History of Hebrew at VTS (2)

Joseph Packard, pictured here, had a tenure at VTS extending over six and a half decades starting in 1837 when he was 25 years old. In 1839, as VTS's new professor of biblical literature, he reported that biblical study in the original languages was central to the seminarians' studies.

The Junior class worked through Moses Stuart's Hebrew and Geek grammars. They also read the book of Genesis in Hebrew, with the aid of Stuart's Chrestomathy, a course of Hebrew study in two volumes (1829-1830). (A chrestomathy is a selection of passages compiled as an aid to learning a language.)

Meanwhile, the Middler class "carefully examined in Hebrew the prophecies relating to Christ in the Old Testament, following the order set down by Hengstenberg."