This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1879 edition. Excerpt: ... PREFACE. The passage of Holy Scripture which the writer of the following pages endeavours to elucidate, is one on which a large amount of labour has been expended, and no inconsiderable share of learning and ingenuity employed, by Biblical interpreters, in ancient, mediaeval, and modern times, in order to ascertain and exhibit its meaning. From the commencement of our era, at least, no century has elapsed, in which it has not, in some shape, been explained or commented on. Jewish and Christian theologians, in the east and in the west, have offered, in the form of commentary, or paraphrase, or translation, interpretations of the passage, according to their respective views: while writers of history, in the middle ages, have embodied, in their works, a widely-received version of the brief narrative which it contains. The opinions which have been propounded on the subject, are, as might be expected, various: and the languages in which these have been expressed, are many-- Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Ethiopic, Arabic, Greek, Latin, German, French, and English, being included in the number. The view which the present writer adopts, from a full conviction that it is the only admissible one, has been deemed not merely absurd, but impious and heretical, and is still regarded by many as, at the least, fanciful, and by some, it is to be believed, with a feeling of aversion so strong, that they avoid even an allusion to it, no doubt, lest they should appear to give it even a small measure of countenance. The opinions entertained, respecting the meaning of the passage, by Jewish and Christian writers, in ancient and mediaeval times, as well as by the principal modern commentators, are noticed in the following pages. The ablest treatise on the