And when He would investigate, what could I respond to Him?
Did not, in the womb, my Maker make him,

And One Being form us in the belly?

5. If I used to keep back the weak from his desire,

And caused the eye of the widow to fail,

And ate my portion alone,

And the orphan did not eat of it :

Nay from my youth did he grow up unto me as a father;

And from the womb of my mother I was accustomed to guide her.

6. If I could see a man ready to perish without clothing

And the poor having no covering —

Surely his loins blessed me,

And from the fleece of my sheep he warmed himself.

If I lifted up my hand over the orphan,

When I saw my help in the gate

My shoulder let it fall from its blade,

And my arm-let it be broken from its bone!

For there was fear unto me of calamity from God,
And because of His majesty I could not.

7. If I have made gold my confidence,

And unto fine gold said, thou art my trust;

If I used to rejoice that my wealth was great,

And that my hand had found vast resources;

If I used to see the light that it was shining brightly,

And the moon moving in splendour,

So that my heart was enticed in secret,

And my hand kissed my mouth :

This also were an iniquity for judges,

For I had denied El on high.

8. If I was accustomed to rejoice in the calamity of the one hating me,

Or was excited with joy when evil overtook him ;—

Nay! I did not give my palate to sinning,

In asking with a curse his life.

Verily the men of my tent say:

Who can shew us one not filled with his meat?

Without the stranger used not to lodge,

My doors to the caravan I used to open.

9. If against me my land crieth,

And together its furrows weep;

If its strength I have eaten without silver,

And the life of its lord I have caused to expire;
Instead of wheat let thorns come forth,

And evil weeds instead of barley.1

10. If I have covered as man my transgression,
Hiding in my bosom my iniquity;

1 This strophe has been misplaced in the Hebrew text. It does not come appropriately at the close of the piece. I have accordingly transposed strophes 9 and 10.

Because I feared the great multitude,

And the contempt of the clans made me afraid;

And so was silent, would not go out to the gate:

O that I had one to hear me

Behold my mark! Let Shadday answer me !

O that I had the bill (of accusation) my adversary has written!
Surely I would lift it up on my shoulder,

I would bind it as a crown of glory upon me,

The number of my steps would I declare to him,

As a prince I would approach him.

VI. PROPHETIC POETRY

I shall finally present a specimen of prophetic poetry from the great unknown prophet of the exile, and, indeed, the most sublime piece in the Old Testament, as well as one of the most artistic,1 consisting of five gradually increasing strophes.

1. Behold my servant shall prosper,

He shall be lifted up and exalted and be very high.
According as many were astonished at thee

So disfigured more than a man was his appearance,
And his form than the sons of men;·

So shall he startle many nations;

Because of him kings will stop their mouths;

For what had not been told them they shall see,

And what they had not heard they shall attentively consider.

2. Who believed our message,

And the arm of Yahweh, unto whom was it revealed?
When he grew up as a suckling plant before us,

And as a root out of a dry ground;

He had no form and no majesty that we should see him,

And no appearance that we should take pleasure in him;
Despised and forsaken of men !

A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief!

And as one before whom there is a hiding of the face!
Despised, and we regarded him not!

3. Verily our griefs he bore

And our sorrows- he carried them.

Yet we regarded him as stricken,

Smitten of God, and humbled.

But he was one pierced because of our transgressions,
Crushed because of our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon him;

And by his stripes there is healing for us.

We all like sheep strayed away;

Each one turned to his own way.

While Yahweh caused to light on him the iniquity of us all.

1 Is. 5213-53.

4. He was harassed while he was humbling himself,
And he opens not his mouth;

Like a sheep that is being led to the slaughter

And as an ewe that before her shearers is dumb;

And he opens not his mouth.

From oppression and from judgment he was taken away,

And among his cotemporaries who was considering,

That he was cut off from the land of the living,

Because of the transgression of my people, one smitten for them?
With the wicked his grave was assigned,

But he was with the rich in his martyr death;

Because that he had done no violence,

And there was no deceit in his mouth.

5. But Yahweh was pleased to crush him with grief!
When he himself offers a trespass offering,

He shall see a seed, he shall prolong days;

And the pleasure of Yahweh will prosper in his hands:

On account of his own travail he shall see ;

He shall be satisfied with his knowledge:
My righteous servant shall justify many,

And their iniquities he shall carry.

Therefore will I give him a portion consisting of the many,
And with the strong shall he divide spoil;

Because that he exposed himself to death,
And he was numbered with transgressors,
And he did bear the sin of many,

And for transgressors was interposing.

In such pieces as these we find the climax of Hebrew poetic art, where the dramatic and heroic elements combine to produce in a larger whole, ethical and religious results with wonderful power. While these do not present us epic or dramatic or pastoral poems in the classic sense, they yet use the epic, dramatic, and pastoral elements in perfect freedom, combining them in a simple and comprehensive manner for the highest and grandest purposes of the prophet and sage inspired of God, giving us productions of poetic art that are unique in the world's literature. The dramatic, epic, and pastoral elements are means used freely and fully, but not ends. These forms of beauty and grace do not retard the imagination in admiration of themselves, but direct it to the grandest themes and images of piety and devotion. The wise men of Israel present us in the ideals of the Shulamite, Job, and Koheleth, types of noble character, moral heroism, and purity that transcend the heroic types of the Iliad or Eneid, wrestling as they do with foes to

their souls far more terrible than the spears and javelins and warring gods of Greek or Trojan, advancing step by step, through scene after scene and act after act, to holy victory in the fear of God; victories that will serve in all time for the support and comfort of the human race, which has ever to meet the same inconsistencies of evil, the same assaults on virtue, the same struggle with doubt and error, therein so vividly and faithfully portrayed to us. The prophets of Israel play upon the great heart of the Hebrew people as upon a thousandstringed lyre, striking the tones with divinely guided touch, so that from the dirge of rapidly succeeding disaster and ruin, they rise through penitence and petition to faith, assurance, exultation, and hallelujah ; laying hold of the deep thoughts and everlasting faithfulness of God; binding the past and present as by a chain of light to the impending Messianic future; seeing and rejoicing in the glory of God, which, though now for a season shrouded behind the clouds of disaster, is soon to burst forth in a unique day.1

1 Zech. 146 seq..

CHAPTER XVIII

THE HISTORY OF THE INTERPRETATION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE

THE Word of God came to man at first orally, in connection with theophanies. These theophanies are divine manifestations in forms of time and space. From them, as centres, went forth divine influences in word of revelation and deed of miracle. These theophanies attained their culmination in Jesus Christ, the incarnate, risen, and glorified Saviour. The Word of God, issuing from these theophanic centres, was appropriated more and more by holy men, upon whom the Divine Spirit came, taking possession of them, influencing and directing them in the exercise of prophetic ministry. An important part of this ministry was the oral delivery of the Divine Word to the people of God in ascending stages of revelation. This Word was gradually committed to writing, and assumed the literary forms that are presented to us in the Canon of Scripture.

The Word of God, as written, is to be appropriated by man through reading it, meditating upon it, and putting it in practice. Reading is an appropriation through the eye and ear and sense perception, of letters, words, and sentences as signs of thought. Meditation is the use of the faculties of the mind in the apprehension of the substance of thought and emotion contained in these signs, the association of it with other things, and the application of it to other conditions and circumstances. This appropriation must be in accordance with the laws of the apprehending human soul, with the principles of the composition of written documents, and also with the nature of the things contained in and expressed by the sensible signs. Biblical interpretation is a section of general interpretation, and it differs from other special branches in accordance with the internal character of the contents of the Bible. Interpretation is usually