Introduction to the Old Testament — A Closer Reading

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Authors: McFadyen, John Edgar, 1870-1933 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2004 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Bible. Old Testament -- Introductions Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

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Words 96,626

Reading time 421 min

Text sections 8

For Introduction to the Old Testament — A Closer Reading, the stored edition analysis reports 96,626 words, 7 hr 1 min estimated reading time, and 8 detected text sections.

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McFadyen's Introduction focuses on the major critical issues of the Old Testament, emphasizing the Pentateuchal problem and prophetic literature, while aiming to make scholarly debates accessible to non-specialists.

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od was wont to speak to Moses face to face, xxxii. 1-xxxiv. 9. Then follows the other version of the decalogue already referred to--ritual rather than moral, xxxiv. l0-28--and an account of the transfiguration of Moses, as he laid Jehovah's commands upon the people, xxxiv. 29-35. From this point to the end of the book the atmosphere is again unmistakably priestly. Chs. xxxv.-xxxix, beginning with the Sabbath law, assert with a profusion of detail that the instructions given in xxv.-xxxi. were carried out to the letter. Then the tabernacle was set up on New Year's day, the divine glory filled it, and the subsequent movements of the people were guided by cloud and fire (xl.).

The unity of Exodus is not quite so impressive as that of Genesis. This is due to the different proportion in which the sources are blended, P playing a much more conspicuous part here than there. Without hesitation, more than one-fourth of the book may be at once relegated to this source: viz. xxv.-xxxi., which describe the tabernacle to be erected with all that pertained to it, and xxxv.-xl., which relate that the instructions there given were fully carried out. The minuteness, the formality and monotony of style which we noticed in Genesis reappear here; but the real spirit of P, its devotion to everything connected with the sanctuary and worship, is much more obvious here than there. This document is also fairly prominent in the first half of the book, and its presence is usually easy to detect. The section, e.g., on the institution of the passover and the festival of unleavened bread, xi. 9-xii. 20, is easily recognized as belonging to this source. Of very great importance is the passage, vi. 2-13, which describes the revelation given to Moses, asserting that the fathers knew the God of Israel only by the name El Shaddai, while the name of Jehovah, which was then revealed to Moses for the first time, was unknown to them. The succeeding genealogy which traces the descent of Moses and Aaron to Levi, vi. 14-30, and Aaron's commission to be the spokesman of Moses, vii. 1-7, also come from P. This source also gives a brief account of the oppression and the plagues, and the prominence of Aaron the priest in the story of the latter is very significant. In E the plagues come when _Moses_ stretches out his hand or his rod at the command of Jehovah, ix. 22, x. 12, 21; in P, Jehovah says to Moses, "Say unto _Aaron_, 'Stretch forth thy hand' or 'thy rod,'" viii. 5, 16.

The story to which we have just alluded, of the revelation of the name Jehovah, is also told in ch. iii., where it is connected with the incident of the burning bush. Apart from the improbability of the same document telling the same story twice, the very picturesque setting of ch. iii, is convincing proof that we have here a section from one of the prophetic documents, and we cannot long doubt which it is. For while one of those documents (J), as we have seen, uses the word Jehovah without scruple throughout the whole of Genesis, and regards that name as known not only to Abraham, xv. 7, but even to the antediluvians, iv. 26, the other regularly uses Elohim. This prophetic story, then, of the revelation of the name Jehovah to Moses, must belong to E, who deliberately avoids the name Jehovah throughout Genesis, because he considers it unknown before the time of Moses. This very fact, however, greatly complicates the subsequent analysis of the prophetic documents in the Pentateuch; because, from this point on, both are now free to use the name Jehovah of the divine Being, and thus one of the principal clues to the analysis practically disappears.[1] Considering the affinity of these documents, it is therefore competent, as we have seen, to treat them as a unity. [Footnote 1: Naturally there are other very important and valuable clues. e.g, the holy mount is called Sinai in J and Horeb in E.]

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McFadyen's Introduction to the Old Testament is explicitly written for theological students, ministers, and laymen who wish to grasp the modern critical approach without getting lost in technical details. The author states his intention to concentrate on "the more salient features of the discussion," deliberately avoiding exhaustive verse-by-verse source analysis. Instead, he presents the method of attacking the Pentateuchal problem and outlines the larger documentary divisions. This selective focus shapes the entire work, as McFadyen consistently prioritizes clarity and readability over scholarly apparatus, rarely citing Greek or Hebrew and numbering verses according to the English Bible.

A Deliberate Non-Specialist Approach

McFadyen's preface makes clear that his book "does not pretend to offer anything to specialists." He aims to help readers "understand the modern attitude to the Old Testament as a whole" without requiring them to follow "the details on which all thorough study of it must ultimately rest." This pedagogical choice is evident throughout the excerpts: he avoids footnotes except occasionally, and he never uses Greek or Hebrew alphabets. The result is a continuous, readable discussion that foregrounds conclusions over competing scholarly opinions. For example, when discussing Hosea, McFadyen presents his own interpretation of the prophet's marriage as a real experience rather than an allegory, noting that "Gomer seems to be an actual name, for which no plausible allegorical meaning has been suggested." He does not, however, survey all alternative views in detail.

The Pentateuchal Problem and Its Method

The preface introduces the Pentateuchal problem as a central concern, but McFadyen limits his treatment to presenting "the method of attacking" it and indicating "the larger documentary divisions." He uses the terms Pentateuch and Hexateuch without reference to any critical theory, simply to denote the first five or six books. This cautious framing reflects his desire to avoid overwhelming readers. In the Hosea section, McFadyen applies source-critical reasoning to specific verses, arguing that certain passages (e.g., i. 7, i. 10–ii. 1) are likely interpolations because they interrupt the context or allude to later events like the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib in 701 B.C. These observations illustrate how the documentary hypothesis works in practice, even though McFadyen does not assign every verse to a source.

Hosea as a Test Case for Critical Method

McFadyen's treatment of Hosea reveals his critical method in action. He notes the "hopeless corruption of the text in very many passages" and the "brevity and apparently disjointed nature of the individual sections" in chapters iv–xiv, attributing this partly to later redactors and partly to the prophet's own "abrupt passion." He compares Hosea to Amos, calling Hosea "the St. John of the Old Testament" and Amos "the St. James," but cautions against drawing the contrast too sharply. McFadyen emphasizes that Hosea's message is addressed primarily to northern Israel, and he questions the authenticity of references to Judah, suggesting that in vi. 4 the parallelism indicates "Israel should be read instead of Judah." Throughout, McFadyen balances textual criticism with an appreciation for the prophet's human and religious passion.

Readers should approach McFadyen's Introduction as a synthesis intended for those new to critical Old Testament scholarship. The author's judgments are presented as probable conclusions rather than definitive proofs, and he often omits the detailed evidence that specialists would demand. To get the most from this work, readers may wish to consult the commentaries McFadyen recommends for individual books, where the exhaustive treatment he deliberately avoids can be found.

There are books that don’t leave you, and McFadyen’s way of opening the Old Testament’s harder questions felt like that for me—patient, almost like a quiet conversation. It made me think of how another writer once sat with the Psalms, not rushing their ache or their praise. I keep returning to that gentleness, especially in A manual of the book of Psalms — Context and Discussion, which holds a similar warmth I wasn’t expecting.