OF THE OLD COVENANT. FROM THE GERMAN OF J. H. KURTZ, D.D., PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY AT DORPAT. . VOL. I. TRANSLATED, ANNOTATED, AND PREFACED BY A CONDENSED ABSTRACT OF KURTZ'S "BIBLE AND ASTRONOMY," BY THE REV. ALFRED EDERSHEIM, PH.D., AUTHOR OF HISTORY OF THE JEWISH NATION;" TRANSLATOR OF "CHALYBAUS EDINBURGH: T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. DUBLIN: JOHN ROBERTSON. MDCCCLIX. PREFACE. It is not only with the feelings common and natural in a Translator towards the original, or a writer towards his authorities, that we introduce this volume to the theological readers of Great Britain and America. A repeated perusal of its contents has convinced us that it is one of the best contributions towards the explanation of the Old Testament with which Germany has enriched our common theological literature. Comprehensive and trustworthy in its information, exhaustive in point of research and learning, fresh and vigorous in thought and style, throughout marked by sobriety and good sense; above all, thoroughly evangelical in its tone, it may safely be recommended as a text-book to the student. Even where we differ from our Author-as on some points, we frankly confess, is the case-his views deserve and require careful examination. In our days and circumstances a thorough and believing investigation into the claims and the teaching of the Word of God is more than ever necessary. Such studies will be materially aided by the fresh light which Dr KURTZ has been able to shed upon an important part of the Bible. It may be proper to add that the translation has been made from the second German edition (1853), and that the notes added by us have been rendered necessary by the progress of Biblical investigation since the date of its appearance. They bear chiefly on the literature of the subject, and have been supplied in view of the minimum necessary, not of the maximum desirable. We have prefaced the volume by a condensed abstract of Dr KURTZ'S" Bible and Astronomy," a work in which he endeavours to harmonise the Biblical account of Creation and of man with the results of Astronomy and Geology, and which may, therefore, be regarded as strictly introductory to the History of the Old Covenant." When we say that we have condensed 585 pp. of the original (4th ed., Berlin 1858) into 130 pp., the reader will understand, and, we hope, make allowance for the difficulty of our task. At the same time, we venture to think that we have not omitted any one part or argument likely to interest or to be useful to British readers. We have endeavoured to give all that is introductory to a "History of the Old Covenant," and that in the very language of the Author, though we have condensed his phraseology. We shall only add that Dr KURTZ's scheme, without committing ourselves to particulars, seems to us the only sufficient and satisfactory solution of the Geological and Astronomical difficulties connected with the Mosaic account of Creation. May this work, in its present form also, aid those who make the Old Testament a subject of critical study-above all, may it be the means of laying open more of those hidden treasures which the Head of the Church has deposited in the Sacred Volumes! Old Aberdeen, December 1858. ALFRED EDERSHEIM. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. THE BIBLE AND ASTRONOMY. Page ? 2. Revelation of the Biblical Account of Creation, 23. Prophetic Character of the Biblical Account of Creation, 27. The First, the Second, and the Third Creative Days, 8. The Work of the Fourth Day, 9. The Work of the Fifth and Sixth Days, 10. The Primeval History of Man, 11. Position and Task of the First Man, |