8. On the first two of the above three excepted instances we note as follows:

(i) The expression in Jo.iv.16 is 'ark of the Testimony,' which occurs repeatedly in the older matter, E.xxv.22, xxvi.33,34, xxx.6,26, xxxi.7, xxxix.35, xl.3,5,21, N.iv.5, vii.89, comp. 'tent of the Testimony,' E.xxxviii. 21, N.i.50,53,53, ix.15, x.11, xvii.7,8, xviii.2, 'vail of the Testimony,' L.xxiv.3,-neither of which expressions is used by the Deuteronomist, who employs always 'ark of the Covenant of Jehovah,' D.x.8, xxxi.9,25,26, Jo.iii.3,17, iv.7,18, vi.8, viii. 33, or 'ark of the Covenant,' Jo.iii.6,6,8,11,14, iv.9, vi.6, or 'ark of Jehovah,' iii.13, iv.5,11, vi.11,12, vii.6. From this also it seems probable that N.x.33, xiv.44, where we have also 'ark of the Covenant of Jehovah,' are Deuteronomistic interpolations.

But in Jo.iv.16, we have 'Command the priests, bearers of the ark of the Testimony'; and this phrase, 'bearers of the ark,' is never used in the older matter either of priests or Levites; whereas the Deuteronomist speaks repeatedly of 'priests' or 'Levites' (i.e. according to his view, 'priests') 'bearing the ark of the Covenant,' D.x.8, xxxi.9,25, Jo.iii.8,14,17, iv.9,18, viii.33. May it be that Jo.iv.16 is Deuteronomistic, as well as v.16, though yn has by some means been substituted for an? In fact, the expression 'bearers of the ark of the Testimony,' occurs nowhere else in the whole Bible.

(ii) ix.27', 'unto the place which He will choose,' is manifestly a Deuteronomistic addition to the verse as it originally stood, ending with until this day.' It will be seen that in the former part of the verse,-where it is said 'Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the Congregation, and for the altar of Jehovah, unto this day,'-notice is taken of the words of the princes in v.21, 'let them be hewers &c. for all the Congregation,' and of those of Joshua in v.23, 'hewers &c. for the House of my God.'

9. In like manner a little consideration will show that Jo.xx.6, or, rather, Jo.xx.1-6, is plainly composed out of two different sources. And the close examination of this passage will be instructive, as showing the manner in which the language of Deuteronomy is blended with that of the older document, either by a Compiler who had before him both documents, as some suppose, or, as we rather see reason to believe, by the Deuteronomist himself, while engaged in editing and enlarging the original narrative.

(i) The groundwork of Jo.xx.1–6 is in the same style as N.xxxv.9-15, to which passage, evidently, reference is made in the words of v.2, 'Give for you the cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses,' since the phrase 'cities of refuge' occurs in N.xxxv.6,11,12,14, but not in either of the parallel passages of Deuteronomy, D.iv.41-43, xix. 1-13.

(ii) v.3,9, 'for the fleeing thither of the slayer, smiting a soul by inadvertence,' agrees with N.xxxv.11, ‘and there shall flee thither the slayer, smiting a soul by inadvertence,' where we have a, bishgagah, ‘by inadvertence,' which occurs 15 times in L.,N., (6.xv), but nowhere in Deuteronomy, or anywhere else in the Bible, except, partially, in Ecc.v.6(5), x.5.

(iii) v.3,5, nyɑ ‘Aha, bilti dahath, without knowing,' occurs in D.iv.42,xix.4, but not in the parallel passage, N.xxxv.9-15, nor anywhere in the older document. (iv) v.3, ‘and they shall be to you for a refuge from the avenger of blood,' agrees with N.xxxv.12, 'and the cities shall be to you for a refuge from the avenger,' but does not occur in Deuteronomy.

(v) v.4, and he shall flee unto one out of these cities,' occurs identically in D.iv.42, xix.5,11, as does also 'the elders of that city,' in D.xxi.3,4,6, xxii.18,— (comp. also the process described in D.xxii.15,xxv.7,)—but is not found in N.xxxv. (vi) v.5, 'and if the avenger of blood pursue after him';

comp. 'lest the avenger of blood pursue after the slayer,' D.xix. 6. (vii) v.5, and they shall not shut-up the slayer in his hand';

comp. 'thou shalt not shut-up a servant unto his master,' D.xxiii. 15.

(viii) v.5, 'for without knowing he smote his neighbour, and was not hating kim aforetime,' (lit. 'from yesterday the third day');

comp. who slew (smote) his neighbour without knowing, and he was not hating kim aforetime,” D.iv.42, xix.4, 'he was not hating him aforetime,' xix.6: but this formula does not occur in N.xxxv.9-15.

(ix) v.6, and he shall dwell in that city until his standing before the Congregation for judgment, until the death of the high priest';

comp. and he shall dwell in it, until the death of the high priest,' N.xxxv.25; 'until his standing before the congregation for judgment,' N.xxxv.12. (x) v.6, 'that shall be in those days,' occurs in D.xvii.9, xix.17, xxvi.3, but not in the older matter, the description in the parallel passage, N.xxxv.25, 'the priest that (one) anointed with the holy oil.'

(xi) v.6, then the slayer shall return, and go unto his city, and unto his house whence he fled,' does not agree with the language of N.xxxv.28, 'the slayer shall return unto the land of his possession,' and shows also the use of, az, 'then,' with the future, as in D.iv.41, Jo.viii.30, x.12, xxii. 1, which occurs nowhere in the first four Books of the Pentateuch.

10. The whole passage, Jo.xx.1-6, may now be exhibited as follows, the Deuteronomistic portions being here italicised.

(1) And Jehovah spake unto Joshua, saying, (2) Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, Give for you the cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses, (3) for the fleeing thither of the slayer, smiting a soul by inadvertence, without knowing, and they shall be to you for a refuge from the avenger of blood. (*) And he shall flee unto one out of these cities, and stand at the opening of the gate of the city, and speak in the ears of the elders of that city his words, and they shall gather him into the city unto them, and shall give him a place, and he shall dwell

with them. (5) And, if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not shut up the slayer in his hand; for without knowing he smote his neighbour, and was not hating him aforetime. (®) And he shall dwell in that city until his standing before the Congregation for judgment, until the death of the high priest, who shall be in those days; then shall the slayer return and go unto his city and unto his house, unto the city whence he fled.

11. It may be that something of the old document, corresponding to v.4,5, has been omitted between the end of v.3 and the beginning of v.6, to which the latter refers in the words, and he shall dwell in that city,' or else the beginning of v.6 has been modified, in consequence of the introduction of v.4,5. Perhaps it may have stood originally in v.6,

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'And the slayer shall dwell in the city of his refuge whither he was fled, &c.'— in accordance with the language of N.xxxv.25,26,27,28,32; or some similar words, about the 'slayer' and 'the city of his refuge,' may have preceded v.6.

As it now stands, though the

sense is continuous between v.5 and v.6, yet the insertion of v.4,5, leaves a break in the connection after v.3, since the context runs at present

and they shall be to you for a refuge from the avenger of blood. shall flee, &c.'

(4) And he

where there is no subject to which he shall flee' can be immediately referred.

12. It seems, then, to be certain that in Jo.xx.1-6 the language of the older document has been retouched, and blended with that of the Deuteronomist; and we shall find, hereafter, when we come to consider more closely the contents of the whole Book of Joshua, that the same thing has occurred in other passages. But if this is the case in Joshua, the question arises whether the same phenomenon may not also be found to exist, upon closer inspection, in the first four Books of the Pentateuch. We shall see, as we proceed, that this is really the fact; in short, we shall find plain evidences that the Deuteronomist has revised and retouched the manuscript of the existing Tetrateuch, which had come into his hands, before he added to it the sum and substance of the Law, in the Book of Deuteronomy.

13. But the general result of the investigation in this Chapter is this-that, while the groundwork of the Book of Joshua belongs, as we have said, to the older document, including especially those parts which describe the partition of the land among the different tribes, a very considerable portion -in fact, more than half of the Book, especially of the historical and hortatory matter, consists of Deuteronomistic interpolations. From this it follows that the writer of Deuteronomy cannot have been Moses, at all events; since he here, in Joshua, relates events which took place long after the death of Moses, -after the conquest of the land had been completed, Jo.xxiv. 13, -after Joshua was waxen old' and about to die, Jo.xxiii.2,14. In short, the conclusion, which we have thus arrived at, accords completely, so far as it goes, with that which we have obtained already in Part III, from a careful examination of the contents of Deuteronomy itself, viz. that the writer of this Book lived certainly in the age of one of the later kings of Judah, and most probably, as it appears to us, in the time of Josiah, +630 B.C.

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CHAPTER II.

THE ELOHISTIC PORTIONS OF GENESIS.

14. HAVING thus determined, with some approach to certainty, the age of the Deuteronomist, it now becomes a matter of great interest to determine, if possible, with a like degree of probability, the approximate age of the Elohistic writer of Genesis, whom critics generally allow to have been the earliest of the writers concerned in the composition of the Pentateuch, and to have laid the foundation for the whole work. We shall then have shut up, as it were, the composition of the Pentateuch between two limits; and the investigation as to the age of the other writers, whose hands are plainly to be traced in it, will be a matter-of deep interest still, but yet-of comparatively secondary importance.

15. It is my desire in this Part of my work to endeavour to contribute something towards the solution of this problem. And I am not without hope that the results which I have arrived at will be deemed upon the whole satisfactory—so far, at all events, as to supply some aid to others, who may desire to engage themselves in this enquiry. For this purpose, it is necessary in the first place to extract from the present Book of Genesis the portions of the Elohistic document which it contains, in as a complete a form as possible. And no expenditure of time and labour, which may be required for this purpose, will be deemed superfluous or ill-bestowed by any, who are practically acquainted with the difficulties of the case, and