gutus fit emphasium captator: multo sensurus aliter, si de grammatica Hebraica, non ex Latina, sed ex Arabica iudicasset." The Orientals, generally, allow themselves much more freedom in the use of tenses than the writers of the Western world. Consult Stuart's Heb. Gram. (§§ 501-504, 3d ed.); and S. de Sacy, Gram. Arab. (P. I. Sec. 333 ff.) The following remarks of Rosenmueller are also deserving of attention.

"Res facillime expediri videtur observatione Iahnii (Grammat. Ling. Hebr. p. 211. edit. tert.), quemadmodum Hebraeorum Aoristus primus, quem Praeteritum appellare solent, sistat rem perfectam, iam praesentem, iam praeteritam, iam futuram, ita Hebraeorum Aoristum secundum, Futurum vulgo vocant, dici de re infecta, iam futura, iam praesenti, iam praeterita, adeoque hanc flexionem comprehendere nostrum Futurum, Praesens et Imperfectum: id quod commode illustrat eo quod refert Varro, de Lingua Lat. L. VIII. p. 152. seq. et L. IX. p. 172. T. I. edit. Bipont., suo aevo omnes verborum Latinorum flexiones relatas fuisse ad duas, alteram rei inchoatae seu infectae (Futurum, Praesens, Imperfectum), alteram rei perfectae (Praeteritum exactum, Praesens exactum, Futurum exactum). Pro tribus cuiusque classis flexionibus Hebraei, Arabes et Aramaei habent unicam; pro secunda classe Aoristum primum, sive Praeteritum, et pro prima classe Aoristum secundum, sive Fu turum." S.

NOTES ON LECTURE XVI.

[A. p. 132.] ISAIAH XL. 12.

Non huius loci sunt, quae Iesaias versu 12 habet. Nec enim potentiam Dei, creationemque rerum omnium describit, sed hanc promit sententiam: non magis nos mortali ingenio consilia Dei, quaeque praedicturus iam sit, assequi et investigare posse, quam aquam omnem pugillis, caelum palmo metiri, etc. MICHAELIS.

[B. p. 133.] PSALM CXXXIX. 7—10.

I am not perfectly satisfied with the commonly received interpretation of the 9th verse; as expressive of the continual motion from East to West, and the velocity of the motion compared with that of the sun's rays. I look upon the two lines of this distich to be in contrast or opposition to each other, and not that the latter is

a consequence of the former; and this I think is so apparent from the very construction of the sentences, that there cannot remain a doubt concerning it: Thus there is a double transition spoken of, towards the East, and again towards the West; and the length of the flight, and not the velocity of the motion, is the object of amplification. Thus THEODORET upon this passage," He calls the East the Morning, and the West, the extreme parts of the Sea: to height and depth he opposes breadth and length, describing and evincing the infinity of the Divine Being." LOWTH.

The author of a very useful collection of Jewish commentaries, the title of which is Miclal Jophe, says, this phrase, If I take the wings of the Morning, should be understood as a common Oriental phrase for departure or flight towards the East. These are his words, If I take the wings of the Morning, and fly with them; i. e. If I go to the extremity of the East.

HUNT.

Obstat Lowthi explicationi, facitque pro vocalibus Hebraicis; quod indecens est, hominem implumem dicere: si alas MEAS attollerem. Aliud est si alas, quales sunt Aurorae, attollerem.

MICHAELIS.

Attulit Huntius prima tantummodo interpretis Hebraici verba, Lowthianae explicationis confirmandae gratia. Sed erat Scholion Hebraicum integrum apponendum, ex quo apparet, illum Lowtho minime favere. En verba Hebraea, quae statim excipiunt illa ab Huntio allata :

וְאַחֲרִית יָם הוא המערב ואמר בְּאַחֲרִית יָם רוצה לומר סוף העולם כלומר אם אלך ממזרח להערב ברגע אחד לא אוכל Et extremum .ללכת בלתך כי בכל מקום תנחני ידך והאחזני ימינך

maris est occidens; et quod dicit: in extremo maris, significare voluit ultimam mundi plagam, quasi diceret; si eam ab oriente ad occasum uno momento, neque tamen possim abire in locum, quo tu non adsis; nam ubique manus tua ducit me, et dextera tua me apprehendit. In qua quidem interpretatione, quum sensum idoneum fundat, et nos acquiescendum arbitramur. ROSENMUELLER.

NOTES ON LECTURE XVII.

[A. p. 140.] Pathos of the Scriptures.

Every attentive reader of the sacred writings, who has a taste for excellence of the kind here alluded to, and has observed how deeply our best poets, Milton, Pope, and even Shakspeare, are indebted to the Bible for some of their loftiest flights of sublimity and most exquisite touches of pathos, will at once acknowledge the justness of Lowth's remarks on this point. And if, as we believe, the Bible was really given by inspiration of God, if it was in fact dictated by the Spirit of Him who formed the heart of man and is most intimately acquainted with all its intricacies; why should it not contain the most perfect delineation of the human passions and character, that has ever been given? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? A thorough investigation and complete exhibition of the excellence of the Bible in this respect, is a desideratum in Sacred Literature. Niemeyer, in his Characteristik der Bibel, has accomplished something in this branch of biblical study; but a treatise is needed more condensed, and more directly to the point. The task should be performed by one in whom the refined taste and intellectual vigour of Lowth are united with the nicest discernment, and most extensive philological attainments. Such a work would be an invaluable accession to the science of human nature in general; and would be to the student of sacred eloquence a help in his pursuit as much superior to the systems of rhetoric now extant, as a faithful digest of the moral precepts of the New Testament would be to all human systems of ethics. S.

[B. p. 142.] ISAIAH LXIII. 6.

Vertendum potius: ad

7.

terram deturbavi robur, fortitudinem,

victoriae, potentiae, eorum.

titudinem et potentiam eorum. Hieronymus detraxi in terram vir

fortitudinem, גבורת נצחונם Iarchi recte explicat יִצְחָם .eorum -for חזקם ותקופם : Nec non Kimchi

וְאֶרְמֵי לַאֲרַע אַרְעִיתָא קְטִילֵי גבָּרִיהוֹן : Chaldaeus

:

tutem eorum.

deieci ad terram infimam occisos fortium eorum. Syrus: 24—~jó

oods 12;), et deieci in terram robur eorum.

Alexandri

nus Graecus interpres h. 1. de sanguine, in quo vis vitalis est, accepit, vertit enim : καὶ κατήγαγον τὸ αἷμα αὐτῶν εἰς γῆν.

ROSENMUELLER.

NOTES ON LECTURE XVIII.

[A. p. 147.] Jewish opinions on Hebrew poetry.

ABARBANEL distinguishes three species of canticles. The first is the rhythmical, or that with similar endings; in use among the more modern Hebrews (who learned it from the Arabic writers) but which was certainly unknown to the authors of the Holy Scriptures. The second was adapted to music, and sung either alone or accompanied with instruments: such are the songs of Moses, of Deborah, of David. The third species consists of parables, or proverbs, which species, says he, (though by the way absurdly enough, as is not uncommon with the Rabbinical writers) is properly denominated. From this class, however, he excludes the parables of the prophets, according to the distinction of Maimonides between prophecy and the Holy Spirit. (See More Neboc. ii. 45.) He says they are not canticles, because they are not the work of the prophet himself, but the mere effect of the prophetic inspiration. Mantissa Dissert. ad Libr. CoSRI, page 413.

"It cannot be doubted that the canticles of the second species were possessed of a certain melody or metre, which through the length of the captivity, is obsolete." ABARBANEL, ib. 410.

The Song of Solomon is indeed allowed by the Jews to be a poem; not however from the nature of the composition, or from its being metrical, but merely because it is of the parabolic kind and therefore it is referred by ABARBANEL to the third species of canticle. Whence it happens that, though in some manuscript copies the three metrical books are written in a versified form, the Lamentations and Song of Songs are differently transcribed. This I have observed to be the case with the Vatican MSS. which is deservedly accounted one of the most ancient, its date being the year DCCCCLXXIX of our Christian æra. The same is observable in many other MSS. as I have been informed by my learned friend, Dr. KENNICOTT, whose Hebrew Bible with the various readings is now in the pre s, and already in great forwardness. Indeed, it is natural to suppose, that when the Jews exhibit certain canticles, and even whole books, in a poetical or versified order, they followed, or pretended to follow, the true nature of the Hebrew verse, or the proper distribution of the lines. But the great disagreement between them in this respect is a proof of their ignorance, for they seldom agree with one another

in the termination of the lines, or follow any determinate rule in this matter. The distribution of the verses is different in different copies, as may be immediately observed on comparing them. In the Song of Moses, Deut. xxxii. in which the different editions agree better than in any other, (and indeed there was but little room for disagreement, the sense always pointing out of itself the order of the sentences) in this, notwithstanding, the Rabbins have contrived to differ, some of them dividing it into 67, and some into 70 verses or lines. See Annot. ad Bib. Heb. Edit. MICHAELIS, Hala, 1720. Among the manuscript copies of the metrical books the disagreement is equally manifest, as the above excellent critic proved upon a very strict examination, undertaken at my request. In a very famous MSS. which I saw in the royal library at Dresden, I remarked a circumstance that clearly demonstrates the perfect ignorance and absurdity of the Jews in this respect. The Chaldee paraphrase was intermingled with the text throughout, in such a manner, that we first read the Hebrew, and then the Chaldee, verse by verse alternately in the metrical books, which were divided into lines or verses, the text and version were so confounded, that the writer, attending only to the equality of his lines, perpetually blended the Hebrew and Chaldee together in such a manner, that where the one ended the other was resumed, and every line partook of both. This is a very elegant copy, and probably five hundred years old. The punctuation is evidently of a more recent date; as in that of the Vatican above-mentioned, and in some other copies still older.

[B. p. 149.] Schools of the prophets.

LOWTH.

Of the existence of such institutions there can be no doubt, (compare 2 Kings 6: 1-7); though the notices of them in the sacred history are so slight and transient, that little can be gathered respecting their discipline and course of instruction, additional to what our author has stated in the text. For some very interesting speculations on the subject, see Herder, Geist, (Th. II. S. 284 ff.), and Eichhorn, Einleitung, (Th. V. S. 1 ff.) I. C. C. Nachtigall has given the subject a more thorough investigation in an Essay, ueber Samuels Saengerversammlung oder Prophetenschule, in Henke's Magazin fuer Exegese, Religionsphilosophie und Kirchengeschichte, (Th. VI. Fasc. I. S. 38).

S.