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accordingly are not concerned to maintain that the narrative as it stands is literally correct. It is enough to learn from it those true conceptions of God's character and action which formed the basis of Israel's faith, and which have been verified by the subsequent religious experience, not of Israel only, but of mankind.

The Old Testament, then, regarded as a history of human redemption, starts with certain necessary presuppositions which, though embodied in a primitive and childlike form, find their verification ultimately in the moral experience of mankind. The precise value and importance of the historical books will occupy our attention later. Meanwhile, it will be appropriate in this general survey of the subject to notice briefly two particular features which give a distinctive character to the sacred history.

In the first place, the course of redemption is marked at various points by the occurrence of the supernatural. In the Old Testament history divine action or intervention is represented as having been specially conspicuous at certain great crises or epochs, particularly it would seem on occasions when Jehovah willed to manifest Himself as unique or supreme among the supposed deities of heathendom, and accordingly miraculous powers are usually attributed only to a few leading instruments of revelation, such as Moses, Elijah, and Elisha'. Now it cannot be questioned that a complete self-manifestation of the divine nature demands action as well as utterance, and that miracles of grace and power are constitutive elements that may be antecedently expected in any authentic revelation of God. The abstract possibility of miracle seems to be necessarily implied in the religious conception of God as a free, spiritual being, to whom the moral interests of the universe are of higher importance than the uninterrupted maintenance of physical law.

1 Oehler, The Theology of the O. T. § 63.

2 Cp. Bruce, The Chief End of Revelation, p. 168.

Miracle is also a natural element in any revelation of grace which takes the form of action rather than speech, for, as Dr. Bruce observes, 'the maximum of gracious possibility cannot be manifested without miracle'. A logical theism must claim for God the power to intervene in His own universe on behalf of His good purpose 2, and to display His entire exemption from any bondage to the present order of nature or to the past course of history 3. In point of fact it is creative epochs in the history of religion that seem generally to be signalized or heralded by an exceptional coruscation of miracle. Indeed, if the Old Testament be the record of a divine movement destined to culminate in the Incarnation and Resurrection of the Son of God, a miraculous element in the history seems to be not only antecedently probable, but even necessary, as indicating the special purpose, direction, and moral quality of the divine action. This general defence of the Old Testament miracles does not, however, imply a belief that every supernatural occurrence related in the different books literally happened exactly as it is described. Since it is admitted that the majority of the historical books only attained their present form centuries after the occurrence of many of the events recorded in them, we may-at least while the date of the original materials out of which they were compiled remains uncertain-safely allow the possibility of cases in which poetical or hyperbolical language has been hardened into concrete fact. It has been suggested that this is a probable explana

1 The Chief End of Revelation, p. 175.

2 Phil. ii. 13.

See Isa. xliii. 18, &c. Cp. the remarks of A. Ritschl, Unterricht in der christlichen Religion (Bonn, 1886), § 17: 'Die religiöse Betrachtung der Welt ist darauf gestellt, dass alle Naturereignisse zur Verfügung Gottes stehen, wenn er den Menschen helfen will. Demgemäss gelten als Wunder solche auffallende Naturerscheinungen, mit welchen die Erfahrung besonderer Gnadenhilfe Gottes verbunden ist, welche also als besondere Zeichen seiner Gnadenbereitschaft für die Gläubigen zu betrachten sind. Deshalb steht die Vorstellung von Wundern in nothwendiger Wechselbeziehung zu dem besonderen Glauben an Gottes Vorsehung, und ist ausserhalb dieser Beziehung gar nicht möglich.' Cp. A. L. Moore, Science and the Faith, pp. 98, 99.

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tion of the narrative which describes the standing still of the sun at the command of Joshua'. Nor is it a matter of crucial importance to contest the opinion, whatever it may be worth, that even in the case of great personages belonging to a much later age, there has been a somewhat free ascription of symbolic miracles. Thus, in the case of Elijah and Elisha it is sometimes maintained that the analogy of secular history points to a possible growth of popular tradition, filling up or adding to the record of their mighty deeds. Differences of opinion in regard to the precise extent of the undoubtedly historical nucleus contained in the narratives relating to such heroic figures may reasonably be admitted. In any case the miracles, whether actually performed or popularly ascribed, foreshadowed the redemptive works of the incarnate Son. To lay equal stress on the miracles of the Old Testament and on those of our Lord not only involves a serious confusion of thought; it implies misapprehension of the true character of the Old Testament and forgetfulness of the principle expressed in Augustine's maxim, Sicut Veteri Testamento, si esse ex Deo bono et summo negetur, ita et Novo fit injuria si Veteri aequetur.

Secondly, we may notice a general principle which underlies the redemptive action of God, namely, the principle of limitation or severance. The tendency of Hebrew history is towards specialization: the action of a purpose of God according to election 2 is observable. The entire story of Genesis, for instance, consists in

1 Kittel, History of the Hebrews, vol. i. p. 303 [Eng. Tr.], says of Joshua x. 12-14 This [event] can signify nothing but an extraordinary duration of the day of battle which allowed Joshua to finish his martial day's work. The daylight held out till the work of vengeance on the enemy was completed. Joshua has poetically glorified this in the song as a standing still of the sun, because he knew of no other explanation.' Kittel implies that a miracle did take place, but the reviser of the book of Joshua turned the song 'into matter-of-fact prose.' Renan, Histoire, &c., bk. ii. ch. 3, gives a simple literary and linguistic explanation of the passage, on which Judg. v. 20 sheds some light. A parallel instance is perhaps to be found in Num xxii. 28.

Rom. ix. II.

a series of separations. Even the account of creation itself begins by recording an act of severance as if it were a constant law of the divine action: God divided the light from the darkness, the waters above the firmament from those below, the dry land from the seas 1. In the actual history this law of severance meets us in a new form as the principle of election, according to which the few are set apart and educated in order that, by their means, blessing may be extended to the many. The account of the patriarchs is so framed as to give special prominence to the idea of election, but it already emerges in Gen. iv. 26, where a contrast is implied between the world-power and the worshippers of the true God. And there can be no doubt that the same principle gives us the true key to the significance of Israel's entire history. It is uncertain at what point in its career the truth of its election was fully realized by the nation, but it is clear that the divine purpose was in process of fulfilment from the first. This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise. At the earliest stage of its national existence Israel was reminded of the purpose for which it had been separated from the nations of the world. Even in the primitive forecast of its great destiny a universalistic element was present1; in Abraham and his seed all the nations of the earth were to be blessed; and subsequently Israel was taught that He who had brought the nation to Himself, with the design of making it a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, was no merely national God like the deities of the heathen, but the Lord of all the earth3. Israel was chosen, as we may well believe, in prefer

1 Gen. i. 4, 6, 10.

2 See Gen. xii. 3; xiii. 14; xv. 5; xvii. 5; xviii. 17-19; xxii. 16, &c. 3 Isa. xliii. 21. The doctrine of Israel's election seems to be most clearly brought out by the prophets of the eighth century, and a stimulus was given to the conception by the publication of Deuteronomy. See Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, p. 124; Sanday, Bampton Lectures, p. 163. Cp. Bruce, Apologetics, pp. 198, 199.

B Cp. Exod. xix. 5, 6; Joshua iii. 11.

ence to other nations because in genius and temper it was best fitted to realize God's purposes towards man, to be the channel of His grace, and to develope, through many failures, an ideal of godliness and faith'.' But if Israel was called to be the medium of a blessing designed for humanity at large, the privilege imposed high obligations. For the Hebrew people was chosen to be the depositary of a purer faith and loftier morality than that recognized by other races. Hence the necessity of Israel's isolation from the surrounding heathen and its subjection to a special moral discipline. It was the task of the eighth-century prophets to bring home to the nation the ideal purpose of its separation from the world and the bearing of God's elective action on the spiritual destinies of mankind. There is true discernment in the fine remark of Irenaeus, 'Jehovah brought His people out of Egypt in order that man might once more become a disciple and follower of God. The ultimate object of the divine grace was not Israel, but humanity.

In speaking of the Old Testament as a history of redemption, we do not mean that it furnishes a complete history of Israel. It has been said with truth that the Old Testament rather supplies the materials from which such a history can be constructed 3.' It is indeed a record of God's action in history, but one that is marked by special purpose and character, interpreting what it narrates, and selecting facts according to some inner principle of fitness. The historian may justly require that the record in its main outlines should be adequate and that Israel's interpretation of its own history should be in essential points trustworthy. But we shall see that it is unwise to over-estimate the extent of the strictly historical element in the Old Testament. The selection of facts and the mode of their presentation are dictated not so much by a merely

1 Driver, Serm. on the O. T. p. 57.

2 Iren. Haer. iv. 16. 3. Cp. Bruce, Apologetics, p. 182.

Robertson Smith in his preface to Wellhausen's Prolegomena, p. vii.

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