Background
He was born on the 16th of November 1803 at Gottingen, where his father was a linen- weaver.
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(Excerpt from Commentary on the Books of Haggái, Zakharya,...)
Excerpt from Commentary on the Books of Haggái, Zakharya, Mal'aki, Yona, Barûkh, Daniel: With Translation About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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(Excerpt from History of Israel, Vol. 5 The destruction o...)
Excerpt from History of Israel, Vol. 5 The destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and the disasters which followed it, proved the complete ruin Of every thing which had hitherto been the pride and glory, the refuge and defence, of the people of Israel. There remained only the ultimate foundation of the eternal sanctity which had now been established and developed upon earth through the history Of a thousand years. This was indestructible. Every Object out wardly sacred, every means Of defence, and every weapon of what, though small, was still, nevertheless, a community, was shattered; the earthly kingdom Of Israel down to its last visible remains was utterly destroyed, and the people, as a people, annihilated. And if, strictly speaking, it was impossible for any actual community to survive the infinite anguish and the unutterable grief of this age, the result was that its sufferings pressed with all the heavier gloom on the souls of the scattered survivors Of the nation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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He was born on the 16th of November 1803 at Gottingen, where his father was a linen- weaver.
In 1815 he was sent to the gymnasium, and in 1820 he entered the university of his native town, where under J. G. Eichhorn and Т. Tychsen he devoted himself specially to the study of Oriental languages. At the close of his academical career in 1823 he was appointed to a mastership in the gymnasium at Wolfenbiittel, arid made a study of the Oriental manuscripts in the Wolfenbiittel library.
In the spring of 1824 he was recalled to Gottingen as repetent, or theological tutor, and in 1827 (the year of Eichhorn's death) he became professor exlra- ordinarius in philosophy and lecturer in Old Testament exegesis.
In 1831 he was promoted to the position of professor ordinarius in philosophy; in 1833 he became a member of the Royal Scientific Society, and in 1835, after Tychsen's death, he entered the faculty of theology, taking the chair of Oriental languages. Two years later occurred the first important episode in his studious life.
In 1837, on the 18th of November, along with six of his colleagues he signed a formal protest against the action of King Ernst August (duke of Cumberland) in abolishing the liberal constitution of 1833, which had been granted to the Hanoverians by his predecessor William IV. This bold procedure of the seven professors led to their speedy expulsion from the university (14th December). Early in 1838 Ewald received a call to Tubingen, and there for upwards of ten years he held a chair as professor ordinarius, first in philosophy and afterwards, from 1841, in theology. To this period belong some of his most important works, and also the commencement of his bitter feud with F. C. Baur and the Tubingen school.
In 1847, "the great shipwreck-year in Germany, " as he has called it, he was invited back to Gottingen on honourable terms-the liberal constitution having been restored. He gladly accepted the invitation.
But the chief crisis in his life arose out of the political events of 1866. His loyalty to King George (son of Ernst August) would not permit him to take the oath of allegiance to the victorious king of Prussia, and he was therefore placed on the retired list, though with the full amount of his salary as pension. Perhaps even this degree of severity might have been held by the Prussian authorities to be unnecessary, had Ewald been less exasperating in his language. The violent tone of some of his printed manifestoes about this time, especially of his Lob des Konigs u. des Volkes, led to his being deprived of the venia legendi (1868) and also to a criminal process, which, however, resulted in his acquittal (May 1869). Then, and on two subsequent occasions, he was returned by the city of Hanover as a member of the North German and German parliaments.
In June 1874 he was found guilty of a libel on Prince Bismarck, whom he had compared to Frederick II in "his unrighteous war with Austria and his ruination of religion and morality, " to Napoleon III in his way of "picking out the best time possible for robbery and plunder. " For this offence he was sentenced to undergo three weeks' imprisonment.
His numerous writings, from 1823 onwards, were the reservoirs in which the entire energy of a life was stored. His Hebrew Grammar inaugurated1 a new era in biblical philology. All subsequent works in that department have been avowedly based on his, and to him will always belong the honour of having been, as Hitzig has called him, "the second founder of the science of the Hebrew language. " As an exegete and biblical critic no less than as a grammarian he has left his abiding mark. His Geschichte des Volkes Israel, the result of thirty years' labour, was epoch-making in that branch of research. While in every line it bears the marks of intense individuality, it is at the same time a product highly characteristic of the age, and even of the decade, in which it appeared. If it is obviously the outcome of immense learning on the part of its author, it is no less manifestly the result of the speculations and researches of many laborious predecessors in all departments of history, theology and philosophy. Taking up the idea of a divine education of the human race, which Lessing and Herder had made so familiar to the modern mind, and firmly believing that to each of the leading nations of antiquity a special task had been providentially assigned, Ewald felt no difficulty about Israel's place in universal history, or about the problem which that race had been called upon to solve. The history of Israel, according to him, is simply the history of the manner in which the one true religion really and truly came into the possession of mankind. Other nations, indeed, had attempted the highest problems in religion; but Israel alone, in the providence of God, had succeeded, for Israel alone had been inspired. Such is the supreme meaning of that national history which began with the exodus and culminated (at the same time virtually terminating) in the appearing of Christ. The historical interval that separated these two events is treated as naturally dividing itself into three great periods, -those of Moses, David and Ezra. The periods are externally indicated by the successive names by which the chosen people were called-Hebrews, Israelites, Jews. The events prior to the exodus are relegated by Ewald to a preliminary chapter of primitive history; and the events of the apostolic and post-apostolic age are treated as a kind of appendix. The entire construction of the history is based, as has already been said, on a critical examination and chronological arrangement of the available documents. So far as the results of criticism are still uncertain with regard to the age and authorship of any of these, Ewald's conclusions must of course be regarded as unsatisfactory. But his work remains a storehouse of learning and is increasingly recognized as a work of rare genius.
(Excerpt from Commentary on the Books of Haggái, Zakharya,...)
(Excerpt from History of Israel, Vol. 5 The destruction o...)
(Originally published in 1880-1881. This volume from the C...)
In 1862-1863 he took an active part in a movement for reform within the Hanoverian Church, and he was a member of the synod which passed the new constitution. He had an important share also in the formation of the Protestantenverein, or Protestant association, in September 1863.
He was a member of the the Royal Scientific Society.
Ewald was no common man. In his public life he displayed many noble characteristics, -perfect simplicity and sincerity, intense moral earnestness, sturdy independence, absolute fearlessness. As a teacher he had a remarkable power of kindling enthusiasm; and he sent out many distinguished pupils, among whom may be mentioned Hitzig, Schrader, Noldeke, Diestel and Dillmann. His disciples were not all of one school, but many eminent scholars who apparently have been untouched by his influence have in fact developed some of the many ideas which he suggested.
Quotes from others about the person
Hitzig referred to him as "the second founder of the science of the Hebrew language. "
