An Appeal for the Study of the Hebrew Scriptures.
By Editor
[THE following tribute to the value of the Old Testament, we extract from an address by Prof. W. H. Woolery (Disciple), delivered before the Adelphian Society of Bethany College, West Virginia, Dec. 13, 1884, and printed in the Christian Standard (Disciple), January 10, 1885. We agree with the editor of the Standard that it "deserves attention, not merely as a plea for the study of Hebrew, but for its manly advocacy of the Old Testament Scriptures as essential to a proper understanding of the New." In view of the fact that in the last quarter of a century there has been no more bitter opponents of the Old Testament than the Disciple Church, it is a "manly advocacy of the Old Testament Scriptures." And because of this, and because of the endorsement of the leading paper of the denomination, we think it deserves particular attention, and we are glad to publish from this source such statements as, "The ten commandments are nuggets of gold," etc. We commend to all, and especially to the members of the Disciple Church, the careful perusal of the address.
A. T. J.] The careful, critical study of the Old Testament is fast becoming the most fascinating study in the theological seminaries of America. And now I raise the question, What are we doing to encourage the study of this noble language? Are we content to know God's word at second hand? If there is a preacher in the land not yet past the age for learning language, who cannot read the Bible in the language in which it was written, and is making no effort to learn it, ought he not to be ashamed of himself? Is not the woful ignorance of the Old Testament largely due to the extreme ground as to the nature and obligation of that part of the Bible, taken by our people in the beginning of our movement? Does not this whole subject of the relation of the two Testaments need a new treatment for our own people? Believing that the neglect of the Old Testament is fraught with mischievous consequences, I make this appeal to you to study the Hebrew Scriptures. 1. Because it brings the student to consider a race whose traits of character are more fixed and permanent and staid than those of any other enlightened people. The Hebrew is the best stock in the world. No other race of people would or could have preserved its identity under such tremendous calamities. Bishop McIlvaine said that if a gallon of fresh water be sprinkled in mid-ocean, and the several drops should retain their freshness for a thousand years, it would be no more wonderful than what we see in the history of the Jews. These people are not seen in our police courts, not among our beggars, not in our asylums supported at the public expense, not usually our saloon-keepers, not ring-leaders of our mobs; always peaceable, intensely religious, independent, and learned, they were chosen by the Lord to reveal his religion. And with their persistency of character they unite sufficient progress to keep them abreast of the times. It matters not whether one look at Moses, the world's great lawgiver; at Paul, Christ's greatest apostle; Maimonides, the greatest light of the middle ages; Lord Beaconsfield, one of England's greatest of recent statesmen; Montefiore, the great philanthropist; Neander, the greatest church historian, or Delitzsch, one of Germany's greatest educators—they are all of such learning and character as entitle them to be leaders of the thought of their respective ages. 2. Study the Hebrew Scriptures because of the prominence therein given to the theory of the State. The Old Testament is full of political economy. Moses is the lawgiver for all time and for all countries. The ten commandments are nuggets of gold. Moral philosophy is the ground of prosperity. "Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord." There can be no higher generalization of wisdom set before a State of to-day than this: "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a curse to any people." Every relation is provided for, king and subject, husband and wife, parent and child, master and slave, priest and layman. In a broad and sweeping generalization Jesus declares that the essence of the law under which they were bound together in the State, was that "whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." On this hang the law and the prophets. This grand statement of Jesus stands squarely opposed to nearly all the current conceptions of the Old Testament. It was a favorite saying of Wendell Phillips that a nation's rank in true civilization, and its sense of justice and fair dealing, could be more readily ascertained from the treatment of its women than from any other source. Tested by this standard, how do the Jews compare with the Persians, the Greeks, and the Latins? The briefest comparison cannot result otherwise than in favor of the Jews. When it is remembered that Grecian women were mere slaves, living in the rear of the house (in the gynæconitis), seeing no men face to face except their husbands and immediate friends, heavily veiled whenever they went out, not privileged to speak to men, with no education, only a house-keeping drudge, some idea may be had of their degradation, and of the one-sidedness of Greek civilization. Aristotle says about woman, "If she has a will, it is a will without rights; and if she have virtues, they are kindred to those of slaves." Sophocles says, "Silence is an adornment to any woman." Euripides declares that "silence and discretion are most beautiful in woman, and remaining quiet in the house." At Rome, Cato expressed himself as follows: "All women are plaguy and proud, and were men free of women their lives would be less godless." Mommsen says marriage was long regarded as an oppressive public burden, while Gibbon declares that "the husband exercised the jurisdiction of life and death." In a word, neither Persians, Greeks, nor Romans knew anything of the relations of modern society in which the sexes mutually encourage each other. In refreshing contrast with all this, the Hebrew women enjoyed very much greater privileges. Our women of to-day owe it to the triumph of Hebrew principles of political economy that they are not slaves in harems like the women of Turkey. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 3. Study the Hebrew language for the intrinsic value of its literature. It may seem to some that we should always read the Bible with a religious purpose. I say nothing against the reading of that book for its religious ideas, yet I think one misses a great deal unless it also be read as literature. Our great scholars have been so much taken up with questions of authorship, date, place, various readings, and doctrinal exposition, that the literary side of the Bible has been ignored. The Old Testament is rich in nearly every variety and style of writing. If one wishes to study the oration it would be difficult to find better specimens of eloquence than are contained in the great speeches of Moses in Deuteronomy, Judah's plea for Benjamin, Joshua's dying charge, Jotham's satirical invective, Elijah's irony directed against the priests of Baal, and Samuel's denunciation of King Saul. In poetry the Bible has nearly everything that can make glad the heart of man. Its very prose is full of passion, and has its rhythms and its tone-colors like verse. I think of all ancient poetry the Hebrew has the stateless grandeur, the greatest depth of feeling—"the thrill of joy, the glow of emotion." It has the majesty of divine power, the beauty of holiness. And if true eloquence be, as Cicero says, the continuous motion of the mind, then some of the lyrics of the Old Testament, as, for example, the forty-second psalm, are the most eloquent specimens of writing in the world. 4. Study the Hebrew Scriptures for their clear revelation of the being and character of God. During the present generation a new philosophy has come in with evolution, and seeks to explain the continuance and government of the world by the agency of natural forces. Conservation of energy, equilibrium of forces, and natural selection, are semi-deities, and, like the old Greek gods, divide the heavens and earth among themselves. The extreme scientists have ruled out a personal God, and have installed in his place impersonal force. Science may talk in a learned way about the planets held in their orbits by the power of gravitation; but what is gravitation? The best philosophical explanation of the force, motion, and evolution in the world is to ascribe all the phenomena of nature to laws that originate in will-power. This carries the idea of causality outside of matter. And to unitize the phenomena of nature requires one will, one force. It remains to say that will is the highest endowment of an intelligent, conscious, rational person. The will of this person is the law of the universe, the ground of all certitude, the ultimate of all thought. This person is God. His will-power acts in the physical universe, not by impressing matter at its creation with certain powers, for matter could neither receive or retain them, but acts immediately and continuously. This view makes the world the outward expression of God's thought, and science the discovery of the will of God, called laws of nature. Every devout scientist, then, as he discovers these laws, can exclaim with Kepler, "O God, I think thy thoughts after thee!" Now I have no hesitation in saying that this doctrine of the divine immanence in the world finds its best statement and illustration, and its greatest emphasis in the Old Testament. It even goes further, and adds the moral element for which science has no room. 5. Study the Hebrew language in order to understand the New Testament. The New Testament cannot be understood as it ought to be understood by a preacher without a study of Hebrew. This alone ought to determine a preacher to learn this language. The body of the New Testament is Greek, but the soul is Hebrew. Jesus was a Jew. His first disciples were Jews. And whether it be possible to tell what language they used—Latin or Greek brought in by the conquerors of Palestine, or Syriac, or late Hebrew—it is certain beyond controversy that the thought, the coloring, is derived from the Old Testament. The New Testament is, beyond all other books, a related book, referring to the habits and customs of the people, the geography of the land, their political relations, their government, the fulfillment of prophecy, the philosophy, morals, and religion of the Old Testament, so that he who reads the New Testament alone will not understand even it. The New Testament is a historic outgrowth, and it would be just as sensible to explain the nature of a mirror without saying a word about the amalgam on its back as to expound the New Testament severed from the Old. All the leading doctrines, such as sin, repentance, regeneration, forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, righteousness, a divine Redeemer, the divine being and character of God, are Old Testament ideas. Augustine expressed the whole truth long ago:—
"In vetero Testamento Novum latet,
In novo Testamento Vetus patet."
In the Old Testament the New is concealed;
In the New Testament the Old is revealed.
If we want to understand the early history of the people which has given religion to more than half the globe; if we wish to understand85God's dealings with the human race through three thousand years; if we want to keep our theology biblical; if we wish to train up our children in the way they should go; if we want to trace the development of doctrine; if we desire to drink from the pure crystal fountain of all literature; if we would understand the New Testament; if we would know the source from which all modern bards have drawn their poetic fire; if we would have our souls led out in good-will to our fellow-men, and upward in gratitude to God; if we would have the historian bear us back to ages so remote that gray tradition cannot recollect them, and the prophet draw aside the curtain of the future, while thunders shake the darkness, and streaks of glory issue through the fringe of fire, and we behold the dazzling grandeur of the throne of God,—read and study the Hebrew Bible.