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Isaiah 1 7 Jeremiah 1 — Daniel — 1 Hosea — 1 Habakkuk 1 — Zechariah — 2 Haggai 1 —

In all 4 11 Psalms 11 2 Proverbs 1 1 — 29 —

53

Several reflections at once arise from this enumeration.
1. Of the twenty-nine passages quoted twenty-three are taken from the Pentateuch and the Psalms; the fundamental Law, and the Book of common devotion.

The absence of detailed illustrations from the history of the kingdom, and the fewness of the references to the teaching of the prophets, are both striking facts.

2. On the other hand no difference is stated or implied as to the authority of the Books which are quoted. All are placed upon the same level. All are, so to speak, ‘Law.’ Compare 1 Cor. 14:21 ejn tw'/ novmw/ (Isaiah); John 10:34; 15:25 ejn tw'/ novmw/ (Psalms); John 12:34; Rom. 3:19.

3. It is yet more remarkable that, with two exceptions (2 Sam. 7:14; Is. 8:17 f.), all the primary passages which are quoted to illustrate the true nature of the Person and Work of Christ are taken from the Psalms. No direct prophetic word is quoted. Nor again is anything quoted from the Prophets on the inefficiency of ritual sacrifices. The use made of the symbolism of the Mosaic worship is essentially distinct.

4. The large proportion of passages taken verbally from the Greek Psalter points to the familiar use of the Book both by the writer and by the readers. Under this aspect the absence of verbal coincidences with the Psalms apart from quotations from them is remarkable.

5. Of the twenty-nine passages which are reckoned as direct quotations twenty-one are peculiar to the writer of the Epistle. Of the remaining eight one is quoted also in the Synoptic Gospels and in St Paul (Ps. 110:1): one by St Stephen (Ex. 25:40): two by St Paul (Acts, Eph.), and in the Apocalypse (2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 2:7): four by St Paul in the Acts and in his Epistles (Gen. 21:12; Deut. 32:35; Ps. 8:5 ff.; Hab. 2:3 f.).

There are no quotations from the Apocryphal Books of the Greek Bible, though the incidents described in 2 Macc. 6, 7 are referred to (Heb. 11:35).

It would be of great interest to determine, if there were adequate evidence, how far the quotations are connected with the Lessons or Psalms of particular days. None of the quotations from the Psalms are taken from the Psalms known to have been appointed for use on the successive days of the week in the Temple (Pss. 24, 48, 82, 94, 81, 92), nor from the Lesser (Pss.


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