HITZIG

hitzig, ferdinand (1807-1875), german biblical critic, was born at hauingen, baden, where his father was a pastor, on the 23rd of june 1807. he studied theology at heidelberg under h. e. g. paulus, at halle under wilhelm gesenius and at gottingen under ewald. returning to heidelberg he became _privatdozent_ in theology in 1829, and in 1831 published his _begriff der kritik am alten testamente praktisch erortert_, a study of old testament criticism in which he explained the critical principles of the grammatico-historical school, and his _des propheten jonas orakel uber moab_, an exposition of the 15th and 16th chapters of the book of isaiah attributed by him to the prophet jonah mentioned in 2 kings xiv. 25. in 1833 he was called to the university of zurich as professor ordinarius of theology. his next work was a commentary on isaiah with a translation (_ubersetzung u. auslegung des propheten jesajas_), which he dedicated to heinrich ewald, and which hermann hupfeld (1796-1866), well known as a commentator on the psalms (1855-1861), pronounced to be his best exegetical work. at zurich he laboured for a period of twenty-eight years, during which, besides commentaries on _the psalms_ (1835-1836; 2nd ed., 1863-1865), _the minor prophets_ (1838; 3rd ed., 1863), _jeremiah_ (1841; 2nd ed., 1866), _ezekiel_ (1847), _daniel_ (1850), _ecclesiastes_ (1847), _canticles_ (1855), and _proverbs_ (1858), he published a monograph, _uber johannes markus u. seine schriften_ (1843), in which he maintained the chronological priority of the second gospel, and sought to prove that the apocalypse was written by the same author. he also published various treatises of archaeological interest, of which the most important are _die erfindung des alphabets_ (1840), _urgeschichte u. mythologie der philistaer_ (1845), and _die grabschrift des eschmunezar_(1855). after the death of friedrich umbreit (1795-1860), one of the founders of the well-known _studien und kritiken_, he was called in 1861 to succeed him as professor of theology at heidelberg. here he wrote his _geschichte des volkes israel_ (1869-1870), in two parts, extending respectively to the end of the persian domination and to the fall of masada, a.d. 72, as well as a work on the pauline epistles, _zur kritik paulinischer briefe_ (1870), on the moabite stone, _die inschrift des mescha_ (1870), and on assyrian, _sprache u. sprachen assyriens_ (1871), besides revising the commentary on job by ludwig hirzel (1801-1841), which was first published in 1839. he was also a contributor to the _monatsschrift des wissenschaftlichen vereins in zurich_, the _zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen gesellschaft_, the _theologische studien u. kritiken_, eduard zeller's _theologische jahrbucher_, and adolf hilgenfeld's _zeitschrift fur wissenschaftliche theologie_. hitzig died at heidelberg on the 22nd of january 1875. as a hebrew philologist he holds high rank; and as a constructive critic he is remarkable for acuteness and sagacity. as a historian, however, some of his speculations have been considered fanciful. "he places the cradle of the israelites in the south of arabia, and, like many other critics, makes the historical times begin only with moses" (f. lichtenberger, _history of german theology_, p. 569). his lectures on biblical theology (_vorlesungen uber biblische theologie u. messianische weissagungen_) were published in 1880 after his death, along with a portrait and biographical sketch by his pupil, j. j. kneucker (b. 1840), professor of theology at heidelberg. see heinrich steiner, _ferdinand hitzig_ (1882); and adolf kamphausen's article in herzog-hauck's _realencyklopadie_.