sexual sins (2 Sam. xiii). The Tamar of Judah's story is the same as the Tamar dishonored by Amnon,—the daughter of David, who, in spite of her misfortune and her purity, is, to the entire ruin of her good name, humiliated to a person who plays the prostitute. And Shelah () who does not die,-add to his name only the letter, and you have, Solomon.”

If in the light of these facts, which reveal the mythical character of some of the worst things told of Judah and David, the blessings of Jacob (Gen. xlix.) be carefully read, the blessing on Judah will be found rather equivocal. Colenso translates:

"A lion's whelp is Judah,

Ravaging the young of the suckling ewes."

Is this couplet related to Nathan's parable of the rich man taking away the poor man's one little ewe lamb which smote the conscience of David?

"The staff shall not depart from Judah,

Nor the rod from between his feet

Until Shiloh come."

Is this merely a device of the Ephraimite rebels, Jeroboamites, pretending to find in a patriarchal prophecy a prediction that Judah is to be superseded by the descendants of Joseph (on whom Jacob's encomiums and blessings are unstinted)? Shiloh was always their headquarters.

It is probable, however, that there is here a play upon words. The words "Until Shiloh come" are rendered by some scholars "Till he (Judah) come to Shiloh," and interpreted as meaning "Till he come to rest." The Samaritan version ("donec veniat Pacificus") seems to identify Shiloh with Solomon. (Colenso,

Pent. iii. p. 127.) But this is transparently Shelah over again. Shelomoh (Solomon), Shelah, and Shiloh are substantially of the same etymological significance. It will be observed that in Gen. xxxviii. Shelah is the only person whose character is not blackened. The Ephraimic poem, the "Blessings of Jacob,”—each blessing a vaticinium ex evento,-could well afford a half-disguised compliment to Solomon who had made no attempt to suppress the rebels of Shiloh,-the city of Abijah, who originated the Jeroboamic revolution which divided the Davidic kingdom. Jacob's blessing on Joseph is of course a blessing on Ephraim: it closes with a transfer of the crown (from Judah) to "him that is a prince among his brethren." This is "rest" from the arrows of David, this is the coming of Shiloh; it occurred under the reign of the Prince of Peace, Solomon, and it could not be undone by Solomon's son Rehoboam.

CHAPTER VII.

SOLOMONIC ANTIJAHVISM.

The ferocities of Josiah and his Jahvists indicate the presence of an important Solomonist School. Their culture and tendencies are reflected, as we have seen, in the rage of prophets against them, and the continuance of their strength is shown in the preservation of Agur's Voltairian satire on Jahvism, and Job's avowed blasphemies:

"If indeed ye will glorify yourselves above me,
And prove me guilty of blasphemy—

Know then, that God hath wronged me!"

This translation from Job, quoted from Professor Dillon, need only be compared with that of the authorised and the revised versions to show us the causa causans to-day which of old added four hundred interpolations to the Book of Job to soften its criticism.

It appears strange, however, that Professor Dillon has not included among The Sceptics of the Old Testament three writers in the composite eighty-ninth Psalm, nor remarked its relation to the Book of Job. At the head of this wonderful composition the mythical wise man of 1 Kings iv. 31, Ethan, rises (“Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite," perhaps meaning Wisdom of the Everlasting Helper) to attest the divine mercies and faithfulness in all generations. This is in two verses, evidently ancient, which a later hand, apparently, has

pointed with a specification of the covenant with David. After the "Selah" which ends these four verses come fourteen verses of sermonising upon them, in which nearly all of the points made by Job's "comforters" are put in a nutshell. The sons of God who presented themselves, Satan among them, in his council (Job i. 6) appear here also (Ps. lxxxix. 6) :

"Who among the sons of the gods is like unto Jahveh,

A God very terrible in the council of the holy ones."

After the mighty things that "Jah" had done to his enemies have been affirmed an Elohist takes up the burden and a "vision" like that of Eliphaz (Job iv. 13) is appealed to:

"Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy ones."

The vision's revelation (Job v. 17) "Happy is the man whom God correcteth" is also in this psalm (32, 33): "Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes, but my mercy will I not utterly take from him." And Eliphaz's assurance "thy seed will be great" (v. 25) corresponds with that in our psalm (verse 36), "His seed shall endure forever."

When the psalmist of the vision has pictured, as if in dissolving views, the military renown of David, God's "servant," and his "horn," pointing to Solomon, God's "first-born," the transgressions of the latter are intimated (30-33), but the seer continues to utter the divine promises:

"My covenant will I not break,

Nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips.
One thing have I sworn by my holiness;

I will not lie unto David:

His seed shall endure forever,

And his throne as the sun before me;

As the moon which is established forever:
Faithful is the witness in the sky. Selah."
Then breaks out the indignant accuser:
"But thou HAST cast off and rejected!

Thou hast been wroth with thine 'anointed';
Thou hast broken the covenant with thy 'servant,'
Thou hast profaned his crown to the very dust;
Thou hast broken down all his defences;
Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin!
All the wayfarers that pass by despoil him;
He is become a reproach to his neighbors.

Thou hast exalted the right-hand of his adversaries,
Thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.

Yea, thou turnest back the edge of his sword,
And hast not enabled him to stand in battle.
Thou hast made his brightness to cease,
And hurled his throne down to the ground.
The days of his youth thou hast shortened:
Thou hast covered him with shame!

Selah."

A sarcastic "Selah," or "so it is!"-if Eben Ezra's definition of Selah be correct.

Then follow four verses by a more timid plaintiff, who, almost in the words of Job (e. g., x. 20), reminds Jahveh of the shortness of life, and the impossibility of any return from the grave, and asks how long he intends to wait before fulfilling his promises. He also supplies Koheleth with a text by the pessimistic exclamation, "For what vanity hast thou created all the children of men"!

After this writer has sounded his "Selah," another rather more bitterly reminds Jahveh, in three verses, that not only his chosen people are in disgrace, but his own enemies are triumphant.

(These two are much like the writer of Psalms xliv.