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 HEBREW

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HEBREWS

Work of the Gbammahians. — Although some of the Old Testament writers give etymological render- ings of various proper names, no trace of grammatical or philological study of the Hebrew language appears prior to the Talmudic period. Many of tlie observa- tions preserved in the Talmud have a grammatical bearing, and remarks of a similar kind are frequently met with in the commentaries of St. Jerome and the other early Christian writers. The first systematic attempts to frame the rules of Hebrew grammar were made by the Oriental Jews, chiefly of the Babylonian School. The movement began with Menahem Ben Sarouk (d. 950) and continued until the end of the twelfth century, but the results of these early efforts left much to be desired. More successful was the movement inaugurated about the same time under the influence of Arabic culture among the Jewish colonies of Spain and Northern Africa. Among the writers belonging to this school may be mentioned Jehuda Ben Korei.sh (SSO), Saadyah (d. 942), Rabbi Jonah Ben Gannah (physician of Cordova, b. about 990), first author of a Hebrew grammar and lexicon, and Juda Hayug (d. 1010). In the sixteenth century the study of Hebrew, hitherto almost exclusively confined to the Jews, was taken up by Christian scholars, and under the influence of the Protestant principle of the Bible as the sole rule of faith it re- ceived a great impetus. Prior to the Reformation Johann Reuchlin (14.55-1522) and the Dominican Santes Pagninus (1471-1541) had prepared the way for such scholars as the famous Johann Buxtorf (1.564-1629) and his son (1599-1664). The former was appointed professor of Hebrew at Basle in 1590 and was accounted the most learned hcljraist of his time. He published in 1602 a manual of Biblical Hebrew containing a grammar and a vocabulary, and in the following year a work on the Jewish Syna- gogue. In 1613 he brought out a lexicon of rabbinical Hebrew and its abbreviations, and in 161S appeared his greatest work, the folio Hebrew Bible, together with the Targums (q. v.) and the commentaries of the rabbinical writers Ben Ezra and Rashi. Buxtorf died of the plague in 1629, leaving many important works unfinished. Some of these were completed and edited by his son Johann, who became his succes- sor as professor of Hebrew at Basle. Another scholar of that period was Paul Biichlein (Fagius), a Bavarian (1.504—49), who after having studied Hebrew under Elias Levita became professor of theology at Stras- burg in 1.542. In 1549 he was called to England by Cranmer and appointed professor of Hebrew at Cam- bridge, where he died shortly afterwards. He en- joyed a great reputation as a Hebrew scholar, and he published more than a score of works dealing chiefly with Old Testament exegesis. But the work of these and other eminent scholars of the same school was defective because based too exclusively on the princi- ples of the Jewish grammarians, and it was to a great extent superseded in the eighteenth century by the works of such scholars as Albert Schultens of Leyden (1686-1750) and Schroder of Marburg (1721-9S), who introduced new methods, notably that of com- parative grammar. The nineteenth century was marked by a strong revival of Hebrew studies. The movement was begun by Wilhelm Gesenius (d. 1842), whose " Thesaurus " and grammar have been the basis of all subsequent works of the kind, and continued by Bottcher (d. 1863), Ewald (d. 1875), Olshausen, Stade, Konig, Bickell, etc. These scholars, profiting by the great advance in linguistic knowledge derived from the comparative study of the Indo-European languages, have introduced into the study of Hebrew a more extensive application of phonetic and other philological principles and have thus brought it nearer than did their predecessors to the realm of an exact science.

ToDZARD in ViG., Diet, de la Bible, s. v. Hebrajque (Languc),

an exhaustive treatise, of which tlte foregoing is in great meas- ure an abstract and adaptation: Margoliouth in Hast., Diet. of the Bible, s. v. Language of the Old Teslamenl: Gesenius, Grammar of the Hebrew Language, ed. Mitchell (1903) ; Vosen, Rudimenta, 7th ed., tr. Gabriels, Rudiments of the Hebrew (jrammar (Freiburg and St. Louis, ISSS) ; Harper, Elements of Hebrew ,Syntax (New York, 1.S92): Wright. Lectures on the Comvarative Grammar of the Semitic Languages (Cambridge, 1S90): Briggs, General I ntrodurtion to the Study of Holu Scrip- tvre (New York. 1S99). ch. xiii-xvii; MouLTOV, .4 Literary Stud'/ of the Bible: Idem. A ,Stiort Introduction to the Literature of the Bible (Boston. 1901): .Abbott, Life and Literature of the Ancient Hebrews (Boston, 1901).

James F. Driscoll.

Hebrew Names. See Names, Christian and Jewish.

Hebrews. See Israelites; Jews and Judaism.

Hebrews, Epistle to the. — This will be consid- ered under eight headings: (I) Argument; (II) Doc- trinal Contents; (III) Language and Style; (IV) Distinctive Characteristics; (V) Readers to Whom it was .Addressed; (VI) ."Vuthor; (VII) Circumstances of the Composition; (VIII) Importance.

I. Argument. — In the oldest Greek MSS. the Epis- tle to the Hebrews (wpis 'Ejipatovs, n. A, B) follows the other letters to the Churches and precedes the pastoral letters. In the later Greek codices, and in the Syriac and Latin codices as well, it holds the last place among the Epistles of St. Paul; this usage is also followed by the teilus receptus, the modern Greek and Latin editions of the text, the Douay and Revised Versions, and the other modern trans- lations.

Omitting the introduction with which the letters of St. Paul usually begin, the Epistle opens with the solemn announcement of the superiority of the New Testament Revelation by the Son over Old Testa- ment Revelation by the prophets (Heb., i, 1-4). It then proves and explains from the Scriptures the superiority of this New Covenant over the Old by the comparison of the Son with the angels as mediators of the Old Covenant (i, 5-ii, 18), with Moses and Josue as the founders of the Old Covenant (iii, 1-iv, 16), and, finally, by opposing the high-priesthood of Christ after the order of Melchisedech to the Levitical priest- hood after the order of Aaron (v, 1-x, IS). Even in this mainly doctrinal part the dogmatic statements are repeatedly interrupted by practical exhortations. These are mostly admonitions to hold fast to the Christian Faith, and warnings against relapse into the Mosaic worship. In the second, chiefly hortatory, part of the Epistle, the exhortations to steadfastness in the Faith (x, 19-xii, 13), and to a Christian hfe according to the Faith (xii, 14-xiii, 17), are repeated in an elaborated form, and the Epistle closes with some personal remarks and the Apostolic salutation (xiii, 18-25).

II. Doctrinal Contents. — The central thought of the entire Epistle is the doctrine of the Person of Clirist and His Divine mediatorial office. In regard to the Person of the Saviour the author expresses himself as clearly concerning the true Divine nature of Christ as concerning Christ's human nature, and his Christology has been justly called Johannine. Christ, raised above Moses, above the angels, and above all created beings, is the brightness of the glory of the Father, the express image of His Divine nature, the eternal and unchangeable, true Son of God, Who up- holdeth all things by the word of His power (i, 1-4). He desired, however, to take on a human nature and to become in all things like unto us human beings, sin alone excepted, in order to pay man's debt of sin by His passion and death (ii, 9-18; iv, 15, etc.). By suf- fering death He gained for Himself the eternal glory which He now also enjoys in His most holy humanity on His throne at the right hand of the Father (i, 3; ii, 9; viii, 1; xii, 2, etc.). There He now exercises for-