Hengstenberg, Ernst W. Christology of the Old Testament and a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1976.
Available here: http://www.amazon.com/
Clearly, a man who believed in the inspiration, authority, infallibility, significance, governance, and rule of the Scriptures. Amazing to behold such a love of Scriptures by the industry, achievements and productions of this man who died shy of 67 by a few months. We begin the long slog through his work, mindful of his labor to enlighten "Emmaus Road disciples" (= "us" too) on the road to see Christ in the Law, the Prophets, the Writings, and the Psalms (Luke 24. 25ff), men "so foolish" and "so slow of heart." His risen and sovereign Majesty, our only Advocate and Redeemer, exposited, held forth, and taught the Scriptures. But, like us, they were rocks with lips ( = a Marine's term). They needed HM's sovereign illumination to "see it." Mr. Hengstenberg helps us on the Emmaus road. I dare say his view of God's sovereignty and omnicompetent predictive power will roil liberals, secularists, and those who have no or small views of God's absolute divine sovereignty. The slow slog through the scholarly comments by Mr. Hengstenberg begins; this book is not for the "faint" of heart or those disposed to an anti-intellectual version of Christianity.
Several characteristics are offered by Mr. Kaiser re: Mr. (Rev. Dr. Prof.) Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg.
• A “combination of earnest Christian experience and thorough Biblical scholarship”
• Mr. Hengstenberg famously said: “No orthodoxy without pietism, no piety without orthodoxy.”
• A “German Lutheran Biblical scholar”
• Born in Frondenberg, Germany, with ancestors who left marks on political and ecclesiastical annals backwards to the 14th century
• Avid reader: 5-6 A.M. to 8 P.M. daily with 3-hours of intermission in the day
• Age 17—translated and sold/published translation of Latin author Aurelius Victor
• Age 20—translated Arisotle’s Metaphysics
• Early proclivity for Old Testament and Semitic philology
• Received Doctor of Laws for a Latin translation of an Arabic author Amrulkeisi Moallakak
• Wrote numerous opposition articles on Mr. Friedrich Schleiermacher’s Glaubenslehre
• Famously said of Mr. Schleiermacher: “I shall not remain what I am; if indeed I did so, I should never be a theologian; but to that man I shall never betake myself”
• Obtained his Doctor of Divinity at University of Tubingen
• Age 25—founded, edited and published a bi-weekly magazine entitled Evangelische Kirchen-Zeitung for 42 years. Mr. Kaiser notes that he “pursued all forms of Rationalism and heresy" and "fearlessly asserted the neglected truths of orthodoxy to a modern age" (mid-19th century, that is)
• Age 26—Professor of Theology at the University of Berlin
• His “most important, influential and ablest work” is the Christology of the Old Testament
• An able “expositor, philologist, and devout Christian”
• His Christology serves to teach the Emmaus Road disciples of our time (Luke 24.25-27) to see Christ in the Old Testament…men who are “so foolish” and “so slow of heart”
• Age 33—full Professor at University of Berlin in 1835
Other volumes by Mr. Hengstenberg:
• Contribution Toward the Introduction of the Old Testament (1839)
• Dissertations on the Genuineness of the Pentateuch• Dissertations on the Genuineness of Daniel and the Integrity of Zechariah (1844-1848)
• Commentary on Psalms
• Prophecies of Ezekiel
• Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and Isaiah (1869)
• Balaam and His Prophecies
• Commentary on Revelation
• Commentary on the Book of Job
• History of the Kingdom of God in the Old Testament
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