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commendation', `a letter to a man in money difficulties', and `a letter
describing a journey up the Nile', and such items as `a marriage contract'
and a `contract of apprenticeship'.
Three most useful indexes are given. (1) Over 700 Greek words, (2)
Biblical References and (3) Subjects in English. This little book can be
seen at times for a few shillings second-hand and should not be passed over
by the student of the Greek New Testament.
Another useful little work is From Egyptian Rubbish -Heaps by James
Hope Moulton.
This book is made up of five popular lectures, together with a sermon:
(1)
Egyptian rubbish -heaps and the study of the New Testament.
(2)
A sheaf of old letters from Egypt.
(3)
Some sidelights upon Paul.
(4)
How we got our gospels.
(5)
The Fulness of the Time.
(6)
The New Song.
Light from Ancient Letters, by Henry C. Meecham, B.A. is another very
useful contribution to the value of the Papyri. Chapter 3 of this book is
devoted to the Vocabulary, and is divided into four sections.
(1)
Explanatory parallels to New Testament words and phrases.
(2)
Words used in an extended or distinctive sense.
(3)
Current phrases or formulae.
(4)
Miscellaneous.
Chapter 4 examines the grammar of the Papyri in order to a fuller
understanding of the New Testament, and gives examples of pronouns, adverbs,
prepositions, cases, tenses, moods and verbal formations.
In the conclusion, Meecham warns the reader that scholars of repute
think that Deissmann and Moulton went too far in eliminating the influence of
the Hebrew upon the Greek of the New Testament which warning it is well to
remember. We have also stressed the extreme value of the Septuagint in our
own writings. The Papyri must be allowed their full place, but enthusiasm
over a new discovery must not blind the eyes to the place and value of other
evidences.
A study of any of the books will impress the reader with the fact that
no attempt to arrive at the meaning of New Testament Greek can ever commend
itself to the well instructed believer, unless it takes into account, and
that very seriously, the testimony that is given by these letters and other
documents written at the same time and in the same language as that employed
by the writers of the New Testament; this, together with a working
acquaintance with the Septuagint, would preserve the student from fanciful
interpretations either of his own or offered to him by present -day writers.
Some Aids to the Knowledge of the Hebrew Old Testament for English Readers
Among the helps that are available for the understanding of the Hebrew
of the Old Testament must be mentioned two, the first being The Bible
Student's Concordance, by Aaron Pick, published in 1845. The book is
arranged alphabetically, the English word being given, and then the various