There are other four principal marks of the simple method followed by Hebrew writers in erouping their ideas and their sentences. — (a) There are such forms of expression as ‘ Let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years (Gn 1"), words which mean, in all probability, ‘ Let them serve as signs for seasons,’ etc. ‘This is the same simple method of co-ordinating ideas as is familiar to us from the ‘ pateris libamus et auro of Vergil, Georg. ii. 192, and is commonly known as Hendiadys. Other instances of it in Scripture are: ‘a city and a mother in Israel,’ ¢.¢. a mother- city, a metropolis (2S 20"); ‘feasting and glad-
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ness’=feasting of gladness (Est 98); ‘I heard whispering and a voice,’ @.¢. whispering of a voice (Job 41%); ‘changes and war’=changes of war (Job 10’); ‘glory and strength’=glory of strength (Ps. 291 967); ‘time and judgment ’=time of judgment (Ke 8°); ‘cloud and smoke’=cloud of smoke (Is 4°); ‘trouble and darkness’=dark, a.€. irremediable, trouble (Is 822). In like manner the Heb. ‘consumption and determination’ is rightly changed in EV to ‘consumption, even determined’ (Is 10 28”), and ‘end and expecta- tion’ is correctly replaced by ‘an expected end’ (Jer 29"). The same co-ordination of ideas meets us in ‘the roll and the words’ for ‘the roll of the words’ (Jer 367’). An illustration of the same fondness for simple co-ordinating of ideas is found also in ‘her hand... and her right hand’ (Jg 5”) ; or ‘my hand... and my right hand’ (Is 48") ; or ‘the Lorp . . . and his glory’ (Is 60?) ; or ‘the Lorp .. . and his strength’ (Ps 1054). This mode of expression is known as xa@’ 6d\ov Kal pépos, and a counterpart to it has been recently noted by the present writer in the words ‘Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom?’ (Ps 6v® || 108”; ef. Ed. Konig, Linf neue arabische Landschaftsnamen im AT, 1902, p. 33 f.).—(8) There is the frequent throwing in of the interjection ‘Behold !’: ¢.g. ‘And God saw... and, behold,’ etc. (Gn 1%! 6 8 18? 1978 ete.; ef. Ed. Konig, Heb. Syntax, § 3619).—(y) We have the very frequent employment of direct speech. ‘The list of examples of this begins with the words ‘ Let there be light’ (Gn 1°); it is con- tinued in ‘Let there be a firmament,’ ete. (v.°), ‘ Behold, I have given you,’ ete. (v.**), and so on it goes (ef. Syntax, § 377). The NT also shares abundantly in this preference for the oratio directa (Mt 1%: 23 925 ete,).—(6) The fourth mark of the naive simplicity of style which is wont to be em- ployed by the Biblical writers may be observed trom the following instance : ‘ Till thou return unto the ground . . . for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return’ (Gn 3%). Here we have first a destiny indicated for man, then the reason for this, and finally the destiny itself is once more repeated. Many of our readers must have noticed the same movement of thought in the conversation and letters of persons belonging to the lower classes. This process whereby one returns to the original starting-point is called Palindromy, and there are various species of it. Here are some other in- stances of the class represented by Gn 3%; ‘And it repented the LoRD that he had made man, ete., and the Lorp said, I will destroy, etc., for it re- penteth me that I have made them’ (Gn 6%); ‘The earth also was corrupt, etc., for all flesh had corrupted,’ ete. (v.“!); ‘The Lorp scattered them abroad, etc. Therefore is the name of it called Babel, etc., and from thence did the Lorp scatter them abroad,’ etc. (11%); ‘Every beast of the forest is mine, ete., If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine’ (Ps 501-12) ; *‘O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes, then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments’ (119°) ; ‘Surely he hath borne our griefs, ete., for the transgression of my people was he stricken’ (Is sae ; ‘The Lorp said, etc., because I have spoken it’ (Jer 42") ; ‘ Because ye multiplied, etc., because of all thine abominations’ (Ezk 57%), — Another species of Palindromy is represented by the words ‘The land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together ; for their substance was ereat, so that they could not dwell together’ (Gn 13°), There the course of ideas turns from the fact to its cause, and then returns to the fact or the consequence. The same mental movement may be observed in: ‘Judah, thou art he whom
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STYLE OF SCRIPTURE
Se ee ee
thy brethren shall praise ; thy hand shalt be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee’ (Gn 498); ‘The nakedness of thy mother shalt thou not uncover ; she is thy mother, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness’ (Lv 18”); and the same is the case in v.! ‘My strength is dried, etc., for dogs have compassed me, etc., | may tell all my bones’ (Ps 2227); and in isioouee ‘By his qeeoit ede, etc., Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, ete., because he hath poured out his soul unto death.’ Essentially the same phenomenon recurs in 1 Ch 9# * Azel had six sons, and these are their names: Azrikam, etc., these were the sons of Azel.’—A third species of Palindromy is made up of instances like ‘God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him’ (Gn 17); ‘Make thee an ark, ete. Thus did Noah, according to all that God com- manded him, so did he’ (614: 28>); «Thou shalt speak all that I command thee, etc., and Moses and Aaron did as the LorD commanded them, so did they ’ (Ex 7? %>), The same mode of expres- sion meets us in Ex 12>. 28.50 3982. 43 4916, Ly, 420, Nu 1 54 8” etce., Ec 16, Dn 81-20 ete. (see Ed. Kénig, Stilistik, ete. p. 171 f.).