INTERPRETATION (BIBLICAL), AND HERMENEUTICS. There is a very ancient and wide-spread belief that the knowledge of divine things in general, and of the divine will in parti cular, is by no means a common property of the whole human race, but only a prerogative of a few specially-gifted and privileged individuals. It has been considered that this higher degree of know ledge has its source in light and instruction pro ceeding- directly from God, and that it can be imparted to others by communicating to them a key to the signs of the divine will. Since, how ever, persons who in this manner have been indi rectly taught, are initiated into divine secrets, and consequently appear as the confidants of deity, they also enjoy, although instructed only through the medium of others, a more intimate communion with God, a more distinct perception of his thoughts, and consequently a mediate conscious ness of deity itself. It therefore follows that persons thus either immediately or mediately instructed are supposcd to be capable, by means of their divine illumination and their knowledge of the signs of the divine will, to impart to mankind the ardently desired knowledge of divine things and of the will of deity. They are considered to be interpreters or explainers of the signs of the divine will, and, consequently, to be mediators between God and man. Divine illumination and a communicable knowledge of the signs and expressions of the divine will, are thus supposcd to bc combined in one and the same person.
This idea is the basis of the Hebrew N.'1), pro thet. The prophet is a divinely-inspired seer, and, as such, he is an interpreter and preacher of the divine will. He may either be directly called by God, or have been prepared for his office in the schools of the prophets (comp. Knobel, Der Pro phetismus der Hebnier vollsttindrg dargestSlt, Bres lau 1837, pt. i. p. 102, sq. ; pt. ii. p. 45, sy.) However, the being filled with the Holy Ghost was the most prominent feature in the Hebrew idea of a prophet. This is even implied in the usual appellation which means a person in the state of divine inspiration (not a predicter of future events). Prophetisrn ceased altogether as soon as Jehovah, according to the popular opinion, ceased to communicate his Spirit.
The ancient Greeks and Romans kept the idea of divine inspiration more distinct from the idea of interpretation of the divine will. They, accord ing to a more natural manner of viewing the sub ject, recognised generally, in the mediator between God and man, more of an experienced and skilful interpreter than of a divinely-inspired seer. They distinguished the interpreter and the seer by dif ferent names, of which we will speak hereafter. It was the combination of the power of interpreta tion with inspiration, which distinguished the He brew prophets or seers from those of other ancient nations. The Hebrew notion of a N41) appears, among the Greeks, to have been split into its two constituent parts of Aeiprts, from ricriveo-Oar, to rave (Platonis Phadrus, sec. 48, ed. Steph. p. 244, a. b.), and of eEn-ynrhs, from erryito-Oat, to expound. However, the ideas of Acivrts and of e.Errynri;s could be combined in the same person. Comp. Boissonnade, Anecdota Grata, i. 96, Acimrwp caiEn-rir* Advrcs. "yap Kat 26owp.o1)7 41-yelsro (comp. Scholia in Aristophanis Nubes, 336), and Arriani Epiclettes, ii. 7, rdv ricivrtv ray krryotn4evov Ta o-np.ela ; Plato, De Legibus, ix. p. 871, c., /1E7' iEurrt.21v Kai dud:in-caw; Euripidis Phanisser, v. 1918,
Acims 4Erryiloaro, and Iphigenict in Aulide,l. 529. Plutarch (Vrta _Memo, cap. xi.) places eEn-ynr#Is and 7rpoOrns together ; so also does Dionysius Halicarnassensis, ii. 73. The first two of these examples prove that e0-yrrat werc, according to the Greeks, persons who possessed the gift of dis covering the will of the Deity from certain appear ances, and of interpreting signs. Jul. Pollux, viii. 124, iEnTra/ Se eicaXoSvro, otra rept rt7.:v otorrquetwt, Kat ra. raw Datuv lecLv Szacio-Kovres. Harpocration says, and Suidas repeats after hitn, kri-pyri7s 4n-yoot.v., re, lepd. Comp. Bekker, Anecdota Grceca, 185, kn-yoUvrar ot SirrrerpoL Creuzer defines the lEn-ynrai, in his Symbalik rend Illythologie der Allen Volker, i. 15, as persons whose high vocation it was to bring laymen into harmony with divine things.' These iEn-ynrai moved in a re ligious sphere (comp. Herod. i. 78, and Xeno phontis Cyrapadia, viii. 3, it). Even the Delphic Apollo, replying to those who sought his oracles, is called by Plato ?En-yrtri;s (Pait.. iv. 448, b.) Plutarch mentions, in Vita Thesei, c. 25, 6o-iwv Kai geTynrat ; comp. also the above-quoted pas sage of Dionysius Halicarnassensis, and especially Ruhnken (ad Timor' Lexicon, ed. Lugd. Bat. 1789, p. 189, sq.) The Scholiast on Sophocles (Ajax,l. 320) has 4Elryno-is -6/P Oeiwp, and the Scholiast on Electra, 426, has the definition eVflowts St.ao-d ono-u 0e/cov. It is in connection with this original signification of the word /77.-fririis that the ex pounders of the law are styled knnrca ; because the ancient law was derived from the gods, and the law-language had become unintelligible to the multitude. (Comp. Lysias, vi. to ; Diodorus Sicu lus, xiii. 35 ; Ruhnken, as quoted above ; the annotators on Pollux and Harpocration ; and K. Fr. Hermann, Lehrbuch der Griechischen Staats-alter thiimer, Marburg 1836, sec. 104, note 4.) In Atherreus and Plutarch there are mentioned books under the title iEn-ynrmi, which contained intro. ductions to the right understanding of sacred signs. (Comp. Valesius, ad Harpocrationis Lexicon, Lip ske 1824, ii. 462.) Like the Greeks, the Romans also distinguished between vales and interpres (Cicero, Frcrgm. ; Hor tens.) Sive vates sive in sacris initiisque traden dis divime mentis interpretes.' Servius (ad /En., iii. 359) quotes a passage from Cicero thus :—ut ait Cicero, omnis divinandi peritia in duas partes dividitur. Nam aut furor est, ut in vaticinantibus ; aut ars, ut in aruspicibus, fulguritis sive fulguratoribus, et auguribus. The arusprces, fulguriti, fulgumtores, and augures, belong to the idea of the interpres deorum. Comp. Cicero, Era domo sua, c. 41 :—Equidem sic accepi, in religioni bus suscipiendis caput esse interpretari crux volun tas deorum immortalium esse videatur. Cicero (De Divinatione, 41) says :—Etruria interpre tatur quid quibusque ostendatur monstris atque por tentis. Hence, in Cicero (De Legibus, ii. 27), the expression, interpretes religionum.' An example of this distinction, usual among the Greeks, is found in Cor. xii. 4, 30. The Corin thians filled with the Holy Ghost were -yXthcro-als XaXarres, speaking in tongues, consequently they were in the statc of a ihdprts ; but frequently they did not comprehend the sense of their own inspi ration, and did not understand how to interpret it because they had not the gorxripeia-yNtocro-(1)p,interpre lation of tongues : consequently they were not eo ^prat.