tablished by parallel passages. These is much less conjecture than we should have expected in a work of this nature, and though the author has diverged from the beaten road of criticism, a sure beacon has guided his path, and his philological scrutinies rarely fail of conviction. We cannot make extracts from it, on account of the length of discussion afforded to each new sense of the Greek word; but the following compendium of a part of it, will exhibit the sort of undertaking which he has so felicitously accomplished. "'Ayanay in the Hellenistic dialect is Anteponere, præferre, plus diligere, motiv is minus diligere—a mere meiosis of the former, which is substantiated by St. Luke xiv. 26. contrasted with St. Matthew x. 87, Enpa is the Hebrew, and therefore, is substituted for yñ— Lovoia in 1 Cor. xi. 10. is used for a veil, Heb. Ta oкεvos being equivalent to signifies a thing, a vessel, a body. A double sense is attributed to orλayxva, from the double meaning of D, and the word expresses mercies, e. g. ἐν σπλάγχνοις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Aaos and Ovos are opposed to each other, the first being applied to the Jews, as the people of God, the other to the Gentile world:→→ Duc is introduced, in the sense of , and signifies upright, just, &e. and dikatorun being a translation of PT, is referred to alms and fiberality, as well as to righteousness. 'Akon occurs as you, fame, report, and as the Jews often write intensely, St. Peter makes mention of the λόγος ἀκοῆς, ἀπῆλθεν ἡ ακὴς αὐτοῦ is the 997 Ny, or Thy of the book of Esther. Ο αδελφός, ὁπέλας, ὁ πλησίον are placed for any one connected with the person, who is the subject of the discourse, in any way, according to the idiomatic force of N -and : he supposes the adελpoì roũ Xpirou to mean compri vigni (DIN) and argues, that they were sons of Joseph by another wife. Ἑαυτὸν occurs for σεαυτὸν: οὐρανός (Matt. xxi. 25. and alibi) is placed for GOD, and opeixnμa (1) for sin. Képas, like, is applied to an illustrious member of a family, eipńvn, like a. signifies happiness and salvation, as well as peace, and box, like W, stands for the man himself, &c. &c." From this specimen we may perceive of what utility this book is to the Biblical Critic, and what great advantage might be derived from it, if it were in a more extensive circulation. It is to be regretted, that many of the more invaluable works on the different departments of Theology are rarely offered for sale, and are almost exclusively confined to old libraries, which have amassed literary treasures from generations past, and that there is not a sufficient public spirit to render their re-publication expedient to the individual who might contemplate it. Selections from the British Divines are now passing through the press, many of whom, such as Jeremy Taylor, are worthy of a place in a theological selection: but, assuredly, those scarce NO. VII. VOL. IV. P and critical books, which interpret the text of Scripture, and detect the allusions of the writers, are far more necessary to be preserved, far more worthy of the attention of those who profess to explain the Scriptures to their flocks. And we trust that the time is not far distant, when such a praiseworthy undertaking shall be commenced. The force of the particles in the New Testament is a subject deserving of notice. 'Ev, for instance, assumes a variety of significations, like the Hebrew J. It occurs in the sense of by the power ofἐγὼ ἐν πνεύματι Θεοῦ εἰσβάλλω τὰ δαιμόνια, and often corresponds with dà in classical Greek. Certain verbs in Hebrew, as in Arabic, require particular postpositions, which accounts for this use of iv, as the Apostles always wrote Greek according to the Hebrew idiom: thus verbs of holding, detaining, &c. of seeing, of choosing, of reprobating, of chiding, of attesting, of smelling, of meeting, of urging or pressing, required , and took év in the Hellenistic dialect. Merà and others are found, as Hebraisms, from a similar cause :-accordingly, év is used to express a gerundial form—ἐν τῷ ἐπισυναχθῆναι λαούς Ps. cii. 22. by rapa, and occasionally, where is prefixed to the verb: e. g. Isaiah xxxvii. 1. THAT YOU Év Tŵ ákovσaι Tòν, βασιλέα. Πρὶν and πρὸ τοῦ are substituted for '99 and μετὰ τὸ for ;-all of which are criticisms of no mean consequence to him, who would interpret the New Testament accurately. But, before we dismiss the subject, we must notice the Diatribe de Adagiis N. T. the first of which is s κόκκος σινάπεως, which he retraces to a Jewish adage still discernible in the Talmud, and applied to the smallest possible thing. With respect to mustard becoming a large tree, as in the parable in the Gospel, the Jerusalem Talmud récords the enormous size to which it grew in Palestine. The camel passing through the eye of the needle is discussed at great length: the mote and beam in the eye, the nature of a parable, and various. other proverbial expressions commemorated in the Sacred text, are examined and elucidated with considerable precision; and not only corroborated by rabbinical, but as frequently by classical examples. The meaning and object of each is accurately determined, and the only deficiency appears. to be a want of inquiry into the corresponding proverbs of the, present inhabitants of the East. BIBLICAL MEMORANDA. (No. V.) AFTER this transaction, Jesus ascended rò ogos, and com menced a didactic discourse with his disciples and the multitude. If we admit the sixth chapter of St. Luke to have relation to the same event, we shall discover some considerable variation in the narrative, but as several important reasons have been stated on either side of the question, we shall not introduce this Evangelist's account into our present discussion. Tradition seems to have determined Tabor to have been the mountain, to which we know, from other passages, that our Saviour resorted; and though it may be urged that the Hellenistic writers used to as vaguely as the Hebrew, of which critics have furnished us with many examples, still some particular spot was intended, well known when the Gospels were: written, and we see no valid reason for controverting that pointed out to us by tradition. Our Saviour, according to the general custom of the East, is pourtrayed to us sitting as doctor, or preceptor, of his rising. school, haranguing his standing disciples and the crowd. His disciples (goodov, x. T. λ.) appear to have approached nearer to his person in their character of his more immediate than the rest. As Wetstein observes, he propounds his doctrine "per enunciata quædam agadoka," a stile then popular among the Jews, and adapted to engage their attention. At ver. 13. our Saviour compares his followers to salt, and adopts the metaphor according to the two significations attached to it. He first represents it under its beneficial qualities, in the same manner as it was cited in the ancient Scriptures,: and figuratively employed in Asiatic poetry and rhetoric. In this sense it implied all that was most excellent in its kind, whence the Kámús mentions wise men as being commonly called الملح I literally, MEN OF SALT. Hence, signifies good, • The writer of these Memoranda wishes to observe, that the concluding sentence of the last number was not written by him, but was an observation of the Editor, which he, probably, intended for the notes. 69 or excellent, and best. The same force the Persians attribute to i, and many proverbs current in both languages are exactly equivalent to the Scriptural acceptation of the term. In the latter sense he adduces it as a metaphor of sterility; and Arabsiades, in his life of Taimur, Vol. II. p. 96. has a parallel Alas the یا صلح البلد ما يصلح الملح اذا الملح فسد,passage ! " salt of the province! what shall restore to the salt its saline qualities, if it be corrupted?" Thus, we read of Abimelek and others sowing cities with salt, TI OTIV (says Theodoretus, Qu. 18.) ἔσπειρεν ἐν αὐτῃ ἅλα; τὴν ἀκαρπίαν τοῦτο δηλοῖ· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἁλῶν Queral. The salt plains, with which the eastern regions abound, assuredly added a peculiar energy to this sense of the metaphor, and the proximity of the lake Asphaltitis, the salt of which immediately became vapid, and unfit for use *, and was strewed at the doors of the temple, gave a direct and apposite application to this part of our Saviour's discourse. For the same reason, the non D, or Sáhaσoα áтguyeтos possessed the like metaphorical interpretation. Other examples in the classical writers may be found in Wetstein. So the following figure, as тoũ nóoμov, was one of an universal extension. Jerusalem was called, in the rabbinical pages, the light of the world, and the just were described as its sun. In Arabian poetry, these expressions are of continual occurrence; thus, Shemsennihar is represented in the thousand and one nights, هي الشمس مسكنها في السماء Jerusalem was, probably, intended in the example given of a city set on a hill. Verse 17, seems to have been quoted from some Jewish writing; for we find it with little variation in the book Cosri. לא באתי לסתור מצוה ממצות בני ישראל ומשה (.of. Schoettgen) נביאם אבל באתי לחזקם ולאמצם: The Jews affirm that Moses did not abrogate (2) but augment (D) the precepts, which existed before his time. the other hand, according to Abu'feda, it was said of Moham On one abrogate ناس بشريعته الشرايع الماضية med, that he came as ing by his law those which had been before him. These expressions had, perhaps, become proverbial, and as the Jews almost * Cf. Schoettgenii Hor. Heb. in Novum Testamentum. universally conceived that the Messiah would introduce a new law, and as the Jews seem to have objected this to our Saviour, on account of his refutation of their traditions, and cere monies of human invention, he may have cited this proverbial expression on this occasion, to correct these false notions, and eradicate this unjust prejudice. In the next verse he likewise cited a passage similar to that preserved in Shemoth Rabba, sions of this Gospel the verse is thus translated, N N N -In one of the Hebrew ver אין אות בטלה מן התורה לעולם לכם עד שיעברו שמים וארץ יוד אחת או עוקץ אחד לא יעבר מהתורה עד שיעשו כלם * Some have conceived the original allusion to have been that of the change of into 1, of into, and the like, but the reference may be more readily supposed to have been to the angles of the apices of the letters than to the vowel-points. Bartolocci has quoted the opinions of those who have ascribed it to the decorations with which several characters were frequently embellished, e. g. 7--, &c. We are furnished with sufficient examples to authorize us in pronouncing this to have been a Jewish proverb. The xɛgxiaι we conceive to have been the apices, or the decorations of the letters, or the marks affixed to them: the iara was decidedly the letter: for, although the law, before the captivity, was written in the Samaritan character, yet this proverb doubtless did not exist until long after the substitution of the Chaldee letters for it, and it must have had an unqualified application from the period when they were adopted into the Sacred Text. We dispute its explanation by the Kri and Ketib, to which some critics have adhered. The practical allusion of our Saviour was decidedly, to the very least commandment, contained in the law, and by où un mageren, we must understand pys. In examining the different versions we find the ἰῶτα καὶ κεραία rendered by the Syrian and H by the Arabic وخطة and يوطة by the Persian & and w, by the Æthiopie POM: 'Eppéen Toïs dexaíos at ver. 21, must be accounted a Hebraism, אמרו קדמונינו,being equivalent to the Talmudical phrase "our ancestors said," whereas ippin, when alone, corresponds The version of Jonas quoted by Bartolocci, Bib. Rab. Vol. I. p. 161. |