Benedictus de Spinoza

“ In the 22nd verse of the 21st chapter of Judges we read, — "When their fathers or their brethren come to us," the marginal note supplies the "to complain" [which is adopted in the English version] . In the same manner many things have arisen from the use of the letters which are styled quiescent, — letters which are for the most part slurred, or scarcely indicated in speaking, and which in Hebrew are taken indifferently one for another. ”

“ The defects and errors of the text they say cannot have been introduced of set purpose, but have crept by accident or inadvertence into the codices, and that this is the case appears from various considerations. In five different places, for example, in the Bible, the Hebrew word for girl, or young woman, is met with, and in each of these, with a single exception, the letter ה He, against all grammatical rule, is omitted; in the margin, however, the defective aspirate is regularly supplied. Now shall the error here be set down to the score of the writer or writers of the Bible? ”

“ It was doubtless thought presumptuous, in a matter of so much moment as a phrase in Holy Writ, to come to any positive determination, whereby something false might be taken for the uncertain truth, and they therefore escaped the dilemma of seeming to prefer one version to another by regularly writing the one and constantly reading aloud the other. ”

“ But many will not allow that error or mistake has crept into any part of Scripture whatsoever. They maintain that God, by his special providence, has preserved the whole Bible incorrupt; the various readings of the text that are extant they declare to be signs of inscrutable mysteries; so are the asterisms which occur in the middle of 28 paragraphs of Scripture; [4] nay, they contend that there are great arcana connected with the tops of the Hebrew letters! ”

“ Even the more ancient scribes have animadverted upon various doubtful readings, and on several imperfect or truncated passages besides; and very certainly they have not noticed all of these that occur. But whether the imperfections are of such magnitude as to throw serious obstacles in the reader's way I shall not stay to question; for my own part, I regard them as of lighter moment, to those at least who read the Scriptures with unbiassed judgment ”

“ Ezra, our historian, however, gave the story of Judah and his sons and Tamar, as he found it, without examining the matter very particularly, or making sure that it accurately fitted in with the other circumstances with which it was connected. But this is not the only tale that is derived from different records or traditions; the entire history of Jacob and Joseph appears to be similarly derived, so little do the several parts of it agree with one another. Thus, in the 47th chapter of Genesis it is recorded that Jacob, when first presented by Joseph, his son, to Pharaoh, was 130 years old ”

“ The first of these assumptions, to which indeed I pay little attention, is derived from the custom or practice followed in reading the Scriptures. "If," they say, "these marginal notes are appended on account of a variety of readings, the best of which posterity have not been able to decide on, whence comes it that the marginal word is the one which in reading the Scriptures is constantly employed? Why, say they, has the sense which the writer desired should be adopted been noted in the margin? ”

“ Who does not see that the number of the years of Saul's age when he came to the kingdom are wanting here? But that a considerable number must be admitted is obvious from the narrative of events. For in the 7th verse of the 27th chapter of the same book we find that David dwelt among the Philistines, with whom he had sought refuge on account of Saul's anger, for one year and four months ”

“ Our historian, after having in the last chapter of Joshua given an account of the death and burial of this great captain, and in the 1st chapter of Judges promised that he would next speak of what came to pass after Joshua's death, instead of doing so and going on with the thread of his story, connecting the incidents which he now begins to relate with those that had gone before, starts afresh, as it were, and repeats the tale of the death and burial of Joshua. ”

“ This is the author's rendering of the Hebrew text. Our English version reads thus: — "Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, he chose him two thousand men," &c., a mode of getting over the difficulty for which there is no authority. — Ed.↑ Vide end of this chapter for an explanation of this. — Ed.↑ Kirjath-jearim is also called Bahgal of Judah. ”