LETTERS ON HISTORY.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume I, Issue 9, 1 December 1855, Page 3

LETTERS ON HISTORY.

No. 11. In entering upon the history of mankind from its earliest period, we must have recourse to the writings of the Jewish Nation, which have ever been esteemed sacred by that people; and of which the authenticity has been acknowledged by the most enlightened portion of mankind. It would, therefore, be unpardonable to pass over these celebrated records, which have so long attracted the veneration of Christains, and the ridicule of infidels, to amuse the fancy with an absurd tissue of fabulous narratives of kings who never reigned, or of heaven-born heroes who only existed in the exuberant imagination of a superstitious priesthood The Jewish annals are by far the most ancient that have come down to us ; and are apart from the advantage they derive from being of Divine authority, without exception the most rational and probable. In availing ourselves of the contents of these sacred books, we shall be compelled, for want of space to confine ourselves to a few of the principal events and eharacters recorded therein, and have much pleasure in referring our readers to a clear and succinct History of the Jewish Nation which has been compiled by a gcntlci nan connected with the Church Missionary Society.

The book of Genesis relays alm6st en-1 tirely to events which, transpired before any history existed, must have been committed to its author either by tradition or revelation : if by the former, some variety in names and dates might creep in without invalidating the authority of the book ; and of the latter we are expressly told—2. Peter, i. 21—"Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The book of Exodus is partly historical—as relating the release of the Israelites from the bondage to which they had been subjected by the Egyptian monach ; and partly legislative—as containing the first code of laws of which we have any record, and also the institution of certain rites and ceremonies, which are retained by the Jews of the present day. The book of Leviticus is of a legislative character, while that of Numbers relates more particularly to the divisions and family histories of that people, during their journeyings in the wilderness of Sinai ; and Deuteiouomy consists principally of a repetition of the laws promulgated in the former books, but contains little historical matter except the relation of the death of Moses, added by some succeeding writer. In all these works, which are commonly called Pentateuch, or the Five Books of Moses, the author positively declares that the laws and ordinances he gives to the people are the commands of the Supreme Beino, expressly revealed to him ; but, in regard to historical facts, he appeals occasionally to the testimony of their own knowledge, and the traditions which they had received from their fathers. The continuation of this history, %s contained in the book of Joshua, was probably written by the person whose name it bears; and there seems some ground for the supposition that, as he had long been a devoted and favoured adherent of Moses, he may have penned the account of his predecessor's death. The book of Joshua contains a narrative of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites, and the miraculous passage of their numerous hosts through the bed of the river Jordan. This also must have been completed by some other person, who relates the death of that faithful and chivalrous leader by whom they •were safely established in their long promised home. The book of Judges was probably written by different persons, at different times, and consists of detached portions of history in which the chronological order is not strictly observed, and in some places is not easy to adjust. It relates to a troublesome period of barbarism and ignorance, when the Israelites were so harrassed by intestine commotions, overpowered by their enemies, or employed in repelling their agressions, that they had but little leisure to attend to the accuracy of their national annals. When we come to the books of Samuel, the prospect begins to grow a little clearer. The affairs ot the Israelites began, under the administration of

that prophet and judge to assume a more settled appearance, and the Scriptural historians seem to have written in a more connected manner. In the books of the Kings and the Chronicles the age of each of the Kings of Judah at his accession, and the duration of his reign, are expressly mentioned ; so that not only the whole term of each of their lives, but also the whole duration of the Jewish. monarchy, from the accession of David to the Babylonian Captivity, may be easily calculated. All the outlines and leading facts are so clearly exhibited, and so firmly corroborated by collateral evidence, by the perpetual observance of solemn festivals, instituted m commemoration of important events, and by their connection with the contemporary circumstances of other nations, (particularly the Egyptians and Babylonians,) that, considered as a history of national eveiits, the Jewish records have a claim to authenticity infinitely superior to any history of the same antiquity. The history of the Jews during the existence of that nation, first as one, and then divided into two kingdoms, simple, clear, and connected ; and it also exhibits transactions of a period in which the Greeks were only just emerging from a state oi barbarism .^Contributed.