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"But what chiefly instigated them to the war was an ambiguous oracle, likewise found "in the sacred Scriptures, that "At that sea"son some one from their country should rule "the world."

4. And the prevalence of this prophecy, not only in Judea, but throughout the East, is mentioned by Suetonius in Vespasian, iv.

"Percrebuerat Oriente toto vetus et con"stans opinio, esse in fatis, ut eo tempore "Judea profecti, rerum potirentur: ld (de imperatore Romano, quantum eventu postea patuit, prædictum) Judai ad se trahentes, "rebellarunt."

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And this will satisfactorily account for the "alarm excited in Herod and all Jerusalem "with him," at the inquiry of the eastern Magi, "Where is the true-born King of the "Jews?" &c. Matt. ii. 1-5. (See my letter on the Introductions of the Evangelists, in the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE for June and July). And also, why the Jewish multitude" thought that the kingdom of God "should immediately appear." Luke xix. 11.

Is it then unreasonable to conjecture, that Pilate also might have heard of so celebrated a prophecy,

a prophecy, and that he may have contemptuously applied it to Jesus, thus arrayed in mock majesty-" BEHOLD THE MAN!"

-BEHOLD YOUR KING! And his inscription on the cross, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS, seems to justify this conjecture.

II. Having thus established (and I trust satisfactorily) the authenticity of the Septuagint version of this famous prophecy, Numb. xxiv. 7. I shall proceed to prove and account for the corruption of the present Hebrew text, and to ascertain the period of its corruptions from the ancient versions, and to restore the genuine Hebrew text, conformably to the Septuagint version.

The present Hebrew text is thus rendered, and correctly, in our English translation :

"He shall pour water out of his buckets: "And his seed shall be in many waters."

The Syriac version, framed in the Apostolic age, and probably soon after the destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, shews when the adulteration began:

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"There shall come forth the Man of his sons, and his seed shall be in many waters."

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Here the corruption was introduced in the second line; the first according with the Septuagint and Chaldee paraphrase.

The Arabic version, which was of later date, and framed probably after the desola→ tion of Judea by Adrian, A. D. 135, shews when the corruption was completed:

"There shall flow water out of his buckets: And his plant shall be in many waters."

The Samaritan version follows the Arabic, both corresponding, we see, with the present Hebrew text.

And is it not highly natural to suppose, that the adulteration of the Hebrew text was perpetrated by the Jewish doctors belonging to the school of the celebrated Rabbi Akiba, who patronized the impostor that assumed the name of Bar Chochab ("Son of "the Star"), alluding to the subsequent famous prophecy of Balaam, Numb. xxiv. 17. "A star shall come forth from Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise from Israel."

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But both perished, and their adherents, in that fatal war; the unfortunate issue of which led the remnant of the Jewish nation

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that survived the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, not only to execrate the memory of that impostor, whom they have ever since styled Bar-chozba (son of a lie) by a usual alliteration; but also to adulterate the prophecy itself, of the lying Balaam, as they might have considered him, which brought such accumulated woes on their nation from the first commencement of the Roman war: -and a very slight alteration of the genuine Hebrew text would produce the present corrupt text, as will appear from the following comparison:

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Having thus endeavoured to restore the Hebrew text of this prophecy, conformable to the rendering of the Septuagint version, I shall proceed to state upon what grounds: And

And these are, 1. The external evidence ; 2. The internal evidence, and its correspondence to other prophecies; 3. The facility of adulteration; combined with, 4. The temptation thereto on the part of the Jews.

I. THE EXTERNAL EVIDENCE.

The venerable Greek version of the Pentateuch was composed in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, near 300 years before Christ, long before there could be any temptation to adulterate the prophecies respecting THE MESSIAH; and its testimony is supported (as stated before) by the earliest Jewish authorities, the Chaldee paraphrast Onkelos, Philo, Josephus, and the Syriac version in part: about, or shortly after the time of Christ.

To these we are to add the concurrent testimony of, 1. The Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel (which is reckoned by the Jews still earlier than that of Onkelos. See David Ganz's Chronology).

"Their king shall arise from themselves; " and their Redeemer from themselves; and "he shall be among them and the seed

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