that it was in Greek. John's words, rò A kai rò a, Rev. i. 8, 11; xxi. 6; xxii. 13, are given as a practical illustration of supreme Divinity, and might have been used of an alphabet in any language; the

and supply it in Hebrew, as do the equivalents in Syriac; the A and Z supply it with us; the A and Y supply it in Arabic, Turkish, and Persian; but in the absence of any positive statement, it has no force as an illustration of Christ's habitual form of speech upon earth. John's use of this illustration, therefore, is not so substantial an argument, upon this question, as the "jot and tittle" illustration in Matt. v. 18; or Paul's deliberate statement that Christ addressed him in Hebrew.

2. The general consistency of Luke's narrative, in the Acts, is remarkably supported by the fact that we hear nothing of Greek or Grecian, during the period of Paul's stay in Italy, chap. xxviii. It can be no reproach to St. Luke that he has coloured his narrative with a Grecian influence;* for there is no ground for supposing that he was a Hebrew.

3. In Acts ix. 36, he is careful to tell us that Tabitha means Dorcas; but it is to be noticed that Peter, in his address, at v. 40, uses the Hebrew form alone; Luke, however, in his narrative portion, v. 39, uses the Greek term alone. The word Aоpkas, thus given for Taßia, is an equivalent for the Latin caprea, and means roe, deer, gazelle," perhaps also " antelope." In Hebrew it is NY Tsebaoth, feminine plural of '; the singular form is used in Deut. xiv. 5, and Canticles iv. 5; the plural form in 2 Sam. ii. 18; 1

goddess of truth and justice, Oeuc, in Greek, is supposed to represent the Hebrew Thummim; and A may stand for Aur, whence we have the Urim. So the expression, “I am the A, and I am the T," would be equivalent to "I am the truth, and I am the life." But further, while it is incontestable that the Greek T is derived from the Egyptian tau; it seems no less certain that the new Greek final Q for omega is also derived from the tau, being its upper part: the same symbol deprived of the shaft of the cross.

See Appendix on Luke's Hellenisms.

Chron. xii. 8; Canticles ii. 7. But in this plural form it also appears 2 Sam. v. 10, as the equivalent of Sabaoth; vide Rom. ix. 29; James v. 4; applied to the Almighty as the Lord of Hosts, of armies, or of battles. Dorcas was "full of good works :" so the word Tabitha seems to have its application to her in its latter sense of "abundance."

4. Also in Acts xiii. 8, he gives us the word 'Exúμaç as an equivalent for the Magian Bar-joshua. It is, I take it, very nearly the same word as μos, from w "to involve, to wrap up, to cover," i.e., "to ἔλυμος, ἐλύω hide;" and very nearly gives the sense of , in Ex. vii. 11, which we call enchantments; in the Vulgate it is arcana*= "secretarts;" in the Septuagint it is pappareiaus. The same word, in the form of vμa, from w, in the sense of "to turn," is applied to the "tail or handle of a plough;" because it serves to turn it. In this sense we have a near approach to D's, Ex. vii. 11, rendered in A.V. as sorcerers; in the Vulgate it is maleficos; but in Walton's Polyglot it is rendered præstigiatores, i.e., turners or jugglers; allusive to tricks in "sleight of hand," the word from which we get our fabulous Prester-John; but in the Septuagint it is papμakous. We thus find that Elymas may be an equivalent for papuãròs, used twice in the same verse of Exodus vii. 11. Both are Greek words, and I do not see that there is any ground for supposing that St. Luke resorted to the Arabic. We do not know of the existence or spread of modern Arabic in those days; and his renderings, in all other cases, seem done with a view to bring the exact meaning home to his Greek readers.

In this connection it is desirable to mention that Parkhurst, Grk. Lex. p. 222, suggests the Heb. Dy, "to conceal, to hide," as the possible root of Elymas; but it is to be especially noted that St. Luke, Acts xiii. 8, does not say that the sorcerer is called Elymas, in Hebrew; but, by interpretation, i. e. from Hebrew into Greek, it is Elymas. His Hebrew name was Bar-joshua.

V.

This question is brought to a practical conclusion with the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, A.D. 70; then perished the 1,600,000 Semitic-speaking Jews of Jerusalem; their shibboleth betrayed them to the Roman soldiery, while Hellenised Jews, such for instance as Flavius Josephus, readily escaped.

Jerusalem then ceased to be the chief abode of a Jewish people, and their hierarchy removed to Babylon, where a cognate dialect was previously, and still continued to be spoken; but, prior to that event, we meet with a fresh coinage of the Maccabæan type.

1. A great change has taken place of late years in the classification of Jewish coins: heretofore, all coins with pseudo-sacred devices, such as pots of manna, palm branches, &c. &c., and with so-called Samaritan inscriptions, were classed as Asmonæan or Maccabæan; but the many quotations from the Talmud collected by Dr. Levy, and to be found in the appendix to Mr. Madden's Jewish Coinage,* reveal very clearly the fact that there were many varieties of coinage then known, besides those struck by the Maccabæan family, B. c. 139-40.

These extracts go to define what money might and what money might not be taken for redemption of tithe; as, for instance, current coin will be taken; so will the coinage of earlier kings; but not any of the coinage of the revolt, A. D. 66-70; nor of BenKosiba, who died, A. D. 135.

2. It is no part of the writer's present plan to enter upon an examination of the arguments by which the classification of these obscure coinages is supported; it will suffice to present a specimen allocated to each era, in evidence of the fact that during each revolt the leaders resorted immediately to the use of exactly the same national alphabetic characters, that will be found upon the earlier coins of the Maccabees.

*Lond. 1864.

No. 1 belongs apparently to the era of the first revolt, under Nero, A. D. 66-70; it ensued from the hostile action of Gessius Florus, who is described as the last and the worst of the Roman procurators, in favouring the Greeks at Cæsarea, in despite of fervid appeals from Queen Berenice, whereupon the Jewish nation, disregarding the sage advice of King Agrippa II., broke out into open rebellion.

This event forms the subject of Josephus's well-known historical composition, called the "Wars of the Jews," in which he was, himself, a prominent actor.

"Eleazar the priest," is supposed to represent Eleazar, son of Simon, a leader of the Zealots, and of priestly descent; he retired to the Temple, and kept possession of its inner court till superseded and expelled by John of Gischala, whereupon he continued in command of the remaining body of Zealots, under John's orders, according to Josephus, but his name receives no further mention. There was, however, another Eleazar, described as the son of Ananius, the high priest; he was the official governor of the Temple under the Romans, and Josephus describes him as the originator of the rebellion, by refusing sacrifice to Cæsar. He was afterwards appointed to a command in Idumæa. But this coin, with its imperfect lettering, is an obvious and debased imitation of genuine types of Maccabæan issue.

No. 2 probably represents Simon of Gerasa, the son of Gioras, who usurped the government of the Accrabene toparchy; he subsequently entered Jerusalem, and remained there, in supreme command, until its capture by Titus. Josephus represents him to have been executed as chief of the rebels, at Vespasian's triumph in Rome.

16 THE SPOKEN LANGUAGE OF JESUS CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES.

This die has also been attributed to Symeon, son of Gamaliel, who was president of the Jewish sanhedrim at the same epoch, a. D. 66-70. But the individual coin here engraved, can in no case belong to either Simon, son of Gioras, or Symeon ben Gamaliel, for it is struck upon a coin of the Emperor Trajan, A. D. 98-117, and it, therefore, very probably emanated from Ben-Kosiba, called also Bar-Cochab, "the son of a star," Heb. 11, "star," who died A. D. 135.*

The second revolt was a mere forlorn hope, to avert the final desecration of Mount Sion. The Emperor Hadrian had proposed to restore Jerusalem, and make it a Roman colony; a temple, dedicated to Jupiter Capitolinus, was planned; but a comparison of dates does not enable us to say, with any certainty, how far this project had been carried out, when this insurrection broke out, evidently planned and directed from beyond the Euphrates; nor is there anything to show that Ben-Kosiba ever camped in Jerusalem.

How Ben-Kosiba obtained the dies for these coins, or whether he only imitated them, is not clear; but this fact of imitation and "restriking" indicates very poor shifts on the part of this aspiring son of a star. The imperfect Roman letters read as P.M. = pontifex maximus, from which title our sovereign pontiff, or Pope, derives his dignity in regular succession.

T.R.P. Tribunitatis potestas. CO for Consul.

Trajan's device in full would probably read as: for the obverse, "Imp. Traiano Aug. Ger. Dac. P.M., T.R.P., CO ;" for the reverse, S.P.Q.R., optimo principi." Hadrian's project was finally carried out, and Jerusalem refounded, under the name of "Elia Capitolina," with particulars of gross insult to the Jews. We have many coins with Roman devices, such as " Col AEL CAP.," "KOA.AIL.KA. Greek and Latin. The Arabic name for Jerusalem is Kud-el-Cherif, or El-Kuds, "the holy."

Here is clear proof of the use of the old Hebrew or Samaritan characters, by native Jews, in the second century of the Christian era.

* 9th day of Ab. A.D. 135-3895 of the Jewish Era. Some say Bar-cosba, "son of a lie;" a term subsequently applied to the unsuccessful leader, as one who deceived the people.

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