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Twelve Hundred Questions and Answers on the
Bible,
intended principally for the use of schools and young persons, by M. H.
& J. H. Myers; London, Longman & Co., 1845; pp. 98 and 132. The
book of the Messrs. Myers is divided into two parts, the one containing
the questions, the other the answers, and is not arranged in the usual
form of placing the latter beneath the former, as it was the intention
of the learned authors to furnish a work where the student will have to
employ diligence and care in order to make a proper and profitable use
thereof. Those who have superintended the education of young people, must
have been often struck with the mortifying conviction that the
recitations, though, to all appearance, satisfactory, were so only through
a species of fraud, which the scholars practised upon the teachers; in
other words, the lessons had not been well studied, and the apparent
readiness in the answers was only owing to the adroit management of the
text-books, which completely deceived the instructor, who could not always
watch this method of appearing better informed than the scholars actually
were. Every method, therefore, which tends to compel the learner to make
himself familiar with his subject, deserves the serious consideration of
the schoolman; and especially is this the case in reference to Jewish
works of a practical kind, of which sadly few are yet in circulation. That
the book in question has been well executed, will appear from the
following testimonials in its favour, and it will therefore not be
necessary for us to go at length into its merits.
“A great deal of information is conveyed in this
work.”—Rev. Dr. Adler.
“Employed in schools, it will supply a severe test
of the pupils’ acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures; for many of the
questions propounded are of a nature to necessitate that close search of
the text, which alone can qualify a biblical scholar. Nor is it only in
schools that such questions and answers will prove useful and interesting.
A great deal of the information so conveyed is of a recondite character,
not accessible to the ordinary scripture reader.”—The Voice of
Jacob.
“This is an excellent work. The questions are well
selected, and the answers to them are of a much higher character than is
commonly aimed at in similar publications. Hence, as is truly observed in the preface, they will be found
useful, not only to young persons engaged in the study of the Scriptures,
but acceptable to those of more advanced years.”—John Bull.
“This work will be found useful to many engaged in
biblical researches, in consequence of embodied information derived from
Hebrew and Christian chronologists and commentators.”—Times.
“This volume is one of great value, displaying a
combination of research, ingenuity, learning, and thought, not
often manifested in such compilations. The Biblical student who cannot
derive any addition to his knowledge from its perusal, must be better
informed than Biblical students frequently are.”—Watchman.
“A work written for the use of schools and young
persons, and for those ultimately intended for the church. It cannot but
lead to a knowledge of the sacred volume.”—Atlas.
“Compiled with more than ordinary erudition.”—Athenæum.
“A GREAT deal of bibliographical information is
conveyed in this volume.”—Literary Gazette.
“We cannot devote so large a space to these
publications as their merits deserve. The extension of Biblical knowledge
is at all times desirable; and when that object can be attained by
inspiring an interest whilst infusing valuable instruction and truths into
the mind, such a means is worthy of more than common attention. In the
work before us this task is accomplished. The questions are put in the
most attractive form for the pupil, and the information contained in the
answers—whether we speak of it in regard to the accuracy of
chronological lore, the deep research into the meaning and application
of terms, or of Biblical history generally—will render it a popular
school-book, and a valuable addition to the library of the student. Whilst
theological discussion is studiously avoided, the authors have evidently
spared no pains to deduce a correct conclusion upon points on which
commentators have differed.”—Kentish Gazette.
“In no single instance,—and we have read the work
with extreme care,—does a passage occur bearing on theological
discussion, or any point in dispute between Jews and Christians; but a
most valuable mass of solid information is brought before the parent or
teacher, who may acquire a very pleasing method of miscellaneous
questioning on sacred history from the labours of these two
brothers.”—Christian Lady’s Magazine.
We will give our readers some idea of its composition
and manner of arrangement, from which it will be perceived that the
questions are not systematically arranged in any particular order, but
more in the manner in which questions are asked at an examination, where
the examiner puts his queries upon a given subject at random, so as to try
the proficiency of the class before him.
I. What are the three principal divisions of the Old*
Testament?
1. The תורה
(torah) Law, the נביאים
(nebiim) Prophets, and the כתובים
(ketubim) Hagiographa, or Holy Writings.
II. How is this division comprehended in one word?
2. By the three initial letters תנך
(tenach).
III. What does the Law contain?
3. I. בראשית
(Beresheet) Genesis. II. שמות
(Shemot) Exodus. III. ויקרא
(Vayikra) Leviticus. IV. במדבר (Bemidbar)
Numbers. V. דברים
(Debarim) Deuteronomy.
IV. What are the writings of the Prophets?
4. First, the former prophets, including Joshua,
Judges, Samuel, and Kings; second, the latter prophets, viz., Isaiah,
Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets.
V. Of what does the Hagiographa consist?
5. The Psalms, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song
of Solomon, Job, Ruth, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and
Chronicles.
VI. What is the oldest translation of any part of the
Bible?
6. The Septuagint, a translation made in Greek by the
Egyptian Jews, in the reign of the Ptolemies. The Targums,* written in
Chaldea, after the captivity, are older;† but they are paraphrases,
and not literal translations.
VII. What element produced the fowl?
7. The waters: “Let the waters bring forth
abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above
the earth in the open firmament of heaven.” (Gen. 1:20.)
VIII. What analogy is there between the fowl of the
air and the fish of the sea?
8. They are alike oviparous,* and are both organized
for making their way through a fluid.
IX. Which of the prophets alludes to the great wisdom
of Daniel?
9. Ezekiel, chap. 29. verse 8.
X. Of how many years does the book of Genesis give an
account?
10. Two thousand three hundred and nine years.
XI. What is the first city mentioned in the Bible?
11. Enoch, built by Cain, and called after the name
of his son. (Gen. 4:17.)
XII. Where is the first classification of animals to
be found?
12. In Gen. 1:25. “And God made the beast of the
earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that
creepeth upon the earth, after his kind.”
XVI. Give some instances of God's readiness to hear
prayer; as the Psalmist says, “The Lord is nigh unto all who call upon
him.”
16. Abraham’s prayer for Abimelech (Gen. 20:17);
Eliezer’s prayer (Gen. 24:12, 13, 14); the prayer of Moses for the
people (Ex. 32:31, 32); and for Miriam (Numb. 12:13); Lot’s prayer (Gen.
19:18, 19, 20); and many others.
XVII. Mention some instances where events appeared to
happen by chance, but were, in reality, the result of God’s providence?
17. Rebecca’s coming to the well (Gen. 24:15);
Rachel’s meeting Jacob (Gen. 29:9); the lshmaelite merchants arriving so
opportune to buy Joseph (Gen. 27:25) ; Pharaoh’s daughter going down to
bathe in the river (Ex. 2:5); prove that, God preserves and governs all
things.
XVIII. What was Jephtha’s vow?
18. The common opinion is, he vowed that whatsoever
should come forth out of the doors of his house, to meet him on his return
from the children of Ammon, should be the Lord’s; and he would
offer it up for a burnt-offering. The letter ו
having a disjunctive, as well as a conjunctive signification, may, with
equal propriety, be rendered by or as well as by and; his
vow might then be, that whatsoever came forth to meet him should be the
Lord’s; or, if fit, should be sanctified for a burnt-offering .†
XXI. What did Jeremiah foretell respecting Zedekiah?
21. That he should go to Babylon, and that he should
behold the King of Babylon also. (Jer. 34:3.)
XXII. What did Ezekiel foretell respecting Zedekiah?
22. That he should not see Babylon. (Ezekiel, 12:13.)
XXIII. How were both these prophecies fulfilled?
23. After Zedekiah had seen Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, at Riblah, his eyes were put out, and he was taken a prisoner to
Babylon. (2 Kings, 25:6, 7.) Thus he saw the King of Babylon, and went to
Babylon, but did not see it.
From the above questions and answers in the beginning
of the book, our readers will easily discern for themselves that it
contains much curious and instructive matter, and that it displays a great
and thorough acquaintance with the Bible and kindred literature; and that,
in consequence, it cannot be otherwise than instructive to those for
whose improvement it was written. We would gladly devote more space to a
wider examination, and to note down where we dissented here and there from
the views advanced by the authors, and where we thought a question and
answer might be profitably omitted; but the limits of our periodical are
too confined to permit us the gratification of doing ample justice to the
work before us. It would be very pleasing to us, could it be brought into
general use for schools in this country, as well as in Engtand; but we
fear that the price, which is stated at five shillings sterling, will be a
great bar to its general diffusion. It is very handsomely printed, and
on good paper, with a broad margin, as are all the works from the press of
that well-known Jewish mechanic, John Wertheimer, of London;
nevertheless, though this is a great recommendation to literary books,
those intended for school purposes, require cheapness as well as
correctness; and we hope, therefore, that the authors will soon be enabled
to print a new edition at half the price of the present; and we would,
at the same time, suggest to them, whether or not the usefulness of their
labour would not be enhanced by placing the answer beneath the question,
despite of the cause which we have assigned for the present arrangement;
and, at the same time, to expunge all difficult words, or explain them at
once; as nothing is so great a drawback to the pleasure of teaching as to
have to stop to explain, frequently, the meaning of the words used in
the text-books.
It would be a source of pleasure to us to be enabled
to send many orders to the learned authors from American schools, and
individuals; and we thank them, for our part, for the labour bestowed in
the cause of education.
In conclusion, we must state publicly, that neither
of the two copies, forwarded by the authors, has reached us; and we are
indebted for the one we have used to our friend, A. Hart, Esq.—In this
connexion we wish farther to remark, that our friend in England would do
well never to send any books and MSS., intended for us, by private
opportunity; but leave them at Messrs. Longman, Brown, Green, and
Longmans, under cover of Messrs. Carey and Hart, of Philadelphia; by which
means they will reach us, accidents excepted, in about six or seven weeks;
whereas, by private hands, they are often lost. Will our correspondents
bear this in mind? It will save them some disappointments, and us a great
deal of vexation.
Gesenius’s Hebrew Grammar, fourteenth edition, as
revised by Dr. E. Rödiger, translated by T. J. Conant, Professor of
Hebrew in Washington University, Hamilton, N. Y., With the modifications
of the editions, subsequent to the eleventh, by Dr. Davies, of Stepney
College, London; to which are added, a Course of Exercises in Hebrew
Grammar, and Hebrew Chrestomathy, prepared by the translator. New York. D.
Appleton & Co. 1846. 8vo. pp. 320; 60 and 25. The above is the
complete title of the new edition of the celebrated grammar of Dr. Wilhelm
Gesenius, which has so long kept possession of all the schools and
universities where the Hebrew language forms a branch of education, and we
hesitate little in saying, that Mr. Conant has performed a service to
biblical literature in furnishing a correct transcript in English of this
work of the great master. We would gladly go into an extensive examination
of the work before us; but the short time which has elapsed since we
received it, has precluded our going into a thorough comparison of it with
other similar works. But having had occasion to make use of the preceding
edition of Mr. Conant’s Gesenius, and finding it clear and perspicuous,
we hesitate not in recommending the present one to those who may wish to
acquire a familiarity with the Hebrew tongue, than which there exists none
of more necessity to the searcher after truth. To those who read the
Scriptures from a translation merely, many of the beauties of the style,
and many an idea expressible only in the words of the original, must
utterly escape, and necessarily will erroneous views be imbibed, as though
they were taught by the word of God, when in fact, an appeal to the words
of the text would dissipate the errors wrongly ascribed to the records of
Revelation. No one of Christian writers was freer from sectarian
prejudices than the late Dr. Gesenius; he loved the theme on which his
life was spent, and which the leisure of his academic pursuits permitted
him to develop much better than was permitted to any Jews of our day,
who, though loving also with proper ardour their language and literature,
are compelled from the necessity of obtaining a livelihood, to devote the
greater portion of their time to other matters than mere literary inquiry.
But as professor at Göttingen, Heiligenstadt, and Halle, he had access to
libraries and associations, which, coupled with the freedom from care
produced by his position, enabled his powerful mind to devote itself
exclusively to a study in which prejudice had done a great deal of injury
to a proper appreciation of the same. Although, therefore, he was a
non-Israelite, he could well discard all attempts of fastening Christian
doctrines to various biblical texts for which they have been, and are yet
employed, notwithstanding their obvious meaning and connexion have no such
bearing. It is no wonder, therefore, that this advocate of free inquiry
should draw upon himself the suspicion of the so-called orthodox Christian
party; in despite of which, his books, especially his grammar, have been
printed again and again, and have found their way in the shape of
translations, all over the civilized world. There are in his books, (we
speak of the few which have fallen under our observation,) certain views
to which we cannot subscribe; but it would be a work of presumption in
us, at this late day, after the judgment of the most learned critics, both
Jews and Christians, has been given in their favour, now to detail the
little objections we have had to make against some of the positions which
we discovered from time to time in the grammar, besides which, it would
require more leisure than we at present have at our command, to go over
it, page by page, to make our objections. This much we can freely say,
that we never read a book, in our occasional teaching, so little liable
to faults as the former editions of this; and the present having received
the latest corrections of the author in his lifetime, and of his trusty
scholar Rödriger, since his decease, must necessarily have been made yet
more useful to the student.
The work is well got up, and correctly printed,
owing, as Mr. Conant observes,
to its having been superintended by Mr. Wm. W. Turner, who acquired so
enviable a share of oriental knowledge under the late Mr. Isaac
Nordheimer, of the University of New York. The Chrestomathy and Exercises,
belonging to Mr. Conant himself, appear to have been printed from the
stereotype plates which were cast for the farmer edition, and as the
Hebrew type employed therein was of the square, whilst that in the
other parts of the book is of the round form, the work has
something of a checkered appearance, which ought to have been avoided, as
either the printers should have procured a good fount of the square type
to match the stereotype plates, or have cast the latter over again.
Economy is no excuse for this procedure, as eighty pages could not cost a
very heavy sum: besides this, there are some mechanical defects in the
letters used in the Chrestomathy, rather offensive to a critical eye,
which could have been easily avoided by obtaining a few new sorts, easily
accessible.
Still, the book is a creditable specimen of
typography, and the publishers have done well to make it accessible to
the general public, by fixing the price as low as they have done. They
deserve for this, the thanks and the encouragement of those interested.
The Voice of Jacob.—Mr. Jacob A. Franklin, the
originator of the Voice of Jacob, and for nearly the whole of the five
years since its establishment its editor, retired from all connexion with
it at the conclusion of the fifth volume. Mr. F.’s mercantile pursuits,
as he alleges, made it far from desirable for him to be at the head of a
religious paper, and he only undertook the task of establishing a Jewish
press, because he thought the times required the concentration of efforts
for the general good. The origin of the attempt was owing to a circular
Mr. F. issued soon after the return of Sir Moses Montefiore from his
mission to Egypt, respecting the establishment of a college for the
education of Jewish ministers, and this paper drawing to it public
attention, he was urged to undertake a regular publication of a work
calculated to subserve the general good. Mr. F. in commencing, thought
that he would soon be able to place it in the hands of competent persons,
and allow himself merely a general supervision. But he soon found that
whilst he was connected with it, the editorial labours would all fall upon
him; and as this took up all his time, which he cannot afford to lose, he
resolved, at length, to withdraw altogether from the proprietorship, with
the beginning of the new year.
Mr. Franklin has certainly done a great service to
Jewish periodical literature in England, by his attempt to establish a
press, and his partial success therein; and his not doing more is owing
more to the force of circumstances against which he could not contend,
than to any fault of his own. In his editorial labours, he aimed at
nothing beyond his reach; hence he has
always issued a respectable paper, though naturally it had but little the
character of a learned review. Certain it is he has done no injury to the
progress of religion, and equally certain it is that he has rendered a
great good, by first publishing many good articles, eminently calculated
to advance true principles of faith, and then by bringing, so to say, the
scattered remnants of Asia, Africa, and Australia, within speaking
distance of Europe. The road being once open, the success to others will
be more attainable; and we trust that in all future periods of the
Anglo-Jewish press, the name of its first founder will be remembered with
a blessing. We wish Mr. F. all the success he covets in his renewed
merchantile life, and hope that, though retired, he will give the public
very frequently the benefits of his thoughts and reflections upon passing
events. We should be pleased to hear from him for the Occident.
The Voice of Jacob is now continued by a number of
gentlemen, whose names do not appear. It is their intention to give it a
more literary character than hitherto. We have received the first three
numbers issued under the new administration, which bid fair to redeem the
promise held out; and we hoped that success may attend the editors, though
we should be more pleased were they to append their names to their work.
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