The Gospel: An Exposition of its First Principles

n the Bible as simply one book, one testimony-one witness for God; when in fact it is not one book, but

applied by Chrysostom to denote the collection of small books which constitute the Old and New Testaments; and this term with the prefix "Holy," soon came into general use. This is how the Jewish Scriptures came to be called the Holy Bible; meaning, really,

have been preserved to us in the Bible, occupied various positions in life, ranging from the grand old war king of Israel, David, and the wise king Solomon, down to the humble shepherd Amos, the despised tax collector Matthew, and Peter, the unlearned fisherman. But whatever the condition of life occupied

and integrity of these writings. For convenience I shall t

C. The work is ascribed to Ezra, Nehemiah; and the men of the great synagogue. In proof of this they point to the testimony of the son of Sirach, who flourished between the years 310-370, B. C.;[A] and who speaks of the canon-with its three divisions as finally made up.[B] By the "three divis

e A: Vid

gue to the Book of Ecclesi

Moses-Genesis, Exodus, Leviti

owing books in this division: Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Lamentations, Daniel, Esther, Ezra and Ch

interval of time was little short of three thousand years; but as to the time from the death of Moses till the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia [5th cent. B. C.], the prophets, which were after Moses, wrote down what was done in their time in thirteen books, the remaining four books[E] contai

o letters of the Hebrew alphabet. What are generally known as the minor prophets, twelve in number, are connected as one book. The Book of Ruth was

sacred books. That specification ascribes the respective books to the men now regarded as the author of them. The Talmud says: "Moses received the law at Sinai, and transmitted it to Joshua; Joshua to the Elders; the Elders to the Prophets; the Prophets to the men of the Great Synagogue," and, as we have seen, it was Ezra, Nehemiah, and the men of the Great Synagogue who made up our present collection of books known as the Old

phus against Apio

Ezra, extending as far back even as to Moses himself-1451 B. C. and some of the passages that I shall notice- belonging to a subsequent period to Moses, yet previous to

th a commandment to put it in the side of the Ark of the Covenant,[G] that it might be there for

Deut. xxxi: 9

of that which is before the priests, the Levites"[H] -showing that it was the intention of Moses to have the Law always preserved by the priests. When Joshua had completed the book that bear

H: Deut

I: Joshua

nd laid it up before the Lord."[J] This was three hundred and fifty years after Moses, and yet the practice of laying up these important records before the L

J: I. Sa

undergoing some repairs, found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord,[K] and sent it to the king, who read it; and when he saw how far Israel had depa

Kings xxii-see th

s us the testimony of Isaiah that such a book as "the Book of the Lord" was known to the people, that they had access to it, that it was a recognized authority on questions about which there might arise dou

L: Isaiah

ake, to reach Ezra, in whose days the books of the Old Testament were col

rael in his realm to go to Jerusalem with Ezra. He then continues: "Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king * * * to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, _according to the law of thy God which is in thy hand_."[N] From this it appears that during the captivity the priests were permitted to retain possession of the sacred records. At any rate Ezra had them when he departed from Babylon for Jerusalem, so that they had been pres

the Hebrew Chronology

N: Ezra vi

o in these very books of the Old Testament, which are not to be found in the collection. But that fact does not destroy the value of these we have, or refute the testimony they bear for God. That ve

e set down at 285 B. C., an event occurred which did much to preserve the integrity of the Hebrew Scriptures; by that I mean the probabili

iptures, he at once set himself at work to procure a Greek translation of them. The better to secure this object he set at liberty many Jews in his kingdom, and sent word to the high priest at Jerusalem, Eleazar, his desire,

his matter see Antiquities of the Je

rs, or for the reason that the translation occupied about seventy days is not clear. At any rate copies of this translation were multiplied, and in the days of Messiah's personal minis

markable fertility of expression, in the Greek language, which forbids us to believe that, had the quotations been from the Hebrew, the Greek rendering would have agreed verbatim with the passages in the Septuagint version. Of any Old Testament passage made up of only ten words, there are not fewer than thirty modes of tr

New are Ruth, I. and II. Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Eccles

e in two or three lines. There are next, twenty-two quotations agreeing verbatim or nearly so, with the Septuagint, but even in sense differing from the Hebrew text. Hence out of t

text and preserve the integrity of the Scriptures; for if changes were made in the Hebrew, it would be discovered from the LXX.; and if alterations were made in the LXX., it cou

of the covenant in charge of the priests and Levites; how Joshua and Samuel also laid up their writings before the Lord; and how Isaiah referred the Jews to these sacred writings in confirmation of his own prophecies; how when in 640 B. C. the temple was und

ll there consider will also have a bearing upon its integrity, and will likewise tend to confirm the claims as to its cont