Theology of the Old Testament

Professor Davidson was one of the greatest Old Testament scholars of our generation. His Hebrew Grammar is the best student's manual in the field. His commentaries on Job, Ezekiel, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah in the Cambridge Bible are masterpieces of exposition. His articles in the Encyclopedia Britannica, in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, and in numerous theological and critical reviews are epoch-making contributions to the study of the Old Testament. From his classroom have gone out such famous scholars as Robertson Smith, George Adam Smith, Elmslie, Thomson, and Skinner. To his quiet influence is mainly due the general adoption by the Free Church of Scotland of modern critical views in regard to the Old Testament. It was with great satisfaction, therefore, that we learned a number of years ago that he had promised to write the volume on Old Testament theology in the International Theological Library. We have looked forward eagerly for the appearance of this book, and have anticipated that, when it appeared, it would be the greatest work on the subject in English, or perhaps in any language. When we heard of the author's death in I902, we were grieved to think that this longexpected volume would probably never be finished; but were presently comforted by the news that the manuscript had been left nearly complete and would soon be published under the able editorship of Principal Salmond. Dr. Salmond has at last completed his arduous labor of love in collecting and editing the notes left by his friend, and the result lies before us in this Theology of the Old Testament.' It is a book that one takes up with enthusiastic anticipation of pleasure and profit in reading it, but one lays it down with a keen feeling of disappointment. The material in it may all be Davidson's, but we miss the masterly power of co-ordination that is seen in his earlier writings. Apparently his notes were left in a scattered, fragmentary form, and the editor, who is not an Old Testament critic, was not able to fit them into a consistent