On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
At the end of the first century , the Jews , alarmed at the general progress of Christianity , regretted that the Greek version had ever been made , because from that the Christians derived their strongest arguments . It is said that the rabbis instituted an annual fast to curse the day in which the Sepiuagint was completed . No Wonder , then , if they attempted a corruption of
the original records in order to depreciate the value of the translation . Why this corruption should be attempted principally in the dates , seems to be accounted for thus : "An early tradition prevailed among several nations of antiquity , which we believe may be traced to the mysticism of Jewish interpretation , that the world in its present form was to last only 6000 years . " A belief in this singular notion is to be found in the writings of Heathens ,
Jews , and Christians . Absurd and groundless as this opinion is , it never could have arisen from the Hebrew Scriptures as they now stand , though possibly it might from the Septuagint . Expecting the Messiah to appear in the latter ages of the world , or during the sixth millenium , and finding that Christ , according to the computation of time in the Septuagint , did in fact come at that period , the Jews , on the assertion of Abulfuragius , altered the chronology of their Bible , and so made it appear that the time when Jesus lived and taught was only in the middle of that period allotted for the duration of the world , and therefore could not be the expected Messiah .
We shall not dwell on the various arguments by which our author supports his position ; they are founded on very diligent research , and slated with great clearness and precision . On the whole , they appear to us to justify him in the conclusion , that the chronology of the Septuagint and Josephus is to be preferred to that of the Hebrew . He then proceeds to define the limits of that particular period which is the subject of his book , the interval which elapsed between the exode from Egypt and the building of Solomon ' s Temple . The period of four hundred and eighty years , which
stands in the Hebrew text of 1 Kings vi . 1 , our author considers a forgery , introduced by the Mazoretic Jews ; for Josephus refers to the passage in which it is inserted , and yet extends the period to five hundred and ninetytwo years . Origen cites the text , but takes no notice of the numbers . It is , therefore , concluded that the time was not specified in the copy used by him . The period is fixed by our author , on the authority of the Septuagint
and Josephus , at five hundred and ninety-two years , and the absurdities are pointed out which result from the mode of estimating the time adopted by Usher , Petavius , &c , by which " Samuel is made a judge at thirteen , was an old grey-headed man and had sons fit to assist him in his office before he was twenty-three , and finally died at an advanced age , about the time he completed his fiftieth year . "
It is an easier task to compute the time from the building of the temple to the captivity of Judah and the demolition of the Jewish capital . Josephus has fallen into an error , adding forty years to the reign of Solomon . An allowance being made on this account , the true period will be 430 years , which makes the whole extent of time from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ 5441 years . According to the system of chronology established by our author , the narrative contained in his work begins in the 3898 th from the creation of the world , and the 1543 rd before the nativity ef Christ , being the year immediately succeeding the death of Joshua .
" Relying" on the chronology introduced by the Rabbis , Dr . Shuckford fixed the death of Joshua in the year of the world 2578 , being , according to the same scheme , the 1426 th before the epoch of Christian redemption . The difference between the two systems of computation in the period from Adam
Untitled Article
556 Review * — RusselVs Sacred and Profane History .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1828, page 556, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2563/page/44/
-