i. The Hebrew text and the Massora.—The in fluence of the Halachic and Hagadic exegesis on the formation of the Hebrew text and the Massora is far greater than has hitherto been imagined, though the limits of this article.only admit of a few examples. Thus, e. g., the question put by Isaiah to Hezekiah, The shadow has gone forward (1*71) ten degrees, shall it go back ten degrees ?' (2 Kings xx. 9) as the Hebrew text has it, is not only grammatically incorrect, inasmuch as the repe tition of the ten digrees a second time requires the article, but is at variance with the king's reply given in ver. to, from which it is evident that the prophet asked him whether the shadow should go forwards OR backwards ten degrees, that Heze kiah chose the latter because it was more difficult and wonderful, and that the original reading was *n, instead of ; and, indeed, this reading is still preserved by the Chaldee, the Syriac, the Vul gate, etc. ; is followed by Luther and the Zurich version, whence it found its way into Coverdale, the Bishop's Bible, and has finally got into the A. V. The mystery about the origin of the present textual reading is solved when we bear in mind the Ha gadic explanation of the parallel passage in Is. xxxviii. 8. Now, tradition based upon this passage tells us, that the shadow or the sun had gone ten degrees forwards at the death of Ahaz, and the day was thus shortened to two hours (nnv urn InIN rrn n137L.7 TI1N, 1Z, Sanhedrin, 96 a), in order that his burial might be hasty and without royal honours, and that now these ten degrees went backward. Hence the present reading, which was effected by the trifling alteration of *ri into e., the shadow,' the prophet is made to say to the king, ' has once gone forward ten de grees' (4 e., at the death of Ahaz) • shall it now go backwards ten degrees ?' Thus, the Midrash ex position of Is. xxxviii. 8 gave rise to the textual reading of 2 Kings xx. 9. For the influence of the Halachic and Hagadic exegesis on the Massora and the various we must refer to Kroch mal, More Neboche Ha -Yeman, Lemberg 1851, p. 169, ff. ; and the articles KERI and KETHIV, and NETIIINIM, in this Cyclopiedia.
i4 The Greek versions.—That the Septuagint is pervaded by the Halachic and Hagadic exegesis, may almost be seen on every page of this version. A few examples must suffice. Thus, e. g., the Sep tuagint rendering of mn by No-yoodarrcov in Lev. xi. 47, is only to be explained when it is borne in mind that, according to the Halacha, the prohibi tion respecting ntnu (Exod. xxii. 30, al.) does not simply refer to animals torn by wild beasts, but to every animal which is sickly and maimed, though belonging to the clean animals allowed to be eaten in Lev. xi. ; and that one of the sure tests whether an animal is healthy, and hence eatable, is when it bears young ones ; barrenness is an infallible sign of its sickly condition (comp. Chtdin, 24, with 58 ; Salomon b. Adereth, Respons., xcviii. ; Torath Cohanim, 124)—hence the Septuagint rendering.
between those which bear young ones and [for this reason] may be eaten, and those which bear young ones and may not be eaten,' because they belong to the animals proscribed. Again, the rendering
of Josh. xiii. 22, =in= . . . lann . n3h1 nNi, by Kal ray BaXaivL . . . zbriKzELvav . . . Ev porn', which has caused such perplexity to commentators and given rise to diverse emendations (e.g., arpovalq, Oxf. ; iv Acm.4q5aict lv rpoirt", A ld. and CoVhd.), is at once explicable when reference is made to the Hagada, which is quoted by Jonathan b. Uzziel's Chaldee Paraphrase of Num. xxxi. 6, and is as fol lows : Balaam flew into the air by his magic arts, and Phinehas threw him down ; so that iv /50g) means in the fall (comp. also Rashi on Num. xxxi. 6).
Symmachus, too, cannot be understood in many of his translations without reference to the Hala chic and Hagadic exegesis. Thus, the apparently strange rendering of 171t: 19111 Svzn N9 by ob CIKELlarTEIS yeixarros AnTpOS a Oroii (Exod. xxiii. 19), becomes intelligible when it is remembered that the Halacha not only prohibits the cooking but the mixing and eating of animal meat and milk in any form (comp. Mechilta in loco, Cholin, 115). Hence the rendering of SUM by The rendering of by 6.,px10-e Mcoiktijp (Exod. i. 21), which has been thought very extraordinary and inexplicable, becomes per fectly plain when the Hagada on this passage is consulted, which tells us, that Jethro demanded of Moses to swear that he would devote to idolatry his first-begotten son by Zipporah, and that Moses consented to it ; and remarks farther, '19 nut..", r1N j'N, rivm inN:v 1S vz ravn xrizi 111N9 arn nN 91n) 9NI'1 711/11r.) 11V9 9:21r1 jY j7a "Ctst'l, then said Yethro, swear, and Moses swore to him, as it is written, tiVo ;,•4101. Now rlz..; denotes to swear, as in I Sam. xiv. 24, and 2 Kings v. 23 (comp. Me chilta, section Jethro, beginning quoted in yalkut, in loco ; Nedarim, 65 a).
These few specimens must suffice, for, greatly important as the subject is, the limits of this article prevent us from giving illustrations of the influence which the Halachic and Hagadic exegesis exercised upon the other Greek version, as well as upon the Chaldee paraphrases, the Syriac version, the Vulgate, the Arabic, and the expositions of the early fathers.
6. Literature.—Zunz, Die gottesdienstlichen Vor tKige der "1 a'e n , Berlin 1832, p. 35, ff. ; Hirsch feld, HalachzIrche Exegese, Berlin 1840; by the same author, Die hagadische Exegese, Berlin 1847 ; Sachs, Die religare Poesie der in Spanien, Berlin 1845, p. iv, ff. ; Rapaport, Erech Aliiiin, Prague 1852, art. Agada, p. 6, ff. ; Frankel, Vorstudien zoo der Sept:gag:WM, Leipzig 1841, p. 179, ff. ; by the same author, Ueber den Eh:films der Paldsthz ischen Exegese my" die alexandrinische Hermeneu tik, Leipzig 1851 ; and Programm zur Eriiirnung des jiidisch-theologischen Seminars en Breslau, Bres lau 1854 ; Luzzatto, Oheb Ger., Vienna 1831 ; Geiger, Urschrifl and Uebersetszung der Bibel, Breslau 1857 ; Steinschneider, ,ezvish Literature, Longman 1857, p. 5, ff. ; Ginsburg, Historical and Critical Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Longman 1861, pp. 30, ff. ; 455, ff—C. D. G.