00.4. Addendum by the English Editor
Addendum by the English Editor
ANewfield 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. DrHengstenberghas 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 DrHengstenbergraised, 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.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.
W. C. T.
Camden Town, November 9, 1844.
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