can detect any thing which may lead us to suspect | cipally, that the parable of the rich man snatched the presence of tropes. And these marks are away by death, which immediately follows, (ver. various, as we are taught by many passages of 16, 21) is in favour of this opinion. For a like Scripture. When the author himself uses words reason, in John ix. 4, the expressions wg uiga which clearly show that a comparison is intended, soriv gerai v must be interpreted of the durathe case is clear; as Luke xii. 35, "Let your tion of man's natural life, and the death which loins be girded about, and your lights burning;" terminates it, because our blessed Saviour immei. e., be always ready. diately adds, ὅταν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ᾧ, φῶς εἰμι τοῦ xóopov, as long as I live among men, I am a light to them, i. e., I promote their happiness.

but internally full of bones and filth, he himself from the body of the believer, to mean the gifts of immediately adds an explanation of the figure, the Holy Spirit, which were to be conspicuous (ver. 28), our nai de paiverde, . . . ; in those who had attained a fuller and more intimeaning that they put on an external mark of mate knowledge of Christian doctrine. probity and virtue, while their mind was full of (5) Sometimes the sense of a tropical expression improbity and injustice. In like manner, the may be inferred from the antecedents or consequents. apostle Paul, in his valedictory address to the Of explanation by the antecedents, we may prorulers of the church at Ephesus, shows, in the duce the following examples. Every reader of proper and tropical terms, which he alternately our Lord's discourse in Matt. vii. 3, 4, must have uses, that by the flock, which he commands them inquired the meaning of rò xágpos, the mote in to watch over, he means the church of Christ, thy brother's eye; and of rv dozóv, the beam in the associated body of Christians; and therefore thine own eye and of these images no express it follows, that the verb mouaívery must be inter- interpretation is afforded. But if we refer to verses preted to rule, to direct, to provide for their spi-1, 2, and consider, that the object of the Divine ritual safety; and the grievous wolves, huzor Bagsis A Pero Evor To moturion, mean, by the interpretation of the apostle himself (ver. 30), false teachers, who should introduce false doctrines

into the church.

express

(2) Finally, to produce, also, one instance of what some interpreters consider to be allegory.* The same apostle (Eph. vi. 13–17), in exhorting his readers to constancy and fortitude, so explains "the whole armour of God," as that each portion of it corresponds to some habit of a truly Christian mind, or some external support against those dangers which threaten destruction to the faith and holiness of the Christian. Compare 1 Thess. v. 8.t

(3) In cases, however, where no explicit interpretation of tropical language is afforded by the author himself, we may sometimes determine the meaning by the help of the contrasted expressions. Thus, in Matt. vii. 9, our Saviour does not expressly say what he means by a stone instead of bread, and a serpent instead of a fish. But at Verse 11, he explains bread and fish as meaning generally, douara ayalá, useful, salutary gifts; hence we may conclude, from the opposition, that by the stone and serpent are meant objects either useless or pernicious.

(4) Where there is no explanation, either direct or indirect, we must then have recourse to the context. Sometimes the narrator introduces an observation to explain the language of a discourse which he narrates; of which we have an example in John vii. 38, 39, where the evangelist himself explains the rivers of reater, which should flow

* By allegory, the hermeneutical authors of Germany, in zeneral, appear to mean nothing more than a connected series of tapes. Morus, however, seems to have understood it more as we do, when he defines it to be a method of expressing an enfre sentiment in such a way as that, instead of the thing meant. something resembling it is expressed. There is nothing of this entireness in Eph. vi. 13-17; for though the word shield is to be interpreted tropically, the conjoined term, faith, is to be interpreted in its proper sense. See Bib. Cab. i., p. 154, note S. + Mori Acroases, Vol. I., p. 307,308.

Teacher was evidently to warn men against forming rash or uncharitable judgments of others, it must immediately appear that rò zúgpos is used for the minor faults of others, and rv doxóv for greater faults in ourselves. In like manner, if we consider attentively the tropical language of our Saviour, in Luke ix. 62, oldsiç isπißañàv v Xeiga cùrot, x. 4. 入, no man, having put his hand to the plough, &c., we must see that it is an answer to the request made at ver. 61, ¿mírge↓ov, x. 5. A., "permit me first to bid farewell (i. e., to give orders) to my household." It appears, then, that by the man who, having put his hand to the plough, looks back, is meant one who, while he ought to be supremely engaged about some one important engagement, allows his attention to be distracted by minor and irrelevant concerns.

(6) We occasionally meet with passages in the New Testament, where the context throws no light upon the signification of the figure employed; and, in such cases, the interpretation is certainly more difficult and perplexed. Here we must not neglect the use of parallel passages, for there are passages which are to be considered as really parallel, and which throw much light upon. the sense of tropical expressions. Thus, in our Lord's discourse, Matt. vi. 22, 23, it may be inquired what is figured by parain, the eye, and λúxvos Tou owμatos, the light of the body; of which terms no express interpretation is given in the context. But the parallel passage (Luke ix. 34, 35), by adding, in the way of explanation, ò pus rò èv ooi, the light that is in thee, shows clearly, that by these terms we are to understand human reason, and specifically that innate sense

This text is ill rendered in our version, which seems to imply that the person who wished to follow Christ, desired only to bid a friendly farewell to his relatives, a request which it must have appeared harsh to refuse The best rendering is to dismiss with a farewell, or to dismiss simply; Mark vi. 46, compared with the parallel text, Matt. xiv. 23. He wished to arrange his temporal affairs; and night, in doing so, have incurred a strong temptation to give up his intention of following Jesus.

of right and truth, which is implanted by God in passages which strongly confirm this interpreour hearts.*

(7) There is also another class of texts, which, though they cannot be considered as strictly parallel, may still be advantageously used in discovering the sense of tropes. Thus, the denunciation of Paul to the high-priest, Acts xxiii. 3, τύπτειν σε μέλλει ὁ Θεὸς, τοῖχε κεκονιαμένε, God will smite (that is, punish) thee, thou whited wall, may have some light thrown upon it, by the text above quoted (Matt. xxiii. 37), where our Saviour compares the Pharisees, generally, to whited sepulchres. Hence it appears, that the notion intended in both the passages, is that of the worst hypocrisy. In the same way, Noesselt has shown how the several images in the beautiful parable, 'John xv. 1, may be explained by reference to similar passages in the New Testament; to which elucidation it may be sufficient to refer the reader.

2. The second point of inquiry, in the interpretation of tropical language, is, the similitude existing between the sign and the thing signified.

(1) The principal point and object of comparison may be determined from the interpretation given by the writer or speaker himself. When Jesus (John vi. 35) says, "I am the bread of life," adding, by way of explanation, "he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in me shall never thirst;" he plainly indicates that he would make provision for all the spiritual necessities of men; so that whosoever should be united to him, by faith and obedience, would enjoy true happiness, together with all necessary safeguards to his salvation, and would neither want nor desire any thing else. The point of comparison lies, therefore, in the quality of bread to nourish men, preserve life, and support the sinking strength. Again, when the apostle Paul (Thess. v. 2) says that the second coming of the Lord will be "like a thief in the night," the words which follow, "when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh them," show that it will come unexpectedly upon men who are not thinking of it, just as a thief glides by night into the house of those who sleep securely, and anticipate no evil. Compare the

upon

tation, Matt. xxiv. 43, Luke xii. 39.

(2) The point of comparison may be deduced from the context of the discourse. Thus, for example, when Peter, in his first epistle (iv. 12), speaks of the fiery trial by which they are to be tested, and explains these figurative expressions, both generally, by adding (ver. 13) that they had come into a participation of Christ's sufferings; and specifically, by adding (ver. 14) that they would be reproached for their profession of Christianity; it is clear, from the adjuncts, that the point of comparison lies in the painful feelings which are common to those whose bodies are affected by extreme heat, and those whose minds are affected by reproach and contempt.

(3) The point of comparison may be determined by the collating of parallel passages. Thus, when Jesus, in his address to the woman who followed him, Luke xxiii. 31, after denouncing a miserable fate to the city of Jerusalem and its inhabitants, adds, "for if these things be done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" it is clear, from Ezek. xx. 47 and xxi. 3, comparing also, for the sense, 1 Pet. iv. 17, that by the green tree is meant an innocent person, the cause of safety to others; and by the dry, a wicked person, the cause of injury to others. And if we examine more carefully the passages of Ezekiel, we shall easily find what is the point of comparison between men and trees--we shall find that it lies in their good or bad qualities, as being the cause why they think a dry and barren tree ought to be cut down, and why a worthless and hurtful man is deserving of destruction.

lie

passages,

(4) By the assistance of these rules, we may generally determine what is the proper object signified by a tropical expression, and what is the nature and degree of resemblance between the sign and the thing signified. A few however, are to be found in the New Testament, which admit of various interpretations, as, for example, the much-disputed passage, Mark ix. 49, 50. Nor does the cause of comparison always upon the surface; on the contrary, it sometimes requires very careful examination. As an instance, we may take James i. 18, where we read that "God of his own will begat us by the word of truth,” siç rò eÏvai ημãs åtagɣǹv Tivα tãv avroû Tárwv. Almost all the interpreters agree that the reference is to the first-fruits, which were solemnly offered to God in sacrifice. But they differ as to whether the simile, τῆς ἀπαρχῆς, is to be referred to the superiority of those who had been reformed by the reception of Christianity, so as to make the sense, "that we might be rendered the most excellent among his creatures;"

or whether the comparison is derived from this, | cation of Moses' song of triumph at the Red Sea that the first-fruits were a pledge and earnest of hexameter,|| and so also his farewell song ;§ and the future harvest, limiting the reference to the represents the Psalms of David as consisting time of the conversion of those to whom the partly of trimeter, partly of hexameter verse.¶ epistle was written, so as to make the sense, Eusebius calls the Hebrew poems metrical,** and "that we might be the first in order of time their versification partly hexameter, partly trimeter among those whom God hath begotten by the and tetrameter. So also Jerome in many places. preaching of the gospel." The latter interpre-In the Praf. ad Chron. Euseb. he represents the

tation is to be preferred; for James appears to refer to the Jewish Christians, who had come to the knowledge and profession of Christianity before the Gentiles. Compare Rom. xvi. 5; 1 Cor. xvi. 15.*

III. It is hoped that attention to these rules may lead the student into such a habit of investigation as will relieve him from at least the most formidable difficulties in the detection and interpretation of tropical language.

SECTION X.

THE POETRY OF THE SACRED WRITINGS.

Varions Theories on the Rhythmical Form of the Hebrew
Poetry-The Lyric and the Epic Poetry of the Hebrews-

Versification-The Parallelism of Members-The Musical

Accents-Sources of the Poetic Imagery employed by the Hebrews: Natural Objects; the Arts and Circumstances of ordinary Life; Sacred Topics; Sacred History.

I. THERE has been much and able controversy respecting the nature of the Hebrew poetry. The laborious investigations of Carpzof and Lowth were deemed to have put an end to the dispute; but it has been again revived by Herder, Gesenius, De Wette, and other German critics, who have examined the question with a degree of minuteness and particularity that seems almost to have exhausted it. From the last-mentioned writer, we shall give some account of the opinions and theories of preceding critics, and a summary of the reasons which induce him, as we think with great reason, to dissent from most of them.

Psalms as consisting of iambic, alcaic, and sapphic verse, like the odes of Horace and of Pindar, while the verse of Job is hexameter and pentameter. He pronounces a similar judgment in the Prof. ad Jobum, and in the Prof. in Threnos. The same opinion is expressed by Isiodorus Hispalensis.++ But we fail of finding in these authors any more definite account or explanation of the metres which they thus name. Hence Löscher remarks, that the fathers, in these assertions, had no reference to metrical feet, but only to the members of the verse.ff Martianay endeavours to defend and prove the assertion of Jerome; but does it in a manner so vague and confused, as only to involve the subject in still greater perplexity.|||| Ferrandus also defends the opinion of Jerome. §§

(2) An attempt to define the laws of Hebrew metre, in prosecuting this assertion, was made by Francis Gomar, in his work Davidis Lyra, &c.,¶¶ -a system of the prosody of the Hebrew language; in which he endeavours to point out a distinct versification, analogous to the Greek, in the socalled metrical books, viz., Job, the Proverbs of Solomon, and the Psalms. He was, however, happily refuted by L. Capell, *** and that with great ease. There was no injustice in the pun of one of his antagonists, who said, Gomari Lyram delirare. Having constructed a system of prosody upon principles supported by no evidence, and at variance with the Hebrew, as well as every other language, instead of proceeding to establish upon this basis the Hebrew versification, he overturns his own structure, by laying it down as a rule, that "all the Hebrew poems of the sacred Scriptures consist of various and intermingled kinds of But in defining | verse. They are absolute, not relative; that is, they have no similar verses, corresponding to each other in their measure and place in the series."

1. Many writers maintain that the Hebrew poetry possesses metrical feet and versification, which, moreover, they specifically define, or rather attempt to define and restore. the character of this metre, they are again divided.

(1) Many hold to a versification in the proper sense, after the analogy of the Greek and Latin metres; and in favour of this opinion there are ancient authorities. Philo describes the songs of praise of the ancient sacred poets as trimeter, and composed of strophes,† and attributes to Moses a knowledge of metre. Josephus calls the versifi

* Beckhans on the Interpretation of the Tropical Language of the New Testament, passim, Biblical Cabinet, vol, ii. + De Vita Contempl., p. 901. E.

Ibid., p. 606. A.

|| Ant. Jud. II. 16, 4.
§ Ibid., iv. 8, 44.

Ibid., vii. 12. 3.

** Praep. Evang. xi. 3.
++Originum, i. 38.

‡‡ De Caus. Ling. Hebr. c. xi.. § 6, p. 436.

|||| Proleg. iv. in Div. Bibliothec. S. Hieron Opp. ed. Vallars. T. ix.

§§ Præf. in Psalmos, c. 11.

¶¶ Opp. iii. 388, seq.

*** Animadvers. ad Novam Davidis Lyram, 1643; afterwards printed with his Critica Sacra, p. 651.

Yet he found some followers, among whom were | lays down are in general correct, provided no ob
Const. L'Empereur, Dan. Heinsius, Lud. De Dieu,
Hottinger, and the younger Buxtorf.

(3) We pass over the boastful attempts of Marcus Meibom to restore the Hebrew versification, referring the curious reader to Carpzov,* and proceed to notice the English prelate, Francis Hare, who believed he had brought to light the metre of the Psalms in his work, "Psalmorum liber in versiculos metriæ divisus et ope metrices multis in locis integritati suæ restitutus," Lond. 1736. He met with a short and pithy answer from Bishop Lowth, in his "Metricæ Harianæ brevis Confutatio," which is found at the end of his Lectures. This metrical system of Hare is in the highest degree arbitrary. He establishes the following canon among others: "No regard is paid to the quantity of syllables;" a principle upon which every thing could be made out of any thing. Notwithstanding this, the principles of Hare found an advocate in Christian Weisse, who attempted to add still farther to the structure.

(4) Sir William Jones applies to the Hebrew the rules of the Arabic metre. He lays down as rules, that mixed syllables, and syllables with quiescent vowels, are long; pure syllables, short. After the manner of the Arabians, he proposes to give vowels to letters which have sheva moveable. As to the rest, he falls into very much the same error as Gomar, and quite destroys every thing he has said, by supposing that the Hebrews intermingle their metres, as Pindar does.

(5) Unquestionably the boldest attempt of this kind was that of Greve.|| After having provided himself with a new recension of the text, chiefly in accordance with the Septuagint, and with a new system of punctuation, following the analogy of the Arabic, he establishes a prosody of the Hebrew poetry, grounded on the analogy of the Syriac and Arabic languages; and proceeds to apply it, in an attempt to restore the versification of Job. He repeats the same attempts upon the prophets Nahum and Habakkuk, § and the prophet Isaiah. The rules of prosody which he

jection is made to the change which he introduces into the Hebrew punctuation. But what authority have we for changing this? The affinity of the Hebrew language to the Arabic and Syriac hardly suffices to justify us in assuming the fact of a like pronunciation, quantity, &c. In fine, Greve makes so many exceptions to his own rules, as to render his whole system in the highest degree fluctuating and uncertain.**

(6) A very elaborate and sensible theory of Hebrew prosody was published by Bellermann. It is founded on the systema morarum, according to which all syllables have an equal mora, or time, the only change being that produced by the accent. Accordingly, he supposes all syllables destitute of an accent to be short, and all accented syllables to be long; very much as in German or English. He has not succeeded, however, in pointing out a proper Hebrew versification, but only in making it probable that the Hebrew poets have occasionally allowed the iambic, the trochaic, or the anapaestic number to prevail.

(7) The last attempt to form a system of Hebrew metre is contained in the work of J. L. Saalschütz. Like Bellermann, he grounds his system upon the accent, which, however, he places not upon the final, but upon the penult syllable; for he considers the accent as the sign of the subordinate (ground) tone, instead of the principal; so that by this means the Hebrew language receives a trochaic accentuation, while, according to Bellermann's system, it is for the most part iambic. The shevas frequently form short syllables, but frequently do not. Those syllables are likewise short which have neither tone, accent, nor ictus. Those syllables are common which have the ictus, as also the final syllables which have the accent. All Hebrew poems have the rhythm resembling, where it is regular, the measure of the hexameter, except that, in addition to dactyles and spondees, it allows of the introduction of trochees and the first paeon. The verses consist sometimes of two feet, sometimes of three, sometimes of four and five; and it is but seldom the author succeeds in pointing out a certain uniformity. So by thir theory, arbitrary as it is, no metrical version, in the proper sense, is restored, but only a certain number, which is also secured by the proper pronunciation.

(8) Others maintain that the Hebrew poetry possesses a free versification; and, strictly speaking, all those who have been mentioned above belong to this class. Michaelis++ is of this opinion,

** Comp. Eichhorn's Allg. Bibl. vi. 811, seq.
++ On Lowth, p. 432. Ed. Rosenm.