These works seem to have led to the first He brew concordance, which was produced by Rabbi Mordecai Nathan, which he began in 1438, and finished in 1448, after ten years' hard labour by himself and some assistants. It was first printed at Venice in 1523, fol., by Dan. Bamberg; then in Basle in 1581, and afterwards at Rome in 1621. It is entirely Hebrew, and entitled The Light of the Way. In 1556 it was translated into Latin by Reuchlin, but both the Hebrew and the Latin edi tions are full of errors.
These errors were for the most part corrected and other deficiencies supplied by Calasio, a Fran ciscan friar, who published Concordantae Sao'. Bibl. Hebr. et Latin. Romx, 1621, 4 vols. fol. [CALASIO], and still better in Concordantice Bibl. Ebraica, nova et artz:ficiosa method o dispositie, Basil, 1632, foL This is the production of John Bux torf, the father, but was published by his son. It takes for its basis the work of Rabbi Nathan, though it is much better arranged, more correctly printed, the roots more distinctly ascertained, and the meanings more accurately given ; but as the references are made by Hebrew letters, and relate to the Rabbinical divisions of the O. T.. it is of little service, unless the student is familiar with the Masoretic system. This work was abridged under the title of Fans Leo's, etc., Berolini, 1677, 8vo. The concordance of Calasio was republished in London under the direction of W. Romaine, 1747 49, 4 vols. fol., and under the patronage of all the monarchs in Europe, not excepting the pope him self. Before this republication, however, there appeared, in 1679 (Kopenh. fol.), Ch. Nolde Con car. particularism Ebr. Chaldaicarunz. Reference may also be made to Simonis Onomasticon V. T., Halle, 1741, fol. But the best and, at least to the English reader, most important work on this sub ject is, The Hebrew Concordance, adapted to the English Bible, disposed after the manner of Bax ter); by John Taylor, D.D., London, 2 vols. fol. Dr. 'Taylor was an eminent Presbyterian divine at Norwich, the author of several publica tions which shew great industry and learning. His concordance is by far the most complete work of the kind. It was the fruit of many years' labour, and has left little room for improvement. The patronage of all the English and Irish bishops re commended the work to the world.
An edition of Buxtorf's Hebrew Concordance, which has received so much care and attention on the part of the author, as nearly to deserve the name and bear the character of a new work liebrai schen and Chalddischen Concordanz zu den Heili gen Schrifien Allen Testaments, von Dr. Julius Fiirst (Leipzig, Tauchnitz ; London, Nutt), offers one of the most useful aids to the study of the Bible that have ever appeared. The necessity of
such a work as the present arises not only from the errors found in Buxtorf and the comparative rarity of the work, but also from the great advances which, since the time when Buxtorf's work ap peared (A.D. 1632), have been made both in the knowledge of the Shemitic languages, in the gene ral science of theology, and the particular depart ment of biblical exegesis. We may specify one or two of the advantages offered by this work. In addition to those of a more mechanical kind, such as a good type and clear arrangement, there are, 1. A corrected text, founded on Hahn's Vander hoogt ; 2. The Rabbinical significations ; 3. Ex planations in Latin, giving the etymology of the Rabbinical ; illustrations from the three Greek Versions, the Aramaic Paraphrase, the Vulgate, etc.; the Greek words employed by the Seventy as renderings of the Hebrew ; together with philolo gical and archmological notices, so as to make the Concordance contain an ample Hebrew lexicon. This work is far preferable to Taylor's Hebrew Concordance, which is now not easily met with. Every theological library which has not a copy of Ftirst must be considered as wanting an essential requisite. The work, when known, will, we are assured, be welcomed by English scholars.
The best Greek concordance to the Septuagint is that which bears the title—A. Trommii Con. Grew. Vers. vulgo die. LXX. Interpret. Amst. 1718, 2 vols. fol. The author of this learned and most laborious work was minister of Groningen, and published the concordance in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He was born in 1623, and died in 1719. It follows the order of the Greek words of which it first gives a Latin translation, and then the Hebrew word or words for which the Greek term is used in the Seventy. Then the different places in which the words occur follow in the order of the several books and chapters. When the word occurs in any of the ancient Greek trans lators, Aquila, Symmachus, or Theodotion, the places where it is found are referred to at the end of the quotations from the Sept. The words of the Apocrypha are placed at the end of each enu meration. There are two indices at the end of the work ; one Hebrew and Chaldaic, by examining which the Greek term used in the Septuagint for any Hebrew or Chaldee word is seen at once, with the Latin version and the place where it is found in the concordance, so that Tromm serves in a measure for a Hebrew concordance ; the other in dex contains a lexicon to the Hexapla of Origen, and comprehends the Greek words in the fmg ments of the old Greek translators published by Montfaucon.