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ON THE QUOTATIONS FROM ONE PART OF THE

OLD TESTAMENT TO ANOTHER

I.

SHORT SENTENCES.

PUTTING aside the ordinary formulae with which the sacred books abound, attention may be called to some short sentences which are of the nature of watchwords, promises, or proverbial expressions. In Isa. 24. 2 and Hos. 4. 9 we find the condensed expression 'as with the people so with the priest' ( Dys). In Isaiah it is the first of a series of kindred expressions, and looks original. Hosea probably borrowed the expression from Isaiah. Both begin with the words 'and it shall be.' Neither the E. A. V. nor the R. V. give identical translations.

Isa. 37. 32 (part of Isaiah's message in the days of Hezekiah and Sennacherib): For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant and a deliverance out of mount Zion.' Compare Joel 2. 32: 'For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be a deliverance, and in the rem

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nant.' Joel is manifestly using Isaiah's words, and adds (what may be taken as a note of quotation) the formula as Jehovah hath said.' Obadiah (ver. 17) reproduces the words 'in mount Zion shall be a deliverance' as if it were an established watchword. The R. V. gives us a near approach to identical renderings.

Isa. 52. 7: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace.' Compare Nahum 1. 15 (2. 1): 'Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace.' Isaiah's words run on in the same strain, whilst Nahum breaks off into an exhortation. The former appears to be the original utterance.

Isa. 47. 8: Thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.' Compare Zeph. 2. 15: This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me.' The words in Isaiah are addressed to the 'daughter of Babylon,' and run on in the same strain. Zephaniah's words are at the close of a series of denunciations on Philistia, Moab, Ammon and Assyria. They look like a distinct reference to the passage in Isaiah, whilst the words that follow are apparently a condensation from the threats on Babylon in Isa. 13. 19-22, and similar passages.

Isa. 14. I 'For the LORD will yet choose Israel.' Isa. 51. 3: 'For the LORD will comfort Zion.' Compare Zech. 1. 17: 'For the LORD will yet comfort Zion, and will yet choose Jerusalem.' Hopeful sentences such as those in the two parts of Isaiah naturally reappeared as watchwords in the later prophets. The idea contained in them reappears in the New Testament.

Job 4. 3, 4: Thou hast strengthened the weak hands, thou hast confirmed the feeble knees.' Compare Isa. 35. 3: 'Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the tottering knees.' The double expression may have occurred to two writers independently. There are other expressions common to Job and other books on which opinions may differ, but some are not mere coincidences. Thus we have the phrases 'grope in the noonday,' Job 5. 14 and Isa. 59. 10; 'despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty,' Job 5. 17 and Prov. 3. II; 'he woundeth, and his hands make whole,' Job 5. 18 and Deut. 32. 39; 'he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man,' Job 12. 25 and Isa. 19. 14; "They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity,' Job 15. 35 and Isa. 59. 4; 'The light of the wicked shall be put out, his candle shall be put out,' Job 18. 5, 6 and 21. 17. Compare Prov. 13. 9; 20. 20; 24. 23; 'They that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same,' Job 4. 8, and Hos 10. 13. Job 3. 3, 11: 'Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, there is a man child conceived. Why died I not from the womb?' Compare Jer. 20. 14, 15, 18: 'Cursed be the day wherein I was born. Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my Why came I forth

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father, saying, a man child is born unto thee. from the womb?'

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Job 1. 21: Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither.' Compare Eccles. 5. 15: 'As he came forth out of his mother's womb, naked shall he return.'

Job 19. 13, 14: 'He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. My kinsfolk have failed, and mine acquaintance have forgotten me.' Compare Ps. 88. 8, 18: Thou hast put mine acquaintance far from me. Lover and friend hast

thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.'. It is possible that the last word is a corrupt reading. Job reads 'ny¬'D,

מידעי מחשך and the Psalm

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Job 28. 28: The fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.' Compare Prov. 9. 10: 'The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.' Also Ps. 111. 10: 'The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom, a good understanding have all they that do thereafter.' The resemblance here is not complete, but it is too considerable to be overlooked. The preciousness of wisdom as described in the earlier verses of the chapter in Job and in Proverbs 8 must not be forgotten in connexion with these passages.

Job 11. 18, 19: shalt take thy rest make thee afraid.' your land,

'And thou shalt be safe, because there is hope; ye in safety; and thou shalt lie down, and none shall Compare Lev. 26. 5, 6: 'Ye shall dwell in safety in and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid.' Also Isa. 17. 2: 'which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.' Compare Mic. 4. 4: Zeph. 3. 13: Ezek. 34. 28. This is a watchword springing from the prophetic chapter in Leviticus.

Isa. 5. 12: They regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.' Compare Ps. 28. 5 which is almost identical in the E. A. V. and in the Hebrew.

Isa. 11. 9: The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.' Compare Hab. 2. 14 which gives very slight variations.

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Isa. 52. 10: And all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.' Compare Ps. 98. 3 which is practically identical.

Ezek. 7. 19: 'Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD.' Compare Zeph. 1. 18 which is identical.

Ezek. 18. 2: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.' Compare Jer. 31. 29 which is identical.

Joel 3. 16: The LORD shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem.' Compare the opening words of the prophecy of Amos, which are identical. They are possibly referred to by Jeremiah (25. 30).

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Joel 2. 13: He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.' Compare Jonah 4. 2: 'I knew that thou a God gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.'

Zech. 9. 10: 'His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.' Compare Ps. 72. 8 which is identical.

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Gen. 27. 29: 'Cursed is every one that curseth thee, and blessed is he that blesseth thee.' Compare Num. 24. 9: Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.' In spite of the change of order in Numbers, and the variation of the words for cursing,' the relationship between the utterances is too strong to be denied.

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Gen. 49. 9: 'He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?' Compare Num. 24. 9 which is identical and immediately precedes the words given above.

Gen. 49. 26: They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brethren.' Compare Deut. 33. 16 which is almost identical. The relationship and the contrasts, which are detected on a critical comparison of the blessings on the tribes by Jacob and Moses, are equally noteworthy.

Exod. 14. 13: 'Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.' Compare 2 Chron. 20. 17 which is identical. The crisis on the second occasion recalled the words used in Israel's great emergency.

Exod. 15. 2: 'The LORD is my strength and my song, and he is become my salvation.' Compare Ps. 118. 14 and Isa. 12. 2 which are identical. Compare also Exod. 15. II with Ps. 86. 8, 10.

Num. 10. 35: Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.' Compare Ps. 68. 1 which is practically identical. The relationship of this Psalm with the song of Deborah and Barak, composed after Sisera's downfall (see vv. 6, 7, 12, 13, 18, 27, adds interest to the quotation of this ancient formula.

Joshua 21. 45: 'There failed not ought of any good thing which the. LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.' See also chap. 23. 14. Compare 1 Kings 8. 56 which is substantially the same. Joshua 1. 8: This book of the law thou shalt meditate therein day and night.' Compare Ps. 1. 2: 'In his law doth he meditate day and night.' For other exhortations and promises concerning the law compare Joshua 1. 7, 9 and 1 Chron. 22. 12, 13; 28. 20: 2 Chron. 32. 7.

2 Chron. 16. 9: 'The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth.' Compare Zech. 4. 10 and Prov. 15. 3.

Deut. 32. 7: Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations.' Compare Ps. 77. 5: I have considered the days of old and the years of ancient times.'

Deut. 32. 36: 'The LORD will judge his people, and repent himself for his servants.' Compare Ps. 135. 14 which is the same.

Ps. 79. 10: 'Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God?' Compare Joel 2. 17: 'Wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God.'

The prayers in the Old Testament are particularly full of borrowed thoughts and expressions relating to the divine attributes and dealings in past times. See especially Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the Temple, Jonah's psalm, Ezra's prayer (chap. 9), Daniel's (chap. 9), and Nehemiah's private petition (chap. 1) and public prayer (chap. 9). Nehem. 1 and Dan. 9 have special points of relationship.

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II.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

THE points to be noticed here are (i) the insertions in Deuteronomy in the 4th, 5th, and 10th commandments, which fit in with the idea that they form part of a practical address; (ii) the omission of the reason given in Exodus for the observance of the Sabbath; (iii) the slight variations 'Remember' and 'Observe' (1 and 11), two words for 'false' (p and N), and the variation of the words 'covet' and 'desire' ( and 78nn); (iv) the tendency in Deuteronomy to prefix 'and' (1) to short exhortations.

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Exod. 20.

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, [nor] the likeness of any form that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water 5 under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third

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and upon the fourth generation of 6 them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands, of them that love me and keep my commandments.

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Deut. 5.

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

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Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, the likeness of any form that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water 9 under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, [and] upon the third and upon the fourth generation of 10 them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands, of them that love me and keep my commandments.

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