Book: A Theologico Political Treatise [Part II]

B >> Benedict de Spinoza >> A Theologico Political Treatise [Part II]




(30) All these periods added together make a total of 580 years. (31) But to
these must be added the years during which the Hebrew republic flourished
after the death of Joshua, until it was conquered by Cushan Rishathaim,
which I take to be very numerous, for I cannot bring myself to believe that
immediately after the death of Joshua all those who had witnessed his
miracles died simultaneously, nor that their successors at one stroke bid
farewell to their laws, and plunged from the highest virtue into the depth
of wickedness and obstinacy.

(32) Nor, lastly, that Cushan Rishathaim subdued them on the instant; each
one of these circumstances requires almost a generation, and there is no
doubt that Judges ii:7, 9, 10, comprehends a great many years which it
passes over in silence. (33) We must also add the years during which Samuel
was judge, the number of which is not stated in Scripture, and also the
years during which Saul reigned, which are not clearly shown from his
history. (34) It is, indeed, stated in 1 Sam. xiii:1, that he reigned two
years, but the text in that passage is mutilated, and the records of his
reign lead us to suppose a longer period. (35) That the text is mutilated I
suppose no one will doubt who has ever advanced so far as the threshold of
the Hebrew language, for it runs as follows: "Saul was in his -- year, when
he began to reign, and he reigned two years over Israel." (36) Who, I say,
does not see that the number of the years of Saul's age when he began to
reign has been omitted? (37) That the record of the reign presupposes a
greater number of years is equally beyond doubt, for in the same book, chap.
xxvii:7, it is stated that David sojourned among the Philistines, to whom he
had fled on account of Saul, a year and four months; thus the rest of the
reign must have been comprised in a space of eight months, which I think
no one will credit. (38) Josephus, at the end of the sixth book of his
antiquities, thus corrects the text: Saul reigned eighteen years while
Samuel was alive, and two years after his death. (39) However, all the
narrative in chap. Xiii. is in complete disagreement with what goes before.
(40) At the end of chap. vii. it is narrated that the Philistines were so
crushed by the Hebrews that they did not venture, during Samuel's life, to
invade the borders of Israel; but in chap. xiii. we are told that the
Hebrews were invaded during the life of Samuel by the Philistines, and
reduced by them to such a state of wretchedness and poverty that they were
deprived not only of weapons with which to defend themselves, but also of
the means of making more. (41) I should be at pains enough if I were to try
and harmonize all the narratives contained in this first book of Samuel so
that they should seem to be all written and arranged by a single historian.
(42) But I return to my object. (43) The years, then, during which Saul
reigned must be added to the above computation; and, lastly, I have not
counted the years of the Hebrew anarchy, for I cannot from Scripture gather
their number. (44) I cannot, I say, be certain as to the period occupied by
the events related in Judges chap. xvii. on till the end of the book.

(45) It is thus abundantly evident that we cannot arrive at a true
computation of years from the histories, and, further, that the histories
are inconsistent themselves on the subject. (46) We are compelled to confess
that these histories were compiled from various writers without previous
arrangement and examination. (47) Not less discrepancy is found between the
dates given in the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, and those in the
Chronicles of the Kings of Israel; in the latter, it is stated that Jehoram,
the son of Ahab, began to reign in the second year of the reign of Jehoram,
the son of Jehoshaphat (2 Kings i:17), but in the former we read that
Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, began to reign in the fifth year of
Jehoram, the son of Ahab (2 Kings viii:16). (48) Anyone who compares the
narratives in Chronicles with the narratives in the books of Kings, will
find many similar discrepancies. (49) These there is no need for me to
examine here, and still less am I called upon to treat of the commentaries
of those who endeavour to harmonize them. (50) The Rabbis evidently let their
fancy run wild. (51) Such commentators as I have, read, dream, invent, and
as a last resort, play fast and loose with the language. (52) For instance,
when it is said in 2 Chronicles, that Ahab was forty-two years old when he
began to reign, they pretend that these years are computed from the reign of
Omri, not from the birth of Ahab. (53) If this can be shown to be the real
meaning of the writer of the book of Chronicles, all I can say is, that he
did not know how to state a fact. (54) The commentators make many other
assertions of this kind, which if true, would prove that the ancient Hebrews
were ignorant both of their own language, and of the way to relate a plain
narrative. (55) I should in such case recognize no rule or reason in
interpreting Scripture, but it would be permissible to hypothesize to one's
heart's content.

(56) If anyone thinks that I am speaking too generally, and without
sufficient warrant, I would ask him to set himself to showing us some fixed
plan in these histories which might be followed without blame by other
writers of chronicles, and in his efforts at harmonizing and interpretation,
so strictly to observe and explain the phrases and expressions, the order
and the connections, that we may be able to imitate these also in our
writings (17). (57) If he succeeds, I will at once give him my hand, and he
shall be to me as great Apollo; for I confess that after long endeavours I
have been unable to discover anything of the kind. (58) I may add that I set
down nothing here which I have not long reflected upon, and that, though I
was imbued from my boyhood up with the ordinary opinions about the
Scriptures, I have been unable to withstand the force of what I have urged.

(59) However, there is no need to detain the reader with this question, and
drive him to attempt an impossible task; I merely mentioned the fact in
order to throw light on my intention.

(60) I now pass on to other points concerning the treatment of these books.
(61) For we must remark, in addition to what has been shown, that these
books were not guarded by posterity with such care that no faults crept in.
(62) The ancient scribes draw attention to many doubtful readings, and some
mutilated passages, but not to all that exist: whether the faults are
of sufficient importance to greatly embarrass the reader I will not now
discuss. (63) I am inclined to think that they are of minor moment to those,
at any rate, who read the Scriptures with enlightenment: and I can
positively, affirm that I have not noticed any fault or various reading in
doctrinal passages sufficient to render them obscure or doubtful.

(64) There are some people, however, who will not admit that there is any
corruption, even in other passages, but maintain that by some unique
exercise of providence God has preserved from corruption every word in the
Bible: they say that the various readings are the symbols of profoundest
mysteries, and that mighty secrets lie hid in the twenty-eight hiatus which
occur, nay, even in the very form of the letters.

(65) Whether they are actuated by folly and anile devotion, or whether by
arrogance and malice so that they alone may be held to possess the secrets
of God, I know not: this much I do know, that I find in their writings
nothing which has the air of a Divine secret, but only childish
lucubrations. (66) I have read and known certain Kabbalistic triflers, whose
insanity provokes my unceasing as astonishment. (67) That faults have crept
in will, I think, be denied by no sensible person who reads the passage
about Saul, above quoted (1 Sam. xiii:1) and also 2 Sam. vi:2: "And David
arose and went with all the people that were with him from Judah, to bring
up from thence the ark of God."

(68) No one can fail to remark that the name of their destination, viz.,
Kirjath-jearim [Endnote 18], has been omitted: nor can we deny that
2 Sam. xiii:37, has been tampered with and mutilated. "And Absalom fled, and
went to Talmai, the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. (69) And he mourned for
his son every day. So Absalom fled, and went to Geshur, and was there three
years." (70) I know that I have remarked other passages of the same kind,
but I cannot recall them at the moment.

(71) That the marginal notes which are found continually in the Hebrew
Codices are doubtful readings will, I think, be evident to everyone who has
noticed that they often arise from the great similarity, of some of the
Hebrew letters, such for instance, as the similarity between Kaph and Beth,
Jod and Van, Daleth and Reth, &c. (72) For example, the text in
2 Sam. v:24, runs "in the time when thou hearest," and similarly in
Judges xxi:22, "And it shall be when their fathers or their brothers come
unto us often," the marginal version is "come unto us to complain."

(73) So also many various readings have arisen from the use of the letters
named mutes, which are generally not sounded in pronunciation, and are taken
promiscuously, one for the other. (74) For example, in Levit. xxv:29, it is
written, "The house shall be established which is not in the walled city,"
but the margin has it, "which is in a walled city."

(75) Though these matters are self-evident, [Endnore 6], it is necessary, to
answer the reasonings of certain Pharisees, by which they endeavour to
convince us that the marginal notes serve to indicate some mystery, and were
added or pointed out by the writers of the sacred books. (76) The first of
these reasons, which, in my, opinion, carries little weight, is taken from
the practice of reading the Scriptures aloud.

(77) If, it is urged, these notes were added to show various readings which
could not be decided upon by posterity, why has custom prevailed that the
marginal readings should always be retained? (78) Why has the meaning which
is preferred been set down in the margin when it ought to have been
incorporated in the text, and not relegated to a side note?

(79) The second reason is more specious, and is taken from the nature of the
case. (80) It is admitted that faults have crept into the sacred writings by
chance and not by design; but they say that in the five books the word for a
girl is, with one exception, written without the letter "he," contrary to
all grammatical rules, whereas in the margin it is written correctly
according to the universal rule of grammar. (81) Can this have happened by
mistake? Is it possible to imagine a clerical error to have been committed
every, time the word occurs? (82) Moreover, it would have been easy, to
supply the emendation. (83) Hence, when these readings are not accidental
or corrections of manifest mistakes, it is supposed that they must have been
set down on purpose by the original writers, and have a meaning. (84)
However, it is easy to answer such arguments; as to the question of custom
having prevailed in the reading of the marginal versions, I will not spare
much time for its consideration: I know not the promptings of superstition,
and perhaps the practice may have arisen from the idea that both readings
were deemed equally good or tolerable, and therefore, lest either should be
neglected, one was appointed to be written, and the other to be read. (85)
They feared to pronounce judgment in so weighty a matter lest they should
mistake the false for the true, and therefore they would give preference to
neither, as they must necessarily have done if they had commanded one only
to be both read and written. (86) This would be especially the case where
the marginal readings were not written down in the sacred books: or the
custom may have originated because some things though rightly written down
were desired to be read otherwise according to the marginal version, and
therefore the general rule was made that the marginal version should be
followed in reading the Scriptures. (87) The cause which induced the scribes
to expressly prescribe certain passages to be read in the marginal version,
I will now touch on, for not all the marginal notes are various readings,
but some mark expressions which have passed out of common use, obsolete
words and terms which current decency did not allow to be read in a public
assembly. (88) The ancient writers, without any evil intention, employed no
courtly paraphrase, but called things by their plain names. (891)
Afterwards, through the spread of evil thoughts and luxury, words which
could be used by the ancients without offence, came to be considered
obscene. (90) There was no need for this cause to change the text of
Scripture. (91) Still, as a concession to the popular weakness, it became
the custom to substitute more decent terms for words denoting sexual
intercourse, exereta, &c., and to read them as they were given in the
margin.

(92) At any rate, whatever may have been the origin of the practice of
reading Scripture according to the marginal version, it was not that the
true interpretation is contained therein. (93) For besides that, the
Rabbins in the Talmud often differ from the Massoretes, and give other
readings which they approve of, as I will shortly show, certain things are
found in the margin which appear less warranted by the uses of the Hebrew
language. (94) For example, in 2 Samuel xiv:22, we read, "In that the king
hath fulfilled the request of his servant," a construction plainly
regular, and agreeing with that in chap. xvi. (95) But the margin has it
"of thy servant," which does not agree with the person of the verb. (96)
So, too, chap. xvi:25 of the same book, we find, "As if one had inquired at
the oracle of God," the margin adding "someone" to stand as a nominative to
the verb. (97) But the correction is not apparently warranted, for it is
a common practice, well known to grammarians in the Hebrew language, to use
the third person singular of the active verb impersonally.

(98) The second argument advanced by the Pharisees is easily answered from
what has just been said, namely, that the scribes besides the various
readings called attention to obsolete words. (99) For there is no doubt
that in Hebrew as in other languages, changes of use made many words
obsolete and antiquated, and such were found by the later scribes in the
sacred books and noted by them with a view to the books being publicly read
according to custom. (100) For this reason the word nahgar is always found
marked because its gender was originally common, and it had the same meaning
as the Latin juvenis (a young person). (101) So also the Hebrew capital was
anciently called Jerusalem, not Jerusalaim. (102) As to the pronouns himself
and herself, I think that the later scribes changed vau into jod (a very
frequent change in Hebrew) when they wished to express the feminine gender,
but that the ancients only distinguished the two genders by a change of
vowels. (103) I may also remark that the irregular tenses of certain verbs
differ in the ancient and modern forms, it being formerly considered a mark
of elegance to employ certain letters agreeable to the ear.

(104) In a word, I could easily multiply proofs of this kind if I were not
afraid of abusing the patience of the reader. (105) Perhaps I shall be asked
how I became acquainted with the fact that all these expressions are
obsolete. (106) I reply that I have found them in the most ancient Hebrew
writers in the Bible itself, and that they have not been imitated by
subsequent authors, and thus they are recognized as antiquated, though the
language in which they occur is dead. (107) But perhaps someone may press
the question why, if it be true, as I say, that the marginal notes of the
Bible generally mark various readings, there are never more than two
readings of a passage, that in the text and that in the margin, instead of
three or more; and further, how the scribes can have hesitated between two
readings, one of which is evidently contrary to grammar, and the other a
plain correction.

(108) The answer to these questions also is easy: I will premise that it is
almost certain that there once were more various readings than those now
recorded. (119) For instance, one finds many in the Talmud which the
Massoretes have neglected, and are so different one from the other that
even the superstitious editor of the Bomberg Bible confesses that he cannot
harmonize them. (110) "We cannot say anything," he writes, "except what we
have said above, namely, that the Talmud is generally in contradiction to
the Massorete." (111) So that we are nor bound to hold that there never were
more than two readings of any passage, yet I am willing to admit, and
indeed I believe that more than two readings are never found: and for the
following reasons:-(112) (I.) The cause of the differences of reading only
admits of two, being generally the similarity of certain letters, so that
the question resolved itself into which should be written Beth, or Kaf,
Jod or Vau, Daleth or Reth: cases which are constantly occurring, and
frequently yielding a fairly good meaning whichever alternative be adopted.
(113) Sometimes, too, it is a question whether a syllable be long or short,
quantity being determined by the letters called mutes. (114) Moreover, we
never asserted that all the marginal versions, without exception, marked
various readings; on the contrary, we have stated that many were due to
motives of decency or a desire to explain obsolete words. (115) (II.) I am
inclined to attribute the fact that more than two readings are never found
to the paucity of exemplars, perhaps not more than two or three, found by
the scribes. (116) In the treatise of the scribes, chap. vi., mention is
made of three only, pretended to have been found in the time of Ezra, in
order that the marginal versions might be attributed to him.

(117) However that may be, if the scribes only had three codices we may
easily imagine that in a given passage two of them would be in accord, for
it would be extraordinary if each one of the three gave a different reading
of the same text.

(118) The dearth of copies after the time of Ezra will surprise no one who
has read the 1st chapter of Maccabees, or Josephus's "Antiquities," Bk. 12,
chap. 5. (119) Nay, it appears wonderful considering the fierce and daily
persecution, that even these few should have been preserved. (120) This
will, I think, be plain to even a cursory reader of the history of those
times.

(121) We have thus discovered the reasons why there are never more than two
readings of a passage in the Bible, but this is a long way from supposing
that we may therefore conclude that the Bible was purposely written
incorrectly in such passages in order to signify some mystery. (122) As to
the second argument, that some passages are so faultily written that they
are at plain variance with all grammar, and should have been corrected in
the text and not in the margin, I attach little weight to it, for I am not
concerned to say what religious motive the scribes may have had for acting
as they did: possibly they did so from candour, wishing to transmit the few
exemplars of the Bible which they had found exactly in their original state,
marking the differences they discovered in the margin, not as doubtful
readings, but as simple variants. (123) I have myself called them doubtful
readings, because it would be generally impossible to say which of the two
versions is preferable.

(124) Lastly, besides these doubtful readings the scribes have (by leaving a
hiatus in the middle of a paragraph) marked several passages as mutilated.
(125) The Massoretes have counted up such instances, and they amount to
eight-and-twenty. (126) I do not know whether any mystery is thought to lurk
in the number, at any rate the Pharisees religiously preserve a certain
amount of empty space.

(127) One of such hiatus occurs (to give an instance) in Gen. iv:8, where it
is written, "And Cain said to his brother . . . . and it came to pass while
they were in the field, &c.," a space being left in which we should expect
to hear what it was that Cain said.

(128) Similarly there are (besides those points we have noticed) eight-and-
twenty hiatus left by the scribes. (129) Many of these would not be
recognized as mutilated if it were not for the empty space left. But I have
said enough on this subject.




CHAPTER X. - AN EXAMINATION OF THE REMAINING BOOKS OF
THE OLD TESTAMENT ACCORDING TO THE PRECEDING METHOD.

(1) I now pass on to the remaining books of the Old Testament. (2)
Concerning the two books of Chronicles I have nothing particular or
important to remark, except that they were certainly written after the time
of Ezra, and possibly after the restoration of the Temple by Judas
Maccabaeus [Endnote 19]. (2) For in chap. ix. of the first book we find a
reckoning of the families who were the first to live in Jerusalem, and in
verse 17 the names of the porters, of which two recur in Nehemiah. (3) This
shows that the books were certainly compiled after the rebuilding of the
city. (4) As to their actual writer, their authority, utility, and doctrine,
I come to no conclusion. (5) I have always been astonished that they have
been included in the Bible by men who shut out from the canon the books of
Wisdom, Tobit, and the others styled apocryphal. (6) I do not aim at
disparaging their authority, but as they are universally received I will
leave them as they are.

(7) The Psalms were collected and divided into five books in the time of the
second temple, for Ps. lxxxviii. was published, according to Philo-Judaeus,
while king Jehoiachin was still a prisoner in Babylon; and Ps. lxxxix. when
the same king obtained his liberty: I do not think Philo would have made the
statement unless either it had been the received opinion in his time, or
else had been told him by trustworthy persons.

(8) The Proverbs of Solomon were, I believe, collected at the same time, or
at least in the time of King Josiah; for in chap. xxv:1, it is written,
"These are also proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of
Judah, copied out." (9) I cannot here pass over in silence the audacity
of the Rabbis who wished to exclude from the sacred canon both the Proverbs
and Ecclesiastes, and to put them both in the Apocrypha. (10) In fact, they
would actually have done so, if they had not lighted on certain passages in
which the law of Moses is extolled. (11) It is, indeed, grievous to think
that the settling of the sacred canon lay in the hands of such men; however,
I congratulate them, in this instance, on their suffering us to see these
books in question, though I cannot refrain from doubting whether they have
transmitted them in absolute good faith; but I will not now linger on this
point.

(10) I pass on, then, to the prophetic books. (11) An examination of these
assures me that the prophecies therein contained have been compiled from
other books, and are not always set down in the exact order in which they
were spoken or written by the prophets, but are only such as were collected
here and there, so that they are but fragmentary.

(12) Isaiah began to prophecy in the reign of Uzziah, as the writer himself
testifies in the first verse. (13) He not only prophesied at that time, but
furthermore wrote the history of that king (see 2 Chron. xxvi:22) in a
volume now lost. (13) That which we possess, we have shown to have been
taken from the chronicles of the kings of Judah and Israel.

(14) We may add that the Rabbis assert that this prophet prophesied in the
reign of Manasseh, by whom he was eventually put to death, and, although
this seems to be a myth, it yet shows that they did not think that all
Isaiah's prophecies are extant.

(15) The prophecies of Jeremiah, which are related historically are also
taken from various chronicles; for not only are they heaped together
confusedly, without any account being taken of dates, but also the same
story is told in them differently in different passages. (16) For instance,
in chap. xxi. we are told that the cause of Jeremiah's arrest was that he
had prophesied the destruction of the city to Zedekiah who consulted him.
(17) This narrative suddenly passes, in chap xxii., to the prophet's
remonstrances to Jehoiakim (Zedekiah's predecessor), and the prediction he
made of that king's captivity; then, in chap. xxv., come the revelations
granted to the prophet previously, that is in the fourth year of Jehoiakim,
and, further on still, the revelations received in the first year of the
same reign. (18) The continuator of Jeremiah goes on heaping prophecy
upon prophecy without any regard to dates, until at last, in chap. xxxviii.
(as if the intervening chapters had been a parenthesis), he takes up the
thread dropped in chap. xxi.

(19) In fact, the conjunction with which chap. xxxviii. begins, refers to
the 8th, 9th, and 10th verses of chap. xxi. Jeremiah's last arrest is then
very differently described, and a totally separate cause is given for his
daily retention in the court of the prison.

Copyright (c) 2007. knowncrafts.net. All rights reserved.