concerning the actual text with which the labours of the Sopherim were

occupied; and for this we must turn to the various ancient versions.

The Samaritan Pentateuch.  Within the strict meaning of the word, this is not

a version at all, for it is written in ancient Hebrew, being the oldest

manuscript containing the Hebrew text in existence.  It is mentioned by

Eusebius, Cyril and Jerome, and a considerable range of opinion

has from time to time been expressed as to its age and authority.  This is

not the place to bring forward the arguments involved in so technical a

subject, and we can only state the result.  In spite of the arguments of

Gesenius, the most reasonable hypothesis dates the Samaritan Pentateuch some

time after the schism of the tribes under Rehoboam.  When the various

characteristics of the Samaritan Pentateuch are considered, they appear to

fit the circumstances indicated in 2 Kings 17:24-41 very closely.  After the

division of Israel, the ten tribes were taken away captive into Assyria, and

instead of the children of Israel, men of other nations were placed by the

Assyrian king in the cities of Samaria.  These people feared not the Lord,

and were moved to petition the king by reason of lions that slew some of

them.  Their petition was as follows:

'The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of

Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore He hath

sent lions among them' (2 Kings 17:26).

In answer to this petition the king of Assyria sent back one of

lsrael's priests that he should teach the people the fear of the Lord.  It is

almost certain that this priest took back with him the law of Moses, so that

the Samaritans should be taught, as they put it, 'the manner of the God of

the land'.

The grammatical revision is of about the same stage as the Hebrew of

the time of Hezekiah, and some adjustments to the Samaritan dialect occur in

the narratives of Elijah and Elisha.  But these changes are too highly

technical to consider in detail.  The introduction of square Hebrew letters

into the Hebrew mss probably originated in the Jewish revulsion against

anything Samaritan.  The Samaritan Pentateuch is in the older form of Hebrew

such as is found in the Siloam inscription, and for this reason was set

The importance, too, of the Samaritan Pentateuch is considerably

lessened by the fact that the part of the Old Testament which is in the best

state of preservation is the Pentateuch, so that the manuscript gives most

light where it is not so urgently needed.  We leave, therefore, this ancient

witness for one that is more valuable -- the version of the Old Testament

known as the Septuagint, often indicated by the letters LXX.

The Septuagint.  Most readers are acquainted with the traditional

origin of the Septuagint, and the story of the seventy-two translators and

their miraculous agreement.  For our present purpose it will be sufficient to

say that the LXX version was made in Egypt by Alexandrian Jews, and that it

was in use a century before Christ.  It became the Bible of the Greek-

speaking Jews, and was used in Palestine as well as in the countries of the

dispersion.  At the time of Christ, Greek was the literary language of

Palestine, Aramaic the spoken language, Hebrew being known only to the Rabbis

and their students.  A very large proportion of the Old Testament quotations

that are given in the New Testament are from the LXX, and particularly is