because as the one God
He unites in one end all the determining properties of the end. But
since the end is not the determination of the infinite essence of God
Himself (God does not create Himself in Himself), but rather the
realizing of the end falls outside of Him, the one divine end is limited
and particularized. " The two things correspond, infinite might and
limitation of actual aim : on the one side loftiness, and on the other
the opposite, infinite limitation and prejudice." This contradiction
between universality of aim and limitation of realization is what brings
the religion of Israel to its fall.
In the second religion of this stage, the religion of Greece, the
separation of the natural and the spiritual which is made in Jewish
religion is again done away with in corporeity, in which the natural
is the token of the spiritual (religion of beauty). This gives a certain
reconciliation of the particular with the universal, the particular being
raised into the life of the universal as an inner determination thereof,
while the universal enters in a living personal manner into the sphere
of the particular. The human form is recognised as an adequate form
for the appearance of the Godhead, which thus presents itself as a
plurality of divine-human individualities. Thus a unity of the divine
and the human is reached, though (as Vatke modifies the statement,
p. 113) only a superficial unity. But the oneness of these many
particulars into which the Godhead is divided is external to the
former, the undefined subjective might that stands above the gods —
necessity — Hellenic fate. As in Jewish religion universality appears
without true differentiation into particulars, so in the Greek religion
we find the particular without its true universality.
This external relation of the general and the particular is sublated
in the third religion of this stage — the religion of Rome. The

56 INTRODUCTION. [§ 13
particular ends which fell apart in the Greek religion, and were
swayed by blind necessity, are here elevated and made part of the
supreme necessity, being comprehended in the one necessary end to
the realization of which the gods act as means. The universality of
this end raises it above the particularistic limitation of Judaism ; but
while the latter is directed to the one, the eternal, the supernatural,
the aim of the religion of Rome is one that resides externally among
men, possessing only empirical universality : it is the might of the
Roman state, which by force of weapons, under the protection of its
gods, subdues the limited minds of the nations, annihilates their poli
tical life and their gods, and so, by dashing the old world to pieces,
paves the way for the absolute religion.
These are the outlines of Hegel's view. It does not deny, nay,
expressly asserts, the organic relation of Judaism to Christianity.
The pre-Christian forms of religion are only the individual integral
parts of the notion of religion, which appears in its totality in the
absolute religion, in Christianity. Judaism, like the other religions
before Christ, is an essential presupposition of Christianity, and the
Old Testament really contains a preparation for Christianity. But the
connection of Judaism with Christianity is not on this theory specific,
or at least not closer than that of Greek or Roman religion. Bruno
Bauer, indeed (Zeitschr. fur Spekulat. Theol. i. Nr. 2, p. 256), sought
to deduce from Hegelian principles a closer positive connection of
Judaism with Christianity ; pointing to Hegel's statement (Rel.-Phil.
ii. p. 222) that the alienation, the infinite pain, presupposed by the
atonement offered in Christianity, can be felt only where " the good,
or God, is known as one God, as a God purely spiritual," etc., which
is the case only in the religion of the Old Testament. But the
inference as to the relation of Judaism and heathenism which flows
from this, is not drawn in Hegel's philosophy of religion. And to
show how the Old Testament religion necessarily " led man to look
deep into himself, and so displayed the negative element of alienation
(wickedness)," would have required a much more accurate grasp of
God's holiness and of sin than belongs to Hegel's statements.
We can here remark only in a general way on the relation in
which Hegel places the religion of the Old Testament to the religions
of heathenism. — First, as regards the relation of Judaism to Greek
religion, which is said to be, that the separation of the natural and the
spiritual, of the divine and the human, made in the former is sublated
in the latter. It has justly been urged against this view, that the
complete separation made iu the religion of Israel is not a thing which
the Greek religion has passed through and risen beyond, but a thing

§ 13.] RISE OF A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY DISTINCT FROM DOGMATIC. 57
which it has not yet attained to. The only stage of religion above which
the Greek religion rises, is that in which subjectivity still lies captive
in absolute dependence on the forces that rule in the natural universe ;
all that the Greek spirit got over was the unfree relation of man to
the life of nature. But the way in which the Greek spirit lays hold
of itself in free subjectivity over against nature is not by coming to a
point where the spirit is torn loose from nature and alienated there
from, but again reconciled by Hellenic religion. On the contrary, the
subject remains harmoniously united to the life of nature, in which it
only meets again its own free spiritual life. For the Greek view of
nature, to borrow the words of Braniss (in the excellent sketch of the
philosophy of religion in his Survey of the Progress of Philosophy, 1842,
p. 83 ff.), is briefly this : " All things are subjects ; and of all the
endless variety of natural beings which the universe contains, the inner
side is man ;" and the first principle of the religious consciousness of
the Greek is, that " everything natural is divine, only because and in
so far as it is human." — Doubtless the Greek religion has a vague
sense of alienation between the subjective spirit and the glad world of
the Olympians, e.g. in the myth of Prometheus, and in the prophecy of
the son of Metis (cf. Stuhr, The Religious Systems of the Hellenes, etc.,
p. 79 f.). But this does not go the length of a real breach, much less
of a reconciliation ; for Prometheus submits to Zeus, and Metis, who
menaces danger, is swallowed by Zeus. But when the son of Metis,
who overthrew the gods of popular faith, was born in Greek philosophy,
then indeed appeared an alienation between nature and spirit, for
which neither Greek religion nor anything in heathenism could provide
an atonement. For neither the new gods brought in from foreign
worships to supply the proved insufficiency of the old deities, nor the
philosophers' attempt to gather up the multiplicity of the world in the
unity of the ovtoos ov, which Plutarch, for example, preaches as the
true God with almost prophetic voice (see especially, de Ei apud
Delphos, cap. 20, and Dr. C. L. Roth's review of Nagelsbach's Homeric
Theology, in Harless' Zeitschrift fur Protestantismus, new series, i. p.
382 ff.), satisfied the spirit which now sought a godhead standing above
nature — a supernatural god. If, then, the Greek religion in its dissolu
tion sought what the Old Testament always possessed, how can it be
held to rise superior to the Old Testament faith ? — Thus, too, it is not
just to assert, with Vatke (p. 113), that the figures of the gods in the
Greek religion approach on one side nearer to the idea of the God-man
than the abstract infinitude of the Hebrew view and the symbolic or
momentary interlinking of the infinite with the actual ; for between
the union of the holy supernatural God with man's nature, which is

58 INTRODUCTION. • [§ 13.
sought in the Old Testament, and the human gods of Greece, which
are only immanent principles of the natural world, there subsists no
relation which makes it reasonable to speak of an approximation of
the two views at all.
Further, as regards the relation of Judaism to the religion of
Rome, Vatke thinks it quite impossible to draw a parallel between
the two. But this is hardly what his master would have said. Hegel
obviously means to ascribe to the religion of Rome a superiority over
Judaism, insomuch as in the latter the divine aim is realized outside
of God, and is limited to one family and nation ; while the aim
attained in the Roman' system is universal, viz. the world-empire.
But it is more correct to say, that the divine aim expressed in Israel's
religion is particularistic only in its temporary manifestation. In
itself it is universal, and expects universal realization, as the Old
Testament certainly knows. That all nations shall be blessed in
Abraham's seed is the beginning of the promise : the kingship of
Jehovah over all the earth is proclaimed by prophecy as the end of
the divine empire. In the history of the people of Israel, the Old
Testament sees movement towards the realization of this universal
aim. "But," objects B. Bauer (Religion of the Old Testament, i.
Introd. p. lxxxviii.), " this universality of aim was a mere postulate,
to the real execution of which Hebraism did nothing, and could do
nothing, because the law as such stopped short with an ' ought.' The
Hebrew nation as a community took not one step to diffuse the
service of Jehovah, and bring about a universal manifestation of the
divine aim in time to come. The actual carrying out of the divine
end, as a practical matter of fact, first appears in the -world history in
the religion of Rome, and forms a factor in the history of the religious
consciousness, which stands higher than the aim which appears in the
religions of the Old Testament and of Greece" (p. Ixxv.). "To
have actually broken the national spirit of the ancient peoples, re
mains the boast of the Romans in the history of the world ; and with
out this deed the predictions of the prophets could never have been
fulfilled." — True! but after the national spirit of antiquity was
broken, as B. Bauer says (and as the Old Testament itself predicts,
Hag. ii. 21, 22, etc.), and after the Roman system had cleared the
way, the prophetic predictions were verily fulfilled, and the execution
of the holy purpose of God spoken in the Old Testament became
practical matter of fact. When the Romans had realized their universal
aim, it was made a means towards the aim revealed in Israel. The
Capitol and Mount Zion confront one another with equal claims to send
forth their commands over all the world. But it was the God of

§ 13.] RISE OF A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY DISTINCT FROM DOGMATIC. 59
Israel, not Jupiter Oapitolinus, that sware by Himself : " To me every
knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear, and say, In the Lord have
I righteousness and strength." Not the pax Romana was the goal of
the old world, but the kingdom of the Prince of peace, who comes
forth from Israel, to whom, in the execution of the aim already
revealed in the Old Testament, all the majesty of Roman was a mere
servant. On which side, then, did the superiority lie ?
There is no historical truth even in the assertion (Bauer, p.
lxxvi.) that the Old Testament religion stands in a relation of reci
procity with those of Greece and Rome, so that the one always gives
the negation of the onesidedness and limitation of the others ; while
Christianity arises out of their inner dialectic. It was not by factors
of the Greek and Roman religion that the limits of the Old Testa
ment religion were broken, and her prophecies carried to fulfilment ;
and it is vain to accuse the Christian Church of a lie, in that it has
from the first regarded the Hellenes as the- iXiriSa fx-q eyoz/res teal aOeoi
iv ra KocrjjKp in contrast with the irdXirela tov 'lo-parjk, of which it
considers itself the continuation and completion. To this knowledge
of the early Church it is objected (Vatke, p. 115 f. ; cf. Schleier
macher, der christliche Glaube, § 12), that " even the consideration
of the manner in which Christianity found entrance among Jews
and Gentiles is enough to teach us that, on the whole, it stood in a
similar relation to both standpoints. For the heathen, most of whom,
and especially those who were then bearers of the world-historical
spirit, belonged to the Greek and Roman principles, accepted Chris
tianity as willingly, or even more so, than the Jews. Nay more,
they were purer organs of Christianity." But to this the answer
of Nitzsch is adequate : " The very reason why the Jews hardened
themselves in so great a measure against Christianity, was their
consciousness of the absolute negation of heathenism in their religion,
— a possession that they sought to retain as their exclusive pride ; and
the very reason why the heathens were so ready to accept Christ, is
that they sighed after revelation, but had it not ; though heathenism
may have worked its way up to the hypothesis of a revelation." If
the question is one of the purity with which Christianity was appre
hended, the Jewish apostles of the Lord are likely, in spite of all
modern Gnosticism, to retain the honour of having been the purest
Organs of the Christian spirit.
It will be seen from what precedes why Hegel's view of Judaism
cannot suffice Christian theology, so long as the latter remains
positively Christian at all. (Further details need not be gone into ;
but it would, for example, be easy to show, that what Hegel says of

60 INTRODUCTION. [§ 14.
God's holiness, the fear of the Lord, etc., is very applicable to Islam,
but not to the Old Testament. The name "religion of loftiness"
would better suit Islam. Cf. also the doctrine of God's holiness,
infra.) [Prol.] §14.
THEOLOGICAL VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE EARLIER
SUPERNATURALISM, AND IN THE MOST RECENT LITERATURE.
For a long time, supernaturalism had done comparatively little for
Old Testament theology. Only in a few books is a living historical
view of revelation found, as in the case of Hess, who is mainly
concerned with the proof that revelation proceeds on a plan (1).
More important is Menken, who in part carries forward the line of
thought originated by Bengel (Attempt at a Guide to Self-instruction
in the Holy Scripture, 3d ed. 1833 — a kind of biblical dogmatic) (2).
In genera], the theological use of the Old Testament by the so-called
rational supernaturalists was confined partly to the proof of the
general doctrines of Christian religion from passages of the Old
Testament, partly to the use of the Old Testament prophecies for
apologetic. In the latter respect, the chief point taken up was the
justification of the citations in the New Testament, which, however,
was often done without fixed principles as to the relation of prophecy
and fulfilment (3). From this side Steudel alone gave a complete
discussion of Old Testament theology (4). Steudel acknowledges
that it is requisite to apprehend the Old Testament word in its inner
connection with the history of salvation, but his book itself proposes
no more than a systematic statement of the religious notions of the
Old Testament ; and the progress of religious knowledge in the Old
Testament is treated not as an organic development, but more from
the outside, as the gradual filling up of a framework given from the
first (5).
The first to exert a thoroughgoing influence on the theological
treatment of the Old Testament was Hengstenberg, mainly by his
Christology of the Old Testament (3 vols., 1st ed. 1829-35 2d ed.
re-written, 1854-57 ; translated in Foreign Theological Library, 4
vols.). With all its onesidedness, or partly just because of its
strong onesidedness, this book made an epoch. The standpoint

§ 14.] THEOLOGICAL VIEW OF THE 0. T. IN SUPERNATURALISM. 61
which Hengstenberg first took up in treating the Old Testament,
and from which he never quite freed himself, is essentially that
of the old Protestant theology ; for while not renewing all the
tenets of the latter, he yet very distinctly aimed at finding all the
fundamental New Testament doctrines in the Old Testament, not in
a process of living growth, but ready made (6). With this naturally
went a disposition to spiritualizing exegesis of the prophecies, which
deprived the concrete historical side of part of its due (7). Hengsten
berg retains the merit, however, of having been the first to revive in
Germany a strong religious and theological interest in the Old Testa
ment. After his death appeared the History of the Kingdom of God
in the Old Testament, edited from his lectures, 1869-71 (translated
in Foreign Theological Library). The standpoint of Hengsten-
berg's criticism is also that of F. R. Hasse in his History of the
Old Covenant (published posthumously, Leipzig 1863), a book < full
of matter, but which does not go into details as to the Old Testa
ment doctrine. In this respect Havernick's lectures on Old Testa
ment theology serve as a supplement to the book. These lectures
(posthumously published by Hahn, 1848, and again, with notes and
valuable additions by H. Schulz, in 1863), state only the doctrines
of the Old Testament, and these not completely, but contain much
that is very good.
It still remained an unaccomplished task to delineate the whole
course of the Old Testament history of salvation in its organic con
tinuity, and with due regard to the progressive reciprocity of the word
of revelation with the events of history. This task was undertaken
by J. Chr. K. Hofmann, Prophecy and Fulfilment in the Old and
New Testaments, 2 parts, 1841-44. In opposition to Hengstenberg's
obliteration of the differences of grade in the Old Testament, Hof
mann wishes to cast light on the progressive connection of prophecy
with history ; but in doing so, onesidedly gives the revealing word a
secondary relation to the revealing events, which often leads to evacu
ation of the former. The relation of the word and events of revela
tion was afterwards put more correctly in Hofmann's Schriftbeweis,
which throughout gives many most valuable contributions to the
theology of the Old Testament (8). The most recent handbook of
Old Testament theology, and one of the most valuable scientific

62 INTRODUCTION.. C§ 14.
works on this subject, is the Old Testament Theology of Hermann
Schulz, 2 vols. 1869 (9).
(1) The chief writing of Hess here to be noticed is, " On the King
dom of God ; an Attempt to sketch the Plan of the Divine Institu
tions and Revelations," 2 vols. 1781. A later condensation of the
book is, Kernel of the Doctrine of the Kingdom of God, 1819 ; well
characterized by Hengstenberg in his History of the Kingdom of
God, p. 99 f.
(2) Menken published the results of his biblical inquiries not in a
form strictly scientific, but in a somewhat elevated popular shape.
He may be said to have taken it as his life-task to investigate and
elucidate the course of revelation ; for in the demonstration of the way
in which the history of God's kingdom forms a close harmonious
whole, he correctly saw the best apology for the Bible. By his ex
positions, at once clear and deep, he alike opposed mystical fantasies
and rationalistic or supernaturalistic superficiality. No doubt he was
himself onesided, and in particular was led away by his opposition to the
Church's doctrine of the atonement to a most violent exegesis of several
passages (compare especially in his Attempt, etc., cap. vi., Appendix B,
on the doctrine of the Atonement, and C on Isa. liii. 5) ; but it is not
to be forgotten that Menken's view of God's holiness, and his con
nected theory of the atonement, contained an element of truth ignored
in the theories he opposed. So, too, we may find reason to object in
important points to the essays (bearing specially on Old Testament
theology) upon the brazen serpent (Bremen, 1829), and on faith and
the doctrine of eternal life in the Old Testament (Appendix to
cap. v. of the Attempt) ; but we cannot deny to these investigations,
as a whole, the praise of being thorough and well thought out. [Prol.]
(3) The text of the Old Testament was expounded now literally,
now figuratively, just as the citation seemed to demand : a tortuous
process, of which Schleiermacher was justified in saying, " The effort
to prove Christ from the prophecies I can never regard as a profit
able work " (2d letter to Luecke, in vol. ii. of his collected theological
works, p. 620).
(4) Lectures on Old Testament Theology, delivered by Steudel,
edited after his death by me, Berlin 1840 (cf. my notice of the book
in Tholuck's litt. Anzeiger, 1843). The work is elucidated by several
monographs by Steudel, among which the most valuable are the
essays against the views of Hegel and Rust as to Judaism : " Glances
at the Old Testament Revelation," in the Tueb. Zeitschrift fib- Theol.
1835, Nr. 1 and 2.

§ 14.] THEOLOGICAL VIEW OF THE 0. T. IN SUPERNATURALISM. 63
(5) A passage, specially characteristic of Steudel's standpoint, is
found, I.e. p. 66 : " In the very beginning, consciousness of God, and
of man's relation to Him, presents itself in the most general way. We
cannot expect here to find man otherwise than with a limited vision,
as the child has a limited vision ; but the framework, as it were, is
already there, and ever as the vision grows more extended, religious
knowledge becomes richer." To the same purpose is the admonition,
p. 67, that from "the sum of divinely revealed truth" must be
stripped off what is imperfect in the form, which is a consequence
only of the imperfection of the nursling, not of the nurturer. — Al
though the principle of a divine pedagogic here set forth is perfectly
legitimate, every one can see that the very feature by which the law
was irai.Baywyh'i els Xpicrrov has not justice done to it. But even
apart from this, the whole idea that in the New Testament the cogni
tions of truth contained in the Old are only, as it were, stripped of
certain imperfect forms, and on the other side increased by further
knowledge, is utterly untenable. Such an idea ascribes to the Old
Testament both too much and too little. Too much, for we are bold
to assert that there is not one biblical doctrine which is fully un
folded in the Old Testament, and is therefore transferred to the New-
Testament without further development, as a complete thing by itself :
and too little, since the New Testament gives no wholly new doctrine ;
but, on the contrary, the truth of the gospel has a corresponding
preparation in the Old Testament for all its compass and all its parts.
[Prol.] On Steudel, compare also my article " Steudel," in Herzog's
Realencyclopwdie, xv. p. 75 sqq.
(6) This was demanded of Hengstenberg by his strong faith in
revelation, which repudiated every concession made to rationalism,
and by the common-sense character of the man, which in all things
pressed for firm final results. This peculiarity comes out most
strongly in the first volume of the first edition of the Christology ;
especially in the sections on " The Godhead of the Messiah in the
Old Testament," and " The Suffering Messiah in the Old Testament."
In the former essay, the whole doctrine of the God-manhood of the
Messiah and the inner distinctions of the divine essence (the differ
ence between the revealed and hidden God) is transferred to the Old
Testament. The difference between the Old and New Testaments in
¦ this point (I.e. p. 250) is supposed to be only that the latter doctrine
is less prominent in the Old Testament, because before the Logos
became flesh, the Revealer, and He whom He revealed, were, as it were,
lost in one another. — But the true view is, that till the Logos became
flesh, the real incarnation of God, and therefore also the inner dis-

64 INTRODUCTION. [§ 14.
tinction in the divine essence, could not be manifest at all ; for the
acts of God and His testimony are not outside of, but in each other,
conditioning each other reciprocally. The Old Testament reaches, on
the one hand, to the transient descent of God into visibility in the
Angel of the Lord ; on the other side, it wrestles to grasp the Messiah
in divine fulness of life and divine dignity. But the Angel of the
Lord always returns into the divine essence ; and though the Spirit
of Jehovah rests on the Messiah, Jehovah Himself remains transcen
dent to Him. The real union of God and man is therefore sought in
the Old Testament ; but the Old Testament contains only the move
ment towards this union, and therefore does not contain an anticipa
tion of the knowledge of it. (See my review of Haevernick's critical
investigations on Daniel, in Tholuck's lit. Anzeiger for 1842.) In
other words, in respect to this doctrine, Hengstenberg understands the
unity of the two Testaments to mean, that the New Testament doc
trine is already found in the Old Testament as a' complete, finished
prophecy, though perhaps "less prominent;" while the true meaning
is rather that the New Testament is growing in the Old, and there
fore is in the Old only in the sense in which the higher developments
of every organism are contained in germ and type in its lower stages.
[Prol.] — In later years, Hengstenberg partly drew back from this
standpoint ; compare also what is said by him in the introduction to
his History of the Kingdom of God, etc., p. 22, in answer to the
objections taken to him in the text.
(7 and 8) Compare my article " Weissagung" in Herzog's Real-
encyclopwdie, xvii. p. 650 ff . Of recent books, the following may be
still mentioned: Samuel Lutz, Biblical Dogmatic, posthumously edited
by Rudolf Riietschi, with a preface by Prof. Dr. Schneckenburger,
Pforzheim 1847, especially in the second part ; Historico-dogmatical
Discussion of the Biblical Statement ofthe Divine Dispensation of Grace
in Israel; Ed. Naegelsbach, The God-man, the Fundamental Idea of
Revelation in its Unity and Historic Development, vol. i. ; Tlie Man of
Nature, 1853, unfortunately carried no further than Noah. Impor
tant contributions to our subject are found in Kurtz, History of the
Old Covenant, 2 vols., 2d ed. 1853-58 ; Auberlen, Divine Revelation,
an Apologetical Essay, 2 vols. 1864 ; Delitzsch, System of Biblical
Psychology, 2d ed. 1862.1 Hupfeld's Commentary on the Psalms
contains notes valuable for the understanding of the Old Testament.
Numerous monographs will be referred to in the course of the book.
(9) See my review of Schultz's book in Zockler and Andrese's
Allg. lit. Anzeiger, February 1870, p. 104 ff.
1 These works are translated in Clark's Foreign Theological Library.

§ 15.] CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HISTORICO-GENETIC METHOD. 65
1V.-METHOD OF BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. DIVISION OF OLD
TESTAMENT THEOLOGY.
§15.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HISTORICO-GENETIC METHOD.
According to the definition of § 2, the method of biblical theology
is historico-genetic. As a historical science, it rests on the results of
grammatico-historical exegesis, the business of which is to reproduce
the contents of the biblical books according to the rules of the
language, with due regard to the historical circumstances under
which the books originated, and the individual circumstances of the
sacred authors. In the last respect, the grammatico-historical exegesis
passes over into psychological exposition, which goes back to the inner
state of the writer's life; — a species of exposition which, of course,
is peculiarly indispensable in dealing with passages which, like the
'Psalms, the book of Job, and so forth, give immediate expression to
inner experiences and frames of mind. But in this psychological
exposition we already reach a point where success is necessarily pro
portional to the measure in which the Spirit which rules in the sacred
writers witnesses of Himself to the interpreter, enabling him to
understand by personal experience the inner experiences of the
writers. — But as long as exegesis stops short at the exposition of
individual passages, it gives only an imperfect preparation for biblical
theology. Not the least important cause of the former defective con
dition of the latter was the usage of expositors to limit themselves
mainly to glosses on isolated passages, which in their isolation might
easily be turned in favour of any preconceived opinion. Exegesis,
therefore, has to go on to grasp the sense of individual passages, first
in its inner connection with the fundamental idea of the book in
general, and with the system of thbught characteristic of the author,
and then in its wider connection with the circle of ideas proper to the
special region of the dispensation of revelation to which the book
belongs, — a process which Schleiermacher in his Hermeneutik still
reckons as part of psychological exegesis. In this way, now, we reach
the various forms in which revelation expresses its contents. But
now biblical theology, which has to set forth revelation in its whole
course and in the totality of its phenomena, has to comprehend these
forms as members of an organic process of development. And since
VOL. i. E

66 INTRODUCTION. [§ 15.
every such process can be comprehended only from its climax, biblical
theology will have to understand the Old Testament in the light of
the completed revelation of God in Christ for which it formed the
preparation, — wUl have to. show how God's saving purpose, fulfilled in
Christ, moved through the preliminary stages of this history of revela
tion. While the external historical method deals with the contents of
the Old Testament according to the presumed chronologioal order of
the books, and then at most shows how ever new religious knowledge
was added to what was already in existence — how the earlier know
ledge was completed, deepened, corrected ; while the dogmatist forces
the doctrinal contents of the Old Testament into a framework brought
to it from the outside ; and while the method of philosophical construc
tion similarly deals with the Old Testament, by cutting it up critically
until it suffers itself to be fitted into a presupposed scheme of logical
categories, — the genetic method seeks to reproduce the living process
of the growth of the thing itself. This method refuses, however, to
find ripe fruit where only the bud exists ; it wishes to show how the
fruit grows from the bud ; it sketches the earlier stages in a way that
makes it clear how the higher stages could, and necessarily did, spring
from the former (1).
(1) De Wette (in the essay On tlie Exposition of the Psalms for
Edification, already cited) disputes the scientific objectivity of what
we demand of theological exegesis. He says (p. 22) that everything
that links the old covenant to the new, and forms the element of life
in which the Old Testament grows up into the New, to the full
realization in Christ of a life at once divine and human, is purely
general, indefinite, floating, and cannot form part of theological
science, but only of interpretation for edification. That it is of a
general kind, is true ; that it is also indefinite, floating in the air, is
false. For example, no one will assert that, in the systems of Greek
philosophy, the idea in which they are inwardly linked together, and
which forms the element of life in which the development of the one
moves on to the other, " is in its nature something indefinite and
floating," and thus incapable of scientific expression. On the contrary,
the scientific treatment of the history of philosophy is bound to find
a sharply defined expression for the type which lies at the basis of
the development of philosophical systems. Now certainly the indi
vidual philosopher, in proportion to his distance from the culminating
point of the development, will be less conscious of the relation of his

8 16.] DIVISIONS OF 0. T. THEOLOGY STATED AND JUSTIFIED. 67
own system to the development of the philosophical idea. Yet it is
no violent process, but only what is due to the system, when the
historian gives' to it its right place in the context of philosophical
development, and explains it from ' this connection. — Something
analogous is demanded of biblical theology — not to add anything
new to what the sacred writers knew, but to grasp what lay in their
consciousness, in its connection with the whole organism of revelation
and its relation to the completion of revelation, and so historicailly to
comprehend it. This was an understanding of Old Testament revela
tion which its organs themselves could not possess, at least not in full
measure (compare the well-known passages about the prophets, 1 Pet.
i. 10-12 ; 2 Pet. 1. 20), because in every process of development the
lower stage does not fully understand itself. But Christian theology
stands on the summit, from which it surveys the whole course of the
preparation for Christianity ; and it would be strange if Old Testa
ment theology gave up this advantage. Theological exegesis, in the
right sense of the word, is not affected by the fact that Stier (whom
De Wette mainly attacks) and other writers have brought theological
interpretation into bad repute, by their habit of finding a second, third,
and fourth subordinate and secondary sense in the Old Testament besides
the historico-grammatical sense. All that ought to be indicated is
the relation to the completion of the divine kingdom which lies in the
thought yielded by the grammatico-historical exegesis of a passage —
the germinant character which gives us words full of futurity; the
Spirit of revelation often speaking by His organs words that, in the
fulness of their significance, were not quite comprehended by the
latter. §16.
DIVISIONS OF OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY STATED AND JUSTIFIED.
Since the historico-genetic method claims to reproduce the course
of development of the thing itself, the divisions of Old Testament
theology must correspond to the stages in which the development
of Old Testament religion took place. De Wette and v. Coelln
adopt, as their main divisions, Hebraism and Judaism, separated by
the exile ; but if Old Testament theology is limited to the Hebrew
canon, this division is unsuitable, since most of what belongs to the
head of Judaism is to be excluded from Old Testament theology
altogether, while the portions of the canon that are later than the
exile only show the beginnings of the characteristic features of later
Judaism (1). The proper division is given by the following con-

68 INTRODUCTION. R 16-
siderations : The basis of the Old Testament religion is the covenant
with the chosen folk, into which God. entered for the accomplishment of
His saving purpose. This covenant, for which the way is prepared in
the first two ages of the world, is carried out in two stages : 1. The
patriarchal covenant of promise ; and, 2. The Mosaic covenant of the
law, on the basis whereof the theocracy is founded. This whole
sphere may be summed up in the name Mosaism ; for the pre-Mosaic
revelation is not only considered in the Pentateuch as forming the
introduction to the establishment of the theocracy under Moses, but
itself forms a component part of the religious belief of Mosaism (2).
Whatever elements of post-Mosaic development of legal institutions
are contained in the Pentateuch still rest on the principle of Mosaism ;
and so, too, the other theological elements contained in the Pentateuch
form the presuppositions that lie at the foundation of prophetic
theology. — On the basis of the legal covenant, the development of
Old Testament religion is carried on in two ways : First, on the side
of God, who continues to execute and proclaim His purposes, the
former by guiding the people towards the purpose of the divine
kingdom ; the latter, in the testimony of prophecy which accompanies
the history of the people, interprets it at each step in the light of
the divine counsel of salvation, and points to the completion of God's
kingdom. The second part of Old Testament theology, which we
briefly call Prophecy, deals with those elements in the history of the
people of Israel from their entrance into the promised land which are
important for the development of God's kingdom, considering these
as they appear in the light of prophecy, and also discusses the
theology of prophecy itself. — Side by side with this objective develop
ment of Old Testament religion goes a subjective development in the
Old Testament Wisdom, which equally with prophecy is rooted in
the law, but developes itself apart from prophecy, and does not, like
the latter, claim to be an objective word of God, but expresses itself
in aphorisms (D7^) as the result of meditation by sages whose
intellectual instincts are roused by revelation. Nor does it busy
itself with the spheres marked out by theocratic institutions and the
prophetic word, but directs itself mainly to contemplation of cosmical
ordinances and the general aspects of the ethical life. Thus our
third division is the Old Testament Chochma {Hokma} (3).

§ 16.] DIVISIONS OF 0. T. THEOLOGY STATED AND JUSTIFIED. 69
(1) In Hebraism, De Wette (Bib. Dogmatik, § 75) distinguishes,
1. Pre-Mosaic Hebraism, or the religion of the Hebrew tribes, mixed
perhaps with polytheism ; 2. Mosaic Hebraism — theocratic and sym
bolic monotheism ; 3. Degenerate polytheistico-Mosaic Hebraism ; 4.
The ideal unsymbolic Hebraism of the prophets and poets. But since
we know little of the first and the third, there remain only the second
and fourth, which differ only in form (1), and must therefore be
treated not apart, but in their mutual relations. — To this we object
that the third phase, though in reality it can be pretty well known
from the Old Testament, of course, cannot be taken as a stage in the
development of Old Testament religion, — as, in fact, polytheistic
worships are not an original product of the nation of Israel, but
borrowed from neighbouring heathen races. This phase of religion
claims our attention only in so far as the religion of revelation grew
in battle against it.
(2) Against our definition of Mosaism it has been urged, e.g. by
Sack, in a review of my Prolegomena (Monatsschr. fur die evang.
Kirche der Rheinprovinz, etc., iv. 1845, p. 47 ff.), that it is quite neces-
• sary to treat the sphere of patriarchal revelation as a separate stage,
introductory to Mosaism. — It is true that this sphere presents a relative
difference from the later Mosaic revelation, as the Pentateuch itself
indicates, by the difference in the names of God ; and it is possible
to treat the two apart, for Hengstenberg's latest work, cited above,
proves that this preliminary stage may be extended to form a theo
logical whole with rich contents. But such a course makes many
repetitions inevitable in the part on Mosaism. I think it best myself
to incorporate the whole preparatory stage in Mosaism. — K. I. Nitzsch,
on the other hand, would make the whole Old Testament theology
begin with Abraham, asserting at the same time, that there is no
necessity to make a separate doctrinal chapter on the patriarchal age.
But the primeval history of the first eleven chapters of Genesis gains its
right place, according to Nitzsch, by being placed in the didactic section
of Mosaism (article Biblische Theologie, in Herzog's R. E. ii. p. 224). —
In general this is sound ; Mosaism gives no theory of creation, sin, etc.,
but presents these dogmas in historical form. But though thus the
contents of these chapters receive full elucidation only in the didactic
section of Mosaism, we must follow Genesis in beginning with the
creation, if we wish to place the connection of the narrative in the
light in which the Old Testament itself unites the history of revela
tion, beginning with Abraham, to the primeval time.
(3) Among recent theologians, Vatke, in his Religion of the Old
Testament, p. 716, recognises the possibility of dividing Old Testa-

70 INTRODUCTION. [§ 16.
ment religion into three leading forms : the prophetic, the Levitic or
legal and symbolic, and the later form of reflection. He puts the
three in this order, because, according to his theory, the relation of
law and prophecy must be inverted, — the former proceeding from the
latter, and giving objective shape to what the prophets reached in
immediate self-consciousness. Vatke, however, thinks it unsuitable
to treat the three forms apart, the differences between them affecting
only individual factors of the manifestation of Old Testament re
ligion, and no one form excluding the others and presenting the whole
contents ; against which it is to be observed, that the contents of the
Old Testament idea were opened up in different directions by the
various ways in which its leading elements appeared in prophecy and
in the Chochma, and that thus -what is common to both frequently
appears under quite distinct points of view. The difference of
Mosaism from both the other forms is so wide, that no justification is
needed for separating it. [Prol.]
The very division of the Old Testament canon into Law, Prophets,
and Hagiographa, though not quite congruent with the division we
adopt, points at least towards it. Mosaism is contained in the Thora ;
only it is absolutely necessary to treat the book of Joshua as part of
the first division of Old Testament theology, though it stands in the
second division of the canon. The whole literary character of the
book and its theological principles are essentially connected with the
Pentateuch ; though, it is, perhaps, questionable whether in its present
shape it ought really to be the sixth book. The two divisions of the
CtMJ, the prophetic books of history (former prophets) and the
prophetic books of prophecy (latter prophets), correspond in the main
with our two divisions of the second part of our subject, save that we
take up in this part the historical books of the Hagiographa and the
book of Daniel. In the D\W13 the Psalms and the monuments of the
Chochma contain what we call the subjective development of Old
Testament religion ; though a good part of the Psalms is cognate in
subject to the section on prophecy, and is taken up there. — We may
recognise this difference of parts in the Old Testament itself, if we
look at the expressions by which it denotes its theological contents.
It very definitely distinguishes divine commands and prerogatives,
divine ways and guidances in the history of the people, divine visions
and words of revelation to the prophets, and lastly, aphoristic utter
ances which are the fruit of the reflection of sages, and never intro
duce themselves in the form in which the prophets used to introduce
their words.

PART I.— MOSAISM.

FIRST SECTION.
THE HISTORY OF REVELATION FROM THE CREA
TION TO THE SETTLEMENT OF THE COVENANT
PEOPLE IN THE HOLY LAND (1).
§17.
DIVISION OF THIS HISTORY.
The Pentateuch plainly distinguishes four periods in the history
of revelation : —
1. The primeval age, with ten patriarchs, closing with the great
flood. 2. Beginning with the world-covenant in Noah's time ; the time
of the division of the peoples, by which the separation of the race of
revelation is prepared ; again with ten generations.
3. The time of the three great patriarchs, beginning with Abra
ham's election, and the covenant of promise made with him; and
ending with the sojourn of the chosen people in Egypt.
4. The fourth period opens with the redemption of Israel from
Egyptian captivity ; it includes the closing of the covenant of Sinai,
and the establishment of the theocracy, with its regulations (2).
(1) On the literature of the history of the old covenant, see my
article, " Volk Gottes," in Herzog's Realencyklop. xvii. p. 303 ff., and
especially Kurtz, History of the Old Covenant, i. § 17 f-
(2) These four periods, or, as Ewald calls them, the four ages of
the world, are so distinctly marked off in the Pentateuch, that there
can be no doubt on the matter. — This quaternary number of historical
periods in the Pentateuch has been connected by some — as, for instance,
Tl

72 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. C§ 18.
by Ewald (History ofthe People of Israel, i. 3d ed. p. 368)— with the
four ages of the world of the Indians, Persians, and Greeks. But
this comparison cannot be carried out without the greatest caprice.
(Hesiod's doctrine of the races of mankind — of which, however, he
counts not four, but five ; four races named after metals, with the
race of heroes added to them, as third in order — does not at all rest
on the same basis with the Indian doctrine of the four ages of the
world ; compare Rud. Roth's thorough discussion on the myth of
the five races in Hesiod, and on the four Indian ages of the world,
Tuebinger Universitaetsprogr. 1860.) Max Mueller also has recently,
and with good reason, declared against this combination in his Essays
(i. p. 137 f.) ; although we may still admit that the doctrine of the
four ages is very old, especially among the Parsees. The main feature
required to make a valid comparison is wanting in the Pentateuch, —
namely, the idea " of a degradation of the times, and of man advancing
exactly by four steps," which lies at the basis of those views of heathen
nations. At most, we might find in the shortening of the human
lifetime a point of resemblance to those heathen notions ; but in other
points the Pentateuch is far from seeing an advancing decay in these
four ages. On the contrary, the age of the patriarchs is to the Penta
teuch the glorious yoretide of the people of Israel ; and just in the same
way, the time of Moses lays the foundation for the whole development
of Old Testament religion.

I.— THE OLDEN TIMES.
§18.
THE ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION.
The Old Testament begins with the account of the creation of the
world (1), which is the result of the Word and Spirit of God. Since
God by His word calls all things into being, He is placed above the
beginning of all time as the eternal and absolutely independent One ;
since He animates the universe by His Spirit, all dualistic separation of
God and the world is excluded. On the earth, which is the centre of
the creation, so that the other spheres are only dealt with in connection
with it (Gen. i. 14 ff.), the production of beings advances continually
towards higher organisms (2) : each step of the creation is relatively
complete in itself, and serves in its own way the divine aim of the
creation, as is expressed in the oft-recurring word, "And, behold it was

§ 18.] ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION. 73
good." Still, the divine creative power is not satisfied till it reaches
its ultimate end in the creation of man. Not till God has placed His
image over against Him, does He rest content from creation. The
creation Sabbath stands as a boundary between the creation and the
history of the dealings between God and man, and through it we are
at the same time pointed to the connection ordained to exist between
the order of the world and the order of the theocratic covenant (com
pare also ver. 14). The paragraph Gen. ii. 4 ff . forms the introduction
to the history of man ; which paragraph is by no means a second
record of creation, but shows, in supplement to the first chapter, how
the earth was prepared for an habitation for man, — a sphere for his
activity, and a place for the revelation of God to man (3).
(1) The naturalist Cuvier says, about the first words of Genesis :
A sublimer passage than this from the first word to the last never can
nor will come from a human pen, " In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth." — On the meaning of the introductory chapter of
Genesis, without which the whole history of revelation would hang in
the air without a beginning, compare the thoughtful remarks of J. G.
Staib, in a paper in the Studien und Kritiken, 1852, Nr. 4, p. 822 f.,
" Die Schopfungsthat und das Ebenbild, or Genesis chapters one and
two." He says : " Whence do these chapters come ? I do not know.
There they stand, and ever continue to stand, however much it has
been sought to explain them away; and there, doubtless, they will
remain until the end of the world, until the conclusion of God's king
dom on earth joins hands with the beginning, and the light of the
beginning can again be recognised in the light of the end, and the
light of the end in the light of the beginning, that God may be all in
all." (2) We cannot fail to see a parallel between the first three and
the last three days' work. The work of the first, second, fourth, and
fifth day is single ; the work of the third and sixth is twofold. — On the
formula, "And evening was and morning was," Gen. i. 5, etc.,
compare the article, " Tag bei den Hebraern," in Herzog's R.E. xv.
p. 410 f. Kurtz (Bibel und Astronomie, 3d ed. p. 85) first asserted,
and Delitzsch (in the second ed. of his Comm. on Gen. i. 5) further
demonstrated, that the formula does not rest on the Hebrew definition
of the civil day from one evening to another (Tijny X)VD, Lev. xxiii.
32), but on a measurement of the day from morning to morning, as
among the Babylonians.

74 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ IB.
(3) On the disputed question, howthe two sections, Gen. i. 1-2, 4,
and that immediately following, are related, note the following : It is
customary to speak of two accounts of the creation, which are said to
stand irreconcilably side by side at the opening of Genesis. I certainly
consider (with Tuch) that the present shape of Genesis arose by the
re-editing of an Elohistic narrative and the interpolation of Jehovistic
passages. But, at the same time, it must appear most improbable
that the author would be so silly as to place at the head of his work
two contradictory accounts of the creation. The second account,
in fact — if a second it were — would omit some of the most essential
points. It presupposes that heaven and earth are created, but as yet
no vegetation developed ; and then it narrates the creation of man.
relates how Paradise was planted, and tells of the animal world. There
is wanting in this an infinite number of things for a complete account
of creation. As to the point of division of the two passages, I am
convinced that the words, ii. 4a, m~6)T) rbx, etc., belong to what goes
before, not to what follows. The first section gives a complete account
of the creation finished off within itself. Then follows a supplementary
section, whose aim, as shown in the text, is not to give another account
of creation. A difficulty arises here, simply because it is thought
necessary to seek in the second account a strictly chronological division.
Then, of course, the second section cannot but stand in contradiction
to the first. On this view, we must conceive the succession of time
thus : first, the earth is bare, and nothing grows upon it ; after that a
mist rises ; then man is created, by the breathing of the Divine Spirit
into the earthly form. Then God leaves the man for a time, and
plants a garden, and causes trees to grow up in it ; then He fetches the
man, and puts him in it. But he must have other creatures about him ;
so God makes all sorts of beasts and birds, and brings them to the man ;
and only when among all these the man finds no companion, the last
step is taken by the creation of woman. Much meditation could not,
indeed, be presupposed on the part of any one who could imagine this
to be the succession of the acts of creation. But the real state of the
case is, that in the second section the arrangement is not in the order
of time, but by similarity of matter, so that whatever is brought in in
elucidation of the advance of the story is just inserted where it is
required. If we are to urge the letter, it must be asked here, when it
said that man was placed in Paradise to keep it, Against whom should
Paradise be watched ? It must have been animals or other such like
creatures against which the trees had to be protected. Indeed, the
second section stands in this temporal relation to the first, that it starts
from the time which begins at the end of the second day's work, and

§ 19.] ORIGIN OF EVIL. 75
commences here (with the words Di^a, etc., ver. 45) by treating the
question, how the earth, upon which at the close of the second day's
work no vegetation had begun, was formed into a dwelling-place for
man. But it does not proceed in the same path as the first piece ; but
because the preparation of the earth for man is its main point, it begins
with this. It might certainly be said that ver. 8 should have pro
ceeded; but God had already also caused plants to spring, and now in
this vegetable kingdom He caused all sorts of trees to sprout out of
the ground, and thus planted Paradise. But who dare demand from
the author such a detailed statement ? It is the childlike style of
story which we often meet with. Who gives any one a right thus to
urge the Waw consec. cum. impfi, and from it to deduce a chronological
contradiction f The redactor of the Pentateuch, who in so many cases
shows his skill in fitting the different sources into each other, would
not have placed at the beginning of the Pentateuch such round contra
dictions as would follow herefrom. — Comp. also Holemann, New Bible
Studies, 1866, i., " The Unity of the Accounts of the Creation in Gen.
i.-ii.," with the critical views of which I indeed do not agree, but
which nevertheless gives much matter that is good. — On the relation
of the biblical account of creation to natural science, comp. F. W.
Schultz, The History of Creation according to Natural Science and the
Bible, 1865. — The fuller discussion of the Old Testament idea of
creation will be found in the didactical section, § 50 f.
§19.
THE ORIGIN OF EVIL.
The world as a divine creation is good (Gen. i. 31) ; every develop
ment of life in it is a divine blessing (i. 22, 28) ; there is no room
here for a principle which, in its original nature, is wicked and
inimical to God. It is scarcely possible to find in Gen. i. 2 (1)
an indication of evil lying beyond the history of man ; but it is
otherwise with the description of the serpent in chap. iii. Man is
called to free independence ; therefore a command was given to him
for self-decisjon (ii. 16), that he might pass from the condition
of innocence to that of free obedience. Man falls under the
temptation which came to him from without, through sin the bond
of childlike communion with God is broken ; and now man is in a
sense independent, like God (iii. 22) ; but fear, resting in the feeling of
guilt, dominates from this time forward his position towards God (iii.

76 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 19.
8 ff.) (2). The life in Paradise with its peace is forfeited, and man
sinks henceforth under the service of perishable things and of death
(iii. 17 ff.). Nevertheless conscience, which testifies of guilt, shows
also man's capability of being redeemed ; and side by side with the
curse a divine word points onwards (iii. 15) to a victorious end to the
battle, which Adam's descendants shall keep up against the power of
evil (3). The idea placed foremost in the Old Testament, that as
all the evils which burden mankind are just the result of sin, so also
the removal of these evils can only come by the defeat of the wicked
one, is decisive for the ethic character of Old Testament religion.
(1) In Gen. i. 2 an indication has often been found of a fall of the
spirit-world, through which terrestrial creation was ruined ; and this
is added between the account in vers. 1 and 2. The earth, it is said,
as it was originally created by God, could not be 1H3J WFI ; in this it is
seen that another creation preceded that of the present world, which
was destroyed by the fall of the world of spirits, — a favourite idea of
the theosophists. This view cannot be altogether confuted, but a
definite indication does not lie in inhj info. Tlie expression is exactly
suitable, though only a chaotic mass not yet developed is meant.
(2) Genesis gives no theory of creation, no thesis on the manner
of sin, no theory of its origin ; but it sets forth, in the form of a story,
a sin from which each can easily for himself develope the theory, and
the thoughts involved in the narrative — thoughts which are decisive for
the whole path of revelation. A notion of religion is not given ; but
the way in which it came about that man feels a horror and a fear of
God, and that his position towards God is ruled in the last instance
by a feeling of guilt, is laid down in a statement of facts. With good
reason has K. J. Nitzsch, in his Academical Lectures on the Doctrine
of Christian Faith, 1858, p. 73, called Genesis the dogmatic of the
law. (3) Gen. iii. 15 : " And I will put enmity between thee and the
woman, between thy seed and her seed ; it shall crush thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel " (in the second occurrence of t)«y an easy
zeugma takes place). The older theology found in this place, as is
well known, the irpSyrov evayyeXiov. The Roman Catholic exegesis,
according to the reading of the Vulgate received in the Church, refers
the words " ipsa conteret caput " to Mary. (See especially Bellar-
min, de verbo Dei, ii. 12. This explanation was, in genera], defended
by the Jesuits with the greatest zeal ; comp. the disputatio de prote-
vangelio in Glass, philol. sacr. ed. 1743, p. 1395 ff., which is directed

§ 20.] THE FIRST OFFERING. TRADITION OF THE FLOOD. 77
against the Jesuit Gordon of Huntly.) As the older theology
valued the passage, and glorified it, so, on the other hand, it is lowered
by many of the newer theologians to the level of trivial truth. It is
"said to tell nothing, but that men and serpents shall continually make
war on each other. Such a view overlooks the fact that the words
occur in the sentence of punishment against the serpent, tlie difference
between the crushing of the head and the wounding of tlie heel, and
also the train of thoughts in the three divine sentences. The seed
of the serpent, which by cunning overcame the woman, shall be van
quished in open combat by the seed of the woman. The woman,
who by temptation subjected to herself the will of the man, shall be
in subjection to man ; but man, who in an unnatural way gave
obedience to the woman, shall in future exercise his lordship at home
only by being compelled to win from the ground by toilsome labour
what serves to keep the house. The close of ver. 15 is related to ver.
16 in the way that the close of ver. 16 is to ver. 17. As ver. 16 closes
with a declaration in favour of man, which is then turned to a
punishment, so in ver. 15 a promise must be found for the woman,
but which, according to ver. 16, is accomplished in such a way that the
woman receives in it at the same time her punishment. — The older
theology certainly erred when it sought to find here the Messiah, the
great destroyer of the serpent, directly promised ; but it did not err in
the general conception of the thought in the passage. In the simple
childlike form, that feud shall be between man and serpent, the idea
is expressed that a combat arises between mankind and the principle
of evil; and that man shall carry away from this combat wounds
and injuries, while yet the victory cannot be doubtful. Thus, in a
few words, the whole course of the development of salvation is here
already set down in germ ; this is the seed-corn from which the whole
history of salvation grew.

§20.
THE FIRST OFFERING. CAINITES AND SETHITES. TRADITION OF
THE FLOOD.
The position now taken up by the human race towards God is
stamped in the first offering (Gen. iv.) (1). Although this is not to
be regarded as a proper sin-offering, but rather as a thank-offering,
by which the offerers acknowledge in fact that they look on the gains
of their occupation as a gift and blessing from God, the feeling that

78 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 20
man has to begin by making himself sure (2) of divine favour is
already expressed in these offerings, — a feeling of separation from God,
by which the first offering proves to be also an offering of supplica
tion, indeed even an offering of reconciliation, or, in a wider sense
of the word, an offering of propitiation (3). That Abel's offering
pleased God, and Cain's offering displeased Him, cannot be grounded
in the fact that the former was a bloody and the latter, a bloodless
one ; for the difference of the two offerings is distinctly dependent
on the difference in their callings. The ground can only lie in the
different sentiments of the two offerers, which in ver. 3 f. is shown
in the fact that Cain offers his gift of the fruit of the ground without
choice ; while Abel, on the other hand, brings the best of the flock.
Thus, in this narrative, the Old Testament places in its forefront its
witness that offerings are rejected in as far as it is thought thereby
to content God outwardly, and that only a pious sentiment makes the
offering well-pleasing to God (comp. Heb. xi. 4). — In the difference
between the two sons of the first human pair, the contrast is at
once stamped in which the race of. mankind was to run on, and
already also begins the separation of a family for revelation. Whilst
among Cain's descendants, the life of sin rises to insolent defiance
(iv. 23 f .) (4), in Seth, who takes the place of the murdered Abel,
is propagated the race of early fathers who seek the living God
(iv. 26) (5), in which Enoch by his translation testifies of a path of hfe
leading over the common lot of death (v. 24), and Lamech at the birth
of Noah, before the close of the first period of the world, announces
the hope of a Saviour of man from the evil weighing upon him (v.
29) (6).
After sinful corruption had reached its height by the mixing of
the sons of God with the daughters of men, and the term granted
for repentance had elapsed without result, the judgment of extermina
tion breaks in in the Flood, from which Noah as the righteous one
(vi. 9) was saved, along with his family. The tradition of the flood
is the property of several religions of antiquity ; but it is one of the
best proofs how each religion expresses a distinct idea in the same
tradition. For example, whilst the flood in the Indian myth is only a
process of destruction, by which all finite being and life sinks back
again into its primitive source in the divine substance, and the in-

§ 20.] THE FIRST OFFERING. TRADITION OF THE FLOOD. 79
exhaustible spirit of life is represented by the man who was saved
from the flood, that spirit which overcomes the transient, and calls up
a new cycle of life out of the ruin of what existed, the flood in
Genesis, on the other hand, falls assuredly under the ethical point of
view ; it is the first judgment on the world executed by the holy God,
who, according to Gen. vi. 3, will no longer permit His Spirit to be
profaned by man's sin. But, for Noah and his family, the event has
the meaning that the chosen ones shall be saved because of their
faith on the word of threatening and promise ; see Heb. xi. 7. By
this also the^ typical application in 1 Pet. iii. 20 f . is to be ex
plained (8).
(1) Gen. iv. -makes the sons of the first1 pair offer to Jehovah, as
a gift, a portion of the produce of the business of their life : Cain,
from the fruits of the ground cultivated by him; Abel, from the
firstlings of his flock, and from among the fattest of these (not of wool
and milk, as O. v. Gerlach is inclined to interpret, according to
Grotius' example). Abel's gift is received with favour, but Cain's
gift with displeasure. To understand the word !W, with Hofmann
(Schriftbeweis, ii. 1 ; lsted. p. 140 ; 2d ed. p. 220), of Jehovah's glance
of fire, by which He took to Himself the gift in consuming it, does not
agree well with the words, " Jehovah looked upon Abel and his gift,"
for we surely cannot suppose that Abel himself was struck by the
divine gleam of fire. [Article, Opferkultus des A.T.~\
(2) Cain himself feels this need, and hence his sullen rage on
seeing his offering despised.
(3) See my article in Herzog's Realencyklop. x. p. 615 f., for a
fuller discussion on the meaning of the first offering, and wrong views
of it. (4) The sense of the song of the sword, Gen. iv. 23 f ., is : I will
kill each one who lays hands on me ; each injury to my person will
I avenge tenfold. "In this is uttered," as Delitzsch says (Commen
tary on Genesis, iv. ed. p. 177), "that Titanian arrogance of which
it is said, Hab. i. 11, that its strength is its God ; and Job xii. 6,
that he carries his God, namely his sword, in his fist."
(5) Gen. iv. 26 is to be explained : " Then men began to call on
the name of Jehovah." Herein is implied that God's name r»!T goes
back to primeval antiquity.
(6) The valueless exposition of Gen. v. 29, that Noah's father
calls him a comforter, in view of the fact that he is to cultivate the
vine, ought to be now a thing past and done with ; but it is not so.

80 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 20.
The passage is of importance, because it looks back to chap. iii. It
runs thus : " He shall comfort us for our work and the labour of our
hands from the earth, which Jehovah has cursed." The passage
openly expresses a hope of redemption from the curse weighing on
mankind as tlie consequence of sin. Now, if we may conclude back
wards, it follows that also in chap. iii. there must certainly lie a
promise, although a very indefinite one.
(7) In connection with the passage Gen. vi. 1—4, comp. the
didactic section (§ 61, 65, 77), and the good essay of Dettinger:
"Remarks on Gen. iv. 1-6, 8, its connection, and some of the more
difficult passages in it," Tubinger Zeitschrift fur Theol. 1835, Nr. 1,
p. 3 ff.
(8) The Egyptian references in Genesis do not begin with the
tradition of the flood ; they do not commence till a later period. The
point of view under which the flood is placed in Genesis would not
be applicable in Egypt, because the flooding of the land could there
have only been looked on as a blessing. — With regard to the con
troversies on the relation of the Indian legend to the Old Testament,
I agree with those who admit unconditionally that there are points
of contact between the Indian myth and the tradition on which the
Old Testament goes back, but who hold that the tradition, spreading
from Central Asia, reached India, and was added at a later date to
the Indian doctrine of the ages of the world. — The Old Testament
meaning of the flood as laid down in the text is quite clear. If
Ewald, in his treatment of the matter, History of the People of
Israel, i. 3d ed. p. 387, proposes to take as the peculiar meaning of
the flood, that it had to come " in order to wash clean the sin-stained
earth, to flood away the first race of man, which was utterly de
generated in Titanic intoxication, and to produce on the renewed and
cleansed earth a new race grown finer and wiser by the warning,"
this cannot perhaps be excluded, but is certainly not that to which
Genesis points. At the first glance, we might appeal in favour of
Ewald to 1 Pet. iii. 20 f., where the flood is treated as a type of
Christian baptism : " In the days of Noah, while the ark was a prepar
ing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water ; which now
also saves us in the antitype as baptism, hot as the putting off of the
filth of the flesh, but as the inquiry of a good conscience towards
God." However, this interpretation is hardly right, and the passage
of Peter rather " contemplates the water of the flood only as bearing
the ark, and so providing deliverance for Noah and his family " (so
Fronmueller explains in Lange's Bibelwerk).

§ 21.] WORLD-COVENANT. NOAH'S SAYING. DIVISION OF MANKIND. 81
IL— THE SECOND AGE OF THE WORLD.
§21.
THE WORLD-COVENANT. NOAH'S SAYING. DIVISION OF MANKIND.
The second age of the world begins with the new shape taken by
revelation, in presenting itself as God's covenant with man, and, in
the first instance, as a world-covenant, in which God gives to creation
a pledge of its preservation ; for the order of salvation is to rise on
the ground of the order of nature. God's faithfulness in this is
security for His faithfulness in that. Isa. liv. 9 ; Jer. xxxiii. 20 f., 25 f .
The sacrifice, Gen. viii. 20, precedes the institution of the covenant,
and has its motive mainly in thanks for the deliverance experienced,
while in it, at the same time, man approaches God, seeking grace in
the future (1). The prerogative of man even in the state of sin, and his
likeness to the divine image, is again expressed, ix. 4 ff.,on which passage
(in connection with others) rests the Jewish doctrine of the Noachic
commandments, in which is sought a first basis for the law before the
time of Abraham (2). In the passage ix. 25-27 is indicated the
type for the development of the restored race of man. Shem's race,
to whom Jehovah is God, is chosen as bearer of the divine revelation ;
also on Japheth the blessing is brought down through Shem ; on Ham,
and mainly on Canaan, the curse of slavery is to press (3). On the
other side, the establishment of that worldly kingdom which is at
enmity with God proceeds from the Hamites (x. 8 ff.), whose first seat
appears to have been Babel. Here begins the contrast of the kingdom
of God and the kingdom of the world, which runs right through the
Bible. The unity of the race of man divides into people and tongues ;
but whilst for heathen consciousness the diversity of peoples and
castes is original, and universal brotherhood is to them monstrous, and
in a sense a horror, while autochthony is the highest pride of a nation,
Mosaism in its list of the nations (Gen. x.) preserves the consciousness
of the blood-relationship of all nations (comp. Acts xvii. 26), which
are again to be united in time to come by one blessing of God (comp.
xii. 3, xviii. 18, etc.) (4).
(1) More on Noah's offering in § 121, Note 1.
(2) The Noachic commandments have won an historical import-
VOL. I. F

82 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 21.
ance, because it was these commandments the fulfilment of which was
demanded of the so-called proselytes of the gate, whilst the proselytes
of righteousness had to follow the whole ritual law. These seven
commandments in their later form are a comparatively recent inven
tion. According to the Babylonian Gemara, they were as follows :
1. The prohibition of idol-worship, mr rmajTW ; 2. DB>n roia-py, re
lating to the blessing of the divine name, and the prohibition of dese
crating or cursing the divine name ; 3. The prohibition of bloodshed,
DW JTDW'-?J? (Gen. ix. 6) ; 4. The prohibition of incest, and fornica
tion in general, rmj? ''Ipri'J? ; 5. Forbidding theft and robbery, ?Mn"^ ;
6. DWrr^y, the command concerning the ordinances of judgment,
fixing the divine authority of the magistracy, and forbidding opposition
to it ; 7. Tin jo *OK-?j), " concerning the piece of the living," that is,
forbidding the use of blood (Gen. ix. 4). It is known that the demand
for the fulfilment of these commands by the heathen who joined them
selves to Israel was in no way based on the Old Testament itself.
(3) The verses put into Noah's mouth, Gen. ix. 25-27, are of the
greatest importance for the conception of the general history of
mankind proper to the Old Testament. It runs thus : " Cursed be
Canaan ; let him be a servant of servants to his brothers." " Praised
be Jehovah the God of Shem ; and let Canaan be his servant." " May
Elohim give enlargement to Japheth, and let him (Japheth) dwell
in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be their servant." The old
explanation, often repeated even in recent times, which takes D^K as
subject to ]3f\, is out of the question. According to our translation,
the passage expresses that God is to Shem the God of revelation,
whilst He is for Japheth's descendants only D^PN, the numen, Oeiov,
the transcendent Divinity, but at the same time (ver. 276) points to a
participation by Japheth in the blessing assigned to Shem : Japheth
shall dwell in the tents of Shem. Quite untenable is also the ever-recur
ring explanation, which in ver. 27 makes QC an appellative. Finally,
it is often explained that the vanquishing of the Shemites by Japheth
is here foretold : God enlarges Japheth's dominion, so that he obtains
dominion also over the realm marked out for Shem. On this view,
too, the passage would be remarkable, for this has indeed come about.
But this exposition of the words does not agree well with the con
text. I think it still necessary to interpret the words as speaking
only of the Japhethites being at home in Shem's tents ; that they
were to gain domestic rights there also, which history has now fulfilled
spiritually in the noblest way.
(4) In relation to the table of nations, note that it is not framed
according to languages : it is more natural to find traces of a geogra-

§ 22.] FOUNDATION OF A PEOPLE OF GOD. 83
phical arrangement of the three groups of nations in such a way that
Shem spreads himself pretty much in the middle, Japheth northwards,
and Ham more to the south. But the point of view is decidedly
rather genealogical. It is clear that we are not exactly to find
individuals in the names given. It often happens, even in the later
genealogies, that races and peoples are personified and represented as
individuals. What comes into notice for Old Testament theology in
the register of nations is what is brought forward in the text. With
this passage the story of Genesis takes leave as it were of mankind in
general ; revelation being henceforth particularized in one separate
chosen stem. The register of nations is intended to keep in memory
the original brotherhood of all the nations on the earth. This is a
thought beyond the reach of all antiquity, with the exception of Israel.
In the Greek civilisation, it was long ere, in the time of Alexander
the Great, and chiefly through Stoicism, the idea of a common world-
citizenship of man came to be first recognised ; for the antithesis of
Greeks and barbarians was invincible. When the Apostle Paul
preached on the Areopagus, Acts xvii. 26, "He hath made of one
blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth," he
attacked the very heart of heathenism and Athenian pride.
§22.
THE FOUNDATION OF A PEOPLE OF GOD.
In order to give an historical basis to the work of salvation, a
people is to be chosen as bearer of revelation, to which coming people
(comp. Deut. xxxii. 8) God already has regard in the dividing of the
nations (1). The separation of a race of revelation is prepared in
Shem's descendants, the line going through Arphaxad, that is — how
ever we interpret the name in detail — through the Chaldean stem, and
further through Heber, a name which certainly had originally a wider
meaning (comp. Gen. x. 21, xiv. 13), on to Terah (2). Of mani
festations of revelation nothing is as yet said ; but a simple monotheism
is preserved, which is easily seen to be the, oldest foundation even of
the religion of the heathen Semites. It is probably in connection
with the mighty moving of the nations in that time that the Terahites
leave the ancestral dwelling-place of the Chaldeans in Northern Assy
ria, and wander first to Haran in North Mesopotamia (xi. 31). Here,
where (see Josh. xxiv. 2, comp. with Gen. xxxi. 19, xxx. 35) (2)
idolatry, designated as the worship of Teraphim, begins to find

84 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 22.
entrance in this family, the foundation of the Old Testament dispensa
tion of revelation is laid by the calling of Abram (Gen. xii. 1), who
closes the second decade of patriarchs. Whilst the nations of the
earth walk in their own ways, in which they unfold their natural
peculiarities, an everlasting people is to be founded in Abram's de
scendants (comp. Isa. xliv. 7), which, in its peculiar national figure;
is not a product of natural development, but of the creative power
and grace of God (Deut. xxxii. 6), and which forms, agreeably to this,
a contrast to the mass of nations of the world (D?i3, edvrj), though in
such a way that already the obliteration of this contrast is kept in
view (comp. § 82). Only in this idea of the people of God is the key
given to Old Testament history, which would otherwise remain an
insoluble riddle. A natural predisposition for the religion of the Old
Testament can be recognised in the Semites ; but revelation does not
come forward claiming only to have further developed an already
existing natural disposition, or to have first filled a natural form with
the contents of divine life (3). What belongs to the character of
God's people is already prefigured in the history of their forefathers.
(1) Deut. xxxii. 8 : " When the Most High divided to the nations
their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, so He set
the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the children
of Israel." This goes back on the division of the nations in Gen. xi.
The rabbinical exegesis refers the passage to the fact that, as Israel
went down into Egypt in number seventy souls, so also, according to
the register of nations, seventy D?ia are to be counted on the earth.
This view of the passage is certainly not what the Pentateuch intends,
but we must take it thus : When God assigned1 to the peoples of the
earth the territory where they were to develope themselves, He had
already in view the place which His chosen people should afterwards
win in order to fulfil its historical callino-.
(2) With respect to the meaning of the word l^asHx, it is doubtful
whether it means, as some take it, the boundary or territory of the
Chaldeans, or the high land of the Chaldeans, or, as Ewald puts it, the
Chaldean stronghold. At any rate, the name Enb'a is in it ; and
we have, according to this, to regard the Chaldean race as Abram's
ancestors. — The descent from the Chaldeans is through "OS?. The
LXX. viewed this name as an appellative (Gen. xiv. 13, where they
translate irepaTrji), and thus, I think, it is to be understood ; it is the
personification of the Chaldean races who cross the Euphrates, and

§ 22.] FOUNDATION OF A PEOPLE OF GOD. 85
therefore are called in Canaan the people from the other side.
{Whether the original seat of the Chaldees is really in»the far north,
and whether Ur is not rather identical with Mugheir, see in Keil.}
(3) Our time gives itself to the study of the natural peculiarities
of nations (psychology of nations), and especially of the peoples of
antiquity. Here the question arises, how the peculiarities of the
people of Israel can be understood as a product of the national spirit
of the Semites. To this subject belong a number of observations in
Lassen's Indian Antiquities ; in the works of Renan, partly in his
" Histoire generale et systeme compai'6 des langues Semitiques," partly
in the " Nouvelles considerations sur le caractere generale des peuples
Semitiques," etc., in the Journ. Asiat. 1859, iii. ; Gustav Baur, in his
History of Old Testament Prophecy, i. 1861 ; Diestel, on "The Idea
of the People of Israel," in the Monatsschrift fur die evang. Kirche der
Rheinprovinz, 1851, 11th Nr. ; also, in particular, Grau, Semiten und
Indogermanen, 1864, and others. Now indeed it is no question that the
peculiarities of the people of Israel proceeded from the common natural
soil of the Semitic race. We find, to take a single example, the following
explanation of the way in which the Semitic and Indogermanic character
differs given by Gustav Baur : The contrast of the Indogermanic and
Semitic peculiarity of mind is to be traced back to the difference of a
predominant objective and a predominant subjective tendency. The
characteristic trait of the Semitic character is the energetical con
centration of the subjectivity in the inmost ground of the Ego, and
just in this lies (ut supra, p. 134) a natural predisposition for the
Old Testament religion. — This is hitherto the best statement of the
case, and certainly does indicate a peculiarity of the Semitic race.
The history of religion offers, in truth, interesting parallels to Old
Testament religion, in the sphere of heathen religion, which confirm
what Gustav Baur says. I would wish specially to point out, that
likewise in the Semitic heathenism the view of the Divinity as a
legislative power predominates; for the Sterngods of the heathen
Semites are not represented merely as life-giving powers, but also as
powers that rule life. Further, the idea of the Divinity as a jealous
power, to which on man's side corresponds the human defiance which
rebels against God, is peculiar to Semitic heathenism. This haughty
Semitic defiance of God is prominently seen in the character of Israel's
neighbours in Edom and Moab (comp. the pictures in Obad. 3 ; Isa.
xvi. 6) ; even in the' way that Job is depicted we may find a genuine
Semitic trait of character, and to this corresponds the tough, defiant
natural force which lived in Israel : comp. Isa. xlviii. 4, " Thy neck
is a sinew of iron, and thy brow is brass." The Old Testament points

86 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§. 22.
out in a multitude of passages the natural character of the people of
Israel as an obstinate self-will striving against the divine will. ¦ But
it is quite a different question whether the Old Testament religion is
to be regarded purely as a natural growth of this Semitic character,
and whether monotheism is a trait of the whole Semitic race. On
the latter question we have a thorough investigation by Diestel, " The
Monotheism of the oldest Heathenism, specially of the Semites," in the
Jahrbuechern fur Deutsche Tlieol. 1860, Nr. 4, p. 669 ff. The result
of this inquiry is negative, and this is no wonder; for on what data
must we principally fall back? — on such as are very modern in com
parison with the antiquity of the human race, or even with the time
of the patriarchs. The Old Testament itself remains the best source ;
and here, undeniably, an original monotheism comes before us, al
though one of quite simple character. With this we also have to con
nect such features as the remarkable story of Melchizedek, presently
to be spoken of. In special connection with Abraham's ancestors,
we learn quite definitely from the Old Testament that false worship
had already become familiar to them ; but this does not exclude the
continued existence of monotheistic religion. Strikingly does Heng
stenberg (in the History of God's Kingdom, vol. i. p. 120, Eng. Trans.),
in relation to the teraphim, refer to Gen. xxxi. 53, compared with
vers. 19 and 30. In the first passage Laban swears by the " God of
Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their fathers." Here
is evidently presupposed a common God for Abraham's race, which
had emigrated to Canaan, and for the branch of Terah's family which
remained in Mesopotamia. But Laban designates the teraphim as
his gods. By these inferior gods we must understand a sort of
Penates. Thus a monotheistic worship may well be regarded as
preceding the peculiar Old Testament religion, previous to Abraham.
But now, is the Old Testament religion a further and natural develop
ment of the germ that already lay in the religion of the forefathers ?
This can be affirmed only under considerable limitations. The view
that the Old Testament dispensation of revelation is a natural pro
duction of the religious genius of the people of Israel must be
absolutely rejected. Against this the whole Old Testament lays down
the most decided testimony, presenting to us in a multitude of traits
in Israel's history that dualism between the divine principle of life
and the natural constitution of the race of revelation, and developing
the difficulties arising herefrom in the education of the people by
God for His salvation.

§ 23.] ABRAHAM. 87
III.— THE TIME OF THE THEEE PATRIARCHS.
§23.
ABRAHAM (1).
Obedient to the divine call, Abram leaves Mesopotamia, accom
panied by Lot, the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites, to go to
Canaan, which is already (Gen. xii. 6) possessed by the tribes bearing
this name. In solemn revelation God closes with him the covenant
of promise (chap, xv.), in an act not exactly to be characterized as a
sacrifice, but only meant to symbolize the gracious condescension of
the covenant-instituting God (comp. § 80). On this follows, on the
side of Abram, the taking upon himself of the obligations of the
covenant through circumcision (chap. xvii.). Three articles are con
tained in the promises given to Abram (xii. 2 f., 7, xiii. 15 f., 18,
xvii. 5-8, xviii. 18, xxii. 16-18) (2): 1. The land in which he
himself continues all his life a stranger (xii. 6), and where he had
actually to buy a place for his grave (xxiii. 4, comp. Acts vii. 5), is
to be given for an eternal possession to his descendants (3). 2. He
who remains childless till his old age shall have an innumerable
posterity, which is guaranteed by the changing of his name into
DrnnK; and not Ishmael, the. son of Hagar, who was born after the
counsel of man (chap, xvi.), but Isaac, born contrary to the ways of
nature, according to God's counsel (Rom. ix. 8), is to be the bearer
and. inheritor of the promise (4). 3. Abraham's race shall be made a
blessing for all races and all nations of the earth (5). Still the
electing grace of the covenant God, who calls Himself El-Shaddai
(xvii. 1) as a witness of His power, which leads nature into the way
of His kingdom, is met on Abraham's side (xv. 6) by that faith which
does not look on the ways of nature, but holds fast to God's word of
promise (comp. Rom. iv. 18 ; Heb. xi. 8-19), and endures victoriously
the severest test in his willingness to offer the son of the promise
(Gen. xxii.). In this faith, which is reckoned to him for righteousness,
is Abraham the friend of God (Isa. xii. 8 ; Jas. ii. 23), the prophet
(Gen. xx. 7) to whom is granted insight into the divine counsel
(xviii. 17 : " Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? ")
when Sodom reels onwards to judgment, and who has the right of
free access to God in prayer (xviii. 23 ff., xx. 17). Nay, he becomes

88 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. C§ 23.
the father of all the faithful (Rom. iv.; Gal. iii.), and his name
stands at the head of the three monotheistic religions of the world,
even when looked at in a purely historical way. But this know
ledge of the divine way is to be accompanied by a life-walk in the
divine way (Gen. xvii. 1). Besides, according to Gen. xviii. 19,
Jehovah "acknowledged," that is, chose, Abraham, "that he might
command his sons after him to keep Jehovah's ways, doing justice
and right, that Jehovah might bring upon Abraham all that He has
said of him " (6). According to this, the character of God's people
is ethically determined from the first, and already the word (xviii. 19)
shows that not all natural descendants belong to the true sons of
Abraham and the heirs of the promise (7). — On the relation of the
religion of the patriarchs to the surrounding heathenism, the narra
tives Gen. xiv. 18-22 and chap. xxii. throw the most valuable light.
In the former passage, the story of Melchizedek, priest of Salem, the
type of a priesthood not inherited by bodily descent, but resting in the
dignity of the person (Ps. ex. 4 ; Heb. vii.), we find an acknowledg
ment of the identity of the God of Abraham and the Canaanite
El-eljon (8). The second narrative has apparently an historical
reference to the Canaanite offerings of children. We must note here,
that while it was Elohim who, according to ver. 1, tempted Abraham
to offer his son, it is Jehovah who (ver. 11 ff.) hinders the sacrifice,
approves the devotion that is willing to offer up the most beloved one,
and commands the substitution of the sacrificial animal (9).
(1) That the whole history of the patriarchs has a typical character,
is generally acknowledged from the Apostle Paul onwards to our own
time, and the question is only as to the theological and religious meaning
of these Old Testament patterns. Philo, from his philosophical stand
point, interprets the symbolism and typic of the patriarchal times as
follows : — Abraham is the symbol of the human spirit who wandered
out from Haran, the place of sensual desires, to Canaan, the home of
the spirit. For the rest, Abraham is to him the type of acquired virtue,
Isaac of innate virtue, and Jacob of virtue won by practice, etc. Side
by side with this we place Ewald's very superficial explanation in his
History of the People of Israel, i. 3d ed. p. 417 ff. According to him,
a circle of twelve examples is here brought before us in seven funda
mental relationships. 1. In the three patriarchs, the pattern of the
father of a family is represented; 2. In Sarah, the pattern of the

§ 23.] ABRAHAM. 89
mother, and in Hagar that of the concubine ; 3. In Isaac, the pattern
of the child ; 4. In Isaac and Rebecca, the pattern of right betrothal
and marriage (but Rebecca deceives her husband !); 5. In Leah and
Rachel, the patterns of a wife beside one less loved ; 6. In Deborah,
the pattern of the name of a nurse of heroes; 7. In Eliezer, the
pattern of the house-servant or house-steward. — If we follow out the
traits which the noble delineation of patriarchal life presents to us,
according to the guidance of the New Testament, the result seems to
be what we have given in the text.
(2) In regard to the three articles of the promise given to Abraham,
note, that if we divide Genesis into an original Elohistic writing and
a Jehovistic supplement, the verses which contain the third article of
the promise belong to the Jehovistic sections. This has also an inner
reason, in so far as God in this covenant promise has especially to
approve Himself as iTUY1, as faithful to His covenant.
(3) It is certainly not without meaning that the Old Testament
throughout hinges the completion of the divine kingdom on the land
which was granted to Abraham not by a right of nature, but by grace.
Even prophecy knows no final fulfilment of the divine promise, in
which this old promise of eternal possession of the Holy Land does not
come true. Here, I am convinced, is a fundamental error of Heng-
stenberg's exegesis, when he absolutely will not admit in his spiritual
izing interpretations that this is fixed as an essential enduring trait of
the divine promise. However we may judge of this matter from the
standpoint of the New Testament, — I do not enter on this dispute, —
from the standpoint of the Old Testament it must be maintained
that, from the beginning of the founding of the covenant people to the
close, the fulfilment of the promise and the completion of the divine
kingdom attaches to the holy land of Canaan.
(4) It is to be noticed how the Old Testament, from the first origin
of the race of revelation, is careful to distinguish between a race of
revelation Karh, adpica and Kara irvevpa, to which the promise is
given. We have already seen in the case of Abraham that the idea
in Rom. ix. 8, Ov tcl riicva tjj? a-ap/cos, Tavra Teicva tov ©eov, aXKa
ra, re/cva Trj<; eVayyeXia? "Xoyl^erai eh aTrepfxa, is expressed in the
clearest manner. That is seen when not Ishmael, the son begotten
by human design, but Isaac, becomes the bearer of the promise, and
again in the choice of Jacob and passing by of Esau ; but it is seen
also very distinctly in the conditions which are laid down for the
attainment of the promises.
(5) The expression, " They shall bless themselves in Abraham's
seed," can only mean, They shall wish for themselves the blessing of

90 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION K 23-
revelation which Abraham has, and reach it through the mediation of
Abraham's race. The passages are taken by modern exegesis to mean
that they wish to be as happy as Abraham; but this is refuted by
Jer. iv. 2, D^ia in Gianni, where ia refers to Jehovah. What meaning
would there be here,' on the interpretation that they shall wish for
themselves a happiness such as Jehovah has ?
(6) Gen. xviii. 19 has often been wrongly explained. We must
not translate, " For I know of him, that he will command," etc. The
]Vab can never have the meaning of the Greek oVt, which would neces
sarily be s3 ; but the JW stands in the pregnant sense which is to be
discussed more fully in the didactic section (§ 81), according to which
it is a mark of the divine irpoyvcocrt'i.
(7) From the heathen side, Berosus, in the Antiquities of Josephus,
i. 7, § 2, gives us information of Abraham. He says, in the tenth
yeved after the flood, a righteous and great man lived among the
Chaldeans who was learned in astrology. By this man he means
Abraham. Josephus gives also a notice of Abraham by the Damas
cene writer Nicolaus; and in Justinus, Trogi Pompeii hist. phil.
epitoma, xxxvi. 2, there is an account probably drawn from a like
Damascene source. In the last passage, Abraham and Israel are
called kings of Damascus. Nicolaus reports that Abraham, king of
Damascus, came thither from the land of the Chaldeans with an army.
—Even in the freer criticism, the acknowledgment that we dare not
treat the history of the patriarchs in Genesis so thoughtlessly as has
been done is making way. We, however, have to do with the person
ality of Abraham only in as far as it is a type, in as far as essential
characteristics of Old Testament religion meet us in the history of
Abraham. (8) Gen. xiv. 18-22. — Salem is without doubt Jerusalem, which is
shortly called Salem in Ps. lxxvi. 3 ; it is not a Salim farther north, as
some modern critics think. It is no proof that the original name was
not Salem, that Jerusalem in the time of the judges appears under
the name of Jebus, for it got the name Jebus from the Jebusites
who were settled there ; and here we may note that the king of Jeru
salem who is met with in Josh. x. 1-3 is also called Adonizedek. It is
a point of special importance, that an acknowledgment of the God
whose priest Melchizedek is, evidently lies in the way in which Abra
ham does homage to Melchizedek. Melchizedek is called priest of
V?y. -W, who appears later among the Phoenicians as Saturn. Abraham
receives a blessing from this priest, and gives him the tenth of the
booty. Certainly he distinguishes in a way (ver. 22) his God HliT1 from
the yhs i>K, but yet their identity is acknowledged. We have here there-

§ 23.] ABRAHAM. 91
fore traces of an older, purer monotheism on Canaanite ground, which
is at first sight remarkable, because otherwise the relation of the Old
Testament God to the Canaanite worships is one of broadest contrast.
But here Movers' researches, Phwnicier, ii. 1, p. 105, come in in
the most interesting manner. It is there shown that the worship of
El or Kronos goes back to another origin than that of the Phoenician
Baal, to which the Phoenician polytheism is attached, and that the
former worship belongs specially to the Giblites in Byblus and Berytus,
who are always definitely distinguished from the Phoenicians. So we
may maintain with the greatest probability, that we find here, in
the midst of the Canaanite worships, a remnant of older and purer
worship, which was perhaps preserved by a Semitic race dwelling
among the Canaanites. For I at least am confident that the Old
Testament, with its derivation of the Canaanites from Ham, is better
informed than most newer critics.
(9) Gen. xxii. — Scarcely any part of the Old Testament has been
so much used as a proof-text by those dreamers who think that
human sacrifice was originally a characteristic of the Old Testament
religion, whilst, nevertheless, the tendency of the story leads directly
to the excluding of human sacrifice from Jehovah-worship. This has
been well observed by Ewald. But this does not remove the difficulty,
that the God who will not have human sacrifice, nevertheless, at first,
tempts Abraham to offer his son. It was Schelling who, in his
Philosophy of Revelation, ii. p. 122 ff ., first definitely pointed to the
significant change of the names of God in this history. The chapter
is a forcible proof how little is settled by an artificial dissection of
Genesis according to the names of God. The chapter is joined
together like cast-iron, and we cannot cut anything out of it. It was
customary in earlier times, before the importance of the change of
the names of God was taken notice of, to have recourse to the cheap
aid of interpolation. But how is this change to be understood?
Schelling (I.e.) argues, that the God who, after the flood, uttered the
words, "I will avenge the life of man at the hand of each man,"
cannot be the same who demanded from Abraham the life of his own
son. The principle that tempted Abraham to that action was essen
tially the same as induced the nations of Canaan to sacrifice their
children. In the Old Testament the true God is reached through
the false, and, as it were, bound to Him. — But against this view
it is quite conclusive that, in ver. 1, not the indefinite CrtPK with
out the article, but B^Mi, is chosen for the tempting God.—
Hengstenberg and others have adopted a different explanation.
Lange, in his Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 139 (Eng. trans.), puts

92 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 24.
the matter thus : " Jehovah commanded Abraham to offer up Isaac ;
he was ready to make this sacrifice, but understood the command in
the same sense as if Moloch had said to him, ' Thou shalt sacrifice
Isaac,' whereas the mode of offering was intentionally not more
precisely fixed. The misunderstanding, although proceeding from
Abraham and falling to his account, was nevertheless willed by God."
— Kurtz, in particular, in his History of the Old Covenant, i. p.
263 (E. T.), seems to have given the right explanation. ' He says:
Abraham must have been conscious that the way that led to the
perfecting of his faith was the way of renunciation and self-denial.
The sight of the Canaanite sacrifices of children must have led
Abraham to self-examination, whether he would be strong enough in
renunciation and self-denial to do what those heathen did, if his God
desired it from him. But if this question was once made the subject
of discussion in Abraham's heart, it had also to be brought to a
definite and real decision. That was the substratum for the divine
demand in Abraham's soul. Objectively, the following are the
deductions from this point of view : The culminating point of worship
in the religions of nature was human sacrifice. The covenant religion
had to separate itself in this respect from heathenism ; the truth in it
had to be acknowledged, and the falsehood denied. In the command
to offer up Isaac, the truth of the conviction that human life must be
sacrificed as an unholy thing, is acknowledged ; and by the arresting
intervention of God, the hideous distortion of this truth which had
arisen in heathenism is condemned and rejected. — If we look at
Deut. xiii. 4, where it is said that God will tempt the people by false
prophets, it is not necessary for us, in expounding xxii. 1, to suppose
any misunderstanding on Abraham's part ; but it seems to me that
the matter is best explained by looking at it, with Kurtz, in the
light of a pedagogic command. — Comp. also On the Value of History
for the Development of the Old Testament Idea of Sacrifice, § 121.
note 1. §24.
ISAAC AND JACOB.
Vary little is recorded of the life of Isaac; he walked in the
footprints of his father, and the divine promises given to the latter
were renewed to him (Gen. xxvi. 2-5). Of his twin-sons was chosen,
as bearer of the promise, not Esau, who had the advantage of birth
right, but "va r] Kaf eicXoyrjv •7rpo6ecri<; tov Qeov /xevrj (Rom. ix. 11),

§ 24.] ISAAC AND JACOB. 93
Jacob, the second-born son. The first thought which lies at the root
of the divine guidance of Jacob's life is, that in spite of all human
hindrances, the divine counsel reaches its goal, and that even human
sins must serve to its realization, although they are punished not the
less. By the sin of Jacob and his mother, Isaac's purpose, which
was in opposition to the promise to Jacob (Gen. xxv: 23), is thwarted ;
yet Jacob's sin is visited on him (1) in the straits he experienced in
his wanderings (xxvii. 42 f.), which were occasioned by his artifice
against Esau, and particularly in the sorrows afterwards prepared for
him by his sons, when he that had deceived, himself in like manner
suffered deception. The covenant promise given to him at the
beginning of his journey to Mesopotamia in the theophany at Bethel,
in order to strengthen him for the years of exile (xxviii. 10 ff.), is
confirmed at the same place on his return (xxxv. 9 ff.), after he has
gained for himself and his race in the night-long wrestling at Jabbok,
which forms the turning-point of his life, the new and holy name of
Israel, characteristic of his divine calling (xxxii. 24 ff.). The main
meaning of this story is, that Jacob, whose courage fails before his
brotherj and the reward of whose wiles threatens to be lost at one
blow, is shown how man, despairing in his guilt, must wrestle out his
cause with God, but that when he has gained the blessing from God,
he has no more to be afraid of from any man. At the same time,
Jacob's combat, when he first wrestles with bodily strength, is perhaps
a picture of the perverseness of his former life, in which he believed
himself to be able to force the fulfilment of the promise by the con
tinual use of carnal means, and had made it difficult enough for the
divine leadings to become master of him. His becoming lame is
then meant to show that God does not permit Himself to be forced
by natural strength. But then Jacob becomes victorious by the
weapon of prayer (comp. Hos. xii. 4 f.). As the natural character of
Jacob, the intriguing holder of the heel,— the tough, shrewd man,—
prefigures the natural character of the nation that descended from
him, so the spiritual character of God's people is prefigured (2) in
H?")^, the wrestler with God.
(1) It is a great error, particularly of popular handbooks, that it
is thought necessary to canonize the wily intrigues of Jacob and his
mother related in Genesis. The attempt to justify such conduct goes

94 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 25.
against the conscience of a child. But such a treatment of the
history of Jacob rests on a gross misunderstanding of that which
Genesis itself teaches us as to the divine leading of Jacob. The text
shows wherein lies the doctrinal value of this history.
(2) Gen. xxxii. 24 ff. — The insipid mockery which the despisers
of the Bible are so inclined to pour out on this story does not touch us
here. The story was properly valued from a free point of view by
Herder, and afterwards in particular by Umbreit ("Der Busskampf
Jacob's," Studien und Kritiken, 1848, Nr. 1, p. 113 ff.). Paulus Cassel
has a beautiful essay, entitled "Das Ringervolk," in his Lectures on
the World's History, 1st Division, 1860; he strikingly represents here,
in the two types of Heracles and Jacob, the contrast between Hellen
ism and Israel. It is common, especially in the practical use of the
passage, to limit oneself to seeing in Jacob's struggle a symbol of
wrestling in prayer, which does not become wearied until it wins the
blessing. So also Auberlen in the article "Jacob," in Herzog's
Realencyklop. vi. p. 376. f. I cannot share this view, and agree
with Kurtz's conception (History of the Old Covenant, i. 331, E. T.),
according to which a double wrestling must be distinguished in the
manner given in the text. — Hengstenberg turns the story into a
visionary event. §25.
THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
In the twelve sons of Jacob is given the basis of the covenant
people destined to possess the land of Canaan (1). Nevertheless, a
long period of expectation in exile and slavery is first prescribed
(comp. Gen. xv. 13 ff.) to Jacob's descendants. The completion of
the divine decree is introduced by the providential history of Joseph,
who is raised to the helm of the Egyptian state to be the deliverer of
his people, after long proof of his faith, in which his earlier vain mind
was to be humbled (comp., for the religious value of the history, especi
ally xiv. 5-8, 1. 20). A second time Israel must turn his back on the
promised land, still with renewal of the promises received (xlvi. 2 ff.) (2).
Jacob dies in Egypt, after having predicted the future of the tribes
descending from his sons, in his prophetic blessing (chap, xlix.), which
looks far beyond the time in which his descendants continue strangers.
The twelve tribes are here portrayed, partly according to their place
in theocratic history, and partly according to their geographical rela?

§ 25.] THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS. 95
tionship, while, at the same time, Jacob's words rest on ethical and
psychological considerations. But, according to the Old Testament
view, the blessing and curse of parents are not magic spells possessing
in themselves the power, ascribed to them in heathenism, to set in
motion forces of blessing or vengeance ; they have reality just in as
far as they serve the divine decrees, which may be fulfilled, according
to circumstances, in a quite different sense from that intended by him
who blesses or curses (this is shown at once in Isaac's blessing,
chap, xxvii.). Among the twelve Joseph is especially prominent,
who (comp. xlviii. 5) is to grow to a mighty double tribe in his two
sons Manasseh and Ephraim, of whom the latter is preferred, although
he is the youngest (xlviii. 14 ff.). Nevertheless it is not to him that
the sovereignty is promised; nor to Reuben, the first-born son, who
is declared to have forfeited his birthright by the deed of shame which
he had formerly committed ; nor to Levi, who was afterwards highly
glorified (comp. in particular Deut. xxxiii. 8 ff.), — rather, because of his
crime committed along with Simeon, that dispersion through Israel
which was subsequently connected with his high calling is uttered
as a curse (Gen. xlix. 7) (3). On the other hand, it is Judah who is
specially chosen as bearer of the promise, and who is characterized
as he upon whom that dominion over nations shall rest, to which
xxvii. 29 already pointed. Compare 1 Chron. v. 2, according to which
passage the birthright, the f^to?, is Joseph's portion in the shape of
double inheritance (comp. § 106) ; but out of Judah is to come the
"Mi, the prince of Israel (4). By fixing their graves (xlvii. 29 ff.,
comp. 1. 4 ff.), Jacob, and afterwards Joseph (1. 25 f. ; comp. Heb.
xi. 22), seek to testify their faith in the divine promise. — In the three
covenants of promise made with the three patriarchs rests, for the
consciousness of the people of Israel, the guarantee of the whole
gracious and holy leading of the people (comp. Ex. ii. 24; Deut.
iv. 37, vii. 8, viii. 8, 18, etc.). Therefore, in the Old Testament
stage of revelation, God is called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob (Ex. iii. 6, 15; comp. 1 Kings xviii. 36, Ps. xlvii. 10).
(1) That there are twelve tribes is explained by the Old Testament
from the number of the sons of Jacob, since to him were born, Gen.
xxix. ff ., six sons — Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun
— by his wife Leah ; two by her maid Zilpah — Gad and Asher ;

96 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 25.
other two — Joseph and Benjamin — by his younger wife Rachel;
and lastly, two — Dan and Naphtali — by Bilhah, the handmaid of
the last named. There are other cases in Genesis of nations divided
into twelve tribes in the circle of peoples to which Israel belongs :
for xxii. 20-24, twelve sons are ascribed to Nahor also, eight by his
wife and four by his concubine ; and in xvii. 20, xxv. 13-16, the
Ishmaelites are divided into twelve branches. Also in the tribes
descending from Esau (xxxvi. 9 ff.) we have the number twelve, if
we regard Amalek simply as an extra tribe. — As the division into
twelve (see Uhlemann, Thoth. p. 107) is connected in the case of the
Egyptians and other ancient people with the twelve signs of the
zodiac and the twelve months of the year, the tribal division of
Israel and the cognate races has often been explained in the same
way ; and even Diodor. Sic, Fragment, lib. xl., connects the twelve
tribes of Israel with the twelve months. In the Old Testament itself
there is no trace of any other derivation than the genealogical one ;
and if we examine more exactly the ethnographical accounts in
Genesis, we shall rather arrive at the supposition that it was for the
sake of analogy with the number of the tribes of Israel that the
descendants of Nahor, Ishmael, and Esau were also grouped so as to
give the number twelve (see Knobel on Gen. xxii. 20 ; comp. also
§ 92 with note 2). [Article, " Stamme Israels."]
(2) In connection with the references to Egypt, Eber's work,
Egypt and the Books of Moses, of which as yet only the first volume
is published, 1868 (on Genesis), is worthy of all praise. It contains
very important information on archaeological and historical matters.
Comp.. also Hengstenberg, The Books of Moses and Egypt, 1841.
(3) Gen. xlix. 7 : " Cursed be their wrath, because >>. was so fierce ;
and their fury, because it was grievous : I will divide them in Jacob
and disperse them in Israel." Compare Kurtz, History of the Old
Covenant, i. 2d ed., p. 265 f., in elucidation of the treacherous and
bloody act of vengeance executed by Levi, for the dishonour of his
sister Dinah, on the Shechemites, who were first made defenceless.
(4) Gen. xlix. is a crux interpretum. In respect to the passage
as a whole, I share neither the view of some who see here a testament
written down with the exactness of a notary, nor the widespread
view which believes it necessary to see in the piece the production of
a later poet. — For this poet, in whatever age we place him, comes ¦
into conflict with some parts of his poem. Particularly what is said
about Levi, whose race was highly exalted from the time of Moses
neither agrees with the time of the judges, nor with the time of
David or Solomon. But in ver. 10 there is thought to be a clear

§ 25.] THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS. 97
indication that the chapter was written in the time of the judges.
Shiloh is there taken to mean the town in Ephraim, and the passage
is rendered : " until he comes to Shiloh," where the sanctuary, the
centre of the theocracy, was. But if the poem is of this age, the
principate which is assigned to Judah is irreconcilable with historical
data in the time of the judges. It is necessary to extend and urge in
an unjustifiable manner the circumstance that Judah went at the
head of the people in the war of conquest, in order to justify what
is said of him. If we are to speak of a principate of any tribe in the
time of the judges, we should rather name the tribe of Ephraim, in
whose midst at one time actually a kingdom was set up in Shechem.
— Any one who really goes deeper into the intellectual habits not
only of Israel, but of eastern, and indeed of all antiquity, will not
be content with the view that a later poet sits down and writes a
poem which he puts in the mouth of the father of the nation ; on the
contrary, we certainly find in the old world a real tradition of such
words of blessing and cursing, uttered by the fathers about their
descendants, and such utterances influence the fortunes of the latter
in a very intelligible way. I cannot, therefore, take any other view of
Jacob's sayings, than that the father of the tribes divides the inherit
ance and characterizes each of the sons, and that this testament of
the father continues to live in the mouth of the tribes. The antique
character of the sayings is shown by the peculiar animal symbols ;
Dan, the serpent ; Naphtali, the gazelle, etc. ; sayings which cannot
have been called forth by the later poetical art, but only by the simple
pastoral life of the patriarchs. — With regard to the theological value
of these sayings, it is shown also by this blessing, that in the divine
kingdom things do not run in the way of nature, but according to
divine choice. Neither he who should take the lead by right of
birth, nor yet the father's darling, is called to be the peculiar vehicle
of the kingdom of God. Since ethical and psychological motives
appear in many points of what is said about the several tribes, — when,
as Herder has said so beautifully, Jacob's "mind is strengthened
from heaven to note the slumbering destiny in the soul of his sons,
and to open this hidden book in their separate traits of character and
action," — we may ask if there is not also something of the same kind
in the case of Judah, the fourth son according to age, but now placed
first. In the text it is not expressly brought forward. In the
designation of Judah as a lion we may perhaps find a reference to
the noble nature of his personality. But the passage Gen. xliv. 32 f.
may specially be cited, where Judah presents himself as surety, to go
to prison or to bondage for his brother Benjamin that he may be free.
VOL. I. G

98 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 26.
It is hardly to be regarded as an intentional coincidence, though there
is a divine fitness in it, that Judah was destined to be the ancestor of
Him who presented Himself as surety for all. — The much discussed
passage about Shiloh will be treated of on a subsequent page.

IV.— FOURTH AGE, THE TIME OF MOSES AND JOSHUA.
I. THE DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL FROM EGYPTIAN BONDAGE.
§26.
Condition of the People of Israel in Egypt.
At the close of the time of the patriarchs, the biblical account
passes silently over a long period, in which Israel grows up into a
people. For that quiet process of increase by which the families
grew to a people offered nothing of importance which could establish
itself in the historical memory of the people (1). The Old Testa
ment itself gives the following indications of the condition of the
people in Egypt. In part they seem to have kept to the pastoral life
of their fathers in Goshen ; they may have wandered from there into
the stretch of land on the eastern boundary, as in fact the obscure
passage 1 Chron. vii. 21 is probably to be connected with an occurrence
taking place during the stay of Israel in Egypt (2). From Num.
xxxii. we conclude that especially the two tribes of Reuben and Gad
gave themselves to cattle-breeding. But speaking generally, the
people who were settled in fixed residences, and partly even in towns,
must have already begun an agricultural life (comp. Ex. i. 14, Num.
xi. 5, Deut. xi. 10). As the Egyptians and Israelites lived together
(Ex. iii. 22, xii. 33 ff.), the people could not have remained untouched
by the Egyptian culture, which was at that time already very far
advanced (3). The political organization of the people had developed
itself in a genealogical way, which corresponds to the natural character
of the Semites, who are characterized by strong family and tribal
attachment. The people (according to iii. 16) is represented by the
elders (D^i?.|), who were probably taken from the chief families. Be
sides this, the people were under &,-)t?f> who in like manner were
taken from their midst, but were themselves subordinate to Egyptian
overseers Cv. 6 ff.) (comp. § 98). With regard to the religious con-

§ 26.] CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 99
dition of the nation, we find that among the mass of the people the
remembrance of the God of their fathers, and of the promises given
to them, had to be reawakened. The purer worship of God which we
find among the patriarchs had been displaced by idol-worship, as may
be concluded partly from express testimony (Josh. xxiv. 14; Ezek.
xx.. 7 ff., xxiii. 8, 19), and partly from the idol- worship to which the
people gave themselves during their wanderings in the wilderness.
The worship of the calf at Sinai, Ex. xxxii., is to be explained as
an imitation of the Egyptian worship of Apis or Mnevis ; the service
of he-goats (D,T$i>) mentioned in Lev. xvii. 7 points to the service of
Mendes (the Egyptian Pan ; Herodotus, ii. 46). But also the service
of the fire-god Moloch or Milcom, which was spread in the lands
bounding Egypt on the east, must, as is shown by the rigid prohi
bition, Lev. xviii. 21, xx. 2, have even at that time penetrated among
the people. As this idol, who is essentially the jealous power of
nature, forms the heathen caricature of the Holy One of Israel, of
the S|5 ?X, the mixing of his worship with the service of Jehovah,
mentioned in Amos v. 26, is more easy to understand (4). All this
shows that during the stay in Egypt the foundation was laid of the
religious syncretism which came up in different forms in the following
centuries, and which was in general characteristic of Israel, which
never was independently productive in polytheistic forms of worship.
(1) It may seem strange that we have so considerable a blank in
the history between Genesis and Exodus, and that the long period of
time from Jacob's going down into Egypt and his death, and until
Moses' birth, is passed silently over. But simple tribal life, such as we
must suppose Israel's to have been in those centuries, forms no history.
What sort of a history had the Arabians in the thousand years previous
to Mohammed ? But beside this, Israel has throughout no history except
in as far as it is the organ of revelation. How full of blanks is the
historical account of the centuries in the time of the judges, on account
of the broken state of the theocratic life ! and how little do we know
of the exile, which yet belongs entirely to the historical time ! or of
the centuries from Ezra to the Maccabees, and beyond them ! It is
the peculiarity of Israel to possess history and historical literature in
the full sense of the words only in proportion as it realizes its voca
tion in, the history of the world.
(2) In 1 Chron. vii. 21, according to the most likely explanation

100 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 23.
of the ambiguous passage, an incursion of the Ephraimites on Gath is
recounted, starting, it is supposed, from the southern highlands of
Canaan. The older view, that an occurrence in the time of the stay in
Egypt is spoken of, and not, as Bertheau and others think (under
standing Ephraim, ver. 22, as the whole body of the tribe), an occur
rence belonging to the post-Mosaic time, has at least the wording of
the passage in its favour. Comp. also Kurtz, The History of the
Old Covenant, ii. p. 178 (translation).
(3) It is a mistake to seek to regard the Israelites on their exodus
from Egypt as a barbarous crowd of shepherds, in whom we may not
presuppose even the smallest beginnings of culture. They appear in
the Pentateuch as an unmanageable, but not as an uncultivated people.
Whilst, for example, just to give one proof of this, the Pentateuch does
not produce any trace of the practice of the art of writing in the time
of the patriarchs, this is presupposed as existing among the people
when they went out of Egypt, as the name of their functionaries
which were taken from the people shows, — they were C'l'SB', that is,
writers. In Egypt, indeed, as is shown by the monuments, writing
was at that time a thing long established.
(4) It is not long since it was the fashion to think that the original
cultus of Israel was the worship of Saturn, or, as Saturn was identified
with Milcom, the service of Moloch (comp. Vatke, Ghillany, Daumer,
and others). — It certainly cannot be denied that this idolatrous worship
belongs to that ancient period ; it belongs to the oldest time and to the
youngest, and after disappearing for centuries, becomes prominent again
after the time of Ahaz ; and, as is stated in the text, there is a certain
connection between Moloch and KJi? ?N, as the Holy One of Israel is
called, only with the difference that this is an ethical power, that a
consuming natural power, which must be reconciled by human sacrifice.
But to represent what the Old Testament condemns as the true founda
tion of the worship of Jehovah, is a piece of caprice such as has often
defaced the treatment of the Old Testament. — The much discussed
passage, Amos v. 26, must not be understood as foretelling something
future, as Ewald explains it : " So then ye shall lift up the pale of
your king, and the scaffold of your images," referring to the carrying
of the idols into captivity. Against this is the fact that this kind of
worship is not mentioned as existing in the kingdom of the ten tribes.
The proper explanation is : " Ye bore the tabernacle of your king
and the pillar of your images," etc., that is, during the wandering in
the wilderness. -{This interpretation is certainly wrong. See, besides
older authorities, Graf in Merx's Archiv, vol. i., and Schrader in the
Studien und Kritiken, 1874, p. 324 ff.}

§ 27.] THE COURSE OF THE DELIVERANCE FROM EGYPT. 101
§ 27.
The Course of the Deliverance from Egypt.
The deliverance from Egypt is thus related in Exodus. To pre
vent the extraordinary increase of the "people which excited their
apprehensions, the Egyptians burdened the people with unbearable
tasks, and at last the royal decree went forth that all the new-born
boys should be killed. In this deepest humiliation, in which the people
(comp. Ezek. xvi. 5) were comparable to a helpless infant cast away
in its blood, the fulfilment of the promises given to the fathers was to
come about ; and, in accordance with this, El-shaddai was to show Him
self as Jehovah. The divine instrument for this was Moses. After
he had been providentially saved, from death as a child (Ex. ii. 1 ff.),
and had been brought up at the royal court (irdcrrj crocpla Alyvirricov,
Acts vii. 22), he appears in manhood (in the fortieth year of his life,
according to tradition; see Acts vii. 23) in themidst of his oppressed
people, kills an Egyptian who is maltreating an Israelite, and flees,
when this deed becomes known, into the Arabian' wilderness (1).
What he failed to accomplish when trying in his own might, he was
to bring to a completion forty years after as an instrument in God's
hand (2). When Moses had accredited himself to the people as a
divine messenger, he first demanded of Pharaoh liberty for Israel to
go into the wilderness, and there to celebrate a sacrificial festival to
Jehovah. As Pharaoh repels the request with scorn, and increases to
the uttermost the oppression of the people, there follows the divine
declaration that Israel shall now be brought out of Egypt by great
judgments, and that thus the reality of Jehovah as the Lord of the
world shall be manifested indeed to Israel as well as to the Egyptians
(comp. Ex. vi. 6 f., viii. 18, ix. 16). The ten plagues which are sent
on the Egyptians (Ex. vii.-xii., comp. with Ps. lxxviij. 43 ff., cvi.
26 ff.) are mostly connected with natural events and conditions which
frequently recur in Egypt. The order of their succession stands in
close connection with the natural progress of the Egyptian year from
the time of the first swelling of the Nile, which generally happens in
June, to the spring of the following year (3). But partly the severity
which the plagues reached, and partly their connection with the word
of Moses (comp. especially viii. 5 f.), make them signs of Jehovah's

&

102 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. C§ 27.
power. In them the battle of the true God is victoriously waged
against the gods of the land (xii. 12 ; Num. xxxiii. 4), and thus they
serve as a pledge of the triumph of the divine kingdom over heathenism
(comp. Ex. xv. 11, xviii. 11). Even in heathen accounts of the
departure of Israel from Egypt by Manetho (Josephus, c. Ap. i. 26)
and Diodorus (Biblioth. lib. xl. fragm.), it comes unmistakeably out
that here strong religious differences met in combat (4). The plagues
rise from step to step until, after the tenth plague, viz. the killing of
the first-born of the Egyptians, which takes places in the same night
with the institution of the passover in Israel, the Egyptians, full of
fear, drive the people from the land (5). — Because the people are not
yet matured for war with the nations of Canaan, Moses does not lead
them to Canaan by the nearest road, but chooses the roundabout way
through the wilderness of the peninsula of Sinai. But scarcely have
the people turned in this direction, and encamped exactly by the Red
Sea, probably in the plain of the modern Suez, when Pharaoh draws
near. Closed in by the enemy's forces, and by mountains and the
waves of the sea, the people receive the direction to go forward in
faith. A storm drives back the water, Israel passes happily through
the sea in the tumult of the elements, led by God like a flock of sheep
(Ps. Ixxvii. 17-21 ; Isa. Ixiii. 11 ff.) ; but the Egyptian army which
follows is buried by the waves. " And the people feared Jehovah, and
believed in Jehovah and His servant Moses" (Ex. xiv. 31) (6). In
this form the act of divine deliverance was handed down in Israel
(comp. Ps. lxxviii. 12 ff., cvi. 8 ff., cxiv.), a type of future redemption,
ever again revived in their memory by the yearly anniversary (Isa. xi.
15 f .). — The duration of Israel's stay in Egypt is fixed as 430 years,
according to Ex. xii. 40, comp. Gen. xv. 13, against which the LXX.
in the first passage reckon as part of the number 430 the stay of the
patriarchs in Canaan, and thus reduce the time of the stay in E°ypt
by one-half (7).
(1) Comp. the explanation of this narrative, Acts vii. 24 f.:
" 'Evo/Jii^e Be avvievat, tovs aSeX^ou? avrov, on 6 @eos Bia veipos
avrov BIBcoitiv avroi<> coiTTjpiav oi Be ov avvrj/cav."
(2) If we compare the view of this narrative taken by Ewald,
History of Israel, ii. 3d ed. p. 77, 101 ff., he places Israel under an
entirely different historical point from the book of Exodus. Essen-

§ 27.] THE COURSE OF THE DELIVERANCE FROM EGYPT. 103
tially he understands the matter thus : In the time before the leading
out of the people, a powerful movement went through them, " the most
extraordinary exertions and most noble activities of the spirit wrestling
for freedom." Then Moses lifted himself up among them, who was
one of the greatest heroes who have ever been, — a spirit, indeed, of
unmatched greatness, who must have worked with wonderful powers
and effects. Now ensues a religious combat between Israel and the
Egyptians, the result of which is just the departure from Egypt.
Then " the confidence of spirit once excited in the people must have
remained unweakened in the now coming crisis at the Red Sea," as
happens when "at the right time a favourable wind brings to the
light the deposited germs." Thus the march through the Red Sea
now gains fundamental significance for the theocracy. — This is all
very well ; but in the Old Testament the honour is not given to the
people, but the whole history tends to show what divine discipline can
make out of a sunken people. The Old Testament shows us nothing
of a mighty spiritual movement among the people in Egypt (comp.
also the conception in Acts vii. 25 ff.). Ezekiel compares it to a help
less infant cast away without mercy, lying in its blood ; and, in regard
to Moses, the story certainly indicates a preparation for his future
calling; but if tradition (Acts vii. 22) supposes him to be educated
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, even Ewald himself remarks that
" certainly the influence of Egyptian education was in the end more
negative than positive" (History of Israel, i. 3d ed. p. 81). The point
brought forward in the text is here of especial significance: how
Moses' first appearance when he slew the Egyptian, which is taken
by Stephen (Acts vii. 25) as a signal for the people, — how this arbi
trary deed led first to a long exile for Moses, and how only at a later
period, when he no longer counted himself a capable person, he was
to reach success (comp. also Auberlen, The Divine Revelation, i.
p. 101 ff.).
(3) Eichhorn first sought to show, in his De AZgypti anno Mirabili,
how the whole course of the plagues is connected with the course of
the Egyptian year. The ample treatment of this topic by Heng
stenberg, The Books of Moses and Egypt, p. 93 ff., is particularly
interesting. (4) According to a remark in § 3, the Old Testament theology
has, in distinction from the history of Israel, to reproduce the facts just
as they continued to live in the spirit of the organs of revelation, and
formed the basis of religion, whilst researches like those on the Hyksos
are relegated to the history of the Israelites. The question of the
Hyksos has been in dispute till the most recent time. Manetho, as is

104 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 27.
well known, speaks, as quoted by Josephus (c. Ap. i. 14), of a shepherd
people that held rule in Egypt for five hundred years. — Hengstenberg
hands over the whole tradition of the Hyksos to the sphere of fable,
and it cannot be denied that hitherto no definite indications of this
period of five hundred years have been found in the investigation of
the monuments. This remarkable want has indeed been explained
by the supposition that the later Egyptians have done their utmost to
efface the remembrance of that hated shepherd people ; and recently,
too, it is thought that really definite indications of the Hyksos have
been found on the monuments. " Compare Eber's Egypt and the Books
of Moses, i. ; and for the opposite view, Hengstenberg, The Books of
Moses and Egypt. Ewald and most modern critics treat the matter as
history ; Hengstenberg appears to have here gone too far in scepticism.
Now Josephus, on his part, identifies the Israelites with the Hyksos ;
but besides this, he has given (c. Ap. i. 26 f.) another heathen account
of the Israelites, which he condemns as a lying heathenish jeer, and
in one sense with good reason. The essence of this account is as
follows : — After 518 years were passed since the expulsion of the
Hyksos under King Tethmosis, a King Amenophis became desirous of
seeing the gods. Then the revelation is communicated to him, by a
sage of the same name, that the land must first be cleansed from all
lepers and other unclean men. So the king removed these people to
the number of 80,000, and among them several leprous priests, into
the quarry-pit on the east of the Nile. But now a great fear seizes
the prophet, that if these priests be kept at servile work, the wrath of
the divinity may be brought on Egypt. The king then brings the
unclean rabble into the town Avaris, once inhabited by the Hyksos.
There they set over them priest Osarsiph from Heliopolis. This
priest gives them a law which stands at variance with the Egyptian
religion. They league themselves with the expelled Hyksos in Jeru
salem. War is threatened between the lepers and the Egyptians.
Amenophis king of the Egyptians approaches with 300,000 men ; he
does not, however, dare to give battle, but withdraws again to Egypt,
from anxiety lest the battle might be a strife against the gods. After
this, the Hyksos from Jerusalem and the lepers rule in E<?ypt for
thirteen years in the most cruel manner. But after thirteen years
Amenophis returns from Ethiopia with his son Ramses, conquers the
shepherds and lepers, and drives them back to Syria. — It is not pro
bable that all this should only be an intentional perversion of the
account in the Old Testament. With good reason we may see here
an old heathenish tradition, which just shows that, according to the
conception of the Egyptians themselves, the battle was a religious one,

§ 27.] THE COURSE OF THE DELIVERANCE FROM EGYPT. 105
and, indeed, a combat in which Egypt itself got the worst. — The
treatment of this point in Ewald's History of Israel, ii. 1st ed. p.
57 ff., 3d ed. p. 110 ff., is one of the best parts of his book.
(5) Of the various passages in the chapters that treat of the exodus,
Ex. xii. .35 f ., compared with xi. 2 f ., may be discussed more at large on
account of its celebrity. Already, iii. 22, it is said, " Each woman shall
ask from her neighbour vessels of silver and gold, and clothes;" and
ver. 21, " I will give this people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, that
when they go they may not go empty." Now it is said, xii. 35 f., " The
children of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and asked
of the Egyptians silver and golden vessels, and clothes ; and Jehovah
gave the people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians." On Luther's
{and E. V.'s} interpretation of the following words: vW DWNW
DyiVDTlK, " so that they lent to them, and they spoiled the Egyptians," the
difficulty arises, how an actual theft can be here commanded — a point
which has been often made use of in a pitiful way. It is not neces
sary to show that theft is in decided opposition to the moral spirit of
Mosaism. The solution which Ewald comes to in his History of Israel,
ii. 3d ed. p. 95, is, that the spoiling is, in the sense of the story, no
theft, because the following breach of faith on Pharaoh's part made
it impossible to give back the borrowed property, and that this turn of
affairs contained at the same time a sort of divine retribution in favour
of Israel, in as far as it appears, when looked at from the ultimate
issue, simply as the equalizing act of a higher providence standing
over human inequalities, that they who were long oppressed by the
Egyptians are in this manner compensated for the long oppression.
This solution may be right so far, but it is not at all necessary. Winer,
in his Lexicon, has with good reason left out the meaning " lend "
which is given to the word ^$&>}. The word appears in the Hiphil
only once more in the Old Testament, 1 Sam. i. 28, and there it is
quite incorrect to translate that Hannah lends her son Samuel to the
Lord. She wishes to give him to God in giving him to the sanctuary,
The word rather signifies dedit alicui quod petierat, according to Winer.
In the b&, xii. 36, compared with iii. 22, no robbery is implied, but
just a simple taking away ; in what sense, the connection must decide.
Accordingly the sense of the passage is, that the Egyptians are glad
to get rid of the Israelites at this price ; so that Ewald s view, that we
have here an act of remuneration, that the children of Israel might
thus receive a compensation, is still applicable. But when Ewald
(I.e. p. 96) and others see in the matter also the quite different
meaning that Israel took from the Egyptians the true religion, the
right utensils of sacrifice, and along with them the true holy things

106 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 27.
and sacrifices, nothing of this lies in the story, and this construction is
very far-fetched.
(6) In regard to the place where Israel passed through the Red
Sea, there has always been a dispute. The view of the well-known
naturalist Schleiden, ingeniously defended in a separate publication
(The Isthmus of Suez, 1858), that Israel's path did not at all lie across
the Red Sea, but led much farther north along the Mediterranean Sea
to the Arabian wilderness, is quite untenable, and cannot properly be
regarded as anything but an oddity. We can only think of three
localities. 1. Most modern critics suppose the passage to have been at
the modern Suez, Where now the breadth of the sea is 3450 feet, and
there are two fords whose shallows could even now be laid dry for a
time by an east or north-east wind (Ex. xiv. 21); but we must here
note that in that ancient time the Red Sea undoubtedly stretched a
good way farther north, so that we must suppose that at that time it was
considerably broader beside Suez. Comp. also Kurtz, History of the
Old Covenant, ii. p. 325 (F.T.L.). 2. The crossing might also possibly
have taken place farther north, at the old basin of the sea, beside the
present Ajrud ; see Stickel's essay, " The Israelites' March out of Egypt
to the Red Sea," Studien und Kritiken, 1850, Nr. 2, p. 328 ff. 3. Karl v.
Raumer, The March of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan, 1837, has
transferred the place where the entrance into the Red Sea took place
pretty much to the south, at the southern slope of the mountains of
Attaka, where the Red Sea is the breadth of six hours' journey.
I have never been convinced by this view, and it is utterly improbable.
(7) Certainly in the genealogy, Ex. vi. 16-20, Moses and Aaron
form the fourth generation from Levi ; but it follows from other
genealogies that links are left out in this genealogy. That in Num.
xxvi. 29 ff. has six generations ; that in 1 Chron. ii. 3 ff., seven ; that
in 1 Chron. vii. 22 ff., as many as ten for the same period. The
enormous increase of the population of Israel can only be explained
by accepting a longer period.
II. THE CONCLUSION OF THE COVENANT OF THE LAW, AND THE
MARCH THROUGH THE WILDERNESS.
§28.
Pedagogic Aim of the March through the Wilderness. The Covenant of
the Law established.
In God's great deed by the Red Sea a pledge was already given to
the people for the happy completion of the newly commenced march,

§ 28.] PEDAGOGIC AIM OF THE MARCH THROUGH THE WILDERNESS. 107
for the victorious subjugation of all their enemies, and for their intro
duction to the promised land, as foretold in Moses' song of praise,
Ex. xv. 13 ff. But first the people, scarcely escaped from the rod of
correction, from the flesh-pots and the idols of Egypt, must be edu
cated, sifted, and purified for its calling ; and this pedagogic aim is
served by the march in the wilderness, where the people are thrown
entirely on their God, where they become aware of their need of help
through want and privation, and are to be exercised in obedience and
trust ; but to prove at the same time, in the experience of the divine
leading and help, what they have in their God (Deut. viii. 2-5, 14-18 ;
comp. also the typical application, Hos. ii. 16) (1). In the third
month, Ex. xix. 1 (according to the probable signification of the date
in this passage, which is indeed indistinct), on the first of the month,
the people reached Sinai, where Jehovah, as the Holy One, in which
attribute He has already manifested Himself in the redemption of the
people (xv. 11, comp. Ps. Ixxvii. 14-16), desires to found the theo
cracy and enter on His kingship (comp. Ex. xv. 18). After the people
have been told that they have been chosen before all nations as the
divine property, and have been prepared by consecration for the
solemn act, there follows the promulgation of the fundamental law
by which Jehovah binds Israel's race to a holy constitution, and thus
" He became King in Jeshurun " (Deut. xxxiii. 5). By the covenant
offering, Ex. xxiv., the entrance of the people into communion
with the holy God is sealed. Both the electing love of God, who
here betrothes Himself to His people (Ezek. xvi. 8, " then becamest
4hou mine "), and the menacing severity of the Holy One of Israel
and His law (comp. Heb. xii. 18 ff.), appear in the whole ceremonies
of the conclusion of the covenant of law. With regard to grace
and judgment, Israel is from this time forward the privileged people
of God (2).
(1) On the significance of the march through the wilderness,
compare Auberlen's book, The Divine Revelation, i. p. 136 Tr. : " That
they might be cast on Him alone, and not become immediately re-
entangled in the world's affairs, Israel is not led directly from Egypt
to Canaan, but by a great round through the wilderness, where the
temporal life of nature and history stands still, and the people are
alone with their God. Since the wilderness is without nourishment,

108 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 29.
and without so much as a path, the simplest sign of human culture,
He undertakes to feed them with manna ; He undertakes their guid
ance in the pillar of cloud and fire, that herein too the people may be
directly pointed to Him, and accustomed to the thought of Him."— It
is this pedagogic meaning of the wilderness-wandering of Israel which
makes it so weighty, not simply historically, but also in religious praxis ;
and in this we do not read something into the Old Testament history
which only occurs to ourselves as we' meditate on it ; but this is the
point of view under which the Old Testament itself — the Pentateuch,
and especially Deuteronomy, from which a few chief passages have
been brought forward in the text, as well as prophecy — presents the
history of the Israelites. — In Hos. ii. 16, the future restoration of
Israel is represented as a new leading through the wilderness. In the
preceding passage it is foretold that God will remove Israel into a
position of separation, where it can no more have intercourse with the
idols to which it has given itself. This is the first stage. And now,
ver. 16: "Behold, I will entice her, and lead her into the wilderness,
and will speak to her heart ; " the people shall be placed in a position
where they are thrown entirely on God, as Israel was once in the
Arabian wilderness, to learn by experience what it has in its God.
(2) On the establishment of the covenant at Sinai, compare the
words of Karl Ritter, the geographer, in his beautiful essay, " The
Peninsula of Sinai, and the Path of the Children of Israel to Sinai,"
in Piper's Evangelical Calendar, 1852, p. 35 : "A strange astonish
ment seizes us when contemplating this great mysterious miracle of
miracles, that the first germ of a purer and higher religious develop
ment of the human race, sunk in this horrible mountainous wilderness,
was to be fructified by such patriarchal simplicity, and further un
folded and handed down from generation to generation, by a people
so sunk in slavery, which had become so lustful, and continued to
be so often a covenant-breaking people, as the people of Israel then
was, and that by them it was to be guarded as the most holy jewel
for the whole future of the nations. Yet the divine similes of the
sower, of the mustard seed, and of the leaven, find here their earliest
application." 29.
'Hie First Breach of the Covenant. Order of the Camp. Departure
from Sinai. Sentence on the People.
In consequence of the closing of the covenant, Jehovah is to make
His dwelling among His people, because of which the laws touching the

§ 29.] FIRST BREACH OF COVENANT. SENTENCE ON THE PEOPLE. 109
arrangement of the tabernacle are next given in Ex. xxv. ff. (1). But
before this is carried out the people have already broken the covenant,
by falling into idolatry in the absence of Moses. Moses executes
judgment on the idolaters ; and on this occasion the tribe of Levi—
whose zeal now takes fire, not, as their father's (Gen. xxxiv.), for
the wounded family honour, but for God's honour — obtains its
consecration (Ex. xxxii. 26-29 ; comp. also Num. xxv. 11, Deut.
xxxiii. 9 f.) (2). And then Moses goes before Jehovah, offering
himself for the people as the victim of the curse, and conjures by
repeated entreaties the divine mercy till he has obtained pardon.
Thus the first breach of the covenant leads to a further disclosure of
the divine essence ; and to God's former names are added the new
ones: merciful, gracious, long-suffering God (Ex. xxxiv. 6). But
in Moses' offer to resign his personal salvation, if only his people
may be delivered, the idea of a reconciling mediation coming in for
a sinful people appears for the first time (comp. Rom. ix. 3) (3). —
During the stay at Sinai, which was for about a year, the holy taber
nacle is set up and dedicated, the ordinances of worship are regulated,
and a number of other laws are given, in which all points are fixed
with particular exactness, by which in the regulation of the people's
life their difference from the Egyptians and from the Canaanite tribes
is to be marked (comp., in particular, passages like Lev. xviii. 2 f., 24,
xx. 23 f.). Hereupon the number of the people is taken, the tribe of
Levi is introduced into the position ordained for it, and, lastly, the
order of encampment is fixed, by which (Num. ii. and iii., comp.
x. 13 ff.) the relationship of Jehovah to the people as His army (as
they are called, Ex. vii. 4), and at the same time their relationship
to each other, is distinctly stamped. In the middle is the holy taber
nacle ; next to it, on the east, the priests encamp ; and on the three
other sides the three families of the Levites (4) ; then come the
twelve tribes, arranged on the political division which separates
Joseph into two tribes, in four triads (5), facing the four quarters of
the heavens, each of which had a leading tribe with a banner at its
head. Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan are the leading tribes ;
and Judah, the first of them, encamping on the east, leads the whole
procession. — In the second year, on the twentieth of the month, the
removal from Sinai takes place. The people are to pass in a direct

110 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 29.
way through the wilderness of Paran to the promised land. They"
succeed — under repeated outbreaks of their stiffneckedness, and chas
tisements suffered on this account — in reaching Kadesh-Barnea, the
southern boundary of Canaan. In the catalogue of the resting-places
(Num. xxxiii.), the station Rithma (ver. 18) is probably to be looked
for beside Kadesh. From this point Moses causes the land to be
searched by twelve spies. The accounts which these bring back raise
a general insurrection. Now is the measure of the divine patience
exhausted. A wandering of forty years long in the wilderness is
decreed against the people, during which time all those who have
passed their twentieth year — that is, the whole body of men who were
capable of war — are to be swept away, except Oshea, or Joshua as
Moses calls him (Num. xiii. 16), and Caleb, who had no share in that
offence (Num. xiv., comp. xxxii. 13, Josh. v. 6). Therefore the
history of the march through the wilderness is treated as a type of
warning for all times (Ps. lxxviii., xcv. 8 ff. ; in the New Testament,
1 Cor. x. 1-12, Heb. iii. 7 ff.).
(1) The plan of the legislative sections of the Pentateuch falls to be
treated of in the Old Testament introduction. I only remark here,
that the succession of the laws is not fixed by the systematic consider
ations of a formal code, but merely by each law being put in the
place in which its publication proves to be necessary. If this is taken
into consideration, some inconsistencies which will have been found
in these sections vanish.
(2) It has already been shown in § 25, that in Jacob's prophetical
utterances Levi receives a curse rather than a blessing, on account
of his passionate zeal manifested in the treacherous deed of blood
(Gen. xxxiv.). Now the turning of the curse into a blessing is seen
in Ex. xxxii. 26-29, when Moses returns from the mountain, and sees
the sin of the people with the golden calf. On his cry, " Hither to
me, all ye who belong to the Lord ! " the tribe of Levi gathers at once
round him, sword in hand, and executes, without mercy, punishment
on the idolaters. (Kurtz, History of the Old Covenant, ii. p. 313 : " If
the forefather broke truth, fidelity, and right by vengeance on the
Shechemites, his descendants, by avenging Jehovah on their blood-
relations, saved truth, right, and covenant.") Deut. xxxiii. 9 f. refers
to this history : " He who says of his father and his mother, I see him
not, and knoweth not his brothers, nor acknowledgeth his sons, . . .
they shall teach thee thy laws, O Jacob," etc. Num. xxv. 6-13, the

§ 30.] WANDERING IN THE WILDERNESS. Ill
story of the zeal of Phinehas, is another explanatory parallel in the
Pentateuch, in which this characteristic trait, which qualifies Levi for
the priesthood, is pointed out.
(3) One of the most beautiful sections of the Pentateuch, in
which Moses appears at his best, is the story of Moses offering himself
as avadefia, if God will only forgive the people, — a word which has
been spoken by only one other than Moses, namely Paul, Rom. ix. 3 :
rjV^ofirjv yap ovtos iycb avdOe/xa elvai cnrb tov Xpiarrov virep rSiv
aBeXfy&v fiov, etc. Comp., iu particular, Bengel's Gnomon on this
passage: Verba humana non sunt plane apta, quibus includantur
motus animarum sanctarum : neque semper iidem sunt motus illi,
neque in earum potestate est, tale semper votum ex sese elicere. Non
capit hoc anima non valde provecta. De mensura amoris in Mose et
Paulo non facile est existimare. Eum enim modulus ratiocinationum
nostrarum non capit : sicut heroum bellicorum animos non capit par-
vulus. Apud ipsos illos duumviros intervalla ilia, quse bono sensu
ecstatica dici possunt, subitum quiddam et extraordinarium fuere. Ne
in ipsorum quidem potestate erat, tales actus ex sese quovis tempore
elicere, etc. In Genesis we have already a mediatorial intervention,
when Abraham wishes to intervene for Sodom and Gomorrah ; but
more remarkable is the intervention of Moses, who wishes to be
blotted out of the book of life. K. Lechler rightly points out, in his
treatise, "Bemerkungen zum Begriffe der Religion," in Ullmann's
Studien und Kritiken, 1851, Nr. 4, p. 782, that such highly elevated
points of the religious life could not be understood from Schleier
macher's notion of religion.
(4) The family of Gershon, westward ; Kohath, southward ; and
Merari, northward (comp. also § 93).
(5) The triads are formed with consideration of the descent on
the mother's side (comp. § 25, note 1) : 1. Judah, Issachar, Zebulun ;
2. Reuben, Simeon, Gad ; 3. Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin ; 4. Dan,
Asher, Naphtali. [Article, " Stamme Israels."]
§30.
The Wandering during Thirty-seven Years in the Wilderness, and the
Events up to the Occupation of the Land on the East Side of
Jordan.
The history of the Pentateuch passes over the following seven-and-
thirty years almost in perfect silence. According to Deut. i. 46, a
longer stay of the people in Kadesh must be presupposed (1). From

112 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 30
this point the return march of the people into the wilderness took
place by the stages registered in Num. xxxiii. 19 ff., in which wander
ing for thirty-seven years the march round Mount Seir, mentioned in
Deut. ii. 1, is included. In the first month of the fortieth year, the
people are again in Kadesh-Barnea. This second encampment is
meant in Num. xx. 1. The new-grown race shows the same stubborn
ness as the earlier one ; they contend with Moses and Aaron ; and as
this time even the faith of these two swerves, to them also entrance
into the land of rest is denied (Num. xx. 10, 12, comp. Ps. cvi. 32 f.).
In Deut. i. 37 (comp. iii. 26), Moses and Aaron do not seek to be
acquitted from their own guilt (see xxxii. 51) ; but the conscience of
the people has to be touched, because their sin gave occasion to the
guilt of the two (2). Since the Edomites denied their brother-people
the passage through their lands, Israel had to turn back a second
time from the border of Canaan, and go round the mountains of
Edom, in order to penetrate from the eastern side (Num. xx. 14 ff.).
A new outbreak of the people's stubbornness draws upon them another
chastisement, but at the same time supplies the occasion for a revela
tion of the saving power of faith (xxi. 4 ff.). The brazen seraph (a
sort of serpent) which was set up, is a symbol of the doing away of
evil through the power and grace of God. To this the typical use in
John iii. 14 attaches itself (3). Then follow, in the land on the east
of Jordan, successful combats, as a testimony to Jehovah's faithful
ness and a pledge of future victory. The Amorites and Og king of
Bashan are conquered, and Israel sets up its camp in the plains of
Moab, opposite to Jericho, and separated from the Holy Land only
by the Jordan. King Balak of Moab wishes to conjure the danger
by means of Balaam, the seer from Mesopotamia, and to arrest the
path of the victorious people by means of his curse ; but the seer,
overpowered by the Spirit of Jehovah, is compelled to bless Israel,
and make known to the people its future splendour, and the brilliant
and victorious dominion which is to arise out of it (xxiv. 17-19), while
he declares the fall of the heathen world, and also the subjugation of
the world-power of Asia, destined to make a prey of the people dwelling
round them, by a power coming from the west (vers. 20-24) (4). —
More successful were the Moabites and Midianites, when, at Balaam's
advice (xxxi. 16), they enticed the people to the service of Baal-Peor,

§ 3C] WANDERING IN THE WILDERNESS. 113
and the lewdness connected therewith. After vengeance has been
taken on the Midianites for this (chap, xxxi..), the land which was
conquered on the east of Jordan, and which was especially adapted
for the continuation of a pastoral life, is divided to the tribes of
Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh (chap, xxxii.). This stretch of
land does not belong to the promised land proper, the property of
Jehovah (Josh. xxii. 19). It is limited to the territory on the west
of Jordan, according to the boundaries given (Num. xxxiv. 1 ff.).
But a sphere of dominion of much wider extension was promised to
the people (Gen. xv. 18) between the rivers Nile and Euphrates, or,
according to the more precise statement (Ex. xxiii. 31), between the
Red Sea and the Mediterranean, the Arabian wilderness, and the
Euphrates (comp. also Deut. i. 7, xi. 24, Josh. i. 4). — The new
numbering of the people, which was accomplished (Num. xxvi.) in
the plains of Moab, shows the new-grown race in strength of number
almost the same as the former (601,730 men fit for war, against
603,550) ; but, on the other hand, the differences of number among
the individual tribes are considerable, especially in Simeon (comp.
xxvi. 14 with i. 23), which has diminished to almost a third part of
its former size, and, according to this, seems to have shared especially
in the last visitation of punishment, as indeed, according to xxv. 14,
the guilty prince Zimri was a Simeonite.
(1) In Deut. i. 46 it is said : " Ye remained in Kadesh many
days." According to the view of Fries, in his essay " On the Position
of Kadesh, and the Portion of Israel's History in the Wilderness which
is connected therewith" (Studien und Kritiken, 1854, Nr. 1, p. 50 ff.),
and of Schultz, in his Commentary to Deuteronomy, this would refer
to the full forty years. If so, we must assume that part of the people
remained through the whole forty years in Kadesh, probably out of
defiance, whilst Moses with another part made the farther march,
whereupon in the end the whole people united again in Kadesh.
For this view the change of person may be pleaded, when in i. 46
the second person is used, whereas it is said in ii. 1, " and we turned
us," etc. Keil's view (comp. his Commentary), which I have accepted
in the text, seems to me to be the more probable one. In these
thirty-seven years, out of which only a few subordinate events are
told us in the Pentateuch, seems to fall the defection of the people
indicated by Amos v. 26 {?}, when the people mixed the service of
VOL. I. H

114 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 30.
Milcom with Jehovah-worship, and followed their idolatrous lust
(comp. § 26, note 4). .
(2) In Num. xx. 10, Moses says to the people : " Hear, ye rebels ;
shall we indeed bring water to you out of the rock ? " Upon this,
Jehovah says to Moses and Aaron, ver. 12 : " Because ye have not
believed on me, to sanctify me before the people of Israel, ye shall
not bring this congregation into the land which I give them." — Deut.
i. 37 : " Also against me was Jehovah wroth for your sakes, and said,
Also thou shalt not enter." Ps. cvi. 32 f. : " They made (God) angry
at the water of strife, and it went ill with Moses because of them ; for
they made his spirit bitter, so that he spoke inconsiderate words with
his lips " (iVpBfcO Nt??!!!). It is an old question of dispute, " qua in re
peccaverit Moses." Comp. Buddeus, Historia ecclesiastica V. T. i. p.
527 f., for the older views. More modern writers have often main
tained that there is at least one contradiction between the passages in
the book of Numbers and those in Deuteronomy, but the solution is
easily found in the way indicated in the text. That in the unbelief
of the whole race no excuse is found for the weak faith of the chosen
instruments of God ; that unbroken obedience was demanded from
the organs of revelation, and that these are most sharply punished
just as a pattern of warning, — is the idea of the narrative.
(3) Numerous mistakes have been made by taking the brazen
serpent, Num. xxi. 8 f., as a symbol of the healing power, which the
serpent certainly often is in heathenism ; while besides this, in the
Phoenician and Egyptian religions, the wounded serpent appears as a
symbol of eternity and immortality. But this does not suit here.
Though Wisd. xvi. 5 ff. names that brazen K$ ovp.fio'kov a-ojrrjpla'},
this is not as if the serpent itself, as in heathenism, were the symbol
of the healing power ; but (comp. Schmid, Biblische Theol. des N. T.
i. p. 215 Tr. ; Ewald, History of Israel, ii. 3d ed. p. 249), as indicated
in the text, the matter stands thus : — The serpent is a symbol of the
evil which has now come upon Israel on account of its sins, and the
serpent set up as a standard is a symbol of the overcoming and doing
away of evil for every believer by means of Jehovah's might and
grace. " Now he who looks on this sign ordained by God is master
of the poison that has penetrated into him " (Baumgarten, Theological
Commentary to the Pentateuch, i. 2). To this attaches the typical
interpretation in Christ's saying, John iii. 14 f. : ica9a><; Mcovo-Pj? v^rcocre
rbv o<f>tv iv rfj ipnfMti, ovrco<} vyjroiOTivai, Bei rbv vibv rov avQpdmov "va
ira<i o iriarevtov ek airov fir] d-TroXnrai, aXK' e\$ £mV alcoviov. Therein
lies the thought, that he who looks in faith to Him whom God, as
Paul expresses it, 2 Cor. v. 21, has made to be sin for us, thus becomes

§ 31.] MOSES' POSITION AMONG THE ORGANS OF REVELATION. 115
free from the poison and guilt of sin which has entered into him. — A
connection with the Egyptian serpent-worship is the less to be thought
of in the story, that, according to Herodotus, ii. 74, the sacred serpents
of the Egyptians were harmless. But Phoenician and Egyptian
serpent-worship may very well have become at a later time the occasion
of the idolatrous misuse of the image of the serpent which is spoken
of in 2 Kings xviii. 4.
(4) Num. xxiv. 17-19 is the well-known prophetic word about
the star and sceptre arising out of Israel. It portrays the splendid
dominion of victory proceeding from Israel, which shall overcome
Moab and Edom. We may admit our assent to the position, that in
the first instance only a sovereignty arising out of Jacob is here spoken
of (as also Hengstenberg thinks). But this cannot, nevertheless, be
thought of without a personal representative of the sovereignty. The
passage is certainly a Messianic one. I understand vers. 20-24 thus :
The ancient people of Amalek shall not be protected by their age, nor
the people of the Kenites by the security of their dwelling. The seer,
after he has foretold the fall of Israel's chief enemies, means to say
that each and every heathen people, even those who appear to be most
firmly founded, must perish. They fall, in the first instance, a
sacrifice to the Asiatic world-power, which has its seat on the farther
side of the Euphrates ; but his power is also overcome by a power
coming from the side of the Hittites, that is, from the west,' from the
Mediterranean Sea. When this also is doomed to destruction, the
whole heathen world becomes a great Calvary before the eyes of the
seer, over which God's people lifts itself victorious. It is a perfectly
miserable explanation, which loves to call itself historical (Hitzig),
according to which the arrival of the fleet from the side of the Hittites
is made to refer to an unimportant inroad of sea-robbers on the Asiatic
coast in the eighth century. The passage is rather parallel to that in
the close of Gen. ix. Here also the path of the history is pointed
out in grand outlines : first, Asia, represented by Asshur, arises as a
world-empire ; Asia falls before a European power, and Israel rises
out of both.
§31.
Deuteronomy. Moses' End. His Position among the Organs of
Revelation.
The people's wandering is completed, and Moses is to place the
staff of leadership in Joshua's hands. The last testament of the
departing leader to his people is given in Deuteronomy (1). In its

116 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 31.
legislative sections it forms the proper law-book of the people, the
decisions of which presuppose at the same time the settlement of
the people in the Holy Land. An essential peculiarity of the book is,
that it also presents the subjective side of the law, which had been
brought forward in the earlier books in strict objectivity ; wherefore
the tone of speech is here more that of paternal warning, which, by
pointing to Jehovah's electing and long-suffering patient love, endea
vours to awaken love to Him in return. In the section which
carries out further the thoughts in Lev. xxvi. (Deut. xxviii.-xxx.
comp. with chap, iv.), and in the farewell song of Moses, chap, xxxii.,
lie the fundamental conceptions of prophecy : God's grace and faith
fulness in choosing and leading Israel ; the people's thanklessness and
rebelliousness ; the divine judgment breaking in, and God's pity
turning again to the people after the judgment, and bringing the
counsel of salvation to its goal in their restoration. In Moses'
blessing, chap, xxxiii., Judah, Levi, and Joseph are especially pro
minent ; Simeon is wanting, which may be explained from what is
noted at the close of § 30 (2). In Josh. xix. the tribe appears
again, but receives a very small inheritance. When Moses has
finished blessing his people, he mounts to the top of Pisgah in order
to cast yet one look on the longed-for land, and appears no more on
earth. His end is related in a mysterious way, but is indicated, Deut.
xxxiv. 5, 7, comp. xxxii. 50, by the same expressions as the common
end of man's life (3). Standing in one line with other organs of
revelation by the name prophet, Deut. xviii. 18, Hos. xii. 14, and
the name of honour, " Jehovah's servant," Deut. xxxiv. 5, he was
nevertheless placed over them, in that to him was granted (Ex. xxxiii.
11 ; Num. xii. 6-8 ; Deut. xxxiv. 10) a higher form of revelation
than to the others, which is called a gazing upon God (comp. § 66, 3).
His position, in virtue of which he was the divinely ordained organ
for the whole powers of the theocracy, is a unique one, which did not
descend to Joshua, who had only to execute inherited commands, and
represent an already given law (4).
(1) Deuteronomy is one of the most disputed books in the Old
Testament, but it is one of the most beautiful. To be sure, it does
not place at its commencement a testimony that the book as it lies before
us was written entirely by Moses ; for 1K3, i. 5, does not mean " he

§ 31.] MOSES' POSITION AMONG THE ORGANS OF REVELATION. 117
engraved, wrote," but "he explained, expounded this law." This
word, therefore, might have been used, even although the reporter of
the speeches of Moses was another than Moses himself. But "this
law " itself (ntftri rntan), under which is to be understood in particular
the main legislative portion of the book, which is supplied with a
special title, iv. 44-49, and with a subscription, xxviii. 69, is charac
terized most definitely as written by Moses by xxxi. 9 (" and Moses
wrote this law"), and ver. 24 ("when Moses had finished writing
the words of this law in a book, to the end ") ; and it is also, without
doubt, the legislation herein contained which was to be written, xxvii.
3-8, on the stones to be erected on Ebal. It is pure caprice to refer
xxxi. 9, 24 to the Pentateudh, and yet to maintain that xxvii. 3-8, in
spite of the most definite explanation in ver. 8, " all the words of
this law," only speaks of a quintessence of the law, because Hengsten
berg and Keil have not ventured to assert the whole Pentateuch to
have been written on those stones. — Now those legislative parts of
Deuteronomy admittedly show a remarkable agreement with the book
of the covenant in Exodus, which claims to be written by Moses. —
The view of many modern critics, that the finding of the book of the
law at the repairing of the temple under Josiah, in the year 624 B.C.
(2 Kings xxii.), was in truth the publication of Deuteronomy, which
was only written a short time before, is contrary to the fact that even
the oldest prophets presuppose Deuteronomy, its legislative provisions,
and also its speeches ; though, indeed, many modern critics turn the
matter round, and say, for example, that Isa. i. does not rest on
Deuteronomy, but Deuteronomy has copied Isa. i., etc. — A closer
examination of the critical question of Deuteronomy must be left to
Old Testament introduction.
(2) In Moses' blessing, his silence on Simeon is eloquent. Some
codd. of the LXX. Deut. xxxiii. 6 have Simeon in the second half-
verse beside Reuben : kcu Sv/j,ea>v eareo ttoXvs ev apidfim ; but this is
undoubtedly a later insertion.
(3) In speaking of the close of Moses' life, the phrases, " to die,"
and " to be gathered to his people," are used xxxiv. 5, 7, xxxii. 50,
which last denote in the Old Testament common death and removal
into Sheol, into the kingdom of the dead (comp. § 78). There are two
men in the Old Testament of whom these expressions are not used,
viz. Enoch and Elijah. The Jewish legends sought to give Moses,
that highly elevated organ of revelation, a place beside these two
persons. Josephus, Ant. iv. 8, § 48, represents him as suddenly
snatched away in the way Elijah was, and adds that Moses has indeed
written in the sacred books that he died for fear that it might be said

118 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 31.
afterwards, on account of his superabundant virtue, that he was gone
to the Divinity ; and Philo, Vita Mosis, iii. § 39, says he was buried,
firjBevbi; irapovros, BrjXovon %epalv oi Qvr)rai%, aXX' aOavarois Bvvdfte-
aw. The rabbis sought to read something strange into Deut. xxxiv.
5, and explained the ,S"?y : " Moses the servant of the Lord died there
in the land of Moab, at the mouth of Jehovah." From this arose the
rabbinical doctrine of the death by a kiss ; the mors osculi, which
implies deliverance from death. It means rather : " according to the
mouth of the Lord," according to the divine word or command. The
expression refers to the earlier divine word, that Moses shall not be
allowed to see the promised land, but must die before that time. The
position of the New Testament to the death of Moses is peculiar.
Whilst Heb. xi. 40 says of the old covenant fathers, that they " are not
perfected without us," making their re\eia>ais dependent on the comple
tion of the New Testament work of redemption ; the New Testament
history of the transfiguration, where Moses appears with Elijah, Matt.
xvii. 3, Luke ix. 30 f. (in which latter passage the d(f>divre<; iv Sofj
is particularly significant), presupposes Moses as perfected for the
heavenly life. If justice is done to all the passages, we must say, with
Stier ( Words ofthe Lord Jesus (Trans.), in Matt, xvii.) : " A wonderful
exception is made with the bodies of these two from the common lot
of death; although the lawgiver actually died on account of sin,
and the prophet was raised to meet more nearly the victory over
death." — The passage Jude 9 attaches to a legend which, according
to Origens, irepl ap-^cov, iii. 2, is taken out of the apocryphal
Ascensio Mosis, and which has also found entrance into the Targum
of Jonathan to Dent, xxxiv. 6. According to it, Satan, referring
to the murder of the Egyptian, Ex. ii. 12, is said to have opposed the
archangel Michael, to whom Moses' burial was given in charge by
God. — The Jewish fables on the life and death of Moses are collected
in the rabbinical treatise " de Vita Mosis," translated into Latin by
Gilbert Gaulmyn, and published again by Gfrorer, in the work,
Prophetw veteres pseudepigraphi, 1840, p. 303 ff.
(4) The unique importance of Moses is especially recognised when
we compare the position of Joshua with that of Moses. Joshua is
simply a leader, he has no other theocratic power ; in particular, he
never performs priestly functions, and is subordinate in rank to the
high priest. In the latter connection, Cassel (on Judg. i. 1, in
Lange's Bibelwerk) has well remarked, that whilst Moses is always
named before Aaron, when Joshua is named along with tlie priest
Eleazar, the name of the priest always stands first (comp. Num. xxxiv.
17, Josh. xiv. 1, xvii. 4, xix. 51, xxi. 1).

§ 32.] OCCUPATION OF CANAAN. EXTERMINATION OF CANAANITES. 119

III. THE SETTLEMENT OF ISRAEL IN THE HOLY LAND.
§32.
Occupation of Canaan. Extermination of the Canaanites.
After Joshua had been confirmed in his office of leader by
Jehovah (Josh. i. 1-9), ,the passage of the Jordan ensued in a mira
culous way, as a witness and pledge to the people that the same
divine power which was with Moses would reveal Himself also under
the new leader (iv. 14/ 22-24), and therefore this event is expressly
placed side by side with the march through the Red Sea (iv. 23 ; Ps.
cxiv. 3 ff.). The people encamped in the plain of Jericho (Josh. iv.
13), and here first the circumcision of those born during the march
through the wilderness was completed, and the people entered on
participation in the good things of the Holy Land with the first
passover festival (v. 2-12). The key to the land was won by the
conquest of Jericho (chap, vi.) ; on this followed the taking of Ai, the
second fortified place of central Canaan (Josh, viii.), after the curse
was expiated which came on the people by Achan's disobedience
(chap. vii. ; comp. Hos. ii. 17) (1). Now the promulgation of the law
from Gerizim and Ebal, ordained in Deut. xxvii., could take place
(viii. 30-35) ; and in accordance with the decree given in Deut. xxvii.
4-8, the law was written on stones plastered with lime (2). By a
new victorious campaign against the southern (chap, x.), and another
against the northern tribes of Canaan, the conquest of the land in a
general sense was completed. The t^n (ban, devotion as a curse),
enjoined in Deut. vii. 2, xx. 16-18, comp. Ex. xxiii. 32 f., xxxiv. 12 ff.,
was executed on a number of Canaanitish towns. Vain attempts
have been made to interpret in a milder form this command to
exterminate the Canaanites, mainly by supposing that peace was first
to be offered to the Canaanite towns,' and if they refused this offer
they were to be exterminated ; but in Deut. xx. 10 ff., to which
passage this view appeals, this course of action (comp. ver. 15) is only
prescribed in reference to foreign enemies not Canaanites. Or we
are referred to Josh. xi. 20, according to which the Canaanites them
selves, by hardening their hearts, became responsible for the execution
of the judgment ; — a perfectly correct proposition, but one which

120 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 32.
does not prevent us from understanding the decree of extermination ,
in a perfectly general sense. It is no less erroneous to seek to justify
the extermination of the Canaanites by an older claim to Canaan,
inherited by Israel from the time of the patriarchs. Passages like
Gen. xii. 6, xiii. 7, oppose this in the most definite manner. The Old
Testament knows no other ground for the assignment of the land to
Israel than the free grace of Jehovah, to whom it belonged ; and no
other ground for the blotting out of the Canaanite tribes than the
divine justice, which, after these tribes have filled up the measure of
their sins in unnatural abominations (comp. Lev. xviii. 27 f., Deut.
xii. 31), breaks in at last in vengeance, after long waiting (comp. Gen.
xv. 16). But Israel is threatened with exactly the same judgment
(comp. also Deut. viii. 19 f., xiii. 12 ff., Josh, xxiii. 15 f.) in case of
its becoming participant in the sins of the tribes on whom it executes
the divine judgment with the sword.
(1) Hos. ii. 17. — After it has been said in ver. 16 that God, in
the future restoration of His people, will lead them into the wilderness
and speak to their hearts (comp. § 28, note 1), the prophet goes on to
say, " and I will give her her vineyards from thence," — that is, im
mediately on her leaving the wilderness, ensues the introduction to
the promised land, with its vine-clad hills, — " and the valley of Achor
for, the door of hope." This points back to Josh. vii. Jericho had
fallen, and all seemed prosperous for Israel. There a part of the
army was defeated by the inhabitants of Ai. It was revealed to
Joshua that a curse was on the army ; for Achan had kept to
himself something from the booty of Jericho, contrary to the strict
command of God. Then Joshua said to Achan : " As thou hast
troubled us, so let Jehovah trouble thee to-day ;" and from this
comes the name of the valley of "toy. Achan was stoned, and there
by the curse taken from the people ; Ai was conquered, and thus the
key to the land was won. So the valley of sorrow became the gate
of hope. It is easy to recognise the prophet's meaning : when God
redeems His people, everything must work for its good.
(2) Josh. viii. 30-35 ; Deut. xxvii. 4-8. — Here, if anywhere, it is
a true saying, that against many assumptions of recent criticism the
very stones speak out. Investigation in the classical sphere presents
no example of such impertinence as that which relegates the whole
history of the transaction at Gerizim and Ebal without more ado to
the realm of myths. The investigation of the Egyptian monuments

§ 32.] OCCUPATION OF CANAAN. EXTERMINATION OF CANAANITES. 121
has shown that it was an ancient Egyptian custom first to plaster the
stone walls of buildings, and also monumental stones that were to
be painted with figures and hieroglyphics, with a plaster of lime and
gypsum, into which the figures were worked ; thus it was possible in
Egypt to engrave on the walls the most extensive pieces of writing.
And in this manner Deut. xxvii. 4-8 must be understood, and in this
manner it was accomplished by Joshua. It is not to be explained, as
formerly was often done, by saying that the law was engraved in the
stones, and then the lime was to serve either to make the writing stand
out more clearly, or to prevent it from being destroyed by the atmo
sphere. In the last case it is not conceivable that any large or
comprehensive law could have been transferred to these stones. For
the rest, that we are not here to think of the whole Pentateuch in
quali et quanto, compare § 31, note 1.
(3) The extermination of the Canaanites has, as is well known,
been a very special topic of discussion, and much doubtful apolo
getic has been produced on the subject. Hengstenberg, in his
Contributions to Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 471 ff., has
treated the matter best. On the first glance, the attempt seems most
plausible which seeks to render the extermination of the Canaanites
somewhat less inhuman, by pointing to an old claim of Israel on
Palestine. But this is out of the question, if we look at the passages
of the Old Testament in which the relation of the people to the
ground allotted to them is brought into closer view. Certainly Deut.
xxxii. 8 contains the thought, that when spheres were allotted to the
people of the earth by Divine Providence, regard was had to the
place where in later ages the people of revelation was to have its
historical development (comp. § 22, note 1). But how did they get
this place? In Genesis the distinct impression is conveyed that the
fathers of the race were strangers in Canaan. Because of this, in
Gen. xii. 6 and xiii. 7 it is expressly brought forward that at that
time even, there were Canaanites and Perizzites in the land. Stephen,
Acts vii. 5, urges the same thing with the greatest emphasis : " He
gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot-breadth, and promised
that He would give it him,': etc. The point of view which is laid
down in our text is alone in accordance with the Old Testament.
Noav it is certainly true that this Old Testament God is a dreadful
God, as we are always told. But we must make it clear to ourselves,
that the God who rules in the history of the universe is really this
dreadful God. The fact stands sure, that already many nations have
been swept away, and have experienced a like fate. Who has ordained
this? The difference between the view of the Old Testament and of

122 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 33.
other histories lies just in this, that where the latter perhaps see
nothing but tragical crises of history, the former vindicates the ethical
principle with all energy, according to which nothing happens without
ground, and this ground just lies in the divine justice. It is quite
unnecessary to add to this any artificial apologetical considerations.
It is, moreover, to be noticed here, that beyond doubt a part of those
Canaanites emigrated, mainly towards Phoenicia, but also to North
Africa. Procopius (de bello Vandalico, ii. 10) found an inscription
beside Tingitana in North Africa : " We are they who fled before
the-robber Jesu " (Joshua). The Berbers, who by descent are dis
tinguished from the Arabians, are still regarded by the Arabians as
descended from these fugitives. § 331.
Division of the Land. Character of the Promised Land. Israel at
the Close of this Period.
Since the power of the Canaanites in general was broken, they now.
in the seventh year after their entrance, as is to be concluded from
Josh. xiv. 10, began to divide the land, which, indeed, was not yet
in all parts completely vanquished (s. xiii. 2 ff.) (1). Eleazar the
priest, and Joshua, with the chiefs of the tribes, managed the business
of division (2). First, the most powerful tribes were provided for:
Judah receiving the southern portion of the land ; Joseph, that is,
Ephraim and the other half of Manasseh, being settled in the middle.
But a mistake had been made in the first calculation, so that after
wards, in the allotting of dominions to the seven remaining tribes,
Benjamin, Dan, and Simeon had to be put into the land already
apportioned. The sanctuary was removed from Gilgal to Shiloh
(xviii. 1), which is situated pretty nearly in the middle of the land on
this side Jordan, in the dominion of the tribe of Ephraim, to which
Joshua himself belonged, and it remained there till towards the end
of the time of the judges. The division of the land was carried out,
so that not merely the limits of the tribal territories were fixed, but
inside these also the districts of the families (3). Thus the life of
tribe and family remained the basis of civil society. This certainly
promoted a disposition to maintain the interests of the tribes at the
cost of the national cause, in times when there was no powerful
central authority, and every one did what seemed right to him ; but

§ 33.] DIVISION OF THE LAND. CHARACTER OF PROMISED LAND. 123
it also ensured the propagation of the faith and customs of the
fathers inside the family circle (4), when declensions began to grow
frequent.— So the " good land " (Ex. iii. 8 ; Deut. iii. 25, viii. 7-9),
" the ornament of all lands" (Ezek. xx. 6, comp. with Jer. iii. 19,
Dan. viii. 9, xi. 16), was won, where, on the basis of a life of hus
bandry requiring regular industry, the people should be matured for
the fulfilment of their destiny in quiet and retirement (Num. xxiii.
9 ; Deut. xxiii. 28 ; comp. with Mic. vii. 14). The separation from
other peoples commanded in the law (see specially Lev. xx. 24, 26)
was made easier by the secluded position of the land, which was
enclosed on the south and west by great wildernesses, on the north by
the high mountains of Lebanon, and which even on the west was
unfavourably situated for maritime intercourse, since the coast has
few landing-places or inlets. On the other hand, by the situation
of the land in the midst of the cultivated nations which form the
scene of ancient history (comp. Ezek. v. 5, xxxviii. 12), as well as
by the great highways of the old world which led past its borders,
the future theocratic calling of the people was made possible (5).
" The union of the greatest contrasts in this position in the world,
the most isolated retirement combined with everything that can
favour wide connections on all sides with the main civilised regions'
of the old world by intercourse of commerce and language, by sea as
well as by land, with the Arabians, Indians, Egyptians, Syrians,
Armenians, with the Greek and Roman world of culture, in their
common centre of space and history, is a characteristic peculiarity of
this promised land which was destined from the beginning to be the
home of the chosen people " (Ritter, Erdkunde, xv. 1, p. 11) (6). —
Two parts of the promise given to the patriarchs are fulfilled by the
entrance of Israel into their rest in the promised land, and by the
increase of the people like the stars of heaven (Deut. x. 22). But
the empire over nations (Gen. xxvii. 29, xlix. 10) is not yet obtained,
the blessing of Abraham is not yet come on the heathen ; nay, a new
cycle of history must arise, in which centuries of contest for mere
existence are ordained for the people. — Since the possession of the
land was always in danger from the numerous remnants of the
Canaanites, part of whom were dispersed, and part not yet touched
by the march of conquest, as well as from the Philistine Pentapolis

124 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. [§ 33.
(Josh. xiii. 2 f.), which had arisen in the low country on the coast of
the Mediterranean Sea, and from the neighbourhood of hostile peoples
on the east, a faithful union of the tribes in firm connection with the
theocratic centre would have been proper. And at first, on the occa
sion related in Josh, xxii., the consciousness of the theocratic unity of
the people showed itself still in full strength, and Joshua exerted
himself at two gatherings of the people which he held towards the
close of his life (chap, xxiii. and xxiv.) to reanimate this feeling, and
to repress the idolatry that was coming up again among the people
(xxiv. 23, comp. with ver. 15). Also the people were willing to renew
the covenant with Jehovah, and remained, on the whole, true to it as
long as the race lived that had seen God's great deeds (xxiv. 31 ;
Judg. ii. 7).
(1) One of the contradictions which are said to have been found
in the book of Joshua is this : On the one side the book ascribes the
vanquishing the Canaanites and the conquest of the land to Joshua
(xi. 16-23, xii. 7 ff., comp. xxi. 41 ff., xxii. 4) ; and yet, on the other
side (chap, xiii.), an account of unconquered lands is given, and the
necessity is expressed of making still more extensive conquests. The
matter stands thus. When it is said, xi. 23, " So Joshua took the whole
land," this means : the conquest of the land in general was finished.
This does not exclude the fact that in detail, as is explained in chap.
xiii., there was still very much to be done. That the conquest was
looked upon as on the whole complete, is shown in the second part of
the book (chap, xiii.-xxii.), by the fact that he causes the parts which
were not conquered to be divided. — The second part of the book is of
enormous value for biblical geography. If we compare these sections
with the parallels, 1 Chron. iv. 28-32, vi. 39-66, we see how difficult
it would have been in a later time to write down and represent every
thing for the first time, as^ those must suppose who make the book
much more modern.
(2) To aid in this assignment of territory, a sort of map had been
sketched. I think Ritter is right in thus understanding Josh, xviii.
4-9 ; see his History of Geography and Discovery, edited by Daniel,
p. 7 f., where we are reminded that the knowledge necessary for this
might have been brought from Egypt, where land measurement was
a very ancient thing, as the division of fields required to be newly
adjusted each year after the overflow of the Nile.
(3) Hence the regularly returning DrnnaB^ in the charter of

§ 33.] DIVISION OF THE LAND. CHARACTER OF PROMISED LAND. 125
division, Josh, xviii. f. — The name B*»K (Mic. v. 1) was conferred
metaphorically on the more notable towns which were the chief places
of the tribes. From this we can understand how the towns themselves
were then further personified and inserted in the tribal registers, in
which local dependence is represented as genealogical descent (see
specially 1 Chron. ii. 42 ff., and Bertheau on the passage, iv. 4 ff., etc.
etc.). [Art : " Stamme Israels."]
(4) Thus various callings readily became hereditary, and there
were families which, according to 1 Chron. iv. 14, xxi. 23, formed
themselves directly into trade guilds. Similarly, in 1 Chron. ii. 55,
families of Sopherim (scribes) are mentioned. Also in the names,
ii. 53, names of occupations are probably contained, as already con
jectured by Jerome.
(5) One of these old highways led from Central Asia in the north,
past Damascus to the Mediterranean Sea ; the other in the south, by
Idumea to Egypt (comp. the " Remarks on Gen. xiv." by Tuch in
the Zeitschr. der deutschen morgenldnd. Gesellschaft, i. 1847, p. 161 ff.1).
— A first consequence of the position of Israel in the midst of the
nations was, that it courted the powers of the world, and was chastised
by all, so that all became instruments of judgment on Israel. But on
the other side, it is this central position which makes this land fit for
the starting-point of the religion of the world.
(6) Comp. further how Ritter expresses himself in the same book,
p. 7 : "It seems impossible to us to imagine the development of the
people of Israel as taking place in any other part of our planet than
just on the soil of Palestine ; " comp. also p. 10 f.
1 {Reprinted in the second edition of Tiich's Genesis. }

SECOND SECTION.
THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM.
§34.
Survey.
This section falls into the following members : —
1. The doctrine of God and His relation to the world, which
doctrine is to be treated so that it may appear how God's theocratic
and revealed relationship is rooted in the Mosaic idea of God.
2. The doctrine of man and his relation to God, which is again
to be put so that it may appear how the presupposition of the
covenant relationship in which God is to stand to him is given in the
idea of man.
3. The covenant of law and the theocracy, in which is completed
the Mosaic stage of communion between Godand man.

FIRST DIVISION.
THE DOCTRINE OP GOD AND HIS RELATION TO THE
WORLD.

FIRST CHAPTER.
THE MOSAIC IDEA OF GOD.
§35.
Survey.
The fundamental points in the Mosaic idea of God are the
following : —
1. The most general characters of the Divine Being are expressed
126

§ 35J SURVEY. 127
in the characters i>K, Prtfo, D>n% ji^y fo; which are also made use of
outside the sphere of testamentary relio-ion.
2. The divine name ^ btf is the first that leads into the sphere of
revelation. 3. But the divine name which is properly suited to Old Testament
revelation is niPP, Jehovah.
4. The idea of Jehovah is more exactly defined since the founding
of the theocracy as that of the holy God, in which essential definition
the attributes of divine justice and of the jealous God are rooted, as
well as the attributes of the gracious (fan) and merciful God (wrn).
In these stages the idea of God is so unfolded, that the higher
stages do not sublate the lower, but subsumes them in itself (1).
(1) It is wrong to bring the arrangement of the later dogmatic
into biblical theology, ana to treat God's attributes according to a
preconceived scheme. Biblical theology pursues the religion of
revelation in its living rise, and finds a gradually advancing series of
statements on the divine essence available for the definition of the
idea of God. Genesis only knows the general characteristics of the
divine nature under No. 1, the VrJ£' •>&? under No. 2, and the name
Jehovah by anticipation. The divine essence conceived as Jehovah
unfolds itself from Ex. iii. onwards, and at the founding of the
theocracy the divine holiness first appears. We seek in vain through
the whole of Genesis , for a passage characterizing God as the
Holy One. After the first breach of the covenant, which called forth
the divine ntWp, the energy of the divine sanctity, the designation of
God as the gracious, merciful, long-suffering God, appears also for the
first time. Prophetic theology adds the definition of Jehovah as the
Lord of hosts ; this notion is wanting in the whole of the Pentateuch
and the book of Joshua (also in Judges). The designation of God as
the Wise One is also wanting in the Pentateuch, although certainly
the wisdom of the artists working at the sanctuary is traced back to
divine communication. It was reserved for more developed reflection
(especially in the books of Chochma) to fix wisdom as an attribute of
God, and to acknowledge in it the principle of the ordering of the
world.

128 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 36.
I. THE MOST GENERAL DESIGNATIONS OF THE DIVINE BEING,
EL, ELOAH, ELOHIM, EL-ELJON (1).
§36.
The most common designation of the Divine Being in the Old
Testament is B^K, the plural of !$>£, which is met with in the Old
Testament almost exclusively in poetical language, with the exception
of the more modern books that are under Aramaic influence. But
$>K is to be counted the oldest Semitic name of God, which already
appears in a number of the oldest names (Gen. iv. 18, ?^^nD, PKJWin ;
and also in Ismaelitish and Edomitish names, xxv. 13, ^a-iK, a son of
Ishmael ; xxxvi. 43, ^V!M?). This name also passed to the Phoenicians
as a name of Saturn, their highest god. ?K, as a name of the true
God, is no longer frequent in the Old Testament in prose, hardly
appearing, except with the article ?Kn, or determined by a following
genitive, or an attribute annexed in some other way. That ?K stands
lower than D^N is seen by the climactic formula Josh. xxii. 22 (2),
(Ps. 1. 1). The meaning of the root $"iN (to be strong, powerful)
shows that the original sense of ?&? is " the powerful, strong." — Two
different views exist as to the etymological explanation of iTON.
According to the one, ??< and Hi??* are to be regarded as related primi
tive substantives, whose original sense, as shown by the verb 7iN, is
that of power (3). According to this, the verb WK (Arab, 'aliha) would
be to be looked at as a denominative. According to the other view, ?x
and i?i?N are etymologically distinct, and the latter is to be traced back
to the root 'aliha, which means stupuit, pavore perculsus fuit (as also
restless, disconnected movement lies in the related root waliha), in
distinction from 'alalia, to honour, the denominative character of
which is not to be doubted (4). ni?K, as an abstract verbal noun,
would originally denote horror, and then further the object of horror,
and thus corresponds with the divine name "ire (Gen. xxxi. 42, 53),
and the Greek cref3a<;. The latter view is probably the more correct,
since at least the noun Pri?N has not the character of a primitive. If
power and strength are indicated by the noun £>K, this is, on the other
hand, turned subjectively in the name rribtjt, which expresses the im
pression of power. Eloah is, according to this, the power which
awakens horror. That the natural man finds himself, when con-

§ 36.] THE MOST GENERAL DESIGNATIONS OF THE DIVINE BEING. 129
fronted by the Divinity, chiefly moved by a feeling of fear, is expressed
in this designation of God (5).
The plural Wrpx is peculiar to the Old Testament ; it appears as
a name of God only in old Hebrew, and in none of the other Semitic
languages; even in the biblical Chaldee, pn!?K only means gods.
The meaning of this plural is not numerical, neither in the sense in
which some older theologians understand it, who seek the secret of
the Trinity in the name (6), nor in the sense that the expression had
originally a poly theisti cal meaning, and only later acquired a singular
sense (7) ; for the Old Testament monotheism was not developed on
a polytheistic basis (comp. § 43, 1).— A third view, that originally
in the plural the one God was taken together with the higher spirits
forming His surrounding, has against it the general argument, that
in the older times the notion of the angels is not prominent. On
Gen. i. 26 ("Let us make man") the view cannot be based, since
the whole of this record of creation shows no trace of a co-operation
of the angels, and ver. 27 continues in the singular (8). It would be
more natural to interpret Gen. xxxv. 7 (" The Elohim revealed them
selves to him ") as indicating by the plural that Jehovah is taken
along with the angels according to the manifestation in the vision
(chap, xxviii.) (9). — Elohim is much rather to be explained from the
quantitative plural (10), which is used to denote unlimited greatness
in Q^E'j heaven, and D^, water. The plural paints the endless
fulness of the might and power which lies in the Divine Being, and
thus passes over into the intensive plural, as Delitzsch has named it.
The old view of a plural of majesty was right in so far, only it was
wrong to derive this use from the consuetudo honoris (11). — As in
BWX, so also the plural contained in 'i'lK is to be explained ; indeed,
this plural of majesty has also passed to other titles of God : D'B'ilp,
Hos. xii. 1, Prov. ix. 10, to which the expression D^ilp DWK, Josh.
xxiv. 19, forms the transition ; comp. further the &'0 in Isa. liv. 5,
Job xxxv. 10, and the DW'a in Eccles. xii. 1 ; also the passage
Gen. i. 26 is to be explained thus.
Now, since the fulness of might lying in the divine nature is
quite generally in Dwg, a certain indefiniteness clings to the word,
as to the Latin numen (12). The expression in its indefinite width
does not exclude the more concrete determinations of the idea of
VOL. I. T

130 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 36.
God ; it remains all through the Old Testament the general name of
God ; in fact, it is used with special emphasis in the Elohistic psalms.
But on account of the uncertainty of its meaning, DwK can also
be used to designate heathen gods ; indeed, it is once used (1 Sam.
xxviii. 13, in the mouth of the enchantress) to designate a super
natural manifestation exciting horror.
As a name of the true God, 0!<if?8 is always joined with the
singular. The exceptions are rare, and explicable from the context
of the passages. In Gen. xx. 13 a heathen is addressed; in Ex.
xxxii. 4, 8, 1 Sam. iv. 8, 1 Kings xii. 28, the God of Israel is spoken
of from the lower standpoint of heathen conceptions ; and in 2 Sam.
vii. 23 the general notion of duty lies in the plural DwK (13).
The divine name fity f>K (LXX. 6 ©eos 6 ifyurro<:), or simply
(i^Jf (LXX. {njrioros), is also used outside the sphere of revelation.
The name appears as a designation of God, the Lord of heaven and
earth, in the mouth of Melchizedek, the Canaanite priest-king (Gen.
xiv. 18) ; it is the name of the highest god, Saturn, in the Phoenician
religion, and even serves in the Poenulus of Plautus as a title of the
gods and goddesses (14). It is characteristic that it appears also in
the mouth of the king of Babylon (Isa. xiv. 14), probably to designate
Bel. The Old Testament makes use of the name from the Israelite
standpoint only in poetical style (Num. xxiv. 16, etc. ; Deut. xxxii. 8 ;
Ps. lvii. 3, etc.), sometimes in conjunction with mn\ It is remarkable
that the book of Daniel uses fr?S in the plural of majesty (Dan. vii.
18, 22, 25) in a Chaldee section, whereas it has not the plural of
majesty PiTO*.
(1) Compare my article " Elohim " in Herzog's RealencyMop. xix.
p. 476 ff.
(2) In Josh. xxii. 22 occurs the oath, jn' tan rrtrv i D^R l *?&.
It is radically false to explain, " Jehovah the God of gods knows ; "
the Masoretic text rightly has Pesik. It is a climax which is meant.
(3) See Gesenius, Thesaurus, i. p. 49; Ewald, Jahrb. der bibl.
Wissenschaft, x. p. 11. — Ewald sees an abbreviation of iTON in ?N, and
maintains that the former, as shown by the similar form of both words,
is the antithesis of K>'i3N, in which God is designated as the absolutely
powerful in contrast to man, the absolutely weak. Comp. also Ewald's
History ofthe People of Israel, i. 3d ed. p. 378 [art. "Elohim"].

§ 36.] THE MOST GENERAL DESIGNATIONS OF THE DIVINE BEING. 131
(4) See the argument at large by Fleischer in Delitzsch's Comment.
on Genesis, 4th ed. p. 57 f.
(5) If the Epicureans say timor fecit Deos, this name of God turns
the matter thus : The reflection cast by the idea of God into the human
consciousness is just that of fear, of horror; and this is characteristic
of the primitive form of religion among sinful men.
(6) See the historical notices on the Trinitarian interpretation in
the above-cited art., p. 477. At present this view requires no further
refutation; still we may say, with Hengstenberg (Contrib. to Old
Testament Introduction, ii. p. 255), that even this erroneous view has
some truth at its foundation, since the plural form, indicating the
inexhaustible fulness of the Divinity, serves to combat the most
dangerous enemy of the doctrine of the Trinity, viz. abstract Mono
theism [above-cited art.].
(7) The word WSrvr} is adduced as an analogous example (comp.
for example Naegelsbach, Hebrew Grammar, 3d ed. p. 140 f.), which
appears in the Old Testament, as is well known, in speaking of an indi
vidual household god [ibid.'].
(8) From this would flow the quite insignificant thought that God
at first called out the angels to take part in the creation of man, but
completed the work alone, according to ver. 27 (comp. § 43, and Keil
on the passage) [ibid.'].
(9) Not only the angel of the Lord k. e|f ., but also the subordinate
angels, are bearers of divine powers, and authorities and represen
tatives of God [ifo'd,].
(10) To have directed theologians to this correct conception of the
plural Elohim is mainly the merit of Dietrich (Abhandlung. zur hebr.
Gramm. 1846, p. 44 ff., comp. with p. 16 ff.) [ibid.].
(11) Akin to the quantitative use of the plural is that of the plural
of abstraction, in which a plurality is grasped in higher unity ; comp.
examples in Ewald's Larger Grammar of the Hebrew Language, 8th ed.
§ 179. But it is hardly right directly to understand the plural Elo
him as an abstract, as Hofmann does (Schriftbeweis, i. 2d ed. p. 77).
The abstract form of expression for names of dignity (for example
n?n'p), which often appears in Aramaic (see Ewald, I.e. § 177 f.), seems
to be rather the product of a later phase of the language, which must
not be confounded with the archaic use of the plural discussed above
(ibid,). (12) Yet we cannot say, with Hengstenberg (Contributions, ii.
p. 261), that the plural Elohim is also humiliating. Steudel says more
correctly (Theol. of the Old Testament, p. 143), that there is in the
name something that can be developed [ibid.].

132 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 37.
(13) The meaning of the passage 2 Sam. vii. 23 is : " Where is
there a people on the earth to save whom a god (even one of the heathen
gods) has gone ?" hence »^>n -ib>k (ibid.).— On Ex. xxii. 8 comp. § 96.—
After what has been remarked above, it could not be extraordinary if
the name cn^K occurred for the angels, who as deias $vo-em Koivoavoi
are often called sons of God. Still this use of the word is nowhere
authenticated ; admittedly not in Ps. viii. 6, xcvii. 7, cxxxviii. 1, where
the LXX. have translated it by ayyeXoi ; also not in Ps. lxxxii., where,
in spite of Hupfeld's opposite assertion, wrf>* does not designate angels,
but the bearers of the judicial power in the theocracy [ibid.].
(14) The name p^tf occurs also in Phoenician and Punic proper
names : Abdalonimus, that is, the servant of the Highest.

II. EL-SHADDAI. §37.
The notion of God enters the sphere of the revelation in the
name ^V ta, which is peculiar to the patriarchal religion ; see Ex.
vi. 3. The word ^ should not be understood as a nomen compositum
(from t? = IBto and ¦% qui sufjiciens est, as characteristic of the divine
aseity) (1) ; but it is to be traced back to the root *W, the fundamental
meaning of which is " to be strong, to show oneself superior," from
whence is formed, in the Arabic shadda, the meaning ligavit, Conj. VHI.
vehemens fuit, and in the Hebrew T\&, the meaning " to force, to lay
waste," whence the play of words in Joel i. 15, Isa. xiii. 6 (^#0 IB'3
Ni3J). Again, the name is either to be traced from a stem Trw, with
Ewald (Ausf. Lehrb. 8th ed. § 155, c), according to which it would
be an intensive form on the measure ?Bj3, or, what is more probable,
from the stem Y1B> with the formative syllable 1— , which occurs also
in other proper names (as ^n, ''ST). It is quite wrong to understand
'— as a suffix-form of the first person plural, as in ''JIN ; for whilst this
occurs in the older language only in addressing God, God Himself
says, Gen. xvii. 1, xxxv. 11, "1 am El-shaddai" (2). The name
characterizes God as revealing Himself violently in His might ; the
LXX. do not understand the expression in the Pentateuch, but it is
correctly rendered by •n-avroKpdrwp in most passages of Job. It is
no longer the powerful Divinity ruling in the world in general that is
El-shaddai, but the God who testifies of Himself in special deeds of

§ 37.] EL-SHADDAI. 133
power, by which He subdues nature to the ways of His kingdom,
making the childless Abraham the father of many nations (Gen. xvii.
1, xxviii. 3, comp. xxxv. 11), and who causes that race with which He
has entered into covenant to experience His powerful presence in pro
tection and blessing, Gen. xliii. 14, xlviii. 3, xlix. 25 (3). But as soon
as the name Jehovah unfolds its meaning, the name El-shaddai falls
back on the one side into the list of the more general names of
God; thus in Balaam's parable it appears, Num. xxiv. 4, 16, in the
same line with ?K and Jiyj? ; in the book of Job, in the same line with
?K and i?i?N. But, on the other hand, it is still used at times alter
nately with the name Jehovah where God's omnipotence is to be made
prominent in contrast to human weakness, as in the beautiful passage
Ruth i. 20 f ., or in speaking of the revelation of God's subjugating
judgments, Joel i. 15, Isa. xiii. 6, Ps. lxviii. 15, Ezek. x. 5; also in
speaking of the Omnipotent Protector of His people, Ps. xci. 1, etc.
The word D'1*}?', which in Deut. xxxii. 17, Ps. cvi. 37, serves to
designate the gods of the heathen, is scarcely connected with ""IB*, as
some suppose. It is probably not to be traced to ~\"Vt}, as some earlier
theologians wish, as if it denoted destructive beings, but is rather to
be understood as a participle of *WE> (Arabic sdda), dominatus fuit,
according to which it means " Lords " or " Rulers."
(1) Thus for example Maimonides, More-Nebochim, ed. Buxtorff,
p. 144 ff., and Calvin.
(2) Deyling has protested against deriving ""W from TltV, Observa
tions sacrw, i. p. 46 f. : " TW noxiam potentiam, omniaque desolantem
in scriptura denotat, et de vastatione, per solos hostes facta, non per
pestem, aut grandinem, aut aquarum eluviones usurpatum reperitur.
— Ergo nomen ''"IB* a TJK> deductum, ne Deum quidem deceret, sed
Diabolum potius, qui nomen "lti> inde etiam revera sortitus est." — But
here Deyling proceeds from the meaning " to lay waste," which we
may regard as the only derivative.
(3) On Gen. xvii. 1 Delitzsch says forcibly : " DTi!>K is the God
who creates nature so that it is, and supports it that it may stand ;
"HC h#, the God who compels nature to do what is contrary to itself,
and subdues it to bow and minister to grace."

134 , THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 38.
III. THE NAME JEHOVAH (1).
§38.
1. Pronunciation and Grammatical Explanation ofthe Name.
The real name of God in the Old Testament is the tetragram-
maton mri1", which is hence characterized by the Jews as B#n «-. e'|.
(comp. Lev. xxiv. 11, Deut. xxviii. 58), *&1 K?f the great name,
in vpn DE> nomem unieum, the unique name, but in particular as
enapn dE>, which latter expression, however, is itself interpreted in
different ways (2).
The word nw in the Masoretic text of the Old Testament has,
in virtue of a K'ri perpetuum, the points of ^'tfrJ (3). Where '•JIS
already occurs in the connection of the sentence, (as Isa. xxii. 12, 14,
etc.), the pronunciation of B^K is substituted (4). — The command
forbidding the utterance of the name is drawn by the Jews from
Lev. xxiv. 16, in virtue of an untenable exposition of the passage
already given by the LXX. (ovojid^tov rb ovo/ia tcvpiov) (5). — How
old the dread of uttering the name is, cannot be accurately fixed. The
use of D^PX in a number of psalms is not to be derived from this.
The dread in question sprang from the efforts of the later Judaism to
thrust back Divinity to an unapproachable distance, and everywhere
to put something between the Divinity and man (6). The name ceases
to be prominent in some of the latest Old Testament writings, and is
regularly replaced by tcvpio<; by the LXX. (so also in the New Testa
ment) (7). Josephus, Ant. xii. 5. 5, tells us of the Samaritans, that the
sanctuary which they founded in Gerizim was avcovvfiov lepov. Josephus
himself declares, Ant. ii. 12. 4, that he was not permitted to speak about
the name. With this, Philo's assertion, de mut. nom. § 2 (ed. Mang. i.
580), and vit. Mos. iii. 25 (ii. 166), is to be compared; yet it is re
marked in the last book, § 11 (152), that consecrated persons in the
sanctuary were allowed to hear and to pronounce the name. According
to the tradition in Maimonides, More-Neb. i. 61, Jad chazaka xiv. 10
which agrees with Thamid vii. 2 (8), the name was still uttered in the
first times of the second temple in the sanctuary at the pronunciation
of the blessing, and by the high priest on the day of atonement ; but
since the death of Simon the Just, that is, since the first half of the
third century B.C., it was exchanged here also for Adonai (9), as had

§ 38.] GRAMMATICAL EXPLANATION OF THE NAME JEHOVAH. 135
been long the practice outside the temple. The Jews maintain that
the knowledge of the true pronunciation of the name has been quite
lost since the destruction of the temple. On the other hand,' since the
sixteenth century, it became more and more the custom among Christian
theologians to pronounce the name Jehovah by reading together the
K'ri points with the consonants mrp ; but this pronunciation is not yet
used by Reuchlin (10). Some later theologians, as Joh. Friedr. v.
Meyer, Stier, and in particular Hoelemann (in a treatise " On the
Meaning and Pronunciation of niiT1," in his Bible Studies, 1st division,
1859, ii.), think they are compelled to see in Jehovah the real pronun
ciation. According to this, the word would be formed, by a quite un
paralleled construction, from \ = TV, in = nin, and ni = nin (comp. Stier,
Lehrgebaeude der hebr. Sprache, p. 327), and would be meant to
comprehend the three tenses. The unprecedented formation of the
word corresponds, we are to believe, with the uniqueness of the divine
nature. For this view we are referred principally to the o wv ical 6 yv
teal 6 epxpfjievo<i in Rev. i. 4, iv. 8 ; but it is erroneous to seek an
explanation of the word in this paraphrase of the meaning of the name
(in fact, the succession of the tenses in the passages in the Apocalypse
would not agree with the above explanation). Also ip^ofievos is
decidedly not the same as iaofievoi (11); it only means the coming
one ; and therefore, as soon as the advent of the Lord has become
present, Rev. xi. 17 (according to the true reading) and xvi. 5, 6 wv
ical 6 %v. only is written (12). The abbreviation VV appearing at
the end of many personal names (e.g. VivX, VVp"V) cannot be satis
factorily explained on the reading Jehovah (Hoelemann's explanation
is artificial), while the abbreviation in1; or V at the beginning of names
can be justified also by the pronunciation to be mentioned below.
Ex. iii. 13-15 is the decisive passage for the pronunciation and
grammatical explanation of the name. When Moses asks for the
name of the God who sends him forth, He, God, says : fWjiK "it5>*K rtViN,
" Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, Ehjeh has sent me unto
you." Now when it goes on to say, ver. 15, " Thus shalt thou say,
nin*, the God of your fathers, has sent me unto you," it is clear that
the word HIPP is to be regarded as a noun formed from the. third person
of the imperfect of nin (the older form of n*n), and we must read either
n?n* (nin!), or what is also not impossible, since such forms do occur,

136 _ THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 38.
niT (nijV). The first form is more probable (13). From the pro
nunciation Jahve we obtain the abbreviation VV (which is just to be
explained through apocope for TV), and by contraction from this, in'.
or V when it is placed at the beginning of the word. W followed
from a still further abbreviation of VV ; it appears first in Moses' song,
Ex. xv. 2, and afterwards particularly in the ft tyn. In tradition, the
pronunciation Jahve has this testimony, that, according to Theodoret
(quwst. 15 in Ex), the Samaritans pronounced the name 'Ia/3e
(Theodoret ascribes to the Jews the pronunciation 'Aid, which might
give evidence of the pronunciation Jahve); compare with this Epi
phanius, adv. hwr. i. 3. 20 (40) (Kara 'ApxovriKwv), which likewise
reads 'Ia/3e. Origen, c. Cels., gives the name as 'Iacoia. Side by
side with this there are, to be sure, other accounts. According to
Diodorus, i. 94, the Jews spoke the name 'law, also Origen in the
Commentary to John i. 1 ; and Theodoret (quwst. in 1 Chron.) men
tions this pronunciation. On the other hand, Sanchuniathon, in
Eusebius, prcep. ev. i. 9, pronounces the name 'Tevcb; and Clemens of
Alexandria, Strom, v. 6,' laov (14). Jerome on Ps. viii. 2 says:
Legi potest Jaho ; but a form nirv would be quite contrary to the
analogy of the Hebrew language (15).
(1) Comp. my article " Jehovah " in Herzog's Realencyklop. vi.
p. 455 ff.
(2) The explanation of the expression Schem-ham'phorasch is
uncertain (Luther wrote a book on this designation). Comp. the
remarks of Munk (on i. 61), in his edition of the More-Nebochim of
Maimonides (le guide des igaris par Mose ben Maimun, Paris 1856).
Munk himself, referring to the use of EHS by Onkelos and Ibn Esra
on Lev. xxiv. 11, 16, decides in favour of the explanation : le nom de
Dieu distinctement prononcL The expression is generally explained :
nomen explicitum, that is, either the name which is replaced by other
names of God (s. Buxtorff, lex. chald. p. 2433), or the name by which
the nature of God is distinctly characterized. Others explain : nomen
separatum, namely, either sc. a cognitione hominum, or what is best
= the incommunicable name of God, which (comp. Maimonides, I.e.)
instructs us about God's essence, whilst the other names express
attributes which God has in common with others [above art.].
(3) The substitution of the simple Sch'wa instead of Chateph-
Pathach is, I think, only to be regarded as an abbreviation in writing.

§ 38.] GRAMMATICAL EXPLANATION OF THE NAME JEHOVAH. 137
(4) But the pronunciation of tvr6x is not substituted if the nin'1
and ^"IN standing beside each other belong to different clauses, as in
Ps. xvi. 2 [ibid.].
(5) The connection of Lev. xxiv. 16 is : one had blasphemed (/?$)
the holy name of God, whereupon Moses receives the direction :
" Bring the blasphemer outside the camp, and the whole community
shall stone him. But thou shalt say to the sons of Israel, Each who
curses his God shall bear his sin." The following words in ver. 16,
npv niD nin11 DE/ 3j3bl, are explained by the Jewish exegesis : " He who
names the name nini shall be killed." — Even if, as Hengstenberg still
thinks (Contrib. to the Introd. to the Old Testament, ii. p. 223), 3pJ (root-
meaning, to bore, to prick) might be taken in the meaning to pronounce,
— but in the passages, Gen. xxx. 28, Num. i. 17, Isa. lxii. 2, advanced
to prove this, it has rather the meaning, to characterize, to define, —
the connection with vers. 11 and 15 would still lead us to understand
a blaspheming utterance. But probably the word is to be taken as
exactly = 33^, comp. Num. $xiii. 8 [ibid.]. — On the rabbinical appli
cation of Ex. iii. 15 to the prohibition, see the above article, p. 455.
(6) It is the same awe which caused His word, and such like, to
be substituted where Jehovah in the Old Testament touches on the
external world.
(7) But Sir. xxiii. 9, bvofmalq rov ayiov fir) avvedicrdfj';, only
intends to say that the name of God ought not to be unnecessarily
taken upon the lips [ibid.]. — Another resource of the Jews was to
place DW instead of the name.
(8) The Mischna contains various accounts of the matter.
Berachoth ix. 5 says with reference to Ruth ii. 4, Judg. ii. 16, that
the use of the divine name was allowed in greeting. This definition
is said to be directed against the Samaritan Dositheic, who abstained
altogether from using the name (see the notes on this subject by
Geiger, Lessons from the Mischna, p. 3), whilst the other Samaritans
pronounced the name at least in swearing. On the other hand,
according to Sanhedrin x. 1, Abba Schaul teaches that those who do
pronounce the name of God by its letters belong to those who have
no part in the future world. According to Thamid vii. 2, the priests
EHp»3 uttered God's name as it is written, and on the other hand
njilDS they used the secondary name. We are without doubt to
understand by the former the temple, and by the latter town and
land ; but according to another exposition (s. Surenhusius on the
passage), Jerusalem is to be reckoned as Mikdash. Geiger (I.e. p.
45 f.) shows how the two last-named passages were modified by the
Gemara [ibid.].

138 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 38.
(9) For a closer discussion on this, see Jac. Alting, " exercitatio
grammatica de punctis ac pronunciatione tetragrammati nin'1, in
Reland's decas exercitationum philologicarum de vera pronunciatione
nominis Jehova, 1707, p. 423 ff.
(10) The older treatises on these disputed questions have been
gathered by Reland, lib. cit. — According to Bottcher's account, in his
Ausf. Lehrbuch der hebr. Sprache, i. p. 49, the first trace of the pro
nunciation Jehovah was in the anti-Jewish book Pugio fidei; but he
who gave it currency was Peter Galatinus, a friend of Reuchlin (de
arcanis cathol. veritatis, ii. 10), since 1518. It is often used by Luther.
(11) Buxtorff, dissertatio de nomine nini, in Reland, I.e. p. 386.
(12) See Hengstenberg, I.e. p. 263 ff. — On the comparison of the
Latin Jupiter, Jovis, cited in favour of the reading Jehovah (see
Fuller in Reland, p. 448 ; Gataker, ibid. p. 494), — a comparison that
overlooks the more complete forms, Diespiter, Diovis, — and further on
the hypothesis according to which a supposed Egyptian name of God,
formed from the seven vowels I e in a ova, is said to be preserved in
the utterance Jehovah, see likewise Hengstenberg, l.c. p. 204 ff. ;
Tholuck, Miscell. Writings, i. p. 394 ff. [ibid.].
(13) The name nin', as third person, corresponds to nviK in Ex.
iii. 11. The a sound under the preformative was in general, I think,
the older form, as we still see in the Arabic. — The nominal formation
deduced from the imperfect is very common in the Hebrew in appel
latives (s. Delitzsch, Jesurun, p. 208 f.), but particularly in proper
names (comp. 3pJT, ?SOE», etc.). The names thus formed, correspond
ing to the fundamental meaning of the imperfect, characterize a person
by a peculiarity which is continually manifested in him, and so is
specially characteristic [ibid.]. The formation is perfectly analogous
to the Latin ending tor, which is connected with turns. — Delitzsch, in
his Commentary on the Psalms (1859 and 1860), reads Jahawah, but
he has now given up this view.
(14) Nevertheless 'Iaove should probably be read; s. Hengstenberg,
I.e. p. 226 f.
(15) Probably these forms of pronunciation are in imitation of
the mystical name of Dionysos, which appears among the Greeks in
the form "Ia/cxos, but seems in the Semitic form to have sounded in*
(from rvn, to live). On this and the confounding of the Old Testa
ment God with Dionysos, which was peculiar to later religious
syncretism, see Movers, The Phwnicians, i. p. 539 ff., in particular
pp. 545 and 548 [ibid.]. — The traditions of the Church Fathers have
been most completely gathered by Hoelemann, lib. cit. p. 69 ff. (he
has overlooked the passage from Clement).

§ 39.] SIGNIFICATION OF THE NAME JEHOVAH. 139
§39.
2. The Signification of the Name.
The name signifies, He who is, according to Ex. iii. 14 ; more par
ticularly, He who is what He is. But as it is not the notion of a lasting-
being which lies in the verb nin or rvn, but that of a moving existence,
of becoming and occurring (comp. Delitzsch, Genesis, 3d ed. p. 31
{4th ed. p. 26} ), so also the form of the name derived from the
imperfect leads us to understand in it the existence of God, not as an
existence at rest, but as one always becoming, always making itself
known in a process of becoming. Hence it is wrong to find in the
name the abstract notion of 6Vra>s ov. God is rather Jahve in as far
as He has entered into historical relationship to mankind, and in
particular to the chosen people Israel, and shows Himself continually
in this historical relationship as He who is, and who is what He is.
While heathenism rests almost exclusively on the past revelations of
its divinities, this name testifies, on the other hand, that the relation
ship of God to the world is in a state of continual living activity ; it
testifies, especially in reference to the people who address their God
by this name, that they have in their God a future. But more
particularly the notion of Jehovah (1) divides into two factors :
1 . Inasmuch as God is just what He is, and so determines Him
self in the historical manifestation of His existence, instead of being
determined by anything outside of Him (compare Hofmann, der
Schriftbeweis, i. p. 81 f .), the name carries us into the sphere of God's
freedom (2). There lies in it quite generally the absolute indepen
dence of God in His dominion. Through this factor of its meaning
the name Jehovah is connected with El-shaddai.
2. When, in virtue of His absolute independence, God in all His
dominion asserts Himself as that which He is, the name further con
tains the notion of the absolute persistence of God, in virtue whereof
He in all things, in words as in deeds, is essentially in agreement with
Himself, and remains self-consistent (3). Where this second factor is
put in special relation to the divine decree of election, and the promises
that flow therefrom, as is the case in Ex. iii. 13 ff., vi. 2 ff., the
name implies the invariable faithfulness of God, which side of the
notion of Jehovah (against Hofmann, I.e.) is specially emphasized in

140 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 39.
the Old Testament, to awake confidence on God ; cf. passages like
Deut. vii. 9, Hos. xii. 6, in connection with ver. 7, Isa. xxvi. 4 (4).
That, as Jehovah, God is the immutable, is brought out in Mal. iii. 6 (5).
In passages like Isa. xii. 4, xliv. 6, etc., the name is applied both to
God's absolute independence and to His absolute persistence (6).
(1) From this point onwards I use the word Jehovah, not because
I consider this pronunciation correct, but because, as matter of fact,
this name has now become naturalized in our vocabulary, and cannot
be supplanted, any more than it would be possible for the more
correct Jarden to displace the usual form Jordan.
(2) Only that the name cannot be interpreted in the sense of
absolute arbitrariness ; as, for example, Drechsler (The Unity and
Genuineness of Genesis, p. 11 f.) has expounded the passage Ex. iii. 14,
" I am He, and what it pleases me to be," and, " I always reveal my
self in all deeds and commands as what I please," according to which
the name is supposed to express the " free grace " or the " groundless
mercy" of God (Drechsler, p. 10).
(3) Also in Ex. xxxiii. 19, which passage has correctly been
advanced to explain iii. 14, the words, " I am gracious to whom I am
gracious," express, 1st, that God shows him grace to whom He will
be gracious, and to no other, or the absolute freedom of God's grace ;
and, 2d, that He really shows him grace to whom He is gracious,
that is, He is self-consistent in showing mercy, in reference to His
grace agreeing with Himself. [Above-cited article.]
(4) Hos. xii. 6 f . : " And Jehovah, the God of hosts, Jehovah is
His memorial name. -And thou — shalt turn again to thy God;
keep godliness and right, and wait continually on thy God." Because
Israel calls his God nin'1, therefore should he turn to Him trustfully.
Isa. xxvi. 4: "Trust on Jehovah for ever, for in Jah Jehovah is an
everlasting rock."
(5) Mal. iii. 6 : "lam Jehovah, I have not changed, and ye sons
of Jacob perish not ; " that is, in God's unchangeableness, expressed
by His name Jehovah, the eternal duration of His covenant people
is pledged. — See on this passage, Hengstenberg, Christologie, 1st ed.
p.' 419 ; 2d ed. iii. 1, p. 627 (translated in For. Theol. Lib.).
(6) If we proceed from the name alone without regard to Ex. iii.,
it appears at first sight that only absolute being lies in it. Luther in
particular has carried this further in the article on Schem-ham'phorasch
(Erl. ed. of the German works, xxxii. p. 306). He explains the sense
of the name thus : " He has His being from none, has neither begin-

§ 40.] AGE AND ORIGIN OF THE NAME JEHOVAH. 141
ning nor end, but is from eternity in and of Himself, so that His
being cannot be called been or to become, for He has never begun,
and cannot begin to be ; He has also never had an end, nor can cease
to be ; but with Him it is always a pure is or existence, that is,
Jehovah. When the creature was created, His existence was already
there, and He is there with His being for all that shall still arise.
In this way Christ speaks of His divinity in John viii. 58 : Before
Abraham was, I am. He does not say, Then I was, as if after that
He had been no more, but I am, that is, my being is eternal, it has
not been, will not be, but simply is." But here the name is taken up
too abstractly ; its essential signification is much rather in reference to
the history of revelation. This will be clearly shown in the com
parison with Elohim.
{The explanation of Ex. iii. 14 given above, and the deduced
signification of Jehovah, are far from incontrovertible ; but it must
here suffice to refer to the two most recent discussions of the passage,
in Ewald's Biblical Theology, ii. p. 338, and Lagarde's Corollarium to
his Psalterium Hieronymi. }

§40.
3. Age and Origin of the Name Jehovah.
From what has been said on the signification of the name, it is
clear that it is so interwoven with the Old Testament revelation, that
its origin can only be sought for in this sphere (1). Every attempt to
derive the name from heathenism rests on capricious hypotheses or on
strange misunderstandings ; as, for example, the hypothesis which
derives the name from a pretended Egyptian name of God, formed
by the seven Greek vowels let] a ova, although these letters are only
intended to indicate the musical scale. Ex. v. 2 (2) speaks decidedly
against a derivation from Egypt. That Necho, 2 Kings xxiii. 34,
changes the name of the conquered Eliakim to Jehoiakim, is no
evidence for the Egyptian character of the name Jehovah ; it is
meant to indicate that the Egyptian king acts thus just with the
help of the national god (also Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Kings xxiv. 17,
in changing Mattaniah's name to Zedekiah, gives him again a name
compounded from Jehovah. Rabshakeh's speech, Isa. xxxvi. 10, is
particularly instructive). — But the more exact definition of the Old
Testament origin depends on the explanation of the passage Ex. vi. 3.

142 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 40.
According to one exposition, the meaning of it is, that the name
Jehovah was still quite unknown to the patriarchs, and that we have
here the first revelation of the name ; compare Josephus, Ant. ii. 12.
4 (3). In this case, since the frequent use of the name in Genesis
certainly cannot simply be referred to prolepsis, there would be a
double tradition of the origin of the name in the Pentateuch. Accord
ing to the first, Gen. iv. 26, xii. 8, etc., it would reach back to
primeval antiquity; and according to the second, it was first intro
duced by Moses (4). Against this, the other exposition makes Ex.
vi. 3 say that the name Jehovah had not yet been understood by the
patriarchs, and that they had not the full experience of that which lies
in the name (5). Then the meaning of the passage corresponds exactly
to that in Ex. iii. 15, and is analogous to the passage Ex. xxxiii. 19 ;
comp. "with xxxiv. 6, in which also the announcement of a name of
God has only the force of an unveiling to human knowledge of a
quality of the divine nature, without our being able to say that that
name did not exist previously. For T^jnii N? ron' 'pE*), compare also
Ex. viii. 18, Ps. Ixxvi. 2, etc. For the sake of the connection with
ver. 7, the first explanation must at least include the second (6).
Against the first explanation, however, we have, 1st, The sporadic
occurrence of the name Jehovah even in those parts of Genesis
which belong to the Elohistic record, where the expedient of assum
ing an interpolation is altogether worthless. 2d, The occurrence of
the name in the name of Moses' mother l??^ (that is, cujus gloria est
Jehovah), Ex. vi. 20, — a circumstance which has led even Ewald to
the view that the name Jehovah was common at least among the
maternal ancestors of Moses. There ,are also some other names from
that ancient time which occur in the genealogies in Chronicles,
1 Chron. ii. 25, vii. 8, iv. 18 : Ahijah, Abiah, Bithiah (7). 3d and
lastly, It is most improbable that Moses, when he had to bring to the
people a revelation of the God of their fathers, should have done so
under a name of God quite unknown to the people. Hence the
assertion of the pre-Mosaic origin of the name is right.
(1) Compare the remarks in Havernick's Special Introduction to
the Pentateuch, 2d ed. by Keil, 1856, p. 75. — It is a fancy of Ewald,
when he thinks it right to start from the expression in Gen. xix. 24,
and concludes that the name according to this passage originally had

§ 40.] AGE AND ORIGIN OF THE NAME JEHOVAH. 143
the meaning of heaven, the God of heaven. This exposition is as
preposterous as possible.
(2) Ex. v. 2, Pharaoh says : " Who is Jehovah, whose voice I
am to obey to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah." In reference
to all those hypotheses, on which I cannot enter, which seek to derive
the name from Egypt, Phoenicia, or India, I may refer still to the
dissertation by Tholuck in the Literar. Anzeiger, 1832, Nos. 27-30,
and reprinted in his Miscell. Writings, i. 1839, p. 376 ff. Tholuck
discovered the deception performed by Voltaire in his derivation of
the name Jehovah from the Egyptian mysteries, — a deception gross
enough, but so successful that this hypothesis was confidently adopted
by Schiller himself in the Mission of Moses. More recently Roeth
(The Egyptian and Zoroastrian Theology, Anm. 175, p. 146) has
again maintained the Egyptian origin of the name, placing it in con
nection with the name of the Egyptian moon-god -Joh [in the cited
art.]. {Cf. also the views of Brugsch referred to in Delitzsch's
Genesis, 4th ed. p. 59.|
(3) Josephus says, I.e. : 6 ©eb<s avr& crrffialvei r-nv ea-vrov rrpoain-
yoplav, ov irporepov ei? avdpamovs irapeXdovcrav irepl t}s ov p,oi de/iirov
ehrelv. (4) Ebrard (" The Age of the Name Jehovah," in the histor.-
theol. Zeitschrift of Niedner, 1849, iv.) seeks to get over the difficulty
by assuming a proleptic use of the name Jehovah in Genesis. He
makes it clear in this way : " We speak, for example, of Antistes
Bullinger, because Bullinger's office was identical with the present
office of a Zurich Antistes, and do not consider that the title 'Antistes'
was first used in Zurich in the seventeenth century." But this
assumption can only be carried out by the most capricious treatment
of many passages. When it is said, Gen. iv. 26, " Then men began
to call on the name of Jehovah," prolepsis is out of the question.
(5) See specially Kurtz, Hist, of the Old Covenant, i. 2d ed. p.
345 f ., comp. with ii. p. 67 (translated in For. Theol. Lib.).
(6) Schultz, in his Old Testament Theology (i. p. 293), wonders that
I also am here found on the side of the expositors who twist the mean
ing, which shows that he has not valued my reasons properly. The
passage Ex. vi. 2 ff. runs thus : " Elohim spoke to Moses, and said :
I am n\T> ; I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El-shaddai,
but by my nin'' name nrf? tfijnfo *6 . . . J have heard the sighs of
the sons of Israel . . . Therefore say to the sons of Israel : I am
nm*, and will lead you out from under the burdens of Egypt . . .
So I am God to you, and ye acknowledge that I, nini, am your God."
It is quite clear that the DWT1 in ver. 7 refers back to the Drfc Vijnfo

144 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 4L
in ver. 3; but this BRVT1, of course, does not mean: then shall my
title Jehovah become known to you, but : then acknowledge ye what
is in my nature.
(7) Schultz, I.e. p. 294, thinks that words only occurring in
Chronicles are absolutely useless as testimony. He is inclined to
suppose a later change in the name of Moses' mother.

§41.
Comparison of the Name Jehovah with Elohim and El.
If we compare God's names mn^K and *?* with nin';, in reference
to their meaning, the following difference is found to result from the
already given definitions (1). In general, all universally cosmical
action of God, going out towards the heathen as well as towards Israel
in the creation and maintenance of the world, is traced to El and
Elohim ; to Jehovah, on the other hand, is traced every divine activity
which is connected with the theocratic revelation and guidance, and
which bears on the heathen only in as far as their history stands in
relation to the aim of the divine kingdom. It follows from this, that
the historical display of the divine essence lies essentially in the notion
of Jehovah ; whereas, on the contrary, Elohim, as such, is subject to
no historical process. By this, Oetinger's explanation, " Deus est
omnium rerum Elohim, omnium aclionum Jehovah," is to be more
exactly defined (2). Elohim, as such, remains transcendent to the
world of phenomena ; Jehovah, on the contrary, enters into the pheno
mena of space and time in order to manifest Himself to mankind ; a
difference which comes forward at once in the relation of Gen. i. 1 ff.
to ii. 4ff. It is indeed natural and necessary that this difference is
not strictly kept up everywhere in the Old Testament in the use of
the names of God. Since Elohim is only known in Israel as Jehovah,
what is Elohistic is often traced back to Jehovah ; less often Elohim
stands where we might expect Jehovah, particularly in the Elohistic
psalms, the peculiarity of which in the pregnant ceremonious use of
Elohim is probably to be explained by the theory that they were
designed to counteract liturgically any tendency to a particularizing
conception of the idea of God (3). But still it is shown partly by
certain general ways of expression which run through the whole Old

§ 41.] COMPARISON OF THE NAME JEHOVAH WITH ELOHIM AND EL. 145
Testament, and partly by separate passages, that the Old Testament
writers had a very definite consciousness of the marked difference.
In reference to the first head, we must remember that all expressions
which refer to revelation occur almost only in connection with nin* ;
thus, with quite rare exceptions, nw "m, dm, rrivp, npx nb, and such
like, further, because God is acknowledged and addressed in Israel
only as Jehovah, also DE', with the exception only of two passages in
Elohistic psalms, Ps. lxix. 31, Ixxv. 2 ; even the preponderatingly
Elohistic section, 2 Sam. vi., places in ver. 2 nin* DE/. Where no
definite reason exists for writing ETON ^]!*pp, the Mal'ach is always
the angel of Jehovah. Theophany in general is a thing of Jehovah,
who, and not Elohim, holds intercourse with man in the manner of
men. The change of expressions in Gen. vii. 16 is specially note
worthy (4). Hence it comes that anthropomorphisms are almost
always applied to Jehovah, not to Elohim. Thus nin11 T even in the
Elohistic Psalm Ixxv. ver. 9 (5) ; thus always nin] 13, never BT/'pn "<b •
often even nm* •o/j;, ^p, only a few times D'TO y/j?, Sip, etc., of leading
individual passages. Those particularly to be mentioned are Gen. ix.
26 f., according to which God is for Japheth mainly only Elohim;
on the contrary, for Shem He is Jehovah. Num. xvi. 22, compared
with xxvii. 16; in the first passage (the story of Korah's company),
although Jehovah is predominant through the whole section, ?N is
called upon as God of the spirits of all flesh, as He from whom all
natural life proceeds, and who as preserver of the world is entreated,
not to sweep away a multitude of men because of one man who
sinned (6). In the second passage, on the contrary (where the ap
pointment of a successor to Moses is treated of), Jehovah is addressed
as God of the spirits of all flesh, who divides the gifts of His Spirit for
the service of His kingdom, and is therefore entreated to appoint and
equip a new leader of His people. With this compare Ps. xix., where,
in reference to the manifestation of God in nature, ver. 2, El stands ;
and in reference to the revelation in the law, Jehovah stands from
ver". 8 onwards throughout, etc.
(1) Here, of course, those passages are meant where the expres
sions QTfiw and ?K stand by themselves, without an article or closer
definition, by means of an adjective or a dependent genitive (as,
Jacob's God).
VOL. 1. k

146 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 42.
(2) In a certain sense we may say, with Delitzsch, Jehovah is a
God who " becomes " {yvyveraDt . But the expression is liable to be
misunderstood ; Hengstenberg rightly reminds us, on the other hand,
that " God comes indeed, but He does not become."
(3) It is known that the first Psalm book {Ps. i. — xli.J^ is Jehovistic,
the second Elohistic {Ps. xlii.-lxxii.]- . The assumption of Hitzig and
others, that the later fear of using the name Jehovah is already seen
in the Elohistic psalms, is utterly untenable, not simply because among
these Elohistic hymns there are without doubt pieces of great age, but
also because they do not absolutely exclude the name Jehovah. {The
peculiar phenomena in the second book are beyond doubt due to a
redactor.| (4) Gen. vii. 16 : " And those that went in, went in male and
female of all flesh (into the ark to Noah), as Elohim had commanded ;
and Jehovah shut the door behind him."
(5) BwK *V is only in a few places, where definite reasons exist.
(6) Num. xvi. 22 : " And they fell on their faces, and said : ?K
"ito-b? ninnn *n'i)N? -wilt Thou be wroth with the whole congregation
because one man has sinned?" §42.
Attributes or Names of God which are derived immediately from the
notion of Jehovah.
From the notion of Jehovah flow the following further properties
of the Divine Being : —
1. Jehovah is an eternal God, obij? ta, as Abraham addresses
Him in Gen. xxi. 33 ; comp. Deut. xxxii. 40, where Jehovah is intro
duced as Himself saying, " I live to eternity." God's eternity is
involved in His absolute independence, in virtue whereof God is not
conditioned by anything which originates or decays in time, but is
the first and the last (Isa. xliv. 6, xlviii. 12). The longest human
measurement of time vanishes when put against His eternal duration,
Ps. xc. 4. Still it is not this abstract conception of eternity as an
everlasting duration of time which the Old Testament chiefly brings
forward ; but whilst God as nw is the eternal, God's eternity is defined
as the unchangeableness of His being, persisting throughout every
change of time, and thus it becomes the basis of human confidence.
Therefore Moses, in the midst of the dying away of his people,
addresses God as the Eternal One, Ps. xc. 1 f. (1) ; therefore, Deut.

§ 42.] ATTRIBUTES OR NAMES OF GOD. 147
xxxii. 40, the idea that God is eternal forms the transition to the
announcement that He will again save His rejected people ; therefore
Israel, when sighing in misery, is comforted, Isa. xl. 28 : " Knowest
thou not, and hast thou not heard, that Jehovah is an eternal God?"
Compare also Ps. cii. 2.8.
2. It is involved in the notion of Jehovah that He is a living God :
Gen. xvi. 14 (according to the probable explanation of the passage),
Deut. v. 23 (26), t^n D*r6x ; Josh. iii. 10, tj ta. He swears by His life,
Num. xiv. 21, 28, compare Deut. xxxii. 40. In the following books
the expression is much more common ; and here the form of oath,
which does not occur in the Pentateuch, nin* Ti, as true as Jehovah
lives, appears often, never DTW Ti; The latter circumstance is suffi
cient to indicate that God is not called the living God in the sense of
His bearing within Him the powers of physical life, although in every
respect the words in Ps. xxxvi. 10, " with Thee is the fountain of life,"
are applicable to Him ; but He is called the Living One, as the God
of revelation, in as far as He entrenches Himself in historical attesta
tions in the sphere of mankind, and causes Himself to be here known
to men by the operations of His power. His first appearance as the
God who, ruling in free activity, causes nature to serve His aims, and
is therefore called the living God, is to the forsaken Hagar, Gen. xvi.
13 f. (according to the most probable explanation) : " She called the
name of Jehovah who spoke to her, Thou art a God of seeing," that
is, who sees (whose care does not even overlook a rejected helpless one
in the desert) ; for she said, " Have I then here looked after God,
who sees me 1 Therefore the name of the well (where Hagar had
this manifestation) is the well of the Living One, who seeth me" (2).
Jehovah's speech from out of the fire on Sinai is called the voice of
the living God, Deut. v. 23 ; He is acknowledged as the living God
in the midst of the congregation by His deeds of revelation, Josh.
iii. 10, and by His words of revelation, Jer. xxiii. 36. As a living
God, He also enters with man into a relation of fellowship which is
experienced by him inwardly, especially as a God who hears prayer,
and hence the longing of the godly for the living God (Ps. xiii. 3,
lxxxiv. 3). As the Living One, Jehovah is placed in contrast to the
gods of the heathen, which can reveal nothing, perform nothing, grant
no requests, and send no help, Deut. xxxii. 37-39; which are nothings,

148 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 42.
dWn, Lev. xix. 4, xxvi. 1, etc. ; and dead, cnp, Ps. cvi. 28 (3). Hence
the idea of the living God is specially carried out in the polemic of
the prophets and the psalms against the heathen ; for example, Jer. x.
10 ff., comp. 1 Sam. xvii. 36, Isa. xxxvii. 4, 17, etc. Terror for those
of guilty conscience, and comfort for those seeking help, both lie in
the idea of the divine vitality, and hence in Israel there is no higher
oath than the utterance, Jehovah lives (nin* ,|n).
3. Jehovah is the Lord, plan ; my Lord, 'OIK. That the notion
of ''ins is immediately connected with the notion of Jehovah is already
clear from the fact that the two names are frequently associated, and
that ¦"j'lS could in later times be substituted in reading for nin*. The
word 'px is the plural of tflK, which is derived from |n, to direct, to
rule. The plural is to be explained as in D'rfrs (§ 36) ; but the ending
*— is not (as many have assumed) a plural ending, for the existence of
such a termination is more than doubtful, but it is the suffix of the
first person, which is pointed with Kametz to distinguish God's name
from the common use of tfiK ( = my lords, comp. e.g. Gen. xix. 2) (4).
In the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua, in which tfiK only occurs
in addressing God, the suffix still has its meaning; compare such
passages as Gen. xv. 2, 8, xviii. 3, 27, 30 ff., in Jehovistic context,
and in Elohistic context, Gen. xx. 4 (in the mouth of Abimelech) ;
and further, passages like Ex. xxxiv. 9, Num. xiv. 17, Deut. iii. 24,
ix. 26; especially VHS is connected with the particle of request
*3, Ex. iv. 10, 13, Josh. vii. 8, in addresses of supplication. In the
Pentateuch and the book of Joshua, where Jehovah is not directly
addressed as the Lord, we find not VfiN, but lil^n, Ex. xxxiv. 23, or
BT^n *:nt<!, Deut. x. 17, or P?n-b Ji"i&?, Josh. iii. 13. Later, however,
the meaning of the suffix got blunted, so that the expression is frequently
found even when God is spoken of in the third person. But when
God Himself speaks, He never makes use of the word ; the passages
Job xxviii. 28,- Isa. viii. 7, form only an apparent exception (5).
According to the original meaning of the expression (" my Lord "),
there lies in it, as shown by the above-cited passages, not simply the
acknowledgment of the divine sovereignty in general, but in parti
cular the consciousness of specially belonging to God, as is the case
with the organs of revelation among the covenant people, the con
sciousness of standing under His immediate guidance and protection.

§ 42.] ATTRIBUTES OR NAMES OF GOD. 149
Thus far it was quite wrong to stamp the Old Testament religion as
a religion of fear on account of the frequent use of " Lord," since
^"W is more the expression of trust in its original meaning. On the
contrary, the notion of the powerful Ruler over all lies in the later use
of the expression, after the sense of the suffix had ceased to be felt,
Isa. viii. 7, xl. 10, etc. (6).
(1) Ps. xc. 4 : " A thousand years are before Thine eyes like yester
day as it passed, like a watch in the night." — Ver. If.: " Lord, Thou
art our refuge from generation to generation ; before the mountains
were formed, and Thou hadst brought forth the earth and the world,
and from eternity to eternity Thou art God."
(2) Thus Delitzsch (among others) explains the difficult passage
Gen. xvi. 13 f. Side by side with this explanation there is another,
according to which our passage would not belong to this topic. Keil
reads 'to as the pausal-form of 'to instead of 'to, and translates,
" Have I here also seen after this seem" ? Therefore the well was
called the Well of the Living-seeing" (as compound noun) ; that is,
the well where a nian remains in life when he sees God. "Hagar was
astonished that she still saw after having seen the ^t^p of God ; that
is, that she still remained in life, since it was impossible to remain
alive after having had a manifestation of God. Against the first
explanation, Keil says that it would require 'JtO ; but in Job vii. 8
'tri similarly stands.
(3) The word ?vK means " nothing," from ?pt? ; but it is manifest
that by this word, a sort of diminutive of ?N, little God, was also
intended. (4) It is peculiar that, when 'j'lK is the name of God, it stands
with prefixes '-Hf?, ^'"IKI, although otherwise it is punctuated, e.g.
vpvb.
(5) Job xxviii. 28 should be read, according to most manuscripts
and the oldest editions, nin'1 ; in Isa. viii. 7 a change of subject must
be presumed, with a transition to the prophet as speaker. Amos vi.
8 does not belong to this head at all.
(6) The word "OIK occurs 134 times in the text. — tfit? has been
compared with the Phoenician Adonis, against which it is enough to
remark that the two have nothing in common except the name.

150 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 43.
§43.
The Unity of God.
Jehovah is one. The multiplicity of divine powers broken up in
polytheism is already summed up into unity in Elohim, but it is as
Jehovah that God is first fully recognised as one ; and thus mono
theism forms one of the cardinal doctrines of Mosaism, and therefore
Ex. xx. 3, " Thou shalt have no other God beside me " ('^"h?, above
me, or in addition to me), is placed foremost in the decalogue.
Nevertheless, thoroughgoing monotheism has often been denied to
the Pentateuch ; and it has been maintained, either, 1st, that the unity
of God unwound itself gradually from a polytheistic religion, or, 2d,
that even the Mosaic Jehovah does not exclude the existence of other
gods. These two views are to be more closely considered (1).
1. Passages like Gen. i. 26, xi. 7 (where Jehovah says, " We will go
down and confound their language"), also iii. 22, are cited in support
of the first view. But even if we (comp. § 36) refuse to admit in the
two first-named passages the conception of the plural as the plural of
majesty, — though this view is quite admissible, — the plural would
still on no account be referable to other gods, but at most to higher
spiritual beings, as the angels ; so that for xi. 7, in reference to the
expression Isa. vi. 8 would be to be compared, and in reference to the
matter Zech. xiv. 5 (2). But in regard to the third passage, in which
Jehovah says, " Man is become ispp intG, like one of us " (and where
the plural is, I think, decidedly not to be understood as a plural of
majesty, as Keil still understands it), the words convey the meaning,
Man has become like a being of my species ; "and thus the expression
does not suppose other gods, but only the existence of a plurality of
spiritual beings. But in general, the following is to be noted in
opposition to the view just indicated : If the Mosaic monotheism was
the result of such a process, this process must certainly be transferred
to a time prior to the consciousness of the Old Testament. The
whole delineation Gen. i.-x. includes most definitely the universality
of the idea of God ; and also after revelation has confined itself to
one tribe, the divine training aims continually at awaking the con
sciousness of this universality ; comp. Gen. xxviii. 15 f., a passage
which is instructive in this respect (3). But if the Old Testament
monotheism has deen developed from polytheism, the other gods from

§ 43.] THE UNITY OF GOD. 151
whose midst Jehovah had raised Himself as the highest God must
still exist somehow in consciousness ; perhaps lowered to angels, but
still as beings endued with a certain independence of action. But, as
we shall see, Old Testament angelology follows the opposite path ; at
its close those angels first appear who are endowed with definite
personal attributes. Certainly in heathen religions the tendency to
monotheism does not merely assert itself by the elevation of a supreme
God over the other gods, but also in the attempt to find a unity in an
abstract power standing over the world of gods, — as, for example, in
the Indian Brahma conceived as a neuter, and in the 6W&>? ov of the
later Greek theology, e.g. by Plutarch. But an idea of Jehovah is
nowhere developed from the polytheistic process, and nowhere are the
many gods condensed into an absolute subject (4).
2. If, by the assertion that the Jehovah of the Old Testament' does
not exclude the existence of other gods, it is only meant that many of
the Israelites regarded Jehovah only as a God beside other gods of
the people, this cannot be disputed. In Jephthah's words, Judg. xi.
24 (5), which are specially cited as evidence to the point, it may fairly
be asked whether the argument does not proceed on Moabite ideas,
without these being declared correct ; on the contrary, it is historically
certain that even a Solomon at a later time could come to have doubts
about this point. But it is just as certain that this view is always
combated by the organs of the revelation as a perversion of the idea
of God. — In reference to the separate passages to which the assertion
appeals, Ex. xviii. 11, "Jehovah is greater than all gods," does not
come into consideration, being the word of a heathen (of Jethro).
But when it is said, xx. 3, " Thou shalt have no other gods beside
me;" xii. 12, "I will execute judgments on all the gods of Egypt,
I am Jehovah;" xv. 11, "Who among the gods is like Thee,
Jehovah ?" such passages are to be explained with reference to others
in the same book ; such as ix. 29, " the earth is Jehovah's ;" further,
xx. 11, xxxi. 17, "in six days Jehovah made the heaven and the
earth," etc., — passages which most decidedly exclude the opinion that
other gods rule side by side with Jehovah inside the boundaries of
their own people and land. How little the expression B'nnt? B'n'ps is
to be taken in the sense in which the heathen speak of DU novi, advenw,
peregrini, is shown by the frequent occurrence of this expression in the

152 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 43.
prophets, whose strict monotheism is certainly beyond all doubt ; e.g.
comp. Isa. xix. 1 with Ex. xii. 12. The passages referred to in Deute
ronomy show just as little as those cited from Exodus. If it is. said,
chap, xxxii. 12, " Jehovah led Israel alone, no strange god was with
.Him," the strange gods are called, ver. 21, ta-t6 and B^an — breaths,
nothings (which correspond fully with BWS, Lev. xix. 4, and Win,
1 Sam. xi. 21). For elucidation, compare Ps. xcvi., where it is said,
ver. 4, " Jehovah is fearful above all the gods," but in ver. 5 is imme
diately added, " for all the gods of the people are nothings." Hence
we gather the meaning of Deut. xxxii. 39 : " See ye now that I am
He, and there is no god with me ; I kill and give life." Further, if
we regard also x. 14, " Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens,
the earth and all that is upon it, are Jehovah thy God's," — there can
be no doubt that the proper dicta probanda must be understood as
for the unity of God in the strictest sense. These are : chap: iv. 35,
" Jehovah is the God (D'rtpsn), and none but He ;" again in ver.
39, " Jehovah is God in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath ;
there is none but He ;" and lastly the sacrosanct word, vi. 4 : JipE*
irjK nin* WrfrN nin* ?tOE>*. This cannot mean (as many have explained
it), " Jehovah is our God, Jehovah alone," that is, Israel has only
Jehovah for his God ; for in that case we must have had ill? instead
of nns. There are only two admissible explanations : either, " Hear,
O Israel, Jehovah our God, Jehovah is one " (tnt? as predicate to the
second Jehovah) ; or "ins< nin* is predicate to ivnpx nin*, « Jehovah
our God is one (a unique) Jehovah." On the latter explanation the
meaning is not (as Schultz has conceived in his commentary to
Deuteronomy) : Our God has not sometimes this and sometimes that
manner of manifestation, but only one single one as Jehovah (which
introduces an entirely foreign thought into the passage) ; this second
construction is rather to be explained, with Keil : Jehovah our God
is the one absolute independent abiding one, and so He to whom
alone divine reality belongs. Still the first explanation seems to me
to be the more correct. The demand, ver. 5, to dedicate to Him the
whole lieart and undivided love, and, ver. 14, not to go after heathen
gods (6), is based on Jehovah being absolutely one. From the later
books, comp. in elucidation such passages as Isa. xliii. 10, xliv. 6,
xiv. 5, xiv. 18, etc.

§ 43.] THE UNITY OF GOD. 153
But another question is, whether the heathen gods did not exist
according to the Old Testament, if not as gods, at least as living
beings, perhaps as demons. But for this also proofs are wanting ; for
the expression B'nE/', Deut. xxxii. 17, discussed in § 37, and specially
cited in this connection, though it is translated by the LXX. by
Baifiovia, gives us in its meaning " lords " nothing but the heathen
conception (7). It is rather characteristic of the polemic of the Old
Testament against heathen worship, that the images are identified
with the gods themselves, and thereby the nullity of the latter is
shown ; compare passages like Isa. xliv. 9 ff., Jer. x. 3 ff. In Isa.
xlvi. 1 f., compared with xii. 29, the distinction between the gods and
their images is simply apparent for the sake of vividness. Note also
the practical demonstration of the nullity of Baal, 1 Kings xviii. 21 ff.
(at the scene on Carmel).
(1) Schultz, in his Old Testament Theology, i. p. 260 ff., treats the
question on the whole very well, and in a peculiar way.
(2) In Isa. vi. 8, the seraphim are comprehended in the U? ;
Zech. xiv. 5 speaks of the descent of Jehovah with all the holy
ones. (3) In Gen. xxviii. 15 f., the promise is given to Jacob that God
will lead him wherever he goes ; Jacob says on awaking : I did not
know that God is also in this place. Thus the particularizing view
is here corrected.
(4) Vatke's remarks on this in his Religion of the Old Testament,
pp. 705-707, are very sound ; compare also, on the tendency to
monotheism in the Greek religion, Roth's criticism of Nagelsbach's
" Homeric Theology," Erl. Zeitschr. 1841.
(5) Judg. xi. 24. Jephthah, in negotiating with Moab, says : " Is
it not so, what thy god Chemosh gives thee to inherit, that thou
inheritest?" (6) Judaism is certainly right in continually proclaiming the
passage Deut. vi. 4 (called the J?pK>, from its first word) as the most
holy word, which includes the cardinal doctrine of monotheism.
(7) The designation of the heathen gods as B*Wk (§ 42) speaks
also against this notion. It is indeed probable that in 1 Cor. viii. 4 ff.,
. x. 19 f., Paul, when he uses the word Baifiovia in speaking of the
Greek gods, takes it from the LXX. Deut. xxxii. 17 ; but Paul
there maintains, in my opinion, not that the individual heathen gods
were demons, but only that a demonic element prevailed in the
service of the heathen gods.

154 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 44.
IV. GOD AS THE HOLY ONE.
§44.
Formal Definition of the Notion.
God is K>i"lpT, the Holy One (1). Etymologically, the root-meaning
of E^inpT cannot be exactly defined. According to the most likely view,
the stem EHp is related to EHn (as 3sp with DVn, e«p with svn, l*2p
with nxn, etc.), and is to be traced back to the root EH (from which
KE«J also comes), as the root-meaning of which, " enituit, splendid
breaking forth," is to be accepted (2). Thus the notion of the break
ing forth of brilliant light would lie in the word ; compare specially
Isa. x. 17, where the epithet "Light of Israel" corresponds to the
Holy One of Israel. According to this, we might define the divine
holiness,' with Quenstedt (comp. also Thomasius, Dogmatik, i. 2d ed.
p. 141), as the summa in Deo puritas. Certainly this lies in the
notion ; but in order to get the full meaning of the word, we must
follow the historical development of the notion.
The designation of God as the Holy One appears first in the Old
Testament at the redemption of Israel and the founding of the theo
cracy. The first declaration of the divine holiness is found in
Moses' song of praise, Ex. xv. 11, where it is said, in reference to
God's great deeds in leading Israel out of Egypt : " Who is like Thee
among the gods, glorious in holiness, to be praised with awe, doing
wonders ? " To this it corresponds that also Israel, when received
into the covenant of God, receiyes the predicate of the holy people,
xix. 6. The stamp of holiness is so imprinted on the events at the
founding of the theocracy, that, as Achelis strikingly reminds us
(in the Studien und Kritiken, 1847, p. 192), in Ex. xix. 10, 14 the
expression " sanctify " is used for the same action which is called in
Gen. xxxv. 2 " cleanse yourselves." All covenant regulations rest
on the principle : I am holy, and ye must also be holy (Lev. xi. 44 f .,
and passages like xix. 2, xx. 8, xxi. 8).
When holiness is predicated of the covenant people and covenant
ordinances, two things are implied : 1st, being taken out df worldli
ness; 2d, being appropriated by God, — a relationship of special
appropriation to Him. If this character of holiness clings to anything,
this never rests on a natural quality. Nothing created is in itself

§ 44.] FORMAL DEFINITION OF GOD AS THE HOLY ONE. 155
holy. The notion of natural purity and impurity does not coincide
with that of holiness and unholiness. The holiness of the creature
always goes back to an act of the divine will, to divine election and
institution (3). In other words : It is always a state in which the
creature is bound to God by the appointment of God Himself, which is
expressed by E>npT, KHp, p'*^ n, EHp; whereas the opposite expressions hh,
^!n, ^nn, etc. (comp. Lev. x. 10, xxii. 9, Ezek. xxii. 26, xxxvi. 21, xxxix.
7, etc.), designate the profane as set loose, freed, and abandoned (4).
Where K>'inpT is a designation of a divine attribute, there evidently
lies in it primarily a negative element, by which it designates a state
of apartness, God raising Himself up above others. So Jehovah, as
the Holy One, stands first in opposition to the other, imaginary gods,
Ex. xv. 11 : " Who is like Thee among the gods ? who is like Thee,
glorious in holiness ! " And then also in opposition to all that is of
the creature, or, more generally expressed, to all that is not He Him
self, Isa. xl. 25 : " To whom will ye compare me that I may be like ?
saith the Holy One." In other words: As the Holy One, God is He
who is raised absolutely above the world ; compare Ps. xcix. 2-5, where
God's elevation over all people is connected with His holiness; Isa.
v. 16, in which the truth that, the holy G°d sanctifies Himself in
justice corresponds to His being elevated by judgment (comp. ii. 17).
Accordingly this divine elevation is God's absolute uniqueness, 1 Sam.
ii. 2 : " There is none holy like Jehovah, for there is none but Thee."
The positive expression for God's absolute elevation and uniqueness
would be, that in His transcendence above the world, and in His
apartness from the creature, God is He who ever preserves His own
proper character, maintaining Himself in that being which is with
drawn from creation (5).
This element of the divine holiness was held fast, though certainly
in a very superficial manner, by those who defined holiness as the
incomparableness and exclusive adorableness of God. Thus Zacharia'
in his Biblical Theology, and more minutely Storr in his Doctrina
Christiana, § 30(6). — Menken and his school especially stood up against
this conception of the divine holiness (7). They set up, in opposition to
the ruling conception, the opinion that the divine holiness does not so
much designate God's unparalleled splendour, as God's condescending
grace, His self -abasing love, and thus did not express the divine retire-

156 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 44.
ment from the creature, but rather God's communication of Himself
to the creature ; according to this, the expression ETlp had a meaning
similar to Ton. For this Menken referred to the following main pas
sages : — Ps. ciii., which proclaims itself in ver. 1 as the praise of the
divine holiness, and praises God as the gracious One, He who forgives
sin and frees from all evil (compare also Ps. cv. 3) ; Hos. xi. 8 f ., where
the divine holiness is placed in connection with divine mercy : " My
mercies are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of my
fury, I will not destroy Ephraim again : for I am God, and not man,
holy in thy midst ; " compare further, Ps. xxii. 4, xxxiii. 21, and other
texts.' — It was not difficult to show that this conception of Menken
does not do justice to the biblical notion. It cannot be denied that,
when God reveals Himself in His holiness, the main feeling awakened
in man is the feeling of timidity before the severity and fearfulness
of the Divine Being ; thus from Ex. iii. 5 onwards, and (not to look
in the first instance at the Pentateuch) compare further e.g. 1 Sam.
vi. 20, in which, after a dreadful visitation, it is said : " Who can
stand before Jehovah, this holy God ? " Isa. vi., where the prophet,
on hearing the Trisagion of the seraphim, cries out, ver. 5, " Woe is
me ! I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips ; " v. 16, where, in
reference to the approaching judgment, it is said, " The holy God
is sanctified in justice." The Alexandrian translators had a correct
feeling for this element. They translated the word ETlp by ayios, an
expression derived from afrfiai, which just points to that revering
dread which the holy thing demands for itself (8). But still, on the
other side, it is clear from the above-cited passages that the conception
of Menken must contain an element of truth (9). This element is found
in the fact that the divine holiness contains not only the divine self-
preservation, but also the divine self-disclosure, since God as the Holy
One does not remain in Himself, but gives effect to His holiness on
the outward world, by taking in hand a separation within the world,
for His own aims, electing a people out of the mass of the nations of
the world, accepting them as His property, and imprinting on the
ordinances which He gives to this people, and on the historical provi
dence by which they are guided, the stamp of this separation from
worldliness, and of this specific relation to Himself. See, as principal
passage, Lev. xx. 26 : "I am holy, and so I have separated you from

§ 44.] FORMAL DEFINITION OF GOD AS THE HOLY ONE. 157
among the nations to be mine." Therefore the Holy One of
Israel (10) is Israel's Maker (Isa. xiv. 11) (compare § 82), Israel's
Redeemer (xlix. 7) (11) ; therefore God, as the holy God, is the doer
of miracles, K^B nt?I?, properly He that doeth " things apart," Ex.
xv. 11. On the connection of the notion of miracle with the divine
holiness, compare also Ps. Ixxvii. 14 f., xcviii. 1 (and § 64) (12).
The way in which, according to what has been just developed, two
things lie in the divine holiness, — that He stands in opposition to the
world, and again, that He removes this opposition by choosing in the
world some whom he places in communion with Himself, or, to make
use of Schmieder's expression, the way in which God's holiness is the
interpenetration of God's self-preservation and self-disclosure, — is
very beautifully expressed in Isa. lvii. 15 : " Thus saith the high and
lofty One, who dwells eternally, the Holy One is His name ; I dwell in
the heights and in the holy place, and with those who are broken and
humble in spirit." — The passages urged by Menken are also explicable
from what has been noted. All demonstrations of the divine covenant
of grace are the issues of the divine holiness. Outside of the theo
cratic relations it is closed to the world ; but as soon as the world
comes into connection with the divine kingdom, it receives manifesta
tions of the divine holiness (13).
(1) In virtue of its pregnancy, the notion of the divine holiness —
J. A. Bengel calls it vere inexhaustce significationis — is one of the
most difficult biblical notions, on which views quite contrary to one
another have been brought forward. Of the literature, compare
Achelis, " Attempt to decide the Meaning of the Word EHp from the
History of the Divine Revelation," in Ullmann's Studien und Kritiken,
1847, p. 187 ff.; Rupprecht, "On the notion of God's Holiness," in
the same, 1849, p. 684 ff. ; Bahr, Symbolik des mosaischen Kultus,
i. p. 37, ii. p. 27 ff. ; Hofmann, der Schriftbeweisj 2d ed. i. p. 81 ff.;
Lutz, bibl. Dogmatik, p. 89 ff., etc. ; also my article, " Heiligkeit
Gottes," in Herzog's Realencyklop. xix. p. 618 ff. Diestel gives the
most comprehensive examination of the matter, "die Heiligkeit Gottes,"
Jahrbiicher fiir deutsche Theol. 1859, p. 3 ff.
(2) Compare on the etymology, Delitzsch, Jesurun, p. 155.
(3) On the holiness of the covenant people, comp. § 82, 2. — In
the same way, the character of holiness attaches to localities which,
since the God who revealed Himself in Israel manifests His presence
in them, have become appropriated in an especial manner by Him.

158 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 44.
First, in Ex. iii. 5, the place of the theophany is called holy ground ;
whilst in Gen. xxviii. 17, on a similar occasion, it was said, " How
dreadful (*OiJ) is this place ! " Then the tabernacle is sanctified by
being filled with the splendour of God, and because He holds inter
course with His people from this place (Ex. xxix. 43 f .) ; the camp
is holy, according to Deut. xxiii. 15, because Jehovah walks in the
midst of it. And further, holiness is predicated of the times set apart
for divine worship (as early as Gen. ii. 3, in speaking of the. seventh
day of the week, because there already the writer looks forward to the
theocratic regulation to which the institution of the Sabbath really
belongs [see later]) ; lastly, of the actions in which the people give
effect to their devotion to God, and of the things which they dedicate
to Him, and which thus pass into His ownership. — Diestel, I.e., has said
very rightly, p. 7 : " Inside Mosaism the whole sphere of the holy
owes its origin to the will of Jehovah, who is reckoned throughout as
an absolutely free and powerful personality. Therefore, in the most
rigorous sense of the word, nothing is holy in and for itself till the
will of Jehovah declares it to be His property " [in the article cited
above]. — See the details under the head of ordinances of worship.
(4) On the latter, see Hofmann, der Schriftbeweis, i. 2d ed. p. 82.
But we cannot agree with Hofmann, that in E*ilpT the relation to God
is not immediately thought of, and that it means, generally speaking,
" what stands outside the common course, the common regulation of
things." That the religious value of EHp is inseparable from the
word, is shown also by the expressions Bh|5 and nEHp, which are only
employed in the sphere of heathenism, and which in like manner
characterize persons dedicated to the Deity. — It is quite wrong to
explain the term nonbo EHp by saying that war " breaks through the
common daily course of life." Nay, in all those passages where the
expression occurs, the point in question is a war for the divine
cause, whether this is the real design (Joel iv. 9) or only the assertion
(Mic. iii. 5) of the combatants, or whether the notion is, that the
combat is ordained to execute the divine counsel [ibid.].
(5) Upon this element of divine self-preservation, compare espe
cially Schmieder, Betrachtungen iXber das hohepriesterliche Gebet, 1848,
a book which is not known so well as it deserves to be. He rightly
says, p. 125 : " God's holiness is God's self-preservation, by virtue of
which He remains like Himself in all relations which either are in
Him or on which He enters in any way, and neither gives up any
part of His divinity nor accepts anything ungodly."
(6) Zacharia, I.e. p. 242 : I am holy, means : " None may be
honoured as God, as Jehovah is honoured in Israel." Storr, I.e. :

§ 45.] MATERIAL DEFINITION OF GOD AS THE HOLY ONE. 159
" Divina natura vocatur sancta, h. e. sejuncta ab omnibus aliis et
incomparabilis." (7) Menken's Versuch einer Anleitung zum eigenen Unterricht in
den Wahrheiten der heiligen Schrift (a sort of popular dogmatic), 3d ed.
1833, p. 58 ff. (complete edition of his writings, vi. p. 46 ff.), is especially
to be named; compare also Achelis, in the above-cited essay, p. 198 f.
(8) See on this point the subtile remarks by Zezschwitz, Profan-
grdcitdt und bibl. Sprachgeist, 1859, p. 15.
(9) " Holiness," says Schmieder (I.e. 125) correctly, " would not
be holiness, but exclusiveness, if it did not presuppose God's entrance
into multifarious relations, and thereby revelation and communica
tion of Himself."
(10) Upon the title, " The Holy One of Israel," see Caspari, in
the Zeitschr. fur hither. Theol. 1844, iii. p. 92 ff.
(11) The restoration of Israel is also an issue of the divine holi
ness, since God, in virtue of this attribute, effaces the antithesis in
which the rejection of Israel stands to His purpose of election (Ezek.
xxxvi. 16 ff., xxxvii. 26-28) [ibid.].
(12) Diestel errs most decidedly when he (I.e. p. 11) says:
"Jehovah is holy, inasmuch as He belongs to the people of Israel,
inasmuch as He is Israel's property."
(13) Compare also the doctrine of the kingdom of God in the
theology of prophecy.
§45.
¦ Material Definition of the Notion.
But the notion of the divine holiness has been only formally de
fined by what we have said hitherto. If, in order to come at the
concrete side of the matter, we proceed from the question, What is
the purport of God's sanctifying a people to Himself? — generally
speaking, the answer is, that the point in question is the restoration
of a perfection of life both inwardly and outwardly (1). Now, if we
argue from this to the purport of the divine holiness, it falls to be
defined concretely as an absolute perfection of life, but with the
understanding that this definition must essentially be understood in
an ethical sense. Many, indeed, have gone further, among whom are
J. A. Bengel (2) and Rupprecht ; the view of the latter (I.e. p. 691)
comes to this, that the holiness of God designates the whole divine
perfection, majesty, and .blessedness, "the whole complex of that

160 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 45.
which we, in our human imperfection and shortsightedness, are wont
to look at and represent singly in the individual attributes of God."
— It is indeed true that the notions of divine holiness and glory are
related. We may say, with Oetinger, holiness is hidden glory, and
glory disclosed holiness. The tabernacle and the temple, for example,
are sanctified, because Jehovah filled them with His glory, and made
His dwelling-place in them (Ex. xl. 34; 1 Kings viii. 11). In the
same way, in Isa. vi. 3, the praise of God as the Holy One corre
sponds to the proclamation, The earth is full of His glory. But the
divine glory reaches beyond the spheres in which the divine holiness
operates. When it is said in Gen. viii. 2, " How glorious is Thy name
in all the earth I " it could not be said in the same sense, " How holy
is Thy name," etc. God's glory extends over nature, and is given
. back to Him by all His creatures (Ps. civ. 31) ; on the other hand,
the course of nature serves the divine holiness only in as far as God
encroaches on it for the purposes of His kingdom, and makes use of
the powers of nature for them. Thus, also, the divine spirit is not
the Holy Spirit inasmuch as it is the cosmical principle of life, but only
inasmuch as it rules in the theocracy (Isa. lxiii. 10 f. ; Ps. Ii. 13).
From this it is sufficiently clear that the unlimited extension of the
notion of the divine holiness above cited cannot be correct. But let
us consider, further, what sort of fear it is that seizes man when God
is revealed as the Holy One. It is evidently not simply the feeling of
creature weakness which asserts itself here, but predominantly and
specifically the feeling of human sinfulness and impurity (Isa. vi. 5 and
others). Hence it follows that the divine holiness, even if, as absolute
perfection of life, it involves the negation of all bonds of creature fini-
tude (from which passages like Isa. xl. 25 are explained), is neverthe
less mainly seclusion from the impurity and sinfulness of the creature,
or, expressed positively, the clearness and purity of the divine nature,
which excludes all communion with what is wicked. In this sense the
symbolical designation of the divine holiness is, that God is light
(comp. Isa. x. 17) (3). — Now it answers to this, that the divine holi
ness, in as far as it operates as an attribute of revelation, is not an
abstract power, which merely pronounces over the finite, as such, the
judgment of nothingness, but is the divine self-representation and
self-testimony for the purpose of giving to the world a participation

§ 46] CHARACTERISTICS CONNECTED WITH THE DIVINE HOLINESS. 161
in the perfection of the divine life (4). — By means of this ethical con
ception of divine holiness, the Old Testament is distinguished from
Islam, in which the designation of God as the Holy King shows
merely the divine elevation and majesty, and therefore in Islam the
divine justice is also conceived as the pure manifestation of the power
of the omniscient Omnipotent (o).
(1) See Diestel, I.e. p. 12 ff.
(2) On this subject Bengel expresses himself in a letter to Kasp.
Neumann (see Bengel's Literary Correspondence, published by Burk,
1836, p. 52 ff.): "De Deo ubi scriptura nomen illud E>1p enunciat,
statuo non denotare solam puritatem voluntatis, sed quicquid de Deo
cognoscitur, et quicquid insuper de Illo, si se uberius revelare velit,
cognosci possit," etc., on which he seeks to prove that all the divine
attributes, also the divine aseity, eternity, omnipotence, etc., are con
tained in holiness. (The letter written in 1712 is, however, to be
recognised as a rather immature and youthful work in the whole style
of treatment.) [Ibid.]
(3) Compare Thomasius, I.e. p. 137 ; Godet, la Saintete de Dieu,
Neuch. 1864, p. 8.
(4) In antithesis to the heathen gods, who more or less foster
wickedness and are its patrons, it is said of Israel's God, Ps. v. 5 ff.,
" Thou art not a God whom crime delighteth, neither shall a wicked
person dwell with Thee; the insolent shall not appear before Thine eyes;
Thou hatest all that do evil ; Thou blottest out those who speak lies ;
Jehovah abhors the man of lying and blood." In reference to this
ethical meaning of the divine holiness, compare also Hos. xii. 1, where
God is called " the Faithful and Holy One ;" Hab. i. 12, in con
nection with ver. 13 ; Job vi. 10.
(5) See on this, Dettinger, " Beitrage zu einer Theologie des
Korans," in the Tiibinger Zeitschr. fiir Theol. 1834, i. p. 25.
§46.
Characteristics connected with the Divine Holiness. 1. Impossibility
of picturing God, Omnipresence, Spirituality.
A number of other characteristics of the Divine Being are connected
with the idea of the divine holiness, and have still to be developed.
Inasmuch as the divine holiness is the withdrawal of the Divine
Being from all finiteness of the creature, it contains the impossibility of
forming an image of the Divine Being. For the connection of the two
VOL. I. L

162 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 46.
notions compare the passage Isa. xl. 25, already quoted (§ 44). On this
is grounded the prohibition to represent God by an image. Certainly
no more would follow directly from the passages Ex. xx. 4, Deut. v. 8,
than that God is not to be represented by the image of one of the
existing creatures. But Deut. iv. 15 ff. shows that the want of figure
and form of the Divine Being is to be taken generally. And, indeed,
not only is the contemplation of the Divine Being by an image made
by the hand of man excluded, but also the honouring of the divine
in the constellations, ver. 19 compared with xxix. 25 (1). Now if, on
the other hand, a nin* ruion is spoken of in Num. xii. 8, we are to
understand here, as in the theophanies spoken of in Genesis, that
there is a distinction between the sinking of God's being into visibility,
and that being in itself (2). Just as little can any argument contra
dictory to the clear utterances of the Old Testament as to the idea of
God be drawn from anthropomorphisms — if that is the word used in
the more limited sense, in distinction from anthropopathies, to denote
those expressions in which parts of the human body, or more generally
human sense faculties, are transferred to God, so that eyes, ears,
nose, etc., and from that seeing, hearing, smelling, and the like, are
used in speaking of Him. No religion can dispense with such anthro
pomorphic expression when it enters into the sphere of representative
thought, and everything depends just on this, that the incongruity of
such expressions is corrected by the whole conception of the idea
of God (3). It is also to be noted, that in the later books of the
Old Testament, in which are found the strongest utterances on the
freedom of the Divine Being from creature forms (as Ps. 1. 12 f., etc.),
the anthropomorphisms are not the less frequent. — Still the question
remains to be answered, whether and in how far, according to the Old
Testament, the Divine Being is freed from the limitations of space.
It is self-evident that the Pentateuch regards God, to whom, Deut.
x. 14, the heaven and the heavens of heaven, the earth and all that is
upon it, belong, as the Omnipresent One, even when such express
delineations of omnipresence as in Ps. cxxxix. are not found in the
Pentateuch. But still it is urged in different passages, that wherever
man is, God gives him to experience His protecting nearness, or more
generally expressed, His communion. Compare passages like Gen.
xvi. 13, xxviii. 15 ff., xlvi. 4, etc. For the rest, the Pentateuch has

§ 47.] THE DIVINE JUSTICE, FAITHFULNESS, AND TRUTHFULNESS. 163
mainly to do with the special presence which God gives by living
among His people, when He localizes His face, His name, His glory — the
so-called Shekhina (comp. § 63). — The positive expression that God is
spirit is not so expressly found in the Old Testament, which is rather
accustomed to say that God has the spirit, and causes it to go out from
Him ; by which, however, the spirit is indicated as the element of God's
life; compare Isa. xl. 13, Ps. cxxxix. 7, and further the contrast, Isa.
xxxi. 3 (4). That God is the absolute personality, is pregnantly ex
pressed in the word sin *2X, « I am He," Deut. xxxii. 39, Isa. xliii. 10.
(1) Deut. iv. 15 ff. : "Take ye therefore good heed unto your
selves; for ye saw no manner of figure (njion-73) when Jehovah
spake to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire," etc. Ver. 19 :
" Thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto heaven ; and when thou seest
the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, thou shalt
not suffer thyself to be seduced to worship them, and to serve them,
which Jehovah thy God hath divided unto all nations under heaven."
That the sense of the latter words is not that Jehovah has divided
the stars as lights and measurements of time to all the nations under
heaven, cannot, according to xxix. 25, be doubted. It is impossible
to find another meaning in the words than that, whilst Israel has the
revelation of the true God, the worship of the constellations is left
over to the nations of the earth.
(2) On this, see the doctrine of revelation.
(3) Luther says once in his commentary on Genesis, in reference
to this : " Qui extra ista involucra Deum attingere volunt, isti sine
scalis nituntur ad coelum ascendere. — Necesse enim est, ut Deus cum
se nobis revelat, id faciat per velamen et involucrum quoddam, et
dicat : ecce sub hoc involucre me certe apprehendes."
(4) Isa. xxxi. 3 : " The Egyptians are men, and not God ; and
their horses are flesh, and not spirit." Here no corresponds to ?N.
§47.
2. The Divine Justice, Faithfulness, and Truthfulness.
_ The attributes of divine justice and divine faithfulness and truth
are connected with the divine holiness in its ethical value. These
attributes are conjoined in the main passage, Deut. xxxii. 4. The
passage characterizes Jehovah as the rock, that is, as the immoveable
basis of confidence ; and gives the reason for this by pointing to the

164 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 47.
perfection and unblameableness of the Divine Being and government,
in virtue of which God is designated the Truthful and Righteous
One (1). Here we have first to enter on the notion of divine justice
God is P^Y. The root-meaning of pnx is (after the Arabic) " to
be straight;" and so, according to its original meaning, the expression
corresponds most nearly with IB/*, with which it is conjoined in the
above passage. The word P*1^ expresses what is straight and right,
in the way that God in His government always does what is suit
able : namely, first, what answers fully to His aim ; and secondly,
what answers to the constitution of the object of the divine action.
Specially, but not exclusively, the sphere in which the Hp/JX finds
utterance is the judicial activity of God. But divine justice, not
withstanding its close connection with divine holiness, has the pecu
liarity that its sphere of action extends outside of the theocracy and
theocratic relations ; nay, in one passage in the Old Testament, even
the animals are subsumed under the government of the divine npnx,
Ps. xxxvi. 7 (3) ; a declaration to which John iv. 11 offers an elucida
tion. Still the proper sphere of God's just government is mankind,
and this without limit, even where humanity is out of all relation to
the divine kingdom. According to Gen. xviii. 25, Jehovah is judge
of all the earth, and as such He will exercise right, and not permit
the lot of the godless to fall on the righteous (4). In this connection,
in which God gives to every one his due, P^X appears also in Ex. ix.
27, where Pharaoh says, in giving honour to God's justice : " Jehovah
is the Just One (P^xn), I and my people are the offenders (D*JJEnn)."
This passage and that of Deut. xxxii. 4, from which we started, are
the only ones in the Pentateuch in which the justice of God is
expressed. Holiness is indeed the principle of the theocratic regu
lation. To be sure, what is said in Isa. v. 16, in reference to the
judgment, "The holy God is sanctified by justice," must apply
generally to the government of God in His kingdom (as presented
already in the Pentateuch) ; all God's deeds which constitute the
divine guidance of the kingdom, and bring about the right, the
D*psK>» which the Pentateuch sets forth, are thus manifestations of
His njj'iv. But it was the work of prophecy to fix the npnx as the
attribute which acts in the ways of the divine kingdom for the

§ 43.] THE JEALOUS GOD. 165
realization of the holy aim, as on the other side the general ethical
relations of the divine justice are discussed in the Psalms and in the
Hebrew Chochma. As in the idea of Jehovah who is the absolutely
persistent One (comp. § 39), so also in the idea of the holy One in
virtue of its ethical contents, the attribute of truth and faith is given;
compare Isa. xlix. 7, ipt» "ie/K nin* ; Hos. xii. 1, jpto B*K>inp = the
faithful All-holy One. From this God is called nriDX b$ in the
above-cited passage in Deut. xxxii. 4, and in Ps. xxxi. 6 npx 7K ;
and the denomination of God as nix, rock, safe retreat, in the pas
sage in Deuteronomy just refers to this. The antiquity of this last
name is especially indicated by its frequent occurrence in personal •
names in the Pentateuch: "1IX7K (my God is a rock), Num. i. 5;
i>KOW (my rock is God), iii. 35 ; n^nix (my rock is the Almighty),
i. 6 ; lixnna (the rock redeems), i. 10 (comp. § 88, note 8). In the Old
Testament this attribute is specially fixed in reference to the divine
word of promise, and the agreement of the divine action therewith.
One of the chief passages in the Pentateuch is Num. xxiii. 19 ; com
pare 1 Sam. xv. 29, Ps. xxxvi. 6 (5).
(1) Deut. xxxii. 4 : " The Rock, His doing is blameless, for all
His ways are right : a faithful God, and without fault, just and
upright is He."
(2) Compare Diestel, " die Idee der Gerechtigkeit, vorzuglich im
A. T., biblisch-theologisch dargestellt," Jahrb. fur deutsche Theol.
1860, p. 173 ff.
(3) Ps. xxxvi. 7 : " Thy justice is like the mountains of God ;
Thou, Jehovah, helpest man and beast."
(4) In this lies an element which is quite essential to the npnx,
namely, that it is always action by rule and measure.
(5) Num. xxiii. 19 : " God is not a man, that He should lie ; nor
a son of man, that He should repent of anything : shall He speak, and
not do ? shall He talk, and not accomplish ? "— Ps. xxxvi. 6 : " Thy
righteousness reacheth to the clouds," that is, it has neither measure
ment nor end, like human faithfulness. §48.
3. The Jealous God.
Lastly, there lies in the idea of divine holiness the characteristic
jealous God, Wp $>K (or Kiap ta), Ex. xxxiv. 14 (1) ; Deut. vi. 15.

166 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 48.
The divine zeal is just the energy of divine holiness ; this notion
stands in the same relation to that of holiness as the notion of *n PS
to the idea of Jehovah ; hence it is said in Josh. xxiv. 19 : " The All-
holy God, that is, the Slip PS." The divine ntup has a double form :
1. It turns itself avengingly against every violation of the divine
will. In virtue of His nsip, the holy God extirpates all that rises in
opposition to Him. God's jealousy turns especially against idolatry,
by which the divine uniqueness is attacked, see e.g. Deut. xxxii.
21 (2), but generally against all sin by which God's holy name is dese
crated ; the El-kanna is flJ> 1pB, Ex. xx. 5, compared with Josh. xxiv.
19. Thus the divine nsip manifests itself as divine wrath, *)S, frog, f)Xp,
and such like expressions (3). For wrath (as Ullmann has strikingly
defined it) is the powerful excitement of the voluntative (wollenden)
spirit which arises in opposition to restraint, and thus the wrath of
God is the highest strained energy of the holy will of God, the zeal
of His wounded love. Compare, on the connection of the two notions,
jealousy and wrath, Deut. vi. 15, xxxii. 21 f., Ps. Ixxviii. 58 f. The
consuming power of wrath is symbolized by fire ; hence in Deut. iv.
24 it is said, " A consuming fire is the S|p ps," a fire which burns
down to the world of Hades ; comp. xxxii. 21 f . The inner essential
connection of wrathful jealousy with the divine holiness is made
especially clear by the passage Isa. x. 17 : " The Light of Israel
becomes a fire, and his Holy One a flame, which burn and consume
his thorns and briers." Just because the wrath is a manifestation of
divine holiness, the occasion of its outburst (as Ritschl and Diestel
have rightly urged) does not lie in a capricious divine humour or
natural malignity, as the gods of the heathen fall into a passion, but
wholly in the person smitten by it. Because man disowns and casts
away the witness of the holy God which was given to him, justice
must be done upon him in his resistance to God's will, which alone is
in the right, by his being reduced to his nothingness. Breach of the
covenant, and the malignant interruption of the aim of the covenant,
are the offences that chiefly kindle the divine wrath ; comp. Ex. xxxii.
10, Num. xxv. 3, Deut. xxxi. 17 in connection with ver. 16. The
contrast to the divine wrath is what the Old Testament expresses by
means of Bro, Bmnn, which literally mean breathing in, fetching one's
breath. But the manifestation of wrath also receives its measure

§ 48.] THE JEALOUS GOD. 167
from divine holiness, which measure is ordained by the divine aim
of salvation, and hence it is not the sway of blind passion ; comp.
passages like Hos. xi. 9, Jer. x. 24, and the parable Isa. xxviii.
23 ff. (4).
2. Jehovah is not jealous for Himself alone, but also for His holy
people, in so far as they are in a position of grace, or are taken into
favour again by Him. From this side the ntup is the zeal of love, as
an energetic vindication of the unmatched relationship in which God
has placed His people to Himself. The thing is found in Deut. xxxii.
36 ff. ; but the expression p S3p, " to be jealous for," is not found till
the prophets, Joel ii. 18, Zech. i. 14, viii. 2. On this side also the
nMp is a kindling, but a kindling in pity ; comp. Hos. xi. 8, *pvi3 Op33.
According to this, God's sparing mercy, PDn, Joel ii. 18, is developed
from ns3p. The connection of these notions stands out with special
distinctness in Ex. xxxii. ff. When the divine wrath goes out against
the people, xxxii. 10, after the first breach of the covenant at Sinai,
Moses appeases it, ver. 11 f., by awakening the other side of the
divine zeal, inasmuch as it is a point of honour with God as against
Egypt to complete the work of redemption begun upon the people ;
and so the manifestation of wrath turns round and makes room for the
divine mercy, xxxiv. 6. — The anthropopathies of the Old Testament
fall for the most part under what is here discussed ; that is, those
utterances about God in which human emotions and the change of
these emotions are attributed to Him. These, in the sense of the Old
Testament, are not, like the anthropomorphisms, to be regarded purely
as figurative expressions. They actually express real relations of
God to the world, and are only designated after the analogy of human
conditions. If a change of such conditions is spoken of, this means
only a change of the relation in which the divine holiness, which is
in itself changeless, enters to changeable man. Thus it may be said,
Ps. xviii. 26 f. : " Towards the pious Thou showest Thyself pious ; to
the upright man Thou showest Thyself upright ; towards the pure
Thou showest Thyself pure ; and to the perverse Thou showest Thy
self perverse." The same God whose guidance approves itself to the
pious as pure and good, must appear like a malicious power to the
perverse whose path He crosses. Especially 1 Sam. xv. shows that
the Old Testament does not suppose a change in the divine nature

1 68 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 49.
itself. Samuel says, ver. 29 : " The Rock of Israel does not deceive,
and does not repent of anything; for He is not a man, that He should
repent of anything ;" and immediately after it is said, ver. 35 :
" Jehovah repented that He had made Saul king." The anthropo-
pathies serve to keep wakeful and strong the consciousness of the
living holy God, the idea of whom man so willingly volatilizes into
abstractions. (1) Ex. xxxiv. 14: " Jehovah, the jealous One, is His name; He is
a jealous God."
(2) Deut. xxxii. 21 : " They provoked mv zeal, ^iSJp, by their
idols." (3) The wrath of God has of late years been discussed in several
monographs. Comp. Ritschl, de ira Dei, 1859 ; Weber, vom Zorne
Gottes, 1862; Bartholomai, "vom Zorne Gottes," in the Jahrbuch fur
deutsche Theol. 1861, p. 256 ff.
(4) Hos. xi. 9 : " I will not execute my wrath's fury, nor destroy
Ephraim again ; for I am God and not man, holy in the midst of
thee." — Compare further the prophetic part of the book.

SECOND CHAPTER.
THE RELATION OF GOD TO THE WOELD.
§ 49.
General Survey.
The knowledge that the existence of the world is absolutely due
to the divine causality is completed in three doctrines : —
1. When reflection is directed on the existence of the world, both
as to its beginning and as to its subsistence, we reach the doctrine of
the creation and maintenance of the world.
2. When we consider how the world is so, and not otherwise, we
get the doctrine of the aim of the world and of divine providence, with
which is connected the question of the relation of the divine causality
to the wickedness and evil in the world.
3. God enters on a peculiar relation to the world for the realization
of His aim ; the means by which God brings about this His special
relation to the world is delineated in the doctrine of revelation.

§ 50.] CREATION BY THE WORD. 169
FIEST DOCTEINE. — ON THE CREATION AND MAINTENANCE OP THE
WORLD.
I. ON THE CREATION.
§ 50.
1. Creation by the Word.
The Mosaic doctrine of creation rests on the two points, that the
production of the world follows by the Word and by the Spirit of God..
The form of the creation of the world is the speaking of God's
word; God says that the things shall be, and they are, Gen. i. 3,
6, 9, etc. Herein it lies that the world originated through a conscious,
free divine deed, for the word is just an utterance of conscious aud
free will. Therefore, in Ps. xxxiii. 9, nix corresponds to "ips ; com
pare ver. 6, cxlviii. 5, Isa. xlviii. 13, Ps. cxxxv. 6 (1). This excludes,
first, every theory of the origin of the world by which the divine
being itself is drawn down into the genesis of the world ; and secondly,
also the theory according to which the divine productive activity was
conditioned at least by something existing originally outside of God,
and thereby limited. In the former respect the Old Testament
doctrine stands in decided opposition to the theories of emanation in
the oriental cosmogonies, in which the creation of the world is made
subject to a necessity of nature. That conception of the account of
the creation, Gen.'i., which seeks to find in it a doctrine of emanation,
is quite untenable ; namely, that originally there was nothing but
emptiness and voidness, that is, the original substance swallowed up in
darkness, and that God, who bore in Himself the seed of the creature,
appears first in ver. 3, and causes it to proceed from Him (2). This view
mistakes the connection of ver. 2 with ver. 1, and the Old Testament
meaning of tro. That there is also no notion of the nature of emana
tion in Ps. xc. 2, in case PPinfil as second person refers to God (which
is certainly the most probable explanation), is shown by the use of
the word in Deut. xxxii. 18, Prov. xxv. 23. The view of the divine
creation as generation is purely poetical ; comp. also Job xxxviii. 28 f.
The divine creation is not a dreamy weaving of the original substance
in which it produces the world from itself of necessity, but a waking,
free production (3). It is a fairer subject of discussion whether, in
Genesis, chap. i. does not assume an eternal elementary matter (afiop<$>o<;

170 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ SO.
vXrf, Wisd. xi. 18) independent of God, and so teach not so much a
creator of the world as a shaper of the world — a Demiurge. But
even, according to the conception of vers. 1-3 now beginning to find
currency, "In the beginning" (n*B>iri as status constr.), "when God
created heaven and earth ;" then ver. 2 as parenthesis, " But the earth
was a waste ;" ver. 3, " God said, Let there be light," — the passage does
not teach that the creative formation of the cosmos followed on the
presupposition of a chaos, but does not say anything at all about this
chaos, whether it proceeded from God or whether it was eternal. For
the rest, the construction adopted by this explanation is decidedly
contradictory to the thoroughly simple formation of the sentences in
the first chapter. But if ver. 1 is understood, according to another
view, as a title, a summary abridgment of the contents of the chapter,
still (as Delitzsch remarks) the VUI inn does not appear as a state with
out beginning lying behind the work of creation, but the sna ryBWa
stands at the head of all. The third exposition seems, however, to
be the simplest, that ver. 1 is not meant to be a title of the whole,
but just the declaration how a first creation of heaven and earth as
prima materia preceded the process portrayed from the second verse
onwards ; compare how Job, xxxviii. 4-7, supposes a prius preceding
the creation of the earth. By the absolute n'B'S'ia the divine creation
is fixed as an absolute beginning, not as a working on something
which already existed, and heaven and earth is wholly subjected to
the lapse of time, which God transcends ; compare Ps. xc. 2, cii. 26.
The expression S"Q, in agreement with the meaning of its root, which
is (-n, "is, compare ma, pna, ma, ma, ms, Ena, etc.) " to cleave, divide,
separate," might certainly favour the view that only a shaping of the
world is spoken of ; but the constant use of S13 in the Old Testament
is against this (4), the word being always used to express the produc
tion of something new which has not a previous existence, as in Ps.
civ. 30 &03 stands parallel to ^n, to make new. Thus the fact is
explained that S"Q never appears in speaking of human working, and
is never joined with the accusative of the matter out of which anything
is created, as is the case with "IX* (compare Gen. i. 27 with ii. 7), with
nfc>y, and other words of this class. It is clear from this discussion
that Mosaism places itself over all natural religions by the saying, " In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Hence in

§ 50.] CREATION BY THE WORD. 171
Ps. cxxi. 2 Jehovah is called p?J B*pE> n-E/'y ; Isa. xiv. 18 says, snis nin*
PiE-jji psn -ix; a*rfpsn sin B*pfn; He is as such in Gen. xiv. 22, B*pe> njp
nsi, in which is implied both preparer and possessor of heaven and
earth (for the former meaning of nip, compare Deut. xxxii. 6, Ps.
cxxxix. 6). The idea of creation out of nothing, that is, that God
did not produce the world out of anything outside of Himself, is
in accordance with the doctrine of Mosaism, and does not, as Ewald
curiously supposes, become Old Testament doctrine about the time of
Amos (5). How later reflection laid hold of the simple utterances of
the record of creation, and carried out further the thoughts contained
in them, is especially shown in Ps. civ. (which is really a commentary
on Gen. i.).
(1) Ps. xxxiii. 9, IbJW nix sm *n*l nps sin ; ver. 6 : " The heavens
were made by the word of Jehovah." — Ps. cxlviii. 5 : " He com
manded, and they were created." — According to Isa. xlviii. 13, heaven
and earth stand there at His call. — Ps. cxxxv. 6 : " All that pleased
Jehovah (Y$n "1E/S P3) He has made in heaven and on earth, in the
seas and all deeps."
(2) Johannsen especially takes this view in his book, The Cosmo
gonies of the Indians and Hebrews discussed by comparing the Cosmogony
of Manu and Moses, 1833.
(3) In so far, Ewald has handled the matter very well in his
treatise, " Erklarung der biblischen Urgeschichte," in his first Jahrb.
der bibl. Wissensch. 1848. He says, p. 80 : " The free creating God of
the Old Testament — how different from the heathen god, who has much
ado to create, and so at length free himself completely from matter,
who has to exercise himself in creating, who also creates evil, and has
no idea that the creature, as a thing divine and true, must in the last
issue be purely good ! The Bible God does not first approach, as it
were by chance, the matter already there, or lazily make one sub
stance merely proceed from another ; He is a purely original active
Creator, who comprehends everything strictly, and firmly advances
forwards." (4) As is acknowledged also by Gesenius in the Thesaurus, i.
p. 235 f.
(5) Ewald thinks, l.c. p. 85, that when God is represented as
former of the mountains (Amos iv. 13 compared with Ps. xc. 2),
the old chaos is hereby abolished, and the activity of the Creator
extended as far as possible.

172 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 51.
§51.
2. The Divine Spirit in the Creation.
When the world is posited outside of God, it still originates and
subsists only by the life imparted to it from His Spirit ; thus it is not
separated from Him, although distinct from Him.
Because the world is called into being by a free divine act, and so
is other than God, its life is not a life of God in it, but yet is a life
imparted to it out of the divine fulness of life. This lies in the
doctrine of the divine no (1). The life of the creature, according
to the record of creation, does not proceed from the chaotic mass ;
but life comes from the God who, in Ps. xxxvi. 10, is quite gene
rally called the spring of life (B«n lipp) to the matter created by
Him. According to Gen. i. 2, the Spirit of God acts on the prima
materia, on the chaotic earth ; it moves (narnp) over the earth. The
meaning " to brood," which is here given to im by many expositors,
cannot be proved from Deut. xxxii. 11, as there the word stands
rather in the meaning of a hovering flight; but it appears in the
Syriac, and certainly a reference to the mother's life-giving activity
may be found in t|m, which is connected with Dm. But that
the Spirit of God, as the principle of animation, is not merely a
physical power, is not separated from the word as a declaration of the
will, but is only effective in the creative word, and that thus the
letter is itself endued with the power of life, is indicated by the ex
pression in Ps. xxxiii. 6, where the Spirit is characterized as the Spirit
of the divine mouth ; it lies also in Isa. xl. 13 (2), that the Divine
Spirit acting in the creation is a consciously working, an intelligent
power, as, according to Ps. cxxxix. 7, the divine omnipresence in the
world acts by means of the all-penetrating Spirit of God. It is this
Divine Spirit (comp. § 70) which, as B*»n npEO, as the breath of life,
is breathed into man by a particular act (Gen. ii. 7 ; comp. Job
xxvii. 3), and from which all creature-life continually proceeds (Ps.
civ. 29 f. ; comp. Job xii. 10) (3). The doctrine of the creative
word prevents this derivation of creature life from the divine source
from being understood as a doctrine of emanation ; as also do the
expressions, i3"|p3 DTS-no IX*, Zech. xii. 1 ; wvy PS-no, Job xxxiii. 4.

§ 52.] THE MAINTENANCE OF THE WORLD. 173
The creature life proceeds from God, but it does not flow from God,
but is imparted freely by God to the creature ; comp. Isa. xiii. 5
(" He who giveth the nn "). It is not a life which God lives in
the creature, but a relatively independent life of the creature from
God, which is taught by these passages.
(1) On this subject we have a thorough monograph by Kleinert,
" zur alttest. Lehre vom Geiste Gottes," Jahrb. fiXr deutsche Theol.
1867, p. 3 ff.
(2) Isa. xl. 13 : " Who hath weighed (fathomed) Jehovah's Spirit
(in which resteth His counsel, His thoughts) ? and who was His
adviser, who instructed Him ? "
(3) Thus originate the ij'fW' ninn (Num. xvi. 22), in which just
the one Spirit of God is immanent in the creatures. Because the
Old Testament does not pause at the multiplicity of the ninn, but
refers them back to the One Spirit, the doctrine of the Spirit of God
is, as Kleinert (I.e. p. 8 ff.) says, the most powerful vehicle of the
Old Testament monotheistic contemplation of the world.
II. ON THE MAINTENANCE OF THE WORLD.
§52.
The maintenance of the world is, on the one hand, distinguished in
the Old Testament from the creation ; while, on the other hand, the
divine activity taking place in it is placed under the same determining
principles as constitute the notion of creation.
1. The maintenance is distinguished from the creation of the
world even in the account of the creation, inasmuch as, according to
Gen. ii. 2, the production of the classes of creatures has a conclusion
which is formed by the Sabbath of creation (1). A relative inde
pendence is conferred on the living beings called into existence by
the creation by the faculty of reproduction, Gen. i. 11, xxii. 28 ; the
continuance of the system of the world is pledged by the covenant
with Noah, Gen. viii. 21. On this world-covenant rest the BW nipn
r"isi, Jer. xxxiii. 25, compared with vers. 20 and 21, 36, to which
" ordinances of heaven and earth " the course of the world is bound,
Ps. cxlviii. 6 (2). In connection with the laws by which the duration
of each sphere of existence is ordained, compare also such passages as
Jer. v. 22, Ps. civ. 9, Job xxxviii. 10, xiv. 5.

174 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 52.
2. The duration of this system of the world is established at each
moment by the divine omnipotence ; the relative independence of the
creature remains an independence lent to it. The maintenance of the
world rests continually on the same principles as the creation, on
God's word of command, which He utters continually, or, as it is also
expressed, sends forth (compare, besides the passages already cited
above, which also bear on this point, Ps. cxlviii. 5, xxxiii. 9, and in
particular Ps. cxlvii. 15-18) (3) ; and it rests just as continually on
the Divine Spirit, which He causes ever to go forth. The main
passage for this divine communication of the Spirit which continues
in the maintenance of the world is again Ps. civ. 29 f. : " Thou
takest away their (the creatures') spirit, and they die, and turn again
to their dust ; Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, and they are created ;
and Thou renewest the form of the earth." This passage shows how
the very maintenance of the creature can be again looked at from the
point of view of a creatio continua ; and this thought, that a creative
working of God goes on in the maintenance of the creatures, is in
general imprinted in various forms on the Old Testament phraseology ;
compare, for example, Ex. iv. 11, Isa. xiii. 5. The psalm of creation
also (Ps. civ.), by using participles in ver. 2, seeks to characterize the
creative activity of God as an activity which continues to work in the
maintenance of the world (4). — On this side, and as far as the creature
is conditioned and supported in each moment of its existence by the
divine activity, it is in itself empty and perishable, — a character which
is specially marked by designating flesh "ie>3, applied to animate creation
in contrast to the divine spirit of life ; comp. Gen. vi. 3, 13, Isa. xl.
6 ; and for the contrast of 1E>3 and nil in general, the passage Isa. xxxi.
3. Even the heaven and earth, although their duration is pledged
to them, are not eternal in the sense in which God is eternal, but are
subject to change : " They shall decay, and Thou endurest ; they all
wax old like a garment ; as a vesture Thou chaugest them, and they
are changed. But Thou art the same, and Thy years have no end."
Ps. cii. 27 f. (5).
(1) Gen. ii. 3 : " And God completed on the seventh day His
work which He had made." This seemed strange to the Alexandrians,
because man, the last creature, was called into being on the sixth day,
and so they altered it boldly to iv rfj rj/jiipc rfj e/crr}. But in doing

§ 53.] AIM OF THE WORLD, AND ITS REALIZATION. 175
this they showed that they did not understand what is said of the
meaning of the seventh day. It is the seventh day qui finem imponit,
which puts as it were the conclusion to the creation.
(2) Ps. cxlviii. 6 : " He set them firmly to eternity and eternity ;
He gave laws, and they (the heavenly bodies) do not overstep them."
(3) In Ps. cxlvii. 15-18, snow, hoar frost, ice, etc., are referred
to the divine word of command sent forth on the earth.
(4) Ex. iv. 11 : " Who made man's mouth? or who maketh dumb,
or deaf, or seeing, or blind ? " The change to the imperfect B1E»*
expresses that the divine activity is a continuous one. — Isa. xiii. 5 :
" He who createth the heaven (participle sni3) and spreadeth it out,
who extendeth the earth and its offspring, who giveth breath to the
people upon it." — Ps. civ. 2 : " He covereth Himself with light as a
garment, and spreadeth out the heaven as a covering."
(5) The Old Testament Chochma gives a further development of
these iheologumena. There, in distinction from the Pentateuch, the
divine wisdom is looked at as the principle of the formation of the
world. The later books of the Old Testament are here taken into
account only in as far as the doctrine of Mosaism is not surpassed, but
only illustrated.
SECOND DOCTRINE. — THE DIVINE AIM OF THE WORLD. DIVINE
PROVIDENCE. §53.
The Aim of the World, and its Realization through Providence.
The account of the creation shows that a divine aim is to realize
itself in the world, and that the divine creation is therefore a teleo
logical act, partly and in general in the systematic progress of the
work of creation, and partly in particular because the divine sanction,
" and God saw that it was good," follows each step of creation, and
because the divine blessing is laid on every animated being. Each
class of beings in the world in particular, and then, Gen. i. 31, the
world as a whole, is the object of divine approval, because corre
spondent to the divine aim. In all creation God completes acts of
self-satisfaction, but still the creating God does not reach the goal
of His creation until He has set over against Him His image in man.
From this last point it is to be gathered that the self-delineation of
God, the unveiling of His essence, is the final aim of the creation of

176 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 53.
the world ; or, as it is more commonly expressed, that the whole world
serves the revelation of the divine glory (1^3), and is thereby the
object of divine joy, Ps. civ. 31. The Old Testament contemplation
of nature rests on this fundamental conception ; but the Pentateuch,
of course, is not the place for a fuller statement of this. From this
point of view, the creature, which in itself is nothing, wins in its
relation to God a high value as the object of His imparted goodness,
and as the place for the revelation of His glory (comp. Ps. civ. 28,
cxlv. 9, 15 f.). But in mankind the aim of the world, the glorifying
of God, was disturbed by sin ; and therefore in the song of praise
on the glory of the creation, Ps. civ., the wish comes in in ver. 35 :
"May sinners have an end on the earth, and the godless be no more."
By sin the sway of the divine spirit of life is repressed, Gen. vi. 3 ;
and through man's sin the curse falls on the other creatures of the
earth that are set in dependence on him, v. 29, and the world becomes
the object of divine judgment. But in spite of this, the continuance
of the terrestrial order is assured in the world-covenant, viii. 21, ix. 11,
which shows that, in spite of the dominion of sin in the world of man,
the divine aim in the world shall come to its realization, as, Num. xiv.
21, Jehovah swears in the midst of His people's revolt : " As truly as
I live, the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah."
The choosing of the race through which God's blessing shall come on
all races of the earth, Gen. xii. 3, xviii. 18, serves this divine aim.
The whole pentateuchal history of revelation, as brought out in our
first section, is nothing but the activity of that divine providence
which, in order to the realization of the divine aim, is at once directed
to the whole, Deut. xxxii. 8 (comp. § 22 with note 1), and at the same
time proves itself efficacious in the direction of the life of separate
men, and in the guiding of all circumstances, especially in regard to
all human helplessness (comp. in particular passages from Genesis,
such as xxi. 17, xxviii. 15, xxxii. 11, xiv. 5-7, 1. 20) (1). There was
no special occasion in the Pentateuch to speak of the operation of the
divine providence outside the sphere of the history of revelation. But
it is known that the Old Testament teaches a providence which
embraces everything, since it subsumes everything under the divine
teleology : " Thou hearest prayer, all flesh cometh to Thee," Ps. Ixv. 3 ;
and therefore in the same psalm, ver. 6, God is called " the confidence

§54.] RELATION OF DIVINE CAUSALITY TO MORAL AND PHYSICAL EVIL. 177
of all the ends of the earth, and of seas, and of those that are far off."
The divine providence extends also to the animals. They all wait on
God, that He may give them their food at the right time, Ps. civ. 27 ;
the lions that roar after their prey seek their food from God, ver. 21 ;
the ravens call on God, Job xxxviii. 41, Ps. cxlvii. 9, etc. — No
sphere of chance exists in the Old Testament ; compare Ex. xxi. 13 (2).
It is characteristic, that a distinction between chance (n^pp) and divine
decree occurs in the Old Testament only in the mouth of the heathen
Philistines, 1 Sam. vi. 9. Even in drawing lots there rules no chance,
Prov. xvi. 33 (3) ; as in Num. xxvi. 55 f., Josh. vii. 14 ff., xiv. 2,
1 Sam. xiv. 41, lots occur as used in inquiring into the divine will
(comp. § 97).
(1) Compare further especially the angelology.
(2) It is said in Ex. xxi. 12, " He who strikes a man that he die,
shall die." Now ver. 13 says : " But if he did not do it of design,
but God permitted it to happen by his hand (o£ nas B*r6sn)." Thus
even what men call accidental death is by God's direction. Baum-
garten-Crusius says, curiously enough, that in this place God means
no more than circumstances.
(3) Prov. xvi. 33 : " The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole
disposal thereof comes from Jehovah." §54.
Relation of the Divine Causality to Moral and Physical Evil.
Moral and physical evil were not originally in the world. The
latter was penally ordained (Gen. iii. 17 ff.) after the former entered
the world by the free act of man, and from this time forward both
form an element of the divine order of the world.
1. The point of view under which physical evil in man's life is
placed is thoroughly ethical, and mainly that evil is the punishment
of sin, is divine judgment (1). But even in the Pentateuch there is
the knowledge that the evil in man's life is also a means of proving
him, especially of proving his obedience and his trust in God, and
thus a means of purifying man ; and that even merited suffering must
in this way tend to the salvation of man. These thoughts are ex
pressed in the providential history of the lives of Jacob and Joseph,
but it is especially the providential leading of the people in the
VOL. i. JJ

178 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 54.
wilderness, which in the Pentateuch is contemplated from this point
of view ; compare, as chief passage, Deut. viii. 2 f . (2). According
to this, the privations endured in the wilderness were meant to be a
school of humility and faith, that the people might learn to trust to
the power of the all-mighty God. To the same purpose we read in
ver. 16 of the same chapter, that this leading in the wilderness served
" to humble thee and to try thee, and to do thee good in the end ; "
compare also Judg. ii. 22, and other passages.
2. But also, even in moral evil, in man's sin the divine causality
operates, and this in various ways. — Man's sin cannot thwart the
divine purpose of salvation ; it must rather serve to the realization
thereof (Gen. 1. 20, comp. xiv. 8) (3). The wickedness of some must
serve to prove and purify others, that it may be known whether they
are strong to stand against it. The main passage is Deut. xiii. 4,
where it is said that God even permits false prophets to be in the
community, and even lets their signs be accomplished, although they
seek to lead the people away to other gods : " For Jehovah, your
God, tries you, to know whether ye love Jehovah, your God, with
your whole heart and your whole soul." Nay, in order to punish and
humble a man, God even permits another to wrong him ; this David
acknowledges, when he says, on being cursed by Shimei (2 Sam.
xvi. 11), " Jehovah has said unto him, Curse David." But a divine
causality works also in the sinner himself, and for various ends ;
God permits one who habitually walks in God's ways to fall into sin,
in order to try him, to reveal to him a hidden curse in his lieart, and
so to bring to its issue a merited judgment, and thus bring God's
justice to light. To this belong cases like that in 2 Sam. xxiv.
(the numbering of the people) ; compare passages such as Ps. Ii. 6,
2 Chron. xxxii. 31. On another, who intentionally cherishes sin
within him, and wilfully strives against God, the divine causality acts
by giving him up to sin, so that sinning becomes necessary to this
man, and he must glorify God by the judgment which he has in
curred. This is the hardening of the heart of a man, so often spoken
of in the Pentateuch: Ex. iv. 21, vii. 3; Deut. ii. 30, etc. Pharaoh
and the Canaanite tribes are especially the types of this hardening.
In reference to such examples, it is said in Prov. xvi. 4, that Jehovah
has made all things for His own ends ; also the evil-doer for the day

§ 54.] RELATION OF DIVINE CAUSALITY TO MORAL AND PHYSICAL EVIL. 179
of calamity. Ex. ix. 16 serves especially to explain this passage. God
could at once have annihilated Pharaoh and his people (ver. 15) ;
but " I have set thee there," that Pharaoh may experience Jehovah's
might, and that His name may be glorified on the whole earth. With
this compare Ps. ii. 4, Isa. xviii. 4. But the presupposition of all
hardening of the heart is, that God, as the long-suffering One, ?ps
B*BS, awaits the ripening of wickedness ; see already Gen. xv. 16. The
expressions used to express hardening of the heart cannot be referred to
a simply negative relation to wickedness ; but still man's sin is not re
moved because a positive divine activity rules in his hardening. Man
can indeed do nothing that would not on one side be God's work (see
Lam. iii. 37 f.), and yet he must acknowledge sin as his guilt (ver.
39). Isa. xiv. 7 — a passage possibly directed against the dualism of
the Persian religion — shows especially how the monism of the Old
Testament permitted nothing to be withdrawn from the divine
causality (4).
(1) Compare the particulars on this afterwards, in the doctrine of
death and in the doctrine of retribution.
(2) Deut. viii. 2 f. : " Jehovah thy God hath led thee these forty
years in the wilderness, to humble thee and to try thee (inbap), to
know what is in thy heart, whether thou wilt regard His commands
or not. He humbled thee, and caused thee to hunger, and fed thee
with manna, to cause thee to know that man doth not live by bread
alone ; but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the
Lord doth man live." — In this lie the germs of the thoughts which
form the theme of the book of Job.
(3) Gen. 1. 20 : " Ye meant evil against me ; but God meant it
for good, to do as it is this day, and to save alive this people." So
Joseph (xiv. 8) could say to his brothers, " It was not ye who sent me
hither, but God."
(4) Lam. iii. 37 f . : " Who speaketh, and it cometh to pass, without
God having commanded it ? Out of the mouth of the Most High
should not evil come as well as good? Ver. 39. Why doth man
murmur at his life? let every one murmur over his sins." — Isa.
xiv. 7 : " He who forms light and creates darkness, makes peace and
produces evil; I Jehovah do all this." — Here we have only to do
with the simple points of the position ; compare, further, the doctrine
of sin (§ 76), and the further development of these doctrines in the
later parts of Old Testament theology.

180 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM, [§65.

THIRD DOCTRINE. — OF THE REVELATION.
§55.
Introductory Remark and General View.
Inasmuch as the whole universe, nature, and history serve divine
ordinances of fixed aim, and the manifestation of the divine glory
is one that comprehends all things (comp. § 53), man, as has already
been shown in the Introduction (§ 6), can know God even from
nature. But here we have to do with revelation in a more limited
sense, and to answer the question, How, according to the Old Testa
ment, God sets Himself forth to man by personal witness to Himself ?
The answer to this falls into the following parts : —
1. Although God, in the transcendental fulness of His being, is
incomprehensible to man, He is nevertheless pleased to enter into
the limits of the sphere of the creature, in order to present Himself
personally, and give testimony of Himself to man. This side of the
revelation of the Divine Being is characterized as the divine name,
divine presence, divine glory (""33).
2. The forms and vehicles in which this divine self-presentation
and self-witness reaches man from without are the voice, the Mal'ach,
the Shekhinah in the sanctuary, and miracle. The divine self-witness
enters the heart of man by means of the spirit. The latter form of
revelation appears first after the founding of the theocracy (not in
Genesis) ; it unfolds itself in proportion as the outward theophany
disappears, but its main sphere is only found in prophecy, and there
fore this subject falls to be treated but briefly here in the first part,
and in detail in the doctrine of prophecy (1).
(1) It is quite the same with the course of revelation in the New
Testament, as has been very correctly pointed out. Christophanies go
on for some time after the ascension of our Lord ; then they disappear
and make room for the revelation of the Lord in the inwardness of
the spirit.

§ 56.] THE DIVINE NAME. 181

I. ON THE EEVELATION-SIDE OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE.
§56.
The Divine Name (1).
The most general designation of the revelation-side of the divine
essence is the divine name, which, as one of the fundamental notions
of the Old Testament, demands a more exact treatment. It is true
in general, and so also in regard to God, that every name presupposes
a manifestation of what is to be named ; and on the other hand, what
closes itself against knowledge is, as such, a thing that cannot be
named, an aKarovofiaarov. Man can imagine names for false gods,
but the true God can only be named by man in so far as He reveals
Himself to man, and discloses to him His nature. The name of God
is first nomen editum, and then nomen inditum (2). Now, to man God
does not name Himself after the compass of His perfections, as the
earlier dogmatic was wont inexactly to define the biblical notion of the
divine name, but according to the relation in which He has placed
Himself to man, according to the attributes by which He wishes to be
acknowledged, known, and addressed by man in the communion into
which He has entered with him. In short, God names Himself, not
according to what He is for Himself, but to what He is for man ; and
therefore every self-presentation of God in the world has stamped
itself in a corresponding name of God, as we have already seen (3).
But the biblical notion of the divine name is not exhausted by this.
It is not merely the title which God bears in virtue of the relation in
which he places Himself to man ; but the expression " name of God "
designates at the same time the whole divine self -presentation by which
God in personal presence testifies of Himself — the whole side of the
divine nature which is turned towards man. Be it understood, the
divine name is not everywhere present where there is a working of
divine power ; but everywhere where the God of revelation, as such,
gives Himself to be recognised in His acts so as to be confessed and
invoked. So the name of God is certainly (as Otto, Dekalogische Unter
suchungen, p. 81, rightly says) not the ideal existence of God in the
consciousness of the created spirit, but an objective existence, inde-

182 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 56.
pendent of every subjectivity. But this power of God within the
world, and objective to man, is a name of God only in so far as it offers
itself to be named by man and comes to him in the form of revelation,
that is, in as far as man can know of it. Whether he will know of it is
another matter ; for man may deny and profane the name of God, the
divine self-presentation which has reached him. Now the Israelite
who knows his covenant God as the creator and supporter of the uni
verse, does indeed recognise God's name, God's self-presentation in
the whole course of nature ; and therefore it is said in Ps. viii. 2,
" How glorious is Thy name in all the earth ! " (nin corresponds to
BE* in the second hemistich). Still the divine name — and this is its
exclusive use in the Pentateuch — conducts us specially into the
sphere of the divine kingdom ; it here designates every manifestation
of the Divine Being which attaches to places, institutions, and facts, in
virtue of which God gives His people a direct experience of Himself.
The following are the principal passages : — Of the Mal'ach, in which
is the divine presence (countenance), it is said in other words that the
divine name is within him (Ex. xxiii. 21 ; comp. § 59, 8) ; the dwell
ing of the divine glory in the sanctuary (§ 62), by which God gives
experience of His presence there, is called a dwelling of His name
in this place, Deut. xii. 5, xi. 14, 23 f., 1 Kings viii. 29, compare
Jer. iii. 17 (hence the service there is a nin* BE/3 rriE/, Deut. xviii. 5, 7).
If, as has been done by many, and even by Winer, who is usually so
exact (in his Hebrew Lexicon), we simply explain the Old Testament
expression, that God puts His name in a place, or causes it to dwell
there, locum eligere, ubi sacris solennibus colatur, the consequences
which are connected with the dwelling of the divine name are mis
taken for the thing itself. According to the Old Testament view,
there is in such cases something more than an ideal symbolical
presence of God in the sanctuary, for fearful expressions of God's
presence proceed from the sanctuary, e.g. Lev. x. 2, etc. — So, then,
everywhere where God is known and experienced in personal presence,
there His name is. He sends forth His word, but where His name is,
there He presents Himself; and therefore the phrase, "Thy name is
called over us," in Jer. xiv. 9, is only a further explanation of the
word, " Thou art in our midst " (4). — The reality which this gives
to the name of God may be made more distinct by a few further

§ 56.] THE DIVINE NAME. 183
examples. When Isaiah (chap. xxx. 27) sees the Lord approach in
judgment, he says : " See, Jehovah's name cometh from afar, His
wrath burning," etc. (5). The Psalmist prays (Ps. liv. 3) : " Help
me by Thy name ; " and this corresponds to " by Thy strength "
(irnnsa) ; compare Jer. x. 6 : " Thy name is great in power "
(mi3J3) (as in 1 Kings viii. 42 the strong hand and the outstretched
arm correspond to the great name). Hence it is said in Prov. xviii.
10 : " The name of Jehovah is a strong tower ; the righteous runneth
into it, and is safe " (6).
(1) Compare my article, " Name, biblische Bedeutung desselben,"
in Herzog's Realencyklop. x. p. 193 ff.
(2) Therefore B*nps, which in its original meaning designates
divinity in general, looked at apart from God's historical witness to
Himself, is not regarded really in the Old Testament as properly a
name of God (comp. § 41). [Above cited art.]
(3) The God who causes the forsaken Hagar to experience that
His all-seeing eye overlooks no helpless one, wins immediately the
name, the God of vision, Gen. xvi. 13 (comp. § 42 with note 2). The
characteristic of the patriarchal stage of revelation is stamped in the
name of God, El-shaddai, Gen. xvii. 1 (comp. § 37), which name
corresponds to the change of the name Abram to Abraham, xvii. 5 ;
Shaddai there designating God as Him who subjects nature to the
purpose of His revelation by His powerful sway, mainly in reference
to the fact that a rich offspring was to be given to the childless Abra
ham. In the same way, God's relation to the patriarchs is fixed in
the name, " the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," Ex. iii. 6 (comp.
§ 25). The stage of the revelation which began with the redemption
of Israel from Egypt is distinctly stamped in the disclosure of the
meaning of the name Jehovah, Ex. iii. 15 ff., vi. 2 ff. (comp. § 40).
The name E»OpT appears with the founding of the theocracy (comp.
§ 44). When God reveals Himself in His grace, mercy, and long-
suffering after the first breach of the covenant, this is again connected
with a manifestation of the corresponding name, Ex. xxxiv. 6 (comp.
§ 29). In the New Testament stage, when the only-begotten Son
has revealed God's name to man (John xvii. 6), God wishes to be
named the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, or, to express universally
the now completed relation of salvation, by the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost (Matt, xxviii. 19).
(4) For this reason, in Deut. xxviii. 10 the fact that God raises
Israel to be a people holy to Him, and standing in His revealing

184 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 56.
fellowship, is expressed by saying that God's name is named on the
people. God's name is great and glorious in the redemption of His
people and the institution of the covenant, Ps. cxi. 9 (note also the cor
relation of notions in Isa. xliii. 7). Israel walks in the name of his
God in an objective sense, inasmuch as he experiences the effective
power of the God who manifests Himself in his midst (hence, Zech.
x. 12, mn*3 B*rn_3Jl precedes ttkw iB?>3) ; and in a subjective sense, in
so far as he acknowledges his God in accordance with this in word
and walk, and fears His name in fulfilling his law, Deut. xxviii. 58.
Mic. iv. 5, a passage frequently misunderstood, is to be interpreted
conformably. The prophecy that in future time all nations shall go
in pilgrimage to Zion, there to receive the law, has its basis in this,
that Israel walks in the name of Jehovah, that is, stands in communion
with the true God, who manifests Himself among His people ; whilst
the other nations (although they also stand under the power of the true
God, yet as long as they do not acknowledge it as the power of this
God) walk in the name of their gods, and as belonging to them. —
The aim of the divine kingdom is, that the name of the true God
shall be named also over the remnant of the heathen people who are
rescued from judgment, Amos ix. 12 (comp. Mal. i. 11) ; that is, that
they shall be brought into the communion of His revelation, whilst He
assumes towards them the relation of a king, Zech. xiv. 9, the conse
quence of which shall be that they on their side shall acknowledge
and call on the name of Jehovah (Zeph. iii. 9) [ibid.].
(5) With this compare Isa. xxvi. 8 : " We await Thee in the path
of Thy judgments ; the desire of our soul is after Thy name and Thy
remembrance." (6) Compare Ps. xx. 2, xliv. 6 : " Through Thy name we tread
down our adversaries," cxxiv. 8, etc. When God causes His people to
experience His powerful presence by miracles, it is said, " Thy name
is near," Ps. Ixxv. 2 ; where Hengstenberg seeks incorrectly to give
the expression a subjective turning. God gives honour to His name,
Ps. cxv. 1, and sanctifies it, etc., when He proves Himself to be the true
God by demonstrations of His power and glory; and, on the other hand,
anything from which it might appear as if the might and glory of the
God of Israel were nought, — for example, the permanent rejection of
His people, — would be a desecration of His name in an objective sense,
Ezek. xx. 14, 22. The divine name is subjectively hallowed by man
when he gives due acknowledgment of the self-witness and self-pre
sentation of God in the world. On the other hand, the divine name is
desecrated by men when they treat the divine self-witness, and that with
which it is connected, — in short, what is most real, — as a thing of nought

§ 57.] THE DIVINE COUNTENANCE AND THE DIVINE GLORY. 185
and powerless, which man may neglect without punishment, in words
(Ex. xx. 7) or in deeds (comp. the BE/ E'en, Prov. xxx. 9). — God
guides the pious for His name's sake, Ps. xxiii. 3, xxxi. 4 ; He lends
assistance for His name's sake, Ps. cix. 21, cxliii. 11 ; He remits guilt
for His name's sake, Ps. xxv. 11, compare ciii. 1 ff. ; inasmuch as He
cannot be at variance with what He has represented and manifested
Himself to be. The various other connections in which "in the
name of God " occurs, are explained by what has been already dis
cussed. In an objective sense, the expression designates, in God's
strength and authority, and as His representative (comp. Mic. v. 3,
where " in the majesty of the name of Jehovah " corresponds to tj!3
nin*, as Acts iv. 7 iv iroia Bvvdfiei stands beside iv iroiw bvofiart, Deut.
xviii. 18 ff.). To this, then, corresponds the subjective meaning, the
naming and acknowledging of God as that power in which one speaks
and deals, for whose cause one suffers, etc. [ibid.].
§57.
2. The Divine Countenance and the Divine Glory.
That by which God is present among His people is further
designated the divine countenance (B*3S). Ex. xxxiii. 14 ff. is the
main passage. Jehovah had declared, in ver. 2 f. of this chapter,
that He Himself would no more go in the midst of the stiffnecked
people, but would cause them to be guided by an angel (namely, a
subordinate angel). Afterwards He permits Himself to be entreated
by Moses, and says, UP* *3S, my countenance shall go. This certainly
means, He Himself will go (comp. xxxiv. 9). But, again, the divine
countenance is not identical with the divine essence; for whilst
(according to the passages cited in § 46) the latter must be con
ceived as shapeless and exempt from every limitation of space, it
follows from xxxiii. 20 that the divine B*JS is in itself visible, only
that a human eye is not able to bear the sight (compare Gen. xxxii.
31). The contradiction, that the divine countenance is not visible to
man, while yet we read in the same chapter (Ex. xxxiii. 11) of Moses
speaking with God face to face (D*3Q_ps B*:a), and in Num. xii. 8
mouth to mouth (na"?s ns), and also in the latter passage that Moses
saw Jehovah's form (nin* rupiji), — this contradiction is to be solved by
understanding the " countenance " in the latter passage in a merely
relative sense, as is made clear from the connection (compare also

186 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. C§ 57.
Num. xiv. 14, "eye to eye"). Moses gets a view of the reflex of
the divine form (Ex. xxxiii. 23). From all this it is clear that in the
divine countenance, God's letting Himself down into the sphere of
the creature, by means of which He places Himself before men, so
that they may have immediate experimental knowledge of Him, is
distinguished from God's transcendental nature in His infinitude. To
this subject belongs, further, Deut. iv. 37, where we read that
Jehovah brought Israel out of Egypt by His countenance O^BS).
Hence also the Mal'ach by whom Jehovah redeems His people — the
same in whom, as we have already observed, the divine name was —
is called, Isa. lxiii. 9, the angel of the divine countenance ; compare
how, in Gen. xxxii. 31 f., the divine countenance stands for the
manifestation of God, Hos. xii. 4, which Hosea, ver. 5, refers to the
Mal'ach. Only from this, too, is the full meaning of the high priest's
blessing rightly understood, Num. vi. 25 f. : "Jehovah cause His
face to shine upon thee, and be gracious to thee ; Jehovah lift up His
countenance on thee, and give thee peace," which is characterized in
ver. 27 as the laying of God's name on Israel. Here, too, we have
not merely something symbolical, but a definite experience of God's
gracious presence and aid proceeding from the real dwelling of God
in Israel ; as, conversely, the manifestation of Jehovah's countenance
brings destruction on His enemies (Ps. xxi. 10), or the hiding of the
divine countenance shows a withdrawal of God's gracious presence.
On the other hand, Ps. cxxxix. 7, "Where shall I flee from Thy
face ? " corresponding to " Where shall I go from Thy Spirit ? " goes
further than the theocratic relation. Here the expression "the
divine countenance " clearly teaches that God's omnipresence, which
by means of the Spirit interpenetrates the universe, is everywhere a
personal presence of God.
Finally, for name and countenance the indefinite expression glory
(nm* 1133) is used ; so Ex. xxxiii. 17 ff., where it interchanges with
B*3S. In the same way, it is nin* *li33 through which Jehovah appears
to His people on Mount Sinai, under covert of the cloud (Ex. xxiv. 16),
and which is present in the holy tabernacle (xl. 34). In this respect
1 Kings viii. is especially distinct : earth and the heaven of heavens
cannot contain God (ver. 27) ; but His 1133 (ver. 11), for which His
name is put in ver. 29, is present in the sanctuary.

§ 58.3 THE DIVINE VOICE. 187
II. THE FOEMS OF EEVELATION.
§58.
Tlie Divine Voice.
As divine speech is in general the form of divine working in the
world, so the word is the most general form of divine revelation.
Compare, for example, how in Ps. cxlvii. 18 f. the word of God
acting in nature and the divine word of revelation are placed over
against one another. Hence the formula, "the word of Jehovah
came to," or similar forms, frequently recur from Gen. xv. 1 on
wards. Now, in so far as this word of God comes by inner means
to the organs of revelation, it coincides with the revelation which is
effected by the Spirit (compare § 65). But the Old Testament
specifies among its mediums of revelation also the outwardly audible
voice (Pip) ; indeed, in Deut. iv. 12, special weight is laid upon this
form of revelation : " Jehovah spoke to you out of the fire ; ye heard
(DO:n ?ip) a sound of words, but ye saw no form, Pip ,n?lT," in which
also pip is placed in opposition to njioii. Thus also, 1 Sam. iii. 4,
1 Kings xix. 11 ff., the voice is the material substratum of the
theophany. To this is annexed in the later Jewish theology the doctrine of
the Bath-kol, or revelation by means of heavenly voices, such as Elijah
received, — a form of revelation which was supposed to continue in the
time of the second temple, after prophecy had grown dumb. The
expression " daughter of the voice " means that the divine voice itself
is not heard, but only its working, since either pip was understood as
a divine attribute, and Pip H3 as its manifestation (as was done by the
Cabbalists) ; or, according to the common acceptation, Pip designated
the heavenly voice itself, and Pip J"i3 its echo. This form of revela
tion appears in the New Testament in Matt. iii. 17, xvii. 5, and the
parallels to these passages ; also John xii. 28 ; and it occurs very often
in the Apocalypse.

188 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 59.

§ 59.
The Doctrine of the Angel ofthe Lord, ofthe Covenant, ofthe
Countenance (1). The Exegetical State of the Case.
In a more concrete form God manifests Himself in the ^SPD,
generally called nin* i|s|>p (comp. § 41), or B*npsn -i^p, or simply
T|S^n . in the Elohistic section (Gen. xxi. 17) B*r6s t^yo (and in
1 Sam. xxix. 9, in the mouth of the Philistine Achish). This
Mal'ach is in part identified with Jehovah, and again in part dis
tinguished from Him. It is above all things necessary, in this
weighty and difficult doctrine, to represent the exegetical state of the
facts according to the main passages (2).
1. Gen. xvi. 7 ff., the ^s?p appears to Hagar, and says (ver. 10) :
"I will multiply thy seed." Now in ver. 11 Jehovah is spoken of in
the third person ; but we read in ver. 13 that Jehovah spoke to
Hagar, and Hagar named Him that appeared to her " the God of
seeing." With this compare how (xxi. |7) B*r6s and B*nps :]S?p
change one with the other.
2. Among the three men who appeared to Abraham (chap.
xviii.), one is distinctly distinguished as Jehovah (vers. 20, 26, etc.)
from the two others, who are called B*3S?p, and are said (xix. 13) to
be sent by Jehovah. But the transactions between these two and
Lot (xix. 18 ff.) are carried on, and the account runs, exactly as if
Jehovah Himself stood there. Now it may be disputed here, whether
Jehovah is also represented by these two angels, or whether Jehovah
is to be supposed to have rejoined them after Lot has been led out of
the town (ver. 18), even though it is not expressly mentioned. The
latter conception appears to me (in opposition to Delitzsch, Keil,
and others) to be the right one (Stier agrees).
3. Gen. xxii. 12, the nin* ris?p calls to Abraham from heaven, as
if he were God Himself, " Now I know," etc., and Abraham himself
receives (ver. 14) the manifestation as a manifestation of Jehovah ;
on the contrary, ver. 15 ff. may again be understood as if the Mal'ach
were distinguished from Jehovah : " Jehovah saith, I swear by
myself." 4. Gen. xxiv. 7, compared with ver. 40, Abram says to his

§ 59.] THE DOCTRINE OF THE ANGEL OF THE LORD, ETC. 189
servant, " Jehovah, the God of heaven, . . send His angel before
thee." Thus the angel of Jehovah — for it is clear that a particular
one is meant — is distinguished from Jehovah, as in the theophany at
Bethel (Gen. xxviii. 12 f.) the B*3t6p are distinguished from Jehovah.
But (xxxi. 11-13) the Mal'ach that appeared to Jacob says, "I am
the God of Bethel ;" whilst, on the other side (xxxv. 7), the plural
n*npsn ipm may be so understood that the angels that appeared are
subsumed under the theophany.
5. The apparition at night with which Jacob wrestles (chap, xxxii.)
is designated (vers. 29-31) as an appearance of God (D*nps), or more
exactly, as the appearing of the divine countenance (B'OB) ; just so
Hosea (chap. xii. 4) treats this as a manifestation of God, but
immediately (ver. 5) substitutes ^]SPp for B*rips.
6. Gen. xlviii. 15 f. is specially remarkable. Jacob blesses his
sons with the words : " The God before whom my fathers Abraham
and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd till this day,
the Mal'ach who delivered me from every evil, let Him bless these
lads." 7. Ex. iii. 2 the nin* *]S?p appears to Moses in the flame, in ver. 4
Jehovah and Elohim is substituted for Him, and now in ver. 6 He
speaks : "lam the God of thy father ; " and the whole of the follow
ing relation intentionally conveys the impression of converse between
Jehovah and Moses.
8. In Ex. xiii. 21 it is said: "Jehovah went before Israel;" on
the contrary, in xiv. 19 we read that it was the Mal'ach ; compare
how it is said in Num. xx. 16, Jehovah sent an angel to lead Israel
out of Egypt. But in Ex, xiv. 24 ff. the leader is again called
Jehovah, and in xxiii. 20 ff. God promises to bring the people into
the promised land by His Mal'ach; the people were to obey the
Mal'ach, for in Him is Jehovah's name. In a multitude of other
passages it is again definitely said, that Jehovah Himself is in the
midst of His people.
9. But the section Ex. xxxii. f. is of especial importance. After
the first breach of the covenant, Jehovah will Himself no longer go
in the midst of the people (xxxiii. 3), He will send a Mal'ach before
them (ver. 2), and He calls him (xxxiii. 34) also *?$*» {my angel} .
Thereafter He yields to the entreaties of Moses to allow His counte-

190 .THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 59.
nance (B^B) to go with them (xxxiii. 14 f .). This countenance must
again have appeared in the form of an angel ; for it is said in Isa. Ixiii.
9, in reference to the leading through the wilderness, BJ)*E>in 1*33 tjtOp.
Also Deuteronomy, which never has the Mal'ach (which makes a
remarkable difference between this book and the preceding nnes), but
always brings forward Jehovah instead as acting, says (iv. 37) that
God led Israel out of Egypt by His countenance. From this it is
clear that there are two kinds of angel of Jehovah : one within
whom is the name Jehovah, who is the bearer of His countenance ;
and another with whom this is not the case.
10. Josh. v. 14 f., the Prince of the army of Jehovah appears to
Joshua. This is told as if he were different from Jehovah. But in
ver. 15 He identifies Himself manifestly with the Mal'ach that
appeared to Moses in Ex. iii., and in Josh. vi. 2 He again appears as
Jehovah Himself, who gives Jericho into Joshua's hand.
The following passages from the later books of the Old Testament
come especially into consideration, as analogous to the passages in the
Pentateuch : —
11. Judg. ii. 1-5, where it is probable that a prophet is not to be
understood by ^spp (as Bertheau, for example, expounds). The
Mal'ach says : " I brought you up out of Egypt," etc. ; v. 23 :
" Curse Meroz, saith the angel of Jehovah ; " vi. 11 ff., the Mal'ach
that appeared to Gideon, who (ver. 14) quite passes over into
Jehovah, and even accepts an offering, though Gideon (ver. 22) in
addressing Jehovah seems in a remarkable manner to distinguish
the Mal'ach from Him, and afterwards when the Mal'ach has dis
appeared, still (ver. 23) receives Jehovah's word.
12. Similarly in Zechariah the angel of the Lord is distinguished
on the one hand from Jehovah : he appears (i. 12) interceding for
Israel before Jehovah. But, on the other hand, he takes the place
of Jehovah Himself in chap, iii., where, however, the angel speaks
again of Jehovah in the third person.
(1) The doctrine of the angel of the Lord is one of the most
weighty and most difficult doctrines of the Old Testament, on which,
even as early as the theology of the Fathers, there were various views,
and about which, up to this day, no agreement has been come to.
The literature is enormously rich. Ode's book, Commentarius de

§ 60.] THE DOCTRINE OF THE ANGEL OF THE LORD, ETC. 191
Angelis, 1739, still deserves to be mentioned for the sake of its
copiousness. The following are the most notable treatises of the last
fifty years: — A programme of Steudel, Veterisne testamenti libris
insit notio manifesti ab occulto distinguendi numinis, Tiib. 1830 (one of
his best writings) ; Hengstenberg, Christologie des A. T. i. 2d ed.
p. 124 ff . Kurtz formerly defended Hengstenberg's view, " Der Engel
des Herrn," in Tholuck's liter. Anzeiger, 1846, Nos. 11-14, but treats
the matter differently in his Geschichte des A. Bundes, i. p. 144 ff.
Compare further, Trip, Die Theophanien in den Geschichtsbuchern des
A . T, Leiden 1858 ; in the same year a programme by Kahnis, De
angelo Domini diatribe ; Barth, der Engel des Bundes, Sendschreiben
an Schelling, 1845 ; compare Schelling's answer in Schelling's Leben
in Brief en, iii. p. 1 89 ff . — Schultz does not discuss the doctrine of the
angel of the Lord so thoroughly as might be expected from the
importance which he acknowledges it to possess.
(2) The grouping of the passages by numbers is to facilitate
reference in the following section.

§60.
Continuation : The Different Views.
The question is now, Which view of the Mal'ach gives the most
satisfactory explanation of these apparently contradictory passages?
The following main views are to be distinguished : —
1. The first view was followed in the early ages of the Church by
Augustin, Hieronymus, and Gregory the Great ; in later times
especially by Steudel and Trip, and with special modifications by
Hofmann (in Weissagung und Erfiillung, i.), from whom it has been
adopted by Kurtz and Delitzsch, who gave up their former view under
Hofmann's influence, though the latter indeed holds the view with a
peculiar indecision. On this view, an angel in the more narrow
sense is to be understood by the Mal'ach, that is, a finite spirit under
subjection to God, which accomplished the divine command in the
cases mentioned. That even a particular angel may be designated
the angel of Jehovah, — that the term Mal'ach, in and for itself, does
not necessarily imply that the person so characterized stands in a
higher sphere above the angels, — must certainly be conceded to this
view. On this view, then, the explanation of the fact, that in a series

192 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ GO.
of passages what the angel speaks and does, appears as speech and
act of Jehovah, is, that words and acts of a messenger are properly
the words and acts of him whom he represents. We are reminded that
also in the prophetic style the word of the prophet is often identi
fied with the word of Jehovah ; and that in the New Testament too,
where the ayyeXos icvpiov is certainly a created spirit, his act (e.g. Acts
xii. 17) is represented as an act of the Lord Himself; indeed, in
Rev. xxii. 6, 12, the angel is introduced speaking for the Lord Him
self, and that in the first person. In reference to the prophetic style
it must indeed be noted, that the prophets nevertheless almost always
introduce the divine word with " Thus saith Jehovah," " Jehovah's
saying is," and such like, which is a rare exception with the Mal'ach,
e.g. Gen. xxii. 16 ; and with regard to Rev. xxii. 6, 12, the angel
there refuses the nrpocncvvrfo-is offered in ver. 9, whilst the Old Testa
ment Mal'ach accepts it (Josh. v. 14), and allows a sacrifice to be
made to him (Judg. vi. 19 ff., xiii. 18 ff.).
But, again, this first view occurs in two forms. According to the
first of these, the Mal'ach is just an angel specially deputed by God
from among the number of Mal'achim for each separate occasion,
and there is nothing to tell us whether he is always the same angel or
not (Steudel) ; according to the second form, on the other hand (mainly
Hofmann), it is always one and the same angel by whose means God
sets forth His relation to the race of revelation from the beginning to
the end of the Old Testament — '"the special angel (as Hofmann
expresses himself in the Schriftbeweis, 2d ed. i. p. 177) who rules in
the commonwealth and history of this people," the archangel Michael
of the book of Daniel (compare also Weissagung und Erfullung, i.
p. 131). Apart from the question whether the nin* t]sf>p really passes
over into the Michael of Daniel, which is not to be spoken of till in
the prophetic theology, and there must be answered, in the negative,
the latter form of the view seems to be decidedly preferable to the
former, from the high titles which are conferred on the angel. But
in reference to the whole first view, it is indisputably to be held as
correct, if we proceed on the supposition that the mediation of angels
is quite the same through the whole history of revelation of the Old
and New Testaments. Then the older passages must be explained
by the later, especially by the New Testament passages ; and in these

§ 60.] THE DOCTRINE OF THE ANGEL OF THE LORD, ETC. 193
latter the angel is manifestly hypostaticaUy distinguished from God,
and is a created finite being subordinate to God. This conception is
also admissible in several of the older passages. The one that favours
it most is No. 2, if Gen. xix. 18 ff. is understood to mean that even
the angels, which are certainly subordinate, are treated exactly as if
Jehovah appeared in them (see particularly ver. 24). Among the
passages in the Pentateuch, Num. xxii. 31, in which the angel is
definitely distinguished from Jehovah, is to be adduced here ; but in
a number of other passages no natural sense arises out of this pre
supposition, and the passages Nos. 6 and 9 especially contradict it.
It is, however, to be noted in general, that the presupposition that
the Mal'ach of the Pentateuch must be explained by the ayyeXo?
Kvplov of the New Testament is not authorized, because it does not
acknowledge the gradual progress of revelation, which advances from
the theophany to revelation through divine organs and through the
Spirit. To this is to be added, that exactly the same expressions are
used in speaking of the representation of God by the Mal'ach as in
speaking of the divine indwelling in the sanctuary; in both is the
divine name and the divine countenance (comp. the passages under
Nos. 8 and 9). Now if the Shekinah, the indwelling in the sanctuary,
is to be understood, according to the Old Testament, not simply as an
ideal and symbolical, but a real presence of God, a sinking of the
divine into the sphere of the creature, the presence of God in the
Mal'ach must also be taken in no other way (1).
2. Thus we are led to the second main view : that the Mal'ach of
Jehovah is a self-presentation of Jehovah entering into the sphere of
the creature, which is one in essence with Jehovah ; and is yet again
different from Him (2). This view has been put forward in three
different modifications :
(a) According to the first of these, the Mal'ach is the Logos — the
second person of the Godhead in the sense of the Christian doctrine
of the Trinity. This is the view of most of the Greek Fathers : of
Justin, in his Dialogue with Tryphon, chap. 56, 61, 127 f . ; also of
Irenseus, with Tertullian and Cyprian. Eusebius of Csesarea gives
us a complete discussion of the Old Testament theophany, from this
point of view, in his Eclogw Propheticw (published by Th. Gaisford,
1842). At a later period this was the view of the Lutheran writers
VOL. I. N

194 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 60.
on dogmatic ; in more modern times it has been defended by Heng
stenberg (who speaks of the Mal'ach as an uncreated angel), and by
others. (b) According to the second modification. (so Barth), the angel of
Jehovah is a created being ; with which, however, the uncreated Logos
was personally connected.
(c) According to the third (so Vatke, De Wette, and others), the
Mal'ach is not anything hypostatical, but only an unsubstantial mani
festation of God ; a momentary descent of God into visibility ; a
mission of God (here ^s^p is taken in its original abstract meaning),
which again returns into the Divine Being.
Against the first conception, it is to be observed that it brings into
the Old Testament a finished dogma on the subject of an immanent
distinction in the divine nature for which the passages which lie before
us contain no sufficient authorization, since these do not tell us any
thing of an inward and essential relation in God's being, but only
distinguish the divine which has entered into the sphere of created
phenomena from the Divine Being in His celestial infinitude, as
appears in a very remarkable manner in Gen. xix. 24, "Jehovah
caused it to rain by Jehovah from heaven" (3). Even Hengstenberg
admits that, in the Old Testament, the Revealer and He whom He
reveals, lose themselves in each other, as it were ; so that from this
view ideas might easily arise very similar to those of SabeUianism.
Moreover, as we are rightly reminded by the adherents of the second
conception (Barth), it is certainly a wrong expression to speak of an
uncreated angel. The phenomena of nature, which serve as a form
of manifestation to the Mal'ach; the flame (Ex. iii.), the cloudy
covering (Ex. xl. 36—38), the human form (iu well-known passages),
are certainly created. It is not the Mal'ach that is uncreated, but
the God who veils Himself in His appearance. In opposition to the
second modification, it is to be remarked that there is no proof that
the manifestation of the Divinity in the form of the Mal'ach was such
that the Son of God became abidingly an angel ; so that again in
becoming man He had as it were to strip off the angelic form which He
had received, and change it for a human nature (to which Barth's
view amounts). Finally, the third modification does justice to a
number of passages; but from others it clearly appears that not

§ CO.] v THE DOCTRINE OF THE ANGEL OF THE LORD, ETC. 195
merely a personification, but a real hypostasis, is present in the mani
festation of the Mal'ach.
It must be acknowledged, then, that no one of the various views
quite does justice to all the passages ; that the doctrine of the Mal'ach
in the Old Testament vacillates in a peculiar manner between a
modalistic and a hypostatic conception of the angel, so that it seems
impossible to bring the matter to a definite intelligible expression.
But the matter has a different aspect from the standpoint of the New
Testament. From this (see especially 1 Cor. x. 4) it is the Logos,
the Son of God, through which revelations to Israel are mediated, and
who therefore works in the Mal'ach. But in the New Testament, the
Son of God is nowhere so identified with the Mal'ach as if His incar
nation had been preceded by His permanently becoming an angel ;
but the Logos, according to the New Testament view, works in all
the other forms of old covenant revelation in just the same way as in
the form of the Mal'ach (4).
(1) Delitzsch also has not failed to acknowledge this element,
when, in his Commentary on Genesis (1st ed. p. 256, 2d ed. p. 337), he
insists, indeed, that the Mal'ach is to be understood as a finite spirit,
but at the same time says that it must not be forgotten that in this
personally living finite spirit God presents Himself in person ; that
the angel has Jehovah, not outside of him, but within him ; that the
relation to the Mal'ach is less than becoming an angel, and yet more
than mission of an angel, — a conception which takes up an unclear
position between the first and second main view now under discussion.
(2) Movers, Die Phonicier, i. pp. 389 ff., 428 ff., has pointed to a
remarkable analogy in which the Phoenician religion here stands to
that of the Old Testament, namely, in the way in which the relation
of Heracles to the ancient Bel is understood in the former faith, —
difference in unity, and 'unity in difference, being firmly held.
(3) On Ewald's perverse explanation of Gen. xix. 24, see § 40,
note 1.
(4) In the later Jewish theology, the doctrine of the Metatron
(probably of p,erd9povo$, sharer of the throne), — the Prince of the
countenance, who is the revealer of God, the mediator between God
and the creature, — is developed out of the Old Testament doctrine of
the angel of the Lord, the angel of the covenant, of the countenance.
In order to draw him as near as possible to God, he was understood
by some to be not a creature, but an emanation from the Divine

196 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 61.
Being ; and then, in order to do justice to other passages in the Old
Testament, they again distinguished from him a second lower, created
Metatron. But even the later Jewish theology did not penetrate
to an acknowledgment of an immanent and real distinction in the
Divine Being.

§61.
Other Points of the Mosaic Angelology.
Even in the Pentateuch, though there comparatively seldom, other
angels of God appear side by side with the Mal'ach k. i%. Nothing
is said about their creation ; the fact that they are not mentioned in
the account of the creation is probably to be explained from the
circumstance that this record aims merely at a precise delineation of
the creation of the earth, and its completion in man. On the con
trary, the book of Job, chap, xxxviii. 7, presupposes the existence of
the angels when the earth was created. In those passages in the
Pentateuch in which other angels besides the Mal'ach are mentioned,
they appear without independent activity, as a sort of multiplication
of the operating power of God : thus especially Gen. xxviii. 12,
besides which compare xxxii. 2 f., in which passage they are called
God's army ; Deut. xxxiii. 2, where they appear as the attendants of
God, manifested in His glory at the giving of the law. Gen. vi. 1 ff .
would hold a position unparalleled in its kind, not only in the Penta
teuch, but in the whole Old Testament, if higher spirits are to be
understood by the B*r6sn *33 (1). Certainly the angels, the B*3t6p,
besides this name, which is characteristic of their calling, bear in the
Old Testament the name sons of God (B*rfpsn *33), Job i. 6, ii. 1, or
ByS *33, Ps. xxix. 1, lxxxix. 7, in order to express the closer fellow
ship in which they stand to God (2). Accordingly, Gen. vi. 1 ff . is
referred to the fall of the angels by many recent theologians (Hof
mann, Kurtz, Delitzsch), as had been already done by several of the
Church Fathers, — a view which originally (as Keil has pointed out)
sprang from the book of Enoch. According to another view, on the
contrary (some of the Fathers of the Church, the Reformers, in more
modern times Dettinger, Hengstenberg, Keil, and others), the expres
sion " sons of God " refers to men, to the pious race descended from

§ 61.] OTHER POINTS OF THE MOSAIC ANGELOLOGY. 197
Seth, as the name " sons of God " is used in Deut. xiv. 1, xxxii. 5, Hos.
ii. 1, Ps. Ixxiii. 15. On this view, the passage refers to the marriage
of Seth's descendants with Cainitic women, by which means the cor
ruption of Cain's race entered into the Sethites. Not only the
connection which the whole story bears to what precedes, but also
ver. 3, in which an erring of man, not of the higher spirits, is spoken
of, is in favour of the latter view ; and so is the expression " they
took wives," which is admittedly used in the Old Testament only in
speaking of formal marriage, not of unchaste connection. The
assertion that Bnsrij in contrast with the B*n'psn via, must refer to the
whole race of mankind, and cannot be taken in a relative sense, is
refuted by comparing it with similar passages, such as Jer. xxxii. 20
(nnsai PS"iB>*a), Isa. xliii. 4, Ps. Ixxiii. 5. The assertion, repeated by
Schrader, that there is no ground to assume that two moral tendencies
radically different ran through mankind in primeval times, can only
be wondered at in view of Gen. iv. Note especially that Seth's race,
iv. 26, is characterized as that race by which God is addressed as
Jehovah, and therefore as the race of revelation (3).
In comparison with the later books of the Old Testament, the
angelology of the Pentateuch is but little developed. This testifies
against the opinion of tho.se who hold the angels of the Old Testa
ment to be degraded gods of an ancient polytheism. De Wette, in
his Biblical Dogmatic (3d ed. p. 81), has already remarked, in opposi
tion to this view, that if this had been the case, the course of the
angelology in the Old Testament must have been exactly the opposite
from what it is. The angels would necessarily have appeared with
definite names and functions in the older books, not first in the
latest ones. But De Wette himself holds a view equally false, —
namely, that angels were originally personifications of natural forces,
or of the extraordinary operations and visitations of God. Even
Ps. civ. 4 is no proof of the former point (4) ; on the contrary, such a
personification of natural forces presupposes a belief in angels. — In the
Pentateuch, the Mal'achim are obviously connected with the Mal'ach,
forming as it were many fainter copies of him, and in this connection
the vision in Gen. xxviii. is especially instructive. But the idea of the
Mal'ach is not the product of a tendency to personification ; but its
meaning is, as we have already seen, that in him a beginning is made

198 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 6L
towards the doing away of the separation between God and the
world (5).
(1) Gen. vi. Iff.: " And it came to pass, when men began to
multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto
them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were
fair; and they took them wives of all that pleased them. Then
Jehovah said : My spirit shall not always rule in men, in their errors
they are flesh ; and let their days be a hundred and twenty years.
There were giants on the earth in those days ; and also afterwards,
when the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and they
bare unto them, there were strong ones who were of old renowned
men." — We need lose no words on the ancient view (Onkelos, etc.)
that B*npsn *J3 here denotes sons of princes, magnates, and that the
whole matter refers to mesalliances, that noble blood was mixed with
plebeian blood, and this drew down the divine wrath on man. The
question is : Are the sons of God Sethites, or are they higher spirits ?
and is a fall of the angels here spoken of ? On the latter conception,
we find an element in Genesis of which there is certainly no trace in
the Old Testament, and which rather puts us in mind of the heathen
myths. But this must not hinder us from candidly acknowledging
anything that the text demands. The passage has led to a very bitter
feud between Kurtz and Hengstenberg. Kurtz wrote two separate
polemical treatises upon it (1857-58). A* present the hypothesis of
the angels is the most widely spread. But I believe that especially
Dettinger (" Bemerkungen iiber den Abschnitt 1 Mos. iv. 1-vi. 8,
den Zusammenhang und einzelne schwierigere- Partien desselben,"
Tiib. Zeitschr. fur Theol. 1835, vol. i.), and Keil (" Die Ehen der
Kinder Gottes mit den Tochtern der Menschen," Zeitschr. fur luth.
Theol. und Kirche, 1855, p. 220 f.), who also still defends the older
view, and has likewise been passionately combated by Kurtz, are
quite in the right here. — Compare also, for the angel hypothesis,
Schrader, Studien zur Kritik und Erklarung der biblischen Urgeschichte
Gen. i.— xi., 1863.
(2) Some understand B*?S to be a pluralis majestatis for B^K,
which would be admissible if only B*PS occurred in this sense in any
one passage. But elsewhere B*?s is everywhere a pure plural.
Therefore I hold that view to be correct which reaards B*?S *33
grammatically as a double plural of PS"|3, as B*?*n Oi33, 1 Chron.
vii. 5, for b)n Oi33.
(3) The inconvenient BIB'S is removed by Schrader by a change of
text.

§ 62.] THE SHEKINA. 199
(4) Ps. civ. 4 is explained in different ways, according as one or
the other word is held to be the nearer object. I hold the common
explanation to be the right one : " He makes the winds His mes
sengers, and flames of fire His servants." The other view is : " He
makes His messengers winds," etc.
(5) Compare also Schultz's Old Testament Theol. — For the
further development of Old Testament angelology, see the Prophetic
Theology. — On Azazel, see the Doctrine of the Day of Expiation, in
the third division.

§62.
The Shekina.
The enduring localization of the divine revealing presence is the
Shekina, that is, the indwelling of God distinguished from passing
theophanies by virtue of its continuance. The expression belongs
properly to the later Jewish theology, but is drawn from those
passages in the Old Testament where a dwelling (J3Ei) of Jehovah or
of the name of Jehovah among the people is spoken of — Deut. xii. 5,
11, xiv. 23, 1 Kings viii. 12, because of which the holy tabernacle
is called the dwelling (nin* i3E»p), for which it is said more fully,
1 Kings viii. 13, *|ME>:P Ji3p *£ ?13T n*a.
The first abode of the divine Shekina, according to the Old Testa
ment, is Eden, as follows from the whole delineation in Gen. ii. f ., but in
particular from the mention of the cherubim, iii. 24, which are bearers
of the divine presence (1). There it remained after the fall ; there is
the divine countenance, according to which iv. 14 is to be interpreted.
The book of Genesis seems to suggest the notion that the dwelling-place
of the glory and the countenance of God continued there upon the
earth until the judgment of the flood came on the world. Then after
the flood God revealed Himself for the first time from heaven (2).
At a later time, God's dwelling among His people was in the sanc
tuary, of which, Ex. xl. 34-38, the glory of Jehovah (nin* 1i33) took
possession in the phenomenon of the cloud, in the same way in which,
Lev. xvi. 2, it appears in the same phenomena over the ark of the
covenant (3). Here now is God's countenance, according to which
the well-known expressions are to be explained : Ex. xxiii. 17, ns"0
nin* *3E-?S, to appear before the face of Jehovah ; Deut. xxxi. 11,

200 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 62.
nin* \*a-ns nis-if* ; compare further Ps. xiii. 3, Ixiii. 3, in which the con
sciousness of the especial presence of God in the sanctuary is actually
characterized as a gazing on God. From passages such as Lev.
ix. 24, x. 2, the' Shekina shows its reality in the sanctuary by means
of actions of power which go out from it. Because of it, the Israelite
was in all places to turn himself towards the sanctuary when pray
ing, 1 Kings viii. 30, 35, 38 (in Solomon's prayer) — the so-called
Kebla, compare Dan. vi. 11. Hence the explanation of passages like
Ps. iii. 5 : " I cried to Jehovah .with my voice, and He answered me
from His holy hill." The Shekina of God on earth corresponds to
His dwelling in heaven, 1 Kings viii. 30, 39, 49, which, like that
in the sanctuary, is definitely distinguished from the presence of God,
which embraces the whole universe ; see ver. 27 of the same chap
ter ; compare Deut. iv. 39, Isa. Ixvi. 1. In this sense the heavenly
dwelling-place is explained as the sphere from which answers to
prayer proceed, 1 Kings viii. 30, 32, 34, 39, 43. In view of such
utterances, it is not in the sense of the Old Testament, to explain
passages in which heaven is designated as the temple of God, Ps.
xi. 4, xviii. 7, xxix. 9, or in which God's throne in heaven is spoken
of, Ps. ii. 4, ciii. 19, etc., as a purely popular, unconsciously symbolical
manner of expression (4).
According to the foregoing, God's dwelling falls outside the
human subject ; the notion of the divine indwelling is not applied to
the mission of the Divine Spirit .into the heart of man (5). Even
the passage Isa. lvii. 15does not speak of God dwelling in the heart
of the humble ones. The New Testament (John i. 14) is the first to
place the divine Shekina in a human person, in the Logos become
flesh (io-K^vcoo-ev iv fffiiv), and then it speaks of God making His abode
(fiovrjv iroietv) with the believers (John xiv. 23). Still the proper
Shekina of God in heaven appears again in the Apocalypse (Rev.
vii. 15), and the aim of the divine kingdom is said to be the o-Kijvcocris
of God on the glorified earth (xxi. 3) ; compare also Jer. iii. 16 f. (6).
(1) On the cherubim, compare the delineation of the ordinances
of worship, § 119.
(2) But it cannot be conceded that Ps. xxix. 10 treats of this, as
Hofmann thinks in the Schriftbeweis (2d ed. i. p. 208). There is no

§ 63.] THE DOCTRINE OF MIRACLE. 201
doubt that P13D is there the flood ; but the words do not mean : At the
flood Jehovah took up His residence in heaven, while before that
He was upon the earth ; but only : " Jehovah sat enthroned for the
flood." (3) On the |3» in Lev. xvi. 2, see § 118 with note 1.
(4) This conception is common, and is that of De Wette, Biblische
Dogmatik, 3d ed. p. 73. — Compare, too, the doctrine of God's omni
presence, § 46.
(5) Compare the doctrine of the no, § 65. Here is a remarkable
difference between the theology of the Koran and the Old Testament :
the Koran, borrowing from the New Testament, speaks of the divine
Shekina being sent down into the hearts of believers, Sur. xlviii. 4
and 26 ("Who sends down His Shekina into the hearts of believers,
that they grow continually in the faith "). But the Koran so wholly
lacks the New Testament knowledge of the indwelling of God in
believers' hearts through the Spirit, that this idea is reduced to an
empty phrase. Compare Dettinger, " Beitrage zu eincr Theol. des
Korans," Tiib. Zeitschr. 1834, pp. 16-21.
(6) Rev. vii. 15 : " They serve Him day and night in His
temple, koX 6 ica6rifievo<; i-rrl rov dpovov cricnvwcrei eV avrovs.'' —
According to Jer. iii. 16 f., the Shekina of Jehovah is to be no longer
connected with the ark of the covenant in the time of salvation.
That indwelling of God, whose vehicle was the ark of the covenant,
and whose abode was the holy of holies, shall be extended over the
whole of Jerusalem, so that the ark of the covenant shall not be
missed. The barrier which separated the sinful people from their
God is taken away. Jerusalem is now co-ordinate with the name of
Jehovah ; he who comes to Jerusalem, comes to the name of Jehovah.
— Touching the import of the Old Testament doctrine of the Shekina,
compare also the passage from Luther's Exeget. opera lat. xvi. p. 71,
already quoted, § 6, note 3.

§63.
The Doctrine of Miracle. Its Historical Appearance and Various
Characteristics.
Even the forms of revelation discussed in the preceding para
graphs may be subsumed under the notion of the miracle, in so far as
they are manifestations which interrupt the ordinary course of nature,
and cannot be explained thereby. But in the stricter sense, the Old

202 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 63.
Testament understands by miracles rnt&M, not manifestations of the
Divine Being in the sense of immediate personal communication, but
manifestations of the divine efficacy in the objective world, both in
nature and in history. It is characteristic of the course of Old
Testament revelation, that no real miracle — that is, no miracle
accomplished by man's hand — is related in the time of the patriarchs.
Not until the deliverance from Egypt did God reveal Himself as
spa n'E/J* (Ex. xv. 11), or, in other words, not till then begin the
divine rris^BJ (iii. 20). Moses is the first organ of revelation
endowed with the gift of performing miracles. From that time
onwards, miracles are grouped only round a few organs of revelation ;
and, indeed, they occur chiefly when the point in question is to lay
down testimony for the reality of the God revealed in Israel, in
contrast to heathenism, that is, where the living God measures Him
self in combat with false gods ; so from Ex. viii. 18, xxxiv. 10, onwards
in many passages (in Egypt, in the kingdom of the ten tribes, in
Babel, etc.). — The closer definition of the notion of miracles follows
mainly from the names for a miracle : —
1. The most general expression, SP3, niSP33, from XP3 = npa, to
select, characterizes miracle in its negative aspect, as an occurrence
withdrawn from the common course of things, and thus an extra
ordinary occurrence. This, too, seems to be the notion expressed by
the original meaning of the word naiD; but the explanation of this
difficult word is uncertain. According to the derivation given by
Delitzsch (on Ps. lxxi. 7), it would come from the Arabic root
i^vil, which signifies " to twist, to turn ; " it would then mean some
thing tortuous, strangely turned, and in this sense something to excite
astonishment. Others refer to the stem na*, to gleam, or, like
Fiirst, to the stem Jja*, which has the same meaning (so that the word-
would stand for nj)aio), from which it would signify glittering, gleam
ing. In the New Testament this negative characteristic of a miracle
is denoted by the expression repa<s.
2. On the contrary, the positive side of a miracle is expressed in
the denomination ni"W3?, corresponding to the New Testament Bvvd/iei'},
that is, indications of divine power, side by side with which (comp. e.g.
Deut. iii. 24) there appears the more general emphatic expression
B*E»yp, or more frequently niPyJ>, great deeds, corresponding to epya in

§ 64j THE DOCTRINE OF MIRACLE. 203
John. According to this, a miracle would mainly be a divine act of
power, exempt from the common course of nature and history. In so
far as it is something new which cannot be understood from the past,
it is placed under the view-point of creation, Ex. xxxiv. 10 : "I will
do niNPW, such as have never been created 0S"O3) on the whole
earth." Indeed, a miracle is itself called nsos, a thing created,
Num. xvi. 30, compared with Jer. xxxi. 22.
3. But the notion of a miracle is acknowledged in full, for the
first time, by its teleological designation as nis, o-rjfieiov, according to
which its import is to be an indication of something higher and divine,
and so to serve a definite divine aim. The word naiD, in its original
meaning, would come in here on the explanation adopted by some
scholars, who refer it to a root na*, from the biliteral na, signifying to
open. It would thus indicate that by which anything is opened and
unlocked. And this idea is certainly brought out by naiD in its
narrower meaning, in which it denotes portentum, a sign pointing to
the future, or sometimes a type ; compare Isa. viii. 18, xx. 3. Perhaps
the word is so to- be understood in Deut. xiii. 2, where it is dis
tinguished from nis (naiD is nis). §64.
Continuation. More accurate Discussion of the Notion of
Miracles.
What has been already stated gives no more than a relative notion
of miracle. Every more notable manifestation of the course of
nature and history presents a side on which it is extraordinary
and excites astonishment, brings the divine power to view, and
is acknowledged as serving a divine aim. And, in fact, the Old
Testament sometimes makes use of the expression niSPBJ in a wider
sense ; when, for example, marine phenomena are called God's wonders
in the deep, Ps. cvii. 24 ; when in Ps. cxxxix. 14 it is said with refer
ence to man : " I praise Thee, because I am an astonishing wonder ;
Thy works are marvellous, and my soul knoweth it right well." What
Hegel says in the Philosophy of Religion (ii. 1st ed. p. 49) is not
correct, — namely, that the things in the Old Testament religion are
prosaic things, presented in various intellectual connections of cause,

204 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. § 64.
result, quality and quantity, according to all these categories of the
understanding. This, says Hegel, is what we call natural intelligible
connection ; here also, for the first time, the definite notion " miracle "
can occur in contrast to the natural connection of things (1). On
the contrary, what has been already said shows that the way of
looking at nature characteristic of the Old Testament does not at all
consist in the contemplation of such a natural causal nexus. God's
power rules in everything, — God, who causes the breath of life to go
forth and draws it in again (Ps. civ. 29 f.) ; who unrolls the heaven,
and renews the earth, etc. (2). Thus, acccording to the Old Testa
ment view, God does not by miracle, in the narrower sense of the
word, do anything that surpasses in quality His general great sway
in nature and history. The exacter definition of the notion of
miracles in the more limited sense follows only from the exacter
definition of the aim of miracles, namely, that miracles serve to reveal
God in His kingdom. Miracles, in the stricter sense, are extra
ordinary manifestations and occurrences, in which God makes known
His power for the purposes of His kingdom in a unique manner.
From this it is explicable why miracles appear as manifestations of
the divine holiness ; the ^IP? "^tH, who is glorious in holiness, is the
doer of miracles, Ex. xv. 11, compare Ps. lxxvii. 14 f. (3). Miracles
serve this aim by means of the impression which they make (Ex. viii.
15 : " This is the finger of God "), but only in connection with the
word-witness which accompanies them or stands in connection with
them. Even in such a case as 1 Sam. vii. 10, in which the corre
sponding word of God does not follow expressly, the sign is still
made distinct by Samuel's preceding prayer. But particularly those
miracles which serve as the credentials of an organ of revelation are
themselves accredited by the word of God given in advance. Even
a false prophet may through circumstances perform signs and wonders,
but he is to be measured and judged by his false doctrine, Deut.
xiii. 2 ff. — In this union with the word of God, and this priority of
the latter, there lies a preservative from the vain quest after wonders
and signs, and a noteworthy difference between the Old Testament
niniS and the repara, arjfiara, ostenta, portenta of heathenism, which,
as a rule, do not become intelligible by means of a testimony in words
added to them, but require explanation, and thus devolve on the

§ 65.] ON THE SPIRIT OF GOD. 205
advice of man (4). Israel is directed to the word of revelation (Deut.
xviii. 9 ff.), in contrast to all heathen Mantik, which has searched
through heaven and earth to find signs of the divine counsel, but
finding no help falls into dissolution. The exorcism of the dead, and
other forms of the Mantik, are a horror, Lev. xix. 26, 31, xx. 27 ; and
astrology is a folly, Isa. xlvii. 13, Jer. x. 2 f., etc.
(1) Hegel, I.e., continues: "In earlier religions there are no
miracles ; in the Indian religion everything is already quite crazy.
The notion of miracles appears first in opposition to the ordinances of
nature, the laws of nature, the conformity of nature to law, . . . and
this is represented as a manifestation of God to a single person."
(2) Compare the doctrine of maintenance, § 52.
(3) Ps. lxxvii. 14 f . : " God, Thy way is in holiness . . . Thou art
the God that doeth wonders." — Compare the delineation of the notion
of holiness, § 44.
(4) Compare Naegelsbach's Homerische Theologie, 1st ed. p. 145 ff.,
2d ed. p. 168 ff., on the Homeric notion of miracles.
§65.
On the Spirit of God.
God reveals Himself in the heart of man by His Spirit, no, which,
as the spirit of revelation, corresponds to the cosmical nil, in the
same way as the word of revelation corresponds to the word of
creation. As the cosmical principle of life, as B*r6s HO, as the
mighty divine force of all things, the Spirit is already the principle of
the life of man's soul, and every natural intellectual gift in man is
traced back to it : Joseph's wisdom, Gen. xii. 38 ; Bezaleel's skill in
art, Ex. xxxi. 3, xxxv. 31 (1). It lies in Gen. vi. 3 that this Spirit of
God has also an ethical bearing, for, according to this passage, the
government of God's Spirit is hampered by the errors of mankind.
But clouding and derangement of the mental life, such as was sent on
Saul, is also the working of the B*n"ps no, 1 Sam. xvi. 14-16, 23,
xviii. 10. And here this evil B*n'ps no is definitely distinguished
from nin* no, for the latter forsook Saul; but it was (xvi. 14)
nm* nsp no, from Jehovah. But the Spirit as nin* no, or, to express

206 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 65.
it more definitely, nin* ehp HO, only acts within the sphere of revela
tion. It rules within the theocracy (Isa. lxiii. 11 ; Hag. ii. 5; Neh.
ix. 20), but not as if all citizens of the Old Testament theocracy as
such participated in this Spirit, which Moses expresses as a wish
(Num. xi. 29) (2), but which is reserved for the future community of
salvation (John iii. 1). In the Old Testament, the Spirit's sway in
the divine kingdom is rather that it arms the organs of the theocracy
with the gifts required for their calling, and those gifts of office in
the Old Testament are correlative to the gifts of grace in the New
Testament, 1 Cor. xii. ff. In the Pentateuch its working appears
exclusively in this connection. The Spirit bestows on Moses and the
seventy elders skill to guide the people (Num. xi. 17 ff.), also to Joshua
(Num. xxvii. 18 ; Deut. xxxiv. 9), and works at a later period in the
judges, awakening and arming them (Judg. vi. 34, xi. 29, xiii. 25),
and comes on the kings who were called by God at their anointing
(1 Sam. x. 6, xvi. 13) ; as the Spirit of revelation, He produces in
particular the gift of prophecy, Num. xi. 25 ff. ; and even as nil
B*n?s imparts the ability to prophesy to the heathen Balaam (Num.
xxiv. 2), by which means he is made an organ of the revealing God
against his will (xxii. 38). On the contrary, the Spirit does not
appear in the Pentateuch as the principle of sanctification in the
pious ; this is first spoken of in the Psalms, Ps. Ii. 13, comp. vers. 12
and 14, cxliii. 10 (3).
Now this Spirit is represented as a power proceeding from Jehovah,
— a something communicated by Him which clings to the person to
whom it is communicated, so that it may be apportioned from him to
others (Num. xi. 17, 25 ; comp. also 2 Kings ii. 9), but it can also be
taken away from him (as from Saul, 1 Sam. xvi. 14). It does not
follow from 1 Kings xxii. 21 that the Spirit is regarded as personal,
even if more than a personification is meant there (4) ; but tbe
passage Isa. lxiii. 10, " But they strove against His Holy Spirit, and
grieved Him" (an expression which reminds us of the word in
reference to the Mal'ach, Ex. xxiii. 21, "Do not provoke Him"),
does imply that in the Spirit Jehovah personally acts (5).
The relation of the Spirit of revelation to the human subject is
characterized in a way that makes it clear why a full indwelling of
the Spirit in man, a penetration of the human spirit by the Holy

§ 66.] THE PSYCHICAL STATES OF THE ORGANS OF REVELATION. 207
Spirit, is not reached in the Old Testament, but only a working on
the human mind. The Spirit is put on man, }ro with PP, Num. xi. 25,
29; B1E> with PJ>, ver. 17; He rests on him, tra, ver. 26; He clothes
Himself with a man, E'3?, Judg. vi. 34 (compare 1 Chron. xii. 18,
2 Chron. xxiv. 20) (6) ; He breaks in upon him, n^lt with PJ>, Judg. xiv.
6, 19, and in other passages. His operations are characterized as an
impulse or stroke, BJ?a, xiii. 25, and therefore He often operates
violently and overpoweringly on the human constitution (7).
(1) See the particulars in the Anthropology, § 70.
(2) Num. xi. 29 : " Would that all the people were the prophets
of the Lord, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them ! "
(3) Ps. Ii. 13, " Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me; " cxliii. 10,
"Let Thy good Spirit lead me."
(4) The passage 1 Kings xxii. 21, on the Spirit of God, which
acted as a lying spirit in the prophets, is discussed under the doctrine
of Satan in the prophetic part of this book.
(5) Though we must not read the dogma of the New Testament
doctrine of the Trinity into the Old Testament, it is yet undeniable
that we find the way to oeconomic Trinity of the New Testament
already prepared in the doctrine of the Mal'ach and of the Spirit.
(6) The expositors dispute the explanation of the expression ED?.
Bertheau, Keil, Fuerst thus explain Judg. vi. 34: The Spirit laid
itself round Gideon like a coat of mail. But on this view, ought not
Hiphil to be used ? and is it not more correct to render induit eum . . .
Gideoni se includens ? The man is looked on as the covering of the
Spirit, which rules, speaks, and testifies in him.
(7) The further delineation of the operations of the Spirit on the
prophets, when we come to the theology of the prophets, must connect
itself with these simple notions, as they are deduced mainly from the
principal passage, Num. xi. §66.
The Psychical States of the Organs of Revelation.
As the psychical states in which the reception of revelation by
man takes place, the principal passage (Num. xii. 6-8) names, 1. The
Dream; 2. The Vision; 3. The immediate contemplation of the
Divinity as imparted to Moses, which stands higher than the other
two (1).

208 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 66.
1. Dreams occur in the Old Testament, as in antiquity generally,
as the vehicle of divine revelation, but only in a subordinate way (2).
It may be concluded from 1 Sam. xxviii. 6 — in which a scale of the
forms of revelation is given — that it stands lowest among the forms of
revelation ; this becomes still more clear from Deut. xiii. 2-5, accord
ing to which no one can accredit himself as ah organ of revelation by
means of dreams alone, but especially from Jer. xxiii. 28 f., where the
" straw " refers to dreams, and the consciously received word of God
is designated " corn " (3). So, too, Eccles. v. 2, 6 says, " Dreams
come through much care." "Where there are many dreams and
vanity, there are also many words; but thou shalt fear thy God."
While the prophets never appeal to dreams in their extant prophecies,
dreams serve mainly as a vehicle of revelation to those who, though
they are not properly speaking organs of revelation, obtain a divine
communication in extraordinary circumstances. In the Pentateuch,
dreams and the power of interpreting dreams given by God occur
only in Gen. xx. 3, 6, xxviii. 12, xxxvii. 6 f., chap. xii. (Joseph) ;
besides these, compare in the Old Testament, Judg. vii. 13 ff.,
1 Kings iii. 5, and the dreams in the book of Daniel, because at the
Babylonian as at the Egyptian court the revelation of the true God
had to prove its superiority over the heathen Mantik. How God
awakens the sleeping conscience of man by dreams is shown by Elihu
in the book of Job xxxiii. 15 ff.
2. Visions, which are called ns"ip in the above-cited passage
in Numbers, elsewhere in general njnp, Gen. xv. 1, Ji*in, presuppose a
previous elevation of the life of the soul into an extraordinary state,
as is made prominent in the first narrative in which a vision appears,
in Gen. xv. (with Abraham) (especially in the npmn, ver. 12, sleep's
deepest stupor, in which the inner vision arises). Still the difference
between a dream and a vision may be regarded as not sharply
marked. Visions do not become a common form of revelation until
the appearance of prophecy, and therefore this point is to be treated
more fully in the prophetic theology. — God speaks by the two forms,
dreams and visions, as is said in Num. xii. 8, only n'"l*n3, in riddles, in
a way which demands an explanation of the pictures viewed.
3. The immediate view of the Divinity (na"?S na) with which
Moses was favoured stands higher than these forms ; that figureless,

§ 66.] THE PSYCHICAL STATES OF THE ORGANS OF REVELATION. 209
perfect, clear communication of knowledge, which is to be distinguished
also from the vision of God in emblematical tokens, spoken in Ex.
xxiv. 10 of Aaron and the elders of Israel. For the rest, the prin
ciple that a clear consciousness when receiving revelation is placed
higher than ecstasy is of great import for the standpoint of Old
Testament religion ; comp. the psychological discussion of prophecy,
as well as use of the passage Num. xii. 6-8 in 1 Cor. xiii. 12 (4). —
The idea that in the case of some persons a view into the future opens
at the moment of death is expressed in the Old Testament in Gen.
xlix. and Deut. xxxiii. (in the blessings of Jacob and Moses). This
idea is also found in heathen antiquity (5).
(1) Num. xii. 6-8 : " Hear ye my words : If there is among you a
prophet of Jehovah, I will manifest myself to him in vision (ns"]D3),
and I will speak with him in dreams. Not so my servant Moses. He
is faithful in my whole house. I speak with him mouth to mouth
and through the medium of vision (ns"ipi), and not in riddles, and he
sees the form of Jehovah ; and how is it that ye are not afraid to
speak against my servant Moses ? "
(2) This was also the Homeric view ; see Nagelsbach, homer. Theol.
1st ed. p. 159 ff., 2d ed. p. 182 ff.
(3) 1 Sam. xxviii. 6 : " Jehovah answered Saul neither by dreams,
nor by the Urim, nor by prophets." — Jer. xxiii. 28 f. : " Let the
prophet who has dreams tell dreams, but he who has my word must
speak my word in truth ; what has the straw to do with the corn ? is
Jehovah's saying."
(4) In 1 Cor. xiii. 12, that vision of the Divinity which took place
with Moses is designated by Paul as the form of knowledge with
which we are not yet favoured, but shall be in the future.
(5) Comp. Nagelsbach, homer. Tlieol. 1st ed. p. 163, 2d ed. p.
185 f.

VOL. I.

210 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 68.
SECOND DIVISION.
THE DOCTRINE OF MAN.
§67.
General View.
First of all, the nature of man is to be described without reference
to the contradictory elements which through sin entered into its develop
ment ; and then these contradictory elements are to be set forth'as they
appear in the difference between the original perfection of the life of
man on the one side, and the state of sin and death in which man now
is on the other side. The anthropology of Mosaism is here to be
carried up to the point in which it passes over into the delineation of
the theocratic relation of man to God (1).
(1) For the rich literature on Biblical anthropology, compare the
most detailed work on this topic:' Delitzsch, System der bibl. Psycho
logic, 1855, 2d ed. 1861. {Translated in Clark's For. Theol. Lib.}
Besides this, the little book, Fundamenta Psychologiw ex sacra scrip-
tura collecta, 1769, by Roos, which is rich in fine remarks, and not
yet obsolete ; and the Umriss der bibl. Seelenlehre, by Beck, 1843, 3d
ed. 1871, deserve special mention. Umbreit's book, Die Lehre von der
Sunde, ein Beitrag zur Theol. des A. T., 1853, goes over a good part
of anthropology. Separate monographs will be mentioned in their
proper places.

FIRST CHAPTEE.
THE NATURE OP MAN IN ITS MAIN UNCHANGEABLE FEATURES.
I. THE IDEA OF MAN.
§68.
The idea of man is expressed in the statement that he is created
in the image of God (Gen. i. 26 f.). This divine image is propagated
(v. 1, compared with ver. 3). The dignity of the divine image is a
second time ascribed to man (ix. 6), from which it is clear that the

§ 68.] THE IDEA OF MAN. 211
divine image lies inalienably in man's being. — The divine image is not
twofold in the sense that in the words, i. 26, ^niDID yp^3 BIS nE>J»
(LXX. rroirjaoifiev dvQptarrov nar eiKova rjfierepav Kal tca8' ofiolwcriv),
a distinction is to be made between BPX (eltcoDv) and niDT (o>oiWt?) ;
as, for example, Justin Martyr and Irenseus referred the first to the
bodily form and the second to the spirit ; or the Alexandrian Fathers
proposed to understand /car' elicova of the rational basis of man's
nature, and the icaO' bfiolwaiv of its free development to TeXetwcrt?.
The wniD"ia in the passage quoted refers rather to the same thing as
the WDPV3 ; it only serves to fix and strengthen the meaning of the
latter ; it is specially intended to express that the divine image which
man bears is really one corresponding to the original pattern (1). In
the omission of wniDna in the passage ix. 6, we might be led to find
an indication that the divine image in sinful man was no longer
adequate to its original type. Still, ix. 6 simply refers to i. 27, in
which the t\\m is not repeated.
But now what is to be understood by the divine image ? Not,
certainly, that the human body was to be supposed to be a copy of the
divine form, for Elohim, the creative God, is without form (comp. §
46). We might rather say (2), that the human figure was to be so
formed that it might serve to represent God Himself when He
revealed Himself; compare also Ezek. i. 26 (3), and in especial Ps.
xciv. 8-10 might be here adduced ; while, on the contrary, the forms
of animals never appear in the Old Testament as a vehicle of God's
self-manifestation, but were applied to Jehovah only in idolatrous
worship (4). The nobility which appears in the bodily figure of man
is certainly not to be excluded from the divine image, but it is un
doubtedly an error to limit the latter to what is bodily. It is equally
erroneous to limit the divine likeness to the dominion over the animal
world, as the Socinians did. This, no doubt, is also contained in the
notion, but only as a consequence, and so as a secondary element ;
compare Gen. i. 26, and the passage ix. 6, which looks back on the
latter. The divine likeness is rather to be referred to the whole
dignity of man ("Oni "tf 33, comp. Ps. viii. 6), in virtue of which human
nature is sharply distinguished from that of the beasts, man is set
over nature as a free person, and designed for communion with God,
and to take God's place on earth. The first or negative element, the

212 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 68.
strict separation of man from beast, is expressed, firstly, in the fact
that although animals are animate like man, and possess a E'B}, yet the
creation of man and his animation, according to Gen. i. 26, ii. 7, is a
unique and peculiar divine act (5) ; and further, in the circumstance
that man finds no corresponding companionship among all the animals
(ii. 20) ; lastly, in the permission to man to kill every animal, but not
another man (ix. 2 ff.), and this because of the divine likeness (comp.
§ 108). The prohibitions in Ex. xxii. 18, Lev. xviii. 23, xx. 15, rest
on this acknowledgment of the dignity of human nature, by which all
connection of man with beast — an abomination for which the heathen
have no moral abhorrence — was to be punished by the death of the
criminal. Thus the standpoint of the religion of nature is absolutely
denied in the Old Testament, alike in the idea of God as the Holy
One, and in the idea of man as God's image. — The second positive
element is indicated partly in the main passage Gen. i. 26, and partly
in the whole history, chap. ii. and iii. : A being is to stand at the
head of the creatures, invested with dominion over them (comp. Ps.
viii. 7-9), with whom God holds intercourse as with His equal, and
who is appointed, like God, to be a free personality (though we see from
Gen. iii. 22, comp. ver. 5, that man arrives at this by a wrong way).
To the ethical idea of God corresponds the ethical idea of man. The
spiritual dominion of man over the beasts is indicated in the giving of
names, Gen. ii. 19 f. In regard to this dignity of man, Ps. viii. 6
says that man was made little lower than Elohim, than a numen, a
divine being' (6). The book of Sirach xvii. 3-6 (enumerating
dominion over the animals, free will, speech, sense, etc.) gives an
explanation of the divine image which is on the whole correct, only
that the essential feature, that man was appointed to communion with
God in virtue of his likeness to Him, is not brought forward (7).
(1) My view is that this is the correct conception of Gen. i. 26,
Umbreit, for example, has understood the passage quite differently in
the book cited above, p. 4 : " The 3 seems rather to lessen than
strengthen the meaning of 3 ; man is to appear in the image of God —
not, however, in complete similarity to God's image, but only after
His likeness." — But the emphatic repetition of B*rfps BPV3 iDpys in ver.
27 does not agree with this; on this view, the niD"i3 would rather
require to be repeated in explanation.

§ 69.] SEXUAL RELATIONS OF MAN. 213
(2) Compare Hofmann, Weissagung und Erfullung, i. p. 73.
(3) In Ezek. i. 26 it is said, in reference to the theophany : " On
the figure of the throne there was Bis ns"ip3 TV/crt, a form with the
appearance of a man."
(4) On the point that divine attributes are symbolized in the
cherubim, see hereafter the delineation of the ordinances of worship,
§ 119. (5) For particulars see § 70.
(6) The LXX. translate the B*n'psp in Ps. viii. 6 by trap' dyyeXovs,
and it is certain that this translation is not exact. But it is generally
overlooked that the text does not say "as thou," or at least "as
Jehovah," as Schultz (alttest. Theol. i. p. 358) has well remarked.
The idea, Thou hast made him little lower than Jehovah, would not
have been possible in the Old Testament. B*nps here stands in the
indefinite and general meaning numen, divine being, and thus far
the translation of the LXX. is not exactly incorrect.
(7) Upon the import of the Old Testament idea of man, see in
especial Lutz, Bibl. Dogmatik, p. 17. He characterizes it as a fact
of absolute weight and greatness that the difference between spirit
and nature is here so fully brought out, and that the value of spiritual
existence is not placed merely in the power of thought, but in moral
purity. II. SEXUAL RELATIONS OF MAN.
§69.
1. The sexual relation of man and woman is originally ordained
in Gen. i. 27 (Bns sn3 napJl "13T). The frequent assertion that,
according to Genesis, man was originally created androgynous (1),
cannot be reconciled with the passage quoted, and has only arisen
from a false view of the relation of chap. i. to chap. ii. (2). Besides,
even chap. ii. teaches nothing about a man who was at once man and
woman, and drawn from whom man and woman as such derived their
being. But man was created first, and the woman by being taken
from him ; as also the passage is understood in 1 Tim. ii. 13, 1 Cor.
xi. 8 f. (3). It agrees with this that the perfection of mankind is
also realized in a man, in the Bevrepo<i *ABdfi, and that the dvaardo-em
viol are not spouses, neither marry nor are given in marriage, but
shall be ladyyeXoi, Matt. xxii. 30, Luke xx. 36. But that man's

214 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 69.
existence in two sexes as compared with his original singleness is
already (as has been maintained even in modern times) the beginning
of the fall, is contrary to the natural sense of Gen. ii. 18 ff.
2. According to this passage, marriage, that primitive form of
human society from which all other forms of society arise, and for
which man gives up the others (comp. ii. 24), did not spring from
the blind sway of natural impulse, but from divine institution. Its
original form is monogamy (comp. Matt. xix. 6); and the fact that
the bond of matrimony is represented as stronger than that moral
relation between parents and children, which is placed so high in the
Old Testament, indicates that it forms not simply a bodily union ("i|>3
ins), but also a spiritual oneness. Monogamy appears still among
the first patriarchs (Abraham, Nahor, Isaac), besides which, to be
sure, the taking of concubines is allowable (Gen. xxii. 24, xxv. 6),
and even in certain circumstances happens at the wish of the legiti
mate spouse herself (xvi. 3, xxx. 3, 9). It is characteristic that
polygamy (Gen. iv. 19) is traced to the Cainites. The law — we here
at once observe (comp. § 102) — does indeed tolerate polygamy, but
does not sanction it, and, moreover, provides against the hardships
that readily attach to it ; comp. Ex. xxi. 10, Deut. xxi. 15 ff. Bigamy,
in the form in which Genesis represents it as forced on Jacob, namely,
the simultaneous marriage with two sisters, was afterwards expressly
forbidden in the law, Ley. xviii. 18 (comp. § 103, with note 3). In
general, monogamy remained predominant among the people of Israel,
as, in fact, the description of a wife in Prov. xii. 4, xix. 14, xxxi. 10 ff.,
and in particular the prophetic representation of the covenant between
Jehovah and His people as marriage, clearly presuppose that mono
gamy is the rule (4). — The possession of children, by which the house
is built up (Gen. xvi. 2, xxx. 3, etc.), is looked on as a divine blessing
from Gen. i. 28 onwards. "From Jehovah" Eve obtains her first
son, iv. 1 (5) ; it is God who in Seth gave her another seed instead of
the murdered Abel, iv. 25 ; it is always God who makes a mother
fruitful or unfruitful, xxix. 31, xxx. 2, and who will be entreated for
the fruit of the body, xxv. 21, xxix. 32 f., xxx. 17, 22. Unfruitfulness
is a heavy divine dispensation (xvi. 2, compare 1 Sam. i. 6 f.), indeed
a dishonour to a woman, Gen. xxx. 23 ; childlessness is looked upon
as the greatest misfortune to a house. Compare also such passages

§ 69.] SEXUAL RELATIONS OF MAN. 215
as Ps. cxxvii. 3 ff., cxxviii. 3 ff. (where a fruitful wife and a group of
joyous thriving children are designated as the crown of earthly joy),
etc. To hinder fruitfulness is treated, Gen. xxxviii. 9 f., as an
abomination worthy of death. There is in ancient Israel no trace of the
custom of killing and casting out children to ward off the increase of
family cares, which is so widely spread in heathenism (6). Thus the
natural forms of human society are sanctified from the beginning by
the religious point of view under which they are placed (7).
3. All mankind is a connected race of brothers (e£ evb<s a'ifiaro<s,
Acts xvii. 26). The differences between nations and ranks of life
do not rest on various physical origin, but upon the law of God,
who made the nations to differ and who set them their boundaries
(Deut. xxxii. 8), and who reveals His retributive ordinances even in
their natural character (Canaan, Moab, Ammon, etc.).
(1) The fiction in Plato's Symposion, chap. 14-16, has been very
unsuitably adduced in comparison.
(2) The false view referred to is that Gen. ii. wishes to portray
something different from and later than chap. i. If so, we should be
compelled to find in chap. i. the creation of man and wife in insepar
able union. But it was remarked above (§ 18, with note 3) that the
Second account is rather to be looked on as a supplement to the first.
(3) 1 Cor. xi. 8 f. : Oi yap ianv dvrjp i/c yvvaiicbs, dXXa yvvrj
if; dvBpbs' ical yap oiic eKriadrj dvrjp Bid ttjv yvvai/ca, dXXa yvvrj Bid
rov avopa. (4) There is a moral moment contained in the faot that conjugal
cohabitation is characterized as a knowing (the expression is certainly
used a few times euphemistically of vicious human intermixture, but
never of animal copulation) — namely, that it is " an act of personal
freedom of will, and not the work of blind natural impulse, and con
tains moral self-decision as its presupposition " (Keil on Gen. iv. 1)
[Article, " Padagogik des A. T."] ; comp. § 81.
(5) That is, the communion with God in which man has remained
even after the fall is testified to her by his birth. Gen. iv. 1 refers
back to iii. 15 f., "but still the passage by no means speaks of the
birth of the God-man (as Luther translates, " I have the man, the
Lord"). (6) Compare Philo, de Spec, leg., ed. Mang., ii. 318. This is also
represented by heathen writers as something peculiar ; see Tacitus,
Histories, V. 5. — The exposing of Moses, which was an attempt to

216 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 70.
save the child, cannot, of course, be cited here ; Job iii. 11 ff. and
Ezek. xvi. 5 (where Jerusalem is compared to a child cast out in its
blood) prove nothing for an Israelitish custom. Since the exposing
of daughters is mentioned as an ancient Arabian custom, we may,
with Hitzig, find a reference in the latter passage to what might
sometimes happen at the birth of a Bedouin child, particularly a girl
[above art .J.
(7) In answer to those who, for example, compare the importance
of the family in the Old Testament with the importance which the
Indian religion lays on the possession of descendants, because the
condition of the dead ancestors depends on the offerings of their
descendants, it is enough to point to Hegel's review of W. v. Hum
boldt's essay, "Ueber die unter dem Namen Bhagavad-Gita bekannte
Episode des Mahabharata" (Hegel's Werke, xvi. p. 368 ff.).

III. THE ELEMENTS OF HUMAN NATURE (1).
§70.
Body, Soul, Spirit.
The nature of man, like that of all animated beings, arose out of
two elements — namely, from earthly material (IBV, npns), and from
the Divine Spirit (no), Gen. ii. 7, comp. Ps. civ. 29 f., cxlvi. 4. As in
general E»BJ, soul, originates in the "lE'S, the flesh, by the union of spirit
with matter, so in particular the human soul arises in the human
body by the breathing of the divine breath (B*»n npeo) into the
material frame of the human body. But although the life-spring of
the no, from which the soul arises, is common to man and beast, both
do not originate from it in the same way. The souls of animals arise,
like plants from the earth, as a consequence of the divine word of
power, Gen. i. 24 (n;n CM psn SSin). Thus the spirit of the creation,
who entered in the beginning, i. 2, into matter, rules in them ; their
connection with the divine spring of life is through the medium of the
common terrestrial creation. But the human soul does not spring
from the earth, but is created by a special act of divine inbreathing;
see ii. 7 in connection with i. 26. The human body was formed from
the earth before the soul ; in it, therefore, those powers operate which
are inherent to matter apart from the soul (a proposition which is of
great importance, as Delitzsch rightly remarks). But the human

§ 70.] ELEMENTS OF HUMAN NATURE — BODY, SOUL, SPIRIT. 217
body is still not an animated body ; the powers existing in the material
frame are not yet comprehended into a unity of life ; the breath of
life is communicated to this frame directly from God, and so the
living man originates. According to the view of some, this specific
difference between the life of the human soul and that of animals is
expressed by the use of the term npEO in ii. 7 (2). This, however,
cannot be established, for in vii. 22 (" All in whose nostrils was the
breath of life died ") the exclusive reference of the expression npE/J to
man (as merely another expression for Bnsn 73, ver. 21), coming
between the general terms comprehending man and beast, which stand
both before and after it, is not natural. In Deut. xx. 16, Josh. x.
40, xi. 11-14, npE/3"P3 denotes only men ; but in these passages the
special reference of the expression is made clear by the connection, — in
the passage in Deuteronomy by ver. 18, and in the book of Joshua
because from viii. 2 onwards the cattle are expressly excepted from
the B'in. Otherwise one might as well prove from Josh. xi. 11,
where E'ajirrpa is used exclusively of man, that the human soul alone
is called twu. But it is correct that in the other places in the Old
Testament in which nDE/J occurs it is never expressly used of the
mere animal principle of life ; comp. Isa. xiii. 5, Prov. xx. 27, Job
xxxii. 8, and Ps. cl. 6 (npcan Pb). Thus the substance of the human
soul is the divine spirit of life uniting itself with matter ; the spirit is
not merely the cause by reason of which the B>33 contained before
hand in the body becomes living, as Gen. ii. 7 has by some been
understood (3). For in the 1BV as such, in the structure of dust, there
is, according to the Old Testament, as yet no E>33, not even latently.
This is first in the "W3, in the flesh ; but the earthly materials do not
become flesh until the nn has joined with it, vi. 17, vii. 15, Job xii. 10,
xxxiv. 14 f . It is no proof against this (as has further been objected)
that in some passages (Lev. xxi. 11 ; Num. vi. 6), the dead body from
which, according to Gen. xxxv. 18, the soul has departed, is called
np E>32 before it crumbles to dust. I believe this expression is to be
understood as a euphemistical metonymical phrase, as we speak of a
dead person without meaning to say that the personality lies in the
body ; or perhaps in this designation of a dead person the impression
is expressed which the corpse makes immediately after death, as if
the element of the soul had not yet entirely separated itself (thus

218 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 70.
Delitzsch) (4). But as the soul sprang from the spirit, the no, and
contains the substance of the spirit as the basis of its existence, the
soul exists and lives also only by the power of the no ; in order to
live, the soul which is called into existence must remain in connection
with the source of its life. " God's spirit made me " (^nfefj? PS no),
says Job, xxxiii. 4, "and the breath of the Almighty animates me"
(*J>nn *^E/ npEOl, with the imperfect). The first sentence expresses
the way in which the human soul is called into being; the second,
the continuing condition of its subsistence. By the withdrawing
of the no the soul becomes wearied and weak, till at last in death
it becomes a shadow, and enters the kingdom of the dead (comp.
§ 78) ; while by the no streaming in it gains energy of life. Now
from this the Old Testament usage in connection with the terms
E'M and no becomes intelligible. In the soul, which sprang from the
spirit, and exists continually through it, lies the individuality, — in the
case of man his personality, his self, his ego ; because man is not no,
but has it — he is soul. Hence only 'tPBJ, sjcw, can stand for egomet
ipse, tu ipse, etc., not ,no, ?jno, etc. (not so in the Arabic) ; hence
" soul " often stands for the whole person, Gen. xii. 5, xvii. 14, Ezek.
xviii. 4, etc. When man is exhausted by illness, his nn is corrupted
within him, Job xvii. 1 (nP3n *no), so that the soul still continues to
vegetate wearily. When a person in a swoon comes to himself again,
it is said his spirit returns to him, 1 Sam. xxx. 12 (inn 3E/ni) com
pared with Judg. xv. 19. But when one dies, it is said the soul
departs, Gen. xxxv. 18 ; his soul is taken from him, 1 Kings xix. 4,
Jonah iv. 3. When a dead person becomes alive again, it is said the
soul returns again, 1 Kings xvii. 22 (E'33 3E/ni). It is said of Jacob,
whose sunken vital energy revived when he found his son again, that
his spirit was quickened, Gen. xiv. 27 (no *nni). On the contrary, of
one who is preserved in life it is said, E'33 nn*n, Jer. xxxviii. 17-20.
When God rescues one from the jaws of death, it is said, Ps. xxx. 4,
" Thou hast brought up my soul out of Sheol;" comp. Ps. xvi. 10 (5). —
Man perceives and thinks by virtue of the spirit which animates him
(Job xxxii. 8 ; Prov. xx. 27); wherefore it is said in 1 Kings x. 5,
when the Queen of Sheba's comprehension was brought to a stand,
that " there was no spirit in her more " (no *iij> H3 n*n_N'?) ; but the
perceiving and thinking subject itself is the Btei (comp. § 71). The

§ 70.] ELEMENTS OF HUMAN NATURE— BODY, SOUL, SPIRIT. 219
impulse to act proceeds from the no, Ex. xxxv. 21; 'hence one who
rules himself is a in03 PE/D, Prov. xvi. 32. But the acting subject is
not the no, but the CM ; the soul is the subject which sins, Ezek.
xviii. 4, etc. Love and attachment are of course a thing of the soul,
Gen. xxxiv. 3 (ic'33 psini) and ver. 8 (iC3i npE-'n) ; and so in Cant.
v. 6, the word of the beloved nss* *C33 cannot be explained, " I was
out of my senses " (as De Wette thinks), but the bride feels as if
her very personality had gone forth from her to follow and seek her
beloved. In many cases, indeed, CM and no stand indifferently,
according as the matter is looked upon — that is, to use Hofmann's words
(Schriftbeiveis, i. 1 A. p. 258, 2 A. p. 296), according as "the person
ality is named after its special individual life, or after the living
power which forms the condition of its special character." Thus it
may be said on the one hand, " Why is thy spirit so stubborn?" (nrnp
n"Jp ino), 1 Kings xxi. 5 ; on the other hand, " Why art thou so
bowed down, my soul?" OCM *nninc'rrnp), Ps. xiii. 12. Of impa
tience it may be said, " The soul is short " (CM ispni), Num. xxi. 4,
and "shortness of the spirit" (no IVp), Ex. vi. 9; compare Job
xxi. 4. Trouble of heart is " bitterness of the spirit " (no nnto), Gen.
xxvi. 35 ; and of the soul (*CM ipn), Job xxvii. 2, it is said ino BJfini,
Gen. xii. 8, and 1SD nbrn? *CM, Ps. vi. 4. Compare with this in par
ticular the climax in Isa. xxvi. 9 (6). From all it is clear that the
Old Testament does not teach a trichotomy of the human being in
the sense of body, soul, and spirit being originally three co-ordinate
elements of man; rather the whole man is included in the 1C3 and
E'3:* (body and soul), which spring from the union of the no with the
matter, Ps. lxxxiv. 3, Isa. x. 18 ; comp. Ps. xvi. 9. The no forms
partly the substance of the soul individualized in it, and partly, after
the soul is established, the power and endowments which flow into it
and can be withdrawn from it (7).

(1) Besides the books already quoted in § 67, cf . Hofmann, Weis-
sagung und Erf Hiking, i. pp. 17-25 ; my Commentations ad theologiam
biblicam pertinentes, 1846, p. 11 ff. ; H. A. Halm, V. T. sententia de
natura hominis exposila, 1846 ; several sections of Bottcher's compre-
. hensive but unfinished work, De inferis rebusque post mortem futuris, i.,
1846 ; in Herzog's Realencyklop. iv. p. 728 ff., the article " Geist des

220 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 70
Menschen," by Auberlen ; and vol. vi. p. 15 ff., the article " Herz
im bibl. Sinn," by myself.
(2) This is the view of several rabbins, and of Beck and Hahn
among more modern writers. There were even rabbins who connected
the word npc'j with B*pc.
(3) Thus Bottcher and others ; the former in a review of my
Commentations, in the Jenaer Liter aturzeitung, 1846, No. 254 f., p.
1013 ff.
(4) Delitzsch, 'System der biblischen Psychologie, 2d ed. p. 447 :
" The whole inward part of man lies in the corpse, as it were, turned
outwards before us. We there look into the depth of the soul's com
bat and the soul's peace, in which the separation of the soul and body
took place ; and the soul still hovers, glorifying or distorting it, over
the form which it has just quitted. Therefore does a corpse make an
impression so gloomy, ghostly, and spectral, and therefore is it called
C33. The corpse of one just dead still bears the fresh traces of his
soul, which is imprinted upon it, as it were, in parting ; it is the
remaining case of the soul ; it is, so to speak, the soul vanished
itself." (5) Ps. xvi. 10 : " Thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol ; " com
pare also § 78.
(6) Isa. xxvi. 9 : "In my soul I long after Thee (in*is *CM) ;
yea, I seek Thee (line's) in my inward parts with my spirit
(*no~?)S).'' The second sentence does not say the same as the first,
but, as shown by *)S, it ascends higher — " Yea, with my spirit," with
the whole strength of my inward life.
(7) In all ages the conclusion has been deduced from a few pas
sages that the Old Testament teaches a pre-existence of the soul.
The main passages adduced are Ps. cxxxix. 15 and Job i. 21, and
from them many have sought to conclude that human souls existed
in Sheol, in the kingdom of the dead, before they came into a human
body. But though the former passage might contain an idea of this
kind, still, since there is no other trace of such a doctrine, an abbre
viated comparison is without doubt to be assumed here, as in many
other cases. "When I was formed in the depths of the earth,"
stands for " in such concealment, in a place as dark as the depths of
the earth" (description of the mother's womb). Still less can such a
doctrine be based on the passage in Job : " Naked came I forth from
my mother's womb, and naked do I return thither." It is said that
the mother earth must be meant by *DS JD3 in the first member, since
we are told that man returns thither. But, as has been very well
explained, especially by Hupfeld (Quaistionum in locos Jobeidos

§ 71.] NOTION OF THE HEART, AND ITS RELATION TO THE SOUL. 221
vexatos specimen, 1853, p. 1), a sort of zeugma must be assumed here :
the correspondence is between the mother's womb, proper and
figurative, namely, the mother earth ; for the condition before birth,
and the condition in the grave and in the kingdom of the dead, are
correspondent. — On the other hand, in Wisd. viii. 20 there is un
deniably a reminiscence of Platonic doctrine.

§71.
The Notion of the Heart, and its Relation to the Soul.
The soul of man has a double sphere of life, — firstly, it sustains the
life belonging to the senses, is anima, 1C3n CM, the soul of the flesh
in a narrower sense. As such it acts in the blood, and supplies life to
the body in the blood, and hence the proposition, Lev. xvii. 11, CM
Sin tffls iC3n, "The soul of the flesh is in the blood" (1) ; indeed, it is
said directly, " The blood is the soul," Gen. ix. 4, Lev. xvii. 14, Deut.
xii. 23. Still this does not mean that the soul of the flesh does not
act also in respiration and nourishment. The chief meaning of CM is
precisely " that which breathes," " the breath," Job xii. 13 ; and
hence, as some passages speak of a streaming forth of the soul in
the blood (Isa. liii. 1 2, and elsewhere), so in others the breathing forth
of the soul is spoken of, Jer. xv. 9, Job xxxi. 39, etc. However, CM
is not simply anima, not simply the principle of life belonging to the
senses, but it is at the same time animus, — the subject of all the
activities of knowing, feeling, and wishing ; also, in particular, the
subject of those activities and conditions of man that refer to his
communion with God — Deut. iv. 29, vi. 5, Isa. Ixi. 10, Ps. xix. 8, xiii.
2 f., and numberless other passages (2).
In both its relations as anima and animus, the soul centres in the
heart, 3? or 33?, which often interchanges with 3nj5 ; which, however,
designates in a wider sense the whole cavity of the breast, with the
intestines (3). The heart, as the central organ of the circulation of the
blood (4), forms the focus of the life of the body; whence, for example,
the strengthening of the body by nourishment is called supporting the
heart, 3$> nyp, Gen. xviii. 5, Judges xix. 5, Ps. civ. 15 ; and, on the
other hand, exhaustion of physical vital energy is designated as a
parching or melting away of the heart, Ps. cii. 5, xxii. 15. The heart,

222 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 71.
too, is the centre of all spiritual functions. Everything spiritual,
whether belonging to the intellectual", moral, or pathological sphere,'
is appropriated and assimilated by man in the heart as a common
meeting-place, and is again set in circulation from the heart. All the
soul's motions of life proceed from the heart, and react upon it, so
that the word, Prov. iv. 23, " Above all that thou hast to protect,
keep thy heart ; for from it are all the issues of life," has a quite
general reference. In particular, the heart (the jp3 *"On, Prov. xx.
27) is the place in which the process of self-consciousness is carried
out,— -in which the soul is at home with itself, and is conscious of all
its doing and suffering as its own (5). The heart, therefore, is also
the organ of the conscience, Job xxvii. 6. But in general, when a
man takes anything home to him, or appropriates anything, designs
anything, is busy with any plan or resolution, this happens in the
heart (6). Hence expressions such as 33? By jn*, Deut. viii. 5 ; 3*cn
53^-?s, Isa. xliv. 19, etc. ; iaWs nps,_this even of God,— Gen. viii. 21;
*3?3 n*n, *3? By, *33?3, 3?"?y B*C, 33? ni'SCD, Ps. Ixxiii. 7 ; 3?-*31V»,
Prov. xvi. 1 (7). But the heart is the organ not simply of those
acts of consciousness which are purely inward, but also of the
functions of knowledge in general, which is essentially an appropriation,
so that 3? has frequently exactly the meaning intellect, insight ; for
example, 33^ *C3S, viri cordati, Job xxxiv. 10; 3b-|*S=?3p, Jer. v. 21,
comp. Prov. xvii. 16, also of God ; 3? na 1*33, Job xxxvi. 5 ; 3? 3rn.
1 Kings v. 9 (8).
Now, because the heart is the focus of the person's life, the work
place for the personal appropriation and assimilation of everything
spiritual, the moral and religious condition of man lies in the heart.
Only what enters the heart forms a possession of moral worth, and
only what comes from the heart is a moral production. The indivi
dual tendency of man's life as a whole, as well as all his separate
personal acts, receive their character and moral value from the con
stitution and contents of the heart, in virtue of the necessary con
nection which subsists between the centre and the periphery (9).
Because of this, man is characterized by his heart in all his habitual
and moral attributes. We read in 1 Kings v. 12, Prov. x. 8, etc., a
wise heart ; in Ps. Ii. 12, of a pure heart ; in Gen. xx. 5 f ., etc., of an
honest and righteous heart : and so, on the other hand, in Ps. ci. 4, of

§ 71.] NOTION OF THE HEART, AND ITS RELATION TO THE SOUL. 223
a perverse heart ; in Jer. iii. 17, etc., of a wicked and stubborn heart ;
and in Ezek. xxviii. 2, etc., of a haughty heart (10). Even Genesis
sets forth its doctrine of the 3? "IS*, the figment of the heart, Gen. viii.
21, in opposition to the superficial doctrine which makes man in a
moral sense an indifferent being, in whose choice it lies in each
moment to be either good or bad ; and so this book understands sin
as a principle which has penetrated to the centre, and from thence
corrupts the whole circuit of life (11). Therefore the human heart is
characterized in Jer. xvii. 9 as "guileful (3py, properly rugged, the
opposite of 1C*) above all things, and mortally diseased (CIS)," so that
God alone (but He completely, Prov. xv. 11) is able to fathom the
depths of its perverseness ; and hence the prayer in Ps. cxxxix. 23 f.
So every revelation addresses itself to the heart, even the revelation
of law, Deut. vi. 6 ; for it demands love to God from the whole heart,
and, starting from this centre, also from the whole soul ; compare xi.
18. The condition of insusceptibility for what is divine is called the
uncircumcised heart (TO), Lev. xxvi. 41, Deut. x. 16, comp. Ezek. xliv.
9 ; and callousness in sin is a hardening, an obduracy of the heart —
Ezek. iv. 21, and many other passages (12). And because of this the
power of revelation is directed to renew man from the heart ; and its
aim, Deut. xxx. 6, is to circumcise the heart — to establish God's will
within the heart, Jer. xxxi. 33. — Also on man's side the process of
salvation begins in the heart. Faith, in which man's personal life in
its deepest basis takes a new direction, belongs entirely to the sphere
of the heart, and is described as a making sure (from the root-meaning
of fpsn), a making strong (PP.^n, Ps. xxvii. 14, xxxi. 25), a stablish-
ing of the heart (compare especially Ps. cxii. 7 f.) on that foundation
which is God, the 33^ nix Himself, Ps. Ixxiii. 26 ; compare the same
view in the New Testament — for example, Rom. x. 9 f., Acts viii.
37 (13). — On the contrary, frames of mind and emotions are just as
often predicated of the soul as of the heart, according as they are
understood as something which occupies the whole personality of man,
or as a state ruling the inmost heart of man. In the Old Testament,
grief and care, fear and terror, joy and confidence, tranquillity and
contentment, are referred sometimes to the heart and sometimes to
the soul ; compare the union of the two expressions, Deut. xxviii. 65,
and also Prov. xii. 25, Eccles. xi. 10, Jer. xv. 16, 1 Sam. ii. 1, Ps.

224 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 71.
xxviii. 7, on the one hand, and Ex. xxiii. 9 (where Luther translates
CM by heart), Ps. vi. 4, xiii. 6 f., Isa. Ixi. 10, Ps. lxii. 2, cxxxi. 2, cxvi.
7, on the other. In these points usage has established peculiar dis
tinctions, so that, for example, as a rule, "OD and its derivatives are
connected with CM, and npc and its derivatives with 3?, etc. (14).
However, CM, and not 3^, generally stands if the functions spoken of
are those in which the subject is in motion towards an object. Jer.
iv. 19 is instructive in this connection (15). But it is specially to be
remarked that (16), in the notion of CM, the character of desire is ob
viously that which predominates and reaches furthest; and here the
connection of desire with the breath and with breathing must not be
overlooked (17). Certainly the impulses by which man allows him
self to be determined (comp. Ex. xxxv. 5, xxii. 29), the tendency of
the will which rules him, the views which he cherishes, the pleasure
which he enjoys internally, are matters of the heart (comp. Ezek. xi. 21,
xx. 16, xxxiii. 31 ; Deut. xi. 16; Job xxxi. 7, ix. 27; Ps. Ixvi. 18; Prov.
vi. 25) ; but as soon as the tendency of the will extends to the utterance
of the desire, CM generally comes in, and the stem nis, together
with its derivatives, is almost exclusively connected with CM (i g).
Indeed, it is well known that CM is sometimes placed for desire or
inclination itself; compare in particular, Eccles. vi. 7, 9, Prov. xiii.
2 (19). (1) Compare the theory of sacrifice, § 127.
(2) The Old Testament and the Homeric anthropology offer
parallels of the highest interest, but here there is a remarkable
difference between the two : the Homeric "tyvy/f) is impersonal, — simply
the sensual principle of life ; the spiritual elements have their seat in
the <j>peve<;. Compare Nagelsbach, Homerische Theol. 1st ed. p. 331 ff.,
2d ed. p. 380 ff., and my Commentationes, p. 11 f .
(3) Compare Ps. xxxix. 4 (*3"ip3 *3^); cix. 22, 1 Sam. xxv. 37 ;
see Delitzsch, System der bibl. Psychologie, 1st ed. pp. 203, 220; 2d ed.
pp. 248, 265. According to Hupfeld, on Ps. xvii. 10, 3i*n, I.e., and
Ixxiii. 7, is also a mere name for the heart, which is scarcely probable
[art. " Herz."]. — The question on the relation of the heart to the
soul belongs to the more difficult questions of Biblical psychology;
however, a sure result can be attained.
(4) The bucket at the spring of blood, Eccles. xii. 6. See on this
passage Delitzsch, I.e., 1st ed. p. 185, 2d ed. p. 229 [above art.].

§ 71. J NOTION OF THE HEART, AND ITS RELATION TO THE SOUL. 225
(5) " In corde actiones animEe humanse ad ipsam redeunt," says
Roos, Fundam. psychol. ex. s. ser., p. 99, shortly and strikingly.
(6) Roos, I.e. : "Dum ipsa [anima] sibi aliquid ostendit ac
proponit, ad cor suum loqui dicitur. Dum suarum actionum sibi
conscia est, et illarum innocentiam vel turpitudinem ipsa sentit, id ad
cor .refertnr. Anima humana ut •tyvyfj suavia appetit, ut spiritus
scrutatur, etc. Sed quatenus cor habet, ipsa novit, se hoc agere, et ideas
reflexas habet."
(7) See the particulars in the dictionaries.
(8) By this Ps. cxix. 32 is to be explained (differently by Heng
stenberg), and similarly the passage 2 Kings v. 26, which has been
understood in so many different ways. The LXX. often put vov<;
for 3?, Ex. vii. 23, Isa. x. 7, etc. Compare, too, on the close connec
tion of the two notions, Beck, Christi. Lehrwissenschaft, i. p. 233.
There are indeed exceptions. The soul, too, is put as the subject of
insight, .Prov. xix. 2, Ps. exxxix. 14 ; the thoughts that move man
are called a speaking and meditating of the soul, Lam. iii. 20, 24,
1 Sam. xx. 4 ; men form imaginations in the soul, Esth. iv. 13, and
cherish plans there, Ps. xiii. 3, etc. Still there are comparatively
very few such passages (see Delitzsch, I.e., 1st ed. p. 156, 2d ed.
p. 198)"; and it seems sometimes, as in the last-cited passage, that the
mention of the soul is occasioned mainly by the parallelism, which
demands a second expression. [Above art.]
(9) The divine judgment being passed on man not according to
what he appears to be, but according to what he is, is described as a
looking on the heart, 1 Sam. xvi. 7, Jer. xx. 12 ; a knowing and
trying the heart, 1 Kings viii. 39 ; Prov. xvii. 3 ; Ps. vii. 10, xvii. 3 ;
Jer. xi. 20. — Even of God it is said, Lam. iii. 33, "He does not
afflict men i3?p," in order to express the difference between that which
is rooted in His being and the appearance as it is taken up by man.
[Above art.]
(10) In all such connections CM is not readily used. The LXX.
are not so rigorous in this usage; comp. Bottcher, de inferis, § 41 (but
there are various readings in some passages there quoted). The usage
in the book of Wisdom is peculiar ; it speaks of holy souls (vii. 27),
and on the contrary of KaKore^yo^ ^rvyfj, into which wisdom does not
enter, and of ei6vrn<; ijrt^s (ix. 3, etc.). This usage is connected with
the book's peculiar theory of the differences of natural character in
souls, indicated in viii. 19. [Above art.]
(11 and 12) See the doctrine of sin, § 75 and § 76.
(13) According to Delitzsch, I.e., 1st ed. p. 109, 2d ed. p. 145,
Ps. Ixxiii. 26 proves that faith is an exertion of the pure Ego, which
VOL. I. P

226 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 71.
is distinguished from spirit, soul, and body : " His Ego remains
faithful to God, even when the body and also the heart — that is, the
life of soul and spirit — perish." To me it seems rather that in the first
hemistich, 3^, going with ISC, denotes the bodily heart ; even if this
fails, God remains the rock of the heart (that is, in its psychical
meaning). [Above art.] — Rom. x. 10: tcapBta tnareverai; Acts viii.
37 : rnareveis i% oXn<s tjjs icapBia<;.
(14) The passage Prov. xiv. 10 is interesting in this connection :
" The heart knoweth the sadness of its soul ; in its joy also must no
stranger mingle."
(15) According to Jer. iv. 19, the soul hears the tumult of war,
and on this the heart is moved by sorrow and horror. — J/PC° 3?, 1 Kings
iii. 9, has a quite different meaning. [Above art.]
(16) Thus, rightly, Delitzsch, I.e., 1st ed. p. 162, 2d ed. p. 204.
(17) As vehement, passionate desire is expressed by panting ; see,
for example, Am. ii. 7. [Above art.]
(18) 3?nisn is found only in Ps. xxi. 3. Compare, further,
passages like Ps. Ixxxiv. 3, cxix. 20, 81, Isa. xxvi. 8 f. [Above art.]
(19) By this, CM 3*rnn, Isa. v. 14, Hab. ii. 5, and CM 3rn, Prov.
xxviii. 25, are to be explained; the latter is different from 3? 3rn,
Ps. ci. 5, which Ewald incorrectly translates " of greedy heart," since,
like Prov. xxi. 4, it designates puffed up, conceited security. — In con
clusion, the question would still fall to be taken into consideration, in
what relation the heart, as the focus and centre of the spiritual life
of the soul, stands to the heart as the centre of physical life. But
this question can be sufficiently discussed only in connection with a
comprehensive examination of the relation of the body and soul in
general. _ Here it can only be remarked, shortly, that according to
Holy Writ there is not merely a parallelism between the body and
soul, in virtue of which what is bodily stands simply as the symbol of
spiritual occurrences, but that as the soul which supports the person
ality is the same as that which rules in the blood and in the breath,
so also in its higher functions the bodily organs have a real share.
Now, indeed, with the well-known experience that affections and
passions affect the intestines, that the beating of the heart in particular
is modified by all passionate excitement, no one will find simple tropes
where the Psalmist says (Ps. xxxix. 4), " My heart was hot within
me ; " or Jer. xx. 9, " It was in my heart like a burning fire ;" comp.
iv. 19, xxiii. 9. There are two remarkable points in biblical anthro
pology : firstly, the specific relationship in which the Holy Scriptures
place separate parts of the intestines to specific emotions (see what
Delitzsch, I.e.— 1st ed. p. 222 ff., 2d ed. p. 266 ff.— says on the biblical

§ 72.] THE PRIMITIVE STATE OF MAN. 227
meaning of B*pnn, the liver, the kidneys) ; and secondly, the way in
which the heart, and not the head and the brain, is referred to in
connection with the activity of knowledge and will (the book of
Daniel is the first to speak of " the visions of the head"). It is well
known that the view of the whole ancient world agrees entirely with
the Bible in this. As regards the Homeric doctrine (e.g. the meaning
of tcrjp, KpaBin), compare Niigelsbach's Homer. Theol. 1st ed. p. 332 ff.,
2d ed. p. 384 ff.; remember also the Roman usage of words like
cordatus, recordari, vecors, excors, and others ; compare in particular
Cicero, Tusc. i. 9, 18, and also Plato, Phwd. c. 45, and the commen
tators on this passage, etc. The spiritual significance of the heart
cannot — as Delitzsch, I.e., 1st ed. p. 215, 2d ed. p. 260, rightly main
tains — be simply referred to the fact that the heart is the centre of the
circulation of the blood. The way in which Delitzsch, 1st ed. p. 216 f.,
2d ed. p. 260 ff., has adduced the phenomena of somnambulism in
illustration of the matter is deserving of all notice ; but physiology
has hitherto given almost no answer to the questions that here suggest
themselves [above art.].

SECOND CHAPTEB.

THE DOCTEINE OP MAN IN REFERENCE TO THE CONTRADICTORY
ELEMENTS WHICH ENTERED BY SIN INTO ITS DEVELOPMENT.
I. THE PRIMITIVE STATE OF MAN.
§72.
The constitution of man's primitive state can be made out in part
from the second chapter of Genesis, and in part by arguing back
wards from the change which came in by sin. Thus the following
points are reached: — innocence and childlike intercourse with God,
harmonious relationship to nature, and, in a manner, immortality.
1. Man was created good, Gen. i. 31 — that is, answering the
divine aim. But as the good in him is not yet developed to free self-
determination, he does not as yet know the good as good (compare
iii. 5). This is the condition of childlike naivete" and innocence
(compare Deut. i. 39). It is characterized in Gen. ii. 25 by the
circumstance that shame was not yet awakened. Hence, in the first

228 THE DOCTRINES AND ' ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 72.
place, that conception of the original state which viewed it as a
created condition of sapientia and sanctitas contradicts the delineation
in Genesis ; instead of which, it would be much more in the sense of
the Old Testament to say, as Eccles. vii. 29 expresses it : " God made
man *ic* (right)." But in the second place, that view which takes the
original state to be only a condition of being without sin — either a
state of pure indifference, or a state in which the evil was already
latent, so that in the Fall the disposition which already existed in
man only came forth — is equally irreconcilable with Genesis. The
delineation of the origin of sin (Gen. iii.) is thoroughly opposed to all
doctrines according to which the evil in man is to be looked on as
a necessary factor in man's development (see § 73).
2. In the primitive condition, man lives in undisturbed and harm
less union with nature as with God. The former is made especially
clear by the contrast in Gen. iii. 8 ff., in which it is contained that
the fear, which in man's present condition predominates in his relation
to the Divinity, is not the normal relation. The peaceful relationship
of man towards nature is seen, partly in the description of the life
in Paradise in general, and partly by the present relation of man to
nature being contrasted with the condition before sin, since man must
now make nature serviceable to him by toiling and struggling (iii.
17 ff., v. 29), and exercises his dominion over tlie animals in especial
by deeds of violence and destruction of life, ix. 2 f. (a passage which
stands in contrast to i. 29) (1). Hence prophecy (see later) has also
adopted the abolition of this hostile relation as a feature in the
description of the time of salvation (in the welh-known passages, Isa.
xi. 6-8, lxv. 25).
3. Lastly, in Gen. ii., immortality is ascribed to man, but con
ditionally in the sense of posse non mori. This is denied by many.
Certainly the idea, that if man did not sin he should never die, does
not necessarily lie in the words, Gen. ii. 17, " In the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt die ; " the words, taken by themselves, could
also mean only a quick and early death. But it is quite clear from
iii. 22 that, according to the sense of the record, the possibility of
reaching immortality is annexed to the life in Paradise, or that
immortality was reserved for man in so far as he should live in
unbroken communion with God. And iii. 19 (2) does not mean, as

§73.] THE FORMAL PRINCIPLE OF SIN. 229
many expositors have maintained, that by nature man must assuredly
die ; but the words only give the reason why the end of man's life,
when once decreed, is brought about in the manner assigned as a
. corruption of the body (3).
(1) In Gen. i. 29 man is still directed to vegetable nourishment.
The power to kill animals is not given him till chap. ix.
(2) Gen. iii. 22 : " That he may not take of the tree of life, and
live to eternity." Ver. 19 : " Till thou returnest again to the earth,
for out of it wast thou taken ; dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return." — Particulars on the last-quoted passage in § 77.
(3) It may be asked why the Old Testament looks back so little
on the primitive state? This question has been very well answered
by Gustav Baur, in his treatise, "Die alttest. und die griechische
Vorstellung vom Siindenfalle," in the Theol. Studien und Kritiken,
1848. He says there, p. 360 : " The lost Paradise lying in the
past is not further regarded by the religion of Israel, which forgets
what is behind, and reaches forward to what is before, pursuing the
aim of a future and blessed communion with God, which is placed
before it ; instead of idly mourning over the lost golden time, it
rather strives to win Paradise again, filled, refined, and strengthened
by God's Spirit."

II. OF SIN.
1. THE ORIGIN OF SIN.
§73.
The Formal Principle of Sin.
The way in which both the formal and the material principle of
sin are to be comprehended according to the Old Testament is
embodied in the history of the Fall (Gen. iii.). In this (quite
symbolic) delineation there lie the following doctrines : —
1. Man can pass from the condition of innocence into the state
of free morality only by an act of self-determination. For this it
is mainly necessary for him to distinguish his will, in which till then
the good was immediately posited, from the good itself, and so to

230 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 73.
gain the notion of something not. good (JHJ 31D nv% ii. 17). There
fore the good is placed before him objectively, in the form of a
command, ii. 16 f. But the meaning of the story is not (as some
modern theologians have understood it) that it was intended that man
should transgress the law, because, as Bruno Bauer, for example (Die
Religion des A. T. i. p. 23), has expressed it, the knowledge of the
good is only possible if the subject distinguishes itself from the good —
that is, knows itself as sinful. The meaning of the record is rather,
that if the will is objectively confronted by what is good, and thus
distinguishes itself accordingly from the good, still this does not
involve a decision of the will against the good. This is taught by
the record when it does not represent the will of man as immediately
reacting against the express command, but refers the first impulse to
a decision against the command to the operation of an influence
from without, and represents the woman (iii. 1—3) as at first still
acknowledging the obligatory force of the divine command. This
also excludes, on the side of the Old Testament, the supposition that
man has a conscience Only in so far as he knows himself to be sinful
(as has been maintained from a Hegelian standpoint). For (1) when
the woman, iii. 2 f., remembers the divine command, and knows that
she is bound by it, and thus acknowledges its obligatory force, she
has not yet sinned, and yet she shows that she has a conscience.
Hence it follows that, according to the Old Testament, sin is not a
necessary factor in the development of man, but a product of optional
decision ; as is also the case afterwards, though no longer, as we shall
see, in an absolute sense, Deut. xxx. 15 : " See, I have to-day laid
before thee life and what is good, death and what is evil." In
opposition to this, such passages are cited from the later books as
Job iv. 17 ff., xiv. 4, Ps. ciii. 10, 14, which, when looked at by them
selves, might favour the supposition that sin is just a necessary conse
quence of the finiteness of human nature ; but these passages are to
be understood from the standpoint of the present constitution of
man. 2. As has been said, the first incitement to transgress the com
mand came from without. The story apparently presupposes an
ungodly principle which had already entered the world, but does not
give any further account of it. No further attention is paid to the

§ 74.] MATERIAL PRINCIPLE AND OLD TESTAMENT NAMES OF SIN. 231
serpent, and therefore it cannot be laid down as a doctrine of Mosaism
that it was either Satan or a tool of Satan's, because, as we shall see
hereafter, the doctrine of Satan does not appear in the Old Testament
till much later, although it is probable that in the Azazel, Lev. xvi.
8 ff., a wicked demon is to be seen (2). On the other hand, Wisd.
ii. 23 f. teaches that the seduction of the first man is the work of
Satan; and this is also presupposed in the New Testament (3). But
the chief thing in connection with this point in Gen. iii. is, that the
seduction does not at all act by compulsion on man, but is successful
only when man freely renounces resistance to temptation. Here
there is an essential difference between the Old Testament delineation
and the Zend doctrine, according to which the evil is simply physically
inserted in man (4).
(1) Compare Nitzsch, System der christlichen Lehre, § 98, note.
(2) Compare the account of the day of reconciliation, § 140 {?}.
(3) It is doubtful whether John viii. 44, the dvOpairoicrovo';, refers
to this ; for, comparing 1 John iii. 12, 15, we are inclined to interpret
the passage about the murderer as referring to Cain's fratricide. But
Rev. xii. 9, where the devil is called 6 Bpd/cav, 6 6'<£t? o ap^aio?, refers
to the Fall in Gen. iii. Compare, too, the allusion in Rom. xvi. 20
to Gen. iii. 15.
(4) In modern times there has been no lack of attempts to under
stand the matter physically, by making the tree of knowledge a
poisonous tree. These are all additions to the Old Testament
delineation.
§74.
The Material Principle of Sin. The Old Testament Names of Sin.
3. The following is the process of the origin of sin : First, a doubt
is awakened whether what God has commanded is really good, and
along with this the command itself is exaggerated, Gen. iii. 1 (1).
Distrust of God was first to be called up, as if He were an envious
being, who sought to keep man back in a lower stage ; and then ver.
4 proceeds to a decided denial of God's word. Only then, after self-
seeking rising over God's will and God's word, has been awakened,
does sensuous charm, ver. 6, exert its power. In other words, the
real principle of sin is, according to the Old Testament, unbelief in

232 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 74.
the divine word, — the selfish raising of self-will above the divine will,
and presumptuous neglect of the limits drawn by divine command.
The share of the sensuous nature in the production of sin appears as
merely secondary. Thus Gen. iii. disproves the doctrine so often put
forward, especially in the rabbinical theology, that according to the
Old Testament the real principle of evil lies in matter, in the body (2).
It continues to be a fundamental doctrine of the Old Testament that
evil was originally the denial of the divine will ; that sin is sin be
cause man lifts himself in self-seeking above God and His will. The
Old Testament knows of no evil which is purely an injustice of men
against each other, or a simple retardation of the development of
human nature, simple weakness (3). — But that the Old Testament
sees the ground of all evil in the selfish transgression of bounds pre
scribed to man by God, is not to be explained by thinking of God as
an envious being, but because He is the Holy One, and holiness as
such (from what was already proved) cannot bear anything con
tradictory to it. The God who rules over the world in immoveable
omnipotence, giving measure and aim to all things, has no ground for
envy like the Greek gods (4). It is preposterous to take the words of
Gen. iii. 22, " The man is become like one of us," as an expression of
divine envy, as has been done by some expositors (e.g. P. v. Bohlen) ;
it rather contains a melancholy irony — the man has by the Fall
really reached what he was to reach, but in a wrong way, and to his
misfortune. In one sense the serpent, in the words " eritis sicut Deus,"
told the truth, for man has reached independence over against God.
But still he was deceived and deluded, for it is only independence in
evil. Instead of being raised to free communion with God, he is free
to go upon ungodly paths. It is shown by the curse to which man is
now subjected that the account does not in the least mean to speak of
a felix culpa, of an elevation of man by sin (5). — It cannot be said with
perfect certainty whether there are allusions to the story of the Fall in
the following books of the Old Testament. Most probably there is
such an allusion in Hos. vi. 7, where the explanation, " they trans
gressed the covenant like Adam," certainly deserves to be preferred to
the other views, — " after the manner of men," or even " like men of
the mob," or "like a covenant with a man" (6). In Job xxxi. 33,
too, the explanation, " If I had dissembled my transgressions like

§ 74.] MATERIAL PRINCIPLE AND OLD TESTAMENT NAMES OF SIN. 233
Adam " (referring to Adam's excuses for himself), is more probable
than the other view, " after the manner of man." On the contrary,
Isa. xliii. 27, " thy first father sinned," without doubt does not refer
to Adam's fall; rather to Abraham, but probably to Jacob, the proper
ancestor of the people.
The Old Testament designations for sin are to be understood in
conformity with the account we have given of the principle of sin.
(a) The most common expression is spn, nspn, first in Gen. iv. 7,
or shorter, spn ; it comprehends sins of weakness as well as sins of
wickedness. The physical meaning of spn is to miss the mark, Judg.
xx. 16. nspn denotes missing — deviation, that is, from the divine way
and the goal laid down for man by the divine will ; and spn joined
with ? means to go astray from God, to deviate, to sin against
Him. (b) The second expression, |iy, means properly crookedness, per
version, pravitas ; primarily it does not designate an action, but the
character of an action ; hence in Ps. xxxii. 5, *nspn |iy. In the mouth
of men of the world, Hos. xii. 9, the word means injustice in
general (7). But since, according to Old Testament doctrine, there is
no injustice which is not sin, i'iy is the perversion of the divine law,
dvofiia ; then especially the guilt of sin, firstly in Gen. xv. 16, and
thus in many connections: I'iy SCJ, to take away guilt; i'iy 3C'n, to
impute guilt ; l'W 133, to forgive guilt, (c) In its intensification, sin
becomes yea, an expression which probably means properly breach
with God, and hence apostasy, rebellion against God ; for the stem
yes seems to be connected with PpB, rupit. While nspn includes sins
of negligence and weakness, design and set purpose are always implied
in yea. Job xxxiv. 37 may be regarded as the chief passage (8).
Still it often stands side by side with Jiy and nstsn, Ex. xxxiv. 7,
Num. xiv. 18. (d) If the evil has become an habitual feature of the
disposition and of the actions, it is V®\ The Vfl is the opposite of
P'HV. Still this expression, like POV, can be used in reference to a
single case. The main notion in yci appears to be stormy excitement
(connected by its root with TO, etc., although the term is often
explained otherwise); comp. passages like Job iii. 17, Isa. Ivii. 20,
etc. (e) Evil, as in itself void and worthless, is called |JN (also SIC,
etc.).

234 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 74.
(1) The passage Gen. iii. 1 must necessarily be thus explained :
"Hath God said ye shall not eat of all the trees of the garden?" that
is, of no tree whatever. S? is separated from ?3, and belongs to the
verb. Comp. oi rra<; in the New Testament.
(2) Compare, e.g., Maimonides, More Neboch. iii. 8. — That Gen.
vi. 3, which has also been appealed to, proves nothing for this is
shown in § 77.
(3) In reference to the relation of the doctrine of sin in the Old
Testament on the one side, and among the Indo-Germanic peoples on
the other side, Grau has rightly found a cardinal point here. He
says (Semites and Indo-Germanians, p. 94) : " Sin is notmerely a trans
gression of the bounds given in the nature and constitution of man ;
this is the purely earthly, philosophical notion reached by the Indo-
German, whose thought does not go beyond the world. But sin is
essentially a transgression of the law of God, an injury to the abso
lutely Holy Ego. From the former standpoint, when the limits which
were passed are set up again, and the harm which was the con
sequence of the transgression is blotted out, the sin itself appears to
be done away with. If, on ths other hand, sin is a deed against God,
it is not something simply finite, something which can be done away
with again by the doer, but it is infinite guilt, because the injured
person has an infinite value."
(4) The Greek gods have reason to be envious, because they do not
stand in the relation of absolute superiority to men. The Hellenic
doctrine of the origin of sin is expressed in the myth of Prometheus.
There, indeed, the envy of the gods is an important element. In
Mekone, men and gods gathered together in order to limit their rights
on both sides. On this occasion Prometheus was able to entrap Zeus.
It is a struggle between the gods and men, which is something entirely
different from the struggle known in the Old Testament. Compare
the above-cited treatise of Gustav Baur, p. 347.
(5) On the connection of death and sin, see § 77.
(6) Ps. lxxxii. 7 does not speak in favour of the second explana
tion of B1S3 in Hos. vi. 7, because there the contrast is different.
The third explanation would be admissible only if npn referred to men
of higher station — to priests and prophets ; but it refers to Judah and
Israel. Lastly, if according to the fourth explanation B1S3 stood for
Bis n033, the order of the words would be different.
T (1) Hos. xii. 9 : sprncs |iy *b"lSVp* sp, "They find none iniquity
in me that were sin."
(8) Job xxxiv. 37 : yea insprrpy ci*p* *3, " That he adds to his
sin rebellion."

§ 75.] SIN AS AN INCLINATION. TRANSMISSION OF SIN. 235
2. THE STATE OF SIN.
§75.
Sin as an Inclination. Transmission of Sin.
In consequence of the Fall, sin appears as a state in mankind — that
is, as an inclination which rules man, and as a common sinful life
which is transmitted partly in humanity in general, and partly in an
especial degree in separate races, and so subjects these to the curse
of guilt and judgment.
1. After once appearing by the free act of man, sin does not
remain in this isolation. The second sin, that of self-excuse and
palliation of the offence, follows immediately on the first, the sin of
disobedience, Gen. iii. 10. This is the n»p"j (deceit), Ps. xxxii. 2,
which, when sin has once entered, prevents the realization of earnest
opposition thereto. As sin thus joins to sin, it becomes a habitus,
and in this way a definite feature of the heart, or, as it is termed, a
3? "IX*, figment or imagination of the heart, an inclination, which gives
a perverted tendency to man's will. Thus it is said before the flood,
Gen. vi. 5 : " Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only
evil continually" (tBi»rr?3 yn pi_ taf> nbc'np nx*."P3); and after it again,
viii. 21 : " The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth" (IX*
loyap in B-isn 3?). That this IV* is not to be understood simply as a
physical disposition, as is taught by the rabbinical theology (1), is
shown by the more exact expression in vi. 5 : i3? nbc'np IS* (comp. 1
Chron. xxviii. 9). Because this sinful inclination — this is the meaning
of the variously explained passage Gen. viii. 21 — cleaves to man from
his youth, the human race would lie under a continual sentence of
destruction if God gave severe justice its course. The ground for
sparing him is, according to the context of that passage, that man still
seeks communion with. God, as is shown by sacrifice. — The natural
striving of man against God's law — the stiff-neckedness and hardness
of heart so often spoken of in the Pentateuch — is based on this sinful
inclination. Therefore, when Israel promises to keep the divine law,
the divine voice complains, Deut. v. 26 (29) : " They have spoken
right, but oh that they had a heart to fear me and keep all my com
mands."

236 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 75.
2. That this sinful inclination is hereditary is indirectly contained
in the passages cited, although it is not expressly said. It comes into
notice along with this, that Mosaism, although it derives the propaga
tion of man's race from God's blessing, still regards all events and
conditions which refer to birth and generation as requiring a purifying
expiation ; compare the law, Lev. xii. and xv., in which the thought
lies that all these conditions are connected with the disturbance of sin.
Hence Ps. Ii. 7 just expresses the idea of the law: " Behold, I was born
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." Even if this
passage spoke only of a Jiy and spn of the parents, according to the
explanation which is now more common, it would still follow, from the
fact that the very origin of man is connected with sin, that even the
newly born child is not free from sin; as Job xiv. 4 expresses it,
" How can a clean thing come from an unclean ? not one," — a thought
which is certainly connected with the passage in the Psalms. But
there is nothing to prevent f\V and spn in the passages in the Psalms
being referred, as is done by Hitzig, to the child itself as soon as con
ceived and born ; according to which, the passage says directly that
evil is ingrown in man from the first moment of his origin (2). — This
transmission of sin takes place with special intensity in certain races,
especially those that have fallen under the divine curse. This is
implied in the history of the Cainites, Gen. iv. ; of Ham, and especially
Canaan, from ix. 25 onwards ; of Moab and Ammon, from xix. 36
onwards, etc. ; but it is especially contained in the repeated declaration
that God visits the sins of the fathers on the third and fourth genera
tion. For this point the main passages are — Ex. xx. 5, xxxiv. 7 ; Num.
xiv. 18 ; Deut. v. 9. This passage does not mean to say (as it has
often been misrepresented) that God punishes the sins of the fathers
on guiltless descendants, as conversely He brings the blessing of pious
fathers on the latest generations, even though they walk in the path of
sin. This is not contained in Ex. xx. 5 f. (3). Even if (with the
Vulgate, — "in . . . generationem eorum, qui oderunt me," — Knobel,and
others) we refer the *WC? simply to nhs, and understand it as a repeti
tion of the genitive, — " visiting the iniquity of the fathers — of the
fathers who hate me," — it is not said that the sons are innocent, but
nothing is said about their character at all. But *? does not resume
the genitive again after |il|, for then it would stand after nhs. From

§ 75.] SIN AS AN INCLINATION. TRANSMISSION OF SIN. 237
its position and parallelism with ^ns^, ver. 6, 'sacb must rather be
referred to fathers and sons together. The presupposition certainly is,
that as a rule a moral condition of life is introduced by the father of
the race, which continues to act as a power in the family (4). Now,
if the descendants continue in the sin of their ancestors, and fulfil its
measure (comp. Gen. xv. 16), then, even if the divine forbearance
should wait till the third and fourth generation, they meet the judg
ment incurred by the common sins of the race ; their sins and those
of their fathers are punished at the same time upon them. For
this idea compare the particularly instructive passage Lev. xxvi. 39 :
" They pine away in the lands of your foes for their iniquity ; and also
for the iniquity of their fathers, which is amongst them, do they pine
away." The possibility of breaking the curse lying on a race, as in
the case of Levi (comp. § 29, with note 2), or at least of some freeing
themselves from it, is not here denied (compare the case of the
Korahites). According to this, Ex. xx. 5 f. is not contradictory to
Deut. xxiv. 16 (5) ; a passage which, moreover, mainly refers to the
administration of penal justice by man (comp. 2 Kings xiv. 6). But
if the prophets Jeremiah,- xxxi. 29 f., and Ezekiel, chap, xviii. and
xxxiii. 17 f., use the doctrine of Deuteronomy in reference also to the
divine justice, they do not in so doing enter into polemic against the
proposition in Ex. xx. 5 — which, indeed, is placed by Jeremiah him
self, chap, xxxii. 18, beside the other, ver. 19 (comp. Lam. v. 7 with
iii. 39 ff., where again both propositions are found) ; but the prophets
combated the perverse application which the self-righteous people of
their time made of that ancient word to palliate their guilt (6). The
passages on both sides proceed from different historical points. If we
proceed from the consideration of individuals, each one suffers for his
own sin ; but if we consider the species, the sin of each individual is
the stepping forward and continuance of the sin of common life,
which went out from the sin of the father of the race.
(1) Compare Vitringa, Observations Sacrw, iii. 8, p. 618.
(2) The Talmud, indeed, speaks of children born in holiness, but
not the Old Testament. The divine equipment of some men in the
womb (Jer. i. 5, etc.) does not exclude the general sinfulness of man.
[Article, " Padagogik des A. T."]
(3) Ex. xx. 5 : " Thou shalt not worship them (the idols), for I,

238 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 76.
Jehovah, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation, 'SJ'cp."
(4) Compare Havernick, Theol. des A- T, 2d ed., edited by
Schultz, p. 113 : " It is to be regarded as an exception when a godless
father has a virtuous son. That ethical states follow a rule is pre
supposed in the law; this is viewed by it, so to speak, as the normal
course of things with regard to wickedness."
(5) Deut. xxiv. 16 : " The sons shall not be slain for their fathers'
sake ; each one shall die for his own sin."
(6) The Jews, in Jer. xxxi. 29, interpreted : " The fathers have
eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge."
§76.
Antagonism of the Good and the Evil in Man. Degrees of Sin.
Possibility of a Relative Righteousness.
Along with all this, the power of sin is represented as a power
which may and is to be fought against by the freedom of man. And
thus on the deportment of man depend the various degrees of sin,
which at its height becomes callousness ; whilst, on the other hand, by
submission to the word and will of the revealing God, a godly life in
the midst of the world's life of sin is laid down as possible, and thus
a distinction is constituted between the righteous and unrighteous.
According to the Old Testament, the condition of man in conse
quence of the Fall is not that of an absolute subjection to sin which
destroys the power of resistance, but it is an antagonism which has
entered in between man's disposition to good and the power of sin.
The feeling of a contradiction now dwelling in man shows itself, Gen.
iii. 7, in the appearance of shame, but iv. 6 f. is in this connection the
main passage. It is to be explained thus : Jehovah said to Cain,
" Why art thou wroth, and why has thy countenance fallen ? Is it
not so, if thou doest well, thy countenance is lifted up, but if thou
doest not well, sin is before the door, as a lier in wait (1) ; his desire "
(sin's) " is towards thee ; but thou shouldst rule over him." Here is
expressed the duty and possibility of resisting the sinful inclination.
The whole law rests on this presupposition (compare especially the
section Deut. xxx. 11-20), though, at the same time (as we shall see
later), it is distinctly stated that the overcoming of the power of sin in

§ 76.] ANTAGONISM OF THE GOOD AND THE EVIL IN MAN. 239
man is not attained. But according as men seek or do not seek to rule'
over sin, there arises a difference of relation to God and a difference
in the degree of sinfulness. This difference of degree is not in any
way to be traced to the difference of the inner and outer, as if the
decisive point were the outward relation of man to the law ; for, in
Ex. xx. 17, a wicked desire is forbidden no less than wicked deeds,
and the law does not seek mere outward conformity to the divine will.
Though the ordinances of justice and ritual must, in the nature of
things, look primarily at the outward condition of offences, still, in
reference to individual sinful actions, they distinguish between sins
committed through error and negligence (nj!3C3, Lev. iv. 2, 22, etc.;
compare Num. xxxv. 22 ff.) and those committed with wicked intention
(npn T3, Num. xv. 30, etc.). But what the spirit of the Old Testament
is in reference to the moral estimate of the whole man, is shown in the
history in many examples. Moses — although even on him, the faithful
servant of God, sin was heavily punished — did not sin as did Pharaoh,
in whom God's judgments produce an appearance of repentance only
till the moment when he gets relief from punishment. David, to the
depth of whose fall corresponds a repentance just as deep, sinned
differently from Saul, who is sorry for his sin because it brings
him misfortune. In short, the measure for the divine estimate of
man lies in the uprightness and purity of the attitude of the heart
towards God (33? Bh). The Old Testament calls the highest degree
of sin obduracy, or hardening of the heart (3? pfn, Ex. iv. 21 ; J*ps,
2 Chron. xxxvi. 13; T33H, 133, 1 Sam. vi. 6; ncpn, Ps. xcv. 8, Prov.
xxviii. 14, for which we find also, to close up the heart, Isa. xliv. 18,
to make fat, Tpcn, vi. 10 ; comp. Ps. cxix. 70, to make the heart like a
diamond, Zech. vii. 12). This is the condition in which a man, by
continually cherishing sin, has lost the ability to withstand it ; and it is
added, that God can glorify Himself on such a one only by punishment.
For it is God's ordinance, that as the power to do good grows by its
practice, so also sin is punished by continued sinning ; compare Ps.
Ixxxi. 12 f . (2). The hardening is at once a divine act and the proper
act of the subject, so that the two expressions interchange ; compare on
the one side Ex. vii. 3 (ny-ia ib-m ncps *js), iv. 21, x. 20 (nin* pin**.),
and on the other side, viii. 15-28 (32) (i2^-nt; njna 133*1), ix: 34, xiii.
15 (comp. 1 Sam. vi. 6, Prov. xxviii. 14: nyns ?ia* iai> ncpp, etc.).

240 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 76.
In the first connection, hardening is the effect of the divine wrath.
In this way the difficult and often misinterpreted passage, Isa.
Ixiv. 4 (5), is to be explained. It is not, " Thou wast wroth because
we sinned," but, " Thou wast wroth and then we sinned ; in those,
i.e. in the ways of God, (we sinned) from time immemorial, and shall
we be saved?" The passage refers to lxiii. 17, "Why dost Thou
permit us to err from Thy ways, and hardenest our hearts not to fear
Thee?" (3). But we must here note as essential that the Old Testa
ment (like the New) always speaks of hardening only in connection
with a divine testimony in revelation, — in reference to a divine revela
tion offered to the sinner, but rejected by him. This is applicable to
Pharaoh, who sees the miracles of Moses, which forced even the
Egyptian Magi to feel, Ex. viii. 15, " that is God's finger;" "but," it
is continued, " Pharaoh's heart was hardened (njna-3? PTJT1)." The
same thing is applicable to Israel in view of the divine leading in the
wilderness; and according to this also, that which is said of the
Canaanite tribes (Josh. xi. 20) is to be explained : " For it was of
Jehovah to harden their heart to strive with Israel, that He might
destroy them and they might find no grace." The Canaanite tribes
merited penal judgment on account of their idolatrous abominations ;
and now that this judgment was executed upon them in the form of
extermination, it was effected by themselves in virtue of a divine ordi
nance, through their hardening themselves to do battle with Israel, for
whom God manifestly fought. In such passages the point is not (as
understood by Calvin and the Calvinists) a dark and hidden decree
of reprobation, but a divine decree of judgment, well-grounded and
perfectly manifest (4). — The path taken by obduracy is described in
Isa. vi. 10, incapability to hear the divine word and see God's ways
(yen l*3*yi law 1*3TS1 . . . lb tpen); and this connects itself with dulness
of lieart, and again reacts on the lieart, so that the insusceptibility of
the heart becomes incurable.
Now, on the other side, in the midst of the common life of sin, a
righteousness (npT"TC) is won by ready resignation to the divine will,
and by the loyalty with which a man accepts the witness of God,
given to him in accordance with the then stage of revelation ; and thus
the difference between the relatively righteous and unrighteous goes
through all the different periods of revelation. Enoch walked with

§ 76.] ANTAGONISM OF THE GOOD AND THE EVIL IN MAN. 241
God, Gen. v. 22 ; Noah is looked upon as righteous in the general
corruption, vii. 1 ; Abraham believed the promise, and it was counted
to him for righteousness, xv. 6 (5). But the Old Testament knows
nothing of absolutely righteous persons (in the canonical books):
" There is no one who hath not sinned," 1 Kings viii. 46 ; " Before
Thee no living man is righteous," Ps. cxliii. 2 ; compare Isa. xliii. 27,
Prov. xx. 9, Eccles. vii. 20 (6). The Mosaic law proves this by
excepting none from the need of atonement (7).

(1) nspn, in Gen. iv. 7, is not masculine, but f3i stands as a
substantive. (2) Ps. Ixxxi. 12 f . : " My people did not hearken to my voice,
and Israel would not conform to my will. So I gave them up
(inrrpc'si) to their hardness of heart, that they might walk in their
own counsels."
(3) Isa. Ixiv. 4 ; nyia at the beginning of the verse still depends
on Si?, lxiii. 19. — Ewald gives the meaning of spnsi ri3VpT nns most
correctly, referring back to lxiii. 17 : " The longer God's wrath, i.e.
misfortune, lasts, the more rankly does sin grow and spread." Delitzsch
explains : " and we stood as sinners." — Bns does not mean, as Ewald
says, "upon them (the Israelites) continually," but Bns refers, as
Maurer and Stier have correctly seen, to the ways of God before
named. — yc>3l is best understood as a question.
(4) Gustav Baur, in the essay cited at § 72, note 3, p. 349, remarks,
in reference to this Old Testament doctrine of hardening of the
heart, " that if in the Old Testament the divine sway appears in the
hardening of the heart in a way which seems to limit free human
power, this was because the notion which the Israelites had of God
and the creation, from which human freedom necessarily follows, was
not yet worked out in its whole consequences with perfect clearness,
nor brought into unison with the experiences of the human life."
This is decidedly wrong. The remark would refer equally to the
New Testament, which contains the very same doctrine. Human
freedom has limits in reference to sin; the New Testament, too,
knows of a bondage to sin, and we cannot here speak of a narrowness
of the Old Testament standpoint.
(5) Compare hereafter the doctrine of the righteousness of the law
and of faith.
(6) Isa. xliii. 27 :" " Thy first father has sinned, and thy intercessors
were faithless to me." — Prov. xx. 9 : " Who can say, I have kept my
VOL. I. Q

242 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 77.
heart clean, I am clean from my sin?" — Eccles. vii. 20 : " There is none
righteous on earth, who doeth good and sinneth not."
(7) Only Manasseh's apocryphal prayer says in the notorious pas
sage, ver. 8 : " Because Thou art a God of the righteous, Thou hast not
appointed repentance to the righteous Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
who did not sin against Thee." The passage is in direct opposition to
Isa. xliii. 27, and it was on its account that this prayer was not
canonized even by the Romish Church.
III. ON DEATH AND THE STATE AFTER DEATH (1).
§ 77.
The Connection between Sin and Death.
Death is the consequence of sin. The proof for this lies already
in the fact that, as has been shown in § 72, posse non mori was
attached to the life in Paradise. But the connection between sin and
death is positively expressed in Gen. ii. 17 : " In the day thou eatest
thereof thou shalt die." The difficulty arising from these words
because death did not really follow immediately on the Fall is not
(as some wish) to be set aside by saying that Bi* denotes a larger
space of time ; the eating and dying are, on the contrary, placed in
immediate connection by the Bi*3, etc. (for this expression compare
the quite similar passage 1 Kings ii. 37). Neither is it to be set
a.side by supposing (like Bottcher, Knobel, and others) that the
threat in Gen. ii. 17 was not meant by the narrator to be serious (2) ;
for, without regard to the fact that the Old Testament never makes
God play with His words, death does indeed appear, iii. 19 (3), as
the end of the punishment. For the words 13ic""iy, etc., must not
be understood (4) of the term up to which the punishment which
hung over man should continue,— for in this case the following reason
would be most superfluous, — but the words tell in what way the
punishment runs its course, and in what it is to be executed. The
issue of the punishment is at once placed foremost in the threat, ii. 17,
as is generally the case in prophetical proclamations. Indeed, man
entered on the path of death immediately on the execution of sin (5).
—The punishment of death is attached to disobedience, not to the
effect of the fruit of the tree, as many expositors conclude from the
contrast in iii. 22. The tree does not bear the name of the tree of

§ 77.] THE CONNECTION BETWEEN SIN AND DEATH. 243
death in contrast to the tree of life, but it is called the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. The use of the fruit has death as its
consequence merely because moral self-decision was attained by it.
The inner connection of sin and death is clear from vi. 3, though
this passage primarily treats only of the shortening of the length of
life through sin. This difficult passage is thus to be explained :
(Jehovah speaks) " My spirit shall not always strive with man ; in
his erring he is flesh ; his days shall be a hundred and twenty
years " (6). It is not necessary to assume that "!E>3 stands here in
the ethical sense of the New Testament adp% (7). The word is
rather to be taken in its common Old Testament meaning ; compare
Isa. xl. 6, Ps. lxxvii. 39, etc. : " in his erring he is flesh," — mortal,
perishable. According to this passage, the divine spirit of life which
supports man is impaired by sin, and thus man's vital strength is ruined;
while, as Isaiah (lxiii. 10) expresses himself, the Spirit of God is grieved
by sin; it is also repressed as the physical principle of life, and thus man
is subject to mortality. The passages Num. xvii. 29, xxvii. 3, which are
also brought to bear on the proposition that death is the reward of sin,
admit of a different interpretation. Still in the first passage, — " If these
(Korah and his company) die like all men, Bn*?y ipa* B-jsivpa flnpjfi,"
— the last words are certainly not to be explained, with Keil, " and the
(protective) care extended to all men is exerted for them ;" and scarcely
either with Bottcher, '* and a punishment of all the world " — that is, a
usual punishment of death is decreed against them, such as commonly
falls on criminals. — The sense probably is, if they die in the common
way ; and thus the common lot of death is called a penal visitation,
-which comes on all men (8). In reference to the second passage
(where Zelophehad's daughters are introduced speaking), the sense
may be : " Our father was not among the company of Korah, so as
to die because of his sin ; " if so, ispn refers to the sin of that con
spiracy, and the passage is not relevant here. But even if we render
" he was not in that company, but he died in his sin," it is very question
able whether ispn should here be referred to the common sinfulness
of man, and not to the general sin of the nation, which brought about
the death of that whole generation in the wilderness. Lastly, we
have to notice the passage from the Mosaic Psalm, xc. 7-10 : " For we
are consumed in Thine anger, and by Thy wrath are we troubled.

244 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 77.
Thou settest our iniquities before Thee, our secret faults in the light
of Thy countenance ; for all our days pass away in Thine anger,"
etc. This passage does not primarily speak of death in general, but
only of' early death, — the brevity and transientness of life as the
punishment of sin. But still this passage does show how the Old
Testament connected death with sin ; and this serves, at the same
time, to explain why the law, Num. xix. (compare also v. 2 f.) (9),
demands a purifying propitiation for everything which comes into
contact with a corpse, although, at the same time, burial is considered
so high a duty of affection. Certainly in many passages mortality
and frailty are predicated of human nature generally without being
placed in connection with sin, — as when man (Gen. xviii. 27) is called
dust and ashes ; when, in Ps. Ixxxix. 48 f ., it is said : " Remember,
Lord, how short my life is ; to what nothingness Thou hast created
all sons of men ; " compare further ciii. 14 ff., and other passages.
But this does not mean that death originally belonged to man's nature,
but such words are uttered simply from the experience of the present
frailty of man ; which experience, indeed, is so predominant in the
Old Testament view of man, that the meaning to be sick or diseased
attaches to the verbal stem Cjs, which properly means to be man.
(1) Compare my Commentations and .my article " Unsterblichkeit.
Lehre des A. T. von derselben," in Herzog's Realencyklop. xxi. p.
409 ff. — There is no topic of Old Testament theology on which the
literature is so rich as on the one in question. Various views existed
on the subject, even in the older Judaism — see Himpel, die Unster
blichkeit slehre des A. T., 1857 (Ehinger Progr.), p. 2 f. ; over it the
Church Fathers disputed with the heretics — see my Commentations,
p. 1 ff. The discussion was renewed by the Socinians and Deists — see
the same, p. 4f., and Himpel, I.e. p. 6ff., where reference is also
made to the various views of more modern theologians. The litera
ture of the subject up to the year 1844 is noted in Bottcher's learned
work, de Inferis, etc. [above art.]. — Besides the writings of Bottcher
and Himpel, we here mention Mau, vom Tode, dem Solde der Siinden,
und der Auferstehung Christi, 1841 ; H. A. Halin, de spe immortalitatis
sub V. T. gradatim exculta, 1846; Fr. Beck, "zur Wiirdigung der
alttest. Vorstellungen von der Unsterblichkeit," in Baur's and Zeller's
theol. Jahrbilchern, 1851, p. 469 ff. ; H. Schultz, V. T. de hominis
immortalitate sent., 1860, with which are to be compared the relevant

§ 78.] DOCTRINE OF MOSAISM ON THE CONDITION AFTER DEATH. 245
sections in the same author's work, Die Voraussetzungen der christi. Lehre
von der Unsterblichkeit, 1861. — The more modern writings on biblical
anthropology and eschatology enter, also, more or less on the Old
Testament doctrine of the state after death; especially Delitzsch, bibl.
Psychologie, 2d ed., where, p. xiii., a list of works on this topic is given.
(2) Knobel remarks on Gen. ii. 17 : " Jehovah proclaims a worse
consequence than He means to follow — as a father sometimes in
giving commands threatens the children with more detrimental conse
quences than he apprehends."
(3) Gen. iii. 19 : "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
till thou returnest to the earth, for out of it art thou taken ; for dust
thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
(4) So Mau, l.c. p. 60.
(5) The passage Gen. ii. 17 was already well expounded by
Augustine, de pecc. mer. i. 21 : " Quamvis annos multos postea
vixerint, illo tamen die mori coeperunt, quo mortis legem, qua in
senium veterascerent acceperunt." On this passage compare also my
Commentations, p. 21, and Herm. Schultz, Die Voraussetzungen, etc.,
p. 121 ff. — It is indicated by the incident of clothes made from
animals' skins, mentioned in Gen. iii. 21, that man at once was given
to see, in the case of the beasts, what like death is.
(6) Gen. vi. 3. — In sm Dac'3 a change of numbers, as is often the
case, takes place. The B3C3 cannot possibly be taken to mean,
" because also " = Ba *iCS3. Apart from the fact that in the idiom of
the Pentateuch C for "1CK is not found, a combination of particles of
this sort would be entirely without example, besides which the " also "
would be quite unnecessary. The word is rather to be understood as
the infinitive of JJC, to wander, to go astray, — an infinitive in A, such
as is found from some intransitive roots "VV.
(7) Thus Keil : In his erring he has shown himself to be flesh —
that is, as unable to let himself be governed by God's Spirit.
(8) Jul. Mueller, too, thus explains the passage (Die christi. Lehre
von der Simde, ii. 5th ed. p. 404).
(9) Compare the discussion of the acts of expiation in the cere
monial law. §78.
The Doctrine of Mosaism on the Condition after Death.
Death takes place when the divine spirit of life which sustains
man is withdrawn by God, Ps. civ. 29, by which means man expires

246 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 78.
(this is meant by JJ13, see Gen. vii. 21 with 22), upon which the body
returns to the dust from whence it is taken ; see also passages like
Job xxxiv. 14 f ., Eccles. xii. 7 compared with viii. 8. It might appear
from these passages that the human being as a whole is annihilated
in death, which has been given out as Old Testament doctrine by
not a few (even by H. A. Hahn) (1). Indeed, from the standpoint
of natural contemplation, as shown in Eccles. iii. 18-21, there exists no
certainty whether man is different from the animals in death. But
it is clear from the whole connection of Old Testament doctrine (2),
that as the origin so also the last lot of man's soul is different from
that of the soul of an animal (with which it seems to be identified in
Ps. civ. 29), and that, when the sustaining spirit of life is withdrawn,
the band by which the CB3 is bound to the body is indeed loosed, but
the C33 itself, and man, so far as 'his personality lies in the CM, continues
to exist ; although, indeed, since all vital energies depend on the
infusion of the nil, he exists only as a weak shadow, which wanders
into the kingdom of the dead (PiSC). Certainly the name of souls is
never used in the Old Testament of the inhabitants of the kingdom
of the dead; nor do we find the expression spirits, for Jobiv. 15 is not
a case in point (3). But that it is the C3J which wanders into the
kingdom of the dead is clear from passages like Ps. xvi. 10, xxx. 4,
lxxxvi. 13, lxxxix. 49, xciv. 17, Prov. xxiii. 14, and Ps. xlix. 20, if
there (which is, indeed, disputed by some) si3n is third person, and
ic'33 is to be supplied as subject from the preceding verse (4). So it
is also the CM which in reanimation returns again to the body of the
dead person, 1 Kings xvii. 21 f. (5). The narratives of resurrection
from the dead (1 Kings xvii. 21 f. ; 2 Kings iv. 34 f .)^may be adduced
as proving that a closer connection between the body just quitted and
the soul still subsists immediately after death (apart from what has
been remarked on the application of C£0 to denote a corpse, § 70) (6).
Perhaps, too, this idea may be found in the difficult passage Job xiv.
22, which certainly, according to the context, refers to the state of the
dead, not of the dying, and then speaks of the dull pain experienced.
after separation by the soul and the body. Delitzsch, for example,
has understood this to mean, " that the process of the corruption of
the body casts painful reflections into the departed soul ; " but the
passage can be also understood (and perhaps more correctly) to speak

§ 78.] DOCTRINE OF MOSAISM ON THE CONDITION AFTER DEATH. 247
of the pain which the body and soul separately feel, as in Isa. Ixvi.
24 sensation in corpses is presupposed. On the contrary, there is no
trace in the Old Testament of the Egyptian notion that a continual
connection subsists between the soul and body, in virtue of which the
maintenance of the body secures the continuance of the soul, although
Tacitus, Hist. v. 5, ascribes this Egyptian conception to the Jews ;
and there is just as little trace of the heathen idea that the soul
of the departed one cannot find rest before the burial of its dead
body. Isa. xiv. 15 ff. speaks expressly against the latter view (7).
The place into which man migrates, the 'in-?3? lyiD n*3, Job xxx.
23, is called Sheol (?iSC, seldom written defectively). The word,
which is to be regarded as feminine (8), may, with Winer (9), Heng
stenberg, and others, be derived from PSC, poscere, so that the king
dom of the dead would be characterized as that which is insatiable in
its demands. Passages like Prov. i. 12, xxvii. 20, xxx. 16, Isa. v. 14,
Hab. ii. 5, in which the insatiable appetite of Sheol is spoken of, are
favourable to this derivation; only it is improbable that the word,
which without doubt is very old, should really have only the character
of a poetical epithet. The word is traced by most modern writers to
the stem bvf, to be hollow (as in German, Hcihle, a cavern, is connected
with Hblle, hell), a softening of the V into s being assumed ; or they
go back to the root bw, ?c = ^d», hio, which lies at the basis of the
stem b]l^, and hence %do-fia, ravine, abyss, is regarded as the original
meaning of the word (10). — The separate traits of the descriptions of
the kingdom of the dead cannot be all taken very literally, owing to
the poetical character of* most of the passages ; still the following
essential features of the conception of Sheol come distinctly forward :
— The kingdom of the dead (in contrast to the upper spheres of light
and life, Prov. xv. 24, Ezek. xxvi. 20, etc.) is supposed to be in the
depths ; compare Num. xvi. 30, and expressions like n*nnn Pise, Deut.
xxxii. 22, Ps. Ixxxvi. 13, the depths of the earth ; Ps. lxiii. 10, comp.
lxxxviii. 7, the land beneath ; Ezek. xxvi. 20, xxxi. 14, xxxii. 18, deeper
even than the waters and their inhabitants. It agrees with this, that
it is a region of thickest darkness, where, as Job x. 22 says, the light
is as midnight. The dead are there gathered in tribes ; and hence the
oft-recurring term in the Pentateuch, " to go (sis) or be gathered
(*!?«?.) to his fathers (l*ni3S-?S), or to his people (VB3TPS)" (Gen. xxv.

248 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 78.
8 f., xxxv. 29, xlix. 33, Num. xx. 24 ff., etc. ; compare, too,- the
picture of Sheol in Ezek. xxxii. 17-32). These terms cannot possibly
be referred to the grave (11). The kingdom of the dead and the
grave are, on the contrary, definitely distinguished. For example,
when Jacob says, in Gen. xxxvii. 35, "In sorrow I shall go down
npsc to my son," he cannot think to be united with Joseph in the
grave, since he believes that he was torn by beasts. It is true that
traits taken from the grave are transferred to the kingdom of the dead,
e.g. Isa. xiv. 11, where it is said to the conqueror who has sunk into the
realm of the dead, " Corruption is spread under thee, and the worms
cover thee ; " indeed, in Ezek. xxxii. 22 ff., the expression graves is used
of the place of the dead. But in both passages there can be no doubt
of the distinction between the grave and Sheol, for in Isa. xiv. 18 ff.
it is said, that whilst the king of Babylon descends to Sheol, his corpse
was to be cast away unburied ; and the two poetical pictures depict a
common place of rest for the various nations of the earth and their
rulers. The expression lis, that is, pit, is used in several passages for
the kingdom of the dead (12).
As follows from the foregoing, the condition in the realm of death
is supposed to be the privation of all that belongs to life in the full
sense ; and so the realm of death is also called simply iii3S, that is, fall,
destruction (Job xxvi. 6 ; Prov. xv. 11, xxvii. 20) ; also ?nn, cessation
(Isa. xxxviii. 11). Powerless, heavily brooding, and like sleeping
ones, the dead rest in stillness (npn), Ps. xciv. 17, cxv. 17. Sheol is
the land of forgetfulness, Ps. lxxxviii. 13 (n»cp ps, a term to be taken
actively). " The living know that they shall die, but the dead know
not anything, and have no more a reward, for the memory of them is
forgotten. Their love, their hatred, their envy are long since
perished, neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything
that is done under the sun. — There is no work, nor device, nor
knowledge, nor wisdom in Sheol, whither thou goest," Eccles. ix. 5,
vi. 10. Here, therefore, no praise of God and no contemplation of
divine things is possible, Ps. vi. 6, cxv. 17, lxxxviii. 12, etc. (13).
With all, however, self-consciousness is not destroyed, but is capable
of being aroused from its slumber; the identity of the personality
continues (compare such passages as Isa. xiv. 10, Ezek. xxxii. 21, 1
Sam. xxviii. 15 ff.). It is probable that the designation of the dwellers

§ 78.] DOCTRINE OF MOSAISM ON THE CONDITION AFTER DEATH. 249
in the kingdom of the dead as B*S31 refers to this, — a designation
which occurs only in the writings which are later than the Pentateuch
(Isa. xiv. 9, xxvi. 14 ; Job xxvi. 5 ; Ps. lxxxviii. 11 ; Prov. ii. 18, xxi.
16). The term is probably connected with nsn, languid (as B*S33 with
naj), and means accordingly the languid, enervated (compare n*£n,
Isa. xiv. 10; ^s*|*s, Ps. lxxxviii. 5). In the Pentateuch, on the
contrary, B*S3T has a quite different meaning, denoting in several
passages a giant people of antiquity. Still, in this meaning the word
can be traced to the same stem, if we suppose the primitive sense of
n3T to be to stretch, which gives for the dead the meaning " stretched
out" (in languor em projecti), and for the giants the meaning extended,
in the sense of proceri (14). — It is not possible to ascend or return
from the realm of the dead, Job vii. 9, xiv. 12. It is not considered
how this is to be united with the resurrection of the dead, 1 Kings
xvii. 21 f., 2 Kings iv. 34 f. ; the question may be solved in the way
given above. The Old Testament relates only one example of the ap
pearing of a dead person — that is, Samuel's, 1 Sam. xxviii. (15). The
popular superstition about conjuring the dead, 3is PSC, ni3srr?s En'i,
is strictly prohibited, Lev. xix. 31, xx. 6 ; Deut. xviii. 11. The term
3is properly denotes not the conjuror himself, but the spirit which
is conjured by him, and is supposed to speak in him. This is shown
by the expressions in Lev. xx. 27 (where the necromant is designated
as 3is Bru n*n* *3 nCS is c'*S), 1 Sam xxviii. 7 (where the witch of
Endor is called 3is npys), and in ver. 8 of the same chapter (where
necromancy is called divination through the Ob, 31S3 BDp) ; compare,
too, Isa. xxix. 4. The term 31S is hardly to be explained = revenant,
returning (from a stem 31S ; in Arabic, aba), but is probably the same
word with the name 3is, which signifies a leather bottle (properly,
something blown up). The translation of the LXX., who always
render the word by iyyao-rpifivdo?, ventriloquist, also points to this
view. Then, by means of a metonymy, the plural ni3S, leather bottles,
is used to indicate the necromancers themselves (1 Sam. xxviii. 3).
The absurdity of necromancy is pointed out in Isa. viii. 19 (16) ; the
people are rather directed to the law and to the word of revelation,
ver. 20 compared with Deut. xviii. 15 (17).
(1) Compare, too, Ps. cxlvi. 4. — To this are to be added
utterances such as Ps. xxsix. 14 : " Look away from me, that I may

250 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 78.
recover before I go hence and am no more ; " Job vii. 21 : " Now will
I lay myself in the dust ; Thou seekest me, and I am no more ;" Job
xiv. 10 : "A man dies, and where is he ?" [Above cited art.]
(2) In the conception of a realm of death which goes through the
whole Old Testament, and which, as will be shown, is definitely dis
tinguished from the grave, as well as in what is narrated of resurrec
tions from the dead (1 Kings xvii. 21 ; 2 Kings iv. 34), and what is
prophesied about the future rising of the dead, some continued
existence of man after death is undoubtedly presupposed. The same
book of Ecclesiastes which, xii. 7, teaches that the spirit returns to
God who gave it, speaks, ix. 10, also of Sheol, " to which thou goest."
That Job vii. 8, xiv. 10, speak only of man's disappearance from the
earthly scene, and do not mean that he has entirely ceased to be, is
shown in both chapters by the reference to sojourn in the kingdom of
the dead. For explanation of the term in Ps. xxxix. 14, compare Ps.
xxxvii. 36. We may well say that man's existence after death is
treated in the Old Testament so much as a thing of course, that the
reality of it is never the subject of doubt. It is not even true of
the book of Job that " a wavering between the traditional representa
tions of a kingdom of the dead, and the consideration of the dead
simply as beings which no more exist," is found here (see F. Beck, I.e.
p. 475). The doubts with which the Israelitish spirit wrestles refer
only to the how of existence after death ; but just as this struggle
becomes so hard because the mind cannot free itself of the notion of
Sheol, so we are not entitled to see in the latter only something out
wardly taken over from popular belief. [Above art.]
(3) On Job iv. 15, see note 15. — The book of Wisdom, iii. 1, is
the first to speak of souls of the dead ; then the New Testament,
Rev. vi. 9 ; also •jrvev/iara, 1 Pet. iii. 19, Heb. xii. 23.
(4) Ps. xvi. 10, " Thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol." — In
xciv. 17, he who has been saved from death by divine succour says,
" My soul had almost made its dwelling in silence." — According to
another view, Si3n, in Ps. xlix. .20, is taken as the second person, and
then the enallage with Vniss is to be explained, with Bottcher and
Delitzsch, by supposing that the customary formula, l*ni3S-?s si3, was
before the mind of the poet.
(5) On the other hand, indeed, the death of the soul is spoken of
in Num. xxiii. 10, Job xxxvi. 14, which is to be explained by the
well-known usage by which 'CM, etc., takes the place of the personal
pronoun (comp. § 70). [Above art.]
(6) Thus Himpel, I.e. p. 32 ; comp. also Delitzsch, bibl. Psycho
logic, 1st ed. p. 385, 2d ed. p. 445.

§ 78.] DOCTRINE OF MOSAISM ON THE CONDITION AFTER DEATH. 251
(7) Tacitus writes, l.c, of the Jews : " Corpora condere, quam
cremare, e more iEgyptio ; eademque cura et de infernis persuasio."
— For the rest, compare my Commentationes, p. 28, and Himpel, l.c.
p. 31. (8) According to the analogy of other substantives which indicate
spaces ; see Ewald, Ausfuhrl. Lehrbuch, 8th ed. § 174, b. PiSC is not
generis communis, as the lexicons state ; the few passages in which it
seems to appear as masculine have been cleared by Bottcher, de
Inferis, § 139 f.
(9) Winer says in his Lexicon : " Orcus haud inepte dici videtur
a poscere, quippe qui omnes sine discrimine homines insatiabili quadam
cupiditate poscat."
(10) See Hupfeld in the Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgen-
landes, ii. (1839) p. 462, and in his Commentary to the Psalms, on
Ps. vi. 6, note.
(11) Not only because the burial of the corpse is often especially
mentioned along with it (comp. Gen. xxv. 9, xxxv. 29, 1. 13, etc.),
but chiefly because the .said formula,. and also the cognate one, " to go
to one's fathers" (Deut. xxxi. 16; 1 Kings ii. 10, xvi. 28, etc.), are
used in speaking of those who were not united with their fathers
in the grave, as Abraham, Aaron, Moses, David, and others. See a
complete presentment of the passages belonging to this subject by
Bottcher, § 112 ff. [Above art.]
(12) Thus lis appears in Isa. xiv. 14, Ezek. xxxii. 23, Ps. lxxxviii.
7; also the phrase "lis TV (Ps. xxviii. 1, xxx. 4; Prov. i. 12; Isa.
xxxviii. 18 ; Ezek. xxvi. 20), which in itself might refer to the grave,
is probably as a rule to be referred to Sheol (see Bottcher, l.c. § 165).
[Above art.]
(13) Though God's omnipotence reaches down to the world
beneath, which is present to Him at all times unconcealed (Job xxvi. 6 ;
Prov. xv. 11 ; Ps. cxxxix. 8), still every experience of communion with
God is wanting to those resting there (Ps. lxxxviii. 6). [Above art.]
(14) See Ewald, Gesohichte Israels, i. 3d ed. p. 327, etc.— On the
contrary, there is no probability in Bottcher's view (l.c. § 193 ff.), that
the word primarily designates the race of giants as " hurled down,"
and that then, these fallen giants being regarded as pars potior of the
inhabitants of Sheol, the name was extended to these in general.
(15) We may look upon it as decided that the narrative in 1 Sam.
xxviii. is intended to be so understood (as the LXX. have done on
1 Chron. x. 13 and Sir. xlvi. 20 (23)), and that it does not record a
mere deception, as the older theologians interpreted it. (Besides the
relevant literature cited in Keil's Commentary, the essay, " Die

252 THE DOCTRINES AND ORDINANCES OF MOSAISM. [§ 79-
Geschichte von der Zauberin zu Endor," in the Zeitschr. fur Protestan-
tismus und Kirclie, 1851, xxii. p. 138 ff., deserves to be noticed.) On
the contrary, it is not the manifestation of a dead person that is spoken
of in Job iv. 12-15, but a divine revelation ; in ver. 15, nil does not
indicate a spirit, but the breathing by which the manifestation pro
claimed itself. [Above art.]
(16) Isa. viii. 19 : " Shall not a people seek unto its God ? — the
dead for the living ? " Ewald's explanation of the latter clause is
false — "instead of the living" (of the living God). It does not
follow from Isa. viii. 19, as Diestel has said (in Herzog's Realencyklop.
xvii. p. 482), that even the enlightened prophets believed in the possi
bility of inquiring at the dead, but rather the contrary. [Above art.]
(17) In this the Old and New Testaments agree. When our
Lord says, in Luke xvi. 29, " They have Moses and the prophets, let
them hear them," He speaks quite in the spirit of the Old Testament.
§79.
(Continuation.)
In no part of the Old Testament is a difference in the lot of those
in the realm of death distinctly spoken of. Job iii. 17-19 describes
how all are rather alike. Only in Isa. xiv. 15, Ezek. xxxii. 23, where
the fallen conquerors are relegated to the uttermost depths ("ii3-*ri3"i*),
can we find an indication of different grades in the realm of the dead —
perhaps in the sense in which Josephus (Bell. Jud. iii. 8. 5) places
a a&?? aKoriwrepos in the view of suicides. Otherwise, only a division
into peoples and races, and not a division of the just and unjust, is
spoken of. " To-morrow," says Samuel to Saul, 1 Sam. xxviii. 19,
" shalt thou and thy sons be with me." The inhabitants of the king
dom of the dead " have no more reward," Eccles. ix. 5 f. In itself,
the condition in Sheol, which is in the main the most indefinite
existence possible, is neither blessedness (although longed for as
a rest by him who is weary of life, Job iii. 13-19) nor positive
unblessedness ; for those who are swept away in the midst of the
enjoyment of their vital energies the punishment lies just in being
thus carried away, Num. xvi. 30 ff., Ps. Iv. 16. The Mosaic order of
retribution has its sphere entirely on this side of the grave (1). Of
the traces of belief in a heavenly life beyond the grave which have
been supposed to be found in the Pentateuch, the translation of

§ 79.] DOCTRINE OF MOSAISM ON THE CONDITION AFTER DEATH. 253
Enoch, Gen. v. 24, can alone come into consideration. But that
is not a testimony to a higher existence of the soul after death ; for
the meaning of the passage is that Enoch never died — that is, his body
and soul were never separated (2). In it, as in the history of Elijah's
translation (2 Kings ii.), there lies rather the declaration, in fact, that
even before the coming of death's vanquisher some specially favoured
men were excepted from the curse of death and of the kingdom of
death which hangs over man. These narratives, then, contain an
indirect corroboration of the position that, according to the Old
Testament, death is not absolutely connected with human nature.
On the other hand, the passage on the death of Moses, Deut. xxxiv. 5
(comp. § 31 with Note 3), has no relation to this subject; and
just as little is Num. xxiii. 10 — " Let my soul die the death of the
righteous" — a testimony to a belief on eternal life (for which the
passage was formerly often taken). The meaning of these words is
rather that Balaam wished he might be allowed to die after a life so
richly blessed, as was the case with the righteous in Israel.
But it is clearly expressed in the Pentateuch that the relation of
the righteous to God is not cancelled after death. The blood of the
slain Abel calls to God, Gen. iv. 10. The relation entered on between
God and the patriarchs continues ; for, long after the patriarchs had
fallen asleep, He calls Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ;
Ex. iii. 6 compared with Gen. xxvi. 24, xxviii. 13. "But God is not
a God of the dead, but of the living" (Matt. xxii. 32). To him who
has an eternal value for God an eternal existence is made sure (3).
(1) Compare the delineation of the Mosaic doctrine of retribution,
§ 89 f.
(2) In speaking of Enoch, the word "dying" is not used, Gen.
v. 24, but it is said that God took him away (npP) because he walked
with Him.
(3) On the other presuppositions of the doctrine of the resurrec
tion and of eternal life contained in Mosaism, see hereafter. The
doctrine of the resurrection forms a doctrine of prophetic theology ;
and the foreboding wrestling of Israel's sages with the riddles about
death and the realm of the dead is discussed in the third part of the
Old Testament Theology.

THIRD DIVISION.
THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE
THEOCRACY. FIRST CHAPTER.
THE NATURE OP THE COVENANT.
§80.
Preliminary Remarks and General Survey.
The form in which the covenant of God with Israel is closed, Ex.
xix.-xxiv., is a treaty resting on the promises and engagements of the
two parties in the bargain (see xix. 5, 8, xxiv. 3, 7 ; comp. afterwards
Josh. xxiv. 15 ff.). But the relation of the parties is not purely
mutual (1). In the first place, the theocratic covenant of law rests
on the covenant of promise ; in both, even in the covenant of the law,
the initiative (the setting up of the covenant, B*pn, Gen. ix. 9, xvii.
7, etc.) comes from God as an act of grace : " I am Jehovah, thy God,
who brought thee out of the land of Egypt," Ex. xx. 2 ; " I have
brought you to me," xix. 4, etc. So it is Jehovah who fixes the
conditions of the covenant ("lam holy, be ye also holy," Lev. xi.
44 f .), and on whom depend the maintenance of the regulations of the
treaty and the final realization of the aim of the covenant. Thus
the covenant is especially BiaOrfKn, a divine institution (2), and only
on this foundation is it cvvOrjicr), a treaty. How n*ns n"Q is used,
even where God alone pledges Himself, is shown especially by Ex
xxxiv. 10. In the usage of the Pentateuch, the expression n*"|3 jTte
with By or ns is used throughout to signify the closing of God's
covenant with Israel. On the contrary, in the later books a peculiar
usage appears, and a distinction is made between nns rVjS, in connec
tion with b, and in connection with By or ns (3). The first expresses
that when a covenant is closed the covenant is laid by the one party
254

§ 80.] PRELIMINARY REMARKS AND GENERAL SURVEY. 255
on the other ; compare Isa. Iv. 3, Ixi. 8 ; Jer. xxxii. 40 ; Ezek. xxxiv.
25 (4). In the patriarchal covenant of promise, the first element, that
of BiaOrjKr), institution, naturally appears more prominently. The
closing of the covenant in Gen. xv. is a pure act of divine promise.
In the vision, when deep sleep and great darkness had fallen on him,
Abraham saw (ver. 12) a flame of fire pass between the parts of the
divided animals. The meaning of the occurrence is not, as has been
supposed from Jer. xxxiv. 18 f., that it shall be done to him who
breaks the covenant as has been done to these divided animals (comp.
Judg. xix. 29 ; 1 Sam. xi. 7), as similar customs occur in Greek and
Roman antiquity at the making of covenants (Livy, i. 24 ; Plutarch,
Quwst. Rom. cap. iii.; Homer, Iliad, iii. 298 ff.) (5). This meaning
of such covenant observances (especially as seen in Jer. xxxiv.) is to
be looked upon as only secondary. The original meaning is, that the
two halves denote the two contracting parties, and the flame passing
through denotes their union - by Jehovah, who alone is He who con
stitutes the covenant. On the contrary, the act in Ex. xxiv., in
which the theocratic covenant is made, refers to both parties (6).
According to its nature, the covenant falls into the following
factors : —
1. The divine act, from which the covenant proceeds, the divine
choice, and the promises annexed to it.
2. Man's duty. He who lays down the obligation is again God,
that to which man is bound is the revelation of the divine will in
the law, especially the Decalogue, which is the obligatory document
in the stricter sense ; but the symbol of obligation is in -particular the
sign of circumcision, imposed on those who are subject to the covenant
obligations. "3. By the way in which the people perform their duty the divine
retribution is determined, which, however, is so carried out that at the
end the divine purpose of election must come to be realized.
(1) As, for example, the matter has been quite wrongly taken up
by Spencer, de leg. Hebr. Rit., ed. Tubing., p. 234, and especially
p. 236, etc. [Article, " Volk Gottes."]
(2) On the other hand, any relationship instituted by God between
Himself and man (like the promise of grace given to David, Ps. lxxxix.
4), and indeed any regulation and limit laid by Him on the creature

256 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRAClf. [§ 81,
(comp. passages like Jer. xxxiii. 20, Hos. ii. 20, Zech. xi. 10, etc.),
in particular every theocratic regulation (as the institution of the
Sabbath, Ex. xxxi. 16), may be characterized as n*"3. [Article,
" Testament, Altes und Neues."]
(3) See, e.g., Jer. xxxi. 31, 33. Compare Gesenius in the The
saurus, ii. p. 718.
(4) The Pentateuch uses n*")3 TTQ with ? only in speaking of
covenants which Israel may make with Canaan and its idols.
(5) Iliad, iii. 298 ff.<
" All-glorious Jove, and ye, the powers of heaven,
Whoso shall violate this contract first,
So be the brains of them and of their sons
Poured out, as we this wine pour on the earth."
(Cowper's translation.')
(6) See the doctrine of sacrifice, § 121.

THE DIVINE ELECTION.
§81.
FIRST DOCTRINE.
IsraeVs Election as the Free Act of God's Love, ins and V]\
Israel's adoption to be the covenant people is a free act of God,
that is, an act of the divine love, and necessary only in as far as God
had bound Himself by His oath, — that is, as a proof of His truth
and His faithfulness, — but is in no way dependent on man's desert.
These propositions are expressed in the whole historical guidance
of the race of revelation from Abraham's calling onwards (1), but
they are expressly impressed on the people at each opportunity. The
God \ to whom the earth belongs wishes to have Israel for His own
peculiar people and property, Ex. xix. 5. It is on the ground of the
divine election of grace and the divine providence that the divine
commands to the people arise, and therefore also the Decalogue, Ex.
xx. 2, places at its forefront the fact of election (2). It is Deuteronomy
in particular in which this point forms one of the fundamental
thoughts. The following are the main passages : — vii. 7 f., " Jehovah
has not set His love upon you and chosen you (nn3) because ye are
more than all nations, for ye are the least of all nations ; but because
Jehovah has loved you, and that He might keep the oath which He has
sworn to your fathers." The divine love appears here as the first

§ 81.] ISRAEL'S ELECTION AS THE FREE ACT OF GOD'S LOVE. 257
point in the founding of the covenant relation with Israel. Compare
further viii. 17 : the people are not to say, " My might and the
strength of my hand has procured me such power. Think on Jehovah
thy God, that He has given thee strength to do valiantly, that He
may keep His covenant;" also ix. 4-6: Israel shall not say in his
heart that God has driven out the nations of Canaan for his righteous
ness' sake ; but that happened partly because of the godlessness of the
Canaanites, and partly to fulfil the promises given to the fathers ; " for
thou art a stiffnecked people." The divine promise is sealed by God's
oath, which is given whenever the matter in question is an unchange
able decree, the performance of which was not to depend on even
tualities (Heb. vi. 17) (3). Side by side with the term ins, in which
the freedom of the divine purpose of grace stands out most strongly,
the word yT, to know, serves to characterize the divine decree of
election ; thus, first, Gen. xviii. 19, also Amos iii. 2, Hos. xiii. 5 (4).
All cognition is an appropriation, by which the strangeness between
the perceiving subject and the object is removed. Thus yi* has in
various senses a more pregnant meaning than that of mere theoretical
knowledge ; it includes the heart's sympathy in taking in an object, t
and so means to take knowledge of anything with love, care, and the
like — to care for one ; compare Prov. xxvii. 23, where it stands parallel
with lb n*K> (to direct the heart, the attention, to anything), and thus
forms the opposite of BSD, to reject (see e.g. Job ix. 21) (5). It stands
thus for the divine care for the righteous, Ps. i. 6, xxxvii. 18, etc. ;
thus, Ex. xxxiii. 12, the words " I know thee by name " express the
inward relation of personal appropriation in which Moses stands to
Jehovah (corresponding to the words, " Thou hast found grace in
mine eyes"). But as VTr is said of God not simply in reference to the
relationship in which He already stands to man, but also in reference
to His placing man in a relationship to Him, in virtue of which He
acknowledges him as His property, yT is just another name for the
divine election (synonymous with "ins) (6).
(1) Compare the historical section, § 22 ff.
(2) Ex. xx. 2 : "I, Jehovah, am thy God, which have brought thee
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."
(3) In Heb. vi. 17 the divine oath proclaims rb dfierdOerov t^?
f3ovXrj<; airov. Compare Achelis' excellent paper, " Ueber den Schwur
VOL. I. E

258 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 82.
Gottes bei sich selbst," in the theol. Studien undKritiken, 1867, 3 Num.
The reader may see from this paper how well worth while it is to
follow up such special points in Holy Scripture. There are promises
and threats which are uttered conditionally, for which the main pass
age is Jer. xviii. 7-10. The promise which is uttered conditionally
to Abraham in Gen. xii. is made unconditional by the oath of God
in chap, xxii., when Abraham is proved.
(4) On Gen. xviii. 19, comp. § 23 with note 6.— Am. iii. 2, "You
only have I known of all the families of the earth." — This pregnant
notion of the divine knowledge appears in just as many forms in the
New Testament yiyvdxriceiv.
(5) The sexual meaning of yT (compare § 69, note 4) is also to
be derived from this.
(6) Older theologians expressed this briefly thus — yT does not
mean merely nosse cum affectu, but also cum effectu.
§82.
Points in which the Election of the People is expressed.
The divine election of the people is expressed in the following
points : — Jehovah is the Father of His people ; Israel His first-born
son ; His property out of all the nations of the earth ; the holy, priestly
people. All these notions are correlated.
1. In the Old Testament, the meaning of the divine fatherhood is
not physical, as if God were called the Father of men because He
gives them natural life and preserves them in it, but it is ethical. It
denotes the relation of love and moral communion in which Jehovah
has placed Israel to Himself. This relation is quite unique ; Jehovah
is only the Father of the chosen people, not the Father of the other
nations. When Jehovah, in Ex. iv. 22 f., bids Moses say to Pharaoh :
" Israel is my son, even my first-born ; and I say unto thee, Let my
son go that he may serve me," we may in the expression " first-born
son " find an indication that at some time other nations also are to
enter into this sonship ; but the term is primarily to be explained by
the contrast with Pharaoh's first-born — Israel is the same to Jehovah
as Pharaoh's first-born son is to him. So also is Deut. xxxii. 6, the
second main passage in the Pentateuch, to be explained : " Do ye thus
requite Jehovah, O foolish people and unwise ? is not He thy Father
that hath created thee ? hath He not made thee and established thee ?"

§ 82.] POINTS IN WHICH ELECTION OF THE PEOPLE IS EXPRESSED. 259
n3& n¥h I?.3 d° not indicate the creation of the people in the sense that
all men are made by God, but the expressions include all those divine
acts by which Israel is established and prepared in his quality as the
people of God's possession and covenant, and so simply denote his
election. Again, in Isa. xliii. 1, 15, xiv. 11, Jehovah is in this sense
called Israel's creator and shaper ; and when it is said, in Ixiv. 7, " But
now, O Jehovah, Thou art our Father ; we are the clay, and Thou
the potter ; and we all are the work of Thy hand," the meaning is, that
Israel owes to the gracious power of his God all that he is and has ;
comp. Ps. c. 3. — The fatherhood of Jehovah was exerted in redemp
tion from Egypt, Hos. xi. 1 ; then in the divine guidance through the
wilderness, which was fatherly discipline, Deut. viii. 5, compare Hos.
xi. 3 ; and so also all future redemption and providential guidance of
Israel is a manifestation of the divine fatherhood (see Isa. lxiii. 16) (1) ;
and, as Jer. xxxi. 9 proclaims, when the ten rejected tribes return
with weeping, and Jehovah leads them, He says, " For I am a father
to Israel " (compare ver. 20, " Is Ephraim my dear son ?"). Also in
Mal. ii. 10, compared with i. 6, the idea of the divine fatherhood is
not to be otherwise understood. The prophet denounces the marriages
entered into with heathen women after rejection of their Israelitish
spouses. When it is here said, " Have we not all one father ? has not
one God created us ? why do we deal treacherously every man against
his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?" the heathen
cannot possibly be taken along with Israel, and the WS13 is to be
understood quite in the sense of the above-cited passages, and taken
of the creation and preparation of Israel to be the covenant people. —
As Israel as a whole is called God's son, so the name is also trans
ferred to the members of the people, Deut. xiv. 1 : "Ye are sons of
Jehovah, your God." Still this name is not to be understood as if
every citizen of the theocracy could apply to himself individually
the God-sonship. It is only the body of the covenant people that have
the name " sons of God," and the Israelite has a share in the God-
sonship only in virtue of his being incorporated into this body. The
individual personal sonship of God did not appear till later in the
theocratic kingdom (2).
2. The same relation between Israel and God which rests on the
divine election is expressed in the titles— people of God's possession,

260 THE COVENANT OF, GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 82.
a holy people. Thus, on the words of Deut. xiv. just quoted, — " Ye
are sons of Jehovah your God," — ver. 2 follows : " Thou art an holy
people to Jehovah thy God, and Jehovah hath chosen thee to be a
peculiar people (nbp By — people of property) unto Himself, above all
the nations that are on the earth;" comp. vii. 6, and for the npap, Ex.
xix. 5, Ps. cxxxv. 4 (3). In Deut. iv. 20, iTPro By stands for it, which
specially teaches that God won this people to Himself by an especial
act (comp. § 83). In the notion holy people (as is mentioned in § 44)
there is contained negatively separation from all other people, and
positively admission or introduction into communion with God ; as is
said in Ex. xix. 4, " I have brought you to myself " (comp. Lev. xx.
24, 26). In virtue of this attitude to God Israel is a priestly people —
xix. 6, " Ye shall be unto me B*:n'3 n3P»D." The expression n3?D»
may denote kinghood (this is the more common meaning) and king
dom. If we take the first meaning, and translate " Ye shall be a
priestly kinghood to me " (the translation of the LXX. takes it thus —
fdaalXeiov lepdrevfia), both the priestly and the kingly dignity of the
people are expressed, and both predicated of God's people on the
ground of this passage (1 Pet. ii. 9; Rev. i. 6, v. 10). Thus Keil,
against which we need only remark that the Old Testament assigns a
position of dominion in the world to the people of God as such, but
still never uses the term " royal people." On the second and more
general explanation, Israel is a priestly kingdom — that is, a community
of priests under King Jehovah. Vocation to immediate service of the
true God is the main notion in the priestly character of the covenant
people (4). Israel's mediatorial position towards the other nations is
also, perhaps, indicated ; but this point is not, followed out further in
the Pentateuch, which only emphasizes the separation of Israel from all
the other nations of the earth. This separation is, in the first instance,
effected in an external manner. Israel is " the people that dwells
alone" QW1. ^li?), and is not reckoned among the nations of the
world (Num. xxiii. 9 ; Deut. xxxiii. 28). Further, all unclean persons,
eunuchs, those begotten in incest (the latter is probably the meaning
of the difficult word "•.!??), Deut. xxiii. 2 f., are excluded from the
congregation ; and those who have defiled themselves for a time must
also withdraw themselves during this period from intercourse with the
people. God sanctifies the people to Himself positively by dwelling

§ 82.] POINTS IN WHICH ELECTION OF THE PEOPLE IS EXPRESSED. 261
among them, by His revelation in word and deed, by every institution
on which is imprinted the unique relation between Israel and God,
and finally, by placing His Spirit in the congregation. Still, in all
this it is only an objective relationship which is established : every
Israelite has a share in this sanctity in virtue of natural birth, and
in virtue of the outward connection of his life with the holy congre
gation, — not in virtue of the new birth of the Spirit and the com
munion of a spiritual life with God ; for Jehovah's Spirit (which is
placed in the congregation, comp. Isa. lxiii. 11) rests only on the
leading organs of the theocracy, not on all its members, Num. xi. 16 ff.
(comp. § 65). Nevertheless, a distinction, within the theocratic union
between Israel according to the flesh and the covenant people who are
really seeking after the true God (Ps'. xxiv. 6), the race of God's
children (Ixxiii. 15), occurs in the Old Testament, as will be shown
more particularly afterwards. Therefore the names " holy people,"
" priestly kingdom," " God's peculiar people," are names which are
full of the future, prophetic types of that which shall come, since the
ransomed Israel of the future time shall be called " sons of the living
God " in the full significance of the word (fl-ps *?3), Hos. ii. 1 (5).
3. The other nations, as B*ia (which is a purely quantitative idea),
form a great profane mass. The uniqueness of the covenant people
in contrast to the heathen corresponds to Jehovah's uniqueness as the
true God in contrast to the heathen gods as nothings (§ 43 f.). Thus
the contrast between Israel and the B*ia has a signification quite
different from that betwixt Greeks and barbarians (with which it has
sometimes been compared) (6), and makes Israel the object of the
fiercest hatred to other nations. StiU, even on the standpoint of
Mosaism, the theocratic particularism is not absolutely exclusive ; for,
without regard to the fact that the people, even at the time when they
came up out of Egypt, incorporated non-Israelitish elements (Ex. xii.
38, comp. with Lev. xxiv. 10, Num. xi. 4), every heathen, dwelling
as a stranger in the land, could by circumcision become incorporated
among the covenant people, and thus receive a share of all the gracious
benefits bestowed on Israel, Ex. xii. 48 ; that is, with exception of the
Canaanitish tribes, which fell under the curse. To these the Moabites
and Ammonites (Deut. xxiii. 4 ff.) were added as excluded persons.
But with regard to the Edomites and Egyptians, it was ordained

262 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 83.
that their naturalization, in virtue of which they should come to be
regarded as equal to the Israelites born in the land, was not to take
place till the third generation, ver. 8 f . ; that is, that the great-grand
children of Edomites and Egyptians who had lived in Israel as
strangers were the first who might be incorporated with God's people
through circumcision. In particular, heathen slaves were to be
incorporated into the family by circumcision, Ex. xii. 44. From
Gen. xvii. 12, compared with ver. 23, where Abraham was compelled
to circumcise all his servants (7), those born in the house and those
bought from strangers, it follows that this passage is not to be under
stood as allowing slaves to be circumcised, but as actually commanding
this. (1) Hos. xi. 1 : " When Israel was a child, then I loved him and
called my son out of Egypt." — Deut. viii. 5 : "Asa man chasteneth
his son, so Jehovah thy God chasteneth thee." — Isa. lxiii. 16 :
" Doubtless Thou art our Father, Abraham is ignorant of us, and
Israel acknowledges us not : Thou, Jehovah, art our Father ; our
Redeemer is Thy name from everlasting."
(2) See the Prophetic Theology.
(3) In the npjp lies the idea of precious property, which one
has selected for himself, which one has set aside ; LXX. : Xabs
7repiovcrio<;. (4) Compare the idea of priesthood, infra.
(5) In this signification, the New Testament adopts the names as
denominations of Christian communities.
(6) It was also acknowledged by the heathen that the people of
Israel fiovov; dirdvrwv iOvwv aKOivavrfrov; elvai t>5? 7rpo? dXXo eBvos
iirifii£,ia<i. Diodor. Sic. Eklog. xxxiv.
(7) Compare, infra, § 111, on the position of slaves not Israelites.
SECOND DOCTRINE.
MAN'S OBLIGATION. §83.
The Notion of the Servant of Jehovah.
The covenant of promise with Abraham was concluded upon con
dition that he and his descendants are bound to a godly life and to

§ 83.] THE NOTION OF THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH. 263
obedience to God's will, Gen. xvii. 1 f., xviii. 19 (1). The same con
dition is prescribed to the people, Ex. xix. 5, and accepted by the
peoplej ver. 8 ; comp. xxiv. 3 (2). Laid under this obligation to their
God, the Israelites are the servants of Jehovah, whom He has purchased
by redeeming them from Egyptian bondage, and who, therefore, are
exempt from all earthly lordship by being bound to the service of
God, Lev. xxv. 42, 55, xxvi. 13 (3). Thus now " servants of God"
is a designation of Israel, especially in the liturgical psalms (Ps. cxiii.
1, etc.). But the idea of the servant of God is complete only when he
who is bound to God also binds himself to God's will, following God
perfectly, — the praise which is repeatedly given to Caleb and Joshua
as servants of God, Num. xiv. 24 (nns S^M), xxxii. 12 (nns ?sta
nin*), Josh. xiv. 8 f. Thus to the servant of God belongs the sub
jective quality of righteousness (npTT¥). This notion expresses in
general the conformity of man to God's will, — the normality of his
relation to God. Inasmuch as God's will, is elective and promissory,
n^V consists in full surrender to elective grace and the divine word
of promise, thus it is the righteousness of faith ; and in this sense it
is said of Abraham, Gen. xv. 6, " He believed in Jehovah, and it was
imputed to him as righteousness" (4). So far as the will of God is a
commanding will, npTTX lies in the fulfilling of God's commands, Deut.
vi. 25, nm* *js? ns-tn nisen-ps-ns nifc»y? nb^'r*3 «? n*nn np-ra. Also,
so far as the name " servant of God " specially designates the chosen
instruments of the divine kingdom, an essential element in the notion
is the subjective factor of faithfulness in the house of God ; and in
this signification, "servant of the Lord " is the highest name of honour
in the old covenant, — applied to Abraham, Gen. xxvi. 24 ; Moses,
Num. xii. 7, Josh. i. 2-7. nin* Tjy is different from mE>"», which
denotes a servant without regard to his subjective quality ; on which
account the word JV|K> is most frequently used of priestly and Levitic
service (5).
(1) Gen. xvii. 1 : " Walk before me and be perfect (B^Pi), so will
I set my covenant between me and thee." — xviii. 19 ; comp. § 23,
with note 6.
(2) Ex. xix. 5 : "If ye hearken to my voice and keep my
covenant," etc. — xxiv. 3 : " All the words which Jehovah hath spoken
will we do."

264 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 84-
(3) Not under a human yoke — upright, WDDip — are the Israelites
led by God, according to Lev. xxvi. 13 ; comp. § 109.
(4) More on the righteousness of faith in the Old Testament in
the part on prophecy.
(5) The passage 1 Kings x. 5, about Solomon's court, is, I think,
misunderstood by Roediger in Gesenius' Thesaurus, when he there
takes BTnB'p to be higher officials. B*rnK>D in this passage rather
signifies the attendants, and ^1}V. the higher officials.

The Law.
The compass of the people's obligations, the revelation of God's
commanding will, is the law (Tjin), whose principle is expressed in
the words, " Be ye holy, for I am holy," Lev. xi. 44 f ., xix. 2 ; or more
completely, xx. 7, "Sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am
Jehovah your God." — The impress of consecration to the holy God is
to be stamped on the life of the Israelites in ordinances extending to
all important relations and conditions ; in every important affair of
life the Israelite has to accomplish something demanded by God.
Therefore in all things he must realize to himself the voice of the
commanding God. Hence, according to the ordinances in Num. xv.
38 f., Deut. .xxii. 12, he wears tassels on the skirts of his garments, to
remind him every moment to think on all Jehovah's commands, and
not be guided by the imaginations of his heart and the lust of his eyes.
Here there is no primary distinction between inner and outer life; the
holy calling of the people must be realized in both. The traditional
division of the law of Moses into moral, ceremonial, and juristic laws
may serve to facilitate a general view of theocratic ordinances ; but it
is incorrect if it seeks to express a distinction within the law, and to
claim various dignity for the various parts. For in the law, the most
inward commandment, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,"
stands beside " Thou shalt not sow thy field with two kinds of seed,"
Lev. xix. 18, 19. That Israel must be holy, like God, is the ground
alike of the command not to be defiled by eating the flesh of certain
animals, xi. 44 ff., and of the command to honour father and mother,
xix. 2 f . In fact, the ceremonial law gives special expression to the

§ 84.] THE LAW. 265
antagonism of the true religion to heathen nature-worship, by showing
that while in the latter the Deity is drawn down into nature, in the
former what is natural must be consecrated and hallowed to God. The
whole law, in all its parts, has the same form of absolute, unconditional
command. Before the closing of the covenant, the people had still the
choice whether they would bind themselves by the law that was to be
given ; but after they pledge themselves, all choice is taken away.
Because of this strictly objective character of the law, human judgment
cannot be allowed to make distinctions between the individual precepts.
Whether such distinctions are to be made can be decided only by the
Lawgiver, who certainly appoints a punishment more severe than for
other transgressions to follow on certain moral abominations, and .on
the transgression of such precepts as stand in immediate relation to
the covenant idea (e.g. circumcision, the Sabbath, etc.). But, so far
as man is concerned, the most inconsiderable precept falls to be viewed
under the aspect of the obedience demanded for the whole law :
" Cursed is he that fulfils not the words of this law to do them," Deut.
xxvii. 26.
In these points lies what has been called the unfreedom and
externality of the Mosaic law, a thing which has often been wrongly
understood. For it is not correct to say that the law of Moses demands
only external conformity to the law, — only the opus operatum, not a
frame of mind ; that, in short, it demands legality, not morality. On the
contrary, the law insists on the disposition of the heart when it says,
Ex. xx. 17, " Thou shalt not covet " (1) ; when it binds men to love
God with the whole heart and soul, to be placable towards fellow-men,
and. the like, Deut. vi. 5, Lev. xix. 17 f. ; when it demands the cir
cumcision of the heart — that is, the purification and devotion of it to
God, Deut. x. 16 (cf. also Josh. xxii. 5, xxiii. 11). But beyond
doubt, as has been remarked, it demands the external along with the
internal in direct co-ordination. But precisely in this lies an important
pedagogic element. When all relations of life, even those merely
.external, are placed under a direct precept of God — when man in all
he does or may not do has to give obedience to God, he is thus led to
recognise that the standard for what he ought to be is not to be sought
in rules of life arbitrarily formed and shaped by conventionality, but
in an absolutely perfect will, which conditions and determines all things.

266 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 84.
The revealed law, it is true, here undertakes the functions of conscience;
and it is characteristic of the law of Moses, that for the present there
is no reference made to the v6fio$ ypoTrrbs iv icapBiai<;. But this
bondage of the servant of God to an absolute will standing above
nature, this obligation to give up self-will and natural desires, and all
that may seem good or pleasant to the individual judgment (2), is, as
Rosenkranz (3) rightly says, an apparent regress in comparison with
the free play of fancy in heathenism, but a real and decided step in
advance towards the liberation of man. By bringing man to a con
sciousness of the essential nature of a higher divine righteousness, the
law awoke the conscience from its slumber, taught the knowledge of
evil as sin, and so awoke the need of reconciliation with God.
For a right estimate of the law of Moses, the following points have
further to be noticed : — 1. The whole ritual ordinances to which the
Israelite is subject, from his circumcision onwards, have a symbolic
character, mirroring the inner process of sanctification, and so forming
the instrument of a tuition advancing from the outer to the inner (4).
The prophets and the Psalms, when they speak of the true sacrifice,
the true lustration which man needs, are simply expressing the
thoughts that underlie the symbolical ritual. 2. The precepts of the
law are carried out in detail mainly only on the negative side ; what
the Israelite may not do is told with great particularity. The scholastic
subtlety of the rabbins, indeed, has made out the considerable number
of 248 positive commands, against 365 prohibitions (5). But it is easy
to see that with regard to positive duties the law often states only
general rules ; that, in fact, many positive points that lie in its inten
tion are not expressly enjoined, but that only the facts, patterns, and
institutions are set forth which serve to guide a free development of
positive virtues (6). It was later Jewish tradition which first extended
its leading-strings over the space which the law had left open to the
free development of piety. 3. Finally, — and this is the main point, —
we have to look at the motives for fulfilling the law which the latter
sets forth. All legal righteousness presupposes faith in the divine
election, gracious guidance, and promise. The legislation opens with
the words, Ex. xix. 4, " Ye have seen how I bare you on eagles' wings,
and brought you to myself ; " and so the Decalogue puts at the head
of its demands (xx. 2) what God has done for Israel. But it is

§ 85.] THE DECALOGUE. ITS DIVISION. 267
Deuteronomy in particular, as we have already pointed out (§ 31, 81),
which, by showing how God has loved His people, seeks to excite
responsive love as the deepest motive for obedience, and especially to
make the law acceptable to the people by awaking a sense of its
excellency and fitness, Deut. iv. 6-8, xxx. 11-14 (7) ; though, at the
same time, Deuteronomy leaves no doubt that the people neither can
nor shall attain such willingness to obey (cf. v. 26, xxxi. 16 ff., xxxii.).
(1) More about Ex. xx. 17 in § 86.
(2) The Israelite, as Herder laments, " can never raise himself to
an ideal that demands freer activity and truer delight in life."
(3) Die Pwdagogik als System, 1848, p. 190.
(4) See also below, § 95 on the priesthood, § 112 and note 2 on
the Mosaic cultus, § 135 on the Nazirate, etc.
(5) The rabbins associate these numbers with the 365 days of the
year and the 248 members of the human body, according to the
physiology of the time ; cf. Maimonides' scheme of the precepts, in
Jost's History of Judaism, 1857, 1 Abth. p. 451 ff.
(6) See, e.g., below on prayer, the Sabbath, etc. In this point
especially the wise pedagogic system of the Mosaic law is seen.
(7) Ex. xx. 2, see § 81 and note 2.— Deut. iv. 6-8 : " The law
shall be your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the nations,
which, hearing all these statutes, shall say, Surely this great nation is
a wise and understanding people ; what great nation is there that has
statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before
you this day ? " (cf . Ps. cxlvii. 19 f .). — This boast has been justified by
the spiritual dominion which the institutions of Israel have exercised
over the nations. — Deut. xxx. 11-14 : " This commandment which I
command thee this day is not incomprehensible to thee, neither is it
far off. It is not in heaven, so that thou must say, Who shall go up
for us to heaven and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it ?
Neither is it beyond the sea . . . but the word is very nigh unto
thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart to do it."
§85.
The Decalogue. Its Division.
The obligatory document of the covenant in tne narrower sense
is the book of the covenant (comp. Ex. xxiv. 7), which embraces
Ex. xx. 1-17, and chap, xxi.-xxiii. ; and in this, again, especially the

268 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 85.
Decalogue (1), which stands at the beginning, xx. 2-17, — the ten words
(as it is often called; see Ex. xxxiv. 28, Deut. iv. 13, x. 4) (2), which
are specifically distinguished as spoken by Jehovah Himself, while the
rest of the legislation is proclaimed by Moses (3). The Decalogue,
therefore, is called k. i%. tlie covenant which God enjoined on Israel.
It was written on two tables of stone, which, according to Ex. xxxii.
15, were inscribed on both sides. Since in these ten words God's
witness to His people was concentrated, they were to be preserved in
the centre of the sanctuary, in the ark (4).
The number ten characterizes the commandments as a self-con
tained whole, and similar series of ten are found more than once in
the middle books of the Pentateuch (5). — The Decalogue is again
given in Deut. v. 6 ff. The two editions are distinguished — not to
speak of less important deviations (6) — firstly, by different reasons
being annexed to the Sabbath-law (in Exodus the Sabbath of creation
is adduced, while in Deuteronomy, agreeably to the predominantly
subjective justification of the law in this book, Egyptian slavery and
the deliverance therefrom are alluded to) ; secondly, by the addition
in Deuteronomy, in the command against coveting, putting the wife
instead of the house first and apart, and emphasizing this separation
by a change of verb (7).
On the division of the Decalogue there have long been various
views. The main schemes of division are three, distinguished by the
way in which they take the first and last commandment. The first
scheme became prevalent in the Roman Catholic Church by the
influence of Augustine, and has been retained by the Lutherans, and
in recent times has been defended by Otto, Kurtz, and others. It
includes in the first commandment Ex. xx. 2-6, Deut. v. 6-10 (8).
The ninth commandment is generally taken according to the text of
Exodus, " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house ; " the tenth,
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife," etc. Augustine himself, on
the contrary, in the main passage in which he treats the subject (Quwst.
in Exod. 71), holds to the text of Deuteronomy for the ninth and tenth
commandments. He is followed among the moderns by Sonntag and
Kurtz, who emend the text of Exodus by the aid of Deuteronomy (9).
Thus the ninth commandment would refer to the coveting of the
conjugal rights ; the tenth, to the coveting of the substance of a

§ 85.] THE DECALOG0E. ITS DIVISION. 269
neighbour. — The second and third schemes of division agree in
making the whole prohibition of concupiscence a single commandment
(the tenth), but they differ as to the first and second commandment.
According to the view now common among the Jews, — which, how
ever, seems to rest on no very ancient tradition (10), — the first of the
ten words comprises only Ex. xx. 2 : " I am the Lord thy God, which
have brought thee out," etc. This, they say, implies the obligation to
believe on God as the most perfect being. The second command
ment (vers. 3-6) then includes the obligation to believe on God's
unity and the prohibition of false worship (11). The third scheme,
accepted by the Greek and Reformed Churches, and by the Socinians,
makes ver. 3 the first commandment: "Thou shalt have no other
gods beside me ; " and ver. 4 the second : " Thou shalt not make unto
thee any graven image," etc. (12).
The third of these divisions has in its favour the oldest historical
testimonies, being found not only in Josephus (Ant. iii. 5. 5), but also
in Philo (Quis rerum div. hwres sit, § 35, ed. Mang. i. p. 496, and De
Decal. § 12, Mang. ii. p. 188). Of the Fathers, Origen takes the same
view (13). He seems to have been also acquainted with the view
which includes vers. 2-6 in the first commandment, but not with the
division of the prohibition of concupiscence into two (14) ; and, in
fact, Augustine's view, that vers. 2-6 are a single commandment, must
also rest on ancient Jewish tradition. The Hebrew accentuation of
the Decalogue is twofold, — the one accentuation giving the usual
Masoretic division into verses, the other regulating the intonation
in the synagogue. The latter takes vers. 2-6 together, showing that
these five verses were viewed as closely connected. It is even more
important that the Romish and Lutheran division is that on which the
division of the Decalogue into parshijoth is based (15) ; the sethuma,
that divides the prohibition of concupiscence, is indeed lacking in the
oldest manuscripts (16), but it is certain that vers. 2-6 formed only
one parasha. The small parshijoth are so old that this cannot be due
to Christian influence. — Since, then, the union of vers. 3 and 4 as a
single precept must be very old, our decision between the various
divisions must proceed on internal grounds. — Now, first, it is decidedly
against the Jewish view that ver. 2 is the first of the ten words, that
the second verse has not in the least the form of a precept (17). The

270 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 85.
view which has sometimes been taken (see note 11), that this verse
forms the first of the ten words as the covenant promise, is also im
probable ; and if vers. 2 and 3 are separated, we lose the close connec
tion which obviously subsists between them. The words in ver. 2
have a double import. They apply, in the first place, to the whole
Decalogue (comp. the opening formula, Lev. xviii. 2, xix. 2) ; thus
they contain the general presupposition of the law, the ground of
obligation for Israel, which lies in the nature of his God and the fact
of his redemption. But, in the second place, they are the special
ground of the command not to worship other gods besides Jehovah (18).
— Further, as to vers. 3-6, the circumstance that these verses are at
least closely connected seems favourable to the view that they form
a single commandment, according to the Augustinian view, viz. the
prohibition of idolatry ; for the threat and promise of ver. 5 f . clearly
refer to ver. 3 as well as to ver. 4. But if vers. 3-6 are taken as one
commandment, the number ten can be reached only by dividing the
prohibition of concupiscence in ver. 17 into two commandments ; and
since this division cannot be sufficiently justified, it remains more
probable that vers. 3-6 are to be divided (19). They contain, in fact,
two essentially distinct points. The command in ver. 3 to worship
Jehovah alone does not preclude His being worshipped by an image.
This is forbidden in ver. 4, which does not simply (20) add to ver. 3
the statement that the other gods, whose worship is forbidden in ver.
3, include idols, but especially forbids an image to be made (21)
(comp. Deut. iv. 15). — Only on the Deuteronomic edition can a
division of the prohibition of concupiscence be justified (for in it we
might distinguish cupiditas impurw voluptatis from cupiditas inordinati
lucri). But the text of Exodus is certainly to be taken as primary,
and it offers no essential difference in the concupiscence forbidden in
the two sentences (22). Accordingly, Mark x.' 19, Rom. xiii. 9 treat
this as a single command ; and even Luther in his catechism found it
advisable to unite the ninth and tenth commandments in his explana
tion of them (23).
(1) In the Greek Fathers generally, rf BeicdXoyo<; sc. /3('/3\o?, or
vopiodeo-la (see Suiceri Thesaurus Ecelesiasticus, s.v.). In Latin idiom,
on the contrary, decalogus sc. liber.

§ 85.] THE DECALOGUE. ITS DIVISION. 271
(2) LXX. : oi Beica Xoyoi, ra Beica prjfiara.
(3) On this see already Philo, De Decal. § 5, ed. Mang. ii. p. 183;
(4) Of the very copious literature on the Decalogue the following
notice may suffice : — Recent discussion on the Decalogue, and espe
cially its division, was opened by several essays in Ullmann's and
Umbreit's Studien by Sonntag, 1836, No. 1, 1837, No. 2 ; by Ziillig,
ibid. No. 1. Then appeared a lengthy and still valuable essay by
Geffcken, Ueber die verschiedene Eintheilung des Dekalogus und den
Einfluss derselben auf den Kultus, Hamb. 1838. Compare also my
article " Dekalog " in Herzog's R.E. iii. p. 319 ff. But since that
time a more extensive literature has arisen, from which I mention :
Kurtz's full discussion of the matter in his Geschichte des A. Bundes,
ii. 2d ed. p. 288 ff., and his essay " Ueber den Dekalog," in Kliefoth's
and Meyer's kirchl. Zeitschrift, 1858; the paper by E. W. Otto,
Dekalogische Untersuchungen, 1857 ; an essay by Fr. W. Schultz in
Breslau, "Das Recht der lutherischen Dekalog-Eintheilung," in Rudel-
bach's and Guerike's Zeitschr. 1858, No. 1 ; an anonymous essay,
" Die Eintheilung des Dekalogs," in the Erlanger Zeitschr. fiXr Protest.
und Kirclie, 1858. Finally, special notice is due to the treatment of
the point by Zezschwitz, Katechetik, ii. 1, p. 233 ff.
(5) The number ten had probably also the practical aim of
making the commandments easy to remember by counting them on
the fingers. — Bertheau's view of seven groups, each of 7 x 10
commandments (in his very interesting and instructive book, The
Seven Groups of Mosaic Laws, 1840), must be considerably limited ;
comp. Ewald, Gesch. Israels, ii. 1st ed. p. 154 ff., 3d ed. p. 232 ff.
(6) See the exactest statement of these, and of the deviations of
the Samaritan text, in V. T. ed. Kennicott, i. p. 149.
(7) The LXX. put the wife first in Exodus also, but the other
old authorities, including the Samaritan Pent., favour the Masoretic
text. — Ex. xx. 17 : " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife." — Deut. v. 18 : " Thou
shalt not desire (Ibnn) thy neighbour's wife, and thou shalt not covet
(fflsnn) thy neighbour's house, field," etc.
(8) Thus, on this division, the complete first commandment runs
in full thus : "I Jehovah am thy God, which have brought thee out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have
no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that
is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth :
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them : for I the
Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers

272 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 85.
upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them
that hate me ; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love
me, and keep my commandments."
(9) He is not consistent in other passages. See Geffcken, l.c.
p. 174. (10) Josephus and Philo do not know it. It probably arose from
antagonism to the Christians.
(11) This division recurs with a peculiar modification in the above-
mentioned essay in the Erlanger Zeitsehrift. This essay makes ver. 2
the first of the ten words, but not as a precept, but as the covenant
promise and display of God's being in its fulness of blessing and
clearness. (12) No notice is due to the view of Hesychius of Jerusalem, on
which see Geffcken, l.c. p. 10.
(13) Origen, Homil. in Exod. viii., ed. Lommatzsch, p. 91. Hence
this division is also called Origenistic.
(14) Against the union of the two first commandments, as he
counts them, he objects, " Quodsi ita putetur, non complebitur decern
numerus mandatornm. Et ubi jam erit decalogi Veritas ? " — The
uncertainty then prevalent as to the division of the first and second
commandments is testified by the remarkable treatment of the
Decalogue by Clement of Alexandria, Strom, vi. 16, — a passage cer
tainly not to be adduced in favour of the Romish or Lutheran
division, but not sufficiently freed from obscurity by the remarks of
Geffcken, p. 159 ff. — The first trace of the view of the first two
commandments accepted in the Jewish division is found in the Baby
lonian Gemara Tract, Makkoth, 24 a ; perhaps Origen, too, l.c. p. 90,
refers to the same. [Above-cited article.]
(15) Vers. 2-6 form a small parasha, then ver. 7 follows as an
open parasha ; then, again, vers. 8-11 are taken together as one, then
ver. 12, and so forth.
(16) In general, the position of the parasha at that point remained
matter of discussion among the Jews ; cf. Kennicott, Diss. Generalis
in V. T, ed. Bruns, p. 59. [Above art.]
(17) It is already remarked by Origen, I.e., " Hie sermo nondum
sermo mandati est, sed quis sit, qui mandat, ostendit."
(18) Because the redemption of Israel from Egypt reveals
Jehovah's faithfulness and His might over heathen gods, Israel is
to have no other gods beside Him. [Above art.]
(19) The special ground of the command in ver. 3 lies, as we
have seen, in ver. 2, which must not be viewed merely as introductory
to the whole Decalogue.

§ 86.] THE DECALOGUE. ITS SYSTEM. 273
(20) As Lutherans have often said; cf. e.g. Gerhard, Loci, ed.
Cotta, v. p. 244 : " Primum prasceptum deos alienos in genere pro-
hibet, praeceptum de sculptilibus certam speciem deorum alienorum
exprimit." (21) When, for example, King Jeroboam I. set up his separatist
worship, he did not break the first commandment, ver. 3, for the
bovine image which he erected at Bethel was meant to represent
Jehovah; but he broke the second commandment, ver. 4, by. worship
ping Jehovah by an image.
(22) The meaning of the text in Exodus is, that the house pre
cedes, as the general word including all possessions, and then the
individual good things in the house follow. Deuteronomy, on the con
trary, has an eye to the peculiar and honourable position of the wife.
(23) The assertion of Lutheran theologians, that the ninth com
mandment forbids concupiscentia actualis, the tenth concupisc. originalis
(cf. Gerhard, l.c. p. 247), is a mere invention of polemical zeal. — The
differences affecting the other commandments are only as regards
order. The order of the Masoretic text is supported by the LXX.
of Deut. v. ; Josephus, l.c. ; Matt. xix. 18. But the LXX. of Ex. xx.
diverges, placing adultery first, then theft, then murder (oi fioi%evo-ei<;,
oi KXeyJrei*;, oi $>ovevcrei<; ; — the variation is probably due to a natural
association of ideas, which suggests that the other commandment
regarding family life should follow the fifth commandment about the
relation of parents and children, and that the prohibition of theft
should go along with that of murder). Different, again, is the
order in Philo (in both passages cited), and in New Testament in
Rom. xiii. 9, cf. Jas. ii. 11, Luke xviii. 20, Mark x. 19 (where the
reading varies), and finally in Clem. Alex. Strom, vi. 16, — all these
placing adultery first, and then murder and theft. (On the order in
Matt. xix. 19 and parallels, where honour to parents stands after the
others, see Stier, ad he, and Lechler, "Das A. T. in den Reden
Jesu," Stud, und Krit. 1854, p. 801.) These differences prove no
thing more than that there was considerable freedom used in Jewish
and Christian antiquity in reckoning up the commandments. [Above
art.] §86.
Continuation. — The System of the Decalogue.
The Old Testament does not expressly tell us on what system the
Decalogue was divided, — especially how the commandments were dis-
vol. i. S

274 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 86.
posed on the two tables. If the third of the divisions given above is
correct (that of Philo, Origen, the Reformed, and the Greeks), it is
most likely that five precepts are to be assigned to each table, as is
already assumed by Philo (l.c.) and Josephus (Ant. iii. 6. fin.) (1).
The first five precepts are distinguished from those that follow by
the reasons annexed to each, and by the appearance of the words
" Jehovah thy God " once in each commandment, including the first
if vers. 2 and 3 are taken together. The chief objection to this division
is, that it gives so much more writing on the first table than on the
second — eleven verses on the one, only two on the other ; but this point
is not decisive. The material difference between the two tables is, as
it has been briefly put, that the first contains prwcepta pietatis, the
second prwcepta probitatis. That the command to honour parents is
put among the precepts of piety is justified by the way in which else
where the law connects earthly relations of piety with piety towards
God ; e.g., Lev. xix. 32, Ex. xxii. 27 (2). — Another view, which is
that of Calvin (Inst. ii. 8. 12), followed by the Reformed Church,
puts four precepts on the first table, and six, commencing with the
command to honour parents, upon the second (3). The followers of
the Augustinian division generally agree in beginning the second
table with the last-mentioned precept, assigning three commandments
to the first table and seven to the second (4). On this view the
number three has been associated with the Trinity, while it is urged
that seven is also a holy number (5).
The systematic plan of the Decalogue, on the Philonic division
which we assume, is in detail the following : — In the first table, the
first commandment expresses the principle of monotheism, and forbids
a plurality of gods. The forbidding the use of any imao-e in the wor
ship of the Deity abolishes the deification of nature in any sense (6) .
The third commandment (" Thou shalt not take up, apply, the name
of Jehovah thy God to vanity ") demands reverence to God in life
and walk as a whole, by forbidding the most obvious and frequent
breach of this duty, the profanation of God's name by false swearing
(cf. Lev. xix. 12) or other misuse. The fourth commandment lays the
basis of the ordinances of worship, by appointing the Sabbath. The
fifth, the command to honour parents, lays the foundation of all social
ordinances of life. The second table, which defines duties to neigh-

§ 86.] THE DECALOGUE. ITS SYSTEM. 275
bours, is obviously based on the common Old Testament trilogy of hand,
mouth, heart (cf. e.g. Ps. xxiv. 4) (7). It first attacks sins in deed, —
injuries to the life, wedded state, or property of a neighbour ; and then
sins in word, — injury of. a neighbour's good name by any false testi
mony or lie. Finally, when the last commandment forbids even to
covet what belongs to another, it is made clear that the obedience
demanded is that of the heart, and it is indicated that the fulfilling of
the law is not complete except in the sanctification of the inner man.
No doubt this exposition of the tenth commandment is disputed.
Even Luther gives its sense as being, " that no man shall think or
propose to take to himself what is another man's, even with a fair
pretext, if his neighbour is injured thereby" (Larger Cat. ed.
Rechenb. p. 476). In accordance with this, Geffcken and others,
also Schultz (8), have understood the precept of deceitful under
takings. The Decalogue, on this view, literally interpreted, looks only
at the outer fulfilling of the law ; to refer the outer demand to its
inner principle is left to the plerosis of the law (cf. Matt. v. 21 ff.).
It may be admitted that the commandment does not mean to draw
a sharp line between inner lust and the appearing of that lust in
attempts to gratify it (in Mark x. 19 the commandment is represented
by (ir) cnrocrrepriarji). But if Schultz appeals to Ex. xxxiv. 24, Mic.
ii. 2, to show that TOPI refers to attempts to touch another's property, it
is undeniable, on the other hand, that the commandment is alluded to
in Prov. vi. 25, ^a lonn-ps ; and the msnn SP, which Deuteronomy
puts in the second clause, can, in accordance with the constant use of
the word (9), refer to nothing but the desire that leads to action
(LXX. gives throughout oiic iiri6vfitf<rei<;, which in Rom. vii. 7 is
likewise applied to concupiscence). A comment on the commandment
is to be found in Job xxxi. 1-4 (10).
The self-contained and rounded character of the Decalogue,
as we have it, is a decisive proof that it retains its original form.
Recent attempts to mutilate and simplify it rest on the most arbitrary
hypotheses (11).
(1) Cf. also Irenseus, ii. 42 (xxiv. 4).
(2) If in Lev. xix. 32, " Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head,
and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God;" Ex. xxii.
27, " Thou shalt not curse God, nor revile the ruler of thy people," — :

276 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 86.
reverence to princes and to the aged is deduced from the honour due
to God (this is the sense of the connection, cf. Prov. xxiv. 21), the
same thing must be still more true of honour to parents, since all
authority of superiors is originally derived from that of the father.
Similarly, in Lev. xix. 3, the command to honour parents stands with
religious precepts in the narrower sense, — the Sabbath law and prohibi
tion of false worship. The reason for this is rightly given by Luther
(in his Exposition of the Decal, 1518) : " Ideo istud prseceptum post
praacepta primas tabulae ponitur, quia est de illis, qui sunt vicarii Dei.
Quare sicut Deus colendus est honore, ita et vicarius ejus." [Art.
" Padagogik des A. T."] At the same time, this precept makes a
fitting transition to the second table (so, on the whole, the thing is
viewed by Philo, I.e.).
(3) Because to join the precept about parents to the first table is
to confound religionis et caritatis distinctionem, and at the same time
with reference to Matt. xix. 19. The passage Eph. vi. 2 has often
been regarded as an evidence that the second table began with the
command to honour parents ; and so, e.g., the Ambrosiaster on the
passage (Appendix to Ambrosii Opera, Paris ed. p. 248 f.), assuming
the Philonic division, gives four commandments to the first table, and
six to the second. The common answer to this view is, that this com
mandment, even if it stood on the first table, may be called the first
in the Decalogue to which a promise is annexed, — the promise in ver. 6
being not only united to a threat, but possessing a more general
character, and not standing in any specific relation to the preceding
precept. But the true exegesis of Eph. vi. 2 is : which is a prime, i.e.
a main precept in promise, i.e. because united with a promise (see
Winer, ad l). On this view, the passage has nothing to do with the
place of the commandment in the Decalogue. [Above art.]
(4) See Augustine, I.e.; Catechism. Rom. iii. chap. 5; Luther, kurze
Form der zehn Gebote, in the Erlang. ed. of the German works, xxii.
p. 5 ; and Gr. Katechism. ed. Rechenb. p. 429.
(5) But that the whole division here presupposed is, as we have
seen, false, this view might claim the argument that it makes the
writing on each table pretty equal in amount.
(6) It is not to be viewed as a prohibition of all plastic art, as it
was taken by Philo, — " Quis rerum div. haer. sit," ed. Mang. p. 496, —
and by some excessive purists in the Reformed Churches (compare
Geffcken, l.c. p. 32 ff.; Zeller, Das theolog. System Zioingli's, p.
107 ff.).
(7) So Thomas Aquinas, Savonarola (see Rudelbach, Savonarola
and His Time, p. 406), Hengstenberg, Beitrdge, iii. p. 600.

§ 87.] CIRCUMCISION. ITS HISTORICAL ORIGIN. 277
(8) See Geffcken, pp. 141 ff. and 255 ff.; Schultz, Alttest. Theol. i.
p. 432 ; and the above-cited article in the Erlanger Zeitschrift. The
impulse, asserting itself in all possible agitations, to do hurt to our
neighbour's property.
(9) The verb njs is always, and the noun njs almost always, united
with tfM.
(10) Zullig thinks that in each table of the Decalogue every
precept refers to a less offence than that preceding. That this is not
correct has been shown by Geffcken, l.c. p. 244 ff. This view would
open the door to most dangerous casuistry.
(11) I do not think these attempts worthy of further notice.
A book of the kind is E. Meier's Original Form of the Decalogue,
Mannheim, 1846. On the theological controversies concerning the
Decalogue which refer partly to its division, partly to the compass
and dignity of its precepts, see the article already cited, p. 323 ff. ;
and in general, compare Baumgarten's Unters. theol. Streitigkeiten, ed.
by Semler, iii. p. 226 ff. §87.
Circumcision. — Its Historical Origin.
All theocratic ordinances (cf . § 80, note 2) are in general signs and
pledges of the covenant relation, and in this respect the observance of
the Sabbath is especially emphasized, Ex. xxxi. 13, 16 f. But the
main sign of the covenant (n*"]3 nis, Gen. xvii. 11 ; Baifeos n*na,
ver. 13) is circumcision, which is the abiding symbol of covenant
obligations, of consequent covenant rights. It was prescribed not
only for born Israelites, but also (as already remarked, § 82, 3) for all
who were received into the house as slaves, Gen. xvii. 12-27 comp.
with Ex. xii. 44-48. On new-born boys it was performed on the
eighth day (Gen. xvii. 12 ; Lev. xii. 3), that is, at the end of the
period in which, according to xii. 2, the mother of the child, and
therefore probably also the child she was suckling, was considered as
unclean ; so also, according to Ex. xxii. 29, Lev. xxii. 27, beasts could
not be offered till eight days old (cf. § 123, 2) (1).
The historical origin and the religious import of circumcision must
be carefully distinguished. It is quite possible that the operation was
customary in other tribes before it was introduced in the race of
Abraham ; and, in fact, the statement in Gen. xvii. presupposes a

278 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 87.
previous acquaintance with it. But this does not justify the infer
ence that the significance of circumcision in the Old Testament must
be explained from heathenism (2). Moreover, the historical origin of
the rite among heathen nations lies in obscurity. It is not probable
that the usage spread from a single centre ; Diodorus (according to an
observation in Biblioth. iii. 32) found it even among the Troglodytes,
and in recent times it has been found in the South Sea Islands and
among heathen negroes. It may be taken as certain that it was a
custom of immemorial antiquity among some nations of Western Asia
and Africa, but not, as far as appears, among Japhetic races. It
may be held as probable that it first appeared among the Egyptiansj
and, in connection herewith, among the Colchians and Ethiopians;
but, strictly speaking, the assumption of an Egyptian origin of circum
cision rests only on Herodot. ii. 104 (comp. chap. 36) ; and it is to be
observed that Herodotus' assertion that the Phoenicians and Pales
tinian Syrians adopted circumcision from the Egyptians, is, so far as
the former are concerned, either based on a complete misapprehen
sion, or else can only be understood of a custom accepted from the
Egyptians at a comparatively late date (3). The notice in Diodorus,
Bibl. i. 28 (with which is to be compared Joseph. Ant. vii. 10. 3, and
cont. Ap. i. 22), is beyond doubt taken from Herodotus. The Old
Testament offers no certain information about the circumcision of
the Egyptians ; for in Josh. v. 9 (4) the expression " the reproach of
Egypt " does not mean the foreskin, but the sense of the passage is
the reproach falling on Israel from the Egyptians (for the expression,
cf. Zeph. ii. 8, etc.), viz. that their God brought them out of Egypt
to let them perish in the wilderness (cf. for elucidation, Ex. xxxii. 12 ;
Num. xiv. 13 ff.; Deut. ix. 28). This reproach is now wiped off, the
covenant relation being restored in act. As for Jer. ix. 24 f., this
obscure passage would be easily cleared up if (with Hengstenberg and
others) we might interpret, "I visit all the circumcised with the uncir
cumcised." But this rendering is philologically untenable. The most
natural rendering is, " all who are circumcised in uncircumcision," i.e.
all who, though physically circumcised, are really, that is, in the heart,
uncircumcised (5), — "Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all
who cut their hair on the two temples who dwell in the wilderness."
On this rendering, the passage proves that the Egyptians were

§ 87.] CIRCUMCISION. ITS HISTORICAL ORIGIN. 279
circumcised, but proves the same for the Edomites and the other
nations named. And it may be assumed that the Edomites, who are
sprung from Abraham, did originally possess circumcision ; but at a
later date they must have given up the practice, for Josephus (Ant.
xiii. 9. 1) tells us that Hyrcanus compelled the Idumeans to accept
circumcision, as afterwards Aristobulus, his son, forced the same rite
upon the Itureans, who were probably of Arabic blood. On the
other hand, we know absolutely nothing of circumcision being prac
tised in Ammon and Moab. Their ancestor, Lot, left Abraham before
circumcision was instituted (Gen. xiii.) (6). And finally, if we com
pare the close of the passage in Jeremiah, ver. 25, where the Gentiles,
who are B*pny, are contrasted with the Israelites, who are a?-*?"iy, the
whole reference of the passage to the circumcision of these heathen
nations becomes doubtful (7). It seems that in ver. 24 P^iD must be
taken in a wider sense, so as to include also other customs, like that
hinted at in the nsa *?fi¥p. The latter expression we know refers to a
custom of some Arab tribes to shear the hair of the temples in honour
(says Herod, iii. 8) of their god Orotal, a custom which was forbidden
the Israelites as idolatrous (Lev. xix. 27). On the other hand, it can
not be proved from Ezek. xxxi. 18, xxxii. 19, that the Egyptians were
uncircumcised, since in these passages (cf. xxviii. 10) the word bny
seems to have a wider meaning. Philo, in his treatise De Circum
cision (ed. Mangey, ii. p. 210), certainly speaks of circumcision as an
Egyptian practice, but hints that it was mainly an affair of the priests,
to whom exclusively it is ascribed by Origen. Probably it was
prescribed to the priests and permitted to others (8). In this case it
remains possible, though the point does not admit of sufficient proof,
that circumcision in Israel was connected with Egyptian usage (9).
Wholly to be rejected is another view, which derives the practice from
Canaanitish Saturn-worship. The narrative in Gen. xxxiv. shows
that it was not originally a Canaanitish usage, and the myth in Pseudo-
sanchuniathon (ed. Orelli, p. 36), that Chronos, to avert his father's
wrath, circumcised himself and his companions, does not even prove
that the Phoenicians viewed circumcision as a consecration to Saturn.
The hypothesis, which in recent times has repeatedly been put forth
with confidence, that circumcision in Israel is simply a milder form of
the mutilations performed in the religions of Western Asia in honour

280 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§88.
of the Deity, cannot adduce a shadow of argument in its favour.
Mutilation absolutely excludes from the congregation of God, Deut.
xxiii. 2. But even from a purely physical point of view, circumcision
was viewed as increasing instead of destroying the powers of repro
duction (10).
(1) This is the simplest explanation of the command. Kurtz's
explanation is too artificial, — that the day after the lapse of the first
week was chosen to show that circumcision is a fresh starting-point in
life (Gesch. d.A.B. i. p. 187). — The Arabs, imitating the circum
cision of Ishmael, practise circumcision in the thirteenth year.
(2) So e.g. Baur, " Ueber die urspriingliche Bedeutung des Pas-
sahfestes und des Beschneidungsritus," Tiib. Zeitschr. 1832.
(3) See Movers, Phonicier, i. pp. 60 and 362.
(4) Josh. v. 9 speaks of the circumcision under Joshua, and says :
" And Jehovah said to Joshua, To-day have I rolled away from you
the reproach of Egypt."
(5) So Ewald, " Every uncircumcised-circumcised one " (Graf in
his Commentary falsely cites Ewald for a different exegesis).
(6) Also, according to Judith xiv. 10, the Ammonite Achior is
circumcised only after his conversion to Judaism.
(7) Quite wrong, however, is the view of Hitzig, Graf, and others,
— all who are uncircumcisedly circumcised, i.e. not circumcised.
(8) Further archaeological discussion is not necessary. Ambrosius,
de Abrahamo, ii. 11, says that the Egyptian circumcision was in the
fourteenth year of life.
(9) The recent hypothesis, that circumcision came to the race of
Abraham through the Hyksos, is without foundation.
(10) Cf. Philo, l.c. p. 211. Thus all the inferences drawn from
a supposed reference of circumcision to Saturn are nugatory. We
must confine ourselves to the Old Testament.

§88.
Continuation : Religious Import of Circumcision in the Old Testament.
The Giving of a Name.
To understand the Old Testament import of circumcision, we
must start from the fact that, according to Gen. xvii., it was instituted
before Isaac, the son of promise, was begotten. It obviously pre-

§ 88.] RELIGIOUS IMPORT OF CIRCUMCISION. 281
supposes that the natural life is hampered by impurity, which must be
removed in those who are called to covenant fellowship with God.
Circumcision may be named, with Ewald, " the offering of the body ; "
and this is carried out in a way that shall declare that the propagation
of the race of revelation is consecrated to God. The Old Testament
nowhere gives expression to the notion, which many entertain, that the
propitiation of God's justice is a distinct element in the rite, expressed
by the shedding of the blood. This idea is not contained in Gen. xvii.
14, where the cutting off of the uncircumcised is simply the punish
ment of disobedience. Nor does the idea lie in the passage adduced
by Ewald (1), Ex. iv. 24 ff. As Moses is returning to Egypt, Jehovah
falls on him — such is the expression — to slay him (which probably
indicates a mortal sickness). Then Zipporah cuts off her son's fore
skin, and with it (2) touches his, i.e. (on the most probable interpreta
tion) Moses' feet, and says, " A bloody bridegroom (B*OT~|riri) art thou
to me." " So He let him go. She said bloody bridegroom in reference
to the circumcision." The most obvious explanation of the passage
is, that Moses had omitted the circumcision of his son — his eldest son,
it seems — probably because Zipporah, the mother, objected to the
dangerous operation. For this he is punished ; for, as Knobel well
observes, " he who is to force Pharaoh to do his duty to God's first
born must fulfil his own duty to the first-born son who stands in his
power, but belongs to God." To save her husband, Zipporah per
forms the circumcision, but tells him that she is united to him in a
marriage the children of which must be bought with blood. The
rabbinical exegesis is, that the mother calls the son jnn upon his cir-
/ / /
cumcision, as the Arabs use the verb ^^ei- of circumcision. The act
of circumcision would, on this view, fall to be regarded as a betrothal
of the new-born offshoot of the people to the covenant God (3). But
this whole interpretation is opposed to the fact that it is Moses, and not
the child, that falls into danger of death because the circumcision is
omitted (4). Moreover, and this consideration is decisive, the Old
Testament applies the symbol of bridal and marriage only to the
fellowship of God with His people — not to His fellowship with indi
vidual members of the nation. Circumcision is essentially distin
guished from Christian baptism by not constituting an immediate

282 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 88.
personal relationship between God and the recipient of the ordinance.
It does not operate as an individual means of grace. Circumcision is
no vehicle of sanctifying forces, as it makes no inner demand of the
recipient ; of whom no more is presupposed than that he is physically
of Israelitish descent, or, if a born heathen, has been externally
incorporated in the national union of Israel. The rite effects admis
sion to the fellowship of the covenant people as an opus operatum,
securing to the individual" as a member of the nation his share in the
promises and saving benefits granted to the nation as a whole (5).
On the other hand, circumcision certainly makes ethical demands on
him who has received it. It binds to obedience to God, and to blame
less walk before Him (cf. Gen. xvii. 1). Thus it is the symbol of
renewal and purification of heart. This signification of the rite is in
the Old Testament specially brought out in the use of th6 term uncir
cumcision of heart, to denote a want of receptivity for the things of
God, Lev. xxvi. 41, Jer. ix. 25 (Ezek. xliv. 7) ; while, on the other
hand, the purification of the heart, by which it becomes receptive for
the things of God, and capable of executing God's will, is called cir
cumcision of heart, Deut. x. 1 6, xxx. 6 (Jer. iv. 4), etc. (6).
With circumcision was combined the naming of the child, which
is not expressly mentioned till Luke i. 59, ii. 21, but is already plain
from the connection of Gen. xvii. 5 with what follows and xxi. 3 f.
By this it is indicated that his name expresses a man's place in the
divine covenant (7). How frequently the giving of a name was in
Israel an act of religious confession, is seen in the meanings of
numerous biblical proper names (8).
(1) Cf. Ewald, Alterthumer, 1st ed. p. 98, 3d ed. p. 123. Also
Baur, l.c.
(2) yani Hiphil, as Isa. vi. 7. The Mi is the foreskin. It is not
" cast it at his feet."
(3) It readily suggests itself to apply to the child under the knife
of circumcision the account of the closing of the covenant in Ezek.
xvi. 6 ff. : "I said to thee when thou wast lying in thy blood, Live.
And I sware to thee, and entered into covenant with thee, that thou
shouldest be mine." — The further interpretation, that the flowing of
the blood contains a propitiation for the inborn guilt and impurity of
human nature, might be accepted ; but Baur's notion that the passage

§ 88.] RELIGIOUS IMPORT OF CIRCUMCISION. 283
implies that the rite of circumcision is a propitiation offered to a
threatening power of nature, to a gloomy fate, gives the ordinance a
sense directly opposed to the Old Testament faith in God.
(4) As rightly observed by Deyling, de sponso sanguinum, in his
Observationes Sacrw, ii. p. 152 ff.
(5) On this point, comp. Zezschwitz, l.c. i. p. 222 f.
(6) Other ends contemplated by circumcision, and expressed even
by ancient writers, must be viewed as at best secondary : such is the
dietetic use of the rite, which, says Herod, ii. 37, is observed icaBapio-
riqros e'iveicev ; or the surgical value, mentioned by Philo, I.e. p. 211,
as the best means against carbuncle ; or the value for the growth of
the nation, also mentioned by Philo, of an observance that increases
fecundity. But Philo also views it as a symbol of the purification
of the soul.
(7) Hence in later times Jewish proselytes were wont to take new
names. Particulars in my article " Name," in Herzog's Encyk. x. p.
193 ff.
(8) The names of every nation are an important monument of
national spirit and manners, and thus the Hebrew names bear impor
tant testimony to the peculiar vocation of this nation. No nation of
antiquity has such a proportion of names of religious import. The
collection in Mat. Hiller's Onomasticum Sacrum, 1706, which requires
to be sifted, contains more than a hundred such names of men (comp.
also Hieronymus, De Nominibus Hebraicis, Opp. ed. vail, iii.) ; and how
much more commonly used these names were, is seen from a glance
at the long list of names, e. g., in Chronicles. (There are far fewer
religious names of women in comparison with secular names, especially
names taken from favourite animals, plants, etc. Many names of
men, too, are taken from the animal kingdom (see Simonis, Onomast.
V. T. p. 393 ff.), which is explicable from the early nomadic life of the
nation.) The older of these names are generally compounded with PS,
less often with VW and ire (cf. § 47, and Ewald's Lehrbuch, 8th ed.
§ 676 ff.) ; while later, especially from David's time, they chiefly
appear compounded with nin*. They express truths about God's
attributes, — His almighty, righteous, and gracious rule, and the like ;
or they express thanks, hopes, and petitions to God. Some names
contain regular formulae of prayer; as, for example, El-io-enai (1
Chron. iii. 24, iv. 36, vii. 8) = To Jehovah are mine eyes (directed) ;
Hodaviah (iii. 24, v. 24) = Thank Jehovah. Specially noticeable is
the female name Hazlel-poni (iv. 3) = Give shade, Thou who turnest
to me Thy countenance (Ewald, l.c. p. 680). The meaning of these
names generally remained clear, though sometimes ffin* especially was

284 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 89.
much shortened. (On the last point, see the statements of Caspari,
Ueber Micha den Morasthiten, p. 8 ff .) Often, no doubt, the giving of
such religious names was a mere matter of custom ; even Ahab gave
his two sons by Jezebel names compounded with nin* (Ahaziah and
Joram). But it is equally certain that in many cases the choice of the
name (which seems to have been often made by the mother, Gen. xxix.
32 ff., chap. xxx. ; 1 Sam. i. 20, iv. 21) was an act of religious con
fession on the part of the parents [above art.]. — A religious consecra
tion for girls is neither prescribed at the institution of circumcision,
nor at a later date. This agrees with the dependent position of
woman, who has a part in national and covenant life only as the
partner of man — as wife and mother (see Kurtz, Hist, of the 0. C. i.
p. 188). Girls are said to have been named when weaned. [Art.
"PadagogikdesA. T."]

THIRD DOCTRINE.
DIVINE RETRIBUTION. §89.
Blessing and Curse.
As the people bound themselves when the covenant was concluded
to observe the law, so Jehovah on His part binds Himself to fulfil to
the nation, so long as it observes its obligations, all the promises He
makes, and to grant it the fulness of His blessing ; but in the opposite
case, to execute on the people the punishment of a breach of covenant.
For if man turns against God, God turns against him. Comp., as
main passage, Lev. xxvi. 23 f.; also Deut. xxxii. 21; Ps. xviii.
26 f. (1). The jus talionis, the principle that a man is dealt with as
he himself deals, is, in fact, the principle of penal justice in Mosaism,
Ex. xxi. 23 f. (cf. § 99). As the whole theocracy is purely earthly,
blessing and curse are confined to the life on earth. Where the will
of the holy God is to be fulfilled in every nation, there also His
righteous sway must be seen in the corresponding lot of man. The
natural life, as well as the history of the nation, must reveal the order
of divine retribution. At the same time it is to be noted, that when
Mosaism teaches that piety brings good fortune, and godlessness mis
fortune, this does not justify one in arguing directly from every

§ 89.] BLESSING AND CURSE. 285
misfortune to a corresponding sin, and from every piece of good
fortune to corresponding righteousness. For God sometimes shows
patience towards the wicked, Gen. xv. 16, and spares them for the
sake of the righteous, xviii. 26 ff. ; while, conversely, the righteous
are proved and purified by affliction (as in the history of Joseph).
But in the end, man's earthly lot must correspond to his desert.
The compass of divine blessings is Life, B*»n, Deut. xxx. 15 f. ;
comp. also iv. 1, viii. 1 (2) ; most frequently in the Proverbs, xii. 28,
viii. 35, and elsewhere. Life embraces all the good things that per
tain to earthly prosperity : long life in the promised land, Ex. xx. 12,
Deut. iv. 40, xi. 9 ff., xxx. 20 (3) ; the blessing of children, fertility
of the soil, victory over enemies, Lev. xxvi. 3 ff., Deut. xxviii. 1 ff. ;
compare, in elucidation, passages from, the Proverbs like iii. 2, iv. 10,
etc. But it is not these earthly benefits in themselves that make up
life. It is wrong to accuse the Old Testament of gross Eudemonism.
The idea that a godless man possessing such external good things is
really to be felicitated cannot be entertained from the moral stand
point of Mosaism ; but the earthly good things form a state of felicity
only when the possession of them is united with the experience of the
gracious presence of the covenant God, so that they are pledges of
His favour. Thus, in the leading passage Lev. xxvi., the whole
promise of earthly happiness closes in ver. 11 with the words : "And
I will set my tabernacle among you ; and my soul shall not abhor
you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye
shall be my people." Hence it is quite in the spirit of Mosaism
when David, Ps. iv. 8, says that he would not exchange his heart's
delight in God for the abundance of the godless ; when, xvi. 2, 5, he
praises Jehovah as the highest good ; or when, Ps. lxiii. 4, he says,
" Thy favour is better than life ; " only that the Old Testament stand
point, as such, does not permit the godly to look away from earthly
reward, but rather demands that outward prosperity shall ultimately
confirm the fellowship with God in which the godly knows himself to
stand (4). — The pattern of individual felicity in the Old Testament
is the life of the patriarchs in friendship with God, and in the rich
experience of His blessing ; their end " in peace, in a good old age,"
as the expression runs, Gen. xv. 15, xxv. 8, etc., full of confident hope
in the fulfilment of the divine promise resting on their descendants,

286 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 89.
xlviii. 21, 1. 24, etc. (cf. I Kings ii. 4). The picture of a happy state
of the nation — enjoying felicity in the experience of God's grace, apart
from the nations of the earth, provided with the bounteous plenty of
its land, victorious over all its foes — is drawn in Deut. xxxiii. 27-29.
On the other hand, faithlessness to the covenant on the part of the
people issues in the withdrawal of all these blessings, — shortening of
life, childlessness, ill growth and famine, — so that Israel may know
that it possesses all natural blessings only as the gift of God (comp.,
as a main passage, Hos. ii. 8 ff.) ; also political misfortune, defeat by
foes (5). And the punishment culminates when the servant of
Jehovah who refuses to serve his God is delivered into bondage to
other nations — when Israel is banished from the house of God (as it is
put in Hos. ix. 15), and therefore from the land with which the
theocracy is connected, and scattered among all nations as a timid,
despised, maltreated people ; comp., as main passages for these details,
Lev. xxvi. 14-39 (6), Deut. xxviii. 15 ff. If the national disasters
of heathen nations are a witness of the powerlessness of their gods,
Israel's disasters, on the contrary, shall be a proof of the reality of
Israel's God and of His retributive justice ; cf., as main passage,
Deut. xxxii. 39 : " See now that I, I, am He, and there is no god
beside me : I kill, and I make alive ; I wound, and I heal : neither is
there any that can deliver out of my hand." Therefore, also, the
Old Testament history is not marked by that mendacious patriotism
which conceals national misfortune (7).
(1) Lev. xxvi. 23 f . : " If ye walk contrary to me Q~$. "'Jay Bn3^n),
I also will walk contrary to you (Hpa B3E>y *JS-S)S *nr6ni).'"_ps.'xviii.
26 f. ; see § 48.
(2) Deut. xxx. 15 : " See I set before thee this day life and good,"
etc. ; viii. 1 : "Ye shall keep the commandments, that ye may live."
(3) Ex. xx. 12 : " That thy days may be long," etc. ; Deut. xxx.
20 : " This is thy life and the length of thy days, that thou mayest
dwell in the land which Jehovah sware unto thy fathers."
(4) To this point attaches the doctrine of retribution in the
Chochma. (5) Four leading judicial plagues are distinguished in Ezek. xiv.
21 and other passages, — sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence.
(6) The punishments form a climax ; if the first does not succeed,
" then I will punish you seven times more for your sins, and break

§ 90.] DIVINE ELECTION AND MOSAIC DOCTRINE OF RETRIBUTION. 287
your haughtiness of heart," Lev. xxvi. 18 f.; and if this too fails, still
severer chastisements ensue, ver. 23 ff.
(7) Cf. the remarks of M. v. Niebuhr, History of Assur and Babel,
p. 5, where the veracity of the Old Testament history is justly con
trasted with the patriotic lies of heathen chroniclers.
§90.
Solution of the Apparent Contradiction between Divine Election and the
Mosaic Doctrine of Retribution. Attacks on the latter.
' But if Israel by breaking the covenant is exposed to God's judg
ment and rejected, this seems to nullify God's decree of election and
the realization of the aim of His kingdom, which, though secured by
God's covenant oath, is again dependent on man's action. But to
this difficulty Mosaism provides an answer. God's compassionate love
is higher than His penal justice, as is already hinted in the relation
of Ex. xx. 6 to ver. 5, and especially is expressed in xxxiv. 6 f. (cf.
Deut. vii. 9). God's faithfulness cannot be broken by man's faithless
ness. His judgments have a fixed end, and therefore are always in
measure, as is taught in the beautiful parable Isa. xxviii. 23-29.
God's judgments are so executed that through them Israel must
reach restoration, and the perfecting of God's kingdom must be
brought about. Israel is not annihilated in the judgment ; even in
banishment, in dispersion among the nations, it , must not coalesce
with them, but is preserved as a separate nation unto the fulfilment
of its vocation. The passages in which the Pentateuch solves the
apparently insoluble contradiction in the divine decrees, by expressing
the prospect of a future restoration of Israel, are the following : —
Lev. xxvi. 44, " When they be in the land of their enemies, I will not
cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly,
and to break my covenant with them." If they now turn to Jehovah,
He remembering His covenant, will again take them as His people
and bring them back. See Deut. xxxii. 36 ff., but especially the chief
passage, Deut. xxx. Iff.: " And it shall come to pass, when all these
things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have
set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the
nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return

288 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 90.
unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey His voice: then the Lord
thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and
will gather thee again from all the nations whither the Lord thy God
hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost
parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and
from thence will He fetch thee : and the Lord thy God will bring thee
into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it ;
and He will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers."
The final restoration of the people is, according to this, an act of God;
but is effected by ethical means, through the conversion of the people,
for the order of God's kingdom excludes all magical means. This
conversion is complete when, by the operation of divine grace, that
renovation of heart is accomplished in virtue of which the law shall
no longer be an external obligation on the people, but, by God's might,
shall be a living will and purpose on their part. For, as the last-
cited passage continues (ver. 6), " Then the Lord thy God will cir
cumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy
God with all thine lieart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live."
Thus, in spite of man's sin and faithlessness, the realization of the
divine decree of election, the perfecting of the people of God, are
firmly based in God's faithfulness and mercy (Rom. xi. 25-36) (1).
The attacks made on Mosaism by the Deists and by later theolo
gians, on account of the doctrine of retribution, rest mainly on the
assertion that Mosaism has no higher motives to urge for obedience to
the law than carnal desire of reward and fear of punishment ; that this
national delusion, as De Wette calls the Mosaic doctrine of retribu
tion, made the nation of Israel vastly unhappy, and engendered a
gloomy view of life, which destroys the fair harmony of man with the
world, in which the Greek appears so nobly (2); while, finally, fault
is found with the absence of a doctrine of future retribution. — The
general answer to these objections is contained in our previous state
ments. A morality which rests on the basis of faith in the elective
grace and providential faithfulness of the covenant God, and whose
doctrine of the good culminates in the prominence assigned to fellow
ship with this God, cannot surely be accused of gross, sensuous Eude-
monism. Certainly it is a limitation to Mosaism, in comparison with
the higher stage of New Testament revelation, that fellowship with

§ 91.] THE IDEA OF THE DIVINE KINGSHIP. 289
God cannot be conceived without corresponding blessing in earthly good,
and that life is not yet understood as life everlasting ; but, on the
other hand, the earnest way in which Mosaism carries out the postulate
of a moral government of the world, the manner in which it forbids
all fatalistic consolation in adversity and arouses the conscience of the
sufferer, and in general, the way in which it instils into the whole
life reverence for a holy, divine power that attests its presence in every
human fortune, raise this religion high above all forms of heathenism.
Thus the moral life of Israel gains a freshness and energy which
stand in the strongest contrast to the Egyptian character, which is
ever busy with thoughts about death and the future state (3).
(1) The application of this law of divine grace to a single race —
viz. that of David — is given in 2 Sam. vii. 14 ff.
(2) See especially an essay by De Wette, which in other respects
contains much that is good, " Beitrag zur Charakteristik des Hebrais-
mus," in Daub's and Creuzer's Studien, iii. p. 241 ff.
(3) Yet the foundation of a hope of immortality that is full of
meaning — such a hope as can only arise in connection with the fact
of the vanquishing of death — is laid in the institution of a fellowship
of man with God, the ever-living. The imperishableness of this
fellowship is felt to be sure, in the first instance, because God's
eternity secures the everlasting duration of His people (cf. Ps. cii.
28 f.); but the growing intensity with which, in the further develop
ment of the Old Testament religion, fellowship with God becomes the
experience of individual saints, serves to arouse a presentiment of the
eternal destiny of the individual also (see my Commentations, p. 71 ff.).
[Art. " Volk Gottes."] We shall find that this point leads on to the
prophetic eschatology.

SECOND CHAPTER.
THE THEOCRACY. §91.
The Idea of the Divine Kingship.
The system of government founded by Moses is the government of
GoA,—8eoKparia, as Josephus, who seems to have invented this word,
calls it (1). Jehovah is King of Israel. The Old Testament idea of
VOL. I. T

290 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 91.
the divine kingship does not express God's general relation of power
towards the world (that He is its creator and supporter), but His
special relation of dominion towards His elect people (2). The patri
archs called Him Lord and Shepherd, and it is not until He had
formed a people for Himself by bringing Israel up out of Egypt that
He is called, Ex. xv. 18, " He who is King for ever and ever." But
the real beginning of His kingly rule was on that day on which He
bound the tribes of Israel into a community by the promulgation of
the law and the closing of the legal covenant : " Then He became
King in Jeshurun," Deut. xxxiii. 5 (3). The notion of the divine
kingship is therefore connected with the notion, "Holy One and
Creator of Israel ;" comp. Isa. xliii. 15, Ps. lxxxix. 19. On the divine
kingship in Israel, compare also the passages, Num. xxiii. 21 ; Isa. xii.
21, xliv. 6 ; Ps. x. 16. In Ps. xlviii. 3, Jehovah is called the " Great
King ; " in xxiv. 7 ff ., the " King of Glory." Although He has been
the King of His people in all ages, Ps. Ixxiv. 12, He will not become
the King of the nations until a future time, when He comes in the
last revelation of His kingdom (4). In Him, as King, all political
powers are united (their earthly bearers are only Jehovah's organs);
church and state, if we may speak thus, are here joined in immediate
union. As King, He is the Lawgiver and Judge of His people, Isa.
xxxiii. 22. Legal and civil regulations are but an efflux of the divine
will. Some things, indeed, that rest on usage are adhered to or
tolerated on account of the o-KXnpoicapBla of the people (comp. Matt.
xix. 8); still even these things are limited and regulated by provisions
of the law. Lastly, as King, God is also the leader of His people's
army (5) (comp. Num. xxiii. 21); Israel forms the hosts of Jehovah,
Ex. xii. 41 (nin* niS3V) (He goes before them as leader in the combat,
Num. x. 35); Israel's battles are nin* nion^D, Num. xxi. 14. An
example of this is the first, battle with Amalek, in which Israel
conquers by Moses' hands held up in prayer (Ex. xvii. 8-16) (6).
(1) Josephus says in his book, c. Ap. ii. 16 : " Oi fiev fiovapxlais,
ol Be rat? oXlrycov Bvvaarelai<;, aXXoi Be rot? irXrjdeaiv iirerpetyav rrjv
igovcriav r£>v iroXirevfidroiv. 'O B"f)fierepo<; vofio6errj<; et? fiev rovrav
oiSoriovv direiBev, to? B dv ti? e'iiroi f3iaadfievo<; rbv Xoyov, Oeoicpariav
direBei^e rb iroXirevfia, 6ea> rtjv dpyrjv ical to icpdros dvadek, ical weiaafS
et? iiceivov airavra1} dtpopdv" etc.

§ 92.] THE DIVISION INTO TRIBES. 291
(2) The nation therefore calls on God as King in this specific
sense, Ps. xliv. 5, Ixviii. 25, etc.
(3) The subject in Deut. xxxiii. 5 is Jehovah; it is quite wrong
to take Moses for the subject.
(4) This will be further shown in the prophetic theology.
(5) ^rparnyh airo/cpdrcop, as Josephus expresses himself (Ant.
iv. 8. 41).
(6) The delineation of the theocratic regulations is most fitly
divided into two sections : in the first, we have to delineate the whole
theocratic organism, and, along with this, to treat of the connected
ordinances of law and justice ; in the second, we have to delineate the
ordinances of worship.

FIRST.
THE THEOCRATIC ORGANISM, AND THE ORDINANCES OF LAW AND
JUSTICE CONNECTED THEREWITH.
I. THE THEOCRATIC ORGANIZATION OF THE PEOPLE.
§92.
The Division into Tribes. IsraeVs Representation before Jehovah.
The people form by nature twelve tribes, or, as Joseph receives
double tribal rights in Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. xlviii. 5), thirteen
tribes, nitso or B*!?3E> (LXX. <f>vXai), — the former of these designations
apparently designating the tribes more in their genealogical division and
natural relations, the latter (according to the meaning of 133??, sceptre)
more their political corporation (1). But as Levi received no special
tribal territory, the number twelve still remains for all political rela
tions ; while, on the contrary, wherever Levi is numbered, the two
tribes of Joseph appear as only one. Thus, in the prophecy in Ezek.
xlviii., in speaking of the division of the land, vers. 1-7, 23-28,
Manasseh and Ephraim are reckoned as two tribes ; and on the con
trary, in vers. 30-35, where it is said that the twelve gates in the New
Jerusalem shall be called by the names of the twelve tribes, Joseph is
reckoned as but one tribe (2). — These twelve tribes together form
the priestly kingdom (B*:n_3 n^DD, Ex. xix. 6). But though Korah
and his company are so far in the right, Num. xvi. 3, that " all the

292 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 92.
congregation are holy together, and the Lord is among them," the
manifestation is not adequate to the idea. On account of their
uncleanness and sinfulness (comp. Ex. xix. 21, etc.), the congregation
are able to draw near to God only by means of a propitiation (comp.
§ 127). Every one who at twenty years of age entered the army of
Jehovah had to pay at the mustering the sum of half a shekel of the
sanctuary as *i?3, " covering," propitiation, Ex. xxx. 11-16, — the rich
giving no more and the poor no less, because they are equal in God's
sight (comp. § 136, 4). A whole series of other institutions are
directed to such propitiation; but this thought is pre-eminently
expressed by the institution of a representative body put between
Jehovah and the people. A priesthood springing out of natural cir
cumstances existed even before the time of Moses, comp. Ex. xix. 22.
In the time of the patriarchs, the father appears as the priestly inter
cessor for his family (comp. also Job i. 5), or the prince as priest to
his tribe, as kingship and priesthood were united in Melchisedek ; and
Jethro also is to be reckoned as the spiritual and civil captain of Midian
(jnon san, Onk. Ex. ii. 16, iii. 1), as im$m and sheikh. Thus, too,
the priests mentioned in Ex. xix. 22 must have possessed the priestly
dignity in virtue of a higher natural position, whether, as Jewish
tradition declares, and as false exegesis finds even in Gen. xlix. 3 (3),
the priesthood was originally connected with the right of the first-born,
and therefore the charge of the cultus was entrusted to the first-born
before the introduction of the Aaronic priesthood (Mischna, Sebachim
xiv. 4) (4), or whether those elders who in Ex. xxiv. 11 are called v^S
PNnb>* *33 (excellents) were called to this honour. At a still later time
(Num. xvi. 2) it is the princes of the congregation (nny 'S*^) who
are its representatives (B*s*ij5), and in especial the princes of the tribe
of the first-born, Reuben, who demand a priesthood on the broadest
basis.— But all claims which arose from the right of nature are set
aside by the theocratic law. As Israel as a whole is a holy people
only in virtue of the divine election — as all the regulations of the
covenant, especially those of worship (comp. § 112), rest on the divine
institution, the bestowing of the priesthood can also be only an act of
divine grace. Those only whom God Himself has called, whom He
has brought there and sanctified to Himself (Num. xvi. 7 compared
with Heb. v. 4), are permitted to draw near to God in intercession

§ 92.] THE DIVISION INTO TRIBES. 293
for the people. Certainly " out of the midst of the children of Israel,"
for the people's representative must stand in the natural connection
with them ; but Aaron and his sons are chosen for the priesthood from
their midst by the divine good pleasure (Ex. xxviii. 1, comp. 1 Sam.
ii. 28); they receive their priesthood as a gift, Num. xviii. 7 (nmo).
And this divine act of election took place (see Ex. xxviii. 41, xxix. 9)
earlier than the occurrence Ex. xxxii. 16 ff., when the tribe of
Levi won for itself the blessing, through its zeal for the honour of
Jehovah (5). From that time forward, however, Levi as a tribe
appears likewise in a mediatorial position between Jehovah and the
people (6); the race of Aaron rises from its midst with a specific
priestly prerogative, and in such a way that the priesthood itself
culminates in the office of high priest. There are therefore three
steps by which the representation of the people ascends upwards
before Jehovah.
(1) The two terms are often used promiscuously; but, e.g., in
geographical descriptions the term nitiO is the commonest. On the
distinction in the text, see Keil, Commentary on Joshua, 1847, Intro
duction, p. xix. ff.; also Gusset in his Lexicon, under t3at}\ — The tribal
constitution which (comp. § 27) was formed during the time of the
people's stay in Egypt was not dissolved by Moses, but was incor
porated in the theocratic regulations. The number of twelve tribes
was regarded as expressing the normal state of the covenant people,
and therefore (Judg. xxi. 17) it is regarded as a misfortune, to be
avoided at any price, that a tribe should disappear out of Israel [Art.
" Stamme Israels "]. — This number twelve is so entirely identified with
the normal subsistence of the theocracy, that it continues to be the
signature of God's people even in prophecy (comp. den Prophetismus).
In the New Testament, too, the twelve tribes continue to be the type
of the covenant people (Acts xxvi. 7 ; Rev. vii. 4 ff.), to which the
number of the apostles corresponds.
(2) So also in Jacob's blessing, Gen. xlix., and in that of Moses,
Deut. xxxiii.
(3) Comp. the Targum of Onkelos and Jerus. Onkelos inter
prets, " Three things belonged to Reuben — birthright, priesthood, and
kingship." Luther also translates, " The chief in the sacrifice."
(4) The young men who were set apart by Moses to assist at the
sacrifice (Ex. xxiv. 5) are taken by Onkelos as the first-born sons, and
the priests mentioned in xix. 22, 24 are so understood by Rashi and

294 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 92.
Aben Esra. In opposition to this explanation of the latter passage,
comp. Vitringa, Observations Sacrw, i. p. 284 [article, " Levi, Leviten,
Levitenstadte "].
(5) It is not therefore right to say that the election of the tribe
of Levi to the priesthood was a reward for that deed (comp. Philo, Vit.
Mos. iii. 19).
(6) However we understand the difficult passage Ex. xxxii. 29,
it is clearly indicated in Deut. xxxiii. 9, which obviously refers to
Ex. xxxii., that the tribe, by its zeal for Jehovah's honour, showed
itself worthy of this share in the priestly honour which Aaron's race
enjoyed (comp. § 29, note 2). Also Deut. x. 8 does not contradict
this, since this passage must be taken in connection with vers. 1-5
and 10 f., which likewise refer to Ex. xxxii. ff. Vers. 6 and 7 are
recognised by their whole form as an insertion which interrupts the
close connection that subsists between vers. 5 and 8. We may con
jecture, in view of ix. 20, that the author of this gloss made the inser
tion in order to indicate the acceptance of Moses' prayer on behalf of
Aaron, who died much later. On this passage compare especially
Ranke, Unters. fiber den Pentateuch, ii. p. 283. Riehm, on the con
trary (die Gesetzgebung Mosis im Lande Moab, p. 37 f.) again, forces
on Deuteronomy a gross discrepancy from the book of Numbers, as
if the former book made the Levites be chosen only after Aaron's
death, in the fortieth year of the wandering ! — As regards the sense
of Ex. xxxii. 29, it is to be observed that the view which sees in this
passage a repetition of the words in which Moses summons the Levites
to execute judgment against their brethren, as a sacrifice well pleasing
to God, is not only liable to other objections, but does not conform
to the strict usage of Vav consec. cum imperf. Instead of "rc?KsJ, we
should on this view look rather, as in iv. 26, for ItDS TS. From the
common use of the expression " to fill the hand " (xxviii. 41, xxix. 9 ;
2 Chron. xiii. 9), we should be led to think of an offering of consecration,
which the Levites had to offer up after the deed was executed, in
reference to the calling which was now set before them. What can
be brought against this explanation has been best collected by J. G.
Carpzov, Apparatus hist. erit. antiquitatum sacri cod., p. 103 f. On
the contrary, even Targ. Jon. finds in the passage a command to bring
an offering of expiation for the shed blood ; and Kurtz, Gesohichte des
A. Bundes, i. 2d ed. p. 313, has declared for the same meaning [in the
above-cited article].

§ 93.] REPRESENTATION OF ISRAEL BY THE LEVITES. 295
1. THE LEVITES (1).
§93.
The Modality and Meaning of the Representation of Israel by the
Levites.
The circumstances of the dedication of the tribe of Levi are
represented in the following manner in the Pentateuch. We are told
in Ex. xiii., that from the night in which Israel was redeemed all the
first-born males among man and beast were dedicated to Jehovah.
Now Jehovah takes the Levites, instead of all the first-born sons then
living from- a month old and upward, as a standing gift of the people
(comp. Num. viii. 16); and instead of the people's cattle, he takes the
cattle of the Levites, Num. iii. 11 f., 45 (2). Opinions differ about
the precise meaning of this transaction. The first question is, what
first-born sons it was whose place was taken by the Levites ; and the
second, what meaning is to be put upon this substitution. — With
regard to the first point, it is to be premised in explanation, that two
different kinds of first-born sons are distinguished in Jewish law (3).
The first-born in the sense of family rights (n?n3? 1133, primogenitus
liwreditatis), spoken of in Deut. xxi. 17, is the oldest son of the
father by any one of his wives, whether she has had children
before or not ; but the first-born of the redemption (p3? 1133, primo
genitus sacerdotis) is the son who "first opens the matrix," that is, a
woman's first child, if that child be a male. In the opinion of most
rabbis, the husband of several wives had to redeem the first-born of
each of them ; while, on the contrary, his first-born son, if he were not
at the same time the first-born of his mother, did not require to be
redeemed. On this view, the Levites were taken by Jehovah instead
of the first-born sons of every mother (4). This view certainly seems
to agree best with Num. iii. 12 f., xviii. 15, — no other definition of
first-born than by the mother was possible among animals, — but it not
only goes against Ex. xxii. 28 (where it is not said, " the first-born
of thy wives," but " the first-born of thy sons shalt thou give to me "),
but also against the reference to the first-born of Egypt brought
forward in Num. viii. 17 ; in which case, from Ex. xii. 29, Ps. lxxviii.

296 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 93.
51, cy. 36, we can only think of the first-born of the fathers. Hence
the view of Lund and Keil (5) has more probability, according to
which those first-born sons are meant who are the first of both father
and mother. On this view, too, we can most easily understand the
relatively small number of first-born sons in Num. iii. 43, if at the
same time we remember that all the first-born sons who were them
selves fathers were, without doubt, no longer regarded as first-born
sons to be redeemed.
Secondly, with regard to the sense in which the Levites took the
place of the first-born sons : on the one view, the Levites were accepted
by Jehovah to take charge of the priestly services, which were previ
ously incumbent on the firstrborn as the representatives of the families ;
on the other view, on the contrary, the substitution of the Levites is
to be looked upon under the aspect of sacrifice. In order to get at
the right understanding, we must proceed from the latter conception.
Nowhere in the Levitical law is anything said of an entrance on
priestly rights which the first-born children before received ; the idea
lying at the root of the dedication of the Levitical tribe is rather this : —
As the Egyptians were judged in their first-born children because of
their guilt, so that the children took the place of the whole nation,
and bore as a sacrifice the curse of extermination which lay on all ; so,
on the contrary, Israel — the people chosen by Jehovah and redeemed
from the bondage of man — in testimony that it owes its existence and
possessions to divine grace alone, that it is indebted to its God for
all that it has and is, shall bring to God, as payment, the firstling
blessings of his house in the place of. the whole. But the offering of
men is not executed by sacrificing them, but by giving them up for
permanent service in the sanctuary (comp. the story of Hannah, 1
Sam. i. 22, 28). But instead of all the first-born sons of the people
performing this service in the sanctuary, one tribe is taken for ever
from life's common worldly calling by divine election, and placed in
a closer and particular relation towards God, to take charge of the
service in the sanctuary, and thus to mediate to the people the
communion of the sanctuary. Thus, in the first place, the Levites
were the living sacrifice by which the people rendered payment to
Jehovah for owing their existence to Him ; but secondly, the Levites,
who in consequence of this performed in the sanctuary the service

§ 93.] REPRESENTATION OF ISRAEL BY THE LEVITES. 297
which the people ought to have rendered through their first-born, but
could not on account of their uncleanness (Num. xviii. 22 f.), serve
also, in their substitution, as an atonement (13??) for the people who
come near to the sanctuary, Num. viii. 19. In the first respect, the
Levites are given to the priests (to whom, in general, the use of the
sacrifice of the firstlings is given), as a gift assigned to them by
Jehovah (xviii. 6, comp. with iii. 9, viii. 19) ; they shall (as is said in
xviii. 2, comp. with ver. 4, with allusion to their name) join them
selves to the priest ('1?!), and serve him. In the second respect, the
Levites themselves obtain a certain share in the mediatorial position
which belongs to the priesthood, and thus the Levitical tribe forms
the basis of the gradually ascending representation of the people
before God. Emphatically as it is inculcated on the Levites (comp.
xvi. 10) that the dedication of their tribe does not involve the priest
hood proper, yet their relative share in the priestly mediatorship, in
contrast to the other tribes, is imprinted very clearly in the regulations
of encampment, — in the Levites having to encamp with the priests,
close round the sanctuary, " that wrath come not on the congregation
of the children of Israel," i. 53 (comp. § 20). — What has been said
explains further the difference which exists in reference to the Levites
between the legislation in the middle books of the Pentateuch and
Deuteronomy — that, namely, the former gives special emphasis to the
difference between the priests and Levites, while Deuteronomy, on
the contrary, takes priests and Levites together, as a holy estate in
contrast to the people (6). The two views do not contradict, but
supplement each other mutually. That Deuteronomy, as has often
been said, does not at all acknowledge the difference between the
Levites who were priests and those who were not is decidedly wrong ;
for in Deuteronomy, where simply *1? or BS1P stands, it is just the
common Levites who are meant; see especially xviii. 6-8, comp.
with vers. 3-5 (7). It is correct, however, that both are treated as
essentially a single whole, as is manifest even from the fact, that
while the middle books of the Pentateuch are wont to denote the
priests as "sons of Aaron," in Deuteronomy, on the contrary, the
Levitical character of the priesthood is made prominent by the
priests being called "sons of Levi" (xxi. 5, xxxi. 9), or "Levitical
priests " (B»^n B*jn3n), xvii. 9, 18 (the same in Josh. iii. 3, etc.), and

298 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 94.
that also the vocation of the Levites is designated by terms which are
elsewhere applied precisely to the priestly calling, viz. " to minister
in Jehovah's name" (nin* Bfc'a nnt?), "to stand before Jehovah"
(nin* *jbp 1»y) ; e.g. Deut. xviii. 7, comp. with ver. 5 and xxi. 5, xvii.
12 (8). In Moses' blessing (xxxiii. 8 ff.), the idea of the priesthood
is similarly transferred to the tribe ; and accordingly the ordinance of
the priesthood is, as Mal. ii. 5 designates it, a covenant with Levi.
(1) Compare my article, "Levi, Leviten, Levitenstadte," in
Herzog's R.E. viii. p. 347 ff.
(2) Since (Num. iii. 43) the number of first-born sons in the
nation amounts to 22,273, and the number of the Levites, on the
contrary, only to 22,000, the overplus is compensated by a fine of five
shekels a-piece, to be paid to Aaron and his sons (vers. 46-51). —
There must be a mistake in the reckoning in vers. 22, 28, 34, which
would give a sum of 22,300 ; see Kurtz, l.c. 335 f. Others suppose
that these 300 supernumerary Levites were themselves first-born
children [in above-cited art.].
(3) Comp. Mischna, Bechoroth, chap, viii., and Maimonides on
the passage ; Selden, de success, in bona def. p. 27 ; Saalschutz, mos.
Recht, pp. 349 and 815.
(4) Kurtz, pp. 143 and 337.
(5) See Lund, altejud. Heiligthumer, p. 622 ; Keil, in Havernick's
Introduction to the Old Testament, 2d ed. i. 2, p. 425.
(6) The Levitical regulations are a chief point in the disputes on
the composition of the Pentateuch.
(7) Compare the explanation of this passage by Riehm, l.c. p. 35 f.
(8) On the contrary, Num. xvi. 9 says the Levites are appointed
Bmtj*? myn *:ap ibyp.
t : t : t** t *•; * -;~
§94.
Official Functions, Dedication, and Social Position of the Levites.
The official functions of the Levites are placed along with the
service of the priests under the common point of view of "keeping
the charge of the sanctuary " (Bnpn ni»B>'o) (comp. Num. iii. 28, 32
with xviii. 5), but at the same time are distinguished definitely from
the latter. The charge of " all concerns of the altar (1) and within
the veil" (Num. xviii. 7), with which, also, the performance of
liturgical acts connected with the other sacred utensils is united, falls

§ 94.] OFFICIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE LEVITES. 299
exclusively to the priests (2). On the contrary, the service of the
Levites is called the service of Jehovah's dwelling-place, or of the
tabernacle of meeting (comp. various expressions, i. 53, xvi. 9, xviii. 4);
it is designated as martial service (S3V), iv. 3, 30, viii. 24 (in the
camp of Jehovah, 1 Chron. ix. 19), and even at a later period it was
organized entirely in a military manner. During the wandering in
the wilderness, the Levites had to take charge of the taking down,
carrying, and setting up of the holy tabernacle (Num. i. 50 ff.) ; also
to carry the sacred utensils, and in particular the ark of the covenant
(comp. Deut. x. 8, xxxi. 25) (3). The division of these duties among
the three Levitical families is given in Num. iii. 25-37, chap. iv. (4).
According to chap. iv. 3, 23, 30, the Levites were called to this
service from their thirtieth to their fiftieth year; on the contrary,
viii. 24 ff. represents their time of service as beginning as early as
with their twenty-fifth year (5). — But the functions laid down in the
book of Numbers refer only to the time of the people's wandering.
Nothing is determined in the Pentateuch, or even in Deuteronomy,
about the services which fall to the share of the Levites in future,
during the settlement of the people in the Holy Land (6). How very
different would this be if the Levitical legislation of the Pentateuch
were as modern a production as the modern critics maintain ! (7).
The act of the dedication of the Levites is described in Num. viii.
5-22. The first set of these ceremonies aims at purification, "inip (an
expression which, moreover, in vers. 6 and 21, stands as a designation
of the whole act of dedication, while, on the contrary, Ex. xxviii.
41, xxix. 1, \tfaj> is used in speaking of the dedication of the priests).
The purification falls (ver. 7) into three parts, — sprinkling with the
water of purification (nssn *») (8) ; shaving (" they shall cause the
razor to pass over their whole body ") (9) ; washing of their clothes.
There is no mention of investiture, as at the dedication of the priests,
for the Pentateuch does not recognise any special costume of office
for the Levites (such as appears later). Thus purified, the Levites
become fitted to be given over to Jehovah. This is divided into the
following ceremonies : — The laying on of hands (ver. 10). When
the sacrifices which were to be offered afterwards had been prepared
(ver. 8), the whole congregation was to gather before the holy taber
nacle. " Then bring the Levites before Jehovah, and the children

300 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 94.
of Israel (namely, the representatives of the congregation) shall lay
their hands on the Levites." By this action the intention of the
people to give over the Levites as an offering in their name is ex
pressed (§ 126). The actual giving over is performed by waving or
swinging (nEfiW, comp. § 133), the ceremony which takes place at all
the offerings which God resigns as a gift to the priest (10). In the
case of the Levites, it is generally understood as a simple leading
backward and forward. Then the sin-offering and burnt sacrifice
are presented (11) in the name of the Levites (who must therefore
lay their hands, ver. 12, on the sacrificial animals), to atone for them
(D»*pn-py 133P) ; for even those whom God has accepted as a gift must
be atoned for before they can begin to serve in the sanctuary (12).
In order that the tribe of Levi might be withdrawn from the
common calling of life, — which in the theocratic state was agricultural,
— and might give itself completely to its sacred vocation, no inherit
ance as a tribe was assigned to it (Num. xviii. 23). What Jehovah
said to Aaron (Num. xviii. 20) is iu Deut. x. 9 applied to the whole
tribe of Levi — namely, that Jehovah Himself will be their inheritance.
The tribe is scattered among all the other tribes, in whose dominions
(Num. xxxv. 6) it received forty-eight towns (13), with their suburbs
(ver. 7, B*BHJD), that is, pasturages (14). In this law, moreover, the
priests are taken along with the Levites. The thirteen towns belong
ing to the priests are not separated till Josh. xxi. 4 (15). Without
doubt, this dispersion served the purpose of placing the Levites in a
position where they could watch over the keeping of the law. The
tithes were assigned to them for their support (more hereafter,
§ 136, 3). This was not a splendid endowment. Even when the tithe
was conscientiously handed over, it was no certain income (and,
besides, did not increase with the increase of the tribe). Moreover,
if the people showed themselves averse to this tax (as was to be ex
pected in times of falling away from the theocratic law), the tribe of
Levi was subjected to unavoidable poverty. And thus Deuteronomy
represents the Levites as placed in a position requiring the support of
alms, and looks on them as standing in the same line with strangers,
widows, and orphans (xii. 19, xiv. 27, 29, and elsewhere) (16).
(1) Viz.— comp. 1 Chron. vi. 34— as well of the altar of burnt
sacrifice as the altar of incense.

§ 94.] OFFICIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE LEVITES. 301
(2) The attempt of the Levite Korah to offer incense is punished
as a criminal attempt, Num. xvi.
(3) The ark, however, must first be covered by the priests, Num.
iv. 4 ff. ; a sight of it is unconditionally forbidden to the Levites,
ver. 17 ff.
(4) The family of Gershon had to take charge of the coverings
and curtains; that of Kohath, which held the first rank because
Aaron sprung from this family, took charge of the sacred vessels;
and Merari of the boards, bolts, and pillars. The Kohathites stood
under the superintendence of Eliezer the priest, the Gershonites and
Merarites under Ithamar. (The notice 1 Chron. ix. 19 f. will be
spoken of in David's history.) [In the cited article.]
(5) This apparent contradiction is easiest solved by the assumption
that the former passages refer to service in transporting the taber
nacle, and the latter to Levitical service in general (comp. Haver-
nick's Introduction, 2d ed., edited by Keil, i. 2, p. 432); on another
explanation (comp. Ranke, Untersuchungen iiber den Pentateuch, ii.
p. 159), the time from the twenty-fifth to the thirtieth year is to be
regarded mainly as a preparation for entering on the full service. —
From fifty years old and upward the Levites are not to be compelled
to do the work of serving, but only to help their brethren (probably
as overseers, or by instructing the younger men). According to the
tradition of the Talmud (Cholin, f. 24, a), the latter command had
reference only to the service in the wilderness ; afterwards, in Shilo,
an advanced age did not exclude them from service unless from want
of voice. [In above-cited article.]
(6) In Deuteronomy the vocation of the Levites, as has been
already indicated, is subsumed under the priestly calling in general
(x. 8, xviii. 7), but this without in any way assigning to the Levites
those functions which especially belong to the priests. For a mixture
of the offices of the two classes does not at all follow from the priests,
xxxi. 9, and also the Levites, ver. 25, being designated bearers of the
ark of the covenant. Subsequent practice (Josh, iii., vi. 6 ; 1 Kings
viii. 3 ff.) shows that the ark was carried by the priests on all solemn
occasions ; while, on the contrary, this labour was incumbent on the
Levites during the wandering in the wilderness (so, too, in 2 Sam.
xv. 24). [In the above-cited article.]
(7) Riehm is very far from having made out his point, that the
Deuteronomist, in what he says of the Levites, assumes a state of
things that arose not before Hezekiah's time. On the contrary, as will
appear more clearly afterwards, Stahelin (" Versuch einer Geschichte
der Verhaltnisse des Stammes Levi," in the Zeitschr. der deutschen

302 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 94.
morgenl. Gesellsch. 1855, p. 708 ff.) is probably in the right when he
finds that what is contained in Deuteronomy in reference to the
Levites applies quite well to the time after Joshua. [In the article
cited.] (8) It cannot be found out whether common, natural, spring
water is meant, such as was used at the washing connected with the
dedication of the priests, or a specially prepared water of purifica
tion, analogous with that ordained in Num. xix. ; the expression chosen
makes the latter more probable. [In article cited above.]
(9) Bahr (Symbolik des mos. Kultus, ii. p. 178) says that this is
to be understood with the exception of the head, since the shaving of
the head and the removal of the beard would, from Lev. xxi. 5, rather
have been regarded as desecration. But the analogous purification
of the leper, Lev. xiv. 9, seems to be in favour of complete shaving
(compare what Herodotus, ii. 37, tells of the customs of the Egyptian
priests) ; but there the shaving was not for once, but was repeated
every three days. [In the cited article.]
(10) See Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, ii. a, 1st ed. p. 187, 2d ed. p. 283.
(11) It is clear from ver. 12 comp. with ver. 21 that this double
sacrifice did not precede the dedication, as Hofmann (l.c. 1st ed. p.
159,- 2d ed. p. 253) states. [In the cited article.]
(12) Special provisions for the personal conduct and regulation
of the life of Levites (such as Lev. xxi. gives for the priests) are not
contained in the Levitical laws in the Pentateuch. [In the cited
article.] (13) Of which six are also appointed to be cities of refuge ; comp.
infra, the avenging of blood, § 108.
(14) The area of these suburbs was pretty limited. In Num.
xxxv. 4 f. it is said that they were to extend 1000 cubits from the
wall of the town round about, and the dimensions from corner to
corner were to amount to 2000 cubits. Very various plans have
been sketched from these statements ; compare Keil's Commentary on
Joshua (1847), p. 272 f.; Saalschiitz, mos. Recht, p. 100 ff. ; and his
Archaol. d. Hebr. ii. p. 86 ff. [In cited art.]
(15) The thirteen towns of the priests are, Josh. xxi. 4 f., in the
south of the land on the west side of Jordan, in the territory of the
tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. Of the thirty-five properly
Levitical towns, ten are assigned in Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe
of Manasseh on this side of Jordan, to the remaining Kohathites ;
thirteen in the half-tribe of Manasseh on the east side, in Issachar,
Assher, and Naphtali, to the Gershonites; and lastly, twelve in
Zebulon, Gad, and Reuben to the Merarites. The list in 1 Chron. vi.

§ 95.] THE PRIESTHOOD. 303 I
46 ff. deviates in many ways from the statement in the book of
Joshua. — The allotment of these towns is doubtless not to be under
stood as if the Levites were their only possessors, but that they
received only the needful number of houses, along with the suburbs
round the town to pasture their cattle, whilst the other houses, and
the fields and granges belonging to each town, were occupied by the
members of the tribe in whose land the town lay (comp. Josh. xxi. 12,
and Keil on the passage). Reference has also been made in this
connection with good reason to the law about the sale of Levites'
houses, Lev. xxv. 32 f., since this has a meaning only on the presup
position that other Israelites dwelt with the Levites. So we really
find afterwards, 1 Sam. vi. 13, in Bethshemesh, which was a priests'
town, Josh. xxi. 16, inhabitants who are distinguished from the B>1P
who were in it. It is probable that the latter expression was also used
in speaking of members of the priestly family when they were not
really installed in the priest's office (see Stahelin, l.c. p. 713 f.). [In
the art. cited above.]
(16) Riehm (I.e. p. 33 f.) says that Deuteronomy distinctly con
tradicts the provisions in the book of Numbers about the dwelling-
places of the Levites by presupposing a houseless tribe of Levites, and
by representing the Levites as strangers living scattered in the various
towns of the various tribes. This assertion is at first sight guilty
of gross exaggeration, as, with the exception of xviii. 6, the Levites
themselves are not designated as strangers in any of the passages cited
by Riehm (xii. 12, 18 ; xiv. 27, 29 ; xvi. 11, 14). [In cited art.] In
order to appreciate the statements in Deuteronomy rightly, compare
also what is said on the situation of the Levites as it was from the
beginning of the time of the judges and onwards, in the historical
section of the " Theology of Prophecy."

2. THE PRIESTHOOD (1).
§95.
It appears from what has been already said (§ 92), that the priestly
vocation is in the first place essentially to represent the people as a
holy congregation before Jehovah with full divine authority (comp.
Deut. xviii. 5), and to open up for them the way to their God (2).
Standing as a holy order between Jehovah and the congregation in its
approach to Him, the priests cover the latter by the holiness of their
office (3), which official holiness (Num. xviii. 1) covers also the guilt

304 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 95.
which adheres to the person of the priest himself ; and in the functions
of his office the priest is the medium of the intercourse which takes
place in worship between Jehovah and the congregation, and which,
on account of the sinfulness of the congregation, becomes a service of
expiation. The name }na (and nans) probably refers to this priestly
calling. The stem jn3 appears to be connected with p3 (as ?na with
Pia, "'no with -iid), and to mean either intransitively, " to present one
self," or transitively, parare, aptare ; in the former case, jna would be
one who stands to represent another (4), and in the latter case the priest
would be named from the preparing and presenting the sacrifice (5). —
Besides this mediatorial calling, the priest has the office of teacher and
interpreter of the law, Lev. x. 11, in which respect he has to accom
plish a divine mission to the people ; hence the priest is, in Mal. ii. 7,
called a nin* 'fjnpd, " for the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and
men should seek the law at his mouth." As it is said in Ezek. xliv. 23,
the priests shall "teach my people the difference between the holy
and profane, between the unclean and the clean " (comp. Lev. x. 10,
and the functions described in chap. xiii. f., Hag. ii. 11 ff.); it is
further said by Ezekiel, ver. 24 : "And in controversy they shall stand
in judgment; they shall judge according to my judgments" (6). The
two sides of the priestly calling — to teach Israel Jehovah's judgments
and law, and to offer incense and sacrifice on His altar — are embraced
together, Deut. xxxiii. 10.
The bearers of this priestly dignity are, as has already been
remarked, only the Aaronites; and this choice of Aaron's house is
re-confirmed (Num. xvi.) in consequence of Korah's rebellion, and
certified (Num. xvii.) by the sign of the budding almond-rod, which
indicated that the priesthood does not rest on any natural preference
whatever, — for Aaron's rod had originally nothing more than the
others, — but only depends on the divine grace, which fills this office
with living energy. But thenceforth the divine calling to the priest
hood is connected with the natural propagation of Aaron's family ;
and as Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abihu, died because they offered
strange fire (Lev. x. 1 f .), and left no sons, it passed to the race of
the other two sons of Aaron, Eliezer and Ithamar (7).
The holiness of the priesthood was to be stamped in the whole
appearance of the priests, which ought to excite an impression of the

§ 95.] THE PRIESTHOOD, 305
highest purity and exclusive devotion to God. To this refer, in the
first place, the provisions as to the bodily condition and regulation of
life of the priests. The law (Lev. xxi. 16-24) treats of the bodily
condition of the priests. By it, all considerable physical blemishes
make a man unfit for the priest's office (8). But though excluded
from service, a person afflicted with such blemishes might (ver. 22)
enjoy the sacred gifts given for the sustenance of the priests (as well
of the first as of the second order) (9). The provisions for the regu
lation of life are given in Lev. xxi. 1 ff. In it we are told that the
priest shall not defile himself with any dead body, by taking charge of
the funeral and sharing in the customs of mourning, except in the
case of his nearest relations, viz. his father, mother, son, daughter,
brother, and his sister if she was still a virgin. The same six cases
are named in Ezek. xliv. 25 (10). But even in these cases he must
avoid every disfigurement of his body (11). With regard to marriage,
the law (Lev. xxi. 7 ff.) commands that they shall not marry a whore,
or one who has been deflowered or divorced, but only a virgin or a
widow ; which in Ezek. xliv. 22 is limited to " virgins of the seed of
Israel, or a widow of a priest" (12). Discipline and order ought to
rule in the priest's family. If a priest's daughter give herself up to
lewdness, she shall (Lev. xxi. 9) be burned (without doubt after being
stoned). The dietetic directions which the law lays down for the
priests, are simply that they must avoid the use of wine and other
intoxicating liquors at the time of their service in the sanctuary,
Lev. x. 9 f ., that they may preserve full clearness of mind for their
functions ; and further, that the general prohibition to defile oneself
by partaking of what has died of itself, or been torn by beasts, is
specially inculcated on them, xxii. 8. If a priest had levitically
defiled himself involuntarily, or in an unavoidable way, he might not
eat of the holy food until he was legally cleansed again. Every
offence against this rule was threatened with death, xxii. 2 ff. There
is no prescription in the law as to the age at which men shall enter on
the priestly office. It is to be supposed that what was established
about the Levites' age held good of the priests also (13).
The dedication of the priests, for which, as has already been men
tioned, the expression K"Jp (Ex. xxix. 1, xl. 13) is used, is ordained
Ex. xxix. 1-37, xl. 12-15, and accomplished in Lev. viii. on Aaron
VOL. i. u

306 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 95
and his sons. The priests' dedication consists of two series of actions :
— 1. Washing, robing, and anointing ; which three acts form the real
dedication of the person to the priestly office. 2. A threefold offering,
by which the persons thus dedicated were wholly put into the functions
and rights of the priesthood. The dedication began by leading those
who were to be dedicated to the door of the tabernacle, and washing
them — doubtless their whole body, and not merely hands and feet.
The putting off of the uncleanness of the body is a symbol of spiritual
cleansing, without which no one dare approach God, and least of all
he who conducts the functions of atonement. This negative prepara
tion was followed by the robing, which, with the common priests,
consists in putting on four articles of dress, — breeches, coat, bonnet,
and girdle ; comp. Ex. xxviii. 40-42 (14). The clothes were made of
fine shining white linen, as the symbol of purity ; only the girdle was
embroidered with bright colours (woollen garments were forbidden).
The service was to be accomplished unshod. Then followed the
priestly unction with the anointing oil, — prepared by mixing four
sweet-smelling substances with olive oil, — a symbol of the communi
cation of the Divine Spirit which operates in the priestly office (15).
According to tradition, we are only to think of it as applied to the
forehead, in distinction from the unction of the high priest (16).
This anointing was (Ex. xl. 15) to serve Aaron's sons " for an ever
lasting priesthood throughout their generations ; " and this has often
been understood as if this anointing had not to be repeated afterwards
in the case of common priests. — The offering which followed, and
which naturally was not performed by those who were being dedicated,
but by Moses, comprised a threefold sacrifice. First, priests and
altar are purified, Lev. viii. 15, by the sin-offering of a young bullock;
then the offering of the purified priests to God is completed by the
whole-burnt-offering of a ram (17). Thirdly, this is followed by a
modified thank-offering (18). This is the specific sacrifice for the
consecration of the priests, and bears the name B*s^>D, " filling," Lev.
viii. 22, 28 (vii. 37), — an expression which is to be explained by the
phrase " filling the hand " with an office ( = inauguration), and which
refers to the conveyance of authority to the priest (19). Not only is
the altar sprinkled with the blood of the sacrificed ram, as at other
thank-offerings, but also the right ear, the right thumb, and the great

§ 95.] THE PRIESTHOOD. 307
toe of the right foot of Aaron and his sons are touched with it : the
ear, because the priest must at all times hearken to the holy voice
of God ; the hand, because he must execute God's commands, and
especially the priestly functions; the foot, because he must walk
rightly and holily. Further, it is peculiar to this offering that Moses
takes the fat pieces, the right shoulder, and some of the three different
kinds of cakes belonging to the thank-offering, and lays all these
together in the hands of Aaron and his sons, and waves them before
Jehovah, whereafter all is burned. This act signifies, firstly, the
conveyal of the function which belongs to the priest to offer the fat
pieces on God's altar ; secondly, the infeoffment of the priests with the
gift, which they receive in future for their service, but which they
must now give over to Jehovah, because they are not yet fully dedi
cated, and therefore cannot yet themselves act as priests (20). The
conclusion of the festival is the sacrificial meal (21). The duration of
the dedication is fixed at seven days (Ex. xxix. 35 ff. ; Lev. viii. 33 ff.).
(During this whole time, those who are to be dedicated were to pass
the time, day and night, at the entrance of the tabernacle.) On each
of the six following days a repetition of the sin-offering was to take
place (Ex. xxix. 36) ; it is not said whether the other two offerings
and the anointing were to be repeated or not (22). — The sense and
meaning of all these Biicaiwfiara aapicos, these outward priestly regula
tions, and the aim of their pedagogic system, is distinctly expressed by
the Old Testament in Deut. xxxiii. 9 f . : " Who said unto his father
and to his mother, I have not seen him ; neither did he acknowledge
his brethren, nor knew his own children; for they have observed
Thy word, and kept Thy covenant. They shall teach Jacob Thy
judgments, and Israel Thy law ; they shall put incense before Thee,
and whole burnt sacrifice upon Thine altar." The priesthood, indeed,
as such, is linked to birthright, and the priestly service demands
only outward purity and perfection ; but that the real subjective
qualification for the priesthood lies in undivided devotion to God,
which, when His honour is in question, is willing to sacrifice even ,
the highest worldly interest, is distinctly expressed both here and in
the calling of the tribe of Levi, Ex. xxxii. 26 ff. (comp. § 29 with
note 2). Unbroken obedience is demanded of the priest, Lev. x. 3 :
" I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me Q^hp, designation

308 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 95.
of the priests), and before all the people I will be honoured " (comp.
Mal. ii. 5 ff.) (23).
The maintenance of the priests was cared for in the following
manner : — They received as dwelling-places thirteen of the towns which
were given to the Levites, Josh. xxi. 4, 10 ff. (compare the enumeration
in 1 Chron. vi. 39 ff., which, however, is not free from corruptions of
text) ; further — compare Num. xviii. 8 ff., chief passage — the Levites
had to give them the tithes of their tithes (24), and they received the
gifts of the first-fruits, and certain parts of the offerings, etc. (25).
Thus the maintenance of the priests was cared for sufficiently, but
by no means abundantly ; in comparison with the endowments of the
priestly caste in many other ancient nations, the provision for the
Levitical priests is very moderate. — The deeper meaning of the word,
that Jehovah alone is the portion and inheritance of the priests, Num.
xviii. 20 (26), and what, therefore, ought to be the deepest ground
of priestly thought and life, is expressed, Ps. xvi. 5, in these words :
" The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup ; Thou
maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant
"laces," etc.
(1) Compare Kiiper, Das Priesterthum des A. Bundes, 1866, and
my article, " Priesterthum im A. T.," in Herzog's R.E. xii.
(2) Mediatorship between God and the people is generally said to
constitute the essence of the priesthood ; and this is, generally speaking,
correct, but it is not an adequate expression of the specific business
of the priesthood in distinction from the two other theocratic offices.
Mediatorial vocation belongs also to the king and the prophet : to the
king, because he acts in the name of Jehovah, and exercises judicial
and executive authority in God's state as the bearer of His power ; to
the prophet, because he speaks in Jehovah's name, and opens up the
divine counsel to the people. [In cited article.]
(3) A meaning of the priesthood which is suggested also in the
place which was pointed out for Aaron and his sons in the camp,
immediately in front of the sanctuary (Num. iii. 38). [In cited art.]
(4) As, according to Firuzabadi (see Gesenius, Thesaurus, ii. p.
661), kdhin means one—" qui surgitin alieno negotio etoperam dat in
causa ejus." [In cited article.]
(5) Kahana, in Arabic, is chiefly used of soothsaying, but it is clear
that this meaning is a derived one. On the B^nb, who are found

§ 95.] THE PRIESTHOOD. 309
among the king's officers, see my article, " Konige, Konigthum in
Israel," in Herzog's R.E. viii. p. 15. — In the Old Testament, jns is
also used of priests of heathen cultus (Gen. xii. 45, 1 Sam. v. 5, and
elsewhere) ; but the term B*"}»3 serves specially to designate the idol
priests in several passages ; and this term is used in Syriac of priests
in general (see on this word, Iken, Dissert, philol. i. p. 177 ff.). [In
the above-cited article.]
(6) Comp. Deut. xvii. 9 ff. See the judicial functions of the
priesthood, infra. — On its second side, also, the priestly vocation is
divided from that of the prophets by the priest being bound solely to
the interpretation and practice of the law, and not receiving in the
spirit any further information on the divine counsel ; to which the
Urim and the Thummim of the high priest alone form an exception,
if, as some have supposed, he by them was made acquainted by inspir
ation with the divine decision. Note how Jer. xviii. 18 ascribes law
to the priests, counsel to the wise, word to the prophets ; or Ezek. vii.
26, law to the priests, counsel to the elders, vision to the prophets. [In
cited art.]
(7) Whilst the prophet, the servant of Jehovah (Tay), carries on his
office in virtue of a free divine calling, which is not confined to any
tribe, and in virtue of personal equipment by the Divine Spirit, the
priest, the minister (n^p) of Jehovah, must prove his personal right
to office by his genealogy, although divine living power works-in his
office. Want of proof of descent from Aaron excluded from the
priesthood; an example of which is recounted in Ezra ii. 62, Neh.
vii. 64 (comp. Josephus, c. Ap. i. 7). [In the cited article.]
(8) Mischna Bechoroth (vii. 1) says that these blemishes were the
same as those which made the firstling of cattle unfit for sacrifice ;
and in truth the enumeration of animal blemishes in Lev. xxii. 22 f.
agrees almost entirely with xxi. 18 ff. The latter passage excludes the
blind, the lame, the Bnn (according to most old authorities, the flat-
nosed ; according to Knobel and others, every one who has suffered a
mutilation, especially in the face), the yViB' (he whose limbs go in any
way beyond rule ; according to Vulg., in a narrower sense, vel grandi,
vel torto naso) ; further, he who suffers from a broken arm or leg, the
crook-backed, dwarfed, or one with a blemish in the eye, or scurvy, or
scabbed, etc. To this list of blemishes, Mischna Bechoroth, chap, vii.,
adds a considerable list of others. Thus, naturally, an examination of
the body had to precede calling to the priest's office. Compare on
this the already cited article, p. 176. A blemish, too, which appeared
afterwards incapacitated one for service ; Josephus gives an example
of this, Ant. xiv. 13. 10. [In cited art.]

310 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 95.
(9) In Josephus, Bell. Jud. v. 5. 7, priests by birth, who Bid
•n-ijpwcriv durst not discharge any service, were still found inside the
railing which divided the court of the priests from that of the people ;
they received the portions which were their due in virtue of their
descent, and we're also employed in subordinate services, but wore
only the common dress. — It is scarcely needful to remark, that not all
Aaronites, even when possessed of the qualifications required by the
law, were really priests in office ; thus Benaiah, military commandant
under David and Solomon (2 Sam. viii. 18, xx. 23 ; 1 Kings ii. 25),
was, 1 Chron. xxvii. 5, a priest's son. [In the cited article.]
(10) Comp., too, Philo, de Monarch. § 12. But on the common,
though certainly not quite certain, rendering of Lev. xxi. 4, he must
not defile himself among his people as a husband ('J??) — that is, not at
the death of his spouse, his mother-in-law, or daughter-in-law. Never
theless, Ezek. xxiv. 16 ff. has been rightly adduced against this view,
where it is counted something uncommon that Ezekiel does not mourn
at the death of his wife. [In the above-cited article.]
(11) He shall not make his head bald (which in Deut. xiv. 1 is
indeed forbidden to the Israelites in general), nor cut off the corners
of his beard, nor cut himself in his body (both of which are also
generally forbidden, Lev. xix. 27 f.). On the contrary, the other
customs of mourning, — uncovering the head and rending the garments,
— which were forbidden to the high priest, Lev. xxi. 10, must have
been allowed to the common priests ; though in x. 6 even these two
customs of mourning were denied the sons of Aaron. [In above-
cited article.]
(12) The latter limitation has only a prophetic character
(s. Wagenseil, Sota, p. 557 f.), while the former is without doubt in
the sense of the law, and is followed, Ezra x. 18 f., Neh. xiii. 28 ff.
[In the art. cited.] — See the traditions on this topic in the same art.,
p. 177. (13) Manhood, or more precisely the twentieth year, is reputed
in Jewish tradition to be the term before which none might act as
priest (see the passage by Ugolino, sacerdot. hebr. im Thes. xiii. p.
927). [In the above-cited article.]
(14) In 1 Sam. xxii. 18, even the common priests wore an ephod,
but of less valuable stuff (T3).
(15) Certainly Ex. xxix. 7, Lev. viii. 12, speak only of Aaron's
unction ; but Ex. xxviii. 41, xxx. 30, xl. 15, Lev. vii. 35 f., x. 7, point
definitely to the anointing of Aaron's sons. [In the art. cited above.]
(16) According to Kurtz (Der alttest. Opferkultus, p. 285), only
as a sprinkling of the person and clothes with the anointing oil.

§ 95.] THE PRIESTHOOD. 311
(17 and 18) Comp. infra, the delineation of the sacrificial cultus,
§ 131 ff.
(19) The phrase 'a TTIS sk) (Ex. xxviii. 41, xxix. 9, 29, 33 ;
Lev. viii. 33, xvi. 32 ; Num. iii. 3 ; comp. Judg. xvii. 5) does not indi
cate the bestowal of a gift on the priest by Jehovah, but a conferring or
delivering over of the rights of office, authorization (comp. Isa. xxii. 21).
On the contrary, if one fills his hand to Jehovah (1 Chron. xxix. 5,
2 Chron. xxix. 31; comp. Ex. xxxii. 29), this means, providing oneself
with something to offer to Jehovah. [In the article cited above.]
(20) The breast, which was given to Jehovah at the common
thank-offerings by waving it, but then relinquished by Him to the
priest, falls on the present occasion to the share of Moses, who was
acting in the character of priest. — Lastly, Moses sprinkled the priests
and their garments with a mixture of anointing oil and blood of the
sacrifice (Lev. viii. 30 ; on the contrary, Ex. xxix. 21 represents this
act as taking place immediately after the sprinkling of the altar).
[In the cited article.]
(21) No one but the priests might partake of this meal (Ex. xxix.
33). The remains of the meal were burned, to prevent profanation.
[In the cited article.]
(22) Doubtless a repetition of the other two sacrifices was to take
place, for the daily filling of the hands prescribed in Ex. xxix. 35,
Lev. viii. 33, took place just through the offering of consecration,
which had itself, again, the burnt-offering as its necessary presupposi
tion. Whether, as the rabbis assume, the anointing took place daily
cannot be decided, since at most the only argument in favour of this
view is the analogy of the unction of the altar of burnt-offering re
peated through seven days, Ex. xxix. 36 f., and the priests commence
their duties on the day after the seventh day of the dedication, by
presenting a calf for a sin-offering and a ram as a burnt-offering for
themselves, after which there follow sin-offerings and thank-offerings
for the people (Lev. ix. 1 ff.). Probably, too, the perpetual meat
offering treated of in Lev. vi. 13 ff. was first offered on the same
eighth day. The circumstance that this meat-offering was to be pre
sented by Aaron and his sons, thus showing that they must have been
fully dedicated, is against the reference of the words ins rw&n ni*a to
the time of the dedication itself (which would make what is here
spoken of only a Mincha, to be offered on one of these seven days).
This meat-offering is expressly designated as one to be presented by
Aaron and his sons. Tradition says that the high priest had to
present this offering every day from the time of his entering into
office, whilst the common priests had only to offer it once, on entering

312 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 95.
office ; and indeed, according to tradition, this meat-offering would be
the only part of the ceremonies that we have just described which was
retained subsequently at the introduction of the common priests into
their office, whereas the whole series of dedication acts was at a later
time only carried out at the inauguration of the high priest. [In the
cited article.]
(23) The official functions of the priests, in distinction from those of
the L5vites, Num. xviii. 3, are shortly designated by "coming near to
the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar." The functions in the holy
place were — lighting the incense on the golden altar every morning
and evening, cleaning and taking charge of the lamps and lighting
them in the evening, placing the shewbread on Sabbath ; in the court
— keeping up the continual fire on the altar of burnt-offering,
removing the ashes from the altar, presenting the morning and evening
sacrifice (Lev. vi. 1 ff.), pronouncing the blessing on the people after
— completion of the daily offering (Num. vi. 23-27), waving the
pieces of the sacrifices, sprinkling of blood, and laying upon the altar
and kindling all the parts which were offered. It was also, Num. x.
8-10, xxxi. 6, the priests' duty to blow the silver trumpets at festivals
and sacrificial ceremonials as well as in campaigns (comp. 2 Chron.
xiii. 12). [In the cited art.] Compare hereafter the discussion of the
new-moon Sabbath, § 150, on the meaning of the trumpet-blast, in
virtue of which the blowing of the trumpets forms a part of the
priestly intercession.
(24) Thus, on the one hand, the higher position of the priests over
the Levites is expressed ; and on the other hand, an essential portion of
the priests' sustenance is made dependent on the conscientiousness of
the Levites. [In the cited article.]
(25) See tlie particulars in the above-cited article, p. 180 ff., and
compare, infra, the discussion of the sacrificial ritual and the theocratic
gifts. (26) In Num. xviii. 20, " Thou shalt have no inheritance in their
land, neither shalt thou have any part among them : I am thy part
and thine inheritance among the children of Israel," was said to
Aaron ; comp. Deut. x. 9, xviii. 1 f. (Ezek. xliv. 28).
3. THE HIGH PRIEST (1).
§96.
The name of the high priest is b)",p jnbn, Num. xxxv. 28, or
n*B>)sn ^r\} Lev. ;Vj 3? 5^ ig. the most complete expression is in xxi.
10, " The priest who is higher than his brethren, upon whose head the

§ 9G.] THE HIGH PRIEST. 313
anointing oil was poured;" he is also called the priest k. i%., e.g. Deut.
xvii. 12 (2). In the high-priesthood was concentrated the mediator-
ship by which the people were represented before God, and the
official priestly sanctity by which they are reconciled. If God in the
blood of an offering accepts the life of a clean animal by which the
people's sin and uncleanness is covered (according to the original mean
ing of ISO), in the high-priesthood, on the contrary, a man is elected
and sanctified by God that he may in virtue of his holiness appear
before Him for the people, and, as is said in the important passage Ex.
xxviii. 38, bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of
Israel hallow in all their holy gifts, that they may be accepted before
Jehovah. Thus every reconciling and sanctifying effect of the
sacrifices is dependent on the existence of a personally reconciling
mediatorship before God (3) ; and here the old covenant proclaims its
inadequacy to institute a real reconciliation, in the fact that even the
high priest himself, through whose intercession the defect which
attaches to the offering is made good, himself in return has need of
reconciliation and purification by the blood of sacrifices, as one sub
ject to sin and weakness (comp. Heb. v. 3). As the representative of
the whole nation, the high priest bears on his shoulder and on his
heart the names of the tribes of the people, Ex. xxviii. 12, 29.
(Particulars on this passage below.) The same expiatory sacrifice is
demanded for his person as for all the people, because he unites in his
person the significance of the whole people (4) (comp. the ritual of
sacrifice). When he in whose person the people stand before Jehovah
commits an error, this, as is said in Lev. iv. 3, operates BJ>n noBW jto
the inculpation of the people} ; that is, a disturbance of the theocratic
order, which requires to be atoned for, is imputed to the whole
people. When, on the contrary, God acknowledges a high priest as
well-pleasing in His sight, this is a real declaration that He graciously
accepts the whole people (5).
This meaning of the high priest, in virtue of which he is the ^ilp
nin* k. ii;. (comp. Ps. cvi. 16), must be stamped in his whole appear
ance, which ought to awaken an impression of highest purity and
exclusive devotion to God in a still higher degree than that of the
common priests. To this end are directed, in the first place, the pre
cepts that relate to the personal condition and order of life of the

314 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 96.
priest. With regard to descent and bodily constitution, the law does
not lay down anything in which the high priest is different from the
other priests (comp. § 95). On the other hand, the provisions in Lev.
xxi. 10-15, referring to the order of his life, relate exclusively to the
high priest. According to these, he who indeed reflects the whole
fulness of a holy life must be freed from all polluting fellowship with
death, and not even come in contact (ver. 11) with the corpses of his
parents ; his priestly rule in the sanctuary may not be interrupted by
any consideration whatever of the natural bonds, otherwise regarded
as most holy. Even every sign of mourning is denied him (6). With
regard to the marriage of the high priest, the prohibition to marry a
widow is added to the marriage hindrances relating to the common
priests. He must marry a pure virgin (ver. 13 f.) (7).
Further, the high priest's dedication to his office differed from that
of the common priests (comp. § 95) with reference to the robing and
anointing. On the former, see Ex. xxix. 5-9, Num. xx. 26-28 (8).
Without the ornaments of his order, the high priest is simply a private
individual, who, as such, cannot intercede for the people ; therefore he
is threatened with death if he appear before Jehovah without them.
The description of the high priest's official garments is given in Ex.
xxviii. and xxxix., with which Sir. xiv. 8-13 ; Josephus, Ant. iii. 7.
4 ff., Bell. Jud. v. 5. 7, are to be compared (9). Over the ordinary
priest's dress the high priest wore, first, the ?*!>!? (LXX. iroB^prfi), a
woven upper dress of blue cotton, which is to be supposed, from the
description we have of it, to be not in the style of a mantle, but a
close dress, with a laced opening for the neck and (according to Josephus
and the Rabbis) armholes (not sleeves), so that the white sleeves of the
under dress were seen. It was trimmed on the under hem with a
fringe, on which were alternately pomegranates of cotton and golden
bells ; rabbinical tradition says there were seventy-two of the latter.
These served to signal to the people gathered in the court the entrance
and performances of the high priest, Ex. xxviii. 35 ; they could thus
follow him with their thoughts and prayers (10). Over the Meil
was the ephod, TSS, and to this the breastplate, l^n, with the Urim
and the Thummim, was fastened by chains and ribands. The
covering of the head is a mitre, nDJyo (11). On the front of it was a
plate of gold, P? (12), called in Ex. xxix. 6 n», that is, a diadem, with

§ 96.] THE HIGH PRIEST. 315
the inscription nin*p tJHp. For his duties on the yearly day of expia
tion another dress of office, made of white linen, was prescribed (comp.
infra, § 140, on the day of expiation). — This dress of office has received
very various symbolic interpretations. These go back even to Philo,
de Monarch, ii. 5 f., who referred it to cosmical relations, in conformity
with his conception of the Mosaic cultus. Among more modern writers,
Bahr (Symbolik, ii. p. 97 ff.) has entered into the particulars of the
matter. Proceeding from the position that the high priest, as mediator of
the theocratic people, unites in him its three theocratic dignities (comp.
Pirke Aboth iv. 13), — that of the priesthood, the law, and kingship, —
he finds that those of the high priest's garments which he had in common
with the other priests express the priestly character ; the Meil, that of
the covenant law ; the ephod and choshen, that of a king. But the
whole presuppositions on which this interpretation rests are incorrect.
The Old Testament does not know anything of a royal dignity
belonging to the high priest ; for the present time it awaits the union
of the two dignities in the Messiah (Ps. ex. 4 ; Zech. vi. 13). Even for
the high priest, only the two sides of the priestly calling appear (comp.
Deut. xxxiii. 10) which were treated of in § 95 ; and so also, in Sir. xiv.
16 f., a twofold office is ascribed to the high priest, — the i%iXdo-/ceo-0ai
vrepl rov Xaov by sacrifice, and the i^ovuia iv BiaOrjicais icpifidrcov
BiBdl-ai rbv 'latcibfii rd fiaprvpia, K.r.X. (to have power over the
ordinances of justice, that He may teach Jacob the precepts, and
enlighten Israel in His law). Thus the high priest's dress can have
a symbolic meaning only in the two directions which have been
mentioned, and this is unmistakeably proved in its main part,
the ephod and the breastplate (13). The power to give divine
decisions to the people is expressed in the Urim and the Thummim
(on these see § 97). The reference to the reconciling mediatorship,
as has already been indicated, is especially marked by the fact that
the high priest, when clothed with the ephod, bears the names of the
twelve tribes on his heart and shoulders. As the heart (comp. § 71)
is the focus of personal life, bearing them on the heart denotes
personal interpenetration of his life and theirs, in virtue of which the
high priest has the most lively sympathy with those for whom he
intercedes (14). That the ephod is essentially a shoulder-piece
(LXX. eVaj/cu?) does not make it a symbol of kingly power ; what,

316 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 96.
generally speaking, lies in this, is only that the dignity of office rests on
him. When it is said in Ex. xxviii. 12 that the names of the twelve
tribes were engraved on the onyx-stones by means of which the
shoulder-pieces were fastened together, that certainly does not denote
(as v. Gerlach also explains the passage) that the high priest is the
people's regent, but it is meant to signify that he, as mediator, carries,
as it were, the people to God — that, so to speak, the people (comp. the
term in Num. xi. 11) lie as a burden on him.
The robing of the high priest is followed by his unction. The
peculiarity of the unction of the high priest is designated by the
expression K>"s"r?y P"P (Ex. xxix. 7 ; Lev. viii. 12, xxi. 10), which
implies that the anointing oil is poured on him in rich abundance
(comp. Ps. cxxxiii. 2) (15). From his unction, the high priest was
called (as remarked above) k. ig., "the anointed priest" (16).
Lastly, with reference to the high priest's functions, it is first to
be noted that all the functions of the common priests fell also on him.
The law does not distinguish any services which fell on the latter
only. Josephus (Bell. Jud. v. 5. 7) says that the high priest's
functions were limited to the Sabbath, the new moons, and festivals ;
but in Mishna Tamid, vii. 3, it is presupposed that he might, as he
pleased, take part in the sacrificial services. Secondly, the service on
the day of atonement, and the Urim and the Thummim, were speci
ally allotted to the high priest (comp. § 140 f.). On his share in the
administration of justice, see below. — It is further to be noted, that
the whole sacrificial service forms a self-contained unity, and that the
same is true of the priesthood. When the subordinate priests officiate
at the service of the sacrifice, they do not act as single persons, but
by the authority which is bestowed on the whole priesthood, and
concentrated in the high priest ; and thus they really act in the place
of the high priest. Hence it corresponds entirely with the Mosaic
view of the priesthood, that Sir. xiv. 14, 16 (17, 20) designates the
service of the altar absolutely as the service of Aaron (17).
(1) Comp. my article " Hoherpriester," in Herzog's R.E. vi. p.
198 ff.
(2) In the passages which treat of the high-priesthood in the
middle books of the Pentateuch, Aaron, the first bearer of the office,
is generally named instead of the office itself. — C'tfTn jrjb appears only

§ 96.] THE HIGH PRIEST. 317
in the later style, in 2 Kings xxv. 18, Ezra vii. 5, 2 Chron. xix. 11,
comp. xxiv. 6. — The LXX. generally write o tepeti? 6 fieya's, — Lev.
iv. 3, dpxiepevs, and generally so in the New Testament, in Philo,
and Josephus. — On the meaning of the plural of dpxiepevs, see the
above-cited article, p. 198.
(3) Comp. Calvin's good exposition of Ex. xxviii. 38 : " Obla-
tionum sanctarum iniquitas tollenda et purganda fuit per sacerdotem.
Frigidum est illud commentum, si quid erroris admissum esset in
ceremoniis, remissum fuisse sacerdotis precibus. Longius enim re-
spicere nos oportet : ideo oblationum iniquitatem deleri a sacerdote,
quia nulla oblatio, quatenus est hominis, omni vitio caret. Dictu hoc
asperum est et fere rrapdBo^ov, sanctitates ipsas esse immundas, ut
venia indigeant ; sed tenendum est, nihil esse tarn purum, quod non
aliquid labis a nobis contrahat. — Nihil Dei cultu prsestantius : et
tamen nihil offerre potuit populus etiam a lege prasscriptum, nisi inter-
cedente venia, quam nonnisi per sacerdotem obtinuit."
(4) PS-it2>*-?3 1J33 ?1ptJ», " sequiparatur universo Israeli," says Aben
Esra on Lev. iv. 13. Compare, in particular, Bahr, Symbol, des mos.
Kultus, ii. p. 13 f.
(5) Zech. iii. must be explained from this point of view ; comp.
the Prophetic Theology.
(6) The words (Lev. xxi. 12), "He shall not go out of the
sanctuary," must be supplemented according to the context, funeris
causa ; x. 7 serves for explanation. — The expression in xxi. 10, " he
shall not uncover his head," refers, probably, to the removing of the
head-dress in order to sprinkle the head with dust and ashes ; see
Havernick on Ezek. xxiv. 17 [in the above-cited article]. But
Knobel umderstands yis to mean, leaving the hair loose or flying.
Compare on this, and the command not to rend his clothes, the above-
cited article, p. 199 f.
(7) And she must be — a point which is mentioned only in the
case of the high priest — VBJJB, which, doubtless, only means that a
foreign woman is forbidden ; comp. Neh. xiii. 28 ; Josephus, c. Ap.
i. 7. For particulars, see in the above-cited article, p. 200, and in it
also traditions on the descent, the age required on entering office, and
the ethical qualifications of the high priest.
(8) The transference of the office of high priest from Aaron to
Eliezer took place (Num. xx. 26-28) by the transference of the orna
ments of office.
(9) The most valuable monographs on this topic are: Braun,
de vestitu sacerdotum hebrworum, 1680; Carpzov, de pontificum hebrw-
orum vestitu sacro, in Ugolino's Thes. xii.; Abraham ben David,

318 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 97.
dissert, de vestitu sacerdotum hebrceorum, in Ugolino, xiii. [Above
article.] (10) Compare, too, Sir. xiv. 9. The passage Ex. xxviii. 35 was
formerly misunderstood, chiefly because it was thought needful closely
to connect the words niD* XP1 with what precedes them; see the genuinely
rabbinical explanation in Abraham ben David, l.c. p. xx. f. — Bahr
(Symbolik, ii. p. 125) thinks it permissible to see in the bells a symbol
of the proclamation of God's word. [In the cited article.]
(11) Different from the priestly turban, which is called nysjo.
Particulars in the above-cited article, p. 201.
(12) LXX. rreraXov ; the form of a flower is not to be thought
of from the expression ; see in the Lexica.
(13) The term lisxn ?*yo, used in Ex. xxviii. 31, shows that the
Meil has no independent importance. [Above-cited article.]
(14) Comp. Cant. viii. 6 ; 2 Cor. vii. 3 ; Phil. i. 7.— The plerosis
of the above provision in the Epistle to the Hebrews is familiar.
(15) Jewish tradition says, that after the oil was poured on the
high priest's head, the sign of a cross was made with oil on his fore
head, in the form of a Greek X ;. if this tradition is reliable, Ezek.
ix. 4 might be connected with it, for the form of Tav, in the old
character, is the same as that cross. [Above-cited article.]
(16) According to the tradition of the Jews, the anointing of the
high priest continued till the time of Josiah ; then the holy anoint
ing oil was hidden, and so lost (comp. Krumbholz, sacerd. hebr., in
Ugolino, Thes. xii. p. Ixxxvii.). The succeeding high priests were
consecrated only by investiture. [Above-cited article.]
(17) More particulars on the later position of the high priest in
the Synedrium, on the expressions njB'p |nb (2 Kings xxv. 18 ; Jer.
Iii. 24) and n^'tsn *:nb (2 Kings xxiii. 4), on the later B*3nbn J3D, on
the continuance and succession of office in the high-priesthood, see in
the above-cited article, p. 203 ff.

II. THE THEOCRATIC AUTHORITY.
1. THE LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY.
§97.
In virtue of the principles of the theocracy, all the powers of the
state are united (§ 91) in Jehovah ; even when the congregation acts,
it is in His name. He is firstly the Lawgiver, ppno (Isa. xxxiii. 22).

§ 97.] THE LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY. 319
He exercised His legislative power through Moses. The fundamental
law given through Him is inviolably valid for all time. As God's
covenant with His people is eternal, so also are the covenant ordi
nances ; they are, as the expression frequently runs, everlasting laws
and statutes for Israel and the future generations (see Ex. xii. 14, 17,
xxvii. 21, xxviii. 43, and many passages). The Pentateuch knows
nothing of a future change in the law, nor of an abrogation of it even
in part ; only the attitude of the people towards the law was to be
different in the last times (see § 90). But, on the other hand, in the
development of the theocracy, the need of receiving an immediate
proclamation of Jehovah's kingly will must always reappear. This
need was in part served by the Urim and the Thummim, through which
the high priest, in whose breastplate they were set, had to receive the
decision of Jehovah (Num. xxvii. 21) ; and this is why the breastplate
bears the name BSefon ]fr, (Ex. xxviii. 30). It is probably analogous
with the figure made of precious stones, which Diodorus (Biblioth. i.
48, 75) and JElian (Var. hist. xiv. 34) say the Egyptian high priest
wore round his neck, and which bore the name of truth (dXrjOeia), as
indeed the Urim and the Thummim are translated by the LXX. by
BrfXaicri? ical dXijdeia. The term D*")1S points to the divine illumina
tion, the B*on to the unimpeachable correctness of the divine decision ;
comp. 1 Sam. xiv. 41. It cannot be determined from the Old Testa
ment how the decision took place. It is not quite clear from the
expression (Ex. xxviii. 30 ; Lev. viii. 8), " put the Urim and Thummim
in the breastplate of judgment," that the Urim and the Thummim
were something different from the precious stones which were set in
the breastplate ; for the expression may stand in a sense similar to
the phrase, to lay a curse or blessing on anything. But if the Urim
and Thummim are really spoken of in the passage 1 Sam. xiv. 41 f.,
as appears if we adopt the fuller text of the LXX. (with Thenius
and other moderns), they must be regarded as a holy lot, different
from the gems of the breastplate, and probably fastened to it, but
capable of being taken off and cast (1). But, on the other hand, it
is to be noted that the term ?*an, to throw, is nowhere else used for
the Urim and Thummim. Since every part of the high priest's dress
is described so accurately, we should expect to have a more particular
description of the Urim and Thummim if they were anything distinct.

320 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 97,
According to Josephus, the divine answer came by the glancing of
the jewels ; even the rabbinical tradition, though it is so divided on
points of detail, is almost unanimous in declaring that the revelation
was made by the illumination of particular letters of the writing on
the jewels. But several more modern theologians, and especially
Bahr (l.c. ii. p. 135 ff.), lay down the view, that when the high priest
laid the matter in question before God in prayer, the decision followed
by inspiration ; and " that the pledge that an answer should be given
him which should be in accordance with God's will, and serve for the
good of the people, was worn on his heart in the Urim and Thum
mim." Similarly Hengstenberg (Gesch. des Reiches Gottes, 2 Per.
p. 148 f.). Thus the Urim and Thummim, whether similar to the
precious stones of the breastplate or different from them, would have
had more the character of simple symbols and pledges (2). — Tradition
says that it was not permitted to consult the oracle on private con
cerns and on matters of small moment, but only in such cases as
concerned the welfare of the whole people (comp. Judg. xx. 27 f.).
1 Sam. xxiii. 9 ff., xxx. 7 f ., agree with this, for David stands before
the high priest here as the one who is called to the kingship. After
David there is no occasion on which this oracle is consulted, and the
Urim and Thummim seem to have fallen more and more into disuse —
displaced, probably, by prophecy. Josephus, indeed, says (Ant. iii.
8. 9) that the oracle ceased only two hundred years before his time ;
but this contradicts the passage Ezra ii. 63, where we read that the
oracle was wanting since the exile ; and with this Jewish tradition
agrees. The sacred lot seems to have been different from the Urim and
Thummim. It was employed (Num. xxvi. 55 f. ; Josh, xiv.) at the
division of the tribal territories, to discover the guilty one who had
brought a curse on the people (Josh. vii. 14 ff.), and in 1 Sam. xiv. 41 (if
there the Urim and Thummim are not meant) and 1 Sam. x. 20 f., at
the king's election. The lot was also used to decide priestly {?} con
troversies ; compare Prov. xviii. 18. — These methods of inquiring into
the divine will retire into the background the more prophecy is un
folded. We read in Deut. xviii. 19 ff., how Moses, before parting
from the people, led them to look for the sending forth of new organs
of revelation. The people who stand in covenant with the living

§ 98.] THE PRINCIPLE, ETC., OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 321
God shall not be left to a helplessness which might be the occasion of
seeking disclosures from the heathen Mantic, so stringently prohibited
in all its forms (3). And as the people could not bear the terror of
an immediate revelation from God, Jehovah will hold communion
with them through men, raising up again and again from the midst
of the people such men as Moses, in whose mouth He puts His words.
These are the prophets, the B*s*a: (4).
(1) 1 Sam. xiv. 41, the inquiring into the divine will by Saul :
" God of Israel, give B*Dn," — give a pure, true utterance. Ver. 42 :
" Draw lots between me and Jonathan." — I believe, with Keil, that
another sacred lot is here spoken of. -[That the Hebrew text of ver.
41 is corrupt is hardly to be denied ; cf. Wellhausen on the passage.}
(2) Special points of support are wanting for Bahr's view. We
must here close with a non liquet.
(3) Comp. Num. xxiii. 23 : " Surely there is no enchantment in
Jacob, neither is there any divination in Israel ; in due time it is told
of Jacob and Israel what God doeth." See Hengstenberg on the
passage. (4) The Prophetic Theology connects with this point.

2. THE JUDICIAL POWER (1).
§98.
The Principle and Organization of the Administration of Justice.
The administration of justice is, in virtue of the principles of
theocracy, only an efflux of the divine judgment. " The judgment is
God's," Deut. i. 17 ; to seek justice is to inquire at God, Ex. xviii.
15 ; he comes before Jehovah who appears in judgment, Deut. xix. 17 ;
and thus also the expressions, B*npsn-?s t^an, Ex. xxi. 6, and ny si3
B^npsn, xxii. 8, are to be explained, whether it be that these expres
sions point, to the God who rules in the administration of justice
(comp. also xviii. 19), or that the judge himself is called Elohim, as
the one who takes the place of God (comp. Ps. lxxxii. 1, 6, but not
Ex. xxii. 27, where B*nps designates God ; comp. § 86). The theo
cratic ordinances of judgment limit also the power of the head of
a family, by taking from him (Deut. xxi. 18 ff. ; Ex. xxi. 20) the
VOL. I. X

322 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 98.
power over the life and death of those belonging to him, which he
still exercised (comp. Gen. xxxviii. 24) in the time of the patriarchs.
Penal retribution by self-help is besides excluded, because the office
of avenger is God's alone, Lev. xix. 18. The old custom of blood
revenge is indeed retained, but it is subjected to theocratic regula
tions (2).
With regard to the organization of the courts of justice, we must
distinguish in the Pentateuch the provisions given mainly for the •
march through the wilderness, and the regulations in Deuteronomy,
which had reference to later circumstances. — Moses, who at the begin
ning united in his person all theocratic offices, is also the first judge,
Ex. xviii. 13 ff. As he was unable alone to meet the cares of justice,
he set judges over the people, — over thousands, over hundreds, over
fifties, and over tens, at Jethro's advice, ver. 25 f . ; Deut. i. 12 ff. At
the nomination of the judges, which was supported by the choice of
the people (Deut. i. 13, "Take you"), the moral and intellectual
qualities of those nominated were chiefly taken into account, Ex. xviii!
21, Deut. i. 13, 15 ; still it is probable that Moses (comp. Deut. i. 5,
" I took the chiefs of your tribes ") was guided by the constitution of
the tribes then existing among the people, and at the same time by
regard to the military division of the people, which was necessary
during the march through the wilderness (comp. Num. xxxi. 14, where
there is mention of military captains over thousands and over hun
dreds). — We are not to think of appellate courts in connection with
the relation of these judges to one another. The subordinate judges
are to decide minor matters, whilst the more difficult cases are brought
before Moses, to whom they are referred not by the disputing parties,
but by the subordinate judges who find the matter too difficult for
them, Deut. i. 17 f. (Ex. xviii. 22, 26) ; upon which Moses brings them
to Jehovah ; comp. Ex. xviii. 19, and the examples in Lev. xxiv. 11 ff .,
Num. xv. 33 ff., xxvii. 2 ff. (3).
Deuteronomy lays down new regulations for the future time of
the people's settlement in the land (the explanation of which has
some difficulties). The administration of justice is placed in the hand
of the congregation ; for the people that is sanctified to God has, as
such, the calling " to put away the evil from its midst," which is the
ever-recurring formula; see passages like Dent. xiii. 6, xvii. 7, xxi.

§ 98.] THE PRINCIPLE, ETC., OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 323
21, etc., compared with earlier ones, Lev. xxiv. 14, Num. xv. 35.— A
very vivid description of the way in which courts were held in Israel
is given in later times by the story of the judgment of Naboth, 1
Kings xxi. — Hence the administration is to be exercised publicly, on
the open places before the gates, Deut. xxi. 19, xxii. 15, xxv. 7. The
community exercises its judicial power by special judges, who are to
be placed in all the gates, Deut. xvi. 18 (who decide " if there be a
quarrel between men," xxv. 1). These are different — see Deut. xxi.
2, comp. Josh. viii. 33 (xxiii. 2) — from the B*3p», but probably are, as a
rule, taken from them (4). The college of the B*3pT itself acts only in
cases of law, where the question is no longer one of judicial inquiry, but
of judicial interposition in a matter already plain ; Deut. xix. 12, xxi.
19, xxii. 15, xxv. 8 (5). A higher tribunal is ordained for more difficult
cases, Deut. xvii. 8 ff. It is to judge " between blood and blood (i.e.
where it is doubtful under which category (comp. Ex. xxi. 12 ff.) a man
slaughter is to be placed) ; between strife and strife (H, without doubt
as designation of the causw civiles); between injury and injury" (yJi
here, and in xxi. 5, no doubt denotes bodily injuries) (6). Here also
the court is not a court of appeal, but has to decide cases in which
the local courts do not venture to decide. The seat of this higher
court was to be at the sanctuary ; it was to be composed of priests,
who (Lev. x. 11) were to give a decision out of the law (as already in
Num. xv. 33, xxvii. 2, we find that the high priest took a part in the
administration of justice), and a civil judge (7), who had other judges
at his side, Deut. xix. 17 (8). — The OWtiW appear as officers subordinate
to the judges (and are mentioned as early as the residence in Egypt
as the overseers of the people, comp. § 26), Deut. i. 15, xvi. 18 (comp.
Josh. viii. 33 ; 1 Chron. xxiii. 4, etc.). These, as their name denotes,
were " writers " (9), from which arose very multifarious employments.
In the highest college of 70 elders, there were Shoterim, Num. xi. 1 6.
They had to act in selecting men for war service, Deut. xx. 5, 8, 9 ;
and many other duties of police and administration may have been
added to this (10).
(1) For literature, compare SchnelFs valuable little monograph,
Das israelitische Recht in seinen Grundziigen dargestellt, Basel 1853.
The chief work on this topic is the book by Saalschiitz, Das mosa-
ische Recht, two parts, 1846-48, 2d ed. 1853. See, too, my article,

324 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 99.
" Gericht und Gerichtsverwaltung bei den Hebraern," in Herzog's
R.E. v. p. 57 ff.
(2) See infra, in the treatment of family relationships, § 108.
(3) Lastly are to be cited the B*^3, mentioned in Ex. xxi. 22,
umpires. In that passage their office is to estimate a bodily injury
(in Job xxxi. 11, comp. ver. 28, the expression stands in a more
general meaning). — Comp. Selden, de Synedriis vet. Hebr. i. 16;
Schnell, l.c. p. 6 ff. [In the cited article.]
(4) On Josephus' notice of this local court, in Ant. iv. 8. 14, see
in the above-cited article, p. 58.
(5) See Schultz on Deut. xvi. 18, etc.
(6) For other explanations of this very variously interpreted pas
sage, see Gerhard's Commentary on Deut. p. 1025 f. — When any man
seeks by false witness to bring the guilt of a crime on another, this is
specially designated (Deut. xix. 16 f.) as a case belonging to the
higher court. [In the above-cited article.]
(7) For it is clear enough that the ESK>, Deut. xvii. 9, 12, is not
the same person as the high priest.
(8) Comp. on this topic, Gerhard on Deut. xvii.; also Riehm,
Die Gesetzgebung Mosis im Lande Moab, p. 62 f. — On the artificial
exegesis of the passage by Saalschiitz, l.c. p. 72, see the article cited
above, p. 59, note.
(9) See Hengstenberg, Beitrdge, etc. ii. p. 449 ff.
(10) Comp. Keil, Commentary on Joshua (1847), pp. 12, 115 ff.,
and Saalschiitz, l.c. p. 58 ff.
§99.
The Course of Justice and Punishment.
The course of justice is very simple (1). The complaint is
brought before the judges by word of mouth, either by the parties,
Deut. xxi. 20, xxii. 16, or by others bringing both parties in the dis
pute into court, xxv. 1. The parties have both to appear in person
before the judge. The judge sends for an accused person who does
not appear, xxv. 8. A judge's business is, as it is said, to hear and
sift accurately. The law (as Schnell rightly observes) accumulates
expressions (comp. e.g. xiii. 15) "to represent the whole thorough
work of the judge, in its emphasis, its penetration, its patience." — In
some circumstances a simple sign of truth (Ex. xxii. 12 (13)) serves
as evidence ; Deut. xxii. 15 is an example of such a proof. Another

§ 99.] THE COURSE OF JUSTICE AND PUNISHMENT. 325
species of case is when parents complain against a disobedient son
(xxi. 18 ff.). Here the complaint is witness for itself (2). — But the
evidence of witnesses offers the most common means of proof. This
point is handled with special emphasis. It is commanded that two or
three (3) witnesses are to be brought, xix. 15, particularly in judging
criminal matters, Num. xxxv. 30 ; Deut. xvii. 6. If the punishment
of death be decreed, the hand of the witnesses must be the first lifted
against the person who is to be punished, Deut. xiii. 10, xvii. 7 (4).
All the witnesses (Lev. xxiv. 14) lay their hands on the head of
him who is to be stoned. He who was convicted of false witness was
condemned to the same punishment as the accused person had met,
Deut. xix. 19 (5). — Further, the oath is also a means of evidence.
It occurs as an oath of purgation ; e.g. for theft, Ex. xxii. 6-10, comp.
with 1 Kings viii. 31 f. Lev. v. 1 is often quoted for the use of the
oath in witness ; but what is there spoken of is not the administration
of an oath to the witnesses with respect to what they utter, but a
solemn adjuration of those present, by which those who have know
ledge of the matter are called on to come forward as witnesses ; comp.
Prov. xxix. 24 (6). Lastly, we have to add the adjuration, of a wife
who was accused of adultery, which called forth an immediate judg
ment from God, Num. v. 11 ff. (7). Mosaic justice does not recognise
torture as a means of evidence. — The form of the sentence of judg
ment is not laid down (8). As a rule, execution immediately followed
on condemnation, Num. xv. 36 ; Deut. xxii. 18, xxv. 2.
The Mosaic principle of punishment is the jus talionis, as it is
repeatedly expressed in the sentence, " Life for life, eye for eye, tooth
for tooth," etc., Ex. xxi. 23-25 ; Lev. xxiv. 18 ff. ; Deut. xix. 21 : it
shall be done to him who has offended as he has done ; in other words,
the punishment is a retribution corresponding in quantity and quality
to the wicked deed. But that the talio is not meant to be abstractly
and superficially carried out is not only shown by various provisions
of punishment, but is made clear from the fact that not simply the
objective manifestation of the deed, but the subjective side, viz. the
guilt lying at the root of the deed, is often taken into account in
determining the punishment (9). The punishment of death appears
very widely applied. It is ordained not only for the crime of
murder (10), maltreatment of parents, man-stealing (Ex. xxi. 12 ff.),

326 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§99.
adultery, incest and other unnatural crimes, idolatry, and the practice
of heathen divination and witchcraft (Lev. xx. ; Deut. xiii. 6 ff.), but
for overstepping certain ritual principles of the theocracy, — the law of
circumcision, Gen. xvii. 14 ; the law of the passover, Ex. xii. 15, 19 ;
the Sabbath law, xxxi. 14 f. ; the pollution of sacrifices, Lev. vii.
20 ff. ; sacrificing at other places than the sanctuary, xvii. 8 f. ; certain
laws of purification, xxii. 3, Num. xix. 13, 20. Yet the peculiar.
expression, isy a^o s*nn efean nrran, or nnsyo, is chosen for the
punishment of transgressions of the latter class in distinction from the
former, — an expression which, indeed, cannot refer to simple banish
ment (as some have interpreted it), but still, in some cases, seems to
point to a punishment to be executed not by human judgment, but by
the divine power ; comp. what is said in Lev. xvii. 10 with reference
to the person who eats blood : " I will blot out that person " (ViTJm).
When the punishment was really to be executed by human judgment,
the term n»1* niD is used — as of the violation of the Sabbath law, Ex.
xxxi. 14, and in the passages of the former kind, Ex. xxi. 12 ff.,
Lev. xx., etc. In general, in all cases where the people did not
execute judgment on the transgressor, Jehovah Himself reserves the
exercise of justice to Himself ; see, as main passage, Lev. xx. 4-6. —
In Mosaic law, corporal chastisement (stripes) appears as another
punishment, Deut. xxv. 2 f., also fines, e.g. Ex. xxi. 22, Lev. xxiv. 18,
etc. The jus talionis was to be put in application for bodily injury,
Ex. xxi. 23-25 ; Lev. xxiv. 19 f. ; Deut. xix. 21. But it seems that
this was only adhered to in principle ; and in this case we may suppose
that a proportionate money fine generally took the place of bodily
punishment. Further, there occurs the judicial selling of a guilty
person (11). The Pentateuch, on the contrary, knows of imprison
ment as a punishment only among the Egyptians (Gen. xxxix. ff.),
and the Mosaic law does not recognise it (though certainly at a later
time this punishment occurs in Israel also) ; in Lev. xxiv. 12,
imprisonment is only used to secure the man for the time. — With
what emphasis the law demands stringent and impartial administra
tion of justice, especially with reference to the poor, see Ex. xxiii.
6-8, Lev. xix. 15, Deut. i. 16 f., and other passages (12).
(1) I follow closely Schnell's excellent discussion, l.c. p* 10 ff.

§ 99.] THE COURSE OF JUSTICE AND PUNISHMENT. 327
The delineation of these topics is a matter for lawyers, and it is to be
regretted that the Mosaic law has not received more attention from
them. (2) In Deut. xxi. 18 ff., it is ordained that, if the chastisement
inflicted on a reckless, stubborn son is without result, he shall be
brought by the parents before the court of the town, and be put to
death by sentence of the judge. — Schnell continues, l.c. p. 11 : " If
the heart of the father and mother consents to deliver their child to
the judge before the congregation of the people, this is more than all
that the judges need to know." — See Saalschiitz, l.c. p. 588 f. ;
Duschak, Josephus and the Traditions, 1864, p. 66 f. (Tr. Sanh. chap.
8), on the provisions made, according to rabbinical tradition, to pre
vent the abuse of this law. Afterwards, the law was so limited that
it could seldom or never come into operation.
(3) This point is excellently discussed in the paper, " Gottliches
Recht und menschliche Satzung," Basel 1839 : " There are wit
nesses of Godj and faithful witnesses ; and there are witnesses who
cannot show the truth, and witnesses who must be put to shame.
Therefore the judges are permitted and ordered to consider, besides
those things which come before their eyes, other points which may
decide whether they shall require the evidence of two or of three
witnesses." (4) Schnell, l.c. p. 12, remarks: "A provision which gave ground
to expect that, without the utmost certainty or wickedness, none would
be a witness."
(5) In cases of voluntary jurisdiction, as in mercantile contracts,
the witnesses take the place of written, documents ; comp. the narra
tive in Gen. xxiii. 12-16, and particularly Ruth iv. 9-11. See the
later regulations as to evidence in courts of justice, in Tr. Sanhedrin,
iii. 3—6, v. 1-4. [Above-cited article.]
(6) The history in Judg. xvii. 2 also serves in elucidation. [Above
article.] — More particulars on the oath in § 113.
(7) On this, compare the later discussion on adultery (§ 104), and
the offering of jealousy under acts of purification (§ 143).
(8) We may find in Job xiii. 26, Isa. x. 1, a trace of a written
record of judicial sentences; the latter passage may, however, also
refer to general unjust decrees. [Above-cited article.]
(9) Compare afterwards, under the law of families, what is said
of the avenger of blood (§ 108), and on the terms njJtia and Ta
niDl, what is said in § 137.
(10) On this, too, see the discussion of the avenging of blood.
(11) See § 110.

328 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 100.
(12) See the scattered notices in the other Old Testament books
on matters of judgment in the above-cited article, and various things
in the historical section of prophecy.

3. THE EXECUTIVE POWER.
§100.
The Mosaic theocracy presents the peculiar phenomenon of being
originally unacquainted with a definite office for executing the power
of the state. The princes of the tribes (B*S*B>3), spoken of in Num.
i. 16, 44, vii. 2, Ex. xxxiv. 31, and elsewhere, form no theocratic
body (1). They are taken from the B*Jpt, who arose, doubtless, from
the heads of clans and families (2). The latter had, indeed, a
judicial position, but they appear mainly as representatives of the
people (niyn *s*"ip, Num. i. 16, comp. with xvi. 2), not of Jehovah.
That they were appointed for certain services always rests on particular
nomination. Thus the committee of the Seventy was formed, who
(Num. xi. 16 ff.) were to stand by Moses' side in leading the people,
but who appear to have existed only for the time of the march through
the wilderness, though the Talmud derives the origin of the Synedrium
from them. In the same way, twelve chiefs were ordained to spy out
the Holy Land (Num. xiii. 2 ff.), and twelve princes were called to
the committee formed for dividing the land, xxxiv. 18 ff. But all
this constitutes no permanent executive. Jehovah Himself comes
in actively, as circumstances demand, in immediate revelation of
power, in order to execute His kingly will and to maintain the
covenant law ; but for the rest, only the assurance is expressed (Num.
xxvii. 16 f.) that Jehovah will not leave His congregation as a flock
without a shepherd, but will always, again and again, appoint a leader
over them and equip him by His Spirit, as He raised up Joshua in
Moses' stead, and afterwards the judges. — This want of a regular
executive in the Mosaic constitution has been thought very remark
able (3). It has been thought inconceivable that Moses did so little
for the execution of his detailed legislation — that he did not see that
without a supreme authority no state could possibly exist. It is said
that this contains a main proof that the whole Mosaic state, as it is
laid before us in the Pentateuch, is only an unhistorical abstraction.

§ 100.] THE EXECUTIVE POWER. 329
But the theocratic constitution does not rest on the calculations of a
clever founder of a religion, but on the stability of the counsel of
revelation, which is certain of its realization (in spite of the presumed
inadequacy of the earthly institution) ; that want just shows the
strength and self-confidence of the theocratic principle. Moreover,
the whole history of the people in the time of the judges is to be
understood only on the presupposition that there was no established
executive power in the State.
Yet Deuteronomy, in giving the law of a king in chap. xvii. 14-20,
leaves open the possibility of setting up an earthly kingship. The
real future existence of this office is, then, presupposed in xxviii. 36
(comp., moreover, the previous prophecy in Gen. xvii. 6, 16, xxxv. 11 ;
Num. xxiv. 17). This future kingship is, however, subjected strictly
to the theocratic principle. The people shall only set over them as
king one whom Jehovah shall choose out of their midst. The kingly
dignity shall indeed be confined to Israelites by descent, but not to
any particular privileged family (like the priesthood); while, at the
same time, it is not conferred by the free choice of the people (as
the Edomites, for example, Gen. xxxvi. 31-39, must have had such
an elective kingship). The chosen king shall " not keep many horses "
— that is, he is not to support his dominion by a standing army (comp.
Isa. xxxi. 1) ; he shall likewise avoid luxury and the keeping of many
wives. He is, further, not to regard himself as the people's lawgiver,
but shall take the divine law as his strict rule, " that his heart may
not be lifted up above his brethren, and that he may not deviate from
the command, either to the right hand or the left ;: (4). The stability
of his kingship and its descent to his children are to depend on his
obedience to the law. — It cannot be denied that the law of the king in
Deuteronomy, inasmuch as it claims to be regarded as Mosaic, is a
little remarkable; and what is remarkable in it is not that Moses
contemplated in general the institution of an earthly kingship, for
sufficient occasion for this is contained in the political constitution of
"all the nations around" (Deut. xvii. 14); but the main difficulty is
that, not to speak of the example of Gideon (Judg. viii. 23), there is
no express reference to a pre-existing Mosaic law of the king when
Samuel set up the kingdom (though the proceeding then was quite
in the spirit of the law), but the prerogative of the king was first

330 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 100.
established by Samuel, and then (1 Sam. x. 25) set down in the book
which is before Jehovah, that is, the book of the law.
Hence, in connection with the supposition that the law in Deutero
nomy is of more modern origin, many modern theologians regard
the law of the king as a later production, formed on the model of the
provisions sketched by Samuel, with reference to the unhappy ex
periences of the time of Solomon (5) ; but this makes it difficult to
explain why a later writer could give as the reason of the law for
bidding to keep horses (Deut. xvii. 16), that the people must not be
brought back again to Egypt (6).
(1) The princes of the tribes were also called the heads of the
tribes (B*BiS"j, Num. xxx. 2 ; Deut. v. 20).
(2) The elders were not appointed by free choice, as Winer, in the
bibl. Realwbrterbuch, 3d ed. i. p. 50, and Kurtz, Gesohichte des A.
Bundes, ii. p. 33, have supposed, holding the view that the elders
form in a certain sense the personal nobility, or nobility of merit, in
contrast to the nobility of birth, the princes of the tribes. See the
proof for the view in the text in my article " Stamme Israels," in
Herzog's R.E. xiv. p. 771.
(3) Comp. Vatke, Religion des A. T. p. 207 f.
(4) There cannot be a stronger contrast to Oriental despotism.
(5) Comp. Riehm, die Gesetzgebung Mosis im Lande Moab, p. 81 ff.,
and against him Keil,. in Havernick's Introduction, i. 2, 2d ed. p.
473 f."
(6) Riehm, l.c. p. 100, says the passage points to a time when
the Egyptians were in want of soldiers, so that the king of Israel
could only get horses from Egypt on the condition of sending Israelite
foot-soldiers there, and putting them at the disposal of the king of
Egypt. This is supposed to apply to the time of Psammetichus. This
hypothesis has no support in the Old Testament [article, "Konige,
Konigthum in Israel"]. — The words only suit a time in which the
stay in Egypt was still fresh in the people's memory, and so, in the hard
struggles that they had to encounter, could reawaken a desire towards
the habitation they had quitted. (Comp. Hengstenberg, Beitr. zur
Einl. iii. p. 247 f.)

§ 101.] THE SUBDIVISIONS OF THE TRIBES. 331
)RGANIZATION OP THE FAMILY, AND TI
PROVISIONS CONNECTED THEREWITH.
§101.
Tlie Subdivisions of the Tribes. The Principles and Division of
Mosaic Family Law.
By nature the tribes fall into clans (ninsiB'D, LXX. Bijfioi, or
B^BJS) (1) ; these into families or houses (B^ns, olicoi), generally called
fathers' houses (nias n*3) ; then follow the various householders
(B*"i3a), with those that belong to them. See the most distinct
passage, Josh. vii. 14, 17 f., and also especially Num. i. 2, 18, also
Ex. vi. 14. The term ni3S n*3, « fathers' houses " (not " father's
house," as Clericus and others have understood it), is to be regarded as
>. plural of the less common singular, as n*3 (2). Beside this meaning
of as 1Y2, which is unquestionable, from the already-cited passages and
others, such as 1 Chron. vii. 7, 40, there is another sense of the word,
which is, however, disputed. On the one view, father's house is a
relative idea of general application, like our "family" or "house;"
designating a community which has a common father, it may, it is
said, designate whole tribes (Num. xvii. 17 ; Josh. xxii. 14), and also
may stand for a nnaE'D (3) ; comp. Num. iii. 24, 30, 35, and other pas
sages. On the other view, as n*3, in passages of this sort — and this
is probably the original meaning — designates particularly that family
which held the principality in each tribe and race as the family of
the first-born (so that the representatives of tribes might be called also
heads of the houses of the father) (4).
The principles of the Mosaic law of families are the following : —
Each family forms a self-contained whole, which, as far as possible,
is to be preserved in its integrity. Each Israelite is a citizen of the
theocracy only by being incorporated in a certain clan of the cove
nant people ; hence the value of genealogical trees. The representa
tion of the family descends in the male line, and therefore marriages
between the various tribes and families are of course allowed. On
the contrary, if the male line has died out, the female line receives
independent recognition for the preservation of the family, in order
that no family in Israel may perish (a thing which is regarded as a

332 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 101.
special divine judgment). The separation of family possessions is
based on the separation of the families themselves.
The following points are the most important for biblical theology :
— 1. The law of marriage ; 2. The relation of parents and children ;
3. The law of inheritance, and the provisions touching the continu
ance of a family and its possessions (the avenging of blood goes along
with this) ; 4. The right of servants (5).
(1) With reference to the expression B*a?S, thousands, see in
particular 1 Sam. x. 19, comp. with ver. 21. It is probable that this
designation arose from Moses having followed, as much as possible,
the natural organization of the tribes when, according to Ex. xviii.
25, he divided the people by thousands, hundreds, etc. (§ 98), for
the purpose of the administration of justice. [Article, "Stamme
Israels."] (2) The term is thus a sort of compound ; comp. Ewald, Ausf.
Lehrb. 8th ed. § 270c. Thus, in 2 Kings xvii. 29, 32, nioa n*3
means houses of high places. — When 'B'Sn precedes, the shorter form
ni3S is sometimes used instead of ni3S n*a (Num. xxxvi. 1 ; 1 Chron.
vii. 11 ; comp. with ver. 9, viii. 10, 13, etc.) [in the article cited above].
(3) As also nnstpD is frequently used in a wider, and Baa* (Num.
iv. 18 ; Judg. xx. 12) in a narrower sense [in the article cited above].
(4) The controversy is difficult to decide, and we cannot here
enter into it particularly. For the former view, comp. Knobel on
Ex. vi. 14 ; this is the most common view. In reference to the latter
view, which is, I believe, the right one, see, in particular, Keil's
thorough discussion in his bibl. Archaol. ii. pp. 197, 201 ff. — A certain
number of heads was probably requisite to obtain the rank of a clan
or father's house ; for in 1 Chron. xxiii. 11 it is said, in reference to
two descendants of a Levitical race, that they were united into one
paternal house on account of the small number of their children;
comp., too, Mic. v. 1. The number of one thousand men able to go
to war (see note 1) may have been the minimum size of a clan. But
the clans must have been much larger at the numbering of the people
recounted in Num. xxvi., when the people (without counting the tribe
of Levi, which was not mustered) were divided into fifty-seven clans.
— The subdivisions of the people were mainly formed on the principle,
that as the tribes sprang from Jacob's sons, so the clans sprang from
his grandchildren, and the fathers houses from his great-grandchildren.
However, it lay in the nature of the thing that this original relation
ship was modified in many ways in the course of time. Some clans

§ 102.] THE LAW OF MARRIAGE. 333
disappeared, while from others new ones were formed, in ways for
which no fixed principle can be found, and which were doubtless
modified by very various circumstances. — Examples to illustrate the
above propositions in the above-cited article, p. 770.
(5) If we were discussing a system of modern law, we should
indeed select a very different division ; but the Theology of the Old
Testament must explain the law as much as possible in the real con
nection in which it appears in the legislation itself.
1. THE LAW OF MARRIAGE.
§102.
(a) The Conclusion of Marriage : the Dependent Position of the Wife,
and the Forms of Marriage Contract.
In the Mosaic law, woman appears not, indeed, in the position
of degradation which she has among most other Oriental nations, but
still dependent, inasmuch as her will is subject before marriage to the
will of her father, and after marriage to the will of her husband ; only
when this tie is loosed does the wife hold a position of relative inde
pendence. This principle comes out with special clearness in the law
about vows, Num. xxx. 4-10 (comp. § 134, with note 10).
The concluding of a marriage is generally supposed to have rested
on a contract made between the parents of the bride and bridegroom,
in virtue of which a price had to be paid to the father of the bride for
his daughter, "inb (generally translated "dowry") (and so the principle
just stated comes out even in the making of the marriage). Accord
ing to others, on the contrary (1), no such selling took place, and
"inb means the present sent to the bride by the bridegroom, to which
were added other presents called niJ'nJD or )flO, for the kinsfolk of the
bride. Certainly this is the manner of procedure in Gen. xxiv. 53,
with which we may compare xxxiv. 12 ; and in xxiv. 58 the consent
of the eldest brother and the bride herself is demanded, besides that of
the parents (2). Further, if the example of Jacob's wooing and his
treatment by Laban are adduced in favour of the dominant view, the
opposite opinion appeals to Gen. xxxi. 15, where Laban's daughters
complain that their father has treated them like strangers, and wasted
their money (USD3). But not only does 1 Sam. xviii. 25 speak for
the view that the Mohar was given to the father, but also the passages

334 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 103
Ex. xxii. 16, Deut. xxii. 29 (in which, in the case of a maiden being
forced, the Mohar was given to the father), as well as the circumstance
that, Ex. xxi. 7, the father had the right to sell his daughter formally
to another, who wished her either for his Own wife or for his son's
wife (3). It is most probable that various forms of marriage contract
subsisted side by side (4), and that the nobler form is to be looked upon
as having come down from patriarchal times. As a rule, the wife did
not bring property into the marriage, for by the law property rests
with the husband. Heiresses are exceptions, as we shall see later
(§ 106). Still at least one example of a dowry is mentioned in Josh.
xv. 18 f. The law does not command a religious consecration of the
matrimonial tie ; but it is clear from Mal. ii. 14 that marriage was to
be regarded as a divinely sanctioned tie. Purity of entrance into
the married state is guarded by such laws as Deut. xxxii. 13 ff. and
ver. 28 f. Owing to the wife's dependent state, marriage with women
not Israelites could not in general be specially objected to ; compare
the law on marriage with virgins taken in war, Deut. xxi. 10-13
(even Moses himself had a Cushite as wife, Num. xii. 1); only
marriage with Canaanite women was absolutely forbidden, Ex. xxxiv.
16, Deut. vii. 3. The wife's dependent place favoured the spread of
polygamy, although, as has been already remarked (§ 69), this was in
contradiction to the Mosaic idea of marriage. It is nowhere expressly
approved, but only limited by the provisions Lev. xviii. 18 (comp. § 69,
2). In the same way, it is forbidden by the law, Ex. xxi. 10 f., to allow
the rights of the first married wife to suffer by a later marriage.
(1) So, for example, following Saalschiitz, Keil, Archaologie, ii.
p. 67 ff.
(2) Gen. xxiv. 58 : " Wilt thou go with the man?— I will go."
(3) Particulars on Ex., xxi. 7, what is to be said on the rights of
servants (§ 110).
(4) Even Roman law knows various forms of marriage engage
ment. §103.
Continuation. — Bars to Marriage (1).
In the Mosaic law of marriage, the provisions about obstacles
to marriage— which stand in express contrast to the depravity of

§ 103.] BARS TO MARRIAGE. 335
Canaanite and Egyptian heathenism (Lev. xviii. 3, 24, xx. 23), and
in which the moral earnestness of the Mosaic law is brought out —
occupy an important place. These provisions are contained in Lev.
xviii. 6-18, xx. 11-21 ; to which are added Deut. xxvii. 20, 22 f.
All marriages with near relations are forbidden, and that not only
with blood relations, but also with connections by affinity. In
reference to blood relationship, the principle laid down is (Lev. xviii.
6), lanpn s? i-iba nse>-?a-?s t?*s E>'*s. We see here that the word
ISB' (flesh) stands directly for a blood relation, e.g. ver. 12, etc. ; and
nnsB> is a designation of blood relationship, ver. 17. Marriage is for
bidden beween parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren ;
also between brothers and sisters — as well between half as full brother
and sister ; likewise marriage with the sister of the father and mother,
but not marriage between uncle and niece, is forbidden (Lev. xviii.
6-13). Nevertheless, marriage with an aunt is not treated as a crime
worthy of death, like the rest ; it is only said, Lev. xx. 19, " they shall
bear their iniquity." But the punishment of death was appointed for
the other forbidden marriages, xx. 17 ; comp. Deut. xxvii. 22. The
history of Tamar, in 2 Sam. xiii. 13, raises a difficulty, because there
marriage with a half-sister seems to be looked on as permitted. Pro
bably the words are only to be understood as an attempt at escape on
the part of Tamar (2). — Among connections by affinity (Lev. xviii.
8, 14 ff.) marriage is forbidden — 1. with a step-mother, step-daughter,
step -grandchild, mother-in-law, and daughter-in-law. These are
punished by death, Lev. xx. 11-14 ; comp. Deut. xxvii. 20, 23. 2.
Marriage with an uncle's widow on the father's side, and with a
brother's widow — the latter with the exception of the Levirate mar
riage (on this later, § 106) — that is, if the brother has left children by
his wife. Over those last-named marriages impends the punishment
of childlessness, which is not to be understood, with J. D. Michaelis,
Mos. Recht, v. p. 199, as referring to civil childlessness — that is, that
the children of such a marriage were not reckoned to their real father,
but to his dead brother or his father's brother, but is rather to be
regarded as the actual withdrawal of the blessing of children threat
ened by God, so that no judicial act has place. — Marriage with the
widow of a mother's brother, and a wife's sister after the wife's death,
was allowed ; for the prohibition mentioned in § 102, Lev. xviii. 18

336 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 103.
(that a man may not marry two sisters), refers expressly only to the
time when the wife still lives ; marrying both at the same time, as the
patriarch Jacob did, was forbidden (3).
Wherein lies the ground of these provisions of the law % They
may appear in part remarkable, since the Pentateuch gives instances of
such marriages from very early history, and even relates that Abraham
married a half-sister, for this is the most probable view of his relation
to Sarah (4). Michaelis (l.c. p. 178 ff.) takes the view that such pro
hibitions had only the purpose of preventing the seduction of persons
living together in one house ; but this is certainly wrong, for in this
case such marriages would not be shameful in themselves, as they are
called nar (Lev. xviii. 17, xx. 14, etc.), an expression which properly
means a design, malice, but is used in the Old Testament of gross crime ;
and further, Tan, outrage, xx. 17 (in the Aramaic use of the word), Pan,
ver. 12. Even reference to the horror naturalis is not sufficient ; for,
as several heathen nations allowed marriages with the nearest blood re
lations (as Lev. xviii. 3, 24, this is mentioned as customary among the
Egyptians and Canaanites), it is manifest that it is in the first instance
a moral horror that must prevent such marriages, and that the feeling
that is called horror naturalis proceeds only from this. The moral
ground for the prohibition can be no other than that a moral fellowship
is already constituted through the natural forms of near relationship,
which would be disturbed by the matrimonial bond. Parental and
brotherly love on the one side, and the love of married persons on the
other, are so specifically different, that by mixing the two neither can
find full and holy development. The one moral relationship is sacri
ficed, without the other being really called into existence (5). As far
as a definitely marked moral relation is constituted by relationship, so
far does the prohibition reach not to mingle it with marriage connec
tion. Even the marriage of a nephew with the sister of the father or
mother breaks up a natural relationship of piety, since the man ought
to be the head of the woman ; but not so the marriage of an uncle and
niece. The circumstance that marriage is forbidden with a father's
brother's widow, and not with a mother's brother's widow, is, I believe,
to be explained by the fact that the father's brother stands in a posi
tion of higher authority towards the nephew than does the mother's
brother, in virtue of the value which the husband's side has in the

§ 103.] BARS TO MARRIAGE. 337
family. — With the reason just stated is connected the further reason
already, given by Augustine (6), that by divine ordinance the moral
fellowship of mankind was to be realized in a multiplicity of forms.
In ancient times this purpose was served by the marriage of brother
and sister ; indeed, that was the only means of realizing it. But Abra
ham's marriage with his half-sister, if Sarah really was such, seems,
from the Mosaic standpoint, to have been justified mainly because
through it alone the pollution of the race of revelation by heathen
elements was prevented ; comp. Gen. xxiv. 3 (7).
(1) The provisions on this point are given in the Old Testament
in full detail. Biblical theology must, of course, here confine itself
rigidly to what is expressly stated. When Thiersch (Das Verbot der
Ehe in zu naher Verwandtschaft, 1869) proceeds on the supposition
that the law gives concrete provisions, from which other provisions
are to be deduced, this is quite right in itself (and, indeed, is true of
the whole Mosaic law). But if we will make deductions from the
provisions in the Mosaic law of bars to marriage, the question is
whether we hit the right principle ; and here, I believe, Thiersch has
failed. (2) So Keil, following Clericus : Tamar only says it, " ut e manibus
ejus quacunque ratione posset, elaberetur." — Thus the words cannot
be used for archaeological purposes. The explanation of Thenius,
that the law only forbids fornication between half-sisters, not regular
marriages, is incorrect.
(3) This is the famous point of controversy so often discussed in the
English Parliament. But there can be no doubt upon the matter what
ever. All the arguments brought to prove that marriage with the sister
of a dead wife is, according to Mosaism, a sin, and the analogies on which
this conclusion is based (e.g. by O. v. Gerlach), are quite worthless. —
Difficult is "fix? in Lev. xviii. 18. Many, as Gesenius, give the word
a sense not elsewhere found in Hebrew (but in Arabic, ^) : " ita ut
zelotypw fiant, una alterius aamula sit," "to jealousy;" but it is pro
bably to be taken in a wider sense, " to hostility" (Keil makes it, " to
tie them together," supposing this to mean an unnatural breach of
the sisterly relation !).
(4) It is true that the rabbis and Calvin, as well as some moderns,
viz. Hengstenberg, do not admit this. It is well known that the view
that Abraham was married to a half-sister is based on what he said to
Abimelech, Gen. xx. 12: "And yet, indeed, she is my sister, the
VOL. I. Y

338 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 103.
daughter of my father, though not the daughter of my mother." On
the other hand, it is urged that there is nothing about this in the
earlier passages (xi. 29) ; and it is maintained by the rabbis and others
that Sarah was the same as Iscah, xi. 29, and was thus a sister of
Milcah, daughter of Haran, and Abraham's niece, and that Abraham
called her sister quite in the same way as he calls his nephew Lot his
brother. There is no doubt as to this idiom, but it is certainly quite
arbitrary to identify Iscah with Sarah. If it be asked, why, then,
Iscah is named at all, the answer is, that this is done simply for the
sake of completeness ; in any case, there is nothing said about the
identity of the two.
(5) Comp. Nitzsch, System der christi. Lehre, § 174: "Matri
monial love must not destroy or perplex that to which it is itself
traceable, and which it wishes to reproduce and propagate."
(6) Augustine, de civ. Dei, xv. 16 : "Habita est ratio rectissima
caritatis, ut homines, quibus esset utilis atque honesta concordia, diver-
sarum necessitudinum vinculis necterentur ; nee unus in uno multas
haberet, sed singula© spargerentur in singulos ; ac si ad socialem vitam
diligentius colligandam plurimse plurimos obtinerent."
(7) The further discussion of this topic does not belong to biblical
theology, but partly to ethic and partly to church law. On the whole
subject, compare especially the excellent essay in the Evangel. Kirchen-
zeitung, 1840, the June and July number, p. 369 ff. : " Ueber die ver-
botenen Ehen in der Verwandtschaft." — Among the marriage laws of
the ancient nations, that of Rome corresponds best with that of the
Old Testament, and is even in some respects more rigorous. See
Rossbach, Untersuchungen ueber die romische Ehe, p. 420 ff. The
principle on which marriages are forbidden is very clearly expressed
in Roman law; it lies in the patria potestas. The son remained
under the father's power until the father's death; grandsons and
granddaughters honoured their grandfather as their father. Thus
the children of brethren took the position of brothers and sisters, and
hence, apparently, the marriage of cousins (consobrini) was not
allowed in older times. Roman law also absolutely prohibited mar
riage with the offspring of a brother or sister ; even marriage between
uncle and niece was forbidden. However, in the year 49 a.d., this
marriage, which was counted incest until then, was allowed by a
senatus-consultum because Claudius wished to marry Agrippina, the
daughter of his brother Germanicus.

§ 104.] THE DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE. 339
§104.
(b) The Dissolution of Marriage.
The laws touching the dissolution of marriage also show how
greatly the personal right of the wife is suppressed in the Mosaic
law. The dissolution of marriage can take place in two ways: — 1.
By the real disruption of the matrimonial bond by the sin of adul
tery ; 2. By a separation drawn up in a definite form.
1. In the Mosaic law, adultery is so understood that it is only
committed through the unchastity of a wife. Thus, on the part of
the husband, adultery is committed only when he dishonours the free
wife of another ; in this case both are to be punished with death
(Lev. xx. 10 ; Deut. xxii. 22). If, on the contrary, the adulteress was
only another's slave, the punishment was milder, Lev. xix. 20-22
(probably corporal punishment). Otherwise, the crime of adultery
could not occur on the part of a husband, for the wife had no ex
clusive right to him whatever. Therefore by simple unchastity he
offends indeed against the law which condemns as an abomination all
fornication, and especially such prostitution as was committed among
the neighbouring heathen nations in honour of their divinity (Lev.
xix. 29 ; Deut. xxiii. 18), but not against his wife. On the contrary, the
breach by the wife of the obligations of marriage was unconditionally
adultery. If a woman was suspected of adultery without being taken
in the act, and if no testimony could be brought to prove the offence,
it was to be decided whether she was guilty or not guilty by a formal
oath at the sanctuary, and the drinking of the water of the curse,
since under the circumstances a judicial action could not be brought ;
comp. Num. v. 11-31 (1). The effect to be produced by the water
of the curse on the guilty wife — the swelling of the belly and
decaying of the thigh (which Josephus makes the dislocation of the
right thigh) — corresponds to the jus talionis (2). Ver. 27 does not
say that the sentence of God shall be manifested on the spot (as was
the assumption in the German ordeals). But we must suppose an
effect which could only be traced to drinking of the water of the
curse, and which followed speedily thereupon, as otherwise there
would have been no sure mark by which to clear guiltless wives.

340 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. '[§ 104.
The law rests on the assurance that the living God, who dwells in the
midst of His people, will really acknowledge the solemn invocation of
His name at His own command (3).
2. Divorce (IW]3). The right of divorce belongs to the husband
only ; thus divorce is also called dismissal of a wife (n$K nPE') (4).
The right of the husband to dismiss his wife is nevertheless not for
mally sanctioned by the law, but is presupposed as existing and
limited, not only by the law in Deut. xxii. 19, 29, but also (on this
see below) even in the law of separation in Deut. xxiv., by the addi
tion Tan nny. The proper aim of the law (Deut. xxiv. 1 ff.) lies in
the closing sentence, ver. 4. Ver. 1 does not contain a command,
and even its last clause belongs to the conditional clause (5). The
Pharisees indeed say (Matt. xix. 7) : Ti ovv Ma>vo-rj<s ivereiXaro
Bovvai f3if3Xiov drroaraalov ko\ diroXvaai airrjv ; but the Lord
answers, ver. 8 : "On M&wo-tj? 777)0? r-hv aicXrjpoicapBiav ifiwv eVe-
rpetyev v/iiv diroXvcrai t<z? yvvaiica1; v/iwv. However, it is implied in
the presuppositions enumerated in Deut. xxiv. 1 that this process
was to be necessary in cases of divorce. Since the formal making
out of a bill of divorcement (nn*"ia 1BD, ver. 1) was requisite for the
carrying out of a divorce, this might at least often prevent a too
hasty repudiation. The passage assigns as the ground which renders
divorce admissible "lai niiy — that is, " shamefulness of a thing."
There existed among the Rabbis two different views about the meaning
of this expression. The school of HiUel understood the expression to
mean any matter of offence (6). The school of Shammai, on the
contrary, did not, indeed, as has frequently been erroneously said, in
terpret the expression simply of adultery. Real adultery is not to be
thought of, because in that case not separation but punishment
followed ; but they referred it to really disgraceful conduct, such as
unchaste behaviour and the like. It is not to be admitted that Hillel
(as many archaeologists say) has hit the meaning of the law more
correctly. The expression must certainly refer to something loath
some, comp. Deut. xxiii. 15 (7). If the divorced woman married
another man, she might not, on his death, or on being separated from
him, re-marry the first one, Deut. xxiv. 3 f. compared with Jer. iii. 1.
In David's conduct, recounted in 2 Sam. iii. 14 ff . (that David took
again Michal, whom Saul had given to another), there is no offence

§ 104] THE DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE. 341
against the letter of the law ; for David had not separated himself
from Michal, but she was unfairly torn away from him, 1 Sam. xxv.
44. Nevertheless Saalschiitz (l.c. p. 802) rightly remarks that David's
conduct can hardly be regarded as consonant with the spirit of the
law.. The law does not say whether the divorce might be taken back
if the divorced wife did not marry again. Probably that was lawful.
It is clear that this whole matter of divorce does not correspond
with the idea of marriage proper to the Old Testament, and already
expounded by us (§ 69, 2) ; and this is expressly set forth by Christ
in Matt. xix. 8. Also, in Mal. ii. 10-16, divorce is treated as a breach
of faith : " I hate putting away, saith Jehovah the God of Israel "
(ver. 16).
(1) Comp. the subsequent discussion of the offering of jealousy
in the p'art on Cultus (§ 143, 1), and my article, " Eiferopfer," in
Herzog's R.E. xix. p. 472 ff.
(2) She shall receive her punishment in the organs with which
she has committed sin. That nax, as Ewald (Alterth. des Volkes
Israel, 1st ed. p. 187, 3d ed. p. 274) supposes, does not simply
mean the swelling, but also its consequence, bursting, cannot be
proved. Moreover, we cannot make out from the text how the swell
ing of the body is to be understood pathologically. Josephus calls
it a dropsy, with fatal effects ; J. D. Michaelis would understand by it
more particularly the hydrops ovarii. Certainly, as is clear from the
contrast in ver. 28, a disease is meant which involves unfruitfulness ;
but it is quite inadmissible to refer the words in which this punish
ment is threatened simply to unfruitfulness [in above-cited article].
(3) The punishment of the adulteress lay in the effect of the
water of the curse ; the purpose of the divine decision is not that the
convicted person may be then handed over to human judgment, for
the execution of the punishment appointed for adultery in Lev. xx.
10, Deut. xxii. 22. — This law is one of the number of regulations
through which the purity of family life was to be protected. Yet it
has its special aim, not merely in frightening frivolous women from
leading a dissolute life, but, as Theodoret correctly observes on this
passage, is meant at the same time to set bounds to the wrath of the
jealous husband, who (comp. Prov. vi. 34) is capable of any violence,
by withdrawing from him the right of taking the vindication of his
interests into his own hand in a matter in which a blind passion is so
easily kindled, and by compelling him to make his suspicion submit
to the judgment of the omniscient God. In so far, also, the law aims

342 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 105.
at protecting the wife against a groundless jealousy on the part of
the husband ; only it is not said that the woman herself may claim
to drink the water of the curse in order to her justification [in the
article already cited].
(4) According to the rabbinical view (see Saalschiitz, mos. Recht,
p. 806), it did not need to be explained that the wife to whom her
husband denied what is commanded in Ex. xxi. 10 might demand
separation. (5) Deut. xxiv. Iff.: " When a man hath taken a wife, and
married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes,
because he hath found some uncleanness in her," — then the verse
does not go on, as Luther and E.V. give it, " then let him write her a
bill of divorcement," but, continuing the conditional clause, " and he
write her a bill of divorcement, and give it into her hand, and send her
out of his house, and she go," etc.; the apodosis begins only in ver. 4.
(6) For example, if the wife have let the dinner burn ; if even,
says Rabbi Akiba, another please the husband better. Josephus
holds the same lax view, Ant. iv. 8. 23 : icaff dsBnirorovv alriai.
(7) The LXX. have indeed softened the expression by the trans
lation dayrtfiov irpdyfia, but have probably caught the general meaning
correctly. 2. THE RELATION OF PARENTS TO CHILDREN (1).
§ 105.
The importance of this relation is already clear, by its being placed,
like the relation of marriage, in analogy to the relation of Jehovah
towards His people (comp. § 82, 1). In explaining the decalogue, we
have already spoken of the way in which the command to honour
parents is ranked among the duties of piety in the first table (§ 86,
with note 2) (2). The same promise is given to the honouring
of parents as to obedience to the divine will in general ; comp.
Ex. xx. 12 with Deut. iv. 40, vi. 2, etc. Breach of the rever
ence due to parents is punished in just the same way as offences
against the reverence due to God, Ex. xxi. 15, 17 (3), Lev. xx.
9. — Still the parents have only such rights over their children as
are consistent with the acknowledgment of God's higher right of
property. This is already conveyed in the command to offer up Isaac,
Gen. xxii., (comp. § 23, with note 9), but particularly in the ordinances
with reference to the redemption of the first-born sons, who here

§ 105.] THE RELATION OF PARENTS TO CHILDREN. 343
vicariously take the place of the whole blessing of children hoped for.
Although the tribe of Levi (comp. § 93) was accepted in the stead of
all the first-born of the people, the first-born sons must nevertheless be
brought to the sanctuary when a month old, and there be redeemed by
the payment of five shekels; see Num. xviii. 16 in connection with
Ex. xiii. 15. This presentation at the sanctuary might be conjoined
with the offering of purification, to be presented by the woman on the
fortieth day after her delivery, as appears from Luke ii. 22 ff. Even
the humart right of parents over their children is limited (4) ; in par
ticular, the father has no right over the life and death of his children
(such as Roman law concedes) (5), but the parents must bring a dis
obedient, reckless son before the magistrates, Deut. xxi. 18 (comp.
§ 99, with note 2). — The law also requires that children be brought
up holily, and in the fear and love of God. There are no special
precepts in the law with a view to this, but it is repeated again and
again with great emphasis, that the divine deeds of the redemption
and guidance of Israel, and the divine commands, are to be impressed
on the children ; see Deut. iv. 9 f., vi. 6 f. (6) ; also ver. 20 ff., xi. 19,
xxxii. 46, comp. with Gen. xviii. 19 (Ps. Ixxviii. 3-6, xliv. 2), etc.
The passover, in particular, was to serve to hand down from race to
race the knowledge of Israel's redemption from Egyptian bondage; for
in Ex. xii. 26 f., xiii. 8, the people are expressly directed to join with
the festival the historical instruction of the children in the object of
the feast. The same direction is given, xiii. 14 f ., for the presentation
of the first-born. We may say that by those Deuteronomic regulations
the basis was laid for the mnemonic, which became the principle of
later Jewish instruction. But the Pentateuch knows nothing of a
scholastic inculcation of the divine laws ; it knows no formal religious
instruction at all. With the exception of the command, Deut. xxxi.
11-13, that the law be read before the assembled people, including
the children (*|t? = little children), at the feast of tabernacles, there is
no arrangement calculated directly for instruction in the law (7). The
passage in Deuteronomy just cited presupposes that the children take
part in the festival pilgrimages, as also the presence of the sons and
daughters at the celebration of the festivals in the sanctuary is spoken
of in the law of feasts in Deut. xvi. 11, 14 ; and in particular, by the
transference of the oelebration of the passover to the place of the

344 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 105.
sanctuary, the pilgrimage of the whole family thither was favoured.
Nevertheless, the law in Ex. xxiii. 17, Deut. xvi. 16, which enjoins
the pilgrimage of all the male members of the family, contains no
definitions about their age (8). The rabbinical tradition that boys
were bound to fulfil the law at twelve years old (9) may be very old,
but the earliest indication of this rule which we have is in the history of
Jesus when He was twelve, and in Josephus' statement (Ant. v. 10. 4)
that Samuel was called to be a prophet in the twelfth year of his
life (10).
(1) Comp. my article, "Padagogik des A. T.," in Schmid's^aia^.
Encyklop. v. p. 653 ff.
(2) The theocratic principle, that every authority among the
covenant people is to be regarded as an efflux of divine authority, and
as sanctified by this, finds its application here [in the above-cited
article]. (3) Ex. xxi. 15, 17 : " He who smiteth father or mother, and he
who curses father and mother, shall surely be put to death."
(4) In this there is a remarkable difference from the rules of
justice of other ancient nations. — Compare also the discussion of the
law of inheritance (in the following §), and of slavery (.§ 110).
(5) See what is remarked on the abrogation of the judicial power
of the father of a family in § 98, and comp. Prov. xix. 18.
(6) Deut. iv. 9 : " Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul
diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen : but
teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons." — vi. 6 f . ; " And these words,
which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart : and thou
shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them
when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way,
and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
(7) Though it is natural to conjecture that the scattering of the
Levites amongst the other tribes was to serve to promote the knowledge
of the law, the Pentateuch gives us no commands about this. The
rabbinical tradition, that the tribe of Simeon busied itself particularly
with the instruction of children, whilst the higher office of teaching
was entrusted to the Levites, is of no more value than other such like
traditions [in the article cited].
(8) Keil, on Ex. xxiii. 17, conjectures that the command was binding
on the male members of the people from the twentieth year and onward,
because in that year they were taken into the census (?).

§ 106.] THE LAW OF INHERITANCE. 345
(9) See the relevant passages in Lightfoot, horw hebr. et thalmud.,
on Luke ii. 42.
(10) Singing was another vehicle for the propagation of religious
knowledge, which we can show to have been cultivated in Israel from
the earliest period of the nation's history. See the particulars in the
above-cited article, p. 671. — It was certainly a very ancient custom to
teach the youth songs, in order to establish the memory of great events
and of the heroes of past days (2 Sam. i. 18, comp. Ps. Ix. 1). Also,
with reference to the song in Deut. xxxii., it is commanded, xxxi. 19 ff.,
that it should be taught, in order to serve in later times as a witness
against the people. — Lastly, the many local monuments scattered
through the land served the coming race as instructive witnesses. Thus
we read in Josh. iv. 6 f., 21 f., with reference to the stones set up on
the banks of the Jordan : " When your children ask their fathers in
time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones ? then ye shall
answer them," etc. Thus, in particular, the memories of patriarchal
times were linked with memorable trees, wells, altars, stone-heaps, etc.,
Gen. xxi. 32 f., xxvi. 19 ff., xxxiii. 20, xxxi. 46 ff., xxxv. 7, 20, 1. 11
[in the article above cited].
3. THE LAW OF INHERITANCE, AND PROVISIONS FOR THE PERMA
NENCE OF FAMILIES AND THEIR INHERITANCE.
§ 106.
The Law of Inheritance. Laws about Heiresses and the Levirate
Marriage.
After the father's death the first-born son is the head of the
family, and therefore in family registers he is often distinguished by
this honourable predicate ; cf. Num. iii. 12, etc. By the law in Deut.
xxi. 17, the provision that the first-born son is to receive a double
inheritance is confirmed, and therefore, doubtless, the care of the
mother and unmarried sisters, etc., was incumbent on him. This
regulation probably rested on old custom; for Jacob followed it
(comp. § 25) when he gave the inheritance of a double tribe to
Joseph, who, in the place of Reuben, was invested with the right of
the first-born, comp. 1 Chron. v. 2. But it is remarkable that here
again (comp. § 69, 2) the law, Deut. xxi. 15-17, forbids others to
imitate what the patriarch did when he gave preference to the son of
the beloved spouse. For the rest, the rule of inheritance was ap-

346 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 106.
parently that the other sons inherited equally (1). If an Israelite left
behind him no son, but only daughters, the daughters came into the
inheritance ; if he had also no daughter, the brother inherited ; in
want of a brother, the brother of the father ; and if he had none, the
nearest blood relation, Num. xxvii. 8-11. But to prevent land from
passing into the possession of another tribe, daughters who were
heiresses might, according to the law, Num. xxxvi., only marry men
of the tribe of their father, or even, if vers. 6 and 8 were to be under
stood in a narrow sense, only men of their father's house ; probably
in as close a relationship as was admissible, as the heiresses (the
daughters of Zelophehad) mentioned in Num. xxxvi. took, ver. 11,
the sons of their father's brother for husbands. — Side by side with
this ordinance stands the Levirate law, which, as we see from Gen.
xxxviii., rested on ancient custom, but was legally sanctioned by Deut.
xxv. 5-10. The main provisions run thus (ver. 5 f.) : " If brethren
dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of,
the dead shall not marry without (that is, out of the family) unto a
stranger : her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to
him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her
(Ba*). And it shall be, that the first-born which she beareth shall
succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be
not put out of Israel." The exposition of the law is doubtful. On
one view, the presupposition of " dwelling together " is taken to mean
that the brother who accepts the Levirate duty has as yet no house
of his own, and is thus still unmarried (for this is urged the phrase,
" if brethren dwell together "). On another view, on the contrary, it
is only presupposed that the brother lived in the same place, and was
therefore in the position to take up the Levirate duty. The words,
" if he have no son," are understood by the Jewish and many
Christian expositors (among the moderns, also Keil and Fr. W.
Schultz) of childlessness in general, so that if there was a daughter to
be heiress, no Levirate marriage would be entered on ; and for
this the expressions Matt. xxii. 25 (fir) e%av o-7repfia) and Luke xx.
28 (areKvoi) seem to speak. On another view, the law of Levirate
marriage takes precedence of the law of heiresses, so that a daughter
did not inherit if there was still a marriageable widow. Vers. 7-10
of the law decree a public censure on the man who would not submit

§ 107.] THE PRESERVATION OF THE FAMILY POSSESSION. 347
to the Levirate law (but there existed no compulsion). Nothing
appears to be decreed against the woman who would not submit to
the duty of the Levirate law, if she did not wish to marry again at
all. Childlessness' was such a disgrace for a woman, that we may
suppose that she would not withdraw without sufficient ground (2).
If the dead man left no brother who could enter on the duty of
marriage, the obligation passed to the nearest relation, who received
by the marriage also the right of inheritance. It is true that the
law makes no provision about this, but it is clear from the book of
Ruth that such was the legal custom (3). That the Levirate law
was still in force in the time of Jesus is shown by Matt. xxii. 24 ff.
(and the parallel passages of Mark and Luke).
(1) Thus, e.g., of five sons, the first-born received a third of the
whole inheritance, and each of the others a sixth.
(2) On the contrary, according to the rabbinical tradition, if
she drew back from the duty of the Levirate law because she wished
to marry another, a punishment of forty stripes was imposed on her. —
Gen. xxxviii. 24 can hardly be cited here. Tamar was to be
punished for unchastity, not on account of a violation of the Levirate
law. (3) The story in the book of Ruth lies under considerable diffi
culties of an archaeological kind, but these cannot be entered on here.

§107.
Provisions about the Preservation of the Family Possession.
As the law was concerned for the continued existence of families,
so, too, provision was made for the preservation of the property on
which the subsistence of the family depended. As far as possible, the
inheritance was to be preserved entire. Here the theocratic principle
came in in its full rigour, and its application to questions of proprie
torship is expressed in the sentence, Lev. xxv. 23, "The land is
mine ; for ye are strangers and foreigners with me " — that is, God, the
King of the people, is the real proprietor of the land, and He gives it
to the people only as beneficiaries. Now, inasmuch as each family
forms an integral part of the theocracy, an inheritance is given to it
by Jehovah for its subsistence, which forms, as it were, an hereditary

348 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 107.
feudal holding, and is therefore in itself inalienable. Hence Naboth's
refusal, 1 Kings xxi. 3; and hence the strong language of the
prophets against the efforts of the rich to enlarge their possessions by
adding to their own lands the inheritance of others, Isa. v. 8 ff., and
in other passages. — When an Israelite is compelled by poverty to
alienate his inheritance, this is only for a time ; the purchaser of the
inheritance must, by Lev. xxv. 23-27, return it as soon as the former
possessor, or his nearest relation, redeems it again (PS3); hence the
general legal principle, ver. 23 f ., " The land shall not be sold nm*ttS?,
to extinction," — that is, in such a way that the possession is for ever
forfeited by the original owner, — " but in all the land of your posses
sion ye shall grant a redemption (n?sa) for the land." In virtue of
this his duty to redeem the land, the nearest relation bears the name
of a'i|3n i?Kli. At the redeeming of the land, the value which the
purchaser has had from the use of it year by year is to be taken from
the purchase money — that is, the land itself is never to be actually
sold, but only what it bore, and that for a certain time. In the year
of jubilee, however, every possession is to return to the family to
which it originally belonged, without redemption (1). With a con
sistent administration of this law, a class wholly without property
would have been impossible in Israel (2), agreeably to the fact that
it is proposed as the problem of the theocratic life, Deut. xv. 4, that
there be no poor person in Israel; though, indeed, it is candidly
acknowledged in ver. 11 that actual circumstances will continue to be
inconsistent with the realization of this ideal. Since, as has already
been mentioned (§ 33), at the settlement in the Holy Land, the
several clans dwelt together in a definite place, the family became the
basis of all social life ; but because the clans had always to recognise
that they were integral portions of the covenant people, the conscious
ness of national aims was kept up in a lively manner (3) ; and this
pervasion of family life by the higher theocratico-national principle
is represented particularly in the celebration of the Passover (4).
(1) See the particulars in the account of the year of jubilee, in
§151. (2) This is why the Socialist Proudhon admires so greatly the
Mosaic law of property. Compare his essay on the celebration of the
Sabbath, in the German translation, p. 25.

§ 108.] THE AVENGING OF BLOOD. 349
(3) Baumgarten (Die Geschichte Jesu, p. 88 f.) has rightly
remarked, that in the theocracy two forms of one-sidedness are over
come, — the one-sidedness of a tribal constitution, in which the tribes
never attain national unity ; and the one-sidedness of a constitution in
which domestic life, and with it an essential part of human destiny,
falls a sacrifice to the purposes of the state, as was the case in the
ordinances of Lycurgus. " In Israel, the divine guidance proves
itself thereby, that both forms, the house and the kingdom, are so
planned from the beginning that they mutually penetrate and comprise
each other."
(4) Compare also the account of the Passover in § 153 f.
§108.
The Avenging of Blood (1).
The avenging of blood is connected with the laws last discussed,
inasmuch as it falls, on the one side, under the point of view of the
preservation of the entireness of families. — The avenging of blood,
generally speaking, takes place where the members of a family or the
next relative of a murdered man have the right and the duty to exercise
retribution on the manslayer. In the Old Testament, the avenging
of blood is taken for granted as a very ancient custom (2). After
Gen. ix. 6 has expressed generally the precept that he who sheddeth
man's blood by man shall his blood be shed, the first indication of the
avenging of blood is found in xxvii. 45 (3). Where as yet there is no
political life, or where, at least, such life is still in the first elements of
development, the expiation of injury to personal right devolves, from the
nature of the case, on the zeal of the family (4). Mosaic law retained
this feature, but subordinated the execution of the avenging of blood to
the theocratic principle. If, according to the most ancient Hellenic
view, the murderer, as such, commits no crime against the divinity
or against civil society (5), but injures merely the family sphere,
Mosaism, on the contrary, in virtue of its idea of man as the divine
image (comp. § 68), discerns in a murder, before all things, a transgres
sion against the Creator and Lord of human life, Gen. ix. 5 f., which
must be atoned for, Num. xxxv. 33, by the extermination of the
guilty person from the theocracy, which is desecrated by the guilt of
blood (6). God Himself is the proper avenger of blood (Gen. I.e.),

350 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACV. [§ 108.
the B*OT urn (Ps. ix 13, comp. 2 Chron. xxiv. 22), to whom the shed
blood cries for vengeance, Gen. iv. 10. Thus the avenging of blood
becomes a divine command ; it is not merely a matter of honour, but
a duty of religion. But because the family, the protection of the
integrity of which is the business of theocratic justice, is injured at
the same time by the death-blow, the execution of the avenging of
blood is transferred to that relative on whom in general the restora
tion of injuries done to the integrity of the family is incumbent
(comp. § 106 f .), and who thus has to redeem the blood taken from
the family by the death-blow. Hence the name of the avenger of
blood, B^in PS3, Num. xxxv. 19, Deut. xix. 6, 12 ; also PS3 absolutely,
Num. xxxv. 12, Job xix. 25 (7). To take care that the avenging of
blood was really executed was the business of the whole clan, as is
clear from 2 Sam. xiv. 7 (8). — But further, with reference to the
avenging of blood, the following provisions are given in Ex. xxi.
12-14, Num. xxxv. 9-34, Deut. xix. 1-13 :—
1. In Num. xxxv. two kinds of murder are distinguished in reference
to which the avenging of blood is commanded : (a) vers. 16-18, if one
slays another with ah instrument of iron, or a stone, or with wood, where
with a man when he takes it in his hand (others because it fills the hand)
can kill another — that is, if any one strikes another in such a way that
death may be seen- to be the probable consequence ; (b) ver. 20. f., if
one has slain another out of hatred, or by intention, or out of enmity, in
which case the means by which death was brought about is indifferent (9).
On the other hand, in order to shelter from vengeance him who had slain
a man undesignedly, n*nx s?a (ver. 22; Ex. xxi. 13),without intending to
hurt his neighbour (comp. Num. xxxv. 23), and inadvertently, nyT*i*33
(Deut. xix. 4, etc.), the law commanded the selection of six free cities,
three of which were apportioned on the east, and three on the west side
of Jordan (Deut. iv. 41 ff. ; Josh. xx. 1-9). The manslayer who fled
into one of these had to be protected from the avenger of blood who
pursued him by the elders of the free town (Josh. xx. 4), after a pro
visional cognition of the matter, until the community (nTy) — that is, the
community of the place where the murder was committed, Num.
xxxv. 24 f. — had examined the matter through their elders, Deut. xix.
12 f. (10). If the accused person was proved guilty of intentional
murder, he had to be given over to the avenger of blood ; even the

§ 108.] THE AVENGING OF BLOOD. 351
altar was not allowed to offer him a refuge (Ex. xxi. 14). In the
opposite case, however, he had to remain in the city of refuge until
the death of the high priest in whose time the murder had occurred,
Num. xxxv. 28, Josh. xx. 6. If he quitted it earlier, the avenger of
blood was permitted to kill him, Num. xxxv. 27, as was allowed before
in his flight to the city of refuge, Deut. xix. 6. — The meaning of the
banishment to the city of refuge was certainly not merely that of an
ordinary punishment of banishment (11); but the manslayer was to
be withdrawn from general communion with the people until the
expiation of his crime was completed. Expiation was absolutely
necessary, on the analogy of the sin-offering, Lev. iv. 1 ff., even for
blood shed undesignedly (12). This expiation seems to lie in the death
of the high priest, which does the same for his period of office as
his function on the great day of atonement does for a single year (13).
2. For intentional murder, there was no other expiation than the
blood of the manslayer, Num. xxxv. 31, 33 (14). The jus talionis is
here maintained in the most stringent sense ; every substitute for the
punishment of death is refused (15). Even residence in the city of
refuge in consequence of accidental murder cannot be bought off, ver.
32. — Herein is shown an essential difference from the usual custom
of other ancient nations, which permitted the manslayer to satisfy the
injured family in the way of agreement by payment of compensation
(rroivr) among the Greeks), of Wergeld (among the Germans) (16). —
Nevertheless, the Mosaic law does not ordain anything against the
relations who neglected the avenging of blood.
3. The avenging of blood falls upon the doer alone. Nowhere
does the legislation of the middle books of the Pentateuch allow the
avenger of blood to lay hands also on the family of the murderer (Ex.
xx. 5 is not a case in point). That an opposite custom may often have
prevailed is probable ; and on the contrary, Deut. xxiv. 16 (comp. 2
Kings xiv. 6) may be judged to be a supplement, not (as some think) a
mitigation, of the earlier legal provisions. — We cannot certainly deter
mine how long blood-vengeance existed among the people. It is clear,
from 2 Sam. xiv. 6-11, that it was still in existence and in full force
in David's time (17).
(1) Compare my article "Blutrache," in Herzog's R.E. ii. p.
260 ff.

352 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 108.
(2) Not yet Gen. iv. 14 : " I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond,
and every one that findeth me shall kill me." These words of Cain
are only to be understood as an expression of anguish of conscience.
(3) The words of Rebekah (Gen. xxvii. 45), "Why should I be
deprived also of you both in one day ? " mean, that Jacob's being
slain by the hand of Esau, Esau would be slain by the avenger of
blood. (4) Thus among the Arabians, the ancient Greeks, Romans,
Germans, etc. — Compare, in general, Tobien on the avenging of blood
according to the ancient Russian law, in comparison with the avenging
of blood among the Israelites, Arabians, Greeks, Romans, and
Germans — Dorpat, 1840. On the avenging of blood among the
Arabs, see J. D. Michaelis, mos. Recht, ii. § 134. (With the Arabian
notion that unavenged blood remains without sinking into the ground,
etc., see Schultens on exc. Ham. pp. 416, 466 ; compare in the Old
Testament, Isa. xxvi. 21, Ezek. xxiv. 7 f., Job xvi. 18.) On the
avenging of blood among the Greeks of Homer's time, see Nagelsbach,
homer. Theol. ed. i. p. 249 ff., ed. ii. p. 292 ff. On traces of the same
in ancient Italy, see Rein, Kriminalrecht der Romer, p. 36 ff. ; and on
the difference between the Roman and German view, see Osenbriigge,
in the Kieler Philolog. Studien, 1841, p. 234 ff. [in the above-cited
article]. (5) Homer knows nothing of an atonement for murder due to the
gods; see Nagelsbach, I.e. ; comp. Lobeck, Aglaophamus, i. p. 301;
and also at the same time, in limitation, the remarks of Schomann,
^Eschylos Eumeniden, p. 66 f . [in the article cited above].
(6) Human life is so sacred, that even the animal by which a man
is killed is to be stoned, Ex. xxi. 28 ff. ; comp. Gen. ix. 5 [in above-
cited article].
(7) Compare Bottcher, de inferis, § 322.
(8) The law makes no particular provision as to the succession in
which the duty of avenging blood devolved ; doubtless it followed the
right of inheritance, as did the duty of the Goel in general (compare
§ 106). With this the later tradition agrees, and at the same time
adds, that when there was no heir, or the heir would not act, the
judicial authorities stepped in ; see Maimonides, hilchoih rotseach, i. 2
[in article above cited].
(9) On this point see Saalschiitz, mos. Recht, p. 527 ff.
(10) These sentences state as concisely as possible how the three
different passages are probably to be combined. — Comp. Hengstenberg,
Beitr. zur Einl. ins A. T. iii. p. 442 f. ; Ranke gives another combina
tion, Unters. iiber den Pentateuch, ii. p. 314 f.

§ 109.] THE PRINCIPLES OF THE RIGHTS OF BONDSMEN. 353
(11) So Michaelis, l.c. vi. § 279 ; compare the exile decreed
according to Athenian law in a similar case. — See Hermann, Griech.
Staatsalterth. § 104.
(12) On the later Hellenic view, see Schomann, l.c. p. 69, and
others. See Osenbriigge, I.e., on the Roman expiatory sacrifice of a
ram for unintentional murder.
(13) This is the one view of the matter taken, for example, by
Keil. Different is the view of Bahr (Symbolik des mos. Kultus, ii.
p. 52), who, following the example of Maimonides (more neboch. iii.
40, ed. Buxt. p. 458), thinks that the death of the chief of the
theocracy and representative of the whole people was regarded as so
important, that every other death would be forgotten because of it,
and thus be no more revenged.
(14) Num. xxxv. 33 : " Blood defileth the land ; and the land
cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood
.of him that shed it."
(15) A murder could not be redeemed with all the treasures in the
world, even if the murdered man had forgiven the murderer before
his death. Maimonides, hilch. rots. i. 4, more neboch. iii. 41.
(16) Compare Lobeck, l.c. p. 301. The Koran itself (Sur. ii.
173 ff.) admits a stipulated mitigation of the avenging of blood.
(17) On the contrary (2 Sam. iii. 27), Abner's murder by Joab
is not to be viewed, as has often been done, as a case of the avenging
of blood in the legal sense ; for Joab's brother, Asahel, was killed by
Abner in battle, and from necessity. Hence the judgment on Joab's
deed, ver. 28 f., 1 Kings ii. 5.
4. THE EIGHT OF THE SERVANTS IN THE HOUSE (1).
§109.
Bondage in the time of the Patriarchs. The Principles of the Rights
of Bondsmen.
The Old Testament, in instilling into man the dignity of God's
image as the inalienable and fundamental character of his nature, — in
asserting, further, the descent of all mankind from one blood, and so
representing them as a race of brethren, — declares a condition without
personal rights, such as is seen in slavery among the heathen, to be
on principle inadmissible. It is designated a curse when a tribe falls
directly under the lot of slavery, Gen. ix. 25, 27. Nevertheless, the
VOL. I. Z

354 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 109.
Old Testament presupposes that servitude in virtue of which domestics
(.Toy) form a portion of property, like the herds (Gen. xxiv. 35,
xxvi. 14). Abraham possesses a number of slaves. The slaves born
in the house (n*3 *T$>*, a term which refers at the same time to trans
mission of servitude), Gen. xiv. 14 (2), are distinguished from those
bought by money (*]B3 nJpD), xvii. 23 ff. (3). Nevertheless, how
elevated the position of the slave is already, in the time of the
patriarchs, is shown specially in the beautiful picture of Abraham's
trusted servant, drawn in chap. xxiv. This servant is probably the
same person as the Eliezer whom Abraham (xv. 2 f .) had appointed
as his heir in want of a son (4). But it was of the greatest import
ance that, according to chap, xvii., at the introduction of circumcision,
all the slaves — not simply those who stood nearer to the family as
being born in the house, but also those who had been bought in
foreign parts — received likewise this sign of covenant consecration, and
thereby a share in the dignity of the chosen race, and the divine
promise given to it (5).
The rights of the class of servants is more nearly defined by the
law ; and in this connection distinction is made between those servants
who were Israelites by birth, and the slaves won by purchase or as
booty from other nations. These regulations rest on a twofold
principle : 1. Because Israel is the people of Jehovah's property,
whom He redeemed from Egyptian bondage, all that belong to this
people are Jehovah's servants, and are by this bondage freed from all
human service. After their God had broken the yoke which burdened
them, and led them out " upright," they were never more to bend
under the yoke of slavery, nor be sold as slaves (Lev. xxv. 42, 55,
xxvi. 13 ; comp. § 83). By this principle, bondage, in a strict sense,
was for Israel completely done away with. But since the law leaves
cases open in which one Israelite could fall into the service of another
in a legal way, instructions are laid down by which a return to the
independent position which alone corresponds to the dignity of a
theocratic burgher is secured to those who have fallen into servitude.
On the contrary, with reference to the whole profane mass of the
Gojim, slavery is acknowledged to be allowable, Lev. xxv. 44 ff. (6).
But apart from the fact that a certain share in the blessings of the
covenant people Is also secured to the heathen slaves, they have the

§ 109.] THE PRINCIPLES OF THE RIGHTS OF BONDSMEN. 355
advantage, 2. of the principle which is inculcated in a multitude of
passages as the standard for the treatment of servants — namely, that
the Israelites, since they themselves were at one time slaves and
strangers in Egypt, and know how such persons feel, are to treat
servants and strangers in a humane way, and show by this means
their thanks to God, who redeemed them from Egyptian oppression
(Ex. xxii. 20, xxiii. 9 ; Deut. v. 14 f., x. 19, xv. 15, xvi. 11 f., xxiv.
18, 22) (7).
(1) Die Verhdltnisse der Sklaven bei den alten Hebraern nach bibl.
und thalmudischen Quellen dargestellt, Kopenhagen 1859, a work by
Mielziner, is a good monograph on this subject. A survey of the
relevant literature is also given in it, p. 4 f. ; comp. also my article,.
" Sklaverei bei den Hebraern," in Herzog's R.E. xiv. p. 464 ff. — On
this topic it is of special interest to compare the rights, or absence of
rights, of slaves in other nations.
(2) In Gen. xiv. 14, Abraham, marching to battle, places himself
at the head of 318 men, born in his house, and accustomed to the
use of weapons.
(3) Patriarchal history further mentions female slaves (nin»S^
ninBB'), as maids to the housewife, also to the daughters, and as con
cubines of their master, Gen. xvi. 1 (Hagar), xxii. 24, xxiv. 59, 61,
xxix. 24 ff. (Zilpah and Bilhah), xxxv. 8, etc. — On the difference
between nDS and nnSK>, it can only be said with certainty that the
latter term is the lower ; compare, in especial, 1 Sam. xxv. 41, also
Ex. xi. 5 (see Gusset's dictionary, under the word nnBK>). From this
it is intelligible that the name >TOS seems to have been commonly used
by preference for a married maid-servant (see Saalschiitz, Archaol. ii.
p. 244) ; but this difference cannot be rigorously carried out. [In
the above-cited article.]
(4) The patriarchal form of life brings the slaves nearer to the
family, and thus secures that the servile class be penetrated by the
moral spirit of the family, in virtue of which the relation between
masters and servants is shaped into a relationship of real respect and
affection. [In the above-cited article.] — Compare what Nagelsbach
has remarked, homer. Theol. ed. i. p. 232 ff., ed. ii. p. 271 ff., on the
character of slavery with Homer.
(5) The full consequences of the anthropological presuppositions
of the Old Testament were certainly not realized, even at a later
time. But while in heathenism, and especially in cultivated heathen
ism, slavery sinks more and more to the deepest degradation of human

356 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 110.
i
nature, Mosaism guards its humane character by at least limiting
slavery, in as far as it permits it, by legal regulations. [In the above-
cited article.]
(6) Lev. xxv. 44 ff. : "As for thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids,
which thou shalt have ; of the heathen that are round about you shall
ye buy bondmen and bondmaids; moreover, of the children of the
strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of
their families that are with you, which they begat in your land : and
they shall be your possession. And ye shall give them as an inherit
ance to your children after you as a possession ; they shall be your
bondmen for ever."
(7) The various regulations with reference to the rights of servants
form one of the most difficult parts of the legislation. It is on them
in particular that the assertion is founded, that the legislation in
Deuteronomy stands in absolute contradiction to that in Leviticus.

§110.
(a) Regulations bearing on Hebrew Servants.
An Israelite might in a legal way become a slave (1), either by
selling himself on account of poverty, Lev. xxv. 39, 47, or by being
sold by judicial decree on account of inability to make compensation
for a theft committed, Ex. xxii. 2 (2). In the latter case, however,
we must conclude from the context of the law that it was not lawful
to sell him to strangers (3). On the usual view taken by almost all
biblical archsaologists (including Saalschiitz and Keil), the creditor
had a right to sell debtors or their children when they were unable to
pay their debts. This view would in any case have to be restricted,
in so far as an arbitrary interposition of the creditor against the
person and children of the debtor can have no hold in the law, and
would, indeed, be in decided contradiction to the laws of pledges
in Deuteronomy (3*). The law (Deut. xxiv. 10) forbids the creditor
to enter the house of the debtor in order to choose a pledge arbitrarily.
It forbids him (Ex. xxii. 25 f. ; Deut. xxiv. 12) to keep the pledged
garment of a poor man over night ; " for it is his only covering, his
garment for his skin ; for what can he lie on ? and if he call on me,
I will hear him, for I am gracious." It forbids the pledging of a
debtor's mill, because that would be pledging the "soul" (that is,

§ 110.] REGULATIONS BEARING ON HEBREW SERVANTS. 357
something indispensably requisite for the maintenance of life), Deut.
xxiv. 6. And could this humane law have given up the person of the
impoverished debtor or his children to the caprice of the creditor ? —
There is less difficulty in admitting that the lawfulness of the judicial
adjudication of an insolvent debtor is not excluded by Lev. xxv. 39,
47 (4). However, the passage probably only speaks of an Israelite
who sells himself because he is no longer in a position to remain inde
pendent. From the other Old Testament books, too, we can deduce
no sufficient proof of this common opinion. Prov. xxii. 7 does not
relate to this, since the proverb expresses quite generally the depen
dence of the debtor on the creditor. 2 Kings iv. 1, Amos ii. 6, viii.
6, certainly prove the practice of the kingdom of the ten tribes ; but
the case mentioned in the first passage, that a widow's two sons were
to be taken away from her by a creditor, certainly cannot be con
sidered as agreeable to the meaning of the Mosaic law, while the
passage in Amos calls it a gross offence to deliver up poor persons to
slavery on account of small debts. Besides these passages, Job xxiv.
9, Neh. v. 5, Isa. 1. 1, and Matt, xviii. 25 are wont to be quoted as
proof-texts. The passage in Job rebukes the heartlessness -which
takes away as pledge a baby from the breast of its mother. With
Neh. v. 5 is to be taken ver. 8, where Nehemiah condemns, in the
strongest language, the mode of proceeding by which the poor were
compelled to give up their children to be slaves to cover their debts.
And the two last-named passages, also, are proofs only of the common
practice, not of its lawfulness (5).
There are two different ordinances in the Pentateuch about the
way in which an Israelite who had fallen into slavery was to be
treated, — one in the Book of the Covenant, Ex. xxi. 1-11, and in
Deut. xv. 12-18 ; and another in Lev. xxv. 39-55.
1. The first two laws make the following provisions : — (a) If an
Israelite has bought one of his fellow country-folk, whether of male
or (see the passage in Deuteronomy, and Jer. xxxiv. 9 ff.) female sex,
the time of service shall last only six years (6). This definition of
time, which reminds us of Jacob's seven years' service (Gen. xxix. 18),
rested probably on ancient custom ; in the law, however, it is formed
mainly in imitation of the period of the Sabbath, and this is indicated
in the connection of the passage in Deuteronomy. As a day of rest

358 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 110.
follows six days of labour, and a festival year follows six years of
cultivation of land, so, in like manner, the seventh year shall bring to
the servant freedom from bondage. Only the year of emancipation
did not fall exactly at the same time as the Sabbath year ; although,
according to Jer. xxxiv. 8 ff., the Sabbatic year once gave occasion
for the emancipation of Hebrew servants in the time of Zedekiah. —
(b) If the servant entered alone into service, he becomes free alone;
but if he entered married, his wife became free with him. If, on the
contrary, his master gave him a wife, and she bear him children, the
wife and children remain the master's, and he goes out free alone (7).
The law in Deuteronomy commands the master to encourage the freed
man with gifts of produce (from the flock, the barn-floor, and the
winepress) (8). — (c) If the servant will not go free, because he loves
his master or his wife and children, the master shall bring him before
the court ; probably for the purpose, in particular, of putting the com
plete spontaneousness of the servant's determination out of all doubt.
On this the master is to bring the servant to the door or the door
post, and pierce (ys"j) his ear (probably the right one) with an awl, by
which ceremony the servant is now bound to permanent service (9).
The connection in the passage in Deuteronomy shows that the door of
the house in which the servant is to serve is meant, although that
passage does not mention appearing before the court at all (10). As
the meaning of the ceremony in general is obligation to permanent
obedience, the symbolic act is applied to the organ of hearing, and
that by a sign which remains for ever (11). The affixing the ear to
the door-post, caused by piercing, denotes that the servant is bound
permanently to the house (12). Although a moral motive is given as
the basis of this proceeding, there is undeniably something degrading
in it (13).— The meaning of the bVj)?:, in Ex. xxi. 6, Deut. xv. 17, is
disputed. The expression evidently refers properly to lifelong servi
tude (because the symbolic action ordained imprinted on the servant
an indelible sign). The limitation of the time of service by the year
of jubilee (14) results only from the comparison of the law in Levi
ticus (15).— (d) In the Book of the Covenant, Ex. xxi. 7-11, a law
follows which is to meet the case of an Israelite who sells his daughter
to another on the presupposition that she is to become the wife or
concubine of the, purchaser or his son. Here something quite

§ 110.] REGULATIONS BEARING ON HEBREW SERVANTS. 359
different from Deut. xv. 12 ff. is spoken of ; the latter law treats of
the way in which a Hebrew woman is to be kept who does not enter
the service of a man for the purpose of marriage (16).
Side by side with the two ordinances of the Book of the Covenant
and of Deuteronomy already explained, there is one that runs quite
differently, in connection with the law of the jubilee year, Lev. xxv., the
contents of which are as follows : — (a) Vers. 39—43. Here the case is
put of one Israelite selling himself to another, because, after parting with
his possession of land, he cannot even gain a livelihood like a stranger
(who earns a sustenance by working for hire). In this case the master
is not to cause him to perform the work of a slave, but is rather to
impose on him such work as one demands from a day-labourer, and to
treat him generally as such (17). This relation is only to last until the
year of jubilee, in which the servant and his children (18) are freed,
and return to their own people and the inheritance of their fathers.
(Therefore a portion from the master is in this case not necessary.)
— (b) Vers. 47—55. If, on the other hand, the impoverished Israelite
sells himself to a stranger dwelling in the land, he may likewise be
treated only as a day-labourer, and in this case he may be redeemed at
any time (19). The purchase-money is to be reckoned by the number
of years which pass from the time of purchase to the year of jubilee
(and the calculation is based on the amount of wages which a day-
labourer can claim). In the case of redemption, the value of the
service already given (calculated on the same principle) is deducted
from the purchase-money. In the year of jubilee, however, the
servant and his family go out quite free. This. law in Leviticus
stands quite disconnected side by side with the already-discussed
regulations of the Book of the Covenant and of Deuteronomy. Very
various views are brought forward on the relation in which these
stand to each other. According to Ewald and many others, we have
here legal provisions of different date. After the emancipation of
slaves in the seventh year, as prescribed in the Book of the Covenant,
fell out of use, a later legislation contented itself with prescribing
their emancipation in the year of jubilee ; which would indeed have
been a very sorry surrogate, since numberless servants did not survive
to the year of jubilee. At a later time, the writer of' Deuteronomy
again enjoined the old law. A general argument against this view is,

360 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 110.
that the law of the jubilee cannot be understood as originating in later
circumstances (as we shall see in detail in § 152). But in particular,
this question arises : Why, according to that later legislation, is the
attainment of freedom denied to a Hebrew servant who serves another
Israelite during the whole period of fifty years from jubilee to jubilee?
Was, then, in this respect, the servant of an Israelite at a disadvantage
in comparison with the servant of an alien ? On the other hand, the .
incompleteness of the command in ver. 39 ff. is sufficiently intelligible if
the provisions of the Book of the Covenant were still in force along with
it. The apparent contradiction between the two laws is to be solved,
with J. D. Michaelis (mos. Recht, § 127), Hengstenberg (Beitrdge, iii. p.
440 f .), and others, by supposing that during the first forty-four years of
a period of jubilee, the emancipation of servants was entirely regulated
by the mandate in the Book of the Covenant (and so took place after
six years) ; whilst, on the contrary, the year of jubilee brought freedom
to those who fell into servitude in the last years of the period of the
jubilee, even if they had not served for six years. Hence the law in
Leviticus proceeds on the presupposition that the servant will live till
the time of liberation — till the year of jubilee. — Other attempts at
reconciliation assume that, in the two sets of laws, different persons are
treated of (20).
(1) Man-stealing was to be punished by death, whether the per
sons carried off were found with the thief (Ex. xxi. 16) or had been
sold by him (Deut. xxiv. 7). [In the above-cited article.]
(2) In this case the thief was without doubt generally assigned to
his victim (roi$ KaraBucaaafievoi'; BovXos ecrrco, Josephus, Ant. iv. 8.
27). [In the article cited above.]
(3) When Herod ordained that thieves were to be sold abroad,
this was with right regarded as a heavy offence against the law of
the Fathers (Josephus, Ant. xvi. 1. 1). — Besides the two cases in the
text, only the power of the father to sell his daughter — the particulars
below — is mentioned, Ex. xxi. 7 ; the father has not this power over
his sons. [In the above-cited article.]
(3*) Comp. Mielziner, l.c. p. 18.
(4) Saalschiitz, mos. Recht, p. 707, refers the passage to this.
(5) The legality of the practice is also denied by rabbinical tradi
tion. Compare on this topic Alting, acad. dissert, in Opp. v. p. 223.
[In the article cited.]

§ 110.] REGULATIONS BEARING ON HEBREW SERVANTS. 361
(6) On the application of this law to those sold on account of
theft, see in the article above cited, p. 466.
(7) By the wife who does not become free is meant, of course, a
slave who is not an Israelite (see the Mechilta on this passage) ; if she
was a Hebrewess, she also had, according to Deut. v. 12, first to serve
out her six years ; but if she was not a Hebrewess, she had no claim
whatever to be freed. [In the article cited.]
(8) This was a provision designed to lighten to the servant the
beginning of an independent establishment. [In the article cited.]
(9) Deut. xv. 17 says that a maid was to be treated in just the
same way. According to Jewish tradition, the ear of a maid was not
pierced ; still it is not natural to refer the closing words of ver. 17 only
back to the contents of ver. 14.
(10) On the contrary, Aben-Esra and Abrabanel understand the
gate of the town beneath which the court was held (see Alting, l.c.
p. 225 f., where other1 rabbinic writings are adduced in illustration);
Ewald (Alterth. des Volkes Israels, ed. 1, p. 195; ed. 3, p. 283 f.)
refers Ex. xxi. 6 to the supreme court in the sanctuary, and thinks
that the ear of the servant was held to the door or door-post of the
sanctuary by the priest, and then pierced by the master. [In the
article cited.]
(11) But it is hardly right to interpret the piercing as an opening
of the ear, and consequently as a symbol of the awaking of attention ;
the expression quoted in Ps. xl. 7 (6), " mine ears hast Thou opened,"
is of another kind. [In the article cited.]
(12) It is not very apposite when Ewald, in illustration, compares
the piercing of the nose of animals that were to be tamed. [In the
article cited.]
(13) Thus, too, the rabbis have understood it, and have carried
the exegesis of the ceremony further in the same sense. In the
piercing they see a punishment of the ear ; for, says Jochanan ben
Zakkai, it heard from Mount Sinai, " Thou shalt have no other gods
beside me," and has cast off the yoke of the heavenly kingdom, and
taken the yoke of flesh and blood. The ear which heard at Sinai,
" The children of Israel are my servants," went away and took another
lord (see the Gemara on Kiduschin i. 2 ; Ugolin. Thes. xxx. 415).
[In the article already cited.]
. (14) Thus Josephus, Ant. iv. 8. 28, and the talmudico-rabbinic
traditions. See the article already cited, p. 467 f.
(15) Deuteronomy gives the reason of the whole command, partly
in a general way by reference to the redemption of the people from
Egyptian bondage, and partly in particular by showing that in the six

362 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 110.
years the servant has worked " the double of a day-labourer." The
latter expression is obscure : it can hardly be understood to mean a
double measure of work (twice as hard or twice as long), especially if
Lev. xxv. 39 is compared ; it is most naturally referred (see Fr. W.,
Schultz on this passage) to the fact that a day-labourer, to whom
wages as well as food must be given, would have cost the master twice
as much. [In above art.]
(16) See Hengstenberg, Contributions to Introduction to the Old
Testament, ii. p. 439 ; Bertheau, The Seven Groups of the Mosaic Laws,
p. 22 ff. — With reference to a woman sold for the purpose of marriage,
the Book of the Covenant decrees that her liberation is not to be on
the same principle as that of a man-servant. If the conditions of
marriage are observed towards her, she naturally remains with her
master for ever; if not, three cases are distinguished: — 1. If she
displease her master, who had designed her for himself (Keri ip), he
is to permit her to be freed (either by her father, or by another
Israelite who wishes to marry her), but he is not empowered to sell her
to a strange people on account of his faithlessness to her ; 2. If, on
the contrary, he intends her for his son, she must be treated hence
forth as a daughter ; 3. If he takes another besides her, he must not
diminish the food, raiment, and duty of marriage of the former. If
he does not give her these three things, she is to be let go free with
out money [above art.].- — For particulars on the meaning of this
passage, see in-the above-cited article, p. 468.
(17) See the more detailed rules according to tradition in the
above-cited article, p. 469.
(18) See the talmudic view of this in the article cited above,
p. 469, note. Comp. also Selden, de jure not. et gent. vi. 7 ; and
Mielziner, l.c. p. 34.
(19) Whether the redemption-money be paid for him by one of
his relatives, or whether he pay it himself when he acquires the
means. [Above art.]
(20) On the rabbinic view (see the Mechilta on Ex. xxi. 2),
which makes the regulations of the Book of the Covenant refer to those
sold by the court of justice on account of theft, and the regulations
of the law of the jubilee to those who have entered into servitude out
of poverty, compare the article cited above, p. 470. — More can be said
in favour of the view which would understand by the Hebrew servants
in the Book of the Covenant a particular class, occupying a middle
position between the Israelites meant in the law of the jubilee, who
were not to be treated as servants, but only as day-labourers, and the
heathen slaves. Thus Saalschiitz (mos. Recht, p. 703 ff.) According

§ 111.] THE POSITION OF SERVANTS NOT ISRAELITES. 363
to him, those were meant by Hebrew servants who had become
Hebrews by naturalization, or who were born as servants in the family
of an Israelite. These were to be let free after six years, if they were
sold out of the house to which they originally belonged to another
master. Afterwards Saalschiitz (Archdologie der Hebrder, ii. p. 240)
altered his view so far as to say, that by Hebrew servants men of
cognate race are to be understood, who had come over from the real
fatherland of the Hebrews; he supposes that mutual peaceful rela
tions were formed with these by the concession of a seven years' term
of service. But not only the constant use of ^ay, which never occurs
in its older and more extensive meaning after Gen. x. 21 (comp. xiv.
13), but also the Tns (added in Deut. xv. 12, which is evidently to
be taken as Lev. xxv. 39, and is explained in Jer. xxxiv. 9 by ''TT)
speaks decidedly against both these hypotheses. [In above art.]
§111.
(b) The Position of Servants not Israelites.
Slaves in the strict sense were, as we have seen from the above-
mentioned passage, Lev. xxv. 44-46 (§ 109, note 6), to be acquired
in part from the surrounding nations, and in part from aliens within
the land. The term " surrounding nations " excludes the Canaanite
tribes who dwelt in the land (see Raschi on this passage) ; they were
to be completely exterminated (Deut. xx. 16-19). Since,, however,
this was not executed, but rather considerable remnants of the
Canaanites remained in the land, these, in as far as Israel obtained
the mastery over them, were (Judg. i. 28, 30) subjected to compulsory
service ; as at a previous time that " mob " (Luther's translation)
which, according to Ex. xii. 38 (a^y, a mixed multitude), Num. xi. 4
(e)DBDS, a heterogeneous crowd), joined themselves to the Israelites
when they were marching out of Egypt, were employed in the meaner
offices in the camp (Deut. xxix. 10) (1). — For the future, also, it is
ordained in the law of war (Deut. xx. 11 ff.), that the inhabitants of
towns not belonging to the Canaanites who subjected themselves of
free will to Israel should fall into serfdom ; while, on the contrary,
in towns which were taken by force, the men were to be killed, and
only the women and children were to be led into slavery (comp. Num.
xxxi. 16 f., 26 f.). Thus was formed in the Hebrew state a sort of
Helot-class, mentioned especially under David (2 Chron. ii. 16, comp.

364 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 111.
with 2 Sam. xx. 24) and Solomon (1 Kings ix. 20 ; 2 Chron. viii. 7).
This class, which was bound to compulsory labour and employed on
the public works, is estimated in 2 Chron. ii. 16 at 153,600 persons (2).
Private slaves may have also in part been taken from this class of
men. As the Old Testament never mentions the importation of slaves
and slave-markets in the land, it is to be supposed that Israel, even
in the times when it kept up a lively intercourse with other nations,
drove no considerable slave-trade, and thus acquired comparatively
few slaves by buying them in foreign lands. It hardly appears
that Israelites came in contact with the Phoenician slave-trade other
wise than as sufferers (Jo. iv. 6, Ob. 20). How little the law
favoured the multiplication of heathen slaves is shown by the remark
able regulation in Deut. xxiii. 16 f., in which it is said that a slave
who has run away from his heathen master and fled to Israelitish
land must not be delivered up nor treated with violence, but was
rather to receive liberty to settle down where he pleased in an
Israelitish town (3). — After what has been said, it cannot appear
remarkable that the number of slaves was comparatively much smaller
than among other civilised nations of antiquity (4).
The provisions contained in the law on the religious and legal
position of slaves are as follows : — With regard to the receiving of
slaves into the religious community of the covenant people by circum
cision, the law of patriarchal times remained in force ; see Ex. xii. 44
(comp. § 82, 3). Rabbinic tradition says that it was not lawful to
compel a heathen slave to be circumcised, but he was to be re-sold at
the end of a year if he persevered in refusing the rite (5). Through
circumcision, slaves received a right (by the passage cited) to partake
of the Passover; they are thus, in distinction from aliens and day-
labourers (ver. 45), to be treated as members of the family (6). That
the slaves took part in the sacrificial feasts follows from this as a matter
of course (Deut. xii. 12, 18, xvi. 11, 14). It was not lawful (Deut. v.
14) to interfere with the Sabbath rest of the slaves (7). — With refer
ence to the treatment of female slaves, the rule laid down in Deut.
xxi. 10 ff. about those women who were taken in war is particularly
characteristic of the humane spirit of the law (8). — The master has
no right over the life of the slave. To this Ex. xxi. 20 f. refers (9).
Here it is commanded that, "If a master strike his man-servant

§ 111.] THE POSITION OF SERVANTS NOT ISRAELITES. 365
or his maid-servant with a staff, so that he or she die under his hand,
it shall be avenged." Jewish tradition says that in this case the
master had to suffer death by the sword (10). This explanation is
very improbable, since the connection shows that it is not intentional
murder that is spoken of, but a misuse of the right of chastisement
(comp. the expressions in Num. xxxv. 16-18). On the rabbinic
view, too, the technical term nw niD would probably have been used ;
while the choice of the indefinite expression (Bp3*) seems to show that
the punishment might be differently measured according to circum
stances (11). Nevertheless, if the slave outlived the punishment one
or two days, there was to be no punishment, according to ver. 21 of
the law, for " it is his money " — that is, the master is already sufficiently
punished by the loss occasioned by the death of the servant. Besides,
an intention to kill could not in this case be supposed. However,
this provision is also made sharper by tradition (12). Lastly, ver. 26 f.
commands that if any one strike out the eye or tooth of a slave, he
must immediately give him freedom (13).
The humane treatment of slaves commanded by the law is also
elsewhere inculcated in the Old Testament. How distinctly it enjoins
the recognition of human dignity in a slave is especially shown by the
passage Job xxxi. 13-15: "If I did despise the cause of my man
servant or of my maid-servant, when they contended with me ; what
then shall I do when God riseth up ? and when He visiteth, what shall
I answer Him ? Did not He that made me in the womb make him ?
and did not one fashion us in the womb?" (14). — The admoni
tions not to treat a slave too delicately (Prov. xxix. 19, 21) are
to be regarded as parallel with those touching the upbringing of
children (15).
(1) On the class of slaves for the sanctuary, which originated in
a similar way, compare our account of David's time.
(2) On the relation of 2 Chron. ii. 16 to 1 Kings v. 27 ff., see the
various views in Keil, Komment. uber die Biicher der Kbnige, 1840,
p. 68 f.; Ewald, Gesch. Israels, iii. ed. 1, p. 34; ed. 3, p. 312 f. ;
Bertheau, Komment. zur Chronik, p. 294 f. |2d ed. p. 240.]-
(3) The fact that the heathen slaves in Israel came in great
measure from the class which was liable to compulsory labour, and
which, as has been already observed, was originally descended from

366 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 111.
the remnant of the Canaanite tribes, supplies, in connection with a
reference to Gen. ix. 25, the explanation of the rabbinic phrase, Tjy
*JJ»3, as the general designation of non-Israelitish slaves (comp. e.g.
the Mishna Kiduschin i. 3). [Above-cited art.]
(4) While, for example, in Athens (comp. Schomann, griech.
Alterthumer, i. p. 349), during the prosperous times of the state, the
proportion of slaves to citizens was as high as four to one, the; propor
tion among the Israelites was rather the inverse of this. According to
Ezra ii. 64 f., Neh. vii. 67, there were in the train of the 42,360 Jews
who returned from Babylon only 7337 of both sexes ; but here we must
indeed remember that it was especially the poorer classes of the exiles
that seem to have taken part in the return. [In the art. above cited.]
(5) Except when, on entering the service, he expressly reserved
for himself the right of exemption from circumcision. A circumcised
slave was not allowed to be sold again to a heathen (see Mielziner, I.e.
p. 58). [Ibid.]
(6) As Lev. xxii. 11, the slaves of a priest might partake of the
holy food, just like his family. [In above article.]
(7) That a master who had no male issue might marry a slave to
his daughter, and adopt him in the place of a son, is shown by what is
related in 1 Chron. ii. 34 ff. [Ibid.]
(8) An Israelite was not allowed at once and unconditionally to
gratify a passion for such a prisoner ; not till a month has passed,
when the slave has got over her home-sickness, and has in a measure
accustomed herself to the new relationships, could he enter into
matrimonial connection with her ; when once humbled, he could not,
if she pleased him no more, sell her, but must let her go free (see the
rabbinic provisions on this in Selden, de jure nat. et gent. v. 13).
[Ibid.] {9) Ex. xxi. 20 f . (see Raschi on this passage), as shown by the
conclusion, treats of slaves who were not Hebrews ; with regard to
Israelitish slaves, the law of blood-revenge (Num. xxxv. 16 ff.) would
doubtless have been observed. [Ibid.]
(10) See Hottinger, juris hebr. leges, p. 60.
(11) Comp. Saalschiitz, mos. Recht, p. 540. — There is no doubt
that intentional murder, even of a man's own slave, fell under the law
of Ex. xxi. 12, Lev. xxiv. 17 (note the antithesis to ver. 18), and
xxiv. 21 f. Even by Egyptian law (Diodor. i. 77), the murder of a
slave was treated in the same way as the murder of a free man. [Ibid.]
(12) Tradition says that the punishment of death was to be decreed
against the master, if, in chastising his slave, he made use of an
instrument with which a mortal injury must obviously be inflicted,

§' 112.] ESSENTIAL CHARACTER OF THE MOSAIC CULTUS. 367
even when the death of the slave did not occur for a length of time.
[Ibid.] (13) In this way the master suffers a loss of property, and the
maltreated person is compensated by being set at liberty. — The law
does not explain the provisions of criminal justice between a slave and
a third party. See the tradition on this point in the above-cited
article, p. 472. — Except the ordinances explained in the text, there is
no provision in the law about the emancipation of non-Israelitish
servants ; as a matter of course, it could be effected by purchase or
voluntary release. See the rabbinic provisions on this in Mielziner,
l.c. p. 65 ff. [Ibid.]
(14) Comp. Aristotle, Eth. Nik. viii. 13 (11): $CXia oiic eW
Trpo? BovXov 0 BovXos — o yap BovXo<: efi-^rv^pv opyavov rb B' opyavov
dyjrvxp<i BovXos. *Hi fiev ovv BovXos, oiic eari (piXia irpbs airov, y B'
avOpcoiros. — Seneca, Epist. v. 6 (ep. 47) : " Ne tamquam nominibus
quidem, sed tamquam jumentis abutimur." — In contrast : " Vis tu
cogitare istum, quern servum tuum vocas, ex iisdem seminibus ortum,
eodem frui ccelo, aeque spirare, aeque vivere, aeque mori."
(15) Comp., too, Sir. xxx. 33 ff. (xxxiii. 25 ff .). — Within the circle
of Judaism, only the Essenes and Therapeutae went so far as wholly
to abolish slavery. They repudiate slavery as a thing unnatural,
because inconsistent with the common brotherhood of mankind (see
Philo, quod omn. prob. Mang. ii. p. 475 ; de vit. contempt, ii. p. 482).
[Ibid.]

SECOND DOCTRINE.
THE MOSAIC CULTUS.
§112.
General Introductory Remarks. Essential Character of this Cultus.
Although, in virtue of the theocratic ordinance, all human relations
and conditions have a religious quality, and so the whole life of the
Israelite must be shaped as a service paid to God, yet there exists a
special series of institutions, forming the nin* nni3y. or service of Jehovah
in a narrower sense, in which special expression is given to the funda
mental idea of the theocracy,— that Israel must present itself before
the God who has chosen the people and brought them into fellowship
with Himself as the community which He has hallowed (Ex. xix. 4);

368 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 112.
that Israel must consecrate to God itself and all that it has. The
grace shown and blessings given in connection with the acts of the
cultus (Lev. ix. 22 ; Num. vi. 27) correspond on God's side to this
devotion of the people, which rests on the divine election and institu
tion of the covenant, and is completed in the ordinances defined by
God. Note how these three elements — 1. the divine election and
institution in contrast to human ideXoOprjcriceia ; 2. the devotion in
the acts of the cultus ; 3. the grace connected therewith — are united
in the words, Ex. xx. 24 : " In all places where I cause my name to
be remembered" (viz. by offerings, as is seen from the preceding con
text), " I will come unto thee and bless thee." Thus in the cultus a
continual and lively intercourse takes place between the congregation,
drawing near to God with prayer and sacrifice, and the God who
makes His presence known to it by hearing prayer and administering
the good things of His grace, — a relation of mutual communication
and association of life, which is designated as the coming together
{tryst} of God and the people, Ex. xxix. 42 f. Q)lb nsE' wiyiji
When the covenant communion subsisting between God and the
people finds expression in the cultus, it falls under the notion of
symbol ; compare how nis is used for the Sabbath, Ex. xxxi. 13, 17
(B3*J*3i *3*3 Sin nis). The institutions of public worship must not be
looked at in their bare outward form, but must be referred to the idea
of the covenant, and interpreted from it. Since the aim of the
covenant is just contained in the words, " I am holy, and ve also
shall be holy," that which is the task of the whole theocracy holds
good also and especially for the cultus, viz. that it is to be " the
representation and exercise of the processes of sanctification " (2). —
True, the Mosaic cultus is not a system of conscious symbol in the
sense that the acts of worship were to be merely signs of internal
things, which would thus go on in relative independence of the acts of
cultus. For although a comprehension of the symbols of the Mosaic
cultus could not be absolutely wanting to any pious Israelite, since,
from the knowledge of God which was planted in Israel by revelation,
a certain understanding of the meaning of the forms of the cultus
must necessarily arise — all the more so because the ceremonial law
itself everywhere shows the inner side of the demands of the law

§ 112.] ESSENTIAL CHARACTER OF THE MOSAIC CULTUS. 369
shining through the veil of outward ordinances ; — though this was so,
yet the outward acts of worship, as such, still remain on the standpoint
of law the necessary vehicle for the actual realization of communion
between God and man. For example, sacrifice does not symbolize a
devotion to God taking place independently of the act of sacrifice ; it
is not merely a symbol, or, as has also been said, a supplement to
prayer, possessing a relative necessity, but it is just the devotion of
oneself to God which is carried out in the act of sacrifice. The sacri
fice is itself an embodied prayer ; to it is attached the attainment of
divine pardon and divine blessing (of this there can be no doubt when
the passages concerned are looked at without prejudice). It is the
concern of the further progress of revelation to free the spiritual con
tents of the act of worship from its husk (3). For the stage of
infancy, the ritual ordinance has the pedagogic value of a process
working from the outside to the inside, and so awakening a God
fearing disposition, a consciousness of inward communion with God ;
comp. e.g. Deut. xiv. 22 f. (4).
(1) The view which sees in cultus only an activity of man "for
the awakening and enlivening of the pious consciousness " is precluded
from reaching a full understanding of worship in general, and in .par
ticular of that of the Old Testament. See against this the remarks
of Gaupp, prakt. Theol. i. p. 83 ff. The point involved in worship
is always " to find a medium for some personal relation and communion
with God," not by any means simply to express some religious state
in an artificial way for the self-satisfaction of the subject. Prayer
requires a living, personal God, who answers prayer, and the offering
of sacrifice demands its acceptance by God. Where man does not
know that he has to deal with a living, personal God, every ordinance
of worship has an end, or becomes a dead, lying form. — That the
sacrificial side of cultus is predominant in the old covenant, and the
sacramental in the new, is due to the relation of law to gospel ; in
the latter, what God does for man stands first ; in the former, man's
acts. See Sartorius, iiber den alt- und neutest. Kultus, p. 40 f.
(2) Compare Bahr's Symbolik des mos. Kultus, i. p. 8 ff., a work
which opened up the way for the symbolic understanding of the
Mosaic cultus. — The Mosaic cultus is taken up merely from the out
side when, as has not seldom happened, to it is ascribed the idea that
God is really to be fed by the offering, or when such profound inter
pretations are given as that of Clericus, that the incense at the sacrifice
VOL. I. 2 A

370 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 113.
was designed to drive away impertinent flies from the flesh of the
sacrifice, etc. — The cultus must be understood from the idea of the
covenant. K. J. Nitzsch has expressed himself particularly well on
this topic in his academic lectures, uber die christi. Glaubenslehre,
1858, which contain a series of excellent remarks on the Old Testa
ment in opposition to current misunderstandings. He rightly says :
" The whole Old Testament ought to be and must be a representation
and exercise of the processes of sanctification. — The whole nature of
the symbols and ceremonies of Moses is different from those of the
heathen, although much in the outer forms in heathenism and the
Old Testament seems to be quite similar. The heathen ceremonies
effect material union with the divinity ex opere operato, and so work
magically. There is not a single usage in the institutions of Moses in
which a sensible act effects communion with God in a magical way,
but all have a purely symbolical nature. This holds good of purifica
tions, of offerings, of sacred buildings and their construction ; it holds
good of every utensil of the temple and every action."
(3) In the Prophets and the Psalms, as we shall see afterwards,
sacrifice is allowed a value only in as far as it goes along with inward
transactions of the pious heart, and thus it appears as relatively in
different. Mosaism says : Piety approves itself in sacrifice; prophecy
says : Sacrifice is approved only by piety. The two propositions are
mutually dependent, but the question is, Which stands foremost? This
corresponds to the gradual process of the Old Testament revelation.
But we must not think that, if it had not been the meaning of the
Mosaic institutions to mirror the inner events of salvation, prophecy
could have developed this thought from them.
(4) Deut. xiv. 22 f. : Bring the tithes, " that thou mayest learn to
fear Jehovah thy God at all times " (comp. § 84).

§113.
The Place of the Word in Public Worship.
Connected with the matter of our last remarks is the peculiarity
of the Mosaic cultus, that in it the word, speech, as an independent
part of worship, has little prominence, and scarcely appears except
as attached to some action and supported thereby. The proclamation
of the divine word does not appear as an essential part of the Old
Testament cultus; and though the teaching of Jehovah's law and
statutes (Deut. xxxiii. 10) is specified among the priests' duties (comp.

§ 113.] THE PLACE OF THE WORD IN PUBLIC WORSHIP. 371
§ 95), the reading of the law appears in connection with worship only
in the regulation Deut. xxxi. 11 (every seventh year, at the Feast of
Tabernacles). But to the place of worship was attached, without
express teaching, the knowledge of the God who shows Himself here as
a present God, Ex. xxix. 43-46, after which passages like Ps. xxvii. 4,
etc., are to be understood ; while with the acts of cultus was connected
the lively transmission of the knowledge of the great deeds on which
Israel rested its faith; see passages like Ex. xii. 26 f., xiii. 14, etc.
(comp. § 105).. The liturgic use of the Word is found, moreover, in
the middle books of the Pentateuch, and this not merely (as we often
find it said) in the high priest's blessing, Num. vi. 24-26. At the
festival of the day of atonement a liturgic formula is obviously pre
supposed, Lev. xvi. 21 ; and it is especially important, that at the
presentation of a sin-offering (Lev. v. 5 ; Num. v. 7) a definite con
fession of his sin is enjoined on the offerer. Vows must, as a matter
of course, be uttered. Deuteronomy prescribes stated prayers, chap.
xxvi., only for presenting the first-fruits and the tithes. Nevertheless,
side by side with the stable forms of the cultus there ruled among the
people a powerful spirit of prayer ; and so all the examples set forth in
the Pentateuch are also represented as praying men of strong faith (1).
From this spirit of prayer arose sacred song, which, in connection with
the festival dance, was introduced into the service of worship as early
as Ex. xv. 20. f., comp. with Judg. xxi. 21, but which up to the time
of David appears only in perfectly free and unregulated use (2).
Appendix : The Oath.
The oath is also regarded as a religious act. See, as the main pas
sage, Deut. vi. 13 : " Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God ; Him shalt
thou serve, and shalt swear by His name ; " comp. x. 20. Swearing
is here an act of religious confession ; comp. passages like Jer. iv. 2,
Isa. Ixv. 16. — The oath appears not merely as an asseveration, — as the
assertion of the truth before the presence of God as the Living One
(in the formula nin* *n, " Jehovah lives," see § 42), and thus as the
omnipotent, omniscient, and holy Avenger of untruth — thus, e.g.,
Judg. xi. 10 (" May Jehovah be judge between us "), — but it is a dis
tinct appeal to His penal justice against him who knowingly speaks

372 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 113.
falsehood. This conception of the oath is sufficiently evident even
from the common form of swearing with BS and S? BS, which, fully
expressed, demands a sentence of the sort which we find in 2 Sam. iii.
35 : *TB* nbl B*n?s Vn^j)*. nb (if this and that is or is not so) ; comp.
1 Sam. xiv. 14. But this character of the oath is particularly clear in
the main passage Josh. xxii. 22: "nin* B*rfps PS. nin* D*npS ?S knows,
and Israel shall know, if it be in rebellion, or in transgression
against Jehovah, save us not this day ; " and ver. 23 : " Let Jehovah
Himself require it." The oath, viewed as such an appeal to God's
penal justice, bears the name n?S, or more fully nps nj)3B>, Num. v. 21,
with which passage compare also Deut xxix. 13, 18, Prov. xxix. 24,
etc. Therefore Solomon, in his prayer at the dedication of the temple,
1 Kings viii. 31 f., prays that the effect of an n?s presented at the
altar may be, that God in heaven may hear, act, and judge, to condemn
the godless, to bring his way on his head, and to justify the righteous,
and to give him according to his righteousness. — The oath appears in
private life from the most ancient times as a promissory oath, Gen.
xxiv. 2 f., 1. 5, 25 ; in particular, as an oath of covenant, xxi. 23 ff.,
xxxi. 53 f. The law speaks of promissory oaths, particularly in the
form of vows (3). However, the law further acknowledges the
assertory oath as an oath of purgation before the court of justice,
Ex. xxii. 10, and as an adjuration by the judge to those who were
present and in a position to bear witness, Lev. v. 1 (comp. § 99). To
this head belongs also the adjuration of those accused of adultery,
Num. v. 19 ff. (comp. § 104, 1). — The form in which an oath was
taken was always that the oath was sworn by Jehovah (nin* *n). Pro
testations by the soul (1^ ^n) and the like are matters of private
caprice, and not of theocratic rules. Custom combined various signs
with the taking of an oath ; thus, in Gen. xxi. 28 ff., seven lambs
were set up as pledges of the oath, — much as, according to Herodotus,
iii. 8, the Arabians closed a bargain by smearing seven stones with
the blood of the contracting parties. The word yatp'3, to swear, properly
to be-seven one another, points to the great age of such customs.
The variously interpreted patriarchal ceremony in swearing, viz.
laying the hand under the thigh of him who is sworn to, Gen. xxiv
2, xlvii. 29, is probably to be explained from the fact that the thigh
was regarded as the source of physical life. It was doubtless still

§ 113.] THE OATH. 373
more common to raise the hand in invocation towards heaven (4),
Gen. xiv. 22 f., comp. with Deut. xxxii. 40, Ex. vi. 8. The official
and judicial form of oath among the Hebrews was, that he who took
the other's oath conjured the man who was to swear, who then
answered the adjuration with JDS (comp. Num. v. 22 ; Deut. xxvii.
16 ff.), or, "thou sayest it," Matt. xxvi. 63 f. (in the mouth of Jesus).
Perjury, as a profanation of Jehovah's name (Lev. xix. 12), as a
vain use of it (Ex. xx. 7), is a heavy sin. How sacred swearing was
counted is shown by Josh. ix. 19, where even an obligation by oath
undertaken unlawfully is held to, in order that God's wrath (*)Si?.) may
not come on the community. Even when any one frivolously let an
asseveration pass out of his mouth, this was to be atoned for by a sin-
offering, Lev. v. 4 ff. When, in Lev. v. 21 ff. [E.V. vi. 2 ff.], a man
who has denied upon oath the possession of a deposit, or otherwise has
used an oath to conceal a breach of trust, is* sentenced only to restore
the amount of his breach of trust, with the addition of one-fifth more,
and then to bring a trespass-offering, the apparent lightness of this
punishment is probably to be explained by assuming that the law refers
only to the case of spontaneous confession of perjury. — From the later
books of the Old Testament, compare, with reference to the sacredness
of the oath, Ps. xv. 4 ; 1 Kings viii. 31 f. ; Ezek. xvii. 16 ff. (with
reference to Zedekiah) (5).
(1) Formal directions for prayer are altogether omitted in the
Pentateuch ; examples of prayer are, however, given, and answers to
prayer are recounted : Jacob's wrestling ; Moses' uplifted hands at the
battle with Amalek ; his mediatorial intercession for the people before
God — such types are presented from which every one can draw the
knowledge of God's will : " Call on me in trouble," etc.
(2) Judg. xxi. 21 tells us that virgins went in such dances to the
yearly festival in Shiloh. — See the way in which song and music were
introduced as an integral portion of the cultus in the account of the
time of David.
(3) A fuller treatment of vows will be given under the head of
sacrifice, § 134 f.
(4) Hence in Arabic, ^^j, the right hand, is used in the sense of
an oath. (5) Ps. xv. 4, "He sweareth to his hurt, and changeth not," must be

374 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 114.
explained by referring the passage to Lev. v. 4. — On Ezek. xvii. 16 ff.,
compare the history of Zedekiah infra. — It is noteworthy how the
rabbins combine rigour and laxity in the doctrine of oaths. Thus Moses
(Maimonides, hilchoth shebuoth xi. 16, ed. Dithmar, p. 204) (comp. the
passage out of the Schulchan aruch in Bodenschatz, kirchl. Verfassung
der heutigen Juden, p. 364) teaches, on the one hand, that the Jew who
swears ought to consider that the whole world quaked in the hour
when God said to Moses, " Thou shalt not take the name of thy God
in vain." Perjury does not concern the transgressor alone, but his
whole race — indeed all Israel, etc. But what wretched casuistry does
Maimonides develope, on the other hand, in the same book ! what
lax usage do the provisions of the rabbis on compulsory oaths permit !
Comp. my article, " Kol Nidre," in Herzog's R.E. viii. p. 24 f.

I. THE PLACE OF WORSHIP (1).
§114.
The Requisites for a Place of Worship.
The simplest place of worship is the altar, which is first mentioned,
Gen. viii. 20 ; a height rising towards heaven, signifying the ascent
of the devotion embodied in sacrifice (2). The common name for the
altar, naTD, designates it as the place of the sacrifice. The first con
dition for a place of worship is, that it has been chosen and sanctified
by God, and has actually been witnessed to as the abode of His
revelation. As already in the time of the patriarchs altars were set
up chiefly in places consecrated by theophanies, Gen. xii. 7, xxvi.
24 f. (compared with xxviii. 18, xxxv. 1, 14), so, according to Mosaic
law, only that place is permitted to be a place of worship where
God has established the memory of His name, Ex. xx. 24 ; which
He has chosen to cause His name to dwell there, Deut. xii. 5, 11
(xiv. 23) (comp. § 56) ; which He fills with His glory (Ex. xl. 34),
and thereby sanctifies (xxix. 43 f.) — as it is afterwards said of the
temple (1 Kings ix. 3 ; 2 Chron. vii. 16), that His eyes and His heart
were there.
The sanctuary is only to be one, that the people may be kept
together in theocratic unity. Later experience shows how a multi
plicity of places for the ordinances of worship aided the growth of
idol-worship. The exclusive unity of the national sanctuary is implied

§ 115.] THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE MOSAIC SANCTUARY. 375
(not only in Deuteronomy, but) already in what is said in the book
of Exodus about the tabernacle as Jehovah's dwelling-place. The
passage Ex. xx. 24 fr, " In every place where I place a memorial of
my name," etc., is not contradictory, for this passage does not give
leave to worship Jehovah at the same time in many places ; but the
meaning is, that an altar of earth is to be reared up to God always in
that place in which God has placed a memorial of His name. A
number of places is only spoken of in so far as the seat of worship
necessarily varied with the people's place of residence, so long as they
were on their wanderings. The unity of the sanctuary is further
presupposed in the prohibition, given for the wandering in the wilder
ness (Lev. xvii. 1 ff.), against killing an animal belonging to the class
of sacrificial animals anywhere except in the sanctuary. But for the
circumstances of residence in the Holy Land, Deut. xii. gives the
most distinct command ; permitting, indeed, the killing of animals for
food in every place, but limiting every sacrifice to that place which
Jehovah shall choose for the habitation of His name. Nevertheless,
Deut. xii. 8 indicates that, even during the wandering in the wilder
ness, the prohibition of other places of worship was not fully carried
into effect.
(1) Since the personnel of the Mosaic cultus has already been
treated of, we have in particular only to treat of three other points : —
1. Of the seat of the cultus ; 2. of the acts of worship ; and 3. of the
times of worship. — Comp. Bahr, Symbolik des mos. Kultus.
(2) The Greek fico/io? also primarily signifies a height = nD3, but
in the Old Testament this is the name for illegal high places for
sacrifice. §115.
Tlie Arrangement of the Mosaic Sanctuary (1).
The Mosaic sanctuary is a tent, generally called lyio ?ns — that is,
not, as many modern critics falsely interpret it, tent of the gathering
of the people, but tent of the meeting of God with the people, as we
see without ambiguity from the definite explanations, Ex. xxix. 42 f.
(be> *i*5?s nai? nm mb nyis -ik>'s . . . nyio pns, etc.), Num. xvii. 19, comp.
with Ex. xxv. 22, xxx. 6 (2). The other name for the sanctuary, ?ns

376 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 115.
nnyn, or niiyn |3E>b— that is, tabernacle or abode of the testimony-
denotes the sanctuary as the place of revelation. The LXX. render
both expressions by cr/cnvr) rov fiaprvpiov or t>5? fiaprvpia? ; the
Vulgate generally gives tabernaculum fwderis, and from the latter
arises Luther's Stiftshutte. The frame of the whole structure
was formed by a construction of gilded boards or (probably
more correctly) beams (B*Kn|P). The wood of the Arabic acacia
(ntsa*, probably different from ours) was selected for this purpose as
well as for the sacred utensils, doubtless because, besides being very
light, it is distinguished by unusual durability. Over the wooden
frame there hung, Ex. xxvi. 1-14, a fourfold covering of curtains,
the first of which was made of byssus (probably fine linen), em
broidered with pictures of cherubs. The frame with this lowest
covering is called ISB'P, in the narrower sense. The entrance to the
tent was turned towards the east, and hung with a costly covering (^BD)
made of byssus. The whole tent — the length of which was thirty
cubits, and its breadth ten — was divided into two rooms : in front, the
Holy Place, EHpn, twenty cubits long ; and behind this the Most Holy
Place, B*^"^ BHJP, in length ten cubits, and separated from the former
by a curtain woven with pictures of cherubim, called the nsna
(division). The tabernacle was surrounded on all sides by a court,
in length one hundred cubits and in breadth fifty, which was formed
by pillars and curtains, and had, instead of a door, a curtain twenty
cubits broad. — The utensils of the sanctuary were as follows : — In
the court, in the open air, stood the altar for burnt-offerings (Ex.
xxvii. 1 ff.), np'yn na*D, which is always meant when the altar is
spoken of absolutely : it was a frame of acacia boards, overlaid with
copper. As the command xx. 24 f., which said that the altar was
to be made out of earth or unhewn stones, was not abrogated (comp.
Deut. xxvii. 5 f. ; Josh. viii. 31), we must doubtless suppose the
altar to have been a mere frame without a top, which served simply
to enclose the real altar, consisting of earth or unhewn stones. At
the four corners of the altar were heights, called horns, on which a
part of the blood was smeared at the sin-offerings, and which were
seized by those who sought a refuge at the altar ; comp. e.g. 1 Kings
i. 50, etc. The height of the altar was three cubits ; it was sur
rounded half-way up by a grating (Sbns), chiefly, perhaps, in order

§ 115.] THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE MOSAIC SANCTUARY. 377
to let the priest go round the altar on it. Between the altar and the
sanctuary was a copper washing-basin, Ti»3, in which the priests
washed hands and feet before going to the duties of their office, Ex.
xxx. 17 ff. In the sanctuary itself, towards the north, stood the
table with the twelve loaves of shewbread, B*33 Br6 (Ex. xxv. 23-30),
which were prepared from fine flour without leaven, and put there
new every Sabbath. Opposite the table stood a golden candlestick
with seven lamps, with bowls in the form of almonds and knops
(B*nnS3), probably in the form of a pomegranate, vers. 31-40. In
the middle, before the curtain leading to the most holy place, was the
altar of incense, TJjPD nsTD, overlaid with gold plate. In the most
holy place stood the ark of the covenant, n*"i3n jins, also called ark of
the testimony, rnTjjn jhs, also simply niiy, the most sacred vessel of
the sanctuary, — a chest overlaid within and without with fine gold,
containing the tables of the law, and covered with a golden plate
called nnaa, the most important part of the ark of the covenant (see
in particular, Lev. xvi. 13 ff.), from which, 1 Chron. xxviii. 11, the
Holiest of all bore the name nnssn n*3. The term does not, as many
modern critics understand, signify a lid in general ; but being a
derivative from Piel, "IB?, it is to be understood to mean an instru
ment of atonement, as the LXX. already correctly translate iXacrrij-
piov. Above the kapporeth stood two golden figures of cherubim,
with outspread wings and faces turned towards each other ; between
them the shekinah of Jehovah was supposed to be (Ex. ' xxv. 22 ;
Num. vii. 89). Hence Jehovah is called B*ran atf (1 Sam. iv. 4 ;
2 Sam. vi. 2 ; Ps. xcix. 1). The poles for bearing the ark (B^?)
were always to remain in the rings which were on its sides, because
it was not to be touched by the hand of man ; neither was it to be
seen, and therefore before it was carried farther it had to be covered
with the curtain and rolled up, Num. iv. 5 f. Besides this, a vessel
with manna (Ex. xvi. 33), Aaron's rod that budded (Num. xvii. 25),
and lastly, by the side of the ark of the covenant, the book of the
law (Deut. xxxi. 26), were kept in the most holy place.
(1) Old Testament theology may here limit itself to what is
valuable for the symbolic signification of the sanctuary, and omit
more special researches of archaeology. — Comp. Bahr, l.c; Kurtz,

378 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 116.
"Beitrage zur Symbolik des alttest. Kultus, erster Beitrag: zur
Symbolik der Kultusstatte " (Zeitschr. fur luth. Theol. 1851, p. 1 ff.).
The best essay on this point is that of Riggenbach, Die mosaische
Stiftshutte, 1862 (ed. 2, 1867).
(2) The essential character of the Old Testament cultus is ex
pressed in this designation (comp. § 112).
§116.
Meaning of the Sanctuary. Its Three Rooms.
The symbolic interpretation of the sanctuary cannot, as has
frequently been done, proceed from a comparison with a common
nomadic tent ; because, of the three rooms of the latter, the central is
the chief, while, on the contrary, in the three rooms of the tabernacle,
we easily observe, along with a graduated relation of size, a graduated
relation also in respect of importance. Into the first division, the
court, only the covenant people can go ; into the second, only the
priesthood ; into the third, the high priest alone, and that only onct
a year. The first division is under the open sky; the second is
veiled, but still lighted ; the third is quite veiled and dark. — The
notion that the sanctuary is a picture of the universe is old, occurring
even in Josephus (Ant. iii. 6. 4) and Philo. The same view has
been again brought forward by Bahr (Symbolik des mosaischen
Kultus, i.) in a peculiar form and an ingenious way : the most holy place
and the holy place form a representation of heaven; the court, a
representation of earth (1). But this conception is already contra
dicted by the circumstance that everything that is said about the
sanctuary makes it to refer simply to the theocratic relationship into
which Jehovah entered to His elect people, without the cosmical
meaning being indicated .anywhere ; for such a conception certainly
does not necessarily lie in the square form, which is that on which
the building is planned. In what sense a relation between the
sanctuary and heaven is to be conceded will appear below. The
sanctuary is, as it is called, the tent of the meeting of God and the
people ; but this in the sense that here the people come to Jehovah
in His dwelling-place, which He has set up in the midst of His people.
Thus, in the sanctuary, the idea of God's dwelling among Israel is
embodied. It is a tent, because Jehovah, who accompanies His

§ 116.] MEANING OF THE SANCTUARY. ITS THREE ROOMS. 379
wandering people (comp. 2 Sam. vii. 6 f.), wishes, in respect to His
dwelling-place, to place Himself in similar circumstances with them.
But at the same time, the people are to be made conscious, that
although the Holy God condescends to dwell among His people, this
communion cannot be accomplished directly, on account of the people's
sinfulness, but only through the mediation of the people's intercessor,
who holds the office of reconciliation. The people are therefore
limited to the court surrounding the sanctuary, and the sanctuary
itself is only allowed to be entered by the priests. But even these
priests are not in a position to establish a full communion with God
(comp. Heb. ix. 8). For this reason Jehovah's dwelling-place is
divided into two apartments : the veiled, holiest of all, in which
Jehovah, the revealed, and yet hidden, and in a manner unapproach
able God (comp. 1 Kings viii. 12), is enthroned in the darkness ; and
the holy place, — the place of the priests and their service, which just
on this account is the symbol of the mediation of the covenant.
There is a relationship between the sanctuary and heaven thus far —
the shekinah in the one corresponds to the shekinah in the other (see
§ 62) ; indeed, it is not impossible that the distinction between the
heaven (B*!?^) and the heaven of heavens (B*DK>n *OK'), which occurs
a few times in the Old Testament, corresponds to the difference
between the holy place (£Hp) and the most holy place (B*EHjP EH'p).
Ex. xxv. 9, 40, has also been referred to for this, comp. Heb. viii. 5 ;
still the remark, that the model of the tabernacle and its vessels was
shown to Moses on the mount, does not in itself imply that the
sanctuary is to be a copy of a celestial original, but only that it
serves to give expression to the ideas of revelation. There is, more
over, a contrast between the two divine dwelling-places; for in
heaven God dwells in His majesty as Ruler of the world, in the earthly
tabernacle He dwells in His condescending grace.
(1) Afterwards Bahr modified this view in his work on Solomon's
temple, 1848. He no more regards the sanctuary as a picture of the
creation, but as a picture of the theocracy. The dwelling-place is the
representation of the centre or the soul of the theocracy.

380 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 117.
§117.
Continuation : Sacred Vessels in tlie Court and in the Sanctuary.
The meaning of the various sacred vessels corresponds to the
meaning of the three rooms in the sanctuary. The only piece of
sacred furniture with reference to which an immediate activity of the
people takes place, viz. the altar for burnt-offering, stands in the
court. The fact that nothing but earth or unhewn stone was to be
used to fill up the frame is not (as Bahr says) meant to remind us that
man is a creature of the earth, and a sinner subject to death, — for
how could the unhewn stones agree with this ? — but the material is to
be one which is as yet not desecrated by the hand of man. — The
horns on the four corners of the altar are very variously interpreted.
On one view (held, among others, by Riggenbach and Keil, Archaologie,
i. pp. 104, 229), they are said to be symbols of the divine power of
salvation and help, because, as is well known, the horns of a bull are
the symbol of strength ; and with this view it agrees well that to them
especially the privilege of asylum is attached. According to another
view, which agrees better with the use of the horns in the service of
sacrifice, the general meaning of the altar, that worship ascends to
God, culminates in the horns, so that thus the blood of atonement
sprinkled on them is, as it were, brought a step nearer God (1).
On account of the importance of the horns, the altar is destroyed by
knocking them off, Amos iii. 14. — The washing-basin, "iis3, marks the
step from the general service of sacrifice to the specific priestly service.
When the priests, Ex. xxx. 21, are commanded to purify hands and
feet, with the warning that they must otherwise die, this is meant to
signify that he who has to carry on the service of reconciliation for
the congregation must sanctify his own walk and acts.
In the holy place stands the altar of incense, in front of the .inner
curtain, and so opposite the ark of the covenant, the place of the
shekinah of God veiled by the curtain. The incense-offering, presented
here every morning and evening by the hand of the priest, was (see
Ps. cxli. 2 ; Rev. v. 8, viii. 3 f.) a symbol of the prayers of the people,
because of which in the temple at a later time (comp. Luke i. 10),
during the time of the priestly offering of incense, a praying congre
gation was gathered in the court. In Num. xvii. 11 (xvi. 46), the

§ 117.] SACRED VESSELS IN THE COURT AND SANCTUARY. 381
burning of incense is an emblem of the intercession of the high
priest. — It is more difficult to see the meaning of the table with the
shewbread. The B*JB Bnp Js so called, Ex. xxv. 30, evidently because
it was laid continually before Jehovah ; and hence the table, Num.
iv. 7, bore the name B*3sn }n?E\ This is unfavourable to Bahr's
explanation (l.c. i. p. 425 ff.), which makes the "bread of the counte
nance " to signify bread by the use of which man obtains a view of
God ; so that in the shewbread the truth that he who gazes on God's
countenance is spiritually satisfied thereby, and becomes partaker of
the enjoyment of the highest joy and rapture, would be set forth.
But in fact Bahr has not succeeded at all in proving that the shewbread
in its primary significance is not something sacrificial, — a symbol of
something presented by the congregation, — but something sacramental,
— a symbol of something which God gives to the congregation. In this
case, the circumstance that the shewbread was to be eaten by the
priests in a holy place (Lev. xxiv. 9) must be the chief thing. But
we see clearly that when the loaves of bread were eaten, their real
function in worship was already fulfilled, and that they were consumed
in a holy place only that they might be withdrawn from profane use.
In Lev. xxiv. 8, the shewbread is called something given on the part
of (nSD) the children of Israel as an " eternal covenant " — that is, a
pledge of the eternal covenant to be given by Israel (2). In the same
way, this whole oblation falls within the class of meat-offerings, in
virtue of the incense which was sprinkled on the bread as nnsrs (ver.
7). That the shewbread is akin to the meat-offering becomes still
more clear, because, according to Ex. xxv. 29 f., Num. iv. 7, to the
utensils of the shewbread belonged also those vessels which were used
for drink-offerings. The meaning of the shewbread rather is, that the
people in its twelve tribes testified by the continual presentation of
nourishing bread in the sanctuary that it owed to the blessing of its
God the maintenance of life; thereby Israel dedicates to God the
exercise of the calling by which it wins its daily bread in the use of
God's gifts (3). — Since Philo's time, the candlestick with the seven
golden lamps has often been referred to the seven planets of the
ancients. But though the sanctity of the number seven may have had
this reference in some other nations (4), there is no trace of this in the
Mosaic cultus. The number seven is here always the sign of perfec-

382 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 117.
tion and completion in all relations which are rooted in the divine
economy of salvation. But while, in general, all holy things symbolize
the communion between Jehovah and the people, the candlestick with
its sevenfold light points to the perfect Light which shines in this
covenant community ; and in particular, the light does not refer merely
to the communication of higher knowledge, but, as in the high priest's
blessing, Num. vi. 25 ("Jehovah make His face shine upon thee"),
to saving divine grace in general. This meaning of the symbol is
specially confirmed by the visions Zech. iv. and Rev. i. ff. There the
candlestick is the symbol of a congregation enlightened by God ; and
when, in the vision of Zechariah, the candlestick is filled with oil
without the act of man, the idea expressed is, as is said in ver. 6, that
all the success and all the splendour of the congregation is not effected
by might or by power, but by the Spirit of God. — Almond blossom
and pomegranates, the ornaments of the candlestick, are, in the
heathenism of Western Asia, symbols of natural life (5), If, now, in
Num. xvii. 16-24, the blossoming almond-rod is the symbol of the
inexhaustible power of divine life in the priesthood of Aaron (comp.
§ 95), those ornamentations on the golden candlestick are also to be
regarded as the symbol of the divine fulness of life, which the congre
gation shares in communion with God. Light and life are, to speak
generally, essentially connected notions in Holy Writ ; comp. in par
ticular Ps. xxxvi. 10 : " With Thee is the fountain of life, and in
Thy light we shall see light." In the symbols of the holy place the
truth is expressed, that the people presents itself before its God in the
light and life which it receives in virtue of covenant communion with
God. (1) Thus ' Hofmann, who regards the horns as " the peaks of the
sacred height" (Schriftbeweis, ii. 1, ed. 1, p. 163 ; ed. 2, p. 257), etc.
I hold the latter explanation to be the more probable.
(2) Comp. how the same term is used of circumcision, § 87.
(3) This interpretation is carried further by Hengstenberg and
others, who make the shewbread a symbol of spiritual nourishment,
which the people has produced and now presents to its God as a service
in accordance with the covenant — in other words, a symbol of good
works ; an interpretation which is reached by bringing in John vi. 27
(" labour not for the meat which perisheth," etc.), comp. with iv. 32 ff.,
but has no support in the Old Testament.

§ US.] THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, ETC. 383
(4) Compare hereafter the doctrine of the Sabbath, § 148, with
notes 3 and 4.
(5) Especially the almond blossom, because it wakes into bloom
while all nature is still asleep.

§ 11,8.
Continuation : The Ark of the Covenant, with the Kapporeth and the
Tables of the Law.
In the most holy place, the ark of the covenant is symbol and
vehicle of the presence of the revelation of Jehovah among His
people. Hence it is called the throne of God, Jer. iii. 16 f. ; God's
footstool, 1 Chron. xxviii. 2, Ps. xcix. 5, cxxxii. 7. But its meaning
is more nearly defined by the three parts — the kapporeth on the ark,
the tables of the law in it, and the cherubim over it.
1. The kapporeth js the most important part of the ark of the
covenant. To it specially is attached the manifestation of the divine
presence ; " there," it is said in Ex. xxv. 22, " will I meet with thee,
and will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat," etc. In the
circumstance that it is the implement of atonement (comp. § 115),
and that it is at the kapporeth that the highest act of atonement is
executed, it is expressed that the God who dwells in the midst of His
people can only commune with them in virtue of an atonement offered
to Him, but that He is also a God who can be reconciled. This
throne of God is veiled in deep darkness, 1 Kings viii. 12 (" Jehovah
hath said that He will dwell in darkness ") ; the manifestation of God
over the kapporeth takes place in a cloud, which veils His glory, Lev.
xvi. 2, — in the same cloud which guided Israel's march through the
wilderness, Ex. xiii. 21, and which, Ex. xl. 34-38, lowered itself on
the tabernacle when it was set up. Notwithstanding this, on the day
of atonement, the priest who approaches with the blood of atonement
must envelope himself in a cloud of incense (Lev. xvi. 13) when he
raises the curtain (1). This expresses the fact that full communion
between God and man is not to be realized, even through the
medium of the atonement to be attained by the Old Testament sacri
ficial institutions — that, as is said in Heb. ix. 8, as yet the way to the

384 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 118. i
(heavenly) sanctuary was not made manifest (/iojttco Trecpavepwo-dai rtjv
roiv ay loiv ooov).
2. The kapporeth rests on the ark, in which are the tables of the
law, the testimony, nny. This means that God sits enthroned in Israel
on the ground of the covenant of law which He has made with Israel.
The testimony is preserved in the ark as a treasure, a jewel (2). But
with this goes a second consideration (3) ; while the law is certainly, in
the first place, a testimony to the will of God towards the people, it is
also (comp. what is said in Deut. xxxi. 26 f. of the roll of the law deposit
ed beside the ark of the covenant) a testimony against the sinful people,
— a continual record of accusation, so to speak, against their sins iu the
sight of the holy God. And now, when the kapporeth is over the
tables, it is declared that God's grace, which provides an atonement or
covering for the iniquity of the people, stands above His penal justice.
(1) The passage Lev. xvi. 2, so variously interpreted, runs thus :
" And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that
he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the
mercy-seat, which is upon the ark ; that he die not : for I appear in
the cloud " (and so veiled) " upon the mercy-seat." For a long time it
was the current exegesis (Vitringa, Observ. sacr. i. p. 16S ff. ; Bahr;
Ewald) to identify the IJJf? in ver. 2 with the cloud of incense in ver.
13 (comp. § 140), so that ver. 26 should be explained : "that he may
not die ; for only in the cloud " — produced by the incense — " do I
appear over the kapporeth." The unnaturalness of this paraphrase
is manifest. I hold that view to be the right one which regards the
two clouds (tjy) as different. But this leaves it a disputed point what
the first Jjy is to be supposed to be. The Rabbis postulate a cloud
which continually hung over the cherubim ; Luther, on the contrary,
on Ps. xviii. (xvii.) 11, notes : " Super propitiatorium et cherubim nihil
erat positum, quod videretur, sed sola fide credebatur illic sedere
Deus " (Exeget. opera lat. xvi. p. 73). Hofmann's explanation is the
most probable (Schriftbeweis, ii. 1, ed. 1, p. 361 f. ; ed 2, p. 507 f.),
and identifies the cloud (correctly pointed with the article) with that
mentioned in Ex. xl. It was to appear over the kapporeth whenever
the high priest came before it.
(2) This is the primary meaning, as to which I hold that Bahr
and Kurtz are right.
(3) Hengstenberg has wrongly given this out as the only meaning
of the symbol.

§ U9-3 THE CHERUBIM. 385
§119.
Continuation : The Cherubim (1).
3. The cherubim are the most important symbols of the Mosaic
cultus. Figures of them appear also on the tapestry of the taber
nacle, and, at a later time, on the walls of Solomon's temple, and in
the vision of the new temple, Ezek. xii. They are mentioned first in
Gen. iii. 24, — a trait which, as Hengstenberg and others have rightly
remarked, indicates that they belonged to a symbolism earlier than
that of Mosaism (2). In Ps. xviii. 11 they appear as bearers of the
cloudy chariot on which Jehovah rides ; they are, besides, mentioned
in the vision of Ezekiel, x. 1 ff. comp. with i. 4 ff., in which latter
passage they are called nisn, i.e. living creatures, as in Rev. iv. 6 ff.
the £wa (3). They nowhere appear developed into independent
personality, like the B*3SPD ; they are not sent out like these, but are
constantly confined to the seat of the divine habitation and the mani
festation of the Divine Being ; this also holds good of Gen. iii. (comp.
§ 62). In Ezekiel, where their form is the most complicated (comp.
Rev. iv.), they appear with a fourfold face, — that of a man, a lion, a
bull, and an eagle, — with four wings, two of which are used in flying
while the other two cover the body, and with arms and feet; their
whole body is covered with eyes. This description of Ezekiel's is not
to be transferred to the cherubim of the sanctuary ; in fact, there
would not (as Riehm rightly remarks) have been room on the ark of
the covenant for a form so complicated. Neither can the cherubim
of the temple have been so complicated. For since, according to
1 Kings vii. 29, 36, there were pictures of lions and bulls beside the
cherubim on the brazen bases in the temple of Solomon, these cannot
have been already contained in the pictures of the cherubim ; never
theless, the addition of the former shows that they stand in some
relation to the cherubim. But we must further note (as Hengsten
berg has rightly indicated), that in 1 Kings vi. 29 palms and open
flowers, and palms again in Ezek. xii. 18 ff., appear in connection
with the cherubim. But if, even in Ezek. i. 5, the human form is to
be regarded as predominant, this is still more the case with the
cherubim in the Pentateuch, to whom hands (Gen. iii. 24) and faces
vol. i. 2 b

386 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 119.
(Ex. xxv. 20) are ascribed. The cited Pentateuchal passages lead,
indeed (as Riehm and Keil rightly assert), to nothing further than to
winged human forms (4). But it is not at all probable that Ezekiel
was the first to add all the other features ; some form or other akin to
the later composition, although simpler, is probably to be assumed for
the ancient symbols (5). According to Hengstenberg (die Bucher
Mosis und yEgypten) and others, the cherubim of the Pentateuch are
to be regarded as imitations of the Egyptian sphinxes, which are com
posed of the form of a human being (not merely a virgin, but oftener
still a man) combined with that of a lion, to which Ezekiel, in whose
portraiture a relation to the Assyrian composite figures of animals
cannot be mistaken, has added also the bull and the eagle. The
cherubim are in any case to be so interpreted, that the latest form
in Ezekiel be taken only as a development of what originally was
involved in the symbol.
Our inquiry into the meaning of the cherubim must start from
the fact that, as has been already remarked, they designate a place
as the abode of the habitation of God (Paradise, the tabernacle,
and later the temple), and are thus the bearers of the manifestation
of God when He manifests Himself to the world in His glory;
on which account they are called God's chariot (1 Chron. xxviii.
18, comp. Ps. xviii. 11). Since, now, in Gen. iii. 24 they bar the
entrance to Paradise, and since in Ex. xxv. 20 they protect and
shade the ark, the first element in their function is to express to man's
consciousness the inaccessibility of the Divine Being. They reflect
the glory of the unapproachable God in a form which is accessible for
human eyes, but at the same time is so constructed (as Riehm rightly
urges) that they could give no support to the worship of images. But
in admitting this, we have not yet done full justice to the symbol,
especially in its most developed form. By uniting in itself the noblest
earthly living creatures, — man, the eagle, the lion, the bull, — and
connecting with them also flowers and palms as representatives of
the vigour of life that displays itself in the vegetable kingdom, the
symbol is evidently meant more particularly to set forth the divine
glory as it is manifested in the world, and thereby to teach men to
know the vital powers which work in the world as the efflux of the
divine glory. It is the cherubim, as Schultz (Alttest. Theologie, i. p.

§ 119.] THE CHERUBIM. . 387
343) well expresses it, a which at one and the same time proclaim and
veil His presence." The lion and the bull are, as is well known,
symbols of power and strength ; man and the eagle are symbols of
wisdom and omniscience ; the latter attribute is also expressed in the
later form of the symbol by the multitude of eyes. The continual
mobility of the §Sa, Rev. iv. 8, signifies the never-resting vivacity of
the divine operations ; this is probably symbolized also by the wheels
which are given to the cherubim in Ezek. i., in which, as is there said,
" the Spirit of the Living One " is. The number four, connected with
the cherubim in the later form of the symbol, is the signature of all-
sidedness (towards the four quarters of heaven). Thus Jehovah, when
He is honoured as He who is enthroned above the cherubim, is
acknowledged as the God who rules the world on all sides in power,
wisdom, and omniscience. In the room of natural powers working
unconsciously, is placed the all-embracing, conscious activity of the
Living God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, and hereby the whole
view of nature in the Old Testament is defined ; comp., for example,
the view of the thunderstorm in Ps. xviii. 11. By this exposition of
the cherubim we are to judge of the meaning of the invocation in Ps.
Ixxx. 2 : "Thou Shepherd of Israel, who art enthroned upon the
cherubim, shine forth ! " (6).
The philological explanation of the term is altogether uncertain.
The rabbinical interpretation, which Hengstenberg has renewed, and
which looks on the word as made up from the a of comparison and
ah, and gives it the meaning " equal to many," " like a multitude," i.e.
the union of plurality, assumes a far too monstrous etymological forma
tion. The view of Umbreit and others, who hold that ai"i3 is formed
by a transposition from aian, and denotes the divine chariot, is more
plausible ; and in fact the cherubim are called n33"iD in 1 Chron. xxviii.
18 , comp. again Ps. xviii. 11. If we derive the word from 313, various
explanations are possible, on account of the ambiguity of the stem. In
Syriac, the stem means to carve ; hence some explain ai"i3 by yXvirrov,
carved work = imagery, from which Keil gets the word to mean " fig
ments of the imagination," and Havernick (Alttest. Theologie, ed. 1,
p. 80 ; ed. 2, p. 95), creatures of the ideal world. In Arabic, the stem
karaba means to lace, and then to straiten, to distress ; so others give
the word the meaning — alarming, horrible creatures. Others, again,

388 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 120.
*
have got at the signification nobilis princeps, by the combination of 313
and B13. Others still give to the stem 313 the meaning dprrdt,eiv, to
snatch, so that the cherubim would be designated by their sweeping
power, which makes them, so to speak, a sort of harpies. Frequently
the word 3V3 has been compared' with the Greek ypvty, the griffin,
that fabulous animal of the East which watched over hidden treasures ;
and for this view special reference is made to Ezek. xxviii. 14 ff.,
where the king of Tyre, who walked in Eden on the mount of God
between stones of fire, and covered and protected them with his out
spread wings, is compared to a cherub. The sense of the passage,
however, is clear from what we have already learned. The king of
Tyre, who deifies himself, is called a cherub because he looks on him
self as the guardian of the divine dwelling-place, in whom is reflected
the majesty of God.
(1 ) Literature : Riehm, de natura et ratione symbolica Cheruborum
(Programm), 1864 ; Hengstenberg, die Biicher Mose's und sEgypten,
p. 157 ff.; as also his essay in answer to Riehm, in the Evang. Kirchen-
zeitung, 1866 (May and June), reprinted in his Commentary to Ezekiel
at the end of the first part, p. 252 ff., in which is defended the earlier
conception of Bahr, Hengstenberg, and others. {Riehm's view is re
stated, with modifications and additions, in the Stud. u. Krit. for 1871.}
(2) Hengstenberg says : " Thus we see that originally they did '
not belong to the sphere of revelation, but to the sphere of natural
religion " (Komment. zu Ezech. i. p. 254).
(3) Hengstenberg finds that this symbol occurs no less than eighty-
five times in the Old Testament (l.c. p. 252).
(4) Riehm : just on this account it was not found necessary to
describe them more in detail.
(5) Comp. Schultz, Alttest. Theol. i. p. 340 ff.
(6) {"Who inhabitest the cherubim." Riehm, Stud, und Krit.
1871, p. 419.} II. THE ACTIONS OF THE MOSAIC CULTUS (1).
§120.
Introductory Remarks : 1. On the Notion of Offerings in General.
The actions of worship fall under the general notion of offerings.
The essential nature of an offering in general is the devotion of man

§ 120.] ON THE NOTION OF OFFERINGS IN GENERAL. 389
to God expressed in an outward act. Man feels impelled to express
in actions which he directs exclusively to God partly his dependence
on God in general (in virtue of which he knows that he is dependent
on God in his being and his possessions, in his active and passive life),
and partly the special relations in which he is placed towards God.
True, the inward impulse which impels man to praise,thank, and sup
plicate God finds expression in words of devotion ; but this impulse
is not fully satisfied till this word is,- as it were, embodied in a corre
sponding action, in which man deprives and denies himself of some
thing, and thus by deeds testifies the earnestness of his devotion to God. '
Under the notion of offering, in the widest sense of the word, are also
to be subsumed observances of sacred abstinence ; to which belong, in
the Mosaic cultus, fasting, the Nazarite vow, and the Levitical acts of
purification, — forms of observances which in heathen religions some
times rise to the most hideous self-torture and self-mutilation. In the
narrower sense, however, the notion of offering (corresponding to its
derivation from offerre) refers to. positive acts, which consist in the
presentation of a gift. In this sense it is designated in the Old
Testament by the terms nmD (in the more general signification in
which the word stands in Gen. iv. 3 ff., but never in the sacrificial
laws), t^Tp nfariD (Ex. xxviii. 38), but generally by \ppr, that is, pre
sentation .(Mark vii. 11: KopfSdv o icrri Bcapov). The offering may
be made in such a way that the object presented remains intact, but
henceforth is placed exclusively at the disposition of the divinity
(to this head belong the gifts of dedication, — for which in Num. vii.
3 ff., xxxi. 50, the word ja'np is likewise used, — those persons who were
dedicated to the service of the sanctuary, etc.), or in such a way that
what is offered is at once used up in honour of the divinity in some
manner. In the latter case, the act of devotion is generally completed
in the consumption of the gift, or at least a part of it, by the fire on
the altar (n?P?). This is what is meant by offering in the most limited
sense, of which in the Old Testament the designation is n$s, i.e.
" firing," a term used in speaking of all offerings which were brought
to the altar, whether they were wholly or partially burnt (comp.
Lev. i. 9, 17, ii. 3, iii. 3, 9, iv. 35, v. 12, etc.) (2). — An essential factor
in the offering is substitution, which can take place in a twofold way,
— first, when the person who brings the offering is represented by the

390 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 120.
gift substituted in his room ; and secondly, when something is sub
stituted for the object to be offered. The latter case generally occurs
in the shape of the representation of a whole class of things by a part
of the class which is selected to be offered (as in the case of the first
born and of the firstlings of the harvest), but sometimes as strict
substitution, so that what fell to be offered, but from some cause or other
was not fit to be offered, was replaced by an object of a connected
kind (comp. Ex. xiii. 13, xxxiv. 20), or some other surrogate (3). .
The idea of substitution is brought out most fully when another life
is offered in the place of the life of the person who offers ; but the
idea of substitution reaches much further than this, inasmuch as there
is self-renunciation in every real sacrifice, — the offerer putting, so to
speak, a part of himself into his gift, whether impelled by love and
thankfulness, or by fear of the vengeance of God, to which he knows
himself or something he possesses to be exposed. With this it agrees
that no real offering can be made of another man's possession (compare
2 Sam. xxiv. 24), but only of what is already one's property, or could
at least (as in the oase of booty) be held as such ; and that it is just
in the willingness to acknowledge God's higher right of property to
one's own possession, and to give up to Him even what is dearest, that
the genuine spirit of sacrifice is proved, as is expressed in the story
in Gen. xxii.
(1) Literature : Outram, de sacrificiis libri duo, 1678 ; Saubert,
de sacrificiis veterum, 1699 ; Sykes, Versuch uber die Natur, Absicht
und den Ursprung der Opfer, with notes and additions by Semler,
1778. In more modern times compare Scholl, on the sacrificial ideas
of the. ancients, especially the Jews, in the Studien der evang. Geist-
lichkeit Wiirttembergs, i., iv., and v.; Bahr, Symbolik des mos.
Kultus, ii. ; Thalhofer, die unblutigen Opfer des mos. Kultus, 1848 ;
Hengstenberg, "das Opfer," in the Evang. Kirchenzeitung, 1852,
Nos. 12-16 ; Neumann, " die Opfer des A. Bundes," in the deutschen
Zeitschr. filr christi. Wissenschaft und christi. Leben, 1852, Nos.
30-33 ; 1853, Nos. 40-44 ; Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, ii. 1, ed. 1, p.
139 ff., ed. 2, p. 214 ff. ; Keil, " die Opfer des A. Bundes," in the
luther. Zeitschr: 1856 f. ; Delitzsch, Kommentar zum Hebraerbrief,
p. 736 ff. ; my article, " Opferkultus des A. T.," in Herzog's R.E. x.
p. 614 ff.; Kurtz, der alttest. Opferkultus, 1862; Kliefoth, "liber den
alttest. Kultus," in the 4th volume of his liturg. Abhandlung. ;

§ 121.] THE BASIS OF THE MOSAIC SACRIFICIAL CULTUS. 391 -
Wangemann, das Opfer nach Lehre der h. Schrift, 2 vols., 1866.
Other books will be referred to in the following pages.
(2) ne>s cannot be used of what is not to be burnt. That the
incense which was laid cold upon the shewbread is so called (Lev.
xxiv. 7) is explained by the fact that it was really burnt up when the
shewbread was removed (see Josephus, Ant. iii. 10. 7). [Above
article.] (3) Among the Egyptians we find substitution of artificial figures
of animals. Herodotus, ii. 47, says that the poor baked pigs of dough
to offer. See other examples in Hermann, die gottesdienstlichen Alter-
thumer der Griechen, ed. 1, p. 113,, ed. 3, p. 146 ; compare also
Hartung, ReUgion der Romer, i. p. 160f.
§121.
Continuation : 2. Pre-Mosaic Sacrifice and the Mosaic Covenant Sacrifice
as the Basis of the Mosaic Sacrificial Cultus.
Sacrifice was not newly introduced by the Mosaic law. Genesis
not only speaks of sacrifice as observed by the patriarchs, but, in
Gen. iv., carries back the presenting of offerings to the earliest age
of mankind (comp. § 20). As has been shown above (§ 20 f.), the
pre-Mosaic offerings had the signification of thank-offerings and offer
ings of supplication, though a propitiatory element is connected with
the burnt-offering (first mentioned Gen. viii. 20) lying in the nh*3 n*n
(properly, odour of satisfaction), through which the sacrifice has an
appeasing effect, see ver. 21 (1). Offerings for atonement, in the
strict sense, are not mentioned in the Old Testament before the intro
duction of the Mosaic sacrificial law (2). The book of Job, too,
which introduces the customs of the age of the patriarchs, represents,
in chap. i. 5, xiii. 8, the presenting of burnt-offerings for sin com
mitted, and avoids the term TS3, which denotes expiation in the ter-
, minology of Mosaic sacrifice (giving, instead, the more general term
twp). Besides the burnt -offering, we find in patriarchal times
" sacrifice " (naj) with the sacrificial feast (comp. Iken, dissert, ii. 1,
p. 6 ff.) first mentioned in Gen. xxxi. 54, where it serves to ratify the
covenant concluded between Jacob and Laban, and so ends in a meal
of peace (further, xlvi. 1, comp. Ex. x. 25, xviii. 12). Also, in xx. 24,
xxiv. 5, only burnt-offerings and shelamim are mentioned. For an

392 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 121.
expiatory offering, in the strict sense, presupposes the revelation of
divine holiness in the law, and the entrance of the people into cove
nant relation with the holy God. The transition to this point, and
at the same time the foundation of the whole system of Mosaic offer
ings, is formed by the covenant-offering in Ex. xxiv., especially in
virtue of the meaning which here for the first time (apart from the
institution of the Passover) attaches to the blood of the sacrifice.
Moses set up an altar, which represented the presence of Jehovah,
and (probably round it) twelve pillars as memorials of the twelve
tribes. This preparation of a place of sacrifice already points to the
communion between Jehovah and His people now to be established,
in virtue of which He wishes to have His dwelling in the midst of the
latter. After this, Moses causes burnt-offerings and shelamim to be
presented by young men. These young men do not, as Kurtz (3)
has understood the matter, represent " the sacrificing nation in its
youth as a people, which, like a young man, is prepared to begin its
course," for (comp. Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, ii. 1, ed. 1, p. 151) it is
not the people who here bring an offering for themselves ; the cove
nant communion with God, in virtue of which the people approaches
Him in the offering, is only now to be established ; besides, the repre
sentatives of the congregation are, vers. 1 and 9, the seventy elders.
It is Moses rather, — the instituted mediator of the covenant, — who,
acting in the quality of priest, here brings the covenant-offering, and
the young men are merely his servants (4). Moses now takes the
half of the blood of the offering, and sprinkles it on the altar ; then
he reads the book of the covenant to the people ; and after the people
have again promised fidelity to the law, he sprinkles them with the
other half of the blood, saying : " Behold, the blood of the covenant
which Jehovah concludes with you over these words." The halving
of the blood certainly refers to the two parties of the covenant, which
now are brought together in a unity of life — not, however, in the
sense in which two contracting parties mix their blood in the
heathenish usages cited by Knobel on this passage ; for the blood
of the offered sacrifice belongs entirely to Jehovah, and the sprinkling
of the people with a part of it rather signifies an appropriation of the
people on God's part. According to the significance which from this
time forth was to attach to the blood, and which falls to be discussed

§ 121.] THE BASIS OF THE MOSAIC SACRIFICIAL CULTUS. • 393
more particularly afterwards (§ 127), — a significance which the people
were already prepared to understand by the manipulation of the
blood at the first Passover (Ex. xii. 22), — the act of sacrifice before
us is to be understood as follows : — The mediator of the covenant first
offers to God in the blood a pure life, which comes in between God
and the people, covering and atoning for the latter. In this connec
tion the sprinkling of the altar does not merely signify God's ac
ceptance of the blood, but at the same time serves to consecrate the
place in which Jehovah enters into intercourse with His people. But
when a portion of the blood accepted by God is further applied to the
people by an act of sprinkling, this is meant to signify that the same
life which is offered up in atonement for the people is also intended
to consecrate the people themselves to covenant fellowship with God.
The act of consecration thus becomes an act of renewal of life, — a
translation of Israel into the kingdom of God, in which it is filled
with divine vital energy, and is sanctified to be a kingdom of priests,
an holy people (5). The procedure at the dedication of the priests
(Ex. xxix. 21 ; Lev. viii. 30) is quite analogous (comp. § 95). So
the blood of the covenant, like the bloody token in Ex. xii. 22,
separates the chosen people from the world, and hence its significance
as a pledge, Zech. ix. 11 (which passage just refers to Ex. xxiv.).
The sacrificial feast forms the close of the whole festival, at which
the elders of Israel, who, ver. 2, before the sacrifice, durst not approach
Jehovah, but are now atoned for, get a view of God, and eat and
drink before Him as a pledge and testimony of the way in which, in
the communion of the covenant, Jehovah's nearness is to be experi
enced and the richness of His benefits enjoyed. — In this first Mosaic
act of offering (the Passover is an offering only in the wider sense,
§ 154) is already expressed the character of the ordinances of worship
which arise on the basis of the covenant now concluded. The cove
nant is to subsist on offerings, under the condition of offerings to be
presented (n3T VV, Ps. 1. 5), for the people are not to approach their
God with empty hands (Ex. xxiii. 15 ; Deut. xvi. 16 f .). In order,
however, to make such an approach possible to the sinful people, and
to secure the duration of the covenant, which is continually en
dangered by the guilt of the congregation, God institutes an ordi
nance of atonement, which is principally carried out in acts of

394 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 121.
worship specifically expiatory, but which also runs through the whole
of the rest of the cultus ; in all parts of which, but especially by the
use which is from this time forward made of the blood of the sacrifice
at the burnt- and thank-offerings, the idea is expressed that man dare
not approach God without previous atonement, — that this must be
accomplished before he may reckon that his gift will be favourably
received by God. On the other hand, it is not correct to call atone
ment the leading idea of Mosaic sacrifice, in the sense that every
offering is to be classed under this idea. It is rather the case that
the gift or offering, in the strict sense, — that which really comes
upon the altar, — follows on the completion of the atoning act. (The
right understanding of sacrifice depends essentially on the distinction
between these two elements.)
In speaking now of the ritual of Mosaic offerings, we begin with
offerings in the narrower sense, which are brought upon the altar,
and so immediately given over to Jehovah. As we treat of these, we
shall bring in also, in their proper places, the remaining kinds of
korban which were offered to Jehovah only indirectly — that is, by
payment to the priests or Levites respectively (the first-born and
tithes, also the shewbread, comp. § 117, may be reckoned with
these) (6).
(1) The second offering mentioned in the Old Testament (Gen.
viii. 20) is that which was offered by Noah after the Flood, taken
from all clean cattle and all clean birds — that is, from those animals
which were appointed for the food of man. It was offered as a burnt-
sacrifice on an altar, from which the odour ascended to the God
enthroned in heaven, and pleased Him (ver. 21). The motive of
this offering is mainly thanksgiving for an experience of deliverance ;
of expiation for offences committed there is no mention, as, in fact,
the judgment under which Noah was looked upon as righteous before
God has run its course. And yet, as is shown by ver. 21, there is
even here something more than a thank-offering. Man draws near to
God in the offering, seeking at the same time grace for the future,
after having seen the severity of God's penal justice (comp. the
explanation of the passage by Josephus, Ant. i. 3. 7). And God
graciously accepts this ; He is willing, in answer to such a request
for grace, to spare man, who would always draw down new judgments
of extermination on himself by his sinfulness. Thus far it is correct

§ 121.] THE BASIS OF THE MOSAIC SACRIFICIAL CULTUS, 395
to say, that here we have a first elementary and symbolic expression
of the necessity of an atonement before G°4 (O. v. Gerlach on this
passage). — From the passages Gen. iv. and viii. 20, there can be no
doubt what answer the Old Testament gives to the long-disputed
question, which is mainly connected with the first of these passages,
— namely, whether the origin of sacrifice is to be traced back to a
positive divine command, or to human invention and caprice (comp.
on this controversy in particular, Deyling, " de sacrificiis Habelis
atque Caini," in the Observ. sacrw, ed. 3, ii. p. 53 ff. ; Carpzov, app.
ant. p. 699 ff. ; Outram, de sacrificiis, i. 1, where the various views
are compared in detail). In this way of putting the question the
alternative is not correctly formulated. For if the first view is un
tenable, since there is no trace of a divine command to present offer
ings in the context of either passage, but, on the contrary, the whole
character of the two narratives points to a deed which has no value
apart from its spontaneousness (comp. Nagelsbach, der Gottmensch, i.
p. 335 ff., where also the arguments of Deyling are examined), yet, on
the other side, both passages acknowledge this free act as one
thoroughly agreeable to the divine will ; and there is in them no trace
of a mere divine condescension, from which, as is well known,
Spencer (de leg. hebr. rit. iii. diss, ii.) sought to explain the Old
Testament sacrifices. Man is not first impelled to make offerings
by the rudeness of his nature, to which God must make some indul
gence lest something worse come instead (comp. Spencer, in Pfaff's
ed. p. 754) ; he does not offer by force of his natural badness, as
we should be obliged to say on the deistic conception of sacrifice,
which does indeed, in a manner, give a correct explanation of what
sacrifice degenerated into ;x but man offers in virtue of his inalienable
divine image, which makes it impossible for him to abstain from
seeking that communion with God, for which he was created, by
such active self-devotion as takes place in offerings. Offerings are
thus, as Neumann (in the above-cited essay, . deutsche Zeitschr. fur
christi. Wissensch. 1852, p. 328) well says, " free expressions of the
divinely fixed nature of man," so that they are no more arbitrary
inventions than prayer is, but spring in the same way as prayer from
1 According to Blount, wicked men offer because they who do not like to do
favours to one another for nothing judge the Divinity in the same way ; according
to Tindal, they sacrifice because they imagine that the cruel God delights in the
slaughter of innocent creatures, — a delusion which was then made use of by the
selfish corporation of priests in order to introduce the ritual ordinances established
by themselves. See Lechler, Gesohichte des englischen Deismus, pp. 119, 338. On
Shuckford's argument on the other side, see § 12, note 6.

396 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY [§ 121.
an inward necessity, to which man freely yields. The passages in
Genesis which treat of the sacrificial places of the patriarchs (xii. 8,
xiii. 4, xxvi. 25, xxxiii. 20) also point to the close connection between
the service of sacrifice and prayer, or invocation of God [above art.]. —
On the act described in Gen. xv., comp. § 80 ; on the history in Gen.
xxii., comp. § 23, with note 9. The latter narrative is important for
the development of the Old Testament idea of offering. In it is
expressed, in the first place, the divine sanction of sacrifice in
general as the proof of man's believing devotion to God ; and in the
second place, the declaration that such devotion is to be proved by
readiness to part with even the dearest possession out of obedience to
God ; while, thirdly, human sacrifice is banished out of the region of
the religion of revelation ; and fourthly, the acceptance of an animal
victim as the substitute of man is ordained. In the whole story there
is no mention of an atonement in behoof of which Isaac was to die ;
and therefore the offering of the ram cannot have the meaning of a
propitiatory sacrifice of a vicarious kind. [Above art.]
(2) Compare what Nagelsbach, homer. Theol. ed. 1, p. 304, ed. 2,
p. 352, remarks on sacrifice in the Homeric times. Man's willingness
to honour the god with such enjoyment (the vapour of the fat) is
what makes the offering pleasant to the latter ; and there is no differ
ence in this respect between an offering of atonement and any other
offering. That atonement in general depends only on the paying of
honour to the deity, on the acknowledgment of its might and the
expression in act of man's feeling of dependence, is plain from the
fact that other prestations are also sufficient to conciliate the deity."
[Above art.]
(3) See Kurtz, Geschichte des A. Bundes, ii. ed. 2, p. 304 ; also his
Alttest. Opferkultus; p. 278.
(4) The indefinite mention of the young men, and the fact that
nothing is said of their being twelve in number, or the like, is in
favour of this view.
(5) Comp. Keil, bibl. Archaol. i. p. 260.
(6) In delineating the regulations about offerings, we treat, 1.
of the material of the offering and the classification of offerings
which is reached from this point of view ; 2. of the actions of which
offerings are made up, or the ritual of offering ; 3. of the genera
and species into which the offerings fall according to their destination.

§ 122.] BLOODY AND BLOODLESS OFFERINGS. 397
1. THE MATERIAL OF THE OFFERINGS.
§122.
Bloody and Bloodless Offerings.
According to their material, offerings are partly bloody and partly
bloodless. Bloody offerings are exclusively animal offerings. That
human sacrifice (which the mad criticism of Ghillany, Die Menschen-
opfer der alien Hebrder, 1842, and other writers sought to represent as
even an essential part of the Mosaic worship) was excluded from the
legitimate worship of God follows, as we have already seen, from
Gen. xxii. 11, and then from what is commanded in Ex. xiii. 13,
xxxiv. 20, as to the redemption of the first-born of mankind (cf. § 105).
To offer children as they were offered to Moloch (Lev. xviii. 21,
xx. 2 ff.), and as was generally the custom among the Semitic
nations (1), is called an abomination, Deut. xii. 31. Man has by the
law no other power over human life than that of the execution of
judgment (comp. §§ 99 and 108). Even the Bnn, the exterminating
curse or ban (§ 134), is intended to serve to glorify God's primitive
justice. It may be classed in a sense under the head of offerings
in the wider sense, as in Lev. xxvii. 28 it stands among sacred dedi
cations (comp. also Isa. xxxiv. 5 f., Jer.xlvi. 10, where even the word
nat is used for it). But the cherem, by which a thing or person is
swept away from before Jehovah (comp. e.g. 1 Sam. xv. 33), stands
in direct antithesis to offerings in the narrower sense, to the gift
offered on the altar. Thus, too, that act of revenge by the Gibeonites
allowed by David, 2 Sam. xxi. 9, in which a bloody revenge, exceeding
that demanded by the law, was executed, is not to be regarded as
properly a human sacrifice. It is, however, clear from Ex. xx. 25 f.,
that the sacrifices of children which occurred in Israel were con
nected with a wrong application of the law of primogeniture (Ex.
xiii. 2, 1 If., xxii. 28) (2).
There is no name in the sacrificial law of the Pentateuch
which designates generally the bloody offering ; Lev. i. 2 uses the
circumlocution nDnan-|p J3"]Pt. The word n3t, to which in later
usage the more general meaning (that it designates animal sacri
fice generally) cannot be denied, is used in the Pentateuch only

398 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 122.
of Shelamim (3). For a dry vegetable offering, the technical term
is nruo (E. V., meat-offering) ; and the drink-offering which was
added to the Mincha, and which consisted of wine, is called ^Oi.
— Offerings of animals are most important, chiefly on account of
the significance attaching to the blood. Meat-offerings certainly
appear as independent gifts, Lev. v. 11 (as a substitute for an animal
offering) ; vi. 12 ff. (as a priestly offering of dedication) ; Num. v.
15 ff. (as the jealousy-offering) (4). It is probable, too, that the
meat-offerings described in Lev. ii. could be presented by them
selves as free-will gifts (5). But for the most part, the meat
offerings, and the drink-offerings which went along with them, were
connected with animal-offerings. Here, indeed, they form no mere
supplementary gift ; they are rather co-ordinate with that part of the
animal which is laid as a gift on the altar. But since they also have
as their presupposition the atonement completed by the manipula
tion of blood at the offering of an animal, so they are in fact
dependent on the animal-offering. This dependence is seen also in
this, that the quantity of the meat and drink-offerings had to be
measured by the various kinds of animals to which they were
annexed. (1) See Lasaulx, die Suhnopfer der Griechen und Romer, p. 11.
(2) (Compare Umbreit on this passage.) A misunderstanding,
such as might easily rise in the zeal for sacrifice depicted in Mic.
vi. 7, even apart from the probability that, in the idolatrous minds of
the people, the notion of the Holy One of Israel, whose zeal is a
consuming fire, may often have been confounded with that of the
fire-god Moloch [above art.]. When it is said, in Ezek. xx. 25 f.,
that Jehovah gave them statutes that were not good, on account of
their falling away, to destroy them, the offering of children is not
declared to be agreeable to the law ; but the passage is to be under
stood like others in which men are said to be given over to what is
sinful as a punishment (comp. § 76).
(3) See a more minute explanation of this in the discussion of
Shelamim, § 132, with notes 7-9.
' (4) We may also look on the first ripe sheaf presented on the first
day of the Passover, and on the Pentecostal and shewbread, as
special kinds of the Mincha ; comp. Maimonides's Pref. to Menachoth,
in Mischna ed. Surenhus. v. p. 63. [Above art.]

§ 123,] THE MATERIAL OF ANIMAL OFFERINGS. 399
(5) Thus the Jewish tradition ; comp. Maimonides, l.c. p. 64 ;
also Winer, Reallex. ed. 3, ii. p. 494 ; and Thalhof er, l.c. p. 51 ff.

§123.
The Material of Animal Offerings.
In reference to the materials of animal offerings, it is- laid down as
law: 1. That they must be taken from among the clean animals, cf. Lev.
xxvii. 9, 11. In Lev. xi. and Deut. xiv. the Mosaic law distinguishes
clean and unclean animals in the following way (1) : — Of the larger
land animals (™3na), all those are clean which have cloven hoofs (that
is, divided quite through) and which chew the cud ; those which have
not these two characteristics, or have only one of them, as the camel,
the hare, the pig, etc., are unclean. Of water animals, those are clean
that have fins and scales. With respect to birds (f|ty), no general dis
tinctive characteristic is given ; there are only twenty (in Leviticus)
or twenty-one sorts (in Deuteronomy), including the bat (*1??J|),
enumerated by name as unclean, and these are for the most part birds
of prey and waders, also the stork (nTpn). In the whole realm
of small animals (f*$), the use of grasshoppers is alone allowed
among those that have wings (*#? )*1B>) ; while of those that crawl
and creep on the earth (Hisrrpy ypn f}$i}) none are allowed, but
eight kinds are expressly forbidden (weasel, mouse, lizard, etc.). — On
what ground does this distinction rest % The view that the flesh of
certain creatures is injurious to the soul of man, that is, to his under
standing (2), is only supported by a false explanation of Lev. xi.
44 (3), and cannot possibly be applied to the case before us, even were
it not certain that doctrines of this kind are quite alien to Mosaism.
With reference to some animals (as swine), it may certainly be taken
as possible that the law is fixed by dietetic considerations ; but this
principle is nowhere stated. Nor can the distinction between clean and
unclean animals be traced to a dualistic view of creation, such as pre
vails in the Zend religion. That the one class of animals belongs to
Jehovah, and not the other, is certainly not the Mosaic view. Un-
cleanness of certain animals is spoken of only in so far as they are

400 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 123.
thereby excluded from being used as food ; but even unclean animals
might be dedicated to Jehovah, only they had to be redeemed, Lev.
xxvii. 11 ff. The ground of the matter lies generally in the principle
of the whole law (§ 84), that the people of Israel should impress on
every sphere of life the stamp by which it acknowledges itself to be a
people separated by Jehovah and dedicated to Him. So even in their
food there must be a separation in which this reference to Jehovah is
expressed, comp. Lev. xx. 24-26: "I am Jehovah your God, who
have separated you from other nations ; ye shall therefore put a
difference between clean beasts and unclean," etc. But in the defini
tion of those animals which are separated as unclean, it appears that,
on the one hand, the principle was laid down that all flesh-eating
animals were necessarily to be accounted unclean, because to partake of
blood is an abomination. So, too, the birds enumerated are partly birds
of prey, and partly such as feed on worms and the like. To these
are added all animals that had anything repulsive and hideous (4).
But now, in order to arrive at a fixed rule of separation among the
larger land animals, it was natural to select certain common pro
perties in those animals the flesh of which had always been looked on
as the most excellent nourishment, and by these to define the clean
animals. In consequence of the principle thus derived, the camel, the
hare, and also (Ex. xiii. 13, xxxiv. 20) the ass (" quia neque ruminat,
neque fissam habet ungulam "), etc., were excluded ; any other ground
than that given in Lev. xi. 4-6 could hardly have existed here.
2. Of clean animals, those were fit for offering which formed the
proper stock of domesticated animals, — cattle, sheep, and goats ; both
sexes might be offered, but for offerings of a higher character males
alone were employed. Of fowl, turtle-doves and young pigeons were
offered (5). The former are to be met with so often in Palestine as
birds of passage that it was not necessary to rear them specially ; they
formed in particular the animal food of tlie poor, and this explains
their use in offerings. Pigeons and turtle-doves might, with the
exception of a few offerings of purification, be presented only by the
poor, as a substitute for the larger animals of sacrifice (Lev. v. 7, xii.
8) (6). — No part of the produce of the chase or of fishing was fit to be
offered (7). The animals of sacrifice were to be without blemish (BW),
free from bodily imperfections (i3"n*n* s? DiD"P3) ; see especially Lev.

§ 123.] THE MATERIAL OF ANIMAL OFFERINGS. 401
xxii. 21-24, comp. also Mal. i. 13 (8); an exception was allowed only
with the ni3"» (on this hereafter, § 132, with note 3). With respect
to the age of the animals offered, the law commanded that they should
at least be eight days old (Lev. xxii. 27, comp. with Ex. xxii. 29),
because in the first eight days every new-born creature was accounted
unclean (comp. § 87) ; this is not prescribed for doves. On the other
side, the animals presented were also to be in the vigour of youth (9).
The age is more precisely defined only in a few cases : for cattle, in
Lev. ix. 3, where a one-year-old big is demanded ; more frequently in
the case of small cattle, viz. ix. 3, xii. 6; comp. Num. xxviii. 3, 9, 11,
where a ram of the first year (K>B3 or afe>3), Lev. xiv. 10, where a
female of the first year (nB*a3), Num. xv. 27, where a one-year-old
goat (nrntp-ns fy) is prescribed. The older animals among the cattle
are designated ">B and nna (on the contrary, "iiE> is used without respect
to difference of age), the ram by ?*S, the he-goat by Tny or Tyti>
(more fully, B*?y Tyti>). The two last-named expressions are sharply
distinguished (comp. Num. vii. 16 and 17, vers. 22 and 23, etc.) ; it is
probable that Tyii> signifies the older and Tny the younger he-goat (10).
That, as the Rabbis declare, animals for sacrifice were, as a rule, not
chosen more than three years old, does not rest on an express command
of the law, and is concluded, perhaps, only from Gen. xv. 9 (11) ;
but the provision is quite reasonable, because at this age the beasts
of sacrifice have attained their full growth, and are in their full
strength. (1) Comp. on the following, Sommer, Bibl. A bhandl. i. pp. 183-360.
(2) This view is brought forward in the book ascribed to Josephus,
but probably not really his, which is called the fourth book of the
Maccabees, de Maccabwis, v. 25, and is found also among some Rabbis.
(3) Lev. xi. 44: "Ye shall not defile your souls;" t^Bi here, as
so frequently, means the whole person (comp. § 70).
(4) According to ^Elian, de not. animal, x. 16, swine were counted
unclean by the Egyptians chiefly because they do not spare their own
young, and even seize on human corpses ; on another view, see Movers,
Phbnicier, i. p. 218 ff., they were unclean because consecrated to an
Infernal power.
(5) The latter are mentioned in the Old Testament as house-
pigeons, Isa. Ix. 8, and field-pigeons, Ezek. vii. 16, Jer. xlviii'. 28.
(6) Other birds were not offered ; the ceremony at the cleansing
vol. i. 2 O

402 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 123.
of lepers, at which, Lev. xiv. 4 ff., B*isy were used (by which, however,
the Vulgate and Rabbis are hardly right in understanding sparrows),
was no act of offering ; at the subsequent offering of purification, ver.
30, only turtle-doves and young pigeons were permitted. Why the
law excluded wading birds, and geese in particular, which were
favourite offerings in the Egyptian cultus (see Movers, das Opferwesen
der Karthager, p. 55), cannot be easily guessed. Still more remarkable
is the exclusion of gallinaceous fowls ; but the rearing of these fowls
is nowhere mentioned in the Old Testament (with the exception of
Job xxxviii. 36, where at least Delitzsch has renewed the rabbinic
explanation, according to which **3B> designates the cock). The Mishna
Baba kama, vii. 7, maintains, though in decided contradiction to the
New Testament, that it was not lawful to keep fowls at all in
Jerusalem, and that priests at least were not allowed to keep them in
the land of Israel ; the reason of this is said to be that (see Surenhus
on this passage) these creatures are often polluted by reptiles when
scraping on a dunghill (comp. Lev. xi. 31). [Above article.]
(7) In the heathen religions of anterior Asia, on the contrary,
offerings of wild animals, and especially of deer, were common ; see
Movers, l.c. p. 53.
(8) With reference to the individual bodily imperfections, the
number of which amounted, according to Jewish tradition, to seventy-
three, see Bahr, l.c. ii. p. 297 ff.
(9) This, in the case of cattle, is especially expressed by the
addition of l^a'ja ; see Knobel on Lev. i. 5.
(10) Kimchi holds the opposite view. We cannot here go into
detailed discussion on the point; comp. Bochart's learned work on
biblical zoology, Hierozoicon, new edition by Rosenmuller, ii. 53 ; and
Knobel, in his Commentary to Lev. iv. 23.
(11) The relation which Hofmann and Delitzsch find in Gen.
xv. 9 between the choice of animals three years old and the duration
of the stay in Egypt, prophesied in ver. 16, may seem to be favoured
by the fact that, in Judg. vi. 25, the oxen seven years old seem to be
chosen with reference to the seven years of Midianitish bondage ; but
it does not agree with ver. 13, according to which the whole four
generations are to be reckoned in the time of service. [Above art.]

§ 124.] THE INGREDIENTS OF THE VEGETABLE OFFERINGS. 403
§124.
The Ingredients of the Vegetable Offerings. Salt in the Offerings.
The ingredients of the vegetable-offering, and particularly of the
Mincha, or meat-offering, were, according to the law in Lev. ii., —
1. Ears roasted by fire, rough, meal or groats from the fruitful field,
fruit, PDia (1), ver. 14 ; 2. Flour, tip (2), ver. 1,— to both of these
olive oil and incense were added (3), vers. 1, 15 f. ; 3. Unleavened
loaves or cakes, prepared from rip of three sorts (4), ver. 4 ff. Thus
the meat-offering was made of that which served as the common
•nourishment of man, and at the same time was produced by human
toil. Orchard fruits, such as almonds and pomegranates, which require
either no human care or only very little, are excluded; and with
this reason is perhaps combined the consideration that offerings were
to be no dainties, in contrast to the raisin-cakes jnot, as E. V., flagons
of wine} in the service of idols; comp. Hos. iii. 1. With reference
to every Mincha, it is rigidly enjoined (Lev. ii. 11) that the offering
may not be prepared with leaven, but must (compare ver. 4 f .) be
offered as nSD. This requisite of vegetable offerings seems to corre
spond to the faultlessness of animal sacrifices. Indeed, two kinds of
fermentation (r*?0) are forbidden, — firstly, with leaven ; and secondly,
with honey. The former certainly was used in the loaves of the first-
fruits (ii. 12, xxiii. 17), which represented the common nourishment
of the people, and likewise in the cakes of bread accompanying thank-
offerings (vii. 13) ; but none of these were offered on the altar —
the former fell to the share of the priests ; the latter were used at the
sacrificial feast (5). As to honey, it is disputed whether we are by
it to understand (according to the Rabbis, whom Bahr follows) grape
and date honey and fruit syrups in general, or (according to Philo, de
vict. offer. § 6, — where the prohibition is deduced from the uncleanness
of bees, — and most modern theologians) the honey of bees. Probably
the last-named is primarily meant, but there is no doubt that both
were excluded (6). The reason why leaven, although it was not un
clean, had a profaning effect (it was forbidden also among the Greeks
and Romans in sacrificial cakes, and among the latter to the Flamen
Dialis), is probably that the process of fermentation brought about

404 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 124.
by means of leaven was looked on as akin to corruption (7). The
effect of honey is similar to that of leaven, since it easily changes
into acid (8). Others (9) trace the prohibition of leaven to the fact
that it imparts to the bread a certain pleasantness of taste, while all
seasoning which is delightful to man is to be avoided in offerings ;
from similar reasons, viz. as a symbol of the delights of the world,
honey would be forbidden. Others, again, thought they saw a
symbol of arrogance and the like in leaven, because it raised the
bread. Salt was, according to Lev. ii. 13, essential to every meat-offering
(according to the LXX. en Lev. xxiv. 7 for the shewbread also).
It does not follow with certainty from the passage cited that salt was
prescribed also as an accompaniment to animal offerings, for the
closing words, " On every \3."\\> thou shalt offer salt," may from the
context be limited to the Mincha. At any rate, however, later usage
made use of salt in animal sacrifices (comp. Mark ix. 49, irdaa Bvaia
dXl dXiadrjaerai) at the burnt-offering (Ezek. xliii. 24 ; Josephus, Ant.
iii. 9. 1) (10) ; doubtless also at thank-offerings, which were combined
with meat-offerings. On the contrary, the use of salt at offerings of
atonement has not been hitherto distinctly proved (11). — The point
of view under which the use of salt with offerings is to be regarded
is not mainly that it makes the offering palatable. Salt, in virtue of
its power of seasoning and preventing putrefaction, is the symbol of
cleansing and purification as well as of durability. The latter meaning
is intended when it is said in Lev. ii. 13, " The salt of the covenant of
thy God," referring to the indestructible endurance of the covenant ;
and therefore a covenant regulation of God, which is for ever valid,
is called a covenant of salt (Num. xviii. 19 ; 2 Chron. xiii. 5). On the
other hand, Christ's words, Mark ix. 49, " Every one is salted with fire,
and every offering is salted with salt," refer to the former meaning,
for here the salt of the offering is paralleled with the purifying fire
of self-denial and trials necessary to every man (12).
(1) According to rabbinic tradition, bzna is here meant to signify
fresh, juicy ears.
(2) npb is probably the finest wheaten flour. Barley meal appears
only in the offering of jealousy, Num. v. 15.
(3) Incense was not sprinkled on the flour or groats, but was

§ 124.] THE INGREDIENTS OF THE VEGETABLE OFFERINGS. 405
added entire, to be burnt along with the handful taken from the
offering (comp. Bartenora on Mishna Menachoth i. 2). [Above art.]
(4) Viz. (a) Bread baked in the oven (T^n), — either nipn, perforated
cakes kneaded with oil, or B*i?*pn, thin flat cakes smeared with oil ;
(b) Bread prepared on a plate or shallow pan (nariD), — a kind of cake
kneaded with oil, which was turned out hard and crisp (see Rashi on
this passage), and was then broken in pieces, over which oil was
poured ; (c) Wheaten flour prepared with oil in the skillet, Twrrta (a
deep vessel, say the Rabbis), namely (see Rashi on this passage) per
ebullitionem — that is, cakes sodden in oil. [Above art.]
(5) So in 2 Chron. xxxi. 5 gifts of the first-fruits of honey are
mentioned. (6) A delineation of the Jewish cultus of offering was given by
Theophrastus in his work vepi evcrefielas. This work, as a whole,
is lost, but considerable fragments of it are preserved in the work of
Porphyrius, de abstinentia; these were published by Bernays, 1866.
There, among other things, it is maintained (comp. Bernays, p. 112)
that the Jews poured honey over the pieces which were to be burnt
on the altar. We do not know how Theophrastus fell into this and
other mistakes.
(7) Comp. Plutarch, quwst. rom. 109. — Leaven is therefore the
symbol of what is impure, of what corrupts morally (Luke xii. 1 ;
1 Cor. v. 6-8).
(8) Pliny notes this, hist. not. xi. 15 (45). In rabbinic usage,
c\3"in has on this account the meaning fermentescere, and then cor-
rumpi. (9) Thus Baur, in the Tubinger Zeitschr. 1832, Num. 1, p. 68 f. ;
and Neumann, in the deutschen Zeitschr. fur christi. Wissenschaft,
1'853, p. 334.
(10) Mishna Sebachim mentions salt only at the burnt-offerings of
birds, vii. 5, but remarks, § 6, that the offering still held good even if
the rubbing with salt was omitted.
(11) To the supplies in kind, which in later times fell to the
share of the temple, belonged especially salt (Ezra vi. 9, vii. 22),
which, as is clear from Josephus, Ant. xii. 3. 3, was used in large
quantities, and, among other purposes, to salt the skins of the beasts
sacrificed. See Mishna Middoth v. 2, in which passage a special
chamber for salt is mentioned, which was in the front court of the
temple [above art.]. See Carpzov, app. ant. p. 718, and the above-
cited article, p. 624, on the n*D11D n?D, to be used according to the
Talmud for the offerings.
(12) Nothing but wine was used for the drink-offering that went

406 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 125.
with the meat-offering. (The libation of water (1 Sam. vii. 6) is
probably to be interpreted as a ceremony of purification ; see O. v.
Gerlach on this passage, and another view in the commentary of
Thenius. On the libation of water at the feast of tabernacles, see §
156.) With reference to the wine, the law fixes nothing more than
the quantity to be used. Mishna Menachoth viii. 6, 7, on the con
trary, contains exact rules about the kinds to be chosen, about what
is to be observed with regard to the cultivation of the vineyard con
cerned, and about the age and preservation of the wine. [Above art.]

§125.
The Principle on which the Material of Offerings was fixed.
What is now the principle which lies at the root of these rules
as to the material of offerings? The following are the principal
views (1) : —
1. A first view holds that these rules were fixed with an eye to
the people's property. Thus Bahr (Symbolik, ii. p. 317) : " The
entire circle of all that -was offered in Israel was to be the entire
circle of that which is Israel's own — Israel's means of existence."
In fact (as was already indicated in § 120), if self-denial is an essen
tial feature in offerings, a real offering can be presented only of pro
perty ; to offer another's property, as Bahr rightly notes, is a contra-
dictio in adjecto (as in the case of St. Crispin). Itis.no argument
against this that, for example, the people, in their needy circumstances
after the exile, brought offerings from the largess which the Persian
king bestowed on them (Ezra vi. 9, comp. vii. 17, 22, etc.). From
the ordinances of Nehemiah (Neh. x. 33 ff.) it is nevertheless clear
that the people were well aware that it was their duty themselves to
provide what the ritual demanded. However, the notion of the
people's property is far too extensive to explain the material of offer
ings ; and even Bahr limits the point of view of property by calling
attention to the reference of the two main constituents of the offer
ings to the two material bases of the Hebrew state, — cattle-breeding
and agriculture, — a reference the meaning of which will appear
below. 2. According to a second view, the defining principle is that of
nourishment. Offerings are frequently called the bread of God ; and

§ 125.] PRINCIPLE QN WHICH MATERIAL OF OFFERINGS FIXED. 407
this name is applied to offerings in general (Lev. xxi. 6, 8, 17 ;
Num. xxviii. 2, 24 ; comp. Ezek. xliv. 7 ; Mal. i. 7), to the burnt-
offering and thank-offering together (Lev. xxii. 25), to the thank-
offering alone (Lev. iii. 11, 16), but the expression is never used of
sin-offerings in particular. According to the Mosaic idea of God, it
is not possible to understand this phrase of food offered for God's
nourishment (comp. § 112, with note 2), but only of a giving to God
of the people's nourishment (2). Even this point of view, however,
taken generally, goes too far, because not all the clean animals which
are allowed for food, and not nearly all that is eaten of the vegetable
kingdom, can be made use of as material for offering. The material
of offerings is, as already remarked, taken only from those clean
animals which have been got by rearing and cultivation, and which
form the ordinary stock of cattle, and from such produce of manual
labour in field and vineyard as serves as the common nourishment of
man. From this it is clear that the offerings are chosen with regard
to the ordinary nourishment earned by the people in their calling (3).
The people bring an offering to God of the food which they have
produced in the vocation ordained for them by God ; and thus they
sanctify their calling (4), and bring a testimony of the blessing which
God has given on the labour of their hands, Deut. xvi. 17.
3. On this conception, now, in the third place, that point of view
gets its due which Kurtz has asserted with good reason, and which
only must not, as Kurtz formerly did (das mosaische Opfer, 1842, p.
60), be taken as the actual principle of choice, viz. the psychico-
biotic rapport in which the offerer stands' to the gift presented. The
feature of self-denial essential to a real offering is particularly pro
minent in those gifts which are taken from what is produced by
man's regular daily toil, and at the same time from the best and
most precious part of such produce ; and it is quite specially an act
of self-denial to give the first-fruits of the herd and of the field, to
which the heart is wont to cling particularly. But what Philo points
out (de vict. § 1) has also a place in these considerations, viz. that
those animals are dedicated as sacrifices which are the most tame, the
best accustomed to man's hand, or, if you will, the most innocent —
which surrender themselves most patiently to slaughter. Consider
the patient lamb in Isa. liii. 7.

408 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 125.
After the foregoing remarks, the provisions about the material of
offerings, in reference to what they include and exclude, require no
further elucidation. There is just one more question, viz. What
meaning attaches to the oil and the incense along with the meat
offerings ? As to the latter, there is no doubt that, as the offering of
incense is not merely to serve to produce a sweet odour, but is the
symbol of prayer ascending to God, and well-pleasing in His sight
(comp. Ps. cxli. 2) (5), so also the incense along with the Mincha is
to serve to imprint more definitely on the offering the character of a
vehicle of prayer. It is disputed, on the contrary, whether the oil,
like the incense and the salt, is simply a supplement to the Mincha
(thus Kurtz in particular), — namely, an unction indicating (because
oil in the Old Testament appears as the symbol of the communication
of the Spirit) that only such labour is well-pleasing to God as is con
secrated by the Divine Spirit, that only those gifts should be brought
to Him which are produced by such toil, — or whether (so Bahr) the
oil in the offering is co-ordinate with the grain and the wine, and thus
is not a mere accompaniment, but an independent constituent of the
gift — as indeed oil is frequently specified in the Old Testament, along
with corn and wine, among the chief productions of Palestine (6). The
co-ordination of the oil and the incense in Lev. ii. 1, 15, as well as
the circumstance that the oil, with the incense, was omitted in the
meat-offering for sin and jealousy (Lev. v. 11 and Num. v. 15),
seem to speak for Kurtz's view. On the other hand, the law in
Num. xv., where the provisions as to the quantity of oil to be used
are quite co-ordinate with the quantities of wine in the drink-offering,
speaks for the second view. The omission of the oil, which makes
food savoury, in the offerings of sin and jealousy is also explicable on
the second view : these offerings were to be of a gloomy character,
and therefore in them the libation of wine was also omitted ; and in
the offering of jealousy a less valuable kind of flour was used (7).
(1) The rabbinic views, as collected by Surenhusius in his pre
face to Mishna Sebachim, deserve no consideration (comp. also the
article cited above, p. 625).
(2) Hence, as Neumann, l.c. p. 332, rightly reminds us, we may
not reject this principle from fear of anthropopathic misuse of it.

§ 126.] THE RITUAL OF ANIMAL SACRIFICE. 409
(3) Because Israel is not to be a people of hunters, no offering of
game is commanded.
(4) Compare Keil, Handb. der bibl. Archaologie, i. p. 198 ff.
(5) Ps. cxli. 2 : " Let my prayer come before Thee as incense ;
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening Mincha."
(6) See Kurtz, das mos. Opfer, p. 101, and alttest. Opferkultus, p.
246 f. ; Bahr, l.c. pp. 302, 316.
(7) On the contrary, the parallel drawn by Bahr between the oil
of the meat-offering and the fat of animal sacrifices has been rejected
by Kurtz with good reason (das mos. Opfer, p. 94). [Above art.]

2. THE RITUAL OF SACRIFICE.*
§ 126.
The Ritual of Animal Sacrifice : Presentation at the Altar; Laying on
of Hands ; Slaughter.
The parts that make up the action of offering, and first of animal
sacrifice, are in general — 1. The presentation of the animal to be
sacrificed before the altar ; 2. The laying on of hands ; 3. Killing ;
4. Sprinkling of the blood ; 5. Burning on the altar (1).
1. The consecration of the offerer, accomplished by avoiding all
Levitical defilement, and by washing, preceded the sacrificial festival
(see 1 Sam. xvi. 5, comp. Philo, de vict. off. § 1). On this.the offerer
had in person to bring the animal selected to the entrance of the
tabernacle, Lev. i. 3, iv. 4, where stood the altar of burnt sacrifice
(Ex. xl. 6). The term for this is, in Lev. iv. 4 and other passages, S*an}
distinguished from a*npn, which designates the proper presentation of
offerings on the altar, i. 3 ; comp. especially xvii. 4 f., 9 (2).
2. Then the offerer (if there was more than one, comp. e.g. Ex.
xxix. 10, one after the other) laid, or more correctly pressed firmly,
his hand on the head of the sacrificial animal (Lev. i. 4, iii. 2, iv. 4,
etc.) (3). The term VT ^»D here used properly means to prop or
lean the, hand ; according to the Rabbis, the hands were to be laid
on with the whole bodily strength (nb P33, Maimonides). Doubtless
the utterance of some declaration as to the destination of the offering
presented (petition, confession, thanks, etc.) was connected with the
laying on of hands, or Semikha (4). The signification of the laying

410 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 126.
on of hands is not merely (as has often been said, see Knobel on
Lev. i. 4) to express in general that thereby the beast to be sacrificed
is removed from the power and possession of him who makes the
offering, and devoted to God ; but (comp. Hofmann in the Schrift-
beweis, ii. 1, ed. 1, p. 155 ; ed. 2, p. 246) the laying on of hands, occur
ring also at the dedication of the Levites, Num. viii. 10 (comp. § 94),
is, as is expressed by letting the hand down on the head, the dedication
of that which the acting person awards to the other in virtue of the
fulness of power that he possesses over it. The offerer, by the laying
on of his hands, appoints the animal to be for him a medium and
vehicle for atonement, thanks, or supplication, according to the designa
tion of the offering with which at the time he now wishes to appear
before God. The laying on of hands must not be limited to the
imputation of sin (as is frequently done) (5).
3. The slaughtering of the beast of sacrifice (ttnE>, the term " to
kill," is never used) follows immediately on the laying on of hands,
and, as the law presupposes throughout, is executed at private offer
ings by the offerer himself. True, it lay in the nature of the case
that at this act the assistance of another had to be called in ; but the
slaughtering of private offerings was in no case a specific business of
the priests, as has often been assumed (already by Philo, de vict. § 5).
(The reason of the exception in offerings of doves will be mentioned
below.) But at those sacrifices which formed the standing service at
the offerings for the cleansing of lepers (Lev. xiv. 13, 25), as well as
at the sacrifices offered for the whole nation (comp. 2 Chron. xxix.
22, 24), the slaughtering was the business of the priests, who were
probably assisted by the Levites (comp. ver. 34) (6).
For burnt sacrifices, sin-offerings, and trespass-offerings, the place
of slaughtering was on the north side of the altar (Lev. i. 11, iv. 24,
29, 33, vi. 18, xiv. 13) (7). A thank-offering might, it appears, be
slaughtered at other places in the court (8). Ewald (Alter thumer, ed.
1, p. 46 ; ed. 2, p. 59) would see in the choice of the north side
a remnant of the ancient belief that the Divinity dwelt either in the
east or the north, and came from thence ; but that the slaughtering
of the sacrifice has also the meaning of a presentation before God has
yet to be proved. We might rather say, with Tholuck (Das Alte Testa
ment im Neuen, ed. 3, p. 91), that the north side is chosen for slaughter-

§ 126.] THE RITUAL OF ANIMAL SACRIFICE. 411
ing the offering because it is dark, and therefore cheerless. The law
makes no provisions for the manner of slaughtering ; tradition, how
ever, is all the more explicit on this account, and aims mainly at the
speediest and most complete way of obtaining the blood (9). On this
principle, too (as Bahr, l.c. p. 343, has rightly discerned), we are to
explain the manner of procedure prescribed for the offering of
pigeons, Lev. i. 15 — namely, that the priest himself must wring off
the head of the bird, in order to be able to press out the blood on the
spot (10). — In the Mosaic ritual, the slaughtering of the offering has
apparently no independent significance ; it only serves as a means of
obtaining the blood. It is at least not indicated in the law of offering
that what the offerer deserved as a sinner is executed on the animal
when it is slaughtered, and that thus the death of the sacrifice satisfies
the divine punitive justice. Though much that is beautiful can be
said about the connection of the idea of a pwna vicaria with the
offering (as the later Jewish theology lays great emphasis on this idea),
nothing can be adduced for it from the sacrificial laws. Certainly
the act of slaughter, if it was to represent the punishment of death
deserved by the offerer — if the shedding of the blood under the
sacrificial knife was an act of real expiation, must have been more
prominently set forth, and the act of slaughter must unquestionably
have been assigned not to the offerer of the sacrifice, but to the priest,
as the representative of the punishing God. Or shall God appear as
a judge, who commands the transgressor to execute himself with the
sword ? (H). Besides, if the slaughter were really an act of atone
ment, it would'prpbably take place on the altar itself, and not by its
side. The act of atonement at the offering, with which the specific
priestly functions begin, commences not with the shedding of blood,
but with the use of the shed blood.
(] ) Those ceremonies which are peculiar to some kinds of offer
ings are most suitably spoken of in the discussion of these.
(2) At this presentation, doubtless, the priest examined whether
the condition of the animal corresponded to the sacrificial regulations.
(3) According to Mishna Menachoth ix. 8, both hands, for which
the Rabbis refer to Lev. xvi. 21.
(4) The formulae handed down by the Rabbis (comp. Outram, de
sacrificiis, p. 156 ff.) are nevertheless, without doubt, of a later origin.

412 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 126.
Jewish tradition says (see Outram, p. 152) that the laying on of
hands took place at all private- offerings, with exception of the first-
fruits, the tithes, and the paschal lamb, but it is declared to be un
necessary at the sacrifice of birds. When the law in Lev. vii. omits
to mention the laying on of hands at trespass-offerings, this is probably
only because the description is curtailed, ver. 7 referring back to the
sin-offering. Of the sacrifices offered for the congregation, the
laying on of hands is mentioned only at the sin-offering, iv. 15,
according to which it was to be accomplished by the elders ; and in
xvi. 21, with which comp. 2 Chron. xxix. 23. Tradition (comp.
Menachoth ix. 7) says that the practice was actually limited to these
cases. The provisions of the law, according to which the person who
offered, and not the priest, except when the offerer was the priest, had
to undertake the act of laying on of hands, is, with right, emphati
cally urged by Jewish tradition. No one could cause his servant, or
his wife, or any one else, to take his place here ; only, when a dead
person had vowed to give an offering, the heir was allowed to be his
substitute (Outram, l.c. p. 153). Women, children, blind, deaf, and
insane persons are designated in Menachoth ix. 8 as incapacitated from
performing this function [above art.]. — These traditional provisions
show that it is a point in this laying on of the hand that the act be
performed with full consciousness of its meaning.
(5) When Ewald (Alterthumer des Volkes Israel, ed. 1, p. 45 ; ed
3, p. 58) represents the laying on of hands, this dedicatory sign "of
highest power and exertion," at the offering as characterizing the
sacred moment when the offerer, " on the point of beginning the
sacred act, himself laid down all the feelings which must now rush
on him in full fervour on the head of the creature, the blood of which
was presently to flow for him, and as it were to appear before God
for him," he has certainly rightly caught the meaning of the ancient
ceremony. [Above art.]
(6) On this point see especially Lund, jiidische Heiligthilmer, p.
579 f.
(7) See the Jewish views on the compass of this region in Ugolino,
altare exterius, in Thesaur. x. 518.
(8) See the statements of the Mishna in the above-cited article,
p. 628. (9) See Outram, l.c. p. 162. — The difference still subsisting be
tween Jewish butchery and the mode of procedure generally practised
in slaughtering animals refers to this.
(10) On the word P?B, see Knobel on Lev. i. 15 ; according to
Mishna Sebachim iv. § 4, the head was not to be separated from the

§ 127.] THE USE MADE OF THE SHED BLOOD. 413
body of the pigeon in the sin-offering, which is, on the contrary, pre
scribed (§5) for burnt-offerings of doves. [Above art.]
(11) Comp. Keil's judicious remarks, luth. Zeitschr. 1857, p. 57.

§127.
Continuation : The Use made of the Shed Blood.
4. The streaming blood of the slaughtered animal was caught at
once by a priest (1) in a basin, and — see Sheringham on Mishna Joma
iv. 3 — was stirred incessantly to prevent it from clotting (2). The
manipulation of the blood which followed differed according to the
various kinds of offerings, that is, according to the degree in which
the element of atonement was connected with the sacrifice. The
lowest grade, in the case of burnt-offerings, trespass-offerings, and
thank-offerings (Lev. i. 5, vii. 2, iii. 13, etc.), consisted in sprinkling,
or rather swinging, the blood round the altar (^ap nstarrpy) (whilst,
at least according to Philo, de vict. § 5, the priest walked round it).
The term P1J, used for this operation, is different from njn ; only the
latter was done with the finger ; the npT*nt, on the contrary, was done
directly out of the basin (3). The law seems to demand that at the
np*"iT the whole supply of blood be used (4). — On the contrary, at
sin-offerings a higher grade of manipulation of the blood took place,
consisting in bringing the blood to special sanctified places, according
to the dignity of the sin-offering. In the first grade of sin-offering,
part of the blood had to be put on the horns of the altar of burnt-
offering (inj, Lev. iv. 30, 34) ; in the second, the blood was brought
into the holy place, and part of it was sprinkled or squirted (njn? iv.
6, 17) seven times towards the inner curtain, and put on the horns of
the altar of incense. In both cases the remaining quantity of blood
was to be poured out Q\%®) at the foot of the altar of burnt-offerings.
But in the highest grade of sin-offering, the blood was brought into
the holiest of all, and the Kapporeth was sprinkled with it (5). — The
interpretation of this use of the blood must proceed from the passage
Lev. xvii. 11, where the prohibition to use blood is based on the
following declaration : — " For the soul of the flesh is in the blood, and
I have given it to you on the altar to atone for (properly to cover)

414 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 127.
your souls (B3*nfe>ar?y 1S3P) ; for the blood expiates by the soul
(P'aaa) — that is, by means of, in virtue of this, that the soul is
in it " (6). The main sense is not changed if we take the other
possible view of the construction, and assuming a use of Beth essentiw,
interpret, " in the quality of the soul ; " but in this case B'BJa (without
the article) must be read. On the contrary, the explanation " the
blood atones for the soul," or " is an atonement for the soul " (LXX. :
dvrl -^w%)js ifjiXdaerai ; so E. V. and Luther), is to be rejected ; for,
not to speak of the tautology thus introduced into the passage, the thing
to be atoned for, or more literally to be covered, is always connected
with 163 by the prepositions by or Tya, or rarely in the accusative (7).
This connection of the soul and the blood is in ver. 14 expressed
thus : " The soul of all flesh is itJ>BJ3 Sm," that is, " its blood in its
soul," — its blood in as far as it has the property of the Gy'BJ, its ani
mated blood. (iB'Wa is to be taken as in Gen. ix. 4.) Knobel is
probably right when he says : " The addition of SWBi3 serves to define
B'J more distinctly, in order that we may not hold the matter of the
blood in itself to be the life, e.g. not also clotted and dried blood, from
which the S^BJ has disappeared." For the manipulation of the blood
must not be understood as the employment of what once was the life
of the animal to sprinkle the holy places, — a view by which an alto
gether foreign idea would be imported into the passage. As in the
Old Testament living water and living flesh (in contrast to boiled,
1 Sam. ii. 15) are spoken of, so, and even more correctly, can fresh,
reeking blood, still in the act of flowing, be regarded as blood which
still has life in itself, is still linked with the soul. The passage means
to say, that in the still fresh blood of the sacrifice which is put on the
altar the soul of the animal is presented for the soul of man, to atone
for, more exactly to cover, the latter. The terms 163, with the sub
stantives 163, B*1B3, used to express the notion of atonement, denote
expiation as a covering ; the guilt is to be covered — withdrawn, so to
speak — from the gaze of Him who is reconciled by the atonement, so
that the guilty one can now approach Him without danger. In
explanation of this, comp. especially passages such as Ex. xxx. 12
(Num. viii. 19), but in particular Num. xvii. 11 (8), etc. On the
same view rests the converse expression — to cover the face of the
adversary who is to be conciliated by a gift, Gen. xxxii. 21 (163

§ 127.] THE USE MADE OF THE SHED BLOOD. 415
'a *3B) ; comp., in xx. 16, the corresponding expression B*3*y niD3 (see
other cognate terms adduced by Knobel on this passage). Thus, too,
a bribe given to a judge by an accused person is called IBS, a covering,
because (1 Sam. xii. 3) the eyes of the judge were thereby veiled.
To the sinful people God appears as the covering One, Deut. xxi. 8 ;
Jer. xviii. 23 ; Mic. vii. 19 (9). In the language of sacrifice, the
priest, as the mediator between God and the people, is in general desig
nated as he who covers or expiates, Lev. v. 26 (nin* *JB? jnbn i*py nsDl
\b npp31), x. 17, xv. 15 and 30. That by which a trespass is covered
can only be something by which he against whom man has offended
is satisfied. Thus IBS passes over into the meaning of Xvrpov, the
payment which buys a debtor free ; thus Ex. xxi. 30 (where i£>B3 1*16
corresponds to it) ; Num. xxxv. 31 ; comp. also Prov. vi. 35, xiii.
8 (10). The Xvrpov paid must naturally stand in a suitable propor
tion to the guilt to be redeemed ; still the notion of equivalency does
not necessarily lie in 1B3. The gift by which a man covers himself
must only be of such a sort as to be fit to appease the person to whom
compensation is due. 1B3 forms a contrast to punishment, but in
some cases not an absolute contrast. Lighter punishment may be ' a
covering against heavier, as in the case of the money-fine, Ex. xxi.
30 ; to this Isa. xxvii. 9 also belongs, where the lighter punishment,
which has a -purifying effect, serves to cover or atone, in contrast to
the heavy punishment of extermination ; comp. also the IBS in Job
xxxiii. 24. Further, the punishment which falls on one man may
benefit another as his IBS, and that in various ways. The punishment
of death executed on a manslayer furnishes a covering for the land
which has been desecrated by the crime of blood, Num. xxxv. 33 ; and
the example of punishment executed on a guilty person covers the
people who are involved in connection with this crime and suffer
thereby, xxv. 13 (comp. Josh. vii. for a case in point). In a manner,
Prov. xxi. 18 also belongs to this : " The wicked shall be a covering
(1B3) for the righteous, and the transgressor comes in the place of the
upright ; " by the divine judgment falling on the wicked man, that is
(comp. xi. 8), by God's judgment being spent on the wicked man, the
righteous man is freed and saved. But even the thought that per
haps a righteous man may purchase forgiveness for the people by
taking their punishment is not unknown to the Pentateuch ; see Ex.

416 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 127.
xxxii. 32, and what has already (§ 29, with note 3) been said about
this passage ; only that Jehovah (ver. 33) does not accept this atone
ment for which Moses offers himself.
Now in what sense shall the soul of the animal presented in the
blood in the sacrifice serve as a covering for the soul of man ? Gene
rally speaking, by man placing the soul of the pure, innocent sacrificial
animal between himself and God, because he is unable to approach
God immediately on account of his sinfulness and impurity ; as Jacob,
wishing to reconcile his heavily-injured brother Esau, sends the IBS
before him. More particularly, however, the question arises, Is the
way in which the beast sacrificed comes in for the guilty person to be
regarded as vicarious punishment ? — in other words, Can the soul of
the animal become a substitute for the soul of sinful man, because it has
first by death paid the penalty which the latter should have borne,
so that here the jus talionis, " soul for soul," Ex. xxi. 33, comes into
play ? — In the ritual law of the Old Testament there is, apart from
sacrifice, a ceremony in which certainly the idea of the pwna vicaria
is expressed — namely, Deut. xxi. 1-9, the ceremony which was ordained
in the case of a manslayer remaining unknown. Evidently the
punishment of death incurred by the manslayer is executed symboli
cally on the heifer, the neck of which is broken in a brook (11).
With reference to sacrifice, the notion of vicarious punishment cer
tainly does not admit of being confuted by the common objection,
that the soul of the sacrificial animal, laden with the curse of the
sinner, might not be laid upon the altar, upon which nothing may be
laid but what is clean and well-pleasing to God. For to this objection
we may reply, with Kurtz, that after the guilt of sin is wiped off by
death, the wages of sin, a restitutio in integrum ensues, in virtue
whereof the blood, which has passed through death, is to be viewed as
pure and free from guilt (12). But if, in conformity with this view, the
offering of the blood on the altar is only to signify the divine accept
ance of the atonement completed in the death of the sacrifice, it still
remains unexplained why, in the ritual of sacrifice, it is not the act of
slaughter by which the guilt is carried away, but the act of presenting
the blood on the altar that is designated the act of atonement (comp.
the remarks in § 126). The law, in giving no special meaning at all
to the slaughtering, certainly leaves room for reflections, like those of

§ 127.] THE USE MADE OF THE SHED BLOOD. 417
Bahr (l.c. p. 211) and others, that every gift to God presupposes the
offering up of the natural life ; or for the common view, which recom
mends itself by its easy intelligibility, that a punishment is symbolically
executed in the slaughtering (13). But the law nowhere indicates that
in sacrifice, as in the Cherem, an act of punitive punishment is executed;
it in no way asks us to look on the altar as a place of execution. He
who has malevolently committed trespass against the covenant God
and His laws falls without mercy under the divine punitive justice;
but on this account there is no more sacrifice for him. The Mosaic
cultus is a divine ordinance of grace for the congregation, which,
though it does indeed sin in its weakness, yet seeks the divine coun
tenance. For this congregation the approach to God is to be made
possible by God giving it in the cultus means of covering sin which
are well-pleasing to Him, the Holy One, JiXiP (as the expression so
often runs). Thus the sanctuary itself, for which the 1B3, paid by
the people at their numbering, is used, is, Ex. xxx. 16, a Jil3? before
Jehovah, serving as a covering for the souls of the people (~b}> 1S3?
B3*nBiS3). Where, then, is there room in this case for a pwna vicaria ?
So, as already shown (§ 92), the priesthood with its ordinances steps
in between the people and Jehovah as a covering ; though both the
places of worship and the personnel of worship, it is true, require in
turn to be themselves continually cleansed and atoned for, as it is the
peculiarity of the institutions of the Mosaic cultus generally that the
great number of ordinances, each requiring to be supplemented by the
others, points to the inadequacy of the whole, and makes the need of
a complete and true atonement to be felt (comp. § 96). But it can
only be the soul which really covers and atones for the soul. Man
can embody his thanks and requests in a gift ; but this gift, as the gjft
of an impure and sinful person, is itself impure — it can please God
only as the gift of one who has given himself up to Him. God has
therefore ordained something in the ritual which represents this self-
surrender ; he has put the soul of the clean and guiltless animal
which is presented to Him in the blood of the offering in the place of
the impure and sinful soul of the offerer, and this pure soul, coming
between the offerer and the Holy God, lets Him see at His altar a pure
life, through which the impure life of the offerer is covered (14) ; and
in the same way this pure element serves to cover the pollutions
A'OL. I. 2d

418 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 127.
clinging to the sanctuary, and to do away with them. That is the
Old Testament type for the word, Heb. ix. 14 (o? Bid rrvevfiaro<i alcoviov
rrpoG-ffveyicev eavrbv dfiw/iov ra> ®ea>). — The blood of sacrifice has thus
a quite specific meaning. It is not, with Schultz, to be looked upon
merely as the most noble gift dedicated to God, but it is that which
alone makes God's acceptance of all gifts possible, since in it the self-
sacrifice of the offerer is vicariously accomplished. Because man's
incapability to enter immediately into communion with God appears
afresh at every offering, therefore every complete offering must be
preceded by the covering of the atonement of blood, and therefore this
is conditio sine qua non of the presentation of a gift even in the thank-
offering. Where, on the contrary, the whole act of sacrifice aims
at atonement, the manipulation of blood takes place in a higher
degree (15).
(1) Executed by another, the operation did not hold good, Mishna
Sebachim ii. 1.
(2) Tradition ordained that the basin should be pointed below, so
that the priest could not set it down anywhere. — There is no other
mention made of mixing the blood of the sacrifice with water, as
Heb. ix. 19 assumes to have been done in the covenant sacrifice; see
Delitzsch on this passage. [Above art.]
(3) See more particulars as to Jewish tradition in the above-cited
article, p. 629.
(4) Later tradition commanded that what of the blood remained
over should be poured out at the foot of the altar, into one of the two
pipes which were at its south-west corner, through which it then ran
off into the Kedron. [Above art.]
(5) Comp. the laws Lev. iv. and xvi. Particulars on this point
in the doctrine of the sin-offering, § 139 ff.
(6) Thus 163 stands with the Beth instrumenti, Lev. vii. 7 ; Ex.
xxix. 33 ; Num. v. 8 ; 2 Sam. xxi. 3.
(7) In tyTpa, Lev. vi. 23, xvi. 27, a is to be taken locally.
(8) According to Ex. xxx. 12, the Israelite, when the people were
numbered, had to cover himself by means of a sum of monev, in
order that no plague might come upon him when he presented him
self before the Holy God. — In Num. xvii. 11 it is the incensing,
which symbolizes the priestly intercession, that comes between the
divine wrath (*$£) and the people, and by covering the latter arrests
the progress of the plague. [Above art.]

§ 128.] BURNING THE OFFERING. 419
(9) In Mic. vii. 19, forgiveness of sins on the part of God is
called a casting of sin into the depths of the sea. — Elsewhere it is
also expressed by nsa.
(10) In Prov. xiii. 8, it is said that to the rich man his wealth is
it?'a3P isa, a covering for his soul, because with its help he is able to
redeem himself from danger.
(11) Comp. Delitzsch, Komment. zum Hebraerbrief, p. 742 f. ;
and see § 143, 2.
(12) What Keil, bibl. Archaol. i. p. 213, adduces against this
argument can hardly be regarded as decisive. [Above art.]
* (13) This is already indicated in Isa. liii., and is set forth de
finitely in the later Jewish ritual; comp. Outram, p. 159. See, too,
Delitzsch, l.c. p. 738 f. [Above art.]
(14) We cannot reasonably say that in this case the divine
punitive justice terminates in nothing ; on the contrary, that justice
is honoured when he who makes the offering declares that he is in
want of a covering before the Holy God, and thereby acknowledges
himself as one who, though sinning in weakness, is exposed to the
divine judgment. [Article, " Ver sbhnung stag."]
(15) What is here discussed in a general way will find its special
application when we speak of the sin-offering, and, in particular, of
the day of atonement (§ 139 ff.). §128.
Continuation : Burning the Offering.
5. When the manipulation of the blood was completed, the
burning of the offering followed (1). In the burnt-offering, all the
flesh and the fat pieces were consumed after those parts had been
washed which required cleansing (Lev. i. 7-9) ; in the other offer
ings, only the fat pieces (2). — As to the meaning of the burning,
there is neither in the ritual of sacrifice nor otherwise in the
Old Testament, any support whatever for the view, still defended,
especially by Hengstenberg, according to which this ceremony shows
that sin is not expiated by death, but that there is still a punishment
impending after death — namely, that of hell-fire, the symbol whereof
is the fire of the altar. The true point of the burning on the altar
is already clear from the fact that not the term K&, which designates
destructive burning* is used for it (comp. on the contrary, Lev. iv. 12,

420 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 128.
xvi. 27), but always Tt?pn (Lev. i. 9, 13, 17 ; also of the sin-offering,
iv. 10, 19, etc.), which literally means "to cause to smoke or steam"
— that is, to cause to ascend in smoke and vapour. The burning of
the offering does certainly complete the surrender of it on the part of
the offerer, and for him the gift is destroyed, but only in such a
way that at the same time the acceptance of the gift on the part of
God ensues — an odour, which is well-pleasing to God, being produced
as the smoke and vapour of the burnt-offering, " the real essence " of
the offering (as Kurtz, das mosaische Opfer, p. 91, well expresses
himself), rises upwards, so that He is thus made to enjoy the offering,
which is what is meant by the regularly-recurring formula, n*T ntps
nin*? nh*J (Lev. i. 9, 13, 17). How could the vapour of the offering
be so called if the fire of the altar were a fire of punishment, and the
burning offering the symbol of those burning in hell ? (This view
is truly hideous.) A symbolic interpretation of the expression is
required by the Mosaic idea of God, in accordance with which a
sensuous enjoyment on the part of God cannot be spoken of (3).
But the fire' which consumes the offering is originally one that
comes from God, because by it God appropriates the offering (Lev.
ix. 24; comp. from later times, Judg. vi. 21; 1 Kings xiii. 38;
1 Chron. xxi. 26 ; 2 Chron. vii. 1). It is never to go out on the
altar, but must be continually nourished by the burnt-offering and
the fat of the peace-offering, Lev. vi. 5 f . (12 f.) ; and this regulation
does not simply mean that the fire of the offering must always be
ready, but is meant to preserve the identity of the fire on the altar
with the original heavenly fire, and represent at the same time the
unbroken course of the adoration of Jehovah carried on in sacrifice.
All fire for the offerings of incense had to be taken from this sacred
fire on the altar of burnt-offerings, — a thing which is not, indeed,
expressly commanded in the law, but was set forth practically by the
heavy punishment inflicted on the sons of Aaron, who approached the
Lord in the offering of incense with strange fire (Lev. x.). This
heaven-born fire is the symbol of the divine holiness which reveals
itself in Israel. That God accepts every offered gift only by means of
the element which proceeds directly from Him, is intended to teach
that every sacrifice which man makes to God is made perfect only by
being taken up into the purifying, sanctifying element of divine life

§ 129.] RITUAL OF THE MEAT-OFFERING. 421
(comp. Mark ix. 49). The latter, indeed, becomes (Lev. x. 2) a con
suming fire for those who approach the Holy One in a profane spirit.
Thus it is clear how the hearth of God (Isa. xxxi. 9 ; Ariel, Ezek.
xliii. 15 f.) is not merely symbolic of the way in which God sanctifies
His people, but also of His punitive justice, which annihilates all that
resists Him. In this sense Isa. xxxiii. 14 says : " The sinners in
Zion are afraid ; fearf ulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who
among us shall dwell with the devouring fire 1 who among us shall
dwell with everlasting burnings ? " (Comp., too, Isa. x. 17, and § 48
on this passage; Mal. iii. 19.)
(1) But first the offerer had to take off the skin of the animal,
and to divide it "into its pieces " (Lev. i. 6, viii. 20) ; that is, not to
hack it into rude lumps, but to dissect it properly. The inspection of
the intestines, which constituted an essential part of the sacrificial
transaction among many ancient nations, especially the Phoenicians
(comp. Movers, das Opferwesen der Karthager, p. 65), is entirely
banished from the Mosaic cultus. [Article, u Opferkultus des A. T."]
(2) The way in which the rest of the flesh of these was used, see
infra, under the various kinds of offerings, § 132 ff.
(3) Even on the Homeric view, it is not the pleasure of enjoying
the vapour of the offering in itself, but the readiness of man to honour
God with this enjoyment, which makes the offering acceptable ;
comp. Nagelsbach, homer. Theol. ed. 1, p. 304 ; ed. 2, p. 352.

§129.
Ritual of the Meat- Offering.
The ritual of the meat-offering was very simple. At those meat
offerings which accompanied the burnt -offerings presented for the
congregation, it is probable — there is no certain command — that the
whole quantity of flour, oil, and incense was burnt on the altar (1).
At free-will meat-offerings (comp. Lev. ii. and vi. 7 ff.), the offerer
brought the material to the priest, who took a handful of the flour
and oil (top S?r?, ii. 2, comp. vi. 8), together with the whole of the
incense and burned it on the altar (2). The name for the portion of
the meat-offering which was placed on the altar, as well as for the
incense laid on the shewbread (Lev. xxiv. 7), is n-;3'S, which is inter-

422 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 129.
preted most plausibly by the LXX. fivr\fioovvov (Vulgate, memoriale),
and thus expresses that the odour of the meat-offering, when burnt,
was to bring the 'offerer into God's gracious remembrance; as, on the
contrary, the offering of jealousy, Num. v. 15, is called niatD )i")3t nrua
|iy, which brings sin to remembrance (3). The meat-offerings accom
panying peace-offerings will be treated of along with these. — The
law makes no provisions about the manner of procedure in the
drinkroffering. According to Sir. 1. 15 (17), the wine was poured
out at the foot of the altar ; according to Josephus, Ant. iii. 9. 4,
round the altar (and this, say the Rabbis, after it had first been
salted). The libation, as is probable a priori, is said to have been the
last act of the offering (4).
(1) See Keil, Archdologie, i. p. 255 f. ; Winer, Reallexikon, ed. 3,
ii. p. 494. The latter assumes that the meat-offerings mentioned in
Lev. xiv. 20 f., Num. vi. 15 ff., viii. 8 ff., were also completely con
sumed on the altar. In the law, on the contrary, this is expressly
prescribed only for the priestly Mincha, Lev. vi. 16 (comp. § 95),
which was a matter of course, since the person who made the offering
was not to partake of his own Mincha.
(2) The term pop does not at all denote, as the Rabbis understood
it, a very small portion (viz. such a handful that the extremities of
the fingers lay on the palm of the hand; see Hottinger, jus hebr. p.
182), but means a good handful (comp. B*SDj?P, Gen. xii. 47). — How
great a part was taken from what was baked or roasted is not said.
[Above art.]
(3) Bahr's explanation of the nnsrx (l.c. i. p. 411, ii. p. 328) by
" praise " is supported by the phrase nin* de> T3?n, but does not agree*
well with Lev. v. 12, Num. v. 26 ; Knobel's rendering — remem
brance = gift, tribute — cannot adduce proof for the use of 13* which
it assumes ; Ewald's interpretation — odour — is quite destitute of lin
guistic proof. — The remainder of the Mincha fell to the priests, and
was to be consumed in the front court as a thing most holy — of course
after the flour mingled with oil had been baked without leaven (Lev.
ii. 3, 10, vi. 9 f., vii. 6 f.). [Above art.]
(4) See Lund, l.c. p. 596, where there are more particulars.

§ 130-1 VARIOUS KINDS OF OFFERINGS. 423
3. ON THE VARIOUS KINDS OF OFFERINGS WITH REFERENCE TO
THEIR PURPOSE.
§130.
Various Kinds of Offerings as thus distinguished.
The law of offering distinguishes, with reference to their destina
tion and purpose, four kinds of offerings, — burnt, peace, sin, and tres
pass offerings. The laws in Lev. i.-iii. refer to the two first kinds,
which are traced to one divine direction, i. 1 (" and Jehovah called
to Moses, and said to him," etc.) ; between the two the directions for
meat-offerings are inserted, because these stood in connection with
the animal-offerings in question (comp. Num. xv. 3 ff.). They stand,
however, in closer connection with the burnt-offering, and therefore
follow immediately on it. In chap. iv. f. (again in close connection,
but traced to various divine disclosures, iv. 1, v. 14, 20) follow those
species of offerings newly introduced by the Mosaic ritual, the sin-
offering (up to v. 13) and the trespass-offering. — By this grouping
we are led to refer the four kinds of offerings to two higher classes, —
those which assume that the covenant relation is on the whole undis
turbed, and those that are meant to do away with a disturbance
which has entered into this relation, and again to restore the right
relation (of the people or of separate individuals) to God. The
latter are offerings of atonement, under which name we may compre
hend both sin- and trespass-offerings. If several offerings were to
be presented at the same time, the offerings of atonement generally
preceded the burnt-offerings, and on the latter the peace-offerings
followed. In respect of rank (1), the offering of atonement, as
D*BHpT EHJP, a thing most holy (vi. 18, 22, vii. 1, 6, etc.), stands higher
than the peace-offering, which, like presented first-fruits, is expressly
called simply K'lp, a holy thing. But since the meat-offerings also
are called most holy (ii. 3,' 10, vi. 10, x. 12), the designation B>1p
B*B>1£ is probably omitted only by accident in speaking of the burnt-
offering, which certainly was an offering of high rank. The distinc
tion is clearly connected with the use of the offering. Offerings at
which the man who brings the offering obtains a part to partake of
himself are merely holy, and so offerings of the second grade ; while,

424 THE COVENANT. OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 131.
on the contrary, those entirely withdrawn from man's use, or such
that the priests alone were allowed to enjoy them, were most holy
(therefore this designation is used also of the shewbread). It is ex
plained by what has been said, that in the enumeration of the kinds
of offerings in Lev. vii. 37 (2), the thank-offering stands last. The
B'SIPD there mentioned, the offering at the dedication of the priests,
which has already been treated of under the consecration of the
priests (§ 95), was a modified thank-offering.
(1) The ritual (§ 127) already points to a difference of rank
among the offerings, by the differences in the manipulation of the
blood. (2) Lev. vii. 37 : B*E&B>n nafa b*si?e6i bb>'k$>i nserfo nrats^ rhSyb.

(a) THE BURNT-OFFERING. §131.
The common name of the burnt-offering, n?y, is not, with Ewald,
to be derived from a stem, Piy, which he supposes to signify to glow,
to burn (Arabic, Jlc) (in which case the name would come from long
burning) (1), but from npy, as is shown by the continual conjunction
of the word with npyn ; while, on the contrary, 3*lp n, 2>*3n, nat, are used
of the other kinds of offerings. It means that which ascends, —
namely, on the altar, — in distinction from the offerings of which only
a portion come on the altar (2). The interpretation of Bahr, Keil,
and Delitzsch — " that which rises upwards to God in the fire " — is less
probable. The other name of this offering, ?*?3, that is, the com
plete whole burnt-offering, occurs only in poetical passages (Deut.
xxxiii. 10; Ps. Ii. 21) (3). The animal sacrificed must (Lev. i.), in
accordance with the high rank of the offering, be a faultless male,
taken from among the most perfect of the beasts of sacrifice (from
the cattle, sheep, or goats) (4). After the skin had been taken off
(which was the perquisite of the priest, vii. 8), and the offal removed,
the animal was wholly burnt (Pbn, i. 9) on the altar, and the blood
was sprinkled round it. On the meat and drink-offerings connected
with the burnt-offerings, see the law in Num. xv. 8 ff.

§ 13lJ THE BURNT-OFFERING. 425
In this offering the people or the individual expressed in a general
way adoration of Jehovah and devotion to Him. It is, as it has been
suitably named, the sacrificium latreuticum (5). In virtue of the
presentation of- blood connected with it, and as a fire-offering
of pleasant odour (niTO rrn), it is also propitiatory (appeasing) in
general ; it serves, Lev. i. 3, to make him who offers acceptable before
Jehovah (nin* *3SP Wxi?) — indeed, in virtue of this acceptableness, it
serves as a covering or atonement for the offerer (1B?P, ver. 4 ; comp.
xiv. 20, xvi. 24). The law knows nothing of a special destination of
the burnt-offering to atone for a special sort of sins (6). — As the
sacrificium latreuticum, it was the morning and evening sacrifice
presented daily in the name of the people (the embodiment of
morning and evening prayer), for which a yearling lamb was always
used. This is called the continual burnt-offering (TDfl npy). The
law touching it is given as early as the organization of the sanctuary
itself (Ex. xxix. 38-42), and then repeated (Num. xxviii. 3-8).
Every day was dedicated to God by the TDfl n?y, and, as the Rabbis
emphatically set forth, was thus atoned for ; with its cessation the
cultus itself is suspended (and so this is regarded as a great calamity,
see Dan. viii. 11). No time is set for the morning sacrifice (accord
ing to Mishna Tamid iii. 2, as soon as it became light) ; the evening
sacrifice is to be presented B*3iyn |*3 (between the two evenings),
Ex. xxix. 39, 41. This expression, which occurs frequently in the
Pentateuch (also in the Paschal law), has long been variously inter
preted by the Jews. According to the Karaites (who rest on Deut. xvi.
6) and the Samaritans (likewise Aben Esra), it means the time between
sunset and total darkness ; according to the Pharisees, between the hour
when the sun declines (three o'clock in the afternoon) and sunset (7) ;
while Kimchi and Rashi (and, in modern times, Hitzig) say that
sunset was the boundary-line between the two evenings (8). The
evening sacrifice was intended, Lev. vi. 2, to burn through the whole
night till the morning. Probably at the same time as the T»fi n?y was
presented, the offering of incense, also presented twice daily, was
kindled on the inner altar (already spoken of in § 117). The time
for presenting the offering was also the hour of prayer (Dan. ix. 21 ;
Acts iii. 1), as, generally speaking, it is likely that an act of prayer
was combined with the burnt-offering (comp. 2 Chron. xxix. 27-30).

426 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY. [§ 131.
With the morning and evening sacrifice were also combined a meat-
and drink-offering (9) ; between these two, tradition makes the high
priest's meat-offering to have been presented, for which reference is
made to the law in Lev. vi. 12-16 (19-23) (10) ; comp. Sir. xiv.
14 (17). — The Sabbath, the new moon, and the feasts were marked
by an augmented burnt-offering, Num. xxviii. 9 ff. (11). See in
2 Chron. xxix. 27-30 a description of the form of the festal burnt-
offerings in the temple at a later time (12). — Even strangers who
wished to honour Jehovah might (Lev. xvii. 8, xxii. 18, 25) offer
burnt-offerings and sacrifices (13).
(1) See Ewald, Alterthumer, ed. 1, p. 50; ed. 3, p. 64. — By
the LXX., npy is generally translated oXo/cavrcofia, sometimes also
oXo/cdpircofia. (2) Comp. Ps. Ii. 21- Knobel, on Lev. i. 3, seeks to explain the
name npy by supposing that it originated at a time when this was the
only offering, and was retained by the same ancient offering after
others arose. However, the name designates literally what is charac
teristic of the burnt-offering, in distinction from those offerings which
could not absolutely be called " ascending."
(3) The term ?y3 refers to the complete burning ; compare the
use of the word for the priestly Mincha, which was also to be com
pletely burnt (Lev. vi. 15 f., and also Deut. xiii. 17). The word has
a more comprehensive meaning in the Phonician ritual ; there it is a
designation of sacrifice in general, as is to be concluded from the
Punic sacrificial tablet found in Marseilles. See Movers, l.c. p. 59 ff. ;
Ewald, bibl. Jahrb. i. p. 211.
(4) So, also, for the sin-offerings of higher rank, male animals
are commanded to be used. — Only for turtle-doves and young pigeons
offered by the poor was the sex not prescribed. [Above art.]
(5) Its significance is more particularly defined by what has been
said about the meaning of sacrificial gifts in the Mosaic cultus in
discussing the materials of offerings. [Above art.]
(6) The burnt-offering has a general atoning efficacy as regards
him who presents the offering; comp. e.g. 1 Sam. xxvi. 19. — Outram,
l.c. p. 103, gives the fancies of the Rabbins about the kinds of sin for
which they suppose the burnt-offering to atone, in distinction from
the sin-offering and trespass-offering ; in particular (comp. Rashi on
Lev. i. 4), the burnt-offering was thought to expiate the transgression
of such commandments as are found negatively and positively ex-

§ 131.] THE BURNT-OFFERING. 427
pressed in the Thora, as Deut. xxii. 6 f. (the command against taking
birds' nests). [Above art.]
(7) This was the practice in the temple ;, according to Mishna
Pesachim v. 1, the evening offering was slaughtered half an hour
after the eighth hour of the day (that is, about half-past two o'clock),
and offered half an hour after the ninth hour (half-past three).
[Above art.]
(8) As the evening comprehends the whole time immediately
before and after sunset, it may be reckoned partly to the past day as its
close (comp. Lev. xxiii. 32), and partly to the next day as its beginning ;
by the latter usage, for example, Brnnop, in 1 Sam. xxx. 17, finds its
explanation (see Thenius on this passage). The expression B*a"iy is
probably to be primarily traced to this division of the evening, just as
anns, properly " the pair of lights," denotes mid-day as the time
before and after the highest position of the sun (see Ewald,. Ausf.
Lehrb. der hebr. Sprache, ed. 8, p. 475 f.). Comp. also Gesenius,
Thesaur. ii. p. 1064 f. [article, " Tag bei den Hebraern "].
(9) To each of the two lambs a tenth deal of an ephah of flour as
a meat-offering, and a fourth part of a hin of wine as a drink-offering.
— Other observances of later tradition in the morning and evening
sacrifice are collected in the tract Tamid, which is given in Ugolino,
Thes. xix. p. 1467, with copious notes [article, " Opferkultus des
A. T."]. (10) See Lund, l.c. pp. 921 and 928.— The high priest had to
offer it for the first time on the day of his anointing (^3n nrup) (comp.
§ 95, note 22), and then to offer the same for himself every day (WTiD
W1D., that is, meat-offering in the pan), half in the morning and half
in the evening ; and this he did (Josephus, Ant. iii. 10. 7) out of his
own means, presenting it either himself or by a substitute. Against
the view, still defended by Keil (Archaol. i. p. 174 f.) and others,
which entirely denies the existence of this daily Mincha of the high
priest, see the exact discussion of this point by Thalhofer, l.c. p.
139 ff. ; comp. Delitzsch, Komment. zum Hebrderbrief, p. 315 ff.
[Above art.]
(11) The later designation of these festal burnt-offerings is n?y
'TS1. On special festive occasions, burnt-offerings were sometimes
brought of free-will in great numbers, as many as a thousand at a
time; comp. 1 Kings iii. 4, 1 Chron. xxix. 21, etc. [Above art.]
(12) As soon as the act of offering began, the choir of Levites
struck up a psalm, in which they were joined by the trumpets of the
priests. During the whole service the assembled congregation stood
praying ; at the close, they threw themselves upon their knees, and

428 THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH ISRAEL AND THE THEOCRACY, i [§ 131.
then most likely received the priestly blessing. It followed from the
fact that the meaning of the burnt-offering is of a general kind, that
it was sometimes united with special offerings. In acts of atonement
it generally followed the sin-offering, and at public thanksgivings and
other festivities formed a basis for the thank-offering, etc. ; see the
collection by Knobel on Lev. i. 3. [Above art.]
(13) Comp. Mishna Shekalim vii. 6. — Especially since the time
of Alexander the Great, the heathen rulers of the Jews caused burnt-
offerings to be offered for them ; and Augustus actually instituted a
daily burnt-offering of two lambs and a bullock for himself (Philo,
leg. ad Caj. § 40). This offering was a sign of acknowledgment of
his imperial majesty (comp. Josephus, c. Ap. ii. 6) ; and therefore
when, at the beginning of the Jewish war, the acceptance of any
offering from a Gentile was declined at the instigation of Eliezer, the
rejection of the emperor's offering came to be regarded as an open
breach with the Roman Government (Josephus, Bell. Jud. ii. 17. 2).
Comp. on this point especially Lund, l.c. p. 634 f. [Above art.]

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DELIVERY AND DEVELOPMENT

CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.
€!)« dftftf) §ttit& of ti)« Cunnmgijam %tttum.
By ROBERT RAINY, D.D.,
PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AND CHURCH HISTORY, NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH.

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