Another characteristic feature of Biblical style may be regarded at one and the same time from the national and the religious point of view. We refer to the frequent use of blessings and cursings. The series of blessings opens with Gn 1”, and is continued in v.78 23 (blessing of the beasts, of man, and of the Sabbath) 5? 9}: 26f 193 1419 9511 981 359 477: © 481 4978, Kx 39, Nu 237%, Dt 331®, 1 K 814-55, 2 Ch 6%. To the same class belongs also the fre- quent exclamation ‘O the happiness of Israel!’ or the like (Dt 33”, 1 K 108, Ps 11, and so on to Ke 107); Mt 5* ‘Bless them that curse you’; Lk 245% ‘bless’=bid farewell; Mt 21°, Mk 11%, Lk 19°, Jn 12", cf. Ps 1186, The series of cursings begins with Gn 3!‘ (the curse pronounced upon the serpent), and is continued in v.17 41 9% 128 979 497, Nu 538, Dt 27158 ogist. Jos 625 9%, Jg 5% 2118, 1S 142428 26, Job 38 (‘cursers of the day’), Ps HGP rks A282 Crores lie 201d S20 ia leet, To this list must be added the instances in which a ‘Woe!’ is addressed to any one: Nu 21” (‘ Woe to thee, Moab !’) 2414,1 8 47-, Ps 120°, Pr 2379, Ke 4” 10!8, Is 311 65 2416 Jer 415%, Hzk 16” etc., Hos 7% 9!2, Mt 117 187 etc., Mk 131” 1471, Lk 6% etc., Jude 4, Rey. 91°" 12" ete. This form of expression is con- nected partly with the ancient custom of blessing one’s children or friends and cursing one’s enemies . (Nu 22° ete.), and partly with the habit of the religion of Israel of postulating happiness for the godly and punishment for transgressors.—By the way, these last two categories possess certain features of special interest. The series of blessings has its first representative as early as the narrative of the Creation, that of cursings does not open till after man’s first sin. The Psalter, again, contains twenty-five examples of the phrase ‘O the happi- ness!’ (cf. Syntax, § 321g), but only once (120°) the exclamation ‘Woe!’ The list of blessings is longer than the other, and does not end till the last chapter of the last book of the Bible. Its last utterance is ‘Blessed are they that wash their robes [or do his commandments],’ Rey 22.
iii, PECULIARITIES OF STYLE PURPOSELY ADOPTED UPON OCCASION BY ALL CLASSES OF SCRIPTURE WRITERS.—These devices will be set forth in such a way as to have regard to the interests, successively, of the human intellect, the will, and the feelings.
1. The Biblical writers aim at clearness, and this quality is not prejudiced (a) by the use, which is common to man, of Metonymy and Synecdoche.
Noteworthy instances of Metonymy are the fol- lowing: ‘seed’ stands for descendants in Gn 3” ete.; ‘the earth,’ as the source of its products, is put for the latter in ‘In sorrow shalt thou eat it (i.e. the earth =its products),’ 3!7, cf. Is 1%. Nad?, ‘ prophet,’ is correctly rendered ‘ prophecy’ by AV in Dn 9%”; but ‘prophet’ in Mt 5!” and Lk 16°: *
160 STYLE OF SCRIPTURE
STYLE OF SCRIPTURE
has the same meaning; and ‘Moses’ stands for the Law in the expression ‘ Moses is read’ (2 Co 3”). ‘Tongue’ became naturally an expression for speech (Gn 10° ete.). ‘Lips’ stands in Hos 14”? for the confession of sin proceeding from the lips ; the prophet means to say, ‘ We will offer as sacri- fices of calves the confession of our sins.’ Similarly, ‘throat’ means in Ps 5! conversation. ‘Hand’ is often equivalent to activity (Ex 3” ete. ‘by a mighty hand’). ‘Horn’ represents power or rule (1S 2! ete., ‘My horn is exalted,’ etc.). In par- ailelism to ‘peace,’ ‘sword’ stands for war (Mt 104). ‘Yield unto thee her strength’ (Gn 4!) is= give the product of her strength, te. her fruits. ‘Lest ye be consumed in all their sins’ (Nu 16%)= through the consequences of their sins, i.e. the punishment for them. In ‘dust thou art’ (Gn 3"), dust=produced from dust (2’). We encounter the same Metonymy in ‘dust and ashes’ (18 etc., Sir 10%). ‘Wood’ or ‘tree’ is a term for the cross in Ac 5, Gal 3 ete.—When we read ‘Two nations are in thy womb’ (Gn 25”), we must plainly understand this to mean the ancestors of two nations. In the same way ‘covenant’ in Ts 425 stands for the mediator of the covenant, and ‘blessing’? in Gn 12% for the formula wherewith the blessing is invoked.—The possessor naturally often stands for the possession. Thus Lebanon is put for the cedars (Is 10%4*) which symbolize the host of the Assyrians; and the cup stands for its contents in 1 Co 11” ete. ‘Heart and reins’ (Ps 79 26? etc.) refers to thoughts and volitions. In Mk 5® dard Tod dpxicuvaywyou means ‘from the house of the ruler of the synagogue.’ So ‘the hour’ (Mk 14%) might stand for the events of that period of time.— A mark of distinction points impressively to its bearer in ‘A sceptre shall rise out of Israel’? (Nu 241"), So also in Is 23° the Shihor, z.e. the Nile, stands for Egypt.—The contents may stand for the container: for instance, in Ps 9! ‘the gates of the daughter of Zion,’ the daughter, i.e. the population, of Zion must be the equivalent of Zion itself. In like. manner ‘testament’ (2Co 34)= book of the covenant, and ‘prayer’ (Ac 16%5)= place of prayer. Characteristic instances of Synecdoche are such _as the following: ‘the Jebusite,’ etc. (Gn 101) ; ‘and the Canaanite was then in the land’ (125) ; ‘the man’ (Ps 1! 32! ete.). This employment of a part for the whole may be seen also in other expressions. ‘Father’ is equivalent to all kinds of ancestors (Gn 479, Ex 123, Nu 1418, Ps 225 3913 1068 ete.). Again, in Abraham’s words to Lot ‘we are brothers’ (Gn 138), ‘brothers’ stands for all degrees of relationship, and so also in Ex 2" and Nu 16". The principal members of a class could very readily be used to represent the whole class: e.g. ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’ (Ex 3% 17 13° 33°, Nu 13” ete., Dt 6? etc., Jos 5%, Jer 115 3272, Ezk 20%). So also a principal part could stand for the whole in the following: ‘the shadow of my roof’ (Gn 19°), i.e. of my house; ‘The ark of God dwelleth within curtains’ (2 § 72, ef. 1 Ch 173; Ca 1°, Jer 4” 10° 49%, Hab 37), 7c. in a mere tent ; ‘Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies’ (Gn 22%” 24, Dt 1215 157 ete., Ps 872, Is 3264 14°1, Mic 1°), z.e. their city. The ‘soul’ stands for the whole man in Gn 9 12°: (‘the souls that they had gotten in Haran’)? 147) 1714 4618, Ex 191, Tuy 720% etc. ; ‘ Let every soul,’ ete. (Ro 13!, Ac 2% 33, 1 Co NSS, Rev 16%); ‘three thousand souls,’ etc. (Ac 24 714 27°7, 1 P 3); ef. ‘Thou art my bone and my flesh’ (Gn 29%, Jg 99,28 5! 1913, 1 Ch 111)=my blood relation ; ‘flesh and blood’ (Sir 1428 1721, Mt 162, 1Co 15°, Gal 16)=man; ‘How beautiful upon the mountains are the fect of him that bringeth good tidings’ (Is 52’, Nah 21, Ac 52, Ro 10), the feet being the organs most necessary to a messen-