Exercitation on Hebrews, Biblical exegesis 5
Exercitatio V.
Testimonies cited by the Apostle out of the Old Testament. Compared with the Original and Translations. Whence the Agreement of some of them with that of the LXX.
§ 1 THere is not any thing in this Epistle that is attended with more difficulty, than the Citation of the Testimonies out of the Old Testament that are made use of in it. Hence, some from their unsuitableness, as they have supposed, unto the Authors purpose, have made bold to call in question, if not to reject the Authority of the whole. But what concerns the matter of them, and the Wisdom of the Apostle in their Application, it must be treated on, in the respective places where they occurr, when we shall manifest how vain and causeless are the Exceptions which have been laid against them, and how singularly they are suited to the proof of those Doctrines and Assertions, in the confirmation whereof, they are produced. But the Words also wherein they are expressed, varying frequently from the Original, yeild some difficulty in their Consideration. And this concernment of the Apostles Citations to prevent a further trouble in the Exposition its self of the several places, may be previously considered. Not that we shall here explain and vindicate them from the Exceptions mentioned, which must on necessity be done afterwards as occasion offers its self; but only discover in general, what respect the Apostles Expressions have unto the Original and the old Translations thereof, and remove some false Inferences that have been made on the consideration of them. To this end I shall briefly pass through them all, and compare them with the places whence they are taken.
CHAP. I.
§ 2 CHap. 1. v. 5. foreign. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee; from Psalm 2. v. 7. The words exactly answer the Original, with the only supply of the Verb Substantive, whereof in the Hebrew there is almost a perpetual Elipsis. foreign. And the same are the Words in the Translation of the LXX. In the same Verse, foreign. I will be unto him a Father, and he shall be unto me a Son; from 1 Chron. chap. 22. v. 10. The LXX. otherwise as to the order of the Words; foreign; which also is the order of the Sentences in the Original; the Apostle using his own liberty, and varying from them both; so that this Quotation is not directly from that Translation.
Ver. 6. foreign. And let all the Angels of God Worship him; From Psal. 97. v. 7. without change; only foreign Gods, is rendered by the Apostle foreign, the Angels of God; of the Reason whereof, afterwards. The LXX. foreign; Worship him all ye his Angels, differing from the Apostle both in form of Speech and Words. Hence some not understanding whence this Testimony was cited by the Apostle, have inserted his words into the Greek Bible, Deut. 32. v. 43. where there is no colour for their introduction, nor any thing in the Original to answer unto them; whereas the Psalmist expresly treateth of the same subject with the Apostle; to the reason of which insertion into the Greek Version we shall speak afterwards.
Ver. 7. foreign; who maketh his Angels Spirits, and his Ministers a flame of fire. From Psal. 104. v. 4. The LXX. foreign, a flaming fire. Heb. foreign fire of flame. Aquila foreign, a vehement fire. Symmachus foreign, a fiery flame; much variety, with little or no difference, as it often falls out amongst good Translators rendring peculiar Hebraisms, such as this is. The Apostles expression is his own, not borrowed from the LXX.
Ver. 8, 9. foreign. § 3 Thy Throne O God for ever and ever. (The Verb substantive is left out by the Apostle in Answer unto the Original, foreign and foreign rendered foreign, for foreign, which the Apostrophe requires) A Scepter of Vprightness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom; thou hast loved Righteousness, and thou hast hated Iniquity, wherefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the Oyle of gladness above thy fellows. The words exactly answer the Original, and they are the same in the Translation of the LXX, and whence that coincidence was, we shall afterwards enquire. Aquila somewhat otherwise, foreign; Symmachus foreign (foreign came to be translated foreign, from likeness of sound) in foreign O God, he expresseth the Apostrophe which is evident in the Context. foreign he renders by foreign sceptrum, a Scepter, properly, as we shall see afterwards, on Gen. 49. v. 10. foreign, thou hast hated ungodliness, impiety, foreign, with the Oyle of Joy; foreign. Symmachus foreign, another word of the same signification, with that used by the Apostle. From Psal. 45.6, 7.
Ver. 10, 11, 12. foreign. And thou O Lord, in the beginning hast founded the Earth, and the Heavens are the Works of thine hands; they shall perish, but thou remainest, and they shall wax old as doth a garment. And as a Vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail; From Psalm 102. v. 26, 27, 28. And these words of the Apostle are now exactly in the Greek Bibles. Some little difference there is in them from the Hebrew, the Reason whereof we shall afterwards give an account of. Symmachus for foreign reads foreign, and so did the Copies of the LXX of old, the Word being yet retained in some of them, and reckoned by all amongst the various Readings of that Translation. The word foreign O Lord, inserted by the Apostle is also undoubtedly taken from hence into the Greek Bibles. For as the inserting of it was necessary unto the Apostle to denote the Person treated of; so it is not in the Original, nor will the context of the Psalm admit of it; so that it could no otherwise come in that place, but from this of the Apostle. Nor is it probable that the LXX would translate foreign, thou shalt roll up, and immediately render foreign, they shall be changed; but here also the words have been borrowed from the Apostle, whose design was not exactly to translate, but faithfully to apply the sense of the place unto his own purpose.
Ver. 13. foreign. Sit thou at my Right hand, untill I place thine enemies the footstool of thy feet. From Psalm 110.1. foreign at my right hand, foreign, in the plural number, of the reason of which Change and Manner of Expression, we shall treat in its proper place. And here there remains nothing of difference in any Old Translation.
CHAP. II.
CHap. 2. v. 6, 7, 8. foreign. § 4 What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the Son of man that thou visitest him? thou hast made him less for a little while than the Angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour, and hast set him over the works of thy hands. Thou hast subjected all things under his feet. From Psalm 8. v. 5, 6, 7, 8. The words of the Apostle are the same with those in the present Copy of the LXX. Theodotion, foreign from the ambiguous signification of the word foreign about which great stirs have been raised, whereof in their proper place. Chrys…stome on this Text mentions some different Translations of the words of the Psalms. foreign saith he, foreign, another Book reads, what is he according to man that thou remembrest him. foreign, is not foreign but foreign, What is mortal man. Again, foreign. Another instead of, thou visitest him, that thou wilt visit him. Ag…in, foreign, instead of less, or a little while than Angels; Another, a little less than God; and Another, l…ss than God. And he adds the Hebrew is foreign. So different was their pronuntiation of the Hebrew from that in use amongst us. Again, he adds, foreign, thou shalt crown him with Glory and Honour; and yet, foreign, thou madest him to have power. From all which variety, it is most evident, that there were various Readings of this Context in the antient Copies of the LXX, for no footsteps of them appear in the remains of Aquila, Theodotion, or Symmachus, and that therefore the Common Reading which is now fixed in the Great Bible, was translated thither, from this place of the Apostle.
Chap. 2. v. 12. foreign. I will declare thy name unto my Brethren, in the middest of the Congregation I will sing praise unto thee. From Psal. 22. v. 23. The LXX. foreign.
Ver. 13. foreign: I will put my trust in him; From Psal. 18.3. LXX. foreign, I will hope in him; but foreign is rightly rendered by the the Apostle, I will trust in him. The LXX. have these words of the Apostle, Isai. 8.17. where the words of the Original are, foreign, and I will wait for him; so that their words seem to be taken from this place of the Apostle, as apprehending his Testimony to be cited from the Prophet, which that it is not, we shall prove evidently afterwards.
The same Verse: foreign Behold I and the children which God hath given me. From Isa. 8.17.
CHAP. III.
§ 6 VEr. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. foreign. To day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the day of Provocation in the day of Temptation in the Wilderness, when your Fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my Works forty years: wherefore I was grieved with that Generation and said, they do alwayes err in heart, and they have not known my wayes; so I swore in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest. From Psalm. 95. v. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. The Translation of the LXX. agrees with the words of the Apostle, both of them answering the Original. Only the Apostle clearly to express the Reason of Gods Judgements on that people in the Wilderness, distinguisheth the Words somewhat otherwise than they are in the Hebrew Text. For whereas that saith, When your Fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my Works. Forty years long was I grieved with that Generation, The Apostle adds that season of forty years, to the mention of their sins, and interposing foreign wherefore, refers his Speech unto the words foregoing, as containing the cause of the ensuing Wrath and Judgement. And although our present Copies of the Greek Bibles distinguish the Words according to the Hebrew Text; yet Theodoret informs us, that some Copies made the distinction with the Apostle, and added foreign before foreign, which also is observed by Nobilius; and this could arise from no other cause, but an attempt to insert the very words of the Apostle in that Text; as did the foreign also reckoned amongst its various Sections, though foreign remain in the vulgar Editions.
CHAP. IV.
§ 7 VEr. 4. foreign. And God r…sted on the seventh day from all his works. From Gen. 2. v. 2. The Apostle, adds foreign to the Text, to compl…t his Assertion, and leaves out foreign. which he had made, as to his purpose. The LXX. foreign, and otherwise also differing from the Apostle.
CHAP. V.
VEr. 6. foreign. Thou art a Priest for ever after § 8 the Order of Melchisedech. From Psalm 110. v. 4. So also the LXX. foreign with Jod superfluous; foreign Mos. There is nothing of Variety remaining in these words from any other Translations.
Ver. 14. foreign. Blessing, I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. From Gen. 22. v. 17. The LXX. foreign, I will multiply thy seed.
CHAP. VIII.
VEr. 9, 10, 11, 12. foreign (LXX. foreign) foreign § 9 (LXX. foreign) foreign (LXX. foreign) foreign (LXX. foreign) foreign. Behold the dayes come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new Covenant with the House of Israel, and with the House of Judah. Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers, when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the Land of Aegypt, because they continued not in my Covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those dayes saith the Lord, I will put my Laws in their minds, and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his Brother, saying know the Lord; for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be mercifull to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquity will I remember no more. From Jer. 31. v. 32, 33, 34, 35. Instead of foreign, his neighbor, ver. 11. the LXX. read foreign, his fellow Citizen. But some Copies of the LXX. read foreign, and some of this Text foreign, which makes it evident that there hath been tampering to bring them to Ʋniformity. But the greatest difficulty of this Quotation ariseth from the Agreement of the Apostles words, and the Translation of the LXX. where both of them seem to depart from the Original. For those words in the Hebrew Text, v. 33. foreign which my Covenant they made void, and I was an Husband unto them, or ruled over them, are rendered by them, foreign, And they continued not in my Covenant, and I regarded them not. The Reason of the Apostles Translation of those words, we shall manifest and vindicate in our Exposition of the Context. At present the coincidence of it with that of the LXX. and that wherein they both seem to differ from the Original, and all Translations, besides the Syriack and the Arabick which are made out of it, (though the Syriack follow it not in the confused transpositions that are made of Jeremiah's Prophesies, from Chap. 25. to Chap. 40. as the Arabick doth) is only to be considered; which shall be done so soon as we have recounted the remaining Testimonies, whereof some are attended with the same difficulty.
CHAP. IX.
§ 10 VEr. 20. foreign. This is the blood of the Covenant, which God hath enjoyned unto you. From Exod. 24.8. The sense of the Hebrew Text is alluded unto, not the words absolutely. The LXX. foreign; with much difference from the words of the Apostle.
CHAP. X.
§ 11 VEr. 5. foreign. Sacrifice and Offering thou wouldst not have, a Body thou hast prepared me. From Psalm 40. v. 6. So also the LXX. both with great difference from the Original. For foreign, my ears hast thou digged or bored, is rendered, a Body thou hast prepared me. Of the Reason of which difference and agreement, we shall treat afterwards.
Ver. 6. foreign; in Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Heb. foreign, thou hast not required; the Apostle expresseth exactly the sense of the Holy Ghost, but observes not the first exact signification of the word. The LXX. foreign and in some copies foreign soughtest not.
Ver. 7. foreign. Behold I come; in the Head or beginning of the Book it is written of me, to do thy will O God. That is, Gen. 3. v. 15. Heb. foreign in the roll of the Book. Symmachus, foreign, In the Volume of thy determination. Aquila, foreign in the Roll. foreign in the Section. LXX. foreign; I was willing to do thy will O my God.
Ver. 38. foreign (LXX. foreign) foreign. But if any draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him. From Habak. 2. v. 4. The words of the Prophet are transposed, and the beginning of the last clause much altered. foreign. Behold it is lifted up, his soul is not right in him; but the sense and intendment of the Holy Ghost is preserved as shall be manifested.
CHAP. XII.
§ 12 VEr. 5, 6. foreign, (foreign is not in the LXX. Heb. foreign my Son) foreign (LXX. foreign and in some Copies foreign, from this place of the Apostle) foreign, My Son despise not thou chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth. From Prov. 3. v. 12. foreign and as a Father the Son whom he delighteth in. The sense is retained, but the words not exactly repeated. Aquila foreign, reject not, foreign. Theodotion foreign, neither vex thy self.
CHAP. XIII.
§ 13 VEr. 5. foreign; I will not leave thee, neither will I forsake thee. From Joshuah 1. v. 5. The LXX. in different words; foreign. I will not leave thee, neither will I despise thee. The Apostles words exactly express the Original.
Ver. 6. Is from Psalm 118. v. 6. without any difficulty attending it.
§ 14 And these are all the places that are cited foreign, by the Apostle in this Epistle out of the Old Testament. Very many others there are which he either alludes unto, or expounds, that are not of our present consideration. Neither are these here proposed to be unfolded as to the sense of them, or as to the removal of the difficulties that the Application of them by him, is attended withall. This is the proper work of the Exposition of the Epistle intended. All at present aimed at, is to present them in one view, with their Agreement, and Differences from the Original and Translations, that we may the better judge of his manner of proceeding in the citing of them, and what Rule he observed therein. And what in general may be concluded from that prospect we have taken of them, I shall offer in the ensuing Observations.
First, It is evident that they are exceedingly mistaken, who affirm that the Apostle cites § 15 all his Testimonies out of the Translation of the LXX. as we intimated, that it is by some pleaded, in the close of the preceding Discourse. The words he useth in very few of them agree exactly with that Greek Version of the Old Testament which is now extant; though, apparently since the writing of this Epistle it hath grown in its Verball conformity unto the Allegations as reported in the New. And in most of them he varieth from it, either in the use of his own Liberty, or in a more exact rendring of the Original Text. This the first prospect of the places and words compared will evince. Should he have had any respect unto that Translation, it were impossible to give any tolerable account, whence he should so much differ from it, almost in every quotation, as is plain that he doth.
It is also undeniably manifest from this view of his words that the Apostle did not § 16 scrupulously confine himself unto the precise words either of the Original, or any Translation whatever, if any other Translation or Targum were then extant besides that of the LXX. Observing and expressing the sense of the Testimonies which he thought meet to produce and make use of, he used great Liberty, as did other holy Writers of the New Testament, according to the guidance of the Holy Ghost by whose inspiration he wrote, in expressing them by words of his own And who shall blame him for so doing? Who should bind him to the Rules of Quotations, which sometimes Necessity, sometimes Curiosity, sometimes the Cavils of other men impose upon us in our Writings? Herein the Apostle used that Liberty which the Holy Ghost gave unto him, without the least prejudice unto Truth, or the Faith of the Church.
Whereas any of th…se Testimonies, or any part of any one of them may appear at § 17 first view to be applyed by him unsuitably unto their Original importance and intention, we shall manifest, not only the contrary to be true, against those who have made such Exceptions, but also that he makes use of those which were most proper and cogent, with respect unto them with whom he had to do. For the Apostle in this Epistle, as shall be fully evidenced, disputes upon the acknowledged Principles and Concessions of the Hebrews. It was then incumbent on him to make use of such Testimonies, as were granted in their Church to belong unto the ends and purposes, for which by him they were produced. And that these are such, shall be evinced from their own antient Writings and Traditions.
The Principal difficulty about these Citations, lyes in those wherein the words of the § 18 Apostle are the same with those now extant in the Greek Bibles, both evidently departing from the Original. Three places of this kind are principally vexed by Expositors and Criticks. The first in that of Psalm 40. v. 7. where the words of the Psalmist in the Hebrew, foreign, my ears hast thou bored, or digged, are rendred by the Apostle according to the Translation of the LXX. foreign, but a Body hast thou prepared me. That the Apostle doth rightly interpret the meaning of the Holy Ghost in the Psalm, and in his Paraphrase apply the words unto that very end for which they were intended, shall be cleared afterwards. The present difficulty concerns the Coincidence of his words, with those of the LXX. where apparently they answer not the Original. The next is that of the Prophet, Jer. 31.34. foreign, and I was an husband unto them; or I was a Lord unto them, or ruled over them, as the Vulgar Latin renders the words. The Apostle with the LXX. foreign, and I regarded them not, or despised them. The third is that from Habak. 2.4. foreign, behold, it is listed up, his soul is not right in him; which words the Apostle with the LXX, render, foreign. But if any draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Concerning these, and some other places many confidently affirm, that the Apostle § 19 waved the Original, and reported the words from the Translation of the LXX. Capellus with some others proceed farther, and assign the rise of this difference unto some other Copies of the Hebrew Text used by the LXX. varying from those which now remain. Thus in particular, in that place of Jeremy before mentioned, he conjectures that for foreign they read foreign, I despised them; as another doth that they read foreign to the same purpose; for of such conjectures there is no end. But as foreign may well signifie as the Apostle expounds it, and in other places doth so, as we shall see afterwards, so this boldness in correcting the Text, and fancying without proof, Testimony or probability of other antient Copies of the Scripture of the Old Testament, differing in many things from them which alone remain, and which indeed were ever in the world, may quickly prove pernicious to the Church of God. We must therefore look after another expedient for the removal of this difficulty.
§ 20 I say then, it is highly probable, that the Apostle according to his wonted manner, which appears in almost all the Citations used by him in this Epistle, reporting the sense and importance of the places, in words of his own, the Christian Transcribers of the Greek Bible inserted his expresions into the Text, either as judging them a more proper Version of the Original, whereof they were ignorant, than that of the LXX, or out of a preposterous zeal to take away the appearanc… of a diversity between the Text and the Apostles citation of it. And thus in those Testimonies where there is a real variation from the Hebrew Original, the Apostle took not his words from the Translation of the LXX, but his words were afterwards inserted into that Translation. And this as we have partly made to appear already in sundry instances, so it shall now briefly be farther confirmed. For,
§ 21 First, Whereas the Reasons of the Apostle for his Application of the Testimonies used by him in his words and expressions, are evident, as shall in particular be made to appear, so no Reason can be assigned, why the LXX. (if any such LXX. there were) who translated the Old Testament, or any other Translators of it, should so render the words of the Hebrew Text. Neither Various Lections, nor ambiguity of signification in the words of the Original can in most of them be pleaded. For instance, The Apostle in applying those words of the Psalmist, Psalm 40. foreign unto the humane nature and body of Christ, wherein he did the will of God, did certainly express the design and intention of the Holy Ghost in them. But who can imagine, what should move the LXX. to render foreign a word of a known signification and univocal, by foreign, when they had translated it an hundred and fifty times, that is constantly elsewhere, by foreign and foreign an ear, which alone it signifies; or what should move them to render foreign by foreign, to prepare, when the word signifies to digg, or to bore, and is alwayes so elsewhere rendred by themselves? Neither did any such thing come into their minds in the Translation of those places whence this Expression seems to be borrowed, Exod. 21.6. Deut. 15.17. When any man then can give a tolerable conjecture, why the LXX. should be inclined thus to translate these words, I shall consider it. In the mean time I judge there is much more ground to suppose, that the Apostles expressions which he had weighty cause to use, were by some inserted into the Greek Text of the Old Testament, than that a Translation, which those that made it, had no cause so to do, evidently forsaking the proper meaning of very obvious words, and their sense, known to themselves, should be taken up and used by the Apostle unto his purpose.
§ 22 Secondly, It is certain that some Words used by the Apostle have been ins…rted into some Copies of the Greek Bibles, which being single words, and of little importance prevailed not in them all, as may be seen in sundry of the foregoing instances. And why may we not think that some whole sentences might on the same account be inserted in some of them, which being of more importance found a more general acceptance. And how also by other means that Translation was variously changed and corrupted of old, and that before the dayes of Hierom, Learned Men do know and confess.
§ 23 It is further evident that one place (at least) in this Epistle, which it may be some could not conjecture from whence it should be taken, yet finding it urged by the Apostle, as a Testimony out of the Old testament, is inserted in another place of the Text than that from which the Apostle took it, and that where there is not the least colour for its insertion. This is the Testimony out of Psalm 95. v. 7. which the Apostle cites Chap. 1. v. 6. in words much differing from those wherewith the Original is rendered by the LXX. This some of the Transcribers of the Bible not knowing well where to find, have inserted in the very syllables of the Apostles expression into Deut. 32. v. 43. where it yet abides, though Originally it had no place there, as we shall in the Exposition of the Words sufficiently manifest. The same and no other is the cause why foreign is rendered foreign, Gen. 49. And may we not as well think, nay is it not more likely, that they would insert his words into the places from whence they knew his Testimonies were taken, with a very little alteration of the antient Reading, than that they would wholly intrude them into the places from whence they were not taken by him, which yet undeniably hath been done, and that with success. Nay, we find that many things out of the New Testament are translated into the Apochryphall Books themselves. As for instance, Ecclesiasticus, chap. 24. v. 3. we have these words in the Latin Copies, Ex ore altissimi prodii primogenita ante omnem Creaturam; which are cited by Bellarmine and others in the confirmation of the Deity of Christ, whereas they are taken from Col. 1.15. and are in no Greek Copies of that Book.
Upon these Reasons then, which may yet be rendered more cogent, by many other § 24 instances, but that we confine our selves to this Epistle, I suppose I may conclude, that it is more probable at least, that the Apostles interpretations of the Testimonies used by him, all agreeably unto the mind of the Holy Ghost, were by some of old inserted into the Vulgar Copies of the Greek Translation of the Old Testament, and therein prevailed unto common acceptation, than that he himself followed in the Citation of them a Translation departing without Reason from the Original Text, and diverting unto such senses, as its Authors knew not to be contained in them, which must needs give offence unto them with whom he had to do. It appears then, that from hence no light can be given unto our enquiry after the Language wherein this Epistle was Originally written, though it be clear enough upon other Considerations.