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1850.]

Explanation of Gen. 49: 10.

171

v. 4. is in apposition with in and defines it more exactly; it is not necessary to repeat the preposition, Ewald § 605, ed. 1835. Not to partake of blood was one of the most stringent prohibitions among the precepts relating to food, comp. Lev. 3: 17. 7: 23. 1 Sam. 14: 32. Acts 15: 20, 29. It was thought that the blood was the seat of life. Lev. 17: 11, "The life of the flesh is in its blood."

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to require from, to punish bloodshed, to avenge murder, Ps. 9: 13. V. 5," for your lives," Dative of advantage, in order to preserve life, for your safety; see the parallel passages Deut. 4: 15. Josh. 23: 11.

and serves to bring ,מִיַּד אָדָם is coordinate with the preceding אִישׁ אָחִיו

out and define the thought., every one, Ewald § 553, is placed first by emphasis. V. 6. 7 is emphatic and therefore precedes. "Whoso sheddeth,” Part. in the widest sense; the reason too is alike and to the same extent, applicable to all ages. Man is made in the image of God. In the commission of murder, that image is defaced; an insult is, as it were, offered to God's majesty. This injury can be repaired only by the death of the murderer. So the argument founded on the paternal relation of man to man is alike applicable to all ages. For a further exposition of this passage, see B. S. IV. 270.

V. GENESIS CH. XLIX. v. 10.

"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,

Nor the staff from between his feet,

Until rest shall come,

And unto it shall be the obedience of the nations."

"Judah shall possess an eternal kingdom. In him shall be fulfilled the highest blessings of the Pentateuch; not merely kings and whole nations shall descend from Abraham's race; sorrowfully will Israel for a long time be deprived of kings, Gen. 36: 31; the related tribe of Edomites had kings earlier than Israel; the promises will not be thus limited. As the promises made to Abraham culminated in Jacob, so Jacob's blessings culminate in Judah, yet the crown of all lies in Judah's glorious, eternal kingdom. This is the root of the Messiannic idea, the germ of that which subsequently became a personal Messiah. Never shall the sceptre depart from Judah; the royal power for Judah shall never fail, nor the staff, the royal sceptre, from between his feet." PR

means, first, a lawgiver, ruler, Deut. 33: 21, Judges 5: 14; second, the instrument which the ruler uses, Num. 21: 18. Ps. 60: 9, the staff of office, the sceptre. Those who interpret it lawgiver, ruler, understand it as a euphemism: from his posterity a ruler shall never fail. In support of it, appeal is made to Deut. 28: 57. But there the

expression "between the feet," is used of a woman who brings forth, and is not pertinent here. The meaning staff, also, corresponds to sceptre in the other clause. With oriental monarchs the sceptre rests between the feet. They are represented sitting or standing with the emblem of authority resting between their feet. Thus king Agamemnon leans on his sceptre, when he utters his decisions, Il. II. 100. On the ruins of Persepolis, a Persian king appears sitting on the throne, and at his feet he holds a large royal sceptre, Niebuhr's Travels II. tab. 29. "Till the time of rest, or rest comes." There are three principal explanations of ib. 1. Many MSS. read without the "; the word however is written defectively for rib; but some are thus induced to alter the vowels and read rib, i. e. ribus, for, “until he comes to whom it belongs." But there is no necessity for altering the vowels. Ezek. 21: 32, without doubt refers to this passage, where

corresponds to rib in our passage, for peace will be established through righteousness. The abbreviated form of belongs, too, with few exceptions, to the later books, Ges. § 36, Ewald § 463. 2. Others take the word for a proper name Shiloh, "until he (Judah, or they) comes to Shiloh. Tuch renders: "so long, or so often as, they come to Shiloh, i. e. forever," the author believing that the sanctuary would be permanent in Shiloh. But Shiloh as a place is not mentioned in Genesis; it occurs, indeed, in the later history, in the time of the Judges, but it has little historical importance; there is nothing decisive in the later Hebrew history which would lead one to suppose that here such stress was laid on the possession of Shiloh. Besides, the wholly general character of our prophecy does not accord with the mentioning of such a place as Shiloh and the abode of the sanctuary there; the sacred character of it was rather temporary than permanent. 3. The right explanation is probably that which makes it an appellative noun from to be at rest; it is formed after the analogy of the abstraet nouns and . It has been taken in a personal sense, referring to the Messiah, as pacificator, prince of peace; but the thought appears to be expressed more in general, abstractly; it thus agrees with the parallelism. We have accordingly the meaning, rest, condition of peace, until a peaceful time shall begin. until his dominion shall become one of peace, comp. Ps. 110: 1. p is an old verb to be obedient, from which comes, Const., Daghesh Forte Euphonic, comp. v. 17, Ges. § 20. 2. b. And to it all nations shall be obedient, Ps. 2: 1. The point is that all nations shall obey. means,

not tribes, but nations in general. In v. 8, Judah is represented as having power over his enemies. See the Commentaries of Tuch 1838, Baumgarten 1843, and Hävernick's Lectures on Theology, etc. 1848, p. 214.

1850.]

Libraries in Boston and its Vicinity.

173

ARTICLE IX.

LIBRARIES IN BOSTON AND ITS VICINITY.

We have taken some pains to ascertain the number and general character of the Public Libraries in Boston and in the towns within thirty or forty miles. Our general object is to know how far there are facilities in this part of the country for prosecuting studies of a literary, scientific, and theological character. For progress in investigation in any department of knowledge it is necessary to ascertain where the implements and materials may be found, whether there is more than one specimen or set of them, and whether they are accessible to the public or not. It is not enough to be acquainted with the existence or the number of volumes in our libraries. We need to know whether there are duplicates of important works, so that an exchange may be made, whether all our libraries may not be destitute of some works of great cost and of great utility, whether there may not be a mutual understanding in regard to the supply of deficiencies, whether all the libraries may not be safely used by a far greater number of people than are now admitted to them, etc. We cannot undertake to answer these questions, but we may perhaps make a beginning. If our Article shall suggest the importance of a common Catalogue of the most rare and valuable books to be found in all the public libraries of New England, as an instance of what a mutual good understanding and cooperation might effect, we shall be satisfied.

LIBRARY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

The library of Harvard college was destroyed by fire in 1764. It was a valuable collection of more than 5000 volumes. A new library was immediately commenced, and, through the liberality of the General Courts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, of Thomas Hollis of London, of the Society for Propagating the Gospel, and of other enlightened Societies and individuals, rapidly increased, so that in 1790, when a catalogue was printed, it consisted of about 12,000 volumes. To the noble munificence and fatherly care of Hollis, the library and the college owe a great debt of obligation. His deeds place him among the most honored benefactors of man. Among his benefactions was a splendid, large paper, loyal copy of Walton's Polyglott. In Giggeius' Thesaur. Ling. Arab., he mentions that he was particularly industrious in collecting grammars and lexicons,

of the oriental root languages, so that he might be the means, with others, "of forming a few prime scholars, honors to their country and lights to mankind." In 1772, Thomas Palmer of Boston, afterwards of London, gave to the library The Antiquities of Herculaneum and Piranesi's Views of Rome in 20 fol. vols. At his death in 1820, he added nearly 1200 "choice and costly" volumes. Through the liberality of Hon. Israel Thorndike of Boston, the library of Prof. Ebeling, of Hamburg, was purchased and given to Harvard college. It contained more than 3200 volumes, consisting chiefly of the most important works on American History, in several languages, with a collection of 10,000 maps, charts, and views, probably unrivalled by any other collection on the same subject. Samuel A. Eliot of Boston made an important addition to the works on America by the donation of Mr. Warden's valuable collection of nearly 1200 vols., besides maps, prints, and charts. His brother, Wm. H. Eliot, gave to the library, the "Description de l'Egypte." Among some of the more valuable books now belonging to the library, besides those already named, are the Transactions of the French Academies, of St. Petersburgh, Madrid, Lisbon, Berlin, Göttingen, Turin, Royal Society of London, Royal Irish, etc.; The Acta Eruditorum in 93 vols.; The Biographie Universelle ; Hansard's Parliamentary Debates; The Complutensian, Paris, and Walton's Polyglotts (of the last, both a loyal and a republican copy); Bibliothek Schönen Wissenschaften, etc., Leips., 52 vols.; some of the early editions of the English Bible; the Works of the Greek and Latin Fathers, some of them in various editions.

The library-building, Gore Hall, was commenced in 1837. It is built of Sienite, or Quincy granite, in the form of a Latin cross, the length of the body being 140 feet, and that of the transepts 81 feet. The interior is 112 feet long and 35 feet high. The books are placed in the alcoves, which are formed by partitions running from the columns to the walls. These partitions rise from the floor to the ceiling, 35 feet, and this space is divided by a gallery 12 feet from the floor. The cost is stated to have been $70,000.

The volumes in the library were counted July 11, 1849, and found to be 35,605. Including the additions since made, the number may be put down at 56,000. This includes the bound manuscripts. The unbound pamphlets and serial works are estimated, exclusive of duplicates, to be 25,000. They probably exceed this number. No enumeration of MSS., separate from the foregoing, has been made. In 1819, seven Greek MSS. were procured in Constantinople, one a fragment of an Evangelistary, probably of the 9th century. There are some Latin MSS., and several oriental MSS., in Arabic, Persian, Hindoostanee, Japanese, etc.

1850.]

Harvard College Library.

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Of Roman coins and medals, the library has 671 in copper, 43 in silver, and 1 in gold. Of ancient coins other than Roman, 8. There are about 500 modern coins of all sorts, and 35 modern medals. The annual increase of the library, since 1832, has been as follows: "For the years ending

July 13,1832, 1299 vols. and 255 pamp.'s, includ. 502 vols. and 190 p.'s given. ,, 12,1833, 602

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As the books bought for the last seven years have been procured with the money subscribed in 1842, they are to be considered as donations; so that all the additions since 1842 are strictly gifts. The only permanent fund for the increase of the library yields $450 per annum. In 1842, the sum of $22,000 was raised by subscription, to be applied to the purchase of books, but not as a permanent fund. This sum is now reduced to $5,883, which will probably be entirely expended in the course of two or three years. Among the late additions are works in modern English Literature, German Literature with the Classical and other departments, Scientific Works, etc. T. W. Harris, M. D., librarian.

The Theological library consists of select works, mostly in modern theology, with some of the early Fathers in the original. The Law library contains most of the valuable works in English and American Law, and in the Civil Law.

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