From Book: A New Literal Translation From the Original Greek of All the Apostolical Epistles, Essay VIII,
"Concerning The Right Interpretation of the Writings in which the Revelations of God are Contained", p. 702, 1841.

The revelations of God being designed to give mankind the knowledge of his counsels respecting their salvation, the right understanding of these revelations must appear to every religious person a matter of great importance. This Essay, therefore, having for its object to explain the phraseology of the writings in which the revelations of God are recorded, it will meet with attention from the reader, in proportion to the value which he puts on religious knowledge.


The books which contain the revelations of God, being more ancient than any books now extant, are written in the language which mankind used in the first ages, or in a language nearly allied to it. Wherefore, the style of these writings being very different from that of modern compositions, to interpret them as modern compositions are interpreted is, without doubt, to misinterpret them. Accordingly, persons ignorant of the character of the primitive language, have, by that method of interpretation, been led to fancy that the scriptures contain sentiments unworthy of God, whereby they have not only exposed these venerable writings to the worn of infidels, but have formed to themselves false notions in religion, which have had a pernicious influence on their morals.

For avoiding these evils, the nature and character of the language first spoken by mankind must be well understood ; and for that purpose the best method seems to be, to consider in what manner language was originally formed.

The first ideas which come into the human mind being those which enter by the senses, it is reasonable to believe that names for expressing sensible objects would be invented before any others, and, after them, terms for expressing those operations of the senses, by which the ideal of sensible objects are acquired. — And because the operation uf the senses have some resemblance to the operations of intellect, to express the operations of intellect mankind would naturally have recourse to the words by which they expressed the operation of the senses. — Thus, many words of the primitive language of mankind must have had a twofold signification. According to the one signification they denoted ideas of sense, and according to the other they denoted ideas of intellect ; so that, although these words were the same in respect of their sound, they were really different words in respect of their signification : and to mark that difference, after the nature of language came to be accurately investigated, the words which denoted the ideas of sense, when used to express the ideas of intellect, were called by critics metaphors, from a Greek word which signifies to transfer, because these words, so used, were carried away from their original meaning to a different one, which, however, had some resemblance to it.

Metaphorical meanings being affixed to words in the ancient languages to remedy the poverty of these languages, it is plain, that the more ancient any language is it will consist of the fewer words, consequently the more numerous and bold its metaphors will be. Accordingly we find, that the primitive language!, and even the languages of savage tribes, which may be ranked with the primitive languages, are all of them highly figurative. On this subject it is proper to observe, that even after a language has become sufficiently copious, if the people who use it possess a vigorous and warm imagination, and are favourably situated for enjoying sensual gratifications, as is the case with most of the eastern nations, being by these circumstances peculiarly disposed to relish the sensible pictures exhibited in metaphorical and other figurative expressions, such a people, instead of retrenching, will rather multiply these expressions. Hence the language of that people will be more figurative than the languages of nations whose imagination is languid, and whose situation does not permit them to be occupied in sensual gratifications. This is the reason that the language of the Hebrews, and of the other eastern nations, by the multitude, the variety, the boldness, and even the extravagance of its metaphorical expressions, is distinguished from the more temperate speech of the nations in the western parts of the world, whose imagination is not so warm, and whose climate and soil are not so favourable to luxury as theirs.

Of the bold metaphors used by the ancient Hebrew«, the following examples are all taken from their sacred books: — Gen. iv. 10. 'The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the ground.' Gen. xix. 26. 'His wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.' Gen. xlix. 11. 'He washed — his clothes in the blood of grapes,' to signify that Judah was to inhabit a country fruitful in vines. Psal. v. 9. ' Their throat is an open sepulcher.' Psal. Ix. 3. ' Thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.' Psal. Ixxviii. 25. 'Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.' Psal. cxxix. 3. ' The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.' Isa. xxxiv. 3. ' The mountains shall be melted with their blood:' ver. 4. 'And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together аs a scroll:' ver. 6. 'The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness.' Isa. xiv. 23. ' I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts.' Jer. xx. 7. 'O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived." Isa. v. 1. ' My well beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill.' In the original it is, on a horn, the son of oil : The horn being the highest part of horned animals, it is used to denote the highest part of a country ; a hill. This horn or hill is called the son of oil, because the olive which produces oil is one of the valuable fruits of the earth. See Lowth on the passage. Isa. xi. 15, 'The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea.'

Having in the scriptures these, and many other examples of bold metaphors, the natural effect of the poverty of the ancient language of the Hebrews, why should we be either surprised or offended with the bold figurative language in which the Hebrews expressed their conceptions of the divine nature and government? Theirs was not a philosophical language, but the primitive speech of an uncultivated race of men, who, by words and phrases taken from objects of sense, endeavoured to express their notions of matters which cannot be distinctly conceived by the human mind, and far less expressed in human language.

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