History of the Old Covenant. By J. H. Kurtz [pp. 451-486]

Kurtz on the Old Covenant.
they are adduced, and how high an estimate was set upon a
connexion with the priestly tribe even in the case of one
least worthy of such consideration. Judg. xvii. 13. Now, if
this passage could not have been written after the priesthood
was established in-the tribe of Levi, and if, according to Tuch's
own admission, this is as certain as any thing can be in the
early history of Israel, that the priesthood was conferred upon
Levi by Moses, the ante-Mosaic origin of this prophecy is indisputable. And if that be granted, it has now been carried back
so near the time of its reputed origin, that no one would longer
hesitate to admit its having been really uttered by Jacob.
4. There is no time after the fulfilment under Joshua, when
all these various blessings could have had their origin. If with
Tuch, on the ground of what is said of Levi, we refer its composition to the time of Samuel, or with Ewald, give the preference to the blessing of Dan, and fix it in the time of Samson,
the blessing of Judah will stand plumply in the way. For how
does the superior honour put upon this tribe accord with its
miserable faint-heartedness in the time of Samson, Judg. xv. 9,
etc., or with the insignificance of that tribe in the time of
Samuel, which was such that itis but once or twice mentioned
during the whole course of his ministry until the rise of David,
and then not in a way calculated to make an impression of its
prominence over other tribes? And besides, how do the other
parts of the prophecy, which depict in such glowing colours the
happy lot of the various tribes, agree with their wretched disorganized condition, their frequent apostacies, and the frequent
oppressions to which they were subject in the times of the later
judges, a period which our opponents delight in representing as
one of even greater disorder than it really was?
Or if, to escape these difficulties, the composition of this prophecy be referred with Heinrichs to a still later date, the reign
of David or Solomon, Charybdis will be cleared, but it is only
to fall into Scylla. The blessing of Judah is provided for, but
what is said of Levi presents a fatal obstacle. For from that
time forward the sacerdotal tribe enjoyed the highest consideration; and the last faintest possibility has vanished of bringing
the language of this malediction into any thing like harmony
with the period assigned for its origin.
1851.]
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