was always the prevailing one, was indeed the
view held by the Church. _Schroeder observ. ad origin. Hebr._ c. viii. Sec.
10, raised some objections which were eagerly laid hold of, and
increased by the rationalistic interpreters. Even some sound orthodox
expositors allowed themselves to be thereby dazzled. _Stier_ declares
"that, for this time, he must take the part of modern Exegesis against
the prevailing tradition of the Church." Yet his disrelish for the
doctrine of the atonement held by the Church has no doubt exercised a
considerable influence in this matter; and _Hofmann_, too, in so
decidedly rejecting this explanation, which rests on such strong
arguments, and is not touched by any weighty counter-arguments, seems
not to have been guided by exegetical reasons only. But let us submit
these objections to a closer examination. 1. "The verb ought not to be
construed with the Accusative of the thing to be sprinkled, but with
[Hebrew: el]." _Reinke_ (in his Monograph on Is. liii.) brings forward,
against this objection, the passage Lev. iv. 16, 17; but he is wrong in
this, inasmuch as [Hebrew: at] is there not the [Pg 270] sign of the
Accusative, but a Preposition. [Hebrew: at pni] in the signification
"before," is, elsewhere also, very frequently used. But even _Gesenius_
is compelled to agree with _Simonis_.[2] and to acknowledge that, in
the proper name [Hebrew: izih] the verb is connected with an
Accusative. The deviation is there still greater, inasmuch as the _Kal_
is, at the same time, used transitively. But even apart from that, such
a deviation cannot appear strange. It has an analogy in chap. liii. 11,
where [Hebrew: hcdiq], which everywhere else is construed with the
Accusative, is followed by [Hebrew: l]; and likewise in [Hebrew: rpa],
followed by [Hebrew: l] in chap. liii. 5. The signification of the
verb, in such cases, undergoes a slight modification. [Hebrew: hzh]
with [Hebrew: el] means "to sprinkle;" with the Accusative, "to
sprinkle upon." This modification of the meaning has the analogy of
other languages in its favour. In the Ethiopic, the verb [Hebrew: nzH],
which corresponds to the Hebrew [Hebrew: nzh], is used of the
sprinkling of both persons and things; Heb. ix. 19, xi. 28; Ps. li. 9.
In Latin, we may say: _spargere aquam_, but also _spargere corpus
aqua_; _aspergere quid alicui_, but also _re aliquem_, _conspergere_,
_perspergere_, _respergere quem_. "Why should not this be allowed to
the J