An Encyclopaedia of Religions (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1921 Excerpt: ...similar words." As Cornill says, " it follows from this that we possess no authentic reports from the first half-period of Jeremiah's active ministry, but only a resumi given by himself, in which he had striven to recapitulate its fundamental thoughts and ideas in as brief and impressive a way as possible." And the original document cannot have been very voluminous, for it was read through twice in a single day. The earliest sections in the Book of Jeremiah would seem to be: chapters i., ii.-vi., vii.-x., xl.-xii. 6, xxv., xviii. These may be prior to the fourth year of Jehoiachim. But even here there are passages which cannot be due to the prophet himself. "Ch. lii. 6-18 breaks the connexion between lii. 5 and 19; ix. 22-x. 16, which itself consists of three discourses, dissevers the immediately continuous verses ix. 21 and x. 17 from each other; xii. 4 stands in an altogether unsuitable and impossible place" (Cornill). The original roll was utilised in the composition of the existing Book of Jeremiah, but it has not been preserved in its original form. In many ways the Book of Jeremiah has undergone considerable reduction. An example of this may be found in chapter iv. verses 531. The foe referred to in this prophecy, the "foe from the North," was probably the Scythians. We learn from Herodotus (i. 105-8) that about 625 B.C. the Scythians overran Western Asia, and advanced through Palestine as far as Ashkelon, with the intention of invading Egypt. By the time the prophecy was committed to writing, however, about 604 B.C., the Chaldaeans had become dangerous, and were beginning to march from the North. It has been suggested that the prophecy was adapted or modified in parts to meet the new situation. The whole prophecy ex...