Hebrew Student by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 12, 1883

"Hebrew Student."

By Editor

THE closing number of Vol. 2 of the Hebrew Student is upon our table. It is a very interesting number, the principal articles being as follows: The Greater Book of the Covenant, The Unity of the Pentateuch, The Origin of the Semitic Alphabet, The Law and the Prophets, with others of interest. It is edited by Dr. Wm. R. Harper, of the Baptist Theological Seminary, Morgan Park, Ill., leader of the Hebrew Correspondence School. This is the only journal of its kind in the country, being devoted entirely to Old Testament literature and interpretation.

We repeat what we have before said, that Dr. Harper is doing more than any other man in America, and probably more than any other man in the world, for the dissemination of a knowledge of the original of the Old Testament. We rejoice in this, for we profess a peculiar reverence for the writings of "Moses and the prophets." In these days of false science and speculative theology, men are much inclined to cast aside as antiquated and useless the Old Testament. But Paul placed a very high estimate upon the holy Scriptures which Timothy had known from a child, 2 Tim. 3:14–17, which were no others than our Old Testament; and Jesus said that they who will not hear Moses and the prophets would not believe though one rose from the dead. Luke 16:29, 30. The true Christian is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, of which Christ is the chief corner. Eph. 2:19, 20. We strongly doubt the genuineness of the faith of those who reject words which "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 2:19–21.

We do not believe that a knowledge of the original of either Testament is absolutely essential to usefulness in the Christian ministry. We believe that thousands will appear as stars in the crown of our Saviour's rejoicing who were led to embrace the salvation of Christ by the preaching of men who could not correctly parse an English sentence. But we also believe that ignorance is culpable where it is avoidable; and that where virtue is added to faith, and knowledge to virtue (2 Peter 1:5), so that knowledge be not permitted to puff up (1 Cor. 8:1), the better knowledge a man has of the sacred word, the better he must be qualified to instruct others. We fully indorse the following words from the Student (supplement):—

"By a little intellectual labor we may come into close fellowship with men who talked with God. In reading the original text, one seems to have passed a wall of partition, through which the lively oracles were before indistinctly heard. Now it is the direct voice of the Lord, not the muffled echo of the phonographs. We now bend over the bubbling fountain, instead of sipping at the aqueduct. We look on the coin not defaced by use or disfigured by such alterations as are needed to secure its circulation in a foreign land, but fresh from the mint. We sit under the shade of the good olive-tree, not stunted by grafting or transfer to an unpropitious clime. Thus divine truth fastens with a firmer grasp upon our minds and professional routine grows less wearisome."

We cannot express the satisfaction which we felt when we read the first chapter of Genesis in the original. We have a very high regard for our common English Version, but we feel that we are treading more safely in expounding a text after we have carefully gone through it just as it came from the pen of the inspired writer.

Dr. Harper is eminently practical in all his methods of teaching. Under his instruction by correspondence one may acquire as accurate a knowledge as if he were in a class-room under the immediate care of a professor. To all who wish to become acquainted with this work, we recommend the Student. Published at Morgan Park, Cook Co., Ill.; $1.00 a year, ten numbers, 32 to 36 pages each number.