His college course, begun in the Gymnasium of his native city, was pursued in the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter in the Black Forest and in 1806 Herbst registered at the University of Freiburg.
After some time spent in completing his mathematical and philosophical studies, he devoted his talents to mastering Semitic languages and Biblical science under the tutorship of Johann Leonard Hug.
Herbst's first publication was a volume entitled: Observationes quædam de Pentateuchi quatuor librorum posteriorum auctore et editore (Gmünd, 1817).
Quartalschrift, he was a steady contributor thereto; but his principal work, left unfinished, is an introduction to the Old Testament, which was completed and edited by his pupil Benedict Welte (1841–44).
In 1832, Herbst was appointed head librarian of the Royal University; but perhaps through overwork his health soon failed, and he died in Tübingen after a short sickness.