whom your fathers served on the other side of the river (Euphrates,) and in Egypt, and serve the LORD, verse 14. His advice here is this, not only to serve the LORD, but to serve him in perfection and truth; alone and only; and the way to do this is to pat away the Elohim who were formerly worshipped in Mesopotamia and Egypt; and serve the LORD without them. 15th. "But if it is evil in your sight to serve the LORD, take your choice this day whom you will serve; the Elohim whom your fathers served on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose country you now are settled. But as for myself and my house, we will serve the LORD. Explanation. But if, in your view, ye do not think proper to serve the LORD wholly and solely, then take your choice between the other two, which religion ye will embrace; either the Mesopotamian religion, or the religion of the Amorites. I also, for myself and family, take our choice. We will serve the Lord wholly and solely, with a perfect undivided service, and in truth. Verse 16. "And the people answered and said, Far be it from us to forsake the LORD in order to serve other Gods." If we should follow your advice, we should then forsake the LORD, in order to serve other Gods. Far be this from us, this we will not do. 17. "For the LORD is our God, he it was who caused our being brought up from the land of Egypt, from the house of servitude, and who performed in our sight those great signs, and hath preserved us in all the way wherein we have since gone, and among all the nations through whom we have passed. 18." And the LORD drove out all these nations and the Amorites, the Aborigines of the country, from before us, even we will serve the Lord, for he is our God." We will make the same choice as you make, even we will serve the LORD. The first part of the proposition of Joshua to fear the Lord and serve him was thus conceded, but as to the second part, with perfection and truth, the concession did not so plainly appear, and Joshua might suppose they would not forsake the service of the LORD, yet intended to retain, (not put away) the idea of other Elohim; and this makes him explain as in the words of our text-" And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot (will not be able to) serve THE LORD because he is Elohim holy ones," do not think you can at all serve THE LORD and retain other Elohim, assigning, as a reason for so doing, that he is Elohim, holy ones, a plurality in unity. He is a jealous God, and will not allow such doings, he will not forgive these trespasses and sins. 20. For ye will forsake THE LORD, and serve strange Gods, and he will return and do you harm, and destroy you after he has benefitted you. Explanation. If ye worship THE LORD, as Elohim, holy ones, ye forsake THE LORD, and serve strange Gods, the consequence in the end will be destruction. 21. And the people said to Joshua, none but THE LORD will we serve. The people answered him, Nay we do not mean so, we intend to serve THE LORD only. 22. And Joshua said to the people, you bear testimony of yourselves, that of your own accord you have chosen THE LORD to serve him? and they said, we are witnesses. 23. And now (said he) put away the strange Gods which are amongst you, and incline your hearts to THE LORD, the God of Israel. The second part of the proposition being now also conceded, THE LORD alone must be considered the God of Israel. "Put away the strange Gods, and incline your hearts to serve THE LORD alone." 24. And the people said unto Joshua, THE LORD our God we will serve and hearken to his voice. We accept of THE LORD as our God, we will serve him and obey his voice. According to the bible translation, (and indeed it is far from being alone in its reading) this 19th verse is not only a contradiction to the context, but is also untrue in doctrine, as well as incorrect in the rendering. In the context Joshua calls on the people to serve THE LORD. And in the 19th verse he says, ye cannot serve THE LORD; it is a contradiction to advise a course which cannot be pursued. It is not true in doctrine, for THE LORD can be worshipped, can be served, and if we serve THE LORD he will forgive our sins. It is incorrectly rendered, because Elohim is a noun proper, con 253 sequently in the singular, being here used as a name for God, and is joined with p Kydoshim, holy ones, an adjective in the plural number, and its pronoun Hue, he, is also singular, and therefore ought to have been rendered Elohim, holy ones is he, or he is Elohim holy ones, and not as the English bible has it, "he is an holy God," leaving the adjective holy in the singular, when, in the original, it is in the plural, and when as I have shown, the context of necessity requires it to be left in the plural, or else the whole sense of the argument is destroyed, and becomes contradictory, and the doctrine in reality false. I was led to the explanation of this text by looking over, for a future number, David Levi's Lingua Sacra, article Elohim. Because those who, in their own thoughts are learned, and wise in their own conceits, themselves refusing to listen, yet presuming to teach, obtrude their weak, indigested cogitations on us, I am advised by those I revere, in some future number or numbers, to treat on that subject. To me it appears very strange and unaccountable, how any one in his senses can hold forth, that Elohim, a noun proper, can be plural, because it has the mem, or Dyod men termination; as well might they say, that Thomas, or Jones, two English names, are plural; because they have the s, or es, termination; for if the one is the Hebrew, the other is the English, plural termination. For the present I must close this article, hoping, with the will of God, to resume it in some future number. FROM ISRAEL'S ADVOCATE, Vol. 2. P. 28. LONDON JEWS' SOCIETY. "The Duke of Sussex, son of the late King, is President. The object of the Society is the education of poor Jews and their children. At the late annual meeting, the President called a little Hebrew girl, not seven years old, before him, and placed her on a table, in the presence of the assembly, where she recited an appropriate ode, from which the following stanza is selected :-- "By all the griefs that ye assuage, By orphans' eyes upraised to bless ; Oh! freely still your aid bestow, Help us to live--the old to die, And blessing others here below, Yourselves be doubly blest on high. "The collection taken on this occasion, in aid of the society, exceeded seven thousand dollars." On a first reading of the above, it impressed on my mind that it was an account of the London Society for Evangelizing the Jews; being placed in company with the "Massachusetts Society for meliorating the condition of the Jews," "Salem Jews' Society," "Northampton Jews' Society," "Providence Auxiliary Society;" all which are illegitimate, that is, societies of ......tians who assume the name of Jews' Societies; and it surprised me to find H. R. H. the duke of Sussex in such company. I also noticed the strangeness of the wording and punctuation. On a reperusal, the wrong became apparent-and behold my agreeable surprise on the discovery of a friend. It is a garbled account of an annual meeting of the Society of London, the members are principally Jews; it is called pn Nivhy Hatsedek, the righteous refuge or dwelling, a charitable institution for aged infirm Hebrews, and poor Jew children; they have a large elegant Hospital in Mile-end road, called the Jews' Hospital, where manufactories of several kinds are in successful operation. The aged and infirm are supported for life: the children receive an education, are taught a trade or handicraft, and when of age set up in business. The institution is entirely a Jews' institution. The children are educated in Judaism; it is supported by voluntary contributions and annual subscriptions. The subscribers have an annual meeting, when the duke, being a patron, usually presides for the day. Israel's Advocate has introduced this society to the notice of its readers in such a manner that it may be mistaken for a society of......ians, calling themselves a Jews' Society; it therefore became our duty to notice it here, to correct the erroneous idea it is calculated to impress. Would that all societies calling themselves Jews' Societies were like this, and would that all pious ......ians were like the Duke of Sussex. Blessings on his head! May he see the delight of Israel and be satisfied! Now, reader, will you please to say by what name shall such doings be called? It is neither murder nor robbery! It does not "make me poor indeed," neither does it "make him the richer!" The plumage is indeed borrowed; and I would not willingly pluck a single feather from him. Let it then stand, a thing without a name, and so in future shall all misdoings in that work be, till it is otherwise conducted. NOTICE. No. 12 concludes the first volume of the Jew; those who wish to withdraw their subscription will please to signify the same to the publisher, at the office, 265 Broadway, before the 6th day of March next, or they will be considered as pledged to continue their subscriptions. Subscribers to the Jew, who wish to replace any numbers which may be wanting to complete the series for the first volume, are reminded to supply themselves before the 6th of March next, after which we may not be able to supply them. MALABAR JEWS. We have latterly been favoured with the perusal of an original account of the Jews of Cogin, (Cochin) in China, and are in hopes of being favoured with a communication on that subject, which will correct Missionary misrepresentations on that head! END OF VOLUME I. BEING A DEFENCE OF JUDAISM AGAINST ALL ADVERSARIES, AND PARTICULARLY AGAINST THE INSIDIOUS ATTACKS OF ISRAEL'S ADVOCATE. עת לעשות לה' הפרו תורתך : ואענה חרפי דבר כי בטחתי בדברך : ""Tis time to work for the Lord; they make void thy law. "And I will answer the blasphemers of the word; for I depend upon thy words." VOLUME II. EDITED BY S. H. JACKSON. NEW-YORK. Psalm, cix. |