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last lim it f my p owe r th a t th e p a th bef o r m e was

losed tha t p ro isions we re ha sted a nd the tim e me
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a nd
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C O NT E N T S
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ix

RE S H

V0 YA GE S

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xi

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NA

B ET H

D I TI ON S ;

HI

CHAPTER
NT

P A GE

( BA R A BB AS

VI

P RO L O GUE

N ATH T AGO R E has aptly exp ressed my

feel i ngs when the pen did not fall from my hand
V
e
l
1
and
new
count
r
y
i
n
vi
ted
my
S ee
i
8
5 )
p
(
l i ttle sh i p to explore i ts wonders I know that
my opponents will think this an i llusion b ut
years of sedulous quest of d i s c o v eries c annot
ha v e b een spent on self dece i t and my foes may
b y this time b e b eg i nning to ask whether they
have not carr i ed thei r O ppos i tion to undoubted
or i g i nality mu c h too far The I ndian poet g iv es
thanks i n new melodies fo r not having b een
reduced to take shelter i n silent obscurity
There are I also know those who th i nk i t k i nd
ness to exhort me to s i len c e But they hav e
hardly j ust i ed the i r exhortat i on to me by them
sel v es entering O u new tracks ; the last ten years
have not so fa r as I am aware produced a s i ngle
b r i lliantly o r iginal work on the text and contents of
the Old Testament emanating from the profess i onal
c hampions of so called sobr i ety and moderat i on
S o much seemed necessar y i n a self defen c e
x iii
RA B I N D RA

xiv

RE S H

V0 VA GE S

which I hope is neither caustic nor too i ncis i ve

for the occasion Grave O ffence has been given
serious misunderstanding has been caused ; slight
attempt if any has been made to realize an u n
familiar point of V i ew ; of my opponents it may
too truly be said that they are still moving about
in worlds not realized
And yet when they do
t ake up the problems which I have made my
o wn they are almost or quite invariably bafed
I n other words they have not j ustied themselves
for the hostile attitude that they have assumed
towards me
I regret to be una b le to point to fresh aid
received from i nscript i ons in writ i ng this volume
the aid previously given has already been acknow
ledged in Tradi ti o n s and B e li efs and ( especially )
M i ne s of I sa i a h S till I may and must presume
to say that fresh discoveries have been made by
the adoption of the new textual point of V IC W and
b y the new methods applied in the present seri es
of books and I will in spite of i n rm it ie s e n
d e av o u r to sketch briey the results of my recent
v oyages
The internal ev i dence supplied by the new
school of prophets leaves it uncerta i n whether the
conqueror of the N Arabian city of B abel took
any direct part i n facilitating the return O f the
.

xv i

RE S H

VO YA GE S

to wh i ch text has been altered and h i story b een

c onstructed on a b asis of theory There were two
ideals respecting the site proper to the temple of
Yahw e a c co rding to one of which it ought to b e
rebuilt whe r e S olomon i s supposed to h av e b u i lt
i t but according to the othe r i n the N Ara b ian
borderland The theory i n v ogue among some
at least of the later I sraelites was that the N
Ara bi an r a c es would be united in one people w i th
the J udaite s u nde r the great king over all the

land Yahw e The c ap i tal of th is emp i re would

on relig i ous grounds b e a pla c e c alled Asshur
Y arham whe r e a proclamat i on of the primit i ve
Deuteronomic code had u nder J os i ah been made
and at the same time a r eformation movement
inaugurated N o doubt the N Ara b ian pol i t i c i ans
rega rded J udah as form i ng a prov i n c e i n i tself
but i t i s pro b able that the goal of the i r am b it i on
l
was analogous to that of the H e br ew prophets
Th i s ac counts fo r the condence with whi c h ii
I sa i ah r efers to K Ore S h as on I srael s S i de and for
the S ingular statement i n M al i 1 I
,

my name is great among the nations

And i n every place incense is O ffered to my
name and a pure O ffer i ng
F or my name i s great among the nat i ons
1 Min s
I
s
a
i
a
pp
1 2 39
h
f
,

xvi i

R OL OG UE

This c learly i mplies the theo ry of a united

empire c ons i sting of J udah and N A ra bi a The
theory was but i ll justied by fa c ts b ut the
i deal i sm dese rv es ou r sympathy The phys i cal
background of Ze c har i ah po i nts I th i nk to a
res i den c e i n the N Ara b ian bo rderland Z e ru b
b a b el ( Rab Ze bel ) then was not only go v e r no r
H
ag
ii
o f J udah
(
I ha v e already ment i oned the fortunate way
i n wh i ch the nds r elat i ng to the J ew i sh c olony
at E lephant i n e ha v e conrmed the most sta rtl i ng
o f my o wn v iews
I n dealing w i th an i m
portant passage of Z e c har i ah i t had to b e aga i n
r efe r red to
The student of E z ra and N ehem i ah w i ll nd
as mu c h that c alls for h i s respe c tful attent i on
Both b ooks abound w i th ethn i cs and reg i onals
and the re would seem t o b e mo r e r athe r than
fewe r i n c onsequence of my recent i n v estigations
P r of Marti I lea r n i s much shocked at these
results whi c h he a c cordingly rejects A mali m
for instance is unac c epta b le to h i m H e should
howe v er hav e been slower to c omm i t h i msel f
F or not only hav e we the A sshu rite E lam i n
E zra ii 3 1 N eh vi i 3 4 but also the hitherto u n
expla i ned r eading o f Neh iv 2 ame lali m unde r
whi c h i t i s d i f cult i ndeed not to see amali m
.

x viii

RE S H

V0 VA GE S

I n the Book of E sther I have at least been

a b le to S how that the atmosphere i s not Persian
b ut N Arabian and further that there is no
occasion to have recourse for an explanation to
E lam i te mythology ; the story being si mply a
symbolic description of the ancient feud bet ween
Y e rah m e e l ( H aman ) and I srael ( E sther )
U pon the Book of E sther follo ws that of J ob
strange yoke fellows N O fresh light is thrown
on the b ranch of l i terature to which th is poem
with i ts prose prologue and epilogue belongs
The case for a N Arabian background however
i s much strengthened by the r estoration of the
true text of J ob i i i 5 8 which S hows that the
1
u dai te s were frequent visitors in Y e rah m e e lit e
J
sanctuaries ( c p Isa lxv lxvi ) and one may add
i n the reception rooms of Y e rahm e e lite sages
I t is ho ped too that the aesthetic interest of
several passages is heightened Completeness
however is not a i med at M uch work has b een
done on J ob As a rule the expositor of J o b
must be dependent on h is predecessors
On the S ong of S olomon some fresh l i ght is
perhaps shed At least it would be di fcult to
deny that the goddess A sht art is referred to i n
ii 7 and i ii 5 if the text may b e corrected from
,

S ee

p ni ng pag
e

es o f

h ap

VI I I

R OL O G UE

xi x

the point of v i ew faintly adumbrated in chap i

of M i ne s of I sa i ah and the Prologue to Cri ti ca
B i hlz ea
The S ong is therefore the work of some
one who worshipped A shtart pro b ably as a

membe r of the D ivine Triad and who at the

same time cherished a comparatively high con
The
fondness
of
the
poet
fo
r
c e t io n of love
p
gardens and for mountains is in harmony with
this addiction to the N Arabian g ddde ss There
was much unfertile land in N Arab i a In sp i te of
irrigation All the more may the N Arabians
have cared for plantations of ower i ng plants and
trees The aesthetic interest is also ca red for by
textual corrections
I n Chap V I I I some fresh light i s S hed on the
origin of the three great H ebrew w i sdom books
J ob Proverbs and E cclesiast e s All these books
were primarily inspi red by the moral and religious
philosophy of N Arab i a as the headings of se v eral
fasci cu li of the canonical proverb s the names and
origins of the interlocutors in J ob the great per
so ni c a t io n of Wisdom in Proverbs and the ep i
logue to E ccles i astes tell us plainly Originally
wherever in Pro v viii 1 2 3 1 Yahw e is spoken of
This and not Yahw e was
Y e rahm e e l was read
the name o f the directing controlling and creating
God I t was H e who formed those superhuman
.

'

RE S H

V0 YA GE S

B e i ngs the M essiah the Logos and W i sdom the

latter of whom i s represented as utter i ng a ne
monologue
This remarka b le utteran c e has been greatly
misunde r stood
I n the or i g i nal text W i sdom
admitted he r pred i lection fo r the N Arabian
peoples This was all wiped out o f the text b y
later ed i tors who thus made i t possi b le for us
their sp i r i tual descendants to r egard the per
so ni c at io n i tself as i mported from I r an o r from
B ab ylon B oth hypotheses howe v er a r e m i s
taken
The typ ic al w i se men whom I srael
put b efore itsel f as tutors and m o dels ( I K
i v 3 0 f ) were N A r ab i ans H ow d i fferent be
i t sa i d anew i n pass i ng must have b een the
simultaneously parallel c on c ept i on o f the great
N Arab i an deity ! M ay we not add how
d i fferent i s the parallel c on c ept i on of o u r o wn
'
God
I n the Book o f To b it narrati v e as i t i s
elements of w i sdo m are no t wanting as i ndeed
we might expect from the k i nship of To b it and
A bi kar The main po i nt brought out i n the
long chapte r devoted to To b it i s the i mpossi bi lity
of any large I ranian element i n the story o r i n i ts
a c cessories The name of the end A sm o daeus
o
r
i
n
part
ic
ular
i
s
not
of
Z
oroastr
i
a
A
sm o dau s
n
(
,

xx i

P R OL OG UE

or i g i n b ecause of the inconsistency of the char

ac te ri st ic s of the two gures the one lustful the
other the impersonation of wrath not to lay stress
o n the fact that A eshma da v a does not occur i n
i
n
the
Later
Avesta
it
o u r present A v estan texts
(
does occur accord i ng to P r o f M oulton ) The
details which make for a N Arabian background
c annot well be summarized Possi b ly the most
i mportant is the correct i on of the fext of Tobit
iv 1 7 wh i ch in i ts present form i s so intolerable
I t ought in candou r to be added that ac c ording to
the author To b it i v 6 6 1 9a is extra c ted from a
c ollec tion O f wise utterances addressed to N
Ara b ians
I hav e had so much pleasure m i ngled doubt
less w i th physical pain that I am tempted to go
on summari z i ng the rest of Pa r t I and the whole
of Part I I in the way indicated in the preceding
pages I th ink however that by the time the
student has under my gu idance reached the end
he w i ll cease to require th i s kind of
O f Tob i t
ass i stance H e will also I hope by the time he
has rea c hed the end of Part I see the necessity
o f apply i ng the same methods to certain out
ly i ng elds of study i n that vastly more i mportant
reg i on the N ew Testament The results at
wh i ch I hav e a r r iv ed may be called disillus i on
,

xx ii

RE S H

V0 VA GE S

iz i ng b ut when tho roughly grasped supply a

part at l e ast of the material for a new H ouse
of W i sdom wh i ch will bette r r es i st the assaults
of the enemy
,

O X FO

D,

I
an
u
a
r
I
4
9
y
j

CHAPTE R I
IN T

RO D UC TO RY

P R O F E S S O R T O RR EY

of Yale has well nigh re v o lu

t io niz e d the study of E zra and N ehem i ah
I am
a fraid that the details of h is argument and his
incidental theories do not always commend them
selves to me
B ut the fact remains that the
s upposed c ontemporaneous records of E zra the
scr ib e and N ehem i ah the royal cup bearer are
largely imag i native ; i n a word they are regarded
s eparately only h i stori c al no v els
The Chron ic ler
who nally shaped them would dou b tless have
preferred to give freer rein to his i mag i nat i on in
c omposing the sto ry of the J ews and the i r ante
c edents
But he was now wr i t i ng not to interest
b ut with an apologet ic purpose The support of
the re c ognized histo ry was ind i spensable ; outs i de
th i s i t was important that he should conne
h i mself to what was necessary I n the pre exilic
period he could not well avo i d incorpo r ating at
least a pa rt of the well known history of e v ery
k i ng of J udah
I n the post ex i l i c per i od he
-

RE S H

V0 YA GE S

certainly seems to have made the most of the

1
two documents whi c h were available
At the same time I would venture to po i nt out
that though in their present state the E zra and
N ehemiah records are not to be called historical
there is another text behind the present and that
it is the critic s primary duty to search for this
The earlier form of E zra Nehemiah was I
presume found by the Chron i cler i n the archives
of J erusalem
I t consisted partly of l i sts o f
names which properly treated are of great
i mportance to the c ritic and partly perhaps o f
narratives recast i n such a way as to promote the
orthodox v i ew of Yahw e s religion The treat
ment of the names i n E z r N eh i t has b een my
pr i vilege to b egin
That this treatment is bound to have far
reaching consequences I cannot wish to deny
Let us put our capacit i es for the work to a
moderately easy test by a study of some passage s
of H aggai and Zechariah
I n a work most kindly ment i oned b y Professor
Torrey I explained myself thus ( i n
Thus our only authorities fo r the tone o f
the earliest post exilic J ud aean religion are the
prophecies of H aggai and of the rst or true
Z echariah
Though devoid of literary charm
they are O f much historical importance b ecause
they stand on the dividing line between the ex i lic
1 E ra St dies p p
0
5 j:

I N TR OD

UC TOR Y

and the post exilic periods

I t is a m i staken
assertion that the post exil i c age begins with the

edict of Cyrus in B C 53 7 I f there

so called
was a post exilic age at all it should rather be
re c koned from the completion of the second
temple i n B C 51 6 F or the true exile of the
J ews was the i r sense of banishment from their
God and this painful consciousness began to b e
m i tigated as soon as a house had b een prepared

for J ehovah to dwell in

I t is not t i me yet to
build said the people of the land but the prophets
b elieved the fa i th and hope which the effort O f
b uild i ng the temple presupposed would exert a
moral att raction upon J ehovah At any moment
afte r the cop i ng had b een laid the K i ng of Glory
might be expected to c ome i n Therefore I say
that H aggai and Z echariah inaugurate the post
1
exilic period
Two years later Professo r C C Torrey pub
lishe d a d i ffe r ent V iew i n his very c omprehensive
Work already referred to
H e is of op i nion that
the exiles are not ( as most ha v e supposed ) the
u dai te s deported to B a b ylon b ut the I sraelites
J
d ispe rse d i n many diffe r ent countries
I t is a
m isnomer to call the author of I sa xl lxvi the
Prophet of the E xiles in Babylon he i s rather the
Prophet of the D ispersion I sraelite theology
therefore i s legalistic in tendency and e v en the

noblest utterances of psalmist and post exil ic

1
f w h Religio s L ife after th E ile pp I I f
-

zs

F RE S H

V0 VA GE S

p rophet are given a petty interpretation ; so that

instead of reaching the utmost horizon as by
their own wording they seem to do they are
made to cover only the smallest and unworthiest
patch of human life and i nterest
Certainly post exilic period is a most u nfo rt u
nate term though not on the ground that exile
should mean dispersion ; a better reason would
be that the later I sraelit i c literature presents such
varied tendencies that post exilic ceases to have
any very distinctive meaning I t must however
be admitted that the text even of the most admired
passages i s not b y any means as free from doubt
as c ould be wished Let us consider some of
these doubtful passages
I f we cannot illu m i
nate these i t may b e a S ign that we have
gone astray or that we have but a moderate
turn for such inqu i ries I much fea r that many
scholars w i ll th i nk that I at least have gone ve ry
far astray
But O ne is H e that knoweth the
Compass i onate is the burden of my song
If
I possess the b right and morn i ng star why
?
should I take the dullness of my cr i tics to heart
,

C HAPT E R II
AND

H AG GAI

Z E C H A R IA H
l

I B E G I N with the truly illum i nat i v e study ( see

I ntroduction ) of H aggai and the t r ue Z e c hariah
H ag i 1 4 ii 2 3 ; Z e c h iv 1 4 The form
Z erubbabel is in c orrect and m isleading We S hall
see later ( p 1 8 ) that it is due to the imperfect
knowledge of history possessed by the scribes who
rev i sed the trad i tio nal text The right form I
venture to say i s A ri b Z e b el i e Arabia of
1
I shmael It was in N Arabia that the ex i les ( or
as Torrey would say the emig r ants ) of I srael
referred to in the extant prophecies were settled
and i t is the N A r abian Ba b el ( co r rupted from
2
?
R akbu l ) from which S ion is called upon ( in
3
Z ech ii 1 1 ) to escape
I t may be mentioned
that the sons of oil in Z ech i v 1 4 should
perhaps rathe r b e sons of I shar i e sons of
Ashhur
The r eferen c e seems to be to Z e ru b
i th t f P r f J D P ri n
rni ng
n
Th l at t th ry
x plai n
t r a r b t m t n ti
wh
19 3 p
.

es

eo

co

s as

o e

ce

e su e ,

ce

os

sa

th

of

fac to rily

Mines of Isa iah pp

,

pla

c e and o f a

d
o
g

35

R akb ul was th e
3

nam e

Decline and Fa ll

bo
.

57

RE S H

VO YA GE S

ba b el and J oshua I t is an interesting fact that

the Chron i cler ( I Chr iv 7 ) gives Yi shar among
the sons of Ash h u r ; Vi shar ( I zhar ) is of course a
corruption of Ashhur
Z ech ii 1 0 v 1 1 S apho n i s a remote N
1
Arabian district or region and in Z ech ii 1 2 the
1
i nterrupting words S hould be read 12: 7 11131 1 mm
H e hath sent m e to Ashhur of R ak b u l a gloss
o n 3 1 15
he hath sent me at the end of v I 3
12
7
Ashhur R akb ul is one of the names for the land
o f I srael s captiv i ty Torrey would say dispersion )
(
Another name for it ( Zech v 1 1 ) was S hi nar
wh i ch means not Babylonia but I shmael O f Arabia ;
str i ctly I shman Arab S ee T and B on Gen
x 1 0 The prophet was sent ( see gloss in v 1 3 )
to the land o f capti v ity w i th glad tid i ngs
The r eferences to trees and mountains may also
r equ i re re examinat i on
The D D I of Z ech i
8 1 1 are not myrtle trees but some u nde nab le
tree wh i ch grew in the mountains one of those
2
called Asshu r trees
As fo r the mountains
mountains of brass cannot be r i ght What can
i t reasona b ly mean ? A mythological explanation
3
would b e the resource of despair In Gen iv 2 2
mum and i n 2 K xv iii 4 111 mm may suggest an
explanat i on for it has b een S hown to be almost
o r quite c erta i n that b oth these words c ome from
1
m
I t ap pears that there
3 m i e Ashhur E than
.

'

Mines f
De line nd Fa ll pp
1

S ee

I sai ah,

I 1 3 j:

1 1, 1

81,

83
3

and

109

Io

RE S H

VO YA GE S

e1

comes from Y i thb a al i e Ishb a al or

Ish m a al which the J ews seem to have used both
as a divine name and as a regional That this
view is correct seems to the writer certain
Render therefore the passage which has b afed
so many
that Beth

And Y i thba al Sar e se r and Magar R ak m al

sent the i r men to propitiate Yahw e

The other names need not delay us long S ar

and E zer are presumably O ld clan names M agar
is a more proba b le form than Regem because it
explains Mag in Rab Mag ; Melek is a corrup
tion of R ak m al The upshot of the story is that
three J ewish clans of N Arabian afnities sent
representatives to the temple t o make inquiries
at the fountain head of legal knowledge
I n revising these pages I feel it necessary to
repeat that N e he m iah s Tobiah was an Ammonite
I n J osh
to which there is a variant Arabian
xviii 2 3 f next to Ophrah is a Benj amite town
called K efar ha am m o nai which is usually ex
plained the Ammonite villages really however
A mm o nai is a corruption of A hi m ani and K efar
Akra b A h im ani is the name of one
O f Akra b
N ow per
o f the A k rab s situated in N Arab i a
haps we se e better how Ammonite and Arabian
c an b e equivalent
T
nd B p 1 57
S
n N h ii
n d p j e wish Rel L ife afte r th E ile
S
nd )
t nd
6 f (n t
Th Veil pp
S
.

ee

ee o

1 0, a
ee

o e

C H APTE R III
EZ

RA

i 1 I venture to begin w i th a question

I s it likely that a J ewish writer would have re p re
sented Cyrus king of Persia as saying Yahw e
the God of heaven has given me all the k ingdoms
of the earth ? This must be taken in connexion
with passages l i ke I sa xl i 2 x lv 4 I 3 ; J er
xx v 9 xx vi i 6 xlii i 1 0 ; Dan i ii 2 8 f i v 2 3 7
vi
I n all these passages Cyrus king of
25 2 7
Persia or Nebuchadrezza r king of B abylon is
accord
i
ng
to
the
traditional
view
of
the
text
)
(
represented as standing in a relat i on of intimacy
whether
actual
or
prospective
to
the
God
of
(
)
the J ews
E xcept in writings which can be
S hown to present su fciently clear traces of the
H ellen i z i n
g spir i t such a V iew O f the relation of
Yahw e to distant non I srael i tish empire builders
is most improbable There is a large amount
of ev i dence for the v iew that
am has

come out of wh n n5o Inn

is where 0 7 11 5 or
rather m an ( N eh vii 57 c p E z r i i
has
1 S
Mines of Isaiah pp 1 6

C H AP

ee

II

12

RE S H

V0 YA GE S

come from nm x a N Arabian name attach i ng

most probably to more than one city and region
c
on
E
zek
xx
v
ii
O
n
N
ebuchadrezzar
( p
it is needless to speak here
Of course r m? !
must now be rendered of the land i e of N
Arabia towards S Palestine N ote that 1 E sdr

iv 4 2 v 6 makes the royal liberator of the J ews

not Cyrus but Darius ( cp b elow on Dan v i
I f this be adopted we have to ask next
2
whether the king of Pathros ( let us c all the name
so conventionally ) would be represented as ha y i ng
called Yahw e the god of heaven
S hortly after
wards the royal speaker says his God be with
him
the king then c alled his own supreme
God by another name To reply that to please
the Persian worsh i ppers of a supreme heaven
God the J ews represented their God as a God
of heaven
adding ( with M eyer E ntst p 4 9
b u t c p Cooke IV A ra h I nser pp 4 5
the r e were many such in S yria and elsewhere
is plainly inadequate N or would it su fce to
say that the phrase the God of heaven oc c urs
i n other passages in some of wh i ch i t c learly
means the God who made and i n some sense
dwells in heaven ( viz in N eh i 4 1 5 i i 4 20 ;
Dan ii 1 8 1 9 4 4 c p 2 8 ; J on i 9 ; Ps c xxxvi
F or in i 2 at any rate and i n vi 9 f v i i
De line nd Fall p 57
S
E d
C p th ph r a
v n ( D n iv 3 7
th k i ng f h
i v 4 6 58 T b i t x iii 7 I ) th L rd f h v n ( D n v 3 )
th
L r d f h v n nd
rth ( T b i t v ii
,

ee

se s

ea e

ea

e
1

ea e

ea e

s r.

EZ

RA

I3

the phrase must represent some title

of Yahw e which was not merely S hared by other
S yrian deit i es but was from a non J ewish point
of V i ew distinct i ve
And the same remark
appl i es I think to v 1 2
The God of heaven

N D ID TI DN ) must then be i nterpreted by v i

9f
(
where the same phrase must represent a name
d i stinct i ve to Darius of the God o f the J ews
"
so that when in v 1 1 we re ad W e are the
servants of the God of hea v en and earth and
ea rth ( Nmm) must be redactional a Greek
translator ( 1 E sdr v i 1 2 ) paraphrases of the
Lord who made ( 7 00 x
heaven and earth
What then is the name which may underlie
mo m and wo w? There can be no doubt ; it i s

S omething equ i valent to o m ( I shman I shmael )

h
m m ( um) like 1m and m mo m and mm has
come from this well known and therefo re O ften
corru pted name cp on Gen xi 4 xlix 2 5 J udg
v
20 ;
P S lxxxix 6 1 2
The title God of
I shmael ( or of Y e rah m e e l ) is attested by the
and
xxiv
probably
true
text
of
Gen
xxi
33
7
(
)
see
nd
also
by
the
divine
names
T
a
(
g i ven as Ph oenician by Philo of Byb lu s and the
former well known from Ph oenician inscriptions
2 1 , 23,

1 2,

S ee T

Ind e

a nd

F o r th e

i nsc ri pt

48 8

ge s

assa

see

Co o

k e No rth Semitic Inscrip tions

,

th t

am : no w i n E sh m un az ar s
a
O ne m ay no i ce
e re
i o n ( ll 1 6 f ) , and am o ne i n th e i nsc ri i o n o f B o d as ar ,
.

pt
nt

g rand so n ( l
th e sam e
b o th r e p r e se
wh i c h o ri g i nally mu st h av e W ri t Ish m ae l aram

E sh munaz ar s

n am e,

t t
pl

ace

I4

RE S H

VO YA GE S

and
i e
B aal 0 f I shmael
and I shmael
and let me add
with much condence the Do w ri m) of Dan xii
1 1
etc wh i ch is not a d i stortion of Do w
Z
A
T
1
8
V
N
estle
8
p
2
8
my
own
n
P
r
O
i
i
4
4
(
g
t
1
t
e
P
l
r
h
s
a
e
p
0
and
B
evan
a
n
e
p
D
i
l
of
5;
b ut means idol of I shmael
When the
O ld H ebrew texts were rev i sed such a phrase as
God of I shmael would have b een unpalatable
even if intellig ib le The phrase God of heaven
was an O bvious substitute
I shall return to this
in our study of the B ook of Daniel
I
n
i
another
dou
b
t
occurs
That
a
3
3
gloss has i ntruded is pointed out by G u the To
adm i tting such a gloss however as he i s the deity
who is i n J erusalem there are c ogent o bjections
which are well stated by Ryle But what would
the shorte r gloss D na mn mean ? I s i t merely
?
an assertion of the divinity of Yahw e S u rely
not I t is probable that D TISN and D nhNn have
O ften a r isen under the pressure of later theology
out of some S hortened form of BNo m ( see o n
S uppo se this
Gen xvi 7 xxxi 1 1 ; E x ii i
to be S O here We a re then l ib erated from the
ne c ess i ty of supposing what Ryle has truly called

om
am will
a re v erent but awkward gloss
mean that is Y e rah m e e l and b e a gloss on

Th e
TI DN ( see a b ove )
514 1723 117 in the phrase

B eek a aynyv
'

re mark ab l e th at in I E sdr vi 2 8
1
Z o po BaBeA wh e re M T ( v i 9 ) has wo n 11 73 5
1

It i s

we nd

3
m
h

4
p ,

gloss as glosses often did got into the text at

an unsuitable place
Plausible
as
the
current
Persian
explanation
4
of M ithredath ( i 8 ) may be it falls with the
supposed Persian explanation of K o re sh and
other names I t should be noted that in iv 7
the same name stands between B ishlam and
which no ingenuity can represent as
Persian We can hardly venture to separate the
name from h ub in Gen xxxvi 3 9 where the
ri ght reading is rnr m M e thu dad i a T e m u ldad
E t hm aal H adad )
C p also more a g entilic in
which points indubitably to N Arabia
I S x 21
7 22 B i d
see
C
)
(
N
ot
less
plausible
and
yet
not
less
incorrect
5
are the new explanations of S heshbazzar as =
u sur ( v an H o o nac k e r)
B ab am as bil ( or bal
S everal of theGreek
o r Sama s
forms are nearer to the most probable original
,

'

'

a a vap a a a a

o s,

'

a a /L a va a a a
'

os

all of which point back to not S in bal u sur

I Chr iii
m
anum
1
3
H
aupt
but
m
C
p
m
)
(
from w as 3mm S he naz z ar and S heshbazzar are
one and the same person ( H oworth K osters
S ee E
E d M eyer M arquart Winckler)
-

S he naz z ar

An objection may well be taken to b u mp

in i 1 0 Why pray should there be silver
bowls of a secon d sort ( E ng B ible after Rashi )
when the narrative mentions none of a superior
6

FRESH VO YA GE S

16

quality ? The Greek of 1 E sdr ii 1 0 ( 1 2 ) pre

l
supposes n agg ( Sea Xbu o o) G u the nds it hard
to say whether this number can really have stood
in the tex t as the numbers in
1
1
of
M
T
9
in general vary from those in 1 E sd r ii 9
12
b is transparent enough t o
S
urely
u
m
D
(
the practised eye Again and again we have
found that m a represents 1mm se e the testing
passages Gen xli 4 3 1 S xv 1 9 2 K xxii 1 4

Z eph i
The D D DN of 1 E sdr may not im
possibly hav e a similar origin as sometimes
probably represents bao w] ; see eg J osh
xviii 2 8
between 3253 and o m both from
and 2 7 ( Sam between o r: and nbm n)
There may well have been two equivalent rea d
in g s
I shmaelite and
That
silver came from Arabia appears from 2 S viii
J er x 9 and E zek xxvii 1 2 ( rightly i n
10 1 2
2
S ee E B i d S ilver
On the
t e rp re t e d)
m issing conclusion of E zra i see Torrey j B L
xvi
pp 1 6 8 1 70 ; c p E z ra S tu di es
C HA P ii S ee on N eh v i i 6 7 3 a
"
C HA P iii 1 1m m IUJ z m
the I sraelites
bein g in the cities or 5 m m in their cities
!
N
eh
What
an
awkward
parenthesis
v ii
(
I n 1 K iv 1 3 am : comes from
j ust as my
often comes from : m
The seeming circum
is a gloss which has intruded
st ant i al clause
.

"

'

1 00

a nd

R eligi o ns,

46 6 ; D

40 9

a nd

I ntr o d

x lv ,

and

8 ;

FRESH VO YA GES

18

or N Arabians ( T/i e Ve i l pp 1 3
The place
se e C r i t
meant is probably
osh
xi
B
i
d
(
j
N eed I repeat that 13 9 is a soa le rn name
and that
may well have been an old name
of N Arabian mountains ? I t is worth ad ding
that in E zek xxxi Lebanon and M is rim are
brought close together
C HA P iv 1 I f the original now commonly
assi g ned to Z erubbabel viz Z er babili is really
a contraction of M arduk z aru Babili lisir M arduk
preserves the seed [heir] to B abylon it is surely
not a very j udiciously chosen name for a governor
appointed by Persia B u t if E zra N eh and the
early part of D aniel refer to a N Arabian
captivity and to its term ination another explana
tion becomes irresistible viz 93 1 1 1 chief of
c
I shmael ( se e o n J u dg ix
and
w
1
o
n
3
p
m
1
respectively
from
and
a
I
1
m
m
s
m
mp
M ost certainly however :11 is an abbreviation of
I t is quite possible that later readers ex
plaine d the misreading 93 3 1 1 as sown in Babel
The name of the governor s father appears to
B u t really Swnbnm
mean I have asked of God
comes from
On the other
am mm ( 1 Chr ii
names see elsewhere i n the series of my works
on these problems
ve
royal
names
occur
6
2
In
7 9
5
The rst m m has been already explained ; it is
A shk o r Ashkar
The
second
may
come
m
W
I
W
)
(
either from mDN T 1 or from 1 1 mn = n 1 mm ; the
.

'

EZRA

19

third m nmnn from nmzm the fourth nn mmn m n

from 1 11 s doubled ; the fth IDJ D N from no
Sam a ( c p on m an Gen xl i 4 5) and 1 5 or
I
shmael
of
Whether
these
royal
i
e
(
names are all or even any of them genuine it
is unfortunately beyond our power to determ ine
I t is equally regrettable that several of these can
C p on E sth i 1
e asily be confounded
f
Are
critics
satised
with
any
o
the
current
3
That
is probably
e xplanations of 6 5
m ( 72 7 )
e ither from S am a or from
should be obvious
The initial : is as clearly a fragment not however
l
nd B
but of
see
T
on
S
E
x
a
a as)
of
(
i
i
xxxi
c
on
Neh
v
i
E
zra
ii
n
7 (
m
p
d
doubtless
may
be
plausibly
explaine
5
m
m
4
u t if B ishlam and
or
a s God is goo d
B
(
M ithredath point to N Arabia must we not

?
=
as
Tubal
C
e xplain DNJ ID ( as in Isa vii 6
p
)
S hobal also E thbaal and see E B i d Tabeel
And must we not further suppose that however
Rehu m may have been conven ti o nally explained
it was a N Arabian name connecte d with ran n and
?
that S himshai is a popular distortion of Sm nm
N
ext
as
to
the
troublesome
names
of
5
peoples (v
The sixth is Bab lite s the
ninth E lamites
These at any rate we seem to
understand though their introduction is rather
puzzling
B u t what of the rst ve ? F or four
t
o f these says M eyer
E
t
pp
n
s
all
inter
37
(
re t e rs have taken much vain trouble to hunt up
p
'

FRESH VO YA GES

20

an acceptable meanin g
And these four stand
at the head of the roll
I wish I could say more
about them B ut I can say with regard not only
to them but to all the names in z) 9 that they
support the view that the scene of the original
narrative was in N Arabia
I am aware that
while 2 E sdr iv 9 ag rees with M T in taking
all the words which follow 3mm ) : as names o f
peoples ( though Luc gives i p a i where M T
I
E sdr ii 1 6 ( 1 7 ) has K a i p a i ( A
has
n a ra wi
and
continues
5
n ix y Eu i
a l ( b o wi n g
)
p
p a
)
also that E d M eyer ( p
partly followin g
G H offmann would read the Persian j udges
the Persian large layya Bu t surely the following
words and the rest of the peoples require us t o
interpret all the words between 3 3 and 1 mm ( and
not merely a part of them ) as ethnics E vidently
?
What then is N J T
It
72 9 is a compilation
must be the name of some important people but
of what ? I n 2 K xix 1 2 we read of the b n
E den who ( were ) in Tel assar
Now Tel assa r
see
a loe
represents
Tubal
asshur
C
ri t B id
a
(
)
The race was destroyed we are told ; but that
is a relative term ; Another form of m: was
ii
1 5
perhaps
we
may
compare
Gen
xxx
m
w
(
(
)
An obscure name D in Sarru ( near S usa )
will hardly except under compulsion be pre

ferre d waa N must of course be taken with

N D IDN ( which follows presen t ly) and w
o m an ( V
6 vi
I n all these M eyer ( p 3 8 ) remarks
.

ur

Ic

'

'

br

Ic

EZRA

21

consonants of m a
as he thinks Persia )
a re inclosed
I t may seem a little strange to hear
of the Persians in Abar nahara but this may
mean as he suggests the Persians settled in
Abar nahara
F or the second of these forms
however M arquart ( F a na p 6 4 ) would read
B
oth
these
suggestions
contain
a
germ
s na
p

f
o
truth even the latter which presupposes the
wrong View that some of the wor ds in the list are
o fcial designations
The correct solution of the
problem however is that suggested by the N
Arabian hypothesis m e 1 50 ( c p IDD r mp) and
m m: are all much worn fragments of m m and
hence all the three forms mentioned above may re
present
Z are p hathi te s
The
in
the
rst
3
(

form is a scribe s error ) And what as to M am e ?

Rawlinson proposes T u plai as the ori g inal The
s ense woul d be good but the form B
e n i s o pposed
by the name 5am I ts more plausible ori g inal is
n
A sht arb e li te s
F or no cp m s p 52 ;
N Snw
nm

a nd for 7 5 c
a B
N
a
n
m
S
Z
D
T
u
p
w
I
on Gen x O
F rom s ans 1 1 mm; c p

S hethar Bo z e nai ; m from n

Rather
mrn
o
z
2
d
r
as
G
H
o
ff
m
that
is
E
s
N
U
I
W
;
(
c l i m we bs
S ee on Gen x 2 2
The
Assyrian inscriptions say nothing of a deportation
of
E lamites
1 S
Th r e g i n
E Bid C l y i
lled in E d ii
21
ii 1 6 2
i 3 7 2 6 S yri
nd P h ni i a an d i n I E d
v ii 1 v ii 6 4 ( d A ) C ele S yri a and P h ni i a S h we e r
n te 7

t he

"

'

ee

v
,

a a

co

oe e s r a

oe

ca

s r

oe

e e,

0,

V0 YA GE5

FRESH

22

Winckler (K A T p 2 9 7 A 0 F 2 nd ser iii

6
1
6
re
ects
the
statement
that
the
oppon
d
4
4 5)
j
ents of the J ews were Moabites Ammonites and
1
1
S amaritans and re g ards the passag e
9
)
which includes the reference to the city of
S amaria as a late insertion dictated by the late r
hatred of the S am sect This bold step is u m
necessary It is true S amaria and the S amaritan s
have no business here B u t the text has been
m isread
I n the city ( 2 E sdr cities ) of S amaria
should be in the city ( cities) of S himron
The
colonists settled in the border lan d which had onc e
been I sraelitish had good reason to fear t he
aggression of the new community of jerusalem
C p on 2 K xvii 2 4
r
r
And
in
the
rest
of
the
d
a
/
z
a
a
a
n
a
7
( )
Abar nahara of course may mean the Persian
province of S yria ( so M eyer p
There is
however no necessity for this
I K ings v 4 is
not proved by the occurrence of 1 m ? !
to hav e
been written in the Persian period ; the ITIJ may
have been a southern not a northern stream
2 64 ; K A T
o
Winckler
ii
p
G
I
S
c
( p
too it may have been here ; the whole context
points as is here shown in this direction As i n
1 K ings v 4 the 1 m m ay have been and probably
was the 3mm sometimes to be suspected underneath
the m of the narrative books ( see The Ve i l of
I n iv 1 7 o hmmay perfectly
H edrew H i sto ry p

well have come from S am ar a g loss on m m

6

'

EZRA

mn m

N DD TI r1 0

5 ( 12

23

is
a
trouble
to
the
)

?
critics ; how can NJ H DD mean we eat salt
Nestle ( M arg p 3 1 ) expresses my own feeling
of what is required
I belie v e that N3 11 52: is
a substantive with sufx
The passage means
because the x of the temple o rpalace is our x
B u t I cannot yet frame any explanation and so
far as I know the cuneiform inscriptions throw no
light on the passage
S urely 16 3% i s a scribe s
production out of a half illegible S we n? ( c p on
Neh iii
and nbn has come from
Read
l
0
the
king
of
r
a
m
e
e
l
is
our
Y
a
n
e
ra
m
5
1
h
g
king
n
may
oubt
be
an
epistolary
formula
o
d
m
6
9
9
n
1
c
72 7
D
a
iii
v
i
2
B
6
u
t
3
p
l
this is not certain I t may ( like 5am: and b ame
also 0 15mm ) represent S am a which would be a
gloss on m m
vii 1 2 is partly parallel
l DJ
C HA P v I I n 22 3 we meet with a governor
of A da r nanara called J nn I f this be Persian
we may choose between T hithi na and Vistana
B
i
s
E
but
we
shall
hardly
be
e
e
d
(
quite sat ise d
The forms Ta va va i s Ta vda va i
@ a va va b fa v our nm n
This may point to Dh N

1
2
which in
Chr vi 6 is pointed 3 1 us but is
perhaps rather u p :
E t hani was an i m
portant ethnic ( see E B i d s o ) derived from
8

14

"

E thm ani
2

m m mm

A plausible Persian original is

m m howe v er ought not to be obscure

"

wanting

FRESH

24

V0 YA GE S

m ( o r n P) i

1m

I t is clearly
e a man of Ashtar
a
synonym
of
Ashhur
and
Asshur
C
m
m
(
p
)
E sth i 1 4 one of the seven princes at the
court o f king Ahasuerus i e Ash hur ; also m m
E sth ii 2 1 vi 2 a sari s ; and m om
B id
mm is j u st as clear In ( c p
is ultimately a corruption of
see on
Gen xxii 2 1
The links between u m and
Ss m m are u p o n) and u p ) : ( see on S ib e o n Gen
xxxvi 2
Was this person the secretary
M
arq
p
(
B
r
e
s
h
v
1
king
of
a
bel
N
eh
K
o
c
;
3
3
p
(
xiii
The title might equally well be assume d
by Persian and by A sshu ri te or P athro si te kings
I n the one case
in the other perhaps
is
the name of the city which they conquere d C p
12
o n vi 2 2 vii
u
?
H
as
a
name
fallen
o
t
K
lost
reads
4

3 1 1 15 taking S heshbazzar to be the ofcial

7 mm m5
name C p D an iv 1 6
C HA P vi 1 ND DTIN ( 22
i e the southern
H amath I n I sa xi 1 1 this important place is
mentioned after 1m ( see o n Gen x 1 0 xi 1
I t was also as appears from o u r passage rightly
read in the province o f we ( see on Gen x
I n 2 K xxiii 3 3 xxv 2 1 we read of the lan d
of H amath
I t bor dere d o n I sraelitish territory
1 K v iii
(
K ing o f Asshur ( 72
not inconsistent
2
The kingdom of
with king of Babel ( 72
,

'

FRESH

26

A GES

V0 V

ever be compared with

Gen x 2 and come
from wan i e DTh ; Y arham (Y e rahm e e l) would
be a g loss on m m which is thus explained to

mean I shmael ( c p on c o wn n m i
H is own counsellors (o
Are critics
4
quite satised with quoting this passage and
E sth i 1 4 as a proof that the Persian kin g had
seven privy councillors (so e g E d M eyer Gese/t
aes A lt iii p
H ad the number seven no
sacredness in N Arabia ? Were the seven planets
known i n B abylonia and not in Arabia ?
2
1
2
I
n
is
not
the
most
natural
meanin
g
5
5

this that all the people in Abar nahara are to

be j udged in accordance with the reli g ious law
book which E zra carries wi t h him and that those
who not being J ews are unacquainted with th e
usage ( name ) of the cult of Yahw e are to be
The
taught it ? Parallel : 2 K xvii 2 5 2 8
Abar nahara is I take it not the g reat satrapy
includin g ( as is generally held ) S yria Ph oenicia
a nd Palestine
but the region beyond the nahal
M isri m or the n har P e rat h ( E phrath ) from the
point of view of a N Arabian king 1 m m ( 71 2 6 )
is therefore to be explained as expatriation ( cp
not exclusion from the J ewish
mm P s lii
community (as R ysse l comparing x
C HA P viii 1 V7) 1 1 4 profess to g ive a
register of the heads of g entes who accompanied
E zra The majority of the names certainly and
all of them v ery probably are such as would be
,

'

EZRA

27

borne by persons of N Arabian afnities Natu

rally enough if as Torrey holds the author of

the so called Memoirs of E zra is the Chronicler

I t will be enough here to explain the follow
ing names ; c p N eh vii 6 7 3 a ( a ) mun ; c p
m m Gen xxii 2 4 a son of 7 1mm a name which

B oth 11 and 11 may

is a corruption of e m
be corruptions of mama ( se e on 1 Chr iv
a
modication of IrltDN facilitate d by the parallel
form mum ( 6) n um = rmnm which is to be
grouped with m m or m am (the well known
S hebna who was a N Arabian adventurer ) and
Gen
xxxvi
both
which
names
come
2
m
m
1
(
either from 33 m= mm i e 9mm or from
e
m
5m m! r m ( see T and B p
e
u
( )
like 1 1m m ( a priestly name ) wh ich comes from
a
J lD may be safely traced to
=
nn n represents
3 mm nnn
n
a
m
m nbn ; c p
A
form
con
u
s
D n nm Gen x 1 3
e
n
b
m
( )
v e nt i o naliz e d
religiously of bann n ; c p
Gen xiv 1 8 and 315s Gen xxvi 2 3 both from
some form of Sno n l C p x 2 2 where E lienai
occurs in combination with Maaseiah ( a name
which includes a shortened form of I shmael
and I shmael
I n Chr iv 4 6 E lienai occurs
beside Y aako b ah ( from A h ab in a S imeonite
genealo gy (f ) r Sm
Plau sible as an A ssyrio
logical explanation may be ( see E B i d Atha
a N Arabian one is at any rate not
less tenable The original of 42m: ( c p x 2 8 ) IS
.

'

"

FRESH

28

V0 YA GE S

probably ptgzatpts (g ) 1 m probably from 1 1

Gadite Azzur
from
3
4
c
1
1
1
mph ]
1
( p
on Y o k tan Gen x
z
probably
D
J
N
I
() P

from nr w r13: ( cp on Adonij ah 2 S iii

am n nl ] follows
on wh ich G u the makes t h is
remark We hav e in this word either a corruption
o f the text
or an otherwise unknown technical
term referring to the genealogical re g isters
S iegfried The addition r m introduces the fol
lowing names as belonging to a later develop
R ysse l frankly confesses
ment of the family
What caused this desi g nation we cannot tell
Yet if their critical methods had not been so
narrow these learned scholars would not have
been driven t o such straits The case is nearly
o r quite parallel to that of WIN
N eh v ii 3 3
and r m 6 5w E zra ii 3 1 N eh vii 3 4 where 1 11
represents undoubtedly name C p also nm n nn
2 S
xxiii 1
E liphelet Y e u e l and S hem
aiah are all found in Chron and pro v ed by
critical inspection of the names and of those
near which they occur to be N Arabian The
clan of A donikam therefore was not merely
A shhu rit e by name ( this would be unknown ) but
A shhu ri te by residence if not also by immediate
descent
Vv 1 5 3 o describe the assembling of E zra s
company near a certain stream We have care
fully to examine the name of the river ; it is
the ri v er that goes to Ahava ( v
also the

"

EZRA

29

21
stream Ahava
I t is generally
assumed by critics that one of the more important
canals of the E uphrates is meant B ut we have
1
rst to get the best readin g S uch forms as
vet p
a ve
Ge t a
do not help us any further ; Gave
and [Bja va help us by suggesting that a 11
should be restored ; e em suggests a n and
a 1 wh ile 7 02s vea vf co os ( I E sdr Viii 49 ) probably
represents D W J TI SN Th e most important of
these forms are obviously Q epu and 29 vea ma n as
The former suggests an original m s i e m m:
the latter any J n SN where
and o n e
may come from tau m will suit here The
so
rea
d
for
3
is
referred
to
in
Am
3: 5
3
r
1
1
1
1
(
)
vi
14
The
also occurs often ( see on
Gen ii 1 4 xv 1 8 ; J er xiii 4
One of the
southern border streams ( sometimes called m r m)
is most probably meant There was a J ewish
settlement beside the stream called Chebar in
E zekiel s time ( E zek i 1
and from 2 K
xvii 6 xviii 1 1
there
appear
to
1 Chr v 2 6
)
have been I sraelitish exiles beside the stream of
2
Gozan called H abor
I t is probable that
H abor and Chebar
K ebar ) are really the
,

'

al

7 0

F o r th e B ib

or

E
2

B id ,

S ee

xv ii

as

re gards

c al so u

A h ava

rc es

o f th e n am e s, se e th e

Le

xi c

o n,

Bid ,

G o z an,

S t ade

th e

c o ll e c ti o n

and

lh

Ha

and

S c h wally

i
n
(

p c i ll y C i t
a

es e

S B O T)

are

B id

h r

u e sti o n

on

t o o ug

c l ass o f fac ts b ut l eav e all

an d th e t e x t o f
u n d e rne at h M T

o f o ne

r e st o ut no t h av ing l o o k e d
B u rn e y p asse s o v e r th e w h o le
,

H eb

li

th e

FRESH

3o

V0 YA GE S

same name and a critical study of the parallel

1 Chr v 2 6 makes it very likely that in an earlier
form of that passage m n a stood in the margin as
a g loss on 1 1a mm: or m r m One may add
that it is most p ro b ab ly = 1 mzz ( i e wh o ) i e the
stream called H abor ( or Chebar was also called
Ahava
The re g ion where it owed was called
most probably not Gozan but Bozan ( i e
S ib e o n [p 1 3 ] i e S m e a ) ; and one may perhaps
venture to add m um i e m as 1 11m
m( disg uised in
M T of E zek i 3 as D Tmn) The V iew here
given is I hope an improvement on that g iven
in the A mer j o u rn Tneat J uly 1 9 0 1
m for In:
s 3p ) M j
d
w
though
supported
by
in
K
1
@
(
xvii 6 ) is needlessly bold The rest of the
proposal however is sound and in particular
N3 71 is like mr m almost certainly a corruption
Rawlinson s connexion of mrm
of
with T alm nm = m o d H i t N W of B abylon
is ingenious but certainly wron g
The names in viii 1 6 are common ones ;
2
their N Arabian afnities can hardly be denied
1 89 1
p
m
er
eo l
is
c
A
o nrn Tn
m
m
o
43
f
( p
questionable ; often mm and m m turn out to be a
corruption of mgzs H ere however we may be
content with ran g e} ( see on N eh v i i 4 5 1 Chr
ix
This explains the phrase his brethren
the N ethinim the S ho ari m and the Nethinim
i e originally the A sshu ri t e s and the E t hanite s
were closely connected
,

"

EZRA

31

1
here
only
I
s
it
for
7
2
i
Or
e
W
n
7)
3
(

from !was ( N eh vii 6 1 )

E
zra
ii
m
m
n
9
5
)
(

I t is an unsuitable guess when S ie g fr declares

that I ddo was a secular chief appointed by the
Persians ; read wit
The
are his brethren ; read Wn m followin g 1 E sdr
We
have
now
reached
a
singular
specimen
4
of bad textual criticism on the part of the ancient
redactor
At Casiphia the plac e ( 72
At
the very least we should have expected 0 3
?
0
Bu t why 0 1 37 at all
And what is N DDD H al e vy
u rn asi at
J
uly
Aug
1 90 0
replies
B
o rs i
o
a
pp
(j
)
Winckler (A OF 2 nd ser i ii 50 9
Opis
S eleucia Ctesiphon
N or must we omit to
mention that both 1 E sdr and 2 E sdr connect
The one ( 1 E sdr viii
mo o n with no n silver
6
k
a
3
/c
f
v
has
the
other
7
a
o
y gp
4 4)
9
9
v d yv f
7 67
Th
i
s
is
not
2 E sd r Viii I 7
p p p
)
(
indeed correct but it points in the right d irection
whereas both H al e vy and Winckler are very wide
of the mark :10 : is indeed sometimes the corrupt

form of a place name probably m m ( see eg

I sa xlviii 1 0 lii 3 ; M i nes of [ sai a/t p
Add to this that in Gen xii 6 x v m 2 4 I sa
xxviii 8 E zek xxx v iii 1 1 H os ii 1 mpo is a
i e S no rt P
worn down fragment of
The
result is that mpns no n represents Do no rn 1 3 m:
c
J
er
xlvii
unless
indeed
m
is
a
m
o
o
0
n
( p p
corruption of
a place name mentioned with
S himron in a narrative which originally referred
.

711

'

oc v

0 11 .

FRESH

32

A GES

V0 V

to a d e feat of the N Arabians ( see Cri t B i d pp

1

4 3 44 i f l
t
i
n
1
has
much
puzzled
the
v
s
)
7)
5
(
critics N either a man of discretion nor I sh
sekel ( an unattested personal name ) is probable
N ow that it has been shown that 93 am represents
an ancient N Arabian tribe name and place name
1
on
Gen
xiv
N
um
xiii
c
2
the
cor
3
3
( p
rection to be made is obvious The to is due to
Volksetymolo g ie
6 The other names also point to N Arabia ;
M ahli = Y e rahm e e li ( c p Ma hal M ahlon )
eg
S herebiah ( c p S heber a son of Caleb by M aak ah
1
Chr ii
H ashabiah ( see on H eshbon
N um xxi
M erari
Can
any
one
believe
that
the
N
ethinim
7
22
20
were
temple
slaves
given
as
a
l
oss
(
)
(
g
declares ) by D avid and the princes for the service
of the Levites ? N ot as slaves but as free men
do these persons j oin the company of returning
exiles and though they do not sign the great
covenant yet they do unite with their brethre n
in a solemn oath to walk in God s laws and to
marry within the holy people ( N eh x 2 8
They also have a residence at J erusalem which
is referred to as a well known point in topo
graphical descriptions ( N eh iii
and they
share immunity from taxation with the priests
and Levites ( vii
Am
S
n Tl
l v 4 3 6 ( C h yn )
f
.

ee

er

o ar

ze o

FRESH

34

A GES

V0 V

glossed and from the margin there intruded the

further g loss zo m = 5s m m The closin g words
am: m no n are explained by 2 S viii
1 0d 1 1
The best bronze was but little less valued than
gold
C HA P ix I n 72 1 as usually read the posi
tion of the E gyptians between the Moabites and
the Amorites and also that of the Ammonites
Moabites and Eg yptians between the J ebusites
and the Amorites is somewhat strange I t would
be a slight improvement to read 0 1 a for n o rm
followin g 1 E sdr viii 6 ( which also passes over

the Ammonites ) B u t m an may be better ( see

C r i t B i d on E zek xvi
O f course the
M i sri te s spoken of are not those of E gypt
but of N Arabia
C HA P x 1 The names in w 1 8 4 3 are like
those in the lists of Chronicles
invites
a
i
has
w
scepticism
1 E sd r ix
m
l
w

34
E wpa = w
and
3 0 may represent 1 11 1 3
ny
be a dittograph of
in v 4 3 C p E
M achnadebai
B id
2
m ph in ( o 1 5) occurs again in 2 K xxii
n is a corruption of 21 pm i e the southern
14
Tekoa the name is probably a form of m m
M
aac ath)
C
the
southern
E
zek
xxiii
m
p
p
(
which must have a similar origin S ee on
23

0 5tzm a con
J er vi 1 and E B i d Tekoa

m i e S e rum m am a
v e n t i o nali z e d form of n5
variation of 11 s ( one belon ging to S hib ah
,

'

ex

EZRA
m ax

35

E
B
i
see
d
(
urs in a S inaitic inscription ( Cook
where it should have the same
.

CH APTE R

IV

N E H E M IAH
CAN

we nd any grains of fact in this product o f

the imagination ? We must at any rate learn t o
read un derneath the present text
Winckle r
thinks there has been much clever Uderardei tnng
C HA P i 1 According to some em inent critics
B
i
d
k
1
N
l
E
should
be
v
o
e
e
d
g
n
m (
(
)
Names
There is no evidence known
that the early J ewish scholars took this view and
we nee d not go out of our way to diminish the
number of names wh ich even those scholars did
not recognize as religious The name ought in
the rst instance to be grouped with who m ( I S
xxiii 1 9 xxvi 1
the name of a place in
too may be com
D avi d s early wanderings
pared This is the name of one of the mountains
or mountain ranges ( J osh xi 1 7 [ax o n B] xii
and is also probably a clan name ( H ilkiah 2 K
xxii
also pbn ( H el k ai N eh xii
I t is
best to trace all these forms to har m i e 531
r m in proper names constantly represents 1 mm
'
is shortened from 53 1 which originally
and 7 3
.

36

NEHEMIAH

37

meant not merchant but Y e rahme e lite N ehe

miah then was 0 53e
a son of the R ac lite s
This explains
i e was of N Arabian extraction
the sequel
2
S hushan from the ordinary point of view
is unobjectionable I f however other phenomena
point decidedly to there being an underlyin g text
in which a dominant N Arabian power takes the
place at present usually assigned to Persia we
may take the original readin g to have been mo m
belon g ing to S he m e sh = Ishm ae l C p on
i e

mmn iii 3 0 and on Do wny9y in P s3 I ntrod p

xlviii ; c p also 3mm 1 Ch r ii 3 1 and Tradi t i o ns
note
a nd B e li ef s p 4 8 8
(
F
or
the
God
of
heaven
here
a
n
d
in
ii
4
3
2 0 see note 2 on E zra i
N
ow
I
was
cup
bearer
to
the
king
7
2
1
4
(
A remarkable statement if the reference is to a
king of Persia ; for the o fce of royal cup bearer
was much sou g ht after by h i g h Persian nobles in
the earlier period thou g h afterwards it was only
committed to eunuchs
Apart from this it is
stran g e tha t a J ew should be cup bearer ; what
was it that made Artaxerxes so friendly to the
J ews ? D id he wish to reward them for not
taking part in the revolt of the S yrian satrap

'

M e gab yz o s
1

Cp

a so

(j

wi sn R eligi o ns L if e

q
fr
r

th e nam s

u o te d

re dupl i cate d o m s
v i e w ve ry far fro m c o rre ct
58 )

as

by

N old

ig i nat i ng

ek e

w i th

E
(

r
t
e
f

Bid ,

Me
am e s,

ll h il dre n a

sm a

FRESH

38

E x ile

A GES

V0 V

p
The conj ecture is natural but
it would be a boon to be relieved from the
necessity of making it I f the original back
g round o f the narrative is N Arabian this rel ie f
is obtained
A J ewish cup bearer at the court
of the king of Pathros ( see note 1 on E zra i ) is
not less easy to understand than a H ebrew vizier
of the king of M isrim in a far older narrative
Gen
xli
Whether
the
statement
is
39
(
historical is quite another matter
C HA P ii 1 Can we not get some fresh light
on S anballat the H oronite ( as he is called in
M T of w 1 0
whose name and residence
?
h ave led to so much discussion among critics
Let us begin with u ni m What does the po 1nt 1ng
?
supply
I s H oron the short for B eth horon
or equivalent to the M oabitish H oronaim rather
H oron of Yam ( se e end of note ) ? Or should we
with K lost ( Gesed p
point
and suppose
that S anballat was descended from the family of
I sraelitish priests which was sent back to B ethel
the northern and which may originally have been
carrie d away to the northern H aran This implies
that one of the elements in the name pointe d
S anballat is S in ( the name of the B abylonian
moon god ) Bu t does
really as S chrader
supposed ( K A T
p
come from S in
?
u b allit ann i
e
S
in
caused
me
to
live
i
[
]
[ ]
This is the second point to consider Winckler
insists on S in m u b allit but th is can hardly be
,

NEHEMIAH

39

the origin of the H ebrew form

Let us try
another course I n the case of E mm a ( se e Cr i t
B i d on 2 K xviii 1 3 ) we have been led to doubt
the existence of the divine name S in as an
element in this compound name We may well
do the same here and hold $2113 0 to have come
from
where no ( se e C ri t B i d on m 1 S
C p C ri t B i d on
xiv 4 ) represents S am a
F rom iv 2 it would appear
m o no J osh xv 3 1
that S anballat was in a large sense ( cp 2 K
xvii
a S him ro n ite H e belon g ed in fact
t o the mixed population of worshippers of Yahw e
in N Arabia
H arani te is probably correct ;
the southern H aran is intended the place known
Yaman ; see
elsewhere as n rm H aran of Yam
Two R elig i ons I ndex )
Why Tobiah is called the slave the
2
commentators have not satisfactorily explained
H e would seem to have been S anballat s equal ;
in N eh vi 1 2 1 4 he is even mentioned before
S anballat Yet the explanation is simple Who
that has any experience in textual criticism can
fail to se e that 1 3 127 ! has come from o wn the
Arabian which a scribe wrote in error and as
usual left undeleted
comes very soon
31e
afterwards ( se e next note ) ; c p on iv i As to
the name n nm there should be no doubt as to
This occurs as the name of a reg ion in
J ud g xi 3 5 and ( in a compound name ) in 2 S
x 6 8 I t most probably comes from 53 1 11 an
.

FRESH

4o

A GES

V0 V

ancient abbreviation of Emm a i e Em ma 7 1 or

V P may originally have represented rm i e Dh l
The name must have been early conventionalized
i n a religious sense but continued to be specially
N Arabian
Geshem
the
Arabian
also
Gashmu
vi
3
(
Prof H P S mith surely goes too far when
he says that the origin of the title Arabian cannot
now be made out ( Old Test H i sto ry p
I t is
not enou g h however to connect ( with E uting) the
name mm ( pointing mm) with the S inaitic proper
name mm and to account for the prominenc e of
an Arabian in S Palestine by the g reat N ab ataean
migration into E dom ( see E B i d Geshem ;
Arabia 6
E dom 9 Winckler G] i
The key to the name is furnished by the reference
to mu among the Calebites 1 Chr ii 4 7 where
A
Geshan Gershom Gershon
@ g ives ynp wy
Goshen are in fact t o be all g rouped tog ether and
all arise out of mu = 1 n m= 1 rjtpzs C p
Gen
A
a
a
e
e
xlv 1 0
To
compare
Arabic
c
B
y
p
p
i
s unwise
to
be
bulky
massive
asa ma
f
C HA P 1 1 1 1 The name sheep gate has
been variously explained Ori g inally it may have
been 132: mu where is: ( like 319 3 in 1 S xvi 1 1
xvii 3 4 and elsewhere ) represents S m e ar C p
on w 3 1 3 2 8
Can it be rash to question the reading 51 3 0
2
and to class
m e n tower of the hundred ( v
the expression with smart I mp xi 2 5 Gen xxxv

"

FRESH

42

A GES

V0 V

S imilarly for
of
the
guild
of
perfumers
(
1
read
so n of an Aram H ano k i t e
C p 2 S xv 1 7 and they tarried in B eth m e rh ak
where B eth m e rhak comes from B eth
Aram H ano k the name of the meetin g place of
The improbable
D avid s Arabian body g uard
name n n m wh ich now intervenes between 3: and

is a corruption either of a misplaced glos s

13
A
B
so
S
Cook
E
or
i
7 11 a
d
(

rather of 71 171 71 a similar scribal error to that

mentioned in note 2 on chap ii
r
2
n
l
w
l
t
e
I
n
also
ix
either
2
1
m
s
t
u
m
0
a
n
h
7
(
se e
1 7
for warm
or
a
corruption
of
m
I
u
m
(
)
on viii
?
8
D un g g ate
Ash
heap
gate
o
(
S urely not mDmNn we: probably comes from
nn
x
a
re hat h
gate
of
personal
C
t
D
m
?
m
S
lj
p
p
(
name ) ultimately from ri m s or TIDE
2
2
What
can
the
upper
house
of
the
kin
g
9
(
2 6 ) mean ?
O r shall we with
and margin of
R V understand the upper tower
from the
?
house of the kin g
And even in this case the
meaning of the house of the king is obscure
The problem is complicated by the circumstance
that 72 2 6 is introduced by the words ( which are
evidently a g loss ) N ow t he Nethinim dwelt in
Ophel
I t can however be simplied by textual
criticism
in N um xx 1 7 2 S xiv 2 6 J er
,

'

'

F o r th e

:1 and

p i nt e

Hano k i te ( o r A naki te )

rc h ang ing

r i be

se e

Td V i l pp
e

8 , 51

NEHEMIAH

43

xxxvi 2 6 xxxviii 6 like 1 50 in

etc is an
l
early development of p ans
A plausible
meaning of WSW 1 52271 nu now presents itself
the upper house of Y e rahm e e l ( i e of the Y e rah
m e e lite s) And if we ask who the Y e rah m e e li t e s
in this connexion are the reply is easy ; it was
probably a g uild or group of g uilds of temple
ministers such as the So ari m ( originally Asshurim )
and t he N ethinim ( ori g inally E than i m ) I n 22 3 1
we meet with a house of the N ethinim ; that
t he N e t h i ni m or E t hanit e s were Y e rahm e e lit e s or
N Arabians is clear S ee further on v ii 4 4 4 6
x 2 1 and c p A mer j o u rn Tdeol v 1 90 1 p 440
B u t if
The gate of the horses ( 21
10
Hazar susah ( J osh xix 5) and H azar su sim
1
Chr
iv
1
have
come
from
Ashhur
ishmael
3 )
(

and thorou gh critics can hardly doubt th is ma:

l
S ee T and
D mo n has grown out of am na a
m
B p 4 8 8 ( note
and C p next note
1 1
H anun the sixth son of Z alaph
A testin g passage All that the ordinary criticism
can say is that mummay be a mutilated and corrupt
form of r313 1 3 ( R ysse l se e 22 1
or that it may
cover over a statement as to H anu n s birthplace
u t he
u the
Reuss
The
latter
View
which
G
G
(
)
only presents as a suspicion seems to me in the
highest deg ree probable F or it is a fact of ex
ri e nc e that mo
e
see
note
and
or
m
have
m
m
m
9)
p
(
repeatedly come out of some one of the N Arabian
race or district names viz either was or better
.

"

r "

FRESH

44

V0 YA GE S

S am ar We may therefore venture to explain mm

both here and in J osh xv 1 4 J ud g i 1 0 as

om
F or n53 = 51 3 i e
C p mm 1 Chr v 1 4
l
Gen x 2 6 and trI553 i e
mzr c p gam i e
N um xxvi 3 3
I m
1 2
Gol dsmiths
Nethinim
v
?
(
M erchants ? S ee notes 6 and 8 and note that
may
G u the ( 1 8 9 6 ) has already suggested that
b e = n m s though he still hesitates because the
context points to a goldsmith
This is because
B ut
he supposes 0 531 71 to mean the merchants
who can doubt that 53 1 like Sm sometimes
?
represe nts Bno nw S o e g in 1 K x 1 5 E zek
xvii 4 Cant iii 6 P o ssibly to o D SJ W merchants
see
xiii
has
the
same
origin
i
e a m o d i c a
(
tion of D Sne m became used for merchants
because of the hi g h commercial reputation of the
N Arabians
3
3
d m dd M m
13
g ives Ka i i w
$
.

'

A 57 07

a zz r o i} ,

ev

)
m i
,

5 Io v Ba Zo e

57 0 i ,

is a g loss Read however

this means Yer S himron

0 n

'

eva 7rco v

Bi ll/ ap t ? Zap o p wv

ST !
Sam w m

etc

gloss on Wm
The alteration of
22 3 4
14
into
)
(
4
is
parallel
to
that
of
s?!
u t he following
G
72
5
(
I
sa
x
10
into
followin
g
S
B
T
O
)
(
)
(
B oth changes are wro ng i e if we wish for a
satisfactory sense and one that harmonizes with
our results elsewhere we must read in the one
case some form of D Sno m n and in the other
.

NEHEMIAH

45

some form of wo w
Luc combines the readin g s
and nhnn both practically corruptions
of who
The statement of J os A n t xi
2
that S anballat was Persian g overnor of
7
S amaria is unhistorical
On his further state
ment se e on E zra iv 9 1 1 an d se e Winckler
A OF
2 nd series
ii 2 3 0
I t is possible that

we have two glosses on Wm v iz ( I ) mo m m and

2
A
nd he s a
Thus
we
g
et
id
before
his
w
e
n
h
( )
brethren ( glosses Y e rah m e e l S himron ; the
?
A m ali te s) What are the J ews doing
C HA P iv F or D T I HDNTI ( o 1 ) we m ight read
Am iii 9 62 A a vpr m where
m ad am C p
M T has 1 11 mm
The name Asshur is of
course archaizin g S imilarly in xiii 2 3 ( se e note )
B u t inasmuch as A shdod is si m p ly = A sshu r
D o d this is not strictly necessary
There were
probably several Ashdods
C HA P v i 1 S anballat is the representative of
populations of m ixed ori g in in the N Arabian
borderland The narrator evide ntly belie v es that
the territory occupied by the J ews under Nehe
miah exte nded into this re g ion ( see on v i i 6
xi 2 5
H e therefore represents S anballat
as su g gesting for a rendezvous and place in the
borderland not far probably from his own
territory if it did not even lie within it o n e :
is very possibly the same as m m) one of
the Gibeonite place names a deformation of
A k rabb ah ( Tde Vei l p
also in E zra
l

'

FRESH

46

V0 YA GE S

ii 3 3 N eh v i i 3 7 xi 3 5 ( see note ) 1 Chr

viii 1 2
That On Onam Onan and Ono are
specially southern names is at any rate made
hi g hly probable in E B i d On etc c p also on
Gen xli 4 5 Am i 5 H os iv 1 5 I n xi 3 4 Lod
i
e
c
on
Gen
x
1
and
Ono
stand
0
5
1
1
3)
p
(
in apposition to o wh n 3 which has evidently
come from D TJ tDN 3 valley of the A shhu ri te s
Ono also occurs in H os xii 3 where read I n
E thbaal he tricked Ashhur and in Ono he fought
wi t h E lohim
E ven Q5 ( H o s ) still preserves a
record that the contest took place in B eth o n
2
M ehetabel ( 72
se e T and B on Gen
xxxvi 3 9
C HA P vii 1 B ertheau R ysse l comment thus
on the words and I found written therein 22 5
I t is clear that Nehemiah saw reason to insert
the following reg ister or catalogue in his memoir
F rom th is memoir together with the other
sections derived from it the register cam e into
the B ook of N ehemiah and so it is explained how
the document already known to us from E zra ii
is repeated here
Torrey however advocates
1 5 and
the so called
the view that bo t h
register are the Chronicler s work
I t remains
to ask what is the source from which the
writer of v i i 5 professes to have derived the
reg ister Accordin g to our present text he calls
B u t the two last
it m m m n
mn n IDD
words cannot grammatically be connected with
.

NEHEMIAH

47

the two rst

G u the ( S B O T ) is content to

'
remark that 1 : 0 7 i
must be a later addition
?
Bu t why this addition
The truth probably is
that
like
Gen
xxi
represents
(
either sm e a or bs o n and is a gloss on the
word which un derlies mn n
That word is
probably writing ; that Asshur and Y e rahm e e l
were used synonymously we have seen again
and again J ust as lo w IDD has c ome from 1 210

so o n? ! o represents 13 t o The book

so called may have contained all sorts of docu
ments relative to Asshur or Y e rahm e e l ( c p on
N um xxi
It
oo i e E
t o n So n
m o t 150 w
may be objecte d that j ust before we meet with
l
the cognate verbal form arm m) ; but this only

shows how easy it was for rmm to become

corrupted into a word which occurs nowhere

else mm
There still remains m umm n This
probably comes from nmwn w for
oft en stan ds
for 1m ; and ms for
2
The true superscription of the document
framed
as
Torrey
thinks
by
the
Chronicler
is
(
)
to which two g losses were
ro wan 3 3 7 s ( 72
added When the corruption had taken place it

was natural for m

It
m m: to be added
will be noticed that the names in w 6 6 7 and xi
4 3 6 point upon the whole to the N Arabian
borderland
M any of the exiles who returned
.

'

'

mm

r
1 6

e fr
h mael )

co m

Is

e f rm f Sn w (
Tl V i l p
57 f

o m so m
se e

ie

cp

nmn

and

me

f om
r

FRESH

48

A GES

V0 V

seem to have settled in the part o f that region

which adj oined J udah The others too were at
any rate deeply interested in and probably con
ne c t e d with the borderland
As
to
the
twelve
names
in
this
list
it
is
not
3
denie d that names pointing to N Arabia mi g ht
quite well have been borne by northern I sraelites
I t is however a remarkable fact that all the
names are of this character and we must also

remember that the setting of the list i e the

narratives amon g wh ich it is placed also refers
us to the borderland
F or Z erubbabel see
on E zra iv 3 ; for
on the
name of J esus (below )
Nehemiah N aham ani
and N ehum all have the same root and point
to the south ( c p Naham 1 Chr iv 1 9 ; and on
Noah Gen v 2 9 ; also on M enahem 2 K xv
Azariah is in some of its occurrences
see
E
plainly
a
Y
B
i
e rahm e e li t e name
d
(
Raamiah ( n o m ) i n E zra ii R e e liah (W 5y1 ) o f
course comes from Y e rah m e e l c p 7 15171 72 J osh
xix 1 1
Mordecai doubtless looks like the
Bab name M ardu k i a which is a formation from
Marduk ( a dard formation ; see J ohns A [ S L
April 1 90 2 p
and when the name occurs in
the Book of E sther it has furnished some of the
material for a complicated and ingenious m ytho
log ical explanation of the ori g in of the E sther
story I t is however a strong objection ( see on
E sth ii 5) to this view of the name in E sther
.

FRESH

0
5

V0 YA GE S

Or we might read
B innui ( ii 2 4 ) c p B aanah
B ani B enaiah
Proceeding
to
the
laity
at
lar
g
e
we
nd
4
rst the ben e Par osh a name wh ich drives the
critics into a corner
Par osh ea may not
indeed be much worse than Gaal or Gual dung
beetle and D elitzsch may illustrate the name by
the Assyrian name P aru
I t still
remains incredible that the most eminent non
Levitical father s house ( see E B i d Parosh )
should have borne the name F lea clan
Meyer
in his reply to W e llhau se n (j a li ns Welldaasen
1 897 p
thinks that
a n d m ei n e S ed rift e tc
i t may have been a satirical name but how are we
?
helped by this
Textual criticism ought to help
us to certainty And so it does To compare
and S hiphrah
S he p he r ( Num xxxiii 2 3
E
x
i
1 5
woul
d
be
too
easy
an
expedient
)
(
B u t the initial letters 1 8 which are i ndist ingu ish
able from m at once remind us of
W m he m e
l
and it most fortunately
nu n m ( see N um i
happens that quite apart from m m we nd it
necessary to explain m in these names as I: 3 1 s
c
and the important clan name :1a
on
J
er
( p
xx 1 ) as equivalent to p ri me r m This gi v es us
the key to tim e which most probably comes from
B oth B ar Ashhur and Bar Asshur then
93 1 3
14
are in the rst instance names of districts
Passing
by
S
hephatiah
c
on
S
haphat
5
( p
.

'

'

'

"

'

a
p

M
T
(

P addan

co m e s

fr o m

an

me

fro m

i ma

NEHEMIA H

51

6)

and A rab ( certainly not wayfarer

l
d
o
for
: has often come from 1 1 m
N
e ke
1
m
]
[
3 g)
we pause at amp
The clan so called fell
i nto two branches J eshua and J oab
eshua
J
appears in N eh xi 2 6 ( see note ) where it takes
the place of the S hema of J osh xv 2 6 and the
S heba of J osh xix 2
Y o ab occurs in the form
Atroth beth Y o ab in 1 Chr ii 54 ; its people
was a son of S alma b H ur b Caleb Also in
as the name of a so n of S eraiah
1 Chr iv
14
b K enaz ; here it receives a singular addition
generally rendere d father of the valley of smiths
for they were smiths
This valley with the
after
the
s trange name occurs a g ain i n xi
35
place names Lod and Ono
S everal of these
names are evidently corrupt and the true
originals at once suggest themselves
Atroth
see
on
c e rt ai nl = A shto re t h
y
Y o ab = Y arhu Ar a b Tde Ve i l
D t i 4 iii 1 7
H u r = A shh u r ; o m n N J ( valley of
pp 1 4 9

valley of A shhu rit e s while

smiths ) 0 :
nu
ns prexed to the latter phrase in 1 Chr iv 1 4
most probably (as often ) represents an original
E vidently the names are southern and most prob
ably they attach properly to N Arabian localities
And now as to nmo nn n That this is impossible
a s a personal name is rightly felt by M eyer but he
himself has no light to throw on the name Yet
the origin of 11 11 5 is plain ; it is of course to be
grouped with 11 11 5 ( J osh xv 4 3 ) and hs r mn
K xix

FRESH

52

V0 YA GE S

x ix
J
osh
and
like
1
n
1
1
probably
n
2
3
n
(
4
)
(
comes from m mm whence o nnm the name of
a tribe said to have descended from D WXD ( th e
N Arabian M u sri ) in Gen x
I t should
also be combined with m an ( usually explained
apple town J osh xii 1 7 ) and with 11 03 ( N um
xxi
Whether an : is ri g ht may be
questioned We should perhaps have expected
P ahath moab
nm
Cp E B id

6
E lam (v 1 2 ) what is this ? The nam e
?
of a clan which had been settled in E lam
No
but one of the many clan names and district
names which in days lon g past had been cor
ru t e d from
and
which
record
the
p
wide extent of the N Arabian migration
In
b
u
t
we
have
apparently
another
E
lam
21
34
really E lam of Ash hur ( 1
Torrey
o h y)
pp
1 66
is
ba
f
ed
by
E
lam
E
z ra S tud i es
(
N o wonder
Azgad
1
probably
comes
from
Azzur
o
7
7)
(
Gad S ee M i nes of [ sa i a/z p 1 44 ; Tde Ve i l of
H e drew H i sto ry p 1 5
Adonikam ( 21 1 8 )

on
E
zra
viii
13
Ater
0 2
not
left
c
IE
DN
(
p
handed ( N olde ke ) but from 1 mm 1 m m 1 mm
c
has
the
same
origin
H
ashum
see
note
5)
p
(
H eshmon H ashmonah ( as a widely represented
southern clan name ; see occurrences and below

1
2

a nd

B p
.

S e e Tde

R elig i o ns,

378

V il

3 48

e
.

H edrew H i sto ry,

1 1

Td e Two

NEHEMIAH

Asmon aeans )

mm

53

29
in
E
zra
ii
(
n es
M
i
Read 1 mm
note
and
s imply 1 3 3
c
6
p
of [ sa i a/z
pp 1 3 6 f nwo ( v
but in iii 3
To be grouped with 11 3 0 1 S x iv 4 ;
Ti m o n
1
v
ii
1
2
2
S
Chr
xiii
u
1
o
m
m
m
m
m
;
;
9
g
xi 9 ( see note ) ; I D D N Gen xli 4 5 ; mm I sa
x
27
see
C
The
common
original
of
ri t B i d
(
)
a ll these forms is ham m
Pashhu r see on 22 8

rrmn o
c
e
1
i
F
rom
m
m
m
1
1
m
( 43) p
Y e rah m e e li te J udah
N ote that a certain Yehudi
J
er
xxxvi
is
a
descendant
of
Cushi
I
need
14
(
)
hardly say that hav in g) like hmnp ( Gen xxii
represents a distorted
8 O n the parallel E zra ii 4 1
B erth Rys
remarks
Of the three great classes of singers

Asaph J e duthun H eman ( 1 Chr xxv ) only

some ( 1 2 8 ) of the class of Asaph return
Possibly however the title o wmo n prexed to
$10 14
33
was inten ded to refer to the 0 1 m ?! 3 3
m
originally
the
J I ID originally no r m
D
0
1
m
(
(
)
1
and the no hm
31
originally
um a 3 w 3 3
h
(
);
i e all these clans of N Arabian ori g in were
devoted to the service of sacred song
In
this con n
exion note no hm from humo u in
headings of certain psalms and collection of
proverbs
I ntrod p lxiv
On the
Cp
ben e Asaph
the
ben e Asshurim
the
Nethinim and the ben e Arab I shmael see
pp xxii xlii ; A mer
Tdeo d J uly
of
1 C
=
h
m
i
i
t
f
l
r
A
b
e
N
e
d
A rab N e b
p
g
on

Ir

'

FRESH

54

V0 YA GE S

B
i
F
rom
I
saiah
to
E
d
(
S olomon s S ervants Children of
I t is possibl e
that the ben e Asshurim became door keepers and
certain it is that the E thanit e s were afterwards
ignorantly represented as the descendants of cap
t i v e s o f war made by S olomon ( see E zra viii
Note
that
the
names
in
u
all
su
g
gest
9
45
N Arabia unless H ati ta be an exceptio n
S hall um points to
I shmael ;
Ater to
A sht o r ( see on v
Talmon to I shmael
see
on
J
osh
xv
Akkub
like
aak o b
J
(
"
1
to Ah ab ;
S hobai to I shmael ( see oh 2 S
xvii
F or Akkub c p also the Assyrian
name Uku b u and parallels cited by J ohns D eeds
N o 50 2 ; also Tzo o R e ligi ons I ndex
10
C o n ni ng myself to the most certainly
explained names in 71 27 4 6 56 ( the N ethinim
see on i ii
let me notice mum ( to
to
22
be grouped with
J
udg
vii
and
w
r
a
(
)

2 K
xxi
All
alike
come
from
ym
n
h
(

E
zra
ii
c
H
1
K
xvi
1
0
1
hum a ( p DDJ N
3 )
p (
m p) a nd me ( 22 4 7) should be grouped respect
i v e ly with 1 3 0 0 ( see on Gen xxx
mm
1 1 mm and probably with ar m ( E zra i 1 etc ) and
and with
in m as rm cp
m um ( E sth i
of course
note 4 on Parosh
goes with Libnah ( N um xxxiii 2 0 f ; 2 K
S alm ai
xix
and Giddel ( c p
H ag g e
do li m xi 1 4 ) point to S alm at hi ( S almah ) and
Two R l gi o n I nd x ; T nd E p
73
1

1
0
9

'

e i

s,

NEHEMIAH

55

Gilead respectively ; E zra ii however has

S halmon Ishm e e li
Reaiah or ( 1 E sdr v 3 1 )
Yair of course
in 1 Chr iv 2
Reaiah is a Calebite so n of S hobal ( I shmael )
Paseah ( as if halting a corruption of Pinhas
I n 1 Ch r iv 1 2 a
i e probably N aphtah a shur
B esai
Calebite name
from
S ee on
J osh xv 8 ; J ud g xix 1 0
like
Meonenim ( see on J udg ix
represents
Ishm e e li m
F ragments of great ethnics became
the names of branches of the race which bore as
its designation the common original of these
fragments
There is no occasion to suppose
that the clan descended from Uzziah s captives

N
xxvi
e h u she si m
in
E
zra
ii
2 Chr
p
(
(
N e phisim another I shmaelite clan name ; c p
I shpan ( 1 Chr viii 2 ) and S haphan ( 2 K
xxii
and note that
and mm are often
i e human
miswritten for
S ee on J udg

v 18 21
B akbuk
g oes with B akbukiah
Bukkiah
H abakkuk and nally J aako b the
original of which is h ar m ( Ash hur
H arhur not fever
but like H ur from
Ash hur ; in 1 E sdr v 3 1 the form is
H arsha ( see on u 6 1 ) has the same origin
B arkos
either from mun 3 w or better from
Hi n ton
N ote that H arsha precedes and
S isera ( also an A sshu ri te name ) follows
S isera ; see on J udg iv 2 B etween ben e
B esai and b M eunim
E zra ii gives ben e

FRESH

56

V0 YA GE S

Asnah when m o re like m o re

p 471
an d B
Gen xli
represents a shortened corrupt form

of o m with fem endin g

1 1
Amon g the names of the den a rad i sdmael

note
E
zra
ii
probably
m
o
o
o
n
57
)
(
1
from 11 51 3 ( c p Two R eligi o ns p 7 2 ( note
on
K i ryath S e p he r J osh xv 1 5; S ephar Gen x
s hy
E
zra
ii
like
J
udg
iv
m
1 7
h
(
represents either o m or
D ar kon ;
group with B e n de k er 1 K iv 9 ( see Cri t
B id )
H attil
probably from A bi tal
where corrupt forms of Ash hur and I sh m
ael
on
Talmon
72 4 5 respectively are com
c
)
( p

Abi tal H amu tal

b i ne d
Cp
m an
o nsn
The second element is clearly the
x iv
2
c
3
of
Gen
like
3
2
m
n
i
e o hm o o
3
a
1
p 3
(
)
needs a sli g ht transposition of
m o o (0
10
le t ters Read
and
see
p
s
c
r ow
p (
)
)
(
the ill understood m o m
J osh xviii 2 4
W
o
in
E
zra
ii
in
compound
names
o
n
o
n
w
n
)
(
there
o
t:
represents o w as 3 N represents
n
fore may come from no w ; c p n o w 2 S xxi 8
l
l
has
a
a
3
7
t
m
The
w
B
I E sd r V
34
[ ]
latter suggests ohm The ori g in is obvious
Tel melah Tubal Y e rah m e e l Tel harsha
1 2
Tubal Ash hur (71
as shown in E B i d sa w
K erub
if N A rabian afnities are to be

1/

T he

h w v e r r m ai n wh th r b th Sa phath and
ri gi nall y h av m ant A hh r A rab (
; y

ue st o n,

S e ph e r m ay no t
nx n
on
a
and y

on

re

no

: 1

r
:

FRESH

58

V0 YA GE S

C HA P v ii 6 5
F irst of all how surprising
that in the specication of the living possessions of
the community singing men and singing women
should be grouped with horses mules camels and
asses N ext how stran g e that beside phenomena
which appear adverse to the view that the list
refers to those who returned from exile there
should be some which as the text stands appear
to enforce such a reference These two points
may be taken together The well known com
m e nt at o r Alf B e rtho le t holds as strongly as E d
Meyer (E ntsi p 1 9 2 ) that 220 6 8 supply a con
c lu si v e proof that the list really is a list of those
who came up from captivity O n the other hand
remarks Torrey he does not in the least succeed
in answerin g the objections which [certain ]
scholars have made [se e K osters H et H erstel pp
to
this
document
as
a
list
of
the
J
ews
who
37
returned from B abylonia i n the time of Cyrus
That is i nternal evidence shows that this ( if
and
e n u i ne cannot be a list of returning exiles
g
)
yet equally strong evidence shows that it cannot
be anythin g else ; this is the perplexing situation
u rn
of
review
of
commentary
B
e rt ho le t s
o
j
(
Torrey accepts the
A m er Tdeal J an
words nhu n mo o o hyn as g enuine On this
point he seems to me mistaken as also i n drawi ng
a critical inference from the reference in the tra
mules
camels and
d it io nal text to horses
asses
I n 1 K v 6 x 2 6 E zek xx v ii 1 4
.

NEHEMIAH

59

I sa lxvi 2 0 Z ech xiv 1 5 we have already

found occasion to look closely into references to
these animals ( for camels see also T and B on
Gen xii 1 6 xxxvii 2 5 Cr i t B i d on J udg v i 5
v iii 2 1
C p also the analogous case of the
supposed names of vegetables in Num xi 4 I
hold then that o wmo should be Do ngs ; that
w
o n n o should be o m m ; that who :
should be
o hno m ; and that Do o r! is a very early ethnic
originally derived from hs o m and indicatin g one
of the N Arabian clan wh ich might loosely
perhaps be called Y e rah m e e li te
The singing
men and singing women as Be n R ysse l thi n ks
were or dinary or secular singers and perhaps of
non I sraelite origin ( may we compare E ccles ii
Probably enou g h There were Y e rah m e e li te s
who were devoted to sacred song and those also
whose talents were exerted in enlivening ordinary
feasts and banquets
O n susi m ( horses ) c p also the Ph oen name
and
where
o o o m w( Cooke 6 2
o o o ( Cooke
)
o o o is not a Ph oen
g od S aso m or S asm but
hm o o
S ee E B i d
S isamai
note o o o in
1
Chr ii 40 is expressly given as a Ye rah
m e e lite name
C HA P viii 1 H ashb addanah ( u 4 ) is difcult
I t may however come from o n = 1 n o n ( c p on
o o o ) Gen xi
and
a well known southern
clan name Note the N ab arias of 1 E sdr ix
C p on H ashabniah ix 5
44
.

'

FRESH VO YA GES

6o

means the nearest highlands on which

the trees mentioned could be found g rowing As
for the trees there has been much m isunderstand
ing ( see D and E pp 1 1 2
F or to o rt:
72
I 5 see on D t
xii
2 ;
for
a
x
: m
y on Lev
m
(
)
xxiii 4 0
is usually identied with the myrtle
N ote however that D? ! has only a S Arabian
parallel The fact moreover that o w
n I sa xix 1 8
and o w
n J u dg i 3 5 v iii 1 3 most probably come
from mots coupled with the fact that trees in the
O T ( critically treated ) often derive their names
from a re g ion where they were common su ggests
that o wn may originally have been w
the
om
b]
tree of Ash hur ; c p 1 1 1mm ( I sa xli 1 9 IX
Observe that in I sa lv 1 3 o m is parallel to o m
Possibly too it is the same as the
or
rather
y
m
of
Lev
xxiii
I
t
is
not
probable
that
3
2
0
V
4
the tree meant was the myrtle because of the
inclusion of the o w: in the same list of trees
with d istinctively mountain trees with which the
myrtle could not be expected to grow S ee
2

"

M i nes of [

sai a/i

This
then
was
the
rst
festival
of
o
m
3
Till this peri od ( so much at least we may infer )
the great autumn festival had not been represented
as the feast of booths
What the ori g inal name
probably was ( A shk alat h A shtart) is set forth i n
N ote once more
D ecli ne and F all pp 1 1 8 f
that the myrtle was sacred to A shtart
C HA P ix 1 3 3 and 33 both perhaps from
.

NEHEMIAH
i

3
) ,

hm which represents the second part of

or hno m (3 for o ) Cf
m
3
a
1
,

ho no u

61

Point o 3 3 o 3 ( u
F orty years (12

S ee

Trad i ti o ns

an d

S
ince
the
time
of
the
kings
of
Asshur
unto
4
D oes the writer mean that the
this day ( 72
sad trouble which has come upon I srael began in
the time of the kings of Assyria or in the time of
the kings of the N Arabian Asshur ( Ash hur ) ?
Consistency favours the latter alternative C p
I sa lii 4
C HA P xi 1 The description of J udah as ben
The original reading
H asse nu ah ( v 9 ) is strange
I sh m ael as shown
was some corruption of
on iii 3 This gives us a clue to the meanin g
of m o o which is no t an o fcial of the
second rank ( Berth Rys but = zo w i e hm o m
Possibly there was a quarter of the city called
I shmael
N ote that in 2 K xxii 1 4 H uldah is
said to have dwelt in J erusalem in M ishne h
19
se e D ecli n e and F a ll pp
(
in o 1 4
ab die l son of the great ones
2
is as startling as Ono the valley of the crafts
men i n u 3 5 o hi nn should be o whl n ( c p on
Gen x v
91 3 v ii 4 9 and on
2 5 3 6 is somewhat
w
The
idea
underlying
3
like that which is implied in E zra v i i 2 5
There are J ews no t only in the district of
J erusalem but in the old territory of J udah
.

FRESH

62

A GES

V0 V

regarded as a whole and it appears that th is

territory included part of the N Arabian border
land
The reason for suggesting this is that
we have already found reason ( see C ri t B i d
on J osh and Tde Ve i l) to think that many of the
tribal place names were originally attached to
localities in that region Not to dwell on other
names it is at least possible that there was a
ravine of H innom in the S borderland as well
as near J erusalem ( Cri t B i d p
The
original form of the name may well have b ee n

f
where
will
be
an
of
shoot
of
S
N
N
l
n
O
W
n
io

p
F
or
see
on
vi 2
3
3
a
(
C HA P xii I n 21 I I note the names 171 1 and
The former does not properly mean
mm
Yahw e knows nor does the latter mean known
N
ames
is
a
well
attested
E
B
i
d
(
southern clan name C p the Y e rah m e e lite name
Chr ii 2 8 I t was carried far away to
1
northern regions ( see Yada and other names
J ohns D eeds iii p
Also in o 2 8 and iii
c p Part ii on
2 2 note archaistic use of K i da r
(
M att iii
K i ddar may come from E sdda r or
And in u 4 2 note
A sd ar ( Tli e Ve i l p
E lam i e Y e rahm e e l ( not the familiar E lam )
C HA P xiii 1 They separated from I srael
all the mixe d multitude ( 72
Our study of
E x xii 3 8 will have le d us to doubt this inter
d
re t at io n of 3 3 32
Of
course
we
shoul
point
p
C p also 3 1 3 J er x x v 2 0 l 3 7 E z ek xxx 5
,

NEHEMIAH

63

S o here E d M eyer E ntst p 1 3 0 ( note

but
rendering B eduins
2
Tyrians ( u
I n harmony with E zra
iii 7 read o w
This seems to me in the
xo m
hi g hest degree probable Bu t even if we keep
Tyrians do not let us acquiesce in 3 24 1 ( note
superuous N ) Of course we should read
i e
purple
Tyrian purple was famous in
antiquity
N ote the purple garments of the
M idianite kings ( J ud g viii
B u t also there
was purple from Arab I shmael ( E zek xxvii
And in I sa xix 1 3 m o o wns should be
3
3
9
1 33
A shhu ri te purple
Also the merchants were not
mere hucksters of salt sh but well to do sellers
of purple
And
now
we
can
hopefully
approach
another
3
1 5d mm m m
difculty The M T gives in
and I warned on the day wherein
mm
or
I
warned
when
they
sold
victuals
This
(
)
is very obscure S teiner in his revise d edition of
H itzi g s K lei ne P rop dete n p 3 0 4 emends 11
@13 32
Clearly however the clause has
o po
;
arisen out of a miswritten gloss
represents
"
3 3 i e o wn or rather we should detach the closing
of m m ( the nal forms but slowly became
o
established ) and read o o x o This word ought to
stan d rst ; it has become m isplaced 3 3 o of
course represents DP I one of the offshoots of
and o n ( as often )
o r n ( c p o wn 11 3 and 0 1 37

i
e
has come from o i e
also
written
11
(
.

'

FRESH

64

hs o n n)

V0 YA GE S

my

together with 3 represents

Arabia
And lastly m represents mo Thus
M isrl m that is
we get [o p l] 303
mo o nx o
Y am anite Arabia
Re k em appears
to be a secondary g loss The gloss as a whole
refers to o 3 3 [o ] in 0 1 6 I t explains where the
M isri te s dwelt
They were not E gyptians b ut
N Arabians
We
do
not
expect
Philistian
women
i
n
this
4
context
B u t there were no doubt
Ashdods S ee on iv 7

FRESH

66

A GES

V0 V

same names Moreover when once it has been

proved that the true and original background o f
other narrative books is N Arabian and that
the names too are largely N Arabian it is i n
consistent to adopt a totally d ifferent set of
presuppositions and of critical methods in E stder
from those which I hope that I have in spite of
initial errors successfully used elsewhere
Whether there are any grains of history in the
story cannot be absolutely decided I t is as

we have seen perfectly possible that from time

to time J ews became grand viziers to N Arabian
kings
Of course Y e rahm e e lite s would be
equally eligible to this high o fce and N olde k e
thinks that there is somethin g not unskilful even
if fantastic in the touch whereby Mordecai and
H aman are made to inherit an ancient feud I
would however venture to ask whether the feud
has been quite correctly understood by the
commentators That H aman hates the J ews is
certain Bu t is he really the representative of
the primeval Agag ? S urely Ag ag i ( E sth iii 1
etc ) shoul d be Agabi
A b a b i ) and the meaning
is that H aman represented the Y e rah m e e lite s
who whether in S Canaan or in the N Arabian
borderland were almost constantly hostile to the
I sraelites
Thus a duly critical treatment of H aman the
J ew s enemy connects itself with one of the
most interesting of the disco v eries which I hav e
.

BOO K

ES THER

OF

67

make

been privileged to
that of the true mean
in g of A h ab I mportant enough too is it that
H aman ( 12333 ) has been trace d to its source as
Y
a
m
a
n
for
we
see
now
that
H
aman
2
1
9
:
h
3 3 (
)
Y
ahm an
in
the
mind
of
the
narrator
is
not
)
(
primarily a successful indivi dual but a p e rso ni c a
tion of the Y e rahm e e lite foes of I srael I n 6 s
ad ditions to the B ook of E sther H aman is
strangely called a M a S Sv This however does
not really mean a Macedonian M ak e do n is a
corruption of R ak m an i e one belon g ing to
Rakam or Y arham
We have now to account for Mor decai and
i f possible for a certai n chronological difculty
which has somewhat precipitately been j udged
i nsuperable The name seems to mean belon g ing
to M arduk M arduk of course was a Babylonian
deity and we have a place name N ebo which
at rst sight looks l ike a parallel to M ordecai
B u t how incredible it is that such a name should
enter into a B enj am ite genealogy ! S ee also
E zra ii 2 N eh v ii 7 where the list of names
has no room for a M or decai ( pp 4 8
F or m y
part I hav e no doubt as to the right solution of
the problem thou g h I must admit that it raises
another problem not less important
3 has
31 1 2

arisen out of 11 3 3 i e one belonging to Bar D ad

x e

A c c o rd i ng t o

N old

ek e

l at r arti cl )
w and th ir G

h
i
s
n
i
(

b itte r e nm it y b e tw e e n th e J e s
n e i gh b o u r s e spe c i all y at A lexand r i a ( E
th e

Bid

ll i
Ma

th e a u s o n

ra
e co -

co l

i s to

c e d o n an

FRESH

68

A GES

V0 V

The same origin may not improbably be given

to the famous but ill understood title Baal
-

M arc o d

But

then it would seem as if H aman and

Mordecai ori g inally bore names of the sam e
meaning
And this is indeed the fact which
co v ers a new problem I srael and Y e rahm e e l
?
B oth are children
are enemies ; how is this
of Abraham ; how then can one Rahman seek
?
to destroy the other
I t is a question which
no mere raco nteu r can answer but only a true
spiritual prophet
Unfortunately there is no
spiritual or prophetic element in the book be
fore us
The statement to which I referred in con

M ordecai is this that that eminent

ne x io n with
leader of the J ews was carried away to B abel by
N e b u c hadne z z ar in company with J econiah kin g
This has puzzled chrono
of J udah ( E sth ii 5
lo g ists because it seems to make a B abylonian
and a Persian king contemporaries B u t the
puzzle disappears when we realize that this like
other old H ebrew stories has been thoroughly
and provided with a new back g round
t e edited
The consequence is that A bashwe ro sh has
become transformed from a N Arabian into a
1
Persian king
I n the ori g inal story Ahashwe ro sh
was presumably Ash hur to which a marginal
g loss was added viz Asshur ( just as N e b u c had
E B i d A ha e r
S
.

ee

su

us

BOOK

ES THER

OF

69

was S hanb u H ad to which perhaps A r b

2
H is capital was
S o r was added as a g loss )
8
S himshan of Arabia and his queens were rst
W asht i or rather A sshu ri th and then E sther
The name of E sther s father
i e Israe li th

Abi hail
Y e rahm e e l) records the fact
that he was an exile in N Arabia
The story of the B ook of E sther is that of the
supplanting of an A sshu rit e by an I sraelite queen
and of a Y e rah m e e lit e by an I sraelite vizier
There is no need to have recourse for an ex
planation to E lamite mythology I nee d only
add that
from I ndia to Cush ( E sth i 1 ) is of
course wrong T m should be 3 3 7 1 S ee p 1 51
on
Acts
ii
and c p E B id
I
ndia
H
a
d
ad
(
and K ush were both in N Arabia Add also
that in iii 7 they cast Pur that is the lot ;
Pur is probably a corruption of Ar a b ( Arabia )
A
C p m o Gen xvi 1 2 and T and B ad loe
favourite variety of lot must have been called
Arabia
This g ives the key to Uri m and
Thummim i e A sshu rite s and I shmaelites
1

ne z z ar

'

S ee p 1 1 0
Two R eli gi o ns,
.

ma n n
ow

wa

an

N eh
4

8 , 8 2,

in M T

stan ds

i nte rc h ange

Th e

pp

of

and

b ut we

and

is

h l d rathe r r ead w
w ll atte te d C p n

s ou

'

oo

ou
e

h l d p r b ab l y b e n w
i
h
Fr m n h w
t
cp
d
J
mm

I nd ex

( A SSuri th )

VI

C HAPTE R
B

OO K

OF

J OB

THE

legend of A b ikar appears to have arisen in

N Arabia ; may we suppose that the legend of
?
J ob ( Iyyob ) arose there too
At any rate the
name of the hero Iyyob indicates probabl ythat
he lived in that region for Iyyob is either a modi
c at io n of Y o b ab ( an E domite or A ram m it e king )
or both are corruptions of Ah ab ( see pp 3 7
which is properly a name of A sshu rite N Arabia
We must however admit that the conception of
the su ffering righteous m an was well known at
an early date ( 200 0 B C ) to Babylonian literature
I now beg leave to record some new co rre c
t ions of the text which seem to me of more than
common interest and to point the way to a rev 1510 n
of our literary estimate of J ob
Thus in J ob iii 5 8 we should certainly
2
1
rea d :
Let the priests of Yaman terrify it
.

and

Let the cursers of Yaman execrate it

Those that have skill to stir up Leviathan
1 T
Tw R l gi n p 8
nd B p 6 ( n
,

70

e i

s,

BOO K

OF

OB

71

The priests of Yaman were famous for their

accomplishments o o o ) is really only a m o di c a
i e Y e rah m e e lit e s
tion of
C p o 3 h3
R
temple
ministers
from
ah b u li t e s
o
h
3
m
(
)
and o o m ( sacred c hante rs)
from o h m s
Leviathan is the mythic dragon
A shk ari t e s
2
identied ( as its H ebrew name suggests ) with
the O ppressive powers of N Arabia

J ob vi

Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without

salt
?
Or is there any taste in the white of an e gg
,

S o Auth Vers
The text however is i m
possible and we should almost certainly read :
.

Can I eat my portion ( see 6 ) with lea v es of

mallow
Or drink purslain broth
,

n
Purslain
should
rather
be
S
o
the
a
edu sa
(
)
3
opening of E liphaz s ne speech is redeemed
J
ob
v
ii
M
y
days
are
swifter
than
a
6
4
weaver s shuttle
A far fetched simile ! And
will r m bear this meanin g ? A comparison of
J er viii 7 where the migrations of the swift
and the crane are referred to suggests as the
true meaning M y days are swifter than a crane

( M
1

S ee Am

7,

an d

fro m

2
3

S ee

Two R eli gi o ns,

B i d,

x 5
m
m
m
(
-

P urs ai n,

M all

89

FRESH

72

V0 YA GE S

J ob ix 2 5 2 6
I n a similar vein of
complaint
F irst J ob s remaining days are
swifter not than a ru nner but than an ossi
frage
Then they pass away as the ships
of reed
or rather like the ospreys ( read who
}
We thus get all the three swiftly
T13 1 mo w o
ying birds of prey grouped to g ether in Lev
xi I 3 D t xiv 1 2
J
ob
xviii
1
to
the
kin
g
of
terrors
4
7
oh
S
everal
critics
have
questioned
3
h
o
h
m
j
(
)
this but for want of insight into the popular
J ewish religion have missed the right readin g
This is to the king Kab bal
c
p
B e liar from Y arb al and see on xxx 2 3
Read with N H erz ash
8 J ob xxviii 8 d
d
1
N
o
cormorant
a
r
t
h
upon
it
e
t
w
ho h;
J
ob
xxx
The
former
explanations
9
4
seem to me to be quite impossible ( see E B i d
col
I venture therefore to propose a
new one o o m m m should be o m o p wn and
Read
o o nh shoul d be m o hn a ne/z u sa purslain
therefore omitting duplications and glosses
6
5
,

'

Who pluck mallow and the leaves of the s/z i ad

2
Who gnaw the broom plants and the purslain

S urely a striking and natural description of the

utmost poverty
J ob xxx 2 3
A nd to the house of
10
,

S ee

E
2

Bid ,

S ee E

'

pr

Os

Bid ,

e y,

O ssi

J uni pe r

frag e

C HAPTE R
S

ONG

OF

V II

OL O MO N

nest of S olomon s songs ( i

or rather
perhaps
The nest of songs in the style of
S almah
The tent cur t ains of S almah ( so
Winckler ) are referred to in Cant i
The
primary obj ect of the S ong was to supply an
antidote to sensuous passionate transient lov e
I n ii 7 iii 5 the dau ghters of J erusalem are
2
adj ured by S ib o nith ( = A shtart) not to take
li g htly such a grave matter as love The use of
the terms do d ( belov ed ) for the bridegroom and
dodad ( beloved ) for the bride and a
do tit ( sister ; see
p 9 8 ) for the bride sug g ests that the S ong was
3
based on a popular Adonis son g
I f these facts
are correct A sht art must at one time have re p re
sente d the principle of love in the divine T riad
I t now becomes possible t o date the S ong
TH E

S ee

To

E
th i

hh r

of

As

91
3

38 1

S ee

B id ,

is

ppende d n al te rnati v readi ng [ ] b y A

h rt p pe r in j n l of B i oli l L i t
a

S ee

S a ma

a nd

s o

B pp
.

o ur a

74

4 7 , 56 ;

or

r elith

ea

era ture,

Two R elig i

o ns,

ONG

OF S OL O/ WON

G)

75

somewhat earlier than has been latterly usual

at any rate before in references to the D ivine
Company S i b o nith ( a title of A sht art) was trans
formed into S e b a o th as in Yahw e S e b a o th
Our decision as to the date of the S o ng mus t
depe nd on a prel iminary revision of the text I n
the article Canticles and in supplementary
articles in the E neyel B i dli ea I have amassed
a large number of corrections and on the basis
of the text thus corrected have decided in favour
of a post exilic date I remain however open
m in ded as I have shown by the admission in the
preceding parag raph Whether there are Greek
loan words I have expressed my grave doubts
B
i
Canticles
also
as
to
the
connexion
of
E
d
(
the mountains with S pices I have now to O pen
the question whether the J erusalem of the S o ng
was on the site now known as e l Kuds, or the
southern city of the same or a similar name
I
am now oblige d to think t hat the southern J eru
salem is meant Certainly the place intended was
near Gilead H ermon and Lebanon and it seems
to have be en proved that the southern J erusalem
was near the southern hills and mountains of
those names I t will I think help the reader i f
I quote a paragraph from my article on this
subject
B id
Canticles
The fon dness of the poet of Canticles for
spices led the ancient scribes into some very
Ti
V i l f H b w H i t y p p 2 6 3 and
I ndex
,

e re

s or

0,

see

FRESH

76

A GES

V0 V

strang e textual errors

viz ( 1 ) iv 6
to the
mountains of myrrh (1 o n) and the hill of frank
incense ( m 13 ho ) where
should be 31 23 1 11
B NA
H ermon and o 3 13 h should be 113 3 hr1 ( c p @ )
very probably also the correct reading in o 8 is

from the hills of the cedars from the mountains

2
of the cypresses ( o tz711 3 1 1 ma o 11 n 11 1323 3 13
( )

viii 1 4 in the mountains of spices ( o o o 3 )

to which if
m3 should certainly be mo on

mountains of
W e llhau se n s vie w of 1 1 11 3
m alo b at hro n
p
was that of
the early scribes we may add ii 1 7 where we
sho uld read o h 1 3
mountains of cypresses
see
(
I will here confess that I have not seen M r
W W Cannon s work on the S o ng nor do I know
what line he has taken on the general question
of the state of the text or on these disputable
passages in particular I n the extensive article
or monograph from which I have quoted and
in the supplementary articles such as E bony
Purple and especially Litter M r Cannon may
have found points to criticize or question I n the
last mentioned article there is a translation o f
S ong iii 7 to which I still adhere in the main
and which I am prepared to uphold A fe w
important additions however have to be made
I n 22 7 o wn: is certainly superuous both metric
.

E B id
P ath r o s
1

co l

6 93

Unle ss

1 113

h l d be

s ou

eh r

P t

01

C HAPTE R
P R O VE R B S

VI I I

E CC L E S I A S T E S

AND

wisdom was famous and

many sided ; it is probable that those who
it set the models in some respects
c ultivated
for the Aram aean A h ik ar and for the B iblical
H ebrew Books of J ob Proverbs and E cclesiastes
I n particular we seem to g ather this from the
headings ( such as Proverbs of S almah ) in
and possibly from the
Prov x 1 xxx 1 xxxi
I n E ccles xii 1 1 we
e pilogue of E cclesiastes
hav e as it seems to me both a g eneral and a
particular statement of no slight importance
I t sho u ld prob
c oncerning the H ebrew proverbs
The sayings of the wise
a bly run nearly thus :
The citizens
a re as goads as nails rmly d ri v en

of Pathros have given them the sons of Ash hur

I t will I hope be recognized that after the general
1 1 there are a number
s tatement which opens 21
of words which are highly suspicious and call for
t extual correction
mo o t: hr3 for instance what
)
1 S
ll
h
n
P
E B i d S l mah W
d p 22 5 (n t )
E B id Ma
Y e rah m e e lite

THE

ee

ause

78

ro

ssa

o e

ERE S

PROV

E CCL ESIA S TES

AND

79

can that mean ? Nothin g has been said in the

context about collections of proverbs such as may
be found in the canonical B ook of Proverbs and
in fragments in E cclesiastes i tself
The text
must therefore be incorrect and undernea t h
m o o h3 3 may lie something analogous to
Where then was the accepted home
nohip ho o
of Y e rah m e e lite wisdom ? Within the tent
?
curtains of S almah
B u t this wo uld be almost
too conventional ; not in tents but i n spacious
guest chambers the sessions ( Arabic mejli s) of
the Arabian sages were held Of these sag es
Balaam ( B il am ) was the type
H is home is said
to have been at Pethor but this was certainly a
corruption of Pathros which was not in E gypt
1 71m
33
my
son
take
but in N Arabia
(
warning is not less extraordinary and unnatural
Paral
B u t it is far from hopeless to correct i t
le lism supplies a clue ; we should read 1 1 mm 3 3
the sons of Ash hur 1 1 m like 11 1 1 ( Gen xxxvi
1 3
and
E
x
vi
comes
from
1
1
1
2
)
3 93
(
Then come the glosses 1 m : 1 321 one shepherd )
i s a geographical note ; we should restore 3 1 s
1 11 nm Arabia of Ashhur
S o is no rm 1 11 1 i e N171
that is A shtar Y arham
Ashtar
o r1 1
1 mm
and Y e rah m e e l are common in old H ebrew for
N Arabia
8 9f ; Tw R lig i n p 8 9
T
nd B pp
S
E bt
ften m i tt d g m b v al m d
i
t
w i n gle t an l g i ( S i /
m p ri n f th B ab
t ll ng d
M n tl i m
p
.

ee

co

s e

so

es

ze s

a ru ,

u s,

: a

se ,

s,

so 1

e,

c s

an

a o

es

c zer

FRESH

80

V0 YA GE S

S urely the Y e rahm e e lit e s cannot have been as

bad as the I srael ite prophets paint them N or
surely can their God and their Goddess have
been altogether unworthy of their position and
unqualied to lift their people up to stage upon
stag e of moral and spiritual enlightenment A n
endeavour has been made in my Tradi t i o ns and
B eli ef s to shake the prevalent prej udice against
what one of its enemies denominates B aalism
The worshippers of the God variously calle d
Asshur Y e rahm e e l and B a al and of the Goddess
of many titles best known to us as A shtart must
have held commemoration or benediction services
i n honour of their deity I t is possible that one
such eulog y ( or virtual eulog y ) has been preserved
to us in Prov viii 2 2 3 1
I t wears the outward
form of a monologue of divine Wisdom and opens
with the words
Yahw e produced me as the beginning of his way
B efore his works of old

I t is true the F ormer of divine Wisdom is no t

B u t originally he was
Y e rah m e e l but Yahw e
not Yahw e but Y e rah m e e l as we see from the
predilection she ( i e Wisdom ) evinces for he r
N Arabian worshippers
Many scholars are of opinion that this ne
personication of Wisdom is a late importation
B u t why the
from I ran or from B abylon

i
6
d
n
p
l
G
p
m
P
b
2
l
R
d
t
l
B
3
3
59
f
C he yn e K / t S t di p 1 Z im m e rn K A T pp 4 3 2 4 3 9
,

o u sse
,

o zu

es

ue

es,

ro

er
,

os s,

IX

CHAPTE R
B

OO K

OF

O B IT

TH E

varied nature of the contents of To di t has

been well set forth by the latest commentator
in D r Charles s Ap oeryp da and P seu dep igrap lza
Popular reli g ion he says and magical specula
tion current mythology and demonology ethical
and moral maxims of his day traditional folklore
and romantic le g end all contributed their quota
to the education of the author They widened
his outlook on life without vitiating the spirituality
of his reli g ion or the reality of his adhesion to
J udaism
D eservedly the unknown author e x e r
inuence both on J ewish and on
c i se d great
J ewish Christian society The perception of a
N Arabian background does not interfere with
these admissions
Ample however as M r S imp son s introduction
and commentary are they are marked by one
great omission nothing being said on the question
whether the story of Tobit may not like other
narratives have been remodelled so as to present
a new background F or my part I am strongly

82

BOOK

TO

OF

BI T

33

opinion that this remodelling is a fact We

have I think to discuss this in connexion with
a nother question as to the original backgroun d of
c ertain sections of 2 K ings
I f the conquerors
there spoken of were N Arabian we may reason
a bly presume that the ori g inal back g round of the
B ook of Tobit was altogether N Arabian
My
o wn conclusion is that the K ing of Asshur spoken
of in 2 K xvii 6 is a N Arabian king and it only
remains to test this result by its consistency with
the details of the Tobit story
Cons t ant com
parison of Prof Moulton s E arly Z o roastri ani sm
will be useful I remain however unconvinced
To di t 1 1 6
Tobit is here represented as the
so n of T o b ie l i e E thba al
the
land
of
Tob
c
( p
J u dg xi 3 and I sh tob i e Asshur E thba al
2 S
x
also as of the ( southern ) tribe of
N aphtali where N apht comes from Nabt i e
E thban ( = E thb al
a l in N aphtali is a forma
tive ending H is town or township was Tisb e
2
i e perhaps S hab i t h a title of A start see below
What we know further of the birthplace of Tobit
is that it was also the reputed birthplace of the
prophet E lij ah ( 2 K xvii
and that it was to
the south of K edesh N aphtali a well known city
in Galilee above Asher
One notes in passing
o

'

a nd

xi

1
2

V i l of
pe rhap
e

pp 8 6 f C p N bat K x i
th (J aphe th ) G n v 3 2 and Y i ftah J
V il t p 45
pp 1 2 5 2 7 6

H ebrew H i sto ry,

Y e ph e

and se e

Tde

Two R eligi o ns,

e c

26,

u dg .

FRESH

84

V0 YA GE S

that the original Galil ( Galilee ) and Gal ad or

Gal ar ( from Gal an d
were hardly in
accordance with the later geo g raphy also that the
traditions of T o b it s house were not of the strictest
Yahwistic order I n fact in the days of his youth
the whole tribe of N aphtali fell away from the
strict worship of Yahw e as practised in the temple
of J erusalem and sacriced to B aal or A sht art
Tobit himself claims to have been the only ex
c e t i o n because he alone went often to J erusalem
p
at the feasts as it was ordained ( o
t h is
however is inconsistent with V 1 3 S till neither
Tobit nor Ananias could escape sharin g in the
national doom ; the whole of N apht ali was car
ried away into the N Arabian land of Asshur

the capital of which was Y e w nah ( corrupte d

into N ineveh ) in the days of S halman eser ( so
read I) king of the A sshu rite s ( o
T o b i t s marriage to a woman
To di t i 9 1 4
of his kinsfolk was in accordance with the law
against mixed marriages H e was equally stric t
about his food Asshur being an unclean land
he
refrained
his
soul
appetite
from
H
os
ix
3)
)
(
(
1 G al = Y
I
l
R
l
I
l
i
2
M
i
n
i
/
m
;
g
f
h
( p
p 8 6 ; E n R g l S x v ii 7 ; Td V i l p
N t th t th
c nd le m nt in G i l d
G l d i al te re d b y th p p lar
c p ri c e fr m
i nt
I h m l ) and A h t t w i th pe rh p th
B al
div i n d d
t ri d
d d i t i n f Y h we f r m d
x g g r ti i b v i
Th
Two
C rr pte d i nt N i ne v h (
n
i
C p Tl
T nd B p 8 8
R lig i n pp

'

e ra

e e

se

e e a

s,

e a

aa

o e

ae

on

s o

a a

or

sa a z ,

es o

'

sa. x

ar

or

a s

ous

se e

ua

ar

x v

ie

FRESH

86

A GES

V0 V

ho wever i n accordance with a principle which

had long guided his con duct ( o
buried the
dead bodies of his countrymen privily so that
when the king made inquiry about them they
were not to be found ( 72
An A sshu ri te o f
the capital therefore accused Tobit to the king
who sought to put him also to death All
however that the king coul d do ( for Tobit
succeeded in maki ng his escape ) was to conscate
T o b i t s goods
The punishment was not long
delaye d Not v e and fty years had passed
when two of his sons killed him and they
e d into the mountains of Ashtar ( o 2 1 see
below )
S o then the A sshu ri te s were not humane
enough to bury the corpses of men of a different
cult from themselves There seems to have been
a general feelin g among the N Arabian races
that the fate of a m an after death depended on his
having receive d due funeral rites and especially
that of burial either in a cave or in the clods of
the valleys
The kin g s of nations all of them
l ie in glory each one in his house ( I sa xiv
Pl ebeians too are at least housed even if meanly
in the streets of the city of D eath B u t the shades
o f those who in their lifetime oppose d the g reat
G o d Asshur ( for instance ) and were exclusive
Yahwists will not be released from their mutilated
corpses till some o ne casts these corpses and
many more with them into some deep pit ( I sa
,

BOOK

TOBI T

OF

87

xiv
S uch at least was the A sshu rite form
of the N Arabian view
The reason why Tobit was so careful to bury
the dead bodies of I sraelites will now be clear
Without such burial their share in the resurrection
to life would be imperilled
One remembers
that in I sa xxvi 1 9 the summons to rise is
only addresse d to those who dwell in dust
not to those who are cast out of their grave
like an abhorred plant ( Isa xiv
I f we
compare the passages from the ode of triumph
over the king of ( the N Arabian ) B a bel with
the account of the conduct of the A sshu ri te
king in Tobit i 1 8 f we shall probably agree
that the underlying ideas are very similar N or
can I now se e any reason to suppose that the
I sraelite belief in the importance of b u rial for the
imminent resurrection of faithful I sraelites unto
life was decisively inuenced by any Z oroastrian
or pre Z oroastrian belief on these subjects
Verse 2 1 contains several confusin g corruptions
especially Ararat for Ashtar
S ac he rdo n( o s)
3
for Asshur Rakkon
and
for
Ashkur Rekem
A few lines on the last of
these names are not unnecessary considering the
condently urg ed theory of the learne d historian
.

1
2

h w v r M lt n E
T nd B p 1 4 6
R akk n b e c am e K e d n

S ee,
.

Y arham

ou

a ni sm
r
a
s
t
Z
o
o
r
i
y
l

ar

R ak

th e

h rt

fo r R

ek

em

FRESH

88

A GES

V0 V

Professor E duard M eyer I venture myself to

think that the B rother is dear is impossible and
that the onomatolo g ical scheme on wh ich this is
based is hardly worthy of support N ever surely
was a god style d The B rother and in general
professions of faith such as the B rother is precious
or God is good even if comparatively ancient
are later inventions The ri g ht View is that t his
is a shortened form for Ash hur Ab or Abi the
short for
and H amu or H am i the
short for Y arham Y e rah m e e l also that K ar and
Y
rham
are
the
short
for
Rekem
or
a
The
a
r
K
Y arh am it e s were famous for wisdom ( I K v
aruch
iii
and
their
representative
B
0
;
3 f
among other names tly bore the name A bi kar
Ashhur
arham
indicating
thereby
the
region
Y
(
)
from which the wisdom of the S emitic races
largely proceeded I t will be noticed that Tobit
is partly modelled on A bi k ar whose moral wisdom
he has assimilate d ; also that A hikar s servant in
the Armenian version of the legend is called Be liar
a name which certainly comes from Y arb e l i e
.

Y e rahm e

el

The anachronism involved in making A bi k ar

1
a contemporary of Tobit did not trouble the
narrator nor had he any scruple in converting
I f h w e v r th w h l f T bi t i b y n pe r n w m t
l f f in i
th r i
n t c n i t nt wi th h i m
dm i t t h t th
l g nd ry p r n g wh r ea
i r e f rr d t
A h i ha
ii
x i 8 h i th m t di ti ng i h d m mb r f
in i
2
n
all h i m
m y br t h r
th f m i l y f T bi t wh
,

10

ac
,

ro s

au

1 0,

o e o

o c

so

s s e

as a

os

se

e so

u s

s
o

x v

or

a e,

s so

us

FRESH

99

V0 YA GE S

N ot the least interesting part of this section is

the statement in ii 1 0 6 that Tobit was nourished
by A c hiac haro s two years till the latter went to
?
Why to E lym ais
The current story
E lym ais
of A bi kar would rather ha v e suggested E gypt
The answer is that in the earlier form of the
story the king under whom A b i k ar worked
was an A sshu rit e but the kin g to whom he
journeyed was kin g of the N Arabian M isrim ;
and further that E lym ais i e E lam was a
district of N Arabia ( see on E zra ii
More
d e n it e ne ss is impossible but the existence of
the A sshu ri t e E lam can hardly any longer be
denied
To 6i t iii 7 1 7
I t was not only Tobit who
heard false reproaches
On the same day
1
S ara daughter of Raguel residing ( but the
names have been altered ) in E cbatana a city
of M edia was also reproached by her father s
2
mai ds E cbatana is altere d from A hm e t ha ( see
E zra vi
which the translator ( in accordance
with the new historical theory ) identied with
M adai as we have seen is not
E cbatana
Media but primarily a N Arabian reg i onal I t
will be shown presently that M adai also forms
part of the name of the powerful demon 1 2m m
or A sm o dae u s
reproaches which so
A nd what were the
.

1
2

S ee

on

S ee

E z ra

10

vi

(p

BOOK

TOBI T

OF

91

g reatly affected S ara that like Tobit in like circum

stances she besought I srael s God that she might
die ? I will endeavour to answer the question
remarking however rst of all that S ara s petition
fo r death is coupled with an alternative
but if
it please thee not that I should die command
some regard to be had of me and pity taken of
me that I hear no more reproach ( o
I n iii 8 two accounts are re c drde d : ( 1 ) that
the en d A sm o dae us or ( see M oulton E Z
p 2 51 ) A sm o dau s had killed one after another
seven husbands before they had each left the
marriage chamb e r ; and ( 2 ) that S ara herself
had done to death these seven persons by
strangling them
The second alternative is
plainly the ction of a person who had thrown
arbitrary
o ff the belief in A sm o daeu s ; it is an
alteration of the original story
A sm o daeu s is often thou g ht to be one of the
evil spirits taken over by Z arathu sht ra from
the earlier I ranian religion and traced to Aeshma
daeva
This compound name however does
not occur in our Avestan texts and lustfulness is
no characteristic of the potent prince Aeshma
d
a
u s can
Wrath
or
rather
m
A
s
m
d
s
A
s
o
o
a
e
u
(
only be explained on the analog y of Ashkenaz
I t is a Graecize d form of A shm adai ( Asshur
M adai ) and denotes the tutelary divinity of N
Arabia I t was hardly charitable of the creator
of the Tobit story to convert the not wholly
,

FRESH

92

V0 YA GE S

unworthy goddess consort of B aal Ashtar into

the lustful demon A sm o dae us
The story furth er tells us that when through
Raphael the demon had smelt a certain over
powering smell he ed into the upper parts of
E g ypt ( so t he Greek ) where the an g el bound
him ( Tobit viii
According to M r S impson
this was suggested by the E gyptian story of the
Possessed Princess I t is perhaps natural that
he should think so but not this way lies the true
solution of the problem
F or it is but too probable that we have been
taken in by early editors whose aims and critical
principles were different from ou r own and who
have consistently altered M israim ( Eg ypt ) into
We
M isrim ( the name of a part of N Arabia )
may I think tly illustrate our passag e by I sa
xiv I 3 and P 5 S ol ii 3 0 I n the former passage
the king of the N Arabian B abel ( = R ak b al)
bo astin g ly says that he will sit on the mount
of assembly
in the utmost parts of S ap ho n
I t appears that the mountain where
S i b on
the gods dwelt was popularly supposed to be in
a distant part of N Arabia And so we may
reasonably suppose that according to the under
lying original text o f Tobit viii 3 A sm o dae u s
ed into the utmost parts of ( the N Arabian )
-

1
2

S ee
T

a nd

R eligi o ns,

a nd

B pp

B p
.

37 5

50

M i nes of l sai alz,

D ecli ne

a nd

pp

F a ll,

6,

10

42 ;

5
.

Two

FRESH

94

A GES

VO V

the prince angels

H is name was no doubt
understood in later times as God heals
Origin
ally however i t must have belonged to a Y e rah
m e e li te deity and have had the form A raphe l
Ar a bel i e belonging to Arabia
C HA P iv Note that T o b i t s rst paternal
charg e to his son Tobias indicates the vast i m
portance attached to orderly burial ( see pp 8 6
N ext and surely not inferior in importance is
the honourin g of the mother
Then comes
another section of the charge ( wh ich was origin
ally not intended for its present position ) relative
t o the exclusive worship of Yahw e to the per
fo rm anc e of H is law to almsgivin g ( c p i
to marrying within the tribe to the punctual
payment of wages to the Golden Rule to
temperance in wine drinking to alms ( repeated )
to pourin g out thy bread and thy wine on the
burial places of the righteous and to asking
counsel of all that are wise
Vo
full of reminiscences of
6 6 1 9a are
A b i kar ( S impson ) S ee introduction in Charles
i 1 9 2 I s this due to pre Christian interpolation ?
At any rate there is no reason why A bi kar should
not be borrowed from for the N Arabians ( as
K iv 3 1 shows ) were tutors of the I sraelite
1
sag es ; and ( as I sa xix 1 1 demonstrates ) the
M isri t e wisdom was of immemorial antiquity
Now M isri m was doubtless one o f the kingdoms
Y e rah m e e l i e was N Arabian so that
of
-

BOOK

OF TO BI

95

A bi k ar naturally went there to o ffer his stores

o f wis dom to the king
I do not however feel able to admit that
Tobit iv 1 7 is rightly read and ri g htly explained
by Rendel H arris ( Charles ii ) and by S impson
i
A reference to a primitive and
questionable funeral rite suits neither the con
text nor the parallel line The zeugma in Pour
out thy bread and thy wine is also scarcely
tolerable I t is true in the story of A bi kar as
given in the Arabic and S yriac versions ( Ar and
S yr A ) there are parallels to the Greek of To 6i t
B oth in fact render :
.

M y son ! pour out thy wine on the graves of

the righteous
A nd drink not with evil ( ignorant ) men
,

Bu t

here too the context is opposed to this

view of a and corruption may be stron gly sus
d
in
the
text
on
which
these
versions
of
e
c
t
e
p
Abi kar are base d Certainly the original text of
Tobit iv 1 7 ran
,

S tretch out O Y e rahm e e l thy hand for a

blessing to t he righteous
l
N either g ive unto sinners

Y e rah m e e l means

R e ad,

o mo nh inn hm
at 1o n5 w i c

tio n n o te t

er

pr

iii

u ng

e tc

fr o m

es

1
x
1
n
11
3
3
o p
511

h h
r p r e nt
e

here the N Arabian audience

G re e k

th e

n
or

hx o m'

x pr

te t

'
m
m
h

nho

e su

n1

pp

3p

In

xpl

l( ik
G r ee k )

o se s

( se e

ana

e 16 8

5,

h as

FRESH

96

V0 YA GE S

addresse d in the collection of mesdali m or wise

utterances from which Tobit iv 6 6 1 9a appears
to be extracted
The context speaks of alms
givin g ; 72 1 7a suppl e ments this by a paternal
advice to the wri t er s spiritual children not to
spend money on the undeserving but to stretch
out the hand for a blessin g ( i e present ) to the
ri g hteous This seems to me a genuine and i m
portant restoration of the original H ebrew
The close of the parental charge relates to a
piece of bus i ness which naturally devolved on the
son of the house Th is was to reclaim the ten
talents of silver which Tobias had left in trust
with G ab ae l the brother of Gabri at Rages Madai
v
The
names
are
not
unimportant
They
(
prove as I have pointed out the wide diffusion
of the migratory N Arabian race but i n the
rst instance they conrm the view that the
J ews were very widely spread throug hout N
Arabia
G ab ae l as we have seen already is
one who belongs to Ah ab and similarly Gabri
Gabri el ) is one who belon g s to Ah ab
I n this connexion we may notice that the river
beside which the travellers lod g e thou g h called
Tigris is no doubt the H id dekel of Genesis and
D aniel which was early identie d with the Tigris
-

a nd

B p
.

63

Two R eligi o ns,

pp

2 2 8 , 240

c e rt ai nl y fro m G ab B ari G ab i s an abri dged

fo rm o f Agab = Ah ab ; B ar i s fr o m R ab = A rab C p M i k a e l
Y e rahm e e l
B o th p r in c e ang e l s are p atro ns o f I srael
2

G abri

i s a m o st

FRESH

98

V0 YA GE S

an at rst sight strange title given in o 2 2 ( 2 1 )

by Tobit to his wife in vii 1 5 ( 1 6 ) by Rag uel
to his wife and i n viii 4 7 by Tobias to his bride
S ara
sister
This title as is well known was
often given in old E gyptian songs to married
women The question therefore arises whether
it is due to E gyptian inuence that in Tobit and
in the S ong of S on g s ( iv 9 1 0 1 2 ) the same
term is applied to a bride or a wife The answer
seems to be that brother and sister were
terms both in E gypt and i n Palestine and
perhaps one may add in N Arabia for member
ship in a family (g e ns) or in the nation There is
no need on this occasion to suppose a Palestinian
writer to have borrowed from Eg ypt
We next hear of the arrival and welcome of
the travell ers by Raguel at E cbatana as leading
on to the marriage
This reminds one of a
similar episode in the tra d itional story of J acob
and is devoid of any special interest for the critic
We must make an exception however for this
remarkable passage already referred to
And Tobias remembered the words of
Raphael and took the liver of the sh and the
heart out of the bag which he had and put them
on the ashes of the incense A nd the smell o f
the sh bafe d the demon and he ran away into
the upper parts of E g ypt ; and Raphael went
and fettered him there and boun d him straight
way ( vii 2 3 ; S impson )
.

BOOK

OF T O

BI T

99

I am bound to mention that M r S impson s

a rgument here seems to me very weak
He
thinks that the bindin g of A sm o daeu s in Upper
E g ypt
expresses the author s conviction
that E gypt where he was compelled to live in
e xile
was the veritable dumping ground of
wickedness and sin exactly as Z echariah re garded
B abylon the l and of exile he knew best
as
the goal of the yin g E phah wherein Wicked
ness was imprisoned ( Z ech v 5 1
B u t surely
the author cannot be supposed to have di ffered
from the generality of J ews who ( as I have re
e at e d l
proved
regarded
the
N
Arabian
a
bel
B
p
y
)
a s the centre of false reli g ion
I f he says the
upper parts of M isri m rather than of B abel
that is because he has in View the N Arabian
mountains and the city called B abel was
a pparently
not a mountain city
With the
upper parts of M isrim we may compare Psalms
o f S olomon ii
where
the
mythic
dragon
is
0
3

s aid to have been

slain on the mountains of

M isrim

then is foiled and punished

N evermore will he and his company trouble the
people of Yahw e worshippers Raphael however
the disguised prince angel has still to take part
in a business transaction This he does and with
A sm o dae u s

S ee

R ev i ew

So

o mo n

furthe r

re v ie w o f C h arl e s s P seu den rap lza

P
sal m s
on
M
se c t i o n
n
z i e s)
d
e
e
(

in my

T/zeo log y

in
of

FRESH

100

A GES

V0 V

Tobias returns to the sorrowing Tobit and Anna

To reach N ineveh ( the original text howev er
had Y e wanah) they had to pass by a place called
probably A shk ari
Asshur
Re
k
em
I
t
w
as
(
)
here that Raphael suggested to his companion
that it would be well for them two to run in
advance of S ara to prepare the house while they
were coming S o they two went to g ether and
the dog followed them
N ow Raphael had told
Tobias what to do that his father m ight reco v e r
his sight
When therefore Tobit stumbled
as he went to the door Tobias lost no time in
stepping forward with his remedy H e rst blew
into his poor blind father s eyes ( vi
then he
took hold of him with an encourag ing word ; then
he threw the medicament upon him and gav e
it him and he pulled off the white lms with both
his hands from the corners of his eyes
The cure
was complete
And he fell upon his neck an d
wept and said to him I see thee child lig h t
of mine eyes And he said Blesse d is God and
blessed is his g reat N ame and blessed are all
his holy angels
for he did chastise me and
1 S
v ri
r d in g C h r l
i 2 2 9 Und rn th l i
mm
T di ti n
nd B li f
p 38
A hk r
A hk r
F
Td V i l pp 3
53
h we v r m d th d g n b f r th p rt y ( p V
R
t i ng n t i c
f S im p n s
n i nt r
i
i n nti
d ni n
nm i t k b l y
I f T di t w r
M di n f l k
in C h r le i
p r tty f t re w ld h v t b e ab nd n d At l t
th i
t l
f r e y d d g wh dr v e aw y t h c rp e hend ( M l t n )
th
w l d h ardly b e c m e n f th fam i l y
.

ee

or

"

u as

ou

ou

e s,

ra

see

s a

ea

e s,

es

a e

oe

a e

s a

e o

e es

e e

ou

e o e

ru

ea u

s,

or

0,

us

s,

a e,

ea

o us

so

e as

ou

FRESH VO YA GES

102

I t consists partly of a fresh group of maxims o f

practical religion relating to thanksgiving prayer
and alms partly o f information respecting Raphael
The tendency to revert to the hortatory stand
point is characteristic o f the author and his age
and as we have seen was fostered by the reading
of A bi k ar The peculiarity however of t he
m axims and exhortations of chap xii is that they

are put into the mouth of one of the seven

angels who stand and enter before the glory o f
the Lord ( 72
I cannot avoid returning t o
the subj ect of the prince angels to whom Raphael
belongs The angels of the F ace are variously
named ; their number too is various We cannot
take upon ourselves to assert dogmatically how
many of these heavenly Powers there were in
S emitic peoples ; nor which of the name lists is
most correct We may however assert with a
high degree of probability that in the age of
developing dualism when Yahw e and Belial or
S atan represented the one the good and the other
the evil ( or rebell i ous ) principle it was believed
with
the
sanction
of
the
religious
authorities
(
)
that the good God and the bad god had each a
group of courtiers The names of the courtiers
on b oth sides were adopted from the names or
titles which had been borne by the members of
the divine triads ( other than Yahw e) i n Palestine
and N Arab i a S uch t i tles were commonly sig
n i c ant o f the districts where the divinities i n
,

BOO K

OF T0 3 1 2

1 03

question were originally worshipped one of them

was M ikael another Gabriel another Raphael
another U riel
These or others in the same
company presided ( as we may suppose ) o v er th e
four corners of the earth which in pr i mitive
times were specially sacred The double e v o lu
tion of Asshur and Y e rahm e e l ( the subordinate
companions of Yahwe in olden times ) is one of
the most remarka b le facts of the history of J ewish
religion Raphael and M ikael U riel and Beel
zebul came to have different spheres of action
but were originally the same
Was it usual however for prince angels to go
about del ivering addresses in the style of the
m esd li m ? B ut why not ? I n one of his aspects
Yahw e was a sage and certainly the Messiah
2
an angel of the great council
Isa ix
had not only the spirit of courage but of know
ledge It is true the authenticity of Tobit iv

6 6 I 7a xii 6 6 1 1 may be questioned but at any

rate the Wa nde r56 6 a] ? of the pr i nce angels was
not an inadmissible theory in the opinion of the
early redacto r
And how d i d the early J ews think of the
,

R aph ae l = Arab e 1 ;

R ab

Uri e l

Y e rahm e
I

A ssh u ri e l

el

e se

B ee

z eb u

xplan t i n a
b ar t r
lt
a

ly gi v th
par ll l
B th Y ah we an d B l i al p r
ath
h t a r l i g i n th Am

c an

fo r

M i kae l = Y e rahm e e l

on

Z ar

es

e su

re

h l B l i al
th r ghly m th d i al b
B aa

I s m ae
e

o ou

Cp

Trad z tz o m

'

a nd

ut

B eli ef s

e s

us

G ab ri el = Ah ab

ly h d n i l
i
S p nta w r

o b ab

e sh a

co u

s o f se

e e s x

v en

In

FRESH

1 04

V0 YA

GE5
?

appearances of prince angels

Their th eory
must have been Docetic i a they or their
spiritual leaders must have been conscious that
such theophanies were not based on reality but
on illusion ( M eyer ) S peculating further they
must have concluded that the prince angel whom
in human form they had seen partook of no
human food and this is what is expressly stated
in xii I t is possible however that the whole
of this chapter has been more or less expanded
or interpolated by a redactor
H owever this
may be the in fl uence of
1 6 2 2 on parallel
Christian views can hardly be m istaken I t need
only be added that chap xiv has a general
a ffi nity with the E pilogue o f the Book of J ob
I t reveals a spirit of u nconquerable O ptimism
N either in the E pilogue to J ob nor in Tobit xiv
is there any trace o f eschatological system ( C p
Moulton s
Z o ro asi ri am sm p
-

'

FRESH

1 06

V0 YA GE S

N e b u c hadne z z ar himself

God ( no other than

see
iii
After conquering M adai he entrusted the
further task to H olofernes his general ( ii
who after a successful campaign encountered
the rst real resistance at the hands of the J ews
but lately returned from exile ( iv
The
immediate danger was for the fate of a strong
city of the J ews called B ethulia or rathe r
E thbaal Y arhu ( I shmael Y e rah) another name
for which seems to have been E thbaal M isrim
The h igh priest Y o i akim N eh xii
therefore
by letter charged those who dwelt in this city t o
keep rm hold of the passes This was carried
out to the great disgust of H olofernes who
straightway called a council of o fcers of the
M oabites and Ammonites and asked for informa
tion respecting the J ews and their count ry At
this point one A c hio r ( = Ash h ur) appears
th e
He
leader of all the sons of Ammon ( v
makes a speech in reply entirely from a J ewish
point of view This speech was greeted with
murmurs and the A sshu rit e general expressed
the ofcial view that N ebuchadnezzar was omn i
potent and therefore divine and no resistance
to h is might was possible
What right had
A c h io r to speak discouraging words in a strain
only seemly for prophets ? This is rathe r
remarkab le because H olofernes who censure s
p r ophesying falls h imself into the
A c hio r for
prophet i c style H is speech for N e b u chadne z z ar
.

BOOK

TH E
'

OF

D
I
T
H
U
j

107

m i ght m u tat zs m u tan azs almost have been spoken

by J erem i ah
As a punishment A c hio r was
cast down bound at the foot of the hill on which
Bethulia was built The J ews brought him to
their assembly and a friendly welcome was
accorded him
N evertheless the people com
l
l
d
their
rulers
to
agree
to
surrender
Bethulia
e
e
p
i n ve days if no help were forthcoming for the
water supply of the city had been c ut off
I n the remainder of the book ( vii i xvi ) the
leading gure is a beautiful J ewish widow named
J udith who is clearly the personication of the
J ewish i a P harisaic ideal of righteousness
The rest of the story need not be told here
B efore we pass on however I wish to point
out a few omissions in the current textual
criticism on this book The rst passage I shall
refer to is in J udith v i 2 And who art thou
A c hio r and the hirelings of E phraim ?
B ut
A c hi o r we are told was an Ammonite ; indeed
just afterwards ( v
A c hi o r is expressly called
hireling of Ammon
The key is to be found in
the N Arab i an theory
H irelings of E phraim
should b e hirelings of Arabia
The writer of
u dz t earnestly believes that Arabia too has a
j
future ; and i f Arabia at present supplies only
mercenaries it will one day furnish proselytes
The A mmonites are A rabians Read there fore
hireli ngs of Arabia ( a r zm for
2
I n J ud i th i v 4 vii 3 Bel maim should be

'

FRESH

108

V0 YA GE S

Abel Y e wani m
Abel however in proper
names is invariably a modication of Ba al
M aim for Y e wani m as 2 S xli 2 4 The S yr
identies with Abel M e ho lah where M e ho lah is
a fem form of H amu ]
Y e rah m e e l
v
ii
I
n
the
site
near
Bel
maim
which
in
3
3
iv 4 is taken by wa appears to be O ccupied by
af
The former ( m ) is almost certainly the
true reading being the contracted form of c a/v a
written
or
pre
f
erably
The
K an
ap p m a
(
(
)
)
latter word ( K p p wva ) requires critical explan ation
M ost probably it comes from Ak am m o n This
however can only be an intermediate stage
A stands as often for Ash h ur and a mm o n for

'

Ica

Icv

u o ll

va

I v

/a

'

a z m an

2
.

Among the other place names one thinks in

the rst instance of Bethulia which D r Cowley ( in
Charles v o l
with Prof Torrey identies with
B eth e 1 not the well known city name but a
S amaritan title for S hechem but M r S A Cook
with J erusalem
B ut Bethulia can hardly be
equivalent to Beth e 1
Like the place name
B ethul and the personal name B ethuel it most
probably comes from T e m u l E t hm ae l ( I shmael )
=
As for ya
it probably comes from Ya h u
Y arhu = Y e rahm e e l
T e m u l Yah was probably
the sacred mountain city of the N Arabian
-

'

S ee

BM
2

oam

C am o n,

C yam o n,

p
xx
B th l i

S e e 7 716 Vei l,

A mer

S oc

1 1

K o nae

pp

60

j:

FRESH

1 10

V0 YA GE S

historical propriety I t is natural to assign to

this redactor the geographical and historical i n
a ccuracies which now strike the reader
F irst as
to the names of the two kings and of the general
o f one of them
N e b u c hadne z z ar is the name of
a n A sshu ri t e
l
o
N
orth
Arabian
king
whose
(
)
capital was probably called Y e wanii h ( whence
by corruption N ineveh ) Arphaxad comes from
Arab K ash ram h is kingdom was the N A rabian
M adai and his chief city was A h m e tha O lo fe rne s
O f the
o r O ro p he rne s is probably from A r b S i n
other personal names one may mention A c hio r
described
as
the
leader
of
all
the
ben
Ammon
e
(
which j ud g ing from the analogy of Arioch should
come from Ashhur though Dr Cowley in Charles
passing over analogies explains it very
vol i
improbably as friend of the J ews ( ah ea d)
Bago as is most probably a trans formation o f
G abi i e one belonging to Gab ( or A k ab c p on
Beth Phage
.

F ro m S h anb ul Had A r ab

Sor,

or

S hanb ul R e ke m

S e e m y Tzo o R eligi o ns,

pp

40 3 f 2

Si b

on

XI

C HAPTER
I M A CC A B EE S

is not improbable that even the F i rst B o ok of

M acca bees which has so long been regarded as a
historical record of the second century B C is
really based upon a record of a persecution of
faithful worshippers of Yahw e by N Arabian
tyrants which took place much earlier than the

perhaps in the sixth century

s econd century B C
This fact is I think enforced upon us by Dan
iii ; and it is as I now see suggested by two
passages in I Maccabees v iz i 54 f : and xii 7
The former passage runs thus :
And on the fteenth day o f Chislev in the
o ne hundred and forty ft h year they set up upon
the altar a n abomination of desolation and in the
c ities of J udah on every side they established
high places
The phrase an abom i nat i on of desolation is
o f course
suggested by the traditional reading
a nd rendering of Dan ix
27
xi 3 1 xii 1 1 on
which Dr O e ste rle y ( in Charles i 7 0 ) comments
i e the abomination which brought about profana
IT

III

FRESH

1 12

A GES

V0 V

tion
which few critics I suppose
will accept without a qualm F or surely E berhard
N estle has long since shown that Baal of heaven
is at any rate nearer to the author s meaning than
the highly unnatural reading presupposed in the
Greek text N ow however that a step in advance
o f this has been taken and that it has been shown
that sham em frequently stands for i s/cm an ( i e
I shmael ) there is no reason for not adopting both
i n Daniel and in 1 M acc sai as i saman i e
idol of I shmael
With this we may compare a
similar title of the same deity in Dan xi 3 7
where the desire of women should be the
desire of Ishm annit e s ; N Arabian men and
women were surely equally devoted to the kind
goddess A sht art ( cp J er xliv 1 5 where let me
venture to suggest in passing that the queen
should probably be the queen of
o f heaven
,

These passages I think are highly suggestive

They conrm the view that an ancient editor has
i nterfered with the text of F i rst M accaoees ;
i ndeed when j e rem i aa and D an i el su ffered so
much how should this ne narrative book alto
?
gether escape
I t thus becomes in a high degree proba b le that
the author of F i rst M accaoees had access to and
employed an earlier writing in which the oppressor
,

S ee

Bid ,
2

ti

Ab o m i n a

S ee T

a na B

on of

D e so

lat i

on

X II

C HAPTE R
B

OO K

OF

AN IEL

TH E

reader has here well considered supple

mentary notes to the usual commentari e s M y
thesis is that in this as in other books the
original background has been painted out and a
new one both h istorical and geographical su b
stituted
Dan i 2 The land of S hinar is that of
I shman Arab ( Gen xi 2 Z ech v I I ) i 3
Ashpenaz is abridged from Asshur S ib on i 6

M ishael is from Aram S h u l i 7 B elteshazzar

from A shb al Azzar ; S hadrak from S hahar Re kem ;
Abednego from Arab N ebo ( in N eh vii we hear

is from
of N ebo Ash h ur ; N ebo se e p 3 3
S hanhu l or S hambul ) ; M e shak from Aram

Ashhur ii 1 4
A rio k from Ashhur ( Gen
xiv
Dan iii is most important for the light thrown
on the spread of the de i cat io n of kings and on
the Book of J udith N ebuchadnezzar m akes a

gilded image ( of himself a sym b o lo f the religious

p
1 86
i
h
I
Min
f
-

es o

sa a

1 14

BOOK

OF D A N I EL

11

nity enfor c ed on all his subj ects I t i s also i m

portant to notice that j ust as in I sa lxvi different
c onveyances take the place of ethnics
M
i
nes
see
(
so
in
Dan
iii
the
supposed
ofcial
of l saz an
2
)
1
titles of rulers are really N Arab i an ethnics
One of these ethnics ( A shdzi di ) passed under
the editor s hands into anasnaarp eni m ; another
t
n
o
r
i
m
becomes
in
the
same
process
e
(p
)
ag
ay
o/ n
Dan v B elshazzar ( c p Belteshazzar ) gu res
here as son of N e b u c hadne z z ar ; the reference is
n o t to kings of B abylon
I n fact the greatest
N Arabian kingdom must have been inferior in
ower
to
the
Babylonian
in
spite
of
the
repeated
p
reference to all the peoples nations and
languages which only means those included in
The writing o n the wall
t he N Arabian empire
has
received
numerous
explanations
o n 24
(
but is really a not unparalleled form of soothsaying
What we most readily expect i s the name or
names of the successful plunderers And this we
given
s eem to get for the interpretation in o 2 8
to the M edes and Persians is essentially correct
Can we
s must be a regional or ethnic
m o in ro w
?
hesitate as to the meaning
Must not Paras
here as in E zra 1 1 E sth i 3 Dan vi 8 etc be
the name of a distant part of N Arabia equivalent
to Pathros
The nal i n may be elided
u

'

E B i o co l l 4 4 59
ar t i c l e in E B i o c o l s
.

S ee

p i al

ec

3 0 20 f

FRESH

1 16

A GES

V0 V

This gives us the key to the other parts of t he

word group M ene ( m o ) must be a corruption o f
=
l
is
Y
r
a
h
m
e
and
the
second
1
4
0
the
rst
:
e
e
;
1
m
"
I shma el unless indeed it should be M adai
Tekel ( 5pm) too is corrupt ; we should restore
2
1
Thus
we
Snnl
n] ; se e T/ze Ve i l pp I 3
5 7
j
get the fatal announcement Y e rahm e e l M adai
E t hb al and Para s
Dan v i i 1 3
The Celesti al Agent of the
E nthroned Ancient of Days is called in v i i 1 3

As
one like a man ( lit one like a son of man
2
1
Professor N S chmidt of Cornell and I have ( I
think independently ) shown the B eing like a man
was the prince angel M ikael I must now add
s
se e T a n a B
I
ndex
that
which
occur
a
m
S
(
)
also as a personal name 1 Chr v 1 3 is ce rtainly
from Swa b} Y e rahm e e l the supreme God of the
Y e rah m e e li t e s but as the J ews believed was
degraded by their victorious God to the rank of
F irst Prince Angel I t may be doubted however
whether he can be distinguished from B en D od
Both gures are ideal
i e from the M essiah
representatives of I srael only differ i ng in what
we may call their early history The question
however arises whether one like a man can
have been enough to make it clear who was in
tended The kingdom appointed for the Celest i al
H ero was formed by the combination o f J udah and
-

h yn
e

e,

Bib

Son

B i ble P ro ble ms

of

M an

pp
(
a

e n de d no e s

1 18

Ou r conclusion must be that

the B ook of Daniel depend on
w i th
Arabian background
.

parts of
writing s

CHAPTE R
I

XIII

A R UC H

a summary of prev i ous c r1t 1c 1sm I most

gladly refer to Dr Wh i tehouse i n Charles s
monumental work I trust that here too the
little ship i n which I myself voyage has been
guided aright I n i 4 the exiles are descr ib ed as
those that dwelt in B abylon by the ri v er S ud
Babylon however is based on the false read i ng
which is corrupted from
and
R
ak b al
(
)
S ud in like manner is a corruption of 1 13 S o r
8
the
southern
P
s
lxxxiii
lxxxv
ii
r
c
o
S ; p
(
S imilarly in o 1 1 B altasar i s said to b e the
so n
of N abuchodonosor
The orig i nal text
however had different names which we can still
detect underneath the present v i z S ha mbul
H ad Arab S o r and E thb al Asshur or some
intermediate forms implying N Arabian origin
B ut this is not all that we owe to the newe r
criticism I n iii 2 3 the true text has also been
badly corrupted
What have the A gare ne s to
do here
Almost
Tkey were not spec i ally wise
certainly
H
agarites
should
b
e
)
(
FOR

1 19

FRESH

1 20

VO YA GE S

Ah ab i s equivalent to
Canaan ; more strictly it represents Ashhur
Arabia
The passage ( iii 2 3 ) thus ( sons of
H agar ) should be 1 1
sons
of
(
Agab ( c p Agabus ) is equivalent to Ah ab i e
Canaan
Y arb al in l 2 also implies an obvious
correction The passage thus becomes :
.

D J R TIN

The sons also of Agab that seek understanding

Y arb al M id i an and Teman
,

N one of these says the writer have found the

o bje c t o f the i r quest true w i sdom Of the con

and the N Arabian
ne x i o n between wisdom
peoples I have had to speak in dealing with
Proverbs and E cclesiastes
,

C HAPTE R I
I N TR O D UC T O R Y
TH E

strong romantic atmosphere in the Books of

Chron i cles has I fear blinded the eyes of many
to the existence of underlying traditions and
lists partly genealogical partly geographical
of old personal and local H ebrew names With
regard to the former it is Prof Torrey s O pinion
that the Chronicler scattered the names of his
like minded contemporar i es ( in a rather helter
skelter way it i s true ) all through his account of
the Restoration showing that these families were

the ones wh i ch returned with Z erubbabel and

E zra signed the pledge against foreign marriages
and the agreement to support the cultus built
the wall of J erusalem in the time of N ehemiah
and helped to dedicate it H ere he took the
only possible way of plac i ng orthodox J udaism
safely b eyond the reach of the S amaritans and
of the rest of the man 0 1: ( which included all
the apostates of I srael ) : i ne pu re olooa a nd Me
,

1 23

FRESH VO YA GES

1 24

wo rsnip were transm i tted

t ru e

B abylo ni a

by way

o nl
y

I t is certainly an ingenious theory that the

Chronicler in framing the lists of E zra N eh used
the names of his like minded contemporaries ;
but how did he become possessed of the very
numerous names in 1 and 2 Chron
I f the lists
i n 1 and 2 Chron are to a large extent drawn
from comparatively old sources why should those
in E zra N eh be either solely or in the main
derived from the Chronicler s large acquaintance
?
with strict Yahwists
I t appears to me that the work of the Chronicle r
has suffered many things at the hands of a re
dac to r but that we can still detect a predominant
referen c e i n the names ( alike of Chron and of
E zra Neh ) to N Arabia This seems to suggest
as the object of the Chronicler that of showing
that racial and religious purity were with those
J ews who had a N Arabian connexion
And here I will not withhold what I venture to
th i nk a highly reaso nable conjecture
This is
that in the time of the rst formation of the
Gospels there were still extant lists of persons
and places which whether the framers of those
Gospels knew i t or not were connected with that
for the J ews most important place of soj ourn and
-

Ez ra S tu di es p 2 1 2 T h e i t ali c s are P ro f To rre y s F o r

B ab yl o ni a
m y o wn st ud i e s wo uld i nc l i ne m e t o sub st i t u t e
N Ar ab i a

FRESH

1 26

V0 YA

GES

probable that the conception of a su ffering and

yet tr i umphant divine human Being was current
i n the E ast in very early times H ow the J ews
can have escaped hearing of it till the second or
third century A D I ( like others ) am unable to
understand j ust as I nd it now a hard saying
that I sraelite eschatology was a pure post exilic
product
Our records unfortunately are but
scanty and I must leave to special scholars in a
somewhat narrower department the criticism of
the use which has lately been made of a N aasse nian
Gnost
i
c
hymn
and
an
adj
uration
by
the
God
)
(
of the H ebrews J esus
The second part of the
transition will be accomplished by the discovery
of fresh l i terary monuments and by a keener i n
v e st i at i o n than is perhaps usual of the personal
g
and local names in the story of the N ativ i ty and
the Ascension
To this investigation I will now devote myself
We read in M att i 2 0
Behold an angel o f the Lord appeared unto
him in a dream saying J oseph thou son of David
fear not to take unto thee M ary ( i e Mariam ) thy
wife : for that which is begotten in her is of the
H oly B reath And she shall bring forth a son ;
and thou shalt call his name J esu[ s] for it is he
that shall save his people from their sins
There are three names in this narrative which
lend themselves to the mythic interpretation v iz
-

G re ssm ann, E scb atolog i e

INTROD UC TOR Y

1 27

J oseph son of David and Mariam The divine

F ather and the divine S on may either have the
same name or the relationship between them may
be indicated by son of
D o d ( friend ) was one
of the popular names of the ch i ef of the gods
o fcially more often called Yahw e J erahmeel
I shmael H adad or Rimmon E ither he or a
so n of his sacriced himself in human form for
the good of man The religious authorities how
ever and those J ews who followed them altered
D o d into D av i d implying that the God man of
the old popular belief was merely an exalted
human king like David j ust as they probably
altered the name of the goddess S e b aith into the
innocent word S e b Oth hosts
This took place
as early as the shaping of the well known legend
of K ing David s birth at Bethlehem
There
must have been a sanctuary of D o d at B ethlehem
there
was
also
one
at
B
eersheba
where
the
(
)
initiated took part in the ritual lamentations over
1
Adon ( = Adonis ) and his sister or spouse as
J erome ( by an anachronistic ction ?) asserts that
they did i n his day
N ow perhaps we can se e how J esus came to
be called son of David and why B ethlehem became
his birthplace more clearly than was possible under
the guidan c e of Prof Drews Whether the dying

and rising God man can have been called son

,

1
2

D ecli ne

a nd

F all,

H i bbert jo u rna l, A

p ri l

pp
91

53 55

I,

pp

6 59

FRESH

1 28

VO YA

GES

of J oseph as well as son of D ad I may

consider later But if J oseph i s really a divine

name no thanks are due to [ Prof D rews] whose
1
extravagance here p asses all bounds
The preceding paragraphs were written in
191 1
but the substance o f them will be found in
Tradi ti o ns an d B e li efs
pp 4 6 f 56 f
where among other things still worthy of a con
s i derat i on wh ich has been denied them it i s quite
correctly mentioned that both D ad and Ben D od
were popular titles of that superhuman Being the
M essiah I hO pe to have augmented the ev i dence
for my thesis by throwing fresh light on the r i tual
lamentation for Ad o n and D o dah and both in
articles in the H i bbert j o u r nal and in M i n es of
[ sai a/t I broke fresh ground by discussing the
possible reference by name to the self sac ri c ing
divine human F riend of I srael Lastly in B i ble
P ro blems I ventured on the eld of Daniel and
the Apocalypse
I n one of these b ooks I offered the necessary
conj ecture that the later J ewish belief in a
M essiah ben J oseph who was to die by the sword
of Gog and Magog is connected w i th an early
popular M essianic b elief di fferent from what we
nd in the canonical writings and which was itself
a development of a still earlier myth of the death
and resurrection of a divine Being

1
2

'

H i bbert j o u rna l, A

S ee D alman, D er lei de nde

p ri l

u nd

der

91

1,

6 60

ste rbende

M essi as,

888

FRESH

1 30

V0 YA GE S

Canaan and so to E gypt from N Arabia I t

is a helpful pecul i arity of the Ph oen inscriptions
that they always append a qualify i ng word to
Reshef and this as a rule appears to be a place
name Thus Reshef he s is equivalent to Reshef
h a sar ( see T and B p
and Reshef M K L to
Y e rah m e e l Reshef and ( in a pers name ) Reshe f
yathan is = R e she f of E than ; so too i n a N
1
S yrian inscr i pt i on ( that of P anamm u ) though
at rst Reshef has no added name but is simply
given among the other great gods of Ya di ( close
to R e k u b e l i e Y e rahm e e l) we nd mention
later on of A r k u Reshef i e Ash h ur Reshef
We c annot hesitate therefore to explain J oseph
in M att i 1 8 2 5 as a corruption of Y arham
Reshef ( the omission of R and the di fference of
the sib i lant are unimportant )
Let no one b e deterred b y the novelty of these
results of long and independent study from giving
them a thorough consideration i n t/z ei r co ntex t
I t is no doubt strange that so many divine names
should cons i st of regionals but the fact is sup
ported by a b undant ev i den c e E ven Reshef
which appears at rst like the name Of a god o f
pestilence ( he s arrow being taken metaphoric
ally ) turns out to be no exception to the general
rule F or Reshef agreeably to many analogies
must b e a contra c t i on of R af ash ; j ust as Par osh
,

Co o

ke

S emi ti c I nscrip ti o ns,

v i e w is to o fo rce d

pp
2

Cp

59
.

'

H o m ann s

M ED and 1157 8

I N TR OD UCT OR Y

3:

!
the
supposed
ea
clan
must
come
b
y
trans
)
(
position from the same compound name Raf ash
l
i e Arab A sshu r
A sshu rite Ar abia was in fact
the country from which the cult of the God of
the M yster i es r eached the I sraelites The other
names of that God here gi v en are D ad and
Y arham Asshur
Mariam thy wife
M ariam too i s a con
tracted compound divine name The full form is
A ram ath Yaman
We nd this underlying the
Massoretic R amathaim ( 1 S am i I ) and Mera
thaim ( J er l
Again and again an appended
2
Yam ( i e Yaman as i n I sa xxiv 1 4 ) has been
m istaken by the early J ewish scholars for the
d ual ending a i m
Ar amah is the feminine form
o f Aram
better
known
T
w
R
e li i o ns p
o
g
(
in the slightly shortened form of Ramah
I n the later N Ara bi an temple archives the
fuller forms of the names of the F ather God the
M other God and the S on God were probably still
preserved but the priestly scholars who watched
o ver these archives will have felt the impact of the
tide of religious progress and have consciously
a nd deliberately o b scured the true meaning of
t hose sacred names
M ore and more Yahw e b e
c ame possessed of full monarchic rights and the
n ames J oseph Y arh u Reshef Mariam A ram ath
(
)
(
S
th
vi d n in T nd B p 7 8 ( n A p k had)
S
1 K xiv 3
xv
F
th
m
l i n f rm R m
ii 9 N m xxv i
Ch
-

2
3

38

ee

e e

ee

or

ce

1,

ascu

r a

=
A
i
r
a
m
A shhur A ram ) ,
( h
-

and 2

see

v iii

r.

= Y arhu A ram )
-

FRESH

1 32

V0 YA GE S

Yaman ) and J oshua ( Y arhu Asshur ) be c ame

attached two to a simple man and woman of
Galilee and the third to a gifted prophet and
teacher
But in the great J ewish Christian
Apocalypse we still nd a wondrous visiona ry
scene i n whic h the woman arrayed in the sun
the child king of the nations and the D ivine
Prote c tor on his throne are introduced in splendid
form and the dragon their enemy ( Rev xii 1
F irst o f all however let me try to imagine the
process of development through which may have
passed the originally myth ic tradit i on of the
self sac ri c e of the three closely united deitie s
personied ( in th e Docetic manner ) as a single
human b eing born at Bethlehem Clearly ther e
must have been at least a bare rec i tal of the fa c t s
of the tradition The supposed b i rthplace must
have been mentioned v iz a cave at a N Arabian
spot called Bethlehem ( house of
The divinity of the Person was also impressed
on the hearers or readers But supreme among
the facts was surely the love which prompted the
unique self devotion of the triune God who was
born and died and gloriously rose again for man
I t must also b e assumed that embassies proceeded
from the far parts of N Arabia to the sacred
mountain city of Y e ho Asshur ( mentioned i t
appears in 2 K xxiii
where in the sanctuary
-

S ee C

h yn

a nd

B i ble P ro blems

e,
.

27

The

i ty

w
i
(

th pp

and

th e

t )
th anth r p i c Vi t im

e nde d n o e s
eo -

FRESH

34

V0 YA

GES

to Yahw e and to I srael

I t may be dou b ted
whether as the capital of this neo I sraelite
2
empire the northern or the southern J erusalem
was intended Most likely however it was the
southern and more central city of that venerated
name
The mention of the star will be at once clear
when we refer to Num xxiv 1 7b :
1

A star beams out of J acob

A sceptre has arisen out of I srael
H e smites through E phrath of Moab
And [destroys] all the sons of Ashtar (g loss
Ashkar )
,

The star is the M essiah ; but the star gives no

friendly light to the sons of Ashtar To them
the star spirit becomes a heavy overpowering
mace or sceptre ( c p P s ii
The framers of
o u r tradition may possibly have thought that the
oracles of B alaam would reach the eyes or
ears of the Y e rahm e e lite s and that J udas the
M acca b ee would have appeared to them as
the p redicted mace or sceptre of the oracles
Would that we could obtain absolute certainty
on this point !
At any rate the temper of these N Arabians
is wholly di fferent from that of the rulers of the
.

M i nes of l sa i a /t, p 1 2
Vei l of H ebre w f li sto ry, pp 2 6 , 3 4 f
3 Two R eli i o ns p
102
,
g
1

T/te

1
8
7
4
,
3
5,

I N TR OD UC TOR Y

1 35

M essiah s own land

The hostility of H erod
who seeks to slay the young child is but a
specimen of that wh i ch surrounds all the mythic
children for whom a high destiny is marked out
The temple record must have referred to this and
it may well have mentioned the A shtari te s as the
persecutors and the N Arabian M isrite s as the
people among whom the youn g child and his
mother sought re fuge
S o much had to be premised that the reader
might get the right point o f v i ew for this fruitful
but neglected study of N ew Testament names
I still nd it needful to complain of the ignor i ng
of my b ooks by B i b lical students E nglish and
German C p Two R e ligi o ns p 4 3 0 I ncident
ally l h ave found occasion ( I hO p e ) to throw a
bright light on a few of the most interesting of
these names Bethlehem David J oseph M ariam
Let us begin with those whi ch are attached to
localities
.

C HAPTE R II
N AZ A R E T H

AND

E L AT E D
B E T H L EHE M
IT S

I N az aret/z

TR

AD I TI ON S

T A there was no such place name or reg i onal

as N az are t or N azareth or N azara in pre Christian
1
times is hardly probable but almost equally
hazardous i s it to connect N az o raean or N azarene
50 W B S mith with the H ebrew root N Z R
to
(
)
guard as if this name meant a worshipper of the
deity honoured by the cultus title noser Guard
Analogy leads us to expect not such a vague t i tle
as Guardian but the name of the place or people
of the god s worshippers A nd the place where
the most gracious of Gods was in pre Christian
times spe c ially worshipped was ( reading under
2
neath the text ) in the valley of G am ro n ( Z ech
xii 1 I see p
a place which several indica
tions prove to have been in the N Arabian
bo r derland and as we m ay plausibly conjecture
i n the southern Galilee
1 S
E B i b N z r th ; W B S m i th D
H

ee

S ee T

a nd

a a e

pp

56 , 3 2 6 , 4 3 8 f 2; M i nes
1

36

er

I sai a/z,

29

FRESH

1 38

V0 YA

GES

pro b able theory of the history of the period I n

the present case we shall do well to accept a sug
gestion from the theory wh ich alone solves the
di fculty of many parallel problems v iz that
some name which underlies the plainly corrupt
form Nazareth is an old synonym for G al i l i e the
southern Galilee
That
there
was
a
southern
(
Galilee I have not had to learn from Resch
There was such a district situated not very far
from the religious capital of the N Arabian
borderland The parallelism is curiously exact )
What then is the old synonym for G al i l
?
underlying N asr N azar or N az Or
We
will
(
c o nsider the fem i nine ending of N azareth pre
se nt l
I
t
is
Resin
or
Rezon
both
forms
are
;
y)

attested only as personal names it is true but

we know that many personal names began by
being regionals F rom this came the popular
modication N azareth as if region of D WEJ i e
shooting plants Resin itsel f is not the original
form ; it comes ( like B irsha from Ar ab Asshur
Bedad from Ar ab Dad B e sale l from Arab
I shmael ) from Bar S i n And what does Bar S i n
?
mean
B ar as in all proper names into which
this enters is modied from Rab which in all
compound proper names comes from Ar ab
Arabia
S
in
too
is
a
shortened
form
I
t
comes
)
(
.

1
2

86

S ee
D

a nd

Bib

tth i a

Ma
57

a nd

109

Vei l,

I N TR OD UC TOR Y

1 39

from S ib on
I shmael ) an intermediate form is
Thus we get for B ar S in Arab S ib on
S oan
The name has developed in another very i n
t e re st i ng way if I am right in regarding Chorazin
Matt
xi
as
a
corruption
of
Bar
2 1 Luke x 1 3
)
(
2
k
I
t
is
easier
however
to
ta
e Chorazin as
i
n
S
3
being for Achor S in i e the Galil aean part of the
region called Achor We have an exact parallel
fo r this in the place name Chor Ashan
But we have still to account for the ending et
in Nazaret In spite o f the Greek vowel e the
H ebrew ending of Bar S in may have been at/t
Rab S inath may have been a title of the goddess
A shtart who was originally a member of the divine
company of three
I t is by no means uncommon
in these old J ewish writings for the name of a
deity to be supplanted by a title and as a rule
this title indicates the region from which the
I sraelites derived this d i vinity s cult S uch titles
are often only known to us in a mutilated form
take for instance Z o nab i n D t xxiii
1 8 and
J er v 7 which is surely a corruption of Si b o na/t
S i milarly R e s inath ( Bar S inat h) is
i e A shtart
most probably a mutilated title of the same great
goddess When the inclusion o f a goddess in the
i nner council of deity had become repugnant to
the most religious I sraelites the title o f the goddess

'

2
3

k r e ad i ng s se e E
rnal J u ly 1 9 1 3 p

F o r th e G r ee

H i bbert j o u
I bi d

J uly

91

892

Bib

918
4

h raz i n
o

S e e Two Religi o ns, I nd e

F R ES H

1 40

VO YA GE S

had to give way to the imaginary city name

N azareth But the or i ginal form of the gracious
2
deity s name was Y arhu Asshur R ab sinath
1

B et/z leb em

There is no reason why the incarnate God

should not have been b orn at Beth Lehem B ut
which B eth Lehem ? F or it is probable that
there were three places which bore the name
Beth Lehem ; nor can we wonder at this con
s i de ri n
that
Beth
Lehem
is
merely
a
r ecord
g
that here in olden times was a settlement of
N Arabians ; in short L eb em is not a loaned
Babylonian god name b ut a witty popular modi
3
c at io n of Yerabm e e l
One of these three was
reckoned to the tri b al territory of Z ebulun
1 S
J
osh
xix
another
to
that
of
J
udah
(
(
xvii
and a third appears to have belonged to
the I sraelite N Arabian borderland The second
acc o rd i n
t
o our authorities in their present form
g
was the birthplace of David and p resumably
so soon as the M essiah belief ( originally pop ular )
received of cial sanction the J udaite Beth Lehem
began to expel the N Arabian as the supposed
birthplace both o f David and of great David s
greater son
The framers or expanders of
traditions however were slow to abol i sh all the
S
i m i l r t th t f Y h we S b th
i
Th
T nd B I n d x
m
b
m
T
h
n
p
n l J ly
H i bb t j
9
9
9 3
T nd B pp 5 4 9 jI
rr pt d i nt Y h N r t
-

co

our a

c ase

ao

ee

'

er

es

ua

az a e

1,

e ca

C HAPTE R III
MO R E

PL

AC E

NAMES
B

ETH S E MA N E

E T HA N Y

E TC

O L GO T HA

archaizing and not always intelligent tend ency

is unmistakable in the later Old Testament
writers ; a failu r e to observe this has marred
much higher crit i cism
I t seems to me that
there is a trace of this tendency in tb c Ci rcle ( i b ar )
o
o rda n in the account O f the ministry of J ohn
fj
the Baptist ( see M att iii 5 Luke iii
F or
the rst and the third evangelists would hardly
have used the expression 5wepix wp q
unless they
had had before them a H ebrew tradition i n which
reference was made to the b i bb ar ( i e the
E shkar or Ashkar ) of J ordan Now the expres
s ion the c ircuit or c ircle of J ordan really
implies an entirely wrong v iew
I t ought to
designate a port i on of the N Arabian border
1
land but it came to be understood of a part of
the Gno r i e of the J ordan valley The framer
of the tradition misunderstood
AN

Tb e Vei l of H ebrew IIi sto ry,

66

pp

1 42

6,

34 j :

Two R elig i o ns,

ER S ON A L

A N D P L A CE -N A M E S R E -E

XA M I N ED

1 43

Another solution of the pro blem is offered b y

Martin G e mo ll ( G ru ndste i ne p
b ut I will
not digress by discussing it
We have other examples of the a r chaizing use
of the b i b ar in N eh iii 2 2 xii 2 8 ; the use of
Gethsemane Gabbatha and Golgotha is partly
parallel
.

O HE R P L A C E N A M E S
T

B o tn P b ag e
-

The usual theory connecting this name with

unr i pe gs i s almost as unsuitable as the pre
vail i ng theory of the M ount of Olives As in
B ago as and B ig wai there seems to b e a reference
to N Arabia from which land the I sraelites and
Canaanites came Pro b ably Beth Phage comes
from Beth G ab b im ( see
Or may
we not r estore as the original form Beth
G ab b ith ? S ee Bethany
.

Gethsem ane

The name I well kno w is one that opens the

fountain of religious emotion There are how
ever some objections not devoid of probability
to the acceptance of this name as accurate On
the analogy of the threshing o o r of Araunah
the Y e b u site we should expect the second
part of the name now read Gethsemane to be the
personal name of the ancient proprietor As it
stands however the name is hardly acceptable
,

FRESH

1 44

G atb ,

VO YA GE S

of course should mean a w i ne press

and sb em en means oil
But does g ai li always
?
mean wine press
As a city name this seems
not at all a suitable sense and I have there fore
proposed the theory that the city name Gath may
l
at h or
rather
must
be
a
shortened
form
of
G
o
(
)
the like ( c p Goliath G u llath) which in turn
may ( must ) originate in Gilead
I hav e also
suspected and the suspicion has b een amply
j ustied that S hemen is not always oil but
sometimes the short for I shman
I shmael )
I t is my opinion agreeably to what I have
wr i tten on N azareth and Bethlehem that in
the archives of the I sraelite temple in the
N Arab ian borderland was a record of the
wonderful experiences of the incarnate S aviour
God and that this record contained various
names of places and persons which would
harmonize with the N Arabian theory Three
such place names which occurred in the original
story of the Passion in irrecoverable contexts are
Gethsemane Golgotha and Gabbatha The rst
of these has now been explained i t means Gilead
of the N Arabians the region in which the
southern J erusalem stood
The others w i ll be
treated next

G o lgot/t a

Golgotha the scene of the Crucixion means

apparently skull
E fforts have been made to
,

FRESH

1 46

V0 YA GE S

was it a part of the great northern su b urb of

1
J e r usalem ? I t is at any rate re ferred to b y
name in connexion w i th Bethphage ( M ark xi
which appears to ha v e been part of that
suburb Are Bethphage and Bethany the same
place ? They must at any rate have be en close
together and the expression in Mark xi 1 looks
as if the redactor were not quite sure of his
ground To p r ove th is or at least to make it a
very reasonable c onj ecture we must be able to
show that the two place names are equivalent
And they are if Beth Phage is from Beth
G ab b ith and B naa ma from Beth S o ani yyah
There is a b undant evidence that the worship of
A sht art was very prevalent even afte r J osiah s
and that the worshippers
so c alled Reformation
of this great goddess unde r the t i tle of S i b o nah
r esorted to a temple sacred to her
we may gather from the true text of J e r v 7
H ere the J u daite s are a c cused of cutting the i r
esh ( ritually ) i n the house of the sau na/t ( this
i s altered from a rel i gious scruple i nto z onab
2
harlot soanan is a shortened form of Si b onab )
The same scruple which shows i tself i n the
alteration i n J e r v 7 may b e accounta b le for the
3
read i ng Bethan i a i e r mrx r n b ecame n us r n
The result i s that there were two names for
the san c tua ry o f A shtart in the great su b urb of
.

'

1
2

A Ab b o
.

Two R eligi o ns,

tt

1
5

E
(

B ib ,
.

L az arus,

co l

2 74 7.

A N D P LA CE -N A M E S R E -E

ER S ON A L

XA M I N ED

1 47

the one was house of the A h abb ite

the other house of the S ib o nit e
I n Gospel times however the temple was no
more and the place name was corrupt
J erusalem

B ez etb a

F rom what will presently b e said on the Moun

tain in Galilee my readers can h ave no dif culty
i n understanding my v i ew of Be z e tha As Dr
Abbott says I t seems clear from [J osephus] that
B e z e tha or B e z e t hm a was the J ewish name for

K ai no p o lis or
N ew town and that the two
1
names did not denote different places
J osephus
however does not apparently understand what
he probably lea r ned at his mother s knee F or in
reality the name K ai no o lis is based on a pretty
p
frequent mistake of an c ient scholars ; i e I r
a
u
r
h
w
A
s
h
adashah
N
town
should
be
Ar
b
e
a
h
H

This i s only another form

A shhu rite Arab i a
the name underlying the more ordinary
of

form B e z e tha wh i ch i s A ri b Ashtar

That
Ashtar a nd Ash h ur are equ i valent has b een
and can hardly be dis
s hown again and again
u te d unless i ndeed the whole fabr i c of the N
p
Arabian theory can be subverted
Arab Ashtar
may well be a name of the N Ara b ian quarter

'

B ib ,
.

I bi d

h ah

H adas

F o r th e

ha

B ir s

L az aru s,

i i

o m ss o n

ha ( T

B aas

and

col 2 7 4 7
.

K i H are se th
r-

! in

of

m( = r w
c p th e
)
.

pr

e so nal nam es

FRESH

1 48

V0 YA GE S

of J erusalem another ancient name of which

may be traced i n Z eph i
,

Tb e M o u n tai n i n Ga li lee

I n Mark xvi 7 i t is said b y the angel Go

tell h is d i sciples and Peter H e goeth b efore
you into Gal i lee : there shall ye see him as he
sa i d unto you
And in M att xx vii i 1 6 But
the eleven d i sciples went i nto Galilee unto the
mountain where J esus had appo i nted them
Luke however places the scene o f the Ascension
near J erusalem ( Luke xxiv
H e led them
out until they were over against Bethany and
again ( A c ts i
Then returned they unt o
J erusalem from the mount called Ol iv et
Lastly
the apocryphal work called the A cta P i la ti
a frms with m uch insiste nce that the greatest o f

the appearances was on M ount M am ilc h

Now we may reasona b ly suppose that the
chron i cle of events interesting to those who we r e
i nitiated into the mysteries of Y arham Asshur
recorded not only the incarnation of the graciou s
d e it y b u t also his death resurrection and ascension
I t is I believe not impossible to nd b y a keen
c r i ticism traces of the original record Thoroughly

D ecli ne

a nd

B ad

F all,

am an d
ee

x ii

e e,

Cri t B i b
.

rth e rn J e ru sal e m

C o nyb e are ( H
a an d

no

J u dg e s

i s m ean

t) p
,

40 9

t w n S mari
wh r h w v r

to be b e
.

i( f th e

Two R elig i o ns

th e

lil

J uly

Ga

e e, and

tr

b ac

ue

9 1 3)

re fe r

t ak
to

kgro und i s N

M t M am ilch
.

J u dg v
.

A rab i an

and

S ee

1 50

RESH

V0 YA GE S

the addition of Y e rah m e e l is the name of the

mountain on which legend originally placed the
1
attempted sacrice of I saac
I t is moreover
the latter with which we must ident i fy Moun t
M am ilc h i e M ount Y e rahm e e l
I t appears that near M t Ashtar there was a
c i ty of nearly the same name wh i ch shared the
sanctity of the mountain ; and it may perhaps
have been Og s royal city A shte re th or if I
may venture on such a heretical opinion i t may
have been the southern J erusalem or Uru shale m
Asshur I shmael ) E lsewhere I have remarked
i n connexion with th i s subject that
the
original narrator of Gen xxii very probably
identied this sacred mountain with that on
which was the threshing o o r of Araunah ( Ado
niyyah ) the Y e b u si t e and r eferred also to 2 Chron
2
I t may now b e added that the supposed
i ii
refe r ence to the Mount of Olives in 2 S xv 3 0
was not always attached to the familiar hill near
E ven after the text reading has been
e l K uds
corrected we must still a frm that the ascent of
the A shtarite s did not originally belong to the
famil i ar hill That is all that I need say here
The M ount of Olives should b e the M ountain
of the A shtari te s and the mountain r eferred to
was in N Arab i a

a nd

Vei l

1 43

S ee T

a nd

H ebrew H i story,

B
.

45
.

3 28

IV

C HAPTE R
N T
.

L IS TS

OF

O UN TR I E S

Acts
ii
(

OF

I E R S I ON

D SP

TH E

I Pet i I )

3 ;

THE

sound as of a mighty wind brought a

band of inquirers together representing as the
redactor tells us every nation ( country ) under
heaven
U nderneath the list of countr i es
in o n 9 1 1 however it is easy to read a much
more modest summary apparently designed fo r
the spec i al use of those J u dze ans who had an abid
in
i nterest in the N
Arabian
D
ispersion
The
g
most suspicious of the pairs or triads are : the
rst b eginning with Parthians ; the third
J ud aea and Cappadocia and the last
Cretans
and Arabians
There i s an ancient correction
D
of
J
ud
ea
India
but
this
too
is
lainly
a
v iz
p
( )
unsuitable The l i st should p r obab ly run nearly
1
thus :
,

Pathros and M adai and E lam

And those that dwell in A r am
I n H adad and Caphto r
,

naharai m,

O n th e

( Ind i c e s) ;

n am es se e

a so

Bib

Tra di ti o ns

Ind i a

1 51

a nd

B eli ef s and Two R elig i o ns

A GES

F R ES H

1 52

VO V

I n P ut and Asshur
I n A rp ac hshad and P ul
I n M isrim and the parts of Lubim about Kir
And
sojourners
from
Rome
both
J
ews
and
[
proselytes ]
K e re t hite s and Arabians
,

Parallels in the Old Testament are by no

means wanting ; se e e g I sa xi I I and lxvi 1 9
where
the
return
of
the
exiles
i
s
lim
i
te
d
to
the
(
N Arabian countries )
The sermon of Peter
does not i t is true develop the idea of the e X pan
sion of the J ewish race but this exhortation was
of course not derived from the same source as the
list of countries
M ay we infer from the latter record that the
missionary interest of the rst disciples was at
this early period S pecially attracted by the J ews o f
?
N Arabia
I t would not b e at all an extravagant
conj ecture
E arly in the second century A D a
writer who has assumed the mantle of S imon
Peter addressed his exhortations ( nominally at
least ) to the J ews of various N Arabia n districts
and in the open i ng lines gives proof of his
acquaintance with the list of countries i n Acts ii
The passage runs as follows when the original
text has been restored
Peter an apostle of J esus Christ to the elect
who are sojourners of the D ispers i on in P u t
Gilead Caphtor Asshur and E th b an
1 S
d B Ind x
T
.

ee

an

C HAPTE R
NAM ES

OF

A P O S T L E S A N D O T HE R S ( B A RA B B A S
B A R NABA S
E TC )
,

THE

names of the Apostles gain in interest

when we see that as belonging to a b ody of
twelve spiritual leaders they are mostly of very
doubtful historicity
F or when we see th i s a
new and excit i ng task devolves upon u s that
of expla i ning how and why the authors of the
S ynoptic Gospels xed upon precisely t/i ese The
answer to the rst question is that these writers
like the Chronicler had access to and employed
lists of names These names presumably were
those of J ewish Christians and the remarka b le
thing is that they are apparently all planned on
the same model all in their original forms be i ng
derived from S Canaanit i sh or N A rabian place
names or clan names And to the second ques
tion we answer that these place names or clan
names stamped their bearers as genuine and ( if
the word may be applied ) orthodox J ews
The lists of Apostles names in the S ynopt i c
Gospels and A c ts o f the Apostles are i n M ark iii
,

54

P E R S ON A L A N D P LA CE -N A M E S R E -E X A M H VE D

I 55

Matt x 2 4 Luke v i 1 4 1 6 and Acts

i 13
I n spite of the authority ass i gned by
cr i tics to M ark it is di f cult to believe that
the distribution into pairs g i ven by M atthew
and Luke is ( except perhaps for the rst two )
or i g i nal
P
e te r
I
Let
us
begin
w
i
th
who
i
s
called
i
m
n
S
o
( )
Petros
and
his
brother
E
vidently
A
n
d
r
e
w
[
]
S imon ( S ymeon in Acts ) is S himo n ( 1 Chron iv
wh i ch consists of S ni m i e S hema ( = I sh
mael ) and o n a formative appendix Peter or
Petros is certainly either from P athro si one b e
1
longing to Pathros or from P e rathi = E phrathi
At an early date however Petros was explained
from the Greek as Rockman etc and a new
Aramaic surname was coined as a substitute
v iz
R ep 2a r ock ( cp M att x v i 1 8 J ohn i
B a r Yona is also found as a surname
We
might expla i n this either son of a dove and nd
3
here a trace of primitive totemism or son of
4
Yonathan
N either view however gi v es a good
sense ; and we have also to consider bar Now
it has be en shown elsewhere that in compound
names like this initial bar or rab invariably comes
5
from arab ( Arabia )
I t has also been shown to
1

6-1 9

S ee T

a nd

thl h
e

S ee

pp

S ee Two R eli gi o ns,

the B e
3

e ms

Bib

pp

1 0 2,

was i n E ph rathah

Bib

55,
.

J o nah

J o h anan

Two R elig i o ns,

I 19
.

pp

40 3 f

pp 8 8 f
th t
nd n t

8 9 ; Two R elig i o ns,

412

80 ,

o e

30 2

o ne o f

FRESH

56

V0 YA GE S

be almost certa i n that the capital of the N

Arabian Asshur was a city called not N ineveh
1
but Y e wanah
S o then we cannot well hesitate
to explain Bar Yona as Ar ab Y e wanah i e that
part of Arabia wh ich comprehended Y e wanah
and to take S imon Petros B ar Yona as an emphati c
statement that the person so called gloried in his
descent from I sraelite exiles in Y e wanah
2
And
The
same
n dre w h is brother
A
( )
key will also unlock this fresh riddle Au8p 9 is
not manly
B i b ) as if of Greek origin ; the
"
8 is euphonic as in E a 3pm
We have then to
account fo r A nre as The nal as is probably the
well known Greek ending while anr is the Old
Testament in; ( Gen xiv I 3 2 4 ) and 1 m in the
personal names N aarah and N e ariah and i n Gen
xxxvii 2 where and he was a lad
should
b e that is S hinar
S hinar is in fact one of
the names for N Arab i a ; it comes undoubtedly
i e I shmael of Arabia
from I shman
Again a proof of the value attached by the
compilers of such l ists to descent from the
exiles
the
son
of
Z
ebedee
and
e
and
a
m
s
4
)
(
( 3)
( ) j
b
his
brother
n
Z
abda i comes from root Z B D
o
f
on which I may refer to E B i b Z ebedee and
As M ark iii 1 7 tells us J ames ( J a c ob )
T a nd B
This i s no
and J ohn were su rnamed B o anerg es
.

"

a nd

Two R elig i o ns,

.

pp

43 5

pp

n om

4 0 3 / I, 4 1

i tt e d

as

i n ms fo r 1 m m
"

FRESH

I 58

V0 YA GE S

race As for the initial j o ( Yo ) in J ohanan it has

doubtless come from J arb u ( Y arhu Y e rahme e l)
P
b
l
B
i
i
a
and
and
Again
6
r
t
o
l
o
/
t
m
e
w
f
( 5)
( )
a Greek name which might be explained by the
spread of H ellenic inuences in the northern
Galilee A Greek name however would be u n
paralleled i n this list and we should do well to
apply our key
I s not the or i ginal of Philip
i e Arab Y e rah m e e l ?
B art/t olo mew also requires a new explanation
We require a true personal name
The rst
element in the true name is of course Arab ;
the second is Temuli or ( M T of 2 S iii 3 )
Talmai ( B M e c)
The original of the latter is
e t/z m ul which is more often than not a d i stortion
2
of I shmael
Ar ab I shmael I shmael i te Arabia
tells us that the family to which Bartholomew if
he existed belonged belonged to the people of
the land
I n J osephus ( A nt xx 1
the
5)
name T ho lo m aio s occurs as bo r ne by a robber
B i b col
chief
1

'

l l

P ara le

Y e rahm e e l

iv

fo r B e n H anan = B ar- I:I anan

hr

on

xvii

B e n-Hail = B ar

are

hh r

B e n-He se d = B ar A s
-

i
th
n
m
B
a
a
)
i val nt t A rab T h alt rat i n f B a i nt 3 m ay h av b n
f Ba
v ry arly A t any rat i t wa v ry arly in th a
B n S d k in A m n
nd rly i ng
T bl t
S d k
5 37
T/
V il t
pp 4
arly t
( S d k i a r g i nal ;
i n th ca
f B i nyam i n f
B a Y am i n i
A r b i a f Y am i n
e

B en- H adad = B ar- H adad

10

se

e se

or

e c

r-

se

A r ab ( A r ab i a) also b e c o m es R ab , as
( Yam an )
R ab S hak e h ( t e A r ab A shhu r )
M ag ( see p
2
Two R elig i o ns, p 2 58

oo ,

1 2

e s,

e.

ee

es

ar a

ze

all

se e

In

eg
.

in

R ab

P ER S ON A L A N D P L A CE -N A M E S R E -E X A M I N ED

I 59

M
tt
b
e
t
h
and
Tb
m
a
and
w
e
publ
i
can
s
8
o
a
(7)
( )
Thomas who is called D idym o s (J ohn xi
twin
B ut analogy
D iet; b e i ng the H ebrew for
i s against this vi ew and the occurrence of unto
1
m
a
unclean
in
I
sa
lii
I
in
place
of
0
E
t
h
n
1
m
3
)
(
suggests that the same alteration
may be necessary here Nestle questions whether
the name occurs b efore the M T b ut the proper
name m m in CI S i No 4 6 ( Cook p 6 2 ) should
probably b e similarly expla i ned M atthew the
publican is generally identied with Levi and
certainly the c ircumstances of the call of Levi agree
remarka b ly w i th those of the call of M atthew
Why the fusion of the two gures was made we
do not know A Levite is not likely to have
sought for the despised call i ng of a tax c ollector
no r is Levi a probable proper name
As to the
form M 00a i s or M a ra i s it is proba b ly from
E than )
M at tanathai wh i ch is from E thm an
S ee M attb i as
1
and
son
of
Alph
us
and
0
a
m
e
s
a
e
( ) j
( )
( 9)
T/z addoeu s
Alph aeus ( the name of the father of
J ames ) has often and ( as I th i nk ) rightly been
connected w ith Lebb aeus The original both of
A lphai and of L e bb ai i s probably A rb e lai
Beth Arbel i e Beth Y e rahm e e l was a place in
the N Arabian borderland with which H osea
x
associates
a
terrible
massacre
1
4)
(
p
Min
I
i
/
1
8
5
f
2 O i
L e vi
i m p ly a p ri m i t i v c rr pt i n f L bb ai

'

r s

es o

sa a z ,

Two R elig i o ns,

pp

21

5,

272

F R ES H

1 6o

VO

YA C ES

Thadd aeus according to the Textus R e c e p tu s

of M att x 3 was the surname of Lebb aeus
I t i s however according to Westcott H ort
insu fciently supported
Lebb aeus has been
explained already
Thadd aeus is probably from
S hethar is a shortened form of
S he tharai
Ashtar ( p
which is on e o f the current names
of the N Arabian borderland
1 2
i
m
I
and
1
S
on t/i e Canana an and
udas
( )
j
( )
Canan aean is a Graecized form of
I scari ot
1
a man of Canaan
angp
who
also
was
to
deli
v
er
him
u das I sca r i ot
j
up
A store of possible explanations both of
J udah and of I scar i ot will be found in the
The fault of the latter if I
E ncyclopn di a B i blica
may say so is the tacit assumption that Isc ario te s
specially refers to an individual whereas it could
as well be applied to any other member of a
N Arabian J ewish fam ily as to him who was to
surrender him
There i s a fem form of Ash h ur
a
well
known
word
for
N
A
r
abia
which
w
i
th
)
(
2
the gentili c a fx becomes A shhart ai
This
word we may do well to take as the original
b oth of o api wm and of a little group of place
names i ncluding K e rith Ki ryah K erioth
On
J udah see T and B p 3 76 ; Te Ve i l p 1 54
an Y arhu
F
rom
E
h
m
t
C
1 3 ) M attb i as
p
(
,

'

M att/zew

Cp

Tbe Vei l

B ib ,
.

S i m o n, 6

H ebrew IIi story,

pp

8 , 4 7 , 52 , 56

F R ES H

1 62

A GES

V0 V

notable band i t named Bar

we cannot
tell And what is the ultimate explanat i on of the
cir c umstances in wh ich he plays so singular a
rOle
we are equally ignorant Meantime I am
content w i th the light from Bab ylon There are
traces of a primit i ve custom of decking out some
person of infer i or rank as king and nally putting
him to death in pla c e of the real king On the
o c cas i on of what ce remony this took place does
not appear and it seems plain that the author of
the Barabbas sto ry only knew of a far off ree ction
of the prim i ti v e custom i n the shape of a popular
1
story
As for the name was 1 3 it is obviously
c orrupt b ut the true reading i s as easy to
i nte rpret as we c an wish
I n Bar abba[s ] the only element wh i ch has
b een thought su S pic io u s i s the se c ond
S on of
the father is not ve ry natural even i f father be
explained as meaning rab bi
H en c e v arious
explanations in v olv i ng the m i n i mum of alterat i on
2
ha v e be en proposed
B ut these too fa i l i n
natu r alness and it b ecomes needful to refer to
well tested parallels to d i scove r the i nwardness
of the name
The only corruption is in the
i nno c ent look i ng bar
We want a pe r sonal
name b ut personal names do not b eg i n with
Generally bar comes from arab
bar son
But th i s will not do here be c ause ab i s also
.

o u rna l,

H ib
2

S ee

Bib

p ri l 1 9 1 1 ; p
B ar ab b as

66 1

P ER S ON A L A N D P L A CE -N A M E S R E - E
a rab

XA M I N ED

1 63

We must therefore read for bar bar

and those who have studied my previous volumes
with assent will at once see that b ar ab(ba ) re
presents Yarb am A rab i e Arabian Y e rahm e e l
N 0 form of name is more common than this
The band i ts who sought to subvert the fabr i c
o f Roman ci vilisation in S
Palestine were there
fore to a large extent N Arabi ans

B arti mwus

Mark
x
(

46

H ere as elsewhere i n the E B i b Prof P W

S chmiedel is almost exhaust i ve i n h is collection of
facts and theories but h i s own result is curiously
o u t of proportion to his philological learning and
d ialect i c ability
S ince this able scholar wrote
W e llhau se n has held the possibility of a Greek
o r i g i n comparing T o lm ai for Ptolema io s
B ut
as we have seen B ar T o lm ai comes from Arab
Temul i ; Bartim ae us therefore will probably

c ome from Arab E t ham i ( e n s

Probably
all that the framer of the story knew was that
Bar timai occurred in a list of families wh ich were
b elie v ed to have returned from N Arab i a
The
of the blind beggar remains
s ymbolic character
undisturbed
m
r p r nt my b th at th b g i nni ng and v n
m
i
n
l
n
h
f
i
n
m
n
p
r
b
d
t
t
e
H
(
)
W B S m i th E D
pp 3 2 4 I v nt r t h ld
S
ymb l f th N A r b i n J w nd p r lyt s
t ha t B art i m a
i
f D Od t
n
gni d th t r n f rm d J
a the
a
wh r
B n D od
i ah
b tit t f
B n D av i d i a lat r
M
,

as

or

u ra

ee

s a s

e ss

e co
.

se

eu s,

a s o
s

e su s

su

e so

cce

eu s

e se

u e

e s.

so

s a

o se

or

u e

e.

FRESH

1 64

B ar jesu s

and

V0 YA GE S

E lymas

Acts
xiii
(

I t is surprising that no explanation is given of

the name B ar J esus D i d the person so named
c laim to be in a special sense a son o r disciple
of J esus ? But what had J esus Christ in common
w i th Bar J esus ? The compiler certainly regards
the latter as one of those false prophets who are
wol v es in sheep s clothing ( Matt v i i
We
must therefore cha nge our point of view M any
personal names cons i st of regionals B ar inv ari
a b ly stands for Arab Bar J esus therefore stands
fo r Arab Y arhu Asshur
This J ew i sh prophet
and magician came of a family which had a
trad i t i onal c onnex i on with N Arabia
Th is
r eg i on was the home o f magic and of unethical
prophecy I t i s e v en not imposs i ble that Bar
J esus h i mself came from N Arabi a
Apparently Bar J esus had anothe r name

as
A
c
ts
x
ii
i
E
lymas
we
may
c
ons
i
de
r
this
8
;
(
)
a surname The redactor volunteers the info r
mat i on that i t i s equivalent to Magos ( mag i c i an
so rc erer ) B ut how i s this equat i on arr iv ed at ?
The
Acts ii 9 may furnish an answer
E lamites there mentioned a r e not soj ou r n i ng
J ews from the familia r E lam b ut have c ome to
J erusalem from the other E lam or rather the
A shhu ri te E lam in N Arabia ( Acts ii 9 ; see
p
Now N Arabia was as we ha v e seen
the c entre of false rel i gion E lymas therefore
-

FRESH

1 66

VO VA GE S

I t should also be noted that i n N eh vii

text ) we hear of an A shhu rite N ebo
N ebo comes from S hanb ul S hambul

rev
(
N ow

33

B arsabbas

Acts
i
(

To Prof S chmiedel the name B arsab b as ( so

W estco tt H ort ) suggests the meaning child of
the S ab b ath ; c p the name S habbethai ( p
The comparison is plausible b ut b oth names are
not free from suspicion S habbethai should pro b
ably be S hib at hi the double b makes up fo r the
elided 17 S imilarly S a b bas in the former name
might be from s m art) or m am The name i s
di fcult I prefer to regard it as a contract i on
from Ishpal ( a form of I shmael ) ; here again the
double b makes up for the contraction
comes
from 3 1 37 ; the e v ide nce is absolutely over
whelm i ng
1

B ib ,
.

B arsab as

or

B arsabb as

C H A P T E R VI

A P OC A L Y PS E

OF

ST

HN
O
J

IT

is hardly possi b le to avoid see i ng that the

great Chr i st i an Apo c alypse i s b ased upon a J ewish
work indeed that poss i bly more than one J ew i sh
record has passed afte r due adjustment into the
Chr i st i an I t appears to me to be also probab le
that some of the Christian portions of the J ohan
nine Apo c alypse had originally a d i fferent geo
graph i cal b ackground The letters to the S even
Churches for instance were not perhaps or i ginally
addressed to seven Chr i stian commun i t i es in As i a
M i nor b ut to the same num b er in N Arabia
The original names are no longer fully reco v e r
a b le except that S epharad may underlie S ardis
and Arab Gomer ( Rab M ag ) may lurk behind
Pergamon I t is plaus i ble however to suppose
that as in A c ts i i and I Pet i the names of
churches addressed were suggested by the N
Arabian Christian communities This appears
to t in with the circumstances of those com
m u nit ies so far as we can form some p r obable i dea
of them I f so we should in all p robab i lity in Re v
,

1 67

FRESH

1 68

V0 VA GE S

a
restore
Ar
b
Pathros
for
the
isle
from
N
9
(
as often ) that is called Patmos
1m = nazi
Two passages in the J ohannine letters may be
specially appealed to in behalf of this theory
One i s a passage relative to the N Arabian
soothsayer Balaam ( Rev i i
and the other
20
Rev
ii
to
a
too
seductive
woman
who
(
)
c alleth herself a prophetess and she teacheth and
seduceth my servants to commit forn i cat i on and
to eat things sacriced to idols
N o doubt
whe re v er any form of soothsaying prevailed a
ewish
writer
migh
t
refer
its
origin
to
its
typical
J
1
anc i ent representative
S till there would be a
g r eater appropr iateness i n doing so in a wr i t i ng
addressed to residents i n N Arabia than to one
i nscri bed To the c hurch i n Thyat i ra
The other passage too receives fresh light from
the N Ara bi an theory for the name of the se d u c
tive false prophetess is Iz e b e l This of course
i s a historical name B ut its h i storical bearer
c ertainly did not cla i m to be a prophetess
Iz e b e l therefore is not a mere opprobrious n i ck
name b ut has a special signicance to N Ara b ian
1
false p r ophets
c omes from
i e 7 3 1211 2
The name here given to the head of the false
prophets indicates that that prophetess herself and
her methods of procedure rea c hed the J ewish
Chr i stians from outside i e from the ancient
N Ara bi an paganism

Two R elig i o ns,

pp

8 5-8 9

F R ES H

1 7o

VO YA GE S

so that we as O ften should b e rendered land i e

1
N Arabia and J udah
B
a Bw
1
T
xvii
Almost
all
the
O
3
(
1
passages in wh ich 7 1 : occurs refer to N orth
2
Arabia
I t i s probable in my op i nion that the
Babel spoken of here was i n the original text
also i n North Arabia ; 71n
should b e
3 1 135
1
Arabian Babel U nrepentant dwellers in
this Babel shall have no access to the N ew J eru
3
salem
without are the R akb ulite s and the
sorcerers and the fornicators ( Rev xxii
Rev
xiii
1
H
ere
i
i
sdom
H
e
that
8
s
W
4
hath understanding let him count the num ber of
the beast ; indeed i t is the number of I shmael
and his num b er is S ix hundred and s i xty and S ix
or
S
ix
hundred
and
I
t
i
s
t
r
ue
the
(
Greek translation has not the numbe r of I sh
mael but the number of a man but the parallel
4
of xxi 1 7 whe r e an explanatory gloss is i nserted
seems to me to make all clear ; enosh is in fact
5
l ike s/ta o n a corruption of S him on
I shmael )
The number of I shmael i s the mode of c alcula
tion g ematria i n spe cial v ogue i n I shmaelite
Arabia j ust as i n xxi 1 7 the measure of I shmael
rahme e l
or
means
the
measure
in
use
among
Y
e
(
)
the N Arabian merchants And what or i ginally
2
1 S
I bi d pp
T nd B pp
i
M in
h
pp
I
S
I
8
6
37
f
In R
xx i 7 ( r t r d H b r w t xt ) n / i gl d b y
rr pt i n f Y lm l
mal b wh i h h w v r i b
d n a
1 F
p
1 56 ( n I )
/
i
th r p r ll l
Min
I
f

ee

ee

ev

or o

es o e

sa a

es o

a a e s see

ase

es o

co

sa a z,

o
.

os z

o sse

ze e

era
.

A P O CA L YP S E OF S T

j OH N

171

was the signication of the I shmael number ?

S urely not N ero K aisar but Ash h ur Ramman
I n x vi i 5 Mystery B abel of A rabi a is parallel
Asshur Y e rah m e e l had been deposed but was
still the r oyal consort of Babel
Rev
xvii
H
ere
is
the
mind
that
hath
9
5
w i sdom The seven heads are seven mountains
etc N ot that the
o n wh i ch the woman s i tteth
N Ara bi an Babel was really planted on seven
m ounta i ns or that a great harlot really sat e u
throned beside many waters ( no I
I t is
all mytholog i cal The great harlot is a goddess
and the mountains and many waters came down
1
from heaven ; they b elong to what may truly be
c alled eschatological geography The symbols
do not always appeal to us but on the whole
how grand is the fusion of divers elements !
Would that we could read i t in its original form
and share the author s u nderstanding of his
recond i te symbols
The i nterpretat i ve fun c tion I cheerfully resign
to D r R H Charles in the hope that some of
the fou r keys will gain due recognition One of
these i s the late r J ewish literature ; another is
the textual methods applied by m yself ; a third
is the comparison of Ba b ylon i an religious re c ords
and a fourth that of the earlier and late r
Z oroastr i an l iterature The last of them I was
I b elieve the rst to apply critically i n a b ook
T nd B p p
-

F R ES H

1 72

c alled

Tbe O rigi n

a nd

V0 VA GES

R eligio us Co ntents of tbe

P salte r

The eschatology of the J ohannine

Apocalypse so Z oroastrian i n its sym bols
specially attracted me I would fain resume the
task
F ailing this I would lay it upon the
c onsciences of my younger colleagues to de
term i ne whether they are making the most use
that they could of what I have o ffered them To
have recovered so many lost facts i s surely no
paltry title to respect I t is not yet too late to
c omfort me in my sorrows by greater fai rness
and generos i ty F o rsan et b aec o li m mem i ni sse
B ut who shall interpret o li m ?
i u o abi t
.

FRESH

1 74

D od and Be n D ad,
Do a , 1 09
e ,
D
R , 77

1 28

th n

ri v r S

63

l m l i t s i n N Arabi
E l ph nti ne J ws i n 9
s th s y r 6 4
E l ym s
E rb t H
79
)
Esth r r m n c 6 5
i t b c k gr und 6 8
i ts t h m 6 9
8f
E th b l E th m l E th m l
7
6
m i ss i n r f th l w b k
E zr
hi s j r n y f m Bab l t J ru
s l m 8f2
E

E am

a,

21

oo

a a

ae

a e

10

oo

ro

ou

a,

3 6f
1 48

and o

unt i n i n
5
cl n 6 9
G m i
G m ll M
43
4
G ths m n 4 3 f 2
G il d s ut h r n 9 8 4
f
h
i nn r d i vi n
G d n m s
c un cil 8
h v n g ds
4
G lg th 4 4 ] :
mo

th e

te

r
o

ea

ea e

1 1

G u th e . H

28

6,

33 , 43 f

H gg i
H rri s R nd l 9 5
H rm n s uth rn 6 9
H r d d h M ss i h
H r d tus
H ir m cr ftsm n 3
6
H l f rn
a

t e

an

e o

e o

35

1 08, 1

36

e,

nc

srae

36

1 05

Bo o
e, 3 6

o f,

am e

a o
'

oa

e o

ae

94

rs a

oe

e,

a or

e e

0-

es

e a

a a

oo

as

to

es

e e e

1 10

s o

(n

e,

10

10

1 1 1

'

o s,

1 1

eo

0, 1

e o

ra e

es , 1

R ab- M ag ,

20

R ph l
RgmMlk
a
e

ae

58
1 00

e e

30

es

e o

e e

52 ,

Oli v s M unt f 5
P r sh i m p ss ibl th ry 5
P t hr
63
78f
5
P t m s is l f 6 8
P rs i n n m d is p ut d 4 9 i f
P t r r m n c f h i t v ls
hi n m
55f 2
Philip 58
Pur ( Pu ri m ) 6 9
Purpl fr m N Ar bia 6 3
e

(n

2,

a,

oo

O este rley D r

s (J c b) 57
r b m s m th r 6
rus l m s ut h rn 44 5
sh u J sh u hi gh pri t 8 4 8
z b l 68
i
t
t
k
f
r
l
t
i
n
A
bi
k
r
B
b
J
7
s g g st d by B byl n 7
r f r nc
bir ds f pr y 7
J h n (J h n n )
J h ns C H W 4 8 54 57 6
6
ud
I
s
c
ri
t
J
Judi th B k f i ts bj ct 5
N Ar bi n b ckgr und 5j :
J
J
J
J
J

h i t ri al

56
N o ld ek e , T heo d , 3 6 , 3 7
55' 6 5: 6 7 ' I S7

e o n,

ue

1 00

o e

e,

e e

I nd i 6 9 5
I l f r i gn i n n c
,

2,

d i

a are

2, 1

N z r th N z n
N bu ch dn zz r 6 8f
,

a,

a,

1 1

1 1

a a e

-2

e a

es

10

es,

o o e

e,

1 2,

10

s o

o a

N h i h hi s xtrac t i n 3 7
hi
f c
37
wh t d s T i h tha m an ? 57
N tl E b rhard 59
N thi n i m 3 3 4 5
Ni n v h th und rlyi ng n m 8 4

1 2

N eh m ial
o ma
e em a ,

a, I

a aa

t e

a e, 1

e,

sr

ften

21

ae

G ab b ath a 1 4 5
G abrie l 9 6 1 0 3
Gali l ee s o ut he r n

z o s,

e,

10

1 1 2

e, 1 1

e,

a ee

e,

a ee , o

aeu

a e

bb s 59 f
v i 59
M cc b ri gi n f n m 3
Jud s th 3 4
M cc b s F ir st it N Arabian
b s is
f
M d i 8 5 5f 5
M gi th und rlyi n g H br w 3 3
M m il h M unt
48
M rq
uart L 5
4
M tth w 59
M g by
r v lt f 3 7
M ss i h th i n B l m r cl
34
th su ff ri n g
9
M y r Ed
6 4
5 9
88
49 5
M ik l 96
6 f2
3
M i i m p art f N Ar bi
34 5
6 4 9 4 99
6
7
5
M rd c i 4 8 f 6 7 f
M ul t n J H 6 5 8 3 8 7 9
( w ith
33
M unt i n an c tu ry i n b rd rl nd
Le
Le

V0 YA GE S

10

67

52 f

IN D E

R h f Syr Egyp t i n
9
R si n xp l i n d 3 9 f
es e

war-go d

1 2

ee

ro n

a a

are

2,

1 1

1 1

a e e

.,

o z e na

ro n

e e

e e

a a aea

o o

a e

or

ro

ee

22, 2

so

a e o

a e,

a ee

ae

as, I

so

os

ae

1 00

o f,

va

no

e,

1 o,

e a

e e

e,

a ea

e,

ll

108

mi t h s

er

es e c

es o

49f

76,

22,

and

Yah w e i n

vid n c i n P o v
e

on

2.

63

3 1 , 4o

Ar bi n pr duct

1 00

51

W ellhause n Ju l
W i n c kle r
u go
W i sd o m a N
,

1 23

e a e

ey o f s

ae

58 ,

Va

ea

a o

e e

e naz z ar. 1

Bo o

ar a s

a,

it

Sam ri Sam it n S Shi mr n

im
S hi m
San b ll t 3 8 f 4 5
S ph th 4 4 9 56
3
Sch mi dt N
6
Sch m i d l P W 6 3
S nn ch rib 8 5
Sh bb th i 3 4 f 6 6
Sh lm n s r 8 5
Sh
5
Sh shb zz r 5
Sh th r b
i
8f
5f
Shi mr n S him i m
4
Si m n P t r S P t r
Si m n th C n n n 6
Si m n th L p r 6
Si m ps n D C 8 f :
Smi t h P f W B 3 6 4 5 6 3
(
)
S n g f S l m n i s i t dr m a ? 7 4
b s d n p p u l r Ad n i s
ng ? 7 4
pl c f it c mp i ti n 7 5j :
St d B 9
)
T b l
9
T ttanai
3
T h dd us
59 f
Th m
59
T i gri s i n T bi t 9 6
th n ic c nn xi n
T bi h hi s
39
lit 97
n f T bi t an I s r
hi s d g 97
a

i ts ri d cultur 8
E gyp t i n i nu n c
bl
t tr c
9
H ll n ic d t il b ut th d g 97
I r n i n l m nts x gg r t d
i ts thic l d p nd n c
Ab ikar
94
N Ar bi n b ck gr und 9 6 :
i nt r st i n w rk s f m cy p i
lly i th buri l f b d i f
d d Isr li t s 8 5:
T rr y C C
6f
3 6
46 f
5
To b

c cles

81
7 8f :

hi s s p c ts w i s
G d
3
th
nt i t h s i s f th E v il P w r
Y ahm
l b c m s th E v il P w r
b tt r k n wn a B li l ( B li )
Stn
Y
h
lit
th ir wi sd m 7 8 ;
c pi d b y I sr li t i bi
i
clud d s kill i n cursi n g 7 6
myst ri s f t h ir g
t G d Ya
h m
48
p i nt d t d ark ly b y pr ph ts f
I sr l 8
Z cch us
6
Z ru bb b l 7
8
o ne o f

10

ar

1 02

er

e e

era ni e e
o

a a

or

1 02

es ,

ae

rea

ae

oo

ae

'

e s,

a e

F R ES H

1 76

VO VA GE S

B IBL I C A L R E F E R E N C E S , E T C

II

r I c nf ss h p fus s f ll w h guidi g wi ll Th n mb r f r f nc s
is gr t I th r f r b g h r d r m rk wi th c l ur d p nci l in h m rgi h
r f r nc s Th r is much tr c ing f supp d rig in l t t fr m
m st im
und r sup ri cumb nt w ight f M ss r tic c nj ctur b
much
Pr f
M rt i w ul d c n n h im s l f wi th in h n rr w st p s i b l l i mi ts b
t h r is m n
d h st d y sc nt i c r st
ti n ft r which I h v
b tw n h M ss r t i c r wri t i ng
im d I d
d spis h f rm r ; i t g iv s wh t rly ch l rs th ught th t h
ri gin l wri t rs w ul d h v s id h d th y u vi v d ; b f h h ist
f
l i
h
w rk I h v d n is sur ly indisp ns b l S furth r I n r ducti n !b s c n di ti n
T h i s is why I b g h stud nt
t k much tr ub l d m rk d
f my P
lt
cl ss fy h c rr c t i ns B I t rust I sh ll b r b r v ly wh t r l m b min v n
f ll w sch l rs sh ul d b in v i n L ik Arjun in
f
I ndi n pi cs
if t h is p
B
h s yi n g r m i ns ru
m c nt nding wi h my fri n d s
I sh ri nk
f h s rr ws w h i ch I h v i n my h rt
I
h mu l t i tu d
Thy c mf rts h v r fr sh d m y s ul
He

e,

ea

so

rtant

x viii

G ENES I S
p 8
.

21

4,

iv

iii

7,

9,

7,

on

o ne o

ea

an

e, e

to

e , an

ot

Z E C H AR i A H

p 8
i 8
ii
iv 4 p
ii
p 8
vi
p 9
"
I
99
5
:
xii
p 36
1 1

1 1

1 2,

10

1 1

1 1

61

ES

DR

AS

E M IA H

1 2,

iv

16

4.

81

EL

C LA R K , L I M ITE D ,

68

xiii 8 p 7
xvi
6 p
x vii 6 p 7
xvi i 5 9 p 7
xx 8 p 6 9
xxi 7 p 7
xxii 5 p 7
1

69

1 2, 1

E ND

OH

20,

4,

TH E

P ri n ted by

ii

64

A N N I NE
APOC AL YP S E

46

6,

IEL

x iii

H SEA
.

3 0 . P 99

11

46
Z

xii

P S A L M I S OLO M O N IS

20

AS

EE
x x vn .

2 5- 3 6 ,

xi

DR

JE

p 7
N E E M IAH
.

ES

iv

8
ZR

11 '

to

a e

re

a eve
e

H R O N CL

in 3 4 . P 3 4
1x
44 ' p 59

20

1 2,

K I NG

4,

a e

ea

o a

t o

no

e e

xviii
xix

10

22

or t

a e

ut

to

t e

ut

ea

K NG

ea

a e

ee ,

e.

o ra

ex

to o

ut

n t e

u t no t

ie

e e re

t e

o se

e,

os

s r

t e

O HU

ii 1 6 p 2 0
i v 4 2v 6 p 1 2
vi 1 2 p 1 3
1
vi 2 8 p 1 4 ( n )
v iii 44 p 3 1

p
S AMUE L

23 ,

e o

ea

39,

o a

ut

n t

XXXV

to

22,

10

a t

o e

t e

an

er.

iv

t e

a e

o o

ex

e e

sa

no t

to

o e

t e

ea

ee

to

t e

e e e

e n re

e e o e

t e

RETURN

C IRC ULATIO N DEPA RTM ENT

Al l BO O KS MA Y BE

RECALLED A FTER 7

rg

e ne

Bo o

wa
s

s a nd

m ay b e

R
R

e c ha
e ne

es

DA S

r rt

m ay b e m ade 4 days p io

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we d b y c a i ng

t he d ue dat e

642-34 05

DUE AS STAM PED BELO W

UNIVERS ITY O F CALIFO RNIA BERKELEY

,

FO RM NO

D06

BERKELEY CA 9 4 7 20
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