登陆注册
15401600000024

第24章 THE OLD TESTAMENT (15)

This verse stands as a preface to the proverbs that follow, and which are not the proverbs of Solomon, but of Lemuel; and this Lemuel was not one of the kings of Israel, nor of Judah, but of some other country, and consequently a Gentile.The Jews however have adopted his proverbs; and as they cannot give any account who the author of the book of Job was, nor how they came by the book, and as it differs in character from the Hebrew writings, and stands totally unconnected with every other book and chapter in the Bible before it and after it, it has all the circumstantial evidence of being originally a book of the Gentiles.[The prayer known by the name of Agur's Prayer, in Proverbs xxx., -- immediately preceding the proverbs of Lemuel, -- and which is the only sensible, well-conceived, and well-expressed prayer in the Bible, has much the appearance of being a prayer taken from the Gentiles.The name of Agur occurs on no other occasion than this; and he is introduced, together with the prayer ascribed to him, in the same manner, and nearly in the same words, that Lemuel and his proverbs are introduced in the chapter that follows.The first verse says, "The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: "here the word prophecy is used with the same application it has in the following chapter of Lemuel, unconnected with anything of prediction.The prayer of Agur is in the 8th and 9th verses, "Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither riches nor poverty, but feed me with food convenient for me; lest I be full and deny thee and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain." This has not any of the marks of being a Jewish prayer, for the Jews never prayed but when they were in trouble, and never for anything but victory, vengeance, or riches.-- Author.(Prov.xxx.1, and xxxi.1, the word "prophecy" in these verses is tranrinted "oracle" or "burden" (marg.) in the revised version.-- The prayer of Agur was quoted by Paine in his plea for the officers of Excise, 1772.-- Editer.]

The Bible-makers, and those regulators of time, the Bible chronologists, appear to have been at a loss where to place and how to dispose of the book of Job; for it contains no one historical circumstance, nor allusion to any, that might serve to determine its place in the Bible.But it would not have answered the purpose of these men to have informed the world of their ignorance; and, therefore, they have affixed it to the aera of B.C.

1520, which is during the time the Israelites were in Egypt, and for which they have just as much authority and no more than I should have for saying it was a thousand years before that period.The probability however is, that it is older than any book in the Bible; and it is the only one that can be read without indignation or disgust.

We know nothing of what the ancient Gentile world (as it is called)was before the time of the Jews, whose practice has been to calumniate and blacken the character of all other nations; and it is from the Jewish accounts that we have learned to call them heathens.But, as far as we know to the contrary, they were a just and moral people, and not addicted, like the Jews, to cruelty and revenge, but of whose profession of faith we are unacquainted.It appears to have been their custom to personify both virtue and vice by statues and images, as is done now-a-days both by statuary and by painting; but it does not follow from this that they worshipped them any more than we do.-- I pass on to the book of, Psalms, of which it is not necessary to make much observation.Some of them are moral, and others are very revengeful; and the greater part relates to certain local circumstances of the Jewish nation at the time they were written, with which we have nothing to do.It is, however, an error or an imposition to call them the Psalms of David; they are a collection, as song-books are now-a- days, from different song-writers, who lived at different times.The 137th Psalm could not have been written till more than 400 years after the time of David, because it is written in commemoration of an event, the capitivity of the Jews in Babylon, which did not happen till that distance of time."By the rivers of Babylon we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.We hanged our harps upon the willows, in the midst thereof; for there they that carried us away cartive required of us a song, saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion." As a man would say to an American, or to a Frenchman, or to an Englishman, sing us one of your American songs, or your French songs, or your English songs.This remark, with respect to the time this psalm was written, is of no other use than to show (among others already mentioned) the general imposition the world has been under with respect to the authors of the Bible.No regard has been paid to time, place, and circumstance; and the names of persons have been affixed to the several books which it was as impossible they should write, as that a man should walk in procession at his own funeral.

The Book of Proverbs.These, like the Psalms, are a collection, and that from authors belonging to other nations than those of the Jewish nation, as I have shewn in the observations upon the book of Job; besides which, some of the Proverbs ascribed to Solomon did not appear till two hundred and fifty years after the death of Solomon; for it is said in xxv.i, "These are also proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out." It was two hundred and fifty years from the time of Solomon to the time of Hezekiah.When a man is famous and his name is abroad he is made the putative father of things he never said or did; and this, most probably, has been the case with Solomon.It appears to have been the fashion of that day to make proverbs, as it is now to make jest-books, and father them upon those who never saw them.[A "Tom Paine's Jest Book" had appeared in London with little or nothing of Paine in it.-- Editor.]

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 逍遥兵王游都市

    逍遥兵王游都市

    一代兵王居然浪荡在都市?“你好,我想应聘内衣部门的市场策划。”“你好,请问需要特殊服务吗?。”“你好,美女你是我的。”“你好,我只要钱。”“你好,你必须看这部《逍遥兵王游都市》”
  • 远岫荷花

    远岫荷花

    姽婳仙女金飞蝶在人山人海中大叫:“我告诉你们个大道理,十个人中,八个人没饭吃,八个人在抢两个人的饭吃就叫吃大户,叫革命!十个人中八个人有饭吃,两个人在抢八个人的饭吃,就叫土匪!叫贼!叫抢!叫笨蛋!”千古大贤老子的后人,这帮名人的后代,无论在生产生活中和繁衍生活中都作出了惊天动地的壮举,繁荣了人类的生活。
  • 20岁做人,30岁做事

    20岁做人,30岁做事

    人生犹如一条长长的河,一晃就流到了20岁的港湾。20岁是生命里一个特殊的季节,犹如青春耀眼的朝阳,充满了勃勃的生机。人到了20岁,其实才是整个人生的开始。20岁的心脆弱、敏感,20岁的思想、灵魂正一步步地走向成熟,20岁的梦想刚刚崭露了一点头角。20岁的我们,到底应该怎样才不辜负这灿烂无比的美好时光呢?时光如飞,一转眼,人生之河又流到了30岁的港湾。30岁是许多人人生的分水岭,有的人已经事业有成,有的人却依然在梦想的大道上奔驰,还有的人悲观失望地感叹命运的无情。其实,30岁应该有30岁的作为与心态。
  • 悠然盛夏

    悠然盛夏

    夏悠是个很随意的人而且连她的婚姻都是随意之下的产物突然有一天她不想再这么随意的对待自己的生活于是有了和盛然的相遇于是有了接下来的一系列的事情……
  • 英雄联盟传之勇夺符文

    英雄联盟传之勇夺符文

    这是本人写的英雄联盟三部曲中的第一部,以赵信为主角来介绍英雄联盟的世界。第二部写的是各种游戏中各势力相互间的征伐,第三部则为最后的统一战争。这些,就是后面的故事了~希望大家能够喜欢我所写的第一部,多多支持,多多的分享给更多喜欢英雄联盟和爱好英雄联盟的朋友们,然后记得多多的让他们来起点看书。哪怕其他的书也可以。当然,你们说要叫我一起玩LOL开黑?这个没问题,在小说里最后的最后,是有联系我的暗码哟~大家可要一定要追小说,希望等我将作品写到近百万字时,大家也都还在,然后大家可以在一起开心的交流。
  • 网游第二大陆

    网游第二大陆

    不yy,不11,不虐主的网游为主体的小说。于彬,颖皇工作室的主力人员,掌握了“神战状态”的人。工作室如何发展?与各大网游公会有什么联系?最强俱乐部战队归属如何?都在《网游之狂怒双刃》之中。呃,书名得等两个月才能改过来。
  • 舌尖上的安全:食品安全购买攻略

    舌尖上的安全:食品安全购买攻略

    《舌尖上的安全:食品安全购买攻略》介绍的食品安全购买方法是指通过用眼睛看、鼻子嗅、耳朵听、嘴巴尝和用手触摸等方式,对食品的色、香、味和外观形态进行综合性的鉴别和评价的方法,其基本方法有:视觉鉴别法嗅觉鉴别法味觉鉴别法触觉鉴别法巧妙而综合地运用以上四种方法,能直观地购买到安全食品。.
  • 血色夕阳——曦殇

    血色夕阳——曦殇

    阴谋,谜团,生死,爱恨,为了找回那段被抹去的记忆少年踏上未知的征程,而与女孩的意外相遇是幸运还是……又一场离殇。命运的大网已展开,被网住的人又将被牵引何方......
  • 崩坏的三国

    崩坏的三国

    “先生,我到底是为了什么才会来到这个世界上的?”“活下去就知道了。”“先生,如果你不告诉我,我怕我真的没有勇气和毅力活下去了。”“来到这个世界的理由,是因为世上有那么件事儿,唯有你可以做到。”
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)