CHAPTER XXII

BIBLICAL HISTORY

BIBLICAL History is the history contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

I. THE SCOPE OF BIBLICAL HISTORY

Those who exclude the Apocrypha from the Old Testament Canon find a long blank in the history between the times of Nehemiah and the advent of Jesus the Messiah. Those who include the Apocrypha in the Old Testament Canon fill up this blank in large measure by the history of the Maccabean times. Much of the blank is filled in other respects by the historical material contained in other biblical writings. It is not necessary that Biblical History should limit its sources to the historical prose literature of the Bible. A large amount of historical material may be derived from the prophets and poets and sages, and also from the epistles and the apocalypse.

Biblical History is not coextensive with the histories contained in the Canon of Holy Scripture; it is rather a history which comprehends all the biblical material in the entire extent of Biblical Literature. Biblical History, moreover, is not confined to the forms and methods of historical composition and representation, or to the grooves of historical interpretation of the biblical historian. It organizes the entire biblical material in accordance with the most exact and thorough scientific methods.

It is necessary to distinguish Biblical History from the history of Israel on the one hand, and from the contemporary history of the Old and New Testaments on the other; and to put these three branches of history, which deal more or less with the same themes, in their true relations.

II. CONTEMPORARY HISTORY

The contemporary history of the Old Testament aims to study the history of the nations that influenced Israel. It studies the monuments of Babylonia, Egypt, Phoenicia, Assyria, and the lesser nations that encompassed Israel or were entwined with him in his development. It studies the histories of Persia, Greece, and Rome, the ancient masters of the world that held Israel in subjection. The contemporary history of the New Testament studies the history and civilization of Greece and Rome and the influences that came from Oriental life and thought, so far as these constituted the environment of the life of Jesus and the history of the Apostolic Church.1 All these cast a flood of light upon the history recorded in the Bible, and give us invaluable information with regard to the external influences working upon Israel and coöperating with the internal influences to produce his historical training. Great attention has been paid to this method of study in recent times, and it has in many minds overwhelmed and absorbed the study of Biblical History itself.

Biblical History moves on its way in the narratives of the Bible, touching the great nations of the Old World at various points in its advancement, giving and receiving influences of various kinds, but pervaded with a sense of an overpowering force that has determined not only the History of Israel, but of all nations of the world. Israel has been a football of the nations, trodden under foot and tossed hither and thither by those mightier than he, but he has been a ball of light and fire that no violence could quench; for a divine blessing was in him for all mankind. God cast Israel into the fiery furnace that his dross might be consumed and the pure gold shine in its glorious lustre. The nations were his hammers, to beat him into the holy image God had designed for him from the beginning.

The Hebrew prophets see that Yahweh, the God of Israel, shaped all the migrations of the nations, all the movements of mankind, all the revolutions of history, for the training of His own well-beloved people.2

And yet Israel was not for himself alone. The biblical historians do not encourage any neglect of the other nations of the world. They represent that all are to share in the blessings of Abraham; they see all nations ultimately before the judgmentseat of God; they look forward to their ultimate incorporation in the kingdom under the Messianic King. The prophet rebukes Israel for supposing that he alone was the people of God, and that all the other nations were neglected by the God of all the earth.1

God watched over the other nations of the world, guided their history, and will bring them also to salvation and judgment. No one can altogether understand Biblical History until he has placed it in the light of its contemporary history; and yet he would make a serious mistake who would suppose that this contemporary history is the key to Biblical History. The Biblical History is the centre of this circumference of nations. It is the Sun in the midst of the world in whose rising all mankind are to rejoice.2 It is the light streaming forth from Biblical History that illuminates the contemporary history. Contemporary history reflects the rays of that light. The study of the one ought not to conflict with the study of the other.

III. THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL

It is also necessary to distinguish Biblical History from the History of Israel. The History of Israel is a part of the history of the world. It is a section of the discipline of universal history. It should be studied with a purely scientific interest. It uses Biblical History as one of its sources; it uses contemporary history as another; it arranges all its material in a scientific manner, in accordance with the principles of historic development.

It is more extensive than Biblical History. It fills up the numerous blanks that are left therein from other sources of information.

The history of the struggle between Persia and Greece, and of the fortunes of Israel in those times, is of little importance

to Biblical History; but it is of great importance to the history of Israel. The historian will lay much more stress upon it than upon many earlier periods where the biblical writers dwell at length.

The student of the history of Israel is greatly interested in the events of external history, such as battles and sieges and political relations. The writers of the Bible have little interest in these, and omit to mention them, save so far as they have religious bearings or can be used for religious instruction. Professor Kent says:

As

"Historic proportion is quite disregarded. For example, in the book of Samuel the important battle of Gilboa is treated in a few verses, while the relations between Samuel (the prophet) and Saul occupy several chapters. This and kindred facts are explained when the aim of the prophetic writer is fully appreciated. For him events in themselves were of little importance, since his purpose was not merely to write a history of his people; instead, it was primarily and simply to teach spiritual truth. To attain. this exalted end, he was as ready to employ a late tradition as an early narrative. Often when he found two accounts of the same event he introduced both of them, even though this involved small contradictions and historic inaccuracies. If he had had the data at his command whereby he could determine which of the two was the older and therefore the more authentic record, he probably would not have deemed it worthy of his attention, for it would not have rendered his teaching any more effective with his contemporaries."1

The history of Israel is less extensive than Biblical History. It does not enter into the province of the divine influence, that most characteristic feature of Biblical History. It stumbles at theophanies, miracles, and prophecies. It finds it difficult to adjust these divine influences to the principles of scientific study. The purely personal relations of Yahweh to His people are matters into which the scientific historian does not venture.

The scientific study of the history of Israel is of inestimable importance. No one can understand altogether the history of Israel, unless Israel's true place and importance in universal history have been determined. Each one of the great nations

1 A History of the Hebrew People, 1896, Vol. I. p. 10.

of the Old World has contributed its own best achievements for the weal of humanity. No one can understand the workings of God in history who does not estimate, to some extent at least, the work of Egypt and Assyria, of Phoenicia and Persia, of Greece and Rome, in the advancement of mankind. The history of the world is, as Lessing shows, the divine education of our race; and every nation has its share in that instruction, and contributes its quota of experience to the successive generations. The nations of the modern world have all come into line with their interplay of forces, making the problem more complex and wonderful. The old nations of the Orient, China, India, and Japan, -with Africa and the islands of the sea, share in that education and service. The world is one in origin, in training, and in destiny. There is force in Renan's remark:

"Jewish History that would have the monopoly of the miracle is not a bit more extraordinary than Greek History. If the supernatural intervention is necessary to explain the one, the supernatural intervention is also necessary to explain the other."1 I do not agree with his use of the term "supernatural." But I do agree with him in the opinion that the hand of God alone can explain the history of Greece and the blessings it contained for mankind. The school of Clement of Alexandria were correct in the opinion that the philosophy of Greece was a divinely ordered preparation for the gospel, as were the Law and the Prophets of Israel. The biblical historians were the first to see this fact, and to set it forth in the horizon of their narratives. They see that the God of Israel is the God seated upon. the circle of the heavens, turning the hearts of kings and nations; they know that the Messiah of Israel is the universal King; they see all the forces of history converging toward His universal sway. It is a Hebrew poet who describes the New Jerusalem as the city of the regeneration of the nations:

Glorious things are being spoken in thee, city of God!

I mention Rahab and Babel as belonging to those who know me ;

Lo, Philistia and Tyre with Cush: "This one was born there,"

And as belonging to Zion, it is said, - "This one and that one were born in

her,"

1 Histoire du Peuple d'Israel, I. p. v.