Although no Hebrew letters are preserved of the time before David, it might be supposed that the form might have been derived from Egypt. We have papyri containing copies by Egyptian scribes of the kings of the Rameses family, about the 13th century B.C., of letters of their own correspondence. These shew a regular epistolary style, the conventionalism of which at once removes us from all ideas of Semitic literature. There is an air of the monuments about it that strikes us in the descriptive character of certain of the formulas. Some letters, from a superior to an inferior, com mence in the manner shewn in the following ex ample The chief librarian Amen-em-an, of the royal white house, says to the scribe Penta-ur, Whereas, this letter is brought to you, saying—com munication.' A usual ending of such letters is, `Do thou consider this.' Some begin with the word `Communication.' The fuller form also seems to be an abbreviation. An inferior scribe, addressing his superior, thus begins ; 'The scribe Penta-ur salutes his lord, the chief librarian, Amen-em-an, of the royal white house. This comes to inform mx lord. Again I salute my lord. Whereas I have executed all the commissions imposed upon me by my lord, well and truly, completely and thorough ly [?] I have done no wrong. Again I salute my lord.' He ends, ' Behold this message is to inform my lord.' A more easy style is seen in a letter of a son to his father, which begins,—' The scribe Amen-mesu salutes [his] father, captain of bow men, Bek-en-ptah,' and ends Farewell.' A mili tary officer writing to another, and a scribe writing to a military officer, appear to begin with a prayer for the king, before the formula Communication.' A royal or government letter is a mere written decree, without any formal introduction, and ending with an injunction to obey it. The contents of these letters are always addresses to the person written to, the writer using the first person singular. The subject-matter is various, and perhaps gives us a better idea of the literary ability of the Egyp tians, and their lively national character, than any other of their compositions.* In the books of Scripture written after the return from Babylon, mention is made of letters of the enemies of the Jews to the kings of Persia, and of the kings to these persons, the Jews, or their officers, some of which are given. These are in an official style, with a greeting and sometimes an address. The letter to Artaxerxes contains the form, Be it known unto the king,' Be it known now unto the king' (Ezra iv. 1-16) ; and his answer thus begins ; Peace [or ' welfare'], and so forth' (17-22), the expression and so forth,' occurring elsewhere in such a manner that it seems to be used by the transcriber for brevity's sake (to, I I ; vii. 12). It must therefore not be com pared to the common modern Arabic formula of commencement, After the [usual] salutations.' The letter of the opponents of the Jews to Darius (Hystaspis) thus begins :—` Unto Darius the king, all peace. Be it known unto the king' (v. 6 17). The letter of Artaxerxes (Longimanus) to Ezra is a written decree, and not an ordinary letter save in form (vii. II, 26). Nehemiah asked for, and was granted, letters from the same king to the governors, and the keeper of the king's forest (Neh. ii. 7, 9). When he was rebuilding Jerusa lem, Sanballat sent him an open letter' by his servant, repeating an invented rumour of the Jews' intention to rebel (vi. 5, 7): no doubt it was left not sealed purposely, either in order that the rumour should be so spread as if by accident, or to shew disrespect. At this time many letters
passed between the nobles of Judah and Tobiah, and letter-writing seems to have been common (17, see also 19). In Esther we read of exactly the same custom as that spoken of in the case of Jezebel's letter, the authority of writings with the king's name and seal, even if not written by him. It is related that Ahasuerus ` took his signet from his hand, and gave it unto Haman,' who caused letters to be written containing a mandate :--` In the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king's signet' (Esth. iii. to, 12, 13). In like manner, the same authority was given to Esther and Mordecai, and it is remarked, for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's signet, may not be reversed' (viii. 7, 8).
The Hebrew word for a letter is "MC, a writ ing,' hence also a book.' In the later books, 1113, zmn, nu and ilriM etc., occur.
In the N. T., epistles take a very important place as authoritative documents addressed to the churches. Of these there are the separate canoni cal epistles, and the short epistle addressed by the apostolic council held at Jerusalem, to the Gentile converts in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, which is included in the Acts. There is also a letter from Claudius Lysias to Felix, which may be supposed to preserve the official style of the provinces. It uses the common Greek formulas, beginning, after the names of the writer and the person written to, with Greeting' (Xaipap), and ending with Fare well' ("Ehicoo-a, Acts xxiii. 25-3o). The epistle of the council has the same form, save only that the plural, ' Fare ye well,' ''EAPtoo-Oe, is used (xv. 23, 29). The separate epistles, with the exception of that of St. James, which has the fonnula ` Greet ing,' and that to the Hebrews, as well as the First of St. John, which have not an epistolary beginning, all commence, after the name, and usually the divine commission, of the writer, and the name of the church or person written to, with a salutation, gene rally a prayer that the church or person addressed may receive grace, mercy, and peace. The salu tation at the end is a grace, sometimes accom panied by a doxology. St. Paul appears to have generally added, at the end, his own salutation in his own hand (2 Thes. iii. 17 ; see also t Cor. xvi. 21 ; Col. iv. 18). He probably always em ployed an amanuensis. His handwriting was large, as we learn from a passage in the Epistle to the Galatians (vi. 1), not correctly translated in the A. V. The apostles use the singular and plural of the first person, in the latter case speak ing in the name of the church, or perhaps associ ating with themselves, as does St. Paul, another teacher or other teachers. After the address and salutation, the main subject at once follows, and special greetings with all personal matters are not introduced until its discussion has ended. In St. Paul's Epistles, the style seems to shew plain indi cations of writing by dictation in the length and intricate construction of some of the sentences, and the occurrence of parentheses. The contents of each of the Epistles will be found discussed under the article devoted to it.
St. Paul refers to a custom of the apostolic time, the giving recommendatory letters, e.r.aroXal (2 Cor. iii. t), to persons going from one church to another.—R. S. P.