Bible Language

BIBLE LANGUAGE.

The language of the Bible is the language of English-speaking nations. The most casual reader of current literature, or of standard works, is surprised at the similarity between what we term idioms and the phraseology of the Bible. If we enter the domain of ‘proverbs or proverbial expressions, the similarity is even more striking: “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” “The love of money is the root of all evil.” “Answer a fool according to his folly.” “A wise son maketh a glad father.” “The rebuke of a friend is better than the flattery of an enemy.” “Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them;” and others might be quoted indefinitely as illustrating the influence of the Bible in framing and giving shape to our language. In poetic fancy and in strength of imaginative writing it is a diamond field that is as if untouched, because of its boundless wealth; and while fastidious youths and carping cynics may deem many of its similes and metaphors raw and crude, there are others so unquestionably and so surpassingly beautiful in their very simplicity, that ages of labored polishing and determined change have only left the original perfect in lustre and shown it to be beyond the power of man to improve. Not a heavenly orb, nor an animal, nor a tree, nor a flower, known to the Prophets in those days, that have not been employed by the inspired writers to embellish the message they conveyed to mankind. The winds, the rivers,- the clouds, the waves have been used to assist in portraying the varied mental and physical conditions of humanity, and performed their work so well that, thousands of years after by generations then undreamed of, they still warm the blood with enthusiasm, and lire the heart with new hopes and resolves, as they must have done long ages past: “The bright and morning star;” “He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed;” “Whereunto ye do well, that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts;” “The rivers of thy pleasure;” “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters;” “How say ye to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain;” “Who are these that Uy as a cloud and as the doves to their windows;” “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places,” and countless others might be cited.

The language of the Bible is nothing if it is not figurative and imaginative. The 35th chapter of Isaiah is such a song as must move to admiration the coldest heart. The Old Testament is full of the grand and sublime. The 109th Psalm is a piece of invective of the olden style that none, even of the brightest and most powerful of modern writers, would dare to claim they could surpass. Compare it with the 1st Psalm, in which is told the peace and joy of the righteous, and with the first part of the 19tli Psalm, wherein is described the glory of God, as displayed in the heavens, for contrast, and the change is marvelous. There is a tenderness always in the books that form the Bible, a confidence in the Creator manifested by their writers, and an assurance of good results from righteous deeds promised that, even to one who says he has lost confidence in the existence of God, must awaken a responsive sentiment and provoke a glow of genuine admiration. There has never been a philosopher, nor the language of a philo­sopher, that appealed with such irresistible force and directness to the better nature of the human race, as the plain and unassum­ing language of the four gospels. The words of Jesus, while giving expression to thoughts that have proved to be beyond the philosophy and reasoning of mankind, are so simple that a child might feel, if it did not comprehend, their import; and they do seem clearly to contradict the general supposition that complex thoughts require a language equally complex. It has often seemed to me that the possibilities of simplicity of speech, as capable of answering all, or nearly all requirements, has never so clearly been shown as in these four gospels.

“Jesus wept.” It would be interesting to gather the various productions of eloquent and aspiring divines who have given original accounts of this event, and weigh and compare them with the simple declaration of the apostolic scribe, as showing that the Savior of the world was a man among men, acquainted with grief, and one who knew the feelings that stir the fountain of the eyes and cause it to overflow. The language is the per­fection of simplicity and beauty when compared with the context, and shows that the inspired writer had learned that secret of success in composition, for which all writers strive—the art of telling just enough, and leaving to the imagination the dis­covery of the rest. I do not recollect ever to have seen a more dramatic sentence than is to be found in II. Samuel, 12th chapter, The scene itself, as given in the unostentatious language of the scriptures, is unsurpassed for human interest. The man of God goes to the mighty king of Israel, and makes an accusation in covert terms. David, incensed at the wrong alleged, and failing to grasp the import of the prophet’s utterances, condemns himself in his own words: “As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die.” “Thou art the man!” were the words of Nathan. I do not believe the English language, either in fiction or in history, contains anything to surpass this scene in dramatic interest or in majesty, in which, nevertheless, so much has been left to the imagination of the reader.