Mosaic laws, and from the fact that the marriage with a deceased brother's wife is not mentioned at all among the prohibited decrees there given, would indicate that the command, "you are forbidden to take to wife two sisters," simply means whilst both are alive. We shall hereafter, however, have occasion to refer to more reliable authorities than the Koran to shew how the verse under consideration was interpreted.
Enough, I think, has now been said to convince the reader that there does not exist the slightest foundation upon which this interpolation theory could be based. Indeed, Dr. Kalisch himself seems not to have been very deeply impressed with the soundness of his theory, for he says: "It need not be remarked that this suggestion is no more than conjecture; but if the received reading is considered authentic, unity of principal and harmony of detail are destroyed in the Levitical lists of forbidden degrees" (p. 364).
It is, of course, quite legitimate for a critic to leave the beaten path, and strike out a new theory for himself, but in doing so it is unqestionably of the highest importance that it should be placed before the ordinary reader in such a manner as to enable him to form an intelligent opinion regarding its soundness. This we regret Dr. Kalisch has not done in suggesting his interpolation theory, and it is not at all unlikely that many of his readers — who are not capable of judging of its soundness for themselves, or who will not go to the trouble of investigating it — may be influenced to adopt it, coming as it does from a Hebrew scholar and commentator of well known ability. The emendation proposed by Dr. Kalisch changes the command into a positive prohibition, whereas, according to the plain text, the prohibition is limited to the sister's lifetime. In England, where the subject has attracted so much attention, both in and out of Parliament, and where so many families are
