Among other obftructions to the right interpretation of the fcriptures of the Old Teftament, a progrefs in the study of these writings hath been greatly impeded by prejudice, and an illfounded opinion of the authority of the Jews, both as interpreters and confervators of them. Here Dr. Lowth takes occafion to condemn the fervile regard that hath been paid to the Maforetic punctuation, which is in effect no more than an interpretation of the Hebrew text made by the Jews of late ages, probably not earlier than the eighth century; and which may be confidered as their tranflation of the Old Teftament. Another prejudice, which has stood in the way, and obftructed our progress in the true understanding of the Old Teftament, is the notion that has prevailed of the great care and fkill of the Jews in preferving the text, and tranfmitting it down to the present times, pure and intirely free from all mistakes as it came from the hands of the authors. In oppofition to this opinion, the Bishop confiders the fources of the variations in the ancient copies; and with regard to the real condition of the prefent Hebrew text, concludes it to be fuch, as from the nature of the thing, the antiquity of the writings themfelves, and the want of due care, or critical skill, might in all reafon have been expected. The mistakes are frequent, and of various kinds; of letters, words, and fentences; by variation, omiffion, tranfpofition; fuch as often injure the beauty and elegance, embarrass the conftruction, alter or obfcure the fenfe, and fometimes render it quite unintelligible. If it be objected that fo large a conceffion tends to invalidate the authority of fcripture, our ingenious Writer thinks that this is a vain and groundless apprehension. Cafual errors, fays he, may blemish parts, but do not destroy, or much alter the whole. If the Iliad or the Eneid had come down to us with more errors in all the copies than are to be found in the worst Manufcript now extant of either; without doubt many particular paffages would have loft much of their beauty, in many the fenfe would have been greatly injured, in fome rendered wholly unintelligible; but the plan of the Poem in the whole and in its parts, the Fable, the Mythology, the Machinery, the Characters, the great conftituent parts, would ftill have been visible and apparent, without having fuffered any effential diminution of their greatnefs. Of all the precious remains of antiquity, perhaps Ariftotle's Treatife on Poetry is come down to us as much injured by time as any: as it has been greatly mutilated in the whole, fome confiderable members of it being loft; fo the parts remaining have fuffered in proportion, and many paffages are rendered very obfcure, probably by the imperfection and frequent mistakes of the copies now extant. Yet, notwithstanding thefe difadvantages, this treatife, fo much injured by time and fo mutilated, till continues to be the great Code of Criticifm; the fundamental principles of which are plainly deducible from it: we still have recourfe to it for the rules and laws of Epic and and Dramatic Poetry, and the imperfection of the Copy does not at all impeach the authority of the Legiflator. Important and fundamental doctrines do not wholly depend on fingle paffages; an univerfal harmony runs through the Holy Scriptures; the parts mutually fupport each other, and fupply one another's deficiencies and obfcurities. Superficial damages and partial defects may greatly diminish the beauty of the edifice, without injuring its ftrength, and bringing on utter ruin and deftruction.' The copies of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Teftament being then fubject, like all other ancient writings, to mistakes arifing from the unfkilfulness or inattention of tranfcribers, it is to be confidered what remedy can be applied in this cafe; how fuch mistakes can be corrected upon certain or highly probable grounds. Now the cafe being the fame, the method, which has been used with good effect in correcting ancient Greek and Latin authors, ought, in all reafon, to be applied to the Hebrew writings. This and the other methods pursued by Dr. Lowth, in the prefent work, are here fully explained; and he is very particular in acknowledging his obligations to his learned friends, efpecially to Dr. Kennicott. Though the Bishop hath ventured to call this a new tranflation, he obferves, that much of our vulgar tranflation is retained in it, and he affigns unanfwerable reafons to fhew, that taking too great liberties in varying either the expreffion or the compofition, in order to give a new air to the whole, would be apt to have a very bad effect. Accordingly, our Author is of opinion, that, whenever it fhall be thought proper to set forth the Holy Scriptures, for the public ufe of the Church, to better advantage than as they appear in the prefent English tranflation (the expediency of which grows every day more and more evident), a revifion or correction of that translation may perhaps be more advisable, than to attempt an entirely new one. For as to the ftyle, it admits but of little improvement; but, in refpect of the fenfe, and the accuracy of the interpretation, the improvements of which it is capable are great and numberlefs.In thefe remarks, we entirely agree with our worthy Prelate. The defign of the Notes is to give the reafons and authorities on which this tranflation is founded; to rectify or to explain the words of the text; to illuftrate the ideas, the images and the allufions of the prophet, by referring to objects, notions, and cuftoms, which peculiarly belong to his age and country; and to point out the beauties of particular paffages. Sometimes, indeed, our Right Reverend Author tells us that he endeavours to open the defign of the prophecy, to shew the connection between its parts, and to point out the event which it foretels. But, in general, all that he undertakes, is faithfully to exprefs the literal fenfe. If the Reader would go deeper into the myftical fenfe, into theological, hiftorical, and chronolo gical difquifitions, there are many learned expofitors to whom he may have recourfe, who have written full commentaries on this prophet; to which title, fays his Lordship, the present work has no pretenfions. The fublime and fpiritual ufes to be made of this peculiarly evangelical prophet, must be all founded on a faithful reprefentation of the literal sense which his words contain. This is what I have endeavoured closely and exactly to exprefs. And within the limits of this humble, but neceffary, province, my endeavours must be confined.' We cannot, however, avoid expreffing our fincere regret that the Bishop did not extend his views much farther; and we muft acknowledge that in this respect we have been disappointed. It is, no doubt, of great confequence to have an accurate and elegant tranflation of Ifaiah, accompanied with fuch notes as are defcribed above. But it is of much greater import to have the defign of the prophecies in the Book of Ifaiah fully opened, and the events they predict precisely and clearly afcertained;. and especially that this fhould be done, with regard to thofe prophecies which relate, or are supposed to relate, to the Mesfiah, and the times of the gofpel. Notwithstanding the labours of former commentators, there is ftill room for much useful and important criticifin upon these heads; and from whom was it to be expected, if not from the Bishop of London? As a fpecimen of this excellent work, we fhall infert the tranflation, with the notes, of the fourteenth chapter of Ifaiah, being part of the prophet's fublime oracle concerning Babylon: For JEHOVAH will have compaffion on Jacob, 2 And will yet choose Ifrael. And he shall give them reft upon their own land: And the stranger fhall be joined unto them, And shall cleave unto the house of Jacob. And the nations fhall take them, and bring them into their own place; And the house of Jacob fhall poffefs them in the land of JE HOVAH, As fervants, and as handmaids: And they fhall take them captive, whofe captives they were; 1. And will yet choose Ifrael.] That is, will fill regard Ifrael as his chofen people; however he may feem to defert them, by giv. ing them up to their enemies, and fcattering them among the nations. Judah is fometimes called Ifrael: fee Ezek. xiii. 16. Malach. i. 1. ii. 11. but the name of Jacob, and of Ifrael, used apparently with defign in this place; each of which names includes the twelve Tribes; and the other circumftances mentioned in this and the next verfe, which did not in any complete fenfe accompany the return from the captivity of Babylon; feem to intimate, that this whole prophecy extends its views beyond that event, 3 5 And it shall come to pass in that day, that JEHOVAH shall give thee rest from thine affliction, and from thy disquiet, and from the hard fervitude, which was laid upon thee: and thou shalt pronounce this parable upon the king of Babylon; and fhalt say: How hath the oppreffor ceased! the exactress of gold ceased! JEHOVAH hath broken the ftaff of the wicked, the fceptre of the rulers. 6 He that fmote the peoples in wrath, with a ftroke unremitted; He that ruled the nations in anger, is perfecuted, and none hindereth. 7 The whole earth is at reft, is quiet; they burft forth into a joyful fhout: is added in ההוא The word ביום ההוא [in that day- .3 two мss, and was in the copies from which the LXX and Vulg. tranflated: Ennuspa exevy, in die illa, ( avaπavo, Ms Pachom. adding). This is a matter of no great confequence: however, it reftores the text to the common form, almost conftantly used on such occafions; and is one among many inftances of a word loft out of the printed copies. 4. this parable-] Mahal. I take this to be the general name for poetic ftyle among the Hebrews, including every fort of it, as ranging under one, or other, or all of the characters, of Sententious, Figurative, and Sublime; which are all contained in the original notion, or in the ufe and application of the word mahal. Parables or Proverbs, fuch as those of Solomon, are always expreffed in fhort pointed fentences; frequently figurative, being formed on fome comparison; generally forcible and authoritative, both in the matter and the form. And fuch in general is the ftyle of the Hebrew Poetry. The verb mahal fignifies to rule, to exercise autho rity; to make equal, to compare, one thing with another; to utter parables, or acute, weighty, and powerful fpeeches, in the form and manner of parables, though not properly fuch. Thus Balaam's first prophecy, Num. xxiii. 7-10, is called his mashal; though it has hardly any thing figurative in it; but it is beautifully fententious, and, from the very form and manner of it, has great fpirit, force, and energy. Thus Job's laft fpeeches, in answer to the Three Friends, chap. xxvii,-xxxi. are called mafhals; from no one particular character, which difcriminates them from the rest of the poem, but from the fublime, the figurative, the fententious manner, which equally prevails through the whole poem, and makes it one of the first and most eminent examples extant of the truly great and beautiful in poetic style. The Lxx in this place render the word by Sparos, a lamentation. They plainly confider the fpeech here introduced as a piece of poetry, and of that fpecies of poetry, which we call the Elegiac: either from the fubject, it being a poem on the fall and death of the king of Babylon; or from the form of the compofition, which is of the Longer fort of Hebrew verfe, in which the Lamentations of Jeremiah, called by the Lxx 9gos, are written. 6 8 Even 8 Even the fir-trees rejoice over thee, the cedars of Libanus: Since thou art fallen, no feller hath come up against us. 9 Hades from beneath is moved because of thee, to meet He roufeth for thee the mighty dead, all the great chiefs of He maketh to rife up from their thrones, all the kings of the 10 All of them shall accoft thee, and shall say unto thee: 12 13 Art thou, even thou too, become weak as we? art thou made Is then thy pride brought down to the grave; the found of Is the vermin become thy couch, and the earth-worm thy co- How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, fon of the Art cut down to the earth, thou that didst fubdue the nations! And I will fit upon the mount of the divine presence, on the 14 I will ascend above the highths of the clouds; I will be like 15 But thou shalt be brought down to the grave, to the fides of 16 17 the pit.: Thofe that fee thee fhall look attentively at thee; they Is this the man, that made the earth to tremble; that shook the kingdoms ? That made the world like a defert; that deftroyed the cities? 11thy covering-] Twenty-eight MSS, (ten Ancient) and feven Editions, with the Lxx and Vulg. read, in the fingular number. 13. The mount of the divine prefence-] It appears plainly from Exod. xxv. 22. and xxix. 42, 43. where God appoints the place of meeting with Mofes, and promifes to meet with him before the ark, to commune with him, and to speak unto him; and to meet the children of Ifrael at the door of the Tabernacle; that the Tabernacle, and afterward the Temple, and Mount Sion, (or Moriah, which is reckoned a part of Sion,) whereon it ftood, was called the Tabernacle, and the Mount, of Convention, or of Appointment; not from the people's affembling there to perform the fervices of their religion, (which is what our Tranflation expreffes by calling it the Tabernacle of the Congregation,) but becaufe God appointed that for the place, where He himself would meet with Mofes, and commune with him, and would meet with the people. Therefore, ,means the place appointed by God אהל מוער or הר מועד where he would prefent himself: agreeably to which I have rendered it in this place, the Mount of the Divine Prefence. |