XXII, 28, the code says, "Thou shall not revile the gods nor curse the ruler of thy people," and, similarly, Isaiah speaks of the people cursing their king and their god (Isaiah VIII, 21); and in Xaboth's case (I Kings XXI, 10) (GREEN BAG, October, 1900), the crime with which he was charged was "Thou didst blaspheme God and the King." It indicates what was before stated, that when the people attained a national dignity the national god was guarded like the king, and offenses against him were similarly punished. As long as the people were living in a patriarchal state an offense against the gods was an offense against the head of the family, for the gods were house hold gods: and this we see in the case of Gideon whose offense really was against his father in breaking down his father's altar and sacred grove. In the later Jewish law the idea of blas phemy was very much more refined. Merely uttering the sacred name of God constituted the crime. So careful were the Jews not to offend in this way that the original pro nunciation of the name of Jehovah has been lost, and it is only as a result of modern painstaking scholarship that its probable sound "Yahweh" has been recovered. The early translators of the Bible carefully avoided it; the Greek translated it "Ho ku rios;" the Latin translated it "Dominus," both meaning "Master" or "Lord;" and
from these translations all the modern lan guages use similar term, such as "Lord," "Herr, "Sieur," and the like. Josephus, in his desire to curry favor with the Romans, went so far as to say that ac cording to Jewish law it was a crime to blaspheme other gods; but the text of the law in the case of the blasphemer is clearly to the contrary. The reader of the Bible will find appended to the law of the blasphemer, and apparently forming a part of it, certain laws concerning othçr capital crimes (Leviticus XXIV, 17-22). These have nothing to do with the law of the blasphemer, and have been inter polated here through the law of association because they also refer to capital crimes, and lay down the general law that the stranger and the native are equally liable. In order, therefore, to read properly the case of the blasphemer as it is recorded in the twenty-fourth chapter of Leviticus, read first from verse ю to verse 14 inclusive, and then read verse 23, which will be found to connect directly with verse 14. Verses 15 to 22 are obviously interpolated. Verses 15 and 1 6 should be read after verse 23, and with these verses the law concerning blas phemy is concluded. As above stated, verses 17 to 22 have been appended to the law con cerning blasphemy, although they have no direct connection with it.
