Hebrew is Eloah (principally confined to the Book of Job). It is not, perhaps, to be assumed that these discriminations are of supreme importance; nevertheless, when connected with other things, they are certainly invested with considerable interest. For the word Elohim, see note on Gen. i. 1.Êl will be readily remembered as entering into the composition of proper names, such as "Beth-el," "Immanu-el," and many others. It may also be discovered—the evidence would seem to point that way—that in the use of the independent monosyllable Êl, just where the moral feeling is most intense, there Êl shows an aptitude to step in, in preference to Elohim. The ordinary reader can now judge of this for himself. Without imagining anything less sacred in Eloah than in its longer or shorter companions, this at least is clear, that Eloah—as compared with the most sacred Name (the Tetragrammaton—see Chapter IV.)—is held to be good enough for the controversial spirit which undeniably pervades all the middle portion of the Book of Job.
c. Quotations from the Old Testament in the New are by the italics rendered conveniently conspicuous. That it is of great convenience and of considerable practical utility to be able to see at once what portions from the Jewish Scriptures are quoted in the Christian, will not be denied by anyone who has given a fair amount of attention to the matter; nor can it be questioned that the employment of italic letter for the purpose is far more effective than the adoption even of quotation marks would have been. Thereby, for example, the reader perceives without any appreciable trouble how largely the Book of the "Revelation " is constructed out of Old Testament language and imagery. Thereby also he sees instantly how even a single word out of a citation becomes the pivot on which an argument is made to turn.[1]
4. Section-headings, Footnotes, References, and Appendices.—These may be left to speak for themselves, when once two or three needful explanations have been offered.
a. It was not at first intended to insert Section-headings in the Prophetical Books, owing to the risk of needlessly determining or attempting to determine difficult questions of interpretation; but an experiment having been made, the result seemed to promise so much convenience and assistance to average readers that the hazard and the additional labour were accepted. Tn most cases it will be found that, where these headings appear most startling, they are expressly warranted by the very terms of the Sacred Text.
b. The Footnotes include both "alternative renderings" and "various readings," the difference between which, being partly technical, is worth a moment's attention. An "alternative rendering," then, comes of the process of translating, and merely expresses the translator's feeling that some other English word than that adopted in the text might have given the sense of the original nearly or quite as well; and that for the reader to know this may be of practical service. It is well for the reader to be aware that oft-times no one word wholly and absolutely and alone says precisely what is conveyed by the Hebrew or Greek. It is no question of variance between one
