any advance upon the works of Spencer and Le Clerc, who wrote more than a century ago. Some of the other works of the author of this volume, Dr E. W. Hengstenberg, are too well known in this country to render a statement of his general qualifications for the work which he has here undertaken necessary. It may, however, be proper to say, that he has made the Pentateuch a subject of special study, and probably no one in Germany or elsewhere has devoted more attention to that interesting, but too much neglected portion of the sacred volume. His situation as Professor at Berlin also gave him access to the rich collection of Egyptian antiquities in the Berlin Museum, and the reader is left to judge whether he has not made good use of his advantages. The form of the work has been somewhat changed in the translation. The references to authorities, which in the original volume were in the text, are thrown to the bottom of the page. Nearly all of the italic headings have been inserted. In a very few cases, notes, which it was thought would add more to the size than value of the volume to an English reader, have been omitted or abridged. In one instance, a long note from another untranslated work of the author, has been inserted in the text. The very few notes at the end have been added by the translator. It was his intention to insert many more, but they have been unavoidably omitted. The translator is under great obligations to Prof. H. B. Hackett, of Newton Theological Seminary, who consented to listen to a large part of the manuscript before it was printed, and make such corrections as his accurate knowledge of the German language suggested. Much valuable advice and assistance has also been received from Professor B. B. Edwards, of Andover Theological Semi nary. ANDOVER, September, 1843. ADDENDUM BY THE ENGLISH EDITOR. A NEW field of Biblical Criticism has been opened by the recent discoveries in the tombs and temples of Egypt; the memorials of their manners, customs, and institutions, which the people of the Pharaohs depicted on the walls of their sepulchres, afford a decisive, because an unsuspicious, test of the historical veracity of the Old Testament, and they have furnished confirmations of its minute accuracy, which must silence where they do not convince the most sceptical. Dr Hengstenberg has ably employed these new sources of evidence to overthrow the rash theory of Bohlen, that the sacred books of the Jews were written at a period posterior to the Babylonish captivity; it is to be regretted, that while exposing the groundless theories of others, he should himself have shown some tendency to adopt a scarcely less dangerous error, by throwing doubts on the originality, and consequently on the inspired character of the Mosaic legislation. In republishing his work in England, the Editor has deemed it advisable to examine the nature of the doubts which Dr Hengstenberg raised, and to take advantage of the most recent researches as tests of their validity. He has found, that the more closely the subject is investigated, the more clearly does it appear that the code of Jewish law was derived from no previously existing institutions, and that, on the contrary, it is in all its parts marked by a peculiar individuality such as no other Theocracy ever possessed. viii ADDENDUM BY THE ENGLISH EDITOR. The proofs of this will be found in the notes appended to the English edition. Some other notes have been added, more fully illustrative of the connection between the pictorial records of Egypt, and the written records of Moses, than Hengstenberg's plan admitted. A supplemental Chapter has been added, for the purpose of examining Dr Hengstenberg's theory respecting the Hycsos; though this is but an incidental topic, it has a very important bearing on the main argument, and the discussion involves many points of great interest to all students of general history. CAMDEN TOWN, November 9, 1844. W. C. T. |