tered unto him, and those who did slave-labour, between the minister and the slave; and so we ever find the distinct uses and meanings of these words. See Exod. xxviii. 43: "Or when they come near unto the altar to minister

in the holy place." Deut. x. 8: "To stand before the Lord to minister in unto him." xviii. 5: "For the Lord thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes to stand to minister

T:

("T

in the name

of the Lord, him and his sons for ever.' 1 Kings viii. 11: "So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud." 2 Kings xxv. 14: "And all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, n, took they away." 2 Chron. xxiv. 14: "Even vessels to minister," . Neh. x. 36 (the 27th ♫y. of the Hebrew text): "Unto the priests that minister in the house of God." 39 (the 40th of the Hebrew text): "And the priests that minister," 'p. Isa. lx. 7: "The rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee." Let it be noticed that the word strangers is translated from the word nechar. The word is of Arabic derivation from eker, and has a privative sense, as nescivit, abrogavit, improbavit. Hence, the Hebrews used it to mean strange, foreign, and sometimes false, as in Deut. xxxii. 12: "No strange (false) God with him." Mal. ii. 11: "The daughter of a strange (false) God." And this word was used to mean the strangers, idolaters, and rejected people, out of whom the Hebrews were allowed to make slaves, and therefore it was used in Gen. xvii. 12: "Or bought with thy money of any stranger ( neker) which is not of thy seed." And therefore the propriety of the use of this word in the description of those who should be their drudges and slaves, is beautifully expressed by the idea of building up their walls, as here expressed by the prophet. But the idea of the kings ministering, is as before, from the root, shereth. Many more examples of the use of this word might be quoted; but we trust the foregoing are sufficient to establish its meaning to be altogether different and distinct from any use of the word ebed. Yet, there are in the received translation of the holy books, a few instances where this word is translated erroneously, as though it were a synonyme of the word ebed.

זי

In Num. xi. 28, "And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses," the word servant is translated from p, and should have been the minister of Moses. In Exod. xxiv. 13: "Moses rose up and Joshua his minister" in. In this last quotation, minister is correctly translated from the word as above, proving the error in Numbers. A similar error occurs also in Ezek. xx. 32; it reads thus: "And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the country to serve wood and stone." Serve is translated from as above, and should have been to minister unto wood and stone. A like error occurs in Exod. xxxiii. 11: "But

his servant 1 minister Joshua.

Joshua," should have been rendered, "his

So, also, in Num. iv. 47, the word ebed is translated as a synonyme of sherath. The passage reads thus: "From thirty years old and upward, even unto fifty years old, every one that comes to do the service of the ministry, and the service of the burden in the tabernacle of the congregation." In this passage, the word ebed, with affixes, is used four times consecutively, and immediately followed by the word massa, which we have before seen means labour, with the idea of the burden of labour altogether predominating.

In the translation, it is plain to see that one of these words is totally left out, which, we suppose, no one will pretend is not an error. The translation made of these five words at the Theological College at Andover, is far more correct than the received version. It is thus: "to perform the business of the service and the business of the burden," &c. Yet this is not the language of the original,

If our proposition is correct, that the word ebed is never used in Hebrew expression unassociated with the idea of slavery, then this passage from Numbers should read: "From thirty years old and upwards, even to fifty years old, every one that comes to slave in the slavery of the slave labour, and in the slavery of the burdens. of the tabernacle of the congregation." We agree that the passage is somewhat difficult to render into English; but because we may find some difficulty in making good English, we are not to translate from other words of different meaning from the ones used. The holy penmen said what they meant, and surely meant what they said: there was no double dealing in the spirit of Jehovah, who dictated to them. But that translators should have, in some

few instances, mistaken or confounded the use of the word, is not to be thought strange. Taking into view the volume of the holy books, it is truly wonderful that greater errors were not committed. And we take occasion here to remark, that, of all the ideas, qualities, and actions, given in definition of the word ebed, unassociated with the idea of slavery, upon examination of the language, we shall find graphic symbols representing their phonetic signs, distinct from the idea of slavery, as we have these already examined.

LESSON V.

To show more clearly that the word T ebed is never used in Hebrew expression unassociated with the idea of slavery, we now propose to examine that word as used by the Hebrew writers in the holy books. Our words SERVANT, servitude, service, &c. are all derived from the Roman word SERVUS, which meant a SLAVE; and our word servant, when first introduced into our language, as absolutely meant a slave as now does that term itself, and even now fully retains that meaning, where the English language and slavery coexist. The oriental scholar (and let him be invited to examine) will perceive that the word Ty ebed was common to all the Shemitic tribes, and almost with the same phonetic particulars; but as their figures representing the same phonetic power were quite dissimilar, we think it a proof, almost demonstration, that the word Ty ebed was used as a phonetic symbol by them long before any of those languages were written. This circumstance shows the extreme antiquity of the word; and if we succeed to establish the fact, that this word meant nothing but what is now meant by the word slave, we shall also have established the extreme antiquity of the thing itself. A word means nothing, until it is by some means agreed what it shall represent, what idea, or association of ideas it shall excite in the mind. Hence, it not unfrequently occurs that a thing may be better described by paraphrasis than by the expression of a single term. In Gen. xii. 5: "And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran." The latter clause of this sentence WEDDON),

וְאֶת־הַנֶּפֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר־עָשׂוּ בְחָרָן,is from this Hebrew expression

ATT:

:

which is correctly translated in the Andover lexicon, "The souls they had acquired in Haran." Every one knows that the things here meant are slaves. But, when the scholar comes to examine the power of the language of this Hebrew paraphrasis, he will discover three incident attendants. T hannephesh, translated souls, also carries with it the idea a living soul, to have life, the life itself, the living principle, and is so translated in many places. A slave, therefore, must have life: when dead, the condition ceases. In the same way, the sentence expresses the idea of acquiring property by purchase, or any other way in which property may be acquired so as to be property. The three incidents then are life, a capacity of being acquired, and, when so acquired, property. All this could not have been expressed by the single term 7 ebed, only as it is made the representative of this complex idea and God has no doubt caused this passage to be on record at this early period, that these incidents should finally come to the knowledge of all men. A somewhat similar expression is used in Rev. xviii. 13. Every one knows that Babylon had been a great slave-market. St. John, after naming the various articles of her merchandise, adds και των σωματων, και την ψυχην, kai ton sōmatōn, kai tēn psuchen, which is translated, "slaves and souls of men:" owμatov does not mean slaves, but a dead body, and is so used by Homer, Xenophon, and by the New Testament itself; but, when united with xai Tv vzny, means slaves alone. The phrase "souls of men," therefore, in the translation, is surplusage. But the xii. 16 of Genesis is more particular in giving the different kinds of property and their appropriate names. 'And he had sheep and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants ('y abadim), and maid-servants, and she-asses, and camels." The word menservants is translated from the plural of Ty ebed. Here we find the conventional term expressing the complex idea, previously expressed by the phrase "souls gotten," persons in life, subject to be purchased, and when purchased, property, as were sheep and oxen, and he-asses and she-asses, and camels. In Gen. xvii. 9-13, we begin to find the law influencing the conduct of Abraham in the management of this property: "And God said unto Abram, thou shalt," &c. 12: "And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised," &c.: "He that is born in thy house, or bought with money of any stranger which is not of thy seed." 13: "He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be

circumcised." And let it here be remembered that God recognises the possession of this property, by giving directions with his own voice concerning its government. And in Gen. xx. 14, we have some account of the origin of Abraham's title to some portion of this property: "And Abimelech took sheep and oxen and men-servants (【'y ebedim, the plural of ebed), and gave them to Abraham." xxiv. 35: "And the Lord hath blessed my master greatly, and he is become great; and he hath given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants and maid-servants, and camels and asses." Here the plural of ebed is also used. Such is the title by which he possessed this property, described as given to him by the Lord. But God had promised that he would bless Abraham, Gen. xvii. 1: "The Lord appeared unto Abraham, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God." 2: "And I will make my covenant between me and thee." 7: "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant." 10: "This is my covenant." (This covenant extends from the beginning of the 10th to the end of the 14th verse.) One part of this covenant was, that these ebeds, translated men-servants, whether born in his house or bought with his money of any stranger, should be circumcised. Wherefore, the possession of these ebeds as property became agreeable to the terms of the covenant, a part of the covenant itself—a covenant first proposed and promulgated by the great Jehovah; as he styles himself in the covenant, the Almighty God! Gen. xxvi. 2: “And the Lord appeared unto him (Isaac), and said, Go not down into Egypt: dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee.' 4: "And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and I will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." 13: "And the man (Isaac) waxed great, and went forward and grew until he became very great." 14: "For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants (y abuddah, slaves, a plural formation of ebed), and the Philistines envied him."!!!

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