THE
LITERARY STUDY OF THE BIBLE
AN ACCOUNT
OF THE
LEADING FORMS OF LITERATURE REPRESENTED
IN THE SACRED
WRITINGS
INTENDED FOR ENGLISH
READERS
By
RICHARD G. MOULTON.
PROFESSOR
OF LITERATURE IN ENGLISH IN THE
LATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION LECTURER (
1896
Public Domain: Scanned and edited by
Ted Hildebrandt 3/2005
COPYRIGHT, 1895,
By Richard G. Moulton
ENTERED AT
STATIONERS' HALL
J. S. Cushing & Co. --
Berwick & Smith
PREFACE
AN author falls naturally into an
apologetic tone if he is pro-
posing
to add yet one more to the number of books on the Bible.
Yet
I believe the number is few of those to whom the Bible appeals
as
literature. In part, no doubt, this is clue to the forbidding
form
in which we allow the Bible to be presented to us. Let the
reader
imagine the poems of Wordsworth, the plays of Shake-
speare,
the essays of Bacon, and the histories of Motley to be
bound
together in a single volume; let him suppose the titles of
the
poems and essays cut out and the names of speakers and divi-
sions
of speeches removed, the whole divided up into sentences
of
a convenient length for parsing, and again into lessons contain-
ing
a larger or smaller number of these sentences. If the reader
can
carry his imagination through these processes he will have
before
him a fair parallel to the literary form in which the Bible
has
come to the modern reader; it is true that the purpose for
which
it has been split into chapters and verses is something
higher
than instruction in parsing, but the injury to literary form
remains
the same.
Of course earnest students of
Scripture get below the surface of
isolated
verses. Yet even in the case of deep students the literary
element
is in danger of being overpowered by other interests.
The
devout reader, following the Bible as the divine authority for
his
spiritual life, feels it a distraction to notice literary questions.
And
thereby he often impedes his own purpose: poring over a
passage
of Job to discover the message it has for him, and for-
getting
all the while the dramatic form of the book, as a result of
which
the speaker of the very passage he is studying is in the end
iii
iv PREFACE
pronounced
by God himself to have said the thing that is "not
right."
Another has been led by his studies to cast off the
authority
of the Bible, and he will not look for literary pleasure to
that
which has for him associations with a yoke from which he has
been
delivered. A third approaches Scripture with equal rever-
ence
and scholarship. Yet even for him there is a danger at the
present
moment, when the very bulk of the discussion tends to
crowd
out the thing discussed, and but one person is willing to
read
the Bible for every ten who are ready to read about it.
Now for all these types of readers
the literary study of the
Bible
is a common meeting-ground. One who recognises that
God
has been pleased to put his revelation of himself in the form
of
literature, must surely go on to see that literary form is a thing
worthy
of study. The agnostic will not deny that, if every particle
of
authority and supernatural character be taken from the Bible,
it
will remain one of the world's great literatures, second to none.
And
the most polemic of all investigators must admit that appre-
ciation
is the end, and polemics only the means.
The term ‘literary study of the
Bible’ describes a wide field
of
which the present work attempts to cover only a limited part.
In
particular, the term will include the most prominent of all
types
of Bible study, that which is now universally called the
‘Higher
Criticism.’ There is no longer any need to speak of the
splendid
processes of modern Biblical Criticism, nor of the mag-
nitude
even of its undisputed results. I mention the Higher
Criticism
only to say that its province is distinct from that which
I
lay down for myself in this book. The Higher Criticism is
mainly
an historical analysis; I confine myself to literary investi-
gation.
By the literary treatment I understand the discussion of
what
we have in the books of Scripture; the historical analysis goes
behind
this to the further question how these books have reached
their
present form. I think the distinction of the two treatments
is
of considerable practical importance; since the historical analy-
sis
must, in the nature of things, divide students into hostile camps,
PREFACE v
while,
as it appears to me, the literary appreciation of Scripture is
a
common ground upon which opposing schools may meet. The
conservative
thinker maintains that Deuteronomy is the personal
composition
of Moses; the opposite school regard the book as a
pious
fiction of the age of Josiah. But I do not see how either
of
these opinions, if true, or a third intermediate opinion, can pos-
sibly
affect the question with which I desire to interest the reader,
—
namely, the structure of Deuteronomy as it stands, whoever may
be
responsible for that structure. And yet the structural analysis
of
our Deuteronomy, and the connection of its successive parts, are
by
no means clearly understood by the ordinary reader of the Bible.
The historical and the literary
treatments are then distinct: yet
sometimes
they seem to clash. There are two points in particular
as
to which I find myself at variance with the accepted Higher
Criticism.
Historic analysis, investigating dates, sometimes finds
itself
obliged to discriminate between different parts of the same
literary
composition, and to assign to them different periods; hav-
ing
accomplished this upon sound evidence, it then often proceeds,
no
longer upon evidence, but by tacit assumption, by unconscious
insinuations
rather than by distinct statement, to treat the earlier
parts
of such a composition as ‘genuine’ or ‘original,’ while the
portions
of later date are made ‘interpolations,’ or ‘accretions,’ —
in
fact, are alluded to as something illegitimate. Thus, in the case
of
Job, few will hesitate to accept the theory that there is an earlier
nucleus
(to speak roughly) in the dialogue, while the speeches of
Elihu
and the Divine Intervention have come from another source.
But
nearly all commentators who hold this view seem to treat these
later
portions as if they were on a lower literary plane, and — so
sensitive
is taste to external considerations — they soon find them
in
a literary sense inferior. This whole attitude of mind seems to
me
unscientific: it is the intrusion of the modern conception of a
fixed
book and an individual author into a totally different liter-
ary
age. The phenomena of floating poetry, with community of
authorship
and the perpetual revision that goes with oral tradition,
are
not only accepted but insisted upon by biblical scholars. But
vi PREFACE
in
such floating literature our modern idea of 'originality' has no
place;
the earliest presentation has no advantage of authenticity
over
the latest; nor have the later versions necessarily any superi-
ority
to the earlier. Processes of floating poetry produced the
Homeric
poems, and in this case it is the last form, not the first,
that
makes our supreme Iliad. My contention
is that, whatever
may
be the truth as to dates, all the sections of such a poem as
Job are equally ‘genuine.’
And as a matter of literary analysis, I
find
the Speeches of Elihu and the Divine Intervention, from what-
ever
sources they may have come, carrying forward the previous
movement
of the poem to a natural dramatic climax, and in liter-
ary
effect as striking as any part of the book.
My second objection to the
characteristic methods of the Higher
Criticism
has to do with the divisions of the text. In analysing
the
contents of a book of Scripture many even of the best critics
betray
an almost exclusive preoccupation with subject matter, to
the
neglect of literary form; a powerful search-light is thrown upon
minute
historic allusions, while even broad indications of literary
unity
or diversity are passed by. I will take a typical example.
In
the latter part of our Book of Micah
a group of verses (vii.
7–10)
must strike even a casual reader by their buoyancy of tone,
so
sharply contrasting with what has gone before. Accordingly
Wellhausen
sees in this changed tone evidence of a new composi-
tion,
product of an age long distant from the age of the prophet:
"between
v. 6 and v. 7 there yawns a century."1 What really
yawns
between the verses is simply a change of speakers. The
latter
part of Micah is admittedly dramatic,
and a reader attentive
to
literary form cannot fail to note a distinct dramatic composition
introduced
by the title-verse (vi. 9): "The voice of the LORD
crieth
unto the city, and the man of wisdom will fear thy name„"
The
latter part of the title --"and the man of wisdom will fear
thy
name "—prepares us to expect an addition in the ‘Man of
Wisdom’
to the usual dramatis personae of
prophetic dramas, which
are
confined to God, the Prophet, and the ruined Nation. All
1 Quoted in
Driver's Introduction, in loc.
PREFACE vii
that
follows the title-verse bears out the description. Verses 10–16
are
the words of denunciation and threatening put into the mouth
of
God. Then the first six verses of chapter seven voice the woe
of
the guilty city. Then the Man of Wisdom speaks, and the dis-
puted
verses change the tone to convey the happy confidence of
one
on whose side the divine intervention is to take place:
But as for me, I will look unto the
LORD; I will wait for the God of
my salvation: my God will hear me.
Rejoice not against me, 0 mine
enemy: when I fall, I shall arise,
etc.
The
sequence of verses follows quite naturally the dramatic form
indicated
by the title, and no break in the text is required. I have
no
objection in the abstract to the hypothesis of defects in textual
transmission;
but in judging of any alleged example it is reason-
able
to give to indications of literary form a weight not inferior to
that
of suggestions drawn from subject matter.
Besides this historic analysis other
obvious lines of literary treat-
ment
are omitted from this book. I have scarcely touched such
poetic
criticism as was admirably illustrated by the digest of
Hebrew
imagery which Mr. Montefiore contributed some time
since
to the Jewish Quarterly Review. I
have little or nothing
to
say about the style of biblical writers, although I welcome Pro-
fessor
Cook's introduction of the Bible as a model in the teaching
of
Rhetoric. I have even felt compelled to drop the survey of
subject
matter which was at first a part of my plan. The more I
have
studied the Bible from a literary standpoint, and considered
also
the conditions for making such a standpoint generally acces-
sible,
the more one single aspect of the subject has come into
prominence
— the treatment of literary morphology: how to dis-
tinguish
one literary composition from another, to say exactly
where
each begins and ends; to recognise Epic, Lyric, and other
forms
as they appear in their biblical dress, as well as to distin-
guish
literary forms special to the Sacred writers. Hence the
book
is "An account of the leading Forms of Literature repre-
sented
in the Sacred Writings." The whole works up to what I
viii PREFACE
have
called a " Literary Index of the Bible." This ranges from
Genesis to Revelation, including the apocryphal books of Wisdom
and
Ecclesiasticus; it marks off exactly
each separate composition
(or
integral parts of the longer compositions), indicates the liter-
ary
form of each, and, where suitable (as in the case of an essay
or
sonnet), suggests an appropriate title. My idea is that a stu-
dent
might mark these divisions and titles in the margin of his
Revised
Version, and so do for his Bible what the printer would
do
for all other literature. I believe it is almost impossible to
overestimate
the difference made to our power of appreciation when
the
literary form of what we are reading is indicated to the eye,
instead
of our having to collect it laboriously from what we read.
The
underlying axiom of my work is that a clear grasp of the outer
literary
form is an essential guide to the inner matter and spirit.
I am of course not so sanguine as to
suppose that the arrange-
ment
of the Sacred Writings in this Index — involving, as it must,
critical
questions in relation to every book of the Bible — will be
accepted.
I desire nothing better than to set every student to
make
such an arrangement for himself, getting help from every
source
that is open to him and so to tide over the period before
public
opinion permits the Bible to be issued with such aids to
intelligent
reading from the printed page as are taken for granted
in
all other literature.
I have spoken so far from the point
of view of the general or
the
religious reader. But a consideration of a different kind has
had
weight with me in the production of this book: the place in
liberal
education of the Bible treated as literature. It has come
by
now to be generally recognised that the Classics of Greece and
inspiration
of our great masters, and bond of common associations
between
our poets and their readers. But does not such a posi-
tion
belong equally to the literature of the Bible? if our intellect
and
imagination have been formed by the Greeks, have we not in
similar
fashion drawn our moral and emotional training from
PREFACE ix
Hebrew
thought? Whence then the neglect of the Bible in our
higher
schools and colleges? It is one of the curiosities of our
civilisation
that we are content to go for our liberal education to
literatures
which, morally, are at an opposite pole from ourselves:
literatures
in which the most exalted tone is often an apotheosis
of
the sensuous, which degrade divinity, not only to the human
level,
but to the lowest level of humanity. Our hardest social
problem
being temperance, we study in Greek the glorification of
intoxication;
while in mature life we are occupied in tracing law
to
the remotest corner of the universe, we go at school for literary
impulse
to the poetry that dramatises the burden of hopeless fate.
Our
highest politics aim at conserving the arts of peace, our first
poetic
lessons are in an Iliad that cannot
be appreciated without a
bloodthirsty
joy in killing. We seek to form a character in which
delicacy
and reserve shall be supreme, and at the same time are
training
our taste in literatures which, if published as English
books,
would be seized by the police. I recall these paradoxes,
not
to make objection, but to suggest the reasonableness of the
claim
that the one side of our liberal education should have
another
side to balance it. Prudish fears may be unwise, but
there
is no need to put an embargo upon decency. It is surely
good
that our youth, during the formative period, should have
displayed
to them, in a literary dress as brilliant as that of Greek
literature
— in lyrics which Pindar cannot surpass, in rhetoric as
forcible
as that of Demosthenes, or contemplative prose not in-
ferior
to Plato's — a people dominated by an utter passion for
righteousness,
a people whom ideas of purity, of infinite good, of
universal
order, of faith in the irresistible downfall of all moral
evil,
moved to a poetic passion as fervid, and speech as musical,
as
when Sappho sang of love or AEschylus thundered his deep
notes
of destiny. When it is added that the familiarity of the
English
Bible renders all this possible without the demand upon
the
time-table that would be involved in the learning of another
language,
it seems clear that our school and college curricula will
not
have shaken off their medieval narrowness and renaissance
x PREFACE
paganism
until Classical and Biblical literatures stand side by side
as
sources of our highest culture.
My obligations will be obvious to
the main representative works
of
Biblical Criticism, more especially to the works of Cheyne,
Briggs,
George Adam Smith, and the late Professor Milligan; to
the
lectures of President Harper; above all to Canon Driver's
Introduction to Old
Testament Literature,
which has placed the
best
results of modern investigation within easy reach of the ordi-
nary
reader. I have made copious citations from the Revised
Version
of the Bible and Apocrypha, for the use of which I am
under
obligations to the University Presses of Oxford and
bridge.
I am indebted for assistance of various kinds to personal
friends,
amongst whom I ought to mention my brother, Dr. Moulton,
of
the
who
has become to his large circle of friends a universal referee
for
all departments of study. I have other obligations in my
memory,
which it is not so easy to specify; obligations to public
institutions
and private individuals whose encouragement has
assisted
me at every step. For the last four years I have been
lecturing
on Biblical literature in churches of various denomina-
tions,
in theological schools and universities, and in popular lecture
rooms;
my audiences in
clergy
and laity, Christian and Jewish, not without a representa-
tion
of that other public which never reads the Bible and hears
with
surprise its most notable passages. Though I have taken
pains
to inquire, I have never found examples of the difficulties
which
it was feared by some the handling of this topic on the
lecture
platform might create. On the contrary, my experience
has
uniformly confirmed what I have called above the foundation
axiom
of my work — that an increased apprehension of outer
literary
form is a sure way of deepening spiritual effect.
I think it right to state that the
issue of this work — announced
more
than a year ago--has been delayed by circumstances for
which
neither author nor publishers are responsible.
RICHARD
G. MOULTON.
August,
1895.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PAGE
THE
BOOK OF JOB: AND THE VARIOUS KINDS OF LITERARY INTEREST
ILLUSTRATED BY IT
3
BOOK FIRST
LITERARY CLASSIFICATION
APPLIED TO THE
SACRED
SCRIPTURES
CHAPTER
I.
VERSIFICATION AND RHYTHMIC PARALLELISM 45
II.
THE HIGHER PARALLELISM, OR PARALLELISM OF INTERPRE-
TATION 68
III.
THE LOWER AND THE HIGHER UNITY IN LITERATURE 81
IV.
CLASSIFICATION OF LITERARY FORMS 105
BOOK SECOND
LYRIC POETRY
OF THE BIBLE
V. THE BIBLICAL ODE 127
VI.
OCCASIONAL POETRY, ELEGIES, AND LITURGICAL PSALMS 153
VII. DRAMATIC LYRICS, AND LYRICS OF MEDITATION 174
VIII. LYRIC IDYL:
‘SOLOMON'S SONG’ 194
BOOK THIRD
BIBLICAL HISTORY AND
EPIC
IX.
EPIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE 221
X. BIBLICAL HISTORY IN ITS RELATION WITH
BIBLICAL EPIC 244
xi
xii CONTENTS
BOOK FOURTH
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE BIBLE, OR
WISDOM
LITERATURE
CHAPTER PAGE
XI. FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 255
XII.
THE SACRED BOOKS OF WISDOM 284
XIII.
‘THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON’ 305
BOOK FIFTH
BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF
PROPHECY
XIV.
FORMS OF PROPHETIC LITERATURE 327
XV.
FORMS OF PROPHETIC LITERATURE: THE DOOM SONG 353
XVI.
FORMS OF PROPHETIC LITERATURE: THE RHAPSODY 364
XVII.
THE RHAPSODY OF ‘
XVIII. THE WORKS OF THE PROPHETS 417
BOOK
SIXTH
THE BIBLICAL
LITERATURE OF RHETORIC
XX. THE EPISTLES: OR WRITTEN RHETORIC 439
XXI. SPOKEN RHETORIC: AND THE ‘BOOK OF
DEUTERONOMY’ 444
APPENDICES
1. LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE 465
II. TABLES OF LITERARY FORMS 499
III.
ON THE STRUCTURAL PRINTING OF SCRIPTURE 512
IV. USE OF THE DIGRESSION IN ‘WISDOM’ 521
GENERAL
INDEX 527
INTRODUCTION
THE BOOK OF JOB: AND THE
VARIOUS KINDS OF
LITERARY INTEREST ILLUSTRATED BY IT
INTRODUCTION
I
THE story in the Book of Job opens
by telling how there was a
man
in the
and
upright, a man that feared God and eschewed Book of Job:
evil.
It tells of his great substance in sheep and The Story Opens
camels
and oxen, and how he was the greatest of 1, ii
all
the children of the east. Then it speaks of his seven sons
and
three daughters, and describes their joyous family life. And so
scrupulous
was the piety of Job that, when his sons and daughters
had
concluded a round of feastings at one another's houses, Job
rose
early and sanctified them, lest perchance
in their gaiety they
had
offended God.
Then the story passes to a Council in
Heaven, at which the
sons
of God came, each from his several province, to present
themselves
before the Lord; and amongst them came the Adver-
sary
from his sphere of inspection, the Earth. He in his turn
was
questioned as to his charge, and Job was instanced by the
Lord
as a type of human perfection. But the Adversary, as his
office
was, began to raise doubts as to this perfection. God had
made
a hedge of prosperity about the man: if he were to put
forth
his hand, and destroy all at a stroke, Job might yet renounce
his
worship.
The Lord gave consent for this
experiment to be made. So it
came
about that in the midst of Job's prosperity there came a
messenger
to him and said:
3
4 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
The oxen
were plowing,
and
the asses feeding beside them;
and the Sabeans fell upon them
and took them away;
yea, they have slain the servants
with the
edge of the sword;
and I only am escaped alone to tell thee!
While
he was yet speaking there came also another, and said:
The fire of God is fallen from heaven,
and hath burned up the
sheep, and the servants,
and
consumed them;
and I only am
escaped alone to tell thee!
While
he was yet speaking there came also another, and said:
The Chaldeans made three bands,
and fell upon the camels,
and have taken them away,
yea, and slain the servants with the
edge of the sword;
and I only am escaped alone to tell
thee!
While
he was yet speaking there came also another, and said:
Thy sons and thy daughters
were eating and drinking wine in their
eldest brother's house;
and behold,
there
came a great hind from the wilderness,
and smote
the four corners of the house,
and it fell upon the young
men,
and they are dead;
and I only am escaped alone to tell
thee!
Then
Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and
fell
down upon the ground, and worshipped; and he said:
Naked came I out of my
mother's womb,
and naked shall I return thither!
The Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away:
Blessed be the Name of the Lord!
INTRODUCTION 5
So
the experiment of the Adversary was over, and Job had not
fallen
into sin.
A second Council in Heaven followed,
and a second time came
the
sons of God, and the Adversary among them, and made their
reports.
When the Lord triumphed in the matter of Job, that he
still
retained his integrity notwithstanding the destruction done to
him,
the Adversary did honour to the goodness of the man by
suggesting
a yet severer test:
Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath
will he give for his life. But
put forth thine hand now, and touch
his bone and his flesh, and he
will renounce thee to thy face.
Even
in this case the Almighty had no fear for his servant. So
the
Adversary went forth, and smote Job with sore boils from the
sole
of his foot unto his crown. And Job silently passed out, as
one
unclean, and crept up the ash-mound, and there he sat and
suffered;
until his good wife — who had uttered no word of com-
plaint
when all the substance was swallowed up and her children
perished
— broke down in the presence of this helpless pain:
Dost thou still hold fast thine
integrity? renounce God, and die!
But
Job rebuked this momentary lapse from her wisdom:
What? shall we receive good at the
hand of God, and shall we not
receive evil?
So
the second experiment was over, and still Job sinned not with
his
lips.
But a third trial awaited Job, which
needed no Council in
Heaven
to decree it,—the trial of time. Day followed day, but
no
relief came; and Job sat patiently on the ash-mound, an out-
cast
and unclean. And gradually a reverence grew about the
silent
sufferer: the children no longer jostled him as they sported
to
and fro, and groups of sympathising spectators would gather
about
the mound to gaze for a while on the fallen child of the
east.
And the travellers as they passed by the way smote on
6 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
their
breasts at the sight; and they made a token of it, and
carried
the news into distant countries, until it reached the ears
of
Job's three Friends, all of them great chieftains like himself:
the
stately Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the sturdy Shuhite,
and
Zophar the Naamathite, with his venerable grey hairs. These
three
made an appointment together to visit Job; and, when they
came
in sight of him, with one accord they lifted up their voices
and
wept. And the crowd of spectators made way for the great
men
to ascend the mound; and they sat down upon the ground
opposite
Job. Day after day they took their station there, yet
they
could only weep with their friend; for, though they longed
to
speak, their utter courtesy forbade them to disturb the majesty
of
that silent suffering.
At last it was Job himself who broke
the long silence, in order
to
curse, not God, but his own life. And at this point the intro-
ductory
story in which the poem is framed begins to give place to
dialogue;
but not before the introduction has made its contribu-
(Problem of the tion to the general argument. The
topic of the
poem and
First whole book is the Mystery of Human Suffering:
Solution) the introduction has
suggested a First Solution of
the Mystery: Suffering
presented as Heaven's test of goodness;
the
test being made the severer where the goodness is strong
enough
to stand it.
Job opened his mouth, and cursed the
day of his birth. Would
that
it might be blotted from among the days of the year, that the
cloud,
and the thick darkness, and the shadow of
Jobs curse death, and all the degrees of blackness
might seize
iii for their own! If the best
of all gifts — never to
have
existed—must be denied him, why might not that day of
his
birth have also brought to him the Grave, and the long quiet
sleep
with the stately dead, and with the wicked and the weary,
the
prisoner and his task-master, the small and the great, all at
their
ease together? Why should life be forced upon the bitter
in
soul?
INTRODUCTION 7
In these later thoughts Job seems to
reflect upon the order of
God's
providence: he must be checked, and yet gently; and
Eliphaz
takes this task upon himself. He dreads The Dramatic
to
give pain to his friend, yet how can he refrain Dialogue
from
speaking, and laying down to Job the foun- First cycle
dations
of hope and fear with which Job himself iv-xiv
has
so often comforted the afflicted?
Now a thing was secretly brought to
me,
And mine ear received a whisper
thereof:
In thoughts from the
visions of the night,
When deep sleep falleth
on men,
Fear came upon me, and
trembling,
Which made all my bones
to shake.
Then a spirit passed
before my face;
The hair of my flesh
stood up.
It stood still, but I
could not discern the appearance thereof,
A form was before mine eyes:
There was silence, and I
heard a voice, saying,
"Shall mortal man be more just
than God?
Shall a man be more pure than his
Maker?"
With
the awful solemnity of this vision Eliphaz enforces the view
which
the three Friends maintain throughout the discussion, and
which
is put forward as a Second Solution of
the Problem: The
very righteousness of
God (they
think) is involved in the doctrine
that all Suffering is a
judgment upon Sin.
Affliction, Says Eliphaz,
does
not spring up of itself like the grass, but it is they who have
sown
trouble that reap the same. But he puts the doctrine gently,
as
constituting so much hope for Job: when the sinner has once
sought
unto God he will find what great and unsearchable
wonders
God doeth. Then happy will have been the chastening
of
the Almighty, for if he maketh sore he bindeth up.
He shall deliver thee in
six troubles;
Yea, in seven there
shall no evil touch thee.
In famine he
shall redeem thee from death;
And in war
from the power of the sword.
Thou shalt
be hid from the scourge of the tongue;
8 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
Neither shalt thou be
afraid of destruction when it cometh.
At destruction and
dearth thou shalt laugh:
Neither shalt thou be
afraid of the beasts of the earth.
For thou shalt be in
league with the stones of the field;
And the beasts of the
field shall be at peace with thee.
And thou shalt know that
thy tent is in peace;
And thou shalt visit thy
fold and shalt miss nothing.
Thou shalt know also
that thy seed shall be great,
And thine offspring as
the grass of the earth.
Thou shalt come to thy
grave in a full age,
Like as a shock of corn
cometh in in its season.
Lo this, we have searched it, so it
is;
Hear it, and know thou it for thy
good.
Job is bitterly disappointed at thus
meeting reproof where he
had
looked for consolation.
My brethren have dealt
deceitfully as a brook,
As the channel of brooks
that pass away;
Which are
black by reason of the ice,
And wherein
the snow hideth itself:
What time
they wax warm, they vanish:
When it is
hot they are consumed out of their place.
The paths of
their way are turned aside,
They go up
into the waste and perish.
The caravans
of Tema looked,
The
companies of
They were ashamed
because they had hoped;
They came thither and
were confounded.
The
comfort Job longs for is the crushing pain that would cut
him
off altogether. And has he not a right to look for it? Is not
man's
life a warfare for a limited time?
As a servant that earnestly desireth
the shadow,
And as an hireling that looketh for
his wages,
so
Job passes his wearisome nights and months of vanity.
If I have sinned, what can I do unto
thee,
0 thou watcher of men?
Why hast thou set me as a mark for
thee,
So that I am a burden to
myself?
INTRODUCTION 9
And why dost thou not
pardon my transgression,
And take
away mine iniquity?
For now shall I lie down
in the dust;
And thou
shalt seek me diligently,
But I shall not be!
Job never claims to be sinless, but
he knows that no sin of his
can
be proportionate to the total ruin that has fallen upon him.
But
this does not satisfy the second speaker.
Doth God pervert
judgement?
Or doth the Almighty
pervert justice?
Will
not Job disentangle himself from the transgression which has
already
found victims in his children? For so surely as the flag
cannot
grow without water: though it be green and spreading
above,
with roots wrapped round and round its solid bed, yet it
perishes
as if it had never been seen: so surely God will not
uphold
the evil-doer. But neither will God cast away a perfect
man.
He will yet fill thy
mouth with laughter,
And thy lips
with shouting.
They that hate thee
shall be clothed with shame,
And the tent
of the wicked shall be no more.
Job knows of a truth that it is so.
Yet how can a man be just
with
God:
Which removeth the
mountains, and they know it not,
When he
overturneth them in his anger.
Which shaketh the earth
out of her place,
And the
pillars thereof tremble.
Which commandeth the
sun, and it riseth not;
And sealeth
up the stars.
What
answer but supplication is possible before that overpower-
ing
Strength? a Strength that can destroy both the perfect and
the
wicked alike: for if it be not God who does this, who is it?
Certain
it is that the earth is given into the hand of the wicked.
However
innocent the accused may be, before that Strength his
own
mouth would condemn him.
10 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
If I wash myself with
snow water,
And make my hands never
so clean:
Yet wilt
thou plunge me in the ditch,
And mine own
clothes shall abhor me.
For he is not a man, as
I am, that I should answer him,
That we should come
together in judgement;
There is no daysman
betwixt us,
That might lay his hand
upon us both.
And
Job appeals to God himself against this oppression of his
own
handiwork.
Thine hands have framed
me
And fashioned me
together round about;
Yet thou
dost destroy me.
Remember, I beseech
thee, that thou hast fashioned me as clay;
And wilt
thou bring me into dust again?
Hast thou not poured me
out as milk,
And curdled me like
cheese?
Thou hast clothed me
with skin and flesh,
And knit me together
with bones and sinews.
It
is but a small boon that the creature asks of his Creator: that
he
may be let alone for a brief space —
Before I go whence I
shall not return:
Even to the land of
darkness
And of the
shadow of death:
A land of thick
darkness,
As darkness itself;
A land of
the shadow of death,
Without any
order,
And where the light is
as darkness.
Zophar is deeply shocked at a
spectacle he has never beheld in
all
his long life, — a good man questioning a visible judgment of
God.
Canst thou by searching
find out God?
Canst thou find out the
Almighty unto perfection?
It is high
as heaven; what canst thou do?
Deeper than
Sheol; what canst thou know?
The measure
thereof is longer than the earth,
And broader
than the sea.
INTRODUCTION 11
There
is no course for Job but to set his heart aright, and put
iniquity
far away; then shall he again lift up a spotless countenance
before
God.
For thou shalt forget
thy misery;
Thou shalt
remember it as waters that are passed away:
And thy life shall be
clearer than the noonday;
Though there
he darkness, it shall be as the morning.
Before the persistent dogmatism of
the three Friends Job loses
more
and more the patience which had stood the shocks of the
Adversary.
No doubt but
ye are the people,
And wisdom
shall die with you.
But I have understanding
as well as you;
I am not inferior to
you:
Yea, who knoweth not
such things as these?
The
just man is made a laughing-stock, and the tents of robbers
prosper
: and yet the very beasts of the field can tell the inquirer
that
the hand of the Lord is responsible for every breath of every
living
thing. What, do the Friends stand forth as representatives
of
Wisdom? Nay,
With HIM is wisdom and
might;
He hath counsel and
understanding.
Priests
and counsellors spoiled, kings bound and unbound, the
mighty
overthrown, speech reft from the trusty, and understanding
from
the elders, contempt poured upon princes, and the belt of
the
strong loosed: these declare the Wisdom to which alone Job
will
appeal. Will the Friends lie on God's behalf? Will they be
partial
advocates in his cause?
Though he slay me, yet will I wait
for him:
Nevertheless I will maintain my ways
before him.
Job
appeals to God against God's own dealings, and never doubts
the
issue of his appeal. And yet he is so feeble to plead his cause:
a
driven leaf, a fettered prisoner, a moth-eaten rag! And the
time
left for his vindication is so short!
12 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
Man that is born of a
woman
Is of few
days, and full of trouble;
He cometh
forth like a flower, and is cut down,
He fleeth
also as a shadow and continueth not.
For there is hope of a
tree, if it be cut down,
That it will
sprout again,
And that the
tender branch thereof will not cease;
Though the root thereof
wax old in the earth
And the stock thereof
die in the ground,
Yet through
the scent of water it will bud,
And put
forth boughs like a plant.
But man dieth, and
wasteth away:
Yea, man giveth up the
ghost, and where is he?
As the
waters fail from the sea,
And the
river decayeth and drieth up,
So man lieth down and
riseth not;
Till the
heavens be no more,
They shall not awake,
Nor be roused out of
their sleep.
A
strange fancy plays for a moment with the emotions of the
sufferer,—the
fancy that the Grave itself might be sweet, if only
there
might come the vindication beyond it.
Oh that thou wouldest
hide me in Sheol,
That thou wouldest keep
me secret, until thy wrath be past,
That thou wouldest
appoint me a set time, and remember me!
—If a man
die, shall he live again?
All the days of my
warfare would I wait,
Till my
release should come;
Thou
shouldest call,
And I would answer thee:
Thou wouldest have a
desire to the work of thine hands.
But
Job dismisses the thought as vain.
Surely the mountain
falling cometh to nought,
And the rock is removed
out of its place,
The waters wear the
stones,
The overflowings thereof
wash away the dust of the earth:
And thou
destroyest the hope of man:
INTRODUCTION 13
Thou
prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth;
Thou
changest his countenance, and sendest him away;
His sons come to honour,
And he
knoweth it not;
And they are brought
low,
But he
perceiveth it not of them;
Only for
himself his flesh hath pain
And for
himself his soul mourneth.
It has come to the turn of Eliphaz
again to speak: he is
shocked
that Job should resist the united appeals Second
cycle
of
his Friends. xv-xxi
Art thou the first man
that was born?
Or wast thou
brought forth before the hills?
Hast thou heard the
secret counsel of God?
And dost
thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
On
his side, Eliphaz says, and perhaps as he speaks he lays his
hand
upon the shoulder of Zophar, are the aged and greyheaded,
men
much older than Job's father. Then he proceeds to formu-
late
again the doctrine of the unfailing judgment upon sin, a judg-
ment
never so certain as when it appears for the time to be delayed.
The wicked man
travaileth with pain all his days,
Even the number of years
that are laid up for the oppressor.
A sound of
terrors is in his ears;
In
prosperity the spoiler shall come upon him:
He believeth
not that he shall return out of darkness,
And he is
waited for of the sword.
Job
cries out against such miserable consolation as this: for his
comfort
he will go to a very different source.
O earth,
cover not thou my blood,
And let my
cry have no resting-place.
Even now,
behold, my Witness is in heaven,
And He that
voucheth for me is on high.
But
once more the certainty of an ultimate vindication is over-
shadowed
by the thought of the rapidly flitting life.
14 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
If I look for Sheol as
mine house;
If I have spread my
couch in the darkness;
If I have said to
corruption, Thou art my father;
To the worm, Thou art my
mother, and my sister;
Where then is my hope?
Bildad rebukes Job's discomposure of
manner.
Thou that tearest
thyself in thine anger,
Shall the earth be
forsaken for thee?
Or shall the rock be
removed out of its place?
He
sternly reiterates the doctrine of judgment, and images of
doom
flow freely. Nets and toils are under the feet of the sinner,
gins
and snares are all about him; his strength is hungerbitten and
the
firstborn of death devours his members; brimstone is scattered
upon
his habitation ; he is driven from light into darkness and
chased
out of the world.
Such reiteration simply drives Job
to stronger and stronger self-
assertion:
in set terms he declares that God subverteth him in his
cause,
and denies him the judgment for which he calls. And
God
has removed all other succour from him: his kinsfolk have
failed
him, his acquaintance are estranged, his very household
look
upon him as an alien.
Have pity upon me, have
pity upon me,
0 ye my
friends,
For the hand of God hath
touched me!
But
the weakness of a moment is transformed into a burst of
strength,
as he proceeds to lay his hopes upon a help from above.
Oh that my words were
now written!
Oh that they were
inscribed in a book!
That with an iron pen
and lead
They were graven in the
rock for ever!
For I know that MY VINDICATOR
LIVETH,
And that he shall stand up at the
last upon the earth;
And after my-skin bath been thus
destroyed,
Yet without my flesh shall I see
God!
Whom I shall see on my side,
And mine eyes shall behold, and not
another!
INTRODUCTION 15
With
the overpowering emotions called up by this thought Job
almost
faints :
— My reins are consumed
within me —
but
after a pause he recovers himself, and is able to bring his
speech
to a conclusion.
Zophar can scarcely wait his
opportunity for speaking; his
thoughts
anticipate his words on the favourite topic.
Knowest thou
not this of old time,
Since man
was placed upon earth,
That the triumphing of
the wicked is short,
And the joy of the
godless but for a moment?
And
many wise saws are poured forth by Zophar, testifying to this
mockery
of the sinner.
His children shall seek
the favour of the poor,
And his hands shall give
back his wealth.
His bones are full of
his youth,
But it shall lie down
with him in the dust.
The heavens shall reveal
his iniquity
And the earth shall rise
up against him.
The doctrine thus thrust upon him
again and again Job at last
begins
to look fairly in the face; and the more he considers it the
more
he trembles at the doubts that come crowding into his mind.
How oft is it that the
lamp of the wicked is put out?
That their calamity
cometh upon them?
That God distributeth
sorrows in his anger?
That they are as stubble
before the wind,
And as chaff that the
storm carrieth away?
One dieth in his full
strength,
Being wholly at ease and
quiet:
His breasts are full of
milk,
And the marrow of his
bones is moistened.
And another
dieth in bitterness of soul,
And never
tasteth of good.
They lie down alike in
the dust,
And the worm covereth
them.
16 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
Eliphaz
will not notice these doubts of Job; his righteous
indignation
with his friend has reached a climax,
Third Cycle and casting
restraint aside he openly accuses Job
xxii-xxx of sin.
Thou hast taken pledges
of thy brother for nought,
And stripped the naked
of their clothing.
Thou hast not given
water to the weary to drink,
And thou hast withholden
bread from the hungry.
Therefore
has trouble come upon him: but there is yet a place
for
repentance. If Job will acquaint himself with God and put
unrighteousness
away, he may still delight himself again in the
Almighty.
Job makes no reply as yet to the
cruel accusations: his thoughts
are
upon the heavenly Vindicator.
Oh that I knew where I
might find him:
That I might come even
to his seat!
There
he would have a judge that would not use his greatness to
confound
him.
Behold I go forward,
But he is
not there;
And backward,
But I cannot
perceive him:
On the left hand, when
he doth work,
But I cannot
behold him;
He hideth himself on the
right hand,
That I
cannot see him.
But he knoweth the way
that I take;
When he hath
tried me,
I shall come
forth as gold.
His
spirit purified by this meditation, Job is able with calm delib-
erateness
to lay before his Friends the new thoughts which are
troubling
him: the doubt whether his own is after all an excep-
tional
case, whether it be not rather the truth that in life taken as
a
whole the times of the Almighty are not plainly to be seen. He
INTRODUCTION 17
speaks
of the violence in the world, and the poverty that violence
brings
in its train: how men remove the ancient landmarks and
drive
the needy out of the way, until they have to seek precarious
subsistence
from the inclement wilderness, or labour in the fields
of
which they may never eat. He tells of violence in the city,
and
cries rising to a regardless God; of the thief, the adulterer,
the
murderer, — men who rebel altogether against the light, and
the
dawn comes upon them like a shadow of death. Yet all these
fare
just like the rest of mankind.
They are exalted; yet a little
while, and they are gone;
Yea, they are brought low, they are
gathered in, as all other!
Bildad cannot meet these questionings
of Job: his thoughts
are
filled with the overpowering greatness of God. He rises on
the
wave of a great theme, as he pictures the Ruler xxv. 1-6
of
the Universe engaged in matters of high celestial
policy,
or discovering blemishes in the brightness of the stars;
before
him the Shades beneath the sea tremble;1 Destruction
and
the Abyss reveal their secrets; his work is to hang
the
earth upon nothing, to support the mighty waters in xxvi.
5-14
the
flimsy clouds, to divide light and darkness by a boundary circle.
Lo, these are but the
outskirts of his ways;
And how small a whisper
do we hear of him!
But the thunder of his
power who can understand?
The Friends have persisted in
ignoring the arguments that Job
has
offered, and Job can only fall back into self-assertion.
xxvi. 1-4
and
As God liveth, who hath
taken away my right; xxvii. 1-6
And the Almighty, who
hath vexed my soul;
All the
while my breath is in me,
And the
spirit of God is in my nostrils:
Surely my lips shall not
speak unrighteousness,
Neither shall my tongue
utter deceit.
l
In
reference to the rearrangement of the speeches at this point see Job in
Literary
Index (Appendix I).
18 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
Once
more, and for the last time, the doctrine of unfailing
xxvii. 7- judgment on sin is to be asserted, and Zophar com-
xxviii. 28 menses:
Let mine enemy be as the
wicked—
His
long experience has filled him with instances of the godless
frustrated
in their hopes: their children multiplied for the sword,
their
heaped-up silver divided amongst the innocent, and them-
selves
swept by the tempest out of their place. To Zophar this
confidence
in the unerring stroke of doom seems the very founda-
tion
of Wisdom. There are mines out of which may be dug gold
and
silver and precious stones, but where is the place of Wisdom?
The deep saith, It is
not in me:
And the sea saith, It is
not with me:
It cannot be gotten for
gold,
Neither shall silver be
weighed for the price thereof.
God
only is the source of it, and when he laid the foundations of
the
universe he inwrought this into the structure of his world:
that
the fear of the Lord and his judgments on evil — this should
be
Wisdom and Understanding.
Job is gathering himself together
for his final vindication. But
first,
softly to himself, he meditates upon the contrast between
then
and now.
Oh that I were as in the
months of old,
As in the days when God
watched over me;
When his lamp shined
upon my head,
And by his light I
walked through darkness.
In
the rich imagery of the East he paints a prosperity that washed
his
steps in butter; he describes the hush that fell upon the
assembly
of the great when he advanced to join them; how among
the
people every ear that heard him blessed him, and every eye
that
saw him was a witness to the deeds of kindness by which he
spread
happiness around him. But now! He is derided by
those
whose fathers were not to be ranked with the dogs of his
INTRODUCTION 19
flock;
the very rabble thrust him aside as he walks. And — worse
than
all —
Thou art turned to be
cruel to me:
With the might of thy
hand thou persecutest me.
But
before friend and foe, and in the presence of God himself,
Job
stands forth to make solemn vindication. Towering above
the
seated accusers, he waves his arm in the full
ritual
of the Oath of Clearing. Article by article Job's vindication
he
repudiates the lust of the eye, oppression of the xxxi
weak,
failure in charity to the poor or hospitality to the stranger,
secret
trust in gold or secret worship of the heavenly host; if there
be
any other transgression — and Job passionately longs to see the
indictment
of an adversary — he makes the very concealment of
it
a fresh sin. Once more he breaks out:
If my land cry out
against me,
And the furrows thereof
weep together;
If I have eaten the
fruits thereof without money,
Or have caused the
owners thereof to lose their life:
Let thistles
grow instead of wheat,
And cockle
instead of barley!
Then,
with a wave of dismissal — "The words of Job are ended"
—he
seats himself and covers his face with his robe; and the
Friends
understand that the discussion is closed.
Religious tradition, embodied in the
speeches of the three
Friends,
has spent its energies and failed. But there is youth-
ful
enthusiasm represented among the crowd of Interposition of
spectators
round the ash-mound, in the person of Elihu
Elihu,
of the great family of Ram. He has stood xxxii
listening
with indignation in his heart; indignation against Job
because
he justified himself and not God, and indignation against
the
Friends because they had been unable to si- xxxii. 6-xxxiii
lence
such presumption. Elihu now breaks through
the
circle and ascends the ash-mound, standing respectful but
20 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
passionate
before the seated elders. He had said that days must
speak
and multitude of years show wisdom: but he has an under-
standing
as well as they; yea, his spirit feels like wine that can find
no
vent but by bursting its bottle. Thus, with juvenile profuse-
ness,
he pours forth some fifty lines in saying that he is about to
speak,
before he confronts Job — who had longed to meet God
face
to face — with the words:
Behold, I am according
to thy wish, in God's stead.
He
thus reaches the point which makes his contribution to the
discussion,
— a facet of the truth which his generation was seeing
a
little more clearly than the generation before him. It may be
(Third
Solution) made
a Third Solution of the Mystery:
Suffering
is one of the voices by which God
warns and
restores men. He describes a man
chastened with pain upon his
bed
until his life abhorreth bread, and his soul the daintiest meat:
If there be with him an angel,
An interpreter, one
among a thousand,
To skew unto man what is
right for him;
Then he is gracious unto
him, and saith,
"Deliver him from
going down to the pit,
I have found a
ransom."
An
idyllic picture follows of restored purity and happy penitence;
and
Elihu urges this view upon Job, and pauses for Job's reply.
But Job vouchsafes no reply; and
receives the new light with
contemptuous
indifference.
Disappointed at this reception,
Elihu turns to the three Friends
—
as wise men with an ear to try words — and hopes to take
them with him, and all
men of understanding, in his
xxxiv protest against this Job, who drinketh up scorning
like
water, who addeth
rebellion unto sin, and clappeth his hands
against
God. He enlarges upon the presumption of mankind
and
the judgments with which it is overwhelmed, and looks to
the
three Friends for assent.
INTRODUCTION 21
But the three Friends make no sign;
they meet their youthful
champion
with chilling silence.
Slighted on both sides, Elihu, like
Job, is driven to look up-
wards:
as his glance sweeps the sky, another flood
of
inspiration comes upon him. XXXV-XXXVII
Look unto the Heavens,
and see:
he
cries, alike to Job and to his companions. Is the God of those
heavens,
he asks, a God to be harmed by a man's sin, or benefited
by
his righteousness? Thus, "fetching his knowledge from afar,"
he
makes the heavens a starting-point for a fresh vindication of
the
providence that brings low and builds up again mighty kings,
or
cuts off whole peoples in a night. A rumble of Rise
of the Whirl-
distant
thunder recalls him to his text; and, when wind
he
looks up a second time, the brilliant sky of the xxxvi. 22-
Now
his whole discussion of providential might is bound up with
the
manifestations of power that are being exhibited at the moment
in
the changing heavens. His words bring before us the small
drops
of water and the spreading clouds, the play of lightning and
the
noise that tells of God, down to the very cattle standing expect-
ant
of the coming storm. When a nearer burst of thunder makes
his
heart tremble and move out of its place, Elihu still keeps his
eyes
fastened upon the sky: he finds fresh texts in the roaring voice
of
the heavens, and the lightning that lightens to the ends of the
earth,
in the snow intermingled with mighty rain as the icy breath
of
the north encounters the storm out of the chambers of the
south,
in the thick clouds wearied with waterings, and their delicate
balancings
as they descend, and descend, until they have wrapped
in
their folds speaker and hearers, and they cannot order their
speech
by reason of the darkness, and the impetuous eloquence of
Elihu
has died down into dread:
If a man speak, surely he shall be
swallowed up!
Now
the whirlwind is upon them: in marvellous wise its blasts
22 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
seem
to cleanse the mirky darkness into order; flashes of un-
earthly
bright out of the dark make them cast their eyes down-
ward;
until the flashes at last grow together into one terrible
majesty
of golden splendour in the northern heart of the storm,
and
the whirlwind has become the
VOICE OF GOD
Divine
Interven- Who is this that darkeneth counsel
tion By words without
knowledge?
xxxviii-xlii.6 Gird
up now thy loins like a man;
For
I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
As the Voice comes out of the storm
a new aspect of the dis-
cussion
unfolds itself. The perplexities of Job and his Friends
rested
upon a one-sided view that confined its survey to Evil, as
if
it alone were exceptional and unintelligible; the speech attrib-
uted
to the Divine Being comes to restore the balance by taking
a
more comprehensive survey. It may be reckoned as a Fourth
(Fourth
Solution) Solution
of the Problem: That the whole universe
is an unfathomed Mystery, in which the
Evil is not
more mysterious than the
Good and the Great.
The idea of the
whirlwind
is maintained throughout: the tone of overmastering
might—
so often mistaken for the meaning of this Theophany —
is
no more than the outward form in which the words of God are
embodied;
the traditional association of thunder with the voice
of
God leading our poet to convey the speech of Deity in the
form
of short sharp interrogatories, like explosions of thunder,
each
outburst putting some startling mystery of nature.
Who shut up the sea with doors,
When it brake forth and
issued out of the womb;
When I made the cloud
the garment thereof,
And thick darkness a
swaddling band for it,
And prescribed for it my
decree,
And set bars and doors,
And said, "Hitherto
shalt thou come, but no further;
And here shall thy proud
waves be stayed"?
INTRODUCTION 23
Have the gates of death
been revealed unto thee,
Or hast thou
seen the gates of the shadow of Death?
Where is the way to the
dwelling of light,
And as for
darkness, where is the place thereof?
Hath the rain a father?
Or who bath
begotten the drops of dew?
Out of whose womb came
the ice?
And the
hoary frost of heaven, who bath gendered it?
There
is no pause in the succession of wonders: the wonder of
the
lioness hunting her prey; of the young ravens crying to God
for
their food; the wonder of the wild goats bringing forth their
young;
the wonder of the wild ass ranging loose in the wilderness,
and
the ox abiding patiently by his crib; the wonder of the
ostrich,
foolish over her young because God has deprived her of
wisdom,
glorious in flight, putting to scorn the horse and his
rider;
the wonder of the war-horse pawing in the valley and
rejoicing
in his strength, swallowing the ground in fierceness and
rage
amid the thunder of the captains and the shouting. There
is
a momentary lull in the storm, when Job's voice is heard in
awe-struck
humility:
Once have I spoken, and
I will not answer:
Yea twice, but I will
proceed no further.
Then
again the swirl of mystery rages around: the Voice tells of
Behemoth,
with bones of brass and limbs of iron, his larder a
mountain
and a jungle his bower, watching unconcernedly the
swelling
of the boisterous waterfloods; or of Leviathan himself,
panoplied
against the hook of the fisher or snare of the fowler,
and
scorning even the hunter's spear and the arrows of the war-
rior,
flashing light and breathing smoke as he goes, terror dancing
before
him, and ocean turning hoary in his wake.
At last the storm begins to abate,
and Job is able to make his
submission.
He knows that God is all-powerful, and that no
purpose
of his can be restrained.
24 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
—"Who is this that hideth
counsel without knowledge?"—
comes
like an echoing rumble of the retiring storm. Job admits
the
charge: he has uttered that which he understood not, and
meddled
in things too high for him.
—"I will demand of thee, and
declare thou unto me "
again
sounds forth, like a more distant echo of the tempest. Job
comprehends
his whole submission in one utterance.
I had heard of thee by
the hearing of the ear;
But now mine eye seeth
thee,
Wherefore I abhor
myself, and repent
In dust and ashes.
Then
the storm has entirely cleared away. And with it the
dramatic
poem has given place to the frame of story: which
resumes to
relate how, when Job had thus spoken,
The story
closes the anger of the Lord was kindled
against the
three
Friends, because they had not said of Him
the
thing that was right as His servant Job had. Thus the Epi-
logue
furnishes a Fifth Solution: the proper
attitude of mind
(Fifth
Solution) towards the Mystery of Human
Suffering: that
the
strong faith of Job, which could even reproach
God as a friend
reproaches a friend, was more acceptable to Him
than the servile
adoration which sought to twist the truth in order
to magnify God. It only remains to tell
how the Lord turned the
captivity
of Job, and his wealth and prosperity returned in greater
measure
than before; and he begat sons and daughters, and saw
his
sons' sons to the fourth generation. So Job died, being old
and
full of years.
INTRODUCTION 25
II
Such is the Book of Job presented as a piece of literature.
The
questions of Theology or historic criticism that it suggests
are
outside the scope of the present work. Our Literary Interest
immediate
concern is with the various kinds of in the Book of
literary
interest which have touched us as we Job
have
traversed this monument of ancient literature.
The dominant impression is that of a
magnificent drama. No
element
of dramatic effect is wanting; and that which we might
least
have expected, the scenic effect, is especially Dramatic
impressive.
The great ash-mound outside an an- Interest
cient
village or town makes a stage just suited for of Background
the
single scene — and that an open-air scene — to which a Greek
tragedy
would be confined. And resemblance to a Greek drama
is
further maintained by the crowd of spectators who stand round
this
ash-mound like a silent Chorus; — unless, indeed, we are to
consider
that their sentiments are conveyed by Elihu as Chorus-
Leader.
When we reach the crisis of the poem we are able to
see
what advantage a drama addressed purely to the imagination
may
have over plays intended for the theatre. No stage machin-
ery
could possibly realise the changes of sky and atmosphere
which
in Job make a dramatic background for
the approach of
Deity.
It is true that the original poem does not describe these
changes,
as I have done, in straightforward narrative. But every
scholar
is aware that the ‘stage directions’ of modern plays are
wanting
in the dramas of antiquity: whatever variations of move-
ment
and surroundings these involve have to be collected from the
words
of the personages who take part in the dialogue. And in
the
transformation traced above, from a day of brilliant sunshine
to
a thunderstorm, and yet further to a supernatural apparition,
every
detail of change is implied in the words of Ehhu. We
watch
the changing scene through the eyes of those who are in
the
midst of it.
26 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
Interest of character abounds in the
poem. I must confess I
cannot
follow the subtle differences which some commentators see
between the
characters of the three Friends. It
of Character is easy to recognise in Eliphaz a stately
personage
with
a wider range of thought than his colleagues. But Bildad
and
Zophar leave different impressions on different readers. To
me
Bildad seems a touch more blunt in his manner than the rest.
Of
Zophar I would only say that the speeches assigned him fit
well
with the suggestion of his being a generation older than the
other personages of the
poem; though of course the
xv. 10 words of Eliphaz which claim such a personage as on
his
side need not necessarily refer to anyone present. But what-
ever
may be thought about the individualities of the Friends, no
one
can miss the contrast between the whole group and Job;
between
the interest of static character in various modifications
of
conformity to current ideals, and the interest of a dynamic per-
sonality
like that of Job, which can look back to a realisation of
the
perfection his friends describe, and can yet at the call of cir-
cumstances
fling his former beliefs to the winds, and probe pas-
sionately
among the mysteries of providence for new conceptions
of
divine rule. And the welcome addition to the poem of Elihu
adds
the ever fresh interest of youth in contrast with age. In the
impetuous
self-confidence of this personage, his flowing yet jejune
eloquence,
and in the chilling reception it meets alike from Job
and
Job's adversaries, we have youth presented from the one side.
But,
on the other hand, youth has dramatic justice done to it
when
we find Elihu's heart beating responsive to every change
of
the changing heavens, and eagerly drinking in the accumulat-
ing
terrors of the storm, until his wild speech stops only before
the
voice of God.
But scenery and character might
almost be called secondary
elements
of drama: its essence lies in action. The whole world
of
literature hardly contains a more remarkable
and of
Movement piece of dramatic
movement than the changes of
position
taken up by Job in the course of his dialogue with the
INTRODUCTION 27
Friends.
Before it commenced Job had met his ruin with that
ideal
patience which has forever been associated with his name.
At
last we find just a shadow of resistance in his plaintive enquiry,
why
life should be forced upon the miserable. His friends fasten
upon
this, and make it a starting-point for the discussion in which
they
urge that the sufferer is a sinner. Almost in an instant the
patient
Job is transformed into an angry rebel, tearing to shreds
optimist
views of righteous providence, and, with the passion of a
Titan,
painting God as an Irresponsible Omnipotence that delights
to
put righteousness and wickedness on an equality of helplessness
to
resist Him. The Friends continue their pressure, and Job is
driven
to appeal to God against their misconstruction; more and
more
as the action advances Job is led to rest his hopes of vindi-
cation
on the Being he began by maligning. At last he is found
to
have traversed a circle: and the same God whom, in the ninth
chapter,
he had accused of exercising judgment only to show his
omnipotence,
he contrasts with the Friends in the twenty-third
chapter
as a judge who would not contend with him in the great-
ness
of his power. When the climax of the Theophany comes,
this
movement of the drama is carried forward into a double sur-
prise.
Job had felt that if only he could find his way into the
presence
of God his cause would be secure. His prayer is strangely
granted,
and with what result?
I had heard of thee by
the hearing of the ear;
But now mine eye seeth
thee,
Wherefore I abhor
myself, and repent
In dust and ashes.
Yet
was Job's first thought a mistake ? The answer is a second
surprise.
While the tempest lasts the Theophany appears wholly
directed
against Job. But when the storm has cleared it is found
to
be the adversaries who have incurred the wrath of God, and his
servant
Job has said of him the thing that is right. The deep
moral
significance of these various presentations of Deity need
not
make us overlook the dramatic beauty in the transition from
one
to another.
28 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
The dialogue in Job is introduced
and concluded by a narrative
story,
and to dramatic effect must be added epic: I use this word
without
meaning to convey any judgment: on the
Epic Interest question
whether the incidents of the book are to
be
regarded as imaginary or as historically true. The narrative is
one
of grand simplicity, like the epics of antiquity. A few touches
create
for us a whole picture of life and scheme of society. The
first
note struck is that of perfection; and the life of which Job
is
declared the perfect type is that of a simple pastoral age. His
substance
of cattle is given in ideal figures; and he is called the
greatest
of all the children of the east. It is an age in which the
‘state’
is not yet born, but family life is pictured on the highest
scale.
The great seasons which break the monotony of such
patriarchal
existence are rounds of festal gatherings among the
seven
sons of Job, each receiving on his day with a regularity
never
broken; the sons moreover invite their sisters, and so
women's
society raises a revel into a dignified ceremonial. Such
interchange
of festivity would represent the highest ordinary ideals
of
the age. But behind this, Job, who lives in a wider world, has
his
high day of religious devotion, rising early in the morning to
sanctify
his children against possible sin.
In an instant, without any
connecting link or wordy preparation,
after
the fashion of the old epics which have the doings of gods
and
men alike in their grasp, we are transported to the heavenly
counterpart
of such earthly festivities. Heaven too has its high
day
on which the sons of God gather together from their several
provinces;
in the description of two such assemblies the recur-
rence
of identical phrases conveys the notion of ritual and cere-
monial
observance. We reach a point in the story at which the
utmost
care is needed to guard against a misconception of the
whole
incident. Among the sons of God, it is
(The Satan of said,
comes ‘The Satan.’ It is best to use the article
Job) and speak of ‘The Satan,’ or as the margin gives
it,
‘The Adversary: that is, the Adversary of the Saints. Else-
where
in Scripture the title of this office has become the name of
INTRODUCTION
29
a
personage — the Adversary of God, or ‘Satan.’1 But here (as
in
a similar passage of Zechariah) the Satan is an official
of
the Court of Heaven. There is nothing in his recep- Zecha-
tion
to distinguish him from the other sons of God; as riah
iii.1
they
may come from sun or moon or other parts of the Uni-
verse,
so the Satan is the Inspector of Earth, and describes his
occupation
as " going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and
down
in it." When once the associations with the other ‘Satan’
are
laid aside, it is easy to see that in the dealings of this per-
sonage
with Job there is no malignity; he simply questions where
others
accept, and in an inspector such distrust is a virtue. The
Roman
Church has exactly caught this conception in its ‘Advoca-
tus
Diaboli’: such an advocate may be in fact a pious and kindly
ecclesiastic,
but he has the function assigned him of searching out
all
possible evil that can be alleged against a candidate for canoni-
sation,
lest the honours of the Church might be given without due
enquiry.
In the present case the Satan merely points out possible
weaknesses
in Job, and a means of testing them. The Court of
Heaven
sanctions the ‘experiment’: — the word ‘experiment’ has
only
to be changed into its equivalent ‘probation’ for the whole
proceeding
to be brought within accepted notions of divine gov-
ernment.
Epic power is again exhibited in the
description of the mode in
which
this experiment is carried out. Slow history brings about
results
by what means are in its power, with much of makeshift,
and
accidents which mar the symmetry of events. But epic
poetry
can make its action harmonious; and it seems to be a
conspiracy
of heaven and earth that compasses Job's destruction.
The
Sabeans take his oxen, the sky rains fire upon the sheep, the
1 Bishop Bickersteth
in his epic poem Yesterday, To-day, and
Forever ingeniously
harmonises
these two conceptions of Satan. He makes his Lucifer Guardian Spirit
of Earth and
Man: as part of his office he tempts Adam then flies to Heaven to be
fallen Man's
accuser: gradually the spirit in which he has executed his office
intensifies
and makes more and more pronounced his own fall, until he at last sinks
into an open
Adversary of God. See the poem, books iv—vi, and the bishop's de-
fence of this
view in the St. James's Sermons.
30 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
Chaldeans
carry away the camels, and the winds of the wilderness
overwhelm
Job's children: while the separate destructions are
worked
into a concerto of ruin by the recurrence of the mes-
senger's
wail —
I only am escaped alone
to tell thee.
It
is an ideally grand shock. But at this stage Job's character is
epic,
and the shock is met by an ideal grandeur of acceptance.
One
by one the customary gestures of distress are exhibited, and
then
slowly succeed the words which have become the world's
formulary
for the emotion of bereavement. They are sublime
words,
that first proclaim simply the essential manhood to which
the
whole of life is but an accessory, and then throw over pious
submission
a grace of oriental courtesy that would make the
resumption
of a gift an occasion for remembering the giver.
Naked came I out of my
mother's womb,
And naked
shall I return thither!
The
Lord gave,
And the Lord
hath taken away:
Blessed be the Name of
the Lord!
Our epic plot intensifies, and when
the second assembly in
heaven
is held, God and the Satan concur in honouring Job's con-
stancy
by severer tests. In what follows there is no realistic
description;
epic poetry can act by reticence, and a word or two
are
sufficient to convey the picture of Job shrinking away silent
and
unclean from among his fellows, with a patience terrible to
look
upon; until the silence is broken by a second of those
utterances
of his which are so colossal in their simplicity. The
oriental
nomad life has two ideals specially its own. One is the
solemn
giving and receiving of gifts. The other is an instinct of
authority
that knows no bounds to its submission: an oriental
seems
to feel a pride in self-prostration before his natural lord.
Both
ideals are united in Job's answer to his wife's murmur
What? shall we receive
good at the hands of God and
shall we not receive
evil?
INTRODUCTION 31
The simple power of epic poetry has
raised us to a high plane
of
thought and feeling: upon that plane the action of the poem is
to
move with a passionateness that is proper to
drama.
But there is a transition stage between The Curse a Lyric
the
one and the other in that portion of the book Poem
entitled
‘Job's Curse.’ This is not narrative, and so cannot be
epic;
it is clearly distinct from the dramatic poetry to which it is
a
starting-point. Examination of it shows at once the musical
elaboration
and accumulation of musings on a situation or thought
which
we associate with lyric poetry. The Curse is a counterpart
to
such English lyrics as Wordsworth's Intimations
of Immortality
or
Gray's Bard. I subjoin the whole here, that it may be read
in
this connection as a separate lyric: — an Elegy of a Broken
Heart.
I
Let the clay perish
wherein I was born;
And the night which
said, There is a man child conceived
Let that day
be darkness;
Let not God
regard it from above,
Neither let
the light shine upon it!
Let darkness
and the shadow of death claim it for their own;
Let a cloud
dwell upon it;
Let all that
maketh black the day terrify it!
As for that
night, let thick darkness seize upon it;
Let it not
rejoice among the days of the year;
Let
it not come into the number of the months!
Lo, let that
night be barren;
Let no
joyful voice come therein!
Let them
curse it that curse the day,
Who are
ready to rouse up leviathan!
Let the
stars of the twilight thereof be dark!
Let it look
for light, but have none;
Neither let
it behold the eyelids of the morning:
Because it shut not up
the doors of my mother's womb,
Nor hid trouble from
mine eyes!
32 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
2
Why died I not from the
womb?
Why
did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
Why did the knees
receive me?
Or why the
breasts, that I should suck?
For now should I have
lien down and been quiet;
I should have slept;
then had I been at rest,
With kings
and counsellors of the earth,
Which built
solitary piles for themselves;
Or with
princes that had gold,
Who filled
their houses with silver;
Or as an hidden untimely
birth I had not been;
As infants which never
saw light.
There the
wicked cease from troubling;
And there
the weary be at rest.
There the
prisoners are at ease together;
They hear
not the voice of the taskmaster.
The small
and great are there;
And the
servant is free from his master.
Wherefore is light given
to him that is in misery,
And life unto the bitter
in soul?
Which long
for death, but it cometh not;
And dig for
it more than for hid treasures;
Which
rejoice exceedingly,
And are glad
when they can find the grave.
Why is light given to a
man whose way is hid,
And whom God bath hedged
in?
For my
sighing cometh before I eat,
And my
roarings are poured out like water.
For the
thing which I fear cometh upon me,
And that
which I am afraid of cometh unto me.
I am not at
ease,
Neither am I
quiet,
Neither have
I rest;
But trouble
cometh.
Our result then so far is that the
Book of Job contains specimens
of
epic, lyric, and dramatic composition; all the three main
elements
of poetry find a representation in it, and a representation
INTRODUCTION 33
of
the most impressive kind. I pass now to those departments
of
literature which are usually considered to be
furthest
removed from poetry,--philosophy and Interest of
science:
philosophy that seeks to find a meaning Philosophy
underlying
life as a whole, and science that observes in detail and
arranges
its observations.
The whole work is a philosophical
discussion dramatised. The
subject
discussed is the mystery of human suffering, Various Attitudes
and
its bearing upon the righteous government of to the problem
the
world: this is one of the stock questions of discussed
philosophy.
Each section of the book is the representation of a
different
philosophical attitude to this question.
The three Friends present a cut and
dried theory of suffering --
that
it is always penal. They are brought before
us
as behaving in the usual fashion of persons The Friends: A
finally
committed to a theory: they pour out Theory
stores
of facts that make for their view, they ignore and refuse to
examine
facts that tell against it, and they hint moral obliquity as
the
real explanation of refusal to concur in their
doctrine.
Elihu introduces the same theory modi- Elihu: Theory
fled
and corrected to date; with him suffering is modified
punishment
for sin, but that special kind of punishment which is
corrective
in character. He accordingly stands for a philosophic
school
of the second generation; and we are not surprised to find
him
maintaining his position with as much inflexibility as the
Friends
have shown, and at the same time magnifying his slight
difference
from them, and appearing no less an adversary to the
Friends
than to Job himself.
Beware lest ye say,
"We have found wisdom;
God may vanquish him,
not man":
For he hath not directed
his words against me;
Neither will I answer
him with your speeches.
At the furthest remove from these is
found Job, who takes a
negative
attitude, shattering other theories but providing none of
34 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
his
own. Of course no one will understand Job really to accept
what some of his words
imply, as where he sees in
Job's
Negative God an omnipotence that
judges only to display
Attitude power. But these wild words are not out of place
as
a poetically strong representation of the perplexities that en-
counter
one who would explain providential action. Job simply
cannot
solve these perplexities; he trusts in a divine vindication
at
some time, but meanwhile can only pronounce the problem of
life
insoluble. This is distinctly a philosophic attitude: it is noth-
ing
but the famous epoche, or suspension of mind, which from the
time
of Socrates has been recognised as a natural tone of mind
for
an enquirer. Of course there is a vast difference between
the
cold brightness of Plato's dialogues and the heated debate in
Job;
the Hebrew poem is not the discussion in the Porch or
Garden,
but represents philosophy as it is talked in the school
of
affliction. Job represents the epoche in a passion.
Yet another' philosophical position
is embodied in the Divine
Intervention.
As I have suggested above, this portion of the
Divine
Interven- poem has been often misunderstood.
It has been
tion:
Reference to
assumed, not unnaturally, that
the Divine Inter-
a wider
category vention — like the Deus ex machina of the Greek
drama—must
be a final settlement of the questions in dispute.
When
the speeches attributed to God are examined in this light
they
are found to be no settlement at all, or, what were worse
than
any settlement, an indignant denial of man's right to ques-
tion.
But such interpretations overlook one important considera-
tion:
that in the epilogue Job is pronounced by the Lord to have
said
of him the thing that is right, while Job's Friends, who main-
tained
the wickedness of questioning, are declared to have incurred
the
Divine anger. The interpretation involves a double mistake.
On
the one hand the Divine Intervention is not a settlement of
the
matter in dispute; at the end of the poem the problem of
human
suffering remains a mystery. But this section of the work,
like
others, is a distinct contribution towards a solution. In esti-
mating
what that contribution is a second mistake must be avoided,
INTRODUCTION 35
by
which form and substance have been confused. The tone of
scorn
which rings through the sentences of the Divine utterance
must,
as I have said above, be considered part of the dramatic
form
thrown over the discussion; the poet has conceived the
thunder
tone to be the proper embodiment for the Divine voice,
and
the explosive interrogatories of which the speeches are com-
posed
are just as much a portion of this dramatic setting as the
signs
of a rising tempest which are put into the mouth of Elihu.
The
whole is introduced with the explanation: "The Lord
answered
Job out of the whirlwind." But when we go below
this
outer form, and enquire what is the general drift of the
Divine
utterance as a whole, we find, as I have said before, that
its
effect is to widen the field of discussion. Job has fastened his
attention
simply upon Evil, and successfully maintained its inex-
plicableness
against his friends. The Divine Intervention brings
out
that the Good and the Great, all that men instinctively
admire
in the universe, is just as inexplicable as Evil. Now this
is
distinctly a contribution towards the solution of the problem
in
philosophic terms, it has included the matter under discussion
in
a wider category, and this represents a stage of philosophic
advance.
Moreover, it implies consolation to the human sufferer
as
well as progress to the discussion. Job had met loss and pain
without
a murmur; he broke down when long musing made him
realise
the isolation his ruin had brought him, and how he was an
outcast
from intelligible law. He recovers his self-control when
he
is led to feel that his burden is only part of the world-mystery
of
Good and Evil, for the solution of which all time is too short.
Two sections of the work have yet to
be considered in the
present
connection, the prologue and the epilogue. From the
side
of philosophy no part of Job is more im- Epilogue : Prac-
portant
than the brief epilogue. Other sections tical bearings of
suggest
distinct solutions of the problem under the question
discussion.
But when a question is so wide as to admit of no
final
settlement, but only of tentative treatment, philosophy can
have
no more important task than to discover a practical attitude
36 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
which
we may assume towards it while advancing slowly towards
theoretic
knowledge. This is what the epilogue does in its pro-
nouncement
that Job has been right and his friends wrong. As
suggested
above, this can have no other meaning than to imply
that
the bold faith of a Job, which could reproach his God as
friend
reproaches friend where the Divine dealings seemed unjust,
was,
though founded on ignorance, more acceptable to that God
than
the servile adoration which sought to twist facts in order to
magnify
His name. The deep significance of such a pronounce-
meat
must be welcomed by every school of thought; it for ever
stamps
the God of the Bible as a God on the side of enquiry.
But before this principle has been
laid down in the epilogue,
before
Job and his friends have commenced to discuss the mys-
Prologue:
Specu- tery of suffering, another
explanation of that mys-
lation upon a
Tran- tery has been suggested to our
thoughts in the
scendental
Expla- prologue. When we are made to see
the Powers
nation of
Heaven discussing the character of Job as if it
were
an item in which the welfare of the universe was concerned,
and
contriving visitations of suffering as means of testing whether
the
character be really all that it seems to be, it is impossible for
our
minds not to generalise, and wonder whether large part of the
visible
suffering in the actual world be not a probationary visita-
tion
of this nature. Here then there is another solution presented:
how
is the treatment to be classified from our immediate point of
view?
The thinker has other weapons besides philosophic dis-
cussion.
Philosophy deals with that which can be known by its
own
methods; but the thinker may recognise a region outside
this,
which therefore from the philosophic point of view is the
unknowable,
which may nevertheless have influences operating
upon
the region of what is known. In reference to such a region
he
will not employ the method of discussion, but rather the form
of
philosophic suggestion that has come to be called ‘speculation.’
The
prologue to Job may be regarded as giving the authority of
Holy
Writ to reverent speculation upon the higher mysteries.
No
doubt here difference of interpretation comes in. Those who
INTRODUCTION 37
consider
that the first two chapters of Job
represent an historic
fact
— incidents which actually happened — will not use the word
speculation:
to them this prologue will be the final settlement
of
the whole question. But the great majority of readers will
take
these chapters to be part of the parable into which the his-
tory
of Job has been worked up; the incidents in heaven, like the
incidents
of the Prodigal Son, they will understand to be spirit-
ually
imagined, not historically narrated. And these will recognise
that
the prologue gives completeness to the Book
of Job viewed
from
the standpoint of philosophy; the problem of human suffer-
ing,
which has in other parts of the book been treated by theory
and
theory modified, by negative positions and reference to a
wider
category, and even by pronouncement upon its practical
bearings,
has a further illumination cast upon it by a speculation
which
refers the origin of suffering to the mysteries of the super-
natural
world.
I have spoken of science as well as
philosophy. Science ob-
serves
nature and life; observation of nature is the Interest of
special
work of modern science, antiquity turned science:
its
reflection chiefly on human life. It is hardly The Land Ques-
necessary
to point out that proverb-like reflec- tion
tions
on society and life form large part of the material out of
which
the dialogue in Job is constructed. I
will be content with
a
single one of the more extended illustrations. It is remarkable
that
the whole course of what the most modern thought calls
‘the
land question’ is sketched in a single chapter of xxiv
Job.
The patriarch is describing what seems to him
the
misgovernment of the world. He commences with the en-
croachments
of private ownership upon the common land:
There are that remove
the landmarks. . . . 2,
4
They turn the needy out
of the way.
There
is consequently the formation of a class of the poor, who
are
either driven to the barren regions, or become a mere labour-
ing
class without rights in the land of the community.
38 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
4,
5 The
poor of the earth hide themselves together:
Behold, as wild asses in
the desert
They go forth to their
work, seeking diligently for meat;
The wilderness yieldeth
them food for their children.
7,
8 They
lie all night naked without clothing,
And have no covering in
the cold.
They are wet with the
showers of the mountains,
And embrace the rock for
want of a shelter.
Poverty,
Job sees, necessitates borrowing, and the fresh distress
that
is its natural sequel.
2,
3 They
violently take away flocks and feed them,
They drive away the ass
of the fatherless,
They take the widow's ox
for a pledge.
Poverty
is seen side by side with wealth, forced into close relation-
ship
with it that increases the distress of want.
6 They
cut his provender in the field;
And they glean the
vintage of the wicked.
10,
11 And
being an-hungered they carry the sheaves;
They make oil within the
walls of these men;
They tread their
winepresses, and suffer thirst.
As
a next stage we get the crowding of population in cities, with
hints
of fresh distress and turbulence.
12 From
out of the populous city men groan,
And the soul of the
wounded crieth out,
Yet God imputeth it not
for folly.
The
climax comes in the formation of a purely criminal class.
13-17 These
are of them that rebel against the light;
They know
not the ways thereof,
NOT abide in
the paths thereof.
The murderer riseth with
the light,
He killeth
the poor and needy;
And in the
night he is as a thief.
The eye also of the
adulterer waiteth for the twilight;
Saying, No
eye shall see me;
And he
putteth a covering on his face.
INTRODUCTION 39
In the dark they dig
through houses:
They shut
themselves up in the daytime.
They know
not the light.
For the morning is to
all of them
As the
shadow of death;
For they
know the terrors of the shadow of death.
It
is noteworthy that when Job makes his general vindication he
finds
a climax in disowning sins against the rights xxxi. 38
and
duties of land.
It appears then that both philosophy
and science have their
representation
in this ancient book of the Bible. Yet every reader
will
feel that these words are an imperfect descrip-
tion
of the matter which makes up the poem of Interest of
Job.
Philosophy is based upon reason; but in the Prophecy
present
case there is a section of the poem which represents God
himself
as entering into the discussion, and holding up a view
of
the truth from which no one appeals. It is clear that in the
Book
of Job yet another element of Revelation mingles side by
side
with Philosophy; and the new element implies a new divi-
sion
of literature. The student who comes to the Bible from
other
literatures must be prepared to recognise a special literary
type,
that of Prophecy: a department which is distinguished from
others
not by form — for Prophecy may take any form but
by
spirit,
its differentia being that it
presents itself as an authoritative
Divine
message. The literary study of the Bible has no more
important
task than that of describing Prophecy from the literary
point
of view.
The varieties of literary form
illustrated in the work we are
considering
are not yet exhausted. We have called the Book of
Job
a drama and a philosophic discussion; yet Interest of
neither
of these descriptions will account for the Rhetoric
strange
character of the individual speeches which
strikes
every reader. Their length, if nothing else, would dis-
tinguish
them from the speeches of other dramas; and their tone
is
equally far removed from the tone of philosophic disquisition.
40 LITERARY
STUDY OF THE BIBLE
They
have in them plenty of dramatic force, and also clear and
effective
strokes of argument. But they do not stop with these;
the
dramatic thrust gives place to ornate moralising which, from
the
dramatic point of view, seems so much waste; and the point
of
the argument is again and again lost in an accumulation of
beautiful
irrelevancy. He would be a very perverse reader who
should
cry out against these characteristics of Job as literary faults:
on
the contrary, they are evidence that the character of the work
is
insufficiently described by the terms drama and discussion. A
further
element comes in of Rhetoric: not in the debased sense
which
the word is coming to bear to modern ears, but the Rhetoric
of
antiquity which was the delight in speech for its own sake.
Each
delivery of a speaker in the poem of Job is to be looked
upon
as a work of art in itself. If Job in the course of the dis-
cussion
interjects the parenthetic thought, "What is the good of
arguing?" this
parenthesis is found to be a finished
xvi. 6-17 meditation of twenty-eight lines. The speech in which
it
occurs is answered by Bildad, and he meets Job's eloquence by
a
tour-de-force of imagery painting the
whole universe watch-
ing to destroy the
sinner, and this piece of word-beauty
xviii. 5-21 runs to thirty-four lines. Zophar in the same round of
discussion
varies the beauty by a string of wise saws on the same
topic,
and these extend to sixty lines. All this is over and above
the portions of the
speeches which are strictly argument-
xx. 4-29 ative. It is clear then that the personages of the
poem
answer
one another, not only with argument and dramatic passion,
but
also with counterpoises of rhetoric weight. The whole be-
comes
like a controversy carried on in sonnets, a discussion waged
in
perorations. Once more the many-sidedness of the Bible is
apparent;
and the student who would fully appreciate it must
train
himself in the literary interest of Rhetoric.
One word more has yet to be said.
The literary varieties men-
tioned
so far are such as appeal chiefly to the mind. But there
is
one main distinction in literature that appeals to the eye and
the
ear also the distinction between the ‘straight-forward’ speech
INTRODUCTION 41
called
‘prose,’ and that kind of speech which ‘measures’ itself
into
metres and verses. A glance at the Book of
Job
in any properly printed version shows that Interest of
this
work, like the plays of Shakespeare or the Versification
later
stories of William Morris, presents an interchange between
the
two fundamental forms of language, being a dialogue in verse
enclosed
in a frame of prose story. When however the English
reader
calls in his ear to supplement his eye, he finds that the
verse
passages of Job differ essentially from what he is accustomed
to
find in English verse. There is no rhyme, nor do the lines
correspond
in meters or syllables. The Book of Job, then, in
addition
to its other literary suggestiveness, raises the elementary
questions
of Biblical versification.
The purpose of this Introduction is
now accomplished. I have
engaged
the reader's attention with a single book of the Bible;
we
have seen that, over and above what it yields to
the
theological faculty or the religious sense, the work Plan
of the whole
Book
of Job is a piece of literature, the analysis of work
which
brings us into contact with all the leading varieties of
literary
form. What the Introduction has done in reference to a
single
book, the work as a whole is to do in reference to the
whole
Bible, proceeding however by a method more regular than
has
been necessary so far. The work will be divided into six
books.
The first book will start with the point last reached --
Biblical
Versification--and widening from this will search out
other
distinctions which may serve as a basis for the Classification
of
Literature under such heads as Lyric, Epic, Philosophic, Pro-
phetic,
Rhetoric. The subsequent books will take up these depart-
ments
one by one, illustrating each, with the subdivisions of each,
from
the most notable examples in the Sacred Writings. The
reader
who has thus given his attention to the general literary
aspects
of the Bible will then find, in an Appendix, Tabular
arrangements
into which the whole of the Bible enters, intended
to
assist him when he desires to read the Sacred Writings from the
literary
point of view.
BOOK FIRST
LITERARY CLASSIFICATION APPLIED TO THE
SACRED
SCRIPTURES
CHAPTER PAGE
1.
VERSIFICATION AND RHYTHMIC PARALLELISM 45
II.
THE HIGHER PARALLELISM, OR PARALLELISM OF INTER-
PRETATION 68
III.
THE LOWER AND THE HIGHER UNITY IN LITERATURE 81
IV.
CLASSIFICATION OF LITERARY FORMS 105
CHAPTER
I
VERSIFICATION AND RHYTHMIC
PARALLELISM
THE Bible is the worst-printed book
in the world. No other
monument
of ancient or modern literature suffers the fate of being
put
before us in a form that makes it impossible, Literary form of
without
strong effort and considerable training, to Scripture ob-
take
in elements of literary structure which in all scured by ordi-
other
books are conveyed directly to the eye in a
nary modes of
manner
impossible to mistake. printing.
By universal consent the authors of
the Sacred Scriptures
included
men who, over and above qualifications of a more
sacred
nature, possessed literary power of the highest order. But
between
their time and ours the Bible has passed through what
may
be called an Age of Commentary, extending over fifteen
centuries
and more. During this long period form, which should
be
the handmaid of matter, was more and more overlooked;
reverent,
keen, minute analysis and exegesis, with interminable
verbal
discussion, gradually swallowed up the sense of literary
beauty.
When the Bible emerged from this Age of Commentary,
its
artistic form was lost; rabbinical commentators had divided
it
into ‘chapters,’ and medieval translators into ‘verses,’ which
not
only did not agree with, but often ran counter to, the origi-
nal
structure. The force of this unliterary tradition proved too
strong
even for the literary instincts of King James's translators.
Accordingly,
one who reads only the ‘Authorized Version’ incurs
a
double danger: if he reads his Bible by chapters he will, with-
out
knowing it, be often commencing in the middle of one com-
45
46 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
position
and leaving off in the middle of another; while, in
in
particular: whatever way he may read it,
he will know no dis-
verse printed
as tinction between prose and verse.
It is only in
prose our own day that a better state of things
has
arisen.
The Church of England led the way by issuing its ‘New
Lectionary’;
the new lessons will be found to differ from the old
chiefly
in the fact that the passages marked out for public reading
are
no longer limited by the beginnings and endings of chapters.
Later
still the ‘Revised Version’ of the Bible, whatever it may
have
left undone, has at all events made an attempt to rescue
Biblical
poetry from the reproach of being printed as prose.
It is to the latter of these two
points — the distinction between
verse
and prose — that I address myself in the present chapter.
Biblical
Versifi- No doubt the confusion of the
two would have
cation based
on been
impossible, were it not that the versification
parallelism
of of
the Bible is of a kind totally unlike that which
clauses prevails in English literature. Biblical verse is
made
neither by rhyme nor by numbering of syllables; its long-
lost
secret was discovered by Bishop Lowth more than a cen-
tury
after King James's time. Its underlying principle is found
to
be the symmetry of clauses in a verse, which has come to be
called
‘Parallelism.’
Hast thou given the
horse his might?
Hast thou clothed his
neck with the quivering mane?
Hast thou made him to
leap as a locust?
The glory of
his snorting is terrible.
He paweth in
the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength:
He goeth out
to meet the armed men.
He mocketh
at fear, and is not dismayed;
Neither
turneth he back from the sword.
The quiver
rattleth against him,
The flashing
spear and the javelin.
He
swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage;
Neither
standeth he still at the voice of the trumpet.
As oft as
the trumpet soundeth he saith, Aha
And he
smelleth the battle afar off,
The thunder
of the captains, and the shouting.
RHYTHMIC PARALLELISM 47
It
is abundantly clear, first, that this is a passage of the highest
rhythmic
beauty; secondly, that the effect depends neither on
rhyme
nor metre. Like the swing of a pendulum to and fro, like
the
tramp of an army marching in step, the versification of the
Bible
moves with a rhythm of parallel lines.
How closely the effect of this
versification is bound up with the
parallelism
of the clauses, the reader may satisfy himself by a
simple
experiment. Let him take such a psalm as the one hun-
dred
and fifth; and, commencing (say) with the eighth verse,
let
him read on, omitting the second line of each couplet: what
he
reads will then make excellent historic prose.
He hath remembered his covenant for
ever: the covenant which he
made with Abraham, and confirmed the
same unto Jacob for a
statute, saying, "Unto thee will
I give the
they were but a few men in number,
and they went about from
nation to nation. He suffered no man
to do them wrong, saying,
"Touch not mine anointed
ones."
Let
him now read again, putting in the lines omitted: the prose
becomes
transformed into verse full of the rhythm and lilt of a
march.
He hath remembered his
covenant for ever,
The word
which he commanded to a thousand generations;
The covenant which he
made with Abraham,
And his oath
unto Isaac;
And confirmed the same
unto Jacob for a statute,
To
Saying, "Unto thee
will I give the
The lot of
your inheritance":
When they were but a few
men in number;
Yea, very
few, and sojourners in it;
And they went about from
nation to nation,
From one
kingdom to another people
He suffered no man to do
them wrong;
Yea, he
reproved kings for their sakes;
Saying, "Touch not
mine anointed ones,
And do my
prophets no harm."
48 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
The alphabet, then, of Scriptural
versification will be the figures
The Couplet
and of Parallelism. Of these figures
the simplest and
Triplet most fundamental are the Couplet and
Triplet. A
Couplet
consists of two parallel clauses, a Triplet of three.
The LORD of
Hosts is with us;
The God of
Jacob is our refuge.
He maketh wars to cease
unto the end of the earth;
He breaketh the bow, and
cutteth the spear in sunder;
He burneth the chariots
in the fire.
It
is remarkable that the musical rendering of the psalms by
chants,
which in some points is carried to such a degree of nicety,
entirely
ignores this foundation difference of Couplet and Triplet,
the
same chant being sung to both. To take a typical case.
The LORD of Hosts is with us
The God of Ja - cob is our refuge.
This
is correct, because a piece of music which is two-fold in
its
structure is sung to a couplet verse. But presently the same
music
will be sung to the triplet verse.
He maketh wars to cease unto the end
of the earth :
He breaketh the bow and CUTTETH the spear
in sunder.
He BURNeth the char - iots in the
fire.
RHYTHMIC PARALLELISM 49
Every
ear must detect that this is a clumsy makeshift: it runs
counter
to a rhythmic distinction as fundamental as the distinction
of
common time and triple time in music. The remedy is very
simple.
Chants of this nature are made up of two parts.
As
such they are only fitted to couplet verses. For the triplet
verse
a variant is needed to the first part, sufficiently like it to be
recognised,
yet differing in a note or two. For
a
simple variant would be
The
couplet verse would be sung as before; for the triplet the
variant
would be inserted between the first and second parts.
(first
part)
He
maketh wars to CEASE unto the end of
the earth.
(variant)
He
breaketh the bow and CUTTETH the spear in sunder.
(second
part)
He BURNeth the char – iots in the fire.
50 LITERARY CLASSIFICA TION OF SCRIPTURE
I am loth to delay the reader with
what may seem to be merely
technical
matters. But attention to just a few of the elementary
forms of
Hebrew verse will richly repay itself in
Quatrains and increased susceptibility to the rhythmic cadence of
Double
Triplets Biblical poetry. Passing then to
other figures, it is
natural
to mention first the Quatrain, which has four lines. The
four
lines may be related to one another in various ways, of which
the
commonest is Alternation, the first line being parallel with the
third,
and the second with the fourth.
With the merciful
Thou wilt
show thyself merciful:
With the perfect man
Thou wilt
show thyself perfect.1
In
the Quatrain Reversed, or Introverted, the first line corresponds
with
the fourth, and the two middle lines with one another.
Have mercy upon me, 0
God,
According to
thy loving kindness:
According to
the multitude of Thy tender mercies
Blot out my
transgressions.2
Usually
such introversion is merely a matter of form, but some-
times
it is found to be closely bound up with the sense.
Give not that which is
holy unto the dogs,
Neither cast
your pearls before the swine:
Lest haply
they [the swine] trample them under their feet,
And [the dogs] turn and
rend you.3
1 Psalm xviii. 25.
The following verse is another example, and this figure is
very common.
2 Psalm li. I.
Compare the metre of In Memoriam. Other examples are Psalm
ciii. i ; ix.
15.
3 Matthew vii. 6. It
will be observed that Hebrew parallelism strongly influ-
ences the
language of the New Testament, and of Apocryphal books originally
Greek. It is
therefore technically correct to treat Biblical literature as a depart-
ment by
itself.
RHYTHMIC PARALLELISM 51
Very
rarely the couplets of a Quatrain are not only parallel but
interwoven,
so that the sense of the first line is carried on by the
third,
and the sense of the second by the fourth.
I will make mine arrows
drunk with blood,
And my sword
shall devour flesh:
With the blood of the
slain and the captives,
[Flesh] From
the head of the leaders of the enemy.1
As
we have Quatrain and Quatrain Reversed, so we have the
Double
Triplet and the Triplet Reversed.
Ask, and it shall be
given you;
Seek, and ye
shall find;
Knock,
and it shall be opened unto you.
For every one that
asketh receiveth,
And he that
seeketh findeth,
And
to him that knocketh it shall be opened.2
The
eye catches what the ear confirms in this arrangement: how
the
first line of the second triplet balances the first line of the
first
triplet, the second the second, and the third the third. But
in
what follows the order of the second triplet is reversed, so
that
the beginning of the whole corresponds with the end, and
the
middle lines with one another:
No servant can serve two
masters:
For either
he will hate the one,
And
love the other;
Or
else he will hold to one,
And despise
the other.
Ye cannot serve God and
mammon.3
It is to be observed that such
figures occur either Recitative addi-
pure
or intermixed with a sequence of words that tions to Figures
1 Deut. xxxii. 42.
2 Matthew vii. 7, 8.
Other examples are Matthew xii. 35; Isaiah xxxv. 5.
3 Luke xvi. 13. Other examples are Proverbs
xxx. 8, 9; Ezekiel i. 27.
52 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
remains
outside the rhythm, like the ‘recitative’ of a chant. Such
a
recitative may occur at the beginning:
And in that day thou
shalt say
I will give
thanks unto thee, 0 Lord,
For
though thou vast angry with me,
Thine
anger is turned away,
And thou
comfortest me.
or
at the end:
Make the heart of this
people fat,
And make
their ears heavy,
And
shut their eyes:
Lest
they see with their eyes,
And hear
with their ears,
And understand with
their heart:
and turn again and be healed.
Or
the recitative may even occur by interruption in the middle of
the
figure: a passage in St. Matthew has two Reversed Quatrains
in
succession thus interrupted.
Whosoever shall swear by the
But whosoever shall swear by the
Gold of the
(Ye fools and blind)
For whether is greater, the Gold?
Or the
And, Whosoever shall swear by the Altar,
it is nothing,
But whosoever shall swear by the
Gift that is upon it, he is a debtor:
(Ye fools and blind)
For whether is greater, the Gift?
Or the Altar that sanctifieth the Gift?
There
is no limit to the length or variety of such figures in
Biblical
versification. Of the more elaborate it
The Chain
Figure will
be enough to instance two. The Chain Fig-
ure
is made up of a succession of clauses so linked that the goal
of
one clause becomes the starting-point of the next.
RHYTHMIC PARALLELISM 53
That which the
palmerworm hath left
hath the
locust eaten;
and that
which the locust hath left
hath
the cankerworm eaten;
and
that which the cankerworm hath left
hath
the caterpillar eaten.l
The
figure is all the more impressive when an additional line
comes
to complete the chain of ideas by connecting the end with
the
beginning.
For her true beginning
is
desire of
discipline;
And the care
for discipline is
love
of her;
And
love of her is
observance
of her laws;
And
to give heed to her laws
confirmeth incorruption;
And incorruption bringeth near unto God;
So then desire of wisdom
promoteth to a kingdom.
But
perhaps the most important figure, and the one most attrac-
tive
to the genius of Hebrew poetry, is the Envel- The Envelope
ope
Figure, by which a series of parallel lines Figure
running
to any length are enclosed between an identical (or
equivalent)
opening and close.
By their fruits ye shall
know them.
Do men
gather grapes of thorns?
Or figs of
thistles?
Even so
every good tree bringeth forth good fruit,
But the
corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit:
A good tree
cannot bring forth evil fruit,
Neither can
a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree
that bringeth not forth good fruit
Is hewn
down, and cast into the fire.
Therefore by their
fruits ye shall know them.
1 Joel i. 4. Other
examples are in Hosea ii. 21, 22; Romans x. 14, 15; II Peter i.
5-7.
The passage next cited is from Wisdom vi. 17-20.
2 Compare Psalm viii: or,
in English poetry, the opening stanza of Southey's
Thalaba.
54 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
The
same artistic effect of envelopment is produced when in such
a
figure the close is not a repetition of the opening, but completes
it,
so that the opening and the close make a unity which the
parallel
clauses develop,
Consider the ravens:
that they
sow not,
neither
reap:
which have
no store-chamber nor barn;
and God
feedeth them:
Of how much more value
are ye than the birds!1
The general subject of versification
includes not only these
Figures
of Parallelism, the ultimate form by which Biblical verse
separates itself from
prose, but also those larger
Stanzas aggregations of lines and verses making integral
parts
of a poem, which may be called ‘Stanzas.’ Four points
may
be noted in regard to the position of the stanzas in the
structure
of Hebrew verse.
First, a poem may be, composed of
similar figures through-
out:
this is the treatment most familiar to the reader of English
1. Stanzas of
Sim- literature. The hundred and
twenty-first psalm
ilar Figures is made up
of four similar quatrains.
Psalm
cxxi I will lift up mine eyes unto the
mountains:
From whence
shall my help come?
My help
cometh from the LORD,
Which made
heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy
foot to be moved:
He that
keepeth thee will not slumber;
Behold, he
that keepeth
Shall
neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper:
The LORD is
thy shade upon thy right hand;
The sun
shall not smite thee by day,
Nor the moon
by night.
1 Luke xii. 24.-The
figure made by a Question and its Answer comes under
this
head; e.g. Psalm xv, or Psalm xxiv. 3-6.
RHYTHMIC PARALLELISM 55
The LORD shall keep thee
from all evil:
He shall
keep thy soul;
The LORD
shall keep thy going out and thy coming in,
From this
time forth and for evermore.
Here may be mentioned a device of
versification which applies
to
this as to all varieties of structure. It is the Refrain: the recur-
rence
of a verse (or part of a verse) the repetition The Refrain as a
of
which, besides being an artistic effect in itself, structural device
assists
also in marking off such divisions as stanzas. A refrain in
stanzas
of this first kind will be given by the familiar hundred and
thirty-sixth
psalm; the poem is wholly composed of couplets,
and
the second line of each couplet is the refrain,
For his
mercy endureth for ever.
A second treatment of stanzas is
seen where a psalm is found
to
be composed of different figures. The analysis of the first
psalm
yields a result of this nature. First we 2. Stanzas of
have
a triple triplet preceded by a recitative. Varying Figures
Blessed is the man Psalm
i
that walketh
not
in
the counsel
of
the wicked,
Nor standeth
in
the way
of
sinners,
Nor sitteth
in
the seat
of
the scornful.
This
is followed by a quatrain reversed.
But his delight
is in the
law of the LORD :
And in his
law
Doth he meditate day and
night.
56 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
The
next verse is a good example of the closeness with which
form
reflects matter. Its form is found to be a double quatrain
with
an introduction. On examination this recitative introduction
will
be seen to put forward the general thought — the comparison
of
the devout life to a tree; while the figure works this thought
out
into particulars, on the plan of the left-hand members of the
figure
suggesting elements of vegetable life—the planting, the
fruitage,
the foliage—and the right-hand members predicating
perfection
of each.
And he shall be like a
Tree
Planted
by
the streams of water,
That
bringeth forth its fruit
in
its season;
Whose leaf
also
cloth
not wither,
And
whatsoever he doeth
shall
prosper.
Next,
we have a single couplet, sharply contrasting with what has
gone
before the mere worldly life.
The wicked are not so,
But are like the Chaff
which the wind driveth away.
A
simple quatrain and a quatrain reversed bring the poem to a
conclusion.
Therefore the wicked
shall not stand
in the
judgement,
Nor sinners
in the
congregation of the righteous.
For the LORD knoweth
the way of the righteous,
But the way
of the wicked
shall perish.
As
much lyric beauty is here produced by the avoidance of similar
figures
in successive verses as in the former case by the repetition
of
them.
RHYTHMIC PARALLELISM 57
Where lyrics are constructed on this
second plan the refrain
may
still come to emphasise the divisions. The forty-sixth psalm
is
arranged in the Revised Version in two stanzas of six lines and
one
of seven: the refrain — a shout of triumph brings each to
a
climax. It has, however, dropped out by accident from the first
stanza
in the received text, and must be restored.1
God is our refuge and
strength, Psalm
xlvi
A very present help in
trouble.
Therefore
will we not fear, though the earth do change,
And though
the mountains be moved in the heart of the seas;
Though the
waters thereof roar and be troubled,
Though the
mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
THE LORD OF HOSTS IS WITH US;
THE GOD OF JACOB IS OUR REFUGE!
There is a river, the streams
whereof make glad the city of
The holy place of the tabernacles of
the Most High.
God is in the midst of
her; she shall not be moved:
God shall help her, and
that right early.
The nations raged, the
kingdoms were moved:
He uttered his voice,
the earth melted.
THE LORD OF HOSTS IS WITH US;
THE GOD OF JACOB IS OUR REFUGE!
Come, behold the works of the LORD,
What desolations he hath made in the
earth.
He maketh wars to cease
unto the end of the earth;
He breaketh the bow, and
cutteth the spear in sunder;
He burneth the chariots
in the fire.
“Be still, and know that
I am God:
I will be exalted among
the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
THE LORD OF HOSTS IS WITH US;
THE GOD OF JACOB IS OUR REFUGE!
1 On the general subject
of textual emendation, I would lay down the principle
that,
where the sense is affected by a proposed change, it is prudent to be con-
servative
and chary of admitting it. But where (as with a repetition) it is only a
question
of form, the long period of tradition mentioned above, during which the
literary
form of Scripture was overlooked, justifies us in expecting many omissions
and
misplacements.
58 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
We have a more elaborate symmetry of
parallelism when we
come
to Antistrophic stanzas. The word is
Greek, and the spirit
3.
Antistrophic of
this beautiful form of structure is best caught
structure of from the
complete realisation of it in Greek lyrics.
stanzas A Greek ode was performed by a body of
singers
whose
evolutions as they sang a stanza carried them from the altar
towards
the right: then turning round they performed an answer-
ing
stanza, repeating their movements, until its close brought them
to
the altar from which they had started. Then a stanza would
take
them to the left of the altar, and its answering stanza would
bring
them back to the starting-point: and of such pairs of stanzas
an
ode was normally made up. From a Greek word meaning 'a
turning'
the first stanza of a pair was called a strophe,
its answering
stanza
an antistrophe: and the metrical
rhythms of the antistrophe
reproduced
those of the corresponding strophe line by line, though
the
rhythm might be wholly changed between one pair of stanzas
and
another. Hebrew lyrics contain examples of this disposition
of
stanzas in pairs; and the two stanzas of a pair agree, not of
course
in metre, but in number of parallel lines. Though somewhat
rare
in the Bible, this structure is worthy of close study wherever it
occurs.
The simplest 'case is where each antistrophe immediately
follows
its strophe, and of this the thirtieth psalm is an example.
Strophe
1
Psalm xxx I will extol thee, 0 LORD; for thou bast raised me up,
And hast not made my
foes to rejoice over me.
O LORD My God,
I cried unto thee, and
thou hast healed me.
O LORD, thou hast
brought up my soul from Sheol:
Thou has kept me alive,
that I should not go down to the pit.
Antistrophe
Sing praise unto the
LORD, 0 ye saints of his,
And give thanks to his
holy name.
For his anger is but for
a moment;
In his favour is life:
Weeping may tarry for
the night,
But joy cometh in the
morning.
RHYTHMIC PARALLELISM 59
Strophe
2
As for me, I said in my
prosperity,
I shall never be moved.
Thou, LORD, of thy
favour hadst made my mountain to stand strong
Antistrophe
Thou didst hide thy
face; I was troubled.
I cried to thee, 0 LORD;
And unto the LORD I made
supplication:
Strophe
3
"What profit is
there in my blood when I go down to the pit?
Shall the dust praise
thee? Shall it declare thy truth?
Hear, 0 LORD, and have
mercy upon me:
LORD, be thou my
helper."
Antistrophe
Thou hast turned for me
my mourning into dancing;
Thou hast loosed my sackcloth,
and girded me with gladness:
To the end that my glory
may sing praise to thee, and not be silent.
0 LORD My God, I will
give thanks unto thee for ever.
But in the parallelism of stanzas,
as well as the parallelism of
lines
in a figure, the device of introversion is found,
by
which, it will be recollected, beginning corre- Antistrophic
sponds
with end, and middle part with middle part. Introversion
An
example of such antistrophic introversion is found in the hun-
dred
and fourteenth psalm, which thought and form Psalm cxiv
combine
to make one of the most striking of Hebrew
lyrics.
It is a song inspired, not only by the deliverance from
ance
exhibited to the world. In the age of the exodus the prevail-
ing
conception of a god was that of a being sacred to a particular
territory,
out of the bounds of which territory the god's power did
not
extend. But the Israelites in the wilderness presented to the
world
the spectacle of a nation moving from country to country
and
carrying the presence of their God with them; it was no
60 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
longer
the land of
stituted
the sanctuary and dominion of Jehovah. The wonder of
this
conception the psalm expresses by the favourite Hebrew image
of
nature in convulsion; and the effect of introversion in giving
shape
(so to speak) to the whole thought of the poem may be
conveyed
to the eye by the following scheme:
A new conception of
Deity!
Nature
convulsed!
Why Nature
convulsed?
At the new conception of
Deity.
Those
phrases sum up the thought of the successive stanzas, which
are
so related to one another that the first strophe is followed by
a
second, and the antistrophe to the second strophe precedes the
antistrophe
to the first.
Strophe
1
When
The house of
Jacob from a people of strange language;
Strophe
2
The sea saw
it and fled;
The
mountains skipped like rams,
The little
hills like young sheep.
Antistrophe
2
What aileth
thee, 0 sea, that thou fleest?
Thou Jordan,
that thou turnest back?
Ye
mountains, that ye skip like rams?
Ye little
hills, like young sheep?
Antistrophe
1
Tremble, thou earth, at
THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD,
At the
presence of the God of Jacob;
Which turned the rock
into a pool of water,
The flint
into a fountain of waters!
RHYTHMIC PARALLELISM 61
Again, we find as a rare effect in
Hebrew poetry what is com-
mon
in Greek, an interweaving of stanzas similar to the inter-
weaving
of couplets in a quatrain noted above;
the
first strophe is followed by a second of different Antistrophic
length,
then succeed the antistrophe to the first Interweaving
and
the antistrophe to the second. The ninety-ninth psalm has
this
structure; and the effect is assisted by a double refrain: the
longer
strophe of five lines has a short refrain, while the shorter
strophe
of three lines has a longer refrain.1
Strophe
I
The LORD reigneth: let
the peoples tremble: Psalm xcix
He sitteth upon the
cherubim; let the earth be moved.
The LORD is great in
And he is high above all
the peoples.
Let them praise thy
great and terrible name.
Holy is He!
Strophe
2
The king's strength also
loveth judgement;
Thou dost establish
equity,
Thou executest judgement
and righteousness in Jacob.
EXALT YE THE LORD OUR
GOD
AND WORSHIP AT HIS
FOOTSTOOL.
HOLY IS HE!
Antistrophe
1
Moses and Aaron among
his priests,
And Samuel among them
that call upon his name;
They called upon the
LORD, and he answered them.
He spare unto them in
the pillar of cloud:
They kept his
testimonies and the statute that he gave them.
Holy is He!
Antistrophe
2
Thou answeredst them, 0
LORD our God,
Thou wast a God that
forgavest them,
Though thou tookest
vengeance of their doings.
EXALT YE THE LORD OUR
GOD,
AND WORSHIP AT IIIS HOLY
HILL;
FOR THE LORD OUR GOD IS
HOLY!
1 The short refrain has
dropped out of Antistrophe I, and must be restored (at
the
end of verse 7).
62 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
But the commonest treatment of stanzas
in Biblical poetry is
that
which is also the freest: where a poem is allowed to fall
into
well-marked divisions, which have, however,
4. Strophic
strut- no distinct relations with one
another as regards
ture of
stanzas length or parallelism. By an
awkwardness of
nomenclature,
such irregular divisions have come to be called
'strophes':
it is too late to change the usage, but the reader
must
be on the watch to distinguish the ‘strophic structure,’
where
the stanzas may be unequal, from the ‘antistrophic struc-
ture,’
in which the two stanzas of a pair are exact counterparts.
A
simple example of such division by natural cleavage only will
be
afforded by the twentieth psalm.
Strophe 1—The People
Psalm xx The LORD answer thee in the day of trouble;
The name of the God of
Jacob set thee up on high;
Send thee help from the
sanctuary,
And strengthen thee out
of
Remember all thy
offerings,
And accept thy burnt
sacrifice;
Grant thee thy heart's
desire,
And fulfil all thy counsel.
We will triumph in thy
salvation,
And in the name of our
God we will set up our banners:
The LORD fulfil all thy
petitions.
Strophe 2--The King
Now know I that the LORD
saveth his anointed;
He will answer him from
his holy heaven
With
the saving strength of his right hand.
Strophe 3—The People
Some trust in chariots,
and some in horses:
But we will make mention
of the name of the LORD our God.
They are bowed down and
fallen:
But we are risen, and
stand upright.
O LORD, save the king;
And answer us when we
call.
RHYTHMIC PARALLELISM 63
In this strophic structure the
refrain has a special value for
marking
out the stanzas which have no other rhythmic distinction.
A
splendid example of such treatment is given by
the
poem which opens the second book of Psalms. Psalms xlii-xlii
The
allusion of one of its verses seems to associate it with some
high
ground — mountains of Hermon, or hill Mizar — which was
the
last point from which the
exile
carried eastwards; in any case, it is appropriately named
‘The
Exile's Lament.’ The spirit of the whole lyric is summed
up
in its refrain, which is a struggle between despair and hope.
Why art thou cast down,
0 mv soul?
And why art thou disquieted
within me?
Hope thou in
God:
For I shall yet praise
him,
Who is the health of my
countenance
And my God!
This
refrain is found to unify into a single poem the psalms num-
bered
forty-two and forty-three; and the whole falls into three
strophes.
Though the refrain does not change, yet its repetition
is
made to suggest advance. The first strophe has nothing but
longing
memories: how the poet was wont to mingle with the
throng,
or perhaps lead them in procession to the house of God,
with
the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping holyday.
Its
struggle towards hopefulness is so unsuccessful that, after the
refrain,
the second strophe opens with the deepest note of de-
spondency.
A single ray of light, however, is cast into the future,
and
there is just a mention of loving-kindness by day and songs
in
the night, after which thoughts of mourning and oppression
resume
their sway. But the third stanza begins with a more
resolute
appeal to God as the judge, or righter of the oppressed;
the
turn has been taken, and we advance through ideas of light
and
truth to joy and praise of harp, until the third repetition of
the
refrain makes us feel that its summons to hope has proved
successful.
64 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
Strophe 1
As the hart panteth
after the water brooks,
So panteth my soul after
thee, 0 God.
My soul thirsteth for
God, for the living God:
When shall I come and
appear before God?
My tears have been my
meat day and night,
While they continually
say unto me, Where is thy God?
These things I remember,
and pour out my soul within me,
How I went with the
throng, and led them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy
and praise, a multitude keeping holyday.
Why art thou
cast down, 0 my soul?
And why art
thou disquieted within me?
Hope
thou in God:
For I shall
yet praise him,
Who is the
health of my countenance
And
my God!
Strophe 2
My soul is cast down
within me!
Therefore do I remember
thee from the
And the Hermons, from
the hill Mizar.
Deep calleth unto deep
at the noise of thy waterspouts:
All thy waves and thy
billows are gone over me!
Yet the LORD will
command his loving-kindness in the day-time,
And in the night his
song shall be with me,
Even a prayer unto the
God of my life.
I will say unto God my
rock, "Why hast thou forgotten me?
Why go I mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?
As with a sword in my
bones, mine adversaries reproach me;
While they continually
say unto me, Where is thy God?"
Why art thou
cast down, 0 my soul?
And why art
thou disquieted within me?
Hope
thou in God:
For I shall
yet praise him,
Who is the
health of my countenance
And
my God!
Strophe
3
Judge me, 0 God, and
plead my cause against an ungodly nation:
0 deliver me from the
deceitful and unjust man.
For thou art the God of
my strength; why hast thou cast me off ?
RHTHMIC PARALLELISM 65
Why go I mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?
0 send out thy light and
thy truth; let them lead me:
Let them bring me unto
thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
Then will I go unto the
altar of God,
Unto God my exceeding
joy:
And upon the harp will I
praise thee, 0 God, my God.
WHY ART THOU
CAST DOWN, 0 MY SOUL?
AND WHY ART
THOU DISQUIETED WITHIN ME:
HOPE
THOU IN GOD:
FOR I SHALL
YET PRAISE HIM,
WHO IS THE
HEALTH OF MY COUNTENANCE
AND
MY GOD!
But the maximum of lyric effect
drawn from this combination
of
the strophic structure and the refrain is found in a portion of
the
hundred and seventh psalm. Here there is a Psalm cvii. 4-32
double
refrain: one puts in each stanza a cry for
help,
the other the outburst of praise after the help has come;
each
refrain has a sequel verse which appropriately changes with
the
subject of each stanza. Thus the form of the strophes is that
which
the eye catches in the subjoined mode of printing it; the
body
of each stanza consists of short lines putting various forms
of
distress; then the stanza lengthens its lines into the first refrain
with
its sequel verse, and enlarges again into the second refrain
with
its sequel.
Strophe 1
They
wandered in the wilderness
In a desert
way;
They found
no city of habitation.
Hungry and
thirsty,
Their soul
fainted in them.
Then they cried unto the
Lord in their trouble,
And he delivered them
out of their distresses.
He led them also by a
straight way,
That they might go to a
city of habitation.
OH THAT MEN WOULD PRAISE THE LORD
FOR HIS GOODNESS,
AND FOR HIS WONDERFUL WORKS TO TIIE
CHILDREN OF MEN!
For he satisfieth the longing soul,
And the hungry soul he filleth with
good.
66 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
Strophe
2
Such as sat
in darkness
And in the
shadow of death,
Being bound
in affliction and iron;
Because they
rebelled against the words of God,
And
contemned the counsel of the Most High:
Therefore he
brought down their heart with labour,
They fell
down, and there was none to help.
Then they cried unto the
lord in their trouble,
And he saved them out of
their distresses.
He brought them out of
darkness and the shadow of death,
And brake their bands in
sunder.
OH THAT MEN WOULD PRAISE THE LORD
FOR HIS GOODNESS,
AND FOR HIS WONDERFUL WORKS TO THE
CHILDREN OF MEN!
For he hath broken the gates of
brass,
And cut the bars of iron in sunder.
Strophe
3
Fools
because of their transgression,
And because
of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Their soul
abhorreth all manner of meat;
And they
draw near unto the gates of death.
Then they cry unto the
Lord in their trouble,
And he saveth them out
of their distresses.
He sendeth his word, and
healeth them,
And delivereth them from
their destructions.
OH THAT MEN WOULD PRAISE THE LORD
FOR HIS GOODNESS,
AND FOR HIS WONDERFUL WORKS TO THE
CHILDREN OF MEN!
And let them offer the sacrifices of
thanksgiving,
And declare his works with singing.
Strophe
4
They that go
down to the sea in ships,
That do
business in great waters,
These see
the works of the LORD,
And his
wonders in the deep.
For he
commandeth,
And raiseth
the stormy wind,
Which
lifteth up the waves thereof:
They mount
up to the heaven,
RHYTHMIC PARALLELISM 67
They go down
again to the depths;
Their soul
melteth away because of trouble:
They reel to
and fro,
And stagger
like a drunken man;
And are at
their wits' end.
Then they cry unto the
lord in their trouble,
And he bringeth them out
of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a
calm,
So that the waves
thereof are still.
Then are they glad
because they be quiet:
So he bringeth them unto
the haven where they would be.
OH THAT MEN WOULD PRAISE THE LORD
FOR HIS GOODNESS,
AND FOR HIS WONDERFUL WORKS TO THE
CHILDREN OF MEN!
Let them exalt him also in the
assembly of the people,
And praise him in the seat of the
elders.
It is just such structural
variations as these that it is the special
mission
of a musical rendering to express.1 In the psalm just
cited
the melancholy monotony of men's voices in
unison
might be used to bring out the various Musical express-
phases
of distress which make the subjects of suc- sion of structure
cessive
strophes. Children's voices in harmony and unaccom-
panied
would fitly express the cry for help (refrain and sequel
verse),
while full choir and organ would give out the thanksgiving.
In
the more extended final stanza a monotone of men's voices in
unison
would leave more scope for organ accompaniment to bring
out
the changes of the sea. Then as before the whole would
resolve
into the silvery harmony of children's voices heard alone
while
all that full choir and instrument could do would be needed
for
the final climax.
1 Bishop Westcott's Paragraph Psalter(Macmillan) is a step
in the direction of
such
structural chanting. A musical setting of Psalms lxxviii and civ in
illustration
of
it has been published by Dr. Naylor, Organist of York Minster (Novello).
CHAPTER II
THE
HIGHER PARALLELISM, OR PARALLELISM OF INTER-
PRETATION
THE preceding chapter has
sufficiently exhibited Biblical Versi-
fication
in its leading forms and devices of structure. In the
Parallelism
in present chapter I consider
further the general
general spirit of parallelism which underlies it. I
wish to
show
that the study of such parallelism is not a mere matter of
technicalities,
but that it connects itself directly with the higher
interests
of literature.
In interpreting the meaning of
Scripture parallelism plays no
Parallelism a unimportant
part. I will commence with a very
factor in
inter- simple
example. The Song of the Sword,1 which
pretation gives
expression to the excitement attending the
first
invention of deadly weapons, contains the following couplet:
I have slain a man to my
wounding,
And a young man to my
hurt.
Does
this passage imply the slaying of one person or two persons?
This
question cannot be called a mere matter of technicalities.
Commentators
of the period when the secret of parallelism was
lost
understood the words to mean that two men were slain; and
connecting
the passage with the succeeding couplet
If Cain shall be avenged
sevenfold,
Truly Lamech seventy and
sevenfold
they
found an interpretation for the whole by supposing that when
1 Otherwise called Song
of Lamech (Gen. iv. 23-24).
68
PARALLELISM OF
INTERPRETATION 69
Lamech
became advanced in years he carried with him a youth
to
show him where to point his arrows; that this youth directing
him
to shoot into a certain bush Lamech thereby slew Cain, and
made
himself liable to the curse invoked on the slayer of that out-
cast.
In his rage Lamech shot a second arrow at his youthful at-
tendant;
and thus two slayings are accounted for. But to an ear
accustomed
to parallelism it is clear enough that no such violence
of
interpretation is required. The second line of a couplet need
not
be a separate statement from that of the first line, but may
be,
in the spirit of parallelism, a saying over again of what has
been
said. Thus the couplet need only imply the death of a
single
person, or better, slaying as a general idea. And the sec-
ond
couplet merely gives expression to the enlarged possibilities
of
destruction that come with the invention of the sword: even
the
vengeance for Cain — a thing that had perhaps passed into a
proverbial
expression — becomes a small matter in comparison
with
the power of vengeance the armed warrior will possess. Thus
the
whole meaning of the passage has been changed by attention
to
a detail of versification.
The intrinsic importance of this
first example is not great. But
no
one will consider the ‘Lord's Prayer’ unim- The Lord's
portant:
and yet it would seem that the great Prayer
majority
of those who repeat the Lord's Prayer in public fail to
bring
out the full thought that underlies it. This prayer is almost
always
rendered as a succession of isolated clauses which may be
represented
thus:
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name. Thy king-
dom come. Thy will be done in earth
as it is in heaven.
But
the true significance of these words is only seen when they
are
arranged so as to make an envelope figure.
Our Father which art in
heaven:
Hallowed be
thy Name,
Thy kingdom
come,
Thy will be done,
In earth as it is in
heaven.
70 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
In
the former version the words, "In earth as it is in heaven." are
attached
only to the petition, "Thy will be done." But it belongs
to
the envelope structure that all the parallel clauses are to be
connected
with the common opening and close. The meaning
thus
becomes: "Hallowed be thy name in earth as it is in
heaven,
Thy kingdom come in earth as it is in heaven, Thy will
be
done in earth as it is in heaven." It is something more than
literary
beauty that is gained by the change.
One more illustration of the close
connection between par-
allelism of
structure and interpretation will be
Psalm viii afforded
by the eighth psalm. The whole of this
poem
makes a single envelope figure.
O
LORD, our Lord,
How
excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Who hast set thy glory upon the
heavens,
Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings hast thou established strength,
Because of thine adversaries,
That thou mightest still the enemy
and the avenger.
When I consider the heavens, the
work of thy fingers,
The moon and the stars which thou
hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful
of him?
And the son of man, that thou
visitest him?
For thou hast made him but little
lower than God,
And crownest him with glory and
honour.
Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under his
feet:
All sheep and oxen,
Yea, and the beasts of the field;
The fowl of the air, and the fish of
the sea,
Whatsoever passeth through the paths
of the seas.
0
LORD, our Lord,
How
excellent is thy name in all the earth!
By
neglect of the true structure, three lines instead of two have
been
taken into the opening verse:
1. 0 LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Who hast set thy glory upon the heavens.
PARALLELISM OF
INTERPRETATION 71
Accordingly,
the verse which follows this, and presumably opens
the
regular thought of the poem, is made to read:
2. Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings hast thou established
strength, etc.
So
arranged this verse becomes obscure, and the ingenuity of
commentators
has been much exercised to determine what is the
allusion
its words contain. But the envelope structure conveys at
once
to the eye that the first two lines must be isolated as the
enveloping
refrain, and then the opening verse becomes this:
Who hast set thy glory upon the
heavens,
Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings hast thou established
strength, etc.
That
the Artificer of the mighty heavens should have chosen man
—
a mere babe and suckling in comparison — to be the repre-
sentative
of his might to the rest of the universe: this is the
wonder
with which the poem really opens, and the thought of
feeble
man as God's Viceroy over the creation is precisely the
idea
which is found to bind the whole psalm into a unity.
These are particular examples: it is
possible to generalise. In
Biblical
interpretation the question will repeatedly arise, whether
a
particular passage is to be understood as a simple Parallelism a
narrative
of facts or an idealised description: in criterion for
such
a case parallelism of clauses will undoubtedly idealisation
be
one factor in the interpretation. I have already suggested that
the
extreme symmetry of the clauses which describe Job's misfor-
tunes
descending upon him tells in favour of the view that the
narrative
is not a history so much as an incident worked up into a
parable.
In a more important matter the same principle has been
applied
to the opening chapter of Genesis. The Genesis i
account
of the Creation which this passage contains
is
found, upon examination, to be arranged with the most minute
parallelism
of matter and form. Not only are the six days fur-
nished
with opening and closing formulae which correspond, but
72 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
the
whole divides into two symmetrical halves of three days and
three
days, and each day of the first three is exactly parallel with
the
corresponding day of the second half. A table will illustrate
the
structure.
And
God said— And God said
[Creation of Light] [Creation
of Lights]
And
there was evening and there And there was evening and there
was
morning, one day. was morning, a fourth
day.
And
God said— And God said
[Creation of the Firmament [Creation
of Life in the Firma-
dividing waters from waters] ment
and in the Waters]
And
there was evening and there And there was evening and there
was
morning, a second day. was morning, a fifth day.
And God said— And God said--
[Creation of Land] [Creation
of Life on Land]
And God said— And God said--
[Creation of Vegetation, cli- [Creation
of Man, climax
max of inanimate nature] of
animate nature]
And
there was evening and there And there was evening; and there
was
morning, a third day. was morning, the sixth
day.
When
this structure and the fulness of its parallelism is grasped, it
will
appear reasonable that it should be urged as one argument: in
favour
of understanding the chapter to be, not a narration of inci-
dents
in their order of succession, but a logical classification of the
elements
of the universe, with the emphatic assertion of Divine
creation
in reference to each.
The reader will understand that it
is not essential to my argu-
ment
that such interpretations as I have been advancing should
Recognition
of seem
to him correct. Parallelism is only one factor
Parallelism
in amongst
many in exegesis. I am merely concerned
exegesis to show
that those who address themselves to deter-
mining
the matter and meaning of Scripture nevertheless appeal
to
its form and structure. Indeed, the reader unaccustomed to
this
subject will be greatly astonished at the extent and minuteness
PARALLELISM OF
INTERPRETATION 73
to
which symmetry of form in Scripture is made to obtain in the
exegesis
of competent theologians; when, for example, not a
paragraph
but a long poem, or the whole of an epistolary treatise,
is
represented as being constructed on a single intricate system.
Such
elaborations of parallelism must be considered each on its
own
merits; but there is in them nothing inherently improbable.
When
the genius of a language rests the whole system of its versi-
fication
upon symmetry of clauses, it becomes a safe presumption
that
parallelism will penetrate very deeply into its logical processes
of
thought.1
We have been led to see then that
there are two points of view
from
which parallelism may be considered: that of Rhythm and
that
of Interpretation. The musical element of
Biblical
language rests on parallels and recurrences, The
and
an ear for rhythm is as essential for the ap- lelism of Rhythm
preciation
of Scriptural style as an ear for time is and the Higher
essential
for the appreciation of music. Put thought Parallelism of
maybe
rhythmic as well as language, and the full meaning and
force
of Scripture is not grasped by one who does not feel how
thoughts
can be emphasised by being differently re-stated, as in
the
simplest couplet; or how a general thought may reiterate itself
to
enclose its particulars, as in the envelope figure, or, in such
cases
as the Lord's Prayer, hold its conclusion in suspense until
all
to which it applies has been set forth; or again, as in the
opening
of Genesis, how a passage can suggest logical symmetries
while
in form it is only narrating. Accordingly the structural
analysis
of Biblical language must distinguish a Lower parallelism
of
Rhythm and a Higher Parallelism of Interpretation. The two
can
never clash, since in Hebrew rhythm largely depends on
recurrence
of clauses corresponding in thought; but one or other
parallelism
will preponderate in accordance with the nature of a
particular
passage or the purpose of a citation. Sometimes the
musical
form will be felt to preponderate, and in this case the
1 Dr. Forbes's Symmetrical Structure of Scripture
(Clark, Edinburgh) may be
regarded
as a text-book of the general subject.
74 LITERARY CLASSIFICATIOIIV OF SCRIPTURE
structural
arrangement of the passage will be such as will make
prominent
the recurrence of fixed figures. In other cases the
arrangement
will bring out how distant sequences of words from
all
over a lengthy passage co-ordinate together, and this effect will
throw
into the background the parallelisms of couplets and trip-
lets,
which nevertheless are to be found when looked for.1
The matter is best treated by
illustrations; and I proceed to
give
two arrangements of the same passage, based respectively on
the
Lower and the Higher Parallelism.
Job x. 3-13
ar- Is it good unto thee that thou
shouldest oppress,
ranged for
Lower That thou shouldest despise the
work of thine hands,
Parallelism And shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
Hast thou
eyes of flesh,
Or seest
thou as man seeth?
Are thy days
as the days of man,
Or thy years
as man's days,
That thou
inquirest after mine iniquity,
And
searchest after my sin,
Although
thou knowest that I am not wicked;
And there is
none that can deliver out of thine hand?
Thine hands
have framed me and fashioned me
Together
round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
Remember, I
beseech thee, that thou hast fashioned me as
clay;
And wilt
thou bring me into dust again?
Hast thou
not poured me out as milk,
And curdled
me like cheese?
Thou hast
clothed me with skin and flesh,
And knit me
together with bones and sinews.
1 On the whole subject
compare Appendix III: On the Structural Printing of
Scripture.
PARALLELISM OF INTERPRETATION 75
Thou hast granted me
life and favour,
And thy visitation hath
preserved my spirit.
Yet these things thou
didst hide in thine heart;
I know that this is with
thee.
In
the above citation I have followed the Revised Version of
the
Bible in conveying nothing to the eye beyond the elementary
rhythm
of couplets and triplets. Such an arrangement involves
the
minimum of interpretation, and therefore the minimum dif-
ference
of opinion. Where the higher symmetry is expressed
individual interpretations will of course
differ. In my second
arrangement
of the passage figures of mere rhythm are suppressed
in
order that parallelisms of thought may stand out.
Is
it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, Arranged for
That thou shouldest
despise the work of thine hands, Higher
And shine
upon the counsel of the wicked? Parallelism
Hast thou
eyes of flesh,
Or seest
thou as man seeth?
Are thy days
as the days of man,
Or thy years
as man's days,
That thou
inquirest after mine iniquity,
And
searchest after my sin,
Although
thou knowest that I am not wicked;
And there is
none that can deliver out of thine hand?
Thine hands have framed
me,
And fashioned me
together round about;
Yet thou dost
destroy me.
Remember, I beseech
thee, that thou hast fashioned me as clay;
And wilt
thou bring me into dust again?
Host thou not poured me
out as milk,
And curdled me like
cheese?
Thou hast clothed me
with skin and flesh,
And knit me together
with bones and sinews;
Thou hast granted me
life and favour,
And thy visitation hath
preserved my spirit:
Yet these
things thou didst hide in thine heart;
I know that
this is with thee.
76 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
Two
distinct trains of thought are interwoven in this passage: in
one
Job makes appeal to God as being God's own handiwork; in
the
other he protests against the righteous Lord following the
oppressive
ways of unjust judges. In this second arrangement
the
two elements of the thought are separated: lines belonging
to
the first are indented to the left, lines belonging to the second
are
indented to the right. Thus the whole play of thought in the
passage
is reflected to the eye, or, in other words, the structural
arrangement
has brought out the Parallelism of Interpretation.1
One more observation must be made on
Biblical parallelism
considered
as an element in literary style. It is that such sym-
Parallelism
im- metry of clauses is closely
bound up with a liter-
plies its
opposite ary effect of an opposite kind —
that of surprise.
effect of
surprise It is just when the ear is being
led by the general
form
of a passage to expect what is coming that the disappoint-
ment
of this expectation, and the substitution of something new,
strikes
with most telling force. Here, again, illustrations will
make
the best exposition.
There is no passage in the Bible in
which parallelism is carried.
further
than in the peroration (if the word may be allowed) of
Matthew vii. the Sermon on the Mount, with its comparison of
24.27 the
two kinds of hearers to the builders on the
rock and on
the sand. The passage is antistrophic,
and
for every clause in the one picture there is a corresponding
clause
in the other. Yet here the effect of surprise is produced
by
a subtle and delicate variation which has been recovered for
us
by the Revised Version. The word which describes the action
of
the wind differs in the two strophes; for the blasts labouring
in
vain to destroy the one house a word is used which is trans-
lated
by the English ‘beat’; for the wind in the other case the
Greek
word is changed to something which the Revisers render
‘smote’—
the very sound of which, as well as the sense, pictures
a
single blow sufficing to bring the structure down.
1 In my edition of
the Book of Job this mode of printing that reflects the Higher
Parallelism
is followed throughout. [Macmillan & Co.]
PARALLELISM OF INTERPRETATION 77
Strophe
Every one therefore
which heareth these words of mine,
and doeth
them,
shall be likened unto a
Wise Man,
which built his house
upon the Rock:
And the rain
descended,
and the
floods came,
and the
winds blew
and beat
upon that house;
and it fell not:
for it was founded upon
the Rock.
Antistrophe
And every one that
heareth these words of mine,
and doeth
them not,
shall be likened unto a
Foolish Man,
which built his house
upon the Sand:
And the rain
descended,
and the
floods came,
and the
winds blew,
and SMOTE
upon that house;
and it fell:
and great was the fall
thereof!
In this example the effect of
surprise is produced by a verbal
alteration.
It is more pertinent to the subject of the present
chapter
to consider cases in which the variation ex- Psalm cxxxix
tends
to a whole clause. An admirable illustration
is
afforded by the hundred and thirty-ninth psalm. This exquisite
lyric
is in structure a very extended form of the envelope figure.
But
the opening verse, when it appears at the close, has undergone
an
important change: for the indicative mood of the opening —
0 LORD, thou hast
searched me —
we
have at the end the imperative mood —
Search me, O God —
and
the whole movement of the poem is to lead from the one
state
of mind to the other. At the outset the thought of Divine
78 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
omniscience
and omnipresence lies like a weight upon the poet's
mind.
O LORD, thou hast
searched me, and known me!
Thou knowest
my downsitting and mine uprising,
Thou
understandest my thought afar off.
Thou
searchest out my path and my lying down,
And art
acquainted with all my ways.
For there is
not a word in my tongue,
But, lo, 0
LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
Thou hast
beset me behind and before,
And laid
thine hand upon me.
The
burden becomes intolerable, and the poet would fain throw
it
off.
Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high,
I cannot attain unto it.
Whither
shall I go from thy spirit?
Or whither
shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend
up into heaven, thou art there:
If I make my
bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there.
If I take
the wings of the morning,
And dwell in
the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there
shall thy hand lead me,
And thy
right hand shall hold me.
If I say,
Surely the darkness shall overwhelm me,
And the
light about me shall be night;
Even the
darkness hideth not from thee,
But the
night shineth as the day:
The darkness
and the light are both alike to thee.
The
sense of oppression can intensify yet further, and the next
verse
extends it backwards in time, as previous verses had made
it
stretch through all space.
For thou hast
possessed my reins:
Thou hast
covered me in my mother's womb.
It
is just here, where the effect is at its height, that the turn comes.
The
mysteries of the womb suggest to the poet that this Divine
watchfulness
from which he cannot escape is the same watchful-
PARALLELISM OF
INTERPRETATION 79
ness
which, in his helplessness, built him up into the being he is.
The
current of thought begins to flow back — for the structure of
the
psalm is antistrophic as well as enveloped.
I will give thanks unto thee; for I
am fearfully and wonderfully made:
Wonderful are thy works,
And that my soul knoweth
right well.
My frame was not hidden
from thee,
When I was made in
secret,
And curiously wrought in
the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see mine
unperfect substance,
And in thy book were all
my members written,
Which day by day were
fashioned,
When as yet there was
none of them.
The
besetting watchfulness now becomes a precious thought to
the
psalmist; most precious of all, the incalculableness of its
extent.
How precious also are
thy thoughts1 unto me, 0 God!
How great is the sum of
them!
If I should count them,
they are more in number than the sand:
When I awake, I am still
with thee.
The
new thought has gained force, and takes fire in a burst of
purity.
Surely thou wilt slay
the wicked, 0 God:
Depart from me
therefore, ye bloodthirsty men.
For they speak against
thee wickedly,
And thine enemies take
thy name in vain.
Do not I hate them, 0
LORD, that hate thee?
And am not I grieved
with those that rise up against thee?
I hate them with perfect
hatred:
I count them mine
enemies.
The
new train of thought has reached its goal, and, as the enve-
lope
figure completes itself, the refrain reappears changed and
enlarged,
so that the burden has become an aspiration.
1 That is, the thoughts
which God bestows on the psalmist.
80 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
Search me, 0 God, and
know my heart:
Try me, and know my
thoughts:
And see if there be any
way of wickedness in me,
And lead me in the way
everlasting.
The analysis of this psalm is an
excellent illustration, both of
the
general principle that the most deeply spiritual trains of thought
are
reflected in beauty of external literary structure, and also of the
special
observation immediately under discussion, that parallelism
carries
with it the literary effect of climax or surprise when the
exactness
of the parallelism is artistically violated.
CHAPTER
III
THE LOWER AND THE HIGHER UNITY IN
LITERATURE
LITERARY classification has so far
been applied only to the exter-
nal
structure of Sacred Scripture, and its distinction of prose and
verse;
though it has appeared that here, as always, The Lower unity
structure
reacts on spirit, and the parallelism of and the Higher
rhythm
generates a parallelism of thought. Before unity
we
can proceed to that higher literary classification which recog-
nises
structure and spirit alike, another preliminary consideration
needs
attention. The bond uniting clauses into a verse and
verses
into a stanza may be considered as the Lower Unity in
comparison
with a Higher Unity which is the subject of the
present
chapter. This Higher Unity is the Unity of Poem: the
bond
which unites successive verses and stanzas into a poem com-
plete
in itself.1
Here again are difficulties special
to the literary study of the
Bible,
arising from the arrangement of our printed bibles and of
the
manuscripts on which they are founded, and still The
Higher
more
from the habits of reading which these by long Unity obscured
reading
tradition have fostered. In dealing with any other by
reading the
literature
the student would naturally, and as a Bible in verses
matter
of course, look for the higher unity in what he reads. He
would
not study Virgil merely to get quotable hexameters, nor
Shakespeare
to find pithy sentences: he would wish to compre-
hend
the drift of a scene, or the plot of a whole play; he would
1 For convenience of
illustration I speak throughout the chapter of poems: but
the
argument applies, mutatis mutandis,
to prose compositions.
81
82 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
read
a whole eclogue at once, or even sustain his attention through
the
twelve books of the AEneid. But the vast majority of those
who
read the Bible have never shaken off the mediaeval tendency
to
look upon it as a collection of isolated sentences, isolated texts,
isolated
verses. Their intention is nothing but reverent; but the
effect
of their imperfect reading is to degrade a sacred literature
into
a pious scrap-book.
I have called this tendency mediaeval:
it is a relic of the Mid-
dle
Ages under the influence of which arose our earliest translations
This tendency
a of the Bible into modern tongues.
The thought of
relic of
medieval the Middle Ages is distinguished
by disconnected-
influence ness. The Schoolmen were not remarkable for
successful
investigation or wide reflectiveness, but they surpassed
all
men in subtlety of discussion; indeed, it would almost seem
that
with them the process of discussing was more important than
the
conclusion attained. Accordingly their age gave special
prominence
to the isolated proposition. Its thinkers were not
confined
to books as a medium for expressing thought; it was
equally
open to them to issue a series of propositions, and, setting
these
up on some church door or elsewhere, offer discussion with
all
corners. To formulate truth into these brief independent
sentences,
adapted for attack and defence, made the characteris-
tic
literary activity of the period. In modern thought detail
truths
are so many bricks to be built into an edifice, each valued
according
as it contributes to the common stability; the inde-
pendent
propositions of the mediaeval thinker were rather footballs
to
be driven to and fro in an exercise of dialectic strength.
Translations
of the Bible made amid such surroundings took
shape
from the minds of the translators. Hebrew and Greek lit-
erature
— poem, dialogue, discourse — all assumed a monotonous
uniformity
of numbered sentences, each to be treated as a good
saying
in itself, rather than a component part of a literary whole.
The influence of these earliest
translations is still felt. There
are
three versions of the Bible in familiar use amongst us: one
is
the recent ‘Revised Version’; a second is the ‘Authorised
THE HIGHER UNITY IN
LITERATURE 83
Version,’
executed under King James I; while for a third the
earlier
translation of Coverdale is represented in the Psalter of
the
Prayer Book. These three versions stand at Three popular
three
different points of the line separating us versions of the
from
the Middle Ages: Coverdale's translation was Bible
executed
wholly amid medieval surroundings;1 the Authorised
Version
belongs to the borderland between mediaeval and modern,
while
the Revised Version is entirely modern. When these three
translations
are compared what is the result? If similar in what
the
comparison be made in respect of phraseology concerns the
and
single verses there will be little to choose Lower unity
between
the three: the earliest will strike our sense of beauty
quite
as much as the latest. But when attention is given to the
connection
between verse and verse, to the drift of an argument
and
the general unity of a whole poem, only the The ‘Revised
Revised
Version will be found reliable; the reader version’ stands
of
the Authorised Version, when he wishes to catch alone
as regards
the
teaching of a whole epistle, or the sequence of the
Higher unity
thought
in a minor prophet, must go to the Hebrew and Greek
to
find out what his English version means.
It is most important for the English
student of the Bible to
remember
that these versions are different in kind, and must
therefore
not be discussed as if they represented different degrees
of
success in attaining a common object. It will be well to
emphasise
this matter by examples.
Let our first example be taken from
the translation of Cover-
dale.
The eighteenth psalm will be specially suit- Prayer Book ver-
able
for our purpose, because in the case of this sion compared
poem
the Authorised and Revised versions sub- with the other
stantially
agree; moreover the impression they two
give
of the psalm—that of a thanksgiving for Psalm xviii
recent
deliverance — is one not open to dispute, inasmuch as the
1 Coverdale's version
is in actual date (1530 earlier than A. V. by three-quarters
of a century;
in spirit it is earlier still, being avowedly not original, but founded
upon previous
'interpretations.' See Dr. W. F. Moulton's History
of the English
Bible (Cassell), chapters vii and viii.
84 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE\
poem
is cited at full length in the book of Samuel, and is there
expressly
connected with the escape of David from the persecution
of
Saul. As we read in the Authorised or Revised versions, every
line
of the poem carries out this idea. At the commencement
epithets
of adoration succeed one another with an exuberance of
diction
that is like a flourish of trumpets opening some set piece
of
music. With the fourth verse the psalm settles down to its
regular
movement, and .in subdued tones describes the perilous
extremity
out of which the singer has found deliverance.
The sorrows of death compassed me,
and the floods of ungodly men
made me afraid.
The sorrows of hell compassed me
about; the snares of death pre-
vented me.
In my distress I called upon the
LORD, and cried unto my God: he
heard my voice out of
his temple, and my cry came before him,
even into his ears.
Then
a burst of imagery rushes upon us, sustained through nine
verses,
presenting all nature agitated to its centre as the Almighty
descends
to the help of the sufferer who has called upon him.
A
strain of tenderness comes in with the deliverance itself.
He sent from above, he took me, he
drew me out of many waters.
He delivered me from my strong
enemy, and from them which hated
me: for they were too
strong for me.
They prevented me in the day of my
calamity: but the LORD was my
stay.
He brought me forth also into a
large place; he delivered me, because
he delighted in me.
With
the last clause the conception has widened. The poet con-
siders
that with his personal deliverance the cause of righteous-
ness
has triumphed, and so he is led to the generalisation:
With the merciful thou wilt shew
thyself merciful; with an upright
man thou wilt shew
thyself upright.
With the pure thou wilt shew thyself
pure: and with the froward thou
wilt shew thyself
froward.
THE HIGHER UNITY IN
LITERATURE 85
The
latter half of the psalm no less clearly carries on the concep-
tion
of the earlier half; review of past deliverances carries with
it
confidence for the future, when whole nations will run in sub-
mission
to the conqueror marked out by Divine favour. Towards
the
close the rapture of the opening verses reappears:
The LORD liveth: and blessed be my
rock; and let the God of my sal-
vation be exalted.
Then
in the very last line, like the signature to a document, comes
the
name of ‘David,’ at once the singer and the hero of the song.
Let the reader now study this psalm
in the Psalter of the
Prayer
Book. Let him remember what is the exact point of the
present
argument. If he takes any particular verse, he will find
it
just as striking in the translation of Coverdale as in the later
versions;
it will be when he proceeds to note the linking of verse
to
verse that the difference will appear. At the third verse (in
the
numbering of the Prayer Book) the psalm appears, as in
the
other version, to start upon the description of a perilous
extremity.
The sorrows of death compassed me:
and the overflowings of ungod-
liness made me afraid.
The pains of hell came about me: the
snares of death overtook me.
But
when we pass to the next verse, instead of a continuation of
the
description, we find a general statement.
In my trouble I will call upon the
Lord: and complain unto my God.
Of
course, if a reader has come to his Bible simply as a store-
house
of good words, he may find as great a spiritual stimulus in
the
declaration, "I will call upon the Lord," as in the statement,
"I
did call upon the Lord." But to the reader of a sacred liter-
ature
this substitution in the Prayer Book Version of future tense
for
past has destroyed the connection of the verses, and the
unity
is gone. Again, at the seventh verse Coverdale's translation
returns
to the tense of description: but at verse 16 — just where
86 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
in
the other case we found the actual deliverance come in — we
are
thrown back upon general expressions:
In verse 18 we read, "They
prevented me," but in verse 20, "The
Lord
shall reward me": and so throughout the poem past,
present,
future tenses are indiscriminately mingled. What does
this
mean? That the translator was a bungler? Certainly not:
every
verse, with its felicity of diction and beauty of rhythm,
belies
such a suggestion. The meaning is that Coverdale formed
a
different conception of the literature he was translating from
that
which both ourselves and the later versions assume. It did
not
belong to Coverdale's age to look upon a psalm as a poem
with
a unity running through it; he understood it simply as a col-
lection
of pious thoughts, and he used all his skill to make each
thought
as beautiful as the English language would permit. He
has
succeeded in his attempt, and given us in the eighteenth psalm
a
chaplet of very pearls; but it is a chaplet with the string broken.
It is even more important to compare
the Authorised and
the
Revised versions as regards this matter of the connection
A. V.
compared between verse and verse. Let the
reader study
with R. V. in the
older translation the twenty-eighth chapter
Job xxviii of Job, and set himself, without the aid of
com-
mentators
who have had the original before them, to think out
from
the English alone the unity linking successive verses.
1. Surely there is a vein for the
silver, and a place for gold where they
fine it.
2. Iron is taken out of the earth,
and brass is molten out of the stone.
[Already
the clauses fall sweetly upon the ear, though the point of
what
is being said is hardly yet apparent.]
3. He setteth an end to darkness,
and searcheth out all perfection:
the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.
[This
seems like some very general glorification of God: but the
drift
of the whole is still vague.]
THE HIGHER UNITY IN LITERATURE 87
4. The flood breaketh out from the
inhabitant; even the waters
forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from
men.
[Can
any clear sense be attached to these words? The only
certainty
seems to be that they have no connection with the
preceding
verse, as that had none with what went before. Yet
the
words which immediately follow seem to announce a new
topic.]
5. As for the earth, out of it
cometh bread: and under it is turned up
as it were fire.
6. The stones of it are the place of
sapphires: and it hath dust of
gold.
[Various
as are the topics presented so far, yet the next words
announce
one more.]
7. There is a path which no fowl
knoweth, and which the vulture's
eye hath not seen:
8. The lion's whelps have not
trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed
by it.
9. He putteth forth his hand —
[Apparently
we have here returned to the general glorification of
God
in nature upon which the third verse touched.]
9. He putteth forth his hand upon
the rock; he overturneth the
mountains by the roots.
10. He cutteth out rivers among the
rocks; and his eye seeth every
precious thing.
11. He bindeth the floods from
overflowing; and the thing that is
hid bringeth he forth to light.
At
this point, in place of a string of distinct topics, we suddenly
come
upon a train of connected reasoning. Where, asks the
speaker,
shall wisdom be found? and, after searching all possible
sources,
and weighing wisdom against every form of wealth, he
comes
to the conclusion that only God knows the origin of
dom,
and that he who created the universe interwove righteous-
ness
into its structure. Is it not strange that within the limits
88 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
of
the same chapter should be found, first the wandering from
topic
to topic, and then the coherent working from question to
answer?
Yet more strange that the discordant halves of the
chapter
should be linked by the conjunction But?
Now let the same passage be read in
the Revised Version.
Surely there is a mine —
[At
the very outset has come the key word to the whole.]
Surely there is a mine
for silver,
And a place for gold
which they refine.
Iron is taken out of the
earth,
And brass is molten out
of the stone.
Man setteth an end to darkness,
[What
we are reading is not a description of God, but of the
miner.]
And searcheth out to the
furthest bound
The stones of thick
darkness and of the shadow of death,
He breaketh open a shaft
away from where men sojourn;
They are forgotten of
the foot that passeth by;
They hang afar from men,
they swing to and fro.
[We
can almost see the miner descending in his cage into the
depths
of the earth, far beneath the heedless passers-by on the
surface.
And now a relevancy appears for the next verses]
As for the earth, out of
it cometh bread:
And underneath it is
turned up as it were by fire.
The stones thereof are
the place of sapphires,
And it hath dust of
gold.
That path —
[Of
course, the path of the miner in the bowels of the earth.]
That path no bird of
prey knoweth,
Neither hath the
falcon's eye seen it:
The proud beasts have
not trodden it,
Nor hath the fierce lion
passed thereby.
He putteth forth his
hand upon the flinty rock;
[It
is still the miner that is spoken of.]
THE HIGHER UNITY IN LI TERATURE 89
He overturneth the
mountains by the roots;
He cutteth out channels
among the rocks;
And his eye seeth every
precious thing.
He bindeth the streams
that they trickle not;
And the thing that is
hid bringeth he forth to light.
Read
in a version which brings the idea of connected literature to
bear
upon the Bible, the passage which before seemed a series
of
disconnected sayings is seen to resolve itself into a simple unity,
—
a brilliant picture of mining operations. Nay, the whole chap-
ter
now becomes a unity, for we catch the connection of its two
halves:
there are mines out of which men dig gold and silver and
precious
stones, but where is the mine out of which we may bring
wisdom?
It is impossible to insist too
strongly upon this difference be-
tween
the Revised Version of the Bible and its predecessors, a
difference
of kind and not of degree, and one which Thus R. V. es-
is
as wide as the distinction between the words sential for liter-
‘text’
and ‘context.’ The English reader need ary study
not
feel any difficulty on the ground of the disfavour with which
the
Revised Version has in many quarters been received. Such
reception
has been the regular fate of revisions from
day
downwards. The Authorised Version had itself to encounter
the
same opposition. It is said to have been a full half century
before
this work of King James's translators came into general
use;
and in the interval we have on record the opinion of a
scholar
and divine, who, asked by the king, declared he would
be
torn by wild horses rather than urge so badly executed a ver-
sion
upon the churches. The whole discussion of the subject
seems
to me to have been conducted on a wrong footing. The
critics
will take single verses or expressions, and, as it were, test
them
with their mental palate to see whether the literary flavour
of
the old or the new be superior. But comparisons of this kind
are
a sheer impossibility. No one, least of all a cultured critic,
can
separate in his mind between the sense of beauty which comes
from
association, and the beauty which is intrinsic; the softening
90 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
effect
of time and familiarity is needed before any translation can
in
word and phrase assume the even harmony of a classic. Mean-
while
the consideration here contended for — the unique excel-
lence
of the Revised Version in the matter of connectedness and
the
Higher Unity—is beyond dispute. The true issue between the
Authorised
and the Revised versions is the question whether
the
Bible is to be treated as a collection of sayings, each verse an
independent
whole, or whether the first duty of an interpreter is
to
associate a text with its context. What answer the theologian
will
return to this question it is not the province of this book to
determine.
But speaking from the literary point of view, I make
bold
to say that the reader who confines himself to the Authorised
Version
excludes himself from half the beauty of the Bible.
To vindicate the importance of the
Higher Unity in applica-
tion
to Biblical literature is our first duty. Our second, is to
The Higher
Unity guard ourselves from forming too
limited a con-
assumes
variety ception of it. When we try to
think out the
of form connectedness of some sacred poem or
discourse,
we
must be prepared to find its unity assuming forms other than
those
with which we are familiar in the literature of the present day.
The simplest type of unity is where
a whole poem is no more
than
the working out of a single idea. I have had occasion in a
former
chapter to cite the hundred and fourteenth
Simple Unity psalm, and
have shown how it connects the deliv-
Psalm cxiv erance from
Deity
accompanying with his presence a journeying nation.
Every
line of the psalm is filled with this idea; there is no other
thought
in the poem. A unity so clear presents no difficulty.
Again,
I have in the chapter immediately preceding this ana-
lysed
the hundred and thirty-ninth psalm. This is a lyric of fifty-
Unity of
Transi- two lines; its opening and closing
thoughts are
tion antagonistic
to one another, the Divine Omni-
Psalm cxxxix presence
being dreaded in the one case and in the
other
case desired. Yet the poem presents no difficulty in regard
THE HIGHER UNITY IN
LITERATURE 91
to
the connection of its thought, for we were able to see the exact
point
where the one train of feeling began to change into the
other.
The psalm is made one by the Unity of Transition.
A more difficult case arises where a
portion of literature is seen
to
commence with one topic, to end with a topic entirely different,
while
no part of it can be indicated as conveying Unity of contrast
a
transition from the one set of ideas to the other. and Antithesis
A
notable instance is the much discussed nine- Psalm xix
teenth
psalm. The first six verses of this psalm are entirely occu-
pied
with the heavens above our heads. Their starry marvels are
conceived
as a silent language in which the whole world day by
day
may read of a Creator; the extended sky is pictured as the
tent
of a hero, and this hero is the Sun, who, forever at his best,
runs
his daily course, scattering the mighty heat which no corner
of
the earth can escape. Passing to the next verse we find our-
selves
without any warning in a totally different set of ideas.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
restoring the soul:
The testimony of the LORD is sire,
making wise the simple:
The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart:
The commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring for ever:
The judgements of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
With
topics so different, and no sign of any links to connect them,
what
has become of the Higher Unity? The answer is that it is to
be
looked for in this very absence of transition: we have here a
literary
effect which may be called the Unity of Contrast or Antith-
esis.
The point of the poem may be summed up as the equal ado-
ration
side by side of the physical and the moral law. No literary
device
could make the equality of the two so forcible as this simple
placing
of them side by side without a word of explanation.
No doubt this is a matter in which
difference of opinion arises;
and
its discussion is of importance as going down
to
fundamental principles of literary criticism. It is Disputed unity
urged,
by those who speak with the highest author- of Psalm xix
ity,
that the disparity between the two parts of this nineteenth
92 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
psalm
is too great to be covered by any unity of idea; that we are
therefore
driven to the supposition that the connection of these
two
pieces of literature has been effected by those through
whose
hands the Hebrew Scriptures have passed on their way
to
us. The contention is further supported by the plea that these
two
sections of the nineteenth psalm differ in more than subject-
matter:
they represent literary styles that are totally different,
styles
moreover that are seen upon a wide survey of Biblical
literature
to distinguish respectively an early and a late literary
period.
I do not dispute these allegations.
But in resisting the infer-
ence
derived from them I would commence by deprecating the
Questions of
au- confusion so commonly made—if not
by the
thorship not
an critics themselves, yet by a
large proportion of
essential
part of their readers—between two things
which should
literary
study be kept entirely separate: the
confusion between
literary
unity and unity of authorship. Indeed, if I may widen
the
discussion for a moment, I should like to express the opinion
that
the whole study of literature is placed at a disadvantage by
the
intrusion into it of quite a distinct thing — the study of authors.
A
piece of literature is apt to be put before us as a performance
of
some author: we are expected to examine it with a view to
applauding
or censuring this author; we are minutely informed as
to
the circumstances under which he did his work; one production
of
his is associated with companion productions, as if the main
raison d'etre of them all was to
enable us to form an estimate of
the
man who produced them. All this may be good in itself; but
it
is not the study of literature. Authors of books may in them-
selves
be as well worthy our attention as statesmen or commercial
magnates;
but no one confuses Constitutional History with biogra-
phies
of politicians, or Political Economy with the business his-
tories
of particular firms. And I believe that the study of literature
will
never reach its proper level until it is realised that literature
is
an entity in itself, as well as a function of the individuals who
contributed
to it; that it has a development and critical principles
THE HIGHER UNITY
of
its own, to be considered independently of any questions affect-
ing
the performance of particular authors.
To return to the case immediately
before us. It might seem a
self-evident
contention that the assignment of different ages to
different
parts of the nineteenth psalm implied diversity of author-
ship.
I would rather say that we are separated Authorship in
from
the literature in question by an interval so application to
wide
as to raise a doubt whether the term ‘author-
Biblical poetry
ship'
in application to the lyric poetry of the Bible be not alto-
gether
an anachronism.
We live in the age of books; not
only so, but we have travelled
so
far into this book age that we have forgotten the times when
literature
was affected by anything else than our habits of written
composition.
Yet the study of Comparative Literature reveals
everywhere
a period of literary activity long preceding the earliest
book;
a floating poetry destined to influence periods much later
than
its own, yet preserved only by oral tradition without any aid
from
writing, while the processes of its composition have been
regulated
entirely by the phenomena of spoken literature. How-
ever
widely apart we may date the different parts of the Bible, yet
the
whole approaches much more closely the influences of this
early
spoken poetry than the modern literatures from which we
draw
our ideas.
It is precisely in the matter of
this relationship between literature
and
‘authors’ that the difference between early and late poetry is
most
apparent. The change which the ages have brought about
in
our conception of authorship is not unlike the change that has
come
over our conception of land. Our late civilisation takes for
granted
the idea of individual ownership of land. But we know
that
to primitive society this idea was unthinkable: land belonged
to
the community, and all that individuals could have would be
rights
over the land. Similarly we associate a book with an individ-
ual
author; we sacredly guard the written book as his property;
if
the author alters it it becomes a new ‘edition,’ while if the author
be
dead the form of the book is fixed forever and no one may
94 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
touch
it. But for the floating literature of spoken poetry composi-
tion
was in the hands of a class of bards and minstrels, or, shall we
say,
of priests and sacred singers; what each individual produced
was
regarded as common property, which his brethren used with-
out
any sense of indebtedness. In using one another's composi-
tions
they revised and altered them, until each delivery of a poem
might
make a fresh ‘edition’; and thus the composition of any
poem
was a growth extending through generation after generation,
and
the united product of many minds.
Now the psalms of the Bible were the
product of individual
poets,
but of poets living in periods when the influences of floating
literature
were largely felt in determining habits of composition.
And
this must be borne in mind in every discussion of the subject.
It
is common to speak of David's ‘writing’ a psalm: the phrase
is
full of misleading associations. We cannot even assume that
writing,
though used for many purposes, was in David's time
applied
to the preservation of poetical productions; but we may
be
quite certain that the early psalmists did not, like nineteenth
century
poets, think with pen in hand. Are we again to suppose
that
Hebrew poets when they composed a psalm entered it at
some
Stationers' Hall, with all rights reserved? We know the
very
opposite: the authors of our psalms would send their poems
"to
the Chief Musician upon stringed instruments," or to "the
Sons
of Korah." That is to say, these Biblical psalms when
composed
were committed to the custody of a body of minstrels
or
sacred singers, and so may be expected to present the phe-
nomena
of oral poetry in addition to the features of individual
authorship.
Thus the psalms of the Bible in their composition
unite
the advantages that belong to early and to late poetry: the
psalm
as it leaves the original poet is not a fixed thing, it is only
just
started on a career of life in the hands of living performers,
through
whom it can draw to itself the best thoughts of the ages
through
which it is to pass. These later modifications may be
merely
matters of phraseology or greater fulness of diction; they
may
be distinct additions, like the final verses of the fifty-first
THE HIGHER UNITY IN LITERATURE 95
psalm,
which make a poem of personal penitence serve also as an
expression
of national humiliation. Or they may even amount to
such
a transformation as the nineteenth psalm seems to have
undergone,
when the original song of the heavens, touching an
age
of enthusiasm for the law, inspired the thought that what the
Sun
is to the world without, God's law is to the world within. If
we
assume David to be the ‘author’ of the first six verses, then
no
one has a better right than David to be considered the ‘author’
of
the fresh thoughts his words have inspired. Or the original
song
might be considered the ‘author’ of the additions it has
begotten
in the minds of those who have used it. But it would
be
still better to say that the whole idea of ‘authorship’ is a
conception
proper to modern literature, and can do nothing but
mislead
when applied to the wider literary phenomena of the
Bible.
But I am comparatively indifferent
as to whether the reader
does
or does not accept this conclusion with reference to the
authorship
of the poem. What I am concerned Diversity of
to
insist upon is that diversity of authorship — if authorship
not
such
there be — is no bar to the literary unity of inconsistent with
the
nineteenth psalm. This consideration again literary unity
demands
the wider conception of literature that belongs to
antiquity.
Let an illustration be permitted. If a man enquires
as
to the building of some modern dwelling-house, he will proba-
bly
be able to learn the year in which it was built and the name
of
the architect. It will be different if he applies his investigation
to
some great cathedral. The original architect of the cathedral
himself
completed (we will suppose) the choir and transepts, and
built
them in the Early English style. Then the work stood still
for
several generations; when the nave was added the whole style
of
architecture had changed. The west front has been added
later
still, and reflects details of a later age. But the original
architect
did not think it necessary to pull down the whole of the
church
his cathedral was superseding; and hence we find a beau-
tiful
96 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
of
the building. And the sexton takes the visitor down to the
crypt
and shows him fragments of a yet earlier Saxon church that
had
stood on the same spot. Here, then, we have a building that
displays
five different architectural styles, the product of five dif-
ferent
ages: do we call such a building five cathedrals or one
cathedral?
The psalms have the artistic range of the cathedral,
not
of the mere dwelling-house; they reflect the literary archi-
tecture
of the many ages down which they have travelled, and are
often
seen to have absorbed into themselves oracles yet older
than
the date of their first composition. But with the psalm, as
with
the cathedral, none of these circumstances need militate
against
the artistic unity of the whole.
The literary unity, then, of this
nineteenth psalm becomes a
question
of the ideas underlying its two parts, and of the mode
in
which these ideas are brought together. For the ideas them-
selves,
the union in one thought of the physical and the moral
universe
has appealed to many minds. It is as old as Zoroaster:
He
who first planned that these skies should be clothed with lights,
He
by his wisdom is creator of Righteousness, wherewith to support the best
mind.1
The
philosopher Kant, again, was wont to speak of the two per-
petual
wonders, the starry heavens above and the moral law within.
And
a still closer association of the two ideas has inspired a line of
Wordsworth,
who says, addressing Duty:
Thou lost preserve the stars from
wrong;
And the most ancient heavens through
Thee are fresh and strong.
That
the two worlds should in the Biblical poem be placed side by
side
without further comment is surely intelligible to our aesthetic
Other
examples sense. Art in general recognises
the simple con-
of the Unity
of trast and antithesis. But more
than that, the very
antithesis section
of art we are considering — the psalms of
1 Yasna xxxi. 9. I am indebted for this
parallel to Rev. J. Hope Moulton, Fel-
low
of King's College,
THE HIGHER UNITY IN
LITERATURE 97
the
Bible—give us other examples of this same poetic device.
A
closely analogous case is the thirty-sixth psalm, Psalm
xxxvi
which
devotes four verses to a picture of character
so
utterly corrupt that evil has become a law unto itself; and then
abruptly,
without connecting links, sets against the dark back-
ground
of supreme evil a supreme good —a loving-kindness as
wide
as the heavens, a righteousness as high as the mountains,
judgments
as profound as the sea, bounty as diffused as the light.1
Again,
among the ‘Songs of Ascents’ is found a Psalm cxxvii
short
lyric, the thought of which would be obscure
did
we not recognise in it one of these antithetic contrasts between
two
types of life—the life of anxious toil and the quiet home
life—made
effective by the simple juxtaposition of the two
descriptions.
Strophe
Except the LORD build
the house,
They labour in vain that
build it:
Except the LORD keep the
city,
The watchman waketh but
in vain.
It is vain for you that
ye rise up early,
And so late take rest,
And eat the bread of
toil.
Antistrophe
So he giveth unto his
beloved sleep.
Lo, children are an
heritage of the LORD:
And the fruit of the
womb is his reward.
As arrows in the hand of
a mighty man,
So are the children of
youth.
Happy is the man that
hath his quiver full of them:
They shall not be
ashamed when they speak with their enemies
in the gate.
Our
examination, then, of this nineteenth psalm, when once dis-
turbing
questions of authorship are laid aside, reveals a connection
1 The parallelism of form
between this and the nineteenth psalm is close: besides
the
main point (of antithesis without connecting links) there is in both the culmi-
nation
of the whole in prayer.
98 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
of
thought which is both impressive in itself, and also an addition
to
the types of Higher Unity under which Biblical lyrics can be
classified.
In treating this general matter of
the Higher Unity it is necessary
to
mention what may be called the Unity of Aggregation. This
can be
brought out best by the aid of illustrations.
Unity of
Aggre- If
the reader examines the Book of Proverbs and,
gation discarding the numbering of chapters which
has
no
literary significance, seeks to divide it into the literary com-
positions of
which it is made up, he will be struck
Proverbs xxv. with the different relations in which successive
24-28 verses stand to one another in different
parts of
the
book. Let him, for example, read the last five verses of the
twenty-fifth
chapter.
It is better to dwell in
the corner of the housetop,
Than with a contentious
woman in a wide house.
* * *
As cold waters to a
thirsty soul,
So is good news from a
far country.
* * *
As a troubled fountain,
and a corrupted spring,
So is a righteous man
that giveth way before the wicked.
* * *
It is not good to eat
much honey:
So for men to search out
their own glory is not glory.
* * *
He whose spirit is
without restraint
Is like a city that is
broken down and hath no wall.
Nothing
is plainer than that we have here five entirely distinct
compositions
all that the "men of Hezekiah" have done is to
collect
them. Next, let the reader take four verses that follow
one
another in the twenty-sixth chapter.
THE HIGHER UNITY IN
LITERATURE 99
The sluggard saith,
There is a lion in the way; Proverbs xxvi.
A lion is in the
streets. 13-16
As the door turneth upon
its hinges,
So cloth the sluggard
upon his bed.
The sluggard burieth his
hand in the dish;
It wearieth him to bring
it again to his mouth.
The sluggard is wiser in
his own conceit
Than seven men that can
render a reason.
Here
again we have entirely separate sayings, but they are all
sayings
on the subject of the sluggard. The "men of Hezekiah"
have
not merely collected, they have in this instance Proverbs
vi. 1-5
arranged
their matter. For completeness let the
reader
turn to an entirely different part of the book, and read
(say)
the first five verses of chapter six.
My son, if thou art become surety
for thy neighbour,
If thou halt stricken thy hands for
a stranger,
Thou art snared with the words of
thy mouth,
Thou art taken with the words of thy
mouth.
Do this now, my son, and deliver
thyself,
Seeing thou art come into the hand
of thy neighbour;
Go, humble thyself, and importune
thy neighbour.
Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor
slumber to thine eyelids.
Deliver thyself as a roe from the
hand of the hunter,
And as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
Here
it is clear that we have no collection of distinct sayings, but
a
single composition with an organic unity of its own. The sacred
literature
is thus found to include both what in modern phraseol-
ogy
are called original compositions, and also collections of sepa-
rate
brief compositions put together with or without arrangement.
The
shorter sayings are obvious in the Book
of Proverbs. But at
the
proper place we shall see that they belong equally to other
departments
of Biblical literature: that Prophecy includes short
100 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
prophetic utterances collected together as well as longer dis-
courses, and that even a lyric composition may be constructed of
separate lyrics in combination. Many mistakes of interpretation
may be avoided by recognising the Unity of Aggregation.
One more consideration will complete our classification of the
different forms that may be assumed by the Higher Unity in the
literary compositions of the Bible. It will some-
Unity of External times happen that the connection binding the dif-
Circumstances ferent parts of a poem into a unity is to be looked
for, not in the poem itself, but in the external use made of it. A
notable example is the twenty-fourth psalm. Any one reading this
psalm with a view to catching its general drift and
Psalm xxiv connection will be struck with a break between its
sixth and seventh verses, at which point there is a change both of
form and matter so considerable as inevitably to raise the doubt
whether the whole psalm can be a single composition. The diffi-
culty is met by identifying the poem with a particular ceremonial,
into the different parts of which the two halves of the psalm fit
like a key into the wards of a lock.
This ceremonial was the bringing of the
There is perhaps no single day in the far distance of antiquity
which we are able to follow with such minuteness as this central
day of King David's career; and in a later chapter we shall see
that all the songs composed for the festival can be recovered.
The twenty-fourth psalm represents the words of the processional
march from the House of Obed-Edom to the Gates of Jerusalem.
There seem to have been two points in this march at which the
instruments of fir wood, harps, psalteries, timbrels, castanets and
cymbals gave place to vocal celebration. The first was when the
procession halted at the foot of the high hill on which the city
stood; and here it is that the first six verses of the psalm have
their fitness. After a burst of adoration to the Creator of the
world—one of the perfectly general ascriptions of praise with
which psalms so often commence — the special anthem proceeds
as follows:
THE HIGHER UNITY IN LITERATURE 101
Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;
Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
And hath not sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of them that seek after him,
That seek thy face, 0 God of Jacob.
The identification of these words with the occasion to which I am
referring becomes the stronger through something which illustrates
what has been said above as to the nature of Hebrew poetry, and
how its composition did not fix it in one form, as our writing does,
but left it scope to adapt itself in the mouths of the singers who
preserved it to changes of thought or circumstances. We have a
variant to the anthem just cited: this is the fifteenth psalm, and a
comparison of the two poems is highly instructive.
LORD, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle? Psalm xv
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness,
And speaketh truth in his heart.
He that slandereth not with his tongue,
Nor doeth evil to his friend,
Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
In whose eyes a reprobate is despised;
But he honoureth them that fear the LORD.
He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
He that putteth not out his money to usury,
Nor taketh reward against the innocent.
He that doeth these things shall never be moved.
That these are varying forms of one poem is obvious; in both the
same character for the worshipper of Jehovah is conveyed in the
same form of lyric question and answer. The differences between
them are two. The fifteenth psalm is much fuller in its descrip-
tion, and yet this fulness is no more than the working out into
detail of what the other psalm had suggested. Again, there is a
striking variation in the wording of the opening verse. The
102 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
twenty-fourth psalm asks, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the
LORD," the fifteenth psalm phrases the question, "Who shall
sojourn." This exactly tallies with the view here presented of
the two poems. The one is an anthem for a specific occasion,
and to the circumstances of that occasion—the procession halt-
ing at the foot of the hill -- the phrase is exactly relevant, "Who
shall ascend." But when this description of the worshipper of
Jehovah is divorced from the proceedings of that particular day,
and passes into general use, there is no longer any point in the
word ascend, and a general term, sojourn, is substituted. And it
is equally natural that the brief suggestive sketch should be found
where the thought comes as a single detail in a long ceremonial,
but that when the fragment passes into use as an independent
hymn the thought should expand and gather fulness and devo-
tional beauty.
The other emphatic point in the march was when the proces-
sion drew up opposite the gates of the city: this gives us the
second part of the twenty-fourth psalm. Two considerations
should be carefully remembered by the reader. One of these is
the nature of the day's festival. It was not a dedication of a
temple, but an inauguration of a city. The tent in which David
placed the
convenience; the task on which his whole heart was bent was to
bring the
ancient stronghold of the Jebusites; to capture it had been
David's greatest achievement; he wished to turn it into the
metropolis of the military monarchy in which he, as the repre-
sentative of Jehovah, was the principal figure: there could then
be no fitter form of inauguration than to transfer to the newly cap-
tured city the sacred Symbol with the fullest military honours.
The psalm realises all this by its formal call upon the city gates to
open. But a second point must be noted before the anthem
becomes fully intelligible. The historical account
II Sam. vi of the ceremonial gives striking prominence to a
particular title of the Divine Being—the LORD OF HOSTS: the
THE HIGHER UNITY IN LITERATURE 103
narrative opens by speaking of "the Ark of God which is called
by the Name, even the name of the LORD of hosts"; it ends by
saying that David, in dismissing the people to their homes, blessed
them "in the name of the LORD of hosts." It is clear that this
title made a sort of watchword to the day's proceedings. With
the full circumstances before us let us follow this second section
of the psalm. The procession has halted opposite the massive
porch of the time-worn fortress, and in full military form sum-
mons it to open its gates.
Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates;
And be ye lift up, ye ancient doors:
And the King of glory shall come in.
Warders answer from within:
Who is the King of glory?
By the simplest of poetic devices the anthem keeps back for a
time the great Name, and answers with other titles of Jehovah.
The LORD strong and mighty,
The LORD mighty in battle.
The watchword has not been spoken, and the gates refuse to open.
The summons must be repeated.
Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates;
Yea, lift them up, ye ancient doors:
And the King of glory shall come in.
A second time is heard the challenge from within :
Who is this King of glory?
At last the great Name is spoken:
THE LORD OF HOSTS,
He is the King of glory!
At this word the gates roll back, the procession enters, and Jehovah
has taken possession of his city.
104 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
It appears then that the two sections of the twenty-fourth psalm
fit in with two points in the procession of the
the halt at the foot of the hill, and the climax in front of the
gates. The psalm finds its unity in the external circumstances of
its first production.
Enough has now been said on the subject of this Higher Unity,
the bond by which different parts of a composition are woven
together into a single whole. We have seen that to look for such
unity is a foremost condition of literary appreciation; and that
this applies to the literature of the Bible, notwithstanding diffi-
culties thrown in our way by mediaeval methods of printing or
reading the Sacred Scriptures. We have seen, on the other hand,
that in searching for the unity of any particular poem we must not
force interpretation through some preconceived idea of poetic
connection, but must be prepared to find the Higher Unity assum-
ing various forms. We have surveyed some of these forms: Sim-
ple Unity, Unity of Transition, Unity of Antithesis, Unity of
Aggregation, Unity of External Circumstances. In each case the
nature of the unity must be gathered from an examination of
the particular composition, and a comparison of it with other
compositions of a similar kind.
CHAPTER IV
CLASSIFICATION OF LITERARY FORMS
MY purpose in Book First is to arrive at a general classification
of such literary forms as Epic, Lyric, Philosophy, and others,
which can in succeeding books be one by one The Higher Unity
applied to the literature of the Bible. Preceding and distinctions
chapters have been occupied in clearing the ground; of literary form
starting from structural analysis they have advanced through lower
unities of literary form to that higher unity by which a literary
work is grasped as a whole. It is only when a reader has accus-
tomed himself to thinking of a poem (or prose composition) as a
whole that he is in a position to take the further step of recognis-
ing the form such a composition assumes. In the present chapter
we are prepared to consider briefly the general notion underlying
such terms as Epic, Lyric, and the like, when these terms are
used of universal literature; and then to note a few of the special
features that broadly distinguish Hebrew literature.
Let the reader firmly fix four ideas in his mind, as what may
be called the four Cardinal Points of Literature. The four Cardinal
Two of these are given by the antithesis Descrip- Points of Litera-
tion and Presentation. When an incident is de- ture
scribed to us, the words are throughout the words of the author.
When it is presented, the author himself nowhere
appears, but he leaves us to hear the words of Description and
those personages who actually took part in the Presentation
incident, perhaps to see their doings; we become spectators, and
the circumstances are made to present themselves before us.
105
106 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
Homer and Milton give us literature of description; for pres-
entation the most complete illustration is Shakespeare, in whose
pages all varieties of mankind are speaking and moving, but the
poet himself is never heard.
The other two ideas are conveyed by the words Poetry and
Prose. It is impossible to use other terms; and yet about these
there is an unfortunate ambiguity, owing to the exi-
Poetry and Prose gences of language which have imposed a double
duty on the word ‘prose’: it is antithetic to ‘poetry’ and it is
also antithetic to ‘verse.’ No doubt there is a good deal in
common between these two usages of the word: Poetry is mostly
conveyed in verse, and Prose literature in the style called prose.
But the terms must be used with a cautious recollection that
Poetry is sometimes cast in the form of prose — notably, we shall
see, in the Bible; while in the earlier stages of literary history
verse has often been utilised for works of science and philosophy
which would later have been thrown into a prose form. The con-
ception we are at present seeking will be best grasped if we
translate the Greek word ‘poetry’ into its Latin equivalent, ‘cre-
ative literature’; it assists also to remember the old English usage
by which a poet was called a ‘maker.’ The idea underlying these
words is that the poet makes something, creates, adds to the sum
of existences; whereas the antithetic literature of Prose has only
to discuss what already exists. When Homer has sung and Eu-
ripides exhibited plays the world is richer by an Achilles and an
Alcestis. It makes no difference whether, as an historic fact, the
Greek warrior and the Queen of Pherae ever existed, or whether
they are pure figments of the imagination, or whether they existed
but behaved quite differently from what the poem and the play
suggest: to our poetic sense the Homeric Achilles and the Euripi-
dean Alcestis are as real as the Cesar of history. On the con-
trary, the literature of Prose moves only is the region limited
by facts; history and philosophy have to deal only with what
actually has existence, accurately describing things, or bringing out
the relations between one thing and another.
CLASSIFICATION' OF LITERARY FORMS 107
These four ideas, Description and Presentation, Poetry and
Prose, I have called the four Cardinal Points of Literature: they
are to be regarded, not as divisions or classes into Primitive liter-
which literary works may be divided, but as so ary form: the
many different directions in which literary activity Ballad Dance
may move. But to understand this movement a fifth conception
must be added as a starting-point for such activity. The starting-
point of literature is found in what is technically called the Ballad
Dance. The study of Comparative Literature reveals that wher-
ever literature arises spontaneously its earliest form is a combina-
tion of verse, music, and imitative gesture. Whether it be a story,
or an uplifting of the heart in worship, or a burst of popular frolic,
the expression of these will be in rhythmic words, which are
chanted to a tune with or without instrumental accompaniment,
and further emphasised by expressive gestures of the whole body
such as have come to be denominated ‘dancing.’ Hebrew litera-
ture was no exception. Of course, the actual contents of our
Bibles are far removed from such primitive productions. But
some portions of Sacred Scripture are early enough not to have
lost the triple form with which poetry started. Thus Exodus xv. 20
we are expressly informed that the Song of Moses
and Miriam was accompanied with timbrel music and dances;
even when the bringing of the
called forth such lofty strains of poetry we have a 14-16
full description of the orchestra with which that poetry was accom-
panied, and we know how David himself "danced with all his
might" in its performance.
If then the reader keeps in his mind this starting-point of liter-
ature in the Ballad Dance, and also the four directions in which
its impulses are likely to carry it, he will be able Fundamental
to lay down as in a chart the great forms which Forms for Liter-
literature assumes as it develops. On the side of ature in general
Poetry three great types of literature arise, which on examination
are found to reflect the three elements— verse, music, dancing —
combined by primitive poetry in one. Epic is a branch thrown
CLASSIFICATION OF LITERARY FORMS 109
off on the side of Description, for it consists in the narration of a
poetic story; the name ‘Epic,’ which literally means Epic
‘speech,’ is seen by comparison with the other
names to imply that in this branch verse is the only one of the
three original elements which is essential, music and dancing being
for epic poetry mere accessories that soon disap- Drama
peared. Over against this Epic a second branch
of creative literature is found pointing in the direction of Presenta-
tion; and its name, Drama, implies that here the imitative gesture
of the ballad dance has predominated over everything else, for
‘Drama’ is ‘acted poetry.’ The remaining constituent of primi-
tive literature, music, is suggested by the name of Lyric
the third great division of poetry—Lyric, and all
the devices of musical art find their analogies in the movement
of lyric poetry. As Epic was concerned with Description, and
Drama with Presentation, so Lyric has a special function which
at the same time mediates between the other two. It may be
described by the term Reflection or Meditation; by this medi-
tative function lyric poetry can—as its position on our chart
would suggest—pass at any moment into epic or dramatic with-
out losing its own distinctive character. To illustrate: let us take
up (say) the ninth psalm at the eleventh verse.
Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in
Declare among the people his doings.
For he that maketh inquisition for blood remembereth them:
He forgetteth not the cry of the poor.
We have struck this lyric at a point where the poet is reflecting; but
in the next verse the meditation has become dramatic, for we are
allowed to hear the very cries of the poor who have been spoken of.
"Have mercy upon me, 0 LORD;
Behold my affliction which I suffer of them that hate me,
Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death;
That I may shew forth all thy praise:
In the gates of the daughter of
I will rejoice in thy salvation."
110 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
As the lyric form has thus changed quite naturally into a momen-
tary drama, so in the verse that follows it is found to have passed
into epic description.
The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made:
In the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
Biblical lyrics illustrate more fully than any others this essentially
central character of lyric poetry and its power of absorbing the
other forms.
Analogous to the three great types of Poetry we have three
main divisions of literature on its side of Prose. Epic has its
counterpart in History. The word history has for
History its range the whole field of positive description:
‘Natural History’ is the description of external nature, and ‘His-
tory’ without any qualifying adjective is the description of events.
On the other side the prose analogue of Drama is
Rhetoric Rhetoric; for the orator differs from others who
use prose in the prominence he gives to presentation. To the
famous orator Demosthenes is attributed the saying that the first
element of oratory is action, and the second element action, and
the third action: the meaning of this is that an orator must above
all things be an actor; he must be able to identify himself with his
cause as an actor presents a part. Lastly, as Lyric was reflective
poetry, the corresponding form of prose literature is
Philosophy Philosophy, which is no more than organised reflec-
tion. And as Lyric was found to occupy a central position on the
side of poetry, so that it could dip at intervals into Epic and Drama,
an analogous power attaches to Philosophy, which can extend in
the direction of Description when it takes the form of scientific
observation, and on the other side can advance almost to the
bounds of Rhetoric in the form of exposition.
We have thus, starting from first principles, arrived at a concep-
tion of the six main divisions of literary form. But these six forms
must be understood as merely general notions, drawn from a com-
parative survey of literature as a whole. Just as the ‘elements’
CLASSIFICATION OF LITERARY FORMS 111
into which the chemist analyses matter are seldom found in nature
separate and distinct, but almost always in com- Literary works
bination, so in the actual literatures of the world it seldom confined
will be an exceptional case if any particular work is to a single form
found to exemplify one of the six forms we have been discussing,
without any admixture of the rest.
We are to review the various forms as they appear in the Bible.
But first I will draw attention to three points which, Distinguishing
in the most general survey, distinguish Biblical lit- features of He-
erature from the other great literatures of the world, brew Literature
and affect its relation to the elements of literary form just surveyed.
The first distinguishing characteristic of Hebrew literature is that
it has not developed a separate and distinct Drama; although, as
if to compensate for this, the dramatic impulse is 1. No separate
found in Hebrew to invade other regions of litera- Drama but dra-
ture, including such departments as might have matic influence
seemed most impervious to it. The current find- on other forms
ing no channel has spread and diffused itself. The reader of the
Bible knows that he will find in it no acted play like the plays of
Shakespeare. But on the other hand he will find lyric poems
specially dramatic in tone, and in Solomon's Song a lyric idyl that
impresses some of its readers as a complete drama. He will find,
again, philosophy taking a dramatic shape. In the Book of fob
the dramatic form reaches an intensity not exceeded in any liter-
ature; yet even here there is no independent drama, but the
dramatised discussion is made to rest on a basis of epic story.
What is still more surprising, the discourses of prophecy are found
to be leavened by the dramatic spirit, and that most concentrated
form of Hebrew prophecy, which will in this work be called the
Rhapsody, is pre-eminent in the closeness with which it approaches
to Drama. If such things could be made the subject of measure-
ment, it would be safe to predict that the mass of dramatic mate-
rial in Biblical literature would be not less than that found in other
literatures where Drama is a distinct form.
112 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
A second consideration must be mentioned as separating
Hebrew from other literatures. When a reader turns over the
2. Prophecy a pages of the Bible, the department which will im-
special depart- press him most by its bulk and importance is one
ment of Litera- not included in the above classification, because it
ture is no element of universal literature. This is the
department of Prophecy. The distinction of Prophecy is not one
of form but of spirit: Biblical Prophecy, in a sense that belongs
to no other class of literature, presents itself as an actual Divine
message. So far as form is concerned Prophecy is not distinctive
but comprehensive: all types of literature are attracted towards
it, and, as will be seen at the proper place, the various literary
forms are fused together into a new form in the Prophetic Rhap-
sody.
The third distinguishing feature of Hebrew literature needs
fuller explanation. It has to do with the external form of verse
3. Overlapping and prose. We saw that Hebrew rests its verse
of Verse and system, not upon metre or rhyme, but upon paral-
Prose lelism of clauses. But, as a matter of universal
literature, parallelism is one of the devices of prose: the rhetoric
of all nations includes it. If then a particular language bases its
verse upon something which is also the property of prose, it is an
inevitable consequence that in that language prose and verse will
overlap: and such is the case with Biblical literature. I do not
of course mean that the verse literature of the Bible taken as a
whole could be confused with the Biblical literature of prose.
What could be further from prose than the Book of Psalms? and
what could be further from verse than the Books of Chronicles?
But while in their extremes they are totally different, yet there is a
middle region of Biblical style in which verse and prose meet: a
high parallelism in which transition can be rapidly made from the
one to the other, or even the effects of the two can seem to be
combined. It is this overlapping of verse and prose which con-
stitutes the third distinctive feature of Hebrew literature.
I am the more particular upon this point, because it is one
CLASSIFICATION OF LITERARY FORMS 113
which I think has not received sufficient attention. The combina-
tion of verse and prose to which I am alluding is not the fact that,
in such a book as Jeremniah, some compositions are found to be
verse and some prose. Nor am I referring merely to the literary
effect of a transition in the same composition from a passage of
prose to a passage of verse; such transitions belong to many
literatures, and are markedly characteristic of Shakespeare in his
later plays. The union of verse and prose can in Biblical litera-
ture be more intimate still: what in another language we should
have to call a system of verse—for example, the analysis of a
single stanza—will in the Hebrew be found to combine prose
with verse into a common system.
A clear grasp of this overlapping of verse and prose is neces-
sary for the appreciation of Hebrew literature. To gain it may
require some effort of mind on the part of those This an addition
who have formed their ideas in literatures of a dif- to the resources
ferent kind. The English reader, for example, is of style
accustomed to a verse founded on metrical considerations or
rhyme—things foreign to prose; when he hears of verse ap-
proaching prose the phrase is likely to suggest to him weakness
and inefficiency. Any such suggestion becomes inapplicable in
the case of a language where parallelism makes a common ground
between the highest poetry and the highest rhetoric. It is clear,
on the contrary, that the literary resources of Hebrew are increased
by the feature we are discussing. Hebrew has the power pos-
sessed by other languages of producing literary effect with changes
from the one form of expression to the other. But it has also a
power all its own of maintaining (so to speak) a watershed of
high parallelism, from which it can dip towards verse or prose
with the utmost subtlety, or can combine in one the delight in
freedom, which is the spirit of prose, with a sense of rhythm,
which is the foundation of verse.
I am about to bring forward illustrations, but I must preface
them with one general remark. It will be seen in the extracts
cited that certain passages are printed as prose which are usually
114 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
represented to be lines of verse; and the question may arise,
what is the criterion for deciding such points. I would answer
that the matter cannot be determined simply by
Examples of the examining the passages themselves and the relation
Compound Style of successive clauses, seeing that parallelism is com-
mon ground between verse and rhetoric prose. Where is the
parallelism of clauses carried further than in the speeches of
Moses as they appear in the Book of Deuteronomy, especially at
such a point of the book as the eighth chapter? Yet no one
would break up such speeches into lines of verse, because the
general drift and spirit of the whole makes it clear that they con-
stitute not poetry but oratory. So with regard to the citations
from prophecy that are to be given, it is necessary, besides ex-
amining the individual clauses, to study the extract as a whole,
and the way its different parts hang together; when this is done,
it will often appear that a passage, which in itself would make
good verse, will in its relation to the whole be better represented
to the eye and ear as prose. To use the terms I distinguished
when speaking on the general subject of structure, the analysis of
prophetic style must be dominated by the higher and not the
over parallelism.
Amos i. 3-ii My first illustration is from the prophecy of
Amos, a book which will impress the most casual
reader with the prominence in it of structural beauty.
Thus saith the LORD:
For three transgressions of
Yea, for four,
I will not turn away the punishment thereof;
because they have threshed
iron:
But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael,
And it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.
And I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from
the
of
the LORD.
CLASSIFICATION OF LITERARY FORMS 115
Thus saith the LORD:
For three transgressions of
Yea, for four,
I will not turn away the punishment thereof;
because they carried away captive the whole people, to deliver them
up to
But I will send a fire on the wall of
And it shall devour the palaces thereof:
and I will cut off the inhabitant from
the sceptre from
and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the LORD God.
Thus saith the LORD:
For three transgressions of
Yea, for four,
I will not turn away the punishment thereof;
because they delivered up the whole people to
bered not the brotherly covenant:
But I will send a fire on the wall of
And it shall devour the palaces thereof.
Thus saith the LORD:
For three transgressions of
Yea, for four,
I will not turn away the punishment thereof;
because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all
pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for
ever:
But I will send a fire upon Teman,
And it shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.
Thus saith the LORD:
For three transgressions of the children of Ammon,
Yea, for four, .
I will not turn away the punishment thereof;
because they have ripped up the women with child of
might enlarge their border:
But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah,
And it shall devour the palaces thereof,
with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the
whirlwind: and their king shall go away into captivity, he and his
princes together, saith the LORD.
116 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
Thus saith the LORD:
For three transgressions of
Yea, for four,
I will not turn away the punishment thereof;
because he burned the bones of the king of
But I will send a fire upon
And it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth;
and
the trumpet; and I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and
will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD:
For three transgressions of
Yea, for four,
I will not turn away the punishment thereof;
because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept
his statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, after the which
their fathers did walk:
But I will send a fire upon
And it shall devour the palaces of
Thus saith the LORD:
For three transgressions of
Yea, for four,
I will not turn away the punishment thereof;
because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a
pair of shoes: that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the
poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father
will go unto the same maid, to profane my holy name: and they lay
themselves down beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge, and
in the house of their God they drink the wine of such as have been
fined. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was
like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I
destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. Also
I brought you up out of the
the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. And I raised up
of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites. Is it
not even thus, 0 ye children of
the Nazirites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying,
Prophesy not.
Behold I will press you in your place,
As a cart presseth that is full of sheaves.
CLASSIFICATION OF LITERARY FORMS 117
And flight shall perish from the swift,
And the strong shall not strengthen his force,
Neither shall the mighty deliver himself:
Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow;
And he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself:
Neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself:
And he that is courageous among the mighty
Shall flee away naked in that day,
Saith the LORD.
If we examine this portion of Amos in the spirit of the lower
parallelism, we must admit that the passages here printed as prose
could be broken up into verses, most of them without straining.
But the higher parallelism constructs the whole passage on an
extremely simple plan: this prophecy against eight peoples is
made up of common formulae expressing ideal transgressions and
ideal dooms, together with particular descriptions of actual sins
and actual sufferings. It is surely in keeping with such a general
plan that the formulae and ideal portions should be found to be in
verse, and the particular descriptions in prose. Moreover, when
we examine the denunciation of
all the rest leads, we find that it is just here that the description is
most difficult to compel into the form of verse: if this goes best
as prose then the parts correlated with it should be prose also.
Finally, if we look at the whole for a moment simply as a work of
art, we must be struck with the superb elasticity of style which
Hebrew obtains from a power of combining verse and prose in
the same way that the oratorio combines recitative with timed
music. The speaker can at any moment suspend rhythm in order
to penetrate with the unfettered simplicity of prose into every
detail of realism, sure of being able to recover when he pleases
the rhythmic march, and the strong tone of idealisation.
My second illustration goes further than the first in the direc-
tion of artistic elaborateness, and is proportionately
more open to difference of opinion. It is the Joel ii. 1-11
famous passage in which Joel conveys the approach of the mystic
destruction.
118 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
Blow ye the trumpet in
And sound an alarm in my holy mountain;
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble:
for the Day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of dark-
ness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the dawn
spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong, there hath
not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after them, even to
the years of many generations!
A fire devoureth before them;
And behind them a flame burneth:
The land is as the garden of Eden before them,
And behind them a desolate wilderness!
Yea, and none hath escaped them. The appearance of them is as the
appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so do they run. Like the
noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap, like
the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong
people set in battle array.
At their presence the peoples are in anguish:
All faces are waxed pale:
They run like mighty men;
They climb the wall like men of war;
And they march every one on his ways.
And they break not their ranks: neither cloth one thrust another; they
march every one in his path: and they burst through the weapons, and
break not off their course.
They leap upon the city;
They run upon the wall;
They climb up into the houses;
They enter in at the windows like a thief.
The earth quaketh before them;
The heavens tremble:
The sun and the moon are darkened,
And the stars withdraw their shining:
and the LORD uttereth his voice before his army; for his camp is very
great; for he is strong that executeth his word: for the Day of the
LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
At first sight the reader might be surprised to see treated as
prose language so full of fire and rhythm. But we have seen that
this by itself is an unsafe criterion: the line is a very fine one that
separates between the rhythm of universal rhetoric and the rhythm
CLASSIFICATION OF LITERARY FORMS 119
of Hebrew verse. The only safe guide is the structure of the whole
passage. One point in the above arrangement is obvious — it
yields the favourite Hebrew effect of augmenting: when the pass-
ages of verse are examined it will be seen that the first consists of
three lines, the second of four, the third of five, the climax of a
much larger number. But the more important question is, whether
the breaks suggested between prose and verse coincide with any
change in the spirit of the whole. The passage is dominated by
one idea — the sense of mysterious approach. The prophecy of
Joel, starting from a plague of locusts, idealises this into destruc-
tion as a general notion, and so finely is this idealisation executed
that associations of locusts and of destruction in general mingle
together until they leave on our minds nothing but a sense of
awful mystery. Keeping then this idea of mystic approach before
us, let us examine the sections of the whole passage. The opening
verses are simply an alarm: a trumpet crash and quivering nerves.
Then prose puts the meaning of the alarm, as it might be inter-
preted by rumour: it must be the Day of Jehovah breaking, with
blackness for its light of dawn: a ‘people’ coming, the like of
which has never been seen. With the return to verse we have
advanced from hearing to seeing: but the first glance pictures the
army of destruction only by its effects — the beauty before it, the
destruction and burning where it has passed. A second glance
analyses in prose the destroying force: like the words of one
trying to make out something in the distance, we hear minglings
of the appearance of horses with the sounds of chariots and flames.
Another stage of advance is made by a simple contrast in verse —
the pale terror of the helpless victims, and the energy of the
destroying march. But no sooner is the word ‘march’ introduced
than prose proceeds to analyse the march, with the riddling sug-
gestions of locusts underlying the descriptions of unbroken ranks,
and the pouring through opposing weapons. At last the goal of
the city is reached, and in a string of abrupt verses we have the
irresistible invasion from every side until the whole earth is
darkened and rocking with a universal destruction. Then a yet
120 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
higher climax is made when prose brings out the power that has
been behind the whole judgment—it is indeed Jehovah whose
word has been thus strongly executed: and who shall abide his
terrible day! The structural law of the whole stands out clear:
continually augmenting stanzas of verse paint the objective scene,
and prose interposes between them to analyse and interpret
each.
But to fully appreciate this feature of Biblical style the reader
ought to watch it as it appears upon a more extended scale. I
shall therefore conclude by citing the Book of
Book of Zephaniah Zephaniah in full. The structural plan of this
prophecy is equally simple and impressive. It is prose broken
by snatches of verse. Upon examination, the prose is found to
be a continuous discourse conveying the denunciatory message of
Deity; the verse passages are interruptions of lyric comment at
emphatic points.
THE WORD OF THE LORD
which came unto
ZEPHANIAH
the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah,
the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah,
in the days of Josiah the son of Amon,
king of
I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith
the LORD. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls
of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with
the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the face of the ground,
saith the LORD. And I will stretch out mine hand upon
upon all the inhabitants of
of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarim with the
priests; and them that worship the host of heaven upon the house-
tops; and them that worship, which swear to the LORD and swear by
Malcam; and them that are turned back from following the LORD;
and those that have not sought the LORD, nor inquired after him.
CLASSIFICATION OF LITERARY FORMS 121
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD:
For the Day of the LORD is at hand:
For the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice,
He hath sanctified his guests!
And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, that I will
punish the princes, and the king's sons, and all such as are clothed
with foreign apparel. And in that day I will punish all those that leap
over the threshold, which fill their master's house with violence and
deceit. And in that day, saith the LORD, there shall be the noise of
a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second quarter, and
a great crashing from the hills.
Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh,
For all the people of
All they that were laden with silver are cut off.
And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search
candles; and I will punish the men that are settled on their lees, that
say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.
And their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation;
yea, they shall build houses, but shall not inhabit them; and they shall
plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof.
The great Day of the LORD is near:
It is near and hasteth greatly!
Even the voice of the Day of the LORD;
The mighty man crieth there bitterly!
That Day is a day of wrath,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of wasteness and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
A day of the trumpet and alarm
Against the fenced cities,
And against the high battlements!
And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind
men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood
shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung. Neither their
silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the
LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his
122 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
jealousy: for he shall make an end, yea, a terrible end, of all them
that dwell in the land.
Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together,
O nation that hath no shame;
Before the decree bring forth,
Before the day pass as the chaff,
Before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you,
Before the Day of the LORD'S Anger come upon you.
Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth,
Which have wrought his judgement;
Seek righteousness,
Seek meekness:
It may be ye shall be hid
In the Day of the LORD'S Anger.
For
out
Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast,
The nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the LORD is against you, 0
Philistines; I will destroy thee that there shall be no inhabitant. And
the sea coast shall be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds
for flocks. And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of
lon shall they lie down in the evening; for the LORD their God shall
visit them, and bring again their captivity. I have heard the reproach
of
have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their
border. Therefore as I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel,
Surely
rah, a possession of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation:
the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my
nation shall inherit them. This shall they have for their pride, because
they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of
the LORD of hosts. The LORD will be terrible unto them: for he will
famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one
from his place, even all the isles of the nations. Ye Ethiopians also,
ye shall be slain by my sword. And he will stretch out his hand
against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make
CLASSIFICATION OF LITERARY FORMS 123
desolation, and dry like the wilderness. And herds shall lie down in
the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the pelican and
the porcupine shall lodge in the chapiters thereof: their voice shall
sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he hath
laid bare the cedar work.
This is the joyous city,
That dwelt carelessly,
That said in her heart, I am,
And there is none else beside me:
How is she become a desolation,
A place for beasts to lie down in!
Every one that passeth by her shall hiss,
And wag his hand.
Woe to her that is rebellious and polluted,
To the oppressing city!
She obeyed not the voice;
She received not correction;
She trusted not in the LORD;
She drew not near to her God.
Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions;
Her judges are evening wolves;
They leave nothing till the morrow.
Her prophets are light and treacherous persons:
Her priests have profaned the sanctuary,
They have done violence to the law.
The LORD in the midst of her is righteous;
He will not do iniquity;
Every morning cloth he bring his judgement to light,
He faileth not;
But the unjust knoweth no shame.
I have cut off nations, their battlements are desolate; I have made
their streets waste, that none passeth by; their cities are destroyed,
so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant. I said, Surely
thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive correction; so her dwelling should
not he cut off, according to all that I have appointed concerning her:
but they rose early and corrupted all their doings. Therefore wait ye
for me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for
my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the
124 LITERARY CLASSIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE
kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce
anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may
all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.
From beyond the rivers of
of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering. In that day shalt thou not
be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against
me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee thy proudly
exulting ones, and thou shalt no more be haughty in my holy mountain.
But I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and
they shall trust in the name of the LORD. The remnant of
not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be
found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall
make them afraid.
Sing, 0 daughter of
Be glad and rejoice with all the heart,
0 daughter of
The LORD hath taken away thy judgements,
He hath cast out thine enemy:
The king of
Even the LORD, is in the midst of thee:
Thou shalt not fear evil any more.
In that day it shall be said to
0
The LORD thy God is in the midst of thee,
A mighty one who will save:
He will rejoice over thee with joy,
He will rest in his love,
He will joy over thee with singing.
I will gather them that sorrow for the solemn assembly, who were of
thee: to whom the burden upon her was a reproach. Behold, at that
time I will deal with all them that afflict thee: and I will save her that
halteth, and gather her that was driven away; and I will make them
a praise and a name, whose shame bath been in all the earth. At that
time will I bring you in, and at that time will I gather you: for I will
make you a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth,
when I bring again your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.
BOOK SECOND
LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
CHAPTER PAGE
V. THE BIBLICAL ODE 127
VI. OCCASIONAL POETRY, ELEGIES, AND LITURGICAL
PSALMS 153
VII. DRAMATIC LYRICS AND LYRICS OF MEDITATION
VIII. LYRIC IDYL: ‘SOLOMON'S SONG’ 194
CHAPTER V
THE BIBLICAL ODE
THE Ode cannot be exactly defined. Etymologically the word
is equivalent to ‘song’; usage seems to have given it the sense
of song par excellence: the lyric poetry that is furthest The Ode
removed from the ordinary speech, and nearest to pure
music. If ‘flight’ be the regular image for the movement of
lyric poetry, then the Ode is the song that can soar highest and
remain longest on the wing. Speaking generally, we may say that
it is distinguished from other lyrics by greater elaboration, and
(so to speak) structural consciousness. Such a literary form will
be discussed best by particular examples, and a commentary
upon the Odes of the Bible will introduce us to lyric modes of
movement in general.
It is natural to commence with Deborah's Song. This is the
most elaborate of Biblical odes, and it exercised considerable
influence upon succeeding poetry. There is an-
other circumstance which makes it particularly Deborah's Song
valuable to the literary student. It is a narrative Judges v
poem, and the story it narrates is in the previous chapter of
Judges given in the form of history. A careful comparison of
the fourth and fifth chapters of that book will enable us to study
the differences between lyric narrative and narrative as it appears
in history.
Few portions of the Old Testament are more familiar, or more
frequently discussed, than the incidents that enter into Deborah's
Song. Yet I think there are important elements in the story
127
128 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
which are by no means generally understood. The first point that
I will put amounts to no more than a conjecture. The history
opens by saying that
The Matter of of Jabin king of
Deborah's Song oppressed" them for twenty years. Though the
Book of Judges is full of similar subjugations of
ticular phrase is nowhere else used; the suggestion is that there
was something different in kind between the tyranny of Jabin and
Sisera and other tyrannies. May it be that this oppression was of
an indescribable nature, affecting person as well as property,—
such wanton violence as appears in a later chapter of Judges to
have brought all
Chapter xx jamin? If this conjecture were adopted, it would
give significance to the striking phrase used by the song to
describe the misery of the oppression, — that "the highways were
unoccupied and the travellers walked through byways." It would
explain how it was that the tyranny was borne without resistance
until "a mother in
further enable us to understand how a prophetess could exult in
the strange decree of
cruel and lustful tyranny met his doom at the hands of a woman.
My next point is a matter of certainty. It is the relation to
the story of Heber the Kenite, the husband of Jael. The Kenites
were a tribe who had joined
become a part of the chosen nation in all respects except one, —
that they still retained their life in tents, when the Israelites had
settled down in villages and towns. But we are told in one verse
of the narrative that there was peace between the oppress-
iv.17 ing tyrant and the house of Heber the Kenite; another
verse tells us how Heber had separated himself from the other
Kenites, and "pitched his tent as far as the oak in
11 Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh," that is, close to the
muster ground of Barak; and the verse that follows says, "And they
12 told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up
to
THE BIBLICAL ODE 129
is general, yet when the three verses are taken together the signifi-
cance is clear enough: that Heber the Kenite was a spy in the
pay of Jabin and Sisera, and that he had shifted his tent for no
reason but to keep a watch upon the movements of
report them to the enemy. But there would seem to have been
one in his tent who had a heart to feel with the mothers of
as a sheikh's wife Jael may have been unable to hinder her hus-
band's plans, but when the turn of events had come, and Sisera
approached her as a fugitive, there was a sudden opportunity
before her to strike a blow on the side which she had never
deserted. Of course her act remains a treacherous violation of
hospitality. But it makes some difference to our estimate of her
that it was treachery done to redress her husband's treachery on
the opposite side.
It is worth while, again, to make clear the military situation.
Jabin's power lay in his "nine hundred chariots of iron": against
such a force the half armed infantry of
useless. Their only hope lay in a surprise; and Barak's plan
seems to have been to arrange a quiet muster of separate tribes
moving towards the high ground by Kedesh, from which they
might watch for a favourable moment and make a rapid descent.
This was frustrated by the treachery of Heber, and Sisera, fore-
warned, poured his full forces on to the plain of Esdraelon, which
afforded the best possible ground for the evolutions of chariots.
Humanly speaking, there was no hope for the Israelites. What
changed the situation we learn from a phrase of the song: "the
stars in their courses fought against Sisera." In other words,
a thunderstorm and its torrents of rain produced the effect often
described by travellers in
period the river Kishon would overflow, and the whole plain be
flooded; in the verses of the song we can almost hear v. 22
the horses plunging about in the morass. This made it
possible for the whole of the formidable army to be exterminated
in a single day. This further explains the bitterness of the
curse denounced on Meroz -- some city of
130 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
the enemy's retreat: where everything depended on destroying
the army before they could extricate themselves from the mud,
even hesitation might amount to the blackest treachery.
With the incident thus fully before us we are in a position to
make our comparison of the two narratives. In the history of
Historic and the fourth chapter, as we might expect, we find
Lyric Narrative the narrative connected and continuous. It com-
mences by describing the oppression; it proceeds
to tell how Deborah arose and called for resistance; it gives with
some minuteness the negotiations by which Deborah secured Barak
for her commander-in-chief. We next hear of the muster at Kedesh;
the treachery of Heber is then implied rather than directly stated.
The battle follows, and the utter rout; then the history becomes
detailed as it deals with the remarkable circumstance of the assas-
sination of Sisera by Jael.
When we turn to the song, we seem to find this connectedness
and continuity of narrative avoided, and the story touched only in
Lyric device of selected parts. I am tempted to convey the differ-
Concentration ence by an illustration. A man watches some
architectural mass, like the
is in the sky he sees clearly the vivid colouring, and the architec-
tural details, and the numerous gilded points and spiracles with
which the whole is crowned. With the waning light he loses the
colour; then the carving and relief sinks into a uniform surface.
He seems to be losing the whole, until a point is reached when
there is just enough light left to catch the gilded crosses and spira-
cles: then instead of being lost the whole edifice has come back
to him in an outline of luminous points. This seems to me to
afford an analogue for lyric narrative. The daylight view, in which
the whole surface is visible without break, represents the continuity
of the history; we lose that in the song, but there the story comes
to us in a selection of points every one of which is luminous.
First, the oppression is painted by two picturesque strokes: the
deserted highways, the vain search for weapons. All the negotia-
THE BIBLICAL ODE 131
tions between Deborah and Barak are omitted, and the next point
of narrative is the muster, made luminous by the enumeration of
the tribes that refused, and the tribes that came zealously, and the
tribe that changed its mind. Nothing more follows until we reach
the battle and rout, all brought out in a few bold strokes — kings
coming to fight, the stars fighting against them; horses plunging
in the flooded plain; the sudden bitterness when Meroz proves
unequal to the crisis. In the matter of the assassination even the
history was detailed. But here again there was a logical connect-
edness in the details: the warrior arriving, making provision
against surprise, and then submitting to sleep and so to murder.
But in the lyric we leap from the hospitable matron to the mur-
deress taking the nail and hammer; what remains is so vivid that
we can count the blows and watch the writhings, while the purely
imaginary detail of the warrior's household waiting his return is
drawn out at full length. This concentration of a whole story into
a few luminous details gives us our first note of lyric movement.
A second distinguishing feature of the song is the way in which
the narrative is delayed or broken by refrains, or by what are called
‘apostrophes,’ that is, passages in which the singers Lyric device of
‘turn aside’ from the story to address heaven, Interruption
the bystanders, or one another. Three lines of
refrain, four of prelude, and a long apostrophe to God, are inter-
posed before the narrative even commences. Then when the
desolation of the country under Jabin's oppression has been told,
there is a break, filled up by the refrain recurring in an enlarged
form. When the mustering of the tribes is reached, after a single
line there is an abrupt departure from the narrative, and the singers
occupy a quatrain with cheering one another on to their task. It
is clear that these digressions are part of the artistic setting to the
story. When water flows on smoothly without any check it may
be a useful canal or drain; but the poetic brook must have its
course delayed by many a winding, and interrupted by the rocks
over which it foams. We may then add interruption to the devices
of lyric movement.
132 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
A third feature of the song lies upon the surface: its structure
is such as to imply the antiphonal performance in which one
singer or set of singers is answered by another. I
Antiphonal per- must dissent however from the usual arrangement
formance which divides Deborah's Song as between solo and
chorus. It seems clear that the nature of the antiphony is given
by the first verse of the chapter—"Then sang Deborah and
Barak": not that the two individuals sang a duet, but the ode
would be performed by a Chorus of Women with Deborah leading
them, and a Chorus of Men led by Barak. When the poem is
structurally examined in the light of this suggestion, not only do
the divisions easily present themselves, but a number of coinci-
dences confirm the suggestion. Thus the Men lead off with a
description — in the rhythm of elegy — of the oppression;
v. 6 Deborah and the Women break in (with a return to ordi-
nary rhythm) at the words, "I Deborah arose." When the singers
bid publish the tidings of victory, the Men call to those
officials, — that is, they call to men; the answering Chorus of
11 Women would spread the news "in the places of drawing
water," the natural spots where women would gather and
chat. In another passage, an apostrophe of four lines, there is
one couplet of the Men cheering on Deborah, and another
12 of the Women cheering on Barak. The mustering of the
tribes divides itself line by line: if the first line be given to the
Women, as relating to Ephraim the locality of Deborah,
14 the fourth line falls to the Men and it mentions Zebulun,
the tribe of Barak; the next line (of the Women) connects Issachar
with Deborah, and the line that follows (and would fall to the Men)
connects the same tribe with Barak. Then, in the climax,
24 the Men elaborately picture the actual murder of Sisera,
and the Women add the feminine touch of the mother and her
ladies awaiting the dead warrior's return. It is hardly
28 necessary to dilate upon the artistic effect of a narrative
thus given to us from one side and another alternately. One
THE BIBLICAL ODE 133
single antiphonal effect may be instanced. The great pastoral
tribe of Reuben was amongst the defaulters. This is brought out
by the Men first painting Reuben's ‘resolves’; then the 15-16
Women interpose a sarcastic question as to inaction; then
the Men repeat their former couplet with the change of a single
word to express Reuben's prudent second thoughts. Finally, the
antiphonal effect is varied by the passages in which the two
choruses sing together. This is especially powerful at the close,
where, after the story itself has been drawn out by the two bodies
of singers to its last detail, there is a sudden break, and both
choruses unite in the apostrophe, "So perish all thine enemies,
O LORD!"
DEBORAH'S SONG
REFRAIN
Men. For that the leaders took the lead in
Women. For that the people offered themselves willingly —
Tutti. Bless ye the LORD!
PRELUDE
Men. Hear, 0 ye kings
Women. Give ear, 0 ye princes —
Men. I, even I, will sing unto the LORD —
Women. I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.
APOSTROPHE
Tutti. Lord, when thou wentest forth out of Seir,
When thou marchedst out of the field of
The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped,
Yea, the clouds dropped water.
The mountains flowed down at the presence of the LORD,
Even yon Sinai at the presence of the LORD, the God of Israel.
I. THE DESOLATION
Men. In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath,
In the days of Jael,
The highways were unoccupied,
And the travellers walked through byways;
The rulers ceased in
They ceased —
134 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
Women. Until that I, Deborah, arose,
That I arose a mother in
They chose new gods;
Then was war in the gates:
Was there a shield or spear seen
Among forty thousand in
REFRAIN ENLARGED
Men. My heart is toward the governors of
Women. Ye that offered yourselves willingly among the people---
Tutti. Bless ye the LORD!
Men. Tell of it, ye that ride on white asses,
Ye that sit on rich carpets,
And ye that walk by the way: —
Women. Far from the noise of archers,
In the places of drawing water: —
Tutti. There shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD,
Even the righteous acts of his rule in
II. THE MUSTER
Tutti. Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates —
(Men. Awake, awake, Deborah,
Awake, awake, utter a song:
Women. Arise, Barak,
And lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.)
Tutti. Then came down a remnant of the nobles,
The people of the LORD came down for me against the mighty.
Women. Out of Ephraim came down they whose root is in Amalek—
Men. After thee, Benjamin, among thy peoples
Women. Out of Machir came down governors
Men. And out of Zebulun they that handle the marshal's staff—
Women. And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah —
Men. As was Issachar, so was Barak:
Tutti. Into the valley they rushed down at his feet.
Men. By the watercourses of Reuben
There were great resolves of heart.
Women. Why satest thou among the sheepfolds,
To hear the pipings for the flocks?
Men. At the watercourses of Reuben
There were great searchings of heart!
THE BIBLICAL ODE 135
Women. Gilead abode beyond
Men. And Dan, why did he remain in ships?
Women. Asher sat still at the haven of the sea,
And abode by his creeks.
Men. Zebulun was a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death,
And Naphtali, upon the high places of the field.
III. THE
Strophe
Men. The kings came and fought;
Then fought the kings of
In Taanach by the waters of
They took no gain of money!
Antistrophe
Women. They fought from heaven,
The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.
The river Kishon swept them away,
That ancient river, the river Kishon!
Strophe
Men. 0 my soul, march on with strength!
Then did the horsehoofs stamp
By reason of the pransings,
The pransings of their strong ones.
Antistrophe
Women. Curse ye, Meroz, said the angel of the LORD,
Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof;
Because they came not to the help of the LORD,
To the help of the LORD against the mighty!
IV. THE RETRIBUTION
Strophe
Men. Blessed above women shall Jael be,
The wife of Heber the Kenite,
Blessed shall she be above women in the tent!
He asked water, and she gave him milk;
She brought him butter in a lordly dish.
136 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
She put her hand to the nail,
And her right hand to the workman's hammer;
And with the hammer she smote Sisera.
She smote through his head,
Yea, she pierced and struck through his temples.
At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay:
At her feet he bowed, he fell:
Where he bowed, there he fell down dead!
Antistrophe
Women. Through the window she looked forth, and cried,
The mother of Sisera, through the lattice,
"Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarry the wheels of his chariots?"
Her wise ladies answered her,
Yea, she returned answer to herself,
"Have they not found,
Have they not divided the spoil?
A damsel, two damsels to every man;
To Sisera a spoil of (livers colours,
A spoil of divers colours of embroidery,
Of divers colours of embroidery on both sides,
On the necks of the spoil?"
APOSTROPHE
Tutti. So let all thine enemies perish, 0 LORD:
But let them that love him
Be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might!
The ode most nearly resembling this of Deborah is the Song
of Moses and Miriam at the
Song of Moses performance is exactly indicated. The first verse
and Miriam says, "Then sang Moses and the children of
Exodus xv this song"; the twentieth verse adds: "And
Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in
her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels
and with dances. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the
LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider
bath he thrown into the sea." The natural interpretation of these
THE BIBLICAL ODE 137
verses taken together is that the words last quoted are a refrain,
and to be sung by Miriam and the Women; while the body of the
Song was for Moses and the Men. The refrain would be repeated
at the close of each stanza. The structure suggests a prelude and
three stanzas, each of which commences with an apostrophe to
God, and then deals with the subject of the deliverance. A further
examination of these strophes reveals the lyric
device of augmenting, mentioned in a previous Lyric device of
chapter; not only do the successive strophes in- Augmenting
crease in the number of their lines, but they bring out the inci-
dent with more and more fulness. The first merely refers to the
event: the hosts cast into the sea and sinking like a stone. The
second stanza becomes a picture full of powerful details: floods
standing on heaps and depths congealed, the enemy already
counting his spoils, the single blast of wind, and the sinking like
lead. But when the incident is touched by the third strophe we
have, not details, but consequences. The event is stretched to
take in all that will follow from it: the guiding through the wilder-
ness thus wonderfully opened to them, the terror falling upon the
inhabitants of
ing in and planting in the mountain of inheritance — all poetically
realised in the moment of this the first step. To describe the
movement of the whole ode we may say that the prelude intro-
duces the great deliverance with a shock that is like a plunge,
and the augmenting strophes follow like ripples widening to the
furthest bound that imagination can go.
SONG OF MOSES AND MIRIAM
PRELUDE
Men and I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously;
Women. The horse and his rider laatli he thrown into the sea.
The LORD is my strength and song,
And he is become my salvation:
This is my God, and I will praise him;
My father's God, and I will exalt him.
138 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
I
Men. The LORD is a man of war:
The LORD is his name.
Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea:
And his chosen captains are sunk in the
The deeps cover them:
They went down into the depths like a stone.
Women. Sing ye to the LORD, for he bath triumphed gloriously;
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
II
Men. Thy right hand, 0 LORD, is glorious in power,
Thy right hand, 0 LORD, dasheth in pieces the enemy.
And in the greatness of thine excellency thou overthrowest them
that rise up against thee:
Thou sendest forth thy wrath, it consumeth them as stubble.
And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were piled up,
The floods stood upright as an heap;
The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said,
I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil:
My lust shall be satisfied upon them;
I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them:
They sank as lead in the mighty waters.
Women. Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously;
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
Men. Who is like unto thee, 0 LORD, among the gods?
Who is like thee, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Thou stretchedst out thy right hand,
The earth swallowed them.
Thou in thy mercy hast led the people which thou hast redeemed:
Thou hast guided them in thy strength to thy holy habitation.
The peoples have heard, they tremble:
Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of
Then were the dukes of
The mighty men of
THE BIBLICAL ODE 139
All the inhabitants of
Terror and dread falleth upon them;
By the greatness of thine arm they are as still as a stone;
Till thy people pass over, 0 LORD,
Till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.
Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine
inheritance,
The place, 0 LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in,
The sanctuary, 0 LORD, which thy hands have established.
The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.
Women. Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously;
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
The ode next to be considered is amongst the most powerful
of all sacred lyrics; but totally unlike the two Psalm lxxviii
already reviewed. It is the seventy-eighth psalm.
As to its subject, it is sufficient at this point to say that it is a sur-
vey of the history of
the Lord's people now that
form of the ode gives a type of lyric movement different from any
we have yet seen, but one specially characteristic of Biblical poetry,
and we shall meet with it again and again. It may
be called the pendulum movement: the course of Pendulum Move-
thought in a poem seems to swing backwards and ment
forwards between two ideas or two phases of a subject. The
psalm has an unusually long prelude. It is a common 1-8
device in music to prepare the way for some great theme
by a succession of trumpet tones, the reiteration of which keeps
the mind in a state of expectation that helps to emphasise the
theme when it comes. By a similar effect in this prelude the
psalmist announces a law, a parable, sayings of old, traditions from
fathers to be told to children, that they may tell it to the next
generation, that these may set their hopes in God, and not be, as
their fathers, a rebellious generation whose spirit was not stedfast
with God. The phrase "not stedfast" seems the point leading
to the regular movement of the poem and its alternating stanzas.
The thought sways throughout the rest of the ode between two
140 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
ideas: on one hand we see bursts of Divine Energy in behalf of
9-11, Frailty dulness and frailty by which the Divine purposes
are frustrated. First, a short stanza puts the defec-
tion of
on the field of battle; “so the children of Ephraim” deserted
the covenant and forgat God's wondrous works. At the words
"wondrous works" the pendulum of movement
12-16, Divine swings to the other side; we have an outburst of
Energy Divine Energy, the energy of Deliverance. We
hear how he piled up the waters of the
the fire led them by night and the cloud by day; how the dry rock
was cloven and poured out streams with the full flow of a river.
But it is in vain (the movement has swung back):
17-20, Frailty the delivered people are found intent upon their
appetites, and the doubts which a life of appetite engenders.
Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
Behold, he smote the rock, that waters gushed out,
And streams overflowed;
Can he give bread also?
Will he provide flesh for his people?
We are thus brought to another turn in the movement, and there
is a burst of Divine Energy, this time the energy
21-31, Divine of Judgment. The rush of verses suggests the
Energy scornful ease with which the skies are bidden to
open and rain down manna, the winds are guided so that they
rain flesh as dust and winged fowl as the sand of the seas; then,
before the people have time to be satiated, the Wrath is slaying
amongst them, so close comes the punishment upon the lust. But
judgment, like mercy, has no permanent hold upon
32-42, Frailty the unstedfast people; the movement has swung
back, as the history settles down to a wearisome iteration of sin-
ning, repenting and sinning, of dissembling repentance and com-
passionate forgiveness.
THE BIBLICAL ODE 141
For all this they sinned still,
And believed not in his wondrous works.
Therefore their days did he consume in vanity,
And their years in terror.
When he slew them, then they inquired after him:
And they returned and sought God early;
And they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their redeemer.
But they flattered him with their mouth,
And lied unto him with their tongue.
For their heart was not stedfast with him,
Neither were they faithful in his covenant.
But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity,
And destroyed them not:
Yea, many a time turned he his anger away,
And did not stir up all his wrath.
And he remembered that they were but flesh;
A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
How oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness,
And grieve him in the desert!
And they turned again and tempted God,
And provoked the Holy One of Israel.
They remembered not his hand,
Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary.
This phrase is the signal for another turn in the movement, and
the following strophe is filled with the Divine Energy of Redemp-
tion. It displays before us, as in a finished picture,
side by side the judgments falling on the enemy 43-55, Divine
and the tenderness bestowed upon
wrath, indignation, and trouble, a band of angels of evil, make a
path for God's anger, as plagues strike the
pestilence preys upon its people; while
flock of sheep through the wilderness, and brought into the moun-
tain land of their inheritance. All this is lost upon them: we
have returned to the theme of frailty and unsted-
fastness as we see the people in their land of prom 56 64, Frailty
ise settling down to the worship of the high places, until God
comes to greatly abhor
142 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
gradually their strength and glory depart; violence cuts off the
youth, the maidens have no marriage-song, the very
65-72, Divine priests fall by the sword, and their widows make
Energy no lamentation. Suddenly the movement of the
ode swings round for the last time.
Then the LORD awaked as one out of sleep,
Like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
With one stroke the enemy is thrust back for ever; and then the
final burst of Divine Energy is seen in a New Call: as before the
whole nation of
to become a peculiar people to Jehovah, so now he passes over
Joseph and Ephraim, and chooses the tribe of
David from the sheepfolds to be their shepherd; and the unsted-
fastness which has reigned throughout the ode finds a final
contrast in the Sanctuary which he builds like the heights,
Like the earth which he hath established for ever.
This seventy-eighth psalm is one of four which I have ventured
to group together under the title of ‘National Anthems.’ True,
they are very different from what in modern times
National An- are called by that name; but the difference tallies
thems with differences of circumstances. With us a
National Anthem may well be a simple and brief lyric, for proba-
bly the nation is constituted a nation by some elementary con-
sideration of race or habitat. But
its original land, had been led from one part of the world to
another, had been constituted the chosen people of God by a
long course of Providential discipline. It is natural therefore
that the National Hymn of such a people should take the form
of a review of their history and relation to God. It is just such
a review which makes the common ground between the four
psalms; and when we examine their differences the results both
confirm the classification, and explain further how it comes that
THE BIBLICAL ODE 143
seen that the seventy-eighth psalm is characterised by a continu-
ous alternation between God's achievements for his Psalm lxxviii
people and their persistent ingratitude and sin, and Anthem of south-
that it ends with the final rejection of Ephraim and ern
the call to
of
overthrown and destroyed. The psalm most nearly Psalm cvi
resembling this is the hundred and sixth: not only Anthem of the
general drift, but many of its phases seem echoes captivity
of the seventy-eighth psalm. But the pendulum structure is almost
lost by the preponderance of one side of the thought; from first
to last it is sin and rebellion which dominates the poem, and the
history is carried on to the final fall.
He made them also to be pitied
Of all those that carried them captives.
Save us, 0 LORD our God,
And gather us from among the nations,
To give thanks unto thy holy name,
And to triumph in thy praise.
Thus this hundred and sixth psalm would seem to be the Hymn
of
Captivity. There is a great difference when we Psalm cv
come to the historic survey which makes the hun- Anthem of the
dred and fifth psalm. Here all trace of an alterna- Undivided Na-
tion between God's work and
is carried just as far as the conquest of
And he gave them the lands of the nations;
And they took the labour of the peoples in possession.
This of itself would suggest that we have here the Anthem of the
undivided nation in the promised land; and the suggestion is
confirmed by the wording of the reference to the covenant:
Saying, "Unto thee will I give the
The lot of your inheritance: "
When they were but a few men in number;
Yea, very few, and sojourners in it.
144 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
It is natural in the moment of conquest to go back to the old
sojourn in the land. And similar considerations explain
16-22 the large amount of space given in this song to Joseph,
the individual through whom
went down into
Psalm cxxxvi group, the hundred and thirty-sixth, is marked off
Anthem of the Nation in the from all the rest by the primitive character of
Wilderness its structure: the second line of each couplet is
the refrain,
For his mercy endureth for ever.
The whole poem is of the simplest type. Its history never reaches
and Og king of
tage for
in the wilderness; and in this light the final theme of praise —
He giveth food to all flesh —
becomes more than a commonplace; it is a reference to the
miraculous feeding of the people in the desert. The peculiar
circumstances of the people of
explained why we should have four National Anthems in these
four historic psalms: the simple rhythmic Hymn of the Wilder-
ness, the Hymn of the whole nation in
exultation, the Hymn of Southern Judah after the fall of the north,
swaying evenly between Divine manifestations and national sin, and
the Hymn of the Captivity, in which all is swallowed up in the
idea of national unfaithfulness.
The sixty-eighth psalm, notwithstanding the difficulty of its
details, impresses every reader with the vigour of its movement.
Psalm lxviii Historians differ widely as to its exact occasion;
Processional but all that is necessary is to identify it with some
ode procession to the sanctuary on
spirit is throughout that of a Processional Ode. In structure it
is made up of a prelude and three elaborate strophes. The
1-6 prelude is a general cry of triumph: God rising up and
THE BIBLICAL ODE 145
his enemies vanishing like smoke. But even here there is a hint of
procession in the verse which speaks of a high way for him that
rideth through the deserts. Hebrew poetry, whatever its immedi-
ate subject may be, is apt to preface this by a reference to God's
original deliverance of his people and their journey to the promised
land. The first strophe is devoted to this topic; and 7-18
such is the sweep of its concentrated movement that the
whole past history of
Jehovah from Sinai to
trembling amid the giving of the Law; in the next we read of the
rain of manna strengthening the weary wanderers. Then we come
to the era of fighting that intervenes between the wilderness life
and the land of promise, the whole era appearing as but two
moments:
The Lord giveth the word [of command]:
The women that publish the tidings [of victory] are a great host.
The various victories are picturesquely suggested by snatches
of the old triumph-songs (of which we of course know nothing
but these snatches).
"Kings of armies flee, they flee,
And she that tarrieth at home divideth the spoil"—
"Will ye lie among the sheepfolds?" —
"As the wings of a dove covered with silver,
And her pinions with yellow gold"--
"When the Almighty scattered kings therein,
It was as when it snoweth in Zalmon"--
In the real history generations intervened between the occupa-
tion of the eastern table-lands and the final conquest of
in the sweep of this ode the two periods are brought together,
and the
has chosen for his abode. And as a final climax to the history,
Jehovah ascends into the sanctuary with his thousands of chariots
146 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
and leads captivity captive. In the second strophe the point of
view changes from the past to the present: God appears
19-27 as "the Lord who daily beareth our burden." And here
the actual procession of the day is pictured — "the goings of my
God, my king, into the sanctuary": how singers go before, min-
strels follow after, and the tribes are represented in their due rank.
The third strophe surveys the glorious future; but here
28-35 again the dominant spirit of the poem appears, and the
whole future becomes a procession of kings and peoples coming
with tribute to the temple at
the remote
Processional Ode has reflected the spirit of the occasion it cele-
brates upon all time, and made the past, the present, and the
future appear before us as a series of vast processions.
Four odes may be taken together from their similarity of matter
and form. Their purpose is not so much narrative as the realisa-
tion of an idea. In structure each has a closely
Songs in ode form related prelude and close, while the body of the
ode is one continuous outburst. One of the four is David's Song
Song of Moses of Deliverance analysed in a previous chapter.1
Deuteronomy Akin to this is the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy.
xxxii Its subject is announced by the prelude as God
the immovable Rock, in contrast with the
unfaithful and changeable. Such a subject is naturally
1-5 developed by the mode of alternation—the pendulum
structure we have traced in another ode. The first phase of the
poem brings out how the LORD'S portion is his people,
6-14 lingering upon the thought with images, first of tender-
ness, then of immeasurable bounty. The turning point comes as
Jeshurun waxes fat and kicks, and this second phase
15-18 presents
came up but yesterday, which their fathers had not known.
The movement swings back to the unswerving nature of
19-27 God, now seen in judgments that set all nature on fire
1 Above, page 83.
THE BIBLICAL ODE 147
and stop short only of absolute destruction. Another turning
point is made as the poet breaks in to cry out at the 28-33
folly and blindness of the people, and the loathly gods
to which they have given the preference. By a bold transition
this last description is made to cause revulsion in the
mind of God himself, who thinks with complacency on 34-43
the vengeance he yet has in his storehouse, and the poem reaches
its final phase in exhibiting God as using this vengeance on
the side of his erring people when they have sunk to their last
extremity.
The other two odes of the group have this in common, that the
prelude and close express subjective feelings of the poet, while
the rest of the ode presents objective phenomena. Psalm xxix
The twenty-ninth psalm is the Ode of the Thun- Song of the
derstorm. The body of the ode has "the Voice Thunderstorm
of Jehovah" for its refrain; it is the realisation of a thunderstorm,
rising in the waters to the north, passing overhead with every form
of violence, and dying away over the wilderness to the south, until
all nature has again become a hymn of praise to its Maker. In
the prelude the poet, as if awed by the approaching manifestation
of God, calls upon all creatures to worship. In the close he ex-
presses the sense of protection that has been with him; his God
presided over the floods from which the tempest arose, and he
will be king for ever. By an exquisite touch of detail, the last
note in this song of thunder is the word ‘peace.’ The ‘Prayer
of Habakkuk’ is a similar ode on a much larger
scale. Here is no thunderstorm, but a whole uni- Prayer of Habak-
verse racked with terrors as the Almighty comes to kuk (chapter iii)
judgment. The prelude and close present the tumult of emotions
in the prophet's own heart. Though the interposition of God is
on his side, yet he cannot restrain himself from joining in the
universal trembling. At the same time he confides in God; and
yet again there is a third train of emotion where the prophet is
astonished at his own confidence, that he should be at rest, waiting
for the day of trouble: at rest —
148 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
For though the fig tree shall not blossom,
Neither shall fruit be in the vines;
The labour of the olive shall fail,
And the fields shall yield no meat;
The flock shall be cut off from the fold,
And there shall be no herd in the stalls:
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
There remains a group of Odes on set Themes. The hundred
and seventh psalm is the Ode of the Redeemed.
Odes on Themes When its prelude has called upon "the redeemed
of the LORD " to praise him, the regular movement of the ode
begins. First we have the strophic1 structure already described
in a previous chapter; four stanzas with double refrains, each
Ode of the Re- stanza putting some particular type of distress, with
deemed its cry to God for help and its song of deliverance.
Psalm cvii But when this has been fully worked out the
movement of the poem is not exhausted. The structure entirely
changes, and the pendulum movement comes in. A series of
alternations, like the diminuendo and crescendo of the musician,
present the God of the Redeemed as a God that brings low
and builds up again.
He turneth rivers into a wilderness,
And watersprings into a thirsty ground,
A fruitful land into a salt desert,
For the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
He turneth a wilderness into a pool of water,
And a dry land into watersprings.
And there he maketh the hungry to dwell,
That they may prepare a city of habitation;
And sow fields, and plant vineyards,
And get them fruits of increase.
He blesseth them also so that they are multiplied greatly;
And he suffereth not their cattle to decrease.
1 Above, page 65.
THE BIBLICAL ODE 149
Again they are minished and bowed down
Through oppression, trouble, and sorrow.
He poureth contempt upon princes,
And causeth them to wander in the waste, where there is no way.
Yet setteth he the needy on high from affliction,
And maketh him families like a flock.
The upright shall see it, and be glad;
And all iniquity shall stop her mouth.
The Ode on the Covenant (Psalm eighty-nine) is transparently
clear in its language; it needs mention only because of the
peculiarity of its structure. It seems strange to Ode on the Cov-
find an ode, the prelude of which announces a song enant
of God's mercies and their eternal faithfulness, Psalm lxxxix
ending with a long wail over the anointed of the Lord as rejected
and forsaken. At first we are tempted to think of this final section
as outside the unity of the poem, the addition of some later age.
But a close examination of the structure makes it possible to
include the elegy within the ode. We have seen that interruption
is amongst the devices of lyric movement. There is an example
of this on an extensive scale in the earlier part of this psalm: no
sooner has the Divine message of the Covenant been announced
in four lines, than a break occurs —
And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, 0 LORD —
The style wholly changes, and an outburst of exultation is carried
on for twenty-nine lines, making one of the loftiest strains of ado-
ration in the whole psalter. The second strophe returns 19-37
to the subject of the Covenant in an elaborate vision, to
which succeeds the section of sorrow and complaint. The sym-
metry then of the whole poem suggests that the change to lamen-
tation is an, interruption of the second strophe as the burst of
exultation was an interruption of the first.
Two odes — one on the Messiah, the other an ode of Judgment
—resemble one another in their general form; in each a Divine
150 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
monologue is prefaced by a scenic introduction. The second
Ode on the Mes- psalm opens with the busy schemes of earthly rulers
siah against the LORD'S anointed, while up in the heavens
Psalm ii Jehovah mocks them and sets up His KING on
of the psalmist, the Divine decree is given, and the kings are
called upon to submit while there is time. The same general
form appears on a larger scale in the fiftieth psalm.
Ode of Judgment The whole world has been summoned to the bar
Psalm 1 of God; the prelude brings out the scene dramati-
cally, in the words of God's people, who are awaiting, with exulta-
tion, the opening of this High Court.
"Out of
God hath shined forth.
Our God cometh, and shall not keep silence:
A fire devoureth before him,
And it is very tempestuous round about him."
All are assembled, the ‘saints of God’ on one side, and the
wicked opposite to them; only the heavens themselves are left
to be spectators in this Act of Justice. From this point the
structure becomes antistrophic. First, God addresses his faithful
people: he has not come to exact of them more sacrifices or take
more of their bullocks and he-goats; it is by their cries to him in
trouble and their thanksgiving when deliverance has come that
they can truly glorify their God. In the antistrophe God turns
to the wicked: how have they dared to join in his worship, while
they were partakers in evil and crime? It is he who ordereth his
conversation aright that shall see the salvation of God.
Finally we have two companion odes in the hundred and third
and hundred and fourth psalms. Not only are these poems
Companion Odes: united by their structure — the common envelop-
Psalm ciii, the ing refrain, "Bless the LORD, 0 my soul" — but in
World within subject-matter the two are so related that neither
can be fully appreciated unless it is read in connection with the
THE BIBLICAL ODE 151
other. The subjects which make the two parts of the nineteenth
psalm are here again found in association: the World within and
the World without are the themes of these companion poems. In
the hundred and third psalm the poet, immediately after the
opening refrain, calls upon all that is within him to offer grateful
praise ; and when the benefits which call for this gratitude are
enumerated they are found to be such benefits as affect the
individual, personal, spiritual life.
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;
Who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction;
Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies:
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things;
So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle.
God's dealings with
his ways; and the revelation is of a kind that the individual life
needs: compassion for the erring, a mercy as high as heaven is
above the earth, a father pitying his children, a God knowing
man's frame to be but dust; the revelation of a righteousness
descending to children's children, while individual lives of men
are but the grass-seed blown away by the wind. Then for its
climax this hymn of the spiritual life rises to spiritual creatures:
angels that excel in strength, hosts of the LORD that are ministers
of his pleasure in all places of his dominion.
The hundred and fourth psalm starts at once with the external
universe. This is presented as the tabernacle in which God dwells:
its tent-pole reaches from the waters that are below and Psalm civ,
to the waters that are above the firmament; the the World with-
heavens are the stretched curtains of that tent; out
the winds are his messengers, and light is but the garment in
which he veils himself from our gaze. God appears as the
Creator of this universe: at a signal from him the curtain of the
chaotic deep was withdrawn, and the world resolved itself into
an orderly vicissitude of mountain and valley and stream, of fowl
152 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
singing among branches that overhang the waters where wild asses
quench their thirst, of earth sending up grass for cattle, and bread
that gives man strength, and wine and oil to gladden his spirits.
The same Creator has ordained the seasons by which his world
is governed, and his sun makes the alternation between night in
which the beasts roam after their prey, and day when man can
go forth to his work. When the wonders of the sea have been
added to the wonders of land, all is ready for the climax thought:
The universe is one, and God is its soul. All creatures wait upon
Him.
Thou openest thine hand,
They are satisfied with good;
Thou hidest thy face,
They are troubled;
Thou gatherest in their breath,
They die,
And return to their dust;
Thou sendest forth thy spirit,
They are created,
And thou renewest the face of the ground.
When God has been thus exalted as supreme over the world of
spirit within us, and the world of the universe without, even the
poetry of the Bible may be said to have reached its climax.
CHAPTER VI
OCCASIONAL POETRY, ELEGIES, AND LITURGICAL PSALMS
THE subject of the present chapter covers something like a
hundred different pieces of literature. Comment on individual
poems becomes impossible; they can be treated only in classes.1
Occasional Poetry has been illustrated in its most elaborate
form by the Song of Deborah and other odes. In
the case of the psalms, to connect these with the Occasional
occasions that called them forth usually involves Poetry
historical discussions such as are outside the scope of the present
work. But there are three psalms which few will
hesitate to attach to the crisis of Sennacherib's Sennacherib's
invasion. The marvellous incident of that critical invasion
period is presented in no obscure language.
The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep; Psalm lxxvi. 3
And none of the men of might have found their hands. and 2 (margin)
At thy rebuke, 0 God of Jacob,
Both chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
We see a passionate outburst of renewed love to
the oppression of the siege is lifted from the people; they walk
round the city; they count the towers and bul- xlviii. 12, 2
warks, as if to make sure that all are really safe.
They hail her as beautiful in elevation, joy of the whole world,
lair from which the Lion of Judah darts upon his prey; the river
1 The Table of Lyric Poetry in Appendix I I will give the psalms falling under
each designation.
153
154 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
of peace holds her in its arms unmoved while all around is tossing
in tumult. And the abrupt concentration to which
xlvi. 4 Hebrew sentences lend themselves presents the
whole crisis in the fewest possible words:
xlvi. 6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved:
He uttered his voice, the earth melted.
There is an earlier occasion in Hebrew history with which, as
I have before remarked, much of Biblical poetry connects itself.
The inauguration This is the inauguration of
of
II Samuel vi account of the day in the Book of Samuel and fit
the songs into their proper places.
And David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of
Obed-Edom into the city of
when they that bare the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacri-
ficed an ox and a fatling. And David danced before the LORD with
all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. [Here comes
Psalm xxx.] So David and all the house of
of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.
[At the foot of the ascent comes Psalm xxiv. 1–6; at the top, the mili-
tary piece, Psalm xxiv. 7-10.] . . . And they brought in the ark of
the LORD, and set it in its place, in the midst of the tent that David
had pitched for it: and David offered burnt offerings and peace offer-
ings before the LORD. [Here comes Psalm cxxxii. 1-9.] . . . So all
the people departed every one to his house. Then David returned to
bless his household. [Here comes Psalm ci.]
David commenced this festal day with the utmost trepidation,
on account of the terrible death of Uzzah, which had interrupted
his former attempt to bring the ark to
paces of the present procession are sufficient to show that the
Divine ban is removed; there is a halt and an offering of thanks-
giving, and a lyric hymn of joy. The thirtieth
Psalm xxx psalm, connected by its traditional title with this
particular day, fits exactly into such a situation. It breathes a
sense of escape from death; it tells how David in his prosperity
OCCASIONAL POETRY 155
had felt himself a strong mountain that should never be moved;
how the Divine face was suddenly hidden and he was plunged in
trouble; how he mourned and prayed, and now his mourning is
turned into this dance of joy: the weeping has but been a guest
lodging for the night, but the favour of God will be a friend for a
lifetime.
The procession continues, and I have in a former chapter1 dealt
with the anthem at the foot of the hill, and the summons to the
city to receive the Lord of Hosts. The city is entered, and the
ark is brought into the tabernacle where it was to remain for a
time. Here fresh sacrifices are offered; and there could be no
more suitable anthem to accompany such sacrifices than the earlier
part2 of the hundred and thirty-second psalm. It Psalm cxxxii,
recites David's passionate vow to enjoy no rest 1-9.
until he had found a tabernacle for the Most High. The verses
that follow seem a riddle until they are explained by the search
for the ark in its temporary resting-places amid the solitude of
the hill country. Then follow the ceremonial words:
Arise, 0 LORD, into thy resting place;
Thou, and the ark of thy strength.
The proceedings of the day do not yet terminate. The people
are dismissed, but David returns "to bless his household." The
hundred and first psalm gives us just the blessing Psalm ci
required: a vow of mercy and judgment for the
speaker himself, for his household, and for the administration of
his kingdom. The final line which speaks of cutting off the work-
ers of iniquity "from the CITY OF
force when we recollect that it was only on that day that the old
fortress of the Jebusites and stronghold of evil had been trans-
ferred to the service of another Deity and formally inaugurated as
the City of
1 Above, pages 100-104.
2 Verses 10-18 are the addition made for the Dedication Festival of Solomon's
156 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
The natural history of the Elegy seems to be as follows. It is
based on the primitive Wail or Dirge; owing to the existence of
a class of professional mourners this early attains
The Elegy maturity as a form of literature with metrical and
other distinctiveness. Its characteristics pass over into other
forms of literature by two different routes. On the one hand the
metre of the Elegy, being amongst early forms one of the most
perfect for expressing strong emotion, comes in time to be used
for emotional strains that are not mournful; thus the student of
Classical literature is familiar with the fact that the ‘elegiac
metre’ is regularly used for love poems, and can even travel so
far from its original conception as to express encomium. Again,
we are able in Hebrew prophecy to see how the form of the
Elegy is used ironically in the ‘taunt-songs.’ It appears then
that evolutionary considerations warrant us in classing together
three literary forms so different as the Elegy, the Denunciation,
and the Encomium.
Encomium
through its metre
Elegy (proper)
by irony
Denunciation
There is a curious parallelism between the Hebrew rhythm
of elegy and that of Greek and Latin poetry, which is composed
of the ordinary hexameter followed by the shorter pentameter.
In Hebrew the elegiac rhythm is the ordinary couplet with the
second member weakened, by being either short-
Elegiac rhythm ened or left destitute of antithesis or parallelism, so
much so that the two are usually printed as a single line with a
cesura.
He hath fenced me about that I cannot go forth; he hath made my chain
heavy.
ELEGIAC POETRY 157
The difference of this from the ordinary rhythm is well seen in
the transition from one to the other already cited as an effect in
Deborah's Song.
In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath,
In the days of Jael,
The highways were unoccupied,
And the travellers walked through byways;
The rulers ceased in
They ceased —
Until that I, Deborah, arose,
That I arose a mother in
They chose new gods;
Then was war in the gates:
Was there a shield or spear seen
Among forty thousand in
But the widespread use of this elegiac rhythm in Biblical literature
is lost to the English reader, since none of the accepted versions
keep it up in their translation.1 The loss is greatest
in the elaborate elegy entitled the lamentations of Lamentations of
Jeremiah, which is a highly artificial composition Jeremiah
built up on the principle of elegiac rhythm and a curious alpha-
betical succession of verses. The great blot upon the Revised
Version of our Bible is the absence of any attempt to represent
the acrostic structure which affects these as so many other
Hebrew poems. The pathos of individual passages in the Lam-
entations is obvious enough; but the literary form of the whole
must be given up for the present as inaccessible to the English
reader.2
There are elegies amongst the most familiar poems of the
psalter. One is the song of the captives weeping by the rivers of
1 For a systematic treatment of the whole subject, see an article by Karl Budde
in the New Review, March, 1893.
2 In The Psalms by Four Friends, or the abridged edition of it as the Psalter in
the Golden Treasury Series (Macmillan & Co.), the acrostic effect is maintained
throughout; and the Book of Lamentations is given in full (in the second edition of
the larger work).
158 LYRIC POETRY OF TILE BIBLE
of singing the songs of
Psalm cxxxvii until the wail hardens into an ecstasy of hatred as
they long for one who will take the little ones of the oppressor
and dash them against the ground. Another tells
Psalm lxxiv the evil done to the sanctuary by the enemy, how
they behaved as men that lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees,
how the carved work is broken down with hatchet and hammers,
and fire has converted the sacred pile into a profane ruin. An-
Psalm lxxx other is made distinctive by the sustained image of
the Vine brought out of
out to make room for it; it had taken deep root until mountains
were covered by its shadow and its branches reached to the
River and the Sea; but now its fences are thrown down, and the
beasts out of the wood can ravage it, nay, it is cut down and
burned with fire. And no Biblical elegy is more impressive than
the earliest of them all, the lamentation of David
II Samuel i. over Saul and Jonathan, preserved by its connec-
19-27 tion with archery meetings founded in honour of
Jonathan. The simple pathos of this song is familiar to all. It is
worth while also to note the structural beauty of the augmenting
refrain: at the opening of the elegy it is, How are the mighty
fallen; when the stanzas special to Saul are completed it has be-
come, How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle; at the
end of the final section expressing the poet's tender love for
Jonathan the refrain has grown to a full couplet
How are the mighty fallen,
And the weapons of war perished!
These are Elegies proper; but Elegies of Denunciation have
a prominent place in the psalter. Indeed, the imprecatory pas-
Elegies of De- sages that occur in several of the psalms are a
nunciation difficulty with many readers, who feel that such
violence of passion is out of harmony with the spirit of the psalter
as a whole.
ELEGIAC POETRY 159
Let them be as chaff before the wind, Psalm xxxv. 5
And the angel of the LORD driving them on.
Let their way be dark and slippery,
And the angel of the LORD pursuing them.
But for this, and for the much more extended imprecation of the
hundred and ninth psalm, an important principle of interpreta-
tion is found in the different attitude of ancient and modern liter-
ature to abstract and concrete. We in modern times are quite
accustomed to feel enthusiasm for the abstract thing we call ‘a
cause’; with the ancient world it was necessary for the cause to
be embodied in a concrete party, if it was to win devotion or the
reverse. Though this principle has less application in Biblical
than in other literatures of antiquity, yet it obtains there to some
extent. When the psalmist's hatred of evil men has once been
translated into the form of hatred against evil, it will be felt that
the passages cannot be too strongly worded.
The class of lyrical Encomia can be well illustrated by the Sal-
utation to
psalm. Glorious things, cries the poet to
spoken of thee: and in the fourth verse presents Psalm lxxxvii
"I will make mention of Rahab and
As among them that know me:
Behold Philistia, and
This one was born there."
And the poet adds his testimony: yea, it shall be said of
that this and that great nation owns her for a mother; not of
course by natural descent, but in the Lord's spiritual register they
shall be inscribed as daughters of
the spirit of the sixty-eighth psalm, pictures the procession of the
nations, proclaiming with minstrelsy and dance that they draw
their springs from
up by Professor Cheyne as "the
the Church Universal."
160 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
A large proportion of the psalter is made by the Liturgical
Psalms, which are clearly designed for public worship. In literary
Liturgical characteristics they may be regarded as the con-
Psalms verse of the species with which this chapter opened:
occasional poetry has matter already provided for it, and the mat-
ter begets the emotion; in the other case the set emotion is taken
for granted and looks for matter to sustain it. The Liturgical
Varieties of Psalms are mainly hymns of praise: the varied
Liturgical forms assumed by such hymns the reader may
Psalms study from the Table in the Appendix. The stu-
dent of literature can only marvel at their richness and the height
at which their exultation is sustained. One variety may be called
Hallelujahs : these (in typical cases) have the ejaculation from
which they are named at the opening and close, while all that
comes between is maintained at the same high pitch. Scarcely
different from these are what have been called Accession Hymns:
here the exclamation, "The LORD reigneth," is the keynote of the
whole. I apply the term Festal Hymns to psalms which breathe
the general spirit of a high feast day, though they may not fit
themselves to any particular ceremonial. In Votive Hymns an
individual comes to mingle his vow with the general thanksgiving;
even the Songs of Hannah and of Mary, however personal the
strain with which they start, yet before the end seem to merge
this in praise that is of universal application. To all these must
be added the Benedictions, such as the people bestow upon their
king, or the poet upon the bridegroom and bride of some royal
wedding; these are clearly distinguished from the encomia men-
tioned above by the tone of ritual worship that runs through them.
Most of these liturgical psalms are characterised by a simplicity
Their literary that is beyond analysis. The spirit of praise once
characteristics aroused is kept alive by reiteration, or by enumera-
tion of details.
cxlviii. 7 Praise the LORD from the earth,
Ye dragons, and all deeps:
Fire and hail, snow and vapour;
LITURGICAL PSALMS 161
Stormy wind, fulfilling his word:
Mountains and all hills;
Fruitful trees and all cedars;
Beasts and all cattle;
Creeping things and flying fowl:
Kings of the earth and all peoples;
Princes and all judges of the earth:
Both young men and maidens;
Old men and children:
Let them praise the name of the LORD.
Sometimes the reiteration takes a more fanciful form. Not to
speak of the acrostic structure, which obtains here as in so many
other departments of Hebrew poetry, we find a beautiful bit of
imitative sound in the ninety-third psalm.
The floods have lifted up, 0 LORD,
The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their roaring:
Above the voices of many waters,
The mighty breakers of the sea,
The LORD on high is mighty.
Poetic imagery is found here as everywhere in Biblical poetry;
especially the favourite Hebrew image of external nature in excite-
ment: the sea roars, the field leaps, the trees of the wood sing for
joy, as Jehovah comes to judgment.
But these ritual psalms reach their most characteristic form
when they are antiphonal in structure. Antiphonal performance
may be assumed in the case of all; but there are Ritual psalms
some cases in which the whole form and succession with antiphonal
of thought imply a designation for more than one structure
set of performers. I will take a fully developed type in the hun-
dred and eighteenth psalm. The reader will appreciate the illus-
tration the better if he first reads the hundred and sixteenth
psalm. The two poems are almost identical in thought and situ-
ation; in each case an individual is returning thanks for deliver-
ance apparently from sickness. But in one case there is nothing
162 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
to break the flow of individual speech; in the other psalm the
sequence of verses clearly suggests a solo and two distinct
choruses. At the beginning the Worshipper is approaching the
Priests must be added.
PSALM CXVIII
The Worshipper and his Escort approach the
Tutti. 0 give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good:
For his mercy endureth for ever.
Worshipper. Let
Escort. That his mercy endureth for ever.
Worshipper. Let the house of Aaron now say —
Escort. That his mercy endureth for ever.
Worjhipper. Let them now that fear the LORD say —
Escort. That his mercy endureth for ever.
Worshipper. Out of my distress I called upon the LORD:
The LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear:
What can man do unto me?
The LORD is on my side among them that help me:
Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.
Escort. It is better to trust in the LORD
Than to put confidence in man;
It is better to trust in the LORD
Than to put confidence in princes.
Worshipper. All nations compassed me about:
Escort. In the name of the LORD I will cut them off!
Worshipper. They compassed me about;
Yea, they compassed me about:
Escort. In the name of the LORD I will cut them off!
Worshipper. They compassed me about like bees;
They are quenched as the fire of thorns:
Escort. In the name of the LORD I will cut them off!
Worshipper. Thou didst thrust sore at me that I might fall:
But the LORD helped me.
LITURGICAL PSALMS 163
The LORD is my strength and song;
And he is become my salvation.
The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the
righteous:
The right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.
Escort. The right hand of the LORD is exalted:
The right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.
Worshipper. I shall not die, but live,
And declare the works of the LORD.
The LORD hath chastened me sore:
But he hath not given me over unto death.
Open to me the gates of righteousness:
I will enter into them,
I will give thanks unto the LORD.
The
Priests. This is the Gate of the LORD:
The righteous shall enter into it.
Worshipper. I will give thanks unto thee, for thou hast answered me,
And art become my salvation.
The stone which the builders rejected
Is become the head of the corner.
Escort. This is the LORD'S doing;
It is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day which the LORD hath made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Save now, we beseech thee, 0 LORD:
0 LORD, we beseech thee, send now prosperity.
The Worshipper enters the
Priests (to the Worshipper).
Blessed be he that entereth in the name of the LORD!
(to the Escort, retiring).
We have blessed you out of the house of the LORD!
Priests. The LORD is God, and he hath given us light:
Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.
Worshipper. Thou art my God, and I will give thanks unto thee:
Thou art my God, I will exalt thee.
Tutti. 0 give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good:
For his mercy endureth for ever.
164 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
So far the liturgical psalms we have reviewed have been com-
posed wholly in one tone, that of praise. But it belongs to Liturgy,
that is, to Divine Service, to unite many moods of
Liturgies (unity the soul in one exercise, to mingle penitence with
of aggregation) praise, confession of faith with supplication. There
are certain psalms which seem to show a similar mingling of
moods, — psalms which a close analysis will separate altogether
from the personal monologues filled with variations of individual
experience, and which must be classified with the poetry of public
worship. The explanation is that in such cases we have a com-
plete liturgy within the limits of a single psalm.
The characteristics I am describing distinguish one of the most
impressive psalms in the whole Bible; and the discussion of this
psalm illustrates the important bearing of such considerations upon
interpretation. The sixty-fifth psalm will be pronounced by one
commentator a harvest thanksgiving; another will see in it praise
for forgiveness of national sin. But such explanations are incom-
plete, and leave great part of the poem without significance. Nor
is the matter much mended when the two theories are combined.
All such interpretation assumes for the psalm a type of unity which
it does not contain. In discussing the higher unity I mentioned,
Psalm lxv among other types, the unity of aggregation. The
a Liturgy of sixty-fifth psalm is bound together by this bond;
Praise not that we have in it the aggregation of different
compositions, such as we saw in the selections from the Book of
Proverbs; but the parts of this psalm bring up in succession differ-
ent moods of the soul, disconnected from one another, yet mingling
as they do mingle in any elaborate act of worship.
PSALM LXV
thanksgiving Praise waiteth for thee, 0 God, in
And unto thee shall the vow be performed.
prayer 0 thou that hearest prayer,
Unto thee shall all flesh come.
LITURGICAL PSALMS 165
Iniquities prevail against me: penitence
As for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.
*
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, devotion
And causest to approach unto thee,
That he may dwell in thy courts:
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,
The holy place of thy temple.
*
By terrible things thou wilt answer us in righteousness, judgment
O God of our salvation:
Thou that art the confidence of all the ends of the earth,
And of them that are afar off upon the sea:
Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains;
Being girded about with might:
Which stilleth the roaring of the seas,
The roaring of their waves,
And the tumult of the peoples.
They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens:
Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.
*
Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: adoration
Thou greatly enrichest it,
The
Thou providest them corn, when thou hast so prepared the earth;
Thou waterest her furrows abundantly,
Thou settlest the ridges thereof,
Thou makest it soft with showers,
Thou blessest the springing thereof,
Thou crownest the year with thy goodness:
And thy paths drop fatness,
They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness,
And the hills are girded with joy,
The pastures are clothed with flocks:
The valleys also are covered over with corn:
They shout for joy, they also sing.
When, without any preconceived idea of unity, the psalm is
examined with a view to tracing the actual connection of its
different parts, it is thus found to bring before us in succession all
166 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
the elements of public worship. One verse is an ejaculation of
thanksgiving, the next a simple prayer, the next a simple expres-
sion of penitence. Then follow words of devotion, describing the
devout life by the image so regularly used for it in the psalms
the dwelling in God's house. Another theme of worship then
finds elaborate expression; that which in modern phraseology
would be called God's
would describe it as Judgment, or "the answer in righteousness."
And the whole terminates with adoration to the God of Nature.
This last outburst does not simply touch the harvest, but passes
to and fro between agricultural and pastoral scenery: between the
changing year of agriculture — from the first ploughing to the
crowning harvest -- and the dropping of ‘God's paths,’ the rain-
clouds, upon the pasture lands, until both sides of external nature
are united in a shout and hymn of joy.
The hills are girded with joy,
The pastures are clothed with flocks;
The valleys also are covered over with corn;
They shout for joy, they also sing.
The different sections of the psalm have no connection one with
the other, but they are all parts of a whole, just as entirely sepa-
rate sentences of confession, of praise, of supplication, are in our
modern liturgies bound together into a single office for matins or
evensong.
All liturgy resolves itself into three parts: acts of praise and
thanksgiving, acts of prayer — the term being used to cover both
supplication and devotion — and acts of faith. The
Biblical and first two raise no difficulty the language of praise
modern liturgies and prayer is the same in all ages. But when we
come to acts of faith, these in modern liturgies differ so widely
from their counterparts in the psalter that it requires an effort to
recognise the analogy of the two. In the liturgies familiar to the
modern reader the main acts of faith are the ‘Creeds,’ which are
formal statements of theological truth. It is true that the rubric
LITURGICAL PSALMS 167
of a creed may direct that it shall be ‘sung,’ and, as a matter of
liturgiological theory, the Creed is regarded as the Church's joyous
celebration of its belief. But when the creeds of modern liturgies
are examined as pieces of literature it must be admitted that their
formal clauses, their technical phraseology, and their design in
some cases to settle controversies, remove them to a wide distance
from lyric poetry. In the worship of the psalter, on the other
hand, we have to deal with a people whose creed was a creed of a
single article, and that article might be summed up in the single
word ‘Judgment.’ This expressive word in the mouth of a Hebrew
poet implies an absolute belief in the supremacy of God, and, as
a consequence from this, in the vindication of good against evil.
To declare such belief, to call for judgment, to passionately identify
himself with such vindication of the cause of good, — this makes
the act of faith which the worshipper of the Biblical psalter is
continually mingling with his prayer and praise.
These lyrical creeds in the psalms will be found to take
very different forms. Sometimes such an act of Lyrical creeds
faith is couched in the simplest parallel or anti-
thetic sentences:
The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous, xxxiv. 15
And his ears are open unto their cry.
The face of the LORD is against them that do evil,
To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
Or it may take a gnomic form:
God hath spoken once, lxii. 11
Twice have I heard this;
That power belongeth unto God:
Also unto thee, 0 Lord, belongeth mercy:
For thou renderest to every man according to his work.
Or it may be argumentative:
He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? xciv. 9
He that formed the eye, shall he not see?
He that instructeth the nations, shall he not correct?
168 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
The appeal to God's judgment may take the shape of a chal-
lenge.
iv. 2 0 ye sons of men, how long shall my glory be turned into dishonour?
How long will ye love vanity, and seek after falsehood?
But know that the LORD bath set apart him that is godly for himself:
The LORD will hear when I call unto him.
Even a personal vindication, like Job's oath of clearing, or the
precisely similar passage in the seventh psalm, may be classed as
an act of faith, for it amounts to taking sides in the struggle of
Good and Evil.
vii. 3 0 LORD My God, if I have done this;
If there be iniquity in my hands;
If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me;
Yea, I have delivered him that without cause was mine adversary:
Let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it;
Yea, let him tread my life down to the earth,
And lay my glory in the dust!
Such are the lyrical confessions of faith which mingle with sup-
plication and adoration, with thanksgiving, penitence for sin, and
yearnings after the devout life, to make the liturgies of the
psalter. With just those transitions which the instinct of modern
devotion would express by changes of posture, — from standing
to kneeling, and the like, — these poems of worship break a long
prayer by a short ascription of praise, or pass from penitence to
general prayer through a brief recital of confidence in God's
justice. We have seen at full length a psalm which in the main
is a song of faith and adoration, but which leads up to these by
briefer representation of the other elements of worship. It may
be well to take another example. The eighty-sixth psalm, viewed
as a whole, is a litany or supplication; but the
A Liturgy of prayer with which it opens and closes is inter-
Supplication rupted in the middle by a declaration of the
Divine supremacy, and also by a personal thanksgiving, and these
two interruptions are themselves separated by a brief ejaculation
of devotion.
LITURGICAL PSALMS 169
PSALM LXXXVI
Bow down thine ear; O LORD, supplication
And answer me;
For I am poor and needy.
Preserve my soul,
For I am godly:
0 thou my God,
Save thy servant that trusteth in thee.
Be merciful unto me, 0 LORD;
For unto thee do I cry all the day long:
Rejoice the soul of thy servant;
For unto thee, 0 LORD, do I lift up my soul.
For thou, LORD, art good,
And ready to forgive,
And plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
Give ear, 0 LORD, unto my prayer;
And hearken unto the voice of my supplications:
In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee,
For thou wilt answer me.
*
There is none like unto thee among the gods, 0 LORD; faith
Neither are there any works like unto thy works.
All nations whom thou hast made
Shall come and worship before thee, 0 LORD;
And they shall glorify thy name.
For thou art great, and doest wondrous things:
Thou art God alone.
*
Teach me thy way, 0 LORD; I will walk in thy truth: devotion
Unite my heart to fear thy name.
*
I will praise thee, 0 LORD My God, with my whole heart; thanks-
And I will glorify thy name for evermore. giving
For great is thy mercy toward me;
And thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest pit.
*
170 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
supplication 0 God, the proud are risen up against me,
And the congregation of violent men
Have sought after my soul,
And have not set thee before them.
But thou, 0 LORD, art a God full of compassion,
And gracious,
Slow to anger,
And plenteous in mercy and truth.
0 turn unto me, and have mercy upon me;
Give thy strength unto thy servant,
And save the son of thine handmaid.
Show me a token for good;
That they which hate me may see it,
And be ashamed,
Because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.
Before passing away from the subject of this chapter it is neces-
The songs of As- sary to notice a portion of the Book of Psalms which
cents: Psalms is occupied, not with single compositions, but with
cxx-cxxxiv a collection of similar poems, a psalter within a
psalter. Fifteen psalms in succession have the common title,
‘Songs of Ascents’; the Authorised Version renders it ‘Songs
of Degrees,’ a translation of the word in the Vulgate which has
by others been rendered ‘Gradual Psalms.’1 The literal mean-
ing of the expression is ‘Songs of the goings up.’ What is the
significance of this enigmatic phrase? Two theories on this point
are worthy of special consideration. One is conveyed by giving
the poems the title of ‘Pilgrim Songs’; that is, songs of the Pil-
grims going up to
nects them with the Return of the Captives from
The difficulty of the question is much reduced when we recol-
lect that the title, whatever its meaning may be, expresses the
purpose of the collection, not of the composition of any particular
psalm. If we think of our modern hymn-books, we shall see that
1 Armfield's Gradual Psalms (Hayes) contains an interesting theory of the title,
connecting it on the authority of the Talmud with the part of the
these psalms would be performed.
LITURGICAL PSALMS 171
a phrase may be apposite as a title for the whole book, and yet
might have little significance if applied to the interpretation of
single hymns in the collection. Keeping this consideration before
us, we may find it not difficult to combine the two theories men-
tioned above.
Some of these Songs of Ascents associate themselves readily
with the Captivity and Return. The singer of the one hundred
and twentieth psalm speaks from amidst an atmosphere of turbu-
lence and treachery, and describes himself, either really or figura-
tively, as living in the distant regions of Meshech and Kedar.
Psalm one hundred and twenty-three seems to take local colour
from some oriental empire: as the eyes of slaves follow their
masters to anticipate every wish, so the poet would be observant
of his God. The poem that follows presents
like a bird out of the snare of the fowler: if Jehovah had not
been on his side the foe would have swallowed him up. The
hundred and twenty-sixth psalm is peculiar. It opens
with the words: cxxvi
When the LORD turned again the captivity of
We were like unto them that dream.
And yet at the fourth verse comes the prayer:
Turn again our captivity, 0 LORD,
As the streams in the South.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
The simplest explanation of this is to connect it with the Return
from
arated by long intervals. This psalm would seem to be a hymn
of those remaining in exile when the first migration had started:
they exult in the change of fortune which has at last visited their
nation, and they long for their own share in the happy deliver-
ance; meanwhile they give themselves up to patience and hope.
The period of the Exile fits well with the hundred and twenty-
ninth psalm, which presents
172 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
upon those that hate
following psalm gives expression to national penitence in any age,
yet it could at no time be so appropriate as during the Captivity.
On the other hand, the hundred and twenty-first psalm, of which
the keynote is "The LORD thy keeper," seems a most appropriate
marching hymn for the companies of pilgrims journeying to the
yearly feasts; and its opening words, "I will lift up mine eyes
unto the hills," might connect it with the first sight of the environs
of the sacred city. The psalm that follows would just fit in with
the next stage: "Our feet are standing within thy gates, 0
of thoughts suggested by the sight of the
God; the mountains enclosing
tection thrown around his people; the territory so safely walled
in is a pledge that the empire of evil shall not invade the lot of
the righteous. Moreover, these companies of pilgrims were family
parties, as an incident of the New Testament reminds us: hence
the hundred and twenty-seventh psalm (cited elsewhere1) con-
trasting the life of busy care with the peaceful family life, or the
next, which associates family joys with the blessing out of
or the hundred and thirty-first, which draws from child life a con-
ception of personal and national humble-mindedness, or again the
hundred and thirty-third, which celebrates the unity of brethren.
The two poems of the collection that have yet to be mentioned
connect themselves directly with the
and thirty-second) is the Dedication hymn of David and Solomon,
and the other makes an appropriate close to the collection in the
form of a brief exchange of greetings between the retiring worship-
pers and the Night Watch remaining on guard.
The psalms, individually considered, then, suggest a twofold
origin; the combination of both types in a common collection is
not difficult to understand. Either the 'Songs of the goings up'
was at first the title for poems of the Captivity and Return, and
1 Above, page 97.
LITURGICAL PSALMS 173
this little psalter came to be increased by the songs of pilgrimages
to the second
Pilgrim Songs made the first collection, and its contents were
doubled by that great pilgrimage beside which all others were
commonplace. In any case the ‘Songs of Ascents’ are a series
of hymns impressing every reader with their strong resemblance
to one another; and they are the quintessence of all that is most
attractive, and most unanalysable, in sacred lyrics.
CHAPTER VII
DRAMATIC LYRICS AND LYRICS OF MEDITATION
I WISH to recall two points touched upon in earlier chapters of
this work. In our general survey of literary classification we saw
that, in the nature of things, lyric poetry holds an
Dramatic intermediate position between epic and drama; that
Lyrics thus, without wandering far from its proper path of
meditation, a lyric poem can at one moment contain purely epic
description, at another moment present a detail dramatically.
Again, we saw it as a distinction of Hebrew literature that it has
no completely separate drama, but that dramatic form appears as
a considerable modifying force in other departments of its poetry.
We are now to see how this dramatic form invades the department
of lyric poetry, until it is possible for even so short a lyric as a
psalm to be in essence a complete drama.
The simplest way of making this point clear will be to put side
by side certain poems exhibiting different stages of advance from
lyric to drama. Let the reader first compare carefully Psalms
seventy-seven and one hundred and forty-three. The situation in
the two is identical: a sufferer seeks to gain fortitude in his trouble
by meditating on the wonderful doings of God. And to some:
extent the matter of one psalm echoes that of the other: in par-
ticular, where one poem simply speaks of finding comfort in old.
memories the other recites these memories at full length. As
regards the form, however, in which the thoughts are conveyed to
us, the two poems will be found to represent different degrees of
proximity to dramatic presentation.
174
DRAMATIC LYRICS 175
PSALM LXXVII
I will cry unto God with my voice; Monody mingling
Even unto God with my voice, description with
And he will give ear unto me. presentation
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord:
My hand was stretched out in the night, and slacked not;
My soul refused to be comforted.
I remember God, and am disquieted:
I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed.
Thou holdest mine eyes watching:
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I have considered the days of old,
The years of ancient times.
I call to remembrance my song in the night:
I commune with mine own heart;
And my spirit made diligent search.
"Will the LORD cast off for ever?
And will he be favourable no more?
Is his mercy clean gone for ever?
Doth his promise fail for evermore?
Hath God forgotten to be gracious?
Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?"
And I said, "This is my infirmity;
But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High
I will make mention of the deeds of the LORD;
For I will remember thy wonders of old.
I will meditate also upon all thy work,
And muse on thy doings.
Thy way, 0 God, is in holiness:
Who is a great god like unto God?
Thou art the God that doest wonders:
Thou hast made known thy strength among the peoples.
Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people,
The sons of Jacob and Joseph.
The waters saw thee, 0 God;
The waters saw thee, they were afraid:
The depths also trembled.
The clouds poured out water;
The skies sent out a sound:
Thine arrows also went abroad:
176 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind;
The lightnings lightened the world:
The earth trembled and shook.
Thy way was in the sea,
And thy paths in the great waters,
And thy footsteps were not known.
Thou leddest thy people like a flock,
By the hand of Moses and Aaron."
This poem so far resembles drama that it is a monody: instead of
an author speaking about some one else, we have the actual sub-
ject of the experience speaking in his own person. But with this
dramatic element mingles a great deal of the description that
belongs to epic; the sufferer narrates how he was troubled, and
how he set himself to think; though the actual words of his think-
Monody present- ing are given, yet they are prefaced by the formula
ing a single dra- "And I said—." In the next illustration all such
matic situation narration disappears, and the situation is brought
out in the cries and other utterances that made a part of it; we
have a present experience, and not a narration of something that
is past.
PSALM CXLIII
Hear my prayer, 0 LORD; give ear to my supplications:
In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness,
And enter not into judgement with thy servant;
For in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
For the enemy hath persecuted my soul;
He hath smitten my life down to the ground:
He hath made me to dwell in dark places,
As those that have been long dead.
Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me;
My heart within me is desolate.
I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all thy doings:
I muse on the work of thy hands.
I spread forth my hands unto thee:
My soul thirsteth after thee, as a weary land.
Make haste to answer me, 0 LORD; my spirit faileth:
Hide not thy face from me;
DRAMATIC LYRICS 177
Lest I become like them that go down into the pit.
Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning;
For in thee do I trust.
Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk;
For I lift up my soul unto thee.
Deliver me, 0 LORD, from mine enemies:
I flee unto thee to hide me.
Teach me to do thy will;
For thou art my God:
Thy spirit is good;
Lead me in the land of uprightness.
Quicken me, 0 LORD, for thy name's sake:
In thy righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
And in thy lovingkindness cut off mine enemies,
And destroy all them that afflict my soul;
For I am thy servant.
Here then we have pure presentation of an experience; there is
no element of the poem that is not dramatic. Yet it is not drama
but only a dramatic situation; to make it complete drama would
necessitate a change from one situation to a differ- Complete
ent one, which is the essence of dramatic movement Dramatic Lyric
and plot. This requisite is supplied in the case of (change of situa-
the sixth psalm, in which again we hear a sufferer tion)
complaining and praying, but before the psalm ends deliverance
has come, and complaint is converted into rejoicing.
PSALM VI
O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger,
Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
Have mercy upon me, 0 LORD;
For I am withered away:
0 LORD, heal me;
For my bones are vexed.
My soul also is sore vexed:
And thou, 0 LORD, how long?
Return, 0 LORD, deliver my soul:
Save me for thy lovingkindness' sake.
For in death there is no remembrance of thee:
178 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
In Sheol who shall give thee thanks?
I am weary with my groaning;
Every night make I my bed to swim;
I water my couch with my tears.
Mine eye wasteth away because of grief;
It waxeth old because of all mine adversaries.
Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity;
For the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.
The LORD hath heard my supplication;
The LORD will receive my prayer.
All mine enemies shall be ashamed and sore vexed:
They shall turn back, they shall be ashamed suddenly.
In this case we have a monody free from any admixture of descrip-
tion, and the monody presents a sufferer undergoing, as he speaks
it, the change his words describe: an experience is acted before
us, and we thus have a lyric poem that is a complete drama.
This presentation of trouble passing dramatically into relief
belongs to psalm after psalm of the Bible; from the Table of
Biblical Lyrics in the Appendix they can be studied
Other examples as a literary species in themselves. In a former
chapter was reviewed a notable example of it, the hundred and
thirty-ninth psalm: there the dread of the Divine omniscience
with which the poem opens becomes changed into a loving recog-
nition of its supporting efficacy, and the transition
Psalms cxxxix, is made at the very centre and turning-point of the
xxii, lvii lyric movement. The dramatic transition can be
intensified by its abruptness. The psalm that commences with
the cry,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
and carries into detail the self-picturing of a God-forsaken heart,
makes its change from despair to rapture in the middle of a
sentence.
Deliver my soul from the sword;
My darling from the power of the dog;
Save me from the lion's mouth--
-- Yea, from the horns of the wild-oxen thou hast answered me!
DRAMATIC LYRICS 179
A similar abruptness marks the turning-point of the fifty-seventh
psalm, which further has a refrain to bind closer its two halves;
the words —
Be thou exalted, 0 God, above the heavens;
Let thy glory be above all the earth! —
when they occur the first time must be understood as an expression
of resignation; when they come again they catch from the sur-
rounding verses the tone of unfettered exultation. And perhaps
the most complete illustration of this literary form Psalm iii
is to be found in the third psalm. Here the usual
change from distress to happiness appears to coincide with a vari-
ation in external surroundings between night and morning; brief
as the poem is, it amounts to a miniature drama in two scenes.
PSALM III
NIGHT
LORD, how are mine adversaries increased!
Many are they that rise up against me.
Many there be which say of my soul,
"There is no help for him in God."
But thou, 0 LORD, art a shield about me;
My glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
I cry unto the LORD with my voice,
And he answereth me out of his holy hill.
MORNING
I laid me down and slept;
I awaked; for the LORD sustaineth me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of the people,
That have set themselves against me round about.
Arise, 0 LORD; save me, 0 my God:
For thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone;
Thou hast broken the teeth of the wicked.
Salvation belongeth unto the LORD:
Thy blessing be upon thy people,
180 LYRIC POETRY OF TILE BIBLE
The term Dramatic Lyrics will cover another class of poems,
which have a great literary interest, and are specially characteristic
Lyrics with Dou- of the Psalter. These contain two dramatic transi-
ble dramatic tions instead of one; yet they present only a single
change moment. They open with a song of deliverance.
Then the action passes backward in time to the trouble from
which the speaker has been delivered; and this is presented
dramatically in the actual words it evoked, as if the sufferer were
quoting from himself. Then the poem returns to the point at
which it started, and the triumph is renewed. The great illus-
tration of this type is the twenty-seventh psalm.
PSALM XXVII
opening The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
triumph The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When evil-doers came upon me to eat up my flesh,
Even mine adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.
Though an host should encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear:
Though war should rise against me,
Even then will I be confident.
One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after;
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.
For in the day of trouble he shall keep me secretly in his pavilion:
In the covert of his tabernacle shall he hide me;
He shall lift me up upon a rock.
And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round
about me;
And I will offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy;
I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.
retrogres- "Hear, 0 LORD, when I cry with my voice:
sion to the Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
time of When thou saidst, ‘Seek ye my face;’ my heart said unto thee,
trouble ‘Thy face, LORD, will I seek.’
Hide not thy face from me;
Put not thy servant away in anger:
DRAMATIC LYRICS 181
Thou hast been my help;
Cast me not off, neither forsake me, 0 God of my salvation,
For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
But the LORD will take me up.
Teach me thy way, 0 LORD,
And lead me in a plain path,
Because of mine enemies.
Deliver me not over unto the will of mine adversaries:
For false witnesses are risen up against me,
And such as breathe out cruelty" —
I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of return to
the LORD triumph
In the land of the living.
Wait on the LORD:
Be strong, and let thine heart take courage;
Yea, wait thou on the LORD.
There is no mistaking the sense of deliverance animating the
opening section; this strain is abruptly resumed at the close;
what then is more natural than to connect the intervening verses
with the trouble to which the deliverance relates? No difficulty
would have been felt had the middle verses of the poem been
prefaced by the formula, "And I said —." But the omission of
such introduction makes the whole more vivid and dramatic: it
is like a substitution of direct speech for oblique. Some of those
who do not recognise the structure I have described deal with
the difficulties of the poem by dividing it, and insist that at verse
seven a different psalm commences, the two having been made
one by editors or transcribers. But it is difficult to see what there
is in favour of such an explanation. No external evidence is sug-
gested. No motive appears for thus putting together what, to the
ordinary reader, seems separated by such a break. Moreover,
the theory does not really solve the difficulty, since the transition
from verse twelve to the close is as abrupt as the transition from
verse six to verse seven. On the other hand, by the explanation
here suggested, the breaks become part of the dramatic effect of
the whole; and the psalm, instead of being treated as something
182 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
accidental and exceptional, becomes one of a class of psalms
which have as their common structure this double dramatic
change.l
I have space for only one more of this class of dramatic lyrics;
one that shows an interesting variation on the common type.
The eighty-fifth psalm celebrates the deliverance
Psalm lxxxv of the nation from captivity. It has the usual
opening triumph; it passes like the rest to the prayer in trouble;
then, instead of a sudden return to the first tone, it has a transi-
tion stage, in which the poet pauses to wait for the answer to his
nation's prayer;2 the answer comes, and the final section is a
burst of joy in which the recovered fatherland is beheld with
a glory of transfiguration upon it.
PSALM LXXXV
opening LORD, thou bast been favourable unto thy land:
triumph Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob,
Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people,
Thou hast covered all their sin,
Thou hast taken away all thy wrath,
Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.
1 Besides the two described in the text the class includes Psalm cviii: its first
five verses express the triumph, verses 6-12 are the prayer of the trouble [compare
Psalm lx, where these very verses make part of the prayer on the occasion of the
defeat that seems to have preceded the victory]. — Again there is Psalnz cxliv: it
starts with ecstatic sense of deliverance; then verses 3-8 go back to the previous
trouble, expressing the sufferer's confidence in God and scorn of the foe; from
verse 9 to the end is the ‘new song’ inspired by the deliverance, the line of
thought being obscured only by verse it, which is however merely the repetition
of the refrain (compare verses 7, 8) parenthetically, a common device in lyric
poetry.
Psalm ix-x [which the acrostic structure shows to be a single poem] represents
the same structural form duplicated: ix. 1-12, triumph; 13, 14, dramatic prayer of
trouble; 15-20, return to triumph; x. I-13, recurrence to dramatic prayer of
trouble; 14-18, final resumption of triumph.
Psalm xxxi exhibits a similar duplication applied to the dramatic lyric with single
change [1-6 trouble, 7-8 deliverance, 9-18 trouble, 19-24 deliverance]. Compare
with both these last examples the pendulum movement (above, page 139).
2 Compare the similar pause in Habakkuk ii. 1, and Psalm 1xix. 22-9.
LYRICS OF MEDITATION 133
"Turn us, 0 God of our salvation, retrogres-
And cause thine indignation toward us to cease. sion to
Wilt thou be angry with us forever? time of
Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? trouble
Wilt thou not quicken us again,
That thy people may rejoice in thee?
Shew us thy mercy, 0 LORD,
And grant us thy salvation."
I will hear what God the LORD will speak: transition-
For he will speak peace unto his people, al stage
And to his saints,
But let them not turn again to folly.
Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him, return to
That glory may dwell in our land. triumph
Mercy and truth are met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Truth springeth out of the earth;
And righteousness bath looked down from heaven.
Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good;
And our land shall yield her increase.
Righteousness shall go before him;
And shall make his footsteps a way to walk in.
Prayers, Meditations, and Monodies of Experience form a body
of lyric poems considerable in amount, and familiar to the devo-
tional reader. They call for little treatment in the Prayers, Medita-
present work, since their literary form is transpar- tions, and Mono-
ently simple. There are a few exceptions to this dies of Experience
simplicity. In this section must be reckoned that tour-de-force
of meditative ingenuity, the one hundred and nine- Psalm cxix
teenth psalm. It is made up of no less than a
hundred and seventy-six sayings, disposed on an acrostic arrange-
ment, and bound together by the common feature that each verse
contains some synonym for that which is the topic of the whole --
the LAW. The beauty of the psalm is, however, largely lost to us
by the neglect in our English versions of the alphabetical links.1
1 See note on page 157.
184 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
One more poem may be mentioned. The fifty-third psalm is
a Meditation on Judgment of an elaborate type;
Psalm liii its transitions and fluctuations of form make it a
rhapsody in miniature. It opens with the much quoted line:
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God!
It is hardly necessary to explain that this line does not predicate
folly of the atheist; it has the converse meaning of ascribing athe-
ism to the fool. It goes on to portray the ‘fool,’ or man of vicious
life, as human nature gone bad and become ‘filthy,’ like rotten
fruit. Then — perhaps with a faint reminiscence of Abraham and
the destruction of
ture of a Divine inspection of earth, and suggests the result that
"not one" righteous man is to be found. Upon this follows the
Divine surprise:
Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?
Who eat up my people as they eat bread,
And call not upon God.
A very dramatic stroke marks the next verse. It has been said
that magnetic disturbances in the sun produce tempests on the
earth: this might serve as an illustration for the subtle connection
hinted here, whereby the wave of surprise that passes over the
bosom of Deity becomes felt upon earth as a mysterious panic,
striking the evil without visible cause, while the oppressed people
of God catch the spirit of triumph and defiance.
There were they in great: fear, where no fear was:
For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee;
Thou hast put them to shame, because God hath rejected them.
Here the psalm ends. But a postscript seems to have been added
by some age that looked in vain for the promised interposition
of omnipotence: would that the salvation of
come out of
would be such a triumph as has been pictured.
1 Compare Psalm li; and possibly Psalms xxv, cxxx, cxxxi. As to Psalm
lxxxix, see page 149.
LYRICS OF MEDITATION 185
Last among our divisions of lyric poetry comes the type most
familiar to the modern reader, the class of poems on set themes.
The Bible, in common with a good deal of ancient Psalms on
literature, is at a disadvantage in regard to this Themes
kind of poetry, from the fact that its manuscripts
do not furnish titles to such psalms. The reader who has not
made the experiment would have little idea how much may be
lost to modern lyrics if they be read without the author's titles. In
the absence of these some prominent phrase at the commence-
ment is apt to usurp the place of title, and often to give a false
suggestion as to the drift of the whole. In the tables which make
the Appendix to this work I have made it a point, wherever the
particular class of literature admits of it, to affix such titles as may
be collected from a careful study of the unity.
Given the theme, the modes in which it is developed by the
lyrics of the psalter do not differ from those of Repetition as a
modern poetry. A topic may be sustained and mode of lyric
kept before the mind by repetition, or multiplica- development:
tion of details. The psalm which might have for its title "The
LORD thy Keeper," owes no small part of its effect Psalm cxxi
to the reiteration of this word ‘keep’ in verse after
verse. The psalm which proclaims “man the Viceroy of God”
sustains the thought in part by an enumeration of Psalm viii
the orders of nature over which man has been
made ruler. Or, to take another example, the "Hymn on God's
House" (Psalm eighty-four) is a cluster of the Psalm lxxxiv
thoughts which in the mind of a pious Israelite
would be roused by the pilgrimages to
of the feasts comes round, body and soul seem filled with
a yearning after the courts of the LORD; the mystic force 2-3
which in Spring leads the swallow to seek a nest for her young
becomes to the worshipper the attraction that draws him towards
his true home beside the altars of his God. Happiest
they whose employment, however lowly, keeps them all 4-5
the year round in the
186 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
whose one passion in life are the sacred pilgrimages: the road to
journeys: on the lonely spots of the route converted into
6-7 gaiety by the throng of travellers, like a desert's momen-
tary flourishing beneath the brief spring showers; on the climbing
of height after height, each a stage nearer the sacred goal; on
Mount
and Shield, and feeling streams of grace and glory descending
upon it. A day in God's courts is more than a thousand days
of life's routine.1
Imagery belongs to all kinds of lyric poetry alike. One remark
Imagery as a may be made as to the use of it by the poets of the
mode of lyric de- psalter. It is characteristic of them to crowd their
velopment images together in rapid succession; and such
quick play of imagery sometimes is made to interchange with the
development of a single image in full detail. I will give two illus-
trations of such interchange.
In the opening verses of the twenty-seventh psalm the images
are so crowded together that there is danger of our losing them
through their very exuberance. When all the sug-
Psalm xxvii. i-6 gestions lurking in word and phrase are pressed,
the whole passage seems to call up visions of danger chasing one
another as through the changes of a dream. The poet is desper-
ately threading his way through pitchy blackness, with pitfalls all
around him—when a sudden light shines, and all is clear: the
LORD is that light. He is back again in the thick of his perils,
he has actually stumbled—when he is suddenly caught up and
supported: in that salvation he sees the LORD. Now he is being
chased by the foe, and they are gaining upon him—when a
stronghold unseen before opens its gates to him and he is safe:
JEHOVAH is that stronghold of life, and of whom in future need he
be afraid?
1 I understand verses 8-12 as the actual prayer of the pilgrims, now arrived in
the
ruption is highly characteristic of lyric triumph: a closely parallel case is Judges
V. 12. See the arrangement of Deborah's Song, above, page 134.
LYRICS OF MEDITATION 187
The scene has changed and the crowd of his adversaries and foes,
with dream-like horror taking the shape of beasts of prey, are rush-
ing upon him; there is no escape, and already he can see the
sharp teeth--when, lo, they stumble over hidden pitfalls and dis-
appear from view:
When evil-doers came upon me to eat up my flesh,
Even mine adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.
He is now in a solitary tower and countless hosts beleaguer him
on all sides, yet he feels no doubt or fear; now an ambush of a
whole army suddenly rises out of the ground, but he can only won--
der how it comes that no tremor shakes him.
Though an host should encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear:
Though war should rise against me,
Even then will I be confident.
The various images have flitted past us like a succession of dream
changes as the waking point is neared. And a transition like that
from the fitful visions of sleep to the steady light of waking comes
over the psalm as the poet passes on to the "one thing" he has
desired of the LORD: this all-sufficing aspiration is for a life-long
dwelling in the house of the LORD, in happy round of meditation
and service, on a rock of security far above the disturbance of
peril and trouble. This psalm then has illustrated the change from
a rapid succession of images to a single sustained metaphor.
A similar transition, but in reverse order, marks the twenty-
third psalm. This opens with the peaceful imagery Psalm xxiii
of pastoral life drawn out to its furthest detail.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for thou art with me:
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
188 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
Then the break comes, and a quick succession of varying images
passes before us. In one line the image is that of a siege, and the
poet is pressed by hunger — when, lo, a mystic table is before him,
and the enemy looks on helpless and amazed. In the next line he
is a festal guest, the sweet perfume is poured over him, and the
wine of abundance is by his side. Again the imagery changes,
and he sees goodness and mercy following him in his journeyings
through life, as the streams of water followed the Israelites in the
wilderness. Once more the thought changes to the
men may make their occasional pilgrimages, but he will be a
dweller in the house of the LORD for ever.
An important topic for the expository critic is Concealed
Imagery. It is possible for a metaphorical idea to be sustained
Concealed throughout the whole of a poem or lengthy passage,
imagery and yet not to be embodied in distinct words; the
image must be collected from a variety of indirect references,
while to miss it is to lack the key to the whole. Such Concealed
Imagery will explain some of the most difficult parts of the Bible.
It has been, for example, well suggested. that the
Psalm lxxxii idea underlying the eighty-second psalm is that of
a hierarchy, of world-rulers, such as the ‘Sons of God’ mentioned
in the prologue to Job. We see in the latter poem how one of them
can interfere in the guidance of human events, always of course
with the Divine permission; and the suggestion of the plural is
that there are many. It is supposed by Professor Cheyne that
a scene like the prologue to Job underlies this eighty-second
psalm, the ‘gods,’ ‘sons of the Most High,’ being such spiritual
world-rulers; that it is these, and not earthly judges, who are the
objects of the Divine remonstrance, and they are held responsible
for the corruption of mankind which they have failed to pre-
vent. Only upon such a supposition does the conclusion become
intelligible.
I said, Ye are gods,
And all of you sons of the Most High:
Nevertheless ye shall die like men,
And fall like one of the princes.
LYRICS OF MEDITATION 189
The supernatural Powers who have neglected their office are
threatened with degradation to the rank of men with the doom
of mortality.1
No doubt the suggestion of Concealed Imagery is an uncertain
weapon of interpretation, and one which leaves much room for the
fancy of an individual expositor. It is therefore Psalm xc
with diffidence that I suggest the application of it
to a poem which is amongst the most familiar psalms of the
psalter, but which leaves on my own mind an impression different
from that ordinarily associated with it. To many readers the
ninetieth psalm is known as part of the Service for the Burial of
the Dead: it comes therefore to be connected with thoughts
of gloom and bereavement. But the language justifying that use
of it is confined to one part of the psalm; when the whole is
studied it is found to take a wider range. If the total play of
thought and details of imagery in this poem be put together, the
resultant appears to me to fit in with a Hymn of Mountain
Let the reader fix in his imagination the mountain scenery that
would surround one who has made his dwelling-place in the deserts
of the
tude, with the break of day at hand. Monotony of rocky land-
scape stretches in every direction; here are heaps of shingle and
crumbling dust, there deep clefts wrapped in blackest shadow;
the scantiest vegetation may be seen in the crannies, or shows
greener at the margin of the torrent that rushes down by his side.
He watches through the last phase of the night, and feels the
solemn mystery attaching to these impalpable changes of time,
and the passage of day into day. The sun rises, and the stony
desert becomes a mirror to reflect its brilliance; soon the light has
penetrated to the lowest depth of every cleft, and the landscape
glows like a furnace; the grass by the torrent's side, which had
bloomed for a moment in the morning freshness, has already begun
1 The same image will be found to underlie the fifty-eighth psalm (see marginal
readings of R. V.).
190 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
to droop and wither. But the dominant sensation is still the
unbroken solitude of his mountain dwelling, which has thus
watched day pass into day without change since the very founda-
tion of the world. Suddenly his thoughts rise to a higher plane
in the contemplation of a vaster changelessness, which has been a
home for
day into day, nor generation into generation, but of everlasting
into everlasting.
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place
In all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
It is an eternity like this that makes divisions of time and succes-
sion of human generations appear so feeble ; the thought of them
can find vent only in a chain of images drawn from all that is around
the poet. God turns man "into crumbling dust,"
verse 3 (margin) like the debris he sees before him; a thousand
years in his sight are but "as yesterday when it passeth" into
to-day, as the watch of the night he had felt so
verse 4 (margin) brief; the generations of men rush past like this
torrent flood by his side; they drop as lightly as sleep fell from
him when the dawn awoke him; they are like the grass beside the
torrent flood, which he had just seen bloom in the
verse 5 morning's freshness, and which is already withering
in the glare of the day. Verily the Divine anger is a scorching
sun which lays bare all iniquity, which pours light upon the most
secret sins as this sun's rays are illuminating the
verses 7-8 deep clefts that were so dark in the shadows of
morning. And under wrath like this the "days of our years" are
being brought to an end — "like a tale that is told." This strik-
ing phrase has been traditionally understood as comparing human
life to a story, — in itself an exquisite idea. But, in the absence
of any indication from the original (for the Hebrew word is
LYRICS OF MEDITATION 191
obscure), surely the context obliges us to understand the other
sense of the word ‘tale’: the years pass as swiftly as if they were
but being counted — one, two, three, four, . . . up to seventy;
or if it be eighty, yet the ten years so proudly achieved are ten
years of labour and sorrow. But this meditation on swiftly passing
years is suddenly brought to a noble climax:
So teach us to number our days,
That we may get us an heart of wisdom.
Now the whole spirit of the psalm changes, and another class of
associations come to the front: the freshness of morning, and its
irresistible suggestion of repentance and a new start, of casting
trouble and affliction behind like the night that is past, and look-
ing to the future as a day of glory.
Return, 0 LORD; how long?
And let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
0 satisfy us in the morning with thy mercy;
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us,
And the years wherein we have seen evil.
The thought is carried forward with the concealed image of sun-
rise and day beneath it. The work which God works for his
people shall "appear"—like the sun mounting above the hori-
zon, and so "the beauty of the LORD their God shall be upon
them." And a final association with morning— the zest for work
it brings — closes the psalm:
Establish thou the work of our hands upon us;
Yea, the work of our hands, establish thou it.
The psalm is thus seen to be made up of three sections. The
last gives a prominent place to the phrase "in the morning," and
is filled with morning thoughts of repentance, of change from a
dark past to a bright future, of beauty shed upon God's people
from above, of security for the work of the hands. The middle
section has the one thought of succession — succession of days, of
192 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
generations; and this is in one verse expressly associated with the
image of yesterday passing into to-day. Through both these sec-
tions, then, the idea of morning is present. The first section brings
forward mountains and the framework of earth as enduring things
to be contrasted with the greater eternity of their Creator; while
all the images used are such as would form part of a mountain
landscape. When the whole poem is put together, then, it will
seem that, while its subject is "Life as a passing Day," the setting
of the thought is the concealed imagery of a mountain sunrise.
We have thus considered imagery, repetition, enumeration,
as modes by which a theme can be developed in lyric poetry.
Contrast as a There is one other mode, simpler still: that of
mode of develop- Contrast. Previous chapters have alluded to the
ment contrast of the Heavens above and the Law within
which makes the subject of the nineteenth psalm; and again to
the Supreme Evil and the Supreme Good which stand contrasted
in the thirty-sixth. But it seems specially appropriate in this
work, and at this point of it, to mention the first psalm, which
stands as preface to the whole lyrical poetry of Scrip-
Psalm i ture. It celebrates the man,
Whose delight is
In the Law of the LORD:
And in his Law
Doth he meditate day and night.
No one will understand the word ‘Law’ in its narrow modern
sense; when fully weighed, the expression ‘the Law of the LORD’
will seem not very different from what is conveyed to a modern
ear by the term ‘Sacred Scriptures.’ The first psalm may be said
to bestow a blessing on the literary study of the Bible. The
thought of this prefatory psalm is worked out by Contrast. The
theme is stated in the form of a contrast; the Meditative Life is
made antithetical to another type of life, not necessarily vicious,
but one that looks in other directions than the Law of the LORD
for the counsels by which it shall walk: — in modern phraseology,
LYRICS OF MEDITATION 193
the Worldly Life, This double theme is illustrated by an exqui-
site piece of contrasted imagery. The Worldly Life is compared
to " the Chaff which the wind driveth away": airy, not ungraceful
motion of that which is mere outside without substance, carried
round by forces from without. Over against this is set the rooted
Tree, drawing perpetual sustenance from the water streams, mov-
ing harmoniously through its season of leafage and fruit. Then
the contrast is carried forward to that which is the dominant
thought of Biblical poetry — ‘the judgment.’ There is no denun-
ciation or detailed prophecy; but the psalmist is assured that the
empty life "shall not stand in the judgment." And on the other
hand, no particular blessing is invoked upon "the way of the right-
eous": it is enough that "the LORD knoweth it."
CHAPTER VIII
LYRIC: IDYL: ‘SOLOMON'S SONG’
THE poem which is the subject of the present chapter affords a
good illustration of the principle underlying this work, — that clear
Divided opinion knowledge of the outer literary form is an essential
as to the form of for a thorough grasp of the matter and spirit of
Solomon's Song literature. That Solomon's Song is dialogue of a
dramatic character, with a story underlying it, must be recognised
by all; but when we go beyond this we find commentators divided,
one set holding the poem to be a drama, the other an idyl.
Those who consider it a drama are in substantial agreement as to
its plot: that the Shulammite is wooed by King Solomon with
offers of regal splendour, that she remains faithful to her humbler
Shepherd lover, that in the end King Solomon gives way and the
faithful lovers are united. The other interpretation, as followed in
this chapter, identifies Solomon himself with the humble lover.
The whole story now becomes this: that King Solomon, visiting
his vineyard upon
fair Shulammite maiden; she flees from him, and he visits her
disguised as a Shepherd and wins her love; then he comes in
state to claim her as his queen; they are being wedded in the
interpretations be correct, it is clear that the technical question as
between drama and idyl involves a fundamental difference in the
story of the poem.
I believe that the divergence of interpretation in the present
case is largely due to the fact that, while Drama is a thing familiar
194
LYRIC IDYL: ‘SOLOMON'S SONG’ 195
to all, few have considered the extent to which the development
of Lyric Idyl can be carried.1 It may be admitted Distinction of
at once that the traditional masters of the Idyl, Lyric Idyl from
such as Theocritus and Virgil, have given us noth- Drama
ing that in dramatic elaborateness approaches Solomon's Song.
But the fine arts are all one family, and the development which
may stop short in pure poetry may be carried forward in the
sister art of music. Speaking roughly, we may say that the differ-
ence between Drama and Lyric Idyl is the difference between
Opera and Oratorio; and most of the peculiar structural features
of Solomon's Song are such as will be readily intelligible to the
student of dramatic music.
It is necessary to see exactly what is involved in the difference
between the dramatic form and the form of lyric idyl. In the
first place, it is inevitable in drama that the order (1) Incidents may
of incidents should tally with the order of speeches be alluded to in
representing them. In narrating a story, it is easy any order
to mention a catastrophe and then go back in time to the circum-
stances which brought that catastrophe about. But drama is pure
presentation, and its action can never go back; hence the neces-
sity in Ancient Tragedy, which dramatised only the end of a story,
of lyric choral odes to bring out by narrative important incidents
that happened earlier than the opening scene. In a lyric idyl, on
the contrary, the story is not acted, but assumed and alluded to;
and allusion can be made to the different parts of the story in any
order. A pure dramatisation of a love story would begin (say)
with the first meeting of the lovers, would proceed with the cir-
1 The word ‘Idyl’ is diminutive of the Greek eide, the term for the various
forms of poetry. Thus the Idyl did not appear in our table of Literary Forms,
because it may be a slighter variation of any of them: the slightness being tradi-
tionally supposed to consist in the nature of the subject matter, —personal love,
domestic life, etc. As an interesting example of the traditional conception appear-
ing in modern art, it may be pointed out that Wagner's Siegfried is an elaborate
and massive musical drama: but when the composer takes the themes of this
opera and interweaves them with an old cradle song to make a birthday serenade
to his wife in honour of their infant son, he calls it the Siegfried Idyl.— In the Bible
Ruth is an Epic Idyl, Solomon's Song a Lyric Idyl.
196 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
cumstances of their growing intimacy, and end with their marriage.
But the series of idyls making Solomon's Song commences with
the wedding day, goes back to the day of betrothal and remi-
niscences of the courtship, and then goes forward to what in mod-
ern parlance might be called the close of the honeymoon.
Again, in a drama every speech must be referred to personal
speakers, either an individual or a Chorus. But lyric poetry, in
addition to these, can make use of a Reciting
(2) Reciting Chorus, which is impersonal, and merely the au-
Chorus thor's device for carrying on the story in the parts
not represented dramatically. Thus in Mendelssohn's Elijah, the
Chorus is sometimes personal, as where it presents the Priests
of Baal crying, "0 Baal, hear us"; in other cases it is imper-
sonal, as where it is used to describe the fire falling from heaven,
or to point the moral in the chorale, "Cast thy burden upon the
Lord." So in the present case, we have both a personal Chorus
of Daughters of Jerusalem who escort the Bride, and a merely
abstract Chorus used to describe the journey of Solomon in his
state chariot. Another consideration is worth mentioning in this
connection. Every speech in a drama must be spoken in a definite
place or ‘scene’: but this Reciting Chorus is, on the contrary, used
as a device for suggesting transition from one scene to another.
As a third feature of the Lyric Idyl may be mentioned the
refrains. Refrains in lyric poetry always may be, and usually are,
parenthetic; they must not be attached to their
(3) parenthetic context, but referred to the poem as a whole. A
refrains simple modern ballad will narrate a story, — how,
for example, the spectre of a lover comes to claim his mistress,
how she responds to his summons, and is borne to a distant land,
where she is found dead on his tomb. The verses containing this
narrative will be continually interrupted by the refrain:
-Sing hey, sing ho, the linden tree —
These words have no point in relation to the sentences to which
they are attached, but very likely interrupt their grammatical con-
LYRIC IDYL: ‘SOLOMON'S SONG’ 197
struction. On the other hand, the idea of the wind singing
through the trees makes an effective background to be kept
present in the mind through the whole of a story of weird inci-
dent. Such refrains may be compared to the musical accompani-
ment heard continuing the strains of a song during the intervals
between the spoken verses. In the present case there are three
refrains which, wherever they occur, must be separated from the
dialogue. In their subject they are just suited to keep before us
the general spirit of the whole poem. In one, there is a call upon
all to leave the lovers to their repose.
I adjure you, 0 daughters of
By the roes, and by the hinds of the field, iii.5 and viii.4
That ye stir not up, nor awaken love,
Until it please.
The second is, in its various forms, the mutual pledge.
My beloved is mine, and I am his: ii. 16: compare
He feedeth his flock anions the lilies.
The third is the summons to embrace.
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, ii.17 compare
Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart iv.6 and viii.14
Upon the mountains of separation.
Love strains like these are the essence of the whole poem, and
are naturally used to separate the idyls from one another, or mark
the natural divisions of each.
I have yet to mention something specially characteristic of this
poem, which is readily intelligible as a feature of a lyric idyl.
We find incidents conveyed dramatically by dia- (4) dramatised
logue which, nevertheless, cannot be part of the reminiscences
scene in which they occur, but must, at that point,
be a reminiscence. Such an effect may be called a Dramatised
Reminiscence. Thus it is part of the story as here interpreted
that Solomon, when the Shulammite damsel had fled from him at
198 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
his first appearance, continued his suit to her in the disguise of
a Shepherd. She wonders who this stranger is, so different from
the shepherds she knows.
i. 7 Tell me, 0 thou whom my soul loveth,
Where thou feedest thy flock,
Where thou makest it to rest at noon:
For why should I be as one that wandereth
Beside the flocks of thy companions?
He of course seeks to evade her scrutiny by a vague answer.
i. 8 If thou know not, 0 thou fairest among women,
Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock,
And feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.
Such a detail in itself is natural enough in a love story. But the
point of the present suggestion is that the position of the speeches
just quoted — in the wedding scene — is perfectly intelligible.
It is natural that the Shulammite, when for the first time she be-
holds her royal lover in the splendour of his palace, should allude
to her former attempt to penetrate his disguise. And it is equally
natural that the allusion should take the form of recalling the
actual words used by each: they are merely quoting their former
selves, a thing which we have already seen as a tendency of the
dramatic lyrics in the psalter.1 Or, to take another instance,
it is natural for the king in his musings on his bride to recall
the moment of their first meeting. The sudden surprise of the
courtly escort at the rustic maiden's beauty is conveyed in the
form of a speech.
vi. 10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning,
Fair as the moon,
Pure as the sun,
Terrible as an army with banners?
Her startled feelings as the royal cortege surprised her are
expressed as if they had been spoken.
1 See above, page 180.
LYRIC IDYL: ‘SOLOMON'S SONG’ 199
I went down into the garden of nuts, vi. 11
To see the green plants of the valley,
To see whether the vine budded,
And the pomegranates were in flower.
Or ever I was aware, my soul set me
Among the chariots of my princely people.
It is natural to follow up this with the cry to the damsel to stop.
Return, return, 0 Shulammite; vi. 13
Return, return, that we may look upon thee.
Then will be expressed her uneasiness at the gaze, whether spoken
at the time or not.
Why will ye look upon the Shulammite;
As upon the dance of Mahanaim?
All this is not a dialogue taking place at point of the poem where
the words occur, but the form of dialogue thrown over the sensa-
tion of an emphatic moment, recalled as a reminiscence by the
king in the midst of his meditations on his queen. It belongs
naturally to the free movement of lyric poetry between meditation
and dramatic presentation; and resembles the common device in
narrative of a sudden change from indirect to direct narration.1
Keeping these points of literary form before us, we may follow
the poem as a Suite of seven Idyls. The first pre- Solomon's song
sents the Wedding Day, its personages being the as a suite of
King, the Bride, and her escort, the Chorus of Seven Idyls
Daughters of
the ceremony when the Bride is being lifted over the i.1-ii. 7
threshold; it proceeds with the conversation inside the
palace; then we have the procession from the banqueting house
to the bridal chamber; and the closing refrain leaves the lovers
to their repose.
1 The Dramatised Reminiscence may be conveniently represented to the eye by
inverted commas.
200 LYI.IC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
The second idyl is given up to the Bride's Reminiscences. She
recalls a visit of her lover in the fair springtide, and how
ii.8-iii.5 they were interrupted. She tells a happy dream of seek-
ing her lover abroad and finding him. And these two reminis-
cences are separated by refrains.
The third idyl goes back to the Day of Betrothal. The Recit-
ing Chorus describe the journey of King Solomon in his chariot of
state. He has already won the Shulammite's love, but
iii. 6-v. 1 now he is to throw off his disguise and claim her as his
queen. His outpourings of love follow, and her acceptance;
then the Chorus which opened this third idyl closes it by invoking
a blessing on the happy pair.
The fourth in this ‘song of songs’ is occupied with a troubled
Dream of the Bride. She fancies her beloved comes to her door
in the night she delays but a moment to adjust her
v. 2-vi. 3 dress and dip her fingers in the myrrh, and by that
moment's waiting she loses him, and wanders in vain to find him.
By an exquisite touch of dream change she finds herself (in her
dream) accosting the Chorus of Daughters of
dialogue with them discusses the beauty of her lover, until the loss
with which this fourth song began is forgotten in the triumphant
refrain of the close.
The fifth idyl belongs to the royal Bridegroom. Its opening
vi.4-vii. and close are musings on the beauty of his bride; the
9 two parts are separated by the dramatised reminiscence
of the first moment of their meeting.
The last two songs introduce a beautiful piece of simple human
nature. The Bride amid the splendour of the palace longs for
vii.10- her home on
viii.4 her husband to journey to this place where their love was
and first pledged. Accordingly, the scene of the last idyl has
viii . 5-14 changed to
Chorus bring out the arrival of the pair; — the words sound like a
brief echo from their description of the former journey made in
state. Renewal of love follows in this the Bride's home. Then
LYRIC IDYL: ‘SOLOMON'S SONG’ 201
comes a very natural touch: the Bride, in this spot where she
grew up from infancy, recalls the riddling speeches her Brothers
used to make to her when she was too young to understand the
mysteries of love. She then makes a fresh surrender of her heart,
with a quaint conceit founded on the circumstance that her hus-
band is (in modern phrase) the ‘landlord’ of this home of herself
and brothers. The voices are heard of the Escort approaching to
conduct them back; so with a final embrace the poem closes.
I am about to cite the whole poem with an arrangement intended
to make it easy for the general reader to follow. One more prefa-
tory remark is necessary. This is a poem of pure conjugal love.
There are threescore queens,
And fourscore concubines,
And virgins without number:
My dove, my undefiled is but one.
Nevertheless, a reader who is not prepared for it may be startled
by the amatory warmth of the phraseology. Partly this Amatory
is due to the more passionate nature of oriental peoples. language
But partly it connects itself with the symbolism of Hebrew poetry,
which enables it to take liberties impossible to our direct western
speech. There is a famous passage at the close of Ecclesiastes
which makes the disagreeable symptoms of old age graceful by
throwing over them a symbolic veil. The same treatment in the
poem under consideration softens the warmth of amatory speech.
The enraptured gaze of the Bridegroom bending over his Bride at
the feast is disguised as a "banner of love" waving over her. ii.4
The sweet surrender of the maiden to her spouse is sym-
bolically put:
They made me keeper of the vineyards; i. 6
But mine own vineyard have I not kept!
She does not in plain terms clasp her lover to her bosom, but the
refrain bids him to be as a roe "on the mountains of ii. 17
separation." The Bible consecrates everything it touches;
and the fact is not without significance that the great Honeymoon
Song of all literature should be given to us in the Sacred Scriptures.
202 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
THE SONG OF SONGS
i.1-ii.7 IDYL I
THE WEDDING DAY
I
Outside the Palace
The Bridal Procession approaches: the Royal Bridegroom leading the Bride, fol-
lowed by an Attendant Chorus of Daughters of Jerusalem
THE BRIDE
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth:
For thy love is better than wine;
Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance;
Thy name is as ointment poured forth:
Therefore do the virgins love thee.
A pause is made at the threshold of the Palace
THE BRIDE (to the Bridegroom)
Draw me —
ATTENDANT CHORUS
We will run after thee.
The Bridegroom lifts the Bride across the threshold
THE BRIDE
The king hath brought me into his chambers.
ATTENDANT CHORUS.
We will be glad and rejoice in thee,
We will make mention of thy love more than of wine.
THE BRIDE
In uprightness do they love thee.
LYRIC IDYL: 'SOLOMON'S SONG' 203
2
Inside the Palace
The Bride addresses her Attendant Chorus
TIIE BRIDE
I am black, but comely,
0 ye daughters of
As the tents of Kedar,
As the curtains of Solomon.
Look not upon me, because I am swarthy,
Because the sun hath scorched me.
My mother's sons were incensed against me,
They made me keeper of the vineyards;
But mine own vineyard have I not kept!
The Bride and Bridegroom converse: Dramatised Reminiscence of their Courtship:
how she sought to penetrate his disguise and he answered mysteriously
"THE BRIDE
"Tell me, 0 thou whom my soul loveth,
"Where thou feedest thy flock,
"Where thou makest it to rest at noon:
For why should I be as one that wandereth
"Beside the flocks of thy companions?"
THE BRIDEGROOM
"If thou know not, 0 thou fairest among women,
"Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock,
"And feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents."
3
The Procession from the Banqueting House to the Bridal Chamber
THE BRIDEGROOM
I have compared thee, 0 my love,
To a steed in Pharaoh's chariots.
Thy cheeks are comely with plaits of hair,
Thy neck with strings of jewels.
We will make thee plaits of gold
With studs of silver.
204 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
THE BRIDE
While the king sat at his table,
My spikenard sent forth its fragrance.
My beloved is unto me as a bundle of myrrh,
That lieth betwixt my breasts.
My beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna-flowers
In the vineyards of En-gedi.
THE BRIDEGROOM
Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair;
Thine eyes are as doves.
THE BRIDE
Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant:
Also our couch is green.
The beams of our house are cedars,
And our rafters are firs.
I am a rose of Sharon,
A lily of the valleys.
THE BRIDEGROOM
As a lily among thorns,
So is my love among the daughters.
THE BRIDE
As the apple tree among the trees of the wood,
So is my beloved among the sons.
I sat down under his shadow with great delight,
And his fruit was sweet to my taste.
He brought me to the banqueting house,
And his banner over me was love.
Stay ye me with raisins, comfort me with apples:
For I am sick of love.
Let his left hand be under my head,
And his right hand embrace me.
REFRA IN
I adjure you, 0 daughters of
By the roes, and by the hinds of the field,
That ye stir not up, nor awaken love,
Until it please.
LYRIC IDYL: 'SOLOMON'S SONG' 205
IDYL II ii.8-iii.5
THE BRIDE'S REMINISCENCES OF THE COURTSHIP
How her lover came to her in the Springtide, and they were interrupted
THE BRIDE
The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh,
Leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
My beloved is like a roe or a young hart:
Behold, he standeth behind our wall,
He looketh in at the windows,
He sheweth himself through the lattice.
My beloved spake, and said unto me,
"Rise up,
My love,
My fair one,
And come away.
For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig tree ripeneth her green figs,
And the vines are in blossom,
They give forth their fragrance.
Arise,
My love,
My fair one,
And come away.
O my dove,
That art in the clefts of the rock,
In the covert of the steep place,
Let me see thy countenance,
Let me hear thy voice;
For sweet is thy voice,
And thy countenance is comely."
206 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
VOICES OF THE BROTHERS (heard interrupting)
"Take us the foxes,
"The little foxes that spoil the vineyards;
"For our vineyards are in blossom."
REFRAINS
My beloved is mine, and I am his
He feedeth his flock among the lilies.
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away,
Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart
Upon the mountains of separation.
2
Her happy Dream of seeking him abroad and finding him
By night, on my bed,
I sought him whom my soul loveth:
I sought him, but I found him not.
I said, I will rise now, and go about the city,
In the streets and in the broad ways,
I will seek him whom my soul loveth:
I sought him, but I found him not.
The watchmen that go about the city found me:
To whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
It was but a little that I passed from them,
When I found him whom my soul loveth:
I held him, and would not let him go,
Until I had brought him into my mother's house,
And into the chamber of her that conceived me.
REFRAIN
I adjure you, 0 daughters of
By the roes, and by the hinds of the field,
That ye stir not up, nor awaken love,
Until it please.
LYRIC IDYL: ‘SOLOMON'S SONG' 207
IDYL III iii. 6-v. i
THE DAY OF BETROTHAL
I
King Solomon comes in State
RECITING CHORUS
Who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness
Like pillars of smoke,
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
With all powders of the merchant?
Behold, it is the litter of Solomon;
Threescore mighty men are about it,
Of the mighty men of
They all handle the sword, and are expert in war:
Every man hath his sword upon his thigh,
Because of fear in the night.
King Solomon made himself a palanquin
Of the wood of
He made the pillars thereof of silver,
The bottom thereof of gold,
The seat of it of purple,
The midst thereof being inlaid with love from the daughters of
Go forth, 0 ye daughters of
With the crown wherewith his mother hath crowned him
In the day of his espousals,
And in the day of the gladness of his heart.
2
King Solomon pours forth his love to the Shulammite damsel
KING SOLOMON
Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair;
Thine eyes are as cloves behind thy veil:
Thy hair is as a flock of goats,
208 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
That lie along the side of
Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly shorn,
Which are come up from the washing;
Whereof every one hath twins,
And none is bereaved among them.
Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,
And thy mouth is comely.
Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate
Behind thy veil.
Thy neck is like the
Whereon there hang a thousand bucklers,
All the shields of the mighty men.
Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe,
Which feed among the lilies.
REFRAIN
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away,
I will get me to the mountain of myrrh,
And to the hill of frankincense.
3
King Solomon (under the symbolic expression of an enclosed garden) proposes
marriage
to the Shulammite damsel, and she (using the same symbolism) accepts
KING SOLOMON
Thou art all fair, my love;
And there is no spot in thee.
Come with me from
With me from
Go from the top of Amana,
From the top of Senir and Hermon,
From the lions' dens,
From the mountains of the leopards.
Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my bride;
Thou host ravished my heart
With one look from thine eyes,
With one chain of thy neck.
How fair is thy love, my sister, my bride!
LYRIC IDYL 'SOLOMON'S SONG' 209
How much better is thy love than wine!
And the smell of thine ointments than all manner of spices!
Thy lips, 0 my bride, drop as the honeycomb:
Honey and milk are under thy tongue;
And the smell of thy garments is like the smell of
A garden shut up is my sister, my bride;
A spring shut up,
A fountain sealed.
Thy shoots are an orchard of pomegranates,
With precious fruits;
Henna with spikenard plants,
Spikenard and saffron,
Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense,
Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.
Thou art a fountain of gardens,
A well of living waters,
And flowing streams from
THE SHULAMMITE
Awake, 0 north wind; and come, thou south;
Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.
Let my beloved come into his garden,
And eat his precious fruits.
KING SOLOMON
I am come into my garden, my sister, my bride:
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;
I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;
I have drunk my wine with my milk.
RECITING CHORUS
Eat, 0 friends;
Drink, yea, drink abundantly of love!
210 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
v. 2-vi. 3 IDYL IV
THE BRIDE'S TROUBLED DREAM
Her troubled Dream that her beloved came to her at night, and by a moment's
delay she lost him
THE BRIDE
I was asleep, but my heart waked:
It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying,
"Open to me,
My sister, my love,
My dove, my undefiled:
For my head is filled with dew,
My locks with the drops of the night."
I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on?
I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?
My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door,
And my heart was moved for him.
I rose up to open to my beloved;
And my hands dropped with myrrh,
And my fingers with liquid myrrh,
Upon the handles of the bolt.
I opened to my beloved;
But my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone.
My soul had failed me when he spake:
I sought him, but I could not find him;
I called him, but he gave me no answer.
The watchmen that go about the city found me,
They smote me, they wounded me;
The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.
(In her Dream she finds herself accosting a Chorus of Daughters of Jerusalem)
I adjure you, 0 daughters of
If ye find my beloved,
That ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
LYRIC IDYL: ‘SOLOMON'S SONG’ 211
CHORUS
What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
0 thou fairest among women?
What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
That thou dost so adjure us?
THE BRIDE
My beloved is white and ruddy,
The chiefest among ten thousand.
His head is as the most fine gold,
His locks are bushy, and black as a raven.
His eyes are like cloves beside the water brooks;
Washed with milk, and fitly set.
His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as banks of sweet herbs:
His lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
His hands are as rings of gold set with beryl:
His body is as ivory work overlaid with sapphires.
His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold:
His aspect is like
His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
0 daughters of
CHORUS
Whither is thy beloved gone,
0 thou fairest among women?
Whither hath thy beloved turned him,
That we may seek him with thee?
THE BRIDE
My beloved is gone down to his garden,
To the beds of spices,
To feed in the gardens,
And to gather lilies.
REFRAIN
I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine
He feedeth his flock among the lilies.
212 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
IDYL V
vi.4-vii. 9 THE KING'S MEDITATION ON HIS BRIDE
i
The King muses on her Beauty
THE KING
Thou art beautiful, 0 my love, as Tirzah,
Comely as
Terrible as an army with banners.
Turn away thine eyes from me,
For they have overcome me.
Thy hair is as a flock of goats
That lie along the side of
Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes,
Which are come up from the washing;
Whereof every one hath twins,
And none is bereaved among them.
Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate
Behind thy veil.
There are threescore queens,
And fourscore concubines,
And virgins without number:
My dove, my undefiled, is but one;
She is the only one of her mother;
She is the pure one of her that bare her.
The daughters saw her, and called her blessed;
Yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.
2
The Surprise of the first meeting. A dramatised Reminiscence
"THE ROYAL PARTY
"Who is she that looketh forth as the morning,
"Fair as the moon,
"Pure as the sun,
"Terrible as an army with banners?"
LYRIC IDYL: 'SOLOMON'S SONG' 213
"THE SHULAMMITE
"I went down into the garden of nuts,
"To see the green plants of the valley,
“To see whether the vine budded,
"And the pomegranates were in flower.
"Or ever I was aware, my soul set me
"Among the chariots of my princely people."
"THE ROYAL PARTY
"Return, return, 0 Shulammite;
"Return, return, that we may look upon thee."
"THE SHULAMMITE
" Why will ye look upon the Shulammite,
"As upon the dance of Mahanaim?"
3
The King continues to muse upon his Bride's Beauty
THE KING
How beautiful are thy feet in sandals, 0 prince's daughter!
The joints of thy thighs are like jewels,
The work of the hands of a cunning workman.
Thy navel is like a round goblet,
Wherein no mingled wine is wanting:
Thy belly is like an heap of wheat
Set about with lilies.
Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe.
Thy neck is like the tower of ivory;
Thine eyes as the pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim;
Thy nose is like the
Thine head upon thee is like
And the hair of thine head like purple;
The king is held captive in the tresses thereof.
How fair and how pleasant art thou,
0 love, for delights!
214 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
This thy stature is like to a palm tree,
And thy breasts to clusters of grapes.
I said, I will climb up into the palm tree,
I will take hold of the branches thereof:
Let thy breasts be as clusters of the vine,
And the smell of thy breath like apples;
And thy mouth like the best wine,
That goeth down smoothly for my beloved,
Gliding through the lips of those that are asleep.
REFRAIN
I am my beloved's,
And his desire is toward me.
vii. 10-viii. 4 IDYL VI
THE BRIDE'S LONGING FOR HER HOME ON
THE BRIDE
Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field;
Let us lodge in the villages.
Let us get up early to the vineyards;
Let us see whether the vine hath budded,
And the tender grape appear,
And the pomegranates be in flower:
There will I give thee my love.
The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
And at our doors are all manner of precious fruits,
New and old,
Which I have laid up for thee, 0 my beloved.
LYRIC IDYL: 'SOLOMON'S SONG' 215
Oh, that thou wert as my brother,
That sucked the breasts of my mother !
When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee;
Yea, and none would despise me.
I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house,
That thou mightest instruct me.
I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine,
Of the juice of my pomegranate.
His left hand should be under my head,
And his right hand should embrace me.
REFRAIN
I adjure you, 0 daughters of
That ye stir not up, nor awaken love,
Until it please.
IDYL VII viii. 5-14
THE RENEWAL OF LOVE IN THE VINEYARD OF
I
The arrival
RECITING CHORUS
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?
KING SOLOMON
Under the apple tree I awakened thee:
There thy mother was in travail with thee,
There was she in travail that brought thee forth.
216 LYRIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
THE BRIDE
Set me as a seal upon thine heart,
As a seal upon thine arm:
For love is strong as death;
Jealousy is cruel as the grave:
The flashes thereof are flashes of fire,
A very flame of the LORD.
Many waters cannot quench love,
Neither can the floods drown it:
If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
It would utterly be contemned.
2
The Bride recalls the riddling speeches of her Brothers when she was a child: she
understands them now
THE BRIDE
"We have a little sister,
"And she hath no breasts:
"What shall we do for our sister
"In the day when she shall be spoken for?
" If she be a wall,
"We will build upon her a turret of silver:
"And if she be a door,
"We will inclose her with boards of cedar."
I was a wall, and my breasts like the towers thereof:
Then was I in his eyes as one that found peace.
3
The Bride renews her vows to her husband in this the home of her childhood:
Solomon shall be the landlord of her heart as he is the landlord of her home
THE BRIDE
Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
He let out the vineyard unto keepers;
Everyone for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.
My vineyard, which is mine, is before me:
Thou, O Solomon, shalt have the thousand,
And those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
LYRIC IDYL: 'SOLOMON'S SONG' 217
4
The Escort heard approaching to conduct them back from
embrace
KING SOLOMON
Thou that dwellest in the gardens,
The companions hearken for thy voice:
Cause me to hear it.
THE BRIDE
Make haste, my beloved,
And be thou like to a roe or to a young hart
Upon the mountains of spices.
BOOK THIRD
BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
CHAPTER PAGE
IX. EPIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE 221
X. BIBLICAL HISTORY IN ITS RELATIONS WITH BIBLICAL
EPIC 244
CHAPTER IX
EPIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE
IT has often been said that there is no Epic Poetry in the Bible.
This opinion seems to me to be founded on a double mistake.
In part it is a relic of a discarded system of criti- The question of
cism that did much to distort the study of literature, Epic Poetry in
and at one time went to the extent of pronouncing the Bible
Shakespeare no dramatist: — the criticism which assumed the
masterpieces of Greek and Latin literature to be the only literary
standards. Of course, those who have formed their conception
of Epic solely on the Iliad and Odyssey will look in vain for poems
resembling these in the Bible. Again, in many minds epic poetry
is associated with fiction; and to classify any portion of Sacred
Scripture as epic will to such persons appear a mode of saying
that it is untrue. But this is an entire misapprehension of the
term. It is one thing to say that creative poetry is not, like his-
tory and philosophy, tied to reality; it is quite another thing to
say that its matter may not be real. Creative poetry is a treatment
which can be applied alike to fact, to idealised fact, and to purely
imaginative matter.
In our examination of fundamental literary forms,1 we found that
the term ‘Epic’ implied just two things: narrative, in contrast with
dramatic presentation, and creative treatment, in contradistinction
to discussion. Now more than half the Bible consists of narrative.
The question, then, of Epic Poetry in the Bible narrows itself to
this: whether the whole of Biblical narrative is to be classified as
1 Above, page 109.
221
222 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
history, or does any part of it make just that appeal to our emo-
tions and artistic sense which is made by the epic poems of secular
literature?
Let a reader set himself to read continuously the Book of Gene-
sis. He will feel that different parts of what he is reading affect
The distinction his literary sense in different ways. At one time
of Epic and His- he finds himself traversing long genealogical lists
tory illustrated or noting brief accounts of migrations; he moves
from Genesis through generations or centuries of time in a few
verses. He reaches (suppose) the name of Joseph: and at once
all is changed. Ten lengthy chapters —in bulk equal to one-fifth
of the whole Book of Genesis — centre around this one man and
his relations with his brethren. From the beginning a striking
personality begins to emerge, which even in childhood divides the
household between envy and doting affection, which makes itself
felt in captivity and even in prison. In the background we get
glimpses of varied life — scattered settlements of shepherds, mer-
chant caravans, palace life in the empire of
fortune, which plays so large a part in story, is represented by the
change which in a single day takes Joseph from prison to set him
next to the throne; and throughout the movement of events the
supernatural interest of dreams and their mystical revelations has
been hovering. When among the crowds that come from distant
lands to ask corn from this Egyptian potentate Joseph's owns,
brethren stand before him, recognised but not recognising, then
we have just one of those ironic situations which make the master
strokes of plot. And no invented plot could draw more out of
such a situation than we get in this piece of history, with the long
sustained perplexities in which the Egyptian minister involves his
family, not for the purpose of some subtle revenge, but to prolong
the strange situation in which he finds himself placed, and the
conflict of emotions in his breast between natural affection and
sense of wrong. At last Joseph breaks down in the part he is
playing, and has to sob out that he is their brother; and when
the excitement has had time to subside, the train of events settles
EPIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE 223
to a sedate conclusion in the picturesque migration of the sons
of
Pharaoh himself. We continue our reading, and find ourselves
tracing, in bare outline, economic changes comprised in a verse
or two which needed generations of time to be accomplished in
fact. It is impossible for any one, reading with his literary sense
awakened, not to feel the difference of kind between the account
of Joseph and his Brethren and other portions of the Book of
Genesis preceding and following it: this is the difference between
Epic and History. Joseph, it is true, is an important historic
personage, and it is no novel that we have been reviewing. But a
single chapter would have been sufficient to present the sons of
Jacob as a link in the chain of history; what more there is in the
narrative must be credited to interest of story. The exact classi-
fication of this portion of Genesis is expressed by the term ‘Epic
Incident’; it is an Incident because it is a portion of the history;
it is Epic because the treatment of it touches the imagination and
emotions in the regular way of creative poetry.
The historical books of the Bible are full of such Epic Inci-
dents. But they are merged in the history of which they are a
part, without anything to mark them off from the surrounding
matter which is purely historic. I must not be thought to insist
upon trifles if I recommend the student — with the aid of the
Tables in the Appendix to this work,1 or otherwise — to pencil off
in his Revised Version the epic matter, and to write in the margin
a title to each portion. I believe that an important factor in lit-
erary appreciation is the expectant attitude of the reader; and
one who has, in the way I suggest, adjusted his mental focus from
the outset, will be in a specially favourable situation for feeling the
epic richness of Sacred Scripture.
When we turn to survey the field of Biblical Epic, one phenom-
enon attracts our attention at once, as being unique, No Verse Epic in
yet not difficult to understand. In secular litera- the Bible
ture the most famous epics are in verse. In the Bible there is no
1 Tables II, III.
224 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
verse narrative.1 But we have seen that the distinction of prose
and verse is not at all coincident with the distinction between.
poetry and its antithesis. Again, we have seen that it is one of
the distinguishing features of Hebrew that its verse and prose sys-
tems overlap. When these two considerations are put together, it;
will appear a natural thing that the epic incidents which are scat-
tered through the historical books should gravitate to the literary
form of the history in which they constitute a minor part.
But though the Bible has no Verse Epic, it contains illustrations
of the interesting literary form that may be called the Mixed
Mixed Epic Epic, in which a story is conveyed in prose, but
has the power of breaking into verse at suitable
points.2 The grand example of this Mixed Epic is the Story of
Balaam.
The Old Testament is specially interesting where it lifts the veil
which separates the Chosen People from the rest of the world,
The Story of and allows us to see worshippers of Jehovah out-
Balaam side the ranks of the Israelites. Such was Balaam.
Numbers xxii- But he seems to have been a light shining in a
xxiv dark place: surrounded by those who could not
understand the worship of an invisible God, yet felt the atmos-
phere of spiritual power that Balaam carried about with him, and
came to look upon it with awe, as a thing to be dreaded or to be
secured on their own side. Such a conception of Balaam had
been formed by Balak, king of
blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed." He
bethinks him of the prophet when confronted with a new danger
threatening his kingdom: danger from a people moving through
the desert at once prolific and highly organised, threatening to
swallow up the Moabites "as the ox licketh up the grass of the
1 Of course, in the lyric narratives of Chapter V the narrative is not being told
or conveyed, but assumed and meditated on.
2 In early literature of story this form had a wide range. See a note on the
‘cantifables’ in Mr. Jacobs's English Fairy Tales, page 240. In modern poetry this
form is admirably represented by William Morris's Roots of the Mountains and
House of the Wolfings.
EPIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE 225
field." So Balak sends an embassy of princes to Balaam, "with
the rewards of divination in their hand." The central interest
of this, as of most epics, is the personality of its hero. The char-
acter of Balaam seems to be summed up in calling him a man of
compromise in spiritual matters. Perfectly sincere in his worship
of Jehovah, he nevertheless desires to keep in touch with those
who can only translate his spiritual religion into gross and material
conceptions. He has laid down for himself a compromise: he
will never be unfaithful to a distinct Divine word, — and in fact to
this he never is unfaithful, — but where not prohibited he will go as
far as he can with the world about him, and make all he can out
of them. This is the man to whom the embassy of Balak comes.
He lodges the Moabite princes with oriental hospitality; and in
the darkness of the night he gives himself up to the spiritual influ-
ences from which he is wont to seek guidance. The revelation
comes, apparently in the form of dream; and on the morrow
Balaam dismisses his visitors without hesitation: his God will not
suffer him to obey the summons.
To Balak all this seems no more than a diviner's artifice to
increase his consequence. He accordingly sends a second em-
bassy, more princes and more honourable, with an urgent message
and unbounded offers. Balaam receives this second embassy with
noble words, which his subsequent conduct showed to be no idle
boast: "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold,
I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD My God, to do less or
more." But he lodges the ambassadors for the night. Whether
or not his spirit was clouded by the prospects held out to him,
the revelation of that night's dream appeared to wear an air of
compromise: he would accompany the embassy, but with the
distinct understanding that he should speak only as his God
should direct him.
So we have the famous journey of Balaam to
hindrances stop his way, until he would fain turn back. But from
the lips of the angel he receives the words of his own compromise:
he must go, but speak only as he is bidden. At a border city the
226 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
king of
But Balaam is strong in the line of action he has laid down for
himself: Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now any power at
all to speak anything? the word that God putteth in my mouth
that shall I speak." Nevertheless he will go as far as he can:
by his direction the preliminary ritual is commenced, the seven
altars erected, and the seven bullocks and rams offered in due
form by the princes of
height" to be alone in communion with his God, while the king
and princes stand by the altars; and from the high ground where
all this is taking place the whole length and breadth of the Israeli-
tish encampment is visible in the desert below. Amid the influ-
ences of the solitude and the spectacle beneath him Balaam feels
the rush of inspiration coming upon him; in the simple phrase
of Scripture, God "put a word in his mouth." He returns to
confront the king and princes; and at this point the prose of
narrative gives place to the rhythmic verse which is to convey the
Divine message.
From
The king of
"Come, curse me Jacob,
And come, defy
How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed?
And how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?
For from the top of the rocks I see him,
And from the hills I behold him:
Lo, it is a people that dwell alone,
And shall not be reckoned among the nations.
Who can count the dust of Jacob,
Or number the fourth part of
Let me die the death of the righteous,
And let my last end be like his!
The king and princes are overwhelmed with confusion: the
prophet summoned to curse has altogether blessed the enemy!
But Balaam calmly answers, "Must I not take heed to speak that
which the LORD putteth in my mouth?"
EPIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE 227
To Balak only one explanation seems possible: the prophet in
his ecstatic state has been overawed by the vastness of the enemy's
forces. The desired end must be secured by cunning. Balaam
shall be taken to a point from which only a corner of the Israeli-
tish camp is visible; enough, according to magic lore, to lodge
a curse upon, but too small to affect the beholder's nerves. The
man of compromise goes as far as he can with popular supersti-
tion; he accompanies the king and his suite to the heights of
Pisgah, he gives orders for the renewal of the sacrifices, and him-
self goes apart, with some faint idea of persuading Jehovah into
returning an oracle in conformity with his prophet's material
interests. But no sooner is Balaam alone with his God than the
unreality of the whole proceeding makes itself felt by him; his
soul is strung up to its true level as he returns to face the Moa-
bites. A second time the poem breaks from prose into verse.
Rise up, Balak, and hear;
Hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:
God is not a man, that he should lie;
Neither the son of man, that he should repent:
Hath he said, and shall he not do it?
Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Behold, I have received commandment to bless:
And he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob,
Neither hath he seen perverseness in
The LORD his God is with him,
And the shout of a king is among them.
God bringeth them forth out of
He hath as it were the strength of the wild-ox.
Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob,
Neither is there any divination against
At the due season shall it be said of Jacob and of
What hath God wrought!
Behold, the people riseth up as a lioness,
And as a lion doth he lift himself up:
He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey,
And drink the blood of the slain.
228 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
"Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!" But Balaam
has only one answer: all that the LORD speaketh he must do.
At all hazards another attempt must be made. Even Balak has
begun to understand that there is some real power restraining
Balaam; but if the prophet will accompany him to a third point
of view, "peradventure it will please God" that the enemy shall
be cursed from thence. The instinct of compromise carries
Balaam to this third ceremony, but he has no heart to play his
ignoble part to its conclusion. He does not, as before, go aside
to meditate his answer, but listlessly turns his face towards the
wilderness. It happens that from where he is standing his eye
just catches the long lines of tents stretching, row after row, with
the regularity that distinguished the highly organised Israelites
from the tumultuous hordes of desert nomads. The divine prin-
ciple of order sinks deep in Balaam's soul, and inspires his song
as he turns to face for a third time the king and princes of
Balaam the son of Beor saith,
And the man whose eye is opened saith:
He saith, which heareth the words of God,
Which seeth the vision of the Almighty,
Falling down, and having his eyes open:
How goodly are thy tents, 0 Jacob,
Thy tabernacles, 0
As valleys are they spread forth,
As gardens by the river side,
As lign-aloes which the LORD hath planted,
As cedar trees beside the waters.
Water shall flow from his buckets,
And his seed shall be in many waters,
And his king shall he higher than Agag,
And his kingdom shall be exalted.
God bringeth him forth out of
He bath as it were the strength of the wild-ox:
He shall eat up the nations his adversaries,
And shall break their bones in pieces,
And smite them through with his arrows.
He couched, he lay down as a lion,
EPIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE 229
And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?
Blessed be every one that blesseth thee,
And cursed be every one that curseth thee.
The Moabite king storms with rage and disappointment, and dis-
misses the prophet with a sneer: "The LORD hath kept thee back
from honour." But instead of quailing before the royal indigna-
tion, Balaam forces Balak to endure another outpouring of pro-
phetic inspiration, as he beholds a star arising out of Jacob, before
which
broken down; his eye traverses the horizon and sees one people
after another involved in the coming destruction; not the Kenites
in their rocks, nor Amalek first of nations, shall be able to resist.
Alas, who shall live when God doeth this?
Then Balaam returns to his country, and the Epic of Balaam is
concluded. But Balaam does not disappear from the history; and
we learn how the man of compromise was caught in the meshes
of his own compromising spirit.1 At some time when the spiritual
enlightenment was not upon him he brought himself to give the
counsel that the people, who were too strong to be conquered by
force, might yet be undermined by lust. Lustful intercourse led
in its turn to war; and the name of Balaam the son of Beor
appears in the list of the slain.
Apart from the question of prose or verse as its medium of
expression, Epic Poetry may be classified accord-
ing to degrees of organic completeness.2 In secu- Classification of
lar literature there are, from this point of view, Epic Poetry
three forms of epic. There is the simple, isolated story, usually
called a ‘Ballad.’ Then there is the ‘Cycle’ or aggregation of
separate stories attributed to the same hero: an Achilles cycle, or
Ulysses cycle. Finally there is the weaving of a multiplicity of
incident into one organic plot, as when the genius of an individual
poet makes out of the Achilles cycle an Iliad, or out of the cycle
1 Compare Numbers xxxi. 8, Revelation ii, 14.
2 Compare throughout Table III in Appendix II.
230 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
of Ulysses an Odyssey. It is to the last only that the term 'Epic'
is usually applied. Biblical Epic exhibits analogies to all three
types. The simple independent Story is exempli-
(1) Epic Stories fled by such an incident as that of Cain and Abel
in primitive history, or in later history by the Story of Gideon or
Jephthah. Again, great part of Genesis is occupied
(2) Epic Cycles with Cycles of Stories attaching to the names of the
great patriarchs, — an Abraham cycle, a cycle of Jacob, land others.
And the Story of Joseph and his Brethren has
(3) Epic Histories already been used to illustrate the complete Epic
History, with its wide reach of incidents bound together into one
organic whole.
The most elaborate of these Epic Histories is the Book of
The Book of Esther. This, in addition to every other element
Esther of interest, has what may be called a double plot:
two distinct trains of events, centring around
Esther herself and Mordecai respectively, are woven together into
a complex story. The opening of the book plunges us into the
life and manners of an oriental empire, with its hundred and twenty-
seven provinces of varying races and speech, its government by
irresponsible despotism, and its court etiquette, the violation of
which is punishable with death. We have a picture of festivities
on a scale proportionate to the empire itself— pageantry lasting
half a year, and for climax a continuous feast of seven days. The
king's drunken impulse to send for Queen Vashti to appear before
his lords, her refusal and solemn deposition from the throne, and
the elaborate preparations for choosing a successor which end in
the elevation to the crown of a Jewish maiden Esther, are detailed
with minuteness. The general effect of this introductory part is
to make an oriental atmosphere for the reader's mind, by which he
is the better able to appreciate all that follows.
The movement of the story begins with the mention of Haman.
Despotism is never so despotic as when it takes a private subject
and elevates him to its own rank, demanding for him, by no title
but that of royal favour, the homage which is paid to the king by
EPIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE 231
prescriptive right. Such elevation was accorded by Ahasuerus to
Haman: and the whole empire obediently bowed down. A single
individual was found to resist: the Jew Mordecai, who had made
his kinswoman and adopted daughter a queen, but for himself was
content to watch over her from a distance, as one of those who
sat in the king's gate. Officials of the court sought in vain to
move Mordecai, and at last had to make his stubborn resistance
known to Haman. The offended favourite "thought scorn to lay
hands on Mordecai himself": nothing less would satisfy his
oriental spirit of vengeance than to destroy the whole people to
which Mordecai belonged throughout the empire of Ahasuerus.
To make the destruction more dramatic, a day is chosen by lot for
simultaneous slaughter. To the king Haman uses two arguments:
the diversity of the Jews in laws and customs from all other peo-
ples, and the treasure of silver he will himself pay into the king's
treasury if his petition be granted. But Haman is at the height
of favour with the king, who bids him take the people and the
silver too. The complex machinery of the empire is set in motion,
and despatches sent in every direction. Then, we are told, "the
king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of
perplexed."
We have been following one side of the story; but the other
centre of interest, Queen Esther, is involved in the conspiracy
thus set on foot; and the mourning of Mordecai and the city soon
makes the Queen aware of the peril hanging over her people, for
whom there seems to be no help but through herself. There is
something very attractive to the imagination in the situation in
which Esther is thus placed. The strongest and most mature
of men will feel his nature tasked to its depths by a summons to
rest his life and all upon a single crisis. But such a summons
comes in this case to a girl, in beauty found fairest after an empire
has been searched, in the first flush of her youth, with life just
opening before her as a vista of softness and luxury. Her mo-
mentary hesitation only makes her seem more human. But when
the extremity of the crisis is urged upon her, with the suggestion
232 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
that she may have come to the kingdom for such a time as this,
she nerves herself to her task. First she gives herself up to fast-
ing and prayer; then, with all signs of fear suppressed, she pre-
sents herself in full splendour of beauty and royal state before the
king, well knowing that she may incur thereby the penalty of
death. For a moment the fate of her nation and herself trembles
in the balance: then the sceptre is held out to her and the peril-
ous moment is past. Here it is that the character of Esther
begins to come out. It might well have been expected that, in
the reaction from personal danger, Esther might have at once
cast herself before the king, and with sobs and cries told the afflic-
tion of her people. This is probably what Mordecai meant her
to do. But a girl has been raised up to save her people, and she
must do it in her own girlish way; and accordingly, when she is
asked her petition and request unto the half of the kingdom, the
answer reveals no court intrigue, but a simple childlike invitation
that the king and Haman may come to a banquet that she will
prepare. Ahasuerus is delighted: he had deposed Vashti for
refusing his summons to an orgie, her successor is one to risk her
life on an invitation to a banquet. The enemy is disarmed from
suspicion. But, more than all this, Esther knows well that she
has to fight against the whole power of Haman and the king with
no weapon but that of her own beauty: instinct makes her realise
that she must give that beauty full opportunity to make itself felt.
The banquet takes place, with the king and Haman as the sole
guests. Though she had been crowned as the fairest in the king-
dom, yet for thirty days before this the charms of Esther had
been entirely forgotten by the royal voluptuary amid other dis-
tractions of pleasure. Now the dominion of beauty can make its
sway prevail over Ahasuerus, and at the end of the feast he again
asks his Queen what is her petition and request. But Esther is
strong enough to wait, and make surety yet more sure. She begs
therefore for a second banquet on the morrow with the same two
guests, and by that time she will have a boon to ask. Haman
leaves the palace at the height of blind security. In the gate his
EPIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE 233
spirits feel a rebuff at the sight of the unbending Mordecai: a first
speck of shadow upon his horizon of fortune. He hurries home,
and in family council details his accumulated honours and his one
drop of bitterness. They bid him build a gallows fifty cubits high,
and ask Mordecai's life at once without waiting for the slower fate
of his nation.
Two days and the night that separates them make up the period
of crisis for this story of Esther. The turning-point of the whole
is found in the words: "On that night could not the king sleep."
They read to the restless king the chronicles of his kingdom; and
the particular passage details how a conspiracy against his life was
revealed by one Mordecai, a Jew. Ahasuerus enquires what honour
has been done to this Mordecai in recompense; and hearing that
nothing has been done, the king will take up the matter at once.
Haman is entering in the early morning to beg the life of the Jew,
who refuses to bow down before him, when the king shouts to
him from his bed the question, "What shall be done unto the
man whom the king delighteth to honour?" It is impossible for
Haman to understand this otherwise than as a salutation to him-
self; and in reply advises a royal progress with a chief prince to
proclaim before the fortunate man the king's purpose to honour
him. He is bidden to carry out his advice without omission of
a single article upon Mordecai. So bitterly has nemesis swung
round upon him that Haman is forced with his own lips to pro-
claim the honours of his hated foe. And when, after the ordeal
is over, he rushes home to his family council for comfort, here,
where he feels most secure, he is forced to see the shadow of
doom deepening over him; for his wife and councillors make
answer:
If Mordecai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, he of the seed
of the Jews, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall
before him.
But before he has time to ponder these words the royal escort
summons him to Esther's banquet.
234 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
The second banquet intensifies the effect of the first, and
Ahasuerus is completely under the spell of Esther's beauty when,
for the third time, he asks her to name her petition and request.
The youthful queen has been all this time holding a crisis of his-
tory in her delicate fingers. Now she lets the thunderbolt fall.
Her petition is her own life, and the life of her people, sold, to
the king's damage, by "this wicked Haman." The stricken
favourite grovels before the king's burst of fury, and is seeking
the injured Jewess as an intercessor, when he is hurried away to
the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. The crisis is past,
and Mordecai is elevated to the dignity from which his foe had
fallen. But there is still the decree against the Jews throughout
the empire, enrolled among the laws of the Medes and Persians
that cannot be altered, and the date of their doom is steadily
advancing. Mordecai's plan is to send another decree after the
first, to the effect that the Jews on the day appointed shall have
full power to defend themselves. So when the day of fate arrives,
this is the situation throughout the hundred and twenty-seven
provinces of the empire: on one side are the enemies of the Jews
armed with the king's irreversible decree to massacre them; on
the other side are the Jews armed with the king's irreversible
decree to defend themselves; and the satraps and princes of the
provinces will know which side to take in the fray now that a Jew
is minister of the empire. It becomes a day of slaughter for the
enemies of the Jews throughout the provinces and the royal city;
and our last sight of Esther reveals her as a beautiful incarnation
of vengeance, petitioning for another day of slaughter. But this
is the passing excitement of the crisis, the passionate justice of
one trained in the law of retaliation. When the ordinary current
of events is resumed, a feast is instituted throughout the villages
and towns of the Jews, in which they are to send portions one to
another and gifts to the poor, as they commemorate their nation
saved from destruction by the wisdom of Mordecai and the beauty
of Esther.
EPIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE 235
So far the literature we have treated has been Epic Poetry in
the strictest sense. There are, however, two other types to be
noted. The Idyl is not a distinct literary form, Modifications of
but a modification of other forms; and the Bible Epic
contains an Epic Idyl as well as a Lyric Idyl.1
Again, the great department of Prophecy has one branch which is
specially connected with Epic Poetry.
If the chief distinction of the Idyl be its subject matter of love
and domestic life, then in all literature there is no more typical
Idyl than the Book of Ruth. Following the Book
of Judges, which has been filled with bloodshed Epic Idyl: The
and violence and the heroism of the sterner virtues, Book of Ruth
it comes upon us like a benediction of peace. It contains no
trace of war or high politics; the disasters of its story are the
troubles of family life—exile, bereavement, poverty; while its
grand incidents are no more than the yearly festivities of country
life, and the formal transfers of property that must go on although
kingdoms rise and fall.
The thread running through the whole, and binding the parts
together, is found in a magnetic personality such as may exist in
the quietest life, leaving no achievements behind it, yet in its time
swaying all who approach it. Elimelech the husband, and his two
sons, are no more than names to us; it is Naomi who is remem-
bered in
when she returns, the whole of the rural city is moved at the
thought of the 'Pleasant One'— the famous beauty of former
years — come back again. Naomi herself feels the bitter irony of
a name that speaks of attractiveness: "Call me not Naomi, call
me Mara, for the Almighty bath dealt very bitterly with me."
Three waves of trouble had passed over her since she had wedded
the husband of her youth. First came famine: Elimelech's land
would yield no living, and husband, wife, and two youthful sons
had to migrate into the
change of climate and people, but isolation in religion, with wor-
1 See above, note on page 195.
236 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
shippers of strange gods all around. There they continued to
live until Elimelech died, and Naomi was left alone to watch over
her growing sons. She must, moreover, in this land of strangers
find wives for these youths; for to live over again in posterity was
the only immortality to which in their daily thoughts the families
of
allowed to Naomi, and then the third blow came with the loss of
her two sons, one after another, while no children had yet been
born to continue their line. Broken by misfortunes, and with no
link now to bind her to her Moabitish home, Naomi sets out to
return to the
foreign race, yet have felt the spell of her attraction, and would
fain accompany her; but she will not involve their young lives in
the dark fate which heaven seems to have marked out for herself:
"It grieveth me much for your sakes, for the hand of the LORD is
gone forth against me." Situations like this make the dividing
points of character; and a contrast of character is fully depicted
to us in the simple verse: "And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law;
but Ruth clave unto her." The strong and sweet Naomi has
bound to herself another character like her own, with a bond no
trouble can break; and the musical speech of Ruth has descended
to us as the formula of personal devotion for all time.
Intreat me not to leave thee, and to return from following after
thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will
lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where
thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to
me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.
So the ageing Naomi and her Moabite daughter-in-law return to
settle down to a life of obscure poverty, with the added bitterness
to Naomi of seeing the family estate in the hands of others.
Now the interest of the idyl changes to the picturing of popular
manners and customs. We have before us all the bustle and
excitement of wheat and barley harvest in an agricultural commu-
EPIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE 237
nity: the progress of the reapers, and the maidens gleaning be-
hind them, the common meal in the heat of the day, the master
coming down to look on and exchanging greetings with his people.
We see the stranger shyly joining the gleaners, the story of her
faithfulness known to all from the humblest reaper to Boaz him-
self. With a strange charm there come to us across the gulf of
centuries the delicate attentions shown to Ruth by all, the little
contrivances by which she is made to glean plentifully without
knowing who has befriended her, the place of honour accorded
her at the meal. No detail of social life is too petty for the idyl,
not even the way in which Ruth eats her portion of food till she is
sufficed, and what she leaves she brings to her lonely mother-in-
law at home. The gloomy day of Naomi's life is to have light at
eventide, and the first gleam of that light is the name of the
master who has been so hospitable: Boaz is recognised as one
near of kin, and Naomi rallies herself to the task of seeking a
resting-place for the loving Ruth.
More manners and customs follow, and those of the quaintest.
Ruth follows exactly the instructions of Naomi in going through
the strange ritual by which she must claim the wealthy and pow-
erful landowner as next of kin. The story is not too short to pre-
vent our catching the tenderness with which Boaz shields the
stranger from the breath of gossip, nor the refined courtesy by
which he treats the great service asked of him as a favour done
to himself: "Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter: thou
hast showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning,
inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or
rich." The scene changes to give us the minutiae of legal pro-
cedure in the gate of the city; and here again contrast of charac-
ter appears, between the nameless kinsman who is ready to do
everything that is just, and Boaz, who will go further and be gen-
erous. So, with all formalities, the
and Boaz takes Ruth to wife, in order that, according to the inter-
esting Hebrew law, the child born to them may be considered to
have revived the line of his grandfather. The long delayed hap-
238 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
piness of Naomi becomes full as the women of the city move in
procession to lay the new-born babe in her bosom, and sing to her
how his name shall be famous in
thee a restorer of life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy
daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than
seven sons, hath borne him." And the simple Idyl in its last
words joins itself on to the main stream of history by telling that
this new-born Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the
father of King David himself.
It remains to point out that Biblical Prophecy, including as it
does all literary forms, has one branch which is in character epic.
The Greater and Minor Prophets, whose books of
Epic Prophecy prophecy occupy so large a proportion of the Old
Testament, all date from a period not earlier than the reign of
Jeroboam the Second. Yet before that period, from the time
of Samuel if not earlier, prophets played a great part in the his-
tory of
seem higher than that of Elijah: yet the Bible contains no ‘Book
of the Prophet Elijah.’ These earlier prophets did not write their
prophecy; they lived it. It was conveyed in action, and its only
representation in literature is the narrative of that action. A fit
name then for such literature is ‘Epic Prophecy.’
(1) Prophetic This Epic Prophecy exhibits all the three types
stories of Epic. Of the isolated Prophetic Story there
can be no better illustration than the Story of Balaam, already
(2) Prophetic treated in full. Prophetic Cycles are connected
Cycles with the names of Elisha and of Daniel. The for-
mer is particularly well marked, occupying seven successive chap-
Cycle of Elisha ters with fourteen stories, disconnected from one
II Kings ii-viii another, but all having Elisha for hero. The ele-
ment of miracle is common to them all. Some seem to have no
point beyond this interest of miracle: such are the Story of the
Mocking Children, of the Feeding of a hundred men, of the Axe-
head that swam. Others are deeply interesting pictures of life,
EPIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE 239
like the Story of Naaman and Gehazi, or the Siege of Samaria.
One of these is so impressive in the suggestiveness of its miracu-
lous details, and the lofty plane of morality to which its conclu-
sion rises, that I cannot forbear from citing it in full as the very
ideal of Prophetic Story.
The Expedition to arrest Elisha
Now the king of
with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.
And the man of God sent unto the king of
thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are coming down.
And the king of
told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor
twice. And the heart of the king of
thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not
show me which of us is for the king of
vants said, Nay, my lord, 0 king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in
bedchamber. And he said, Go and see where he is, that I may send
and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in
Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and
they came by night, and compassed the city about. And when the ser-
vant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an
host with horses and chariots was round about the city. And his
servant said unto him, Alas! my master, how shall we do? And he
answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that
be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open
his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the
young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses
and chariots of fire round about Elisha. And when they came down
to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people,
I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness
according to the word of Elisha. And Elisha said unto them, This is
not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to
the man whom ye seek. And he led them to
to pass, when they were come into
open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened
their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of
240 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them? And he answered,
Thou shalt not smite them: wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast
taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water
before them, that they may eat and drink; and go to their master. And
he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and
drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the
bands of
There is a third type of Epic Prophecy analogous to the Epic
Histories which combine a multiplicity of incidents
(3) Prophetic Epics into an organic whole. The Bible contains two
Epics such Prophetic Epics, connected with the two
names of Elijah the Tishbite and Jonah.
The Book of Jonah is contained amongst the books of the
Minor Prophets, yet every reader feels how different it is from all
the rest. Nahum and Jonah alike received a com-
The Book of mission to denounce
Jonah the usual prophetic discourse; the other book
contains no discourse, but describes the actions of Jonah precisely
as certain chapters in the Book of Kings describe the actions
of Elijah. There is another peculiarity of Jonah. With other
prophets to hear is to obey. But the Book of Jonah narrates
the rebellion of the prophet against the Divine mandate even
more fully than it describes his obedience. If such a narrative is
correctly described as Epic Prophecy it will follow that the resist-
ance of Jonah, no less than his obedience, will contain the revela-
tion which it is the
to be the key to the interpretation of the book.
The prophecy opens with the command to go to
denounce it. "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the
presence of the LORD." In picturesque detail we have the em-
barking at Joppa, the "great wind hurled into the sea," the terror
of the mariners, each calling on his god. Jonah, waked from
sleep, recognises the power of Jehovah pursuing him, and humbly
bows to his fate. However reluctantly, the mariners are at last
driven to cast him overboard. While for them the storm ceases,
EPIC POETRY OF THE BIBLE 241
Jonah is miraculously swallowed up —the detail of the miracle is
of no significance — and in no less miraculous manner restored.
The first part of the book ends with his song of thanksgiving.
This series of incidents contains a revelation that may seem
elementary to us, but was unquestionably needed by the times of
the prophet. I have before had occasion to speak of the primi-
tive conception of Deity by which a god was regarded as a terri-
torial being, whose power was limited by the region in which he
was worshipped. That this conception extended to the age of
Jonah is clear from a verse in the Book of Kings, I Kings xx. 23
which tells how the servants of the king of
said of the Israelites, "Their god is a god of the hills; therefore
they were stronger than we: but let us fight against them in the
plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they." In this prophecy
the same notion appears in the way the mariners — no doubt vary-
ing in race and country — call each upon his god; it appears still
more strikingly in the accession of terror brought to them amid
the tossing of the waves by Jonah's saying that his God was the
creator of land and sea. Nay, the same idea is seen to have
affected the prophet himself. No doubt Jonah was blessed with
a higher revelation of God. But the history of all religions makes
it plain that the acceptance of a higher conception does not so
far obliterate older conceptions but that they can influence con-
duct at times. And it is clear that the old notion of God as the
God of a particular land was moving Jonah's purposes when he
set out for the far west "from the presence of Jehovah." Waking
to the tempest, he recognised Jehovah's power as extending through
heaven, and the sea, and the dry land; and the double miracle
wrought upon himself of judgment and deliverance brought this
revelation to its climax.
The narrative continues. A second commission is immediately
obeyed, and Jonah journeys through the vast city, crying, "Yet
forty days, and
of some infection spreading through a great centre of population
reads the description of the city of
242 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
and with "mighty cries." The repentance is genuine, is accepted
by God, and the destruction does not come. Jonah is "dis-
pleased exceedingly." It is to be noted that this displeasure of
Jonah is no mere ebullition of temper. With the impulsive sin-
cerity of his character he lays his complaint before God; and it
seems to be with some hope of having moved Jehovah from his
purpose of mercy that Jonah makes his booth, and sits watching
"till he might see what would become of the city." Burned by
the sun without and prophetic anger within, Jonah is suddenly
aware of a ‘gourd-plant’ which with swift growth has shot up to
screen him, and he comes to love it for its beauty and grateful
shadow. In a single night a worm gnaws the gourd, and by morn-
ing it is withered and fallen. Soon sultry wind and direct blaze
of sun drive Jonah to physical exhaustion; more than that, "he
does well to be angry": the lovely gourd smitten by the foul
worm seems to him a blot on God's providence. Then comes
the Divine message.
Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured,
neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a
night: and should not I have pity on
are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between
their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
What is the prophetic revelation underlying this latter part of
the book? Not, as some would have it, the lovingkindness of
Jehovah and his forgiveness of the repentant: for this Jonah
expressly declares he has known from the first. But this
iv. 2 glorious mercy of Jehovah the prophet had conceived as
the heritage of the Hebrew people; he watches with indignation
its extension to the heathen. As in the earlier part of the proph-
ecy he was led to see that Divine power was not confined to the
land of
the universe, so now he is to be taught that the supremacy of
mercy over judgment is an attribute of God in which all races
may feel that they have an interest. There is more than this.
EPIC POETRY OF TILE BIBLE 243
Even Jonah would not have challenged the authority of God to
forgive
ciate himself from such mercy: he did well to be angry. To
entwine his affections about the simplest work of creation — a
plant, and then to wound those affections by roughly destroying it:
this was the object lesson by means of which the prophet was to
be admitted into the commencement of communion with the world-
wide sympathy of Deity. To raise men's thoughts from the nar-
row conception of a local god to the vision of an Omnipotence
exercising dominion over the universe; then to extend to the
whole human race the supremacy of mercy over judgment, alike
in the attributes of God and the sympathy of man: these are
the points of prophetic revelation conveyed in the Epic of Jonah.
CHAPTER X
BIBLICAL HISTORY IN ITS RELATIONS WITH BIBLICAL
EPIC
IN the wider treatment of literature, which includes questions
of authorship and discussion of subject matter, the historical books
Various Types of of the Bible present many and great difficulties.
History repre- A small space only need be allotted to them in the
sented in the present work, the field of which is limited to the
Bible characteristics of Scriptural literature as it stands,
apart from any further enquiry as to how it has grown into what
we find it. If we except the Book of Deuteronomy, which is best
classified otherwise, narrative extends without break from Genesis
to Esther in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament from
St. Matthew to Acts. The sole question for the present chapter
is, How many of the various forms that History may assume are
represented in this succession of historical works?
The name Genesis is suggestive of the character of the book to
which it is a title: it is Primitive History. It covers the ages
Primitive His- preceding the appearance of the Chosen People as
tory a nation. Eleven of its chapters deal with the
Book of Genesis first beginnings of the world; the rest is occupied
with the succession of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Joseph. At the close of Genesis the seed of Abraham is still
treated as a large family ; when the history is resumed in the fol-
lowing book the Egyptians pronounce the Children
Exodus i. 9 of
selves. The character of this Primitive History may be described
244
BIBLICAL HISTORY 245
as an historic framework enclosing epic incidents. The epic ele-
ment has been dealt with in the last chapter: Genesis contains
single epic stories, such as the flood, cycles of stories attaching to
the successive patriarchs, and a single complete epic history in
the Story of Joseph and his Brethren. The framework of history
is made up of genealogies, annals, and connective matter of vari-
ous kinds. As part of this connective matter we have certain
incidents which are clearly introduced for some historic purpose.
Thus incidents connecting Abimelech and Abraham, and again
Abimelech and Isaac, are related with a view to
explain the naming of
wells. Similarly the story of
mutual relations of great world families. Such ix. 20-9; xix. 30
Historic Incidents are easily distinguishable from 8
the Epic Incidents of which the interest lies in the story itself.
Following this Primitive History of Genesis, three books de-
scribe the Migration of the Nation up to the arrival at the Land
of Promise. These three books may be classified Constitutional
together as Constitutional History. They are in History
the nature of things different in kind from what Books of Exodus,
that term generally suggests. Other peoples have Leviticus, Num-
gradually elaborated their constitution out of origi- bers
nal popular customs and modifications by specific enactment. But
the Chosen Nation of Israel is governed directly by God, and its
only Constitutional History is the successive revelations of the
Law. Such history will of course include certain incidents, lead-
ing up to these revelations or intimately associated with them;
as where the visit of Jethro leads to the institution of subordinate
judges, or factions and rebellions issue in fresh confirmation of the
authority wielded by Moses or the priesthood as Jehovah's repre-
sentatives. Besides these incidents, the opening of this section
of history assumes creative form in the great Epic of the Ten
Plagues; and near its conclusion is found the Epic Story of
Balaam. The natural divisions of this Constitutional History are
246 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
three: eighteen chapters of Exodus describe the slavery in
the deliverance, and the journey to Sinai; the rest of Exodus and
the whole of Leviticus are occupied with the general constitution
of the nation at Sinai; and the Book of Numbers traces the march
from Sinai and the thirty-eight years wandering in the wilderness.
We pass to another period, which is represented in the litera-
ture by yet another type of history. The
Incidental His- its various efforts towards secular government is
tory pictured in the Books of Joshua and Judges and
Joshua, Judges, the First Book of Samuel.1 The Book of Joshua
I Samuel narrates the conquest of
the conquered country. The book that follows indicates an age
of sporadic attempts at government by ‘Judges,’ who from time
to time rise up and succeed in commanding a more or less wide
obedience; in the intervals between such Judges there is nothing
but local government, or, in the language of Scripture, every man
does that which is right in his own eyes. In this book, however,
is to be found the first idea of that monarchical rule which was
eventually to assimilate
deliverance wrought by Gideon he is invited to
viii. 22 become king, but refuses: "I will not rule over
you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over
you." After Gideon's death another and less worthy son allowed
himself to be crowned king by the men of Shechem;
viii. 33-ix feud and civil war followed until this king and his
party had exterminated one another. The demand for a secular
king does not reappear until the movement which ended in the
appointment by Divine permission of Saul. But before this took
place another power had emerged for the control of the Israelite
people: in Samuel the ‘Judge’ gradually grew into the ‘Prophet,’
and all through the subsequent age of secular kings there were
never wanting prophets to represent the old theocracy of the
Chosen People. All these considerations confirm the description
of this epoch as a period of transition and tentative rule.
1 The exact division should come at the end of the first chapter of II Samuel.
BIBLICAL HISTORY 247
The history in the three books is properly described as Inci-
dental History. Nearly the whole of it consists in Epic Incidents:
whether the separate Stories of the judges, or Cycles of Stories
relating to Joshua, to Samson, to Samuel and Saul. In the latter
part the Feud of Saul and David appears as one of the most
extended of Epics. The historic framework binding these epic
portion's together is often of the slightest description, no more
than a linking of one incident to another. The i-iii. 6
most considerable parts of such connective matter
are the summary with which the Book of Judges opens, and the
geographical chapters in Joshua which make a sort
of Canaanite Doomsday Book. xiii-xxii
The accession of King David marks the settlement of the
monarchy; the period extending from this point to the Captivity
is narrated in the second book of Samuel and the Regular History
two books of Kings. First we have the reigns of II Samuel, I and
David and Solomon over a united people; then II Kings
comes the schism of the nation and the continuance of the king-
doms of
the northern kingdom, the history of
to its close. The narrative in these three books may be described
as Regular History. It is a systematic account of successive
reigns. There is formal arrangement of the matter: in the earlier
part public policy is to a large extent separated from court life,1
while later on the respective kings of
nearly parallel as the nature of the case permits. Lists of officials
from time to time add an element of documentary history; and
there is constant reference to authorities, the Chronicles of the
Kings of
historically, that is, in proportion to the bearing of each on the
general course of events. There is, however, in the early part one
considerable Epic, the Feud between David's Sons and the Revolt
of Absalom; and to this may be added the Book of Esther, which,
however, falls outside the period, and is a story of the Captivity.
1 Chapters ix-xx of II Samuel centre around court life.
248 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
The place occupied in the other sections of history by Epic Inci-
dents is in this last section mainly represented by Epic Prophecy:
in the stories of individual prophets like Nathan and Abijah, and
the more extended narratives connected with Elijah and Elisha, the
theocratic side of
There remain in the Old Testament the books of Chronicles,
Ezra, and Nehemiah. These make a series that covers the period
Ecclesiastical treated in the last section, and carries it forward as
History far as the return of the Exiles to
Chronicles, Ezra the history in this series is entirely changed in
Nehemiah character: it is distinguished by the prominence
of documents, genealogies, statistics; the narrative appears to
consist in excerpts from the other books of the Bible and from
authorities distinct from these. What is more important, the
whole is dominated by a definite purpose: the matter is abridged,
amplified, arranged, with reference to its bearing on the Jewish
Church, as that Church was restored after the exile. It is thus
Ecclesiastical History.
The distinctness of this Ecclesiastical History from the Regular
History which appeals generally to our sense of record is best
illustrated by taking a particular incident for comparison. I have
before had occasion to refer to the inauguration of
King David; it will be instructive to note how this is treated in
Chronicles and in Samuel.
II SAMUEL 1 CHRONICLES
xiii. 1-4 David’s proposal to the
Assembly in the matter of the
with the special mention of priests
and Levites.
vi. 1-12 (a) The Assembly, and first 5-14 The same matter as in the cor-
attempt to bring up the
in the death of Uzzah, the leaving of siderable verbal agreement, with some
the
and the blessing on the house of
Obed-Edom.
BIBLICAL IIISTORY 249
xv. 1-24 David's recognition that
none but the Levites should bear the
both for the bearing and the musical
performance.
vi. 12 (b)-19 (a) The procession of xv. 25-xvi. 3 Substantial agreement
the
Michal's displeasure — the inaugu- Samuel— but fuller musical details.
ration carried to the point of a dole
to the assembly.
xvi. 4-42 Appointment, apparently
dating from this festival, of a regular
ministry before the
officials and citation of (leading)
songs used.
vi. 19 (b)-2o (a) Return home of xvi. 43 Exactly as in Samuel.
the people and of David.
vi. 20 (b)-23 Sequel of Michal's
displeasure.
Thus, the substance of the narrative is common to both accounts,
with variation in unimportant details, and an amount of verbal
agreement sufficient to show that the author of the later work had
the earlier before him, or else that both used a common authority.
But the account in Chronicles has additions which bring out the
ecclesiastical purpose of its history: there is the explanation of
Uzzah's death as owing to the neglect of the Levitical privileges,
the appointments made in consequence of this, and the full detail
of musical arrangements. Again, when the common narrative has
been brought clown to all but its last detail, it is, in Chronicles,
interrupted by a lengthy account of a general ministry dating from
this day of inauguration; then the final detail of the common
narrative is added. On the other hand, the only section of the
story of Samuel which has no counterpart in Chronicles is the
domestic incident of Michal's remonstrance with the king, in
which Ecclesiastical History would have no concern.
250 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
The Ecclesiastical History of the Jewish Church in the Old
Testament has in the New Testament a counter-
The Four Gospels part in the historical works connected with the
foundation of Christianity. In a literary classification what is the
position to be assigned to the Four Gospels? Though they are a
part of Ecclesiastical History, yet they are not histories. How far
they are from being biographies is seen by the difficulty which
modern writers, with the Gospels before them, find in construct-
ing a satisfactory biography of Jesus Christ. It might seem more
plausible to associate them with the department of Prophecy,
since we have seen that prophetic literature is concerned both
with the discourses of the prophets and with their actions. But
the difference between the Gospels and Prophecy is greater than
the resemblance. The personal position of Jesus in the history
of the Gospels is not that of a prophet. Though the function of
prophets is to convey a Divine message, yet prophetic literature
is made not so much by the message as by the discourse which
enforces it: Jesus Christ, on the contrary, speaks throughout the
Gospels with the authority that commands and enacts, not with
the appeal inviting to a doctrine other than his own. The conclu-
sion we are led to is that the Gospels must be classified by them-
selves, as a specific literary form. The description of this form is
that they are Authoritative Statements of the Acts and Words
of Christ. As in the machinery of public life we have protocols
reciting with authority facts or documents upon which political
action is to be founded, so the authors of the Gospels drew up,
and the early Church accepted, what were, not in themselves books
of law, but the best authorities for the Acts and Words of their
Founder, to which the Church looked for its supreme law. And
this technical description is borne out by the language of the
Preface to
Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative con-
cerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us, even as they
delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses
and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having traced
BIBLICAL HISTORY 251
the course of all things accurately from the first, to write unto thee in
order, most excellent Theophilus; that thou mightest know the cer-
tainty concerning the things wherein thou wast instructed.
If this be a correct description from the literary standpoint of
the Four Gospels, then it will be seen that the remaining book of
Acts must be referred to the same classification.
It is indeed announced as a continuation of St. The Acts of the
Luke's Gospel; and in character it is an Author- Apostles
itative Statement of the Proceedings of the Apostles, in the early
stages of founding the Church, and opening it to the whole Gen-
tile world. This characterisation of the book will appear in its
title, if the wording of the title be translated out of technical into
familiar language. The ‘Apostles’ are so called because they
have received a certain ‘commission’ from their Master; the
‘Acts of the Apostles’ are the ‘Proceedings of the Commission-
ers.’ This description again exactly tallies with the plan and
arrangement of the book. If Acts be regarded as ordinary his-
tory, it will seem strange that the personages and places which
dominate the earlier part are in the latter part almost forgotten;
moreover, the history seems to end abruptly just where it might be
expected to become specially full. But the terms of the ‘com-
mission’ are that the Apostles are to make disciples of all nations,
beginning at
of this commission deals in full detail with the start made at Jeru-
sive enlargements of the area in which the Church is at work.
The first grand enlargement is the admission of Gentiles; and
this is voluminously treated in the account of St. Peter's Vision, of
the Council settling difficulties between the Jews and the Gentile
converts, above all, in the rise of the Apostle who is to devote
himself specially to this work. It is natural that from this point
the history should mainly concern itself with St. xvi. 9
Paul. Another miraculous Vision marks a further
enlargement, where the Gospel is carried from Asia to
And a series of providential circumstances, not less wonderful
252 BIBLICAL HISTORY AND EPIC
than a vision, are narrated at length from their importance in
bringing the Apostle of the Gentiles to
xxi. 17- xxviii When the work of making disciples has thus been
carried from
nations, the terms of the commission have been fully executed:
what remains may be left to the history which is not authoritative.
These are the various types of history represented in Scripture.
In conclusion I would say that those who desire to appreci-
ate these narrative books as literature, apart from the historical
problems they raise, will do well to see that they read, not in
‘chapters,’ but in portions that are fixed by literary considera-
tions; taking in a book at a sitting, or if not, something which
makes a natural division of a book. It is the purpose of the
tables in the Appendix to this work to assist such reading; and I
suggest that a student should, by a little use of the pencil in the
margin of his Revised Version, do that for Biblical History which in
any other history would be done for him by the printer.
BOOK FOURTH
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE BIBLE, OR WISDOM
LITERATURE
CHAPTER PAGE
XI. FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 255
XII. THE SACRED BOOKS OF WISDOM 284
XIII. 'THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON' 305
CHAPTER XI
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE
THIS fourth book is reserved for the Philosophy of the Bible;
that is to say, for the wide range of Scriptural literature which is
the counterpart of our modern Philosophy and
Science. These two names, however, are scarcely ‘Wisdom Lit
to be found in the sacred writings; the literature erature
we are to consider is, in the Bible itself, uniformly designated
‘Wisdom.’ The word is suggestive of one, if not both, the main
distinctions which separate Biblical Philosophy from modern
thought. If it be not pressing the word too far, there is a pictur-
esqueness in the name ‘Wisdom’ that harmonises with the pictur-
esqueness of form never absent from Scriptural literature of thought.
Modern works of science confine themselves strictly to severe
prose style. But the literature of Wisdom borrows often the form
of lyric, and sometimes even of dramatic poetry, and where it is
furthest removed from these, it still leaves the impression of attach-
ing as much consequence to the artistic form as to the thought.
More important than this is the suggestion in the name ‘Wisdom’
that its literature will have a practical bearing on human conduct.
A great part of such writings is made up of specific observations or
precepts in matters of social and family life, of business manage-
ment, public policy, and general self-government. And where such
works as Ecclesiastes or the Wisdom of Solomon1 are occupied in
1 I assume throughout this part of my subject the Apocryphal books of Wisdom
of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus. The distinction implied in the word 'Apocryphal' is
one of theology: according to the Anglican formula, " the Church doth read [them]
255
256 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
interpreting history, or reading the riddle of life, they make it
clear that the argument is followed with a constant reference to
the bearing of the whole on conduct. It is only when comparison
is made with the kindred department of Prophecy that we see the
right of Wisdom literature to be classified under the head of Phi-
losophy, the organ of reflection. Prophecy also is concerned with
conduct; but it starts always with a Divine message, on which all
that it contains is based. Of course Wisdom is in harmony with
the revelation contained in Law and Prophecy, but it never appeals
to it. The sayings of the Wise come to us only as the result of
their own reflections, in combination with the general tradition of
Wisdom.
The present chapter is occupied with the various literary forms
in which this Wisdom literature of the Bible and
Varieties of
dom Literature that follow will treat the separate Books of Wis-
dom as they stand.
The starting-point for this whole class of literature is the Proverb.
There were two sources of Hebrew proverbs: Folk-lore, and the
sayings of the Wise Men. The popular proverbs
The Proverb that float from mouth to mouth appear only by acci-
dent in the Bible. "Out of the wicked cometh forth wickedness"
is an ancient saying hurled by David at Saul, in the wilderness of
Engedi, when Saul's groundless suspicions of him
Popular Proverbs had just been exposed. "Is Saul also among the
prophets?" is a proverb that has descended from those days to
our own.
One form of popular proverb was the Riddle; and, just as
great part of the intercourse between the Wise—between Solo-
mon and Hiram, or Solomon and the Queen of
Riddles
preted, so popular festivities made opportunities for the guessing
for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to
establish any doctrine." As doctrinal questions are excluded from this work, the
distinction does not here apply. The two books are of the highest literary interest.
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 257
of riddles. One cycle or ‘game of riddles’ has been preserved
complete in the Book of Judges. It connects itself naturally with
Samson, whose magnificent frame and redundant
high spirits make him the nearest approach in the Judges xv
Bible to a humorous personage. Samson, it will be recollected,
loved a woman of the Philistines, and after asking her hand through
his father went down to Timnah to the wedding feast. The feast
lasted a week, during which the hero had to endure the company
of thirty guests from the Philistine people he hated and despised.
Denied the vent of physical violence, his irritation took the form
of a wager: the amount, thirty linen garments and thirty changes
of raiment; the subject of contention, that the Philistines would
not guess his riddle. The wager was accepted and the riddle put
forth.
Out of the eater came forth meat,
And out of the strong came forth sweetness.
According to modern notions of riddles, Samson was not playing
fairly, for his question involved information exclusively his own.
On his walks to and fro between his home and the home of the
bride he had one day met a young lion; the lion roared at him,
and Samson, by a sudden impulse, was led to seize the brute with
his bare hands and tear it in pieces; the next time he passed he
found a cluster of bees settled in the torn carcase of the lion, and
actually tasted their honey: this strange conjunction was the
foundation of his riddle. But the Philistine guests, in their turn,
could violate fair play; they brought pressure upon the bride,
and she coaxed the secret out of her lover. At the end of the
seven days the Philistines came to answer the riddle; and their
answer, like the original question, makes a single couplet:
What is sweeter than honey?
And what is stronger than a lion?
Samson turns upon them with a repartee couched in the same
form:
If ye had not ploughed with my heifer,
Ye had not found out my riddle.
258 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
Samson, with his usual grim humour, slew thirty Philistines, and sent
their raiment in payment of the wager; then went home in dudgeon,
and left the bride, who was soon appropriated by another husband.
But it is with the second type of proverbs that we are mainly
concerned. The single couplet, which we have just
The Unit Proverb noted in connection with popular riddles, is the
root of the forms taken by the sayings of the Wise Men.1 Such
a proverb may be defined as a unit of thought in a unit of form.
These Unit Proverbs exhibit two varieties. In one type the
thought is conveyed in a single line, and the other line of the
couplet is supplementary. The single line contains all that philo-
sophic reflection requires; but the sense of form, even in the
simplest Wisdom literature, is so strong that the thought must be
filled out to the dimensions of the received pattern before it can
obtain currency as a proverb.
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
And he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
*
The heart knoweth its own bitterness;
And a stranger cloth not intermeddle with its joy.
The supplement in these two examples is a parallel to the main
thought, or its converse. Where the essence of the proverb is
deep or obscure, the supplementary line comes to interpret it.
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life;
And he that is wise winneth souls.
How can fruit be a tree? The supplement interprets of the wise
life which is the fruit of righteous endeavour, and which has an
attractive force on all around, bringing forth in them lives of like
righteousness. The supplement may precede the thought: —
1 The triplet is not entirely absent even from such elementary anthologies as
that constituting the second book of our Biblical Proverbs (e.g. xix. 7, 23; com-
pare xxiv. 27). There is an interesting form of unit proverb that can be read
either as a couplet or triplet: examples are Proverbs x. 26; and especially xxv. 3,
12, 20; xxvi. I, 3, etc.
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 259
The Long hath made everything for its own end:
Yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
The point of this proverb is clearly that the wicked exist for the
purpose of being destroyed: the statement is made the fuller by
the reminder that everything has its purpose. Two proverbs may
be made out of the same thought with different supplements.
Though hand join in hand, the evil man shall not be unpunished:
But the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.
* *
Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD.
Though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
In the other variety of Unit Proverb there is no room for
supplementary matter: the thought, which is the essence of the
saying, requires the whole of the proverb for its expression; and
is distributed through the two lines of the couplet.
It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer:
But when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.
* *
He kisseth the lips
That giveth a right answer.
To this variety belong the large class of proverbs which are
founded on a comparison.
As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes,
So is the sluggard to them that send him.
* *
A rebuke entereth deeper into one that hath understanding
Than an hundred stripes into a fool.
* *
Seven days are the days of mourning for the dead;
But for a fool and an ungodly man, all the days of his life.
* *
The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold,
And a man is tried by his praise.
260 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
It appears, then, that the parallel couplet, which we have seen
as the most elementary type of Hebrew verse, is also the fixed form
The Unit Proverb for the Unit Proverb of Philosophy, a department
as the germ of that naturally belongs to prose. The Unit Proverb
Wisdom Litera- thus makes a meeting-point for prose and verse.
ture The Wisdom literature, developing from this as germ,
takes two directions, and for every poetic form which it throws off
a corresponding form of prose is to be found. This will be best
conveyed by a table.
Unit Proverb
germ
tending Verse-wards tending Prose-wards
Epigram Maxim
germ with Verse germ with Prose
expansion comment
Sonnet Essay
theme with high paral- theme with miscellaneous
lelism thoughts gathered round it
Fixed Sonnet Free Sonnet Proverb Cluster Essay Proper
fixed to one free to assume the details gnomic details
particular high parallelism fixed to gnomic freely
number form of any kind form worked up
Dramatic Monologue Rhetoric Encomium
by attraction to Drama by attraction to Rhetoric
On the side of verse, we have first the Epigram. It will be
remembered that the epigrams of antiquity did not necessarily
exhibit the pointedness of expression and flash of
The Epigram wit which modern literature associates with the
name. A Greek epigram needed nothing more than the concise
expression of a complete thought within the limits of a few coup-
lets. The Hebrew epigrams may be said to be more pointed
than the Greek, since each has buried in it one of these ‘gnomes’
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 261
or unit proverbs. The distinction of the Epigram is that two of
its lines (not necessarily consecutive) will be found to constitute
a gnomic germ, of which the rest is the expansion. In the exam-
ples to be quoted these lines will be distinguished by italics.1
A Chaplet of Instruction
My son, hear the instruction of thy father,
And forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head,
And chains about thy neck.
* *
*
The Fall of the Righteous and the Wicked
Lay not wait, 0 wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous;
Spoil not his resting place:
For a righteous man falleth seven times, and riseth up again:
But the wicked are overthrown by calamity.
* *
*
The Fool's Friends
The fool will say, "I have no friend,
And I have no thanks for my good deeds;
And they that eat my bread are of evil tongue."
How oft, and of how many, shall he be laughed to scorn!
In each case the lines italicised would stand alone as a unit prov-
erb. In the first example a second proverb is added to support
the first. In the other two cases, each line of the germ saying is
followed by another line enforcing or interpreting it. It will be
seen that the germ proverb need not be at the commencement;
in the example that follows it comes at the end.
Gluttony
Hear thou, my son, and be wise,
And guard thy heart in the way.
Be not among winebibbers;
Among gluttonous eaters of flesh:
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty,
And drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
1 References to the examples in this chapter are omitted, as the Epigrams, Essays,
etc., are cited by their titles in the table of Appendix II.
262 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
To make longer epigrams, we find the first line of a unit prov-
erb buttressed by a parallel line, while to the second a full
explanation is appended.
Hospitality of the Evil Eye
Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye,
Neither desire thou his dainties:
For as one that reckoneth within himself, so is he
Eat and drink, saith he to thee,
But his heart is not with thee.
The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up,
And lose thy sweet words.
* *
Wisdom and Honey
My son, eat thou honey, for it is good;
And the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste;
So shalt thou know wisdom to be unto thy soul
If thou hast found it, then shall there be a reward,
And thy hope shall not be cut off.
More elaborate in structure is the epigram of Lemuel's mother:
first, each line of the germ proverb is supported by a parallel line,
then each has a whole quatrain antithetical to it.
Kings and Wine
It is not for kings, 0 Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine,
Nor for princes to say, Where is strong drink?
Lest they drink, and forget the law,
And pervert the judgement of any that is afflicted.
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish,
And wine unto the bitter in soul:
Let him drink, and forget his poverty,
And remember his misery no more.
Open thy mouth for the dumb,
In the cause of all such as are left desolate.
Open thy mouth, judge righteously,
And minister judgement to the poor and needy.
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 263
Exactly corresponding to these Epigrams in verse we find, on
the prose side, compositions that will here be Maxims
called Maxims.1 Their form is that of a text with
a comment; a germ proverb (or the essential words of it) is
merged in what is a prose expansion of the same.
Wisdom is as good as an inheritance: yea, more excellent is it for
them that see the sun. For wisdom is a defence, even as money is
a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom preserveth
the life of him that hath it.
* *
*
Make not merry in much luxury; neither be tied to the expense
thereof. Be not made a beggar by banqueting upon borrowing when
thou hast nothing in thy purse. A workman that is a drunkard
shall not become rich.
* *
*
The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a
fool will swallow up himself. The beginning of the words of his
mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.
A fool also multiplieth words: yet man knoweth not what shall be;
and that which shall be after him, who can tell him?
These are among the shorter maxims; longer examples are to
be found in the book of Ecclesiastes.
Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for
their labour. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow: but woe to
him that is alone when he falleth, and hath not another to lift him
up. Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth: but how
can one be warm alone? And if a man prevail against him that is
alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly
broken.
1 I am not aware of any English term that exactly describes the class of compo-
sitions here brought forward. The word maxim in English is used loosely. Mr.
Joseph Jacobs in his (Golden Treasury) edition of Gracian contends, not without
reason, that the term has a special application to sayings which are practical and
not meditative. At the same time the maxims he is editing have a closer resem-
blance to this form of text and comment than anything outside Biblical Wisdom.
264 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
As with the epigram, the text is not necessarily at the commence-
ment, but may be absorbed into the body of the maxim.
Speak not one against another, brethren. He that speaketh against
a brother, or judgeth his brother, speaketh against the law, and judgeth
the law: but if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law,
but a judge. One only is the lawgiver and judge, even he who is able
to save and to destroy: but who art thou that judgest thy neighbour?
The germ of this maxim is the paradox, "He that speaketh against
a brother speaketh against the law"; and it illustrates how much
thought can be packed into one of these gnomic sentences. The
Apostle is writing to those whose reverence for ‘the law’ had
amounted to a superstition; and it is one of the underlying ideas
of the whole epistle that the Christian's ‘liberty’ is, not a laxer,
but a higher law. In this saying the writer lays down that one
who is censorious against another is impugning his brother's
liberty of action, is therefore impugning that which the new dis-
pensation has made the highest law.
Continuing to follow the prose side of our table, we are brought
to that which may be considered the most important of the forms
assumed by Wisdom literature — the Essay. The
The Essay word has been used somewhat loosely in modern
speech, but it essentially implies two things: first, a composition
professing only a fragmentary treatment of a subject; and sec-
ondly, that the details of this composition need have no mutual
bond except their relevancy to the topic which stands as title of
the Essay. If more than this goes to any composition— if, for
example, there is methodical arrangement or formal investigation
— then the name ‘treatise’ would be more proper; the Essay is
bound to nothing beyond miscellaneous thoughts collected around
a common theme. This description applies to the Essays of the
Bible and Apocrypha; but upon these a further characteristic is
stamped by their gnomic origin. Indeed, it becomes necessary
to recognise a type of composition which makes a half-way stage
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 265
between the Proverb and the Essay. This we shall call the
‘Proverb Cluster’: a number of proverbs (includ- Proverb Clusters
ing maxims and epigrams) are collected together
around a common theme, each retaining its independence and
fixed gnomic form. To make an Essay, the component parts are
freely worked together into a new style; though the Wisdom
Essays continually suggest their gnomic origin, and often a con-
siderable number of their sentences will stand as independent
proverbs.
We are able, in the literature which has come down to us, to
watch the process by which Essays have been evolved out of
Proverbs. I propose to bring this out by placing Development of
side by side three compositions; the matter of the Essays out of
three is largely the same, and it is clear that the Proverbs
later authors have borrowed from the earlier; in form, they repre-
sent three stages in the development of the Essay.
On the Government of the Tongue
Winnow not with every wind, and walk not in every path: thus
doeth the sinner that hath a double tongue.
Be stedfast in thy understanding; and let thy word be one.
Be swift to hear; and with patience make thine answer.
If thou hast understanding, answer thy neighbour; and if not,
let thy hand be upon thy mouth.
Glory and dishonour is in talk: and the tongue of a man is his
fall.
Be not called a whisperer; and lie not in wait with thy tongue:
for upon the thief there is shame, and an evil condemnation upon
him that hath a double tongue.
In a great matter and in a small, be not ignorant; and instead of
a friend become not an enemy; for an evil name shall inherit shame
and reproach: even so shall the sinner that hath a double tongue.
The above is plainly a Proverb Cluster: each paragraph is an
independent saying, which has a bearing upon the general subject,
but no bond with the other paragraphs; any one of these could
be removed without the unity of the whole being affected. In
266 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
the extract which next follows, consecutive sentences have fused
together into connectedness of thought; but there still remain a
considerable number of them which make complete proverbs, and
some of these could be cut out without damage to the rest.
On the Tongue
If thou blow a spark, it shall burn; if thou spit upon it, it shall
be quenched: and both these shall come out of thy mouth.
Curse the whisperer and double-tongued: for he hath destroyed
many that were at peace. A third person's tongue hath shaken
many, and dispersed them from nation to nation; and it hath
pulled down strong cities, and overthrown the houses of great
men. A third person's tongue hath cast out brave women and
deprived them of their labours. He that hearkeneth unto it shall
not find rest, nor shall he dwell quietly. The stroke of a whip
maketh a mark in the flesh; but the stroke of a tongue will break
bones. Many have fallen by the edge of the sword: yet not so
many as they that have fallen because of the tongue. Happy is he
that is sheltered from it, that hath not passed through the wrath
thereof; that hath not drawn its yoke, and hath not been bound
with its bands. For the yoke thereof is a yoke of iron, and the
bands thereof are bands of brass. The death thereof is an evil
death; and Hades were better than it. It shall not have rule over
godly men; and they shall not be burned in its flame. They that
forsake the Lord shall fall into it, and it shall burn among them,
and shall not be quenched: it shall be sent forth upon them as a
lion; and as a leopard it shall destroy them. Look that thou hedge
thy possession about with thorns; bind up thy silver and thy gold;
and make a weight and a balance for thy words; and make a door
and a bar for thy mouth. Take heed lest thou slip therein; lest
thou fall before one that lieth in wait.
The difference between this passage and that which follows is
only one of degree. When the same topic is presented by St.
James, we find connectedness of thought reigning throughout, and
the free flow of Essay style has prevailed completely over the
independence of sentences that belong to proverbs; only here and
there the turn of a sentence reminds us of the gnomic origin of
this class of Essay.
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 267
The Responsibility of Speech
Be not many teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive
heavier judgement. For in many things we all stumble. If any stum-
bleth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the
whole body also. Now if we put the horses' bridles into their
mouths, that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body
also. Behold, the ships also, though they are so great, and are driven
by rough winds, are vet turned about by a very small rudder, whither
the impulse of the steersman willeth. So the tongue also is a little
member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how much wood is
kindled by how small a fire: And the tongue is a fire: the world of
iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole
body, and setteth on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by
hell. For every kind of beasts and birds, of creeping things and
things in the sea, is tamed, and bath been tamed by mankind: but
the tongue can no man tame; it is a restless evil, it is full of deadly
poison. Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and therewith
curse we men, which are made after the likeness of God: out of the
same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these
things ought not so to be. Doth the fountain send forth from the
same opening sweet water and bitter? can a fig tree, my brethren,
yield olives, or a vine figs? Neither can salt water yield sweet.
There is a whole literature of essays in the Wisdom books of
the Bible and the Apocrypha. They are not essays in the more
modern sense which the English reader associates Wisdom Essays
with the name of Lord Macaulay: but they rather
represent the oldest type of such compositions, to which contribu-
tions were made by Bacon and by Montaigne, by Feltham and by the
author of the Microcosmography. Indeed, there can be no doubt
that these writers (Montaigne excepted) owed largely to the influ-
ence of Ecclesiasticus and kindred books the sententiousness of
their style and the asyndeton of their sentences. But in the case
of these essays the same difficulty confronts the literary reader
which has been pointed out in reference to other departments. In
the form in which our Bibles are presented to us the separate
essays are allowed to run together without break, and the titles so
essential to this kind of writing are wholly wanting. I have endeav-
268 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
oured to meet this difficulty by indicating in the Appendix1 to this
work the separate essays, and suggesting appropriate titles. And
here, as elsewhere, I would advise the reader to mark such divi-
sions and titles in his Bible and Apocrypha, before he attempts to
appreciate the literary character of these compositions.
At this point I can do nothing but illustrate. Of the shorter
essays a good specimen is that of Ecclesiasticus on Gossip.
On Gossip
He that is hasty to trust is lightminded; and he that sinneth shall
offend against his own soul. He that maketh merry in his heart
shall be condemned; and he that hateth talk hath the less wicked-
ness. Never repeat what is told thee, and thou shalt fare never the
worse. Whether it be of friend or foe, tell it not; and if thou canst
without sin, reveal not the matter; for he hath heard thee and
observed thee, and when the time cometh he will hate thee. Hast
thou heard a word? let it die with thee: be of good courage, it will
not burst thee. A fool will travail in pain with a word, as a woman
in labour with a child. As an arrow that sticketh in the flesh of the
thigh, so is a word in a fool's belly. Reprove a friend; it may be
he did it not; and if he did it, that he may do it no more. Reprove
thy neighbour; it may be he said it not; and if he hath said it, that
he may not say it again. Reprove a friend, for many times there is
slander: and trust not every word. There is one that slippeth, and
not from the heart: and who is he that hath not sinned with his
tongue? Reprove thy neighbour before thou threaten him; and give
place to the law of the Most High.
This essay is one of those in which gnomic verses abound. In
the next they are rare, and the whole essay strikes a higher key.
Prosperity and Adversity are from the Lord
There is one that toileth, and laboureth, and maketh haste, and
is so much the more behind. There is one that is sluggish, and
hath need of help, lacking in strength, and that aboundeth in
poverty; and the eyes of the Lord looked upon him for good,
and he set him up from his low estate, and lifted up his head;
and many marvelled at him. Good things and evil, life and death,
1 See Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, St. James, in the Literary Index
(Appendix I); or the Table of Wisdom Literature in Appendix II.
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 269
poverty and riches, are from the Lord. The gift of the Lord remain-
eth with the godly, and his good pleasure shall prosper for ever.
There is that waxeth rich by his wariness and pinching, and this is
the portion of his reward: when he saith, I have found rest, and
now will I eat of my goods; yet he knoweth not what time shall
pass, and he shall leave them to others, and die. Be stedfast in thy
covenant, and be conversant therein, and wax old in thy work. Mar-
vel not at the works of a sinner; but trust the Lord, and abide in
thy labour: for it is an easy thing in the sight of the Lord swiftly on
the sudden to make a poor man rich. The blessing of the Lord is in
the reward of the godly; and in an hour that cometh swiftly he mak-
eth his blessing to flourish. Say not, what use is there of me? and
what from henceforth shall my good things be? Say not, I have
sufficient, and from henceforth what harm shall happen unto me?
In the day of good things there is a forgetfulness of evil things; and
in the day of evil things a man will not remember things that are
good. For it is an easy thing in the sight of the Lord to reward a
man in the day of death according to his ways. The affliction of an
hour causeth forgetfulness of delight; and in the last end of a man
is the revelation of his deeds. Call no man blessed before his death;
and a man shall be known in his children.
I follow this with one of the longer essays, one marked also by
a greater variety of style.
On Counsel and Counsellors
Every counsellor extolleth counsel; but there is that counselleth
for himself. Let thy soul beware of a counsellor, and know thou be-
fore what is his interest (for he will counsel for himself); lest he
cast the lot upon thee, and say unto thee, Thy way is good: and he
will stand over against thee, to see what shall befall thee. Take
not counsel with one that looketh askance at thee; and hide thy
counsel from such as are jealous of thee. Take not counsel with a
woman about her rival; neither with a coward about war; nor with
a merchant about exchange; nor with a buyer about selling; nor
with an envious man about thankfulness; nor with an unmerciful
man about kindliness; nor with a sluggard about any kind of work;
nor with a hireling in thy house about finishing his work; nor with
an idle servant about much business: give not heed to these in any
matter of counsel. But rather be continually with a godly man,
whom thou shalt have known to be a keeper of the commandments,
270 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
who in his soul is as thine own soul, and who will grieve with thee,
if thou shalt miscarry. And make the counsel of thy heart to stand;
for there is none more faithful unto thee than it. For a man's soul
is sometime wont to bring him tidings, more than seven watchmen
that sit on high on a watch-tower. And above all this entreat the
Most High, that he may direct thy way in truth. Let reason be the
beginning of every work, and let counsel go before every action.
As a token of the changing of the heart, four manner of things do
rise up, good and evil, life and death; and that which ruleth over
them continually is the tongue. There is one that is shrewd and the
instructor of many, and yet is unprofitable to his own soul. There
is one that is subtle in words, and is hated; he shall be destitute of
all food: for grace was not given him from the Lord; because he is
deprived of all wisdom. There is one that is wise to his own soul;
and the fruits of his understanding are trustworthy in the mouth. A
wise man will instruct his own people; and the fruits of his under-
standing are trustworthy. A wise man shall be filled with blessing;
and all they that see him shall call him happy. The life of man is
numbered by days; and the days of
man shall inherit confidence among his people, and his name shall
live for ever.
The second paragraph of this essay has an obscurity which is rare
in Wisdom literature. The line of thought seems to be as follows.
Man's whole experience for good or evil depends upon the direc-
tion of his purposes; and a force continually influencing these
purposes is the speech of his fellowmen. Hence the importance
of marking the character of those who counsel. One type has the
power of imparting instruction, but no morale to make the in-
struction worth having: for all his wisdom he is unprofitable to
his own soul. One is false in speech, and so wholly hateful. A
third has his wisdom bounded by selfishness; but what he is willing
to speak will be worth marking. The truly wise will have not only
wisdom but also the desire to impart it to his fellow-countrymen;
his blessedness will be as much beyond that of the other as a
nation is wider and more lasting than an individual.
As a final example, I cite an essay of St. James, to show how wide-
reaching a treatment of how profound a subject can be compressed
within the narrow limits of this fragmentary form of composition.
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 271
On the Sources of the Evil and the Good in Man
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he hath
been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord
promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is
tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with
evil, and he himself tempteth no man: but each man is tempted,
when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the
lust when it hath conceived, beareth sin; and the sin, when it is
full-grown, bringeth forth death. Be not deceived, my beloved
brethren.
Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above, coming
down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation,
neither shadow that is cast by turning. Of his own will he brought
us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits
of his creatures. Know ye this, my beloved brethren; but let every
man be swift to hear, slow to speak; slow to wrath, — for the wrath
of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore putting
away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meek-
ness the inborn word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye
doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.
For if any one is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto
a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: for he beholdeth him-
self, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man
he was. But he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty,
and so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth, but a doer that
worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing. If any man thinketh
himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue but decciveth
his heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled
before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows
in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
It would be difficult to find elsewhere so complete and harmo-
nious a theory stated in so brief a space. The question is of the
origin of the Evil and Good within us. The author strikes the
keynote of Temptation—the struggle in us between Evil and
Good. Echoing a saying of Ecclesiasticus, he warns Eccles. xv. 11
us against the delusion that temptation to evil could
come from God. The true origin of evil he illustrates by the im-
age of childbirth: it is the fruit of a union between the individual
272 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
man— that is, man's Will1—and his Lust; only when these have
consented together is evil born, and such a union is not a marriage,
but a seduction. The germ of evil thus accounted for, the Apostle
proceeds to its further development; and this he explains by the
same image of childbirth, carried on to a second generation.
Turning, then, to the question of Good, St. James continues the
imagery of childbirth; a union is hinted at between "The Will of
God" and "The Word of Truth," as a result of which there exists
in each individual an "inborn word" as the germ of Good. As
with Evil, so here the writer proceeds to the development of such
a germ, and this occupies the larger part of the essay. The
imagery changes to that of listening: laying aside obstacles such
as wrath, malice, filthiness, we are with patience and acuteness of
attention, to listen for the word within us. But one more condi-
tion is essential: that the truth in proportion as it is caught must
be carried into action. To enforce this principle, the remarkable
illustration of a mirror is used: truth that is seen without being
acted upon is compared to a reflection in a glass that vanishes as
soon as the face is turned away. But how is this image to be
carried on to express the man who lives the truth he sees? Such
a man will behold truth reflected in the mirror of his action: but,
in accordance with one of the main ideas of his epistle, St. James
puts it, not as action according to law, but action according to
the Christian liberty, which is the highest form of law. With prac-
tical examples the essay concludes.
I now turn back to the verse side of Wisdom literature. Here
we find a class of compositions, which, like the Essay, are made
up of miscellaneous thoughts gathered around a
The Sonnet common theme. Their poetic form is evidenced
in the fact that, not only are they composed of rhythmic lines, but
also their parts are bound together by high parallelism — the
parallelism, that is, which links not" single verses only but masses
1 The wording of the corresponding section in the second paragraph (verse 18
of
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 273
of lines, or again, not adjacent lines, but portions of a composition
widely separated.1 This characteristic can be best conveyed by
illustration.
On Evil Company
My son, if sinners entice thee,
Consent thou not.
If they say, "Come with us,
Let us lay wait for blood,
Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause;
Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol,
And whole, as those that go down into the pit;
We shall find all precious substance,
We shall fill our houses with spoil;
Thou shalt cast thy lot among us;
We will all have one purse:"
My son, walk not thou in the way with them;
Refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed blood.
For in vain is the net spread,
In the eyes of any bird;
And these lay wait for their own blood,
They lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain;
It taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
The eye catches that the whole of this poem, after the opening
couplet, falls into two blocks of lines; upon examination it will be
found that the block of lines indented to the left are all of them
expansions of the first line of the opening couplet, "My son, if
sinners entice thee," and the block of lines indented to the right
are expansions of the second line of the couplet, "Consent thou
not." Thus it appears that precisely the same parallelism which
unites the two opening lines into a couplet of verse is found to bind
the divisions of the poem itself into a whole. This is a simple
instance of the higher parallelism.
What is the proper name for this class of compositions? To
1 Above, Chapter II, pages 74-5, and Appendix III.
274 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OF WISDOM
me it appears that their position in relation to universal literature
is expressed by calling them ‘Sonnets.’ No doubt they present
one palpable difference from the poems we are
Difference be- accustomed to designate by that name: they are
tween Hebrew not, like Italian and English sonnets, constructed of
and English exactly fourteen lines each. But is this limitation
Sonnets not, like Italian and English sonnets, constructed of
to fourteen lines the essential of the Sonnet, or is it only a matter
of prescriptive usage? I would contend that if the Sonnet is to
rank as a leading poetic type in universal literature its principle
must be deeper. The true distinction of the Sonnet, like that of
the Fugue in music, is that it reverses the usual order of things,
and presents us with matter adapting itself to external form. The
form that obtains in our modern poetry is the arrangement in
fourteen lines; accordingly, the thought of our sonnets must be
sufficient to fill out the fourteen lines, it must not be too wide to
be compressed into that space; further (in the Italian sonnet) the
logical connection of the thoughts must be such as will fit in with
the division of the fourteen lines into a set of eight and a set of
six. Now it is impossible to read the Biblical poems under dis-
cussion without feeling that here too we have thought adapting
itself to form; not, of course, to any particular number of lines,
but to elaboration of parallelism of some kind. To generalise, we
may say that wherever thought runs into poetic moulds we have
the spirit of the Sonnet; it belongs to the individuality of different
literatures to decide whether only one mould shall be used, or
more than one. Already we have seen a difference of type be-
tween the strict Italian sonnet with its division into eight and six,
and the English sonnets which may observe or ignore that division.
Hebrew poetry multiplies that difference by allowing free variety
of forms, yet still leaving in its sonnets the literary impression of
matter fitting itself to form.
These Wisdom poems fall into two distinct types. The first may
be called the Fixed Sonnet: it is fixed, not to one
The Fixed Sonnet particular number of lines, but to the working out
of a number form indicated in the opening verses.
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 275
Little and Wise
There be four things which are little upon the earth,
But they are exceeding wise:
The ants are a people not strong,
Yet they provide their meat in the summer;
The conies are but a feeble folk,
Yet make they their houses in the rocks;
The locusts have no king,
Yet go they forth all of them by hands;
The lizard thou canst seize with thy hands,
Yet is she in kings' palaces.
* *
*
What Wisdom loves and hates
In three things I was beautified,
And stood up beautiful before the Lord and men:
The concord of brethren,
And friendship of neighbours,
And a woman and her husband that walk together in agree-
ment.
But three sorts of men my soul hateth,
And I am greatly offended at their life:
A poor man that is haughty,
A rich man that is a liar,
And an old man that is an adulterer lacking understanding.
The number form is usually reached by a progression.
The Unsatisfied
The horseleach hath two daughters, called Give, Give;
There are three things that are never satisfied,
Yea, four that say not, Enough:
The grave;
And the barren womb;
The earth that is not satisfied with water;
And the fire that saith not, Enough.
* *
*
276 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
Wonders
There be three things which are too wonderful for me,
Yea, four which I know not:
The way of an eagle in the air;
The way of a serpent upon a rock;
The way of a ship in the midst of the sea;
And the way of a man with a maid.
* *
*
The Golden Mean
Two things have I asked of thee;
Deny me not three1 before I die:
Remove far from me vanity and lies;
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with the food that is needful for me:
Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD?
Or lest I be poor and steal,
And use profanely the name of my God.
* *
*
The Love of the Lord
There be nine things that I have thought of,
And in mine heart counted happy;
And the tenth I will utter with my tongue:
A man that hath joy of his children;
A man that liveth and looketh upon the fall of his enemies;
Happy is he that dwelleth with a wife of understanding;
And he that hath not slipped with his tongue;
And he that hath not served a man that is unworthy of him;
Happy is he that hath found prudence;
And he that discourseth in the ears of them that listen;
How great is he that hath found Wisdom!
Yet is there none above him that feareth the Lord.
The Love2 of the Lord passeth all things:
He that holdeth it, to whom shall he be likened?
1 This has obviously slipped out of the line [A. V. and R. V. of Proverbs xxx. 7
read 'them'], otherwise the sonnet would name two things and enumerate ‘three.’
2 This is the reading of A. V. to Eccles. xxv. 11: the R. V., no doubt on better
textual authority, reads ‘fear,’ which destroys the form of the Sonnet. The emen-
dation comes under the principle laid down above, page 57, note.
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 277
The other type of Sonnet is free to adopt high parallelism of
any kind. A simple example was cited above, in which the lines
fell into two blocks, one block of lines parallel with The Free Sonnet
the first, the other of lines parallel with the second
line of the couplet text. In the Sonnet that follows the lines
seem to alternate irregularly: but upon examination it will appear
that all on the left deal with the commandment, and those on the
right with its reward.
The Commandment and its Reward
My son, forget not my law;
But let thine heart keep my commandments:
For length of days, and years of life,
And peace, shall they add to thee.
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee;
Bind them about thy neck:
Write them upon the table of thine heart:
So shalt thou find favour and good understanding
In the sight of God and man.
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart,
And lean not upon thine own understanding:
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
And he shall direct thy paths.
Be not wise in thine own eyes:
Fear the LORD and depart from evil:
It shall be health to thy navel.
And marrow to thy bones.
Honour the LORD with thy substance,
And with the first fruits of all thine increase:
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty,
And thy fats shall overflow with new wine.
More elaborate in structure is the Sonnet on Intoxication. It
has the general form of an enigma: six short lines contain six
questions, the common answer to which makes a single couplet of
longer lines. Then these two parts are doubled, and their order
reversed: the couplet is expanded into a quatrain, after which the
ideas of the six opening lines are emphasised in six couplets.
278 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM?
On Intoxication
Who hath woe?
Who hath sorrow?
Who hath contentions?
Who hath complaining?
Who hath wounds without cause?
Who hath redness of eyes?
They that tarry long at the wine;
They that go to seek out mixed wine.
Look not thou upon the wine
When it is red,
When it giveth its colour in the cup,
When it goeth down smoothly:
At the last it biteth like a serpent,
And stingeth like an adder.
Thine eyes shall behold strange things,
And thine heart shall utter froward things.
Yea, thou shalt be as he that Beth down in the midst of the sea.
Or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
"They have stricken me,
And I was not hurt;
They have beaten me,
And I felt it not;
When shall I awake?
I will seek it yet again."
This single sonnet has illustrated two leading devices of sonnet
form — reversing the order of parts, and augmenting. I add
two more poems, illustrating each of these devices respectively,
and further interesting from their thought and tone.
On the Unsearchableness of God
I have wearied myself, 0 God,
I have wearied myself, O God,
And am consumed:
For I am more brutish than any man,
And have not the understanding of a man:
And I have not learned wisdom,
Neither have I the knowledge of the Holy One.
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 279
Who hath ascended up into heaven, and descended?
Who hath gathered the wind in his fists?
Who hath bound the waters in his garment?
Who hath established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name,
And what is his son's name,
If thou knowest?
If we may intrude upon the spiritual beauty of this poem by tech-
nical analysis, it is to point out how three short lines grow into
four long, and then, by reverse process, four long sink into three
short. In the example that follows form and thought are clearly
working together. A quatrain of apprehension answered by a
triplet of prayer augments into a double quatrain of apprehension
answered by a double triplet of prayer. Such structural aug-
menting means spiritual intensification.
Watchfulness of Lips and Heart
Who shall set a watch over my mouth,
And a seal of shrewdness upon my lips,
That I fall not from it,
And that my tongue destroy me not?
O Lord, Father and Master of my life,
Abandon me not to their counsel:
Suffer me not to fall by them.
Who will set scourges over my thought,
And a discipline of wisdom over my heart
That they spare me not for mine ignorances,
And my heart pass not by their sins:
That my ignorances be not multiplied,
And my sins abound not;
And I shall fall before mine adversaries,
And mine enemy rejoice over me?
O Lord,
Father and God of my life,
Give me not a proud look,
And turn away concupiscence from me.
Let not greediness and chambering overtake me,
And give me not over to a shameless mind.
280 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
Before passing away from this class of composition, we may
Development of note that, as we saw in the case of the Essay, so
Sonnets out of the development of the Sonnet out of the Proverb
Proverbs can be illustrated in all its parts. One example is
singularly complete. We are able to go back to an original germ
preserved in another poem.
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty,
And drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
The thought of this unit proverb, namely, the second line which
connects together drowsiness and rags, has grown into an epigram.
Epigram on the Sluggard
"Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep":
So shall thy poverty come as a robber;
And thy want as an armed man.
We may judge that this epigram belonged to the extensive float-
ing literature of proverbs, from the fact of its appearing in two
distinct poems. These poems are sonnets, belonging, of course,
to the age of individual poets; the two work from distinct points
of view to the above epigram as their climax.
Sonnet on the Field of the Slothful
I went by the field of the slothful,
And by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns,
The face thereof was covered with nettles,
And the stone wall thereof was broken down.
Then I beheld, and considered well:
I saw, and received instruction.
"Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep":
So shall thy poverty come as a robber;
And thy want as an armed man.
* *
*
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 281
Sonnet on the Sluggard
Go to the ant, thou sluggard;
Consider her ways, and be wise:
Which having no chief,
Overseer, or ruler,
Provideth her meat in the summer,
And gathereth her food in the harvest.
How long wilt thou sleep, 0 sluggard?
When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
“Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep":
So shall thy poverty come as a robber,
And thy want as an armed man.
It remains to note, in conclusion, that Wisdom literature, on
both its sides of verse and prose, is attracted by other literary
departments, and compound forms arise. Prose Philosophy feels
the attraction of Rhetoric, and we get as a result the Rhetoric
Encomium. The name conveys the character of
the composition; a writer sets himself formally to The Rhetoric
the task of praising Wisdom, or the works of the Encomium
Lord, and the style has rhetorical flow rather than gnomic senten-
tiousness. Indeed, these compositions are usually considered
poems. But I have pointed out more than once, in connection
with the general discussion of the subject, that parallelism by itself
is an insufficient criterion of verse and prose, belonging as it does
to Rhetoric equally with Hebrew verse. And when the matter of
these encomia is considered, it seems to me nearer to the matter
of prose essays than to that of sonnets. Even as regards structure,
the parallelism is sometimes broken by what will make excellent
prose, but feeble verse.
Good things are created from the beginning for the good: so are
evil things for sinners. The chief of all things necessary Ecclus.
for the life of man are water, and fire, and iron, and salt, xxxix.
and flour of wheat, and honey, and milk, the blood of the 25
grape, and oil, and clothing. All these things are for good to the
godly; so to the sinners they shall be turned into evil.
282 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
If this enumeration of necessary things be placed side by side
with a not dissimilar enumeration taken from a lyric ode, the
rhythmic gulf which separates the two will be apparent.
Deut. xxxii. And he made him to suck honey out of the rock,
13 And oil out of the flinty rock;
Butter of Line, and milk of sheep,
With fat of lambs.
And rams of the breed of
With the fat of kidneys of wheat;
And of the blood of the grape thou drankest wine.
In any case, the Rhetoric Encomium makes one more point at
which Hebrew verse and prose approach one another.
On the other hand, Wisdom is attracted by Drama, and conveys
its thoughts in the form of Dramatic Monologues. Wisdom is
personified: she is made to build her house, to
The Dramatic spread her table, to speak in warning or invitation.
Monologue The most elaborate poem of this type in the Book
of Proverbs prepares the way for the monologue itself by a vivid
picture of the ‘Strange Woman,’ laying her snares, and speaking
her wiles, till the simple victim follows, like an ox going to the
slaughter, to the house that is the way to the Abyss. Immediately,
without a word of connection, comes the contrast.
Doth not Wisdom cry,
And Understanding put forth her voice?
In the top of high places by the way,
Where the paths meet, she standeth;
Beside the gates, at the entry of the city,
At the coining in at the doors, she crieth aloud.
Wisdom tells of her excellent things: of her instruction that is
worth more than silver, her knowledge and subtlety more valuable
than rubies and gold.
FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 283
Counsel is mine, and effectual working,
I am understanding; I have might.
By me kings reign;
And princes decree justice.
By me princes rule,
And nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
The climax comes with creative wisdom. The scientific statement
of the thought would be that the structure of the universe is such
as to suggest design in its Author: but here the design itself is
personified, and claims to have been with the Creator from the first.
When there were no depths, I was brought forth;
When there were no fountains abounding with water.
Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills was I brought forth:
While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields,
Nor the beginning of the dust of the world.
When he established the heavens, I was there:
When he set a circle upon the face of the deep:
When he made firm the skies above:
When the fountains of the deep became strong:
When he gave to the sea its bound.
That the waters should not transgress his commandment:
When he marked out the foundations of the earth:
Then I was by him, as a master workman:
And I was daily his delight,
Sporting always before him;
Sporting in his habitable earth.
In personifications like this the form of Drama is borrowed to
clothe the meditations of the wise. But there are dramatic mono-
logues which go further than personification, and put certain phases
of philosophic reflection into the mouth of historical or imaginary
personages. These, however, will be best dealt with in the
chapters describing the Books of Wisdom in which they are found.
CHAPTER XII
THE SACRED BOOKS OF WISDOM
THE various literary forms in which the philosophical thought of
Scripture may be cast have been reviewed: it remains to consider
the Books of Wisdom as they stand.
The first of these is entitled The Proverbs. In technical form
it may be described as a Miscellany in Five Books: the five-fold
The Proverbs: a division of this work (and of Ecclesiasticus) being
miscellany in as well marked as in the Book of Psalms. The first
five books book is made up of nine chapters. This is a por-
tion of Scripture dear to every reader: for literary charm no part
of the Bible is more impressive. I must, however, express dissent
from the received view that the nine chapters make one continuous
poem. The view seems to rest upon such considerations as these:
the uniqueness in character of this section; the
First Book way in which it serves as prologue to what follows;
i-ix the fact of its being cast in the form of a father's
counsels to a son; while some have claimed to trace in it a regu-
lar progression of thought. The unique character of these chap-
ters is sufficiently explained by the preponderance in them of one
type of poem: out of twenty-two free sonnets and dramatic mono-
logues eighteen are to be found in this section of Proverbs, and
only four outside it.l Again: the chapters cannot be called a pro-
logue in the sense of an introduction making reference to the rest
of the work; on the other hand, it would be quite natural for the
1 Throughout the chapter compare Proverbs, etc., in the Literary Index (Ap-
pendix I).
284
THE SACRED BOOKS OF WISDOM 235
editor of the collection to place first poems treating Wisdom as a
whole, and after these the proverbs that deal with more particular
themes. As to the formula ‘My Son,’ it may be remarked that in
considerable portions of the nine chapters it is absent,1 portions
apparently containing independent poems, one of which is ad-
dressed to a sluggard; where such a formula does occur it varies
between ‘My Son’ and ‘My Sons,’ which suggests its general char-
acter. When it is further seen that elsewhere the formula is found,
rarely in unit proverbs, but commonly in the longer compositions of
this kind,2 there will be no difficulty in understanding why it should
appear so often in this part of the book which is made up of long
poems. In any case, the recurrence of the expression ‘My Son’
is no more an evidence of connectedness, than would the recur-
rence from a modern pulpit Sunday after Sunday of the expression
‘My Brethren’ prove that the preacher's successive sermons made
a unity. The supposed progression of thought is rejected by many
of those who accept the unity of the chapters; it can be traced
only by supposing passages to be interpolations that do not fit in
with it. But the idea must be pronounced impossible, if for no
other reason, on the ground of repetitions and redundancies.
That the theme of Wisdom and the Strange Woman, after being
brought to a magnificent climax in the seventh and eighth chap-
ters, should be treated again in brief studies in the ninth chapter,
is entirely inconsistent with a continuous poetic, though natural
enough in that which is a collection of similar compositions.
This first section of Proverbs then, like the other sections, is
miscellaneous in character. It is a series of poems that would
be fairly described by the title, ‘Sonnets on Wisdom.’ In some3
the name does not occur, but Wisdom is set off by kindred or by
contrasting ideas. One sonnet exhibits the company of the evil
1 i. 20-33; vi. 6-11, 12-19; ix. 1-6, 7-9, 10-12, 13-18.
2 In unit proverbs I have only observed it twice (Prov. xxvii. 11 and Eccles. vii.
3). It occurs in epigrams (Prov. xxiii. 15; xxiv. 13) and often in the essays and
proverb clusters of Ecclus. (iv. 1; vi. 18: x. 23: xiv. 11; etc.). Compare the use
of ‘My Children’ (Ecclus. xli. 14) and ‘Young Man’ (Eccles. xi. 9).
3 Compare the titles of the sonnets, etc., in the Appendix.
286 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
as laying snares for their own lives; another contrasts the path
of the wicked with the path of the righteous shining on from
dawn to perfect day; others denounce the vices that Wisdom
would hate. In the greater part of the poems Wisdom is cele-
brated directly: appearing as a gracious personality speaking her
winning invitations, in contrast with the ‘strange woman’ that
lures fools to their death; or as the great prize in view the sight
of which is to make even chastening endurable; or as the ‘prin-
cipal thing’ coming down from venerable tradition. In some
places this Wisdom narrows to the prudence that takes alarm at
the idea of suretiship for another, or the diligence that hates the
sluggard. But elsewhere it gradually widens its scope, from the
caution checking a personal impulse to sin, till it gathers into
itself all subtlety and discretion, the knowledge of the counsellor
and the justice of the great, and appears at last as the universal
principle that has made the strength and beauty of the whole
universe, playmate of the Creator from the earliest birth of time.
The second book has for its title: ‘The Proverbs of Solomon,’
and is by far the largest of the sections. Except that two triplets1
Second Book have somehow crept into it, this whole book is a
x-xxii. 16 mass of unit proverbs. No attempt has been made
to arrange them; in the fullest sense of the word.
the second book is a miscellany. The third book is a Gnomic
Third Book Epistle. Its introduction makes clear that it is
xxii. 17-xxiv delivered in writing, and on the application of a
delegate who represents others beside himself: the
suggestion is of the intercourse that prevailed between Wise Men
at a distance, such as Solomon and Hiram of Tyre.
Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine
heart unto my knowledge; for it is a pleasant thing if thou keep
them within thee, if they be established together upon thy lips.
That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to thee
this day, even to thee. Have not I written unto thee excellent things
of counsels and knowledge; to make thee know the certainty of the
words of truth, that thou mayest carry back words of truth to them,
that send thee?
1 xix. 7 and 23.
THE SACRED BOOKS OF WISDOM 287
At the end of it there is a postscript commencing, "These also
are sayings of the wise" — an addition, presumably, by an editor,
not by the writer of the epistle. The epistle and postscript are
mainly made up of epigrams; though there are two sonnets, and
a few unit proverbs.1
The next book is described by its title as ‘Proverbs of Solo-
mon’ copied out by the ‘Men of Hezekiah.’ When this is com-
pared with the second book there is a noticeable
difference. Unit proverbs still preponderate, but Fourth Book
with these mingle epigrams and the occurrence xxv-xxix
of a few proverb clusters shows that between the dates of the
two collections the idea of arrangement, as well as expansion, has
come in. One item in this fourth book should be noted as dis-
tinct from anything else preserved in Wisdom literature: it seems
to be a Folk Song of Good Husbandry.
Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, xxvii. 23-7
And look well to thy herds:
For riches are not for ever;
And doth the crown endure unto all generations?
The hay is carried,
And the tender grass sheweth itself,
And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in.
The lambs are for thy clothing,
And the goats are the price of the field:
And there will be goat's milk enough for thy food,
For the food of thy household;
And maintenance for thy maidens.
The last book is made up of shorter collections: the sayings of
Agur, chiefly fixed or number sonnets; the epi- Fifth Book
grams of Lemuel's mother; and the famous poem xxx-xxxi
on the Virtuous Woman, which in the original is an acrostic.
To the whole collection is prefixed what, in modern phrase-
ology, might be called an elaborate title-page.
1 Compare throughout the chapter the analysis of the books in the Appendix.
288 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON
The Son of David, King of
To know wisdom and instruction;
To discern the words of understanding;
To receive instruction in wise dealing,
In righteousness and judgement and equity:
To give subtilty to the simple,
To the young man knowledge and discretion:
That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning;
And that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels:
To understand a proverb, and a figure;
The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
This title-page is not meant to describe the whole contents of the
collection as proverbs of Solomon; else, why should the title
‘Proverbs of Solomon’ be repeated at the head of
Title-Page particular sections? The prominence of this expres-
i, 1-5 sion in the general title may be explained in one
of two ways. The longest section may have given its name to the
whole: a thing quite familiar to us in modern literature. But
when we observe the contents of the sections specifically designated
‘Proverbs of Solomon,’ and see the preponderance in them of one
kind of saying, the suggestion must occur that the phrase is the
description of a type: and this Solomonian Proverb would seem
to include the unit proverb and the brief epigrams.
If, then, we survey the Book of Proverbs as a whole, we find it a
miscellany comprising various literary types, from the germ prov-
The Book of erb to the elaborate sonnet or dramatic monologue;
Proverbs as a what arrangement there is, is based on the kind of
whole composition, or has reference to author or compiler.
The philosophic attitude reflected in the book is that of discon-
nected observations; there is no attempt to combine observations
into a system. The correlation of all things, which is the instinc-
tive aim of modern philosophy, has not at this period come to be
treated with analytic reflection; it is on the other hand passion-
ately adored under the name of ‘Wisdom.’
THE SACRED BOOKS OF WISDOM 289
The next work for our consideration is The Wisdom of Jesus
the son of Sirach, which has curiously come to be known familiarly
by the title, Ecclesiasticus: that is, a book to be Ecclesiasticus:
read in churches, as distinguished from a book of a miscellany in
canonical authority. Like Proverbs, this work is a five books
miscellany, and all forms of Wisdom literature are represented in
it. The difference of the two might fairly be described by saying
that they represent, in general impression, the poetic side of
dom and its rhetoric side respectively; what sonnets and dramatic
monologues are to Proverbs, that essays and rhetoric encomia are
to Ecclesiasticus. The work falls naturally into five
books; the dividing points being made by the emer- Prefaces to the
gence of the author's personality, and his celebra- several books
tion, not of particular themes, but of Wisdom and the works of God
as a whole. The first book starts from an account of the author
by his grandson, followed by a sonnet on Wisdom. At the open-
ing of the second book the author's preface is interwoven xxiv. 1
into an encomium on Wisdom. "Wisdom," cries the
author, "shall praise herself."
I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the
earth as a mist. I dwelt in high places, and my throne is in the
pillar of the cloud. Alone I compassed the circuit of heaven, and
walked in the depth of the abyss. In the waves of the sea, and in
all the earth, and in every people and nation, I got a possession.
With all these I sought rest; and in whose inheritance shall I lodge?
So the Creator of all things gave me a commandment; and he that
created me made my tabernacle to rest, and said, Let thy tabernacle
be in Jacob, and thine inheritance in
Wisdom dwells upon her exaltation and beauty, and on the fulness
of her riches; then the author speaks to identify these riches
with the law of the Lord, from whom came the abundance of
Wisdom.
The first man knew her not perfectly; and in like manner the last
hath not traced her out. For her thoughts are filled from the sea,
and her counsels from the great deep. And I came out as a stream
290 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
from a river, and as a conduit into a garden. I said, I will water my
garden, and will water abundantly my garden bed; and lo, my stream
became a river, and my river became a sea. I will yet bring instruc-
tion to light as the morning, and will make them to shine forth
afar off.
In this quaint and beautiful figure does the author express to
the reader how his materials have grown upon him, and he must
add a second book to the first. The third book is
xxxiii. 16-18 opened only by a brief preface in which the author
describes himself as one gleaning after grape gatherers; but in
xxxix. 12 and the case of the remaining two books the author ap-
xlii. 15 pears at the commencement inviting to the praise
of God's works, and so introducing what are rhet-
oric encomia closely bordering on hymns.
In this fifth book occurs that which is the most extended of all
the compositions so far noted in this department,— the Encomium
Encomium on on Famous Men. In the prologue the author pro-
Famous Men poses to praise those who have manifested the
xilv -l.24 Lord's mighty power, whether as rulers, or coun-
sellors, or men of learning; inventors of music and verse; or rich
men living peaceably in their habitations.
There be of them, that have left a name behind them, to declare
their praises. And some there be which have no memorial; who are
perished as though they had not been, and are become as though
they had not been born; and their children after them. But these
were men of mercy whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten.
With their seed shall remain continually a good inheritance; their
children are within the covenants. Their seed standeth fast, and
their children for their sakes. Their seed shall remain for ever, and
their glory shall not be blotted out. Their bodies were buried in
peace, and their name liveth to all generations; peoples will declare
their wisdom, and the congregation telleth out their praise.
In a tone of dignified panegyric he goes through the roll of
great men: Enoch, Noah, the patriarchs; Moses, the man of
mercy, with Aaron and the third in glory the zealous Phinehas;
THE SACRED BOOKS OF WISDOM 291
Nathan, David, Solomon, Josiah of fragrant memory, until he ends
with Simon whom, in all the pomp of his priestly function, he de-
scribes with the vividness of an eye-witness.
Immediately after the close of this Encomium the work ends
with something that reads like the colophon of a medi-
aeval book, made out of a number sonnet and a beatitude. 1. 25-9
With two nations is my soul vexed,
And the third is no nation:
They that sit upon the
And the Philistines,
And the foolish people that dwelleth in Sichem.
I have written in this book the instruction of understanding and
knowledge, I Jesus, the son of Sirach, of
poured forth wisdom.
Blessed is he that shall be exercised in these things;
And he that layeth them up in his heart shall become wise.
For if he do them, he shall be strong to all things:
For the light of the Lord is his guide.
There is still added after this a ‘Prayer of Jesus the son of Si-
rach,’ with a confession of faith in Wisdom; from their position
they may be assumed to be either the insertion of the li
grandson, or other editor, or else the preface to the
whole book as left by its author.
It is instructive to compare Ecclesiasticus and Proverbs as types
of Wisdom literature. If the comparison be made Proverbs and
of individual compositions in the two works, those of Ecclesiasticus
Ecclesiasticus is will be found to show a marked ad- compared
vance as regards the combination of shorter into longer, which
implies the extension of more limited into wider observations of
life. The proverb cluster, so slenderly represented in the Book
of Proverbs, has a considerable place in the later work; and a
still larger space in it is occupied by the essay, which, we have
seen, carries the aggregation of unit proverbs to a higher degree
292 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
of fusion. But when we look at Ecclesiasticus as a whole, its con-
tents appear as miscellaneous as those of Proverbs; the work
clearly appeals to a discursive taste, unhampered by any thought
of system or arrangement; and, however elaborate the essays or
sonnets may become, these have not been thought by the author
inconsistent with considerable spaces left for entirely disconnected
proverbs. This is the more striking from the fact that the later
work is not, like. Proverbs, a combination of different collections;
it is entirely the work of a single author, who has spoken in his
own person to mark the beginnings and endings of the five books:
making it clear that the miscellaneous character of the work be-
longs to the author's conception of Philosophy, and is not the re-
sult of chance or want of care. We have thus reached a phase of
thought in which systematisation begins to work upon the more
fragmentary observations of life, without approaching the concep-
tion of life and the universe as a whole. Wisdom and the works
of God in general are still celebrated with poetic or rhetoric fer-
vour. The last composition, the Praise of Famous Men, shows
that the conception of Wisdom has now enlarged to take in his-
tory. But this history is touched only with the tone of panegyric;
and Ecclesiasticus thus contrasts with a later work of this depart-
ment, in which we shall see history subjected to philosophic
reflection and analysis.
What Ecclesiasticus is to the Old Testament, that the Epistle of
St. James is to the New. We have already seen in a portion of
the Book of Proverbs a precedent for a Wisdom
Gnomic Epistle Epistle; and with this conception fits the differ-
St. James ence of tone which every reader perceives between
this portion of the New Testament and all the rest. The Apostle,
moreover, shows himself a deep student of Ecclesiasticus, the
thoughts of which he frequently echoes.1 Of course, the matter of
1 For the Essay on the " Origin of the Evil," etc. (St. James i. 12-27), compare
Eccles. Essay on Free Will (xv. 11-20) ; and also Eccles. v. 11 and iv, 10. —For
the Essay on the " Responsibility of Speech " (St. James iii. 1—12) compare Eccles.
THE SACRED BOOKS OF WISDOM 293
the epistle has enlarged to take in Christian thought, and ‘My
Son’ has changed into ‘My Brethren.’ But the form is that of
Proverbs and Ecclesiasticus — a miscellany: the epistle will not
yield a connected line of thought such as is traced in the writings
of
Two of these essays have been cited in the last chapter — that on
the Sources of the Evil and the Good in Man, and another on The
Responsibility of Speech. Others are On Faith and Works; On
Respect of Persons; On the Earthly Wisdom and the Wisdom
from above; A Discourse on Judgment. And here, as in other
Books of Wisdom, we find interspersed between these longer
essays maxims and paradoxes entirely disconnected.
We now approach Ecclesiastes: most fascinating of all Wisdom
literature to those who desire only to read, while it is the stumbling-
block of all who have the responsibility of interpret-
ing. Yet the difficulties and obscurities which Ecclesiastes:
undoubtedly attach to this work have been much its form
aggravated by the neglect of the axiom on which I have so
frequently insisted: that it is vain to search into the meaning of a
work until its outer literary form has been determined. Our first
duty then is to enquire into the form of Ecclesiastes, basing our
enquiry upon the book itself, and also upon what may be expected
from the analogy of other Wisdom literature.
In the first place, Ecclesiastes, like the other Books of Wisdom we
have surveyed, contains a series of essays: the attempt to trace a
continuous argument from beginning to end must be dismissed.
On the other hand, the most cursory examination shows a new
purpose in the thinkings of the Preacher such as is sure to affect
the form of the book. We find in Ecclesiastes, what was so
markedly absent from Proverbs and Ecclesiasticus, that reflection
Essay on Gossip (xix. 5-17), on the Tongue (xxviii. 12-26). — Other parallels are
Ecclus. i. 26 and
and 14 and St. James i. 2-4; Eccles. iv. 1-6, xxi. 5 with St. James v. 4; Ecclus.
X. 22-24 and St. James ii. 1-6. — Possibly the somewhat obscure paradox in St.
James i. 9 may be an echo of Eccles. iii. 18-19.
294 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
has now been turned upon life as a whole, and particular obser-
vations have a reference to the general problem of reading the
meaning of existence. Accordingly, the individual essays in this
book must be expected to unite in some common drift; their
mutual relation can best be expressed by borrowing — as literature
so often must — a term from music, and Ecclesiastes may be
described as a suite of essays. One more point needs to be
insisted upon. In each collection of Wisdom literature we have
found that, whatever else there might be, there was always a place
for series of disconnected proverbs interspersed amongst more
extended compositions. This feature is not wanting to the work
under consideration: of the ten sections (to include prologue and
epilogue) into which I have divided the whole,1 three are not
essays, but strings of disconnected sayings and paradoxes, more
or less tinged with the tone of the author, but outside the drift of
thought in the essays. The recognition of such gaps in the unity
is clearly of importance to the interpretation of the whole; yet it
is no more than we are bound to expect from the analogy of other
Wisdom literature.
We find, then, Ecclesiastes to be in form a suite of independent
essays, regularly disposed between a formal prologue and epilogue,
concurring to present some enquiry into life as a whole, and
separated at intervals by collections of the isolated sayings which
had constituted the older conception of Wisdom. Our business
must be to follow the thought of the separate essays, and then put
our results together in order to understand the Preacher's general
view of life and the universe.
The Prologue breathes the spirit of the whole in its reiteration,
"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Philosophy has turned itself
from mere observation of the details to contemplation
Prologue of the whole, and in this contemplation can see no solid
1.2-11 result; its enquiry, to use a phrase of a later essay, is a
striving after wind — continuous pursuit of that which continu-
ally eludes.
1 Compare the Literary Index in Appendix I.
THE SACRED BOOKS OF WISDOM 295
One generation goeth, and another generation cometh; and the
earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth
down, and hasteth to his place where he ariseth. The wind goeth
toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it turneth about
continually in its course, and the wind returneth again to its circuits.
All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place
whither the rivers go, thither they go again. All things are full of
weariness; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing. That which hath been is that which
shall be; and that which bath been done is that which shall be done:
and there is no new thing under the sun.
The writer's imagination has been overpowered by the vast "wheel
of nature": the first glimpse from the outside of that interde-
pendence of things which modern science has tracked up to the
conservation of energy. In contemplation of this, life seems not
a progress but a treadmill, and the human world is drawn within
the tyranny of Law. The impressiveness of this prologue appears
the greater when it is realised that the ‘All,’ which is thus pro-
nounced ‘vanity,’ is precisely that which previous books would
joyously celebrate under the name of 'Wisdom.' Philosophic
reflection has been turned on to the sum of things, and adoration
has changed to elegy.
We proceed to the first essay, and at the outset are met by an
obstacle: the unfortunate misinterpretation of a single verse — a
double misinterpretation—has had the effect of First Essay
throwing a false colour over the whole work. The i.12-ii
essay opens with the words: "I the Preacher was
king over
king referred to with King Solomon. Hence readers have jumped
to the conclusion that Solomon was the author of Ecclesiastes.
The mistake is not unnatural in a modern reader, whose leading
interest in a literary work is apt to be the author; Mistake as to
but a student of Comparative Literature will see at Solomon's au-
once that these words make Solomon, not the thorship of the
author, but the hero of the narrative that follows. book
Several schools of ancient philosophy instinctively attributed to
296 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
the first founder all that each follower produced. In this way
the whole of Plato's philosophy is given to the world, not in the
form of abstract arguments by Plato himself, but in highly dra-
matic dialogues, in which Socrates, as main speaker, is represented
in discussion with other prominent men of the age, the discussion
abounding in touches of wit, scenery, and action, as artistically
disposed as in the scenes of Shakespeare. No reader ever sup-
posed that Socrates said what Plato represents him to say; but
Socrates had started the impulse of thought which produced Plato,
and the scholar pays reverence to his master by making him the
hero of his dialogues. Another striking instance has been pointed
out by a recent writer on this book:1 that the
oras considered the drowning of one of their number a judg-
ment upon him because he had put forward his discovery in his
own name, instead of making it part of the philosophy of Pythag-
oras. But there is no need to go so far for illustrations: a com-
panion production to this Ecclesiastes is the Wisdom of Solomon,
which, at a date little removed from the Christian era, makes
King Solomon the speaker of all the philosophic stores of that
late age. It belongs to Hebrew philosophy, we have seen, to
clothe itself in poetic and dramatic form: to put into the mouth
of Solomon reflections a later writer thinks fitted to his personality
is no more than an extension of the dramatising treatment by
which, in Proverbs, Wisdom was personified as the inviter to all
good things. On the other hand, authorship is a question of
dates; and, apart from this verse, all the indications of language,
style, and matter, are found by experts to indicate a date for the
book centuries later than that of Solomon. Dr. Ginsburg has
pronounced it as impossible for Solomon to be the author of
Ecclesiastes, as for Chaucer to be the writer of Rasselas.
The old interpretation involves a double mistake. Not only is
Solomon the hero instead of the author, but he is the hero for
only a fraction of the whole book. The narrative that commences
with the verse under discussion extends no further than the close
1 Article Ecclesiastes in Sir William Smith's Dictionary of the Bible.
THE SACRED BOOKS OF WISD0M 297
of the second chapter.1 From that point onward there is not
to be found a sentence that associates itself with Solomon.
And in the prologue and epilogue, where we naturally look for
personal touches, there is no trace of this wise king, either in
direct mention, or in circumstances into which his personality can
be fitted
The connection of Solomon, then, with the book as a whole
must be abandoned; and with it must be given up the idea of
finding in the unwholesome life of that monarch an explanation
for the tone of Ecclesiastes. Solomon's place in the book is
limited to a single essay, which may be entitled: Solomon's Great
Experiment. The author identifies himself for the moment
with this famous king, as the one individual in whom wealth,
wisdom, and power met in their highest forms, and in his person
the Preacher supposes himself to go through an experience de-
signed to test all the forms of positive good in which men ii. 1
believe. First, he will use his resources to accumulate
all kinds of pleasure, including such pleasures as wise men call
follies, but he will keep all the time his reflective powers un-
impaired for the purpose of testing what he enjoys.
I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me
vineyards; I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in
them of all kinds of fruit: I made me pools of water, to water
therefrom the forest where trees were reared: I bought men-servants
and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great
possessions of herds and flocks, above all that were before me in
treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and
women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, concubines very
many. So I was great, and increased more than all that were before
me in
ever mine eyes desired I kept not from them: I withheld not my
heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labour;
1 Even less far than that if we assume the marginal readings of R. V. (to ii. 5,
and the first of those to ii. 12); it would then extend no further than ii. 11. This
would ascribe to Solomon just that part of the whole experiment which none but
Solomon could have fully carried out.
298 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
and this was my portion from all my labour. Then I looked on all
the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had
laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind,
and there was no profit under the sun.
From pleasure he turns to experiment in the field of wisdom
itself and its opposite. He finds indeed that wisdom excels folly
as far as light excels darkness: but he finds also that "one
ii. 13 event " happeneth to both. There is yet a third region
to be tried — labour, or as we should call it, enterprise: not the
enjoyment of wealth, but its production. But this also seems to
fail in the end, when the labourer must die and leave his
ii. 18 labour to another, not knowing whether this other will
prove a wise man or a fool. So the result of all this experimenting
is that there is no criterion for ranking anything as higher than
mere enjoyment. Is, then, this enjoyment the one reality that has
stood the test of his long enquiry? Not at all: for the thought soon
follows that this enjoyment is not a thing in man's power,
ii. 24 but is itself the gift of God. The great experiment has
yielded only negative results: "vanity and a striving after wind."
The second essay may be entitled: The Philosophy of Times
and Seasons. A certain theory of the universe
Second Essay seems to be suggested, as something to satisfy the
iii-iv.8 craving for an explanation of things, for which the
great experiment had failed to provide. The theory is stated,
examined, and rejected.
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under
the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant,
and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a
time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time
to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a
time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to
seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time
to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a
time for peace.
THE SACRED BOOKS OF WISDOM 299
Hebrew philosophy affects artistic, and especially gnomic forms,
and in the guise of this tour de force of enumeration is clothed a
very intelligible philosophy; — indeed, that which was the uncon-
scious theory underlying the old Wisdom; with its tendency to
observe the parts, but turn no reflection upon the whole. It is a
sort of practical eclecticism; a disposition to recognise differences
of kind in good things without comparing them. The previous
essay has sought a summum bonum: this suggests the idea, not
summum bonum, but multa bona. Against this theory the Preacher
seems to make four distinct objections. First: it is true iii. 9-11
that separate things have an interest of their own. But it
is also true that God has implanted in men's hearts a conception
of the universal underlying these particulars; so that it is no
longer possible to enjoy these without thinking of their bearing
on the whole; while to discover this last all man's powers are
insufficient.
He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set the
world in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that
God hath done from the beginning even to the end.
Again: it is true that there is nothing better than to enjoy.
But it is also true that this enjoyment is the gift of God, iii. 12-15
and in granting it God will act upon principles as fixed
as fate, and no effort will change him. Yet again: the ‘seasons’
of things are not observed; wickedness is seen in the iii. 16-22
place of judgment. A flash of thought suggests to the
Preacher that hereafter there may be a righting of these wrongs.
A second flash rejects the idea: What guarantee of an hereafter
has man more than the beasts?
I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked:
for there is a time THERE for every purpose and for every work. I
said in mine heart, It is because of the sons of men, that God may
prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are but as
beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts;
even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other.
300 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY 0F WISDOM
As a final objection the Preacher thinks of the things that no
season can make beautiful: the oppression that is worse than
death; the skill that exists at the cost of bitter com-
iv. i-8 petition; the isolated life that has no pleasure in its
own achievements. The essay ends, like the last, in ‘vanity.’
Then follows one of the sections we have been led to expect,
that are occupied with isolated proverbs having no relation to the
unity of the whole book. The sayings are miscellaneous, with
nothing in common except that they are positive, not negative, in
form. It is a section of Maxims of Life.
The fourth section is an Essay on the Vanity of Desire. It is
easy to instance possession without enjoyment: a man loving
silver yet never satisfied with silver; seeing goods in-
v. 10-vi. 12 crease, but seeing also increased those who consume
them; or even riches kept by the owner of them to his own hurt.
But the essay is mainly occupied with two companion pictures.
One is that of a man to whom God grants riches and wealth,
and at the same time the power to enjoy them: so much so that
he may give little thought to his life as one happy day
v. 20 follows another, joy of heart coming as answer to his
prayers almost before they are uttered. The other picture is of
a man on whom God has bestowed without stint the same gifts,
but has denied him the power to enjoy:
I say, that an untimely birth is better than he: for it cometh in
vanity, and departeth in darkness, and the name thereof is covered
with darkness; moreover it hath not seen the sun nor known it;
this bath rest rather than the other.
The sight of the eyes is better than the vain wandering of desire.
vi. 10-12 Why should man enlarge his desires?
Whatsoever he be, his name was given him long ago, and it is
known that he is
The force of these words will be abundantly evident when we
recollect the tendency of ancient thought to look upon the Name
THE SACRED BOOKS OF WISDOM 301
of a thing as its formula of definition. Human activity is pre-
sented as energy striving against inherent limitation. Man is Fate
to himself.
After another of the relief sections, occupied with miscellaneous
Paradoxes of Life, we come to an important essay, Fourth Essay
which puts the thought of the opening section from vii. 23-ix. 16
a somewhat different point of view.
I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. That which is is
far off, and exceeding deep; who can find it out? I turned about,
and my heart was set to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom
and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, and
foolishness which is madness.
In other words: Perhaps the problem of life is too vast to be
solved, but is an approach to the solution possible? Accordingly,
the enquirer sets himself to take what steps he can in this direction.
Hence the essay may be entitled: "The Search for Wisdom with
Notes by the way." The section is a long one, and in the course
of it the formula, "I find," or, "All this have I seen," ushers in
some particular observation presented as an instalment of the solu-
tion of life. There is no need to dwell upon the details; most of
his notes are notes of disappointment. But beside these one
stands out in strong contrast.
Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a
merry heart; for God hath already accepted thy works. Let thy
garments be always white; and let not thy head lack
ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest ix.7
all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under
the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in life, and
in thy labour wherein thou labourest under the sun.
There is another miscellaneous section, and then we reach
the two final sections. These consist of an essay Fifth Essay
followed by a sonnet. The essay presents Life as and Sonnet
a Joy shadowed by the Judgment. The sonnet xi 7-xii. 7
is one of the most familiar and beautiful of all Biblical poems, with
its symbolic picture of old age.
302 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
Rejoice, 0 young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer
thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart,
and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these
things God will bring thee into judgement.
It is most important to avoid reading into this Old Testament
Wisdom associations drawn from the New Testament. ‘The
judgment’ is one of the dominant ideas of Hebrew literature: but
it is by no means what modern Christianity understands by that
term. That evil and good are inherently antagonistic, that evil is
doomed to fail in the struggle with good, — this is the thought
underlying the word ‘judgment’ in Old Testament poetry: but
there is in the conception no note of time and place, no distinc-
tion even of this world and an hereafter. Thus the effect of the
passage quoted is to recommend happiness, but happiness accom-
panied with a sense of responsibility. The very shortness of life
is made by this essay a reason for putting sorrow away, and reap-
ing to the full the bliss of living. But with this joyous youth must
be united the remembrance of Him who has created it, and the
familiar sonnet follows to paint the coming of the evil days, the
decrepitude unfavourable alike to the realisation of happiness
and to the search after God.
The Epilogue starts, like the Prologue, with the cry, "Vanity
of vanities, all is vanity!" It goes on to say that the Preacher
continued to pour out his stores of Wisdom, that he ‘pon-
Epilogue dered and sought out and set in order many proverbs:
8-14 the latter term would just describe the elaborated essays
of the book, as the former expression would fit the miscellaneous
sections. After a warning against multiplication of books, a con-
clusion is made by pronouncing the whole duty of man to be the
fear of God and the keeping of his commandments, in view of the
judgment into which every work will be brought.
The separate parts have been surveyed: what is the significance
of the whole? The Prologue cries, "All is vanity"; the Epilogue,
"Fear God"; the Essays have the function of linking the two
ideas. A twofold spirit, negative and positive, prevails through
THE SACRED BOOKS OF WISDOM 303
the book; it is a work of destructive criticism, with one posi-
tive thought emerging and becoming continually
stronger. The supposed experiment of Solomon Ecclesiastes as a
reduced all things to the level of enjoyment: but whole
this enjoyment, it was added, comes from God. In the attack on
eclecticism, the thought was repeated more strongly: enjoyment
depends, not on the man who is to enjoy, but on God, and there-
fore on inexorable law. The next essay elaborately contrasted
one to whom God had given wealth and the power to enjoy it,
with another who had the possession without the enjoyment. In
the description of the search after Wisdom, the gloomy failures
were interrupted by a single picture of bright simple happiness,
with the important addition that such happiness was a token that
God had accepted the man's works. And the final essay occupies
its whole field with the idea of joy tempered by a sense of respon-
sibility. Devout scepticism as a background for natural happi-
ness: this seems to sum up the whole thought of the book.
Interpreters who have seen Ecclesiastes clouded by its supposed
connection with the life of the historic Solomon have pronounced
it scepticism, or hedonism, or cynicism. Cynicism it certainly
is not: for its one positive conclusion is the supremacy of happi-
ness. If it be hedonism, it is hedonism by Divine right. The
Preacher cannot mention enjoyment without adding that it is
God's gift; the happiness he celebrates must be ‘natural,’ that is,
tempered by sense of responsibility and the thought of God's
judgment; the means of pleasure, such as wealth and position,
may be possessed by the wicked, but the power to enjoy them is
God's own hall mark on the man he has accepted. Scepticism
this book of Ecclesiastes certainly is, but it is scepticism with
constant reference to God. God is recognised as the author of
all things, the sole judge whose authority determines right and
wrong. Nay, God is represented as himself the author of the
intellectual despair that is the essence of scepticism, since he has
placed the world in man's heart, yet so that man cannot find out
the work that God doeth from the beginning even unto the end.
304 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
The Bible, in the universality of its literary field, finds a place for
scepticism; but it presents a scepticism that is not impious but
devout, not gloomy but a ground for sober happiness and a full life.
Yet there is a point of view from which Ecclesiastes may be
Attitude of the described as pessimist: at all events in compari-
book to a Future son with another work of Wisdom literature. The
Life Preacher surveys life as a whole: but it is life
bounded by this world. Once indeed the thought of a judgment
iii.16-21 hereafter occurs for a moment; but it is dismissed
with a despair that sees man as only one of the beasts.
That which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one
thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they
all have one breath; and man hath no pre-eminence above the
beasts: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust,
and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man whether
it goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast whether it goeth down-
ward to the earth?
This attitude to the future recurs again and again: every vista
along which the Preacher looks for light appears bounded by death.
Like the answer to a challenge, then, comes the remaining ‘Book
of Wisdom,’ which borrows once more the dramatic form of the
historic Solomon, and in his name puts forward the startling truths
that God made not death, that righteousness is immortal; while it
proceeds, with wonderful picturesqueness of imagination, to pre-
sent the scene of the judgment hereafter, of which the Preacher
had despaired. But the Wisdom of Solomon is so important in
matter and so unique in form that it needs a chapter to itself.
CHAPTER XIII
‘THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON’
THE Wisdom of Solomon resembles the early Books of Wisdom
in clothing deep reflection with artistic and even dramatic form.
It goes far beyond these in the demands it makes 'Wisdom of
upon the imagination. The dramatic monologue, Solomon': its
applied to the idea of a judgment hereafter, pre- form
sents an elaborate and moving picture of the wicked triumphant
on earth and their terrible awakening beyond the grave. Indeed,
Wisdom has an artistic weapon peculiarly its own, which may be
called Analytic Imagination. With reverent curiosity it reads into
the cautious reticence of some sacred narrative an array of imagi-
nary details. Exodus speaks of a "darkness which might be felt":
Wisdom boldly sketches all that the imprisoned Egyptians might
be conceived to feel in that darkness, and the result is one of the
marvels of creative literature.
The form of the book is distinguished by another character-
istic, — a product of different influences. The Apocrypha stands
between our Old and New Testaments. When the writings which
make the Old Testament came to a close, Hebrew literature still
continued in an oral form: the vast literature of commentary
which, from the time of Ezra, maintained itself and gathered vol-
ume, until, in the Christian era, it took shape in the Talmud. It
would have been strange if that which made so large a part of
Jewish religious life had left no trace in the written literature of
the times. A slight trace may be seen in what we have called
maxims, the brief compositions which take the form of texts with
305
306 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPIIY OR WISDOM
comments. But in the Wisdom of Solomon the discourses are
entirely in this form of text and comment.1 The
Texts with discourses are (so to speak) dovetailed together,
comments the final thought of one being akin to the text of
the next. And the whole book is made up of such discourses:
the strings of disconnected proverbs which in previous collections
separated the longer compositions have now disappeared.
In this last of the Books of Wisdom there is a curious feature
of style, which may be just mentioned here, while its fuller treat-
ment is relegated to an Appendix.2 This is the use of Digression,
not as an accidental device, but as an end in itself.
Special use of What at first gives the impression of obscurity is
Digressions soon recognised as an elaborate series of digres-
sions, and digressions from those digressions, carrying the argu-
ment further and further from the original thought; in one case
the dropped threads are regularly gathered up, and the argument
brought back to its starting-point. When this peculiarity is com-
bined with characteristics previously mentioned, it will be easy to
understand the following as the structural form of the Wisdom of
Solomon: A suite of five Discourses on texts, the last of which
has a sevenfold illustration, at one point of which occurs a seven-
fold digression.
Passing from form to matter, we may say that this book resembles
Ecclesiastes in the fact that it turns reflection upon the sum of
Its Matter: en- things, and not merely upon details. But any such.
larged conception resemblance is thrown into the shade by the wide
of Wisdom difference of Wisdom, both from Ecclesiastes and
from the earlier books, in its conception of the sum of things
which is to be surveyed.
1 The sentences which make the texts are easily distinguishable. Whereas the
other sentences are closely locked together by argument dive particles, the text
sentences are, in the first two discourses, independent and hortatory (i. i, i. 12)
the text of the third (vi. 12) is an independent gnomic sentence. In the last two
sections the texts are the final sentences of the preceding discourses (last line
of ix. 18, xi. 5), which are gnomic, and unmistakably make new departures In the
argument.
2 See Appendix IV.
‘THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON’ 307
In the first place, it is remarkable that in the earlier philosophy
of the Bible the examination of external nature has no place.
The mass of unit proverbs, and the essays arising out of these,
turn upon topics of human life. If there is mention of the dili-
gent ant, of the creatures little and wise, of the stately marchers,
it is to point from them a human moral; even the Preacher
describes the rain clouds pouring their fulness on the earth, or the
perpetual drift of rivers to the sea, only to find in these images of
fatalism. The exquisite observation which, in Job, speaks of the
dayspring taking hold of the ends of the earth until the dull land-
scape has changed as clay under the seal, is the observation of the
poet; and from a similar source comes the sympathy with the
wild ass in its desert freedom and the war horse chafing under
restraint, and the wealth of detail which builds up the pictures of
behemoth and leviathan. The first book of Proverbs and the
prefatory sections of Ecclesiasticus deal largely with external
nature but only as the works of the Lord which are to be mag-
nified. Thus the son of Sirach celebrates the clear firmament,
the sun bringing tidings as he goes, and the rainbow glory, only to
assist the thought that the Lord made all these things; he enu-
merates the material things chiefly necessary for man, and pro-
claims that these are for good to the godly, but for sinners they
shall be turned into evil; he makes a climax by the thought that
this Wisdom, of which these glories are a part, has Ecclus. xxiv. 8
been commanded to find a tabernacle in Jacob and
an inheritance in
Books that we find the analytic examination of nature for its own
sake which makes the substance of modern science; and the pas-
sage which sets forth knowledge of this kind ends by claiming it
as part of the universal Wisdom.
For himself gave me an unerring knowledge of the things that
are, to know the constitution of the world, and the operation of
the elements, the beginning and end and middle of times, vii. 17
the alternations of the solstices and the changes of sea-
sons, the circuits of years and the positions of stars; the natures of
308 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
living creatures and the ragings of wild beasts, the violences of winds
and the thoughts of men, the diversities of plants and the virtues of
roots: all things that are either secret or manifest I learned, for she
that is the artificer of all things taught me, even Wisdom.
History, no less than nature, is conspicuous by its absence from
the early Books of Wisdom. In the whole of Proverbs and Eccle-
siastes,1 and in four out of the five books of Ecclesiasticus, there
is not a single allusion to an historic event. The fifth book of
Ecclesiasticus is largely occupied with history; but here the intro-
ductory words —
Let us now praise famous men —
prepare us to expect, what the subsequent chapters confirm, that
the writer treats history, as he treats nature, for purposes of rhetoric
encomium, not of scientific reflection. On the other hand, more
than half of the Wisdom of Solomon consists in analytic examina-
tion of history ; and its conception of ‘Wisdom’ is enlarged to
include the emergence of providential design from beneath the
succession of events.
But there is a still more important widening of the field of view
in the last of the Books of Wisdom. The early books, ignoring
nature and history, confined their reflection to human life: but the
life they surveyed was a life bounded by the grave. In Proverbs
and Ecclesiasticus there is nowhere a suggestion of anything but
this. In the case of Ecclesiastes I have drawn attention2 to the
passage in which the Preacher for a single moment entertains the
thought of a judgment after death, only to fling it away and
plunge into a pessimist doubt whether human life can have any
ending different from that of the brutes. But in the Wisdom of
Solomon the starting-point and foundation of the whole argument
is the extension of life beyond the grave; an immortality bound
up with righteousness and the redress of wrong is assumed with
1 I have argued above (page 297) that Solomon's experiment in i. 2 must be
understood as an imaginary incident; and similarly iv. 13-16 and ix. 13-16 are, like
all the context, general statements.
2 See above, pages 299, 304.
‘THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON’ 309
such certainty that it is the 'ungodly who are presented as ignor-
ing it.
This fact inevitably raises the question: Is the Wisdom of
Solomon an answer to Ecclesiastes? In parts of Relation of Wis-
Wisdom particular phrases and turns of expression dom to Ecclesias-
seem to echo thoughts of the earlier book. The tes
Preacher has cried that "the sons of men are a chance, and
the beasts are a chance, and one thing befalleth iii. 19; viii. 8
them"; that man hath no "power over the day
of death, and there is no discharge in that war." The ungodly
of the later book reflect that by mere chance they
were born, and hereafter they will be as though ii. 1, 2
they had never been, and none was ever known that gave release
from Hades. In Ecclesiastes:
The dead know not anything, neither have they any more ix. 5, 6
a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. As well
their love as their hatred and their envy is now perished;
neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything
that is done under the sun.
The same strain is heard in Wisdom:
And our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man ii. 4
shall remember our works; and our life shall pass away
as the traces of a cloud, and shall be scattered as is a mist.
One of the few positive thoughts of the Preacher is that Wisdom
excelleth folly as far as light excelleth darkness: and ii. 13
the later book finds a climax for its panegyric on Wisdom
in the reflection--
Being compared with light she is found to be before it; vii. 29
for to the light of day succeedeth night, but against
wisdom evil doth not prevail.
Above all, the pessimism of Ecclesiastes reflects that "the righteous,
and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God": ix. 1
that they know not what fortune he will bestow upon them and
310 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
are powerless to influence it. The phrase seems to be caught up
by the optimist thinker —
iii. 1 The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment
shall touch them —
and this is his foundation for a picture of goodness triumphant.
Such parallelisms are insufficient to prove anything as to the inten-
tion of the writer; but they certainly serve as an enhancement
to the literary interest of the reader.
When we consider the matter and general argument of Wisdom
there is more ground for considering it a veiled answer to Ecclesi-
astes. This will appear as I proceed to review the several dis-
courses. I may here, however, premise, that the suggestion is not
of any such antagonism between the two books as would imply
that one was right and the other wrong. The exact attitude of
Wisdom to Ecclesiastes seems to me to be that of St. Peter to
II Peter In all his epistles . . . are some things hard to be understood, which
iii. 16 the ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as they do also the other
scriptures, unto their own destruction.
No argument of Ecclesiastes is in Wisdom cited and attacked; but
the second discourse undoubtedly presents the ignorant and unsted-
fast ‘wresting’ the Preacher's theory of life to their own destruction.
The first discourse is on Singleness of Heart. The text is made
by the opening words of the book.
Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth,
Think ye of the Lord with a good mind,
And in singleness of heart seek ye him.
The comment on this text is brief and simple. But its simplicity
becomes charged with keen interest if we look upon the discourse
as glancing indirectly at the opening essay of Eccle-
First Discourse siastes. That essay imagined a great experiment
i. I-II of Solomon: how he would lay hold on folly, his
heart yet guiding him with wisdom; how he would heap together
‘THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON’ 311
every form of pleasure, and withhold nothing that his eyes should
desire, yet at the same time his wisdom should remain with him.
The present discourse seems boldly to pronounce such an experi-
ment impossible.
Wisdom will not enter into a soul that deviseth evil, nor dwell in a
body that is held in pledge by sin. For a holy spirit of discipline
will flee deceit, and will start away from thoughts that are without
understanding, and will be put to confusion when unrighteousness
hath come in.
And this thought is enforced by enlarging upon the spirit of the
Lord filling the world, while an ear of jealousy listens to every
secret utterance.
The second is the main discourse of the whole series. It might
well have for its title: Immortality and the Covenant with Death.
Here is the point at which the opposition between
the two Books of Wisdom is most acute. The Second Discourse
Preacher, whichever way he turned, found death i.12-vi.11
as an inevitable destiny mocking human effort. In startling con-
tradiction to this the very text of the present discourse assumes
death to be a thing of human origin.
Court not death in the error of your life;
Neither draw upon yourselves destruction by the works of your hands.
All doubt about the doctrine is removed by the first words of
comment: "God made not death." Ecclesiastes, with melancholy
iteration, had insisted on joining man with the beasts in regard to
his end. But the present discourse declares that all the races of
creatures in the world are healthsome by creation, and that Hades
has no royal dominion on earth: “for righteousness is immortal.”
Whence, then, has come death into the world? By invitation of the
ungodly. The invitation is described as being "by their hands
and their words." The ungodly life is interpreted as a covenant
with death. The discourse proceeds to voice this ungodly life in a
monologue which starts from the point of view of Ecclesiastes.
312 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
Short and sorrowful is our life; and there is no healing when a
man cometh to his end, and none was ever known that gave release
from Hades; because by mere chance were we born, and hereafter
we shall be as though we had never been: because the breath in our
nostrils is smoke, and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of
our heart, which being extinguished the body shall be turned into
ashes, and the spirit shall be dispersed as thin air; and our name
shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall remember our works;
and our life shall pass away as the traces of a cloud, and shall be
scattered as is a mist, when it is chased by the beams of the sun, and
overcome by the heat thereof. For our allotted time is the passing of
a shadow, and our end retreateth not; because it is fast sealed, and
none turneth it back.
Come therefore and let us enjoy the good things that are; and
let us use the creation with all our soul as youth's possession. Let
us fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes; and let no flower
of spring pass us by: let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before
they be withered: let none of us go without his share in our proud
revelry: everywhere let us leave tokens of our mirth: because this
is our portion, and our lot is this.
So far the train of reasoning has corresponded with the theory of
life laid down in Ecclesiastes. But now comes an unexpected
trend of thought. It will be recollected that the Preacher's
momentary conception of a judgment beyond the grave, and
subsequent lapse into hopelessness, came upon him when he con-
templated wickedness seated in the place of judgment. As the
present monologue continues, we find this wicked oppression
springing naturally out of the Preacher's own conception of life.
Let us oppress the righteous poor; let us not spare the widow, nor
reverence the hairs of the old man gray for length of years. But let
our strength be to us a law of righteousness; for that which is weak
is found to be of no service. But let us lie in wait for the righteous
man, because he is of disservice to us, and is contrary to our works,
and upbraideth us with sins against the law, and layeth to our
charge sins against our discipline. He professeth to have knowl-
edge of God, and nameth himself servant of the Lord. He became
to us a reproof of our thoughts. He is grievous to us even to
behold, because his life is unlike other men's, and his paths are
‘THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON’ 313
of strange fashion. We were accounted of him as base metal,
and he abstaineth from our ways as from uncleannesses. The
latter end of the righteous he calleth happy; and he vaunteth that
God is his father. Let us see if his words be true, and let us try
what shall befall in the ending of his life. For if the righteous man
is God's son, he will uphold him, and he will deliver him out of the
hand of his adversaries. With outrage and torture let us put him to
the test, that we may learn his gentleness, and may prove his
patience under wrong. Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for
he shall be visited according to his words.
The author breaks in to say how these reasoners are blinded by
wickedness to the mysteries of God; and (as already pointed out)
he catches at a phrase of the Preacher to turn it to an opposite use.
The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no tor-
ment shall touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed
to have died; and their departure was accounted to be their hurt,
and their journeying away from us to be their ruin: but they are in
peace. For even if in the sight of men they be punished, their hope
is full of immortality; and having borne a little chastening, they shall
receive great good . . . and in the time of their visitation they shall
shine forth, and as sparks among stubble they shall run to and fro.
They shall judge nations, and have dominion over peoples; and the
Lord shall reign over them for evermore.
The picture of the ungodly reasoners is to be completed by a
companion picture of the same reasoners beyond the grave. But
first, with his tendency to digression, the author turns aside to
glance at the rival hopes to this his hope of immortality. The
substitutes for our modern conception of immortality in the minds
of Old Testament worthies were two: length of days in this world,
and the living over again in posterity. The author of Wisdom
strikes at both these ideas. The multiplying brood of the ungodly
is profitless: better is childlessness with virtue. As for length of
days: it may well be that the life cut short is the life crowned.
For honourable old age is not that which standeth in length of time,
nor is its measure given by number of years: but understanding is
gray hairs unto men, and an unspotted life is ripe old age. . . . Being
314 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPIIY OR WISDOM.
made perfect in a little while he fulfilled long years; for his soul was
pleasing unto the Lord: therefore he hastened him away out of the
midst of wickedness.
And now the dramatic monologue is again called into requisition
to paint the amazement of the ungodly, risen from a dishonoured
sojourn among the dead, to behold the righteous standing in great
boldness before those who afflicted him.
This was he whom aforetime we had in derision, and made a
parable of reproach: we fools accounted his life madness, and his
end without honour: how was he numbered among sons of God?
and how is his lot among saints? Verily we went astray from the
way of truth, and the light of righteousness shined not for us, and
the sun rose not for us. We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness
and destruction, and we journeyed through trackless deserts, but the
way of the Lord we knew not. What did our arrogancy profit us?
And what good have riches and vaunting brought us? Those things
all passed away as a shadow, and as a message that runneth by: as
a ship passing through the billowy water, whereof, when it is gone
by, there is no trace to be found, neither pathway of its keel in the
billows: or as when a bird dieth through the air, no token of her
passage is found, but the light wind, lashed with the stroke of
her pinions, and rent asunder with the violent rush of the moving
wings, is passed through, and afterwards no sign of her coming is
found therein: or as when an arrow is shot at a mark, the air dis-
parted closeth up again immediately, so that men know not where
it passed through: so we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to
be; and of virtue we had no sign to spew, but in our wickedness we
were utterly consumed.
The author speaks in person to second this despair: the hope of
the ungodly is as smoke and vanishing foam, while the righteous
live for ever. Then the discourse reaches a peroration in a picture
of the universe united to war against the enemies of good.
He shall take his jealousy as complete armour, and shall make the
whole creation his weapons for vengeance on his enemies: he shall
put on righteousness as a breastplate, and shall array himself with
judgement unfeigned as with a helmet; he shall take holiness as an
invincible shield, and he shall sharpen stern wrath for a sword. And
‘THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON’ 315
the world shall go forth with him to fight against his insensate foes.
Shafts of lightning shall fly with true aim, and from the clouds, as
from a well drawn bow, shall they leap to the mark. And as from
an engine of war shall be hurled hailstones full of wrath; the water
of the sea shall be angered against them, and rivers shall sternly overwhelm them; a mighty blast shall encounter them, and as a tem-
pest shall it winnow them away: and so shall lawlessness make
all the land desolate, and their evil doing shall overturn the thrones
of princes.
An appeal to Kings, as those whose responsibility is greater
than that of lowly men, closes the second discourse, and prepares
for the text of the third, that Wisdom is found of
her seekers, nay, forestalleth them by making her- Third Discourse
self first known. This discourse is devoted to the vi. 12-ix.
personality of King Solomon: a personality which, as in Ecclesi-
astes, is dropped when its purpose has been served. Here in full
distinctness we have a king addressing his brother kings; and a very
different character is painted from that of the Preacher's Solomon.
The wisest of men tells how he was mortal, like all others; moulded,
like all others, in the womb; how he was born, and drew in the
common air, and fell upon the kindred earth, his first voice a wail:
for all men have one entrance into life, and a like departure. For
this cause he had to pray for the understanding that has been
given to him. And this understanding he preferred before sceptres
and thrones, and riches, and health, and comeliness, and all other
good things: but with this Wisdom came to him all other good
things, for she is the mother and artificer of them all. Then fol-
lows the famous panegyric.
For there is in her a spirit quick of understanding, holy, alone in
kind, manifold, subtil, freely moving, clear in utterance, unpolluted,
distinct, unharmed, loving what is good, keen, unhindered,
beneficent, loving toward man, sted fast, sure, free from care, all-
powerful, all-surveying, and penetrating through all spirits that are
quick of understanding, pure, most subtil: for wisdom is more
mobile than any motion; yea, she pervadeth and penetrateth all
things by reason of her pureness. For she is a breath of the power of
God, and a clear
316 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
effluence of the glory of the Almighty; therefore can nothing defiled
find entrance into her. For she is an effulgence from everlasting
light, and an unspotted mirror of the working of God, and an image
of his goodness. And she, being one, hath power to do all things;
and, remaining in herself, reneweth all things: and from generation
to generation passing into holy souls she maketh men friends of God
and prophets. For nothing doth God love save him that dwelleth
with wisdom. For she is fairer than the sun, and above all the con-
stellations of the stars: being compared with light, she is found to be
before it; for to the light of day succeedeth night, but against
dom evil cloth not prevail; but she reacheth from one end of the
world to the other with full strength, and ordereth all things gra-
ciously.
Such Wisdom Solomon tells how he loved from his youth, and
sought to take her for his bride; with her as his spouse he would
gain glory among the multitudes and honour in the sight of the
elders; because of her he would have immortality, and leave
behind an eternal memory; he will govern people and be
courageous in war.
When I am come into my house, I shall find rest with her; for
converse with her hath no bitterness, and to live with her hath no
pain, but gladness and joy.
Accordingly he pleaded with the Lord, that he would send down
Wisdom out of the holy heavens and from the throne of his glory:
and thus the historic prayer of
I Kings iii. 4 into an elaborate appeal. The concluding part of
this prayer makes the transition to the important discourses which
are to follow.
For a corruptible body weigheth down the soul, and the earthly
frame lieth heavy on a mind that is full of cares. And hardly do we
divine the things that are on earth, and the things that are close at
hand we find with labour; but the things that are in the heavens who
ever yet traced out? And who ever gained knowledge of thy counsel,
except thou gayest wisdom, and sentest thy holy spirit from on high?
And it was thus that the ways of them which are on earth were
corrected, and men were taught the things that are pleasing unto
thee: and through wisdom were they saved.
‘THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON’ 317
These last words become the text on which the discourse that
is to follow is founded.
Through wisdom were they saved.
This fourth discourse occupies a transitional position in the train
of thought which connects the last three sections of the book.
Without attempting to analyse all the shades of Fourth Discourse
meaning and mystic senses that attach to the word x-xi. 5
‘wisdom,’ it may be said that they centre around
two main usages, which may be broadly distinguished as subjective
and objective the wisdom which an individual, from whatever
source, receives into himself, and by which he guides his actions,
and again the wisdom which underlies the sum of things. Of
course the two senses are closely related: an individual is wise in
personal wisdom when he brings himself into conformity with the
Divine order and harmony. The final discourse will, without
using the word,1 expound wisdom in the objective sense as seen in
history. The third discourse has ended with Solomon's prayer for
personal wisdom. This section which intervenes deals with his-
tory, but mainly with its prominent individuals; and its use of the
term ‘wisdom’ in an interesting manner hovers between the two
senses of the word. In the opening reference to Adam —
Wisdom guarded to the end the first formed father of the world,
that was created alone, and delivered him out of his own transgres-
sion, and gave him strength to get dominion over all things —
the first clause seems to speak of external guidance, the rest of
self-discipline. It is from wisdom in the latter sense that Cain
‘fell away’ in his anger; but it must be wisdom as providential
guidance that saved the world from the flood, guiding the right-
eous man's course by a poor piece of wood.
the wisdom that "knew the righteous man," Abraham: but
dom in the other sense " preserved him blameless " unto God, and
kept him strong when his heart yearned toward his child. Exter-
1 It occurs only once (xiv. 5) in a subordinate phrase.
318 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
nal wisdom saved Lot, but it must be the wisdom within that
wife ‘passed by,’ and became a monument of folly. It is provi-
dential wisdom that guided the fugitive Jacob, and still more
clearly the same wisdom which went down into the dungeon with
Joseph, and left him not till she brought him the sceptre of a king-
dom. When Moses is reached, the two senses seem again to
interlace:
Wisdom delivered a holy people and a blameless seed from a nation
of oppressors. She entered into the soul of a servant of the Lord,
and withstood terrible kings in wonders and signs.
But as the details of the deliverance are reviewed the thought is
more and more of providential guidance, until we find ourselves
in the analysis of history that constitutes the final discourse.
The fifth and last section, in bulk equal to one half the book,
branches off at the words:
For by what things their foes were punished,
By these they in their need were benefited.
This text conveys clearly the argument of the whole discourse;
though (as remarked above) at one part of it there occurs a
Fifth Dis- chain of digressions, carrying our thoughts from
course one to another of kindred topics, until the original
xi. 5-xix argument is recovered and maintained to the close.1
The text embodies a principle of providential government, and
the discourse elaborately supports it with seven illustrations con-
nected with the deliverance of
The first of the ‘things’ illustrating the principle is thirst.
For the Egyptians the inexhaustible
judgment on those who had shed the blood of infants: while for
suffered thirst just enough to understand the torment of their
enemies, and see the difference between fatherly admonition and
the wrath of a stern king.
1 See Appendix IV.
‘THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON’ 319
It is as the writer is commencing a second illustration that the
series of digressions begins. One of these digressions puts the
principle of providential government which in sec- The chain of
ular literature is called nemesis: by what things a Digressions
man sinneth by these he is punished. The example xi. 15-xvi.1
that suggests it is the plague of vermin sent upon the Egyptians,
who are vermin worshippers. This leads to a further argument
on the forbearance of God in his judgments-- xi . 21 -xii
making the judgment assume a form that is equiv-
alent to admonition, and convicting little by little so as to give a
place for repentance: this is the forbearance of strength, and of
one who loves everything that he has made. Another digression
is on the folly of idolatry. There are degrees in
that folly: least blamable are those who mistake xiii. 1 xiv. 11
the beautiful works of nature for God; next mis- and xv
erable are those who rest their hopes in dead things like gold or
silver; but the furthest gone in folly are the Egyptians in their
deifying creatures hateful and void of beauty. The scorn of the
wise man closely follows the scorn of the prophet, in fancying a
woodcutter cutting down a tree and carefully fashioning the best
wood into useful vessels, then warming food with the refuse, and
then taking the very refuse that is good for nothing and carving it
in an idle hour into a god.
For health he calleth upon that which is weak, and for life he
beseecheth that which is dead, and for aid he supplicateth that
which hath least experience, and for a good journey that which can-
not so much as move a step, and for gaining and getting and good
success of his hands he asketh ability of that which with its hands
is most unable. Again, one preparing to sail, and about to journey
over raging waves, calleth upon a piece of wood more rotten than
the vessel that carrieth him.
The folly of idolatry leads naturally to the question of its origin.
The writer insists that idolatry is a corruption, and not
one of the things that have been from the beginning. It xiv. 12-31
may have begun in the image of a lost child, or an absent king,
320 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
coming in time to be honoured with rites and worship, until stocks
and stones have become invested with the incommunicable Name.
With such corruption of worship has crept in corruption of
morals — frantic revels, tumult, perjury, defiling of souls, confu-
sion of sex, adultery, and wantonness: they live in a great war of
ignorance, and that multitude of evils they call peace.
The digressions have occupied half of the whole discourse; the
original argument is resumed with a second illustration of things
which were judgments on the wicked turning to mercies
xvi. 1 on God's people. This is connected with appetite: the
plague of vermin caused the Egyptians to loathe their necessary
food, but to the Israelites were sent quails of dainty flavour when
their appetite had become keen in the desert. A third illustration
is founded on noxious bites: the bites of locusts and flies destroyed
without healing the men of
serpents did but admonish God's people to heed his oracles, and
then salvation was found for them, not indeed from that which
they gazed upon, but from the Healer of all, who has authority
over life and death. Once more, there is a contrast between the
rain of hail and showers inexorable mingling with fire which
destroyed the fruits of
heaven on God's people in the wilderness. The contrast is worked
out with minute subtlety. The elements strained their force
against the unrighteous, the fire of destruction burning in the
rain and flashing in the hail; while the same fire slackened in
behalf of the Israelites, and, like the fire of a domestic hearth,
tempered the food to every taste. Yet the manna which the
fire had thus not marred melted in the first faint sunbeam, teach-
ing men to rise early to give thanks.
The fifth example gives great scope for the feature of style
which I have called analytic imagination. It is the plague of
darkness.
When lawless men had supposed that they held a holy nation in
their power, they themselves, prisoners of darkness, and bound in
the fetters of a long night, close kept beneath their roofs, lay exiled
‘THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON’ 321
from the eternal providence. For while they thought that they were
unseen in their secret sins, they were sundered one from another by
a dark curtain of forgetfulness, stricken with terrible awe, and sore
troubled by spectral forms. For neither did the dark recesses that
held them guard them from fears, but sounds rushing down rang
around them, and phantoms appeared, cheerless with unsmiling
faces. And no force of fire prevailed to give them light, neither were
the brightest flames of the stars strong enough to illumine that
gloomy night: but only there appeared to them the glimmering of a
fire self-kindled, full of fear; and in terror they deemed the things
which they saw to be worse than that sight, on which they could not
gaze. And they lay helpless, made the sport of magic art, and a
shameful rebuke of their vaunts of understanding: for they that
promised to drive away terrors and troublings from a sick soul, these
were themselves sick with a ludicrous fearfulness for even if no
troublous thing affrighted them, yet, scared with the creepings of
vermin and hissings of serpents, they perished for very trem-
bling, refusing even to look on the air, which could on no side be
escaped. . . . All through the night which was powerless indeed,
and which came upon them out of the recesses of powerless Hades,
all sleeping the same sleep, now were haunted with monstrous appa-
ritions, and now were paralysed by their souls' surrendering; for
fear sudden and unlooked for came upon them. So then every man,
whosoever it might be, sinking down in his place, was kept in ward
shut up in that prison which was barred not with iron: for whether
he were a husbandman, or a shepherd, or a labourer whose toils
were in the wilderness, he was overtaken, and endured that inevitable
necessity, for with one chain of darkness were they all bound.
Whether there were a whistling wind, or a melodious noise of birds
among the spreading branches, or a measured fall of water running
violently, or a harsh crashing of rocks hurled down, or the swift
course of animals bounding along unseen, or the voice of wild beasts
harshly roaring, or an echo rebounding from the hollows of the
mountains, all these things paralysed them with terror. For the
whole world beside was enlightened with clear light, and was occu-
pied with unhindered works; while over them alone was spread a
heavy night, an image of the darkness that should afterward receive
them; but yet heavier than darkness were they unto themselves.
With such supernatural darkness is contrasted the great light
enjoyed all the while by the holy ones; and further, the burning
322 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
pillar of fire sent as convoy of their unknown journey, and kindly
sun for their proud exile.
The sixth illustration reverses the order of the contrast. First
is mentioned the night of deliverance to the chosen people, when
sacrifice was being offered in secret, and with one consent they
took upon themselves the covenant of Divine law. The fathers
were already leading the sacred songs of praise when there sounded
back in discord the cry of the stricken enemy.
For while peaceful silence enwrapped all things, and night in her
own swiftness was in mid course, thine all-powerful word leaped
from heaven out of the royal throne, a stern warrior, into the midst
of the doomed land, bearing as a sharp sword thine unfeigned com-
mandment; and standing it filled all things with death; and while
it touched the heaven it trod upon the earth.
And a picture follows of the dead thrown here and there in the
tossings of troubled dreams which showed to each his doom ere
the death fell on him.
Finally, death itself is amongst the things which are judgments
alike and benefits. It befell the righteous to make trial of death,
but only as a brief calamity; for the blameless Phinehas, bringing
the weapons of his ministry, confronted the advancing wrath, and
cut off the way to the living. But upon the ungodly came wrath
without mercy, who by a counsel of folly pursued the fugitives,
and themselves met with strange death, creation fashioning itself
anew, and land rising out of the sea for the salvation of the fugi-
tives. In the deliverance
of
they were soon to receive, might they see all the elements, inter-
changing like the notes of a psaltery, conspire to magnify the
people of God.
So ends the last of the Scriptural Books of Wisdom. Through-
out its whole course it has returned to the tone of serene contem-
plation, broken only by adoration, which had distinguished all
Wisdom literature except Ecclesiastes. The middle discourse of
‘THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON’ 323
the series has vindicated Solomon from the morbid experiment
imagined for him by the Preacher, and portrayed in his personality
individual wisdom in its most kingly form. The earlier discourses
have set over against the pessimist conception of a life bounded
by death the optimism that is made by extending the vision into
a future beyond the grave; while, in place of the Preacher's con-
cluding strain of clinging to happiness, the opening note of the
present book is, Love righteousness. And as these discourses
have dealt with the future, so the concluding discourses extend
the field of Wisdom to include the past, and the history of God's
people has been presented as an ordered scheme of providence.
We have seen that the Philosophy of the Bible takes its rise
from a floating literature of proverbs. The form of these germ
proverbs is fixed to that of a single couplet; accordingly
the couplet is the meeting point of verse and prose. Review
Proverb literature develops on the one side into the poetic forms
of the epigram and the sonnet, on the other side it travels prose-
wards in maxims and essays; but in either case Biblical. Phi-
losophy always seeks artistic form, and it is just where the thought
is most elaborate that the most extended dramatic monologues
are found, or the most brilliant rhetorical encomia and pictures.
In matter and spirit this Biblical Philosophy is ‘Wisdom: reflec-
tion associates itself with practical life. In the earlier works
reflection has been directed upon life in its separate parts, and
miscellanies of practical wisdom are the result: the totality of
things is not a subject for theorising upon, but is approached with
awe, and worshipped as a personified Wisdom. With Ecclesiastes
we reach the point at which analysis has turned itself upon the
sum of things, and there ensues a strange divorce between theory
and practice: while the old miscellaneous maxims still appear, we
now hear of a whole duty of man, and this is presented as a rev-
erent happiness; but on the other hand the theory of life has
started only to break down in negations, and in despair of all but
God. But in the Wisdom of Solomon Philosophy has recovered
324 BIBLICAL PHILOSOPHY OR WISDOM
its balance, theoretical and practical are harmonised. The prin-
ciple underlying the All— an All which takes in past, present, and
future—has again become Wisdom, and is again contemplated
with rapture; detailed maxims of practical life have disappeared,
except so far as they are items in a universal system. But this
final achievement of philosophic reflection has been brought about
by drawing within the field of thought something which has not
been obtained from philosophy: it is the tacit assumption of a
future world that has reversed the conclusions of Ecclesiastes.
And when this final stage of Wisdom literature. has been reached,
the conception of ‘Wisdom’ itself has become so deep and so
many-sided that it would be impossible to discuss it without
trenching upon the deepest mysteries of Theology.
BOOK FIFTH
BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
CHAPTER PAGE
XIV. FORMS OF PROPHETIC LITERATURE 327
XV. FORMS OF PROPHETIC LITERATURE: THE DOOM SONG 353
XVI. FORMS OF PROPHETIC LITERATURE: THE RHAPSODY 364
XVII. THE RHAPSODY OF '
XVIII. THE WORKS OF THE PROPHETS 417
CHAPTER XIV
FORMS OF PROPHETIC LITERATURE
WE commence in this chapter another of the grand depart-
ments of Biblical literature; and our first difficulty is its name --
Prophecy. By one of those silent changes in the Prophecy as a
signification of words, which are brought about by department of
the wear and tear of ordinary speech, this word literature
‘Prophecy’ has, for about a century, narrowed itself, in common
parlance, to the sense of ‘prediction’; and there are many readers
of the Bible to whom the term suggests nothing more than the
foretelling of the future. It is, of course, true that the Hebrew
prophets dealt with the future, as they dealt with the present and
the past. But the reference to future time is not the sole, nor
even the chief, function of the literature we are about to survey.
The pro- in prophecy is not the pro- that means ‘before’ but the
pro- that means ‘forth’: Prophecy is a forth-pouring or out-
pouring of discourse. That such out-pouring of discourse belongs,
not only to the thing described, but also to the signification of
the English word, is powerfully illustrated by the fact that a father
of the Anglican Church and great master of English prose, writing
in the seventeenth century a work in which he was to plead for
the freedom of the English pulpit, gave to it the title: ‘
Prophesying.’ The true distinction of this department of Biblical
literature lies in its presenting itself as the channel of an immediate
Divine message: "Thus saith the Lord " is con- Forms of Pro-
tained explicitly or implicitly in every utterance of phetic Literature
the prophets. The essence of Prophecy then belongs to its spirit
327
328 BIBLICAL LITERAT'UPE OF PROPHECY
and matter: what more of description is needed will be given by
distinguishing the various forms in which the prophetic matter can
be conveyed.
The simplest form of Prophecy, and the form of most frequent
occurrence, is the Prophetic Discourse: counterpart to the modern
The Prophetic Sermon. The Divine message essential to Prophecy
Discourse is not to be understood as the Discourse itself, but
rather, in theory at least, as the subject or text of the Discourse,
which all the rest is to explain or enforce. In this connec-
tion it is important to note a word which even in the Bible itself
(The word seems to be used as a technical term: — the word
‘Burden’) translated ‘Burden,’ in the titles to chapters of
Prophecy, and in the text itself.1 It would appear that this was
understood of the actual Divine message, though the term was
abused by false prophets as a name under which to clothe their
own imaginings.
Jeremiah Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams, saith the
xxiii. 32 LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies,
and by their vain boasting: yet I sent them not, nor commanded
them; neither shall they profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee,
saying, What is the burden of the LORD? then shalt thou say unto
them, What burden! I will cast you off, saith the LORD. And as for
the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The bur-
den of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house. Thus
shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother,
What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every
man's own word is his burden, and ye pervert the words of the
living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.
In the Prophetic Discourses as they have reached us, however,
the text and recommendatory matter seem fused together without
distinction. Such merging of a Divine message in the exhortations
enforcing it may be illustrated from that which is the prototype
1 The word substituted by R. V. (in titles, but not in the text) is ‘Oracles’: this
explains the usage by a parallel term in secular literatures.
THE PROPHETIC DISCOURSE 329
of all Prophetic Discourses, -- the Ten Commandments. The
versions of the Ten Commandments in Exodus and in Deuter-
onomy, though each is introduced with the formula, "The Lord
spake . . . saying," yet differ, not verbally only, but in substance;
in particular, the reason assigned for the observance of the Sabbath
is entirely different in the two books. The natural explanation of
this is to understand that the actual commandment inscribed on
tables of stone would be limited to the imperative clause, "Thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image," "Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy"; in the simple commandments
directed against murder or theft nothing more would be needed,
but in the more spiritual commandments comment would be added
by Moses, based on his general intercourse with God, and not
upon the Divine words of any particular occasion. A similar
intermingling of message and exhortation extends throughout the
whole literature of Prophecy. And a passage in Ezekiel shows us
that, even in the times of the prophets themselves, the rhetorical
element in their discourses was coming to be regarded as a sepa-
rate interest.
Son of man, the children of thy people talk of thee by the walls
and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one
to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is
the word that cometh forth from the LORD. . . . And, Ezekiel
lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that xxxiii.30
hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they
hear thy words, but they do them not.
When the discourses of Prophecy are analysed as pieces of
literature, we find, as we should expect, that they do not as a rule
exhibit any clear structural plan, but rather contain warning,
description, reflection, intermingling in a fervour of appeal. A
typical discourse is that which makes the opening chapter Isaiah i
of Isaiah; where the idea of children rebelling against a
Divine parent, of the abject condition of the people leading them
to fresh sin, of their intentness on sacrifices and neglect of right-
eousness, the golden hopes held out to them, the picture of
330 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
universal corruption with the threat of terrible purging that shall
leave no more than a small remnant, — all combine in a rush of
passionate thought that has no need of logical arrangement.
There are, however, some discourses which have structural as
well as other interest. The elaborate manifesto of Isaiah which
follows the opening chapter commences with an
Isaiah ii-iv ideal picture of the mountain of the Lord's house
established at the head of the mountains, and all nations flowing
to it to learn His ways, beating their swords into ploughshares for an
era of universal peace. In the light of such a picture the prophet
invites the house of Jacob to walk: and so plunges into denun-
ciatory portrayal of corruption and idolatry, against which he
places in contrast the terror of the majesty of the Lord. The
general upsetting of natural relations he makes the beginning of
judgment on oppression; the luxury of women he scornfully
details, and threatens the nemesis that is coming upon it. From
such ideas of judgment the prophet passes, by the image of a
young shoot from an old tree, to the remnant of
be again beautiful, cleansed from pollution, and blest again with
the nightly fire and daily cloud of Divine guidance. So to frame
a denunciation between pictures of a golden age at the beginning
and end, gives an individuality of plan to this deliverance of Isaiah„
A discourse of Ezekiel, again, has distinctiveness of form given
to it by its being cast wholly in the mould of
Ezekiel xxxiv pastoral ideas and scenery. God declares Him-
self against the Shepherds of Israel, that feed themselves and not
the sheep.
Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill the fatlings;
but ye feed not the sheep. The diseased have ye not strengthened,
neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound
up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which
was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but
with force and with rigour have ye ruled over them.
Still under the name of sheep is described the loss of God's people,
wandering without rescue until He shall seek them out Himself.
THE PROPHETIC DISCOURSE 331
As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his
sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I
will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered
in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the
peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into
their own land; and I will feed them upon the mountains of
by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
Among His other gifts, God will feed them with the ‘judgment’ that
makes distinction between oppression and meekness.
Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have fed upon the good past-
ure, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your
pasture? and to have drunk of the clear waters, but ye must foul
the residue with your feet? And as for my sheep, they eat that
which ye have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which ye
have fouled with your feet. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD
unto them: Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and
the lean cattle.
As usual, the prophecy works towards the thought of restoration,
and a purified people amid ideal surroundings.
And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them,
even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their
shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant
David prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it. And I will
make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil beasts to
cease out of the land: and they shall dwell securely in the wilder-
ness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places
round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come
down in its season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the
tree, of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield her
increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know
that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and
have delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves
of them.
With exquisite tenderness the pastoral imagery has been maintained
without a break; only in the last verse is the image dropped.
And ye my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am
your God, saith the Lord GOD.
332 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
In treating Lyric Poetry I spoke of the pendulum structure, or
swaying of a poem in successive sections between opposite sides
of a theme. This structure is very characteristic of Prophecy,
especially the swaying between pictures of judgment and mercy;
an interpreter should keep it constantly before his mind as a pos-
sible clue to the connection of thought in any portion of prophetic
literature. I will here illustrate only with a very simple example.
A discourse of Jeremiah opens with sounds of
Jeremiah trembling and fear, a picture of Jacob in time of
xxx. 4-22 trouble: as if men travailed with child, every man
bowed down with anguish, and all faces pale. In that day, the next
paragraph declares, the yoke of slavery shall be broken from off his
neck: as the servant of Jehovah he shall be brought from far-off
lands of captivity to quiet and ease in his own land, while full end
is made of all the oppressing nations. With the formula, "For thus
saith the Lord," the next paragraph goes back to the conception
of judgment: Jacob's wound is described as incurable, Jehovah has
wounded him with the wound of an enemy, there is no medicine nor
plaister, all the lovers of Jacob have forgotten him in his sore need.
With the connective ‘therefore’ the discourse passes to the reverse
of this picture: health restored, adversaries devoured, captivity
turned, the city builded on its own heap, with glory and thanksgiving
sounding out of its palaces. Thus to the instinct of Hebrew poetry
this passing backwards and forwards between opposites seems to
present itself as a continuously advancing train of thought.
I have said that prediction is only a secondary element of
Scriptural prophecy. Still, it has its place, and occasionally a
whole discourse is given up to a picture of the future. An inter-
esting example is the last of the discourses ascribed to the prophet
Zechariah. It describes a ‘Day of the Lord’ which
Zechariah xiv is to come. All nations will be gathered against
of war, and half its people will go away into captivity, before the
Lord appears to save. This salvation seems to echo the deliv-
erances of past history. As the
LYRIC PROPHECY 333
from the pursuing Egyptians, so now the
cloven, and the fugitives escape through the valley. With a
reminiscence of the sun and moon standing still for Joshua, we
read of the succession of day and night being interrupted: at the
time for evening there is still light, and the delivered people have,
not day and not night, but "one day which is known unto the
Lord." The nations that warred against
with consuming plagues, the description of which recalls the curse
in Deuteronomy. The very land shall change its surface, until
waters flow on either side to the boundary sea. In
LORD shall reign as king over all the earth: the nations that had
fought against the holy City shall go thither to worship, distant
shall unite to punish those who fail. A new age of holiness is thus
introduced; when there is no need for traffic; when all life resolves
itself into journeys to the sacred feasts; when holiness is inscribed
on the bells of the horses, and the meanest pot in the Lord's house
is as holy as the bowls before the altar.
From the general Prophetic Discourse a small variation brings
us to Lyric Prophecy. High-strung oratory easily passes into
lyric verse; the more easily in a language in which Lyric Prophecy
prose and verse overlap. In prophecies of all types
lyrics may be interspersed. Thus we have seen in a previous
chapter1 how the Book of Zephaniah resolves itself into a single
continuous discourse of the Divine speaker, interrupted at inter-
vals by lyric strains of comment and application. In the course
of other prophecies we come upon bursts of lyric thanksgiving,
songs of triumph, or ‘taunt-songs,’ such as that in Isaiah xlvii
Isaiah over fallen
be seen to play a great part in prophetic literature, were it not
that (as before remarked) the dirge rhythm on which they are
founded is missed in our current translations.
1 Above, page 120. 2 Above, page 157.
334 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
But the term ‘Lyric Prophecy’ is most fully applicable where a
complete discourse is in this form. A striking example is found
in the early chapters of Isaiah. Its structure is
Isaiah antistrophic: each of the four stanzas has an open-
ix. 8-x. 4 ing couplet, a closing refrain, and in the centre a
quatrain that is gnomic in character, while the intervening por-
tions of prose are exegetical of the rest. Besides this anti-
strophic effect, the reiteration of the refrain produces an effect
of crescendo and advance from the way in which two words in
it — ‘this’ and ‘still’ — gather increase of meaning with each
succeeding stanza.
DOOM OF THE NORTH
1
The LORD sent a word into Jacob,
And it hath lighted upon
And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of
The bricks are fallen,
But we will build with hewn stone;
The sycomores are cut down,
But we will change them into cedars.
Therefore the LORD shall set up on high against him the adversaries
of Rezin, and shall stir up his enemies; the Syrians before, and the
Philistines behind; and they shall devour
For all this his anger is not turned away,
But his hand is stretched out still!
2
Yet the people hath not turned unto him that smote them,
Neither have they sought the LORD of hosts.
Therefore the LORD will cut off from
branch and rush, in one clay.
The ancient and the honourable man,
He is the head;
And the prophet that teacheth lies,
He is the tail.
LYRIC PROPHECY 335
For they that lead this people cause them to err; and they that are
led of them are destroyed. Therefore the LORD shall not rejoice over
their young men, neither shall he have compassion on their father-
less and widows: for every one is profane and an evil-doer, and
every mouth speak eth folly.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
But his hand is stretched out still!
3
For wickedness burneth as the fire;
It devoureth the briers and thorns:
yea, it kindleth in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in
thick clouds of smoke. Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is
the land burnt up: the people also are as the fuel of fire; no man
spareth his brother.
And one shall snatch on the right hand,
And be hungry;
And he shall eat on the left hand,
And they shall not be satisfied:
they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh,
Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall he
against
For all this his anger is not turned away,
But his hand is stretched out STILL!
4
Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,
And to the writers that write perverseness:
to turn aside the needy from judgement, and to take away the right
of the poor of my people, that widows may be their spoil, and that
they may make the fatherless their prey!
And what will ye do in the day of visitation,
And in the desolation which shall come from far?
To whom will ye flee for help?
And where will ye leave your glory?
They shall only bow down under the prisoners, and shall fall under
the slain.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
But his hand is stretched out STILL!
336 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
An important division of prophetic literature is Symbolic Proph-
ecy. If Prophecy in general is in the form of discourses, Sym-
bolic prophecies are discourses with texts; but
Symbolic the texts taken by the prophets are not, like the texts
Prophecy of modern sermons, quotations from the sacred writ-
ings, but object-texts, that is, external things treated symbolically.
Perhaps modern life has approached nearest to such Symbolic
Prophecy in the ‘Emblem Literature,’ now forgotten, but for a
century or two the chief reading of the religious world. This
Emblem Literature was made up of sermons in verse with hiero-
glyphic texts. To take a typical case. One of Quarles's emblems
represents a balance; in one scale of this balance worlds (rep-
resented conventionally by balls with cross handles) are being
heaped up; the other scale contains nothing, but a mouth is seen
blowing into it, and this empty scale weighs down the heaped-up
worlds on the other side. This hieroglyph is the text: on the
Symbolic opposite page a poetic sermon works out with vigour
Prophecy: The the thought that worldly goods are less than empty
Emblem breath. In the same way there is an Emblem
Prophecy which has for its texts, not exactly pictures, but visible
things or actions. Jeremiah is commanded to wear a linen girdle
in the eyes of the people; when they have become
Jeremiah xiii; accustomed to it he is to take the girdle off and
xviii. 1-17; xxiv hide it in a hole of the rock; several days after he
is to show it again, marred and profitable for nothing. This is to
be a text, from which he will preach how
cleave to the Lord as the girdle cleaveth to the figure, shall for
their sins be seen to be marred and useless. Or, again, the same
prophet is led to watch the potter at work, aiming at one kind of
vessel, but if the clay is marred making it at his pleasure into a
vessel of a different kind: from this text he will proclaim that
potter. Or, attention is called to baskets of figs standing before
the
spoken the paradox that it is the captives carried away to
SYMBOLIC PROPHECY 337
who resemble the good figs, and the bad are those who think they
have escaped by remaining in the land. An object-text in one
of the discourses of Ezekiel seems to have been a map.
The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying, Also, thou son
of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of
may come; they twain shall come forth out of one
land: and mark out a place, mark it out at the Ezekiel xxi. 18
head of the way to the city. Thou shalt appoint a
way, for the sword to come to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and
to
at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divina-
tion: he shook the arrows to and fro, he consulted the teraphim, he
looked in the liver. In his right hand was the divination for Jeru-
lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the
gates, to cast up mounts, to build forts.
I have called the emblems texts, but they do not necessarily
come at the beginning. A discourse would be specially impres-
sive when its close was accompanied with some symbolic action.
We find Jeremiah delivering a strain of unmeasured
threatening and denunciation, holding all the while Jeremiah xix. 10;
an earthen bottle in his hand at the end he dashes li. 61-4
the bottle to pieces in token of the irremediable destruction that
is to come. On another occasion he sends to the captives in
oppressing city: he instructs his deputy, when he has read to the
end, to bind the book to a stone and cast it into the
emblem of the future when
Sometimes the symbolic text may be no more than a gesture.
Ezekiel is to set his face towards the mountains of
proceeds to denounce the idolatries committed on Ezekiel vi. 1, 11
them; he is to smite with his hands and stamp
with his foot as a starting-point to a picture of utter ruin. If such
things as these seem too slight to constitute an emblem, it must
be recollected that in all prophecy reiteration played a large part.
In the case of Jonah, so far as we can tell, no discourse is given
338 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
him to speak, but only the cry, "Yet forty days, and
(Prophetic be overthrown," to be repeated over and over again
Reiteration) for a day together. And elsewhere there are sug-
gestions of similar reiteration.
Jeremiah Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word: Thus saith the
xiii. 12 LORD, the God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and
they shall say unto thee, Do we not know that every bottle shall be
filled with wine? Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the
LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the
kings that sit upon David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets,
and all the inhabitants of
The natural interpretation of this passage is that the apparent
truism would be repeated by the prophet, as he moved about the
city, with a persistency designedly irritating, until public impa-
tience breaking out in questioning made a state of mind favour-
able for being impressed with the mystic sense of the truism.
Similar reiteration may be understood in certain discourses of
Ezekiel, who would ejaculate "An end, an end," or
Ezekiel vii. 2, 5 "An evil, an only evil," until curiosity had been
excited, as by a riddle: such curiosity would serve to emphasise
the discourse which answered to those riddling ejaculations. It is
clear that words so delivered have as much objective force as a
visible emblem.
In other cases the symbolic action from which discourses would
take their departure seems to have been sustained dumb show:
the sermon would be acted first, and preached afterwards. A
notable example of this is the mimic siege which formed the basis
of so much of Ezekiel's prophesying.
Ezekiel Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and
iv. i-v. 4 pourtray upon it a city, even
build forts against it, and cast up a mount against it; set camps also
against it, and plant battering rams against it round about. And
take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between
thee and the city: and set thy face toward it, and it shall be besieged,
and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house
of
SYMBOLIC PROPHECY 339
Moreover lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the
house of
thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have
appointed the years of their iniquity to be unto thee a number of
days, even three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the
iniquity of the house of
complished these, thou shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear
the iniquity of the house of
have I appointed it unto thee. And thou shalt set thy face toward
the siege of
prophesy against it. And, behold, I lay bands upon thee, and thou
shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ac-
complished the days of thy siege. Take thou also unto thee wheat,
and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put
them in one vessel, and make ghee bread thereof; according to the
number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, even three hundred
and ninety days, shalt thou eat thereof. And thy meat which thou
shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time
shalt thou eat it. And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth
part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
From various passages in the Book of Ezekiel we are able to
form an idea of the mode in which such a commission would be
executed. It was the custom for companies of the elders of
to wait upon the prophet at his house, and sit before
him until "the hand of the Lord should fall upon II Kings iv. 23
him." From the historical books we know that such visits to the
prophets were periodical, belonging especially to new moons and
Sabbaths; but a passage of Ezekiel suggests that xxiv. 18
among the exiles they took place daily. We may
suppose then that at the period in question the prophet would, for
the whole time indicated in the above passage, receive the daily
deputation with the same mimic siege, now taking the part of the
besiegers and now of the besieged; and from this constant text
he would enlarge upon the various topics of sin and judgment that
each day's inspiration brought to his mind. The matter contained
in the chapter that follows is no more than the general substance
of the long series of discourses.
340 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
We even find a change of demeanour and manner of life, in so
marked an individual as a prophet, made an emblem under which
a Divine message could be conveyed. The Lord
Ezekiel xxiv. 15 takes from Ezekiel the desire of his eyes with a
stroke: yet he is neither to mourn nor weep. This loss of a
beloved wife borne without signs of grief is to be a symbol of
sorrows coming upon
more painful experience is laid upon the prophet
Hosea i-iii Hosea, who is commanded to take a wife from the
ranks of fallen women: his family life, and the efforts of the
prophet to reclaim his charge, are a living text for ministry to a
people unfaithful to their God.
When we consider the number and variety in prophetic litera-
ture of these object-texts—symbolic articles, symbolic gestures and
ejaculations, symbolic demeanour and manner of life — we are
able to see how this Emblem Prophecy has its prototype in the
grand Ceremonial Worship of the Tabernacle and
Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant, the Shewbread, the rites
of sacrifice or of the Scapegoat, all these are perennial emblems
of those ideas in Hebrew religion which are eternal and of con-
stant application. In the same spirit Prophecy uses symbols to
fulfil its function of bringing the principles of the religion to bear
upon the detailed exigencies and occasional problems of public
and social life. And in the light of this analogy we cease to be
surprised at the minuteness with which, in such a case as Ezekiel's
siege, the emblematic action is prescribed; the ceremonial teach-
ing of the prophet is carried out with a reverent fidelity to detail
as great as in the elaborated worship of the
The conception of a prophetic emblem develops readily into
Emblem Proph- another conception of considerable importance.
ecy and the When a prophecy had reference to future time,
'Sign of the and was illustrated with some symbol that was not
Prophet’ transitory but durable, the emblem would remain
to be confronted with the fulfilled prophecy, and so would vindi-
cate the authority of the prophet. A prophetic emblem would
SYMBOLIC PROPHECY 341
then become a ‘sign of the prophet.’ Jeremiah, carried by force
into
dictions of the conquest of
rezzar; he takes great stones and hides them in 8-13
the mortar at the entrance of Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes,
declaring that the conqueror "will set his throne upon these
stones." Though the word is not used, yet it is clear that this
emblematic action would become a ‘sign’ of Jeremiah's prophetic
function, when the event should take place. Such ‘signs’ are
part of the recognised machinery of prophecy. Isaiah bids Ahaz,
in a certain political crisis, "Ask thee a sign of the Isaiah vii. 10
LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the
height above." When Ahaz in his panic holds back, the prophet
himself volunteers the sign of a virgin conceiving and bearing a
son and calling his name Immanuel: that child shall not be old
enough to know good from evil before the prophet's prediction
concerning the war shall be seen to be fulfilled.1 It is to be
observed, however, that the word ‘sign’ is also, in prophetic liter-
1 In regard to the meaning of this much disputed passage, it is to he observed
that the difficulties disappear if the words of the prophet be understood to apply,
not to any virgin of
The expression ' Immanuel ' occurs three times. (1) First, in the passage vii. 10-
16. The situation here is that the junction of
princes of
tempt upon the enemy. So elated and confident at this moment (he says) is the
enemy that a woman of their land gives her new-born child the proud name, 'God
with us': but that child will soon he feeding on famine fare [that 'butter and
honey' is a name for famine fare is shown by verse 22]: for before the child is old
enough to distinguish good food from evil the enemy's land whose allied kings
cause this panic to
a second time in viii. 5-8. This whole paragraph is addressed to the enemy,
and the Assyrian, under the image of a flood, is described as overflowing the land
of
onward into
with us." (3) The third recurrence of the phrase is in viii. ro, where the false boast
of
the allied enemies) and they shall come to nought, for "God is with us." Of course
this explanation relates to the primary interpretation of the piece of historic proph-
ecy: it need not interfere with any theological use of the term 'Immanuel' as a
secondary interpretation; indeed, the third passage, which claims the true 'Imman-
uel' for
342 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
ature, applied to what we have here called the emblem; thus
Ezekiel carrying on his siege, or refraining from
Ezekiel iv. 3; tears at his wife's death, is pronounced by the Lord
xxiv. 24 to be a 'sign' to the people. The variation be-
tween the two meanings of the word— between the ‘sign’ which
is a symbolic illustration of the prophecy, and the ‘sign’ which is
a miraculous vindication of the prophet — is the index of an impor-
tant tendency in the attitude of the public mind towards prophecy,
by which the spiritual force of prophetic utterances came to be
more and more ignored, and the element of prediction and miracle
grew into emphasis. So far has this tendency prevailed in the
age of the New Testament that the constant and indignant com-
plaint of Jesus Christ is against a "generation that seeketh a sign."
The Prophecy of Vision is, in its elementary form, hardly dis-
Symbolic Proph- tinguished from Emblem Prophecy: the emblem
ecy: The texts are merely presented in supernatural vision,
vision instead of being seen by the ordinary eyesight.
The books of Amos and Zechariah are full of such vision emblems.
But the supreme example of them is Ezekiel's Vision of the Valley
of Dry Bones. He is carried out in the spirit of
Ezekiel xxxvii the Lord and set down in the midst of the valley;
the valley is full of bones, and lo, they are very dry. He is com-
manded to prophesy: and as he pours forth his speech there is
thundering and earthquake; bone comes to his bone, flesh and
skin cover them; from the four winds comes breath, and breathes
upon the slain, and they live, and stand upon their feet, an ex-
ceeding great army. Thus impressively is elaborated, in the
region of the supernatural, a symbolic text, from which Ezekiel
preaches that
graves, and feel the life-giving breath of the Lord.
The Vision Em- But this elementary conception of Vision Proph-
blem and ecy undergoes a development similar to that traced
‘Revelation’ in the last section. As the prophetic emblem,
when applied to futurity, tended to change into the ‘sign of the
SYMBOLIC PROPHECY 343
prophet,' so the vision emblem develops into the ‘Revelation,’ as
that word is generally understood, namely, the supernatural revela-
tion of the future. It is worth while to distinguish
three types among such Visions of Revelation. Revelation of
First, we have the case in which the vision is sym- the Future
bolic and supernatural, whereas the interpretation comes by natural
means. The fingers of a hand writing on the wall startle Belshaz-
zar's feast with mystic words: Daniel by his wisdom discovers
the meaning, and the destruction that is about to come. In the
second type an interpreter is provided by supernatural means,
and the vision is given by him in direct speech. Thus Daniel,
troubling over the mysteries of times and seasons, feels himself
‘touched’ by an angel at the time of the evening oblation, and
Gabriel foretells what shall come to pass in terms that are direct,
however difficult. To this second category may be referred the
Calls of the Prophets: visionary scenes in which God himself
appears under symbolic forms, but the commission is given to the
prophet in plain language. In the third type both the vision and
the interpretation are symbolic and supernatural; as where the
future interchange of dynasties is conveyed to Daniel in the vision
of the Four Beasts, or the vision of the Ram and the He-goat,
while the significance of what he sees is explained by a personage
of the vision itself.
But it is important to distinguish from this another meaning of
the word ‘Revelation’; we find visions that are revelations, not
of the future, but of the law and pattern of things.
As the one kind of vision is an extension of the Revelation of
prophetic dream, so the other has for its prototype Law and Ideal
the original revelation to Moses on the mount of the ceremonial
law and the pattern of the Tabernacle. Important examples of the
two types of Revelation are Ezekiel's companion visions of Jeru-
which cover no less than thirteen chapters of his Ezekiel
book. The two are separated, in conformity with and xl-xlviii
the general arrangement of Ezekiel's writings, and their division
344 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
between prophecies of judgment and of restoration; but that the
two are parts of one whole is expressly said in the vision itself.
In the first case Ezekiel is carried "in the visions of
xliii.1-8 God" to
of
through the
in its chambers and precincts; agents of destruction do their work
before his eyes, and he sees the city sprinkled with ashes taken
from between the cherubim; he is himself called to bear a part in
the work of judgment, and as he prophesies he sees one of the
leaders of iniquity fall dead. All the scene so described makes
up the symbol of this vision. We ate not to understand that the
weeping for Tammuz, or the creeping abominations, were neces-
sarily to be seen in just the spot where Ezekiel beholds them, any
more than we are to understand that Pelatiah actually died at the
time when Ezekiel was under the prophetic spell. The whole is a
symbolic representation of the general idolatry and desecration of
the sacred city. The companion vision shows a great change from
this symbolism. The same supernatural agency transports the
prophet to the same spot. But what he sees is a city and temple
gradually taking shape, and measured with exactness of propor-
tions which he is commanded to store in his memory. The Glory
of the God of Israel proclaims this the place of his throne for
ever, and, in phrases which seem to echo Exodus, calls upon the
house of
"the law of the house." Then is continued the ordering of city,
temple, ritual, and even division of the
minuteness which seems like the former revelation on Sinai adapted
to a new dispensation. Throughout the whole nine chapters there
is scarcely anything that can be called symbolic, except the con-
ception of the living waters issuing from the
to fertilise the
withering trees, with their fruits renewed month by month and
their leaves for healing. In the course, then, of this extended
vision we are able to watch the transition from one type of revela-
PROPHETIC INTERCOURSE 345
tion to another; while the symbolic is the distinction of the one,
in the other the symbolic passes into the ideal. In the interpre-
tation of Prophecy it is of the utmost importance to distinguish
to which of these two types of revelation any particular vision
belongs.
Symbolic Prophecy has detained us a long time; it remains to
point out that, in addition to Emblem Prophecy
and Vision Prophecy, it includes a third branch, — Symbolic Proph-
the Prophetic Parable. This is again a sermon ecy: The Parable
with a symbolic text: the only difference is that the emblem is
here narrated instead of being visibly presented. Such a para-
bolic text has its ultimate basis in the Fable of
primitive literature.1 Isaiah's Parable of the Vine- Isaiah v
yard, so favourably placed and carefully tended, yet bringing forth
wild grapes, is amongst the most familiar portions of prophetic
literature. The same symbol is differently used in
a parable of Ezekiel, who treats the vine as the Ezekiel xv, xvi,
one wood that is profitable for no use. This latter xvii, xxiii
prophet is specially fond of parabolic discourse, and his favourite
symbol seems to be that of an unfaithful spouse; in a way peculiar
to himself he works out this theme with a wonderful combination
of tenderness and unsparing plainness of speech. It is hardly
necessary to remark upon the prominence assumed in a later
age by this particular type of discourse: of the supreme Prophet
of the New Testament it is said that "without a parable spake
he not."
Prophetic Intercourse makes a literary division that does not
need lengthy discussion. The intercourse of the prophet with
1 The Fable as a literary form is defined by its conveying human interest under
the disguise of inferior beings. It is observable that the two specimens of the
primitive Fable in Scripture (hedges ix. 8—15 and II Kings xiv. 9) are of the kind
that ascribe human thoughts to things of the vegetable world. The other great
division of Fables, that which puts human speech into the mouth of brutes, is not
represented in the Bible, unless, as some commentators suppose, the incident of
Balaam and his ass be such a Fable incorporated in the narrative.
346 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
God constitutes legitimate matter of prophecy. Besides the
visions of their call to the office of prophet, both
Prophetic Inter- Jeremiah and Ezekiel have set forth in their books
course: (I) with communings which do not seem intended for pub-
God lication to the people. We find also Dialogues of
Intercession (either standing alone, or merged in other prophe-
cies), of which the great prototype is Abraham's intercession for
Again, there is the intercourse of the prophet with enquirers.
From the earliest history we read of persons ‘enquiring of the
Lord,’ and receiving oracles in reply. Thus Re-
(2) with enquir- bekah heard before their birth the destiny of her
twin children; twin children; Saul enquiring found no answer,
“by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." We find, as a
regular custom, that deputations visit the prophet, and wait till
inspiration falls upon him, and so receive his Response. With
this is connected what may be called an artificial
this is connected what may be called an artificial
(Dialectic form of prophecy, in which there is no actual
Prophecy) interview between the prophet and another inter-
locutor, but the discourse takes the form of a reply to an imagi-
nary objection or interruption. The whole of Malachi seems
constructed in this form of Dialectic Prophecy. Its paragraphs
uniformly take a shape that may be thus represented:
A Complaint
An interposed Objection
The answering Discourse
In some cases the objection is duplicated, as may be illustrated
by the following brief condensation:
Instead of honouring, the priests despise God's name.
Wherein despise it?
In offering polluted bread upon his altar.
Wherein polluted?
The Answering Discourse puts the cheapening of offerings made to
the Lord, and how the ideal of the priesthood is reversed.
DRAMATIC PROPHECY 347
Once more, Prophecy includes the intercourse of the prophet
with the world in general. The books narrate Incidents, like the
conspiracy of his native Anathoth against Jeremiah,
or the burning of his roll by the king, or the (3) with the
casting of Daniel into a den of lions; or Contro- World
versies, like that stirred up by Jeremiah's wearing the emblem of
the yoke. These Incidents (illustrations of which are given in
the Table of Prophecy) make an approach to the Epic Prophecy
discussed in a former book. More than this, the department
of Prophecy overlaps with that of History, as whole sections of
the prophetic books show. What Nathan was to David, that the
whole succession of greater and minor prophets were to later
history. The secular kingship had its orders of officials; the
order of prophets were the representatives of the higher theoc-
racy, and their action in each crisis makes a part at once of
Prophecy and History.
We find ourselves on a different literary plane when we come
to Dramatic Prophecy. To constitute this a scene or situation
must be presented entirely by dialogue, without
any description or comment from the prophet, Dramatic
except so far as he may be a party to the scene. Prophecy
These dramatic scenes are highly interesting; but the absence in
ancient literatures of any attempt to indicate the speakers in pas-
sages of dialogue has led to much obscurity and misinterpretation.
A simple illustration occurs in the Book of Micah, and may
be entitled, ‘The Lord's Controversy before the Mountains.’
Jehovah calls upon the Mountains to hear his con- Micah vi. 1-8
troversy with his people; and himself proceeds
to arraign
citing Balaam as his witness to the blessings bestowed on Jacob.
Then the other party to the controversy is afraid to put in an
appearance.
Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before
the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with
348 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of
rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-
born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
The Mountains may then be understood to pronounce judgment.
He hath shewed thee, 0 man, what is good; and what doth the
LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to
walk humbly with thy God?
This dramatic scene is immediately followed by another some-
what more extended in form. The passage is headed: "The
voice of the LORD crieth unto the city, and, the
Micah vi. 9-vii man of wisdom will fear thy name." This, title
suggests that we have in 'the Man of Wisdom' an addition to
what may be called the natural dramatis personae, namely, God,
the Prophet, and the offending People, which last may in this
case be termed the Men of Folly. The voice of God is heard
denouncing injustice, violence, and the "statutes of Omri";
wounding, humiliation, famine, are threatened, until the people of
the wicked city shall become a desolation and a hissing. This
interposition of Jehovah throws the wicked of the city into confu-
sion, while the wise see in it their salvation.
The Men of Folly. —Woe is me! for I am as when they have
ered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there
is no cluster to eat; nor first-ripe fig which my soul desired. The
godly man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright
among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his
brother with a net. Both hands are put forth for evil to do it; the
prince asketh, and the judge is ready for a reward; and the great
man, he uttereth the mischief of his soul: thus they weave it to-
gether. The best of them is as a brier: the straightest is as it were
taken from a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen, even thy visi-
tation, is come; now shall be their perplexity. Trust ye not in a
friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy
mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son dishonoureth
the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-
in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of
his own house.
DRAMATIC PROPHECY 349
The Man of Wisdom. — But as for me, I will look unto the LORD;
I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
Rejoice not against me, 0 mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise;
when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. I will
bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against
him; until he plead my cause, and execute judgement for me: he
will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.
Then mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her; which
said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? Mine eyes shall behold
her; now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
The voice of God is now heard in tones of comfort: it pro-
claims the rebuilding of the city's walls, and (after an echoing cry
from the Prophet) describes marvels of restoration to equal the
old wonders done in
creeping out of their hiding-places, trembling with fear of the
Deliverer. Then the Prophet brings the scene to a conclusion.
The Prophet. -- Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth
iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heri-
tage? he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in
mercy. He will turn again and have compassion upon us; he will
tread our iniquities under foot : and thou wilt cast all their sins into
the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and
the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers
from the days of old.
A slight variation from this simple dramatic type is afforded by
those prophecies in which only a single speaker is presented, —
God: but the alternations in the Divine mind between judgment
and compassion produce all the effect of dialogue. The Divine
Yearning is pictured in this way by Hosea.
God. — When
son out of
As they called then, so they went from them: they sac- Hosea
rificed unto the Baalim, and burned incense to graven xi. 1-11
images. —
Yet I taught Ephraim to go; I took them on my arms; but they
knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man,
350 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
with bands of love; and I was to them as they that take off the
yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat before them. —
He shall not return into the
be his king, because they refused to return. And the sword shall
fall upon his cities, and shall consume his bars, and devour them,
because of their own counsels. And my people are bent to back-
sliding from me: though they call them to him that is on high, none
at all will exalt him. —
How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee,
Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my compassions are kin-
dled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will
not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the
Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not come in wrath.
They shall walk after the LORD, who shall roar like a lion: for he
shall roar, and the children shall come trembling from the west.
They shall come trembling as a bird out of
of the
houses, saith the LORD.
This alternating monologue is combined with the dialogue that
involves a second speaker in a more extended composition of the
same prophet. The whole may be entitled, 'A Drama of Re-
pentance.'
Hosea God. — When Ephraim spake with trembling, he exalted himself
xiii-xiv in
sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their
silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them
the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacri-
fice kiss the calves. Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud,
and as the dew that passeth early away, as the chaff that is driven
with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out
of the chimney. —
Yet I am the LORD thy God from the
knowest no god but me, and beside me there is no saviour. I did
know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. Accord-
ing to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their
heart was exalted: therefore have they forgotten me. —
Therefore am I unto them as a lion: as a leopard will I watch by
the way: I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps,
DRAMATIC PROPHECY 351
and will rend the caul of their heart: and there will I devour them
like a lion; the wild beast shall tear them. It is thy destruction,
0
thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges, of
whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? I have given thee
a king in mine anger, and have taken him away in my wrath. The
iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is laid up in store. The
sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise
son; for it is time he should not tarry in the place of the breaking
forth of children. —
I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem
them from death 0 death, where are thy plagues? 0 grave, where
is thy destruction?
Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. Though he be fruitful
among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the breath of the LORD
coming up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and
his fountain shall be dried up: it shall spoil the treasure of all pleas-
ant vessels.
against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be
dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
Repentant
thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and return
unto the LORD: say unto him, "Take away all iniquity, and receive
us graciously: so will we render as bullocks the offering of our lips.
Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will
we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in
thee the fatherless findeth mercy."
God. —I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for
mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto
anon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive
tree, and his smell as
shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and blossom as the vine:
the scent thereof shall be as the wine of
say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have answered, and
will regard him: I am like a green fir tree; from me is thy fruit
found.
We have thus seen the prophetic literature of the Bible assum-
ing very various forms. Besides the simple record of intercourse
with God or with the people, the prophet's message may be an
352 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
elaborate discourse; the discourse may have a symbolic text, and
so present the varieties of emblem, vision, and parable; the
prophecy may clothe itself in lyric poetry, or it may be presented
in a dramatic scene. There still remain to be mentioned two
kinds of prophecy of such importance from the literary standpoint
that they must be discussed in separate chapters.
CHAPTER XV
FORMS OF PROPHETIC LITERATURE: THE DOOM SONG
AMONG forms of Prophecy there is one which has a distinctive-
ness and prominence in the Bible, and from the literary point of
view so special an interest, that it seems proper in The Doom Song
this work to treat it in a chapter by itself. This is as a form of
the Doom Song: a prophetic utterance directed Prophecy
against some particular city, nation, or country. The kingdoms
of
yet in their own age formed part of a network of states. There
were neighbour peoples, like the Philistines or Syrians, kindred
races, such as Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, the maritime
powers of
between the two world empires of
on the northeast. Deliverance from one of these empires formed
the starting-point of
destined to be absorbed; meanwhile the ceaseless fluctuations of
power and of mutual relations between all these nations and em-
pires imposed a continual foreign policy on the kingdoms of
and
policy, as well as in domestic questions. And, over and above
questions of temporary policy, there was the perpetual function of
nations of idolaters and the constant witnesses to this were the
prophets. One product of such prophetic ministry was this
denunciatory discourse or Doom Song.
353
354 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
There is a remarkable passage in Jeremiah which may well
serve as preface to a discussion of the whole subject.
xxv. 15 For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto me: Take the
cup of the wine of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to
whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and reel to and
fro, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
Then took I the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations
to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me: to wit,
the cities of
make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse;
as it is this day; Pharaoh king of
princes, and all his people; and all the mingled people, and all the
kings of the
tines, and Ashkelon, and
the kings of
isle which is beyond the sea; Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all
that have the corners of their hair polled; and all the kings of Ara-
bia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the wilder-
ness; and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of
the kings of the Modes; and all the kings of the north, far and near,
one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are
upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink
after them. And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel: Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and
fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among
you. And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand
to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of
hosts: Ye shall surely drink. For, lo, I begin to work evil at the
city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpun-
ished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon
all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts. Therefore
prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The
LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habi-
tation; he shall mightily roar against his fold; he shall give a shout,
as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the
earth. A noise shall come even to the end of the earth; for the
LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all
flesh; as for the wicked, he will give them to the sword, saith the
LORD.
THE DOOM SONG 355
The Doom Songs then are the pourings out of "the cup of the
Lord's Fury" against particular kingdoms, such as the words of Jere-
miah suggest. Their prototype is the primitive Curse on
Cursed he
A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. ix. 25
They are indignant denunciations of idolatry and vice; prophetic
pictures of doom to come in spite of all appearances to the
contrary; realistic pictures of overthrow and desolation; wails as
over the dead, soon changing to taunts from victims to a fallen
oppressor. They have been compared to the Satires and Philip-
pics of other literatures: and it is true that they give scope to the
literary impulses which in other cases have produced these forms.
But there is a wide difference of tone between the Biblical denun-
ciation and its secular counterparts. I would rather say that the
Doom Song is to the Satire what Tragedy is to Comedy; the
Doom Song is to the Philippic what Poetry is to Prose.
Coming to particulars, we may note the difference between
the brief, oracular, almost: enigmatic utterances which seem to be
the earlier forms of Doom, and the elaborate invectives of later
times, upon which all the resources of literature are concentrated.
Of the earlier type there can be no better illustration than the
series of three ‘Oracles’ which make the twenty-
first chapter of Isaiah, and which, however obscure The earlier or
their historic references may be, seem by their Oracular Dooms
internal resemblances to constitute a unity. Their interest lies,
not so much in the events they foreshadow, as in Isaiah xxi
the way they give poetic realisation to the prophetic
attitude. They are bound together by underlying imagery of a
prophet keeping vigil on the eastern boundary of the holy land,
with his watchman still further in advance, both peering through
the darkness of future history to catch the first signs of the Lord's
dealing with his foes. The first oracle has its title from the
"wilderness of the sea," that is, the region of Tigris and
and brings out the fall of the empire that is the eastern boundary
356 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
of the prophet's world. It has the usual mingling of prose and
lyric verse: the prose puts the prophet's position of vigil, and the
agitation which his vision produces in his own heart, while
snatches of verse convey gleams of vision, or words of the watch-
man, or even the call of the Lord to the destroying foe.
I
The Oracle of the Wilderness of the Sea
As whirlwinds in the South sweep through,
It cometh from the wilderness,
From a terrible land !
A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth
treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth.
"Go up, 0
Besiege, 0 Media;
All the sighing thereof will I make to cease."
Therefore are my loins filled with anguish; pangs have taken hold
upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail: I am pained so that I
cannot hear, I am dismayed so that I cannot see. My heart panteth,
horror hath affrighted me: the twilight that I desired bath been
turned into trembling unto me.
"They prepare the table,
They spread the carpets,
They eat, they drink:
Rise up, ye princes, anoint the shield."
For thus hath the LORD said unto me, Go, set a watchman; let him
declare what he seeth: and when he seeth a troop, horsemen in
pairs, a troop of asses, a troop of camels, he shall hearken diligently
with much heed. And he cried as a lion:
0 Lord,
I stand continually upon the watch-tower in the day-time,
And am set in my ward whole nights:
And, behold, here cometh a troop of men,
Horsemen in pairs.
And He answered and said,
"
Is fallen; [ground."
And all the graven images of her gods are broken upon the
0 thou my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard
from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.
THE DOOM SONG 357
The second oracle is not associated with any incident, but
seems entirely devoted to bringing out the prophetic attitude of
vigil. A voice out of the lower region of
watchman in his wilderness station for tidings: the sentinel, as if
repeating the formula of the watch, replies that the regular suc-
cession of day and night is broken by no tidings as yet, the
enquirer must ask again.
2
The Oracle of Silence
One calleth unto me out of Seir;
Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?
The watchman said,
The morning cometh,
And also the night:
If ye will enquire, enquire ye;
Come ye again.
The third oracle sees another storm-cloud about to break from
the north; and bids nomad peoples get ready food for the fugi-
tives of Kedar, whom they will find before the night just beginning
is over.
3
The Oracle at Evening
In the thickets at evening shall ye lodge,
0 ye travelling companies of Dedanites.
Unto him that is thirsty bring ye water;
Ye inhabitants of the
Meet the fugitives with your bread.
For they fled away from the swords,
From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow,
And from the grievousness of war.
For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to
the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail: and
the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the
358 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
children of Kedar, shall be few : for the LORD, the God of Israel,
hath spoken it.1
But the larger proportion of the Doom Songs are elaborate
outpourings, which hover on the borderland between rhetoric
declamation and poetic imagery. The destroying
The more elabo- enemy appears as strangers come to fan, or waters
rate Doom Songs out of the north, or smoke out of the north; the
country is swept with the besom of destruction, it is scattered to
the four winds. In the panic fathers look not back to their
children for feebleness of hands, fortresses go down before the
invader as ripe figs are shaken from a tree.
golden cup in the Lord's hand to make the nations drunken and
mad; and when the work is done
destroyed. She has been a destroying mountain, destroying all
the earth: but the Lord will stretch his hand upon her, and roll
her down from the rocks, and make her a burnt mountain: men
shall not take of her a stone for a corner, but she shall be desolate
forever.
break in pieces the nations: but the 'hammer of the whole earth'
is cut asunder and broken. "
youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied
from vessel to vessel, neither bath he gone into captivity: there-
fore his taste remaineth in him, and his scent is not changed."
Therefore shall be sent to him those that pour off, and they shall
empty his vessels, and break the bottles in pieces. The Assyrian
was a cedar in
shroud; his top amid the clouds, till the cedars in the garden of
God could not hide him; the waters nourished him, the deep made
him to grow; the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs,
and all great nations dwelt under his shadow. But he is delivered
1 It might seem at first sight that the title of the section which follows, 'The
Oracle of the
parison of verses 5, 7, 8 (of xxii) will show that the 'valley of vision' is to be asso-
ciated, not with the prophet's place of observation, but with the details of the
blockade. The enemy had reached a point close enough to see into the city
through the breaches and to be seen by the citizens: hence the panic.
THE DOOM SONG 359
into the hands of the mighty, the terrible have cut him off and left
him; his branches are fallen over mountains and valleys, and his
broken boughs along the watercourses; all the fowls of heaven dwell
upon his ruin. When
moved to meet him; the shades of the kings of the nations rise from
their thrones to gaze at the mighty oppressor become weak like
themselves. The glorious seat of empire turns to utter desolation.
It shall never be inhabited,
Neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation:
Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there;
Neither shall shepherds make their flocks to lie down there.
But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there;
And their houses shall he full of doleful creatures;
And ostriches shall dwell there,
And satyrs shall dance there.
And wolves shall cry in their castles,
And jackals in the pleasant palaces:
And her time is near to come,
And her days shall not be prolonged.
Perhaps the most wide-reaching and many-sided of the Doom
Songs is Ezekiel's burden, or rather succession of burdens, against
the maritime metropolis of the ancient world, —the Doom of Tyre
city of
shall overwhelm her like the waves of a rising sea: xxviii
they shall wash down walls and towers, and even her very dust,
until
nets in the midst of the sea. From imagery the Song changes to
picture: and in successive sentences we see Nebuchadrezzar's
advance: the daughter fortresses on the confines are destroyed,
mounts and battering engines are before the mother city, the very
dust of his march smothers the beautiful site, at the mere sound
of his horsemen and chariots the gates are shaken down; horse-
hoofs deface the streets, the sword slays, the obelisks of strength
are thrown down, riches spoiled, pleasant houses made rubbish
360 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
heaps:
spreading of nets. Then all the princes of the sea come down
from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their
broidered garments: they clothe themselves with tremblings, as
they raise the wail over the renowned city, won from the sea, and
the terror of all that haunt it. For God shall bring up the deep
upon her, and the great waters shall cover her, and he will bring
her down with them that descend into the pit, and will make her
to dwell in the nether parts of the earth, in the places that are
desolate of old; though she be sought for, yet shall she never be
found again. Then another strain of denunciation commences,
and with prolonged enumeration brings out poetically the world-
wide enterprise of the wealthy port.
form of a ship, and the various races with which she has dealings
make their contributions to its perfection.
Thou, 0
in the heart of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
They have made all thy planks of fir trees from Senir: they have
taken cedars from
of Bastian have they made thine oars; they have made thy benches
of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the isles of hittim. Of fine linen
with broidered work from
thee for an ensign; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was
thine awning. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy rowers:
thy wise men, 0
ancients of Gehal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers:
all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy
thy merchandise.
men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set
forth thy comeliness. The men of Arvad with thine army were upon
thy walls round about, and the Gammadim were in thy towers: they
hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have per-
fected thy beauty.
This is only a fragment of the long-sustained enumeration: for
when mention is made of the merchants who traffic with this Ship
of
THE DOOM SONG 361
of merchandise and riches is detailed, until the successive sen-
tences have accumulated a conception of inexhaustible wealth.
Then comes the shock of change. The Ship that makes such a
thing of glory in the heart of the seas suffers wreck.
Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind
hath broken thee in the heart of the seas. Thy riches, and thy
wares, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and
the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are
in thee, with all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall
into the heart of the seas in the day of thy ruin. At the sound of
the cry of thy pilots the waves shall shake.
After fresh lamentations of the sea-faring world over their chief,
the tempest of denunciation glances upon the prince of
says "he is a god, he sits in the seat of God in the heart of the
seas" but he is a man, and not God, in the hand of him that
woundeth him; and he shall die the death of the uncircumcised.
Then the strain of denunciation gathers to a climax.
up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
she was the cherub overshadowing the mercy seat: till unright-
eousness was found in her. Multitude of traffic filled her with
violence; she has been cast out as profane; fire from the midst
of her has devoured her; she has been turned to ashes in the sight
of all beholders; she shall exist no more.
If the burden of Ezekiel against
this department of literature, we may take from the same prophet
another Doom Song which is unique. The idea
underlying it is the same thought we have already Doom of
cited from Isaiah,—that of the kingdoms among Ezekiel xxxii.
the dead receiving the newly fallen empire in the 17-32
gloomy underworld. The form of this burden is a Wail or Dirge.
It is an extreme example of the overlapping of verse and prose
which I have illustrated in so many branches of Hebrew literature:
monotonous prose recitative carries on the thread of description,
and is broken by strongly rhythmic lines, that leave the impression
362 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
at once of varying and of recurring with the regularity of a refrain.
I cite this Song in full, and then our notice of the literature of
Doom will have been carried sufficiently far.
DOOM OF
Son of man, wail for the multitude of
even her, and the daughters of the famous nations,
Unto the nether parts of the earth,
With them that go down into the pit.
Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with
the uncircumcised. They shall fall in the midst of them that are
slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword: draw her away
and all her multitudes.
The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of
hell with them that help him:
They are gone down,
They lie still,
Even the uncircumcised,
Slain by the sword.
Asshur is there and all her company; his graves are round about him:
All of them slain,
Fallen by the sword:
Whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit, and her com-
pany is round about her grave:
All of them slain,
Fallen by the sword,
Which caused terror in the land of the living.
There is
All of them slain,
Fallen by the sword,
Which are gone down uncircumcised
Into the nether parts of the earth,
Which caused their terror in the land of the living,
and have borne their shame with them that go down to the pit.
They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multi-
tude; her graves are round about her;
All of them uncircumcised,
Slain by the sword;
THE DOOM SONG 363
for their terror was caused in the land of the living, and they have
borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in
the midst of them that be slain. There is Meshech, Tubal, and all
her multitude; her graves are round about her:
All of them uncircumcised,
Slain by the sword;
For they caused their terror in the land of the living.
And shall they not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the
uncircumcised,
Which are gone down to hell,
With their weapons of war,
and have laid their swords under their heads, and their iniquities are
upon their bones;
For they were the terror of the mighty
In the land of the living;
but thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt
lie with them that are slain by the sword. There is
and all her princes, which for all their might are laid
With them that are slain by the sword:
They shall lie with the uncircumcised,
And with them that go down to the pit.
There be the princes of the north, all of then, and all the Zidonians,
Which are gone down with the slain;
for all the terror which they caused by their might they are ashamed;
And they lie uncircumcised
With them that are slain by the sword,
And bear their shame
With them that go down to the pit.
Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multi-
tude: even Pharaoh and all his army,
Slain by the sword (saith the Lord GOD),
For I have put his terror in the land of the living:
And he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised,
With them that are slain by the sword:
even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.
CHAPTER XVI
FORMS OF PROPHETIC LITERATURE: THE RHAPSODY
PROPHECY in one of its aspects may be described as the phi-
losophy of history erected into a drama. But both the terms of
this description must be understood in a special
The Prophetic sense. Philosophy acts through its instrument of
Rhapsody: Gen- reflection when it interprets history into intelligible
eral Conception theory, or catches the drift of a passing crisis.
But the prophets carry their scheme of faith with them into the
events they observe. It is faith in that which the Old Testament
expresses by the word ‘Judgment’: the eternal controversy be-
tween Good and Evil, between God's people and idolatrous nations,
between the 'remnant' and the godless mass of Israelites; and
this carries with it the correlative idea of a golden age, placed in
the future and not the past, when the controversy should culminate
in a Messianic reign of peace. To harmonise with this principle
of judgment the working of events is great part of the prophetic
function. And, as one mode of conveying their conceptions, the
prophets display the incidents themselves before our imagination
working towards their goal with the realistic clearness of drama.
But upon examination such prophetic compositions are found to
go far beyond the machinery of dramatic literature, and to borrow
from all other literary departments special modes of treatment, to
be blended together into that most highly wrought and spiritual of
literary forms which is here called the Rhapsody.
I desire to explain this in detail: but first it may be well to take
an illustration. The simplest example of the form of prophecy
364
THE RHAPSODY 365
under consideration is Habakkuk's Rhapsody of the Chaldeans.
Its exact date is a question for historical experts;
for literary interpretation it is sufficient to say that Rhapsody of the
it belongs to the period when the Chaldean power Chaldeans
first looms as a terror on the political horizon. Habakkuk i-ii
Under such terror the first instinct of the devout would be to
think of national corruption unpunished at home. But prophetic
insight must go further. If the Chaldeans — a cruel, godless
embodiment of might without right -- were to be God's instrument
of judgment, would riot the instrument be far worse than that
against which it was used? It is this perplexity which is presented
before us by Habakkuk in dramatic dialogue.
The Prophet. -- 0 LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not
hear? I cry unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save. Why
dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to look upon perverseness?
for spoiling and violence are before me: and there is strife, and
contention riseth up. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgement
doth never go forth: for the wicked loth compass about the right-
eous; therefore judgement goeth forth perverted.
God. — Behold ye among the nations, and regard, and wonder
marvellously: for I work a work in your days, which ye will not
believe though it he told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation; which march through the breadth of
the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. They are
terrible and dreadful: their judgement and their dignity proceed
from themselves. Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and
are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen bear
themselves proudly: yea, their horsemen come from far; they fly as
an eagle that hasteth to devour. They come all of them for violence;
their faces are set eagerly as the east wind; and they gather captives
as the sand. Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision
unto him: he derideth every stronghold; for he heapeth up dust,
and taketh it. Then shall he sweep by as a wind, and shall pass
over, and be guilty; even he whose might is his God.
The Prophet. -- Art not thou from everlasting, 0 LORD My God,
mine Holy One? thou diest not. 0 LORD, thou hast ordained him
for judgement; and thou, 0 Rock, hast established him for correc-
tion. Thou that: art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that
366 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
canst not look upon perverseness, wherefore lookest thou upon them
that deal treacherously, and holdest thy peace when the wicked
swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he; and makest
men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no
ruler over them? He taketh up all of them with the angle, he
catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag: therefore
he rejoiceth and is glad. Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and
burneth incense unto his drag; because by them his portion is fat,
and his meat plenteous. Shall he therefore empty his net, and not
spare to slay the nations continually?
The perplexity has been fully opened: the point has been reached
where a solution may be looked for. Additional literary force is
given to this solution by delay; there is a pause, and
ii . 1 the prophet will retire to his watch-tower to wait the
answer of God. The answer, when it comes, is ushered in by
many phrases of emphasis,—it is to be written, to be
ii. 2 made plain, the ‘vision,’ though it seem to tarry, is really
hasting to its appointed time. What then is the Divine solution
to the prophet's trouble? As so often happens in literature of
this type, the central point of the whole prophecy is conveyed
under the form of imagery,— in this case the imagery of intoxica-
tion. The haughty irresistibility of the Chaldean is no more than
the vinous elation that goes before the tottering and
ii. 4-5 falling; he is ‘puffed up,’ he cannot go straight, the
treacherous dealing of wine has given him the haughtiness that
will not abide, and the insatiable appetite of hell. Then the fall
that is to come is made present to our imaginations by a sudden
breaking out of the Taunt-Song of the oppressed nations over
their fallen tyrant. In lyric sequence four woes are denounced,
all celebrating the same theme—the pride and fall of the Chal-
dean, but celebrating it under four different images. The
ii. 6-8 first woe puts the image of usury: Chaldean aggrandise-
ment has been a mounting up of borrowed property, and there
shall rise up suddenly those who will exact usury. In the
ii. 9-11 second woe the image is of house-building: the tyrant
has been building his own shame into the house he thought to
THE RHAPSODY 367
make so high above all evil; now it is finished the stone cries out
of the wall and the beam out of the timber answers it. In the
third woe the image changes to fortification: the deep
purposes of Jehovah suffer a city to be built with blood ii. 12-14
and ramparted with iniquity, just that its burning may fill earth
and sea with the light of his judgment. The fourth woe
rests on the regular prophetic metaphor—the cup of ii. 15-17
the Lord's fury, handed by the Chaldean to the other nations, and
drunk by the Chaldean in his turn. Then a final woe ii. 18-20
goes to the root of the whole evil: the Chaldean has
been led astray by his lying idols, all covered with gold and silver,
but with no breath in them. But Jehovah in his holy temple is
the true teacher of the nations: let all the earth sit in silence at
his feet.
Simple as this prophecy is, it has exhibited all that is essential
in rhapsodic literature; a problem of current history has been
stated in the form of dramatic dialogue, and solved The Rhapsody as
in the form of lyric song. This department of an enlargement
prophecy includes some of the most intricate and of dramatic
obscure literature in the whole Bible. But in all treatment
cases there is an enlargement of dramatic machinery by the fusion
with it of other kinds of literary treatment. A similar fusion has
taken place in the companion art of music; and those who are
familiar with the Oratorio and the Cantata will understand how a
dramatic action may be maintained, though particular movements
in it are in lyric or meditative form.
What exactly is the mental experience of a spectator watching
a drama? He has a inovement of events brought home to him,
not by any narrative or explanation, but by the dialogue of the
personages taking part in the incidents, assisted by changes in the
scene before his eyes. The reader of prophetic drama has history
presented to him as moving in the direction of Divine judgment.
But the stage on which such movement takes place is nothing less
than the whole universe. Its changing scenery must be conveyed
to him, rarely in vision, mainly by description. It is not the
368 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
description that belongs to Epic poetry and deals with incidents
in the past. It is what may be called Scenic Description, such as
speaks in the present tense with the vividness of one who beholds
what he tells, and yet the personality of no spectator is interposed
between the reader and the scene. Or it is Prophetic Descrip-
tion, that uses present or future indifferently: for what God, or
his prophetic mouthpiece, foretells is as objectively real to the
imagination as if it were visibly present. Similarly, the machinery
of dialogue needs enlargement to meet the requirements of the
prophetic drama. Besides actual dialogue we have the Soliloquy
or Monologue, whether of the Divine Being or others; in par-
ticular, alternating monologues — say, of the righteous and wicked
from opposite regions — produce a literary effect closely akin to
dialogue. Another element of dialogue is the Divine Address:
the omnipresence of Deity extends to those with whom he speaks,
and his call to them makes them at once part of the scene. This
consideration is more important than might at first be thought
we shall find the longest scene in prophecy to have no speaker
but the Divine Being, whose alternate addresses to the nations
and to
less degree the same effect attaches to other addresses: the cries
at the opening of Joel to various classes of society to come and
weep serve to bring these classes into the scene of his poem.
Again, the prophet, besides being the mouthpiece of God, remains
a spectator of his own drama, and his comments, spoken to earth
or heaven, form a part of the scenes. ‘Voices,’ again, may join
in the dialogue, yet not in such a way as to make the personality
of those who speak continuously present: or yet more imper-
sonal ‘Cries’ may serve a temporary purpose in the drama. As
an element of dialogue more abstract still we have Lyric Songs or
Responses: not the Choral songs, such as closed Habakkuk's
prophecy, and were spoken by the oppressed nations, but imper-
sonal lyrics, like those used in Zephaniah to answer or second
the announcements of Deity, or to interrupt the continuity of
movement by bursts of praise or lament.
THE RHAPSODY 369
In all these ways the machinery of drama is enlarged and spirit-
ualised to make it the vehicle of prophecy. It borrows lyric
treatment and oratorical discourse; it does the work of philoso-
phy; even that which is the antithesis of drama, description,
appears in a modified form to serve a scenic purpose. And, while
the constant object is dramatic realisation, the transitions in this
prophetic literature from dramatic to other literary forms are so
frequent and rapid that they seem, not so much to be blended,
as to be fused together. If the various types of literary treatment
might be supposed to be so many different colours of thought,
then this prophetic drama would be the white light made by the
merging of all these colours in one. The term 'drama,' then,
seems to me altogether inadequate for such a specialised form
of literature. A more appropriate name would be found in the
'Rhapsody,' which poetry and music alike reserve as something
specially exalted and free from limitations of form.
The Prophecy of Joel makes a single Rhapsody of the Locust
Plague. The idea of locusts, singly so insignificant, so terribly
destructive in the mass, lends itself readily to
poetic treatment; and the prophet, starting proba- Joel's Rhapsody
bly from some contemporary visitation of this kind, of the Locust
idealises it into mystic and awful forces of destruc- plague
tion, under the description of which the original idea can be
dimly traced. On this as basis he works up a conception of
advancing judgment: first an immediate crisis, and then the
final judgment in which all nations are involved. And, like the
liet-motif of a musical work, "the great and terrible Day of
the Lord" runs through the whole as a refrain. Those who are
accustomed to literary technicalities will be struck with the beau-
tiful movement of this work: the seven stages into Its Movement
which its action falls advance regularly to a crisis, a continuous
and then, as with the figure of an arch, turn round, Advance
the later corresponding to the earlier, until the
final stage is seen as a reversal of the first. The accompanying
370 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
figure may convey this to the eye. [Commence to read at the
bottom.]
4. Relief and Restoration
ii. 18—27
3. At the last moment 5. Afterward:
Repentance the Nations summoned
ii. 12-17 to Judgment
ii. 28-iii. 8
2. Judgment visibly Ad- 6. Advance to the Valley
vancing: CRISIS of Decision: CRISIS
ii. 1-11 iii. 9-16
1. The Land of Israel des- 7. The
olate and mourning and the eternal Peace
i iii. 17-21
The prophecy opens with distress and wailing. Calls to lament
bring before us old men witnessing to children and children's
1. The Land of children of devastation such as their fathers never
and mourning to howl for the desolating, strong-toothed foe that
has wasted the vine and blanched the fig tree; husbandmen howl-
ing under the shame and languishing that sits upon the crops and
the trees of the field, and. upon the helpless sons of men; the
ministers of the altar clothing themselves with sackcloth as the
meal-offering and drink-offering fails from the house of God. The
different groups of mourners draw together into a solemn assembly
of the whole land, crying with one voice, "Alas for the day of the
LORD at hand!" and chaunting of seeds shrivelled under the clods,
garners broken down, corn bowed with shame, cattle perplexed
and flocks panting beside the dry watercourses and burnt pastures.
But there is no relief: the action intensifies. A trumpet blast
of alarm from the mountains darts into every trembling heart the
2. Judgment consciousness that the Day of the Lord has come
visibly advanc- nigh! The day seems to have broken with clouds
ing: Crisis and thick darkness for the colours of its dawn;
and they know that the destroying foe will be great and strong,
THE RHAPSODY 371
such as has never been known before, neither shall there be any
like them. The advancing doom can just be discerned by the
destruction it works: fires spreading from it in all directions: as
it were the garden of Eden before it, and behind it a desolate
wilderness. Straining eye and ear can dimly make out now the
appearance of horses, now rattlings like chariots crossing the moun-
tain ridges, now cracklings as of fire in stubble, now the array as
of an ordered army. A nearer vision reveals pale anguish on the
one side, on the other mighty warriors and an irresistible march;
there is mystery in the way no ranks are broken with the inequali-
ties of the ground, none swerves for a moment out of his place;
the encountering weapons actually meet them, but the onward
course has not stopped. Now the city is reached with a bound,
is filled; the earth begins to quake, the heavens are all dark: —
and the long-expected Voice of Jehovah brings the certainty that
this is the Day of the Lord, a great and terrible day; who can
abide it?
Then a surprise: for the Voice of Jehovah before his army
speaks of a time yet for turning to the Lord, with weeping and
fasting, with rending of the heart and not the gar- 3. At the last
ment, to a God who is gracious and full of compas- moment Repent-
sion, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy, one ance
who repenteth him of the evil. And a response begins to stir
among the doomed people: "Who knoweth whether he will not
turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him?" And once
more, with sound of trumpet, there is a solemn assembly: all are
gathered together, from the elder to the child at the breast, the
bridegroom out of his chamber and the bride out of her closet:
weeping priests and ministers of the altar leading the cry of
"Spare thy people, 0 LORD."
The turning-point of the prophecy has been reached: "Then
was the LORD jealous for his land, and had pity on his people."
In the words of Him with whom future and present 4. Relief and
are the same we have pictured a relief from the Restoration
impending judgment: the northern army passing on to its own
372 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
destruction in a desert between the seas, the land awakening to
joy after fear, as pastures spring out of wilderness and the trees
again yield their strength. Relief grows to restoration: the former
and latter rain comes down each in its season, floors and fats
overflow till the loss of locust and caterpillar has been repaired.
Plenty and peace abound, with praise to the Lord for his wondrous
dealings, and confidence that
But instead of this being an end, the action of the rhapsody
continues to advance. We have presented before us an ‘after-
5. Afterward: ward': in which there shall be a pouring out of
spiritualised until old and young, servant and handmaid, are all
alike endowed with prophecy and vision. But for the nations,
darkened sun and blood-stained moon, with pillars of smoke, with
fire and blood, give warning in the heavens of another great and
terrible Day of the Lord: a day of pleading with the nations, in
the Nations the valley called after the name of judgment, for
summoned to the wrongs they have done to the captives of the
Judgment Lord's people. And, at the mention of living
beings bartered and sold for goods, Divine description bursts into
Divine remonstrance with the men of
for their pillage of the holy things, and their cruelty to the chil-
dren of
to make to the adversary, who shall swiftly return their recom-
pense upon their own head?
6. Advance to The action intensifies: like the former judg-
the Valley of ment on
Decision: Crisis quickens its advance, and already the cries of the
coming contest are heard.
God.— Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war: stir up
the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come
up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into
spears let the weak say, I am strong.
gather yourselves together: thither cause thy mighty ones to come
down, 0 LORD.
THE RHAPSODY 373
God. — Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the
round about.
God (to the Celestial Hosts).— Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest
is ripe: come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the fats overflow;
for their wickedness is great.
The scene is before us of multitudes after multitudes in the
valley of decision: the Day of the Lord is near, and this is the
place of the contest. The awful crisis is veiled from us: sun and
moon are dark, and the stars withdraw their shining. But from
which the heavens and earth rock to and fro, all save the strong-
hold in which the Lord's people are held in safe refuge. The
darkness clears away to reveal a final scene of Je- 7. The Holy
hovah comforting his people from his holy dwelling- Mountain and
place in
wine, and the hills flow with milk, and all the brooks are full of
waters, while fountains from the house of the Lord carry fertility to
the valleys around. Over the ruins of guilty
innocence meet for the people of the Lord that dwelleth in
In this rhapsody of Joel the movement is a continuous advance,
and its seven parts are seven successive stages like Acts of a drama.
But I have several times had to remark upon an The Pendulum
other type of movement to which Hebrew literature Movement in
shows attraction, — the pendulum movement, which Rhapsodies
alternates to and fro between two topics or scenes. This pendu-
lum movement is specially characteristic of Prophecy. It will be
illustrated in the next example I bring forward, the Rhapsody of
judgment and Salvation, which covers four chap- Rhapsody of
ters of Isaiah. The seven sections into which I Judgment and
have divided this composition do not make a suc- Salvation
cession in time. It is the fourth or middle section Isaiah xxiv-vii
that stands out as a climax, presenting the Mountain of the Saved
374 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
towering above a prostrate world: on either side of this the other
sections are varying pictures of the same judgment. The real
movement of this rhapsody is the pendulum movement of alterna-
tion: — an alternation between successive pictures of Doom and
Salvation. From the prominence of this alternation, and also
because of the rapidity and obscurity of the transitions in this
composition, I have thought it desirable to print it in full, with
proper arrangement of parts. The sections of Judgment are dis-
tinguished by Roman, those of Salvation by Italic type. I quote
the Revised Version (text or margin) exactly, except that for the
formula commencing speeches (such as, "In that clay shall be
said," etc.) I substitute the names of the speakers at the head of
the speeches. Paragraphs without such headings are scenic or
prophetic descriptions.
ISAIAH'S
RHAPSODY OF JUDGMENT AND SALVATION
PRELUDE. -- PROCLAMATION
Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste,
and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants
thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as
with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her
mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender,
so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver
of usury to him. The earth shall be utterly emptied, and utterly
spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken the word.
I
The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and
fadeth away, the lofty people of the earth do languish. The earth
also is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; because they have
transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting
covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they
that dwell therein are found guilty: therefore the inhabitants of the
THE RHAPSODY 375
earth are burned, and few men left. The new wine mourneth, the
vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh. The mirth of tab-
rets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the
harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink
shall be bitter to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken
down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is
a crying in the streets because of the wine; all joy is darkened, the
mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate
is smitten with destruction.
2
For thus shall it be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as
the shaking of an olive tree, as the grape gleanings when the vintage
is done. These shall lift up their voice, they shall shout.
VOICES FROM THE WEST
For the Majesty of the LORD!
VOICES FROM THE EAST
Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the east!
VOICES FROM THE WEST
Even the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, in the isles
of the sea!
VOICES OF THE DOOMED
From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, glory
to the righteous. But I said, I pine away, I pine away, woe is me!
the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacher-
ous dealers have dealt very treacherously.
VOICE OF PROPHECY
Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, 0 inhabitant of
earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise
of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the
midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare.
376 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
3
For the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the
earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken, the earth is clean dis-
solved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall stagger like
a drunken man, and shall be moved to and fro like a hut; and the
transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not
rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall
punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth
upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are
gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many
days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and
the sun ashamed.
4
For the LORD of hosts shall reign in Haunt Zion, and in Jerusa-
lem, and before his elders shall be glory.
SONG OF THE ELDERS
0 LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee;
I will praise thy name,.
For thou host done wonderful things,
Even counsels of old, in faithfulness and truth.
For thou has/ made of a city an heap;
Of a defenced city a ruin:
A palace of strangers to be no city;
It shall never be built.
Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee,
The city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
For thou hast been a strong hold to the poor,
A strong hold to the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm,
A shadow from the heat,
When the blast of the terrible ones
Is as a storm against the wall.
As the heat in a dry place
Shalt thou bring down the noise of strangers;
As the heat by the shadow of a cloud,
The song of the terrible ones shall be brought low.
THE RHAPSODY 377
And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all peo-
ples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full
of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in
this mountain the face of the covering that is cast over all peoples, and
the veil that is spread over all nations. He hath swallowed up death
for ever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces;
and the reproach of his people shall he take away from of all the
earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
SONG IN THAT DAY
Lo, this is our God;
We have waited for him,
And he will save us:
This is the LORD;
We have waited for him, we will be glad
And rejoice in his salvation.
For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and
shall be trodden down in his place, even as straw is trodden down in
the water of the dunghill. And he shall spread forth his hands in
the midst thereof, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to
swim: and he shall lay low his pride together with the craft of his
hands. And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls hath he brought
down, laid low, and brought to the ground, even to the dust.
SONG IN THE
We have a strong city;
Salvation will he appoint for walls and bulwarks.
Open ye the gates,
That the righteous nation which keepeth truth may enter in.
Thou will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.
Trust ye in the LORD for ever:
For in the LORD JEHOVAH is an everlasting rock.
For he hath brought down them that dwell on high, the lofty city:
He layeth it low, he layeth it low, even to the ground;
He bringeth it even to the dust.
The foot shall tread it down;
Even the feet of the poor,
And the steps of the needy.
378 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
The way of the just is uprightness:
Thou that art upright dost direct the path of the just.
Yea, in the way of thy judgements, 0 LORD,
Have we waited for thee;
To thy name and to thy memorial
Is the desire of our soul.
With my soul have I desired thee in the night;
Yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early:
For when thy judgements are in the earth,
The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
Let favour be shelved to the wicked,
Yet will he not learn righteousness;
In the land of uprightness will he deal wrongfully,
And will not behold the majesty of the LORD.
5
PROPHETIC SPECTATOR
LORD, thy hand is lifted up, yet they see not; but they shall see
thy zeal for the people, and be ashamed; yea, fire shall devour thine
adversaries.
VOICES OF THE SAVED
LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou hast also wrought
all our works for us. O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have
had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of
thy name.
PROPHETIC SPECTATOR
The dead live not, the deceased rise not: therefore hast thou
visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.
VOICES OF THE SAVED
Thou hast increased the nation, 0 LORD, thou hast increased the
nation; thou art gloried: thou hast enlarged all the borders of the
land.
PROPHETIC SPECTATOR
LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer
when thy chastening was upon them.
THE RHAPSODY 379
VOICES OF THE DOOMED
Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her
delivery, is in pain and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been
before thee, 0 LORD. We have been with child, we have been in
pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought
any deliverance in the earth; neither have inhabitants of the world
been born.
GOD (TO THE SAVED)
Thy dead shall live: my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and
sing; ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs,
and the earth shall cast forth the dead. Come, my people, enter thou
into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself for a
little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the
LORD cometh forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the
earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and
shall no more cover her slain.
6
VOICE OF PROPHECY
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword
shall punish leviathan the swift serpent, and leviathan the crooked
serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
SONG IN THAT DAY
A Vineyard of wine, (sing ye of it,)
I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment:
Lest any hurt it, I will water it night and day.
Fury is not in me:
Would that the briers and thorns were against me in battle,
I would march upon them, I would burn them together.
Or else let him take hold of my strength,
That he may make peace with me:
Yea, let him make peace with me.
In days to come shall Jacob take root;
And they shall fill the face of the world with fruit.
380 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
PROPHETIC SPECTATOR
Hath he smitten him as he smote them that smote him? or is he
slain according to the slaughter of then that were slain by him?
In measure, when thou sendest her away, thou lost contend with her;
he hath removed her with his rough blast in the day of the east wind.
Therefore by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all
the fruit to take away his sin, when he maketh all the stones of the
altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, so that the Asherint
and the sun-images shall rise no more.
7
For the defenced city is solitary, an habitation deserted and for-
saken, like the wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall
he lie down, and consume the branches thereof. When the boughs
thereof are withered, they shall be broken off; the women shall come
and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding; there-
fore he that made them will not have compassion upon them, and he
that formed them will show them no favour.
VOICE OF PROPHECY
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat out
his corn, from the flood of the River unto the brook of Egypt, and ye
shall be gathered, one by one, 0 ye children of
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great trumpet shall be
blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land
of Assyria, and they that were outcasts in the
they shall worship the Lord in the
Such is the Prophetic Rhapsody in its full development. Its
effect is that of a World Drama; to attain this effect all literary
forms concur in one, and even description has a subordinate place
in representation. As the Rhapsody is a form of literature special
to Hebrew Prophecy, it may be interesting to
Origin of the Pro- enquire into its origin as a distinct literary form.
phetic Rhapsody On the one side it may be regarded as an extension
of Drama. In a previous chapter we have noted prophecies which
were equivalent to brief dramatic dialogues, presenting the Divine
THIE RHAPSODY 381
yearning and the repentance of the rebellious people. Such
dialogues were, however, abstract and general, with no note of
particular time or place. The Hebrew people have strong dramatic
feelings, but no theatre in which to give them vent; accordingly,
when dialogue becomes determined by indications of time and
place, such as in other literatures would be transferred to a theatric
scene, these in Hebrew literature can be conveyed only by descrip-
tion. The addition of this scenic description to dialogue converts
drama into rhapsody.
An illustration of a composition differing from dramatic dialogue
by no more than this addition of description is afforded by one of
the most beautiful of the compositions of Jeremiah, that on the
Drought. Its speakers are God, the Prophet, and Repentant
Israel.1 Its dramatic action consists in the gradual moving of God
from judgment to mercy; and dramatic effect is carried to the
extent of representing Jehovah as a justly incensed God, who for
a long time will not so much as look at the sinful nation, but
addresses them only through the Prophet: at last he speaks his
reproofs, and finally his mercy, to his people directly. To all this
dialogue is prefixed a prelude picturing, in lyric description, the
drought which is the scene and occasion of the whole.
1 It is usually interpreted as a Dialogue of Intercession, with no speakers except
God and the Prophet. No explanation of it is entirely free from difficulty, but the
one given in the text seems to me the least difficult. (I) A great objection to other
views is the conclusion: it seems impossible, without straining, to make the Prophet
guilty of any fault (mistrust, etc., is suggested) for which he should be invited to
repent. Nor is it easy to see why the Prophet should speak xv. 15-18 after the full
assurance given him in xv. 11. On the other hand the Divine reply (xv. 19) seems
a natural reference to the ‘purged remnant’ which in all prophecy appears as the
only portion of the nation to be saved. No doubt verses 20, 21 refer to Jeremiah:
but they are outside the rhapsody, being an epilogue added to this as to other
important prophecies (compare i. 18 and vi. 27). (2) In two speeches which I
assign to the Repentant People (xiv. 7-9, 19-22) the plural is uniformly used: and
the lyric prologue has prepared us to hear
third speech (xv. 15-18) uses the singular: but that immediately follows the speech
of God (12-14) in which the singular is used, and which is undoubtedly addressed
to the People and not to the Prophet. (3) The ordinary view ignores the marked
distinction between " The Lord said unto me," in xiv. 11 (contrast ro), xiv. 14
(compare 17), xv. 1, as compared with the usual formula, " The Lord said," in xv.
11 (and 19), and the beautiful dramatic effect which this suggests.
382 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
Jeremiah xiv-xv RHAPSODY OF THE DROUGHT
PRELUDE
And the gates thereof languish;
They sit in black upon the ground;
And the cry of
And their nobles send their little ones to the waters:
They come to the pits, and find no water;
They return with their vessels empty:
They are ashamed and confounded, and cover their heads.
Because of the ground which is chapt,
For that no rain hath been in the land,
The plowmen are ashamed, they cover their heads.
Yea, the hind also in the field calveth,
And forsaketh her young,
Because there is no grass.
And the wild asses stand on the bare heights,
They pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail,
Because there is no herbage.
REPENTANT
Though our iniquities testify against us, work thou for thy name's
sake, 0 LORD: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned
against thee. 0 thou hope of
of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a sojourner in the land, and
as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why
shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot
save? yet thou, 0 LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by
thy name; leave us not.
THE PROPHET
Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Even so have they loved to
wander; they have not refrained their feet: therefore the LORD doth
not accept them; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit
their sins.
THE LORD (to the Prophet)
Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will
not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and oblation,
I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and
by the famine, and by the pestilence.
THE RHAPSODY 383
THE PROPHET
Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not
see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you
assured peace in this place.
THE LORD (to the Prophet)
The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither
have I commanded them, neither spake I unto them: they prophesy
unto you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nought, and
the deceit of their own heart. Therefore thus saith the LORD con-
cerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not,
yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword
and famine shall those prophets be consumed. And the people to
whom they prophesy shall he cast out in the streets of
because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none
to bury them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for
I will pour their wickedness upon them. And thou shalt say this
word unto them, Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day,
and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is
broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound. If I go
forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I
enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! for
both the prophet and the priest go about in the land and have no
knowledge.
REPENTANT
Hast thou utterly rejected
Why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? We
looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and
behold dismay! We acknowledge, 0 LORD, our wickedness, and
the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee. Do
not abhor us, for thy name's sake; do not disgrace the throne of
thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us. Are there
any among the vanities of the heathen that can cause rain? or can
the heavens give showers? art not thou he, 0 LORD our God?
therefore we will wait upon thee; for thou hast done all these things.
THE LORD (to the Prophet)
Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could
not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them
384 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
go forth. And it shall come to pass, when they say unto thee,
Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the
LORD: Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the
sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine;
and such as are for captivity, to captivity. And I will appoint over
them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to
tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to
devour and to destroy. And I will cause them to be tossed to and
fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the
son of Hezekiah king of
For who shall have pity upon thee, 0
bemoan thee? or who shall turn aside to ask of thy welfare? Thou
hast rejected me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore
have I stretched out my hand against thee, and destroyed thee; I
am weary with repenting. And I have fanned them with a fan in
the gates of the land; I have bereaved them of children, I have
destroyed my people; they have not returned from their ways. Their
widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have
brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at
noonday: I have caused anguish and terrors to fall upon her sud-
denly. She that hath borne seven languisheth; she hath given up
the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she hath been
ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to
the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.
THE PROPHET
Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife
and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent on
usury, neither have men lent to me on usury; yet every one of
them doth curse me.
THE LORD (to the Prophet)
Verily I will strengthen thee for good; verily I will intercede for
thee with the enemy in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
— ( To
brass? Thy substance and thy treasures will I give for a spoil with-
out price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. And I
will make thee to serve thine enemies in a land which thou knowest
not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon
you.
THE RHAPSODY 385
REPENTANT
O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and avenge
me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering.
Know that for thy sake I have suffered reproach. Thy words were
found, and I did eat them; and thy words were unto me a joy and
the rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, 0 LORD
God of hosts. I sat not in the assembly of them that make merry,
nor rejoiced: I sat alone because of thy hand; for thou hast filled
me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound
incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou indeed be unto me
as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail?
THE LORD
Therefore, if thou return, then will I bring thee again, that thou
mayest stand before me; and if thou take forth the precious from
the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: they shall return unto thee, but
thou shalt not return unto them.
EPILOGUE. — To the Prophet
And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall; and
they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee:
for I am with thee to save thee, and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will
redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.
If, on the one hand, we thus see dramatic prophecy passing
into rhapsody by the addition of an element of description, we
can, looking to the other side, observe how discourse can sway
in the direction of dramatic machinery, and so become rhapsodic.
I have before drawn attention to such a prophecy as that of
Zephaniah, in which the continuity of Divine speech is broken
by outbursts of impersonal lyrics, exulting in delivered
triumphing over the threatened foe. Again, it is easy to under-
stand how the fervour of prophetic oratory can suddenly change to
realising the predicted future as if immediately present. The
386 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
lengthy discourse in which Isaiah describes the Assyrian as the
rod of God's anger, and pictures the reign of peace that would
follow the Assyrian's overthrow, is throughout couched in the
future tense: at just a single point the future tense gives place to
the realistic present.
He is come to Aiath, he is passed through Migron; at Michmash
he layeth up his baggage: they are gone over the pass; "Geba is
our lodging," they cry; Ramah trembleth; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
Cry aloud with thy voice;, 0 daughter of Gallim! hearken, 0 Laishah!
O thou poor Anathoth! Madmenah is a fugitive; the inhabitants
of Gebim gather themselves to flee. This very day shall he halt at
Nob; he shaketh his hand at the mount of the daughter of
the hill of Jerusalem.
Behold the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the boughs with
terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the
lofty shall be brought low. And he shall cut down the thickets of
the forest with iron, and
there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch
out of his roots shall bear fruit.
In the same way most of the Doom Songs (except those of
Ezekiel) are rhapsodic: the denunciations and predictions alter-
nate with various modes of presenting the fulfilment of the
same.
The Rhapsodic Discourse, as distinguished from the Rhapsody,
is illustrated on the largest scale in a portion of Jeremiah which
I would describe as his Prophetic Manifesto. It is
Rhapsody from a long composition of five chapters, following the
Jeremiah's Mani - account of the prophetic call, and embodying the
festo (ii-vi) general spirit of Jeremiah's ministry. The greater
part of it is discourse, marked by the mingling of imagery and
pathetic appeal which distinguishes this prophet; I take it up at
the point where it abruptly passes into the dramatic
iv. 5 form of rhapsody. While there is a slight suggestion of
succession between its parts, in the fact that the threatened judg-
ment seems to advance nearer and nearer, yet the main movement
THE RHAPSODY 387
is the pendulum movement of alternation: — an alternation, not
between judgment and salvation, but between the impending
Doom and the Panic of those who are about to suffer it.
I
I reckon as first of the seven sections that which does not pass
beyond the limits of discourse; though the discourse is approach-
ing nearer and nearer to dramatic form in the direct appeals to
the rhapsodic form becomes pronounced, and the alternation of
Doom and Panic begins.
2
A CRY
Declare ye in
the trumpet in the land: cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves,
and let us go into the fenced cities. Set up a standard toward
flee for safety, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a
great destruction. A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer
of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place; to
make thy land desolate, that thy cities be laid waste, without in-
habitant.
THE PEOPLE
For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce
anger of the LORD is not turned back front us.
THE LORD
And it shall come to pass at that day, that the heart of the king shall
perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be aston-
ished, and the prophets shall wonder.
THE PROPHET
Ah, Lord GOD ! surely thou least greatly deceived this people and
unto the soul.
389 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
3
A CRY to
A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the
daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse; — a full wind from
these shall come for me: now will I also utter judgements against
them. Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be
as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles.
THE PEOPLE
Woe unto us ! for we are spoiled.
THE PROPHET
0
be saved. How long shall thine evil thoughts lodge within thee?
4
VOICES from DAN and from the IIILLS OF EPHRAIM
Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusa-
lem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice
against the cities of
her round about; "because she bath been rebellious against me,"
saith the LORD. Thy way and thy doings have procured these things
unto thee; this is thy wickedness; surely it is bitter, surely it reach-
eth unto thine heart.
THE PEOPLE
My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart
is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard,
0 my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction
upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly
are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall
I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
GOD
For my people is foolish, they know me not, they are sottish chil-
dren, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but
to do good they have no knowledge.
THE RHAPSODY 389
5
VISION
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the
heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo,
they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro. I beheld, and,
lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heaven were fled. I
beheld, and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities
thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and before
his fierce anger.
THE LORD
The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full
end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be
black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not
repented, neither will I turn back from it.
VISION continued
The hole city fleeth for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen;
they go into the thickets, and climb up upon the rocks every city is
forsaken, and not a man dwelleth therein.
THE LORD
And thou, when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou
clothes/ thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments
of gold, though thou enlargest thine eyes with paint, in vain dost thou
make thyself fair; thy lovers despise thee, they seek thy life.
VISION continued
For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as
of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of
is me now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers.
6
Through these alternating passages of doom and panic the judg-
ment has seemed to advance: at first it was only announced from
a distance; in the last sections the desolation was fully seen, but
only in vision. The next section is too lengthy to quote. As if
390 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
with a reminiscence of Abraham's intercession for
bids the prophet search
gle just man, that he may pardon her. The prophet tries low and
high in vain. Then the Lord reluctantly calls the enemy to go up
and destroy, "but make not a full end." As if using the moments
of waiting, God is represented as pouring out descriptions of the
terrible foe — mighty men, whose quiver is an open sepulchre —
and remonstrances against the hardness of heart that in the very
presence of judgment will not turn to the judge. All seems in
vain. The conclusion is "astonishment and horror": false
prophets and subservient priests, and a people that loves to have
it so! What will they do in the end? Now the panic appears;
the destruction arrives, yet is still held under restraint.
THE PEOPLE
Flee for safety, ye children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jeru-
Beth-haccherem: for evil looketh forth from the north, and a great
destruction.
THE LORD
The comely and delicate one, the daughter of
Shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their
tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
THE ENEMY
Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon.
THE PEOPLE
Woe unto us! for the day declineth, for the shadows of the evening
are stretched out.
THE ENEMY
Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.
For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast
up a mount against
THE LORD
She is wholly oppression in the midst of her. As a well casteth
forth her waters, so she casteth forth her wickedness: violence and
spoil is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds.
THE RHAPSODY 391
7
Even in the presence of the destroying foe a final attempt is
made by God at least to glean a remnant of
is none to listen; the ear of the people is uncircumcised; they
refuse to walk in the old paths, to hearken to the watchmen: the
word of the Lord has become to them a reproach. "Therefore,"
cries Jehovah, "I am full of the fury of Jehovah; I am weary
with holding in." The fury is to be poured out upon old and
young, families and fields; the people from the north are stirred
up against
There remains only the final panic.
THE PEOPLE
We have heard the fame thereof; our hands wax feeble anguish
hath taken hold of us, and pangs as of a woman in travail. Go not
forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for there is the sword of the
enemy, and terror on every side. 0 daughter of my people, gird thee
with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes make thee mourning, as
for an only son, most bitter lamentation,. for the spoiler shall sud-
denly come upon us!
In the rhapsodies so far reviewed we have seen the movement
that consists in a continuous advance, and the movement that
advances only by alternations. There is a third Movement by
type of movement in which the distinctness of the Phases
parts is more prominent than the progress from
one part to another. Such divisions in the movement of a literary
composition are felt to correspond to the ‘Acts’ of a drama, but,
differing from these Acts by the absence of continuous succession,
they should be indicated by some different name, such as ‘Phases.’
The prophecy of Amos is an illustration, and con- Amos’s Rhap-
stitutes a single Rhapsody of the judgment to come. Amos sody of the
The first of the three divisions or ‘Phases’ into Judgment to
which it falls brings out
judgment, and it is a piece of Lyric Prophecy. The second Phase
392 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
is a series of appeals to
The third presents the coming of the judgment in the form of
Dramatic Vision.
The portion constituting the first Phase has been cited at length
in a previous chapter.1 It is a chain of lyric woes denounced
against various peoples: free recitative of prose detailing
Phase I special features of each, while rhythmic refrains speak
i, ii the common doom. It is clear that the various denun-
ciations are so arranged as to lead up to that on
climax. A note of this prophet's treatment is his power of em-
phasising by holding back. What the judgment on
be is kept a mystery; the formula used for the other nations —
devouring fire — does not appear in the last case, but the judg-
ment is described only by its effects, — flight perishing from the
swift, and the mighty unable to deliver himself.
The second Phase is a series of appeals increasing in intensity.
First, we have four general appeals, each ushered in by the cry,
"Hear ye," or " Publish ye." Then follows a pleading
Phase II in which discourse becomes lyrical. The successive warn-
iii-iv ings sent by God are enumerated — cleanness of teeth,
the guilty city isolated by drought with abundance all around,
blasting and mildew, pestilence after the manner of
burning like that of
the refrain, "Yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD."
The pleading turns to a threat:
Therefore THUS will I do unto thee, 0
THIS unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, 0
The coming judgment still remains veiled under the mysterious
thus. The last appeal takes the form of a lamentation, including
a double woe: against those who desire the Day of
v-vi. 7 the Lord, not seeing that it will be darkness and not
light; and against those that are at ease in
the evil day. The limit of appeal seems now to be reached: God
1 Above, page 114.
THE RHAPSODY 393
swears by Himself that Jacob and his sins have become a thing of
abhorrence. And the mystic judgment begins to take
substance, as we hear of captivity in the east and the vi. 8-14
nation that is to afflict the whole land.
With the third Phase the judgment appears sensibly to advance,
as the series of visions pass before us. A visionary appearance of
locusts at their work of destruction is seen: but when
the destruction has proceeded a certain way the prophet Phase III
interposes his intercession, and the Lord repents and vii-ix. 6
says it shall not be. Another vision, and fire is seen devouring
the great deep; but when it reaches the land the prophet again
makes intercession, and the judgment is stayed. The next vision
displays a plumbline: the exact limit has been reached, beyond
which there can be no passing by of the iniquities of
emphasis of this as a turning-point is further seen by the way in
which the prophet introduces here his digression, describ- vii. 10-17
ing the efforts of those in authority to restrain him from
prophesying evil to
vision of summer fruit:
vision the judgment has begun. The Lord, standing on ix. 1-6
the altar of his house, bids smite the chapiters, that the
thresholds may shake, and universal destruction of house and
people may follow.
Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; and
though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.
And though they hide themselves in the top of
and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight
in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he
shall bite them.
An Epilogue drops dramatic presentation for appeal; and fur-
ther speaks of a remnant to be restored. Thus the last strain of
this, as of other rhapsodies, can be the song of a golden
age, when "the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and Epilogue
the treader of grapes him that soweth seed"; and the ix. 7-15
people shall be planted upon their land, to be plucked up no more.
94 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
I have felt it less necessary to dwell in detail upon this beau-
tiful prophecy of Amos, because the movement by phases which
it illustrates will be found again in another composition, a colossal
and wonderful example of the rhapsodic form, which needs a
separate chapter for its consideration.
CHAPTER XVII
THE RHAPSODY OF ‘
THE last twenty-seven chapters of our Book of Isaiah form a
single composition: no less stupendous as a literary monument
than supreme in importance as inspiration of Isaiah's Rhap-
Hebrew and Christian religion. To expound it sody of ‘
would require a volume; all that I can attempt is Redeemed'
to elucidate its outer literary form, well assured
that here, as always, this must be an important factor in the inter-
pretation.
Every reader feels a difficulty in catching the unity of the
whole, however strongly he may feel the attraction of the parts.
No narrative is carried on from beginning to end, though there is
much to suggest progress of story; though reasoning abounds,
there is no sign of a logical plan; if the reader seeks to take
refuge in supposing a collection of many compositions, he is con-
tinually confronted with evidences of unity. The full force of
this part of the Bible is brought out by considering it a Rhapsody,
— the prophetic form made by the fusion of all literary forms in
one; which can thus give the realistic emphasis of dramatic,
presentation to its ideas, while free at any point to abandon
drama for discourse or lyric meditation. This Rhapsody of
Redeemed has a movement which, like that of Its general
other rhapsodies, is best compared to the succes- movement and
sion of parts in an Oratorio. On the whole, this matter
movement is so far an advance that, like many
other prophecies, it works forward from an immediate judgment
395
396 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
and deliverance, on to the final judgment of the nations and resto-
ration of the remnant in a Messianic kingdom. But the seven
divisions into which the whole falls are not seven stages in this
advance, but (like those in the prophecy of Amos) seven different
‘phases,’ side by side in part and partly successive, each complete
in itself and drawing matter from all parts of the national history,
and all necessary to be exhibited before the action is consum-
mated. The seven Phases may be described as follows: —
I
Judgment on
2
Jehovah's Servant and Desponding
3
The Awakening of
4
Jehovah's Servant Exalted
5
6
The Redeemer come to
7
Judgment on
The mere reading of these titles suggests advance in the move-
ment as a whole. Yet it is impossible to say that (for example)
the sixth section either follows or precedes those standing before
it: it embraces the whole action looked at from a particular point
THE RHAPSODY OF ‘
of view, and is placed where it is because of the relation of that
point of view to the whole. Further, as the rhapsodic form can
mingle dramatic realisation with the most spiritual meditation or
imaginative idealising, so the matter of the whole prophecy
extends from an immediate deliverance of Babylonian Captives,
by the instrumentality of Cyrus, to a spiritual redemption of
and final judgment of the nations by Jehovah. And similarly
the hero of this rhapsody — the ‘Servant of Jehovah’ — appears
at some points as
itself and to the Gentiles; in other places it seems to individualise
into a humanity that can suffer martyrdom, and, in the memorable
central act of the rhapsody, has become a mystic personality,
whose sufferings are at last recognised by the nations as vicarious.
PRELUDE
The Prelude embodies the spirit of the whole rhapsody in brief
lyric and dramatic form. The Voice of God is heard command-
ing to speak comfort to
her warfare is accomplished, and her iniquity pardoned.
At once voices appear to take up the message and carry it on to
its destination. A Voice cries to prepare in the wilderness a high-
way for God; every valley is to be exalted and every mountain
and hill made low, the crooked is to be made straight and the
rough places plain: the glory of the Lord is about to be re-
vealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Another 6
Voice in succession passes on the word; but here the
Voice of the Tidings is checked by the Voice of Despondency.
What shall I cry?
All flesh is grass,
And all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
The grass withereth,
The flower fadeth;
Because the breath of the LORD bloweth upon it:
Surely the people is grass.
398 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
But the Voice of the Tidings makes reply:
The grass withereth,
The flower fadeth:
But the word of our God shall stand for ever.
Another Voice seems to sound from far on the road to
bidding to get up into the high mountain to tell the good
9 tidings to
to the cities of
PHASE I
The first Phase is the elaborate presentation of the Judgment on
xl. 12-xlviii the supremacy of Jehovah: who measureth the
waters in the hollow of his hand, and meteth out
heaven with a span, weighing the mountains in scales and the hills
in a balance; before whom the nations are as a drop in a bucket;
he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. To what, then, shall
this God be likened? to a graven image, gilded by a goldsmith,
with silver chains cast for it lest the god fall down? or wrought
for the impoverished worshipper by a cunning workman out of a
tree, chosen carefully lest the god might rot? Meanwhile He
sitteth above the circle of the earth, and all the inhabitants thereof
are but as grasshoppers; He calleth all the host of heaven by
number and by name, and for that He is strong not one of them
is lacking. The Voice of Prophecy then appeals to the despond-
ing of
judgment a thing passed away for ever. Have they not heard
and known that the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth
not, neither is weary, but giveth power to the faint? Even the
youths shall be weary and fail but they that wait upon the LORD
shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as
eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and
not faint.
THE RHAPSODY OF ‘
At this point the rhapsody becomes dramatic: a single scenic
action is sustained for eight chapters, broken only by occasional
outbursts of lyric song. The Nations are summoned to xli
the bar of God to hear his will concerning the deliverance
of his people ; and the idea of the assembled Nations, once raised,
is by little touches of allusion kept before us to the end.1 There
is no speaker in this scene except Jehovah: yet, by the pendulum-
like alternation so common in prophecy,2 and here seven times re-
peated, God is presented as addressing alternately the Nations and
ordained counsel to the one, and proclaiming redemption to the
other. Thus the assumed presence of the Nations on the one side
and
summoned to judgment: to hear of ‘one from the east’ raised up
as an instrument of righteousness,3 crushing the peoples xli. 1-20
in his path; and none but Jehovah hath wrought this
from the beginning. — A few verses present the panic of the assem-
bling Nations: how the idolaters encourage one another:
the carpenter cheering the goldsmith, and he that smooth- 5-7
eth with the hammer him that smiteth the anvil; they look to the
soldering of the idols, and strengthen them with chains for the
coming shock.
As if in contrast with such panic,
of comfort. He is the chosen Servant of Jehovah, who will be
his Redeemer: causing mountains to be threshed and 8-20
scattered out of his path, opening for him rivers on bare
heights and fountains in the midst of valleys; while the wilderness
1 Such allusions are xli. 1, 21, 28-9 ; xliii. 9-10; xliv. 8-9; xlv. 20; xlviii. 6. 14.
The fact that occasionally (xliii. 12; xliv. 8; xlv. 17) in addresses to the Nations
the pronoun You or Your is casually used in reference to
effect of the scene: each party is addressed in the presence of the other.
2 Compare above, page 349.
3 It is specially important in this prophecy to remember the twofold meaning in
the Old Testament of the word 'righteousness': not only right doing, but also
setting,. right, vindication, almost the equivalent of salvation. Compare xli. 2; xlii.
6; xlv. 8, 13; especially li. 5; and lvi. i.
400 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
blooming with myrtle and acacia shall signify what the Holy One
of
2. The idolatrous Nations are challenged to dispute, to pro-
duce their cause and their strong reasons; let their idols declare
xli. 21-xliii.8 things to come that their godhead may be known;
let them do good or do evil that the two parties
may look one upon the other.--A single verse conveys the silence
of the Nations: the gods of their workmanship are things
xli.24 of nought. — Then Jehovah produces his case: he has
raised up ‘one from the north,’ ‘from the rising of the sun,’ to
tread the Nations like clay, and make glad tidings for
but Jehovah hath declared such counsel from the beginning?—
Again the verses present God as looking for an answer
xli. 28-9 from the Nations and meeting only silence: he pronounces
the molten images vanity and confusion.
The Divine Speaker now turns to
the Nations as his Servant:1 and the service is to bring forth judg-
ment to the Gentiles. Not by force, but by gentleness:
xlii he shall not cry nor shout; the bruised reed he shall not
break, nor quench smoking flax; but he shall be sustained until
he has become light and help to the peoples of the earth. — A
Lyric Outburst of Praise to Jehovah from the whole
10-17 earth: let them that go down to the sea sing, let Sela
and the villages of Kedar lift up the voice, let them shout from
the top of the mountains. Jehovah hath long kept silence, but now
will he cry like a travailing woman, he will waste mountains and
make rivers islands, he will make darkness light and the crooked
straight: and
dies away, the proclamation is heard to describe this
18 Servant of Jehovah as blind, as deaf, as hid in prison
houses, and only now perceiving that it is He against whom the
1 It seems to me impossible to understand the ‘Servant’ of these verses (xlii.
1-9) otherwise than as the nation of
verses 18-25 is
chapter, verses 10-17 being one of the lyric interruptions that occur at intervals
and are outside the argument.
THE RHAPSODY OF ‘
people has sinned that has given
Maker has become his Redeemer. "When thou passest through
the waters I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall
not overflow thee." The Holy One of Israel is his saviour: he
has given
to the north, Give up, and to the south, Keep not back; and the
imprisoning nations shall bring them forth, a blind people that
hath eyes, a deaf people that hath ears.
3. The alternation of pleading continues. The assembled
Nations are again challenged to bring witnesses, to show the fore-
seeing of counsel from of old. Their silence makes xliii. 9-xliv. 5
them witnesses for Jehovah, and
ness. There is no god but Jehovah, and he is the only saviour.
Then to
shall no more be remembered; a new thing shall be xliii. 14
done, a way opened in the wilderness, and rivers in the
desert. Yet
him with sins and not with sacrifices. Jehovah will blot out his
transgressions for his own sake. Water shall be poured upon the
thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; the seed of Jacob shall
spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. " One
shall say, I am the LORD'S; and another shall call himself by the
name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto
the LORD, and surname himself by the name of
4. Again Jehovah asserts his godhead, and pours scorn on the
gods of the Nations. He is the first, and he is the last, and
beside him there is no God, there is no Rock. xliv. 6-28
The fashioners of graven images are plunged in
confusion: the delectable things their work has created cannot
witness for them to save them from shame.
The smith maketh an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth
it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm: yea, he is
hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint.
The carpenter stretcheth out a line; he marketh it out with a pencil;
402 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
he shapeth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compasses,
and shapeth it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of
a man, to dwell in the house. He heweth him down cedars, and
taketh the holm tree and the oak, and strengtheneth for himself one
among the trees of the forest: he planteth a fir tree, and the rain
cloth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn; and he taketh
thereof, and warmeth himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread:
yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it: he maketh it a graven
image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the
fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is sat-
isfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have
seen the fire: and the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his
graven image: he falleth down unto it and worshippeth, and prayeth
unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
So the worshipper of idols feeds upon ashes, with none to show
him how his deceived heart has led him astray, till he cannot see
the lie in his right hand.
But not so with
Maker of his people. And he has now redeemed them,
xliv. 21 blotting out as a thick cloud their transgressions, and
as a cloud their sins.
Sing, 0 ye heavens,
For the LORD hath done it;
Shout, ye lower parts of the earth;
Break forth into singing, ye mountains,
0 forest, and every tree therein:
For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob,
And will glorify himself in
Then thus saith to
the heavens, he who frustrateth the tokens of liars, and maketh
diviners mad: Cyrus is his Shepherd, and shall perform all his
pleasure, even saying of
5. To the Nations Jehovah proclaims Cyrus as his anointed,
commissioned to do his work, for which the way
xlv.1-xlvi. 4 shall be smoothed before him. Jehovah hath sur-
named Cyrus, though Cyrus hath not known him. The authority
THE RHAPSODY OF ‘
of the proclamation is maintained: Jehovah is he who is the
creator of light and of darkness, peace and evil are alike his
instruments.
Drop down, ye heavens, from above,
And let the skies pour down righteousness:
Let the earth open, that they may be fruitful in salvation,
And let her cause righteousness to spring up together.
Shall not the work of the hands be used by him that has wrought
it? Therefore the Creator of man has raised up Cyrus as an
instrument of righteousness. For this shall the labour of
and the merchandise of
come over unto him, accepting his bonds because of the God that
is hidden in him: "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, 0
God of
that there is no saviour but Jehovah: to Him must the ends of the
earth look, and to Him every knee bow. His enemies shall be
covered with confusion: and a few words of the Divine Speaker
call up a picture of the idols of
Bel bowing down over one beast, and another beast groaning under
the weight of Nebo laid flat across him.
Then, with a sudden turn, the Speaker addresses
God is not a god to be borne in his people's arms, but
in his arms has their God carried his people, from the xlvi. 3
womb he has borne them, and even to hoar hairs shall they be
carried.
6. The proclamation before the Nations is resumed. The one
God, whom no helpless idols can equal, whose is the counsel
that is seen from the beginning to the end, will do
his pleasure: he calls a ravenous bird from the xlvi. 5-xlviii.
east to execute his counsel, and his salvation shall 13
no longer tarry. — At once a lyric outburst calls tauntingly to the
virgin daughter of
dust, to sit on the ground without a the one to cover
herself with shame; to sit silent, to get her into darkness, for she
404 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
shall no more be called the lady of kingdoms.—The Divine
Speaker reminds
6-15 of the Lord, and her careless confidence. Now all her
losses shall come upon her at once, the day of evil breaking with-
out any dawn to go before it; and all her astrologers, and star-
gazers, and monthly prognosticators shall be as stubble; there
shall be none to save.
Upon
by the name of Jehovah, and make mention of the God of Israel,
but not in truth nor in righteousness. Because of the
xlviii. 1 iron sinew in their neck, and their brow of brass, has
Jehovah told them the thing before it come to pass, lest they
should say their idol had done it. From the womb they have
been a transgressor, but for his name's sake God will defer his
anger. He has refined
in the furnace of affliction, — He, the first and last, whose glory
shall not be given to another.
7. For the seventh and last time in this High Court of
Heaven and Earth God turns to the assembled Nations.1 He
whom Jehovah loveth shall perform his pleasure
xlviii. 14-22 on
perous. The Nations are bidden to listen, and already the
voice of Jehovah's agent is heard: "From the time that it was,
there am I: and now the Lord GOD hath sent me, and his
spirit."
It remains to turn for the last time to
know their redeemer, who leads them by the way they should go.
"Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments!
xlviii. 17 then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness
as the waves of the sea." The scene of judgment ends with a cry
to go forth out of
1 We have thus a sevenfold division of this, which is one of seven Phases of
the Rhapsody. Similarly the natural divisions of Job, Joel and Solomon's Sons
were found to be seven (see in the Literary Index). On the other hand, five seems
to be the favourite number in Wisdom literature: five books in Proverbs and
Ecclesiaslicus, five Essays in Ecclesiastes and five Discourses in Wisdom.
THE RHAPSODY OF ‘
cry of Jacob, the Lord's Servant, redeemed, and a second time
led through the desert, while waters gush from the rock to quench
his thirst.1
PHASE II
The second Phase presents the Servant of Jehovah commencing
the ministry proclaimed for him in the previous scenes. xlix. 1-l
This Servant is distinctly called the nation
is
as to those outside.
Listen, 0 isles, unto me; and hearken, ye peoples, from far: the
LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother
hath he made mention of my name: and he hath made my mouth
like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me; and
he hath made me a polished shaft, in his quiver hath he kept me
close: and he said unto me, Thou art my servant;
I will be glorified. But I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent
my strength for nought and vanity.
Then he speaks of the new commission which has roused him from
such despondency.
He saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to
raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of
I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be
my salvation unto the end of the earth.
As an opening of his commission he proclaims the salvation that
is to bring
him inherit desolate heritages. The captives shall feed in the
ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture; they shall
not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them:
1 The concluding words, "There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked,"
I understand as a prolonged Amen, or pious ejaculation of a scribe, at the conclu-
sion of a section, without a place in the immediate context. Compare Isaiah ii. 22,
and lvii. 21; and the doxologies ending the first four books of Psalms.
406 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the
springs of water shall he guide them.
Sing, 0 heavens;
And be joyful, 0 earth;
And break forth into singing, 0 mountains:
For the LORD hath comforted his people,
And will have compassion upon his afflicted.
The voice of Desponding Zion is heard: this with the responses
of the Servant of Jehovah makes a change to dialogue. She
cries that Jehovah has forsaken her. — Can a woman
xlix. 14 forget her sucking child? Behold, she is graven on the
palms of the Lord's hands : her waste places shall be built, and
the children of her bereavement shall yet throng until the place is
too strait for its inhabitants. — But how shall the barren and the
exile bring forth new inhabitants?— Kings shall be her nursing-
fathers, and queens her nursing-mothers: they shall bring her
children in their bosoms. --
prey be taken from the mighty?— Mighty is He that contendeth
for her: is Jehovah's hand shortened? have the children of God
been disinherited?
The discourse passes back into a soliloquy of Jehovah's Servant:
and here the Servant appears to take more individual form. The
Lord hath given him the tongue of the taught that he
l.4 might know how to sustain with words him that is weary;
morning by morning his ear is wakened to the Divine word. And
he has not been rebellious: he has given his back to the smiters,
and his cheeks to them that pulled off the hair; he hid not his
face from, shame and spitting: for He that justifieth him is near.
And already he is become a judgment to those about him, to
separate between those who obey his voice, even though they walk
in darkness, and those who kindle a fire, and gird themselves
about with firebrands: these he leaves to walk in the flame of
their fire, and among the brands they have kindled; this only
they have from him, that they shall lie down in sorrow.
THE RHAPSODY OF ‘
PHASE III
The third Phase, in a mystical dramatic mode of realisation only
possible in so spiritual a literary form as the rhapsody, li-lii. 12
presents the gradual Awakening of Zion under reiterated
calls from God and the Celestial Hosts.
Jehovah crieth to his people that seek him to look to their
past and take comfort: to look unto the rock whence they were
hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence they were digged. For
the waste places of
shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. —
No response.
Jehovah crieth comfort to his people from their glorious future:
his righteousness is near, his salvation is gone forth. The heavens
shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth wax old like a gar-
ment, but his salvation shall stand fast for ever. —No response.
Jehovah comforteth his people against the reproach of men.
For there the moth shall eat like a garment, the worm shall eat
them like wool: but his righteousness shall be for ever.
The Celestial Chorus encourage Jehovah : calling to the Arm
of the Lord to awake as in the days of old, when
in pieces, and the sea became a pathway for the redeemed. And
the ransomed of the Lord shall again come with singing to
everlasting joy upon their heads.
Jehovah yet again comforteth his people: will they fear man
that shall die, and the son of man which shall be as grass, when
the Maker of heaven and earth has said that the captive exiles
shall speedily be loosed? For it is he who ruleth the sea that
hath put his words in their mouth and covered them with the
shadow of his hand. —No response.
The Celestial Chorus join in the cry to
stand up: she has drunk of the cup of staggering, and there has
been none among all her sons to guide her. Therefore has Jeho-
vah taken out of her hand the cup of staggering, and put it into
the hands of them that afflict her. — No response.
408 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
The Celestial Chorus reiterate the cry to
on her strength, to put on her garments of beauty, shaking herself
from the dust. For Jehovah hath said, she was sold for nought,
and without money shall she be redeemed, and shall know that it
is he, even Jehovah, who hath done it.
At last the awakening of
the distant mountains are seen the feet of messengers bringing
good tidings of good, publishers of salvation. — Now the
lii. 7-12 watchmen of
voice: no discordant notes, they see eye to eye how Jehovah is
returning to
forth into joy, they sing together that the Lord bath redeemed
of the earth can behold his salvation: and awakened
as if present, the bearers of the sacred vessels departing out of
passing on with the God of Israel for their rearward.
PHASE IV
We have reached the fourth and central Phase of the Rhap-
sody: the brief section which seems to stand out from the rest
like the keystone of an arch, and presents the Servant
lii. 13-liii of Jehovah prosperous and highly exalted, to the
astonishment of the nations that had despised his marred visage,
his form marred more than the sons of men. The Chorus of
Nations, in a lyric song of gradually augmenting stanzas,
liii express their astonishment at that which they can hardly
believe; and bring out the mystery of a personality whose suffer-
ings have been a bearing of the sufferings of others. Which of us
(they ask) believed that which we heard, or recognised the Lord's
hand, when we saw him grow up as a root out of a dry ground,
without form or comeliness, despised and rejected of men?
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and been wounded for our trans-
gressions, when we esteemed him smitten of God and afflicted;
THE RHAPSODY OF ‘
we were the sheep that had gone astray, and the Lord laid on
him the iniquity of us all. In oppression he humbled himself;
led as a lamb to slaughter he opened not his mouth; who of his
generation considered that he was cut off from the land of the
living, stricken for the people's transgression? Yet it pleased
Jehovah to put him to grief: but he shall see of the travail of his
soul and be satisfied, and by knowledge of him shall the righteous
Servant make many righteous.
PHASE V
From the Servant of Jehovah in his glory we pass to
alted. The fifth Phase of the Rhapsody is a series of liv-iv
Songs for
brates
Lord of hosts is his name."
For a small moment have I forsaken thee;
But with great mercies will I gather thee.
In overflowing wrath
I hid my face from thee for a moment;
But with everlasting kindness
Will I have mercy upon thee.
Like the rainbow pledge of old to Noah is this new covenant.
For the mountains shall depart,
And the hills be removed;
But my kindness shall not depart from thee,
Neither shall my covenant of peace be removed.
The second Song depicts
dations of sapphires and pinnacles of rubies, her gates of car-
buncles, and all her border of pleasant stones.
nable as she is beautiful: terror shall not come nigh her; no
weapon formed against her shall prosper.
The third Song presents
of a free covenant.
410 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
And he that hath no money;
Come ye, buy, and eat;
Yea, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.
and how she is to be a leader of the peoples, calling to her nations
she knows not. The fourth Song makes the invitation
lv. 6-13 more urgent: bidding seek the Lord while he may be
found, the wicked forsaking his way and the unrighteous man his
thoughts, and turning to the Lord who will abundantly pardon.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so is Jehovah's
abundance of mercy; and his word gone forth shall no more
return empty than the rain shall descend to the earth without
causing it to bud and bring forth.
Ye shall go out with joy,
And be led forth with peace:
The mountains and hills shall break forth before you into singing,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree,
And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree:
And it shall be to the LORD for a name,
For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
PHASE VI
The sixth section is long, and in parts obscure. As a whole it
presents the work of redemption exercised upon
stands appropriately before the final judgment that is to
lvi-lxii exalt a purified
But the redeeming work is an ideal picture that belongs to all
periods of the nation's history, and it must not be limited to the
restored exiles any more than it must be referred to the sin pre-
ceding exile; sin and redemption from sin have belonged to every
period of
the City of
THE RHAPSODY OF '
image. The relation of this sixth Phase to the section that follows
and the sections that precede is reflected in the opening words of
the Servant of Jehovah. Playing upon the two meanings of the
word he enjoins righteousness—that is, doing right — lvi. 1-8
because of the near approach of God's righteousness —
that is, setting right, judgment and salvation. Then, with refer-
ences back to the Babylonian exile which has inspired so much in
the preceding sections, he speaks invitations to the stranger, and
to the physically maimed, to join the Lord's people: the Lord's
house shall be called an house of prayer for all peoples.
Then the Act seems to resolve itself into a series of pictures, in
which the Servant of Jehovah is seen at his work for the redemp-
tion of the people. The first picture is one of lvi. 9-lviii
unmeasured national corruption: all the beasts of
the field coming to devour, and the watchmen blind —dumb dogs
that cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber; mean-
while the righteous are perishing unheeded, with none to mark
the lesson of their death. Suddenly the faithful Servant is among
them: denouncing the sons of the sorceress, unmasking lvii. 3
the abominations of the grove and murderous sacrifices
of the rock valleys, exposing the apostasy of the adulterous
nation, and the depths of debasement to which they will de-
scend in seeking any protector rather than their God. A second
picture presents a different type of national character: lvii. 10
a people that wearies with the length of the way, yet
says not, There is no hope: it finds a mysterious quickening of
its strength, and, blind of heart, looks about to every source
rather than the true one to explain the support it feels. But
suddenly the Servant of Jehovah is seen smoothing the
way before them, casting up the hollows and taking lvii. 14
stumbling-blocks away, while he proclaims that the high and lofty
One that inhabiteth eternity dwells also with the contrite and
humble spirit, not contending for ever, lest the spirit faint away,
but restoring comforts after the iniquity has been chastised. A
third picture is of those who love righteous ordinances and de-
412 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
light to draw near unto God; but they ask, Wherefore have we
fasted, and God seeth not? To these the faithful Servant
lviii explains how they fast for contention and for their own
pleasure. Is this the fast that the Lord has chosen, that a man
should afflict his soul, and bow down his head like a rush, and
spread sackcloth and ashes under his feet? Is not this the fast
acceptable to the Lord, to loose the bonds of wickedness, and
let the oppressed go free, to deal bread to the hungry, and cover
the naked, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning; thy righteous-
ness shall go before thee and the glory of Jehovah be thy re-
ward.
Then, all the several pictures growing together into one, we
have the Servant of Jehovah identifying himself with the nation,
and preaching that the Lord's hand is not shortened that
lix it cannot save, but iniquities have come between the peo-
ple and its God, until they grope like the blind, and stumble at
noonday; until judgment is turned away backward, and truth
fallen in the streets. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no judgment, and none to interpose; wherefore his
own arm wrought salvation. He put on righteousness as a breast-
plate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he clothed himself
with garments of vengeance, and was clad with zeal as a cloak:
and he shall come like a rushing stream, which the breath of the
Lord driveth. Thus A REDEEMER SHALL COME TO
At once the lyric songs break out, bidding
her light is come. Darkness shall cozier the earth, and gross dark-
ness the peoples: but Jehovah shall arise upon
lx nations shall be drawn to her light, and kings to the bright-
ness of her sunrise. Her heart shall be enlarged and tremble as
she beholds the multitudes of camels, the ships flying as doves to the
windows, all bringing her sons and daughters from far. Her
gates shall be open day and night as the wealth of nations flows
into her. Violence shall not be heard in her land; her officers
shall be peace, and her exactors righteousness; her walls shall be
THE RHAPSODY OF ‘
called Salvation, and her gates, Praise: and her sun shall no more
go down, for it shall be Jebovala, an everlasting light.
The lyric outburst subsides into a soliloquy of Jehovah's Servant
upon his glorious task of preaching good tidings to the meek,
binding up the broken-hearted, opening the prison to lxi. 1
them that are bound, proclaiming the day of God's ven-
geance, and appointing to the mourners of
praise for the spirit of heaviness. He turns even then to
speak words of promise to
sponding, rejoices in the Lord who has covered her with the robe
of righteousness as a bride is adorned with jewels. The Servant,
in response, will for
righteousness shine before all kings. She shall be named lxii. 1
no longer Desolate, Forsaken: her land shall be Beulah, for her
sons shall marry it, and her God shall rejoice over her as a bride-
groom rejoices over his bride. Then the Servant of Jehovah cries
to the Watchmen he has set upon the walls to give the Lord no
rest until he fulfil his word to
Chorus of Watchmen, who cry to go through the gates, lxii. 10
to clear the way, to lift up the ensign that all nations
can see: for the Lord's proclamation of salvation has been
made to the end of the earth, and soon the name of
will be the City Sought out.
PHASE VII
The seventh Phase is to bring the final Judgment, to which so
much of what precedes has been pointing. Its keynote
is struck by a Dramatic Vision of Judgment. lxiii-lxvi
HE WHO WATCHETH
Who is this that cometh from
With crimsoned garments from Bozrah?
This that is glorious in his apparel,
Marching in the greatness of his strength?
414 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
HE WHO COMETH
I that speak in righteousness,
Mighty to save.
HE WHO WATCHETH
Wherefore art thou red
In thine apparel,
And thy garments
Like him that treadeth in the winefat?
HE WHO COMETH
I have trodden the winepress alone;
And of the peoples there was no man with me:
Yea, I trod them in mine anger,
And trampled them in my jury;
And their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments,
And I have stained all my raiment.
For the day of vengeance was in mine heart,
And the year of my redeemed is come.
And I looked, and there was none to help;
And I wondered that there was none to uphold:
Therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me;
And my fury, it upheld me.
And I trod down the peoples in mine anger,
And made them drunk in my fury,
And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.
Then the Servant of Jehovah speaks, and gathers the whole
national history into a liturgy of thanksgiving, confession, and
supplication for judgment. He makes beginning
lxiii. 7-lxiv with the lovingkindnesses of the Lord: he was
the saviour of his people, in all their afflictions he was afflicted,
and the angel of his presence saved them. But they were rebel-
lious, and grieved his holy spirit; until he was turned to be their
enemy and himself fought against them. Under his wrath have
they become as the heathen; they have been delivered into the
power of their iniquities; they have faded like a leaf which the
THE RHAPSODY OF ‘
wind of their iniquities driveth about. The holy cities have
become a wilderness,
tiful house where the fathers worshipped God is burned with fire.
Yet is Jehovah their father, though Abraham know them not, and
heavens, and come down, that the mountains might flow down at
his presence!
The response comes in the JUDGMENT, that finally separates
between the holy and the evil: and the concluding phase lxv-lxvi
of the rhapsody is the pendulum movement swinging to
and fro between vengeance and glad salvation.
The rebellious, walking in their own way, and provoking God
with their abominations — their works shall be recompensed into
their own bosoms. But there shall be a seed out of
Jacob, the Lord's chosen shall inherit his mountains; lxv. 1, 8
for herds to lie down in. But those that prepare a table to
Fortune and pour libations to Destiny, destined shall 11, 16
they be to the fortune of the sword: they shall perish,
and leave only a name to curse by. But he that blesseth himself
shad bless himself by the God of Truth, for joy of the new heaven
and the new earth, and the
the blessed shall forget their troubles. For the Lord's dwelling is
not in a builded house, but in the poor and contrite spirit. But
they that choose their own ways, and delight in their
own abominations, shall find Jehovah also choosing their lxvi. 3, 7
delusions, and bringing their fears upon them. They persecute
the fearers of the Lord, and challenge the Lord to glorify himself:
— a shout from the city, a shout of Jehovah that maketh recom-
pense. But
she has travailed she has brought forth. And
lovers rejoice together, her peace flowing like a river. 15
While Jehovah shall come in fire and chariots of whirl-
wind to rebuke his enemies in the midst of their abominations:
and a standard shall be set up, that all nations and tongues can
416 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
see the Lord's glory, even to the isles afar of that have not heard
his fame. And out of all nations shall they bring the
18(b) brethren of
seed of
and new earth shall remain. And all flesh shall come up
24 to worship at the holy feasts: and they shall go forth and
look upon the carcasses of the transgressors, for their worm shall
not die, neither shall their fire be quenched.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE WORKS OF THE PROPHETS
WE have now passed in review all the various literary forms as-
sumed by Prophecy. It remains to consider the contents of the
prophetic books that have come clown to us.
At the outset two important points call for notice. One is the
recognition of what I will call Prophetic Sentences. In our
examination of Wisdom literature we saw1 that it partly
consisted in isolated sayings, — the unit proverbs and the Prophetic
short maxims and epigrams enlarged from these; a con- Sentences
siderable proportion of the books of wisdom was seen to be occu-
pied with such independent literary brevities, and works that were
specially consecutive in argument, such as Ecclesiastes, never-
theless exhibited portions of their whole contents given up to such
miscellaneous matter. To a much smaller extent we saw in Lyric
Poetry2 a similar aggregation of brief poetic sayings or ejacula-
tions to make longer poems. It is not surprising then that in
Prophecy also we should find, besides formal discourses, isolated
and independent Sentences, each a unit of prophetic thought on
some single topic. Perhaps an ideal example of such Prophetic
Sentences is given by a well-known passage of Jeremiah. This
passage stands between an elegy of the mourning women describ-
ing a devastated land covered with carcasses, and another prophecy
denouncing uncircumcised nations by name, and with them the
uncircumcised in heart. Its distinctiveness from the context must
be felt by every reader.
1 Above, pages 98, 292, 294. 2 Above, page 164
417
418 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
Jeremiah Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
ix. 23 neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man
glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he
understandeth, and knoweth me, that I am the LOAD which exer-
cise lovingkindness, judgement, and righteousness, in the earth: for
in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
Not only do such Prophetic Sentences exist, but from the way
in which they appear in more than one place, they would seem to
have somewhat of the floating character of prov-
Is. xxiv. 17, 18; erbs. The cry of ‘fear, and the pit, and the snare,’
Jer. xlviii. 43-4 already seen in a work of Isaiah, occurs almost
without a change in Jeremiah. "We have heard of the pride of
in Isaiah's and Jeremiah's Doom Songs on
have many other sentences in common. The three first sayings in
Obadiah's Vision of Edom — those putting the ideas of an ambas-
sador among the nations proclaiming the humiliation of
an eagle brought down from a mountain cleft, of grape-gatherers
and robbers leaving gleanings — all occur in various parts of
Jeremiah's Doom Song against the same nation. And a Pro-
phetic Sentence made by negation of the proverb
Jer xviii 29; about fathers eating sour grapes and children's
Ez. xviii teeth being set on edge is found as an independent
saying in Jeremiah, while it is expanded into an elaborate dis-
course by Ezekiel.
It is to be observed that such Prophetic Sentences are found in
groups, chiefly at the close of a series of longer prophecies. One
such group follows the words of encouragement given by Isaiah to
Ahaz in the crisis made by the unnatural alliance of
Isaiah And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for
vii. 18- the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of
25 the bee that is in the
shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the
rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all pastures.
* *
*
THE WORKS OF THE PROPHETS 419
In that day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, which
is in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of
head and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.
* *
*
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a
young cow, and two sheep; and it shall come to pass, for the abun-
dance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and
honey shall every one eat that is left in the midst of the land.
* *
*
And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place, where there
were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, shall even be for
briers and thorns. With arrows and with how shall one come
thither; because all the land shall be briers and thorns. And all
the hills that were digged with the mattock, thou shalt not come
thither for fear of briers and thorns, but it shall be for the sending
forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.
The isolation of the first passage is the clearer from the fact that
in this portion of Isaiah there is no mention of
is the avenging force foreseen in that crisis. On the other hand,
there is an individuality about each of the four passages, such
as would readily give them currency as prophetic epigrams (so
to speak): the prophecy of the fly and the bee, of the hired
razor, of butter and honey, of briers and thorns. We have seen
that repetition and reiteration play a great part in a prophet's
ministry; such epigrammatic sayings would be repeated by the
prophet on occasion after occasion of his preaching, until the text
could pass into popular use, while the prophet's discourse on it
would adapt itself to circumstances. Nor is it any objection
against the separation of these four passages that they are all
referred to a time expressed by the words "in that day:" on the
contrary, we find a few phrases "in that day," "in those days,"
"the days come," that seem to be used as regular formulae for
introducing a prophecy.
Another series of such Sentences is found following Isaiah's
Doom Song against
420 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
that all have a common thought,—the future conversion of
if the other Sentences were like proverbs, this series corresponds
to the proverb cluster.
Isaiah In that day there shall be five cities in the
xix. 18- the language of
25 be called The City of Destruction.
* *
In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the
it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the
land of
oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a defender, and
he shall deliver them.
* *
And the LORD shall be known to
know the LORD in that day; yea, they shall worship with sacrifice
and oblation, and shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and shall perform it.
And the LORD shall smite
shall return unto the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and
shall heal them.
* *
In that day shall there he a high way out of
and the Assyrian shall come into
In that day shall
blessing in the midst of the earth: for that the LORD of hosts hath
blessed them, saying, Blessed be
work of my hands, and
It is clear that the recognition of such Sentences, not as an
accident, but as a regular feature of prophetic literature, makes a
Recognition of great difference to the exegesis of particular pas-
Sentences in sages. The documents which preserve the litera-
exegesis tures of antiquity have not the clear separation of
parts, or even of whole compositions, that modern printing has
THE WORKS OF THE PROPHETS 421
made for us a matter of course; and there is no element in
exegesis more important, or more difficult, than the determina-
tion exactly where a literary section of Scripture begins and
ends. Many discourses in the Bible seem to present perplexing
and obscure lines of thought, simply because the discourse has
been made to extend over passages which may better be con-
sidered as independent. I take a casual example.
The portion of our Book of Zechariah which is Zechariah vii-
numbered as chapters seven and eight is treated viii
by most expositors as a single discourse. It opens with a formal
enquiry as to the obligation of fasts, to which an answer is re-
turned; near the end of this section there is another viii. 18
reference to fasts, and to their being days of gladness;
the argument of the whole is supposed to be that the observance
of moral duties, and the Messianic peace that this will bring—
which are topics of intervening passages—would make fasts a
gladness instead of a burden. But it must be confessed that the
links in this chain of thought are very inconsequent; and the idea
of the gladness of fasts is but little emphasised if it is to be the
climax up to which a lengthy discourse has led. On the other
hand, portions of the intervening matter have a strong appearance
of independence.
viii. 1-8 And the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, Thus
saith the LORD of hosts: I am jealous for
and I am jealous for her with great fury.
* *
Thus saith the LORD: I am returned unto
the midst of
truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts The holy mountain.
* *
Thus saith the LORD of hosts: There shall yet old men and old
women dwell in the streets of
his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of
boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.
422 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
Thus saith the LORD of hosts: If it be marvellous in the eyes of
the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvellous
in mine eyes? saith the LORD of hosts.
* *
Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Behold I will save my people from
the east country, and from the west country: and I will bring them,
and they shall dwell in the midst of
my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.
A full discourse stands next, on the same general subject, con-
trasting former turbulence with coming peace; then the succes-
sion of independent sayings is continued.
18-23 And the word of the LORD of hosts came unto me, saying, Thus
saith the LORD of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast
of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth,
shall be to the house of
therefore love truth and peace.
* *
Thus saith the LORD of hosts: It shall yet come to pass, that there
shall come peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the
inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily
to intreat the favour of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I
will go also. Yea, many peoples and strong nations shall come to
seek the LORD of hosts in
the LORD.
* *
Thus saith the LORD of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass,
that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations,
shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will
go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.
Of course, in the interpretation of this or any part of Scripture
difference of opinion will come in. I am merely contending for
the arrangement in isolated Sentences as a legitimate resource of
exegesis. And with regard to any particular passage the question
must be, not whether it is possible by ingenuity or by straining to
weave it into a continuous whole, but whether, all things consid-
THE WORKS OF THE PROPHETS 423
ered, any succession of words may be better regarded as a portion
of a whole or as an independent aphorism.
There is one prophet to whom the present consideration applies
with special force. From the time of
an agreement to recognise the prominence of sententiae in Hosea;
and the obscurity which all readers find in his writings seems
largely due to the fact that this book of prophecy, like the Book
of Proverbs, is made up of longer discourses mingled with abun-
dance of Prophetic Sentences, each of these Sentences an isolated
whole, yet all reflecting the general attitude of this prophet to the
moral questions of his time. I venture upon a lengthy citation in
order to give readers, accustomed to puzzle over Hosea's line of
argument, an opportunity of appreciating the new interest that
comes into the prophecy when large parts of it are presented as
collections of prophetic epigrams.
The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense Hosea
are come;
man that hath the spirit is mad, for the multitude of thine x. 12
iniquity, and because the enmity is great.
* *
Ephraim watcheth against my God: as for the prophet, a fowler's
snare is in all his ways, and enmity in the house of his God.
* *
They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah:
he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.
* *
I found
the firstripe in the fig tree at her first season: but they came to
Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves unto the shameful thing, and
became abominable like that which they loved.
* *
As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird: there shall
be no birth, and none with child, and no conception. Though they
bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there be not a
man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
424 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
Ephraim, like as I have seen
but Ephraim shall bring out his children to the slayer.
* *
Give them, 0 LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying
womb and dry breasts.
* *
All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them: because
of the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine
house I will love them no more; all their princes are revolters.
* *
Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit:
yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay the beloved fruit of their
womb. My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken
unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
* *
to the multitude of his fruit he hath multiplied his altars; according
to the goodness of his land they have made goodly obelisks. Their
heart is divided; now shall they be found guilty: he shall smite
their altars, he shall spoil their obelisks.
* *
Surely now shall they say, We have no king: for we fear not the
LORD; and the king, what can he do for us?
* *
They speak vain words, swearing falsely in making covenants:
therefore judgement springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of
the field.
* *
The inhabitants of
Beth-aven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the
priests thereof that rejoiced over it, for the glory thereof, because it
is departed from it. It also shall be carried unto
ent to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and
ashamed of his own counsel.
* *
As for
high places also of Aven, the sin of
THE WORKS OF THE PROPHETS 425
thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall
say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
* *
O Israel thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they
stood; that the battle against the children of iniquity should not over-
take them in Gibeah.
* *
When it is my desire, I will chastise them; and the peoples shall
be gathered against them, when they are yoked to their two trans-
gressions. And Ephraim is an heifer that is taught, that loveth to
tread out the corn; but I have passed over upon her fair neck: I
will set a rider on Ephraim;
his clods.
* *
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to mercy;
break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD till he
come and rain righteousness upon you.
The second of our preliminary considerations is the Prophetic
Cycle. Considerable part of our prophetic literature is found to
consist in series of discourses, or incidents, or rhap-
sodies, succeeding one another just as the contents Cycles of Proph-
of a modern volume of sermons. But sometimes ecy
separate prophecies are united together by some essential bond,
whether of structural connection or of related subject-matter. In
this second case the word Cycle seems appropriate. It has been
remarked in a former chapter that all the discourses of Malachi
have the same structural plan: the discourse near its commence-
ment is interrupted by an imaginary objection, or more than one
objection, and these become the real starting-point of what fol-
lows. The recurrence of this scholastic device makes the whole
Book of Malachi a single Dialectic Cycle. Again, we have seen
how the denunciations against
the opening of Amos are in structure exactly parallel: they con-
stitute a Cycle of Dooms. The last section of this prophecy is a
series of emblems (presented in vision), ascending one above
another in nearness to the crisis and issue: this is an Emblem
426 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
Cycle. Such illustrations of the term are easy; one or two usages
need more discussion.
The portion of Isaiah that extends from chapter twenty-eight to
chapter thirty-five is best considered as a Cycle and not merely a
series of discourses. The bond of connection is
Isaiah xxviii- very definite: all the discourses are animadversions
xxxv on a certain political situation, but this is made a
background for pictures of the restoration of
of
situation is the panic caused by the Assyrian invasion, and the
efforts of the party of
from looking for support to the rival empire of
xxviii In the first discourse Isaiah denounces the dissoluteness
of
heartedness amid national apprehensions—the ‘covenant with
death and agreement with hell’ they have made for themselves,
so that the overflowing scourge will pass them by. This secret
confidence in
holds Jehovah's foundation-stone laid in
which he will be a diadem of beauty to the residue that believe in
him. In a later discourse, when an embassy has been
xxx openly sent to
the alliance with the "Boaster that sitteth still," which shall be-
come to
wall. But after foretelling ruin he springs to a glad future, grad-
ually ascending from a state of external affliction relieved only by
the blessing of spiritual guidance, to a golden tide in a plenteous
land, when the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun,
and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, and idols shall be
utterly cast out. The same combination of elements marks all
the discourses. The conclusion of the series is a companion
picture of ideal destruction and ideal restoration.
named as the foe, but the details show that this is used only as a
type of hostile forces: for so universal is the destruction that all
THE WORKS OF THE PROPHETS 427
the host of heaven are seen to moulder away, and the heavens roll
together as a scroll; streams of earth become pitch and xxiv
its dust brimstone, the smoke of it going up for ever;
palaces are overgrown with thorns and thistles, fit habitation for
jackals, where the wild beasts meet with the wolves, and the satyr
cries to his fellow. The contrasting picture1 is of the xxxv
wilderness and the solitary place being glad, and the
desert blossoming as the rose; the glowing sand becomes a pool,
the habitation of jackals green with reeds and rushes: and a
way of holiness stretches across, over which the ransomed of the
LORD return to
courses with such community of treatment, brought to such a
common climax, make what may be called a Cycle of the
Restoration.
Again, there is a Vision Cycle of much literary interest in our
Book of Zechariah. The hopes of the Temple-builders are
strengthened by a series of visions; not only do
these visions belong to the same dream and have a Vision Cycle:
common reference, but further, by a beautiful touch Zechariah i. 7-
of vision effect, they are enclosed in another ‘En- vi. 8
veloping Vision,’ which remains constant while the others come
and go, dreams within a dream. The prophet relates how "in
the night" he beheld horses, red, sorrel, and white, among the
myrtle trees, and these are interpreted to him as spirits of minis-
tration that go to and fro in the earth. This is the Enveloping
Vision,— as it were the machinery for carrying out whatever by
special vision may be made known: and it seems to remain in
the background during all that follows. At present the report is
that the earth sitteth still and is at rest; the angel of the Lord
appeals for mercy on
with comfortable words. The Lord will return to
mercies: and each of these mercies is symbolised in a vision, the
1 It will be understood of course that the date of this prophecy, whether of its
composition or of that to which it may refer, does not affect the argument: we are
here concerned with the order of prophecies as they stand, whoever may be
responsible for the arrangement.
428 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
prophet feeling himself, as it were, wakened from sleep to behold
each. The first vision is of Horns and Smiths: the for-
iv. 1 mer are interpreted of the nations that have lifted them-
selves up against
these and cast them down. A second vision shows a man with a
measuring line, going to measure
shall increase till it must needs be inhabited as villages without
walls: The third vision presents the hierarchy of heaven, and
the High Priest Joshua (representative of the Temple-builders)
assailed by the Adversary: but the Adversary is rebuked, and
Joshua is clad in rich apparel, with a mitre set on his head. The
next appearance is of the Golden Candlestick: this final piece of
as begin his good work. While the prophet watches this he is
aware of the two olive trees on either side of it: this is a separate
emblem, giving authority for associating the two ‘sons of oil,’ —
the prince Zerubbabel and the priesthood. Two more visions
foreshadow the moral purification of the land: the Flying Roll of
the Curse indicating crime purged out of the country, and Wicked-
ness in the ephah pressed down by the weight of a talent showing
how the wickedness of the land shall be banished, as the visionary
figure is banished, into the wilderness. The succession of indi-
vidual mercies concluded, the Enveloping Vision resumes: chariots
are now added to the horses, from between the two mountains of
brass: and they are to depart to the four winds of heaven to exe-
cute the will of the Lord. The unity that is implied in all Cycles
reaches a climax in such enveloping of symbolic details in the
symbol of that which is to provide for their execution.
These preliminary considerations disposed of, the remaining
task of this chapter becomes easy. In the Appendix to this work
I attempt to analyse the contents of each book of prophecy, sepa-
rating discourses and sentences, indicating the nature of each,
and, where convenient, adding titles. Here it is only necessary
to sum up.
THE WORKS OF THE PROPHETS 429
In several cases the contents of a prophetic work consist of a
single composition. Obadiah, Nahum, and Zephaniah have left
only a single Discourse. The Book of Jonah we
have in a former chapter seen to be a single pro- Contents of Pro-
phetic Epic. We have also seen that the books of phetic Books
Joel and Amos resolve themselves each into a sin- shorter books
gle Rhapsody. A degree more varied are the prophetic works of
Habakkuk, which consist of his Rhapsody of the Chaldeans and
his Ode of Judgment. In Haggai we find four Occasional Dis-
courses, regularly dated. And we have seen that the prophecy of
Malachi may be regarded as a Dialectic Cycle.
The rest of prophetic literature shows more complexity. It
may be pointed, out that when we speak of ‘The Book of the
prophet Jeremiah,’ we are using an ambiguous term. The whole
works of this prophet, as of others, fall into several ‘books’; just
as what in ordinary parlance is called ‘The Book of Psalms’
appears in the Revised Version as five books, clearly separated by
doxologies. So, with the exception of the nine mentioned in the
preceding paragraph the works of the prophets divide themselves
into more than one book for each author.
Our Book of Isaiah falls naturally into seven books.1 The first
is made up of general prophecies, ending with the Vision of the
Call. Six chapters contain Occasional prophecies, one set Isaiah
relating to the Unholy Alliance of Israel with
inspired by an Assyrian Invasion. The fourth book contains the
Doom Songs collected together: these may be considered to
make a Cycle of Doom, as they are followed by the general Rhap-
sody of Judgment upon the whole earth. I have already in dis-
cussing the word ‘cycle’ described the next section of Isaiah as a
Cycle of the Restoration. As a sixth book we have a brief historical
excerpt, bringing out Isaiah's action in the great crisis of Sennach-
erib's invasion. The last book is the Rhapsody of Zion Redeemed.2
1 Compare the Literary Index throughout.
2 It will be understood that the question whether this section is from the same
author as preceding parts of Isaiah is outside the scope of the present work.
430 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
The discourses of Jeremiah seem to be grouped in more numer-
ous divisions, making ten books in all. After a section occupied
by the prophet's Call, and general Manifesto of his min-
Jeremiah istry, we have a second containing miscellaneous dis-
courses and sentences. Then follow several clear groups, founded
on a Missionary journey, on the Drought, on Pottery, on Messages
to Rulers. The seventh book is largely occupied with Contro-
versies; the eighth contains the prophecies of the Restoration.
A book follows of Incidental discourses and prophetic history;
and the collection of Doom Songs concludes the series.
The arrangement of Ezekiel's Works is very simple and clear.
They fall into only three books: the first contains prophecies of
Ezekiel Judgment, the third prophecies of the Restoration, each
brought to a climax by the two parts of the connected
Vision of
separating these is occupied with the Dooms on the Nations.
The Prophecy of Daniel makes two books: one of Prophetic
Incidents and Interpretations of Visions, arranged in chronological
Daniel order; the other a Cycle of Visions seen by the prophet
himself. Hosea also falls into two divisions. The Em-
blem Prophecy of Gomer makes one. The other consists of dis-
Hosea courses, brief rhapsodies, and especially long collections
of prophetic sentences, but all uniting to convey the idea
of the Lord's Controversy with
Wisdom literature, this might be called a Cluster of Prophecies.
Micah has two very different sections; five chapters
Micah contain miscellaneous discourses, the last two the very
dramatic prophecies fully discussed in a previous chapter. And
our Book of Zechariah falls into three divisions, very
Zechariah diverse in character.1 The first is miscellaneous, but
mainly occupied with the elaborate Vision Cycle described above.
The other two divisions contain discourses, the matter of which
suggests their separation into two books.
1 It will he understood that the question whether the three parts are by the same
author is outside the scope of the present work.
THE WORKS OF THE PROPHETS 431
This completes the list of Old Testament prophets. But the
New Testament furnishes a book which must be considered in this
connection. The Revelation of St. John is too
closely involved with modern theological questions
to admit of its being discussed in a work from Revelation
which distinctively religious matter is excluded. On the other
hand, in the literary study of Scripture it is impossible to ignore a
composition of such transcendent literary interest. If a reader
will apply to this book of Revelation a method which ought to be
applied to all parts of Scripture, and set himself to take in the
whole at a sitting, reading with his imagination on the stretch in
the way in which he would read Dante's Hell, Purgatory, and
that this Vision Cycle is one of the literary wonders of the world.
I will be content with making two remarks on the subject, and
with these my treatment of Biblical Prophecy may be brought to
a conclusion.
The title contains the word ‘revelation.’ But in our discussion
of prophetic forms we saw that this word had two distinct mean-
ings: revelation of the future, as in the visions of Meaning of the
Daniel, and revelation of the ideal, as in Ezekiel's title
Visions of
Moses in the mount. Which of these meanings applies, or do
they both apply, to the work of
seized upon the first of these, and looks upon
tion as a prophetic riddle, the ingenious reading of which will give
a clue to events of past or future history, or will even enable the
present to be exactly located in some scheme of all time. But if
the words of the prologue, "the things which must shortly come
to pass," and the parallels with Daniel's visions, favour the view
that the revelation is a foreshowing, yet on the other hand the
equally close parallels with Ezekiel's visions, and the building up
of the whole structure upon symbolic symmetries, counterparts,
and antitheses, make it certain that the idealising of the world-
contest between good and evil is of the very essence of the
432 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
work.1 Moreover, if both kinds of revelation belong to this book,
they will mutually modify one another. Suppose that some specially
distinctive detail of the symbolism suggests connection with some
historic power or institution: then, by the influence of the other
type of revelation, we must expect that historic reality to be ideal-
ised in the movement of the vision, so that it would still be
hazardous exegesis to interrogate other details of the symbolism
for further historic details. I have before remarked upon the way
in which prophetic literature as a whole has suffered from the
unfortunate narrowing of the word ‘prophecy’ in ordinary con-
versation to the single sense of prediction. No part of prophetic
literature has suffered so much in this respect as
lation ; and the literary student, at all events, should address him-
self to those permanent spiritual interests of the book which are
independent of times and seasons.
But the Book of Revelation presents another feature of the
highest interest and significance. It may be expressed in a phrase
of the vision itself: " The testimony of Jesus is the
Association of its spirit of prophecy." Underlying the whole book
details with is the idea that the " revelation of Jesus Christ "
other prophecy is a bringing together and enhancing of all pre-
vious revelations: and accordingly in the symbolic scenery of the
visions, and the phrases by which they are described, the concep-
tions of Old Testament prophecy are continually appearing in new
forms and combinations. At the outset, when the Apostle speaks
of being ‘in the Spirit,’ we think of Ezekiel borne by the spirit to
threats, remind us of the chain of denunciations in similar form
on seven nations with which Amos opens his prophecy, before he
deals with his
once to get details from Old Testament prophets. The personal
1 I may be allowed to express my admiration of the way in which this element
of interpretation has been worked out in the late Professor Milligan's Revelation (a
volume of the Expositor's Bible, Hodder &
THE WORKS OF THE PROPHETS 433
description of one coming with the clouds, of hair white as wool,
a golden girdle, feet like burnished brass, eyes of fire, is entirely
from Daniel; from Ezekiel come the rainbow round about the
throne and the four living creatures. The naming of Him who
is worthy to open the book as the ‘Root of David’ brings up
the ‘Branch’ and ‘Shoot’ which have figured in the Messianic
pictures of Isaiah; and the other appellative, ‘the Lion of the
tribe of
Blessings of Jacob on the tribes. It is the same with the symbols
that make up the succession of scenes. The book written within
and without, the little book to be eaten and found sweet in the
mouth and bitter in the belly, have both become familiar from
the prophecy of Ezekiel; the golden candlestick of Zechariah's
vision is multiplied sevenfold for this supreme revelation, and its
appendage of the two olive trees now becomes the centre of a
separate chapter of allegory; the incense symbolising the prayers
of the saints realises the imagery of the psalms; if Psalm cxli. 2
again the delivered psalmist has cried that God
has put a ‘new song’ in his mouth, the thought finds here a real-
isation in the mystic new song which none but the sealed of the
Lord can learn. The prophetic conceptions undergo alteration
and enlargement as they reappear. Zechariah's vision had pre-
sented spirits of ministration on the earth in the form of horses,
white, red, black, grisled, — the colours being a picturesque
detail: but the horses of Revelation— the white, the red, the
black, the pale—have each a hue mystically connected with its
office of judgment. Prophecy had frequently couched its mys-
teries under the image of a book sealed up: this consummation
of all things presents the unsealing. Among the instruments of
woe the trumpets represent the trumpet sound which in the rhap-
sodies had marked the commencement of panic, the bowls poured
out repeat the regular image of the Doom Songs,—the cup of
Jehovah's fury. The woes thus hurled upon the world are the
‘plagues’ of Egypt magnified: when locusts are mentioned, the
mystic imagery of Joel is worked into the description; when hail
434 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
is pictured, the expression "every stone about the weight of a
talent" reads like a momentary finger-pointing to Zechariah's vis-
ion of Wickedness pressed down with the talent of lead. Where
the form of woes goes outside the Egyptian plagues prophecy has
other symbols to contribute, and the ` burning mountain' recalls
Jeremiah's Doom of
tribe by tribe, recalls in its rhythm a similar recital of the portions
of the tribes of Ezekiel. Of course a new chord has been struck
in the vision that immediately follows: the "great multitude,
which no man could number, out of every nation, and of all tribes
and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne." But as the
description is continued hallowed associations from old prophecy
come in. That they have "washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb," combines Isaiah's promise that
sins red as crimson should be as wool with Zechariah's vision of
the filthy garments taken in the heavenly court from Joshua that
he might be clothed in rich vestments; while the sweetly sounding
promise —
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the
sun strike upon then, nor any heat, for the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them
unto fountains of waters of life —
been spoken before by the Servant of Jehovah in the Isaiahan
Rhapsody. Sometimes
would fail to produce their effect if separated from the associa-
tions they recall. It would seem harsh in so mystic a scene to
speak of exact numbers: but the phrase of the old processional
psalm —
The chariots of God are twenty thousand,
Even thousands upon thousands —
renders it possible for Revelation to make the armies of the horse-
men "twice ten thousand times ten thousand." Again we might
see no point in the symbol of the balance held by the rider on the
THE WORKS OF THE PROPHETS 435
black horse, were it not that Ezekiel's mimic siege has accustomed
us to associate famine with eating bread by weight and drinking
water by measure. And when we reach the tumult of winds and
sea and the beasts coming up out of the sea, the vision becomes
pointless unless the prophecies of Daniel are assumed throughout.
It will be understood that the use in Revelation of the Old
Testament prophecy is no borrowing or travelling backward on
the contrary, the conceptions of the prophets become intensified
by being massed together, and ideas from diverse sources unite in
a single new conception. The horror of nature that attends the
opening of the sixth seal is given in a single description. Its first
clause, as to the sun becoming black as sackcloth and the moon as
blood, gives a phenomenon of change three times used by Joel.
Then the stars falling from heaven, "as a shaken fig tree casts
her unripe figs,"unites Isaiah's expression of stars falling "as a
fading leaf from the fig tree" with Nahum's application of the
image of a shaken fig tree to the succession of fortresses yielded
in a panic. Then the detail of the heavens being rolled up as a
scroll recalls Isaiah's ideal ruin of
and islands moving and fleeing has been a stock prophetic image;
the idea of men's hiding in the caves and rocks has been used in
Isaiah's opening manifesto, their crying to the rocks and moun-
tains to fall on them and cover them has been pictured by Hosea.
The final climax of the description — that the great day of wrath
is come, and who is able to abide it? --borrows the refrain of
Joel's rhapsody. Or again: when the angel casts his sickle to
the earth, we at once recognise the consummation foreshadowed
by Joel; but when the vintage so gathered is cast into the wine-
press of the wrath of God, the association is with the vision of
judgment in the Isaiahan Rhapsody; when again blood comes
out of the winepress and reaches even to the bridles of the
horses, the image of that rhapsody has become united with an
early picture of Isaiah, which represented the Assyrian flood
deluging the land and reaching to the horses' necks. The song
over Fallen Babylon recalls many such songs of old prophecy;
436 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF PROPHECY
but before it has gone far the details have entirely changed, and
identified the fallen power also with
by the merchant and the shipman: the suggestion is that all the
bulwarks of evil are included in the Babylon of Revelation. To
take a final example. The New Jerusalem seen with the measured
symmetries of its walls and gates is the Jerusalem of Ezekiel. Its
coming down as a bride adorned for her husband is the thought
of one of the songs to Zion Exalted in the rhapsody of Isaiah;
from another of these songs come the foundations of precious
stones and pearly gates; yet another has foreshadowed the gates
open day and night, the Divine Sun in the glory of which nations
walk. And the additional picture of the river of water of life--
with the trees of life, yielding their monthly fruits, and leaves for
the healing of the nations — has brought us back to the visions
of Ezekiel.
Even as a literary effect this building up of new conceptions out
of details that come to us hallowed with the associations of past
literature is eminently impressive. It is another form of that
which in secular literature is the chain of ‘classic’ succession, 'by
which Miltonic poetry will in its every detail echo some classic
image or expression of Italian and Roman literature, as these in
their turn had made their details suggest their origin in the classic
poetry of
go far beyond literary imagery; and, whether we consider matter
or form, it is highly significant that the final outpouring of Scrip-
tural Prophecy should be a Procession of symbolic visions in
which the visionary symbols of all preceding prophecy have grown
together into their consummation.
BOOK SIXTH
THE BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF RHETORIC
CHAPTER PAGE
XIX. THE EPISTLES: OR WRITTEN RHETORIC 439
XX. SPOKEN RHETORIC: AND THE ‘BOOK OF DEUTERON-
OMY’ 444
CHAPTER XIX
THE EPISTLES: OR WRITTEN RHETORIC
THE word ‘rhetoric’ has several meanings. In the sense that
belongs to its most common usage it has little connection with
the purpose of the present work. Questions of
style seem to me to belong to the study of lan- Rhetoric: the
uage rather than to the study of literature, unless Literature of
in such cases as the Book of Wisdom, where we Address
saw a peculiarity of style of sufficient magnitude to make the com-
position a literary class by itself, the morphological distinctness of
which must be kept in mind by one who would appreciate the
argument. At present I am using the word ‘rhetoric’ in a differ-
ent sense, — as the literature of address. The Biblical literature
of address falls into two main divisions: the Epistle, or Written
Address, and Oratory, the Spoken Address.
The Epistolary literature of the Bible constitutes a department
of the highest importance as regards its subject-matter. But its
treatment need occupy only a small space in a
work of which the purpose is to note distinctions Epistolary Lit-
of literary form. All that is necessary is to point erature: the
out that the generic term ‘epistle’ covers three Written Address
classes of composition worth distinguishing, without reckoning the
Epistle of St. James, which has already been treated as a part of
Wisdom literature.
The first and largest class is made up of epistles in the strictest
sense,—the Epistles of Pastoral Intercourse. These have the full
form of epistolary correspondence: commencing with a salutation
439
440 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF RHETORIC
from the Apostle,1 with whom other names are joined in some
Epistles of Pas- cases, to a distinct church or fellow-worker; ending
toral Intercourse with further salutations and sometimes an auto-
graph message, and with greetings, general or by
name. Sometimes messages to individuals, or about the treat-
ment of individuals, appear in the body of the letter; information
is given as to the writer's condition, or his, prospective movements
and the possibility of personal visits to his correspondents; refer-
ence is made to affairs of the church or person addressed, and
even to financial questions or to the disposal of articles of luggage
left behind. The matter of the epistle, moreover, is called forth by
particular circumstances; though in treating the particular the
writer can rise or digress to the deepest principles touched in the
highest forms of expression. The First Epistle to
I Corinthians the Corinthians is an ideal example of this type. Its
earlier paragraphs are drawn from
of the Church at
proceedings against brethren in secular courts. Then he turns to
answer questions of principle, or of ecclesiastical policy, which
have been conveyed to him on behalf of the Corinthian church;
he thus treats of celibacy, of the idol feasts which constituted a
burning question in the early days of Christianity, of the relation
of the sexes in places of worship; the question of diverse spiritual
gifts seems also to be among those put to him, and in treating it
he is led to the famous outpouring on ‘charity,’ or ‘love.’ He
concludes with a summary of the ‘gospel’ he has preached, but a
summary really designed for a single purpose, to meet doubts that
had arisen concerning the resurrection doctrine of the Apostles.
The other pastoral epistles are, in their general character as a
branch of literature, covered by this typical example. The Second
Epistle to the Corinthians seems to have been
Other Pastoral called forth by the reception of the first. That to
Epistles the Galatians is a personal remonstrance from St.
Paul to churches with which he conceived himself to have a
1 In the case of II, III John the writer appears only as 'The Elder.'
Epistles
THE EPISTLES: OR WRITTEN RHETORIC 441
special bond of intimacy, and which had been disturbed by Juda-
ising tendencies such as it was the mission of this Apostle to resist.
The epistle to the Philippians was perhaps originated by a desire
to heal local differences, if we may judge from an appeal iv. 2
to that effect addressed to individuals by name; but its
matter as a whole is general. Those to the Thessalonians have
an individual colour given to them by the prominence of discus-
sions touching the expected near ‘coming of Christ.’ The epistles
to Timothy are appeals to a ‘child in the faith’ and fellow-worker,
touching his personal character as a teacher; but
pronounces through him upon questions likely to be disputed by
those amongst whom Timothy would labour. The epistle to Titus
is a general summary of instruction to one left in charge of a dis-
trict where much organising was to be done. The epistle to
Philemon was a personal appeal sent by
slave, now Christianised, and desiring to return to his master, a
convert and friend of the Apostle. Of a similar personal char-
acter are the epistles (numbered second and third) of
addressed to an unnamed lady and to Gaius.
There is a clear distinction between such epistles of Pastoral
Intercourse and two others, which may be designated Epistolary
Treatises. The Epistle to the Romans is addressed, Epistolary
it is true, to a particular church: but it is the Treatises
church of the world's metropolis, and one which
the writer has never visited. The formalities of salutation quickly
lead the writer to that which is his text: the new con- Romans
ception of a ‘righteousness by faith,’ which is salvation
‘to the Jew first and also to the Greek.’ What follows is a for-
mal and ordered exposition of this conception, the writer through-
out keeping before him the two parties of Jews and non-Jews,
whose attitudes to the new doctrine would be so different. Com-
mencing with first principles he gradually reaches a climax in the
idea of a world redemption; if then he passes from argument to
exhortation, yet his exhortations are only another form of his argu-
ment, and represent the gospel realised in practical life. The con-
442 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF RHETORIC
clusion has the greetings, and references to the writer's movements,
which belong to the pastoral epistles. The Epistle to the Hebrews
lacks all epistolary form of opening, even the name of its
Hebrews author; at the close there is only a reference to the libera-
tion of Timothy, and a salutation from ‘them of
an elaborate and symmetrical argument, brilliant in style, addressed
by a Hebrew to Hebrews, the purport of which is that the Law
must give place to the Gospel as to a higher and fuller dispensation.
A third class of epistles is to be distinguished, which will include
those to the Colossians and Ephesians, those of Peter, of Jude,
Epistolary Mani- and the First Epistle of John. Of these only the
festos epistle to the Colossians has the regular epistolary
salutations and greetings. That named after the Ephesians is really
a circular letter to churches, of which the church at
only the chief, and in place of final greetings we here find a recom-
mendation of the bearer of the epistle. The others have in our
Bibles the title of ‘general’: St. Peter's are addressed "To the
elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion in
"To them that have obtained a like precious faith with us"; that
of Jude, "To them that are called, beloved in God the Father,
and kept for Jesus Christ"; the First Epistle of St. John has no
address. I think this group would be correctly designated Epis-
tolary Manifestos. The writer's whole conception of the truth
and the life of which he is a minister is concentrated in a single
deliverance, not for purposes of general argument or exposition
(though both are found), but drawn out by some special situation
of the church, and making appeal to the whole nature of those who
read, intellectual and spiritual, whether in their private or corporate
Colossians and capacity. In the case of the Colossians and Ephe-
Ephesians sians the inspiring situation seems to be the rivalry
of some other well-ordered systems of truth, and the purpose of
the epistles is to put forward the Christian faith and life as satis-
fying every capacity of the fullest nature. St. Peter's ad-
I Peter dress to the Dispersion is clearly called out by an era of
cruel persecution, which has naturally driven the Church to test
THE EPISTLES OR WRITTEN RHETORIC 443
the foundations of the faith for which it is suffering. The Epistle
of Jude, and the Second Epistle of Peter which has
so much in common with it, are manifestos neces- Jude and II Peter
sitated by evil attacking the Church from within : the perversion
of the doctrine of ‘liberty’ into a bold antinomianism that set at
defiance elementary morality as well as ecclesiastical order. St.
John's Epistle seems in a general way to have originated
in that which would be an accessory cause of the others, John
— the sense that the age was ‘the last time’ and the time of
antichrists; in particular, the number of those who could bear
personal witness to the life of Christ was fast disappearing, and
the last pronouncements of those who still survived must be heard.
Reviewing all three classes I may add one remark. The Epis-
tles occupy in the New Testament the place occupied by Prophecy
in the Old Testament. The, prophets ministered Old Testament
to a nation, and could move amongst their fellow- counterparts of
countrymen and bring to bear on them the power the Epistles
of vocal address. The Apostles addressed those who were scat-
tered through distant cities, and could communicate with the
Church as a whole only by letter. The Pastoral Epistles corre-
spond to the Occasional Discourses and Prophetic Incidents which
make up so large a proportion of prophetic literature. In our
analysis of Prophecy we have also noticed the Prophetic Mani-
festo, embodying, like the Epistolary Manifestos, the preacher's
general conception of his ministry. For the Epistolary Treatises
there is no counterpart in prophetic literature; for the prophet
speaks with authority, not by argument, as a representative of the
God his hearers acknowledge. The analogous Old Testament
form is rather to be sought in Wisdom literature. But if so, the
conception of Wisdom is found to have altered; with a new world
in which the Greek takes the intellectual lead Wisdom can no
longer be mere reflection, but must arm itself with argument. In
the passage from the Essays of Old Testament Wisdom to the
Epistles named after Romans and Hebrews we have passed from
Oriental to Western, philosophy.
CHAPTER XX
SPOKEN RHETORIC: AND THE 'BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY'
THE department of Oratory, or Spoken Rhetoric, is represented
in the Bible partly by the elaborate speeches already noted in the
Drama of Job, attractive by their flowing elo-
Oratory or quence and their pointed gnomic sayings. There
Spoken Rhetoric are again numerous speeches scattered through the
Old and New Testament, which, however, cannot well be appre-
ciated from the literary standpoint, owing to the condensed form
in which they are reported. Perhaps here also should be reck-
oned, in a class by themselves, the formal Prayers, or Addresses
to God, of which Solomon's Dedicatory Prayer, and the apocryphal
Prayer of Manasses are the chief examples. But the department
includes one work of the highest literary importance in the fifth
book of the Pentateuch, called by its Greek name of Deuteronomy.
This book of Deuteronomy might have for its second title ‘The
Orations and Songs of Moses before his ascent of Pisgah.’ The
vast historic importance of the book, from its in-
Deuteronomy as fluence on later Biblical writers, and the difficult
a literary work questions surrounding its origin, have tended to
divert attention from the literary interest attaching to its contents.1
There is, perhaps, no other work in which so much is gained by
attempting to read the whole at a sitting. For this exercise some
preparation should be made, in the way of separating the substance
from accessories. To begin with, there are some long parenthetic
1 It may be well to remind the reader that questions of literary history are ex-
cluded from the present work. The analysis of Deuteronomy is analysis of the book
as it stands, apart from any question how it has reached its present form.
444
SPOKEN RHETORIC: DEUTERONOMY 445
explanations, which are obviously not to be understood as part of
the speeches in which they occur: in modern phraseology they
are foot-notes, and they should be marked off.1 Other verses
should be separated as prefaces, titles, colophons, and the like.2
But in addition to these brief passages there is a lengthy section
of fifteen chapters which may be understood as the ‘Book xii-xxvi
of the Covenant’ that is being mentioned continually in
the speeches; however important in itself, this section should, in
such an exercise as I am describing, be taken as read, and not
allowed to disturb the succession of orations. When, with these
preparations, the whole book is reviewed at a sitting, an intense
interest is thrown upon the orations from the pathetic situation in
which they are delivered: the leader of the Hebrews in their wan-
derings alone realising that promised land from which he alone
is excluded. This thought from time to time breaks out in the
cry — "The Lord was angry with me for your sakes"; and when
not spoken in words it is none the less present as inspiration of
the passionate appeals and denunciations with which Moses seeks
to make the Covenant, of which he has been the interpreter, a
power with the people when he is no longer present to uphold it.
There is also a crescendo of interest throughout the book: narra-
tive review, appeal, ceremonial and terrible denunciation, farewell
and personal tenderness, a climax of song, simple story of the
solemn and pathetic end. Read in any way, Deuteronomy reveals
its rhetoric richness; read at a single sitting, it is seen to be ora-
tory arranged to produce all the effect of Drama.
FIRST ORATION i. 6-iv, 40
MOSES' ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS DEPOSITION
The people are indicated as gathered together in the deep hol-
low that makes the bed of the
standing before them, commences in the calm tone of historic sur-
1 They are: ii. 10-12; ii. 20-3; iii. 9 and 11 and again 14; x. 6-9.
2 See throughout analysis in the Literary Index.
446 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF RHETORIC
vey. He goes to the central incident of the people's history —
the giving of the law on Horeb — and tells how the first move-
ment forward revealed the growing numbers of the people, so
that he could no longer support the cumbrance and burden and
strife of so vast a nation.
The LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times so
many more as ye are, and bless you, as he bath promised you!
It thus became necessary to appoint captains of hundreds and
fifties and tens; and in such organised form the people passed
through the great and terrible wilderness, and reached Kadesh-
Barnea. There the order came to advance on the foe. But
though the spies sent on to explore brought back word of a good
land, yet they made the heart to melt with their tale of cities great
and fenced up to heaven, and children of the Anakim: until the
people forgot the Lord their leader in the wilderness. Moses
reviews how the Lord's wrath brake forth at the murmuring, and
he sware that none save the faithful spies should enter the land:
the children and little ones should alone inherit. Here for the
first time comes the sad plaint that the Lord was angry with Moses
for the people's sake, and he, too, must not pass over
history continues to tell of the presumptuous courage that went up
to the battle without the Lord, and was visited with defeat and
rout. Then there is the turning back to the wilderness, and the
eight and thirty years wandering while all the men of war of that
generation were being gradually consumed: a wandering, never-
theless, that lacked not the Lord's watchfulness.
The LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the work of thy hand:
he hath known thy walking through this great wilderness: these
forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee, thou hast lacked
nothing.
With the crossing of the brook Zered the new era begins: the
dread and the fear of
king of Heshbon and Og king of
taken, their people smitten and extirpated, their land divided
SPOKEN RHETORIC: DEUTERONOMY 447
among the tribes that had much cattle. It now appears how these
signs of Jehovah's favour to his people stirred the personal hopes
of Moses.
And I besought the LORD at that time, saying, 0 Lord GOD, thou
hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness, and thy strong hand:
for what god is there in heaven or in earth that can do according; to
thy works, and according to thy mighty acts? Let me go over, I
pray thee, and see the good land that is beyond
mountain, and
sakes, and hearkened not unto me: and the LORD said unto me,
Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. Get thee
up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and north-
ward, and southward, and eastward, and behold with thine eyes: for
thou shalt not go over this
age him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people.
So, then, the office of Moses is to be ended the words he has
commanded are not to be added to, nor diminished from: it re-
mains that the people shall keep them, and this shall be their
wisdom and their understanding in the sight of the peoples, for
no people can have a god so nigh or statutes so wise as theirs.
But they must remember the occasion of the lawgiving, and how
the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, and they
heard the voice but saw no form; they must take heed lest they
make the form of anything in heaven or earth, to worship it; and
lest when they behold the sun and moon and all the host of
heaven their hearts be lifted up and they worship these -- these
which the Lord has divided unto all the peoples under the whole
heaven, whereas
And he will be jealous over the people with whom he has made
his covenant.
For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee,
since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the
one end of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such
thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever
people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire,
as thou hast heard, and live? Or hath God assayed to go and take
448 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF RHETORIC
him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by
signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a
stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the
LORD your God did for you in
it was shewed that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God;
there is none else beside him. Out of heaven he made thee to hear
his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he made thee
to see his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst
of the fire. And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose
their seed after them, and brought thee out with his presence, with
his great power, out of
greater and mightier than thou, to bring thee in, to give thee their
land for an inheritance, as at this day. Know therefore this day,
and lay it to thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above
and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. And thou shalt
keep his statutes, and his commandments which I command thee
this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after
thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the land, which
the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.
v. 1-xi SECOND ORATION
THE DELIVERY OF THE COVENANT TO THE LEVITES AND ELDERS
The second oration of Moses is connected with a public cere-
mony: the handing over the Book of the Covenant into the
custody of the Levites and Elders. The scene of the preceding
oration is repeated, and Moses appears, with officials grouped
round him representing the Levites and Elders, holding in his
hands the Covenant of the Lord, now for the first time reduced
to writing. As in the former speech, he goes for a starting-point
to the scene at Horeb; he recites the commandments one by
one as delivered by the great Voice amid fire and darkness; and
he reminds the people how they came to him with words of panic:
We have seen this day that God doth speak with man, and he liveth.
Now therefore why should we die?
Their petition was that Moses might stand in their stead before the
Lord, and all that the Lord commands by him they will do. Now
SPOKEN RHETORIC DEUTERONOMY 449
therefore all the separate commandments and statutes and judg-
ments of which Moses has thus been the interpreter have been
gathered into one Covenant, the book Moses holds in his hands.
His task is to commend it to their obedience before they hear it
read. He commences with the great Name.
Hear, 0
love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee
this clay, shall be upon thine heart: and thou shalt teach them dili-
gently 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. And thou shalt bind them for a
sign upon thine hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine
eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thy house,
and upon thy gates. And it shall be, that when the LORD thy God
shall bring thee into the land which hey sware unto thy fathers, to
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee; great and goodly
cities, which thou buildedst not, and houses full of all good things,
which thou filledst not, and cisterns hewn out, which thou hewedst
not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not, and thou
shalt eat and be full; then beware lest thou forget the Loan.
On the contrary, when their children ask them in the days to
come, what mean these statutes and judgments, they shall tell how
they were Pharaoh's bondmen in
them out with wonders great and sore, and gave them these com-
mandments to keep: and it shall be their righteousness if they
observe the commandments of their God.
This Covenant shall be their distinction among the nations.
The Lord will cast out the nations before them: — not suddenly,
lest the beasts of the field increase upon them; but by little and
by little will he cast them out. They shall make no covenant with
them, nor give them sons and daughters in marriage.
For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD
thy God hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above
all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set
his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number
450 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF RHETORIC
than any people; for ye were the fewest of all peoples: but because
the LORD loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he
sware unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a
mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage.
The orator turns to the past to find ground for emphasising
the keeping of the Covenant.
Thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God hath led
thee these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble thee,
to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou would-
est keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suf-
fered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest
not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know
that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that pro-
ceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Thy raiment
waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
And thou shalt consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his
son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. And thou shalt keep
the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and
to fear him. For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land,
a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, springing forth
in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig
trees and pomegranates; a land of oil olives and honey; a land
wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack
anything in it; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills
thou mayest dig brass. And thou shalt eat and be full, and thou
shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he bath given
thee. Beware lest thou forget the LORD thy God, in not keeping his
commandments, and his judgements, and his statutes, which I com-
mand thee this day: lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast
built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy
flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that
thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and thou for-
get the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of
and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions,
and thirsty ground where was no water; who brought thee forth
water out of the rock of flint; who fed thee in the wilderness with
manna, which thy fathers knew not; that he might humble thee
and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end:
SPOKEN RHETORIC: DEUTERONOMY 451
and thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand
hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy
God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth; that he may
establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as at this day.
Moses turns to the future. They are this day to pass over Jor-
dan, and soon they will see the nations, even the tall sons of Anak,
going down before them. But let them beware lest they say in
their heart: "For my righteousness hath the Lord brought me
into the land." Not for their righteousness, but for the wicked-
ness of them that dwell in the land. Not for their righteousness,
for they have been ever a stiff-necked generation: and the orator
gathers into one single view all the outbreaks of rebellion and sin
which had marred the history of the people in the wilderness.
Yet why this rebellious spirit?
What doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD
thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the
LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the
commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command
thee this day for thy good? Behold, unto the LORD thy God be-
longeth the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all
that therein is. Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love
them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all peo-
ples, as at this day.
Moses speaks, not to children which have not known, but to those
who have seen all the works of the Lord done upon
how the LORD their God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the
great God, the mighty, the terrible. Let them therefore circum-
cise their hearts, and so go over and possess the good land.
For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of
wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs; but the land,
whither ye go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and
drinketh water of the rain of heaven: a land which the LORD thy
God careth for; the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it,
from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
452 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF RHETORIC
If, then, the people keep faithfully the Covenant of the Lord, he
will give them the rain in its season, the former rain and the latter
rain, and the land shall yield her increase; but if they turn aside
and serve other gods, the heavens shall be shut up, and the land
shall not yield her fruit, and they shall perish quickly from off the
good land their God has given them.
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your
soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they
shall be for frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them
your children, talking 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. And thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of
thine house, and upon thy gates; that your days may be multiplied,
and the days of your children, upon the land which the LORD sware
unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above
the earth.
Fresh promises follow of rewards for faithfulness: nations greater
and mightier than themselves driven out before them, a border
from the wilderness to
shall be theirs. In conclusion Moses refers to the blessing and
the curse, which are to be the sanctions of the Covenant; and
then must have come the time when he would hand over the Book
of the Covenant in the eyes of the whole nation, to the Levites
and Elders around him, to be read by them before the people on
that day and many a day afterwards.
xxviii THIRD ORATION
AT THE REHEARSAL OF THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE
When the fifteen chapters containing the Book of the Covenant
are concluded, a succession of paragraphs follow which need close
attention. First we have an ordinance formally appoint-
xxvii. i-8 ing the Ceremonial of the Blessing and Curse; and this
is a provision for the future, since the places designated — Mounts
SPOKEN RHETORIC: DEUTERONOMY 453
Ebal and Gerizim--are on the other side of
low two verses in which it is said that Moses and the 9-10
priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, to the effect that
they had that day become the Lord's people, and must keep
his commandments. Then verses describe how Moses 11-14
"charged the people the same day," the point of the
charge being the division of the tribes — six for the mountain of
the Curse, and six for the mountain of the Blessing; the descrip-
tion brings out the antiphonal character of the ceremony, the
Levites speaking, and the people responding with an 15-26
Amen. Then follow the Curses in this full ritual form.
But, instead of a similar series of Blessings, we find the matter of
the Blessings put in oratorical language, which oratorical
language continues into the matter of the Curses. The xxviiii
only way of satisfactorily interpreting such a succession of para-
graphs is to suppose a Rehearsal of the Ceremony, the tribes
being stationed upon opposite slopes in some spot resembling the
mountains of Ebal and Gerizim; and, when the ceremony has
proceeded as far as the conclusion of the Curses, Moses — since it
is only a rehearsal—interrupts it, and takes the whole into his
own hands. This gives us the third oration.
Moses describes how, if the people observe the commandments
of their God, they shall be blessed in city and in field, in the fruit
of their body and the fruit of their ground and their cattle, in
basket, in kneading-trough, when they come in and when they go
out, and in all that they do.
The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasury the heaven to
give the rain of thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of
thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt
not borrow. And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the
tail; and thou shalt he above only, and thou shalt not be beneath;
if thou shalt hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God.
But if the people shall not hearken unto the voice of the Lord
their God, then curses shall come upon them and overtake them:
curses in city and field, in basket and kneading-trough, in the fruit
454 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF RHETORIC
of body and of cattle and of field, curses when they come in and
when they go out. Discomfiture and rebuke, consumption, fever,
inflammation, fiery heat, the sword, blasting mildew, shall pursue
them until they perish.
And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth
that is under thee shall be iron. The LORD shall make the rain of
thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon
thee, until thou be destroyed. The Lore shall cause thee to be
smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against
them, and shalt flee seven ways before them: and thou shalt be
tossed to and fro among the kingdoms of the earth.
There shall be madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart;
groping at noontide as the blind gropeth in darkness; sons and
daughters shall be borne into captivity, and the eyes of parents
shall look and fail with longing for them all the day; but there
shall be nought in the power of their hand; for they shall be only
oppressed, and crushed alway, and they shall be mad for the sight
of their eyes which they shall see.
Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather little
in; for the locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards and
dress them, but thou shalt neither drink of the wine nor gather the
grapes; for the worm shall eat them. Thou shalt have olive trees
throughout all thy borders, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with
the oil; for thine olive shall cast its fruit. Thou shalt beget sons
and daughters, but they shall not be thine; for they shall go into
captivity.
The stranger in their midst shall mount higher and higher as they
go down lower and lower: and all because they have not heark-
ened unto the voice of their God.
Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and
with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things
therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send
against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want
of all things and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until
he have destroyed thee. The LORD shall bring a nation against
thee from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flieth; a nation
SPOKEN RHETORIC: DEUTERONOMY 455
whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce coun-
tenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew
favour to the young: and he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the
fruit of thy ground, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not
leave thee corn, wine, or oil, the increase of thy kine, or the young
of thy flock, until he have caused thee to perish. And he shall be-
siege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come
down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall
besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD
thy God hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own
body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters which the LORD thy
God hath given thee; in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith
thine enemies shall straiten thee. The man that is tender among
you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and
toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his chil-
dren which he hath remaining: so that he will not give to any of
them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he hath
nothing left him; in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith thine
enemy shall straiten thee in all thy gates. The tender and delicate
woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her
foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall
be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and
toward her daughter; and toward her young one that cometh out
from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall
bear; for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly: in the
siege and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall straiten thee
in thy gates.
If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are
written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful
name, THE LORD THY GOD; then the LORD will make thy plagues
wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of
long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
And he will bring upon thee again all the diseases of
thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. Also every
sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this
law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of
heaven for multitude; because thou didst not hearken unto the voice
of the LORD thy God. And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD
rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD
will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you; and
456 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF RHETORIC
ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest in to pos-
sess it. And the LORD shall scatter thee among all peoples, from
the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; and
there thou shalt serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou
nor thy fathers, even wood and stone. And among these nations
shalt thou find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy
foot: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and fail-
ing of eyes, and pining of soul: and thy life shall hang in doubt
before thee; and thou shalt fear night and day, and shalt have none
assurance of thy life: in the morning thou shalt say, Would God it
were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning!
for the fear of thine heart which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of
thine eyes which thou shalt see. And the LORD shall bring thee
into
Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall sell yourselves
unto your enemies for bondmen and for bondwomen, and no man
shall buy you.
xxix-xxxi.8 FOURTH ORATION
THE COVENANT IN THE
The fourth oration has this title in the text, although the scene
appears to be the same. After a brief historic survey, Moses
seems to review the different classes of people standing before him.
Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your heads,
your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of
your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in the midst of
thy camps, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water:
that thou shouldest enter into the covenant of the LORD thy God.
We are thus led to the special point of this day's speech. It is
personal, as distinct from national religion. Moses fears lest there
may be some man or woman, or some family or tribe, who may
nourish idolatry in their hearts, and think to escape in the general
righteousness;
lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and worm-
wood; and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse,
that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though
I walk in the stubbornness of mine heart.
SPOKEN RHETORIC: DEUTERONOMY 457
Moses declares that God will separate that man or that woman
unto evil out of all the tribes of
curses of the Covenant. As for such a tribe or family: the
stranger from a far land, the children of the clays to come, shall
wonder to see the plagues of its land, and how it is brimstone,
and salt, and a burning, like the ruin of
ask, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? And
they shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, the
God of their fathers. The secret things of the sin belong unto
the Lord our God; but the judgment when it is revealed will
belong to us and to our children for ever.1
But Moses has additional words of mercy to speak, as well as of
judgment. When all these things are come upon them, the bless-
ing and the curse, and they call them to mind among all the
nations whither they have been driven, then if they turn with all
their heart unto the Lord he will turn their captivity, and gather
their outcasts from the uttermost parts of heaven, and bring them
again into the land of their fathers, and do them good, and put
these curses upon their enemies : if only they turn unto the Lord
with all their heart and with all their soul.
For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too
hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou
shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto
us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? Neither is it beyond
the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us,
and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?
But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart,
that thou mayest do it.
The Leader of the people thus reaches the point of his final
appeal. He calls heaven and earth to witness against them this
day, that he has set before them life and death, the blessing and
the curse. Therefore, he cries to them,
1 This is the only point where the argument of the orations is at all difficult.
The line of thought is given by verse 18 (of chapter xxix): the distinction of
(a) man or woman, (b) family or tribe; then verses 20-21 follow the judgment on
(a), verses 22-28 the judgment on (b).
458 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF RHETORIC
Choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed: to love the
LORD thy God, to obey his voice, and to cleave unto him: for he is
thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the
land which the LORD swage unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac,
and to Jacob, to give them.
There remains the personal farewell. Moses tells how he is that
day an hundred and twenty years old; and the mystic strength
that had supported the people in the wilderness, so that their feet
swelled not these forty years, is no longer vouchsafed to their
leader: "I can no more go out and come in." And the Lord has
said to him that he shall not go over
strength is failing, the words on the old man's lips are of strength
and courage: a worn-out leader puts courage into the nation
before him, and into Joshua, whom he installs as leader in his
place. Thus with his cry of "Be strong, and of good courage,"
and "The Lord shall go before you," Moses retires from his office
of leader, and leaves Joshua in his place.
The orations of Moses are concluded: but not yet his words.
That very day, as he is presenting himself with Joshua his suc-
cessor in the Tent of Meeting, the call comes to
Moses' Song put his message to the people in the form of Song.
xxxii. 1-43 His doctrine shall drop as the rain, his speech distil
as the dew, while he sings of Jehovah the Rock, the God of faith-
fulness. When the nations were divided,
the Creator for himself.
For the LORD'S portion is his people:
Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
He found him in a desert land,
And in the waste howling wilderness
He compassed him about, he cared for him,
He kept him as the apple of his eye:
As an eagle that stirreth up her nest,
That fluttereth over her young,
He spread abroad his wings, he took them,
He bare them on his pinions:
SPOKEN RHETORIC: DEUTERONOMY 459
The LORD alone did lead him,
And there was no strange god with him.
He made him ride on the high places of the earth,
And he did eat the increase of the field;
And he made him to suck honey out of the rock,
And oil out of the flinty rock;
Butter of kine, and milk of sheep,
With fat of lambs,
And rams of the breed of
With the fat of kidneys of wheat;
And of the blood of the grape thou drankest wine.
The joyousness of the song clouds over, as it tells how Jeshurun
waxed fat and kicked, and moved the Lord to jealousy with new
gods, that came up but yesterday, whom their fathers did not
know. The fire of Divine anger burns as from the lowest pit,
devouring the increase of the earth. Visions of mischiefs heaped
upon the faithless people pass before us, of arrows spent upon
them, wasting hunger, burning heat, teeth of beasts, poison of
crawling things, without the Sword bereaving and terrors within:
only short of entire destruction does the judgment stop, lest the
adversary should misdeem, and think that their hand, and not
Jehovah's wrath, had done all. And how blind and void of
dom must the nation be not to see the meaning of it all, and that
their Rock has forsaken them!
For their rock is not as our Rock,
Even our enemies themselves being judges.
And the imagery flows forth to paint the loathly gods to which
until, by a bold transition, the description is made to produce
revulsion in the mind of God himself. He thinks with compla-
cency of vengeance yet stored among his treasures, that he may
use once more on his people's side: waiting till their strength is
exhausted, and their last hope gone, and then raising himself in
wrath to scorn their helpless idols, and recompense vengeance to
460 BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF RHETORIC
their adversaries. And so with the joy of Jehovah returned to his
fallen people, this Song of the Rock of Israel concludes.
Then the end comes. The whole people understand it, and all
are waiting to see their Leader set out on the mystic journey on
The Passing of which none may accompany him. Heads of the
Moses. xxxii.48- tribes stand out from the masses of the people and
xxxiv line the route by which Moses must pass. The
first sight of the whole nation, which he has ruled so long, seems
to kindle in Moses a vision, which reaches us only dimly, in his
words of Jehovah coming forth from amidst his holy ones, a fiery
law at his right hand, the holy ones of the peoples sitting at his
feet. Then, passing along the leaders of the tribes, he speaks last
words to each: stirring words of past battle cries, or pregnant
sayings destined to be watchwords in the future. Reuben, his
men never few.
Who said of his father, and of his mother,
I have not seen him;
Neither did he acknowledge his brethren,
Nor knew his own children,
when he took sides with Jehovah at the waters of strife. Benjamin,
beloved of the Lord, who dwelleth between his shoulders. Bless-
ings on the princely Joseph.
Blessed of the LORD be his land:
For the precious things of heaven, for the dew,
And for the deep that coucheth beneath,
And for the precious things of the fruits of the sun,
And for the precious things of the growth of the moons,
And for the chief things of the ancient mountains,
And for the precious things of the everlasting hills,
And for the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof,
And the good will of him that dwelt in the bush.
Zebulun, blessed in his going out over the seas, and Issachar in
his tent life at home. Naphtali, with the blessings of the western
sea and the sunny south; Asher, dipping his foot in the oil of his
SPOKEN RHETORIC: DEUTERONOMY 461
own vineyards, shod with the iron and brass of his mines. The
whole line of the tribes past, Moses lifts hands and voice in the
final blessing.
There is none like unto God, 0 Jeshurun,
Who rideth upon the heaven for thy help,
And in his excellency on the skies.
The eternal God is thy dwelling-place,
And underneath are the everlasting arms.
From the height of lyric song we drop to simple, bare prose:
fittest of forms to convey the solitary journey from which there is
to be no return; the going up to the top of Pisgah, the long
gaze over the land of promise; the lonely death; the burial in
the sepulchre that no man knoweth. So the days of weeping in the
mourning for Moses were ended.
APPENDICES
PAGE
I. LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE 465
II. TABLES OF LITERARY FORMS 499
III. ON THE STRUCTURAL PRINTING OF SCRIPTURE 512
IV. USE OF THE DIGRESSION IN 'WISDOM' 521
GENERAL INDEX 527
APPENDIX I
LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
In this first Appendix the whole Bible, and the more important parts
of the Apocrypha, are divided up into the separate literary compositions of
which they are composed. The form of each composition is indicated, and,
in cases that admit of it, a suitable title is suggested. The arrangement
follows the order in which the books of the Bible stand; the Appendix will
therefore serve as a guide to Bible reading where it is desired to read from
the literary point of view.
Reference figures (in brackets) are added to previous pages in which
particular compositions have been discussed. The Appendix will therefore
serve also as an Index to the present work.
It is suggested to the student to mark with pencil in his copy of the
Revised Version the divisions and titles here suggested, or to make divisions
and titles of his own. It is an immense help to literary appreciation to
have the form of a piece of literature conveyed directly to the eye (as is
done by the printer in all books except the Bible), instead of having to
collect the form by inference while reading.
465
466 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
GENESIS
History Part I : Formation of the
Deals with the period preceding the appearance of the Chosen People as
a Nation. An Historic Framework enclosing Epic Incidents (244).
i-xi First Beginnings of the World
xii-1 The Patriarchal Succession
Merged in this History, yet separable for literary purposes, are various
forms of Epic.1
EPIC STORIES
i-ii.3 The Creation
ii. 4-iii The Temptation in the Garden of Eden
iv. 1-15 Cain and Abel
vi. 9-ix.17 The Flood
EPIC CYCLES
OF ABRAHAM. — Call of Abraham (xii. 1-9) — Sarai and Pharaoh
(xii. 10-20) — The Parting of Abraham and Lot, and the Raid on
(xiii-xiv) — Sarai, Hagar, and the Promised Seed (xv-xvii) — The Judg-
rnent on
and casting off of Ishmael (xxi. 1-21) — Offering of Isaac (xxii. 1-19) —
Burial of Sarah (xxiii) —Wooing of Rebekah (xxiv)
OF ISAAC. — Birth of Isaac and casting off of Ishmael (xxi. 1-21) —
Offering of Isaac (xxii. 1-19) — Burial of Sarah (xxiii) — Wooing of
Rebekah (xxiv)
OF JACOB.- Guileful obtaining of Isaac's blessing (xxvii. 1-40) —
Flight of Jacob (xxvii. 41-xxviii) — How Jacob served under Laban (xxix-
xxxii. 2) — Meeting of Jacob and Esau (xxxii. 3-xxxiii) — Blessing and
Death of Jacob (xlvii. 28-1)
EPIC HISTORY
xxxvi i . 2-36
continued
xxxix. 1-xlvi. Joseph and his Brethren (222)
7 and xlvi. 28-
xlvii. 12
1 The reader is warned against the common mistake of confusing Epic with
Fiction. (Above, page 221.)
EXODUS — DEUTERONOMY 467
EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS
History Part II: Migration of the
Promise.—Constitutional History
Deals with the Chosen Nation up to their arrival at the
Successive Revelations of Law, and Incidents associated with these (245).
Exod. i-xviii Slavery in
Exod. from xix Constitution of the Nation at Sinai
and Leviticus
Numbers The March from Sinai and the Thirty-eight Years' Wan-
dering
Merged in this History, but separable for literary purposes, are various
forms of Epic.
EPIC HISTORY
Exodus i.8-vi.13 Moses and the Plagues of Egypt
continued
vi.28-xi and
xii.21-39 and
xiii.17-xv.21
MIXED EPIC
Numb. xxii-xxiv The Story of Balaam (224 and 345 note)
DEUTERONOMY
OR
The Orations and Songs of Moses
An Historic Framework enclosing the Farewell Orations and Songs of
Moses. (Fully analysed above, Chapter XX.) Portions described in italics
may be omitted in the exercise of taking in Deuteronomy at a single sitting.1
i. 1-2 Title page to the whole book
3-5 Preface to the First Oration
i. 6-iv. 40 First Oration: Moses' Announcement of his Deposition
1 Several passages (i. 2; ii. 10-12; ii. 20-3 ; iii. 9, 11, 14: X. 6-9) should be
marked off from the orations as 'explanatory footnotes.'
468 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
iv. 41-3 Editorial Note connecting the first and second Orations
44-9 Preface to the Second oration
v. 1-xi.32 Second Oration: The Delivery of the Covenant to the
Levites and Elders
xii-xxvi The Book of the Covenant
xxvii.1-8 Ordinance appointing the Ceremony of the Blessing and
the Curse
9-26 Rehearsal of the Ceremony (see page 452) interrupted by
xxviii Third Oration: At the Rehearsal of the Blessing and the
Curse
xxix.1 Preface to the Fourth Oration
xxix. 2-xxxi.8 Fourth Oration: The Covenant in the
xxxi. 9-13 Editorial Note: Arrangements for the regular reading
of the Covenant
xxxi. 14-30 Preface to the Song of Moses
xxxii. 1-43 The Song of Moses: Jehovah our Rock
xxxii. 44-7
xxxii.48-xxxiii.1 Preface to the Last Words of Moses
xxxiii.2-29 The Last Words of Moses [2-3 and 26-9 General;
4-25 Bessings on particular tribes, a Document in-
corporated, of which 4-5 is the title]
xxxiv Editorial Conclusion: The Passing of Moses
JOSHUA, JUDGES, RUTH, I SAMUEL
History Part III: The
Government. — Incidental History
Deals with the Conquest of the Promised Land and Tentative Approach to
Secular Government. Epic matter with connecting Historic Framework (246).
Joshua Conquest of
Land
Judges Sporadic attempts at secular government: including
[viii. 22 and ix] first idea of secular kingship
I Samuel Gradual establishment of secular kingship and rise of
Prophets to represent the Theocracy
JOSIIUA—I SAMUEL 469
The main interest in this group of books is the Epic element, to which the
rest serves as connecting matter.
EPIC STORIES
Judges iii. 12-30 Ehud's Assassination of Eglon
iv-v War of Deborah and Barak against Sisera
vi-viii. 28 Gideon and the Midianites
viii. 29-ix Crowning of Abimelech by the Men of Shechem
x. 6-xii. 6 Jephthah and the Ammonites
xvii-xxiii Micah's Images and the Danish Migration
xix-xxi The Benjamite War
EPIC CYCLES
OF JOSHUA.— The Spies and the Woman of Jericho (ii) —The Pas-
sage of the
Sin of Achan (vii-viii. 29) — Embassy of the Gibeonites (ix) — League of the
Five Kings (x. 1-27) — Joshua's farewell (xxiii-xxiv)
OF SAMSON.— Birth of Samson (Judges xiii. 2-25) —Samson and the
Woman of Timnah (xiv-xv. 8) -- The Jawbone of an Ass (xv. 9-20) --
The Gates of Gaza (xvi. 1-3) —Samson and Delilah (xvi. 4-22) — Death
of Samson (xvi. 23-31)
OF SAMUEL. — Birth of Samuel (I Sam. i-ii. 11) — Call of Samuel
and Dooming of Eli (ii. 12-iv) — The Ark and the Philistines (v-vii. 1) --
The Anointing of Saul and the Retirement of Samuel (viii-xii)— The Anoint-
ing of David (xvi. 1-13) — The Witch of Endor (xxviii. 3-25)
OF SAUL. — The Anointing of Saul and the Retirement of Samuel
(I Sam. viii-xii) — The Raid on Michmash (xiii. 15- iv. 46) — War with
the Amalekites and Breach between Samuel and Saul (xv) — The Witch of
Endor (xxviii. 3-25)
EPIC HISTORIES
Ruth The Story of Ruth An Idyl (233–8)
I Samuel xvi. 14 The Feud of Saul and David
to xxviii. 2 con-
tinued xxix to
II Samuel i
470 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
II SAMUEL, I AND II KINGS
History Part IV: The
a Theocracy side by side. — Regular History
Deals with the period from the Settlement of the Monarchy to the Captiv-
ity. Systematic account of successive reigns (247).
II Samuel ii to Reigns of David and Solomon
I Kings xi
I Kings xii to Kingdoms of Judah and
II Kings xvii
II Kings
from xviii
Merged in this History, yet separable for literary purposes, are various
forms of Epic, especially Epic Prophecy.
EPIC HISTORY
II Sam. xiii-xx The Feud between David's Sons and the Revolt of
Absalom
PROPHETIC STORIES
II Samuel xi. 2 Nathan, David, and Bathsheba
to xii. 25
xxiv Gad and the Numbering of the People
I Kings xiii. 1-32 The Man of God and the Old Prophet of
xiv. 1-18 Ahijah and the Wife of Jeroboam
xx. 35-43 The Son of the Prophet and Ahab
xxii. 1-40 Micaiah and the Battle of Ramoth gilead
PROPHETIC CYCLE
OF ELISHA. — Elisha's Parting from Elijah (II Kings ii. 1-18) —
The Healing of the Waters (ii. 19-22) — The Mocking Children (ii. 23-5)
— The Water Trenches (iii. 4-27) — The Vessels of Oil (iv. 1-7) — The
Shunammite Woman (iv. 8-37) — Death in the Pot (iv. 38-41) — The Feed-
ing of the Hundred Men (iv. 42-4) —The Healing of Naaman and Leprosy of
Gehazi (v) — The Axe-head that swam (vi. 1-7) — The Expedition to arrest
Elisha (vi. 8-23) — The Siege of Samaria (vi. 24-vii. 20) — The Shunam-
mite Woman's Estate (viii. 1-6) —Hazael's Visit to Elisha (viii. 7-15)
Death of Elisha (xiii. 14-21)
CHRONICLES— JOB 471
PROPHETIC EPIC
1 Kings xvii-xix The History Elijah the Tishbite
continued xxi
and II Kings
i-ii. 18
CHRONICLES, EZRA, NEHEMIAH
History Part V: The
History
A compilation of Historical Excerpts, Memoirs, Documents, etc., all bear-
ing upon the Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Nation as restored after the
Exile (248).
1 Chr.-II Chr. ix Reigns of David and Solomon
II Chr. from x
Ezra i-vi The Return under Zerubbabel, and Building of the
vii-x The Return of Ezra
Neh. i-vii The Return of Nehemiah and Building of the Walls
viii-x The Covenant under Ezra and Nehemiah
xi-xiii Miscellaneous Memoirs of the Return
ESTHER
An Epic History (230).
JOB
A Dramatic Parable in a Frame of Epic Story
Fully analysed in the Introduction, above, pages 3—41.
i-ii The Story Opens
The Dramatic Parable
iii Act I : Job's Curse
iv-xiv Act II: First Cycle of Speeches
xv-xxi Act III: Second Cycle of Speeches
472 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
xxii-xxx Act IV: Third Cycle of Speechesl
xxxi Act V: Job's Vindication
xxxii-xxxvii Act VI: Interposition of Elihu
xxxviii-xlii.6 Act VII: The Divine Intervention
xlii from 7 The Story Closes
1 In the third cycle the speeches need re-arrangement, by the transference of
three verses (2-4 of Chapter xxvi) to the commencement of the next chapter, and
the consequent alterations of headings to speeches.
Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said—
Chapter xxii
Then Job answered and said—
Chapters xxiii, xxiv
Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said—
Chapter xxv, continued in xxvi. 5-14
Then Job answered and said —
Chapter xxvi. 2-4, continued in xxvii. 2-6
Then answered Zophar the Naanzatlzite, and said—
Chapter xxvii. 7 to end of Chapter xxviii
Then Job answered and said—
Chapters xxix, xxx
This conjectural re-arrangement of the speeches is based on the following con-
sideration:
1. The utmost caution should be exercised in accepting conjectural emenda-
tions affecting the sense of a passage; but the same principle does not apply to
changes in the arrangement of speeches, especially as the sacred books have
passed through centuries in which the principles of parallelism were lost.
2. All critics recognise the difficulty. of the text as it stands between Chapters
xxvi and xxviii (inclusive), which has the effect of making Job take up a position
antagonistic to his former contention and to his subsequent words : and some com-
mentators resort to violent explanations, such as prolonged irony, etc.
3. The most marked feature of literary style in the book is its extreme parallel-
ism; this makes it most improbable that the third colloquy should be imperfect,
by the omission of a speech from Zophar, and a reply to him from Job. Moreover
the change in the introductory formulae when Chapters xxvii and xxx are reached
—viz. And Job again took up his parable and said instead of the usual Job
answered and said— is very suspicious.
4. The conjecture here adopted is substantially that of Gratz, which is to a
large extent the same as Cheyne's. Some eminent critics (e.g. Davidson, Driver)
are deterred from seeking a third speech for Zophar by the shortness of Bildad's
third speech (xxv), which they take as an indication that the controversy is becom-
ing exhausted. But the present conjecture lengthens Bildad's speech and removes
this objection.
PSALMS 473
THE PSALMS
A Collection of Lyrics in Five Books
Compare above, Chapters V—VII generally
Book I
i The Meditative and the Worldly Life (192)
ii Ode: The Messiah (150)
iii A Dramatic Lyric (179)
iv A Liturgy of Devotion (168)
v Of Consecration: A Meditation
vi A Dramatic Lyric (177)
vii A Liturgy of Judgment (168)
viii Man the Viceroy of God (70, 185)
ix-x A Dramatic Lyric, with double change (182 note).—
Acrostic
xi Trust: A Meditation
xii A Dramatic Lyric
xiii Judgment: A Meditation
xiv –liii A Rhapsodic Meditation on Judgment (184)
xv-xxiv. 1-6 The Devout Life (101)
xvi Trust: A Meditation
xvii Judgment: A Meditation
xviii Ode: David's Song of Deliverance (83)
xix The Heavens above and the Law within (91-8)
xx (Antiphonal) Benediction on the King
xxi Benediction on the King
xxii A Dramatic Lyric (178)
xxiii Jehovah's Follower (187)
xxiv Anthems for the Inauguration of Jerusalem (100, 154)
xxv Liturgy of Devotion. — Acrostic
xxvi Consecration: A Meditation
xxvii A Dramatic Lyric, with double change (180, 186)
xxviii A Dramatic Lyric
xxix Ode: The Thunderstorm (147)
xxx Anthem for the Inauguration of Jerusalem (154)
xxxi A Dramatic Lyric (duplicated: page 182 note)
xxxii A Monody of Experience
474 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
xxxiii Festal Hymn
xxiv A Liturgy of Thanksgiving (167)
xxxv An Elegy of Denunciation (159)
xxxvi The Supreme Evil and the Supreme Good (97)
xxxvii Judgment: A Meditation. — Acrostic
xxxviii A Monody of Experience
xxxix A Monody of Experience. — With refrain
xl (including lxx) A Liturgy
xli A Monody of Experience
Book II
xlii-xliii Exile Song (63).—With refrain
xliv An Elegy
xlv Marriage Hymn
xlvi Occasional: Deliverance from Sennacherib (154, 57).--
With refrain
xlvii Accession Hymn
xlviii Occasional: Victory over Sennacherib (153)
xlix Man that is in Honour: A Parable. — With refrain
l Ode: On Judgment (150)
li Penitence: A Meditation (94—5, 184 note)
lii An Elegy of Denunciation
liii See xiv
liv A Dramatic Lyric
lv An Elegy of Denunciation
lvi A Dramatic Lyric. -- With refrain
lvii A Dramatic Lyric (179). — With refrain
lviii An Elegy of Denunciation (189 note)
lix A War Ballad. — With double refrain
lx (with cviii) Occasional: Hymn of Defeat and Victory (181 note)
lxi Exile Song
lxii Liturgy of Devotion (167). — With refrain
lxiii Exile Song
lxiv Judgment: A Meditation
lxv A Liturgy of Praise (164)
lxvi Votive Hymn
lxvii Festal Hymn — With refrain
lxviii Processional Ode (144)
lxix A Dramatic Lyric, with transition stage (183 note 2)
PSALMS 475
lxx (see xl) Elegy of Denunciation
lxxi A Dramatic Lyric
lxxii Encomium: On the King
Book III
lxxiii The Mystery of Prosperous Wickedness
lxxiv An Elegy (158)
lxxv A Song of Judgment
lxxvi Occasional: Deliverance from Sennacherib (153)
lxxvii A Monody of Experience (175)
lxxxviii National Anthem: Of the Kingdom of Judah (139, 143)
lxxix An Elegy
lxxx An Elegy (158).—With refrain
lxxxi Festal Hymn
lxxxii Elegy of Denunciation (188)
lxxxiii Elegy of Denunciation
lxxxiv A Song of God's House (185)
lxxxv A Dramatic Lyric, with double change and transition
stage (182)
lxxxvi A Liturgy of Supplication (169)
lxxxvii Salutation to
lxxxviii An Elegy
lxxxix Ode: On the Covenant (149)
Book IV
xc Life as a Passing Day (189)
xci The Shadow of the Almighty
xcii Votive Hymn
xciii Accession Hymn (161)
xciv A Liturgy of Judgment (167)
xciv-c Accession Hymns. -- (For xcix see page 61)
ci Anthem for the Inauguration of Jerusalem (155)
cii An Elegy
ciii The World Within and
civ The World Without (150—3)
cv National Anthem: Of the Undivided Nation in
(142—3)
cvi National Anthem: For the Captivity (142—3)
476 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
Book V
cvii Ode: Of the Redeemed (65, 148). — With double refrain
cviii (see lx) A Dramatic Lyric, with double change
cix An Elegy of Denunciation (159)
cx Encomium: On the Ideal King
cxi-cxii An Acrostic Hallelujah
cxiii-cxviii The Hallel: a series of Hallelujah Psalms sung as one
at the great feasts. — (For cxiv see page 59, and for
cxvi and cxviii pages 161, 162)
cxix The Law: An Acrostic Meditation (183)
cxx-cxxxiv The Songs of Ascents (170-3)
cxx Song of the Exile (171)
cxxi The Lord thy Keeper (172, 54)
cxxii Pilgrim Song: Salutation to
cxxiii Monody of the Exile (171)
cxxiv Monody of the Exile (171)
cxxv Pilgrim Song: Thoughts on
cxxvi Monody of the Exile (171)
cxxvii Pilgrim Song: Work and Home .072, 97)
cxxviii Pilgrim Song: Home Life (172)
cxxix The Exile's Denunciation (171)
cxxx The Exiled Nation's Liturgy of Penitence (172)
cxxxi Pilgrim Meditation: On Simplicity (172)
cxxxii
cxxxiii Pilgrim Song: Of Unity (172)
cxxxiv
cxxxv Hallelujah Psalm
cxxxvi National Anthem: Of the Nation in the Wilderness
(142-4)
cxxxvii Elegy of the Exile (157—8)
cxxxviii Judgment: A Meditation
cxxxix A Dramatic Lyric (77, 90, 178)
cxl An Elegy of Denunciation
cxli Consecration: A Meditation
cxlii A Monody of Experience
cxliii A Monody of Experience (176)
cxliv A Dramatic Lyric, with double change and refrain (182
note)
cxlv Festal Hymn. — Acrostic
cxlvi-cl Series of Hallelujah Psalms that can be sung as one
PROVERBS 477
THE PROVERBS
A Miscellany of Wisdom in Five Books
Above, pages 284-8, 291, 323-4
i. 1-6 Title to the whole collection
7 Motto to the whole collection
Book I
Sonnets on Wisdom (284-6)
i-ix
i. 8-9 Epigram
10-19 Sonnet: The Company of Sinners (273)
20-33 Dramatic Monologue: Wisdom's Cry of Warning
ii Sonnet: Wisdom the Preservative from Evil
iii.1-10 Sonnet: The Commandment and its Reward (277)
11-20 Sonnet : Wisdom the Prize in View
21-6 Sonnet: Wisdom and Security
27-35 Sonnet: Wisdom and Perversity
iv.1-9 Sonnet: The Tradition of Wisdom
10-19 Sonnet: The Two Paths
20-27 Sonnet: Wisdom and Health
v Sonnet: The Strange Woman
vi. 1-5 Sonnet: Suretyship
6-11 Sonnet: The Sluggard (280-I)
12-19 A Pair of Sonnets: The Sower of Discord
20-35 Sonnet: The Folly of Adultery
vii-viii Dramatic Monologue: Wisdom and the Strange Woman
ix Sonnet of Sonnets: The House of Wisdom and the
House of Folly [1-6 (Sonnet) is strophe to which
13-18 is antistrophe; 7-9 (Epigram) is strophe to
which 10-12 is antistrophe]
Book II
The Proverbs of Solomon
x-xxii. 16
x-xxii.16 Collection of isolated Unit Proverbs: no appearance of
arrangement (286)
478 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
Book III
A Wisdom Epistle (286)
xxii. 7—xxiv
xii. 17-21 Superscription to the Epistle
22-9 Disconnected Sayings [Epigrams and Unit Proverbs]
xxiii. 1-3 Epigram: Awe before Appetite
4-5 Epigram: Transitoriness of Riches
6-8 Epigram: Hospitality of the Evil Eye (262)
9-18 Disconnected Sayings
19-21 Epigram: Gluttony
22-5 Disconnected Sayings
26-8 Epigram: The Pit of Whoredom
29-35 Sonnet: Woes of Wine (277—8)
xxiv. 1-10 Disconnected Sayings
11-12 Epigram: The Duty of Rescue
13-14 Epigram: Wisdom and Honey (262)
15-22 Disconnected Sayings
Postscript
xxiv. 23-25 Epigram: Respect of Persons
26-29 Disconnected Sayings
30-4 Sonnet: The Field of the Slothful (280–1)
Book IV
Solomonic Proverbs collected under Hezekiah (287)
xxv-xxix
xxv.1 Tithe to Book IV
2-7 Proverb Cluster: On Kings
xxv. 8-xxvi.2 Disconnected Sayings
xxvi.3-12 Proverb Cluster: On Fools
13-16 Proverb Cluster: On Sluggards
17-26 Proverb Cluster: On Social Pests
xxvi.27-xxvii.22 Disconnected Sayings
xxvii. 23-7 Folk Song of Good Husbandry (287)
xxviii-xxix Disconnected Proverbs
PROVERBS—ECCLESIASTES 479
Book V
Shorter Collections (287)
xxx-xxxi
xxx Proverbs of Agur. [xxx. 1-4 Sonnet: The Unsearchable-
ness of God (278). 5-6 Epigram. 7-9 Number
Sonnet: The Golden Mean. 10 Unit Proverb. 11-
14 Sonnet: An Evil Generation. 15-16 Number
Sonnet: Things never satisfied (275). 17 Epigram.
18-19 Number Sonnet: Things not to be known.
20 Epigram. 21-3 Number Sonnet: Things not to
be borne. 24-8 Number Sonnet: Little and Wise.
29-31 Number Sonnet: Things stately in their
going. 32-3 Epigram: The Restraining of Wrath]
xxi.1-9 The Oracle of Lemuel's Mother (262)
10-31 Anonymous Acrostic Sonnet: The Virtuous Woman
ECCLESIASTES, OR THE PREACHER
A Suite of Five Essays, broken by Miscellaneous Sayings
Fully analysed, pages 293-304. Compare also 309-10, 323-4
i. 1 Title to the whole [ founded upon the first essay]
i. 2-1 Prologue: All is Vanity
i. 12-ii Essay I: in the form of a Dramatic Monologue:
Solomon's Search for Wisdom
iii. 1-iv. 8 Essay II: The Philosophy of Times and Seasons
iv. 9-v. 9 Miscellaneous Maxims of life
v. 10-vi. 12 Essay III: The Vanity of Desire
vii. 1-22 Miscellaneous Paradoxes of life
vii. 23-ix. 16 Essay IV: The Search for Wisdom, with Notes by
the Way
ix. 17-xi. 6 Miscellaneous Proverbs of life
xi. 7-xii. 7 Essay V: Life as a Joy shadowed by the Judgment
[including Sonnet (xii. 1-7): The Coming of the
Evil Days]
xii. 8-14 Epilogue: All is Vanity: Fear God
480 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
THE SONG OF SONGS
A Suite of Seven Dramatic Idyls
Fully analysed above, Chapter VIII
i.2-ii.7 Idyl I: The Wedding-Day
ii. 8-iii.5 Idyl II: The Bride's Reminiscences of the Courtship
iii.6-v.1 Idyl III: The Day of Betrothal
v.2-vi.3 Idyl IV: The Bride's Troubled Dream
vi.4-vii.9 Idyl V: The King's Meditation on his Bride
vii.10-viii.4 Idyl VI: The Bride's Longing for her Home on
viii.5-14 Idyl VII: The Renewal of Love in the Vineyard of Leb-
anon
ISAIAH
A Prophetic Collection in Seven Books
Book I
General Prophecies
i. 2-vi
Discourse: The Great Arraignment (329)
ii-iv Discourse: The Latter Glory and the Present judgment
(330)
v. 1-7 Parable of the Vineyard
v.8-30 Lyric Prophecy: A Sevenfold Denunciation
vi The Prophet's Call
Book II
Prophecies on the Unholy
vii-x. 4
vii.1-17 Prophecy of the sign 'Immanuel' (341 and note)
vii.18-viii.8 A Cluster of Prophetic Sentences. The Fly and the Bee
(vii. 18-19) — The Razor (20) —Butter and Honey
(21-2) — Briers and Thorns (23-5) — Maher-shalal-
hash-baz (viii. 1-4) — The River (5-8.— Above,
pages 418-9
viii.9-ix.7 Rhapsodic Discourse: Light for the People that walk in
Darkness
ix.8-x.4 Lyric Prophecy: Doom of the North (334)
ISAIAH 481
Book III
Prophecy under an Assyrian Invasion
x. 5—xii
x. 5—xii Rhapsodic Discourse: The Rod of the Lord and the
Reign of Peace (386)
Book IV
A Cycle of Lament
xiii—xxvii
xiii-xiv.23 Doom Song on
xiv. 24-7 Doom Song on
28-32 Doom Song on
xv-xvi Doom Song on
xvii.1-11 Doom Song on
12-14A Doom Song
xviii Doom Song on
xix Prophecy Cluster Doom Song on
by a series of Sentences on the Conversion of Egypt
(18, 19-20, 21, 22, 23, 2.1-5) . — Above, pages 419-20
xx Emblem Prophecy against
xxi Visions of Doom: The Prophetic Watchman (355—8)
xxii.1-14 Denunciation: The Panic of the
15-25 A Personal Denunciation
xxiii Doom Song on
xxiv-xxvii Climax of Book IV: A Rhapsody of judgment (373—80)
Book V
A Cycle of the Restoration (426)
xxviii-xxxv
xxviii-xxxii Discourses in the form of Animadversions upon the
Political Situation [an Assyrian Invasion and ques-
tion of the Egyptian Alliance] as a background for
picturing the Redemption and the Golden Age (426)
xxviii The Covenant with Death (426)
xxix The Nightmare of judgment upon Ariel
xxx The Boaster that sitteth still (426)
xxxi-xxxii.8 The Horses of Egypt and the Holy One of Israel
xxxii.9-20 The Women that are at ease
482 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
xxxiii Rhapsody of Salvation: [1 Prelude, 2
phetic Spectator, 7 Scenic, 10 God, 14 Sinners in
xxxiv-v Finale to Book V: The Utter Destruction and the Great
Redemption (426-7)
Book VI
The Invasion of Sennacherib
xxxvi-xxxix
xxxvi-ix Historical Excerpt : Prophetic History of the Sennach-
erib Crisis
Book VII
Rhapsody of
xl--lxvi
Fully analysed above, Chapter XVII
xl.1-11 Prelude
xl.12-xlviii Phase I: The Judgment on
xlix-l Phase II: The Servant of Jehovah and Desponding
li-lii.12 Phase III: The Awakening of Zion
lii.13-liii Phase IV: The Servant of Jehovah Exalted
liv-lv Phase V: Zion Exalted
lvi-lxii Phase VI: A Redeemer come to
lxiiii-lxvi Phase VII: Judgment on
JEREMIAH
A Prophetic Collection in Ten Books
Book I
The Prophet's Call and Manifesto
i-vi
i The Prophet's Call
ii-vi Jeremiah's Manifesto: Discourse culminating in Rhap-
sody of Doom and Panic (386-91)
JEREMIAH 483
Book II
Miscellaneous Discourses and Sentences
vii-x
vii. 1-28 Discourse: The Temple of the Lord are we
vii. 29-viii. 3 Discourse: Tophet
viii. 4-ix. 9 Rhapsodic Discourse: The Hurt of the Daughter of
my People [viii. 14 People, 16 Scenic, 17 God, 18
Prophet, 19 Captive People, 19(b) God, 20 Captive
People, 21 (to end) Prophet who quotes God]
ix. 10-16 Discourse: A Lamentation for the Land
17-22 Discourse: The Mourning Women
23-6 Prophetic (117) Sentences [23-4, 25-6]
x. 1-16 Prophecy Cluster on Idolatry [1–10, 11, 12-16]
17-25 Scene of Panic
Book III
Prophecies of the Missionary Tourney
xi.1-18 The Prophet's Commission: The Tour of Preaching the
Covenant
9-17 Prophetic Intercourse: On
Covenant
xi. 18-xii.6 Prophetic Incident: The Conspiracy of Anathoth
Judah and his Evil Neighbours
xii. 7-17 Emblem Prophecy: The Girdle (336, 338)
Book IV
The Drought and other Prophecies
xiv—xvii
xiv-xv Rhapsody of the Drought (381—5)
xvi Prophetic Intercourse: The Doom of the Land
xvii. 1-12 Prophetic Sentences [1-2, 3-4,5-3, 9-10, 11, 12]
13-18 Prophetic Intercourse: A Prayer under Persecution
19-27 Discourse: On the Sabbath
1 Found attached to the prophecies of the Missionary Journey, though with no
necessary connection.
484 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
Book V
Discourses Founded on Pottery
xviii-xx
xviii. 1-17 Emblem Prophecy: Potter's Clay (336)
18-23 Prophetic Intercourse: The Conspiracy
xix-xx Prophetic Incident: The Potter's Bottle (337), including
(xx. 7–13) a Prophetic Meditation and (14–18) a
Prophetic Curse
Book VI
Messages to Rulers
xxi–xxiii
xxi.1-10 Prophetic Response: On the Approach of Nebuchad-
rezzar's Army
11-14 Message to the Royal House
xxii.1-9 Message to the Royal House
10-12 Discourse: On Shallum
13-19 Discourse: On Jehoiakim
20-30 Discourse: On Coniah
xxiii. 1-8 Discourse: The Shepherds of Israel
9-40 Discourse: On False Prophets
Book VII
Occasional and Controversial Prophecies
xxiv-xxix
xxiv Emblem Prophecy: The Figs (336)
xxv The Cup of the Lord's Fury (354)
xxvi Prophetic Controversy: Destruction of the
xxvii-xxviii Prophetic Controversy: The Yoke
xxix Epistle: To the Elders of the Captivity
JEREMIAH 485
Book VIII
Prophecies of the Restoration
xxx-xxxi
xxx.1-3 Preface to the Eighth Book
xxx.4-22 Discourse (with Pendulum Structure): The Restoration
of
xxx.23-xxxi.20 Rhapsodic Discourse: The Restoration of Israel
xxxi-21-40 Prophetic Sentences [21-2, 23-6, 27-8, 2q 30, 31-4 (The
New Covenant), 35-7, 38-40]
Book IX
Incidental and Historical Prophecies
xxxii-xlv
xxxii-iii Incident: The Anathoth Estate
xxxiv. 1-7 Incident: The Siege of the Fenced Cities
8-22 Incident: The Hebrew Servants
xxxv Incident: The Rechabites
xxxvi Incident: The Burning of the Roll
xxxvii-xliv Prophecy merged in History: Crisis of the Siege and
Abduction of Jeremiah to
xlv Prophetic Intercourse: Jeremiah and Baruch
Book X
Dooms of the Nations
xlvi-li
xlvi Doom of
xlvii Doom of the Philistines
xlviii Doom of
xlix. 1-6 Doom of the Children of Ammon
7-22 Doom of
23-7 Doom of
28-33 Doom of Kedar and Hazor
34-9 Doom of
l-li Doom of
lii-liii Historical Appendix to the Works of Jeremiah
486 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
LAMENTATIONS
A Suite of Acrostic Elegies (157)
EZEKIEL
A Prophetic Collection in Three Books (430)
Book I
Prophecies of Judgment
i-iii Vision: The Prophet's Call
iv-v Emblem Prophecy: The Mimic Siege (338-9)
vi-vii Discourse: Against the Land of Judah (337-8)
viii-xi VISION: JERUSALEM UNDER JUDGMENT (343-5)
xii. 1-16 Emblem Prophecy: Stuff for removing
17-20 Emblem Prophecy: Bread of Trembling
21-8 Discourse with Proverb Text
xiii Discourse: Against False Prophets
xiv. 1-11 Prophetic Response: On False Enquirers
12-23 Discourse: On Vicarious Righteousness
xv Parable: Of the Vine (345)
xvi Parable: Of the Ungrateful Spouse (345)
xvii Parable: Of the Eagle and the Cedar (345)
xviii Discourse: The Proverb of Fathers and Children
xix Discourse: A Lamentation for the Princes of Israel
xx. 1-44 Prophetic Response: A Vain Enquiry
45-9 Discourse: The
xxi Emblem Prophecy: The Sword (337)
xxii Discourse: The Bloody City
xxiii Parable: Oholah and Oholibah (345)
xxiv 1-14 Parable: Of the Caldron
15-27 Emblem Prophecy: Death of the Prophet's Wife (340)
EZEKIEL-DANIEL 487
Book II
Dooms of the Nations
xxv-xxxii
xxv Cycle of Dooms [1-7, 8-11, I2-14, 15-17]
xxvi-xxviii Threefold Doom on
Doom on Zidon (359-61)
xxix-xxxii Sevenfold Doom (361-3) on
xxx. 1-19; 20-26; xxxi; xxxii. 1-16; and 17-32]
Book III
Prophecies of the Restoration
xxxiii-xlviii
xxxiii. 1-9 Discourse: The Watchman
10-20 Dialectic Prophecy: Repentance
21-33 Discourse: News of the Fall of
xxiv Discourse: The Shepherds of Israel (330)
xxxv-xxxvi Discourse:
xxxvii. 1-14 Vision: The Valley of Dry Bones (342)
15-28 Emblem Prophecy: The Joining of the Sticks
xxxviii-xxxix Discourse: Gog of the
xl-xlviii VISION:
DANIEL
A Prophetic Collection in Two Books (430)
Book I
Prophetic Incidents and Interpretations of Visions
i-vi
i Prophetic Incident: Daniel and the King's Meat
ii Vision Interpretation: The Image and the Stone
iii Prophetic Incident: The Burning Fiery Furnace
iv Vision Interpretation: Nebuchadnezzar's Dream of the
Tree cut down
v Vision Interpretation: The Writing on the Wall (343)
vi Prophetic Incident: The Den of Lions
488 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
Book II
A Cycle of Visions
vii—xii
vii Vision of the Four Beasts (343)
viii Vision of the Ram and the He-goat (343)
ix Vision Prophecy: The Time of Restoration (343)
x-xii Vision Prophecy: The Time of the End
HOSEA
A Prophetic Collection in Two Books
Book I
Gomer
i-iii
i-iii Emblem Prophecy of Gomer (340)
Book II
The Lord's Controversy
iv—xiv
iv—vi Discourse culminating in a Rhapsody [v. 8 Panic, 9 God,
vi. i People, 4 God]
vii Discourse of Denunciation
viii. 1-6 Discourse: The Idols and the Triumph of Judgment
7-14 Prophetic Sentences [7(a), 7(b), 8—9(a), 9(b)—l0, 11, 12,
13, 14]
ix. 1-6 Discourse: Joy turned to Judgment
ix. 7-x Prophetic Sentences [ix. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11-12, 13, 14, 15,
16-17; x. 1-2, 3, 4, 5-6, 7-8, 9, 10-11, 12, 13-15]
xi. 1-11 Dramatic Prophecy: The Divine Yearning (349—50)
xi. 12-xii Discourse: Jacob's Doings and Recompense 1
xiii-xiv. 8 A Drama of Repentance (350-1)
xiv. 9 Epilogue Sentence to Book II
1 Marginal
JOEL-MICAH 489
JOEL
A Rhapsody of the Locust Plague (369-73)
AMOS
A Rhapsody of the Judgment to come (391-3)
OBADIAH
A Doom Prophecy upon
JONAH
A Prophetic Epic (240, 337-8)
MICAH
A Prophetic Collection in Two Books
Book I
Miscellaneous Prophecies
i—v
Rhapsody of Judgment Approaching [verse 8 The Pro-
phet, 10—16 Scenic]
ii. 1-5 Discourse: Against Oppression
6-11 Discourse: Wickedness seeking to silence Prophecy
12-13 Discourse: A Vision of the Breaking
iii Discourse: Against Rulers and Prophets
iv-v Discourse: The Mountain of the Lord's House
Book II
Dramatic Prophecies
vi--vii
vi. 1-8 The Lord's Controversy before the Mountains (347)
vi-9-vii The Lord's Cry and the Man of Wisdom (348—9)
490 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
NAHUM
A Rhapsodic Doom, Prophecy upon
HABAKKUK
A Prophetic Collection
i-ii Rhapsody of the Chaldeans (365-7)
iii An Ode of Judgment (147)
ZEPHANIAH
A Rhapsodic Discourse (120)
HAGGAI
Four Occasional Discourses, dated
ZECHARIAH
A Prophetic Collection in Three Books
Book I
Miscellaneous Discourses
i-viii
i. 1-6 The Prophet's Manifesto
i.7-vi.8 Vision Cycle (427)
vi. 9-15 Emblem Prophecy: The Crowning of Joshua
vii. 1-7 Response: On the Fasts (421-2)
8-14 Discourse of Denunciation (421-2)
viii. 1-8 Prophetic Sentences of
45, 6, 7-8]
9-17 Discourse: The Seed of Peace for the Remnant of the
People (421-2)
18-23 Prophetic Sentences of the Restoration [18-19, 20-22, 23]
ZECHARIAH — WISDOM 491
Book II
Discourses
ix-xi
ix Discourse: Thy King cometh
x-xi Rhapsodic Discourse: The False Shepherds and the
Flock of Slaughter
Book III
Discourses
xii-xiv
xii-xiii. 6 Discourse: The Fountain in the House of David
xiii. 7-9 Discourse: Against my Shepherd
xiv Discourse: Vision of Judgment and the Golden Age (33:2)
MALACHI
A Dialectic Cycle of Six Discourses (346)
[i. 2-5; i. 6-ii. 9; ii. 10-16; ii. 17-iii. 6; iii. 7-12; iii. 13-iv. 6]
WISDOM OF SOLOMON
A Suite of Five Discourses in the Form of Text and Comment
Above, Chapter XIII: compare Appendix IV, and pages 323-4, 255 note
i. 1-11 Text [i. i] and Discourse I: Singleness of Heart (310)
i. 12-vi. 11 Text [
enant with Death (311-5)
vi. 12-ix Text [vi. 12] and Discourse III: Solomon's Winning of
Wisdom (315-6)
x-xi.5 Text1 [ix. IS, last clause] and Discourse IV : The World
saved through Wisdom (317)
xi.5-xix Text1 [xi. 5] and Discourse V: Judgments on the
Wicked turning to Blessings on God's People (318-
23: compare Appendix IV)
1 In these two Discourses the text is made by the concluding words of the pre-
ceding Discourse.
492 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
ECCLESIASTICUS
OR
THE WISDOM OF JESUS THE SON OF SIRACH
A Miscellany of Wisdom in Five Books
Above, pages 289-92, 255 note, 323-4
Preface by the Author's Grandson
Book I
i–xxiii
i. 1-20 Sonnet: Wisdom and the Fear of the Lord
22-4 Epigram: Unjust Wrath
25-27 A Maxim
28-30 A Maxim
ii. 1-6 A Maxim
7-18 Sonnet: True and False Fear
iii. 1-16 Essay: Honour to Parents
17-28 Essay: Meekness
29-31 Disconnected Sayings
iv. 1-10 Essay: Consideration for High and Low
11-19 Essay: Wisdom's Way with her Children
20-8 Essay: True and False Shame
iv. 29-v. 3 Disconnected Sayings
v. 4-8 A Maxim
v. 9-vi. 1 Proverb Cluster: Government of the Tongue (265)
vi. 2-4 Epigram: Self-Will
5-17 Essay: On Friendship
18-37 Essay: On Pursuit of Wisdom
vii. 1-3 Epigram: Sowing Sin and Reaping
4-6 A Maxim
vii. 7-18 Disconnected Sayings
19-36 Essay: Household Precepts
viii. 1-ix. 16 Essay: Adaptation of Behaviour to Various Sorts of
Men
ECCLESIASTICUS 493
ix. 17-x.5 Essay: Wisdom and Government
x. 6-xi.6 Essay: Pride and True Greatness
xi. 7-10 Proverb Cluster: Meddlesomeness
11-28 Essay: Prosperity and Adversity are from the Lord
(268)
xi. 29-xiii. 24 Essay: Choice of Company
xiii. 25-xiv. 2 Disconnected Sayings
xiv. 3-19 Essay: On Niggardliness
xiv. 20-xv. 10 Essay: The Pursuer of Wisdom and his Reward
11-20 Essay: On Free Will
xvi. 1-23 Essay: No Safety for Sinners in Numbers
xvi. 24-xviii. 14 Essay: God's Work of Creation and Restoration
xviii. 15-18 Proverb Cluster: On Graciousness
19-27 Essay: On Taking Heed in Time
xviii.28-9 Disconnected Sayings
xviii. 30-xix.3 Three Temperance Maxims [3o–31; 32–1 (a); i (b)—3]
xix. 4-17 Essay: Against Gossip (268)
xix. 20-xx.13 Essay: Wisdom and its Counterfeits
xx. 14-31 Disconnected Sayings
xxi. 1-10 Proverb Cluster: Sin and its Judgment
11-26 Proverb Cluster: Wise Men and Fools
xxi. 27-xxii.5 Proverb Cluster: The Hatefulness of Evil
xxii. 6-15 Proverb Cluster: Commerce with Fools Intolerable [in-
cluding a Sonnet: 11-12]
xxii. 16-26 Essay: The Steadfast Friend and the Uncertain
xxii. 27-xxiii.6 Sonnet: Watchfulness of Lips and Heart (279)
xxiiii. 7-15 Essay: The Discipline of the Mouth
16-27 Essay: The Horror of Adultery
Book II
xxiv-xxxiii.
xiv Preface to Book II, into which is interwoven (3–22)
a Dramatic Monologue: Wisdom's Praise of Her-
self (289–90)
xxv. 1-2 Number Sonnet: What Wisdom loves and hates (275)
3-6 A Maxim
7-11 Number Sonnet: The Love of the Lord (276)
13-15 Epigram: The Wrath of an Enemy
494 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
xxv. 16–xxvi. 18 Proverb Cluster: Women Bad and Good [xxv. 16–xxvi.
Essay; 5–6 Number Sonnet; 7–18 Sonnet]
xxvi. 28 Number Sonnet: The Backslider
xxvi.29-xxvii.2 A Maxim
xxvii. 3-10 Disconnected Sayings
11-15 Proverb Cluster: The Discourse of Wise and Fools
16-21 A Maxim
22-4 A Maxim
xxvii.25-xxviii.11 Essay: Retribution and Vengeance
xxviii. 12-26 Essay: On the Tongue (266)
xxix. 1-20 Essay: On Lending and Suretyship
21-8 Essay: The Blessing of a House of One's Own
xxx.1-13 Essay: On the Chastisement of Children
14-25 Essay: On Health
xxxi. 1-11 Essay: On Riches
xxxi. 12-xxxii.13 Essay: On Feasting
xxxii. 14- Disconnected Sayings
xxxiii.6
xxxiii. 7-15 Essay : An Analogy
Book III
xxxiii.6-xxxix. 11
xxxiii. 16–18 Preface to Book III (290)
19-23 Essay: On Giving and Bequeathing
24-31 Essay: On Servants
xxxiv. 1-8 Essay: On Dreams
9-12 A Maxim
xxxiv. 13-17 Sonnet: The hearers of the Lord
xxxiv. 18-xxxv Essay: On Sacrifices, Evil and Acceptable
xxxvi. 1-17 A Prayer for Mercy upon
18-20 Disconnected Sayings
21-6 Essay: On Wives
xxxvii. 1-6 Essay: On False Friends
7-26 Essay: On Counsel and Counsellors (269–70)
xxxvii. 27- Essay: On Disease and Physicians
xxxviii. 15
xxxviii. 16-23 Essay: On Mourning for the Dead
xxxviii.24- Essay: The Wisdom of Business and the Wisdom of
xxxix.11 Leisure
ECCLESIASTICUS 495
Book IV
xxxix. 12-xlii.14
xxxix. 12-35 Preface into which is interwoven (16-31) a Rhetoric
Encomium of God's Works
xl. 1-10 Essay: The Burden of Life
11-27 A Pair of Sonnets: A
28-30 A Maxim
xli. 1-4 Sonnet: On Death
5-13 Essay: The Posterity of Sinners
xli. 14-xlii.8 Essay: On Things to be ashamed of
xlii. 9-14 Essay: Women as a Source of Trouble
Book V
Longer Works
xlii. 15- l. 24
xlii. 15-xliii Rhetoric Encomium: The Works of the Lord
xliv-l. 24 Rhetoric Encomium: The Praise of Famous Men (290)
Epilogue to the Whole: Number Sonnet of the Hated Nations (1. 25-6)--
Author's Preface to the Whole (li.)
496 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
ST. MATTHEW, ST. MARK, ST. LUKE,
Each of these constitutes a single Gospel, which must be understood as
a specific literary form (250)
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
A continuation of one of the Gospels, and of the same literary form (251)
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
An Epistolary Treatise (441)
I, II CORINTHIANS
Epistles of Pastoral Intercourse (440)
GALATIANS
An Epistle of Pastoral Intercourse (440)
EPHESIANS
An Epistolary Manifesto (442)
PHILIPPIANS
An Epistle of Pastoral Intercourse (441)
COLOSSIANS
An Epistolary Manifesto (442)
I, II THESSALONIANS
Epistles of Pastoral Intercourse (441)
497 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
TIMOTHY-PETER
I, II TIMOTHY
Epistles of Pastoral Intercourse (441)
TITUS, PHILEMON
Epistles of Pastoral Intercourse (44r)
HEBREWS
An Epistolary Treatise (442)
JAMES
A Wisdom Epistle (292)
i. 1 Susperscription to the Epistle
i. 2-4 A Maxim
5-8 A Maxim
9-11 A Maxim
12-27 Essay: On the Sources of the Evil and the Good in us
(270-2)
ii. 1-13 Essay: On Respect of Persons
14-26 Essay: Faith and Works
iii. 1-12 Essay: On the Responsibility of Speech (267)
13-18 Essay: The Earthly Wisdom and the Wisdom from above
iv. 1-10 Discourse: On Worldly Pleasures
11-12 A Maxim (264)
iv. 13-v. 18 Discourse: The Judgment to come
19-20 A Maxim
I, II PETER
Epistolary Manifestos (442)
498 LITERARY INDEX TO THE BIBLE
I JOHN
An Epistolary Manifesto (442)
II, III JOHN
Epistles of Pastoral Intercourse (441)
JUDE
An Epistolary Manifesto (443)
THE REVELATION
A Vision Cycle (431-6)
APPENDIX II
TABLES OF LITERARY FORMS
This second Appendix is intended for the technical student of literary
Morphology. It arranges in Tables all the literary forms found in Scripture,
with the examples of them, so that each form can be studied by itself. In the
case of very common forms, suck as the simple Discourse, it has not been
thought necessary to give the examples. The reference figures are to preced-
ing pages of this book.
499
I —FORMS OF LYRIC POETRY 500
LYRIC Folk Songs quoted. Song of the Sword ( Genesis iv. 23-4)— Of the Well (Numbers xxi. 17-18)—
Husbandry Song (Proverbs xxvii. 23-7)—War-Ballad (Joshua x. 12-13)—Fragments of
others in Numbers xxi.
Odes (127) Triumphal Odes: Deborah's Song (Judges v)— Song of Moses and Miriam
(Exodus xv).
National Anthems: Psalms cv, lxxviii, cvi; cxxxvi.
Processional Ode: Psalm lxviii.
Songs in Ode form: Moses' Song (Deuteronomy xxxii)—Song of David (Psalm
xviii)—Song of the Thunderstorm (Psalm xxix)— Prayer of Habakkuk
(Habakkuk iii).
Odes on Themes : The World within and the World without (Psalms ciii, civ)—
Ode of the Redeemed (cvii)— On the Covenant (lxxxix)— On
Judgment (1)— On the Messiah (ii).
Occasional Anthems for the Inauguration of Jerusalem: Psalms xxx, xxiv, cxxxii. 1-9, ci.
Psalms (153) Victory Hymns: Psalms xlvi, xlviii, lxxvi.
Hymn of Defeat and Victory: Psalms lx and cviii.
[Most of the Odes are Occasional Lyrics: and the next department of Elegies is
closely akin.]
Elegies (156) Elegies Proper On Saul and Jonathan (II Samuel i. 19-27).
Psalms xliv, lxxiv, lxxix, 1xxx, lxxxviii, cii.
Exile Songs: Psalms xiii-iii ; lxi, lxiii ; cxxxvii. Compare
below: Songs of Ascents.
Acrostic Elegies: Lamentations of Jeremiah.
Elegies of National: Ixxxiii. In Songs of Ascents: cxxix.
Denunciation Personal or Public: lii, lviii, Ixxxii; lv ; xxxv, lxx, cix, cxl.
War Ballad: lix.
Encomia and On the King: Psalm lxxii— On the Ideal King : Psalm cx.
Salutations To
Ascents): cxxii.
500
I —FORMS OF LYRIC POETRY 501
LYRIC Liturgical Ritual Hallelujahs : Psalms cxiii-cxviii; cxxxv; cxlvi-cl; (acrostic) cxi-cxii.
Psalms Hymns Accession Hymns: xlvii; xciii ; xcv-c. Festal Hymns: xxviii,
(160) lxvii, lxxxi; (acrostic) cxlv. Votive Hymns: lxvi; cxvi and
(antiphonal) cxviii ; xcii;
I Samuel ii. 1-10; Luke i. 46-55, 68-79, and ii. 29-32.
Benedictions:
Psalms xx, xxi; xlv; Numbers vi. 24-6; Psalm cxxxiv.
Doxologies:
Psalms xli. 13, etc.; Luke ii. 14.
Liturgies General al. Of Praise: Psalms xxxiv, lxv. Of Supplication:
(164) lxxxvi. Of Penitence : cxxx. Of Devotion: iv, lxii;
(acrostic) xxv. Of judgment: vii, xciv.
The ' Songs of Ascents ' (170): Psalms cxx-cxxxiv. [Exile Songs: cxx, cxxiii,
cxxiv, cxxvi, cxxix, cxxx. Pilgrim Songs: cxxi, cxxii, cxxv, cxxvii,
cxxviii, cxxxi, cxxxiii.
Dramatic Simple : Psalms iii, vi, xii, xxii, xxviii, liv, lxxi, cxxxix.With Refrain:
Lyrics lvi, lvii. Duplicated: xxxi. With Transitional Stage: lxix (compare xiv).
(174)
With Double Dramatic change: Psalms, xxvii, cviii. With Refrain:
cxliv. With Transitional Stage: lxxxv. Antiphonal and
Acrostic: ix-x
Monodies Psalms xxxii, xli ; xxxix, lxxvii ; xxxviii; cxiii, cxliii. In Songs of Ascents : cxxiii, cxxiv, cxxvi.
Meditations Consecration: Psalms v, xxvi, cxli; (acrostic) cxix. Trust: xi, xvi.
(183) Penitence: li. Simplicity: cxxxi. Judgment: xiii, xiv (= liii),
xvii, Ixiv, cxxxviii; (acrostic) xxxvii.
Psalms on The Meditative and the Worldly Life (i)—The Devout Life (xv)— Life
Themes as a Passing Day (xc) — Work and Home (cxxvii)— Home
(185) Life (cxxviii).
Jehovah's Follower (xxiii)—The Shadow of the Almighty (xci)—The
Lord thy Keeper (cxxi).
Man that is in Honour: A Parable (xlix)—The Mystery of Prosperous
Wickedness (lxxiii).
The Heavens above and the Law within (six)—The Supreme Evil and
the Supreme Good (xxxvi).
Man the Viceroy of God (viii)—A Song of Judgment (lxxv)—A Song
of God's House (lxxxiv)—A Song of Unity (cxxxiii).
II. HISTORY AND EPIC LITERATURE IN CONNECTION
HISTORY Primitive History: Formation of the
Genesis i-xi: First Beginnings of the World. xii-l: Overlapping
Succession of Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph.
Historic Framework of Genealogies, Annals, and other connective matter
(including Incidents explaining names of places or relations of world-
families), enclosing the Epic Incidents.
Epic Element: Epic Incidents: The Creation (in Sonnet form: i-ii. 3) —The
Temptation in the Garden of Eden (ii. 4-iii) —Cain and Abel (iv. 1-i5) —
The Flood (vi. 9-ix. 17).
Epic Cycles of Abraham (page 466) — of Isaac (page 466) — of Jacob
(page 466).
Epic History: Joseph and his Brethren (xxxvii. 2-36, xxxix. i-xlvi. 7, and
xlvi. 28-xlvii. 12).
Constitutional History: Migration of the Chosen Nation to the
Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers.
Exodus i-xviii : Slavery in
Exodus from xix and Leviticus: Constitution of the Nation at
Sinai. Numbers: The March from Sinai and Thirty-eight Years'
Wandering.
Successive Revelations of the Law, and Incidents leading to or associated
with these.
Epic Element : Epic History: Moses and the Plagues of Egypt (Exodus i. 8-vi. 13;
vi. 28-xi; xii. 21-39; xiii. 17-xv. 21). Mixed Epic : Story of Balaam
(Numbers xxii-xxiv)
Incidental History: The
Government: Books of Joshua and Judges, and First Book of Samuel
(including first chapter of II Samuel).
Joshua: Conquest of
Sporadic attempts at secular government and first
conception of kingship (viii. 22 and ix). I Samuel:
Gradual establishment of Secular kingship and rise of Prophets
to represent.
Theocracy. Mainly Epic matter, but in a connective framework
of summaries, fillings in between Incidents;
and especially, a Doomsday Book of the conquered country.
Epic Element: Epic Incidents : Ehud's Assassination of Eglon (Judges iii. 12-30)
—War of
Deborah and Barak against Sisera (iv-v)—Gideon and the
Midianites (vi-viii. 28) — Crowning of Abimelech by
the Men of Shechem (viii. 29-ix) —
Jephthah and the Ammonites (x. 6-xii. 6) — Micah's Images and
the Danish Migration (xvii-xviii) —The Benjamite War
(xix-xxi). Epic Cycles of Joshua (page 469) — of
Samson (page 469) —of Samuel (page 469)—of
Saul (page 469).
Epic History: Feud of Saul and David (I Samuel xvi. 14-sxviii. 2,
and xxix to II Samuel i) and Story of Ruth (Idyl).
502
HISTORY Regular History: The
Theocracy side by with side: Second Book of Samuel and both Books of
Kings.
II Samuel ii-I Kings xi: Reigns of David and Solomon. I Kings xii-II
Kings vii:
Kingdoms of
Systematic account of successive reigns, with the Incidents narrated historically;
documents, references to authorities.
Epic Element: Epic History: The Feud between David's Sons and the Revolt of
Absalom (II Samuel xiii-xx)—to which may be added (outside the
period) the Book of Esther.
Especially : Epic Prophecy. [See Table III.]
Ecclesiastical I, II Chronicles and sequel books of Ezra and Nehemiah: Documents,
Genealogies, History Statistics, Historical Excerpts : the matter abridged,
amplified, arranged with reference to its bearing on the Ecclesiastical
organisation of the Church as restored after the exile.
The Four Gospels: the term Gospel must be understood as a specific literary form
they are not biographies, nor histories, but Authoritative Statements (cf.
Protocols) of Acts and Words of the Founder of the Church. [The Fourth
Gospel differs from the rest in its style, which is mainly based (522-3) on
the form of Text and Comment.]
Acts of the Apostles: a continuation of one of the Gospels: Authoritative
Statement of the Proceedings of the Apostles in the early stages of
founding the Church and opening it to the whole Gentile world.
503
III. —FORMS OF EPIC LITERATURE
EPIC Verse Epic: Remarkably absent (page 223).
Mixed Epic (page 224): Story of Balaam (Numbers xxii-xxiv) The Story of the
Blessing of Isaac (Genesis xxvii. 1-40) — The Story of the Blessing and Death of
Jacob (Genesis xlvii. 28-1).
Prose Epic Epic Stories : the Epic Incidents in Primitive History and Incidental History.
[See Table (page 229) II.]
Epic Cycles: Of Abraham (page 466) — of Isaac (page 466) — of Jacob (page
466) — of
Joshua (page 469) — of Samson (page 469) -- of Samuel
(page 469) — Of Saul (page 469).
Epic Histories Joseph and his Brethren (Genesis xxxvii.2-36; xxxix-xlvi. 7 and xlvi.
28-xlvii. 12).
Moses and the Plagues of Egypt (Exodus i. 8-vi. 13 ; vi. 28-xi ; xii. 21-
39; xiii. 17-xv. 2I).
Feud of Saul and David (I Samuel xvi. 14-xxviii. 2 and xxix-II Samuel i).
Feud between David's Sons and Revolt of Absalom (II Samuel xiii-xx).
The Book of Esther. — The Book of Rutlz (Epic Idyl).
Epic Prophecy Prophetic Stories: Nathan, David, and Bathsheba (II Samuel xi. 25) —
Gad and the (page 238) Numbering of the People (11 Samuel
xxiv) — The Man of God and the Old
Prophet of Bethel (I Kings xiii. 1-32) -- Ahijah and the Wife of
Jeroboam (I Kings xiv. 1-18) — The Son of the Prophet
and Ahab (I Kings xx. 35-43)
— Micaiah and the Battle of Ramoth-Gilead (I Kings xxii. 1-
40).
Prophetic Cycles: Of Elisha (page 470) — of Daniel (compare page 487).
Prophetic Epics The History of Elijah the Tishbite (I Kings xvii-xix; xxi ;
II Kings (organic wholes) 18). The Book of Jonah.
504
IV. — FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE
WISDOM Unit Proverb Popular Proverbs: quoted in I Samuel x. 12, xxiv. 13; Ezekiel
(page 256) xvi.
Songs viii. 8-9; Judges xv. 16).
The Biblical [Cycle, or game of Riddles: Judges xiv.]
sponding to
our Philos- Sayings or Sentences of the Wise: Unit of Doctrine and Supplement: such as
Proverbs Thought in Unit of Form
x.1; xvi. 32; xi. 31 etc. Doctrine distributed: such as
Proverbs xx.14; xv. 16; xxiv.26.
[Here may be mentioned the Fable (Judges ix. 8-15, II Kings xiv. 9) and the
Parable (in the Gospels; or II Samuel xii. 1-6, xiv. 4-9). These, however,
never attain distinctness as a separate literary form; the nearest approach
to this is the Dramatised Parable of the Book of Job, in which Wisdom
literature, Epic, Drama and Rhetoric are amalgamated.]
Wisdom Maxims (page 263): in the form of Texts with Comments. Ecclesiasticus i. 25-7,
28-30; ii. i-6 ; v. 4-8; vii. 4-6; xi. 7-8, 10; xviii. 30-1; xviii. 32—xix. I
(a); xix. I (b)-3; xx. 14-15, 24-6; xxi. 2, 22-4; xxii. 7-8, 13 ; xxv. 3-6 ;
xxvi. 29-xxvii. 2 ; xxvii. 16-21, 22-4; xxxii. 18; xxxiv. 9-12 ; xl. 28-30.
St. James i. 2-4, 5-8, 9-11; iv. 11—12; v. 19—20. Ecclesiastes iv. 9-12,
13-16 ; v. 1-7, 8-9 ; vii. 1-6, 8-l0, 11—12, 13-14, 15-18, 20-2 ; X. 2-3, 5-
7, 12-14; xi. 6.
The Maxims enlarge into the Discourses: see Wisdom of Solomon (page
305) —
St. James iv. 1—10; iv. 13—v. 18.
Proverb Cluster: Aggregation of Unit Proverbs (with Epigrams and Maxims) on a
common theme : Proverbs xxv. 2-7 The King — xxvi. 3-12 On Fools —
xxvi. 13-16 On Sluggards — xxvi. 17-26 On Social Pests. Ecclesiasticus
v. 9-vi. I Government of the Tongue—xi. 7-10 Meddlesomeness—xviii.
15-18 Graciousness—xxi. 1-10 Sin and its Judgment—11-26 Wise Men
and Fools—xxi. 27-xxii, 5 Hatefulness of Evil—xxii. 6-15 Commerce
with Fools Intolerable—xxv. 16-xxvi. 18 Women Bad and Good—xxvii.
11-15. Discourse of Fools.
505
WISDOM Wisdom The Essay: Ecclesiasticus iii. 1-16 Honour to Parents— 17-28
continued Literature Meekness— iv. 1-10 Considerateness for High and
tending Low—iv. 11-19 Wisdom's Way with tending her
Prosewards Children—iv. 20-8 True and False Shame -- vi. 5-17 continued Friendship — vi. 18-37 Pursuit of Wisdom — vii. 19-36
(page 264) Household Precepts—viii-ix. 16 continued Adaptation of
Behaviour to Various Sorts of Men—ix. 17-x. 5 Wisdom
and Government—x. 6-xi. 6 Pride and True Greatness—
xi. 11-28 Prosperity and Adversity from the Lord—xi.
29-xiii. 24 Choice of Company—xiv. 3-19
Niggardliness—xiv. 20-xv. 10 The Pursuer of Wisdom
and his Reward—xv. 11-20 Free Will — xvi. 1-23 No
Safety for Sinners in Numbers —xvi. 24-xviii. 14 God's
Work of Creation and Restoration — xviii. 19-27 On
Taking Heed in Time— xix. 4-17 Against Gossip — xix.
20-xx. 13 Wisdom and its Counterfeits — xxii. 16-26
The Stedfast Friend and the Uncertain — xxiii. 7-15 The
Discipline of the Mouth — xxiii. 16-27 The Horror of
Adultery— xxv. 16-xxvi.4 Women Bad and Good—
xxvii. 25-xxviii. 11 Retribution and Vengeance—xxviii.
12-26 On the Tongue—xxix. 1-20 On Lending and
Suretyship — xxix. 21-8 The Blessing of a House of
One's Own — xxx. 1-13 Chastisement of Children —
xxx. 14-25 On Health — xxxi. 1-11 On Riches— xxii.
12-xxxii. 13 On Feasting— xxxiii. 7-15 An Analogy—
xxxiii. 19-23 On Giving and Bequeathing— xxxiii. 24-
31 On Servants—xxxiv. 1-8 On Dreams—xxxiv.
18-xxxv Sacrifices, Evil and Acceptable—xxxvi. 21-6
On Wives —xxxvii. 1-6 False Friends—xxxvii. 7-26 On
Counsel and Counsellors—xxxvii. 27-xxxviii. 15
Disease and Physicians — xxxviii. 16-23 On Mourning
for the Dead—xxxviii. 24-xxxii. 11 There is one
Wisdom for the Busy and one for the Man of Leisure—
xi. 1-10 The Burden of Life — xli. 5-13 The Posterity
of Sinners — xli. 14-xlii. 8 Things to be ashamed of—
xlii. 9-14 Women as a Source of Trouble.
12-27 On the Sources of the Evil and the Good in us —
ii. 1-13 On Respect of Persons—ii. 14-26 On Faith and
Works—iii. 1-12 On the Responsibility of Speech—iii.
13-18 The Earthly
Wisdom and the Wisdom from above. Ecclesiastes i. 12-
ii Solomon's Search for Wisdom—iii-iv. 8 The
Philosophy of Times and Seasons (including a Sonnet)
—v. 10-vi. 12 The Vanity of Desire—vii.. 23-ix. 16
The Search for Wisdom, with Notes by the Way—xi. 7-
iii. 7 Life as a Joy shadowed by the Judgment (latter part
in Sonnet form).
The (Rhetoric) Encomium: Ecclesiasticus xxxii. 16-31 On God's Works
(inwoven into preface to Book IV) —xlii. 15-xliii On the Works
of the Lord— xliv-l. 24 On Famous Men (page 281).
506
WISDOM Wisdom Epigram (page 260) : A Unit Proverb organically enlarged:
continued Literature Proverbs xxiii. 1-3 Awe before Appetite — xxiii. 4-5 The
tending Transitoriness of Riches— xxiii. 6-8 Hospitality of the Evil
Versewards Eye— xxiii. 19-21 Gluttony — xxiii. 26-8 The Pit of
Whoredom— xxiv. 11-12 The Duty of Rescue—xxiv. 13-14
Wisdom and Honey—xxiv. 23-5 Respect of Persons— xxx.
32-3 The Restraining of Wrath — xxii 4-9 Kings and Wine.
Ecclesiasticus i. 22-4 Unjust Wrath—vi. 2-4 Self Will—vii. 1-3
Sowing Sin and Reaping—xxv. 13-15 The Wrath
of an Enemy—xxvii. 5-7 Reasoning the Test of Men. Other
Epigrams are: Proverbs i. 8-9; ix. 7-9, 10-12; xxii. 22-3, 24-5,
26-7; xxiii. 10-I I, 13-14, 15-16, 17-18, 24-25;
xx1v. 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15-16, 17-18, 19-20, 21-22, 28-29; XXV. 6-
7, 9-10, 21-2; xxvi. 24-6;
xxvii. 10, 15-16 ; XXX. 5-6, 17, 20. Ecclesiasticus v. 2-3, 14, 15;
xiv. 1-2 ; xx. 16-17, 30-1; xxi. 11-12, 13-14, 15, 16-17, 19-21;
xx11. 1-2; xxxii. 16-17, 20-2; xXXVi. 18-19; 1. 28-9. Ecclesiastes x. 16-17, 20 ; xi. 3.
Fixed or Number Sonnet (page 272): Proverbs vi. 16-19 The Sower of Discord
— xxx. 7-9 The Golden Mean— xxx. 15-16 Things never
satisfied—xxx. 18-19 Things not to be known—xxx. 21-3
Things not to be borne—xxx. 24-8 Little and Wise—xxx. 29-31
Things stately in their going. Ecclesiasticus xxiii. 16-18 (part of
an Essay) — xxv. 1-2 What Wisdom hates and loves—xxv. 7-11
The Love of the Lord—xxvi. 5-6 Women Bad and Good— xxvi.
28 The Backslider—1. 25-6 The Hated Nations.
Free Sonnet (pages 272-281). Proverbs 10-19 The Company of Sinners—ii.
Wisdom the Preservative from Evil — 1-10 The Commandment
and its Reward — 11-20 Wisdom the Prize in View—iii. 21-6
Wisdom and Security 27-35 Wisdom and Perversity — iv. 1-9
The Tradition of Wisdom—iv. 10-19 The Two Paths— iv. 20-7
Wisdom and Health—v. The Strange Woman—vi. 1-5
Suretyship—vi. 6-11 The Sluggard— vi. 12-19 (A Pair of
Sonnets) The Sower of Discord—vi. 20-35 The Folly of
Adultery—ix. (Sonnet of Sonnets) The House of Wisdom and
the House of Folly—xxiii. 29-35 Woes of Wine — xxiv. 30-4
The Field of the Slothful — xxvii. 23-7 Folk Song of Good Husbandry—xxx. 1-4 The Unsearchableness of God—xxx. 11-
14 An Evil Generation xxxi. 10-31 (Acrostic) The Virtuous
Woman. Ecclesiasticus i. 1-20 Wisdom and the Fear of the
Lord—ii. 7-18 True and False Fear—xxii. 11-12 Fools and the
Dead -xxii. 27-Xxiii. 6 Watchfulness of Lips and Heart—mi. 7-
18 Women Bad and Good-xxxiv. 13-17 The Fearers of the
Lord—xi. 11-27 (A Pair of Sonnets) A
xli. 1-4 On Death. Ecclesiastes iii. 1-8 (part of an Essay) Times
and Seasons— xii. 1-7 (part of an Essay) The Coming of the Evil
Days.
Dramatic Monologue (page 282) : Proverbs i. 20-33 Wisdom's Cry of Warning—
vii-viii. Wisdom and the Strange Woman. Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 3-
22 Wisdom's Praise of Herself. Compare Ecclesiastes i. 12-ii.
Solomon's Search for Wisdom— Wisdom of Solomon ii.
1-20 and v. 3-13 The Wicked before and after Death—vi-ix
Solomon on Wisdom.
507
V. — FORMS OF PROPHETIC LITERATURE
Prophecy The Prophecy or Prophetic Discourse (328) : generic term as
A specially distinguished from more specialised forms below. Its essence
is a Divine Message [Burden (A.V.) or Oracle (R.V.):
compare Jeremiah xxiii. 26-40]. The Burden and the
recommendatory matter are fused together.— Prototype:
The Ten Commandments (compare Exodus xx and Deuter-
onomy v). Notable Prophetic Discourses are : The Grand
Arraignment (Isaiah i)— Ezekiel on the Shepherds of
(xxxiv)— Discourse with pendulum structure (Jeremiah
xxx. 4—22).
Among the Discourses are found groups of Prophetic
Sentences (like the series of isolated proverbs). Compare
Isaiah vii. i8-viii. 8; xix. 18—25; .7eremialz ix. 23-6, xvii. 1-
I2, xxxi. 21—40; Hosea viii. 7—14 ; ix. 7—X. 15 ; Zechariah
viii. 1-8 ; viii. 18-23. (Page 417.)
A Book of Prophecy is made up of Discourses or other Oracles
grouped according to subject, date, etc.: thus, Literary Index
above shows seven books in Isaiah, etc. What our Biblical titles call The
Book of the Prophet,' etc., is really made up of several ' books,' just as the
Book of Psalms in A.V. is shown to contain five ' books' in R.V. (Page
429.)
A Prophetic Cycle (425) is made up of Discourses structurally connected: A
Cycle of Dooms (Isaiah xiii-xxvii)— Cycle of the Restoration (Isaiah
xxviii-xxxv).
Doom Songs: Utterances against par- Nineveh: Nahum.
ticular Nations or Cities: partly cor- Babylon: Isaiah xiii-xiv. 23 ; Isaiah xxi. 1-10; Jeremiah 1-li.
responding to Satires and Philippics
of other literatures (353). — Proto- xxxii (Sevenfold).
type: The Curse ( Genesis ix. 25)
Ezekiel xxv. 15-11.
xxv. 8-11.
Ammon: Jeremiah xlix. i-6 ; Ezekiel xxv. 1—7.
Others: Isaiah xvii. 12—14; xviii ; xx ; xxi. Ii-i7
Jeremiah xlix. 28-39.
Books of Dooms: Jerezniah xlvi-li; Ezekiel xxv-xxxii.
Cycle of Dooms: Isaiah xiii-xxvii ; Ezekiel xxv ; Amos
i-ii.
Prophetic Lyrics (333) : Triumph Song over
Ezekiel's Doom on
Denunciation (v. 8-30) his Doom of the North (ix. 8-x. 4).
Prototype: Blessings and Last Words (Of Jacob, Genesis xIix
2—27; Of Moses, Deuteronomy vvviii 2—29; Of David
II Samuel xxiii. 1-7).
508
Propheyc Symbolic Emblem Prophecy (336): [compare modern Emblem Poetry] : Discourse
continued Prophecy with Objective or Symbolic Text. Prototype : Ceremonial Worship,
(336-45) especially the Scapegoat, the
Girdle (Jeremiah xiii) — Potter's Clay (Jeremiah xviii. 1-17) — Figs
(Jeremiah xxiv) — Map (Ezekiel xxi. 18-23) — various : Ezekiel xxxvii.
15-28 ; Zechariah vi. 9-15 ; Xi. 4-17. The Emblem may come at the close
(Jeremiah xix. 10; 1i. 61-4). Emblem action may be gesture (Ezekiel vi.
z,ii) — probably with reiteration (compare Jeremiah xiii. 12-13 ; Ezekiel
vii. 2-6) — or sustained dumb show: the Mimic Siege (Ezekiel iv-v) ; the
Removal of the Stuff (Ezekiel xii. 1-16) — it extends to symbolic
demeanour and manner of life (Ezekiel xxiv. 15-27; Hosea i-iii).
Through the permanence of some emblems [compare ferenziah xliii. 8-
10; Isaiah viii. 1-4] the Emblem tends to coalesce with the Sign of the
Prophet, that is, miraculous symbol guaranteeing the prophecy. Prototype
Moses' Signs to Pharaoh. Compare Isaiah vii. 10-16; Jeremiah xliv. 29;
Ezekiel iv. 3; Isaiah lv. 13; Matthew xii. 38-40.
Vision Prophecy (342) : in elementary form hardly distinguishable from Emblem
Prophecy: the emblem presented in vision. Prototype : Jacob's Dream
(Genesis xxviii. 12-14). Examples : Amos vii-ix ; Zechariah i. 7-vi. 8;
Isaiah lxiii. 1-6 ; especially Ezekiel's
As the Emblem tends to coalesce with the Sign so the Vision Emblem
passes into Revelation. This has two different senses: (A) Revelation of
the Future : Prototype : Pharoah's Dreams ( Genesis xli).
Of this three straceable. (1) Vision supernatural and symbolic,
Interpretation natural. stages [Daniel ii Dream of Stone cut
without hands — iv Of the tree cut down—v Of the Writing on
the Wall.] (2) A supernatural and symbolic
Interpreter, Vision itself in direct speech. [Daniel ix The Time of
Restoration — x-xii Time of the End.] With this connect the
Prophetic Call [Isaiah vi ; Jeremiah; Ezekiel i-iii]. (3) Both
Vision and Interpretation symbolic and supernatural. [Daniel
vii Of the Four Beasts — viii Of the Ram and He-Goat.]
(B) Revelation of Law and Pattern : the Symbolic passing over into the
Ideal. Prototype: the Revelation to Moses in the Mount (Hebrews
viii. 5). Examples : Ezekiel's Companion Visions of
under Judgment (viii-xi) and Jerusalem Restored (xl-xlviii)
combine A and B (pages 343-5).
Vision Cycles: Amos vii-ix; Zechariah i. 7-vi. 8—Revelation of
The Prophetic Parable (345) : Emblem text narrated instead of being presented. Prototype : the
Fable (judges ix. 8-15) . Examples : Ezekiel's Parable of the Vine (xv)— of the Spouse
(xvi)—of the Eagle and Cedar (xvii)—of Oholah and Oholibah (xxiii)—of the Caldron
(xxiv. 1-14)— Isaiah's Parable of the Vineyard (v. 1-7). Compare the Parables of Christ.
509
PROPHECY Prophetic With God: Prototype: Abraham's Intercession (Genesis xviii. 22-
continued Intercourse 33). — Examples: Jeremiah xi-xii. 6; xvi ; xvii. 13-18; xviii. 18-
(345) 23; xxxi. 23-6; Ezekiel iv. 14; Habakkuk i-ii. — Compare above
the Prophetic Calls. With Inquirers: the Response : compare as
Prototype the primitive Inquiry of the Lord (Genesis xxv. 23; I
Samuel xxviii. 6).— In the Prophetic Books: Jeremiah xxi.
1-10; xiii. 1-22; Ezekiel xiv. 1-11; xx. 1-44; Zechariah. vii. 1-7.
With this connect Dialectic Prophecy: Discourse founded on an
interruption from an imaginary disputant. — Examples : Isaiah
xxviii ; Jeremiah xiii. 12-14; Ezekiel xxxiii. 10-2o ; Micah ii. 6-
11.— The whole of Malachi is a Dialectic Cycle.
With the World : Prophetic Incidents and Controversies.— Conspiracy of
Anathoth (Jeremiah xi. 18-xii. 6) —The Potter's Bottle Jeremiah
xix-xx) — Controversy of the
Yoke (xxvii-viii)— The Anathoth Estate (Jeremiah xxxii-iii) —
The Siege (Jeremiah xxxiv)—The Rechabites (Jeremiah xxxv)—
The Burnt Roll (Jeremiah xxxvi)- -Jeremiah, and Baruch ,
(xi.v)— Daniel and the King's Meat (Daniel i) — The Burning
Fiery Furnace (iii)— The Den of Lions (vi).
Prophecy and History interwoven: Isaiah xxxvi-ix ; Jeremiah xxxvii-
xliv; Jeremiah lii-iii; Haggai.—Compare Epic Prophecy (Table
III) and the Book of Jonah.
Dramatic Prophecy (347) : Micah vi. 1-8 The Lord's Controversy_ before the Mountains
— Micah vi. 9-vii The Lord's Cry and the Man of Wisdom—Hosea xi. i-11 The
Divine Yearning—Hosea xiii-xiv A Drama of Repentance.—A Dramatic scene
of Panic (Yeremiah x. 17-25) is a link between this type and the Rhapsody. —
Compare generally : The Book of Job.
The Prophetic The RHAPSODY OF
Rhapsody Above, Chapter XVII.
(364-94) Rhapsodies of Judgment (Isaiah xxiv-xxvii)— Of Salvation (Isaiah
xxxiii)— Of the Drought (Jeremiah xiv-xv)— Of the Locust Plague
(Joel) — Of the judgment to Come (Amos)— Of Judgment Approaching
(Micah i)—Of the Chaldeans (Habakkuk i-ii). Rhapsodic Discourses:
Discourses merging in Rhapsodies, or becoming rhapsodic at par-
ticular points. — Isaiah viii. 9-ix. y; Isaiah x. 5-xii ; Jeremiah ii-vi;
Jeremiah viii. 4-ix. 9; 7eremiah xxx. 23-xxxi. 20; Hosea iv-vi. The Book
of Zephaniah is a Discourse interrupted by (impersonal) lyric outbursts
— Zechariah x-xi mingles other types with Emblem Prophecy. Most of
the Doom Songs (except those of Ezekiel) are rhapsodic at points.
VI. — LITERATURE OF ADDRESS
ADDRESS Oratory or Spoken Address The Orations of Moses in Deuteronomy.
or Rhetoric (444-61) Miscellaneous Speeches (apparently only in
condensation) Joshua xxiii, xxiv. Acts ii. 14-36;
iii. 12-26; V. 35-9; vii. 2-53; X. 34-43; xv. 7-21;
xvii. 22-31; xx. 18-35 : Xxii. 1-21; xxiv. 2-8 and
10-21; xxvi. 1-23.
Formal Prayers: Address to God : II Samuel vii. 18-29; I Kings viii. 22-53 ; Acts
iv. 24-30 ; (apocryphal) Prayer of Manasses; Wisdom ix ; Ecclesiasticus
xxxvi. 1-17 ; li. 1-12.
Pure Epistles (Pastoral Intercourse) : I, II Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians,
I, II Thessalonians, I, II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, II, III john.
Epistolary Treatises: Romans, Hebrews.
Wisdom Epistle: James.
Epistolary Ephesians, Colossians, I, II Peter, I John, Jude.
Manifestos
VII.—LITERATURE OF IDYL
IDYL Epic Idyl: Book of Ruth (235-8)
Lyric Idyl: The Song of Songs (194-217)
511
APPENDIX III
ON THE STRUCTURAL PRINTING OF SCRIPTURE
In Biblical, as in other versification, the structure which appeals to the ear
and the mind can also be conveyed to the eye by proper modes of printing.
The devices of spacing stanzas and indenting lines, which in English verse are
used to mark out correspondences of rhyme or metre, can be employed to
indicate analogous relations of parallel clauses.
The subject is best treated by examples. The system of structural printing
followed for the most part in the present work I will illustrate by an arrange-
ment of a famous passage from Ecclesiastes.
Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth:
Or ever the evil days come,
And the years draw nigh
When thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
Or ever the sun,
And the light,
And the moon,
And the stars,
Be darkened,
And the clouds return after the rain:
In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble,
And the strong men shall bow themselves,
And the grinders cease because they are few,
And those that look out of the windows be darkened,
And the doors shall be shut in the street;
When the sound of the grinding is low,
And one shall rise up at the voice of a bird,
And all the daughters of music shall be brought low;
Yea, they shall be afraid of that which is high,
512
THE STRUCTURAL PRINTING OF SCRIPTURE 513
And-terrors shall be in the way;
And the almond-tree shall blossom,
And the grasshopper shall be a burden,
And the caper-berry shall fail:
Because man goeth to his long home,
And the mourners go about the streets:
Or ever the silver cord be loosed,
Or the golden bowl be broken,
Or the pitcher be broken at the fountain,
Or the wheel broken at the cistern;
And the dust return to the earth
As it was,
And the spirit return unto God
Who gave it.
The system is illustrated in all its essential features by this passage. Two
of the principles underlying it are obvious: that similar clauses are similarly
indented, and that stanzas are separated by spaces. It involves, however,
two other points that need more explanation.
The first of these points is raised by the opening stanza. When this
stanza, or rather, the portion of it which follows the introductory first line, is
examined, it is seen to be essentially a couplet, of which one member is
Or ever the evil days come,
and the other member is
And the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no
pleasure in them.
Considered from every point of view except one, these clauses are exactly
parallel with one another. But when viewed in reference to the mass of the
two they are found strangely unequal: the epithet of a single word ‘evil’ in
the one clause has to balance it in the other the long collocation of words,
‘when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.’ Yet this collocation of
words does not present itself to our ears as a clumsy enlargement of the
second clause, but, on the contrary, as a valuable addition to the rhetoric
richness of the whole passage. I would meet such a case by separating the
collocation of words so as to make it an element in the general structure, and
514 APPENDIX III
at the same time indenting it so as to indicate its subordination to the previous
line, in the sense of which it is a single detail.
Or ever the evil days come
And the years draw nigh
When thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.
It will be seen that the device of indenting is thus used not only to bring
together lines which are co-ordinate with one another, but also (occasionally)
to distinguish a portion of the whole rhetoric mass which is subordinate to
another portion. I believe that no system of parallel printing will be found
practicable which does not provide for subordinate as well as co-ordinate
indenting.
Another point illustrated by the extract from Ecclesiastes is the way in
which parallel printing, besides affecting lines closely contiguous, can also
convey to the eye correspondences between clauses widely sundered from one
another. The passage cited is a poetic tour-de-force of extreme boldness;
the infirmities of old age, which usually good taste would veil, are here
enumerated in all their minuteness. Wet the effect is one of beauty, because
the symptoms of decay are not expressed directly, but suggested under shadows
of oriental symbolism,— by symbols sometimes unintelligible to the Western
reader, whereas others of them have from this passage been imported into
familiar speech. At just three points in the whole poem the symbolism is
dropped, and direct speech has a moment's prominence: in the opening line,
bidding remember God in youth; once further on, where a string of symbols
gives place to the simple words —
Because man goeth to his long home
And the mourners go about the streets;
and again at the conclusion which speaks of the dust returning to the earth
and the spirit to God. As the passage is printed above it will be seen that
these three passages stand out. from all the rest by their common indenting on
the extreme left.
The system of structural printing thus illustrated aims at reflecting the
higher Parallelism. I have drawn attention in the body of this work (page
73) to the distinction between the Lower and the Higher Parallelism: between
the disposition of a passage in simple figures, like couplets and quatrains, and,
on the other hand, the suppression of these figures in order to let higher
correspondences appear, such as belong to the thought of the passage as a
whole. By way of illustration I gave two arrangements of a passage from
the Book of Job (see pages 74-6). The arrangement illustrating the Higher
THE STRUCTURAL PRLVTING OF SCRIPTURE 515
Parallelism was able to keep distinct to the eye the two strains of thought
which in that passage are continually crossing one another. The same effect
may be secured in the close of the sixty-fifth psalm: as here arranged it will
be seen that the left-hand lines express the general visitation of the God of
nature, and the resulting bountiful harvest, while the right-hand lines put the
special gift of rain with the richness of pasturage the rain produces.
Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it:
Thou greatly enrichest it,
The
Thou providest them corn, when thou hast so prepared the earth;
Thou waterest her furrows abundantly,
Thou settlest the ridges thereof,
Thou makest it soft with showers,
Thou blessest the springing thereof,
Thou crownest the year with thy goodness:
And thy paths drop fatness,
They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness,
And the hills are girded with joy:
The pastures are clothed with flocks,
The valleys also are covered over with corn:
They shout for joy, they also sing.
Many similar effects of Higher Parallelism can be conveyed by structural
printing. In the arrangement of Psalm lxxvii on page 175 it will be clear
how a block of similar lines makes an enumeration of troubled emotions,
then an indentation to the right voices the prayer of trouble; again left-hand.
lines express the struggle out of trouble to the confidence born of memories,
and a change to right-hand lines introduces the comforting memories: the
whole struggle, in the proportion of its parts, is reflected to the eye. The
similar psalm cited on pages 176-7 separates the alternating trouble and confi-
dence notwithstanding the irregularity of the alternations. In the psalms of
double dramatic change (see pages 180-3) the retrogression to the time of
affliction is marked off by indentation, and this arrangement conveys at once
to the eye how the close of the psalm is a return to the mood of the
opening. On page 206 is given the happy dream of the bride (in Canticles):
a glance shows how the lines indented to the right make an approach to a
refrain. In the passage of the Reciting Chorus on the following page the
left-hand lines exclaim at a sight, the right-hand lines describe it: the whole
has the further effect of introversion. For the poems called in this work
Sonnets, some structural printing is essential to bring out the correspondence
516 APPENDIX III
of their parts: this has been fully explained and illustrated on pages 273-7.
I will add one more example, on a larger scale, of the kind of printing I
advocate: it is the section of Job which gives the hero's long-delayed vindi-
cation of his innocence.
I made a covenant with mine eyes;
How then should I look upon a maid?
For what portion should I have of God from above?
And what heritage of the Almighty from on high?
Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,
And disaster to the workers of iniquity?
Doth not he see my ways,
And number all my steps?
If I have walked with vanity
And my foot hath hasted to deceit;
(Let me be weighed in an even balance,
That God may know mine integrity ;)
If my step hath turned out of the way,
And mine heart walked after mine eyes,
And if any spot hath cleaved to mine hands:
Then let me sow, and let another eat;
Yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.
If mine heart have been enticed unto a woman,
And I have laid wait at my neighbour's door:
Then let my wife grind unto another,
And let others bow down upon her.
For that were an heinous crime;
Yea, it were an iniquity to he punished by the judges:
For it is a fire that consumeth unto Destruction,
And would root out all mine increase.
If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant,
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?
If I have withheld the poor from their desire
Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
THE STRUCTURAL PRINTING OF SCRIPTURE 517
Or have eaten my morsel alone,
And the fatherless bath not eaten thereof;
(Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,
And I have been her guide from my mother's womb;)
If I have seen any perish for want of clothing,
Or that the needy had no covering;
If his loins have not blessed me,
And if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,
Because I saw my help in the gate:
Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade,
And mine arm be broken from the bone.
For calamity from God was a terror to me,
And by reason of his excellency I could do nothing.
If I have made gold my hope,
And have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
If I rejoiced because my wealth was great,
And because mine hand had gotten much;
If I beheld the sun when it shined,
Or the moon walking in brightness;
And my heart hath been secretly enticed,
And my mouth hath kissed my hand:
This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges:
For I should have lied to God that is above.
If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,
Or lifted up myself when evil found him;
(Yea, I suffered not my mouth to sin
By asking his life with a curse;)
If the men of my tent said not,
Who can find one that hath not been satisfied with his flesh?
The stranger did not lodge in the street;
But I opened my doors to the traveller;
If after the manner of men I covered my transgressions,
By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom;
Because I feared the great multitude,
And the contempt of families terrified me,
So that I kept silence, and went not out of the door —
518 APPENDIX III
Oh that I had one to hear me!
(Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me;)
And that I had the indictment which mine adversary hath written!
Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder;
I would bind it unto me as a crown.
I would declare unto him the number of my steps;
As a prince would I present it to him.
If my land cry out against me,
And the furrows thereof weep together;
If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money,
Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:
Let thistles grow instead of wheat,
And cockle instead of barley!
It is abundantly clear that the whole of this elaborate deliverance is con-
structed on three notes, and the resultant three strains stand distinct to the
eye. It is as if Job were adapting rhetorically a prescribed formulary of
vindication to a great variety of particulars. In Psalm vii. 3 a similarly
constructed passage is also a formulary of self-vindication.
O LORD My God, if I have done this;
If there be iniquity in my hands;
If have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me;
(Yea, I have delivered him that without cause was mine adversary:)
Let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it;
Yea, let him tread my life down to the earth,
And lay my glory in the dust!
It is, however, the Lower Parallelism of figures that has obtained the
widest acceptance at the present day. Besides the use of it in the com-
mentaries of scholars, it has been followed in a few popular works, an example
of which is the Golden Treasury Psalter. This follows a condensed notation,
resting upon the use of the ‘hanging indent.’ The opening of Psalm lvii, in
full rhythmic structure, would stand as follows :
Be merciful unto me, 0 God, be merciful unto me,
For my soul fleeth unto thee for refuge,
Yea, under the shadow of thy wings shall be my refuge,
Until this peril be overpast!
I will call unto the most high God,
Even to God who doeth good unto me.
THE STRUCTURAL PRINTING OF SCRIPTURE 519
That he send from heaven and save me,
And put to shame him that would eat me up,
Yea, that God send forth his mercy and truth.
My soul is among lions, I lie even among ravening men,
With the children of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows,
And their tongue a sharp sword.
To make, in this way, separate stanzas of these triplets, couplet and quatrain
loses space, and spreads the whole out further than may be desirable. The
more compact structural scheme, instead of spacing, retains the ‘hanging
indent’ (to the extreme left) for the first line of each figure: and the other
lines of the figure are made subordinate.
Be merciful unto me, 0 God, be merciful unto me,
For my soul fleeth unto thee for refuge,
Yea, under the shadow of thy wings shall be my refuge,
until this peril be overpast!
I will call unto the most high God,
even to God who doeth good unto me,
That he send from heaven and save me,
and put to shame him that would eat me up,
Yea, that God send forth his mercy and truth!
My soul is among lions. I lie even among ravening men,
With the children of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows,
and their tongue a sharp sword.
I doubt the advantages of this condensed structure, except where the figures
are very simple and uniform. I have used it on pages 47 and 54.
There is, however, a mode of printing Scriptural verse that reflects no
parallelism at all, whether higher or lower, but simply distinguishes the lines
of verse, all lines being uniformly indented. This is the mode followed in
the Revised Version of the Bible. Standing by itself, this Verse Structure
seems a very insufficient representation of the rhythmic poetry of the Bible.
But it may be a useful adjunct to the Higher Parallelism; where there are
no special correspondences to be indicated, it is better to fall back upon this
neutral verse structure than upon the lower parallelism that rests upon figures
and not sense.
Yet another structural notation, which may be called Centric Printing, is
followed (for example) by Dr. Samuel Cox in his admirable translation of Job.
This device is attributed to the poet Southey, and he has used it in the elabo-
520 APPENDIX III
rate verse system of his Kehama and Thalaba. Its law is simple, —that the
centre of each line corresponds with the centre of the page.
Thy sons and thy daughters
were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house;
and, behold,
there came a great wind from the wilderness,
and smote the four corners of the house,
and it fell upon the young men,
and they are dead;
and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Though not without beauty to the eye, this mode of printing seems inadequate
to the requirements of Biblical versification, as merely separating clauses, and
not co-ordinating them. But it may have a real place in the expression of
speech which is on the borderland between prose and verse, and I have used
it in such passages (e.g. page 4).
As to the choice between these systems of structural printing, I would lay
it down as a principle of rhythmic analysis that there is in these questions no
right and wrong, but only better and worse. A given passage may be expressed
in many different arrangements, and that will be the hest which draws out of
it the greatest symmetry. And even the sense of symmetry will vary accord-
ing to the conception of a particular passage or the purpose of a particular
citation.
APPENDIX IV
ON THE USE OF THE DIGRESSION IN THE ‘BOOK
OF WISDOM’
I have remarked in Chapter XIII upon a peculiar feature of literary style
that characterises the Wisdom of Solomon. This is the use in that book of
the Digression, not as an accident or a makeshift, but as an end in itself.
The exact usage may be described by the term Digressive Subordination: a
succession of digressions, and digressions from those digressions, each reced-
ing further from the original line of thought. It is difficult to find an illustra-
tive parallel without going to literature of a very different order; but perhaps
one is to be found in a feature of oriental fiction which French criticism has
entitled histoires a tiroir. I refer to such fiction as is known to the West by
the Arabian Nights or the Fables of Bidpai: the original story introduces a
personage who tells a number of stories, in one of which a company entertain
one another with stories; and the process is continued, story enclosed within
story, like a set of Chinese boxes. Not dissimilar to such story subordination
is the digressive subordination of the work we are considering; as perhaps the
following scheme will help to make clear.
For evil thoughts and works separate from God
For Wisdom takes fright at even a wicked word
For that which fills all things must hear every murmur
Each line represents a whole paragraph of the original. It will be seen that
the third line is a comment upon the second, and the second upon the first;
or, if we read the other way, the second line is a digression from the first, and
the third, being a digression from the second, is doubly a digression from
the first.
The argument represented by the above scheme I will quote in full (i. 2-11).
Seek the Lord (urges the author) with singleness of heart:
521
522 APPENDIX IV
Because he is found of them that tempt him not, and is manifested to them that
do not distrust him. For crooked thoughts separate from God, and the Supreme
Power, when it is brought to the proof, putteth to confusion the foolish;
Because wisdom will not enter into a soul that deviseth evil, nor dwell in a
body that is held in pledge by sin. For a holy spirit of discipline will flee
deceit, and will start away from thoughts that are without understanding,
and will be put to confusion when unrighteousness hath come in. For
wisdom is a spirit that loveth man, and she will not hold a blasphemer
guiltless for his lips; because God beareth witness of his reins, and is a
true overseer of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue:
Because the spirit of the Lord hath filled the world, and that which
holdeth all things together hath knowledge of every voice: therefore
no man that uttereth unrighteous things shall be unseen, neither shall
Justice, when it convicteth, pass him by. For in the midst of his
counsels the ungodly shall be searched out; and the sound of his
words shall come unto she Lord to bring to conviction his lawless
deeds: because there is an ear of jealousy that listeneth to all things,
and the noise of murmurings is not hid. Beware then of unprofitable
murmuring, and refrain your tongue from backbiting, because no
secret utterance shall go on its way void, and a mouth that belieth
destroyeth a soul.
In seeking an explanation of this marked feature of literary style, one
remark may be ventured. The Wisdom of Solomon, however Greek it may
be in origin and modes of thought, is nevertheless a contribution to Hebrew
literature, and to the long literary period that intervenes between the Old
and New Testament. But the main religious literature of this period was the
oral literature of commentary, which, from the time of Ezra, maintained itself
and gathered strength, until, in the Christian era, it took written shape in the
Talmud. It would be strange if that which made so large a part of Jewish
religious life had left no trace in the written literature of the times; and we
have seen that the whole of the Wisdom of Solomon falls into the shape of
texts and comments. But there is a close connection between the comment
and the digression: a digression may be looked upon as a comment upon
that point of the discourse from which it digresses. Hence the prominence
of the digression in the Book of Wisdom may be connected with the influ-
ence of the oral literature of commentary upon written literature.
This influence is found to extend to the literature of the New Testament.
In the style of
which is the subject of this Appendix. It is also specially observable in the
THE DIGRESSIONS IN THE ‘BOOK OF WISDOM’ 523
Gospel of
their difficulty when text and comment are separated.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.
[The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him;
and without him was not anything made. That which hath been made
was life in him; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth
in the darkness; and the darkness overcame it not. There came a man
sent front God, whose name was John. The same came for witness, that
he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. He
was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light. The
true light, which lighteth every titan, was coming into the world. He was
in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew hit
not. He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him
not. But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become
children of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God.]
And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
[And we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father.
John beareth witness of hits, and crieth, etc.]
In the same way care is often needed in this Gospel to distinguish exactly
where a discourse of Jesus ends, and the Evangelist's comment begins. Thus
the Discourse to Nicodemus should probably end with verse 15, and verses
16-21 are the words of
To return to the Book of Wisdom. That such digressive subordination is
not the result of confused or lax thought, but is an end in itself, is strongly
suggested by the fact that, in the most elaborate examples, the process is
carried on to the point of reversing itself, and the dropped threads are picked
up one by one, till the argument has returned to the original line of thought
by stages as regular as those by which it had departed from it. Another
scheme may illustrate this.
With the loathsome plague of vermin compare —
But note nemesis: vermin on foolish vermin-worshippers
Not but what all idolatry is folly, as corrupting God's gifts -
For idolatry in its origin is a corruption —
All idolatry is folly, but there are degrees of folly
Vermin-worship was the vilest and deserved such doom —
With that loathsomeness compare the tasty quails of the Israelites.
524 APPENDIX IV
The reader must understand that each of these lines has to do duty for what
in the original is a train of argument running sometimes to several pages.
It will be seen that each of the successive digressions is further removed from
the original thought, until the discussion on the origin of idolatry represented
by the fourth line stands three degrees distant from the argument of the
opening line; then the argument returns on its steps, each of the previous
digressions is resumed and concluded, and the first line of thought is recovered.
It may be added that, once the key to the arrangement is caught, the points
of junction in the text will be seen to be clearly marked; and the whole
complex of thought gives the impression of symmetry and finish.
The portion of the text represented by this second scheme (from xi. 15 to
xvi. 4) is too long to quote in full, but I give a condensation, indented so as
to bring out the digressive subordination. References are inserted indicating
the exact point at which each digression leads off.
Appetite (it is argued, though the argument is not apparent until after the
close of the digressions in xvi. 4) is one of the things in reference to which the
enemy was punished, and the righteous nation benefited. The Egyptians suf.
fired a plague of VERMIN.
Note: Vermin on vermin-worshippers (xi. 16): by what things a men
sinneth, by these he is punished. The choice of that punishment in kind
over all other modes of punishment evidences the mercy of the omnipotent
lover of lives (such a reminder to the sinner being part of his way of con-
victing little by little, as when hornets were sent upon the Canaanites before
the final destroyers carne). God's sovereignty over all makes him forbear-
ing to all; teaching his people to be lovers of men, andgiving them hope in
the time of their own chastisement. — The Egyptians were justly chastised
with their own abominations, because they were so fear gone in the FOLLY
OF IDOLATRY.
For all idolatry is folly (xiii. I) : to see God's works, and not recog-
nise the Creator. Least blameable are those who mistake the heavenly
bodies or beautiful works of nature for God (though, knowing so
much, these might have known more). But miserable indeed are
those who rest their hopes in dead things: gold, silver, useless stone,
or even refuse of a tree carved in an idle hour into a god; the work-
man prayeth all help from this which is in all things helpless: accursed
idolater that turns what God has created into CORRUPTION,
For idolatry is a corruption of life (xiv. 12), and not one of the
things which have been from the beginning. Origin of idola-
THE DIGRESSIONS IN THE ‘BOOK OF WISDOM’ 525
try: perhaps an image of a lost child, honoured with riles,
that afterwards grow into a law. Or, an image of a king,
made for flattery in his absence, forced by the art of the ar-
tificer into a beauty that in time draws worship: thus stocks
and stones become invested with the incommunicable Name.
Moral corruption fellows: the conflict within the idolaters' hearts
caused by their loss of the knowledge of God they consider peace,
and organise for it rites and ceremonies, which admit foul sin,
besides that the empty idols are no restraint upon perjury.
But we have knowledge of the true God (xv. 1), and are not led into
folly by the devices of men's art to worship dead images. Such a fool
is the potter, who out of clay makes vessels for clean uses and the con-
trary (he decides which), and out of this same clay mouldeth a god—
though he was himself earth but lately, and into earth will shortly
return : he is full of anxiety, not about the shortness of his term, but
in matching himself against the goldsmith's work, as if life were a
plaything, or a fur for making gain: he beyond other idolaters must
know that he sinneth.
The vermin-worshippers of
of idolatry (xv. 14): they made their gods, not only the senseless idols of the
nations, but also creatures that in themselves are hateful and void of
beauty. Hence they were worthily punished through these same abomina-
tions which they worshipped.
But (xvi. 2) instead of this plague of vermin, through which the Egyptians
came to loathe their necessary food, the people of God received benefits in the
matter of food, — quails of rare flavour to satisfy dainty appetite: having
suffered want just enough to know what the torment of the enemy would be.
In conclusion, the remark often made in reference to the literary style of
digression will be found, as regards the matter, to be an advance in the course
of the argument.
GENERAL INDEX
*** For Books of the Bible, or any portions of these, see above, Literary Index to
he Bible.
*** For Literary Forms (‘Prophecy,’ ‘Epic,’ ‘Lyric,’ &c.), or subdivisions of these
(suck as ‘Emblem Prophecy,’ ‘Dramatic Lyrics,’ &c.), see above, Appendix II.
Accession Hymns: 16o and (Table) 501. Acrostic devices: 157 and note — Acros- tic Elegies, 157— Meditations, 183 —Various examples, 161, 287, and (Table) 500-1. Acts (or advancing Stages) as a mode of movement in Prophetic literature : 369-73. Address, Literature of: 439 and Book VI—Divine Address as element of Rhapsodic dialogue, 368. Alternation as a mode of Lyric move- ment (Pendulum Movement): 139-42, 143, 146-7, 148-9, 182 (note), 515 — in Prophetic literature, 332, 349-51, 373- 80, 387-91, 399-405, 415-6. Analytic Imagination in Wisdom: 305. Anthems, National: 142 and (Table) 500. Antiphonal structure of 'Deborah's Song': 132—of Ritual Psalms, 161. Antiphony as a mode of Lyric move- ment: 103, 132, 161, 397-8, 413-4. Antistrophic structure: 58-61— Exam- ples, 76-7,79, 135-6, 150—Antistro- phic Introversion, 59-60 — Interweav- ing, 61— a mode of Lyric movement, 334. Antithesis (or Contrast) as mode of Lyric development: 192, 91, 97, 150-2. Apostrophe 131, compare 133-6. Ascents, Songs of: 170-3 and (Table) 501. |
Association as an effect in Prophetic literature: 432-6. Augmenting as a mode of Lyric move- ment: 137, compare 119, 158, 408. ‘Authorized Version’ of the Bible: 45, 46, 82-90. Authorship not an element in literary study: 92-3—in application to Bibli- cal poetry, 93-6. Ballad Dance as a primitive literary form: 107-11 — War Ballads: (Table) 500. Benedictions: 16o and (Table) 501. Blessing as a form of Prophetic litera- ture: 46o-I and (Table) 5o8. Burden: 328 and (Table) 508. Call (Prophetic) : 343 and (Table) 509. Cardinal Points, The Four, of Litera- ture: 105-6. Ceremonial Worship a prototype of Em- blem Prophecy: 340. Chain figure: 52-3. Chorus, Characterised : Of Nations, 366, 408-9— Of Elders, 376-7 —Celestial; 407-8 — of Watchmen, 413 —as an element of Rhapsodic dialogue, 368. Chorus, Impersonal, as an element in Rhapsodic dialogue : 368—illustra- tions: 120-4, 379, 400, 402, 403, 406, 409, 410, 412. Chorus, Reciting, in Solomon's Song 196. |
527
528 GENERAL INDEX
Climax and Crescendo as devices of Lyric movement: 76, 8o, 145, 148, 152, 158 — as an effect in Lyric Prophecy: 334. Cluster of Prophecy: 430 — of Prophetic Sentences, 420. Cluster of Proverbs: 265 and (Table) 505. Deuteronomy, 468. Commandments, The Ten, as prototype of the Prophetic Discourse: 329. Comment, Text and, as a literary form: 263 and Appendix IV—its connec- tion with the Digression, 522—applied to Wisdom, 305-6. Concentration as a mode of Lyric move- ment: 130, 145. Contrast (or Antithesis) as a mode of Lyric development: 192, 91, 97, 150-2. Controversy Prophetic: 347 and ("Table) 510. Couplet and Triplet as figures of Par- allelism: 48-9. Creation, Account of in Genesis as ex- ample of Parallelism: 71-2. Creeds, Lyrical and Modern: 166-8. Crescendo and Climax as devices of Lyric movement: 76, 8o, 145, 148, 152, 158 — as an effect in Lyric Prophecy: 334. Cries as element of Rhapsodic dialogue : 368, 370, 387-9. Curse, The, in Job: 6, 31 — the Primi- tive Curse a prototype of the Doom Song: 355. Cycle in Prophecy: 425-8 and (Table) 508. [Of Discourses, 426—7—Dialec- tic Cycle, 425 (compare 346-7) --Of' Dooms, 425 (compare 114-7), 429— 1 Emblem Cycle, 425 (compare 393) — Vision Cycle, 427-8, 430, 431.] Cycle, Prophetic [of Stories] : 238 and (Table) 504. Cycle or Game of Riddles: 257 and (Table) 505. Description as a Cardinal Point of Lit- erature: 105, 107-11. Description, Scenic (in the Rhapsody) 368; compare 374-80, 386, 399, 400, |
408, 411-2 — Prophetic, 368, 374, (Vision) 389. Development, Lyric, 186. (See Move- ment. ) Dialogue, Elements of, in Rhapsody: 367-8. Digression in Wisdom: 306 and Appen- dix IV—Chain of Digressions and Digressive Subordination, 319 and Ap- pendix IV. Dirge as prototype of Elegy: 156 — Dirge Rhythm, 156, 333, 361. Discourse: Wisdom Discourses, 491, 305 and Chapter XIII — Prophetic, 328 and (Table) 508 — Rhapsodic, 386 and (Table) 510. Divine Intervention in Job, 22-4, 34-5; Doom Songs: Chapter XV and (Table) 508. Doxologies (Table): or. Drama as one of the six fundamental literary forms : io8, 109 — Hebrew literature shows dramatic influences rather than drama, 111, compare 381 and Chapter XVI.— Dramatic Interest in Job, 25-7. Dramatic Lyrics: 174 and (Table) 501 — Dramatic Monologue, 282 and (Table) 507. Dramatic Transition as a mode of Lyric movement: 78-9 (compare 90), 177-9 (compare 184) — as an effect in Prophetic literature: 381-5, 366. Dumb Show in Prophecy: 338. Elegies: 156 and (Table) 500. Emblem Literature: 336 — Quarles's emblems, 336. Emendation, Textual: 57 (note) -- corn-- pare 17-8, 472 (note), 61, 276 (notes). Encomium Lyric: 156, 159, and ("Table) 500 — Rhetoric: 281-2 and (Table), 5o6. Enumeration as a mode of Lyric devel- opment: ,6o, 145. (See Reiteration.) — In Rhetoric style, 299, 315, 360. Envelope Figure: 53-4 — compare 69, 70, 77-80, 150-1— Enveloping Vision: 427-8. Epic as one of the six fundamental lite- |
GENERAL INDEX 529
rary forms: 107-9 — question of Epic Poetry in the Bible, 221— Epic and History, 221— Epic Interest in Job, 28-30. Epic, Various forms of: 223-43 and (Table) 504. Epic Idyl: 235 and (Table) 511, 504. Epic Prophecy: 238 and (Table) 504. Epigram: 26o and (Table) 507. Epilogue: 302, 385, 393. Epistle, Gnomic: 286-7, 292-3 — Epis- tolary Manifesto, 442-3 — Pastoral Epistle, 439-41— Epistolary Treatise, 441-2. — (See also Table, 511.) Essay: 264-72 and (Table) 506. Exile Songs: 63, 157, 171-2, and (Table) 500, 501. Fable: Table on page 505— compare 345 and note. Festal Hymns: 16o and (Table) 501. Floating Poetry: 93-6. Folk Songs: Table on page 500— com- pare 68-9, 287. Footnotes in Deuteronomy: 445. Gnomic Epistles: 286-7, 292-3, and (Table) 511. Gospels as a literary form : 250 and (Table) 503. Gradual Psalms: 170, (note). Hallelujahs: 16o and (Table) 501. Hebrew Literature, Distinguishing fea- tures of: III-24. [Not Drama but dramatic influences, III — special de- partment of Prophecy, 112 — Overlap- ping of Verse and Prose, 112-24.] History as one of the six fundamental literary forms: Iio. History, Various forms of: 244 and Chapter X, and (Table) 502-3. Idyl as a literary form: 195 (note), and (Table) 511 — Solomon's Song, 194 and Chapter VIII — Ruda, 235. Imagery as a mode of Lyric develop- ment: 186-92, 84, 161—massing of imagery, 186-8 (compare 435-6) — Concealed Imagery, 188-92. |
Inauguration of for: 100-3, 154-5. Incident: in History, 223—in Prophecy, 347 and (Table) 510. Indenting, Coordinate and Subordinate : 513-4. Inquiry, Prophetic: 339, 346, and (Table) 510. Intercession as Prophetic prototype: 346. Intercourse, Prophetic : 346 and (Table) 510. Interlacing (or Interweaving) Parallel- ism: 51, 61. Interruption as mode of Lyric move- ment: 131, 149 — in Prophetic litera- ture, 120-4 (compare 385). Interweaving (or Interlacing) Parallel- ism: 51, 61. Introversion: in Couplets and Triplets, 50, 51— Antistrophic, 59-60 — Stro- phic, 515. Judgment: force of the word in O. T.: 167, 302— as a motive in Lyric poetry : (see "Table on page 501) — in Pro- phetic literature : Book V generally — especially 364 and Chapter XVI, 398, 413-6. Lamech, Song of: 68. Lectionary, Revised: 46. Liturgies Modern and Biblical: 166-- Liturgical Poetry 16o-7o and (Table) 501— compare 414. Lord's Prayer, The, as an Envelope Figure: 69-70. Lyric as one of the six fundamental literary forms: 108-10 — Lyric move- ment or development: see Movement — Lyric elements in Rhapsodic dia- logue, 368 — Lyric Outbursts in Proph- ecy, 120-4, 366, 376-9, 400-5, 406, 412 — Lyric Interest in lob, 31-2. Lyric Prophecy: 333 and (Table) 5o8. Lyrics Prophetic: 333 and (Table) 5o8. Manifesto, Prophetic : 386, 430, 482, 490. — Epistolary: 442, 443, and (Table) 511. |
530 GENERAL INDEX
Maxims: 263 and (Table) 505. Meditations,Lyric: 183 and (Table) Sox. Miscellanies of Wisdom: 284, 289; compare 294. Monodies, Lyric: 183, 164, 174-7, and (Table) 501. Monologue, Dramatic: 282-3 and (Table) 507 — Prophetic Monologue or Soliloquy, 405, 406, 413 — Alter- nating Monologue as an element of Rhapsodic dialogue: 368, compare 350 and 399-405. Movement, Modes of, in Lyric poetry: Alternation (or Pendulum move- ment), 139-42, 143, 146-7, 148-9 Antiphony, 132, 103, 161— Augment- ing, 137, 119, 158,403-Concentration, 130, 145 — Contrast or Antithesis, 192, 91, 97, 150-2 — Crescendo and Climax, 76, 8o, 145, 148, 152, 158, 334 —Dramatic Transition, 78-9 (com- pare 90), 177-9 (compare 184) — Imagery, 186-92, 84 —Interruption, 131, 149 —Reiteration, Enumeration, Repetition, and Refrain, 185, 57, 61, 63-5, 144, 145, 147, 148 (compare 65- 7), 16o—Retrogression (18o-3). Movement, Modes of, in Prophetic liter- ature: Advancing Stages or ‘Acts,’ 369-73—Distinct Stages or ‘Phases,’ 391, 391-4, 395-7 and Chapter XVII Alternation (or Pendulum move- ment), 332, 349-51, 373-80, 387-91, 399-405, 415-6 — Antistrophic, 334-5 — Crescendo and Climax, 334-Dra- matic Transition, 366, 381-5 —Inter- ruption, 120-4 (compare 385) — Sud- den Realisation, 385-6 (compare 184) — Reiteration, Enumeration, Repe- tition, Refrain, 334-5, 360, 362-3, 392,114-7. Music: Confusion of figures in chanting, 48-9-Musical Expression of Struc- ture, 67. Narrative, Historic and Lyric: 130. Occasional Poetry, 153 and (Table) 500. Ode: Greek, 58 — Biblical, 127 and (Table) 500. |
Oracle as a form of Prophecy 328, (note) and (Table) 508 ; compare 346, 355-8. Oral tradition in relation to Biblical poe- try: 93-6. Oratory as a branch of the Literature of Address : 439, 444, and Chapter XX ; compare Table on page 511. Overlapping of Verse and Prose in Bib- lical literature : 112-24 — Examples, 334, 356-7, 361-3. Parable: Table on page 505 -- Pro- phetic,345 and (Table) 509— Drama- tised: Table on page 5o5. Paradox: 294. Parallelism: the basis of Biblical Vg,;. 7 sification, 46-7—Figures of Parallel- ism, 48-54—Lower or Rhythmic Par- allelism, 45 and Chapter I, 73.-6 Musical Expression of Parallel Struc- ture, 48-9, 67 — Lower Parallelism rep- resented in Structural Printing, 518-9 — Parallelism a factor in Interpreta- tion, 68-73— Higher Parallelism or Parallelism of Interpretation, 613 and Chapter II — Higher Parallelism rep- resented in Structural Printing, 512--8-- Parallelism and its antithesis Surprise, 76-8o—the Higher and Lower Par- allelism applied to the same passage, 74-6. Parallelism, Figures of: Couplet and Triplet, 48-9—confusion of these in chanting, 48-51— Quatrains, 50-51 -- Double Triplets, 51— Chain Figure, 52-3-Envelope Figure, 53-4 -- Question and Answer, 54 (note) -- Recitative additions to. figures, 51-2. Pause, as a literary device : 182, 366. Pendulum Movement (or Alternation) : in Lyric Poetry, 139-42, 143, 146-7, 148-9 — in Prophetic literature, 332, 349-51, 373-80, 387-91, 399-405, 415-6- Phases as a mode of movement in Pro- phetic literature: 391, 391-4, 395, and Chapter XVII. Philippic in relation to Doom Song: 355. Philosophy as one of the six fundamen- tal literary forms: 110—Biblical Phi- |
GENERAL INDEX 531
losophy or Wisdom, 255— Interest of Philosophy in Job, 33. Philosophy or Wisdom: Various forms of: Chapter XI and (Table) 505-7. Poetry as one of the four Cardinal Points of Literature : Io6, 107-I1. Postscript : 184. Prayer as part of the Literature of Ad- dress: 444 and (Table) 511. Prayer-Book Vei sion of Psalms: 83. Prefaces, 289-90, and see 492-5. Prelude: in Lyric Poetry, 133, 137, 139, 144, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150 — in Prophecy, 374, 382, 397. Presentation as one of the four Car- dinal Points of Literature, 105, 107-11. Printing of Bible obscures its form: 45 — Structural Printing, Appendix III. [Higher Parallelism, 512-8 — Lower, 518-20 — Condensed Structure, 518 Verse St ucture, 519 — Centric Print- ing, 519-20.] Prologue: 294. Prophecy, one of the three distinguish- ing features of Hebrew literature: 112—the word ‘prophecy,’ 327, 342 --as a department of literature, 327— Interest of Prophecy in Job, 39, Prophecy, Various Forms of: Chapters XIV-XVI, and (fable) 5o8-10. Prophet, Sign of the: 340 and (Table) 509—Call of the Prophet: 343 and (Table) 509. Prophetic Call, 343 and (Table) 509— Controversies, 347 and (Table) 510 — Cycle, 425-8 and (!'able) 5o8 — Description, 368 (compare 375-80, 389) —Discourse, 328 and (fable), 508—Epics, 240 and (Table) 504— Incidents, 347 and (Table) 510 — In- tercourse, 346 and (Table) 510—; Lyrics, 333 and (Table) 508— ble, 345 and (Table) 509 — Response, 346 and (Table) 510 — Rhapsody, Chapters XVI and XVI I, and (Table) 510—Sentences 417-25 and (Table) 508. Prose as one of the four Cardinal Points of Literature: 106, 107-11 — double |
usage of the word, io6 — Overlapping of Prose and Verse a distinguishing feature of Hebrew literature, 112-24 (compare 334, 356-7, 361-3). Proverb: 256 and (Table) 505-7. Proverb Cluster: 265 and ('fable) 503. Psalms, Varieties of: see Table on pages 5oo-1. Quarles’s Emblems: 336. Quatrain: 50-51 Question and Answer as a figure of Par- allelism: 54 (note). Realisation is a mode of movement in Prophetic literature: 385-6 (compare 184). Recitative in figures of Parallelism: 51-2. Refrains as a structural device and mode of movement in Lyric poetry (see Reiteration): 55, 57, 61, 63-65, 65-7, 114-7, 138-9, 147, 196-7, 205, 392, 414, 515—in Lyric Prophecy, 334—as a leit motif in Joel, 369. Refrain augmenting: 158—parenthetic, 196. Reiteration in Prophecy: 338—in Pro- phetic Sentences, 419. Reiteration (Enumeration, Repetition, Refrain) as a mode of Lyric movement, 185, 57, 61, 63-5, 144, 145, 147, 148 (com- pare 63-7), 160—in Prophetic litera- ture, 334-5, 360, 362-3, 392, 114-7, Reminiscences, Dramatised: 197-9. Repetition as a mode of Lyric move- ment, 185. (See Reiteration.) Response, Prophetic: 346 and (Table) 510. Retrogression as a mode of Lyric move- ment: 180-3. Revelation as a form of Prophecy: 342- 5 and (Table) 509. Rhapsody as a form of Prophetic liter- ature: 364; and Chapter XVI – Rhap- sodic Discourse: 386 and (Table) 510. Rhetoric as one of the six fundamental literary forms: 110—as a division of Biblical literature, 439 and Book VI, and (Table) 511—Interest of Rhetoric in Job, 39 |
532 GENERAL INDEX
Rhetoric Encomium: 281-2 and (Table) 506. Rhythmic Parallelism: 73 and Chapter I. Riddle as a form of Wisdom literature: 256 and (Table) 505. Righteousness, meaning of the word in the Old Testament: 399 (note). Ritual Hymns : 16o and (Table) 501. Salutation (or Encomium) as a form of Lyric Poetry: 159 and (Table) 500. Satan in Job: 3, 28-9. Satire in relation to Doom Song: 355. Scenic Description as an element of Rhapsodic dialogue: 368 (compare 374-80, 386, 399-400, 408, 411-2). Science, Interest of, in yob : 37-9.. Sennacherib's Invasion, Occasional Poetry connected with : 153-4. Sentences (or Sayings) of the Wise: 258 and ('Table) 505 — Prophetic Sen- tences, 417-25 and (Table) 508. Servant of Jehovah in Isaiahan Rhap- sody: 397, 399, 400 and note, 405-6, 408-9, 410-3, 414. Soliloquy: 405, 406, 413. (See Mono- logue.) Seven as a common form in Biblical literature: 404 (note). Sign of the Prophet: 340 and (Table) 509. Songs: of Deborah, 127-36; of Moses and Miriam, 137-9; of Moses, 146, 458-6o; of the Thunderstorm, 347; of Ascents or Degrees, 17o-3—Choral Songs in Prophecy: 366, 368, 376, 377, 379, 407-8, 408, 408-9, 413 —Imper- sonal Songs in Prophecy: 368 (com- pare 120-4), 379, 400, 402, 403, 406, 409, 410, 412 —Songs in Ode form: 146 and (Table) 500 —Doom Songs: Chapter XV and (Table) 5o8. Sonnet: 272-81 and (Table) 507. Spectator, Prophetic, in Rhapsodic dia- logue: 368, 378, 380; compare 387-9. Speeches: in Job, 39-40,444 —Various: 441 and (Table) 511 — in Deuteronomy, 444 and Chapter XX. Stages as a mode of movement ;in Pro- phetic literature: 369-73. |
Stanzas: 54-67. [Of Similar Figures, 54-5; of Varying Figures, 55-7; Anti- strophic Structure, 58-61; Strophic Structure, 62-7.] Story, Prophetic : 238 and (Table) 504. Strophic structure: 62-7. Structure of Versification : 45, and Chapters I and II. [Rhythmic Structures, 45 and Chapter ]—fig- ures of parallelism, 48-54- stanzas, 54-67 — Antistrophic structure, 58-6r —Strophic Structure, 62-7—musical expression of structure, 48-9, 67 — structure and interpretation, 68-73 the Lower and Higher Parallelism, 73-6.] Structure, Antiphonal: 132, 161. Structural Printing : Appendix III. [Higher Parallelism, 512-8 — Lower, 518-20— Condensed Structure, 518- Verse Structure, 519 — Centric Print- ing, 519-20.] Subordination, Digressive: 521 and Ap- pendix IV. Taunt-Song: connected with the Elegy, 156— with Prophecy, 333-compare 366, 403. Text and Comment as a form of Wisdom literature: 263, 522-3 and (Tab!e) 505 — applied to Wisdom, 305-6. Title Pages: 288, 467, 477, 479. Transitional Stage (or Pause) in Lyric Poetry: 182 (compare Table on page 501) — in Prophecy, 366. Transition, Dramatic: as a mode of Lyric movement, 78-9 (compare qo), 177-9 (compare 184)—in Prophetic literature: 381-5, 366. Treatise: 264 — Epistolary: 441--2, 443, and (Table) 511. Triplet and Couplet: 48-9— Double Triplet, 51 — Triplet Reversed, 51. Unit Proverb: 256 and (Table) 505 Unity, Higher: distinguished from Lower Unities, 81-3—obscured by modes of reading and printing Scrip- ture, 84-90 — relation of Higher Unity |
GENERAL INDEX 533
to literary classification, 105 — literary unity distinguished from unity of authorship, 95. Unity, Higher, Various forms of: Sim- ple, 90-- of Transition, 90-1- of Contrast and Antithesis, 91-8 — of Aggregation, 98-100 — of External Circumstances, 100-3. Verse and Prose overlapping, a dis- tinguishing feature of Hebrew litera- ture: 112-24 (compare 334, 356--7, 361). Versification, Interest of, in Job: 41 — Versification and Rhythmic Parallel- ism, 45 and printing, 45 — based on parallelism, 46—figures of parallelism, 48-54— stanzas, 54-67. Version: ‘Authorized,’ 45, 46, 82, 90— Prayer-Book Version (of the Psalms), 83—Revised Version of the Bible, 46, 82-90. Victory Hymns: 153 and (Table) 500. |
Vision as a form of Prophecy: 342 and (Table) 509. Voices as an element in Rhapsodic dia- logue: 368 (compare 375-80, 388, 397- 8). Votive Hymns : 16o and (Table) Sox. Wail as a prototype of the Elegy: 156— Wail over War Ballad: see Table on page 5oo. Watchman, Prophetic: 355, 413. Whirlwind in Job: 21-4, 25. Wisdom : Biblical term for Philosophy, 255—conception of Wisdom in Pro- verbs, 288—in Ecclesiasticus, 291-2 — in St. James, 292-3 — in Ecclesiastes, 302-4 -in Wisdom of Solomon, 306-9 -- summary: 323-4. Wisdom, Sacred Books of: 284 and Chapters XII, XIII, and Table on pages 505-7—analogies to these of N. T. works, 443. Wisdom, Various Forms of: 256 and Chapters XI, with Table on pages 505-7. |
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