the introduction of Christianity, the professors of the Mosaic religion had been divided into three distinct and independent communities. Each of these had a temple as the centre of their worship; a recognised copy of the holy scriptures in their own language; and each regarded the other two with feelings of the most rancorous jealousy. These were,

*

1. The Hebrew Jews, who worshipped at Jerusalem, and who are generally supposed to have used the square characters of the present Hebrew Bible.

2. The Samaritans, whose temple was situated on Mount Gerizim, who used a Syriac dialect with Phenician cha

racters.

3. The Hellenistic Jews of Egypt, whose usual language and characters were Greek. They had their temple at Heliopolis.

Each of these sects, as we have already observed, had copies of the books of Moses in their own language, which, although remarkable for their general agreement in other particulars, are found to differ, to the serious extent above stated, with respect to the chronology of this period. Before we proceed to exhibit and discuss these discrepancies, it may be proper to state, that the several copies of scripture already mentioned, invariably adopt the same mode in the communication of the historical chronology of the early ages: namely, by giving the number of years each patriarch lived prior to the birth of his eldest son; thus placing before us a regular chain, composed of measured links, extending in continued succession from the creation of the world to the birth of Isaac.

As we shall have to decide on the claims of these several authorities, and select that for our guide which appears to be best authenticated, we append in a tabular form the information which they, and also Josephus, the eminent Jewish historian, furnish on this branch of our inquiry.

* The Samaritans received no part of holy writ except the five books of Moses.

TABLE, No. 1.

THE GENERATIONS OF THE ANTEDILUVIAN PATRIARCHS.

Lived before the
Birth of eldest Son.

After the Birth of
the eldest Son.

Total Length of Life.

Adam.

Seth

Enos

Cainan

Mahalaleel

Jared

Enoch

Methuselah
Lamech.

Noah at the Flood.

To the Flood

Heb. Sam. Sep. Jos. Heb. Sam. Sep. Jos. Heb Sam. Sep. Jos.

130 130 230 230 800 800 700 700 930 930 930 930 105 105 205 205 807 807 707 707 912 912 912 912] 90 90 190 190 815 815 715 715 905 905 905 905| 70 170 170 840 840 740 740 910 910 910 910 65 165 165 830 830 730 730 895 895 895 895 62 162 162 800 785 800 800 962 847 962 962

70

65 162

65 65 165 165 300 300 200 200 365 365 365 365 187 67 187 187 782 653 782 782 969 720 969 969 182 53 188 182 595 600 565 595 777 653 753 777 600 600 600 600

1656 1307 2262 2256

TABLE, No. 2.

The several numbers of the Hebrew text, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint, and of Josephus, are here placed in comparison; and it will be necessary, before entering more directly on their respective degrees of authenticity, to communicate some information concerning the history of these several versions of holy writ.

The opinion now generally received among critics, respecting the existing HEBREW text, is, that it was written in its present character, which is Chaldean, about the time of Ezra. It is well known, that from the earliest ages, the book of the law was guarded with great care, and was commanded to be laid up "by the side of the ark."* Here it undoubtedly remained until the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, with the exception of a short season when the idolatrous practices of certain kings of Judah rendered it necessary to conceal it in the days of Josiah it was again restored to its place.t

We have no means of ascertaining the fate of this volume at the time when the temple was destroyed; but we know that copies of the sacred books were held by pious Jews during the captivity, and that Ezra the scribe, who so impressively brought the law before the people, caused a carefullycollated copy to be made for the service of the new temple, as well as for general use. This opinion has been violently contested; and much reliance has been placed on the silence of Ezra himself, Nehemiah, and Josephus, with respect to the alleged fact. But an eminent biblical critic has well replied, that "to these hypothetical reasonings we may oppose the constant tradition of the Jewish church, uncontradicted both by their enemies and by Christians, that Ezra, with the assistance of the members of the Great Synagogue, (among whom were the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi,) did collect as many copies of the sacred writings as he could, and from them sent forth a correct edition of the canon of the Old Testament, with the exception of his own writings, the book of Nehemiah, and the prophecy of Malachi, which were subsequently annexed to the canon by Simon the Just, who is said to have been the last of the Great Synagogue. In this Esdrine text, the errors of former copyists were corrected, and Ezra, being himself an inspired writer, added in several places, throughout the

* Deut. xxxi. 26. Not in the side of the ark. See KENNICOTT'S "Dissertations," diss. ii. p. 298.

+ Ibid. p. 299.

books of this edition, what appeared necessary to illustrate, connect, or complete them."*

It is further to be observed, that, on this occasion, Ezra introduced the present Hebrew character into the sacred text. This point has also been contested by learned men; it appears now, however, to be satisfactorily established. "From a passage in Eusebius's Chronicle, and another in Jerome, it was inferred by Joseph Scaliger, that Ezra, when he reformed the Jewish church, transcribed the ancient characters of the Hebrews into the square letters of the Chaldeans: and this was done for the use of those Jews who, being born during the captivity, knew no other alphabet than that of the people among whom they had been educated. Consequently, the old character which we call Samaritan, fell into total disuse. This opinion Scaliger supported by passages from both the Talmuds, as well as from rabbinical writers, in which it is expressly affirmed, that such characters were adopted by Ezra. But the most

decisive confirmation of this point is to be found in the ancient Hebrew coins, which were struck before the Captivity, and even previously to the Dispersion of the ten tribes. The characters engraven on all of them are manifestly the same with the modern Samaritan."+

The origin of the present Hebrew text appears, therefore, in this manner to be satisfactorily ascertained.

The text thus produced, remained without material alteration until about the time of Christ; when, in consequence of the prevalence of the Greek language, the Hebrew scriptures were "almost entirely neglected." This state of things continued till the second century of the Christian era, when both Jews and Christians applied themselves to the study of the Hebrew Bible with great zeal; and three Greek versions were undertaken and completed. One of these was for the special use of the Jews, and was translated by Aquila, an apostate from Christianity to Judaism. The

* HORNE'S "Introduction to the critical Study of the Holy Scriptures," vol. ii. part i. p. 34.

+ Ibid. vol. ii. p. 7.

Hebrew text, as it existed in the East from the year A. D. 200 to the end of the fifth century, is given by Origen, in his Hexapla. During this period many discrepancies were observed in the Hebrew manuscripts which excited attention; and learned Jews now began to collate copies and collect various readings, which, being distributed into classes, appeared in the Jerusalem Talmud about the year A.D. 280.

After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and the consequent dispersion of the Jews, some of those who were settled in the East applied themselves to the cultivation of literature, and opened schools, in which they communicated a knowledge of the scriptures. One of the most celebrated of these academies was at Babylon, and another at Tiberias. The doctors of this latter school, about the beginning of the sixth century, agreed to revise the sacred text; and, after immense literary labour, they published in one book what they considered to be the true reading and interpretation of scripture. This consisted of two parts: the true reading, which they called the Masorah; and the true interpretation, named the Mishna and Gemara. These writers, who have been called " Masorites," also divided the scriptures into sections and verses; and since their edition, the Hebrew Bible has remained essentially the same, as far as relates to this subject. It is believed that no copy of this version, at present in existence, is more than nine hundred years old.*

The SAMARITAN copy of the Pentateuch was used by the people whose name it bears. They were descendants of an intermixture of the ten tribes with Gentile nations, and were generally considered a Jewish sect. Their origin rendered them odious to the Jews, who, on their return from the Babylonish captivity, refused to recognise them as Jewish citizens; and, in consequence, they erected a temple on Mount Gerizim, and instituted sacrifices according to the Mosaic law.

This people rejected all the sacred books, except the * HORNE'S "Introduction," vol. ii. pp. 33-40.