That history has since been unfolded piece by piece; and assuredly any one who has watched the progress of his written words can easily understand what was once said of him to me by a German Professor who had attended his lectures, that to listen to him after the harsh and dry instructions of ordinary teachers was like passing from the dust and turmoil of the street into the depth and grandeur of an ancient cathedral.

2. Thoroughly, however, as the ground had been travelled over by these distinguished writers, it seemed to me that there was still occasion, as in the former periods, so here, to draw out the permanent lessons from a story which needs, even more than the familiar narratives which preceded it, to be pressed, as it were, to give forth its peculiar significance.

One main cause of the neglect which has befallen this interval between the Old and the New Testament is that, especially after the Macedonian Conquest, the multiplicity of insignificant details and of obscure names has outweighed and overshadowed the events and characters of enduring interest. To ease the overloaded narrative of incidents which burden the memory without feeding the mind; to disentangle the main thread of the story from unmeaning episodes; to give the most important conclusions without repeating the arguments which have been elaborated in the larger works above mentioned, is the purpose of the following pages. "Considering" (if I may use the language of the author of the second book of Maccabees in regard to the work of Jason of Cyrene) "the infinite num

"ber of facts, and the difficulty which they find that "desire to look into the narrations of the story for the "variety of the matter, we have been careful that "they who will read may have delight, and that they "who are desirous to commit to memory may have

66

ease, and that all into whose hands this book comes "might have profit. It was not easy, but a matter of "labor and watching, even as it is no ease unto him "that prepareth a banquet and seeketh for the benefit "of others; yet for the pleasuring of many we will "undertake gladly this labor, leaving to others the ex"act handling of every particular, endeavoring not to "stand on every point, or to go over things at large, "or to be curious in particulars, but to use brevity, "and avoid elaboration of the work, and to seek fit things for the adorning thereof." 1

66

There are some special branches in which I have adopted this reserve with less scruple. The teaching of the Kabbala2 requires a study so special as to be inaccessible for one not called to explore it; and its results in connection with the general moral of the history are too slight to afford reason for occupying space or time with its mysteries. The Samaritan literature,3 again, is so completely an episode that it was hardly necessary to do more than notite the few points of direct contact with Judaism.

1 2 Macc. ii. 24-31.

2 A summary of the Kabbala is given in Munk's Palestine, 519–524; and it has also been treated at length by Dr. Ginsburg in a separate work on the subject.

8 For the Samaritans see Geiger, Zeitschrift der Morgenl. Gesellschaft, xx. 527-573, and Jost's History, i. 44-90.

The Traditions of the Talmud might, no doubt, directly or indirectly, be expected to illustrate this period. For long it might have been hoped that the gifted Hebrew scholar, Emanuel Deutsch, would have been enabled to fulfil the promise of his life by bringing out of his treasure all the things new and old of which he had given us a few specimens in his published essays. This hope has been cut short by his untimely death. But there are two compensations for the loss of a more independent and complete knowledge of this literature. The first is the abundant material furnished by others who have mastered the subject - by Dr. Ginsburg in his numerous articles in Kitto's "Biblical "Cyclopædia," and in the Prolegomena to his various works; by Professor Neubauer in his "Geography of "the Talmud;" by M. Derenbourg in his "History of "Palestine," purposely constructed with the view of bringing together all the Talmudical passages which bear on this portion of the history. To these and to like works I have, for the most part, been content to refer, not burdening my pages with citations from the original, unless where I have myself consulted it. But, secondly, the excellent edition of the Mishna by Surenhusius (I venture to call the Dutch scholar by his Latin name) enables any ordinary reader to appreciate the general value of the authoritative Rabbinical teaching of this period. However uncertain must be the date of some of its treatises, those which relate to the Temple, the sacrifices, and the sayings of the great teachers, necessarily contain the traditions of the time preceding

the Christian era. But whilst the historical and antiquarian references are often of profound interest, yet it must be freely admitted that on the whole, however striking these purple patches, the wearisomeness and triviality of the great mass of its contents baffle description. And that this impression is shared by Jewish scholars themselves is evident from the trenchant, though covert, irony with which the Mishna is introduced to the English reader by its modern editors.1 As in the Jewish Church so in the Christian Church, it is well known that vast and groundless pretensions have been put forward, by strange and fantastic speculators, to a divine origin and to special importance. But no historian of the Christian Church would now think it necessary to dwell at length on the fable of the Donation of Constantine, or on the intricate discussions of the Seraphic or Angelic doctors. And no historian of the Jewish Church need be ashamed to pass over the fable of the "Oral Tradition," or the casuistry ascribed to the Masters of the Rabbinical Schools, except so far as they are needed to illustrate the undoubted narrative or the important issues of the actual history.

3. It is hardly necessary to repeat what has been said in the Prefaces to the two previous volumes, on the advantage and the duty of availing ourselves, as far as possible, of the light of modern criticism in the elucidation of the sacred books. It is true that in so

1 English translation of part of the Mishna by De Sola and Raphall. Introduction, 14, iv. It must be added that, by the omission of those

parts which relate to the practices of the Jewish Temple and to the sayings of the Rabbis, the most interesting parts of the Mishna are dropped.

doing we deviate considerably from the method of interpretation pursued in many former ages of the Church. But this is a deviation in which the whole modern world has shared. When Augustine repeatedly insists that the Psalms ascribed in their titles to Korah are descriptions of the Passion, and that the sons of Korah are Christians, because Korah in Hebrew and Calvary in Latin may be translated "bald head," and because Elisha was derided under that name; when Gregory the Great sees the twelve Apostles, and therefore the clergy, in the seven sons of Job, and the lay worshippers of the Trinity in his three daughters, it is impossible not to feel that the gulf between these extravagances and the more rational explanations of later times is wider than that which parts any of the modern schools of theology from each other. And it ought to be a matter of congratulation, that in the last volume of the "Speaker's Commentary," which may almost be called an authorized exposition, suggestions1 which a few years ago were regarded from opposing points of view as incompatible with religious faith are now taken for granted, or treated at least as matters for innocent inquiry.

On some of the questions which arise concerning the authorship of the sacred books of this period it is dif

1 I may specify the primary reference of various passages in the Book of Daniel to the Maccabæan history (vi. 336-337), and the composite origin of the Book of Zechariah (vi. 904). I have to express my obligations to the courtesy of the learned

editor for having permitted to me the use of the sheets of this last volume. I must also renew the expression of my gratitude to my venerable friend Mr. David Morier for the loan of the Bible annotated by his brother, the late Persian minister.