God in the Old Testament;studies in gradual perception,
Aytoun, Robert Alexander, 1879-1920
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V „■»? * v'. ° 1^ ^ <1 r « ^v1 Selly Oak Colleges Publications No. i GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT SELLY OAK COLLEGES CENTRAL COUNCIL PUBLICATIONS. Edited for the Selly Oak Colleges by W. FEARON HALLIDAY, WM. F. HARVEY, JOHN C. KYDD, NATHANIEL MICKLEM, HERBERT G. WOOD. List of the Series : I.— GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. By R. A. Aytoun, M.A. II— TOM BRYAN : FIRST WARDEN OF FIRCROFT. By H. G. Wood, M.A. and A. E. Ball, B.A. III.— THE GOSPEL OF JESUS IN THE LIGHT OF THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. By Albert Schweitzer, Dr. Theol., Dr. Med., Dr. Phil., of Strassbourg. [Ready shortly .] The Central Council of the Selly Oak Colleges publishes works by its staff, its old students and associates , as it deems desirable , without committing itself to any opinions expressed. ' H. J. Whitlock & Sons! ROBERT AYTOUN [Birmingham GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES IN GRADUAL PERCEPTION BY THE I-ATE ROBERT ALEXANDER AYTOUN, M.A. % i 7 FIRST PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT LITERATURE AND RELIGION AT THE SELLY OAK COLLEGES. WITH MEMOIR BY H. G. WOOD, M.A. > > NEW '^XW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 1923 :&TV\ ELIZABETH, JOANNA ET ALISON AYTOUN EX VOTO PATRIS Gift Publish®? m $i82i PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY HEADLEY BROTHERS, INVICTA PRESS, ASHFORD, KENT. CONTENTS PAGE MEMOIR i-xiv Chapter I INTRODUCTION A. — Aim of the Book ------ g B. — Statement as to Critical Views Assumed - n 1. The Growth of Old Testament Literature - u 2. Approximate Order and Chronology of the Old Testament Scriptures 13 3.  THEIR TRACES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT A. — Crude Conceptions in their Proper Perspective. 16 B. — Limited Conceptions of Jahveh 18 1. Jahveh as Tribal -. 18 2. Jahveh as Territorial. 20 3. Jahveh Enthroned in the Heavens - - 22 5 6 CONTENTS Chapter III PRIMITIVE ERRONEOUS CONCEPTIONS OF GOD ( continued ) PAGE A. — Materialistic Conceptions of the Nature of Jahveh ------- 24 1. Anthropomorphic Ideas 24 2. Gross Ideas related to Sacrifice - - - 24 3. Images of Jahveh ----- 26 4. Meaning of the name Jahveh - - - 28 5. Jahveh — a  of the Character of Jahveh ------ 33 1. Jahveh Antagonistic to Foes of Israel - - 33 2. Jahveh Vindictive ----- 34 3. Jahveh Ruthless ----- 34 4. Jahveh Dangerous ----- 35 Chapter IV HIGHER PRE-PROPHETIC CONCEPTIONS OF GOD A. — Advance from Polytheism to Monolatry - 38 B. — Belief in the Personality of God - - 41 C. — Gradual Apprehension of the Spirituality of God - -- -- --42 D. — Belief in Moral Nature of God - - - 46 Chapter V FROM MONOLATRY TO MONOTHEISM A. — Overthrow of Pluralism in Jahveh Worship 49 B. — Apprehension of the Supremacy and Unique¬ ness of Jahveh. 52 CONTENTS 7 Chapter VI _ PAGE REALISATION THAT GOD IS SPIRIT A. — From the Visible Symbol to the Unseen Presence ------- 62 B. — From the Anthropomorphic to the Transcen¬ dent ------- 66 C. — From the Outward and Material to the Inward and Spiritual 68 Chapter VII THE UNIVERSALITY OF GOD A. — From the Local to the Universal 76 B. — From the Land of the Living to the Regions Beyond -------81 C. — From the Tribal to the Universal - - 89 Chapter VIII THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD A. — The Significance of the Righteousness of God ------- 94 1. Jahveh’s demand for righteousness from His people. 94 2. Jahveh’s endeavours to make His people righteous ------ 99 3. The Righteousness of Jahveh’s Character and of His dealings ----- IOo B. — The Quality of the Righteousness of God - 101 1. Righteousness  OF GOD A. — Retribution and Reward - 106 1. According to Works and Impartial - - 106 2. For Individuals as well as for Communities - 109 3. Problems of Apparent Injustice - - - m Chapter X THE JUSTICE OF GOD {continued) A. — The Problem of Divine Justice in the Psalms. 113 B— The Problem of Divine Justice in Job and Isaiah liii. 120 Chapter XI THE LOVE OF GOD A. — The Basis and Content of the Love of God - 132 B. — The Depth and Length of the Love of God - 138 Chapter XII THE LOVE OF GOD [continued] A. — The Fatherhood of God - 144 B. — The Breadth of the Love of God - - 147 Chapter XIII CONCLUSION. 155 INDEX. — (a). Scripture references - 159 (b). Other references - 162 MEMOIR The use of the Old Testament in religious training is still a problem, both to teachers and parents. There is a tendency in some quarters to ignore the Old Testa¬ ment or to use it only as a foil to the New. This is unfortunate as the positive contribution of the Hebrew Scriptures to the maintenance of personal religion is far greater than such neglect or depreciation would suggest. In dealing with this problem we need a combination of critical honesty and fearlessness with a sense of continued indebtedness to the record of God’s progressive revelation. Such a union of criticism and devotion may be found in the present volume. It is the work of one who was himself a thoughtful, experienced and inspiring teacher. The manuscript was left practically complete but not finally revised by the author when he was taken from us by an early death. i 11 MEMOIR Robert Alexander Aytoun was born in Fraser¬ burgh, Aberdeenshire, on February 22nd, 1879, the son of Robert and Mary Aytoun. His mother’s maiden name was Laing. He belonged on his father’s side to an old and distinguished Scottish family which can trace its forebears back to Saxon times. The out¬ standing names on the family-list are connected either with military service or with literature. Andrew Aytoun was governor of Stirling Castle, in the time of King James IV. He and his son, John, fell with the king and the flower of Scottish nobility at Flodden Field in 1513. The long line of Aytouns who have been soldiers has been honourably closed with the name of Robert Aytoun’s brother Ernest, who was killed in the Great War. Robert himself was interested in things martial. When at Cambridge he joined the University Rifle Volunteer Corps, and became what was familiarly called a “ Bugshooter.” His health would always have unfitted him for active service, and he later came to doubt the lawfulness of war for a Christian. But he retained many of the soldier’s virtues, and above all, the virtue of loyalty. On the literary side, the most distinguished names in the Aytoun family are those of two poets. One, Sir Robert Aytoun, was Court-poet to James VI of Scotland and I of England, while the second was William Edmondstoun Aytoun, the well-known author of “ Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers.” Though Robert Aytoun was not himself a poet, something of this gift descended to him. He was a keen musician with some power of composing. To discuss music with him was always stimulating, and MEMOIR m to listen to him as he improvised on the organ or piano was a great delight. Perhaps the sense of harmony and rhythm which dwelt in him helped to determine his critical interests. At least he followed closely the metrical developments of Biblical criticism and some of his own technical papers, published and unpublished, are devoted to questions of poetic form. One of the most daring and suggestive of his enquiries of this kind was his attempt to discover Hebrew Hymns of the Nativity in the opening chapters of Luke's Gospel. The paper appeared in the Journal of Theological Studies for July, 1917. His work as a Biblical critic shows some trace of the poetic genius which appeared in other members of the family. The main branch of the Aytoun family, of which Robert Aytoun was the head at the time of his death, was descended from a younger son of Andrew Aytoun, — a Robert Aytoun who held the estates of Inchdairnie and Balgregie in Fifeshire. These family estates would normally have come into Robert Aytoun’s possession, but his father never received them as the previous occupier diverted them into other channels. Had there been an entail, Robert Aytoun would probably have been a Scottish laird and might never have been a Presbyterian minister. For himself he did not regret the chance that deprived him of wealth and the responsibility of landed property. He was prouder of his calling as teacher and minister of the Gospel than of the position he might have held as landowner in Fifeshire. His boyhood was spent south of the border. His father was a civil engineer, and held for some years an IV MEMOIR appointment at Scarborough under the corporation. In this capacity he was responsible for the construction of the main sea-wall at Scarborough and for the draining of the Clarence Gardens. His son’s early days were thus spent in Scarborough and the boy’s first schooling was received there. Later Mr. Aytoun moved south and his son, Robert, went to Tonbridge School. From Ton- bridge, Robert Aytoun matriculated at London, and then entered Aberdeen University on a Scholarship in 1897. The winning of a further substantial scholarship enabled him to go to Cambridge in 1899. He went up to Emmanuel College in that year. The Puritan and Evangelical traditions of Emmanuel were con¬ genial to one whose mind was already drawn to the ministry. He naturally decided to read for the Theological Tripos. This brought him under the influence of the late Professor H M. Gwatkin, who did so much to broaden and illumine the study of Church History for many generations of Cambridge men. Like many others, Robert Aytoun fell under the spell, and much of his keen interest in Church History dates from his attendance at Gwatkin’s lectures, — an interest that was to bear fruit later in his book, “ The City-centres of Christianity.” His scholastic career was successful and happy. He became a Scholar of his college, and he took the theological tripos in 1902. Having graduated, he applied for admission to Westminster College, — the Theological College of the Presbyterian Church of England, which had recently moved from London to Cambridge. At the time when Robert Aytoun entered it, Dr. Oswald Dykes was Principal of the College. Perhaps, the finest MEMOIR v side of Dykes’ influence lay in the high value he set on preaching. He was himself a great preacher, and he put high ideals before his students. Aytoun’s love of preaching, and care in preaching owed something to contact with Principal Dykes. But the chief formative influence in his time at Westminster was that of John Skinner, then Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Literature and later successor to Dr. Dykes as Principal. Dr. Skinner strengthened all Aytoun’s interest in the literature and language of the Old Testament. But more than that, he deepened the fearless fidelity to truth which Aytoun carried into all his thought and faith thereafter. Dr. Skinner helped him to realise the religious significance of that patient endeavour after accuracy which is perhaps the best gift of Cambridge to her sons and daughters. While at Cambridge, Robert Aytoun formed the desire to serve abroad as a missionary, and at the close of his ministerial training he offered for work in China under the Presbyterian Board of Missions. The work he contemplated was connected with a missionary college in Amoy. If he had been able to go, he would have been head of the College, and engaged in work such as he would have loved, at once missionary and educational. But his application had to be refused on grounds of health. He was unusually tall, and had probably outgrown his strength. In any case, his heart was not strong enough for the strain of work abroad, and he turned his thoughts once more to the home-ministry. He received his licence to preach at Sunderland in 1906, and in the same year he went as assistant to Dr. John Watson (“ Ian Maclaren ) VI MEMOIR at Sefton Park Presbyterian Church, Liverpool. Un¬ happily, this association was broken by Dr. Watson’s death in 1907. Aytoun had full charge of the church in the interval that followed before Dr. Watson’s successor was appointed. The burden proved too heavy, and early in 1908, there occurred something in the nature of a breakdown, and Aytoun had to look for some work less exhausting nervously than the ministry of a city Church. It was in the Summer of 1908, that a vacancy occurred on the staff at Wood- brooke, and Aytoun was invited to fill it. The post offered to him combined the duties of lecturer and resident tutor at Holland House, — the men’s house at Woodbrooke. The acceptance of this invitation paved the way for his marriage, since the residence and the position were suited to a married man. In September, 1908, Robert Aytoun married Dorothy Henderson, of London, and in the autumn, they settled down in the new home and to the new work. From the first they made their home the centre of quiet hospitality and friendship which many genera¬ tions of Woodbrookers remember it to have been. Woodbrooke itself made varied calls upon its lecturers. The house and grounds had been placed by Mr. George Cadbury at the disposal of a group of Friends for the purpose of an experiment in religious education. It had been opened in 1903 as a permanent settlement for religious and social study. It was more of a College than a Settlement in the accepted use of the term, and yet it was not an ordinary College, since the students might be of any age from eighteen to eighty, and of either sex, and might stay for any MEMOIR • • Vll length of time from a week to a year, and the lecturers were not bound by any examination-syllabus. These characteristics were involved in the nature of the experiment, the aim of which might be described briefly as the strengthening of lay-Christianity. There was then a great variety of need among the students and considerable elasticity in the programme. Under the leadership of Dr. J. Rendel Harris, Woodbrooke, while retaining much of its early delightful freedom, was by this time finding its main lines of study. It was drawing other institutions round it. Kingsmead, the Friends’ Foreign Missionary Association Training College, and Wes thill, an institution for the training of Sunday School Teachers and the promotion of Sunday School reform, had already been opened, and were send¬ ing their students to Woodbrooke, especially for Bible Study. Social studies had received an impetus from the starting of the Social Study Diploma at Birming¬ ham University, and this side of Woodbrooke interests was being pushed forward by the enthusiasm of J. St. George Heath. When Aytoun joined the staff, the requirements of the students were becoming more strictly defined, and it was soon found that his main work would lie in teaching the Old Testament. He gave occasional courses on New Testament subjects and he lectured regularly on early Church History and on Chinese Religions, but the History of Israel and the religion of the prophets were to be his great themes. Of the influence of Rendel Harris upon Robert Aytoun, it is permissible to say a word or two. Rendel Harris, himself a bom teacher, was able at Woodbrooke Vlll MEMOIR to develop teaching gifts in others. He did this even more by example than by counsel. Like other colleagues and disciples of Dr. Harris, Robert Aytoun learnt from him something of the secret of accom¬ modating his pace to men of little knowledge and of interesting at the same time the eager and advanced. He learnt also to mingle humour with theology. It was not a case of imitating the Doctor’s methods, but the atmosphere of spiritual freedom and of interest in persons in which the Doctor lived, enabled a responsive Woodbrooke lecturer to find his own liberty and his own best approach to the minds of his students. Aytoun ’s lectures were marked by great clearness and were delivered somewhat deliberately. He took great pains to avoid misunderstandings and to enable beginners to grasp the true nature of the problems with which they were dealing. He had great sym¬ pathy with slow-moving minds, and was endlessly patient. At the same time the more advanced students found him a great inspiration and a mine of knowledge and wisdom. One who was associated with him for years in advanced class-work writes : “ What I should like to have said deals with his methods of study : those who attended his lectures heard the result : in the long years of private coaching I have learnt the previous part, the habits of mind, the attitude towards study and the meaning of a scholar’s patience and courage and integrity. It is not subject-matter alone he had to teach, but the better part, the subduing of the mind to the demands of Truth.” Another advanced student, a minister who did a good deal of work at Woodbrooke while in the MEMOIR IX neighbourhood, wrote to Aytoun as follows at the close of a Summer term. “ Many thanks for return of papers and for your very kind note. It is so like you to thank me for working with you — still you must know that you have done all the giving and I have week by week taken from your store. It has been such a help to me to meet you and I shall always think of you when I read that great New Testament phrase, ' in the meekness of wisdom. ’ It is such a joy in working with you to know that you understand the difficulties of a working minister and thus you have been able to look kindly upon my short comings.” The meekness of wisdom Robert Aytoun possessed in a pre-eminent degree, and this enabled him to appeal both to the simple and the learned. The letter just quoted emphasises Robert Aytoun \s power of sympathy. Naturally his experience at Liverpool fitted him more especially to enter into a minister’s difficulties. But there was not a side of Woodbrooke interests which he did not share. It is true that the Quaker atmosphere of Woodbrooke never induced him to abandon his clerical collar and did not destroy his faith in the regular paid ministry. But he had a keen appreciation of the Quaker tradi¬ tion, nevertheless, and was always concerned for the maintenance and development of Quakerism at, and through Woodbrooke. He joined gladly and help¬ fully in worship after the manner of Friends, and steadily furthered the aim of Woodbrooke to strengthen the Society. Somewhat similarly, he followed with a lively interest the work of Westhill for the reform of the Sunday School. In at least one course of lectures 2 X MEMOIR each term, he considered especially the needs of Sunday School teachers, and he entered readily into Mr. Archibald’s plans for directing the attention of min¬ isters to Sunday School problems. Kingsmead had attracted him from the first since the missionary task of the Church always lay close to his heart. He followed new developments sympathetically. When Fircroft was opened in 1909, as a kind of people’s High School, no one welcomed the experiment more gladly. He did not have much direct contact with Fircroft itself, but he was for a number of years President and Leader of the Adult School which met at Fircroft on Sundays. Here his gifts as a teacher were put to good use, and his loyalty to democracy made evident. His adult scholars still remember the thoroughness with which he went with them into their problems intellectual and practical. But perhaps no new development pleased him more than the found¬ ing of Carey Hall in 1912. Carey Hall is a College for women missionaries, in which the Baptist Mission¬ ary Society, the London Missionary Society and the Women’s Missionary Association of the Presbyterian Church of England unite. The new College had a three-fold appeal to him. It was missionary : it was a definite Interdenominational effort : and his own Church, the Presbyterian Church of England, was in it. He acted as chaplain to the College, and served on the Board of Studies and it would be difficult to say how much the new experiment owed to his sympathy and breadth of vision. In 1914, the Aytouns moved from Holland House to a house on the Bristol Road, opposite Woodbrooke, called MEMOIR xi “ Oaklands," now the men’s Hostel of Westhill. The move was advantageous as it gave them a more secluded home-life. Their eldest daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1913 and seventeen months later her sister Joanna arrived. A third daughter, Alison, was born in June, 1918. The war years necessarily brought new demands and new problems. In 1915 Robert Aytoun was President of the Birmingham and District Free Church Council. The position not only involved special duties, but brought him into contact with many Churches, desiring help in the difficulties of war-time. With several ministers away on service connected with the war, a man like Robert Aytoun found frequent calls among Birmingham pulpits. The same year saw the publication of his book, “ The City-centres of Early Christianity,” — a fresh and suggestive survey of the main features of Early Church History, which put in a clear light the local variations in ancient Catho¬ licism. Later on, Aytoun gladly took up a special bit of war-work and became Presbyterian Chaplain to the First Southern General Hospital. This proved too exacting. His heart gave warning that he was overtaxing his strength. He had to relinquish the chaplaincy and take things very quietly. As he recovered his health towards the close of the war, he was ready for new tasks. The group of Colleges came through the war, but naturally not without strain. It was clear to the responsible leaders and especially to Mr. Edward Cadbury that the Colleges would need to consolidate their resources by closer co-operation and by sharing their financial burdens. Robert Aytoun, MEMOIR • • Xll • an intimate friend of Edward Cadbury, shared his views on this matter, and threw himself into the task of putting them into shape. The co¬ ordination of five practically independent institutions is a delicate matter. To frame a constitution at once acceptable and practical is in itself difficult. To overcome initial obstacles requires great patience and wisdom. Aytoun brought all his mastery of detail, his delight in clearness and definiteness, his tact and sympathy, into play to further the ideal of co-operation between the Selly Oak Colleges. The draft-constitution was his work. He became the first Secretary of the Central Council, and along with H. G. Wood was the first to be appointed to a central chair. He was lecturer on the Old Testament to the group of Colleges. It is not too much to say, that next to the generous and steady support of Edward Cadbury, the Selly Oak Colleges in the first stages of co-ordination owed their largest debt to the loving and wise service of Robert Aytoun. Aytoun’s worth as a scholar did not lack recogni¬ tion beyond the borders of Selly Oak. The present book is no adequate measure of his attainment or his promise. He * was appointed External Examiner in Hebrew at Birmingham University. He continued to examine in Church History, for entrance at his old College, Westminster. He was an active and honoured member of the Old Testament Association. His published papers had begun to attract attention and more was expected of him. But the hopes his friends held regarding his future as a scholar were destined to disappointment. In the spring of 1920, when he MEMOIR xm was overdone with a hard terms work, he undertook the one thing that proved too much. He went straight up from Woodbrooke to a Student Movement Bible School held at Ardenconnell, Row, Dumbartonshire. It ran from Monday, March 29th, to Thursday, April 1st. Though he was very tired, the place and the folk stimulated and revived him. His presence was one of the inspiring features of the conference. His lectures went splendidly, and he took more than his share in the after-dinner doings, — a most brave and joyous spirit, as one of the students wrote afterwards. And then as he was coming from this happy conference, the blow fell. He was walking with two men students and they had got about half-way to the station and were just about to go up rather a steep hill when he suddenly said, “ Slow down a bit, remember I have a heart,” and almost before he had spoken, he had fallen. The students with him were medicals and brought him back carefully to Ardenconnell. “ Mrs. Aytoun arrived on Good Friday morning, April 2nd, and from then onward to Sunday nth, he lingered, wandering at times, but often conscious and always cheery and uncomplaining, beautiful in his courtesy and thoughtfulness for others, ready even in his weakest moments with some little joke, and anxious, Mrs. Aytoun knew, that none of the happy holiday atmosphere of the house should be spoilt on his or her account. On Friday 9th, there was a distinct rally and the doctor gave the first ray of hope, but on Saturday he awoke weaker and on Sunday morning at 3.40 he just passed away quietly in his sleep. XIV MEMOIR The fact that Ardenconnell was a holiday home and that rooms were being occupied that had long been booked by young people for their much needed holidays, made it necessary that the funeral should be as soon as possible. In spite of the fact that Monday was the Spring holiday, all shops closed and all work suspended, the Ardenconnell gardens yielded their wealth of early Spring blossoms, daffodils, primroses and violets to him, together with some beautiful lilies and other flowers which he loved so much ; and that afternoon at 2.30 in the little peaceful hill-side Cemetery of Craigendorran, he was laid to rest very quietly, only two men who had known him in his College days and two from the Bible School who were in the neighbour¬ hood, together with two who had nursed him and one or two others who loved him, being present. The service was conducted by the Parish Minister and was just what he himself would have wished, short and very simple. The note that ran through it all was the one that above all others, all those who knew him and loved him would have chosen ; — praise for his full life of love and his service to the end, and for his final Victory/ ’ Robert Aytoun was happy in his death inasmuch as his last days were spent among students and in the work he loved. In this volume we would fain enshrine his memory and continue his work. May it convey to many some of the light which he saw so clearly in the pages of Scripture, and some of the inspiration by which he lived and to which he was so splendidly true. Chapter I INTRODUCTION A. — The Aim of the Book. The study of the record of the revelation and perception of God in the Old Testament leads one to the conviction that herein lay one of the most impor¬ tant elements in the preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ. The fact emerges in this study that many fore-runners, most of whom, it may be, knew nothing about His coming, were yet leading up to Him and making ready for Him and for those things for which He stood. All who caught a glimpse of God, especially such as caught a new glimpse, all who received even some dim impression of His true character and passed it on, all who were able to realise, even though partially and imperfectly, something of the Divine intentions for men, all who endeavoured to make themselves and their fellows responsive to the Divine Will and to make the Rule of God, as they knew it, supreme in the life of their nations and of its individual members, — all these, and many more of kindred endeavour and accom¬ plishment, were pioneer workers and travellers on the great Road to God, which Jesus completed, which 10 INTRODUCTION culminated in him, — that Road along which now a wayfaring man, though but unskilled and unlearned, may walk without danger of going astray. The Old Testament is full of the record of such pioneers and explorers into the fact of God, men who saw in part what Jesus saw as a whole, who guessed what Jesus knew, who perceived dimly what He saw clearly. Modern Biblical scholarship has made it evident that the revelation granted to these men, and still more their perception of that revelation, was for the most part a gradual evolutionary process. It has shown that there were many fluctuations and retrogressive ten¬ dencies (which had to be overcome), tendencies embodied in not a little of the Old Testament literature itself. But it has further made it clear that in spite of these backward movements the Old Testament writings, when dated according to the canons of literary and historical science, show signs of a slow but sure advance toward the fulness of our Lord’s revealing knowledge of the heart and mind of God. The purpose of the following studies is to present some of the more important features in the Old Testa¬ ment view of God in such a way as to exhibit, in their historic setting and development, the principal stages in this progressive revelation and gradual perception of the Most High, which culminated in that perfect revelation of God in Him who alone was able truly to say " He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” INTRODUCTION ii B. — Statement as to Critical Views Assumed, i. The Growth of Old Testament Literature. The study of the Growth of the Knowledge of God as evidenced in the pages of the Old Testament is depen¬ dent on the kindred and preliminary study of the canon and composition of the books of the Old Testament. All valid Old Testament theology must be based on sound literary criticism. As these chapters are an attempt to set forth the development and progress of certain aspects of religious conceptions and perceptions, it is important that the reader should keep before him the relative order and chronology of the Old Testament books and their several sources. For the convenience of the general reader who has not necessarily these literary and chronological details in the forefront of his mind, we may outline the general critical position here assumed. Unless otherwise stated in any particular passage, it is that held by most conservative modem scholars, whose standpoint is characteristic of such a work as Hastings’ Bible Dictionary. It is assumed that the first six books, Genesis to Joshua, were originally one book which in its turn was made up of a harmony of four principal documents. These documents are commonly known as the Jehovistic or Jahvistic, the Elohistic, the Deuteronomic and the Priestly, which last includes what is usually called the Holiness Code. They are referred to respectively as J, E, D, P (and H). The Jehovistic and Elohistic documents (J and E) are held to have taken shape in the century before Amos 12 INTRODUCTION the first of the literary prophets ; the Deuteronomic document (D) shortly after Isaiah and most of it before the reformation under Josiah 621 b.c. ; the Holiness Code (H) during the early Exile (after 586 B.c.) and the Priestly Code and Document partly during the Exile, but not to have assumed its final shape until about the time of Ezra (? 444 B.c.). Isaiah, chapters xl. onwards, otherwise known as Second or Deutero-Isaiah, is taken as in the main belonging to the close of the Exile or probably rather later. Daniel is held to have been written during the Perse¬ cution in the time of Antiochus Ephiphanes (about 168 b.c.) ; Zechariah ix. onwards about the same period ; while the Psalter is presumed to contain Psalms ranging in date from about 1,000 b.c., to about 150 b.c. It is further taken for granted that there are Exilic and Post-exilic passages to be found incorporated in some of the Pre-exilic writings, more particularly in Isaiah i.-xxxix. The following tables give the relative order and approximate dates of the more important of the inspired writings together with the dates of a few of the epoch-making events in the history of the Hebrew people. Some such list of dates, etc., is indispensable for the proper appreciation and understanding of the subject in hand. INTRODUCTION 13 2. Approximate Order and Chronology of the Old Testament Scriptures. I The Jehovistic and Elohistic Documents (J & E) Between David and Amos the first literary prophet. Prophets of North Israel ; prophesied in the years before the Fall of North Israel in 721 B.C. Amos Hosea Isaiah (1-39 Micah Prophets of J udah ; prophesied shortly before and for sometime after the Fall of North Israel in 721 b.c. The Deuteronomic Imbued with the teaching of Amos, Document (D) Hosea, Isaiah, etc. Written after these prophets but before Josiah’s Reformation 621 b.c. Nahum Zephaniah Habakkuk Later part of the seventh century. Jeremiah Prophesied during the last quarter of the seventh century and up to and after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar 586 B.C. Ezekiel Prophesied from first Exile of the Judean (597) onwards. The Holiness Code (H). Lev. 17-26. Written and com¬ piled in Ezekiel’s time. < Judges Samuel Kings Compiled and partly written during the Exile, but embodying much material of earlier date. During the Exile many other earlier books, e.g., Deuteronomy and the Pre-exilic prophets were edited and added to. The Priestly Document (P). Written and compiled during (?) and after the Exile. POST-EXILIC 14 INTRODUCTION / Haggai 1 Prophesied at close of the Exile, 520 b.c. Zechariah (1-8) / onwards. Isaiah (40-end) Second Isaiah written. A little is probably earlier than Haggai-Zechariah, some perhaps as late as Malachi. Obadiah(?) \ Written shortly before the coming of Malachi / Nehemiah 444 b.c. Nehemiah’s Memoirs. Written about 444 b.c. The Priestly Document (P) in its final form about 400 b.c. ( Joel written between 444 b.c., and 333 b.c. Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah } written sometime subsequent to Nehemiah’s Governorship. Job Jonah Ecclesiastes \ written some time during the Greek Period J 333-168 B.C. Daniel \ Written in the late Greek-Syrian Zechariah (ix.-end)/ Period, about 168 b.c. Proverbs and Psalms probably cover the whole of the period from the Early Monarchy to the Maccabean Period (about 150 b.c.). 3. Approximate dates of Epoch-making Events in Hebrew History. ?I400-I200 B.C. The Exodus. about 1000 b.c. David. about 850 b.c. Elijah and Elisha. 721 B.C. Fall of North Israel. 606 B.C. Fall of Nineveh and of the Assyrian Empire. 597 b.c. First Exile of Judah. 586 B.C. Second Exile of Judah, and Destruc¬ tion of Jerusalem. 538 B.C. Advent of Cyrus and Fall of Baby¬ lonian Empire. 521-520 B.C. Re-building of the Temple. 444 B C- 333 b.c. 168 b.c. INTRODUCTION 15 Re-building of the Walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah. Advent of Alexander the Great and Fall of Persian Empire. (Desecration of Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes. Maccabean Uprising. First step towards Jewish Indepen¬ dence. Chapter II PRIMITIVE ERRONEOUS CONCEPTIONS OF GOD —THEIR TRACES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT A. — Crude Conceptions in their Proper Perspective. The conceptions of God found in the Old Testament are far from being on the same level. Not seldom God is portrayed there as being very different in character and person from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. To such an extent is this the case that some of the early Christians, e.g., Marcion, one of the arch¬ heretics of the second century A. D., believed that the God of the Old Testament was actually a different person from the God of the New Testament. But although one finds a considerable number of such differences it is important to note that in most cases the con¬ ceptions of God which we now, in the light of the New Testament, recognise to be either unworthy or inadequate, are gradually displaced in the Old Testament records themselves by truer and fuller views of Him. We can trace the “ knowledge ” of Him growing from “ more to more/' the old unworthy notions being left behind in the light of new experience 16 PRIMITIVE CONCEPTIONS OF GOD 17 and revelation of Him. We may note further that this change is not in God Himself. The God of the old dispensation is exactly the same as the God of the New. The God who “ so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son ” loved the world and every person in it in the days of the conquest of Canaan, when He is portrayed as seemingly vindictive and cruel, just as much as He did in the days of Jesus. What was imperfect was not God’s character, but the realisation of it, to which the writers of parts, at least, of the Old Testament had attained. They were men like ourselves ; they saw God ; but their vision of Him was somewhat distorted. A perfect mirror is needed before a perfect face can be reflected perfectly. A perfect soul was needed before God could be reflected perfectly, and that was one great reason why Jesus came. Then they saw in a glass darkly, — they saw in a mirror that was dimmed and flawed, — but now in Jesus we can see, as it were, face to face. It should be observed that of that which must be entirely repudiated in the Old Testament conception of God there is remarkably little. Even of crude and primitive ideas with regard to His nature there is not so much as might have been expected, and the actual writers and compilers of the Old Testament rarely build on these, even when in some cases they seem to share them. These crude ideas, where they are found, are almost always such as were held by the other nations of antiquity. They are often in themselves an advance on still cruder beliefs and customs, and as such seem some¬ times to have been the result of God’s revelation to i8 GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT those who were feeling after Him if haply they might find Him. But their chief interest for us is that a study of them helps us to realise how far men had yet to go before they arrived at anything like an adequate view of God, and provides us with a starting-point for the progress in the revelation of Him indicated in the Old Testament. B. — Limited Conceptions of Jahveh. It has been clearly demonstrated, that the religion of the early Hebrews had much in common with that of other Semitic tribes of the Desert. Not only the out¬ ward forms of religion and worship, but the underlying bebefs were sometimes closely akin. It seems likely that most of these were inherited by the Hebrews from their ancestors, and some, perhaps, acquired or revived through the contact of the Israelites (during the long years between the Exodus and the Conquest, when the desert was their home) with the Midianite tribes, with whom Moses, and later his people, were brought into close and friendly relations. i. Jahveh as Tribal. Among the Semites within each desert tribe there was as a rule but one tribal god, who was bound up with his people’s existence, and who was their lord and head and the champion of their interests. The tribe was under the protection of this god, who was sometimes conceived of as the Blood-Kinsman of the Tribe. This kinship with the god was renewed from time to time by a covenant of blood, a species of sacrifice, wherein the PRIMITIVE CONCEPTIONS OF GOD 19 god and the members of the tribe shared in the life¬ blood of an especially holy victim. The Covenant at Sinai between Jahveh and the Israelites appears to have been an occasion of like significance. It is possible that it also had the effect of creating or reviving a kind of blood relationship between the various tribes of Israel, and that it served to weld them into one nation. The tribal god was thought of as accompanying the tribe and bound to no particular spot, just as the wandering tribe had no settled abiding place ; but even then some one locality was believed to be especially sacred to him, and he was conceived of as having as his headquarters some awe-inspiring region such as a lofty mountain with gloomy gorges and mysterious heights. Similar beliefs with regard to Jahveh obtained among the people of Israel. The presence of Jahveh was likewise thought of as accompanying the Hebrews in their nomadic journeyings through the desert during the long period between their escape from Egypt and their conquest of Canaan. The idea of Jahveh’s having special headquarters in the desert likewise continued for many centuries after their settlement in Canaan. Sinai (Horeb) was thought to be Jahveh’s particular abode, the place where He might normally be found. It was there that He manifested Himself to Moses, and it was there that the Israelites had to come for their covenant with Him or, rather, His with them. In the time of the Judges, in the Song of Deborah, Jahveh was still conceived of as coming thence to the help of the tribes of Israel in Canaan. 3 20 GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT Jahveh, when thou wentest forth from Seir,* When thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, The mountains dropped down at the presence of Jahveh, Even yon Sinai at the presence of Jahveh the God of Israel. 