■^ MAY 14 '^!v. "B5rz.3S A COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS FOR THE USE OF 'gtvitim 0f i^t ^nglfel^ Wtxmn d il^t §ibk. BY HENEY CHAELES GROVES, M.A. PEEPETTTAL CUEATE OF MTJLLAVILLT, DIOC. ARMAGH. MACMILLAN AND CO. Cambridge : AND 23, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, ILontion. 1861. PEINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. PREFACE. In the course of the last thirty years much has been done to elucidate the text of the Pen- tateuch, to clear away the uncertainties and ob- scurities involving the Geographical and Histori- cal notices contained in it, and to dispose of the objections which the disclosures made by the rapid advance of several branches of Physical Science were supposed to present to the state- ments of this part of Scripture. But the infor- mation on these various points hitherto had to be searched for in a number of works which for the most part are accessible, or of interest, to the scholar alone. To bring it, in some measure, and so far as it bears on the book of Genesis, within the reach of the general reader, is the VI PREFACE. object of this Commentary; in the formation of which have been consulted the works containing the latest results of the investigations in sacred criticism and exegesis, in Biblical Geography and History, and in Science considered in relation to religion. Throughout it the requirements of the general reader have been kept in view; and yet it is hoped that the student will find much to assist him in the study of this portion of the Holy Scriptures. The author, while he has taken every care to secure the work from imperfections which may impede its utility, is well aware that from its nature many shortcomings will probably be de- tected in it. But those who are most competent to discover these defects, will be the most ready to acknowledge the difficulty of avoiding them. Tlie following are the works referred to in the Commentary: those enclosed in brackets are such as the author had not access to, and for the citations from which he is indebted to some of the other authors made use of. PREFACE. vii CBITICAL AND EXEGETICAL WORKS. H. Ainsworth, Annotations on the Five BooJcs of Moses. Lond. 1639.—R. Kidder, Bishop of Bath and Wells, Commentary on the Five BooJcs of Moses. Lond. 1694.— S. Patrick, Bishop of Ely, Commentary on tJie Hist. Books of the 0. T., 1694. Reprinted, 1851.— E. F. C. Rosenmuller, Scholia in Vetus Testamentiim. Pars Prima, cont. Gen. et Ex. Lips. 1795.— F. J. V. D. Maurer, Com- mentarius Grammaticus Criticus in Vet. Test. Lips. 1835. — [P. von Bohlen, die Genesis, &c. Konigsb. 1835. — Fr. Tuch, Komm. iib. d. Genesis. Halle, 1838]. — E. W. Hengstenberg, Egypt and the Books of Moses. Translated with additional notes by W. C. Taylor. Edinb. 1845. Authenticity of the Pentateuch. Clark's Trans., 2 Vols. Edinb. 1847. Christology of the 0. T. Clark's Trans., 4 Vols. Edinb. 1854. — Otto von Gerlach, Commentary on the Pent. Translated by Rev. H. Downing. Edinb. vm PREFACE. 1860. — The English Bible divided into para- graphs, R. B. Blackadder. Lond. 1853. — D. A. de Sola; J. L. Lindenthal; M.J. Raphall, Tlie Sa- cred Scriptures, Heb. and Eng., a new transla- tion with notes, &c., Vol. i. Genesis. Bagster, 1844. — M. ]VI. Kalisch, Hist and Crit, Comm. on the 0. T, With a translation. Genesis. Lond. 1858. — Aug. Knobel, die Genesis erTd, Leipz. 1852. — C. H. H. Wright, Booh of Genesis, m Heb., with a critically revised text, various readings, and gi-ammatical and critical notes, 1859.— J. H. Kurtz, Hist, of the Old Covenant, Clark's Trans. 3 Vols. Edinb. 1859. — Frz. Delitzsch, die Genesis ausgel. Leipz. 1860. WORKS ON THE GENERAL INTRODUCTION. H. A. C. Hsevemick, Historico-Critical Introd, to the Pentateuch, Clark's Trans. Edinb. 1850. — Home, Introd, to the Holy Script.^ Vol. ii. ed. 10, by Samuel Davidson, D.D. Lond. 1856 (cited as Davidson's Introd), — The same revised and PREFACE. ix edited by Rev. J. Ayre. Lond. 1860 (cited as Ayre's Introd). — K. F. Keil, Lehr, d. hist, Krit Einleit- ung in die Kanonisch, u. apoJc, Schriften des Alten Testamentes, 1858. GEOGRAPHY. Edward Robinson, D.D., Biblical Researches in Palestine, See. ed., 3 Vols. Lond. 1856.— A. P. Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, hi connection with their history, Lond. 1856. — ^J. Kitto, Scrip- ture Lands. Lond. 1850. — W. M, Thomson, twenty-five years a missionary in Syria and Pales- tine, The Land and the Booh, Lond. 1860. — Col. Chesney, Expedition for the Survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, 4 Vols. Lond. 1850. WORKS CITED IN REFERENCE TO THE RELATION OF THE BIBLE TO MODERN DISCOVERIES, EITHER HISTORICAL OR SCIENTIFICAL. Prof. Sedgwick, Discourse on the Studies of the University of Cambridge, Lond. 1850.— W. Whe- well, Indications of the Creator, Lond. 1846. X PREFACE. •— C. Hardwick, Christ and other Masters, Pt. i. Camb. 1855. — Cardinal Wiseman, Twelve Lectures on the Comiection beween Science and Revealed Religion, 2 Vols. 1859. — The History of Herodo- tus, A new English version, edited with copious notes, &c., by G. Rawlinson, M.A., assisted by Col. Sir H. Rawlinson, and Sir J. G. Wilkinson. 4 Vols. Lond. 1858-60.— G. Rawlinson, The Hist Evidence of the Truth of the Scripture Records. Lond. 1859. INTRODUCTION ON THE AUTHOESHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. Works referred to: ;Bish. Kidder, Disserta- tion concerning the AutJior of the Pentateuch; prefixed to his Commentary on the Pentateuch, — Hsevernick, Introduction to the Pentateuch; Clark's Translation. Edinb. 1850.— Hengsten- berg, Dissertations on the Genuineness of the Pentateuch; Clark's Transl. Edinb. 1847. — David- son, The Text of the 0. T. considered, forming the second vol. of Home's Introd. Lond. 1856. — Kurtz, Hist of the Old Covenant; Clark's Trans. 3 Vols. Edinb. 1859.— Keil, Einleit in d, Kanon, u, apoTcr. Schriften des Alten Testa- mentes, 1859. — Ayre, Introd, to the Crit. of the 0, T,; a revised and enlarged edition of the sec. vol. of Home's Introd, Lond. I860.— Delitzsch, Commentar ilher die Genssis, Einleitung, 1860. Xll INTRODUCTION ON THE Names of Tlie first five books of the Old Testament the Penta- teuch, are throughout the remainder of the Hebrew canon referred to under the name of Tlie LmVj The Book of the Law^ The Lmv of Moses, The Boole of Moses, The Booh of the Lmv of Moses. By the Rabbins they were called The Five-fifths of the Law; by the Greeks, TJie Pentateuch, or Five-volume Booh Origin of ^yhen tlic divisiou into five books was made into five . IS questioned. Hssvernick and Davidson ascribe it to the authors of the Septuagint version; Michaelis concludes it to be older than this, yet not original; while Keil and Delitzsch think that there is internal evidence that the work naturally distributes itself into these five portions, and therefore consider the division to be as old as the composition of the entire work. But as no trace of it is found in the New Testament citations, and as the names now current for the different books were un- known to the Jews, and are of Greek origin, it is most probable that the division into five books is due to the Septuagint translators. Essential But whcncvcr made, the contents of the nai unify fi^c books show that they collectively form tateuch ^^ ^^^ Systematic and connected work. This unity AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. Xlll of the Pentateuch is displayed in its svhject- matter and language* (i) In the subject-matter, (1) by the in- displayed, flexible firmness with which the one great aim subject- and object of the history is kept in view, by one'ob- The covenant between the Lord and Israel is iTpt in""^ the central point of the whole. All that is through- mentioned before it is preparatory, and the ^" ^ ' history subsequent to it is but the detail of the full development of that momentous trans- action. The Pentateuch commences with the creation; by thus showing the original posi- tion of man it explains and prepares the way for the covenant by which in some small mea- sure he was to be restored to that position which he lost by the fall. It terminates with the death of Moses, the mediator of the cove- nant, when his work was accomplished, and when Israel was about to be instated in the fuU enjoyment of his covenant relation. In the historical treatment of the interval be- tween these two terminal points the great object is kept steadily in view; minute and otherwise insignificant details are mentioned because they bear upon it; while the most important historical events are omitted as only XIV INTRODUCTION ON THE (2) by the obstructing the advance of the history*. (2) mutual co- herence of We discern a similar oneness of conception in the close coherence and relation of the differ- ent historical details; in the earlier portions of the history preparing the way for the later, and the later pointing back to the earlier, which they either further develope or supplements^. (3) by a- (3) But the essential and original unity of daptation ofchrono- tho Pcntatcuch is perhaps most plainly dis- logy to its -1.1 plan. played in its chronology; not merely m the accm^ate consistency of the different portions of the chronological chain which runs through the work, but also in the adaptation of it in its various parts to the plan of the history. "It is at first chronologico-genealogical, con- necting the computation of time with the life- time of the Patriarchs of Israel, reckoning from the commencement of the same to the birth of the first-boni. Tliis plan, which is exactly followed as far as Jacob's history extends, then gives place to another, arising out of an epoch in Israelitish history, the removal of Jacob into Eg^-pt. Then joining on to this, we have 1 Delitzsch, Einl. p. 15. Comp. Dean Trench's Huls. Lect. pp. 16 — 29. 3 Keil, Einl. p. 106. AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. XV the reckoning according to the second great event, the departure of the Hebrews ; and this chronology is invariably continued throughout the last four books of the Pentateuch ^" (ii) The minute analysis by which Keil^ (ii) in the style. has proved the identity of language in all characteristic peculiarities may perhaps be con- sidered as testimony collected by a partial advocate. But it is confirmed by the admis- Admis- sion of such witnesses as Tuch, De Wette, and ponen^s.^^ Hupfeld, who maintain the composition of the Pentateuch out of different documents. To account for a similarity of language between portions which they assign to different authors they assert that the supplementalist inten- tionally copied the style of the groundwork I There may, perhaps, be observed a slight dis- similarity in the general tone of Deuteronomy and the other books, but yet the difference in style is not greater than may be naturally accounted for by the hortatory nature of the book, by the addresses themselves, and by the prophetic character of some of them^ Pro- 1 Hsevemick, p. ^s; Keil, p. io6. 2 Einleit. §§ -27, 30, 32. 3 m^^ ^ uq, * Hsevernick, p. 338 ; Keil, p. 98. XVI INTRODUCTION ON THE fessor Davidson, indeed, asserts that a diflfer- ence of style irreconcileable with unity of au- thorship may be perceived by every critical scholar. Yet Delitzsch, whose view is sup- ported by Kurtz, maintains that the supple- mentalist author of the Pentateuch had formed his style on that of Deuteronomy \ Author- The essential and original unity of the. ship. Pentateuch being thus established, we may next consider what information is i)resented regarding the authorship of it by the other portions of the canon of the Old and New Testament. Ascribed to In the Ncw Testament it is not only ap- Moses in theN.T., pealed to by our Lord and the apostles as part of the inspired canon (Matt. iv. 4, 7 ; xii. 5 ; Gal. iv. 21), and as the Laii^ of Moses (Joh. vii. 23, Act. xxviii. 23), and as Moses (Luk. xvi. 31, Act. XV. 21) ; but they say in plain words, that Moses ivrote the Law (Mark xii. 26, Luk. XX. 37, Joh. V. 46, 47; Rom. x. 5) 2. It is said by opponents of the unity of the Pentateuch, that as our Lord did not come to teach the 1 Delitzsch, Genesis, Einl. p. 38. * A collection of passages of similar import may be found in Bp. Kidder's Dissert, p. xxvi, or in Ayre, Introd. p. 545. AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. XVll Jews criticism, He might have accommodated in this case His language to a vulgar error \ But it certainly lowers His Divine character to represent Him as supporting by language, which he could easily have avoided, an error respect- ing the rule of faith and life. The writers of the Old Testament use the and also in the 0. T. same language of the author of the Pentateuch ; see 1 Kin. ii. 3 ; 2 Kin. xxiii. 25 ; 2 Chron. xxiii. 18' ; 2 Chron. xxx. 16^; Dan. ix. 11, 13; Mal.iv. 4 ; Neh. viii. 1^. However, besides this direct, indirect evidence of the later books of the Hebrew canon present o.t. divid- ed into two a mass of indirect evidence which testifies groups; plainly that the Pentateuch in its present form must have been composed in the time of Moses. This evidence we may divide into two groups ; 1st, according as it is yielded by the historical facts recorded in the Hebrew Canon ; or 2ndly, as it is collected from the literature of the Hebrew nation. (1) Throughout the whole of the history of (i) as pre- ' sented by- Israel, from the death of Moses to the Cap- iiistoricai facts, 1 Kurtz, III. 5 10. 2 Deuteronomy cannot be referred to here, as it contains no laws respecting sacrifices. 3 From ver. 14 it appears that the Law of Moses mentioned here included Leviticus, h 2 xvm INTRODUCTION ON THE tivity, there meet us facts which prove inci- dentally that the Mosaic institutions formed the recognized basis of religious worship, and of domestic and public life in Israel. These are presented not only in the periods, such as are marked by the names of Joshua, David, Solomon, and Hezekiah, when allegiance to Je- hovah was the ruling principle of the nation, but even in the dark and troubled times of the Judges, and of the schismatic and sometimes openly apostate successors of Jeroboam ^ But while these facts prove that the Law was always, even in the earliest times of the nation, existing amongst the people, we may remark that there is no appearance of its having gra- dually developed itself out of the religious feelings of the people. Nowhere does it show itself as a system thus gradually moulding it- self into shape, assuming fresh modifications as time made them necessary. And the continual opposition it experienced from the inward re- pugnance of the Israelites manifests it to have reached their nation from Avithout, in other words, to have been given to them by God. 1 Hengstenberg, Pent. i. 169—213, ii, i— 122; Keil, § 34. AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. Xix (2) We might easily deduce from tlie facts (ii) aud by just referred to, the existence of the Law in sions. its present written form at a time previous to the period of the Judges. But it is needless. Tlie whole literature of the nation proves it. In the earliest of the prophets, Hosea and Amos, in the records of the ten tribes separated from the house of David, in the sacred lite- rature of the times of David and Solomon, in the speeches and hymns recorded of the times of the Judges, we have such ftdl and frequent allusions to the expressions, words, turns of thought, and narratives peculiar to the Pen- tateuch, as prove that in its present shape it must have been familiarly known in all these periods to the twelve tribes of IsraeP. External direct evidence thus plainly attri- Objections butes to Moses the authorship of the Penta- tion^ofMo- teuch ; indirect evidence traces it up to the the authw. confines of the time he lived in ; the office, the character of Moses, point to him as in every way likely to have been qualified to be the historian of the Covenant of the Lord with Israel. Wliy shoidd not we then give our 1 Hengstenberg, Pent. i. 107 — 169; Delitzsch, Genesis, pp. II — 15; Keil, Einl. § 34; Kurtz, in. 509. XX INTRODUCTION ON THE assent to this evidence? Can there be pro- duced anything peculiar either to the time he lived in, or to the circumstances in which he was placed, to make it incredible that he should have been the writer of the Book? Two circumstances of this nature have been I. Art of alleged. It has been asserted that the art of writing un- known in writing was unknown in the time of Moses. his time. Tliis assertion is refuted by the Assyrian and Egyptian remains. Babylonian inscriptions have been traced back so far as the year B.c. 2200 ^ We have the authority of the eminent Egyptian archaeologist Rosellini^, that before the Exodus writing was practised in Eg^^it to at least as great a degree as it is amongst us. Every transaction of domestic as well as of public life appears to have been committed to writing. The antiquity of the art in Egypt is j)roved by the number of very ancient papyrus-rolls which have been discovered. Seyffarth, "through whose hands more than 10,000 Egyptian papy- rus-rolls have passed," decides that writing on papyrus was practised in Egypt 2000 years 1 Rawlinson, Herod. Vol. i. p. 435. 2 Hengstenberg, Egypt and the Books of Moses, p. 88. AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. XXl before the Christian epochs And, to use the words of Lepsius, from the then state of things in Egypt, as we are now acquainted with them, and of which the Jews must have been cog- nizant in the fertile i^rovince of Goshen, ^' it is wholly incredible that they did not possess a running-hand as well as the Egyptians I" It i. Eude has in the next place been asserted^ that, ad- of the is- mitting the existence in Egypt of the art of writing, the rude uncivilized nomadic condition of the Israelites at the time is incompatible with the supposition that the complicated legis- lation of the Pentateuch was composed for their use. An assertion like this is not un- likely to have a certain degree of weight at the present day, when the Patriarchs and their descendants are too often represented as mere Bedouins, and have thus attributed to them the hopeless degradation of those lawless no- madic hordes, who of choice and not of neces- sity embrace their vagrant life, and steadily resist the influences of civilization with which they may be brought into contact. Such lan- ^ Delitzsch, p. 20. 2 Tour from Thebes to Sinai, pp. 88, 89. ^ By Hartmann and Vater (Hengfstenberg, Pent. i. p. 405). xxii INTRODUCTION ON THE guage expresses a conception of the state of the Hebrews thorouglily opposed to the scrip- tural representations. We find no trace of nomadic rudeness among the Patriarchs. They availed themselves of the conveniences and luxuries which civilization had created for more favoured nations. Judah had a signet; Joseph wore a richly-adorned garment; Abra- ham paid for the land he purchased in money, and Jacob's sons brought money for corn; Eliezer presented Rebekah with a gold ring and bracelet. It may be plainly perceived that their nomadic life was forced upon the Patri- archs; wherever it is practicable they forsake it. Lot settles in Sodom, and dwells in a house. Wlien Abraham goes down into Egypt, instead of taking up his abode in the pasture-lands on the borders, as nomads by profession and in- clination have been in the habit of doing for centuries, he betakes himself to the king's resi- dence. Isaac lives in a house in the city of Gerar, near the king's palace. Jacob builds a house on his return from Mesopotamia. Simi- larly we find the Israelites represented as hav- ing during their sojourn in Egypt conformed themselves to the existing state of civilization AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. XXUl there. They dwelt in houses with door-posts and lintels (Ex. xii. 4, 7, 22, 23), intermixed with the Egyptians, so that the destroying angel could pass by one door and stop at another. They devoted themselves to agricul- ture (Deut. xi. 10). They acquired a variety of arts and handicrafts (1 Chron. iv. 14, 21, 23 1). Still, although there is no incredibility pre- 3- Traces of post- sented by the condition of Moses or the circum- Mosaic , composi- stances of his times to prevent us from acknow- tion. ledging him as the author of the Pentateuch, it is alleged that the Pentateuch itself, by con- taining passages which manifestly were written subsequent to the time of Moses, plainly de- clares that it was not written by him. A large number of passages of this nature have been eagerly adduced. Each advocate of the late composition of the Pentateuch has his list of passages containing traces of post-Mosaic com- position. But gradually these lists have been diminishing in length as passage after passage had to be relinquished under the weight of the convincing arguments by which the learning and searching criticism of writers like Hengsten- 1 Hengstenberg, Pent i. 406—413; Kurtz, n. 156—162; Thomson, The Land and the Boole, pp. 296, 383. XXIV INTRODUCTION ON THE berg, Hseyernick, and Keil, showed the shallow grounds on which they were alleged. Thus Professor Davidson alleges only about thirteen out of the many which are to be found speci- fied and answered in the works of Hengsten- berg^ and KeiP; while later still, Delitzsch^ and Kurtz* cite only three of these as fairly present- ing marks of an age subsequent to IMoses, viz. Gen. xiv. 14, where Laisli is mentioned under the name Dan, which it received in the time of the Judges, and Ex. xi. 3 and Num. xii. 3, where IMoses is mentioned in terms of praise, coming appropriately only from a later histo- Dan. rian^ As regards Dan, if we bear in mind that the custom of the Hebrews was to revive the old names of places distinguished by peculiar recollections^, and sometimes with an additional allusion to the circumstances which attended the renewal of the old name', we can have little difficulty in regarding Dan as the primitive name of the place in Abraham's time, which was 1 Pent. II. 146—276. 2 ^ini § 28. •■' Genesis, p. 39. ■* Vol, III. p. 516. " Delitzsch, pp. 39, 40. . ^ Compare the case of Hebron. '' Compare the case of Beersheba, as thus named first by- Abraham, afterwards by Isaac. AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. XXV displaced for Laish by its Sidonian conquerors, and restored by the victorious Israelites. As Laudation of Moses. regards the two other cases, to say that the language in them is such as could not be used by Moses of himself, is pure assertion incapable of proof \ Indeed the quality attributed to Moses in Num. xii. 3 is not generally considered so praiseworthy that a Hebrew panegyrist of the great Lawgiver would have been likely to have enlarged on it. The difficulties being thus cleared away Assertions which embarrass the claims of Moses to the tateuch re- authorship of the Pentateuch, we may without futhorf more delay examine what the Pentateuch itself declares concerning its own author. In Ex. xvii. 14 we find ^The Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a hook, and re- hearse it in the ears of Joshua.' In the Hebrew the expression is even stronger, ' in the book :' marking a reference to a larger work in which this notice was to be inserted. Only thus in- deed, with the definite article, does the passage give an intelligible meaning. Our English trans- lation presents the strange idea that Moses was 1 Compare the remarks of Hengstenberg, Pent. II. 141, and Bishop Kidder, p. lix. XXVI INTRODUCTION ON THE ordered to draw up a special document contain- ing merely, ^ I will utterly put out the remem- brance of Amalek from under heaven ^' Again, Ex. xxiv. 4, 7, ^ Moses wrote aU the words of the Lord . . . and he took the book of the covenant;' and in Ex. xxxiv. 27, after another revelation, Moses is ordered to * write all these words.' A similar order is given to him in Numb, xxxiii. 2. In Deuteronomy several passages occur (i. 5 ; xvii. 18; xxviii. 58; xxxi. 9—11, 22, 24—26) which Davidson, Delitzsch, and Kurtz take as ascribing the composition of the whole book of Deuteronomy, as far as ch. xxxi. 24, to Moses. Now admitting for the moment that these cita- tions from Deuteronomy apply only to that book, and that they were not intended to apply to the entire of the book of the law, we have even thus a strong presumption in favour of Moses having been the author. He is claimed directly as such by one entire book, and by important portions of two others; throughout the remaining portions of the Pentateuch, al- though there is silence as to whom they were written by, there is nothing, as we have seen, to repudiate Closes as the author. But there 1 Hengstenberg, Pait. ii. 123; Haevernick; p. 15. AUTHOKSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. XXVii is positive proof that the j)assages in Deuter- onomy, which speak of Moses as having written this law, comprehend in the expression *Law' the five books, and not Deuteronomy alone. From Neh. viii. 14, it appears that the law read in obedience to the command given in Deut. xxxi. 10, 11, comprehended Leviticus; for the direction about making booths is only given in that book. The reading of the entire Penta- teuch on this occasion may not be explained away as an irregular proceeding of natural oc- currence at the first solemnization of the festival since the time of Joshua \ The j)assage referred to does not support the charge of the neglect of the festivaP; of the observance of which in the time of Solomon we have direct evidence (1 Kin. viii. 2). And the entire of the Penta- teuch could easily have been read by Ezra, as it is written (N'eh. viii. 18), 'Day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read in the book of the law of God.' It is thus seen what firm ground both the Unanimity oftheSyn- Synagogue and the Church had to rest on in agogue, asserting that Moses was the divinely-inspired 1 Davidson, p. 615, who refers to Neh. viii. 17. 2 Hengstenberg, Pent. 11. 132. XXVlll INTRODUCTION ON THE author of the Pentateuch. Among the Jews this opinion has been opposed only by Isaac ben Jasos (circ. a.d. 1000), Aben Ezra (tll67), and by Spinoza (1670), who for his athe- istic opinions was expelled from the syna- and of the goguc. Amoug Christians of various sects, the Church. only exceptions to the unanimity which pre- vailed on this subject up to the latter part of - the last century, were, Carlstadt (1520), A. Masius (1574), Ant. van Dale (1696), Peyrerius (1655), R. Simon (1678), and Clericus (1685 1). The latter But within the last seventy or eighty years in the^fast a theory has been maintained by many German cen ury. jjieologians, which is completely opposed to the view so long and so unanimously entertained by the Church. The first who broached this Document- thcory was a Belgian physician, Astruc^ He hypothesis of Astruc. observed that much of the book of Genesis may be divided into difierent sections, marked by the exclusive use of one or other of the two names, Elohim and Jehovah ^ Concluding that 1 Keil, Einl. § 35. 2 Conjectures sur les Memoires originaux, dont U parait, que Moyse s'est servi, pour composer le livre de la Genese. Brux. 1753- 3 In the English Bible translated Ood and LoRD, not Lord, which generally denotes Adonai, AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. XXIX tliis alternate use of the divine names was not accidental, he tried to explain it on the external ground, that Moses had pompiled Genesis from different documeiits — two princij)al documents distinguished by the exclusive use of the two divine names, and ten distinct memoirs which are proved to be foreign to the first two docu- ments by the interruptions to the history and the contradictions which they present^ This now notorious Document-Hypothesis excited little attention for some years after its publi- cation. At length Eichhorn^, by adopting it Brought into notice with certain modifications, brought it into gene- by Eich- ral notice. The idea was before long extended Extended _ _. , to entire to the whole Pentateuch, and the Fragment- ^enta,- Hypotliesis was introduced by Vater and Hart- Fragment- man, according to which this work was made up ^iJ^^ of a number of separate fragments possessed of no internal connexion, but composed by different authors, and which were strung toge- ther after the Captivity ^ This view was, how- ever, shown to be so inconsistent with the plan which evidently pervades the Pentateuch, that 1 Hengstenberg, Pent, I. 220; Hsevernick, p. 46. 2 Einleitung in d. A. Test. 1780— 1783. 3 Hsvemick, pp. 47, 443; Keil, p. 60; Delitzsch, p. 41. XXX INTRODUCTION ON THE it was laid aside, and in its i^lace a modification of the old document-hypothesis adopted, which, Supple- under the name of the Suppleme^it-Hyj^othesiSf ment-Hy- pothesis. is in one form or other maintained by many German critics of the present time. According to this, an ancient document, distinguished by the use of the name Elohim, forms the essential basis (grundschrift) of the work, out of which the Pentateuch arose by means of a siqyjyle- mentary document, distinguished by the use of the name Jehovah. These two are traced as far as Ex. vi. by this characteristic use of the two names, but there this use ceases, and for the remainder of the work they are traced by in- ternal characteristics of style and phraseology. The two documents were combined by the hands of an editor so skilfully as to render their separation very difficult, in some instances al- Nohar- most impossible \ This is but a general, and mony among the neccssarily therefore an imperfect outline, of a advocates . of this hypothesis which assumes a different form as theory. it passes through the hands of its different advocates. No two of these are agi-eed as to the portions, even of the one book of Genesis, which arc to be assigned to their respective 1 Davidson, p. 593. AUTHOESHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH, xxxi authors; or as to the periods of the composi- tion of the different documents; or as to the time in which the Pentateuch assumed its pre- sent shape. The view brought forward by Delitzsch is Deiitzsch's view, here adduced as a sample of the Supplement- Hy2yotli€sis, not merely because it is the latest revision of it, but on account of its presenting it in its most specious and least offensive form. Ex. xix. — xxiv., the legal section in Ex. xxxiv., and the whole of Deuteronomy to ch. xxxi. 24, were written by Moses. ^The other laws were communicated only orally by Moses, and were committed to writing after his death by the priests, to whose office it pertained to do so. The composition of the sacred Chronicle was commenced on the soil of the Holy Land after the conquest. Some one, such as Eleazar the son of Aaron, of priestly rank, wrote the great work commencing, In the beginning God created. Into this he inserted the roll of the covenant, Ex. xix — xxiv., dwelling very lightly on the last words of Moses, because they had been recorded by the Lawgiver himself. A second historian, such as Joshua, or one of the elders on whom Moses' spirit rested, and G. c XXXU INTRODUCTION ON THE many of whom outlived Joshua, supplemented this work, and with it incoi-porated Deute- ronomy, on which he had formed his style. Each of them, the priestly Elohist, and the prophetical Jehovist, is the echo and copy of the great lawgiver, their teacher and proto- type. The consciousness that the Law was thus composed seems to have occasioned the- remarkable passage, Ezra ix. 10 — 12, where a commandment given in the wilderness is said to have been commanded by the prophets, the servants of Jehovah^ Such is the plan devised by Delitzsch. Even Kurtz, once the advocate of the essential unity of the Pentateuch, an- nounces himself a convert to Delitzsch's view, though in doing so he expresses his disappro- bation of some important positions in it I Funda- It is evident that all these plans for por- mental error of tiouiug out the Pentatcuch into different docu- these hypo- . . theses. mcuts rest on the foundation that the divine names are used arbitrarily throughout the book of Genesis. This is certainly a misconception. There is an internal difference in the mean- ing of the two names which regulates their 1 Delitzsch, Genesis, Einl. pp. 37 — 41. a llist of the Old Cov. iii. 516. AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH, xxxiii use throughout, as will appear from the fol- lowing considerations. In Scripture names are evidently formed Divine names have m the closest relation to things, so that the meaning, and are name is the thing itself so far as it can be used ac cording to made apparent ^ This is especially the case their mean- ing. in regard to God. His name is Himself so far as He is known by, or manifested to His peo- ple; comp. Ex. xxiii. 21; Deut. xii. 5; Matt xxviii. 19; Joh. xvii. 6, 11, 26. The names of God are therefore to be regarded as expres- sions of His nature and character, so far as men have been enabled to arrive at the knowledge of them. That this is the case with the names of God which are used in Genesis, is proved by the much perverted passage, Ex. vi. 3. This cannot mean that the Patriarchs were not acquainted with that particular name of God. The antiquity of this name is proved from its being formed from a root already antiquated when the Pentateuch was written; and also from its entering into the composition of seve- ral names older than the time of Moses 2. The 1 Hengstenberg, Pent I. 279 — 292. 2 Jochebed, Ex. vi. 20; Ahijah, i Chron. ii. 25; AHah, I Chron. vii. 8; £ithiah, i Chron. iv. 18; Moriah, Gen. xxii. 2. C 2 XXXlV INTRODUCTION ON THE hioidedge referred to is rather that of actual proof and present experience, as in Ezek. xx. 9 ; xxviii. 23. The Patriarchs had indeed, as the Lord here says, known and experienced Him as the Mighty God, who raised up offspring to the aged Abraham and Sarah; who provided abundance for Isaac in the time of famine ; who brought Jacob safely through his difficulties: but under that character in which God was actually known to man when first created, and under which He was to be known to His cove- nant people, these Patriarchs had not yet by the like actual proof and present experience knoTvii Him. This passage alone might show us that by the import of the divine names their use in Genesis was regulated. Derivation The name Elohim, the plural form of BloaJi, and import , . , . , , , . i . ■, of Elohim. which IS seldom used except m the poetical parts of Scripture, is derived either from a root signifying strength {GeseniuSj Fiirst, Tuch, Kurtz), or from a root expressive oi fear, ter- ror (Hengstb., Hcev,, Keil., Del., ed. iii.). By a peculiar use of tlie pluraP in Hebrew, to ^ The error that tlie idea of a plurality of persons was con- veyed in the name was first maintained by Peter Lombard (fA.D. 1 164). It was opposed by Calvin, Mercer, Cajetan, Bellarmin, Drusiua, Buxtorf, and G. Calixtus {Ilengstenherg). AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. XXXV denote the individual as if comprehending the fulness of all that belongs to each and all of the same class, the plural form Elohim ex- presses, according to these derivations, either the Supreme Power, or the Highest Object of Awe, in whom the infinite fulness of the divine perfections is centred. But this plural form, as it thus raises and intensifies the concejition, certainly in another sense weakens it, by pre- senting a vague, indefinite, abstract conception of the Deity. It represents God more as the Great First Cause, the Source of Creative Power, and Object of Awe, than as the Personal Ruler of the Universe, clothed with His Personal Attributes of Holiness, Justice, and Good- ness i. It is now agreed that the vowel-points Derivation and import attached to the consonants of the name Jeho- of Jehovah. vah properly belong to the word Adonai, whicli the Jew^s, through a mistaken reverence, substi- tuted for the former name whenever it occurred in their reading of the Scriptures. There is still some question as to the exact vocalization of the word. Hengstenberg and Keil decide for JahdveJi or Jahveh, It is proj)erly the 1 Hengstenberg, Pent. i. 273. XXXVl INTRODUCTION ON THE third person singular of the future of the verb havaJi, an antiquated form of hayali, to he, to exist. The derivation and import of the name are intimated in Ex. iii. 13 — 15: ^And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel ... they shall say unto me, Wliat is His ISTame? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am that^ I AM {eJiyeh asJier ehyeh) : and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am {ehyeli) hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord {Jahveh or Jehovah) God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, ... hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.' From this we may infer : (1) that pure absolute existence is certainly an essential part of the idea conveyed in the name, and, as an immediate consequence from it, perfect immutability. The revelation of this chai-acter of the Almighty at this time must have been most important for Israel, longing for a release from bondage ; comp. Mai. iii. 6 ; Rom. xi. 29. But (2) the passage before us forbids us taking the name as meaning merely AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. XXXVll The existing Oney The Being^. The expression, / am that I arrij is one which, at the same time that it draws attention to the necessary exist- ence and immutability of the speaker, also points to him as a Personal God. There is even more than this contained in the name; for (3) it intimates even more than personal existence ; it declares by its very form the personal close relationship which God was about to stand in towards IsraeP. Neither the personal form of the word Jehovah {He is), nor the change of person in the name of God when used by Himself (/ am), and when used by man {He is), should be passed over as meaningless; they point to the close communion, — if the expres- sion may be used — the personal intercourse, which was to exist between God and man. The name Jehovah, therefore, reveals God as the living personal God, who vouchsafes to draw nigh to man, who on his part had been ren- dered capable of holding intercourse and con- scious communion with his Maker by having been created in His likeness and image. As 1 Hengstenberg, Pent I. 262 ; Keil, Einl. p. 69 ; Fairbairn, Typol. II. 29. 2 Hsevernick, p. 61. ^ XXXviii INTRODUCTION ON THE the moral attributes of Mercy, Goodness, Truth, and Justice, i^roperly adhere to God considered as the Personal existence dealing with His intelligent creatures, so when God passed be- fore Moses, He declared his character as Jeho- vah to be ^ merciful and gracious, long-suffer- ing, and abundant in goodness and truth, &c.,' Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7. The Creator, who in relation to all other creatures was Elohim, the First Cause, was to man in Paradise, Jehovah, the living Holy Personal God, holding intercourse with man. Man having by sin withdrawn himself from this state of conscious personal intercourse with God, was in a certain degree brought into union with His Maker by the Sinaitic covenant (Lev. xxvi. 12; Deut. iv. 7, 24), by which God once more became Jehovah to him; and this again was the preparatory stage to the perfect restoration in Christ, to whom properly there- fore belongs the name Jehovah (Joh. i. 10 — 14; Eph. i. 10, 11; ii. 18). Natural If thcso explanations of the two names of distribu- ^ t ^ ± -i -, .-, tion of the God be correct, it can be easily seen that names in Gen. ac- different portions of the book of Genesis might ' ° be marked by the distinctive use of one or ^^^' other of them, according to the nature of the nieaninj AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH, xxxix subject-matter. To see this clearly we must distinguish between the use of these names by the different characters of the sacred narra- tive and by the historian himself. A knowledge of God under His character of Jehovah must have been brought by man from Eden, and both recollections of the past and hopes for the future would naturally lead religious-mind- ed men to speak of God by that name, and especially under that name to invoke Him when they worshipped by the divinely insti- tuted rite of sacrifice, which was the pledge of restoration to the state they had forfeited. As religious feeling waxed cool, and faith weak, since "the natural tendency of man's mind is partly to lose itself in a plurality of gods, partly to unite this plurality again, i. e. to form an abstraction out of itV the use of Elohim gradually became universal, and God was thus spoken of by those who had not lapsed into polytheism, as by Abimelech ; or He was spoken of under some other name which did not so strongly express His Personal character to- wards man, as in the case of Melchizedek. Even by the Patriarchs this name would be 1 Hsevernick, p. 59. Xl INTRODUCTION ON THE used if circumstances occurred which tended to obscure the personal conception of God, as in the case of the required sacrifice of Isaac; or if their conduct gave reason to suspect that their faith in a living, holy, judging, per- sonal God was too weak to raise them above the promptings of the senses, as we see was the case with Jacob, and more especially with^ his sons. And as advancing years made the revelations granted to Abraham, of God as about to become Jehovah, to retire into the distant past without continual fresh manifes- tations to revive the name, we might have further reason to expect the more general name to supplant at last the more particular. As to the use of the name Jehovah by the Patriarchs, we might expect it to be used by them after God revealed to Abraham His in- tention of becoming Jehovah again to his family, especially in cases when allusions would be made to God's leadings in carrying out His intention, as in the conversation with Eliezer about Isaac's marriage, and in the prophecy concerning Jacob's twelve sons. But, on the other hand, references only to the general superintending providence of God would AUTHOKSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. xli be made under the designation Elohim ; or, if distinct allusion were made to the particular earthly blessings and protection which God exhibited to His chosen servants in this life, designations of a more personal character would be used, such as El-Shaddai. With regard to the use of the sacred names by the historian, it is hardly conceivable that Moses, writing with the manifestation of Jeho- vah on Sinai and the fulfilment of the pro- mise to Abraham fresh in his mind, should not have framed his application of them in reference to this event. One like him, trained and prepared for his office as Lawgiver, who had been living in a close, conscious proximity to the Almighty not again vouchsafed to men, must have been so thoroughly embued with a sense of the Divine names as to apply them generally, if not always, with a meaning. Yet as, on the one side, we see that the minute adaptation of the name to the subject must have been in proportion to the religious feel- ing of the author, so, on the other hand, must the ability of the critic to mark the adapta- tion be in proportion to the religious feeling which enables liim to grasj) the Divine nature xlii INTRODUCTION ON THE and character so far as they are revealed. We ought not therefore to be surprised if in attempting to trace the reason of the appli- cation of the names of God throughout Genesis, we oftentimes fail in discerning the minute shades of difference which may demand the one name in preference to the other, or even at times wander widely from the mark. Nor^ in this is there any valid objection to the prin- ciple ; and certainly no such serious objection as to lead us, in despair of a satisfactory solu- tion, to adopt the document-hypothesis, which tacitly acknowledges its inability to account for the use of the divine names in very many places, by suggesting interpolations and cor- ruptions of the sacred text. But a parallel case will show that we cannot expect to ac- count in every passage for the peculiar lan- guage of the sacred writer, and that it is sufficient if the principle in general shows its ParaUei trutli. In the New Testament, the names N.T. Jesus, Christ, Lord, are not identical, and we see in general that the distinctive use of them is designed and appropriate ; and yet even in one single epistle of St Paid it would be impossible to assign in each j)articular in- AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATECJCH. xliii stance a satisfactory reason for the preference of one name to the other. It is thus that in the book of Genesis we may discern in gene- ral a principle regulating the author's intro- duction of the names of God. He surveys the history of the past from the point of view he has attained to at Sinai. In detailing the sacred history he appears to have used the expressive name Jehovah, first, wherever it was necessary to represent God dealing with mankind as the righteous Ruler; and secondly, to mark out the line of acts by which God was leading Abraham and his seed to the in- tended revelation at Sinai. In certain places, e.g. ch. xvii., he appears to have used the more general name for the purpose of pre- venting any misconception, as if the Revelation on Sinai had been already anticij^ated ; and in others, as in ch. xxxii. 24 — 32, either for the purpose of expressing the subjective state of the individual mentioned, or because the trans- action was not one of those by which the Almighty pointed to the coming Revelation. Where the historian speaks of the ordinary arrangements of God's general providence, or of God's acts in relation to those for whom xliv INTRODUCTION ON THE He was no more than Elohim, either the ma- terial and animated world, or man who had reduced himself to the level of the animal, as in ch. vi, 9 — yiii. 20, ix. 1—17, he speaks of God as Elohim. Yet even in these sections he is careful to notice where God acts as Jeho- vah. But to the notes on the different passages the reader is referred for an illustration in. detail of the truth of the principle here con- tended for. Enough has been stated to show that it has some foundation to support it. No inter- It would uot be in accordance with the r\u\ 6 VI" dence mUi- dcsigu of tliis work to enter into an examina- agSt the tion of the different allegations by which it ex erna . ^^^ i^qq^ attempted to establish a diversity of style in the different portions of the Penta- teuch. The few cases which can be treated in a manner intelligible to the reader unac- quainted with Hebrew, will be found noticed in the Commentary; e.g. Padan-aram and Aram-naharaim. But in fact it is not neces- sary. The argument for the diversity depends entirely on the truth of the distinction be- tween the Jehovah and Elohim documents in Genesis; it stands or falls with it. Sufficient has now been adduced to show that while the AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. xlv distinction is opposed to all external testi- mony, as well as to the internal testimony, direct and indirect, of the Pentateuch itself, there is good reason for explaining the phe- nomenon of the use of the Divine names in such a way as to render unnecessary recourse to so empirical and superficial an explanation of it COMMENTARY ON GENESIS. PEEFATOEY. The account of the creation with which the book of Genesis opens has been made the sub- ject of much discussion. Whether it is to be taken as literal matter-of-fact history, or as legend, or as myth ; whether it was made known to the writer by tradition, by prophetic vision, or by direct inspiration ; whether it embraces those successions of life in the world, which, concealed for thousands of years, have been but lately brought to light by Geological research, or merely narrates the sequence and order in which the present system, wherewith man is con- cerned, was brought into existence : — all these points have yielded matter for earnest investiga- tion and discussion within the last few years. An examination of the different cosmogonies which are found in the early legends of most 1 2 PREFATORY. [gen. nations removes some of the uncertainties which embarrass the subject. The Chaldseans, the Egyp- tians, and Phoenicians, the Hindoos, Greeks, Etrurians, and Goths, the Chinese, and the tribes of America^, nations of different races, all have their cosmogonies, which, by various degrees of resemblance, claim affinity with that of Genesis. As, however, there is no reason for considering that these cosmogonies were derived from it, the natural conclusion is that they may be traced up to one common source, namely, a communication received from the first parents of the human race. That Adam received it by divine revela- tion is rendered probable by the account in Genesis. For since it is there intimated that man's welfare depended upon maintaining his appointed i)lace in the constituted order of crea- tion, it is but a reasonable inference that the Creator communicated to him the necessary knowledge of the relation in which he was de- signed to stand to God, and to the rest of God's creation', especially as it was conveyed in facts the knowledge of which he could not have at- ' Faber, Uor. Mosaic. I, 17 — 40; Delitzsch, pp. 80 — 82 Kurtz, B'ible and Astronomy, p. vLi. a Delitzsch, p. 86. i. — ii. 3.] PREFATORY. 3 tained to by any exercise of his own reflective powers ^ Are' we therefore to conclude that the author of the Pentateuch prefaced his history with this account of the creation which he had received by tradition from the first man^? Such a supposi- tion is incredible. The comparison of the other national legendary cosmogonies with the biblical narrative at once demonstrates it to be so. All of them, without exception, by the dualistic or else pantheistic principle, by the national ele- ment, by the degraded and often revolting con- ceptions, which are found interwoven into their texture, show how grievously the primitive reve- lation of this important religious truth was dis- torted as it passed through the hands of man. There is nothing in what is narrated of either the fathers or descendants of Abraham to lead us to think that a tradition would fare better with them than with the other nations. And yet the Biblical cosmogony alone, by its perfect purity from all admixture of what is national, by the simple pure conceptions it presents, by its direct ethical tendency^, by the contradiction 1 Kurtz, Bib. and Astron. p. xi. ^ Ibid. p. vii. 3 Trench, Huls. Led, pp. 24 — ■26. 1—2 4 , PREFATORY. [geN. it gives to the two principles, liylozoism or dualism, and pantheism, one or other of which principles is at the bottom of every heathen cosmogony, proves its freedom from all human modifying influences \ No other rational account of this phenomenon can be given than that the author of the book of Genesis received the history of creation therein contained absolutely by divine communication. How then was it communicated? by pro- phetic vision'^? or by direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit? There is nothing in the Bible to support, and there is much in it to oppose, the view, that the author describes what he saw represented to him in a series of prophetic visions, each of which seemed to him to occupy a day's duration. In the sacred narrative itself there is nothing to indicate the visionaiy nature of the communication, nothing to suggest any difference as to the manner in which this and other facts were revealed. In the remainder of the Bible no instance is found of the past being presented to the prophet's eye in the shape of 1 Delitzsch, pp. 82—84. 2 H. Miller, Test, of tlce Rocks, pp. 157 — 191. Kurtz, Bib. and Astron. pp. xvii — xx. i ii. 3.] PREFATORY. 5^ vision. In the Pentateuch itself (Ex. xx. 9 — 11, xxxi. 12 — 17) the reason assigned for the hal- lowing of the sabbath is the fact of the creation in six days. But if these six days are only visionary conceptions there is no reality on which to build the hallowing of the sabbath; and in- deed the institution, so far from being derived from the fact of the creation, would rather seem to have originated the representation of it in six visions. And, lastly, in the later books of the Bible we find the psalmist (Ps. viii. civ.), our Lord Himself (Matt. xix. 4 — 6), and the apostles (Heb. ii.; 2 Pet. iii. 5), all alluding to, and arguing from, the narrative as a real his- torical account. The passages just referred to from the Old and New Testaments help to a conclusion on another point debated in connection with this subject. By treating the narrative as matter-of- fact history they negative that view which repre- sents Gen. i — ii. 3 to be merely an ideal account of creation, as it unfolded itself in the mind of the Divine Artist, and which was laid before man in this shape, in order to teach him his place in reference to the rest of the Universe, 6 PREFATORY. [geN. and in reference to God the Creator \ This re- presentation has this certainly to recommend it, that it brings into full light the important ethical teaching of the narrative; and also that it re- lieves us from all the difficulties which embarrass it, when taken as an account of the successive acts whereby the visible external order of things in the material universe was produced. But the very process by which the ethical teaching is made prominent, removes fi'om it the firm his- torical basis on which it is built: — by it the history of creation becomes no more than an idea embodied in a historical shape. The diffi- culties moreover, which are only such as, from the nature of creation and the nature of language, must embarrass every account of creation 2, are displaged__only_J;Q— xnaka, wayi for the greater ^fficulties of accounting for the language of our Lord, and of inspired historians, psalmists, and apostles. As an accessory argument it may be observed, that the computation of time by weeks, common to nations scattered over Europe, Asia, Africa and America^, seems to point to a 1 Maurice, PatriarcJiS and Lawrjivers, Lect. i. 2 Whewell, Indications of the Creator, pp. iir, 162, 172. 3 Delitzsch, p. 82. llawlinson, Ilerod. Vol. ii. p. 335. i. — ii. 3.] PREFATORY. 7 fact and not to an ideal representation as its origin. If then Gen. i. — ii. 3 is an account of the suc- cessive acts of creation communicated by God to Moses, how much of the earth's history does it embrace? When geological science had advanced so far as to show that this globe had been occupied before man's creation by different successions of organic life, it was not unnatural that inquiry should arise as to the relation in which these conclusions stood to the declarations of Scripture. The view was put forward by Cuvier and Profes- sor Jamieson^, that the scriptural days of creation represent indefinitely great periods of duration corresponding to the creative periods developed by Geology. To avoid the obvious impropriety of taking days to denote indefinitely long periods, and to smooth away some important discrepancies between the geological and scriptural sequences of creation which the advance of the science had brought to light, the late Mr Hugh Miller modi- fied this view, and represented the narrative to be a description of creation as it was set before the historian in a series of consecutive visionary 1 Hitchcock, Religion of Geol. p. 65, 8: PREFATORY. [geN. scenes. On the first day was represented the Azoic period ; on the second, the Silurian and Old Red Sandstone period ; on the third, the Carboni- ferous period with its gigantic and abundant vege- tation; on the fourth, the Permian and Triassic periods, in which he supposes the heavenly bodies to be no longer hid from the earth by the steam- ing mist which hitherto rose from its heated sur- face ; on the fifth, the Oolitic and Cretaceous ages of the Secondary period, marked by the enormous monsters of the deep and gigantic birds ; and on the sixth, the ^fextiary, ages, during which the gigantic mammals possessed the earth, and at the close of which man appeared \ But the objections to this scheme are neither few nor insignificant. (1) The harmony between the Geological and Scriptural successions of crea- tion can only be maintained by the introduction of the visionary hypothesis, which has been proved untenable. (2) It is inadequate ; for it speaks of only three successions of organized existence, while Geology discloses as many as there are strata. (3) It is incorrect. We find the seas throughout the entire Palaeozoic period abound- ing with life, including animals of all the principal 1 H.. Miller, Test, of the Rochs, pp. 174—191. i. ii. 3.] PREFATORY. 9^ divisions, and even some of the reptile order ; and yet, according to this scheme, this period should exhibit only the specimens of tlie vegetable king- dom. And, on the other liand, it is only late in the period, and after the appearance of animal life, that we trace the fossil remains of vegetable life. (4) According to it the scriptural account would pass over unnoticed the creation of most, if not all, of the animals and plants of tlie present world, Jn_order_to_inentiQn the creation of the different ^peciesjdiich jpmshed before man's creation. For as very few, if any, of those now existing were contemporaneous with those buried in the strata, they must have been created subsequently and on the sixth day. (5) Scripture evidently speaks of all the animals and plants of the Mosaic cosmo- gony as having been created for man, "partly for his nourishment, and partly as means of, or aids to, his own peculiar activity \" Geology displays to us the various organisms of the primeval world, only to tell us that most if not all of them passed from existence before man appeared. (6) It seems inconsistent with the character of the Sacred Record that it should put prominently forward a statement which, it was not merely possible or 1 Kurtz, Bib. and Astron. p. cxxiii. 10 PREFATORY. [geN. probable, but actually necessary for man to place a false interpretation on, until the advance of science in the nineteenth century should disclose the true meaning of it. These objections are so very serious as to cause us to fall back on the long-maintained opinion, that the narrative refers simply to that stage of the history of the earth to which man belongs. This view has been adopted by Dr Chal- mers, Dean Buckland, and Professor Sedgwick; and in Germany by Dr A. Wagner, and by Pro- fessor Kurtz, who has given an elaborate exposi- tion and defence of it. According to it, in the first verse of Genesis the creation of the Universe is ascribed to God. The Biblical narrative then, passing over absolutely unnoticed all those great pre- Adamite periods of which Geology speaks, pro- ceeds to narrate the succession of creative acts by which the earth was made the fitting abode for man, who, after all things were created for his use, wa^Jnm^selfJasLoLolLj^reated^ Against this view one great objection has been urged by the late Hugh Miller. It supposes a chaotic gulf of death and darkness between the existing and the pre- Adamite worlds. He asserts that Geology negatives tliis supposition; that it i. ii. 3.] PREFATORY. 11 is an established fact in Geology that many of the existing organisms were contemporaiy during the morning of their being with many of the ex- tinct ones during the evening of theirs \ How- ever, this assertion is contradicted by the eminent Palaeontologist, Agassiz. So far from allowing the genetic descent of the living species from the different Tertiary divisions, which have been re- garded as identical, he declares them to be speci- fically different ^ No other objections have been brought against this interpretation, save such as have been urged against the scientific language of the whole of scripture. No attempt is there- fore made to enter on that subject, which belongs more to the general evidences of religion than to a commentary. An exact though brief discussion of it may be found in Dr Whe well's Indications of the Creator, 1 Test, of the Rocks, p. 12 r. 2 Kurtz, Bib. and Astron. p. cxxiv. Comp. Wliewell, Indie, of the Creator, p. ^6^. IS* CREATION. [gen. Chapter I. ver. 1. IN THE beginning] Lit. first of all, firstly. The writer does not mean to define the time when God created heaven and earth ; he only de- clares how God commenced the creation. (Knohel, Wright) — God] Heb. Elohim, This name, which represents God merely as the Almighty First Cause, is aptly used throughout this portion of Genesis as far as ch. ii. 3, in which the sacred writer treats of the creation of the Universe, and intro- duces man merely as the highest portion of crea- tion. Even in vv. 26 — 28 the Creator is spoken of as Elohim, for man is there noticed only as a link in the great chain of created being. — created] Heb. hara, a word used exclusively of divine pro- ductions (Kallsch, DeUtzsch), There has been much discussion as to whether the idea of creation out of nothing belongs strictly to the Hebrew i. 1.] CREATION. 13 word. We cannot, however, expect to find in Hebrew or in any other language a term adequate to express perfectly an act of God'S power such as Creation, which transcends all human thought and experience ; comp. Phillips, Life on the Earthy p. 45 ; Whewell, Indie, pp. 107, 177. The Revela- tion of this great fact is placed in the front of the inspired record, because the knowledge of it, though essential to true views of religion, could not be arrived at by man independently of Beve- lation. It was unknown to the heathen. Without exception all the religious and philosophical sys- tems of the heathen were based on the supposi- tion of the eternity of matter; comp. Hsevernick, IntrocL to Pent p. 94; Burton, Bampton Lect, p. 60, and note 21. For this reason the Christian Church has ever made the creation by God of all things visible and imisible a prominent article of her creeds; comp. Pearson, On the Creed, Art. MaJier of Heaven and Earth; King, Grit. Hist of Apost Creed, c. ii. The sacred narrative by de- claring the temporal existence of the world in relation to the Eternal God, and the si)ecific dis- tinction between the Creator and the Creature, at once announces the falseness of all the heathen cosmogonies, which invariably were based on either 14 CREATION. [gen. the dualistic and hylozoic principle of the eternity and essential e\ ilness of matter, or the pantheistic principle by which matter is confounded with God. — It is well remarked by Mr Barry, that ^'the Creation is described with a constant reference to man_as_its centre. Its various objects are de- scribed as seen by him, and as they bear upon his welfare, temporal and eternal. It may be that they have other and even more transcendant pur- poses ; but these, while they are not excluded, are left veiled in darkness, because the knowledge of them is not necessary to him for the fulfilment of his duties upon earth." (Jntrod. to the 0. T. p. 50.) —HEAVEN AND earth] The Biblical term for the Universe; comp. Deut. xxxii. 1; Isa. i. 2; Ps. cxlviii. 13 (Kalisch), The heaven of this verse is evidently not the heaven or terrestrial firmament of ver. 8; it denotes the entire expanse of the stellar universe. ver. 2. Many of the early Christian ^mters (see Wiseman, Science and Revealed Religion, i. p. 283), and many scientific writers and critics mthin the last few years (Horsley, Chalmers, BucJclandj Sedgivlch), are of opinion that the second verse does not represent the earth as existing then, in the state in wliicli it was first i. 1 2.] WITHOUT FORM. 15 created in the time referred to in the first verse. They think that an interval of undefined duration elapsed between the epochs marked by the two verses, during which the earth passed through those geological transitions, which the stratified formations reveal. The creation of the heaven and earth is then removed out of the work of the first day. The reference in Ex. xx. 11, does not contradict this view. The comparison of the two passages in the Hebrew will show that in the latter passage when it is said that in ^ six days God made the heaven and the earth, &c.,' allusion is made merely to the six days' work of constituting the earth in its present state, not to the creation of the earth. Several theological expositors [BaumgarteUj Kurtz, De- Utzsch) adopt this view, and account for the many marks of death and ruin, which Palaeontology traces as having taken place before the history of man, by the fall of Satan and his angels, to whom the world had been allotted as their sphere. See Kurtz, Hist, of the Old Cov. Vol. i. p. Iv. ed. Clark. — WAS WITHOUT FORM, &c.] The eavtJi only is now spoken of, not the heaven and the earth, men- tioned in the last verse. — without form, and void] Heb. thohu va-hhohu. What is meant to be 16 DARKNESS. " [geN. expressed by these words becomes apparent on comparing the two other passages where they occur in Scripture. Isa. xxxiv. 1 1, ^ He shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion [thohu], and the stones of emptiness [bhohu];' Jer. iv. 23, ^I be- held the earth, and lo it was tcitJiout form, and void [thohu va-bhobu] ; and the heavens, and they had no light.' In the latter passage the prophet evidently takes the state of the world as described in the j)resent verse, as an ex- pressive image of the state of desolation, ruin, and estrangement from God, to which sin was about to reduce Judah. — darkness] We cannot read scripture with any attention, without ob- serving the marked symbolical use made in it of darkness, as if of its own nature it was some- IhingJialeMkLJSod. Thus it is used to express sin, Eph. V. 11, *Have no fellowship with the works of darkness;' evil spirits, Eph. vi. 12, ^The rulers of the darkness of this world;' Col. i. 13, Svho hath delivered us from the power of darkness;' death, Job x. 21, * Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;' the abode of evil spirits and the damned. Matt. viii. 12, ^The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into i. 2.] THE DEEP. 17 outer darkness;' Jude 6, 'And the angels who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness.' On the other side, consider the use made of Ugii; I John i. 5, ' God is light, and in him is no darkness at all;' 1 Tim. vi. 16, 'Dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto;' and as to the new heaven and the new earth. Rev. xxii. 5, 'There shall be no night there.' — the deep] Heb. Thliom, the heav- ing deep. From ver. 9 it ajipears that the earth was covered by the waters of the deep. In the gropbetic^ Scriptures the restless,_^a is used as a^gymbol of the heathen as opposed to God and under the direction of Satan: Dan. vii. 3; Rev. xiii. 1. In Rev. xxi. 1, when the new heaven and earth were manifested, it is declared, 'and there was no more sea.' If it were legiti- mate for us to infer that the Scripture symbolism referred to in these notes was founded on some- thing real in the symbols used, and that they were derived from this passage, we might con- clude, with Baumgarten, Kurtz, Delitzsch, that the earth had been reduced to a 'state of dark- ness and death, and to be the abode of sin, by some outbreak of Satan or his instruments G. 2 18 THE CREATIVE WORD. [geN. against God. — the spirit of god] The third person in the Holy Trinity, *the Lord and the Giver of Life,' brooded over the waters of the deep which covered the world, to restrain them to their bounds, and to impart life and perfection to God's Creation. — moved] This translation is incorrect. The idea of progression is never found in this verb iWriglit). It expresses the brooding of a bird over her young (Gesenius). Milton: 'Thou, dove-like, sat'st brooding on the vast abyss, and mad'st it pregnant.' ver. 3. AND GOD said] There are three per- sons here visibly spoken of : first. He that spoke, ^Let there be light, and let there be a firma- ment, &c.;' second, the Word spoken by Him; thirdly, the Spirit of God who is said to have 'moved upon the face of the water.' (Charles Leslie, WorJcSy i. 264. Ed. 1721.) From the com- parison of such j)assages as Ps. xxxiii. 6, ' By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth,' and Ps. cxlviii. 5, the ancient Christian writers argued that there is here presented an intimation of the agency of the 'Word of God' in the Creation, ' By whom He made the worlds,' Heb. i. 2, and 'by whom all things were made,' i. 2—3.] LIGHT. 19 and 'without whom nothing was made,' John i. 3. Comp. Pearson, On the Creed, Vol. i. p. 152. ed. Oxf. For the proof of the Church having always held, that The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost created the Universe in concert, and that each Person is properly Creator, comp. Pearson, On tJie Greedy i. p, 80 ; Bull, Defence of tJie Niceiie Faith, II. xiiL 10; Waterland, Moyer Lect. Serm. II; Wheatley, Moyer Lect p. 129. — let there be light] There is doubtless a diffictdty, but there is no impossibility, in the representation of the ^ existence of light independent of the sun, which^ though apparently created when ' the heaven and earth' were created, was not ordained as a source of light until the fourth day. Most astronomers consider the sun to be an opaque solid sphere surrounded by two atmospheres, that nearest the sun non-luminous like our own, and an outer one from which light and heat are radiated. Hence, although created before, the sun may not have been constituted to be the source of the earth's illumination before the fourth day. Kurtz refers to Humboldt's description of the polar light. Cosmos, i. p. 188, Sabine's trans, as an illustration of the possibility of the earth's having other sources of light than that of the sun. — ^and 2—2 20 THE EVENING AND THE MORNING. [gen. THERE WAS LIGHT] The language in which S. Paul describes the calling forth of light by God should not be passed over when we are attempting to dis- cover the meaning of this revelation of the crea- tion : 2 Cor. iv. 6, ^ God, who commanded the Kght to shine out o/* darkness, hath shined in our hearts.' ver. 5. AND THE EVENING AND THE MORNING WERE THE FIRST DAY] Lit. cmcl it became evening, and it becmne morning^ one day. The common view is, that, as darkness preceded the light, the day is here reckoned from evening to evening, so that the evening is the commencement of the first half, and the morning that of the second half, of the day; a very awkward mode of com- puting the time, but not sanctioned by the text. For darkness is designated not as evening but as night; and evening always presupposes the previous existence of daylight, which retires at the approach of night. The expression, also, it became, implies that a period of light had j^re- ceded the evening. We are then led to conclude that the natural computation of reckoning from morning to morning is used here, and that the evening denotes the close of the first half, and the morning the close of the second half, of the day and night period. The Hebrew practice of i. 3 — 5.] DAYS OF CREATION. 21 counting the commencement of the day from the evening arose either from the distribution of rtime^ being regulated by the changes Qf_the-4»o©a (Belitzsch) ; or, as Kurtz more probably suggests, from the social arrangements of the people being based on the institution of the Sabbath. For though the work-day naturally commences with the morning, the day of rest commences with the evening. And therefore since the Sabbath formed the standard for the division of time, and it naturally commenced with the termination of the previous work-day, the arrangement of all other days was made in accordance with it. Comp. Kurtz, Vol. I. p. XX, note; Delitzsch, p. 99. — first day] Thejrarious attempts toJmrm_Qnize^ Sciip- ture with geology make us familiar with the in- terpretation that the sixjlays of CreaJJon-wAm- periods of^immense^duratioiL-^ 6s^ "But it cannot be doubted that the divi- sion of time which is here designated as clap was caused and bounded by the presence of natural light. Hence the evening which followed such a day, and the morning which preceded a new day, must similarly be regarded as parts of a natural and ordmary day; and the latter can only be measured according to the natural and 22 THE FIRMAMENT. [geN. ordinary standard, viz. the occurrence of a natural change of light and darkness (day and night)" (Kurtz). How the alternation of darkness and light was effected, before the sun and moon were appointed to rule the day and night, we are not told, and it is useless to conjecture. Any con- jectures on the subject, founded on observation of the phenomena of the present state of the universe, are serviceable only as proofs of the possibility of the occurrence. ver. 6. firmament] Heb. raJclah = expanse (Gesenius) ; the terrestrial atmosphere or sky which divides the waters beneath it from the waters above it, or the sea from the clouds which rise out of it. The language of the text is in such accordance with the language of modern scientific authorities that it is needless waste of ingenuity to have recourse to ^Hebrew conceptions of the universe' for its explanation; e.g. ^*We are thus led to regard the atmosphere of air, with the clouds it supports, as constituting a coating of equable or nearly equable thickness, enveloping our globe on all sides." (Herschel, Outlines, § 35.) ver. 8. heaven] Sept. adds, ' and God saw that it was good.' This seems conjectural and erro- i. 5 — 11.] AFTER HIS KIND. 23 neous. The reason why this usual expression of complacency over the day's creation is omitted is simply because the second day's work was carried on to the third day and then completed, when the formula occurs. It is only proper with com- pletion. It occurs twice in the third day. {Black- adder) ver. 9. This verse describes merely the gather- ing together of the lower waters, and not, as some have inferred, the production of the dry land. On the contrary the land, which is supposed to be already existing, is described as now appear- ing above the receding waters. Comp. Ps. civ. 6—9 ; 2 Pet. iii. 5. ver. 11. The productions of the earth are in this verse divided into three classes : (1) grass, or the herbage which grows spontaneously with- out man's care: (2) the herb yielding seed, or all herbs which require to be sown or planted: (3) the tree yielding fruit, or the trees inclusive of shrubs {PatricJc, Cleric. Rosenmidler). But Dr Kalisch considers that there are only two classes intimated: (1) herbs of all kinds, and (2) trees. He translates; ^Let the earth bring forth vege- tation, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree, &c.' — AFTER HIS KIND] SO that men do not gather 24 MADE TWO GREAT LIGHTS. [gen. figs of tJiorns, nor grapes of the bramble, S. Luk. vi. 44 (Amsivorth), On the subject of distinc- tion and constancy of species, comp. Lyell, Prin- ciples of Geol. III. p. 82, ed. 1840; Sedgwick, Discourse on Studies at Cambridge, p. liv. Pref ed. 1850; H. Miller, Footprints of the Creator; Prof. Phillips, Life on the Earth, p. 196. ver. 14. lights] Heb. ni'oroth = light-bearers, luminaries; not the light, Heb. or, produced on the first day. — for signs, &c.] Difierent explana- tions have been given of these words. For signs as prognosticating the weather; for seasons as appointing certain feasts ; and for dags and yeai's as defining the length of the longer and shorter periods of time (Delitzsch, Knobel), The sun and moon are destined to be Hhe signs of the seasons, days, and years' {Kalisch), The simplest and most obvious interpretation is: the stars were for signs as guiding the mariner or traveller; the moon for seasons, Ps. civ. 19, 'He appointed the moon for seasons;' and the sun to regulate the periods of days and years. ver. 16. AND GOD MADE TWO GREAT LIGHTS] Lit. the two great lights. It is not necessarily im- plied that the creation of the sun, moon, and stars, was the work of the fourth day. The nar- i. 11 17.] SET THEM IN THE FIRMAMENT. 25 rative bears on the face of it that it describes creation only in reference to the earth as the abode of men ; and therefore when the luminaries are introduced in it, it is to relate that creative in- fluence by which they became what they were destined to be in reference to the earth. Wlien therefore it is said that on the fourth day ^God made sun, moon and stars,' the meaning is plain, that He then adapted them for the earth, and that as luminaries in relation to it they then com- menced to exist. But this does not imply that they had not been created long before that to exist for themselves, and for the purposes they were to serve independently of the earth. This note is derived from Kurtz, who also infers from Job xxxviii. 4 — 7, that Scripture declares the existence of the stars before the fourth day of creation. Comp. H. Miller, Test of the RocJcs, p. 134 ; Buckland, Bridgw. Treat i. p. 27. ver. 17. SET them in the firmament] In representing the stars as set in the firmament, the inspired narrative only uses language in accord- ance with the conceptions of any ordinary ob- server of the heavens. An eminent astronomer thus describes the appearance presented by the heavens to any one who views them on a clear 26 LET US MAKE. [geN. evening. " He will perceive, above and around him, as it were a vast concave hemispherical vault, beset with stars of various magnitudes." (Herschel, Outlines, § 58.) ver. 20. and fowl that may fly] The mar- ginal reading is to be preferred : a7id let fowl fly above, dc. " The original does not oblige us to understand with the Talmud and Rashi, that birds had their origin from the water" (Blachadder). The English version in this passage adopted Luther's translation. ver. 21. whales] Lit. Imge fishes, or sea-mon- sters. ver. 24. The living creatures of the earth are now divided into three classes: (1) cattle, or beasts of burden and animals for domestic use; (2) beasts of the ear^th, or the wild animals; (3) the creeping thing, or all reptiles {Mercer). ver. 26. and god said^ letjjs make] There are four explanations of the plural forhi used here, (a) The later Jewish: that God addresses the angels. But in ver. 27 it is said, ^ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him ; ' thus proving that it was not in the image of angels but of God that man was created, (b) The Socinian : that it is the i. 17 — 26.] IN OUR IMAGE. 27 plural of majesty. But however this mode of speaking may have existed in more modern times, it was unknown in the Bible times. None of the monarchs appearing in the Bible, neither the Pharaohs, nor the kings of Judah and Israel, nor the kings of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia, in the plenitude of their power, used this plural of majesty. It is then an idiom unknown to the Bible, and incapable of application as regards it. (c) * That it is the plural, usually, though not necessarily, employed in deliberations and self- exhortations ' {Kalisch), But the only passage alleged to prove this ^ usual employment of the plural' is Gen. xi. 7, which is exactly parallel to the present, and therefore equally requires expla- nation, (d) The Christian : that the plurality of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead exi)lains naturally the use of the plural. Full and satis- factory proof that the passage was thus under- stood by the Christian Church from the Apostles' times to the year a.d. 325, will be found in Prof. Burton's two works, Ante-Nicene Testimonies to the Divinity of Christ, and to the Doctrine of the Trinity. — in our own image and after our likeness] This likeness is not to be sought in the members of the body ; for although bodily mem- 28 THE IMAGE OF GOD. [gen. bers are sometimes ascribed to God, yet these expressions are metaphorical; the right hand of God being used to signify His Poiver^ His eyes to signify His Knowledge, and His idngs to signify His Protection, Nor was it with reason that some ancient writers taught [who have been lately imitated by Mr Maitland in his Eruvim; liis view is mentioned with qualified approbation- by Mr Barry, Introd. to O. T, p. 75] that the Son of God assumed flesh before man was made, and that it was in His likeness that Adam was created. For the words, ' Let us make man in our image,' were the words not of the Son alone, but of the whole Trinity; and moreover, the Son of God did not assume human flesh before man's fall, and hence it is not said that we are made hke to Him, but that He was made like to us (Dean Fogg, Syst of Theol p. 167). The following statement regarding ^the image of God in man' is taken from one of the most accurate writers of our Church : " He [Thomas Aquinas] noteth first, that the image of God consisteth in the eminent perfection which is found in men, express- ing the nature of God in an higher degree than any excellency of other creatures doth. Secondly, that this perfection is found principally in the i. 26 28.] HOW FAR LOST. 29 soul. Thirdly, that it is threefold : first, natural ; which is the largeness of the natural faculties of understanding and will, not limited to the apprehension or desire of some certain things only, but extending to all the conditions of being and goodness ; whose principal object is God ; so that they never rest satisfied with any other thing but the seeing and enjoying of Him. The second kind of this perfection is supernatural ; when the soul actually, or, at least, habitually, knoweth and loveth God aright, though not so perfectly as he may, and shall be loved hereafter. The third is, when the soul knoweth and loveth God in fulness of happiness. The first is of nature, the second of grace, and the third of glory. The first of these is never lost; no, not by the damned in hell ; the second Adam had but lost it, and it is renewed in us by grace; the third we expect in heaven. To think the image of God, considered in the first sort, to be lost is heresy ; but Calvin is free from it. To think it lost in the second sort is the Catholic doctrine of the Church, for who knoweth not that man hath lost all right knowledge and love of God by Adam's fall?" (Field, Of the Church, Bk. iii. ch. 24.) ver. 28. and have dominion] "At the 30 HAVE DOMINION. [gen. creation God made all things for man's use, as He did man for His own service; and as He re- served for Himself His absolute sovereignty over man, so He gave unto man a kind of limited sovereignty over the creatures, Ps. viii. 6 ; which dominion over the creatures was one special branch of the glorious image of God in us, after which we were created, and therefore was not, nor could be, absolutely lost by sin, but only decayed and defaced and wipaired, as other branches of that image were. So that albeit man by sin lost a great part of his sovereignty, espe- cially so far as concerneth the execution of it; many of the creatures being now rebellious and noisome unto man, and unanswering his commands and expectations; yet the right still remaineth in corrupt nature, and there are still to be found some tracings and characters, as in man of supe- riority, so in them of subjection. But those dim and confused and scarce legible, as in old marbles and coins, and outworn inscriptions, we have much ado to find out what some of the letters were." (Bp. Sanderson, Serm, Vol. i. p. 240.) i. 28— ii. 2.] HE RESTED. 31 Chapter II. Ver. 1. ALL THE HOST OF THEM] All that is contained in heaven and earth; thus called "on account of their vast variety and excellent order" {Patrick). The word ^host' is generally applied either to the heavenly bodies, Deut. iv. 19; xvii. 3; Isa. xxxiv. 4; or to the angels, 1 Kin. xxii. 19; Luke ii. 13. Here it is applied also to the creatures of earth, as appears from the parallel passage, Neh. ix. 6. Comp. Bp. Bull, Engl, Tlieol, Worls, p. 201, ed. 1844. ver. 2. HE rested] That is, he ceased from works of creation {Kidder), But the explanatory addition found in Ex. xxxi. 17, 'He rested and Was refreshed! proves that something beyond mere cessaidon froDQ^Jha_jffiQrk-Qf-^reatiDirlg im- plied. A rest is spoken of in relation to God in other parts of Scripture. David represents the Lord saying of the place where the ark was to be removed, Ps. cxxxii. 14, *This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.' 82 HE RESTED. [geN. {Rest here is certainly expressed by a different Hebrew word from that which is used in the text, but it is not the ivord but the idea which is insisted on in this explanation.) God is therefore said to rest, or to enjoy rest, in that place where He receives the adoration of His people, comp. ch. viii. 21, Heb. Scripture represents God as creating all things that they should render to Him glory. Heaven and earth and all that they contained were intended to reflect their Creator's glory in their order, beauty, and magnificence; comp. Ps. xix, cxlviii. ; and man was created to be the High Priest of the visible world, and to interpret the unconscious homage of nature. The song of praise with which the new creation glorifies God is. Rev. iv. 11, ^Thou art worthy to receive glory and honour and power ; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.' Accordingly, when God ended the six days' work He rested, and was refreshed, for His creation was prepared to yield to Him the glory which is His due. And for this reason He sancti- fied the seventh day to His service, that men should by it be reminded of the great end for which they were created, and on that day appro- priately render to their Maker adoration. When ii. 2 4.] HE RESTED. 33 the Word of God by His resurrection accomplished the work of the 7iei(? creation j by which He over- tlirew Satan and restored the creature to its true position of ministering to the Creator's glory, He also is said to have entered into His rest; and having done so, it was but suitable that no longer the seventh day, which now had lost its meaning, but the first day, the Lord's Day, should be ob- served by the new creation to glorify its author. The explanation here given seems to be confirmed from its explaining the inter-connection between the Sabbath rest of creation, the rest of Israel in Canaan, the Redeemer's rest, and the Sabbatism of His people, which are mentioned together in Heb. iv. ver. 3. blessed] Attached a special blessing to it; ordained that they who devoted it to His service should derive a blessing from doing so. — sanctified] Gave it a distinctive character as a day to be set apart to sacred purposes. ver. 4. THESE are the generations] i. e. this is the account of the generation or origin of the heavens, &c. Throughout Genesis, this, or a similar formula, always refers to what follows it, and points to the introduction of a fresh sub- ject. The sacred writer having given a general G. 3 34 THE LORD GOD. [geN. account of the six days' creation, proceeds to give a detailed account of the creation of man and the events connected with it, with special refer- ence to the fall.— IN THE day] i.e. in the time. The word day is often thus used indefinitely; Numb. iii. 1; Ps. cxxxvii. 7: Isa. xi. 16; Ezek. xvi. 56. Thus Knobel, Davidson, Introd. to 0. T. — THE LORD god] Hcb. Jeliovali Eloliim,- Hitherto God has been spoken of as acting in his relation towards the creature simply as the Almighty first cause, and therefore the name Eloliim, which expresses Him in that light, naturally occurs throughout the foregoing narra- tive. But now when the sacred writer com- mences to narrate His dealings with man who, as being made in His image, can hold conscious intercourse with God who reveals Himself to him as the Living, Holy, Personal God, he as naturally speaks of Him under the name Jehovah, which expresses Him in this character. To it he an- nexes the name Elohim, either because the acts of Him which he is narrating aflect not man alone, but also the rest of the creation, the union of the two names expressing the difierent relations in which the Divine Being stood to man and the remainder of the creation; or, as ii. 4 6.] A MIST WENT UP. 35 Hengstenberg supposes, because he wishes to teach that the God who hekl converse so hu- manly with man was identical with the Creator of heaven and earth. Ver. 5. AND EVERY PLANT OF THE FIELD BEFORE, &c.] As God made the earth and the hea- vens, so He also made every plant of the field and every herb. And that He created the herbs, and that they were not at first the natural produc- tions or growth of the earth, nor yet the efiect of man's husbandry, appears from this, that they were made from God's command, on the third day, (1) before God had sent any rain upon the earth, and (2) before man was made to till the ground {Kidder). ver. 6. BUT THERE AVENT UP A mist] That is, after this (1) the ground was watered, ver. 6, and (2) man was formed of the dust of the ground, ver. 7 (Kidder), It appears that at that time it had not rained, but that all moisture for the nourishment of plants was supplied by means of dew. The choice of a rainbow as a sign of a covenant with Noah, ch. ix. agrees with this {v. Gerlach), However we are relieved from the necessity of making any conjectures about the physical condition of the antediluvian 3—2 3G UNITY OF HUMAN RACE. [geN. world by adopting the translation of verses 4—6, recommended by Maurer, Tuch, Kaliscli, Knobel and Wright : ' These are the gemrations of the heaven and of the earth ivhen they tvere created. In tlie day ivhen the Lord God made earth and heaven J no plant of the field was yet on the earth, and no herb of the field did yet sprout forth: for the Lord God had tiot caused it to rain upon the earth, nor ivas there a man to till the ground. And there rose a mist, &c. ver. 7. FORMED MAN, &c.] Lit. formed man [Heb. Adam\ dust of the ground [Heb. adamah= ground or earth, so called from its reddish hue] {Gesenius). — man] The conclusions arrived at by the majority of the greatest scientific authorities strikingly coincide with this account of the ori- ginal unity of the human race; comj). Wiseman, Science and Revealed Religion, Lect. i — iv; Hardwick, Christ and other Masters, Pt. i. ch. II; Somerville, Physical Geography, ch. xxxiii. For the proof, that Geology lends no support to any theory of the existence of a Pre-Adamite race of men, comp. Lyell, Principles, i. 280; iii. 204, ed. 1840; H. Miller, Test, of the Rocks, p. 106; Richardson, Introduct, to Geol. p. 26; Mantell, Wonders of Geol. \). 183. — breathed into his nos- ii. 6 8.] THE BREATH OF LIFE. 87 TRiLS THE BREATH OF LIFE] The fathers laid great stress on God's hreathing into man's nostrils the * breath of life;' a privilege peculiar to man above the animal creation: something of God's own infusing and inspiring, something of a purer and diviner substance, spiritual and enduring; the breath of the Almighty, a resemblance, a shadow, an imperfect copy of the Divinity itself {WateiiancT). Comp. on this subject, Bp. Bull, State of Man hefore the Fall. Ver. 8. PLAI^TED A GARDEN^ EASTWARD IN eden] a tabular view of the many opinions and conjectures respecting the situation of Paradise will be found in Dr Kalisch's Comynentary on Genesis. As the garden must be sought for in the vicinity of the two well-known rivers Euphrates and Hid- dekel, we shall consider only the most plausible of the opinions which place it near them, {a) One, which has met with much favour, places Eden on the river Shat-ul-Arab, formed by the junc- tion of the Euphrates and Tigris, and afterwards dividing to enter the Persian Gulf by two prin- cipal estuaries. But against this is, (1) that Major Rennell has shown that the two great rivers kept distinct courses to the sea until the time of Alexander (Kitto, Serqot. Lands, p. 3); and (2) 38 THE GARDEN. [geN. that the Hebrew word translated heads in ver. 10 denotes only the branching streams by which a river flows down from its source, and cannot be taken to express feeding streams running into a common channel, such as the Euphrates and Tigris would be on this hypothesis. (&) It is supposed that, though the text speaks of the rivers, as still existing, in the present tense, the convulsion of^ nature which accompanied the Deluge, may have separated them into four distinct river systems, and that hence the situation of Eden is to be sought in the vicinity of the sources of the Eu- phrates and Tigris and of two other rivers which satisfy the geographical conditions of the text. The ancient Halys and Araxes seem to corre- spond to these conditions, and to answer respec- tively to the Pison and the Gihon. On this supposition Eden was in the neighbourhood of Lakes Urumiyeh and V?n, a region which is de- scribed by Colonel Chesney as being now beau- tiful and fertile in the extreme. There is no impossibility in the supposition of the violent separation of the four rivers; see as to the effects of earthquakes in general on the course of rivers, Somervillc, Physical Geography, p. 165, and with regard to their occurrence and influence ii. 8, 9.] THE TWO TREES. 89 in the particular district of Armenia, Kitto, Scripture Lands, p. 20. — eden] The meaning of the word in Hebrew is pleascmtness, loveliness. In after ages there was a country which retain- ed this name ; 2 Kin. xix. 12 ; Isa. xxxvii. 12 ; Ezek. xxvii. 23. ver. 9. THE TREE OF LIFE] The reference to it in ch. iii. 22 proves that the tree of life was the means provided by God to sustain man's life, "either by the natural virtue of the tree itself continually preserving the decays of nature, or else by the power of God" (Bp. Bull, State of Man before the Fall), It appears therefore that this one tree either physically or sacramentally absolutely secured the continued and unimpaired life of the body, but that the fruits of the other trees were only able to keep nature alive for a time, as they do still. Cp. Kurtz, and Fairbairn, Typol. I. 216. A tradition of this tree is pre- served in the Indian and Persian mythologies. — THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE] The tree was placed for the trial of man, to prove whether he would decide for the good, or for the evil. If by obeying God's command he decided for the good, he would arrive at the practical knowledge of the good of obedience, and, by contrast, of the 40 THE FOUR STREAMS. [gEN. evilness of disobedience. His decision for evil would entail the practical knowledge of the misery of sin, and the true good of obedience. yer. 10. went out] The Hebrew word ex- presses the doumward course of a river from its source. — from theistce] The river flowed through the garden, and, on leaving it, branched out into four streams. — became] was divided into four streams. ver. 11. pison] either the Halys' or the Phasis. — compasseth] or passeth along hy (Ains- worth). — havilah] On the supposition of the identity of the Pison with either the Halys or the Phasis, this cannot be the Havilah men- tioned in the later historical parts of Scripture, which evidently lay to the south of Palestine; see Gen. xxv. 18 ; 1 Sam. xv. 7. It must be in this case Colchis, a land, according to the an- cients, rich in gold. The Egyptian origin of the Colchians may connect their name with the Cushite Havilah. ver. 12. bdellium] Heb. Vdolacli, which ac- cording to Bochart and Gesenius signifies pearls; according to the Septuagint in this passage the ruby, but in Numb. xi. 7, erystal. The other Greek translators and Josephus take it as de- ii. 9 14. J THE FOUR STREAMS. 41 noting hdeUium, an aromatic gum found in India, Arabia, Babylonia, Media and Bactriana ; see Knobel. " It is objected to this view, that bdel- lium is not so remarkable a product as to render it worthy to be enumerated along mth gold and precious stones, and that the land of Havilali should be specially noted for its production" {Wright), — onyx] Heb. shoham. It is thus trans- lated in most of the ancient versions. ver. 13. GiHOJf] so called from its bursting forth from its source (Wright). To the present day the Araxes bears this name among the Per- sians.— ETHIOPIA] Heb. Oush. There were settle- ments of Cushites along the south of Asia from the Red Sea to the Indus; and the name is found in that of the Cosssei at the head of the Persian Gulf; see note on ch. x. 6. Originally the Asiatic Cushites extended far more deeply into the interior. Rawlinson, Herod, iv. 220. ver. 14. hiddekel] the Tigris, Dan. x. 4, by the Syrians called Digla, and by the Arabs Did- shlatj in Old Persian Tigra. "That the name of this river signified ^an arrow,' and that it was so called on account of its rapidity, is declared by various authors. The word tigra, an arroiv, seems to come from the Sanscrit tig, to sharpen'' 42 Adam's office. [gen. {RawUmo7i).—TOWAW^ the east] Kalisch and Knobel translate, ivJiich floiveth before Assyria. As seen from Palestine or any western country, the Tigris flows before the old Assyrian empire. ver. 15. TO DRESS IT AND TO KEEP it] He had to do a twofold office in resj)ect to the garden, to attend to its cultivation, as far as might then be needful, and to J^eep and preserve it, namely, from the disturbing and desolating influence of evil (Fairbairn, Ty2)ol. i. 236). Thus after the ex- pulsion of man from Paradise the cherubim were placed, *to Jceep the way of the tree of life.' There is in this verse, therefore, an intimation given of the existence of evil external to man, which prepares us for the temptation in the next chapter. ver. 17. THOU shalt not eat] This precept to Adam Avas a bridle to the deliciousness of his sense, and a check to the curiosity of his reason, a great experiment of his self-denial in both, and in general a call to the divine life; and so no such slight and easy precept, as some have fancied, either mistaking the first natural consti- tution of man, or not weighing rightly the na- ture of the precept itself (Bp. Bull, State of Man before the Fally Eng. Works, p. 455). ii. 14 — 19.] NO CONTRADICTION. 43 ver. 18. The history of the sixth day of crea- tion is resumed in order to narrate the origin of woman. ver. 19. This verse is appealed to as proof that in this chapter we have an account of the creation contradictory to that given in the first chapter, and therefore composed by a difierent author. It is said, that here the animals are afiirmed to have been made after man, although in the first chapter their creation was placed before that of man. But as Mr Ayre remarks, Introduct. to 0. T. p. 563, there is no contradic- tion. The order of particulars in this chapter is not necessarily the order of time; they are named in the order which may best convey all the in- formation which the writer desired to communi- cate. To maintain that these particulars were disposed in rigorous chronological order, would make the same thing to be done twice. For after the statement, v. 8, that the Lord God ^put the man whom He had formed' into the garden, the growth of trees is mentioned, and then the course of the rivers, and after that it is again said, V. 15, ' the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden.' Comp. Keil. Elnl, p. 71. 44 WOMAN CREATED. [ GEN. ver. 20. gave names] It does not follow from his giving names that he knew the nature of all these creatures ; for the names of them in Scrixi- ture are taken from their voice, their colour, their magnitude, and some such external differ- ence, and not from their nature. Therefore this imposing names on them, denotes rather his dominion than his knowledge {Patrick). — was not FOUND an help meet] The special reason for the proceeding; while all animals were male and female, there was no partner for him {Black- adder). ver. 21. A deep sleep] By the ancient Christian ^vriters generally understood as an ecstasy to pre- pare him for the receiving of that divine oracle which upon his awaking he uttered ; like that deep sleep which God sent upon Abraham, ch. xv. 12 {Bp, Bull), ver. 23. woman, because she was taken OUT OF man] — she shall he called tvoman [Heb. Isshah] because she was taken out of man [Heb. Ish]. ver. 24. Our Saviour's words, S. INIatt. xix. 4 — 6, prove that Adam spoke this by the inspiration of God. ver. 25. NOT ashamed] So long as man keeps ii. 20 25.] NAKED YET NOT ASHAMED. 45 his body in j)erfect obedience to the spirit, and is therefore free from all inordinate concupiscence, no lust can arise which makes a hiding of him- self necessary, and so no shame {v. Gerlach). 46 man's trial. [gen. Chapter III. The trial and the fall of man. — On this subject compare Butler, Analogy, Pt. i. Cli. V, in which he shoAvs that man, though cre- ated good, might, from the constitution of his nature, feel temptation and be liable to yield to it, and also that God might consistently with His Goodness and Justice permit man to be exposed to temptation. The historical reality of the temp- tation is confirmed by the fact that the myths of heathenism present traces of a tradition of the fall, though in a distorted form, pervading man- kind. ^^ Almost all the nations of Asia (says Yon Bohlen) assume the serpent to he a wieked being, ivhich has brought evil into the world. And in- deed it is remarkable what a similarity is observ- able between the traditionaiy tales of Egypt, India, Persia, and even of the northern nations (which we again meet with in the Orphic mys- teries of the west), and the old Hebrew narra- tive." {HcevernicJc.) iii. 1.] THE SERPENT. 47 ver. 1. THE serpent] That it was a real serpent which was engaged in the temptation appears from the plain historical cast of the nar- rative, and especially from the subtilty of the serpent being particularized. That it was not the sole agent, but only the appropriate instru- ment which Satan used to tempt man, is also apparent from the diflPerent allusions to the fall in Scripture. Thus our Lord, in evident allusion to the falsehood with which Satan plied Adam and Eve and the sad result of their crediting the falsehood, says, Joh. viii. 44, ^ He was a murderer from the beginning... he is a liar, and the father of it.' Comp. 1 Joh. iii. 8 : 'The devil sinneth from the beginning;' Rev. xii. 9: 'That old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world;' 2 Cor. xi. 3, 14: 'The serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty... Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light;' 1 Thess. iii. 5, where the title of the tempter is appropriated to Satan. If it be asked why Satan assumed this form, and did not rather address the woman directly, we have a plausible explanation given by Mede : " There is a law in the commerce of spirits and man, that a spirit must present himself under the shape of some visible thing. 48 THE SERPENT. [geN. Experience with the Scriptures will show that not only evil angels, but good, yea God Himself, converseth in this manner with men. Further, as spirits are to converse with men in some visible shape, so is there a law given them that it must be under the shape of some such thing as may less or more resemble their condition. Hence the devil could not appear in human shape whilst man was in his integrity, because he was a spirit fallen from his first glorious perfection, and therefore must appear in such shape which might argue his imperfection and abasement, which w^as the shape of a beast" (Mede, Dis- course XL., Worlcs, p. 223).— subtil] The word does not necessarily bear a bad sense ; it occurs in a good sense in Prov. i. 4; xii. 16, 23: "Because the serpent w^as more remarkably 'subtil' he was the fittest emblem of Satan's subtilty : and was also the most proper instrument for the tempter to make choice to deceive by; since the appre- hension Eve had of his subtilty might make her the less surprised at the hearing him reason and discourse with her" {Waterland), Bishop Patrick supposes that the serpent, before the curse pro- nounced upon it, may have been so beautiful a creature and so like a seraph, that Eve might iii. 1 — 3.] ELOHIM. 49 have mistaken it for an angel. But, as Water- land remarks, she would not have failed to plead this as an excuse afterwards ; whereas she had nothing to urge but that Hhe serpent beguiled her.' — yea] In the Hebrew an interro- gation expressing surprise and astonishment. — god] Heb. Elohim. The tempter avoids the use of the name JehovaJi, inasmuch as it was his in- terest to lower the woman's conception of God. He therefore uses the name which expresses the unearthly, supernatural nature of the Deity, ra- ther than that which would remind her of her dependence on the living holy God, who had created her in His own likeness. Comp. Heng- stenberg, Pentateuch, i. 317.— -ye shall not eat OF EVERY tree] This would be more correctly translated, with Kalisch, Knobel and Wright, ye shall eat of no tree of the garden; comp. Gesen. Gram, § 152. 1. The serpent appears to have understood the commandment to include all the trees in the garden. ver. 3. god] Heb. Elohim. As Hengstenberg has remarked, the use of this name by the woman shows that already she was yielding. " First there was a depression and obscuration of religious sentiment ; then the tree appeared good to eat, G. 4 50 AS GODS. [gen. and pleasant to the eye — God died in the soul, and sin became alive." ver. 4. YE SHALL NOT SURELY die] By speak- ing thus he proved himself * a liar,' as our Saviour says. ver. 5. FOR GOD DOTH KNOVv] He now openly impugns the justice and goodness of God, hi order to shake the woman's faith in both. He tells her that God had denied to man the use of the tree of knowledge, only lest man should become equal to Himself. Comp. Luk. xix. 21. — SHALL BE AS GODS, KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL] We have here the real character of the first sin ; it was the yielding to the desire to know and to discern for himself what is good and what is evil, instead of leaving that to God's decision. It was the desire to become thus his own master, in- dependent of God, in other words, to be as God. Comp. Mr Barry's Introduction to the 0, T. pp. 84, 85. Von Gerlach remarks : " The origin of sin lies, not in sense, but in tlie striving after independence of God, a false self-dependence. But since man's true and eternal self has its existence only in God, this self-seeking caused immediately the fall into the power of sense, — man cares now only for liis temporal material iii. 3 6.] THE TEMPTATION THREEFOLD. 51 self. The form wliich man's sin assumes is always belonging to the flesh or the world; but its soulf even in its coarsest form of sensuality, is always selfexaltationr ver. 6. From the remarks on the foregoing verse it appears that the nature of sin as exemplified in the Temptation is, instead of loving, seeking after, and thinking of the Creator, to love and value only self; that sin is a fall into selfishness. But of selfishness the great exhibitions are. Pride, i. e. the inordinate valuing | /-' of ourselves ; Covetousness, the inordinate valuing of created objects; Selfindidgence, the inordi- nate valuing of that which created objects can bring us. Comp. Dean Alford, Sermons on Divine Love, IV, XIV. Hence we find the temptations of sin described thus, 1 Joh. ii. 16, ^all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.'— and when the wo- man SAW, &c.] The threefold temptation which led the woman to the forbidden act is detailed in accordance with the division pointed out in the last note ; the fruit wcis good for food, gratified the lust of the flesh; 2^^easant to the eyes, gratified the lust of the eyes; to he desired to 4—2 52 THEIR EYES OPENED. [geN. make one wise, gratified the pride of life. — she did eat] The successive steps by which the woman was led to her sin illustrate S. James' account of temptation; S. Jas. i. 13— 15.— and he did eat] Comp. 1 Tim. ii. 14. ver. 7. AND the eyes of them both were opened] It actually happened as the seducer promised, though in malice and in an evil sense. Their eyes were opened, but they only saw their nakedness, and were ashamed; they knew good and evil, yet only by their sad loss of what was good, and by their disastrous experience of what was evil {Kurtz),— aej) they knew that they WERE naked] They found that on departing from God they had lost control over the flesh, and were become servants to sin, hence the feeling of shame. — sewed] Thus Gesenius and Knobel. Gat- aker, who is followed by Kidder and Rosen- muller, translates a2yplied or put on, Ainsworth translates /as^e?iecZ together by twisting and plait- ing the leaves and twigs. — fig-leaves] Leaves of the tenah, the Ficus Carica, which is aboriginal in Western Asia, especially in Persia, Syria, and Asia Minor. It is both unnecessary and incorrect to take tenah here as the Pisang-tree {Musa Paradisaica), the leaves of which certainly attain iii. 6 — 12.] THE FALL LEADS TO STRIFE. 53 the length of twelve and the breadth of two feet, but which is nowhere designated by tenah {Kalisch), ver. 8. THE VOICE OF THE LORD] This simply means, the sound of the Lord's footsteps; comp. 1 Kin. xiv. 6 (Wright). It would appear that the Lord in His intercourse with Adam was ac- customed to assume a human form ; comp. Mede's remark in note on ver. 1. — the cool of the day] Lit. the wind of the day, i. e. in the evening when the breeze commences to rise and cools the heat of the tropical day. — hid themselves amongst THE trees] a very beautiful mystical comment on this is to be found in Franks, Sermons, i. 290. ed. Ang.-Cath, Lib. ver. 10. I WAS AFRAID, BECAUSE I WAS NAKED] Not to be regarded as a mere pretext. He felt himself to be disrobed of original righteousness by the discovery of ' another law in his members, warring against the law of his mind, and bring- ing him into captivity to the law of sin which was in his members.' ver. 11. who told thee, &c.] How camest thou to this sense of thy being naked? does not this shame proceed from thy disobedience ? (Kidder.) ver. 12. THE MAN SAID, the woman gave me of the tree] The man first obeys the wo- 54 THE serpent's curse. [gen. man, then complains of her as the author of liis fault. Strife between two creatures formed for union, bone of each other's bone, is the conse- quence of their both forgetting their relation to God, and seeking to please themselves (F. D. Mau- rice, Patriarchs and Lawgivers). — whom thou GAVEST TO BE WITH me] The first sin not only leads on to strife, but also to further sin against God. He tries to throw the weight of it, not on the woman alone, but even on God who gave the woman. ver. 14, 15. We have seen that the serpent was the instrument used by Satan in tempting man. Hence, as both w^ere engaged in the trans- action, the curse is to be taken as referring to both. But, as the serpent was the ostensible agent behind which the real tempter, Satan, lay hid, while in the literal sense we apply the curse to the serpent, we must take it as chiefly de- signed to shape out the punishment of the real temi)ter, Satan. If it be asked, how it Avas con- sistent with the justice of God to punish the serpent, which was the irresponsible instrument used by Satan, the answer may be thus given in the language of Mcde. All irrational creation was inaile fur the use and service of man. Had man iii. 12 — 15.] ON THY BELLY SHALT THOU GO. 55 preserved his integrity the rest of creation would have partaken of his happiness; but as he fell, it with him was made subject to vanity. On his account it is that the earth brings forth thorns and thistles, and is laboured with toil, and its creatures become savage and unruly. And simi- larly on man's account and for man's sake the serpent is punished, in order that, his degrada- tion representing the fate of the real tempter, man might see proof of God's wrath against sin, and also have the comfort of seeing proof of God's merciful determination to overrule the at- tempts of sin. Comp. Mede, Discourse xli. WorTcs^ p. 228.— TEOU ART CURSED ABOVE ALL CATTLE] This does not necessarily imply that beasts were cursed, any more than the words ^subtil above all the beasts' imply that the beasts were subtil {Hengstenherg). — upon thy belly shalt thou go] This shows that in the beginning the ser- pent had an erect form {v. Gerlach). How does this befit the devil? As this gi'ovelling in the serpent signified the abasement of his whole na- ture from its primitive excellence, so in the devil it signifies his stooping down and falling from his most sublime and glorious condition, lower than the earth itself {Mede). 'Extreme contempt, 56 DUST SHALT THOU EAT. [gen. shame, and abasement shall be thy lot.' Satan imagined that by means of the fall of man he would enlarge his kingdom and extend his power. But to the eye of God the matter ap- peared in a different light, because with the fall he beheld the redemption [Hengstenherg), — DUST SHALT THOU eat] Because of its grovel- ling condition, creeping on the ground, the serpent eats its food soiled and mixed with dust. See Bochart, Hierozoic. Lib. i. c. 4. De Serpeiite Ten- tatorCy Vol. i. p. 844. To eat or lick dust be- tokens extreme abasement and humiliation ; see Mic. vii. 17 ; Isa. xlix. 23; Ps. Ixxii. 9. In apply- ing this to Satan, Mede and Patrick take it as signifying that Satan, having lost all relish for heavenly enjoyments in which the life of angels consists, should hunger after nothing but sin and confusion and the misery of God's creatures. Dr W. Berriman interprets it that Satan should be able to devour and destroy " only those among the sons of men who shall be addicted to earthly and sensual satisfactions," and as to the others, should have " power on their body only, which is now made mortal by sin, and as it was com- posed of dust," so it was to be reduced to dust {Boyle LccL Vol. i. p. 73). iii. 14, 15.] THE serpent's seed. 57 ver. 15. I WILL put enmity] Experience bears ample testimony to the truth of the divine sentence, in so far as it refers to the instrument of the temptation; for abhorrence of the serpent is natural to man (Hengstenberg), — it shall bruise] The translation, she shall hruisej given in the modern Latin Vulgate, has nothing to sup- port it. All the Hebrew MSS., the Targums, the Samaritan, Syriac, and Septuagint versions, and that of Saadias, and the citations of the passage in many of the ancient Christian writers, oppose it. — it shall bruise thy head] Of the result of this enmity there can be no doubt, the woman's seed must trample down the serpent ; for, from the degraded, grovelling condition of the one, and the upright condition of the other, while the ser- pent can only attack man's inferior and less noble parts, man can trample down the serpent's head. — To apply this part of the prophecy to Satan. The parties on the one side are the devil and his seed ; on the other, the woman and her seed. By the serpent we are to understand Satan, the prince of darkness and father of devils. The ser- pent's seed, in the first place, are the whole crew of devils and damned spirits who are fallen from their first estate and condition : see S. Matt. 58 THE woman's seed. [gen. XXV. 41 ; Rev. xii. 7, 9. For Satan fell first, and afterwards propagated his apostacy by drawing others after liim, over whom therefore he has the chiefdoni, and in this respect may be called their father, and they his sons, or seed, as w^e know the use of the Scripture is to call princes fathers, and subjects sons. The latter offspring of the devil are the whole company of wdcked and re- probate worldlings, as appears fi'om our Saviour's Avords, S. Joh. viii. 44, *Ye are of your father the devil.' Again, 1 Joh. iii. 10, the children of God are opposed to the children of the devil. Paul calls Elymas a 'child of the devil,' Acts xiii. 10. Comp. S. Matt. iii. 7; xiii. 25; 1 John iii. 12 {Mede). In opposition to this seed of the serpent stands the seed of the loomcm, wiiich can- not denote the entire race of mankind, since many of them are included in the serpent's seed ; and besides it is usual for men considered as fallen to be entitled children of Adam, rather than of Eve (IF. Berrhnan). As in Hebrew seed cannot mean an individual, but only a plurality of indi- viduals {Hengstenherg), collected into unity and referred to one liead or original {Berriman), and considered as one organically connected whole (EUicott on Gal. iii. IG), we are necessarily led to iii. 15.] IT SHALL BRUISE THY HEAD. 59 take the woman's seed as signifying Christ, who was ^boni of a woman/ and hence the seed of the woman only, and along with Him His members who are incorporate with Him into one mystical body. For although Christ's members are natu- rally the seed of the man as well as of the woman, yet spiritually by this incorporation they are the seed of the woman only, as is their Head with whom they are one. See Gal. iii. 25 — 29 {Mede), — THY head] The serpent's head is the devil's sovereignty, which is called the sovereignty of death, as being a sovereignty under which are those who are liable to death temporal and eter- nal, and also the power of which consists in bring- ing to death both body and soul. The sword whereby this sovereignty was obtained, the scep- tre whereby it is maintained, or, as S. Paul speaks, the sti7ig of this serpent's head, is sin : this is that which got him the kingdom at first, and this is still the right whereby he holds the greatest part thereof {Mede). Now, 1 Joh. iii. 8, ^The Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil;' and He, Heb. ii. 14, ^ took part of flesh and blood, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil ; ' and having thus, CoL ii. 15, 60 IT SHALL BRUISE THY HEAD. [geN. * spoiled principalities and powers,' 1 Cor. xv. 25, ^Ile must reign until He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.' And His members, in Him and through Him, share His victory; for, 1 Joh. V. 4, ^ whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world;' Rom. viii. 1, ^ there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit;' they, Eph. vi. 11, 'put on the whole armour of God, that they may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil ;' they, 1 Cor. xv. 57, ^ thank God, who giveth them the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ;' for, Rom. viii. 11, 'if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit which dwellcth in you.' J^ay, so far does their victory go, that, as we are told, S. Jude 6, 'the angels which kept not their first estate He hath reserved unto the judgment of the great day ;' so also are we told that Christ's people, 1 Cor. vi. 3, ' shall judge angels.' That Christ's mystical body is thus included in the prediction is confirmed by the reference to it in Rom. xvi. 20. — thou SHALT IJUUISE HIS HEEL] Fulfilled firstly and iii. 15.] THOU SHALT BRUISE HIS HEEL. 61 pre-eminently in Christ crucified. Of Judas, who betrayed Him, it is written, S. Joh. xiii. 27, ' Satan entered into him ;' of the Jews Jesus declared, S. Joh. viii. 44, ^ Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning.' When betrayed, He said to them, S. Luk. xxii. 53, 'this is your hour, and the power of darkness.' Thus the suf- ferings of Jesus were the work of Satan, by the instrumentality of evil men bruising His heel, i.e. the inferior part of His person, "the hu- manity of our Saviour, as some of the ancients understand it, and not amiss, so it do not point out the similitude too precisely" (Jack- son, Worh, Vol. VIII. 394.) But Satan prevailed only to bruise His heel, for, 2 Cor. xiii. 4, ' though crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God.' Secondly, it is fulfilled in the mystical body of Christ. The servant, says the Saviour, S. Joh. xv. 20, 'is not greater than his Lord ; if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.' And, accordingly, 2 Tim. iii. 12, 'all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall sufier persecution.' This is the work of Satan : Rev. xii. 17, Hhe dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her ()2 MEKCY IX THE SiXTEXCI. [oiK. whk^ keep the c\ ir.iiuuiilmeiits c^Ciod. aad loiTe Ae lejumiHiy . . >. .Vnd thus Christ's ptofM mskj W sakL CoL L :}4. *to M up thai which is behind c^ the aJBktkos of Christ' Ter. 16w Th» wcMuan first receives the punish- It vliidi was bar peculiar share. That which aftenrards adjuilged to the man atfect^ her together with him ^r. G^Haek, But, even ui punkhing;^ the marcj of God ap(>ears emi- ■«■%. Eaidi saaksofo^ has its element of bles^s- kiS to WBtUBL in his Mien state. If to the woman k announced the emgmisk of duld-hirth. this an- mamnoausak Is ako the {m>mise that she shall bear fj^BB^pan^ and by doing so be the mothor of the seed of promise ; and thus though ^le ^ was in dK tranQgreseiany nolwilhsfcuiding she ^lall be saTed in chQdbearing," 1 Tim. ii la. The rule of the hififaand and her de^re to him^ which w<»e dcsMMUMed. were to coont»act the iosubordroadon and mahies which man'^s reToll firvmi dependence OB God had introduced into his race. Ter. 17. crR^» is the grou^p fob thy SJLKX] The ground is ctused for w»ms rndbe; id thiBdea it is to brii^ forth to him. on that he anj not yield to thai daT^ sriflndnl^ent nature into which he h^ fiJkn : <» iii. 15 — 20] EVE. 63 jmriKwie that he may be led to seek help in tilliug the earth and subduing it, and in ruling the in- ferior creatures, from Him who ha* lient him into the world (3Iaurice, P(xtn(xrda aad Lfxirfjicerti). ver. 19. TO DUST .SHALT THOU KETUK5] Death itfielf may }>e regarde^l a» an act of mercy. " God framed man to His own likeneSwS, a goodly crear ture, which the envy of the devil presently de- faced- And God, perceiving that no skill or power would ever remove from him the bruises and scars that he had received from that envious s-pirit, re- solves to bring him into that dust of death, that 80 his blemuihes might not remain for ever, but that they might be by the furnace of death as it were melted out, and never appear more. Hence you may see that in the judgment of antiquity, sin doth BO far deface our nature, that the image of God first impressed upon us, can never be fully re- paired, till we be di-s.=-olved, and as a s-tatue newly melted' Bp. XichoLson On the Creed, p. .304}. ver. 20. eve] Heb. Chacah = Life, or Living. She ma the mother of all living, because He who is the AuUior of our life and salvation, as well as aU who partake of the spiritual life by rirtue of their xmion with Him, were to descend from her, and were reckoned for that seed of the woman 64 COATS OF SKINS. [geN. mentioned in this promise of Redemption (\V. Berriraan, Boyle Led. i. p. 90). ver. 21. COATS of skins] As, in the compa- rison of Gen. i. 29 with Gen. ix. 3, it appears that at this time the slaying animals for food was not permitted to man, it has been reasonably argued that the Lord now instituted the rite of sacrifice to perpetuate the promise, and that the beasts slain at this time supplied the coats of skin (TF. Berriman, Patrick, Waterland). These coats were a badge and signal of the divine mercy, as they exhibited a daily emblem of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and that robe of his righteous- ness, wherewith his sufibrings and merits shoidd clothe them (Wogan, On Proper Lessons; Bp. Beveridge, Serm. Yol. iii. p. 85 ; Ainsworth). Comp. Magee On tlie Atonement, Dis. Lxiv. Fairbaim, Tyj^ol I. 259. ver. 22. as one of us] These words plainly insinuate a plurality of Persons in the Godhead, and all otlicr explications of them seem forced and uiuiatund {Patrkh). The comment of Philo Judicus on the passage is: ^ Those words as one qfvs arc not put for one, but for more than one.' (Kidder, Dcmonst. of the Mess. iii. p. 211). Justin Martyr appeals to the passage in proof of the iii. 21 — 24.] LET US MAKE. 65 pre-existence of Christ. Tertullian thus comments on it : " The fact is He used the plural expres- sions, Let us mahe, and one, and to us, because the Son, a second person, His Word, was united to Him, and the Spirit, a third person, in the Word" (Burton, Ante-Nicene Test to Christ, p. 47, to the Trinity, p. 75). — lest he put forth, &c.] The banishment from the tree of life is the fulfilment of the sentence of death in v. 19. Patrick cites several passages from the early Christian writers in proof that they regarded this as a merciful dispensation, to prevent man being perpetuated in a state of sin. ver. 24. cherubim] All that we can know of these beings is to be gathered from the passages in Scripture where mention is made of them. From a comparison of Ps. xviii. 10 with Ps. civ. 3, 4, we may infer that they were angels. From the position which they hold in the visions of Ezekiel and S. John (Ezek. i. 10, Rev. iv. 6—8), they are evidently the highest order of angelic beings who dwell in the immediate presence of God. Now, to use the words of Mede, " there is a law in the commerce of spirits and men, that a sjiirit must present itself under the shape of some visible thing." When therefore it was necessary 5 66 CHERUBIM. [gen. that these angelic beings should be manifested to man, they were represented in a shape denoting that they were the highest created beings. Man, as created in the image of God, was once the highest, but after the fall he no longer repre- sented the perfection of created life. Hence to the shape of man was added the forms of the eagle, the lion, and the ox— the respective chiefs of the animal creation — in order to express the perfection of created life. When man was banish- ed from Paradise, the tree of life remained con- spicuous there, giving hope that man might be restored again to the enjoj^iient of it. But about it waved the flaming sword, emblem of the con- suming fire of the Divine Holiness ; and near it were placed the cherubim to show what man must become before he could be readmitted to Paradisaical blessedness. In Rev. xxii. 2 is dis- played the fulfilment of the hopes held forth to man in the beginning of Genesis. In the new Jerusalem are seen the river of water and the tree of life. But the clierubims no longer sur- round the tree of life. Man is restored to the full enjoyment of it. Comp. Kurtz, I. 78 ; Von Gerlach on Gen. iii. 23, and Ex. xxv. 20 ; Heng- stenberg, Feut. ii. 52G ; Fairbairn, Ti/jwl. I. 222. iv.] PREFATORY. 67 Chapter IV. It has been objected that this chapter dis- plays ignorance and confusion of history, by representing the earliest inhabitants of the earth as acquainted with agriculture, which supposes an advanced state of civilization, and as engaged in the building of cities and the working of metals, and in other pursuits, which are declared unsuitable to so early an age. This objection is based on the theory of the gradual and pro- gressive self-development of mankind from a savage to a civilized state; a theory quite op- posed to facts (comp. Archb. Wliately, Polit Econ, Lect. v.), and the testimonies of the ancients. According to the Phoenician traditions, the invention of agriculture and the arts, with the discovery of metals, &c., is referred to their early mythic period, and ascribed to the first men. The Egyptian tradition places the origin of music and metallurgy in the time when Osiris reigned. Among the Greeks these events were 5—2 QS CAIN AND ABEL. [gen. entirely attributed to the m}i:hic age. Comp. H^eveniick, Introd. to Pent. p. 104. ver. 1. gain] meaning in Heb. possession, the acquired one. ^She regards her first-bom as the fulfilment of the promise of a blessed and victorious seed. — i have gotten] Heb. Kanitlii, from Kanah = to acquire. — from the lord] By the help of the Lord (Geseniiis, WingM, KnobeT). — THE lord] Heb. Jehovah. God had shown by the punishment He inflicted, that He was Jeho- vah, and now He was also known to be Jehovah by the benefit he conferred {Hengstenherg). ver. 2. abel] Heb. Hehel = breath, qiiicTdy vanishing vapour, and hence (comp. Job vii. 16 ; Jas. iv. 14) vanity. She is sensible of her error concerning Cain, and her premature hope vanishes like breath. — ^a keeper of sheep,... a tiller of THE ground] The two most ancient modes of life, which are called in the Arabic language that of the Bedouins and that of the Kabyles, and which to tliis (lay in the East are distinguished from each other by their contrary tendencies {Herder). The distinction between the two is exemplified in the enmity borne by the agricultural Egyi^tian to the shepherd race. ver. 3. IN PROCESS OF TIME] Lit. at the end iv. 1 3.] TO THE LORD. QQ of daps, i.e. after some time had elapsed {Ka- lisch, Knobelj Belitzsch); at the return of some set time of public worship {Kidder) ; at the end of the year {Ainsivortli, Rosenm., v. Bolilen).— brought] The word in Hebrew is never used about private sacrifices, but always about public sacrifices, which were brought to the door of the tabernacle to be offered by the priest. And therefore I suppose that they brought these offerings to some fixed place where they per- formed sacred offices before God {Patrich). — an offering] Heb. minchah, prop, a gift, then a gift to God, i.e. a sacrifice; always in the law an unbloody sacrifice, opposed to zebach (Wright), — TO THE lord] Heb. Jehovah, In reference to the use of this name here and throughout the rest of the chapter Hengstenberg remarks : " The offerings were presented not to Elohim, but to Jehovah. The presentation of offerings, like every other religious service, rests on the con- viction that God is not secluded in heaven, but reveals Himself as making retribution both in rewards and punishments. Only Jehovah, not Elohim, gives a manifest token of his pleasure or displeasure, and places Himself in a moral rela- tion to men, according to their different conduct. 70 THE lord's [gen. To Jehovah it belongs to appear as an internal and external avenger. The manifestation of God in conscience is far more vivid and distinct than in external nature." ver. 4. HAD EESPECT unto] was pleased with, as some ancient versions have it. God gave some visible sign of His respect, it being said that 'God testified of Abel's gifts,' Heb. xi. 4 {Kid- der), As in after-times God declared His ac- ceptance of an offering by sending fire to con- sume it, comp. Lev. ix. 24; Judg. vi. 21; 1 Kin. xviii. 38; 1 Chron. xxi. 26; 2 Chron. vii. 1, it is supposed that he did so in the present case. — For a laboured argument, derived from this passage, for the divine institution of animal sacrifice, see IMagee On the Atonement. — abel AND HIS offering] To Abel first, and then to his offering. It is the offerer that God princi- pally regards {Kidder), ver. 5. HIS COUNTENANCE FELL] expressing dissatisfaction and jealousy. ver. 7. SHALT thou not be accepted?] Lit. 18 tJiere iwt lifting up of thy countenance? in reference to the face expressing the elation of tlic licart conscious of rectitude. Comp. Job x. 15; xi. 15; xxii. 20 {Maurer, Knohcl, Wright, iv. 3 — 8.] REPROOF OF CAIN. 71 GeseniuSy DelitzscJi). — sin lieth at the door] i.e. the punishment of thy sin (comp. eh. xix. 15) is not far from befalling thee. — unto thee shall BE his desire] Thou shalt preserve thy superi- ority over thy brother {Kidder). But the whole verse is by many translated and explained thus: If thou doest well, is there not lifting up? hut if thou doest not well, sin lieth in wait at the door; towards thee is his desire (i.e. he wishes to make you his prey), hut thou shoiddst ride over him (shouldst withstand his temptations). Sin is represented figuratively as a beast of prey desirous to make a prey of man {Maurer, Gesenius, Kalisch, Wright), The interpretation of Lightfoot, a sin-offering lieth at thy door, is inadmissible, as sin-offerings were not in use before the Mosaic Law. ver. 8. talked with abel] Lit. Cain said to AheL What he said is uncertain. Gesenius explains : Cain said it (namely, what God had said to him) to Ahel. A great number of ancient versions read the passage, Cain said to Ahel, Let us go forth into the field, and although no Hebrew MS. is found containing the added clause, some critics adopt it on the authority of these versions. 72 gain's sentence. [gen. ver. 10. crieth] calls for vengeance (Patrick), ver. 11. CURSED from the earth] Eden was by the presence of God a holy land; like Canaan afterwards it was defiled by bloodshed ; comp. Xumb. XXXV. 33 ; Jer. iii. 9. Hence Cain must for his punishment be expelled fi'om it. From the ground itself Avhich had received his brother's blood was to proceed his punishment; when he laboured it, it should not give its increase to repay his toil ; and thus he would be compelled to go forth from Eden to wander through the world. There is a distinction in the Hebrew which is not marked in our translation. In v. 11, it should be, cursed from the ground; in v. 12, it is correctly given, a vagabond shalt thou he on the earth; in v. 14, it should be, thou hast driven me this day from the face of the ground. ver. 13. MY punishment is greater than I CAN bear] From the whole of Cain's remon- strance it is evident that it was the greatness not of his crime, but of his punishment, which distressed him. Hence the tmnslation of the text is preferable to that of the margin. ver. 14. FROM the face of the earth] or of the ground or land where he was, and which he had been tilling {Kidder) ; and which is shown iv. 10 — 15.] WHOM HAS HE TO TEAK? 73 to be Eden, where Adam settled, by the next clause, and from thy face shall I he hid. — every ONE THAT FINDETH ME SHALL SLAY ME] Whom does Cain expect to meet outside Eden, which is for the time the exclusive dwelling-place of the human race in its infancy? Does the his- torian forget himself? Certainly not. For as Cain fears to be recognised outside Eden as the notorious murderer, the narrative presupposes that there was in existence but one human fa- mily, that of Adam, and no other unconnected with it. It is evidently vengeance for a kins- man's murder that Cain fears when his father's family spreads abroad ; for that murder is to be punished by the slaying of the murderer is a law written on every human heart ; and in be- holding the earth already full of avengers, he displays the characteristic of the murderer, who feels himself on all sides encompassed and tor- tured by avenging spirits {Delitzsch). ver. 15. SET A MARK ON cain] This trans- lation is generally considered incorrect. Almost all the modern interpreters translate, and the Lord gave a sign to Cain; just as He did in the case of Noah and Hezekiah. According to Knobel the meaning is, that the Lord ordained 74 PROGRESS OF SIN". [geN. a certain sign in reference to Cain, which was to interpose when any attack was made on him. He considers it to have been some heavenly phenomenon, something accompanied with a voice which was to threaten the assailant with seven- fold punishment ; comp. Exod. iii. 2, &c. ; 1 Kin. xix. 11. By this means, while Jehovah promises protection, He does not ensure perfect security; for the assailant might disregard the sign. The fratricide is not to be relieved of all fear for his life. — LEST any finding him should kill him] The sacred narrative itself presents intima- tion of Adam having many children ; comp. ch. v. 4. Adam's family would naturally be disposed to take vengeance on Cain for his murder. ver. 16. THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD] Heb. of Jelwvah, Jehovah's presence, the Revelation of the living and personal God, was confined to human society, the Church of God. To be driven out of human society and out of communion with God was one and the same thing. Out of Eden there was only Elohim {Hengstenherg),— nod] in Hebrew means eaMe. ver. 17. BuiLDED A city] His building a city intimates not only the rapid increase of mankind in his time, but also that a sense of iv. 15 — 19.] SIN AND CIVILIZATION. 75 insecurity had arisen amongst men. Hence we may infer that Cain's lawless and violent dispo- sition was inherited by his offspring. ver. 19. In reference to the marks of civili- zation and refinement which Cain's family ex- hibits, Mr Maurice remarks: "All this premature civilization is found in Cain's family. It begins, as so much of the world's so-called civilization has begun, with men breaking loose from family bonds, and forsaking the tillage of the earth, through the desire to sink the consciousness of Bome crime, in intercourse with their fellows, in the works of their hands, in the delights of sense and sound. Such social progress soon ter^ minates in a deeper barbarism, domestic life having been destroyed to make way for it" {Patriarchs and Lawgivers, p. 71). In striking agreement with this is the fact that after the flood we find the highest civilization and refine- ment exhibited by the race of Ham. — ad ah] The occurrence of female names in a genealogy is peculiar to Cain's race. As these names all refer to attractiveness of appearance, the mention of them seems intended to intimate a development of a sensuous if not sensual character in Cain's race. Adah = ornamentj beauty; Zillah = shade, 76 TENDENCIES OF CAIN's LINE. [geN. in allusion to her thick tresses (Kurtz); Na- amah = pleasing, ver. 20. the father] This Biblical form of expression is veiy common. Any one who should now invent tents, or the custom of living in tents, would be called the father not only of tents, but also of tent-dwelling ; indeed the Arabs call a person distinguished for any peculiarity the father of it (Thomson, The Land and the Booh, p. 307). ver. 21. jubal] Yossius and Bochart have tried to prove that Jubal was afterwards deified and worshipped as Apollo. In agreement Avith the Biblical account which connects music with the pastoral life, the Greeks and Latins attri- buted the invention of musical instruments to the gods Pan and Apollo. ver. 22. tubal-cain] by Bochart and Yos- sius similarly identified with Yulcan. — an in- structer of every artificer] Better trans- lated, a forger of all hinds of instruments of brass and of iron. — artificer] Lit. a cutting thing, hence a weapon (Maurer, Wright) ver. 23. AND LAMECH SAID] Among the dif- ferent intimations given in the foregoing verses of the progressive sinfulness of Cain's race, is iv. 19 — 23.] THE SONG OF THE SWORD. 77 the mention of the invention of the art of fabri- cating implements of metal, and most probably warlike implements, which is ascribed to Lamech's sons. His song is easily interpreted when taken as bearing special reference to his son's invention of weapons of warfare. He exults in the thought that by it he can secure to himself, for any deed of violence he may commit, immunity far greater than even Cain obtained from God. The history of Cain's race thus closing with this sanguinary song of the sword, prepares us for that outbreak of violence in ch. vi. which drew down punish- ment on the earth. Comp. Herder, Vom Geist der Heh. Poesie, i. 344. The translation of this pas- sage in the English version is incorrect. The following translation is taken from Wright : Surely I will slay a man for wounding me, and a youth for bruising me. If Cain is to he avenged seven- fold, surely Lameeh (shall be avenged) seventy and sevenfold. I will slay, says Lameeh, whoever offers me violence ; but woe to those who try to avenge his death by killing me; my ancestor, Cain, who had no weapons, obtained from God a promise of sevenfold vengeance; my sons have weapons, and can take a far more complete re- venge. 78 TENDENCIES [gen. ver. 25. seth] in Heb. means comj^ensatlon, Tliis is no misnomer. Seth is the ancestor of a family, which, continuing in the faith, became heirs of the promise, and whose aims, characters, and tendency, are opposed to those of Cain (Kurtz).— FOU GOD, SAID SHE] The defenders of the document h}3)othesis are pei-plexed by this occurrence of Elohim. Accordingly they affinn that the verse is interpolated or corrupted ; comp. Hsevernick, p. 67* Hengstenberg's explanation of the use of the name is, that at this time Eve's religious feelings had grown less lively, and she regarded the event merely as one in the ordinary course of nature, brought about by God's general Providence. ver. 26. enos] Tnan, with the notion of weak- ness, mortality added thereto (v, Gerlach), — then BEGAN MEN TO CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE lord] The only correct rendering. A compa- rison of the parallel passages where the phrase occurs, shows that it does not denote prayer in general, which must have been contemporaneous with the very beginnings of the human race, but the solemn calling on God in a consecrated place, in church-fellowship, so that it implies the ex- istence of a church. Comp. Gen. xii. 8 ; xiii. 4 ; iv. 25 26.] OF THE LINE OF SETH. 79 xxi. 33; xxvi. 25 {Hengstenherg). The gathering of men into religious communities seems to have been an attempt to counteract the progress of irreligion. 80 PREFATORY. [gEN. Chapter V. The Hebrew text, the Septuagint or Alexan- drian Greek version, and the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch, differ materially in the Chro- nology of the Antediluvian period. On the subject of the respective claims for preference of the dif- ferent systems, see Prof. Davidson's Tntrod. to the 0. T. p. 345. Subjoined is a Table, taken from Kurtz, of the three systems ; H. denotes the Hebrew Text, A. the Septuagint or Alexandrian, and S. the Samaritan. With regard to the strange phenomenon of the great longevity of the Antediluvians, the re- mark of F. Schlegel deserves to be considered : "We should ever bear in mind what a mighty wall of separation, what an impassable abyss, di- vides us from that remote world both of nature and of man. With respect to human life we have completely lost every criterion by which to esti- mate its original duration ; and it would be no sliglit problem for a profound phjsiological sci- V.I.] PREFATORY. 81 li fin ¥ Adam A. S. 130 230 130 800 700 800 930 930 930 Seth H. A. S. 105 205 105 807 707 807 912 912 912 Enos H. A. S. 90 190 90 815 715 815 905 9©5 905 Cainan H. A. S. 70 170 70 840 740 840 910 910 910 Mahalaleel H. A. S. 65 165 65 830 730 830 895 895 895 Jared H. A. S. 162 162 62 800 800 785 962 962 847 Enoch H. A. S. 65 165 65 300 200 300 365 365 365 Methuselah H. A. S. 187 [111') 67 782 /802\ V782V 653 969 969 720 Lamech H. A. S. 182 188 53 595 565 600 777 753 653 Noah H. A. S. 500 500 500 (950) (950) (950) 1 The lower numbers are those of the Codex Alexandrinus. G. 6 82 THE LINE OF SETH. [gen. ence to discern and explain, from a deeper in- vestigation of the internal constitution of the earth, or of astronomical influences, which are often susceptible of veiy minute applications, the primary cause of human longevity" {Philos. of Hist). With regard to the support which the Biblical representation receives from Physiology, comp. Ha)veniick, Introd. Pent. p. 107, and for that from History, Hamilton, Pentateuch and its Assailants, p. 181. , ver. 1. THE book] Tlie catalogue of the pos- terity of Adam, yet not of all, but only of those through whom Noah was descended from him. The Heb. sepher, here translated ^ book,' often ex- presses any short writing or document ; cf. Josh, xviii. 9 ; Neh. vii. 5. — god] Heb. Elohim. Heng- stenberg thus accounts for the use of this name in tliis connexion. God is here represented as standing at tlie head of the genealogy. But in tliis respect He cannot be spoken of as Jehovah. Even tlie angels are never described as sons of Jehovah. Only the indefinite notion of a parti- cipation in the divine nature suits creatures. ver. 3. IN HIS own likeness, after his image] Words which seem to mark the differ- ence from the image and likeness of God, wherein V. 1—24.] ENOCH. 83 Adam was made, and which though not quite lost, was lamentably defaced {Patrick). But there seems no reference intended to the effects of the Fall. The clause seems simply designed to teach that Adam's descendants by their birth stood in the same relation to God as Adam did. ver. 24. Enoch] Comp. Jude, 14, 15.— walked WITH god] Lived in close communion with God. It is said of Enoch and Noah that they walked with God, not that they walked with the Lord. To walk with the Lord would seem to express an intense consciousness of the living personal God on the part of man, and a manifestation of Himself to man on the part of God, for which fallen man is at present not capable. In the next clause the use of the name is easily explained. Enoch walked with God, and in recompense God translated him.— he was not ; FOR GOD took him] He was taken out of this world to the bliss of Paradise, without tasting of death, like Elijah. Comp. Heb. xi. 5. Von Bohlen and others think that no more is intimated than that he died a sudden death. But, as Mr Wright remarks, a different Hebrew word is used to express the death of every other person in this chapter, and hence we may gather from the text itself, inde- 6—2 84 NOAH. [gen. pendeiitly of the authoritative explanation in Heb. xi. 5, that there was some remarkable dif- ference between his case and theirs. The Tar- gums of Onkelos and Pseud. Jonathan agree with our interpretation. ver. 29. noah] in Heb. means rest.—^AYmGj THIS SAiNiE SHALL COMFORT US, &c.] Cain, by his deed of blood-shedding, had drawn down on the earth God's holy wrath ; Gen. iv. 10. His de- scendants went on filling up the measure of their father's iniquity, and even drew the family of Seth on to participate in their wickedness. Hence the Lord was obliged to visit the whole earth >vith punishment. Now it is particularly said that the offence for which the flood was brought on was that ^the earth was filled with violeiicey ch. vi. 1 1 ; and thus the judgment of the flood is put in marked connexion with Cain's sin, which in- troduced the curse on the earth. This curse was kept suspended until men by multiplying their father's sin drew it do^vn, when they might have averted it by avoiding their father's example; comp. S. Matt, xxiii. 34, 35. The comfort which Lamecli expected was in reference to this threat- ened infliction on tlie earth, the speedy approach of wliicli Jie inferred from tlie spread of wicked- V. 24 — 31.] SHALL COMFORT US. 85 ness over all mankind. Through the prophetic spirit he foresaw that Noah should preserve the race of man from total destruction when punish- ment should be inflicted on the earth, and that he should receive the promise, ^I will not again curse the ground for man's sake,' ch. viii. 21. For a different interpretation, see Sherlock, On PropJi. Disc. IV. ; Davison, On PropJi. p. 78. — the lord] This name is used, because an act of the living, personal, holy God is spoken of {Heng- stenberg), ver. 31. Bishop Kidder, after Ainsworth, re- marks that, when the years of these pious pa- triarchs are computed, it will be found that aU of them must haive died before the flood was brought 'on the world of the ungodly;' and that to show this may have been one reason for the particularity in recording their chronology. 86 DEGENERACY OF THE SETHITES. [geN. Chapter VI. In the fourth chapter we found recorded the first open outbreak of wickedness, and God's sen- tence denounced on this wickedness. Intimations were found also in it of a sinful development characterizing Cain's family, according to which they were imitating and filling up the measure of their father's iniquity. In the present chapter we find the reason given of the punishment or curse not being restricted to that family. In time even the family of Seth became infected with the corruption of the Cainites. Seduced by the beauty of their women they made alliances with them, and thus were entangled in the wicked- ness of that race ; so that at last, not merely the Cainites, but ' all flesh had corruj^ted his way upon the earth,' and 'the earth was filled with vio- lence.' AU were involved in Cain's sin; there- fore all were punished. vcr. 1. MEN] The off'spring of Cain, or the wicked portion of mankind, seems to be here de- noted {Roscnmuller). ver. 2. THE SONS OF god] Passing by the Jewish interpretation sons of Princes, there are vi. 1, 2.] THE SONS OF GOD. 87 two opinions regarding the meaning of this passage to be considered, (a) The angels. But (1) the angels ^ neither marry, nor are given in marriage,' Luk. XX. 35. (2) Men would then be punished for sin which was introduced by angels, and not by men. (3) To use the language of St Chrysostom : ^^ If the saints who had been partakers of the Holy Ghost could not bear the sight of the angels, and Daniel himself lay lifeless by reason of such visitation, who would be so irrational as to sup- pose that the immaterial and spiritual natures could ally themselves with the fleshly?" (4) This interpretation destroys the connexion according to which the passage teaches the way in which corruption had spread over the whole race of Adam, (b) The descendants of Seth, who called on the Lord, as opposed to the descendants of Cain, who dwelt away from the presence of the Lord. Pious worshippers of God are thus called in Scripture; comp. Hos. i, 10; Rom. viii. 14. On the other hand, idolaters are said to be children of their false Gods, Mai. ii. 11. — The question, why are pious worshippers of God called sons of Elo- him, and not sons of Jehovah? is thus answered by Hengstenberg. Sons of Jehovah would have expressed too much. This dignity was first be- 88 THE LORD SEES THE EVIL. [geN. stowed on those among whom the character of Jehovah had been fully unfolded; Deut. xiv. 1. Comp. notes on ch. v. 1, 24.— saw the daughters OF MEN THAT THEY WERE FAIR] The words pre- sent an additional proof that the sons of God were not angels. It is here intimated that they could have formed alliances on better grounds, and that their criminality consisted in regarding beauty instead of goodness.— daughters of men] the women of the race of Cain.— fair] This was already intimated in the names Naamah, Adah, Zillah. ver. 3 — 8. The name Jehovah occurs naturally throughout these verses, which represents God as personally interesting Himself in the doings of men, and dealing forth just retribution. Comp. IMaurice, Patriarchs, &c. p. 62. ver. 3. MY SPIRIT, &c.] i.e. My spirit, either speaking by preachers of righteousness and pro- phets, such as Noah and Enoch, or working in- wardly in men's hearts, shall not alimys strive ivith, or chide and reprove Tuen to bring them to repentance, for that he also is flesh, entirely abandoned to fleshly inclinations; yet he shall have an hundred and twenty years to repent in be- fore tlie coming of the flood. Thus Aimivorth, vi. 2, 3.] AND PASSES SENTENCE. 89 Patrick and Kidder. The passage is involved in much difficulty. The English translation of it, and the preceding explanation, seem to have at least as much to recommend them as any others. Delitzsch's last interpretation is : My spirit, i. e. the Divine breath in men, shall not always pre- vail, i.e. it shall be taken from maUj since he is indeed flesh, i.e. yields to his animal nature. The passage has been also translated : My spirit shall not ahvays rule {Maurer, KnoheT), or he humbled {Gesenius, Tuch) in man; because of transgression he is flesh, a transitory mortal being (cp.Ps. Ixxviii. 39 ; Job X. 4), yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years; his life for the future shall be limited to that number of years. Spirit in this case is taken as denoting the divine breath which God breathed into man at his creation. Raphall's translation, which was supported by Delitzsch in his first edition, gives a better meaning : My spirit prevails not always in man; in the phrenzy of lust he is flesh, i.e. his animal nature obtains the upper hand over the better principle within him, viz. My spirit ; therefore his days shall be one hundred and tvjenty years, a respite for repent- ance of one hundred and twenty years shall be afforded him. 90 WICKEDNESS PREVAILS. [gen. ver. 4. The cori-uption of the age is proved, first, from the apostasy of the pious race; se- condly, from the violence of those whose bodily strength corresponded with their pride and suc- cess {Hcevernlck). — giants] Heb. nepMlim, derived by Gesenius from the Heb. luq^hal = to fall, so as to mean those ivho fall on otJierSj cissallauts, men of violence. In this sense it is translated by the Greek translators Aquila and Symmachus. By Tuch it is derived so as to signify 'iyien of dis- tinction, men distinguished by their size and strength from ordinary men. As the word is used in Numb. xiii. 33 to denote giants, we are obliged to take that meaning of it here. It is to be observed that the present passage does not de- rive the race of giants from the mixed marriages between the sons of God and the daughters of men. It only declares that the gigantic race which already existed was rapidly augmented by those unions. ver. 5. god] This should be the Lord. The Hebrew printed copies have Jehovah; and thus it is in Ainsworth's translation. — saw the wick- edness OF man] They were not cherishing their foul conceptions, pursuing their mad calculations, uiicared for. There was an eye looking down vi. 4 6.] IT REPENTED THE LORD. 91 upon their most inward secrets, penetrating the intents of their hearts. And that was the eye of one who desired to make them right within ; who had determined that His earth should be purg- ed of its corruptions,— should fulfil all the ends of His creation (Maurice, Patriarchs, &c. p. 63). ver. 6. IT REPENTED THE LORD] As for these phrases of repenting, grieving, &c., God frameth His language to our dulness, and teacheth us by our own phrases what He would have us learn. But what is so spoken by God after the manner of men, must yet be understood so as befitteth the majesty and perfection of His Divine nature. When He repentetli, then we are not so to con- ceive it, as if God changed His mind, or altered any thing of His everlasting counsel and purpose, either in substance or circumstances : it only im- porteth that He now doeth not that which so far as we could reasonably conjecture by His words, or works, or our deserts, or otherwise, seemed to us His purpose to have done. Thus for the phmses : but yet the main doubt for the thing itself standeth uncleared. Abimelech and Hezekiah shall die, and yet Abimelech and Heze- kiah shall not die; Mneveh shall be destroyed, and yet Nineveh shall not be destroyed. How 92 A NEW PERIOD IN THE HISTORY [geN. is there not here a plam change of God's mind? The answer is briefly this. All God's promises, how absolutely soever expressed, are made on continuing in obedience ; and all His threaten- ings, how absolutely soever expressed, condition- ally on continuing in impenitency. This is plain from Jer. xviii. 7, B ; Ezek. xxxiii. 7 — 20. The examples make it plain. Abimelech shall die for taking Sarah : understand unless he restore her. Forty clays and Nineveh shall he destroyed: un- derstand it with this reservation, unless they re- pent. And so of all the rest (Bp. Sanderson, Seim. ii. on 1 Kin. xxi. 29, condensed). On this subject useful remarks will be found in Jackson, Worhsy Vol. VI. 96; viii. 300; Waterland, Worhs, Vol. IV. p. 180. ver. 9. THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF noah] The formula intimates the introduction of a fresh subject ; see note on ch. ii. 4. — The whole mass of mankind had become forgetful of their relationship to God, and had reduced them- selves to a level with the brute creation. It is now no longer the Lord interesting Himself in the state of the i-ace of which He is the Head, wlio is spoken of in vv. 9 — 22, but the Creator bringing destruction on the earth of His creation. vi. 6 — 14.] IS COMMENCED. 93 and by His Providence providing for the safety of those portions of it which He chooses to save. Hence we naturally meet throughout this passage only the name Elohim. — perfect in his gene- rations] i.e. among the men of the ages in which he lived. So in Matt. xi. 16; xii. 42, gene- 7^atlon is expounded by the men of this genera- tion in Luk. vii. 31 ; xi. 31 {Ainsivorth). ver. 10. SHEM, HAM, AND japheth] In He- brew the names respectively signify, Name or Glory; Heat; Enlargement, ver. 12. ALL flesh] Mankind, and also all the inferior animals. — is come before me] Has been determined on by me (Maurer), — with the earth] i. e. the surface of the earth which bears and nourishes man (Maurer), ver. 14. AN ark] Heb. tebah, a word used only in the case of Noah's ark and in Exod. ii. 3, 5, to denote the ark of bulrushes in which Moses was j)laced. It is probably an original Egyptian word. In the Egyptian a boat is called tejJtj and in the Coptic a chest or box is called talbe, taihi, taebe, thaebi, tliehi; see Bunsen, Egypt's Place, i. 589 {Knohel), According to Mr Thomson {The Land and the Booh, p. 224) tahoth is the Arabic for a coffin, — The ark was 94 NOAH BUILDS THE ARK [gen. neither intended nor suited for nautical pur- poses. It was meant for carrying freight, for which it was much more suited than if it had been constructed according to the principles of ship-building. The vessel, after the model of the ark, which F. Jansen built at Hoorn in 1609, was capable of carrying one-third more than ordinary vessels of the same tonnage, but was unfit for navigation. N. Tiele shows in his Comment, that the ark was sufficiently large to receive all the animals which were to be pre- served {Kurtz), Computations on the dimen- sions of the ark, and its relative capacity, may be found in H. Miller, Test, of the Rochs. — GOPHER wood] Probably the cypress, which abounded in Babylonia. ver. 15. cubit] Thenius makes the old He- brew INIosaic cubit equal to 19*05 of our inches. The dimensions of the ark were, according to this, in roimd numbers, 477 English feet long, 79 broad, and 47 high {BlacJcadder). ver. 10. A AViNDOw] Heb. lightj collectively for idndoivs {Gesenius, Wright)-, a windoiv, in the singular, as there Avas only one ; comp. ch. viii. G (Mcmrer, Knohel, Delitzsch). Rosenmul- Icr renders the word, roof — m A cubit shalt vi. 14 29.] TO THE SAVING OF HIS HOUSE. 95 THOU FINISH it] viz. the arh. The top of the ark was to be raised with a slope of one cubit, to carry off the falling waters {Kidder j Datlie, Rosenmuller). Or, taking it to refer to window, to a dibit from the top shalt thou make it; there was to be a cubit space between the top of the window and the top of the ark, and thus the projecting roof would not impede the light {KnoheV). Or, the window was to be a cubit square {Delitzsch), ver. 17. flood] Heb. mahbul, used only in the history of the Deluge, and once by the Psalmist, xxix. 10, when describing the omnipo- tence of God [Raphall). ver. 18. covenant] which relates to Noah merely as part of the whole creation which was embraced in it. Hence it is Elohim who makes it. ver. 29. creeping things of the earth] as distinguished from aquatic animals, which are also called creeping things ; Gen. i. 21. — shall come] I see no incongruity in affirming that God, by the ministry of his angels, brought them to the ark {Patrich). 96 TRADITIONS OF THE DELUGE. [gen. Chapter VII. The Scriptural narrative of the Deluge is remarkably confirmed by the legends of almost every nation on the earth. The Chaldeans had their tradition of a flood, from which Xisuthrus and his family were saved in a vessel built by command of the God Belus, and which was stored with provisions and with fowls and four- footed beasts. The Hindoos preserved the tra- dition of a flood from which were saved Satyavrata, and seven holy men, and their respective wives, together with pairs of all animals, in a capacious vessel miraculously prepared by Vishnu. The Apamcan medal shows it to have been preserved in Phrygia. Traces of it are found among the Chinese. The memory of the Deluge is traced in the ancient legends of the Greeks and Scan- dinavians in Europe; among the Egyptians in Africa; in Nortli America, among tlie Crees, the ClioctaAvs, and tlie tribes of the lakes ; in Central America, among the Mexicans ; in Soutli America, vii. 1.] TRADITIONS OF THE DELUGE. 97 among the primitive tribes of the Orinoco, of Brazil, and of Peru. The legends of the people of Tahiti and the Sandwich Isles prove that it still lingers among the islands scattered over the Pacific (Stanley Faber, Hot, Mos. c. iv; Hamilton, Pent, mid its Assailants, Lect. ix; H. Miller, Test, of the Rocks, c. vii ; Rawlinson, Bampt. Lect. pp. 55 — QQ-, Humboldt, Vieivs of Nature, p. 147; Prescott, Hist of Mexico, Ap- pendix; Davis, Chinese, p. 84; Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i. 62). It is found among the legends of the Scandinavians. That must have been an historical event to which the traditions of the human race all over the globe thus give testi- mony; and the freedom of the Scriptural ac- count from the mythological and legendary de- tails which are found in all these traditions, is a weighty evidence of the inspired nature of that account. Although traces of the event may not be brought to light by geological investigations, a very late writer of a popular treatise on geo- logy affirms decidedly that it is i)erfectly con- sistent with the conclusions of that science. " After all that has been explained of the series of convulsions which terminated the succession G. 7 98 THE DELUGE AND GEOLOGY. [gen. of periods in the history of the earth, it will be evident that the Mosaic narrative of the Deluge contains nothing incompatible with that course of events, which may be said without exaggera- tion to have been of habitual occurrence on our planet" (Lardner, Pojy, Geol, § 564). Whether the Deluge Avas of universal preva- lence over the earth, or confined to that im- mediate area which was occupied by the human race, has been disputed. The universality of it has been warmly argued for by Hamilton, Pent and its Assailants, The late Mr H. Miller, in his Testimony of the Rocks, maintains that it was merely local. It is, however, hardly safe to bring the still necessarily imperfect conclusions of Geo- logy to decide impemtively on a subject like this. ver. 1. THE lord] The directions which are now given in reference to the beasts go beyond the general care of the Creator for their preser- vation. He is noAV providing that His preserved people should be able to offer sacrifice to Him; and the direction to this effect of itself was a promise to man of being permitted again to regard God as the God of grace. ver. 2. The candid mind will discern no dis- crepancy between the directions of this chapter vii. 1, 2.] THE PRE-LEVITICAL RITUAL. 99 regarding the number of animals to be taken into the ark, and those of eh. vi. In ch. vi. when Noah was desired to build the ark, he was told in general that pairs of animals were to be preserved. In this chapter, when the time to enter the ark had arrived, the special direction to preserve of the clean animals seven pairs was given. See Ayre's Introd, to the 0. T. p. 451. — CLEAN beast] i.e. allowed for sacrifice; comp. viii. 20. Many things established afterwards in the Law of Moses, obtained before that Law, and were generally practised by the worshippers of God; e.g. sacrifices, Gen. iv. 3, 4; viii. 20; xiii. 18; paying of tithes, xiv. 20; xxviii. 22; circumcision, xvii. 11; the right of primogeni- ture, XXV. 33; making vows, xxviii. 20; xxxi. 13 ; marrying deceased brother's wife, xxxviii 8. And those things which Moses forbade were some of them forbidden before the Law; as the eating of blood, and murder, which was a capital crime before the Law, ix. 4 — 6. And there is no doubt that the difierence of clean and un- clean beasts with respect to sacrifices, was known and observed before the Law of Moses and be- fore the Flood (Kidder), In the works of Jones of Nayland there is an interesting essay, in 7—2 100 THE DELUGE COMMENCES. [geN. which he argues that the classification of certain animals as unclean and unfit for sacrifice was based on the fact, that these animals from their habits and propensities were fit emblems of the vices and passions unpleasing to God. — by sevens] Seven couples {Knohel, Wright). Thus of the clean beasts there were enough for sacrifice, enough for food, and enough to maintain the breed {Patrick), ver. 11. SECOND month] of the year; i.e. October. The year began in Tisri, which corre- sponded to our September. — fountains of the DEEP... WINDOWS OF HEAVEN] Wliat the fountains are to the lower, the apertures [windows] are to the upper waters. The first indicate volcanic eruptions, which opened subterranean fountains, and caused the seas to rise; and the second, the atmospheric process connected with these phenomena, and which caused the clouds to discharge a torrent of water {RaphalT), ver. 10. THE LORD shut HIM in] Notice the difierence in the use of the names of God. " God takes care for His creation to preserve it; but when the Lord i)rovides, it is only for His true servant who has found favour in His sight" {v. Gerlach). vii. 2 17.] NO DISCREPANCY. 101 ver. 17. THE FLOOD WAS FORTY DAYS] There is no real discrepancy between this and the statement of ver. 12, that 'the rain was upon the earth forty days.' One place only states generally what the other specifies more exactly. In one place the cause, the descending rain, in the other the efiect, the flood, is specified. Comp. Davidson, Introd, to 0. T, p. 510; Ayre, Introd, p. 452. 102 NO DISCREPANCY. [geN. Chapter VIIL ver. 1. remembkred] Spoken of God after the manner of men. We are said to remember what we take care of. God is said to remember when He relieves and shows mercy, Heb. vi. 10; Ps. cxxxvi. 23 {Kidder). Here the word alludes to Noah's temptations while God still hid Himself from him. "It shows that from the day that Noah entered the ark, no word, no revelation from God, was granted him. He was permitted to behold no ray of the Divine grace, but was confined to the promises he had received; and so while the water raged about him, it was as though God had forgotten him." Luther {v. Ger- Icich). ver. 3. \VERE ABATED] dccrmsed (Kalisch), There is no discrepancy between this statement and cli. vii. 24. After Hhe rain fi*om heaven was restrained,' and 'the fountains of the deep were stopped,' the waters began to abate; but they prevailed or were strong for 150 days; so viii. 1 — 7.] ARARAT. 103 that it was not till the end of that time that any considerable abatement could be observed {Ayre, p. 452). Similarly, Davidson, p. 510. ver. 4. SEVENTH month] i. e. of the year.— akarat] a name always in Scripture denoting a district, namely a portion of Armenia which lay between the two lakes Van and Urumia; 2 Kin. xix. 37 ; Isai. xxxvii. 38. In Jer. li. 27, it stands for the whole of Armenia (Qesenius), The moun- tain of Ararat, which is regarded as the resting- place of the ark, is by the Armenians called Massis. Correctly speaking, it consists of two mountains, the Great and the Less Ararat, the summits of which are distant one from the other about seven miles. The Great Ararat is about 17,210 feet, and the Less Ararat about 13,000 feet, above the level of the sea. The mountain lies in the centre of a number of large rivers radiating from it, and which formed the natural channels for the human race to spread itself over the earth. ver. 7. A raven] to discover if the earth was yet dry. The raven feeds on carrion, see Prov. XXX. 17 ; if the earth had been dry the smell of the dead carcases would have allured it from the ark {Patrick). — went forth to and fro] Lit. 104 THE DOVE AND THE OLIVE. [geN. going and returning; i.e. it often went from the ark, and as often returned. Finding nothing but water, it still betook itself to the ark {Patrick), ver. 10. OTHER SEVEN DAYs] This comi)uta- tion of time by periods of seven days is the strongest of the usual arguments for the observ- ance of the Sabbath prior to the Mosaic Law. ver. 11. The connexion of the dove with the olive is quite natural. The olive-groves are their favourite resort ; there they build their nests and rear their young. The olive-tree, which is an evergreen, and thrives even in water (Plin. H. N, XIII. 50 ; Theophrast. H, P. iv. 8), is found in Armenia, not indeed on the heights of Mount Ararat, for even in Syria it does not flourish more than 3000 feet above the sea (Thomson, Land and the Booh, p. 52), but in the valleys to the south of it. As the dove did not return till the evening, it is intimated in the narrative that she had to make a considerable flight to reach the plains in which the olive-tree appeared when the flood subsided. — pluckt off] and not found floating, or washed on the mountain by the waves of the flood. This translation is sup- ported by the Targum of Onkelos, the Arabic vci-sion of Saadias, and by Knobel and Delitzsch. viii. 7 — 20.] noah's offering. 105 The translation of the Latin Vulg. the fresh leaf of an olive, is preferred by Gesenius, Davidson, and Kalisch. ver. 15. god] Heb. Elohim, who as such is caring for the whole creation, and provides for the multiplication of the living creatures in the world. ver. 20. an altar] The first express men- tion of an altar, though it be supposed in ch. iv. 3, 4 {Kidder), — unto the lord] The name of Jehovah is here suitable, since this act of wor-. ship implies the greatest activity of the religious princiiDle, and belongs not to a vanishing but a personal God {Hengstenherg). — burnt-offerings] The most ancient kind of sacrifice, called Kalll, whole, from the entire victim being consumed by fire, or olah, ascension^ from the whole sacri- fice ascending in flame to the Lord. From Lev. i. 4, ^He shall put his hand on the head of the burnt-offering, and it shall be accepted for him,' it appears that the burnt-offering was of a ^9ro- pitiatory as well as of an eucharistic nature. For the offerer, by placing his hands on the victim's head, professed to transfer his own sins to the head of the sacrifice, and to look to God to ac- cept that life instead of his own. The significa- 106 I WILL NOT AGAIN CURSE. [gen. tioii of the burnt-offering in the case of ISToah, was the solemn confession that he and his had been saved, not by reason of their own righte- ousness, but of God's grace, and that their guilt required expiation before God ; the expression of a belief that God will, of His grace, forgive their sin; and the thanksgiving for their preservation founded on this confession and this belief (v. Gerlach), ver. 21. SMELLED A s^VEET savour] i.e. God was pleased with the sacrifice, which showed the humble and contrite spirit of Noah. — said in his heart] resolved in Himself {Patrich). — i will NOT AGAIN, &c.] The meaning is, that God de- lights so much more in the offerings of righte- ousness than in the inflictions of judgment, that He would now direct His providence, so as more effectually to secure the former— would not allow tlie imaginations of man's evil heart to get such scope as they had done before, but perceiving and remembering their native existence in the heart, wouhl bring such remedial influences to work that tlie extremity of the past should not again return (Fairbairn, Typol i. p. 293). ix.] THE COVENANT WITH NOAH. 107 Chapter IX. In reference to the covenant conveyed to Noah, Mr Davison remarks : " It is a charter of natural mercies and blessings, comprehending a second grant to man of dominion over the crea- tures, and over the earth; the promised multi- plication of his species; and the pledge of an orderly succession and return of the seasons; with one specific stipulation added of God's mercy, that He would visit the earth with a de- luge no more Its promises were adapted and with a peculiar fitness to the occasion : for to the relics of the human race newly escaped from the terrors of the great deep, the wreck of the world, and the general extirpation of their kind, what other engagements of the divine favour could there have been more seasonable, or more instructive at this time, than that God had re- called His wrath with the flood, and restored tlie earth to them again, secured to their peaceful use and dominion?" (Davison, Discourses on Pro- 108 TOUR BLOOD WILL I REQUIRE. [geN. phccy, p. 7Q). From these remarks it may be inferred how appropriately God is mentioned throughout the chapter, except in v. 26, under the name which represents Him especially as the Great First Cause. Comp. Heevernick, p. 71. ver. 2. delivered] The words are stronger than ch. i. 26, to which they point, and clearly show that nature generally, and the animals in particular, had become estranged from man. At the first creation man had dominion over the brutes by means of the bond by which he was more nearly united to nature, and by his own spirit Avhich was in closer communion with God: now he ruled through fear and dread (v. Gerlach). ver. 3. MEAT FOR you] The grant made originally to man concerning food is now en- larged. Man is noAV for the first time permitted the use of animals for food. "This is the ge- neral sense of the Jews, and of the Christian fathers, and of the first reformers" {Patrick), ver. 5. YOUR BLOOD OF YOUR LiVEs] A cir- cumlocution for your blood (Rosenmuller, Maw- rer, Wrir/ht); or, your blood for your lives, i.e. to i)reservc your lives I shall require your blood {Gesenifis, Tuck, Schumann, Knobel) ; or, / shall demand bach your blood, for your lives of which ix. 2 11.] REFERENCES TO THE COVENANT. 109 you have been deprived by your murderers, i.e. the murder of a human being shall be avenged by the blood of the murderer [Kalisch).—! will require] i.e. bring to account and punishment. — AT THE HAND OF EVERY BEAST] So that the OX, for instance, which slew a man had to die, Ex. xxi. 28 [KnoheT). — at the hand of man; AT THE HAND OF EVERY MAN's BROTHER] The clause, at the hand of every man's brother, is added to remind men of the relationship they bore one to the other as members of the one human family, and thus to impress the unnatural and fratricidal character of murder. ver. 6. BY MAN, &c.] God had kept the pu- nishment of murder in His own hand till now ; as we may gather from the story of Cain, whom He banished, but suffered no one to kill him. He here gives authority to judges to call every one to account for it, and to put them to death [Patrich). Comp. Hammond, Pract, Catechism, Part II. § 5. — IMAGE OF god] And so the injury is not only to man, but to God Himself. ver. 11. MY covenant] In the 0. T. refer- ence is more than once made to this covenant with Noah ; Ps. Ixv; Jer. xxxiii. 20, 21, 25 ; Isai. liv. 9. In the last passage it is taken as an 110 I DO SET MY BOW. [geN. illustration of God's redeeming mercy through Christ. In the vision of Ezekiel, i. 28, and that of S. John, Rev. iv. 3, the rainbow, the token of the covenant with Noah, is used to represent God as ready to deal forth mercy. ver. 13. I DO SET MY BOW IN THE CLOUDS] There is great difference as to the sense in which these words are to be understood. Some, as Kurtz, Knobel, Delitzsch, Fairbairn, Typol. i. 293, think that the passage represents the rain- bow to have api)eared now for the first time, and accordingly infer that some remarkable change was made in the physical relation of the earth by which the phenomenon of the rainbow was produced ; see especially Fairbaini, as above, and Kurtz, i. p. 105. But an explanation which necessarily involves hypotheses concerning the physical condition of our globe, which are quite out of the reach of our experience, is to be avoided, if any other natural interpretation which is free from this objection presents itself. Hence we arc inclined to i)refer that adopted by Wa- terland, and well expressed by Nachmanides. " After mentioning the bow which he had set in the cloud, lie proceeds to say, that shall he for a sign of the covenant, as if He had said, ix. 11 20.] NOAH PLANTS A VINEYARD. Ill ^Henceforth this my bow, which heretofore I have set in the cloud, shall be held and con- sidered a sign of the covenant between me and you.' For whereas every agreement between two parties is called a covenant, so any object which, when seen, may recall to their minds the nature and obligation of the covenant, is called a sign or a ivitness ; comp. ch. xvii. 1 1 ; xxxi. 52. Thus the hoiv is the visible sign of the covenant esta- blished with Noah. Whether the rainbow had been visible ever since the days of creation, or only became visible after the establishing of the covenant, the reason why a token was appointed remains the same" {Raphall). ver. 18. CANAAN] Loiv. The name probably bore reference to the situation of the maritime country colonized by Canaan, which appeared low in comparison with the high table-land east of Jordan. Hengstenberg gives a less probable reason of the name: "Canaan, the submissive one. Ham gave this name to his son from the obedience he demanded, but did not himself yield." Ham had other sons, but Canaan only is here mentioned, on account of his being con- cerned in the prophetic curse soon to be narrated. ver. 20. planted a vineyabd] These words 112 CONDUCT OF Ills SONS. [geN. are sometimes taken as if meaning that he was the first to cultivate the vine. But they do not necessarily imply this, any more than the words hc{fan to he an husbandman, imply that he was the first to till the ground. ver. 21. WAS drunken] "By trying to ex- cuse the patriarch in this, some put from them the consolation which the Holy Ghost has deemed it needful to give to the Church, namely, that even the greatest saints may at times stumble and fall." Luther {v, Gerlacli). ver. 22. and ham... saw] Ham rejoiced to find a nakedness in him whose reproving earn- estness had often been a burden to his sinful soul. Luther remarks : " There is no doubt that Noah must have done much that was ofibnsive to his proud, highminded, and presumptuous son. For this reason we must not regard this deed of Ham's as an action destitute of signifi- cance, but as the result of the hatred of Satan, by which he excites his members against the true Church, and especially against those in the ministry" {Hengstenherg). ver. 23. shem and japheth took a gar- ment] Hengstenberg remarks that the Hebrew for tooJc is in tlic singular. He argues from this ix. 20 27.] THE PROPHECY OF NOAH. 113 that Shem was chiefly in the writers mind, as the first proposer and chief agent in this act of reverence, and that Japheth only joined in readily with the pious deed when it was pro- posed by Shem. Hence we may account for Shem's holding the chief place in his father's blessing. ver. 25 — 27. The series of Messianic predic- tions which has its commencement in Gen. iii., is here advanced a stage. Jehovah, the God of salvation, is the God of Shem ; Shem is the chosen of Jehovah; and from the tents of Shem is to come the promised salvation. Japheth, though not the primary channel of blessing to man, is to have an important part. He is to be received into intimate communion with Shem, and, as God will mightily enlarge him and cause him to spread abroad, he will thus be the means of extending the blessing of Shem. But although evil would, as they saw already from Ham's sin, display it- self against Jehovah's people, every enemy of the Lord would be overcome by those who dwelt in communion with Him. Only one of Ham's off- spring is singled out to represent the God-hating world, in order to show that it was only Ham's spiritual children who were denounced, — those G. 8 114 CURSED BE CANAAN. [gEN. who walked in the ways of Ham. And Canaan is selected, because Noah through the prophetic spirit saw the sinful spirit of Ham concentrated in Canaan beyond his other children, and so fore- saw (dimly and partially it may have been) that in time the Lord would relieve the overburdened land of Canaan of its impious inhabitants, and make it the theatre on which He should carry out that series of transactions with which Israel was so closely connected, and which were pre- paratory to the whole world being redeemed from the power of the evil one, and made the fitting abode of His new and perfected creation. ver. 25. cursed be canaan] Why is Cana- an cursed and not Ham? Ham is punished in this son because he followed most decidedly the example of his father's impiety and wicked- ness. To this view we are led : (1) By the whole doctrine of Scripture concerning the visi- tation of the guilt of the fathers on the chil- dren. (2) By Gen. xv. 16, 'In the fourth gene- ration they shall come hither again : for the ini- quity of the Amoritcs is not yet full.' According to this the curse on Canaan can only be realized on him when his own iniquity has been fully matured. (3) By what is reported in Genesis ix. 25 27.] A SERVANT TO HIS BRETHREN. 115 concerning the moral depravity of Sodom and Gomorrah, which in the development of the sin- ful germ inherent in the race had outrun all others, and were therefore before all others over- taken by punishment. (4) By Levit. xviii. and the parallel passages, where the Canaanites ap- pear as a nation of abominations which the land rejects; and by what ancient writers report re- garding the deep corruption of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians (Hengstenherg), — A servant OF servants] i.e. the lowest of servants; thus Eccles. i. 2: Wanity of vanities.' — to his bre thren] In a manner fulfilled in the conquest of Canaan and the possession of the land afterwards by Israel, and by those of Gentile origin who were admitted into the number of the chosen seed, and who thus dwelt in the tents of Shem. But this outward and partial fulfilment, and indeed every instance of the Lord's providential arrangements by which He makes in general virtue even in this life to overcome vice (see Butler, A^ial. Pt. i. c. iii.), is but introductory to the perfect fulfil- ment in Christ when the woman's seed shall bruise Satan's head; Heb. ii. 8, 9, 'Now we see not all things put under him, but we see Jesus,' &c. Comp. Rev. ii. 27; iii. 21. 8—2 IIG THE BLESSING OF SHEM. [gen. yer. 26. blessed be the lord god of shem] Tlie manner in which God is here spoken of indicates indirectly in what the blessing consists. First, He is called by the name Jehovah, which has reference to His manifested Personality, to His revelations, and to His institutions for salva- tion. Secondly, Jehovah is called the God of Shem — the first passage in Scripture in Avhich God is called the God of some person. Both these circumstances indicate that God is to enter into quite a peculiar relation to the descendants of Shem, that He will reveal Himself to them, establish His kingdom among them, and make them partakers of His earthly and heavenly bless- ings. The thought when fully developed is: ' Blessed be God, who will in future reveal Him- self as Jehovah and as the God of Shem' {Heng- stenherg), ver. 27. GOD SHALL ENLARGE JAPHETH] ThuS early was announced that great extension of Ja- pheth by which his race has spread over the north of western Asia and the entire of Europe, and is rapidly occupying the Americas and the islands of the Pacific. We should remark that it is God, not Jclwvah, who is mentioned as the cause of this. It is a work of His Onniipotence, not of ix. 26, 27.] THE BLESSING OF JAPHETH. 117 Grace. — and he shall dwell in the tents of shem] Japheth shall dwell in the tents of Shem. Though the promised salvation is not to come from the race of Japheth, still he is to partake of it by being admitted into the holy family which was to proceed from Shem; Rom. xi. 17; Gal. iii. 14. " Japheth shall dwell in the {spiritual) tents of Shem, i.e. he shall be received into the fellowship of that salvation which is to proceed from the race of Shem" {Kurtz), 118 THE LIST OF NATIONS. [geN. Chapter X. ver. 1. THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS] The importance of this register of nations has been especially of late years recognized, on account of the continual fresh proofs of its accuracy which have been afforded by modern investigation and discovery. In many points it has been found to tally exactly mth the conclusions which Ethno- graphy has arrived at. In reducing all mankind to three great families, it differs certainly from the classifications of late eminent ethnographers ; Blumenbach making five varieties, and Prichard seven. Nor is this strange. For it is, as Kurtz remarks, inconceivable that the three kindred original types should have at once separated into individual races ; and the continual efforts on the part of ethnographers to reduce still more the number of varieties shoAV the necessary imper- fection of their classifications. In considering the Table of Nations we must keep in mind, (1) that it brings down the deve- X. 1, 2.] THE SONS OF JAPHETH. 119 lopment and spread of nations only to the time of Moses, and (2) that the names in it are not to be taken as applying only to individuals. They chiefly refer to groups of nations, the latter name of a nation being transferred to its ancestor. Thus the names Mizraim, Aram, were first trans- ferred from the country to the nation, and then from the latter to the founder. When the per- sonal name of a founder of a tribe was not pre- served by the remembrance of events connected with him, it gradually sank into oblivion, and the name of the nation took the place of that of its founder. Comp. Kurtz, i. p. 113. ver. 2. THE SONS OF JAPHETH] In the mythi- cal traditions of Greece we find all the Grecian races traced up to a common ancestor Japetus. — GOMer] The name is traced in the Cimmerians of Homer {Od. xi. 14), Cimmeria of yEschylus {Prom. Vinct 748—750), and of Herodotus, the Gimiri of the Babylonian inscriptions, the Cimhri who invaded and overran Europe from the east, the Cymry, as the Celtic inhabitants of Wales called themselves, and in the modern names of Crimea, Cambria, Cumberland, Cambray. Gomer therefore almost certainly represents the Cimme- ria7is who inhabited the tract between the Danube 120 THE SONS OF JAPHETH. [geN. and the Don, and who under the pressure of hostile invasion poured into Europe and spread over most of it. From them originated the Celtic races of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, Brittany. Dr Prichard {Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations) has put beyond doubt the affinity of the Celtic to the Indo-European lan- guage; and Arndt, Rask, and Bunsen, consider the Celtic to have been the earliest of the three great streams from the Indo-European source which peopled Europe from the East. Comp. Wiseman, Science and Rev, ReL i, 54; Winning, Comp, Phil, II. c. 4. — magog] generally consi- dered to represent the Scythians, who according to their own legends originally occupied the country between the Wolga and the Don as far as the Caucasus. Knobel, who with Wright derives the name from the Persian maTcoh, moun- tain-land, thinks that they were thus named from occupying that locality. They spread into Europe, and dispossessing the Cimmerians, occu- pied the country from the Don to Thrace. They seem to have originated the great Sclavonian family which ovei-spread the north-east of Europe and north of Asia, and which embraces the ancient races of the SauromatcX) or Sarmat^e, of X. 2.] THE SONS OF JAPHETH, 121 mixed Mede and Scythian origin, the Venedi or Wends, the modern Russians, Poles, Czechs, Servians, Slowaks, Croats, &c. The affinity of the Russians with Magog is confirmed by the notice in Ezek. xxxviii. 2, of Gog of the land of Magog, 'The Prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal.' The Indo-European origin of the Scla- vonian family is acknowledged. Comp. Knobel, ErU., Winning, ii. c. 1. — madai] the Medes, in old Persian called Mada, the primitive colonists of Iran, ''in which were spoken three distinct but cognate languages, Sanskrit in the north-east. Median in the north-west, and Persian in the south. Of these Iranian dialects, the Sanskrit had no direct communication with Europe, but proceeded into India; the old Median or Zend, and old Persian or Parsi, extended westward, and are the elder sisters of all our European idioms " (Winning, p. 22).— javan] the lonians, as the Greeks were generally termed by their eastern neighbours; an application of the name arising from the fact, that the lonians occupied the eastern parts of Greece, and thus were best known to Asiatics. — tubal and meshech] men- tioned several times by Ezekiel, and always con- nected together as here; hence inferred to be 122 THE SONS OF JAPHETH. [gen. two nations occupying adjacent territories. Gene- rally identified with the Tihare7ii and Moschi of Herodotus, and the Tuplai and MusJcai of the Assyrian inscriptions, who are always found similarly coupled together. '^The Moschi ad- joined Colchis. In the flourishing period of As- syrian history they w^ere the principal people of northern Syria, Taurus and Cappadocia. In the last place, their name long continued in the appellation of the city Mazaca. Driven north- w^ard across the Caucasus, they ultimately found a refuge in the steppe country, where they be- came known as Mushovs'' (Rawdinson, ^er. Vol. IV. p. 222). Hengstenberg identifies Meshech and the Moschi with the Mashoash of the Egyptian inscriptions. The Muscovites have been recog- nized as belonging to the Tchud or Finnish race, which was conquered by the Sclavonic Russians (Id. I. 652). Mr Rawlinson assumes the Turanian origin of the Tchud family; but Mr Winning, p. 92, asserts its affinity with the Celtic— tiras] from Avhom came the Thracians and, as Knobel thinks, the Agathyrsi. Ilis opinion is confirmed by statements of Herodotus, who afl^rms that the customs of the Agathyrsi resembled those of the Thracians, and also speaks of the river Tyras, X. 2, 3.] THE SONS OF JAPHETH. 123 now Dniester, as running through the country of the Agathyrsi. We have here probably the Lithuanian family, which also is of Indo-European descent; comp. Winning, ii. c. 2. ver. 3. The comparison of the cases of Javan, Cush, and Aram, leads to the conclusion, that the three sons of Gomer mentioned in this verse denote three races derived from him in addition to that race, which peculiarly bore his name. — ASHKENAz] according to Knobel meaning the race of As, The name is traced in the Pontiis Axenus, as the Black Sea originally was called ; in the name Ascanms, given to a gulf, lake, and river in Bithynia ; in Scandinavia, the settle- ment of the Goths ; in Aschan or Asclianes, the legendary name of the first Saxon king. The legends of the Scandinavian and German races testify to their Eastern origin, and the affinity of the Teutonic languages with the Iranian has been long recognized. Ashkenaz of Jer. li. 27 ap- pears to have been a portion of the nation which remained in Asia ; possibly the BithynianSy whose Indo-European origin is asserted by Mr Rawlinson, Herod, i. Q7Q- — riphath] according to Josephus the Paphlagonians, an Indo-European family ; Rawlinson, Her, Vol. i. p. Q7Q* The name seems to 124 THE SONS OF JAPHETH. [gen. appear in that of the Ripcean or Carpathian mountains; hence Knobel regards Riphath to be a Celtish race, who, according to Plutarch, hav- ing crossed the Rip?ean mountains, separated into two bodies, the one of which marched to the northern extremities of Europe, and the other to Gaul, between the Alps and Pyrenees. This conjecture seems confirmed by the connexion which Mr Winning points out, between the British Celtic and the language of the Finnish or Tchud race who occupied the north of Europe. — togakmah] mentioned in Ezek. xxxviii. 6 in connexion with the Scyths and Cimmerians, and in Ezek. xxvii. 14 as a people rich in horses and mules. This suits the Armenians and Phry- gians, who were famous for horses, and are by Josephus represented under Togarmah. The Ar- menians, who derive themselves from Thorgom, and the Phrygians were, according to ancient authorities, originally the one people who pos- sessed Armenia, and at first the greatest part of Asia Minor {KnoheT). The Indo-European character of the Phrygians is apparent from the remnants of their language (Rawlinson, Her, Vol. i. p. 666). The Armenian is also of the same family, ver. 4. elishah] hence Ells in the Pelopon- X. 3, 4.] THE SONS OF JAPHETH. 125 nesus. In Ezek. xxvii. 7 the isles of Elishah are said to produce the purple and scarlet which covered the Tyrians. "We possess the testimony of ancient writers that on the coasts of Pelopon- nesus the shell-fish, the juice of which yields the much-valued purple, were abundantly found. Phoenician inscriptions at Athens prove an early commercial intercourse between the Greek and Tyrian coasts" (Kalisch). Elishah therefore pro- bably denotes the j^olian race, one of the set- tlements of which was Elis. — tarshish] The name is afterwards in Scripture applied to a place represented in Ezek. xxvii. 12 as a great com- mercial emporium, from which silver, iron, tin, and lead were exported to Tyre ; and in Jon. i. 3, Isai. xxiii. as a city at a great distance from Palestine, to be reached only by sea. In these respects it answers to Tartessus in Spain, not far from the modern Cadiz. The present passage would make Tartessus a Greek colony; and this is corroborated by the representation given by Herodotus, i. 163, IV. 152, of the fi-iendly feeling it displayed towards the Phocseans, who were lonians. Subsequently it fell under the power of the Phoenicians; and thus Isaiah, ch. xxiii. 10, speaks of its being held by the girdle of the 126 THE SONS OF JAPHETH. [geN. T} rians. We may identify therefore Tarsliish with the Tyrseni or Tyrrheni, who are found in the earliest times spread over portions of Italy (Tusci, Etrusci), and Spain. The name is traced in Tar- ragonensis, I^itrditania, T^artessus. — kittim] the inhabitants of Cyprus, whose chief city was Ci- tiiun. Their Greek origin was asserted by the Cyprians themselves (Herod, vii. 90). The island was subdued by the Phoenicians before the age of Solomon. From the use of the name in other parts of the Bible and in the Apocrypha, the Cittim seem to have spread over Macedonia, and portions of Greece and Italy. — dodanim] Accord- ing to Knobel, the Dardani belonged to them. Some trace the name in Dodona, ver. 5. isles] The Hebrew denotes not merely an island, but also a maritime region {Wright). At the conclusion of this enumeration of nations descended from Japheth, we may notice the striking confirmation presented to its accu- racy by the results of the investigations in Com- parative Philology. It is now proved that the Sanskrit, Median or Zend, and Old Persian, the Celtic, Teutonic, Sclavonian and Lithuanian, the Armenian, the Greek and Latin languages, are all intimately connected. X. 4 6.] THE SONS OF IIAM. 127 ver. 6. cush] in the 0. T. denotes not only African Ethiopia, but also the country on the Arabic side, if not on both sides, of the Persian Gulf. See Numb. xii. 2, compared with Ex. ii. 16, and Hab. iii. 7; 2 Chron. xxi. 16; Ezek. xxix. 10. In strict agreement with this Scriptural re- presentation of the race of Cush as occupying Asia as well as Africa, are the notices of the heathen authors, and the discoveries of Ethno- graphy. Manetho (Rawlins, ^en Vol. ii. pp. 176, 364) speaks of Ethiopians who came from the Indus and settled in Egypt at the close of the eighteenth dynasty ; according to Strabo, the ancient opinion was that the Ethiopians occupied the entire sea- coast from the Indus to Abyssinia. The name is preserved in that of the Cosseei of Susiana. Mr Rawlinson informs us "that recent linguistic discovery tends to show that a Cushite race did, in the earliest times, extend along the shores of the southern ocean, from Abyssinia to India. The cities on the northern shores of the Persian Gulf are shown by the brick inscriptions to have be- longed to this race. It can be traced by dialect and tradition throughout the whole south coast of the Arabian peninsula ; and it still exists in Abyssinia, where the language of the principal 128 THE SONS OF HAM. [geN. tribe, the Galla, furnishes, it is thought, a clue to the cuneiform inscriptions of Susiana and Ely- mais, which date from a period probably a thou- sand years before our era" {Her. Vol. i. p. 650). — mizraim] a dual form expressing the division of Egypt into Upper and Lower Egypt — the two Majors. On the ancient monuments the name for Egypt is Chemi, Kliem, or Khemo, correspond- ing to the Scriptural expression 'the land of Ham' O^llkinson, Her. Vol. it. p. 146). Knobel rejects this explanation of the dual form on ac- count of the not unfrequent application of the name to Lower Egypt as distinct from Upper Egypt. He derives the word from the root pre- served in the Chaldee mezar, hoimdary, limit, and considers the dual to express the position of Egypt, hemnied in on both sides by the two ranges of mountains which enclose the valley of the Xilc.— phut] Libya. The land of the nine bows was a term applied to Libya, which was also called Phit, the boiv (Sir G. Wilkinson, in Rawl. Herod. Vol. ii. p. 175).— canaan] The Hamite origin of the Canaanites or Phoenicians has been questioned (Winer, Reallex. i. p. 244 ; Bunsen, Phil, of Unir. Hist. i. 190, 244), chiefly on account of the affinity of their language to X. 6.] THE SONS OF HAM. 129 the Hebrew; see Davidson, Introd. p. 7. Hoav- ever, history Avitnesses clearly for the Hamite origin of the Phoenicians. Herod, i. 1 ; vii. 89 ; Strabo, i. 42 ; xvi. 7QQ ; Just, xviii. 3, all tes- tify to the tradition that the Phoenicians migrated into the land of Canaan from the shores of the Persian Gulf, which, as we have seen, were colo- nised by descendants of Ham. On two islands in the Gulf, whose names are reproduced in the Sidonian colonies of Tyrus and Aradus, there were Phoenician temples, and the inhabitants of them claimed the Phoenicians as their colonies. The mythical tradition of Agenor, king of the Phoenicians, being son of Poseidon and Libya, and brother of Belus, represents Phoenicia to be ethnically connected with Libya, Egypt, and Ba- bylon, all confessedly of Hamite origin. The dif- ficulty arising from the Shemitic character of the language may be removed by the hypothesis of Knobel and Kurtz. On the dispersion of nations the Shemitic families moved up the Euphrates and westward. The family of Aram colonised the country touching Canaan on the north and north-east. It is only natural to suppose that some other Shemitic family moved on mth it (Lud, according to Knobel), and peopled the G. 9 130 THE SONS OF HAM. [gen. land of Canaan with those inhabitants whom we find occnp3'ing it before the Canaanites; see Gen. xiv. 5; Deut. ii. 23. The Hamite Canaan, who appears from his place among the sons of Ham to have been the latest of that race to spread abroad, probably did not enter the land until it was occupied by Shemites, and when he did, as the first settlement was Sidon, it appears to have been for the purpose of commerce. The com- mercial character of the people (evidenced in Gen. xxxiv. 20, 21) makes it not improbable that they settled amongst the primitive Shemite in- habitants as peaceful colonists, and not as a con- quering race. If this was so, it was natural for them to adopt the language of the people who received them ; and this supposition is made more probable by our finding that Abraham, in like manner, adopted the language of Canaan; for ch. xxxi. 47 proves that his immediate descend- ants spoke a different dialect from that of his fiimily in Ilaran. The gradual character of the Pha^nician occupation of Canaan is also intimated in the book of Genesis, (a) In this chapter, ver. 18, it is said, and 'afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.' (b) When Abram entered tlie land, he wandered about with- X. 6, 7.] THE SONS OF HAM. 181 out hindrance. In the next generation, the con- tention between Isaac and Abimelech shows the pressure of an increasing and encroaching popu- lation, (c) Abraham found it necessary to pur- chase only a place of burial for his family ; Jacob had to purchase a place of abode, (d) The change of the names of cities evidences a change of their occupants; e.g. the change from Hebron to Mamre, and again to Kirjath-Arba. It must not be passed over that the hypothesis defended here has against it the authority of Sir H. Rawlin- son and the Rev. G. Rawlinson. They make the Hamites to have been the primitive colonists of Canaan ; and the Phoenician emigrants from the Persian Gulf they consider to be of Shemitic ori- gin, and also not to have migrated to Canaan until the time of the Judges, when they seized upon the sea-board of Canaan. Comp. Herod, Book VII. Append. Essay ii. ver. 7. THE SONS or cush] The localities occupied by these are to be looked for both in Africa and the part of Asia which was occupied by Cush. On referring to w. 26 — 29 we find a Sheba and Havilah mentioned among the sons of the Shemitic Joktan, as well as among the sons of Cush. In accordance with this is the remark of 132 THE SONS OF HAM. [gen. Sir H. Rawliiisoii, that ''ethiiologers are now agreed that in Arabia there have been three distinct phases of colonisation ; first, the Cushite occupa- tion ; secondly, the settlement of the Joktanides [a Shemitic race], and thirdly, the entrance of the Ishmaelites" (Rawlinson, Herod. Vol. i. \). 447)* — seba] From Isa. xlv. 14' we may 'infer it to be in Africa, and that hence Josephus was cor- rect in identifying it with Mero^, in the farthest south of Egypt, and the native name of which is Suba (Kitto, Scrq^ture Lands, p. 30).— havilah] the Avalitm inhabiting the shore of the Sinus Avalites, now called Zeila, to the south of the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb (Gesenms) ; or Chaidcm in Arabia Felix. — sabtah] placed by Josephus near ]Mero^. Gesenius identifies the name with the Ethiopian city Sahat (Strabo, xvi. p. 770), on the shore of the Arabian Gulf, where Arkiko now is. — iiaamah] probably Rhegma, on the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf. — sabtechah] The obvious resemblance of the Ethiopian name SnhatoJt, found on the monuments, renders the position in Arabia improbable. The Targum Jonathan seems to identify it with the African district Nigritia or Zangucbar, which is not inappropriate (Kaliscli), — siieba] Saha, the principal city of Yemen in X. 7.] THE SONS OF HAM. 133 Arabia Felix. The land of Sheba was bordered on the west by the Arabian Gulf, reached in the south to the Indian Ocean, and to the north nearly to the territory of the Idumeans. It yields frankincense and aromatics, with which it sup- plied Egyi^t by way of caravan-trade ; it has rich copper-mines, which are still worked, and most likely formerly possessed the precious metals also (Kali sell). Comp. 1 Kin. x. 10; Jer. vi. 20; Job vi. 19; Ezek. xxxviii. 13; Ps. Ixxii. 15; Isa. Ix. 6; Ezek. xxvii. 22. — dedan] Sufficiently defined by the Biblical allusions both with regard to geographical and social condition. It was a commercial nation of Arabia, which traversed the deserts with their goods, Isa. xxi. 13; their exports consisted especially of ivory and ebony, which they carried to Tyre, Ezek. xxvii. 15. They are sometimes described as immediate neigh- bours of the Idumeans, Jer. xlix. 8, whose terri- tory is said to have extended between Teman and Dedan, Ezek. xxv. 13 ; but in other passages they are called the inhabitants of an island, Jer. xxv. 23. It is therefore evident that the tribes of Dedan settled in two different regions; partly on the north-western coast of the Arabian Gulf, and partly nearer the mother -land Raamah, 134 THE SONS OF HAM. [gen. l^erhaps on the island Baden in tlie Persian Gulf {Kalucli), ver. 8. nimrod] The name signifies ^ we shall rebel' {Hcngstenherg), Sir H. Rawlinson is of oi)inion that we have the founder of the Baby- lonish empire deified in the Babylonian God Bilu- Nipru, Bel-Nimrod, He derives Nqyru from a root signifying to pursue or maJce flee; and the name thus derived agrees with the Scriptural description of Mmrod being a mighty hunter (Rawlinson, Herod. Yol. i. 594). The Septuagint translator writes the name Nebrod, and Josephus Nebrodes. ver. 9. A MIGHTY HUNTER BEFORE THE LORD] He led his wild oppressive life in defiance of and in contemj^t of the Lord. ver. 10. AND THE BEGINNING OF HIS KING- DOM WAS babel] The Babylonian empire is here asserted to have been founded by a Cushite or Etliiopian. This statement of Scripture is proved to be in strict accordance with the results of modern investigation. The language of the pri- mitive Babylonians is proved to "belong to that stock of tongues ... of which we have probably the purest modern specimens in the Mahra of Southern Arabia and the Galla of Abyssinia" X. 7 10.] THE SONS OP HAM. 135 (Sir H. Rawlinson, Herod. Vol. i. p. 442). And with this agree the early traditions. "Diodorus relates that Belus, the son of Poseidon and Libya, led colonists to Babylon, and that the Chaldeans were descendants of the Egyptians" (Hsevernick, p. 127).— babel] Babylon; the ruins of which exist near Hillah.— erech] Probably Warha, on the left bank of the Euphrates, eighty miles south and forty-three east of Babylon.— accad] Which seems to have been named from the race of AMady as the Babylonians are called in the early inscriptions. Mr Rawlinson identifies it with the Kinzi-Aecad of the inscriptions {Bampton LecL p. 370). " But the ruins near AMer-Kiif to the north of Babel give a probable site for it, and also account for the various readings of Archad and Accur given by Greek and Syrian translators " (^aZ/sc^).— cajlneh] Probably WiimVj the modern Niffer. The monumental inscriptions prove that Warha (Erech), Kinzi- Accad (Accad), N'qmr (Calneh), and MugJieir, were founded by Urukh and Ilgi, the two earliest kings whose names are given on the monuments, and who were of the race of Ham. See Dissert. 07i Ancient Baby I. Hist. in Rawlinson's Herodot. Vol. i. — in the land of shinab] Shinar is not only in this passage, but 136 THE SONS OF HAM. [geN. ill Isaiali xi. 11, distinguished from Assyria ; it is further different from Mesopotamia, Gen. xiv. 1 ; but yet it had its defined boundaries, and was governed by kings, Gen. xi. 2, xiv. 1 ; Zech. v. 11 ; it is not only in the 0. T. clearly used for Baby- lon, but the Septuagint renders it so in several passages; Dan. i. 2 ; Zech. v. 11 ; Isa. xi. 11. Shinar is, therefore, the southern district of Mesopotamia, from the Persian Gulf to the so-called Median Wall, which separated it from Mesopotamia Proper, and which ran from the Tigris, a little north of Sittace, across the plain to the Euphrates; in the west and south-west it extended across the Euphrates to the tracts of Arabia. On the cele- brated black obelisk, found in the central palace of Nimroud, there is a passage, according to Rawlinson's reading, which shows the limited ex- tent of Shinar even at the time of that monu- ment, probably the nintli centur}. The king of Assyria is stated to have first marched doA\ii to the land of Shinar, where he founded temples in the cities of "Shinar, of Borsippa, and Ketika," after which he went on "to the land of the Chal- dees, occupied their cities, and marched on as far even as the tribes who dwelt on the sea-coast," and he then received, " in the city of Shinar, the X. 10, 11.] THE SONS OF HAM. 137 tribute of the kings of the Chaldees." It is ob- vious from these words: 1. That the town of Babylon was not unusually called Shinar; 2. That Shinar comprised, at that time, only the district round that town ; 3. That it was in the south bounded by the territory of the Chaldees ; 4. That even the latter did not occupy the tracts on the shores of the Persian Gulf; but, 5. That, though the Babylonians and Chaldeans had each their o^vn king, both were sometimes comprised under the name of Chaldees {KaUscli). ver. 11. OUT OF that land went forth asshur] In opposition to the translation of the text, it is argued with apparent justice that the mention of the Shemite founder of the kingdom of Asshur is quite out of place in the list of the de- scendants of Ham. It breaks the order so strictly observed through the whole chapter. Hence the majority of modern authorities adopt the transla- tion of the margin: out of that land he [Nim- rod] went forth to Assyria. As this translation is not contradicted, as asserted by Mr Rawlinson, Bampt Lect. p. 69, by the monumental evidence, which merely proves that the kingdom of Babylon existed long before that of Assyria, and that the latter kingdom borrowed its civilization from 138 THE SONS OF HAM. [geN. the former, just as the conquerors of China adopted the civilization of their subjects; so is it supported by the legendary tradition, and apparently by the authority of another passage of Scrijiture. In JNIicah v. 6 Assyria ai^pears to be called Hhe land of Nimrod.' Babylon might be meant in this passage; therefore it is not decisive. Hence we may allege in proof the tradition which makes Ninus, the mythical foun- der of Mneveh, to be the son of the Babylonian Belus {Herod, i. 7). — nineveh] Its ruins have lately been discovered near ^Mosul. The very great antiquity of the present portion of the Bible appears in the manner in which these Assyrian cities are sjioken of. Nineveh whose importance, though of later date, eclipsed aU the other cities in after times, is here passed over with brief notice in order to dwell on the great- ness of Resen ! — rehoboth] Extensive ruins bear- ing this name are existing at present on the right bank of the Euphrates about three miles and a half S.W. of Mayadin (C/icmey).— calah] by Sir II. Rawlinson considered identical with Nimroud, ver. 12. resen] On the map of Western Asia in Mr Rawlinson's Herodotus, Resen is identified with Asshiir. But this places Resen far to the X. 11 13.] THE SONS OF HAM. 139 south of both ^Nineveh and Calah, instead of be- tAveen them. In fact, Sir H. Rawlinson s views as to the sites of these Assyrian cities are involved in great difficulties, if we attempt to reconcile them with the Scriptural statements. Mr Layard places Nimroiid within the circuit of ancient Nineveh. Sir H. Rawlinson removes the site of Mneveh to the ruins, five miles in circuit, at Ncbi Yunas; while Nhnroud he identifies with Calah. A glance at a map will demonstrate the impossibility of a great city existing between two cities at Nebi Yunas and Mmroud. Assuming therefore Mm- roud to be within the site of ancient Nineveh, and, in accordance with a former view of Sir H. Rawlinson, Calah to have been on the site of Ilolwau, situated near the Dialah, about 130 miles north-east of Bagdad, we have a site for Resen, corresponding with the statement of Scrip- ture, at Kalah Sherghat, thirty miles south of Mmroud, where there are extensive mounds of ruins. See Kitto, Scripture Lands, pp. 46 — 50. ver. 13. ludim] mentioned in Jer. xlvi. 9 and Ezek. XXX. 5 among the confederates of Egypt, and connected with other nations known to be African; hence not to be confounded with the Lydians of Asia Minor, an Indo-European nation. 140 THE SONS OF IIAM. [geN. The name may possibly be traced in that of the river Land in Tingitania, Plin. H. ^. v. 2 ; and may therefore denote the dwellers of Mauretania. — ais^amim] The similarity between this name and scmemliitj tsanemhit, the Egyptian name of North- ern Egypt, leads Knobel to place this people in the Delta.— lehabim] Probably the Luhim of 2 Chron. xii. 3, Nahnm. iii. 9 ; a people apparently living to the west of the Delta. — naphtuhim] The people of middle Egj^Dt. In their capital ]\Iem- phis they worshipped the God PJithah, and hence in Coptic would be named na-2olit]iali, those (the worshippers) of Phthali (Knobel). ver. 14. PATHBusiM] the people of Upper Egypt. The meaning of the name in Coptic is tJie region of the south {Wright). — casluhim] The inhabitants of the sandy and parched district lying between the Delta and Palestine. In it was a mount Casius, and the district was called Cassiotis. The name is derived from the Coptic ghiis or cas {a motmtain), and loJJi or roJih {to he hurnt, 2)arc7ied) {Knobel). This hypothesis is rejected by Mr Poole in the article Casluhim, in Smith's Dictionary, on the ground that the country from its nature was unfit to support a tribe. But up to the time of the Crusades a city X. 13, 14.] THE SONS OF HAM. 141 existed in this region named by Roman geogra- phers Casium. Its site is called Gatieh. And the striking connexion between the name of the Philistine offshoot of the Casluhim, and the name of the fortress Pelusium in the vicinity of Cassiotis, seems to confirm Knobel's conjec- ture.— philistim] The Philistines are here said to be descendants of the Casluhim. In the book of Genesis they are represented as dwelling about Gerar, to the south of that portion of Canaan which they possessed afterwards. In the period between Isaac's time and the exodus they seem to have been increased by a second band, who coming forth from the kindred tribe of the Caj^htorim, invaded the south of Palestine, and drove out the Avim, who occupied that portion of the land from Gaza, or Azza, to the part afterwards occupied by Benjamin; see Deut. ii. 23; Josh. xiii. 3; xviii. 23. It is to this tribe of Philistines that the name Cherethites, or Cherethim, which seems to connect them with Crete, properly belongs. In the Prophets the Philistines are spoken of as having been removed forth from the power of their enemies in Caphtor, just as the Israelites had been delivered out of Egypt; see Jer. xlvii. 4= Amos ix. 7- The word, 142 THE SONS OF HAM. [gen. according to a derivation from an Ethiopic root, means strangers or emigrants. — caphtorim] This name is traced, by Sir G. Wilkinson and Mr Poole, in the ancient Egyptian name of Coptos, or, as written in hieroglyphics, Kebt-Hor. Mr Poole is inclined to place the Caphtorim in the Coptite Xome of Upper Egypt. From their juxtaposition with the Casluhim, and also from the notice of them as a maritime race in Jer. xlvii. 4, we should probably look for their original habitation on the sea-board of the Delta. ver. 15. sidon] Heb. Tskloiiy derived from a word signifying in Hebrew to fish. The mention of Sidon, and the omission of Tyre, is another evidence of the great antiquity of this table of nations. Tyre, which was in existence in the time of Joshua, Josh. xix. 29, rose to such splen- dour as to cast Sidon, the mother-city, quite into the shade ; and hence, in later writers, when the two cities are mentioned, they are spoken of as Tyre and Sidon ; the daughter-city being placed first. But here Tyre is unnoticed, as either not yet in existence, or of comparative unimportance. — heth] Heb. Khcthy from whom sprung the race in our translation called Ilittites. The name Ilittite is sometimes used as a name common to X. 14, 15.] THE SONS OF HAM. 143 all the Canaanitish nations ; either because all, except the Siclonians, were derived from Heth, or because he was the progenitor of the most powerful and famous tribe. From Gen. xxiii. it is inferred that they dwelt in the neighbourhood of Hebron in the time of Abraham ; and from Numb. xiii. 29, that they occupied the mountain- country of that part of Judah. No distinct men- tion of them, beyond their regular enumeration in the list of the Canaanitish nations, is found in Joshua and Judges. In 1 Kin. x. 29, the kings of the Hittites are mentioned in connexion with the kings of Syria ; and in 2 Kin. vii. 6, the Sy- rian besiegers of Samaria suppose that they are attacked by ^the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians,' hired by the king of Is- rael. These notices lead to the conclusion that the Hittites occupied, after the conquest of Ca- naan by Israel, some of the country beyond Jor- dan, in the neighbourhood of the Syrians. This is confirmed by the historical notices derived from the Egyptian and Assyrian monuments, which speak of a people under the name of KJiita, SJiltciy or Kliatta, as dwelling in the valley of the Orontes. On the Egyptian monuments, the Khita or Shita are placed next to Naharany 144 THE SONS OF HAM. [gen. (Mesopotamia) in the list of nations conquered by Ramcses II. (Wilkinson, Herod. Vol. ii. 184). yer. 16. the jebusite] the inhabitants of Jebus, afterwards Jerusalem. — amorite] a name according to the Heb. deriv. signifying moun- taineer. In Abraham's time they are found in Hebron, Gen. xiv. 13 ; the spies of the children of Israel speak of ' the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites' who * dwell in the mountains/ Numb. xiii. 29 ; Moses speaks of ^ the INIount of the Amorites/ as bordered by the wilderness through wliich the Israelites travelled, Deut. i. 7, 19, 20 ; some of the nation crossed the Jordan and invaded part of the territory of the Ammon- ites, Jud. xi. 12 — 18, from which they and their king Sihon were driven by Moses, Numb. xxi. The name is sometimes used for all the Canaan- ites in general, Gen. xv. 16; Josh, xxi v. 18; Jud. xi. 23. — girgasite] From Josh. xxiv. 11, it is proved that the Girgasites dwelt on the w^est of the Jordan; and as they are never mentioned in the list of Canaanite nations after the destruction of Jericho, we may infer that they dwelt in and about that city. ver. 17. hivite] according to the Heb. de- riv. signifying a dweller in villages; in Jacob's X. 15 — 18.] THE SONS OF HAM. 145 time the Hivites inhabited Shechem ; at the time of the Israelitish conquest they possessed the powerful city of Gibeon, Josh. ix. 7, and also oc- cupied the country ^ under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh/ Josh. xi. 3 ; in the time of the Judges they were still in existence, dwelling 'in Mount Lebanon, from Baal-Hermon unto the entering in of Hamath,' Jud. iii. 3. — the arkite] inhabit- ant of Area; the ruins of which are found near the modern Arka, which lies a little to the north of Tripolis, not far from the sea-shore. Its for- tunes in the times of the Romans, the Crusaders, and the Mohammedans, are detailed by Dr Ro- binson, who visited it in 1852 (Bib. Res. Vol. iii. p. 578).— sinite] Strabo, xvi. 2. § 18, mentions the mountain-fortress ,of Slnna near Libanus ; Jerome, Qucest. Heb. in Gen, mentions Sinen (Gesenius), ver. 18. the arvadite] inhabiting Arvad or Aradus, a Phoenician city built on the island Aradus, opposite the modern Tartus, by Sidonian colonists. The name probably signifies exile, the place of the exiles {Gesenius). — the zemarite] whose name is traced in the ancient Simyra (Strab. XVI. p. 518) and in the ruins of the city called Sumra, lying at the foot of the western slope of Libanus (Gesenius), Dr Thomson states G. 10 146 THE SONS OF HAM. [gen. that lie had visited a place named Zimri in the far north of Palestine ; Land and Booh, p. 164. — rTHE hamathite] Hamath (not to be confounded with Hamnmth in Naphtali, Josh. xix. 35), signify- ing, according to its Heb. deriv., a fortress, and called by Amos, vi. 2, Hhe great,' was a city of great importance on the Orontes, and the capital of a country bordering on Palestine, Josh. xiii. 5. Its king sent tributary gifts to David. It was conquered by Solomon, 2 Chron. viii. 3, but, taking advantage of the intestine troubles of Palestine after his death, it revolted. It combined with Benhadad of Damascus, and the Hittites and Phoenicians, against the Assyrian king Shalmanu- bar. It was reconquered by Jeroboam II. and annexed to the kingdom of Samaria, 2 Kin. xiv. 28. In the reign of Hezekiah it was conquered by the Assyrians, Isa. x. 9, under Sargon (Rawl. He7\ Vol. I. p. 473), and some of its inhabitants were transplanted to Samaria, 2 Kin. xvii. 24. The city survived all its calamities, and was known to the Greeks and Romans under the name Epi- phania. It exists at the present day under the name Ilamah, with a population of 30,000 (Gesen. Lex.; RawUns. Herod. Vol. i. Es. vii.; Robinson, BIO. Res. III. 551). X. 18 21.] THE SONS OF SHEM. 147 ver. 19. gerar] Mr Rowlands found traces of an old city, called Khirbet el Germ\ the ruins of Gerar, near the Joorf el Gerar, three hours S.S.E. from Gaza. Comp. Robinson, Bib. Res. ii. 43 ; Thomson, Land and Booh, p. 558. — gaza] Still existing under the name Ghuzzeh. It is about an hour's distance from the sea-coast, and is the southernmost city of Palestine on its western border. The Canaanites are described as extend- ing from Sidon southward to Gaza, and from Gaza eastward to Sodom, and the other cities of the plain of Jordan. — sodom, &c.] See note on xix. 28. — lasha] Its position is most uncertain. Gese- nius derives the name so as to make it signify a cleft or fissure. This would agree with Jerome's view {Qucest. in Gen.), that it was Callirlioe, on the east of the Dead Sea, famed for its warm springs. ver. 21. CHILDREN OF eber] i.e. the Hebrews. Eher signifies beyond, and the children of Israel were so called by other nations on account of having come from the country beyond the Eu- phrates. In the 0. T. the name is used for the Israelites "only by strangers, or by Israelites when speaking of themselves to others, or when they are contrasted with others" (Gesenius) ; an 10—2 148 THE SONS OF SHEM. [geN. evidence that the name was not assumed by Israel, but conferred by the nations about them. The Septuagint translates the word Hebreio in Gen. xiv. 13, Abraham from the other side. The common derivation of the name is that which makes it a i^atronymic irovnEher; but the children of Israel, though descended from Eber, were but oiie nation of the many which sprang from him, and could not be j)roperly called all the childreyi of Eber {Hengstenb., KurtZj Gesenius). — the brother OF JAPHETH THE ELDER] According to the idiom of the Hebrew this may also mean the elder brother of Jajyheth. But as subsequently we are informed, that 'Shem was one hundred years old, and be- gat Arphaxad two years after the flood' (xi. 10), it follows that Japheth was the elder; for Noah was five hundred years old when he began to have children, and the deluge took place in the six hundredth year of his age. His eldest son must consequently have been one hundred years old at the time of the deluge; whereas we are expressly informed that Shem did not arrive at that age till two years after the deluge (Rashi). The translation of the text is supported by the versions of the Sept. and Symmachus, and by the later critics, IMichaclis, Dathe, Dclitzsch. The trans- X. 21, 22.] THE SONS OF SHEM. 149 lation, Shem the 'elder brother of Japheth, is sup- ported by Knobel, Kalisch, Wright. ver. 22. elam] The district in the Bible called Elam, and known on maps as Elymais. It is not to be confounded with Persia. It rose early to importance, and in Abraham's time, Gen. xiv. 1, had a king of its own, who appears superior to the king of Shinar or Babylon. Though made subject by the Assyrians and Medes, it retained its distinct existence as a nation. It was the only nation which, far from being subdued by the Parthians, imposed a tribute on them (Strabo xi. 524, cited by Kalisch). Mr Rawlinson, both in his Herodotus and the Diet, of the Bib., limits the district to the territory called by Greek geo- graphers Susiana, but by Herodotus Cissia; and as the Cissians or Cossceans are a Cushite race, this theory obliges him to invent a Cushite in- vasion of the Shemite Elam. But Susiana or Cissia appears to have been but a portion of the Elymais of Scripture, as ^'it is historically esta- blished that Elymais was often in violent hosti- lities with Susiana" {Kalisch).— A^^nv'R] from whom was derived the powerful nation of Assyria, occupying the country chiefly on the eastern side of the Tigris. From v v. 11, 12 we may infer that 150 THE SONS OF SHEM. [gen. the Babylonians in the earliest times invaded Assyria and built strongholds there. It is not until about B.C. 12/3 that the Assyrian kingdom had its rise (Rawlinson, Herod, i. p. 454). — ar- phaxad] The name (when spelt in Hebrew it is ArpacJisacl) is by Ewald derived so as to mean the stronghold of the Chaldees, or Chasdlm. According to Knobel, it signifies highland of the Chasdlm. He was the progenitor of the Chaldees, and the name is preserved in ArrhajmchitiSf the northern i)art of Assyria, bordering on Armenia. — lud] Knobel derives from Lud the Arabic tribe Laud or Lud, to which he ascribes the Shemitic colonisation of Palestine. This conjecture re- ceives some confirmation from Rosellini's opinion concerning the Ludim, a nation represented on the Egyptian monuments. From the manner in which they are represented he has inferred that they dwelt in the neighbourhood of Canaan and Mesopotamia (Hengstenberg, Egypt. 198). Lud is generally identified with the Lydians of Asia Minor (Josephus, Gesenius, Kalisch); but JNIr Rawlinson pronounces the Lydians to belong to the Indo- European family. — aram] Highland; the country of the Syrians, who occupied the upper part of Mesopotamia and extended on to the north-cast X. 22 25.] THE SONS OF SHEM. 151 of Palestine. When used alone, Aram generally denotes the western part of Syria about Da- mascus. ver. 23. uz] The sandy land; hence Atisitis in the north of Arabia Deserta, between Pales- tine, Idumea and the Euphrates {Gesemus).—ii\Jh] Mr Stanley seems inclined to trace a connexion between Hul and Lake Huleh, the uppermost lake of the river Jordan (Sinai and Palestine, p. 387, note).— gether] It may be identical with the kingdom of Geshur, to which Absalom fled, which is expressly stated to have belonged to Aramsea, and was situated on the banks of the Orontes {Kalisch).—MA8u] The name is traced in the mountain-chain of Masius to the north of Mesopotamia. By some identified with Mysia. ver. 25. peleg] Division,— fob. in his days WAS THE earth DIVIDED] Reference is here made to the dispersion of nations consequent on the attempt to build the tower of Babel. It has been supposed (Cambridge Essay s^ 1858, p. 137) that the division here referred to was the cutting of the canals which are found in such numbers between the Tigris and the Euphrates. It would, however, be strange for the sacred 152 THE SONS OF SHEM. [gen. writer to interrupt the important and very brief statement contained in this chapter for the pur- pose of interweaving a notice of so purely local and unimportant an event. — joktan] About three days' journey north of Nedsheran are a province and a town of Kachtan, which is the ancient Arabic name for Joktan (Kalisch). ver. 26 — 29. Of these Arab tribes it is need- less to spend time in conjecturing their localities* Sheba, of v. 28, denotes probably a Shemitic ele- ment in the tribe of the Sabseans; see note on V. 7. The Joktanian Havilah is by Gesenius dis- tinguished fi'om the Cushite, see note on v. 7, and placed in the region of the Chaulotcei, on the shore of the Persian Gulf, where Niebuhr mentions a city and region of Chmvila, ver. 30. and their dwelling was, &c.] Gesenius translates : ' And their dwellings were from Mesha to Sephar^ and on to the Arabiaii mountains! — Mesha is Mese^ie, a region once of some importance at the head of the Persian Gulf. The ruins of Sephar, once the seat of Himyaritic kings and boasting primeval antiquity, are found between the Port of Mirbat and Cape Sadjar {Kalisch). — A MOUNT OF THE EAST] The chain of mountains in the middle of Arabia running X. 25 — 32.] THE NATIONS DIVIDED. 153 from the neighbourhood of Mecca and Medina almost to the Persian Gulf (Gesenius). ver. 32. BY these were the nations di- vided] Bryant (Ancient Mythology) considers that the outspreading of the descendants of Noah, which is the subject of this chapter, was quite a different event from the scattering narrated in ch. xi. The first was universal, regulated, orderly, quiet, and progressive; the second local, em- bracing only a part of mankind, sudden, turbu- lent, and attended with marks of the divine dis- pleasure. He considers that the first was a for- mal migration of families to the several regions appointed for them by the Almighty; and that the second was a dissipation of others, who would not acquiesce in the Divine Dispensation. 154 ORIGI>AL UNITY OF LANGUAGE. [gen. Chapter XL Ver. 1. OF ONE LANGUAGE, AND OF ONE SPEECH] The original unity of languages is maintained by the most eminent modern ethnograi)hers ; see the testimonies of A. von Humboldt, Merian, Klap- roth, F. Schlegel, in Wiseman, Science and Re- vealed Eeligion, Lect. ii. Comp. Davidson, In- trod. p. 9; Delitzsch, pp.314 — 320. In his paper on the " Possibility of a Common Origin of Lan- guage," in Bunsen's Phil, of Universal History, Prof. JNIax Mliller states that " the two followdng points have been gained by comparative philo- logy : 1. Nothing necessitates the admission of different independent beginnings for the material elements of the Turanian, Semitic, and Arian branches of speech, — nay, it is possible even now to point out radicals, which, under various changes and disguises, liave been current in these three branches ever since tlicir first separation. 2. Nothing necessitates the admission of diiferent independent beginnings for the formal elements xi. 1.] THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE. 155 of the Turanian, Semitic, and Arian branches of speech;... we can perfectly understand how, either through individual influences, or by the wear and tear of grammar in its own continuous work- ing, the different systems of grammar of Asia and Europe may have been produced." Whilst thus Comparative Philology reveals the possibility of a common origin of man, Physiology, on the other hand, by showing the infinite assemblage of causes which may be assigned for producing the varieties of the human race, teaches how the off*spring of one parent, Noah, might have divaricated into the variety of widely differing races which the world presents. Comp. Wiseman, Science and Rev. Bel, Lect. iii; Somerville, Fliy- sical Geog. ch. xxxiii. pp. 483 — 487. What the one original language was, has been, and is, much questioned. Hsevernick, Scliolz, and Baum- garten defend the old opinion that it was Hebrew. But the principal argument for this view — viz. the fact that the Scriptural names occurring be- fore the flood are of Hebrew derivation — proves only that the Hebrews preserved in their own language the recollections of primeval persons and facts. A more prevalent opinion among ethnologers is, that the primeval language was 156 THE CRADLE OF MAN. [gen. of the class called Turanian, of which the modern Chinese is the best type. Comp. Rawlinson, He- rod. Vol. IV. p. 222, note. ver. 2. AS THEY journeyed] from the neigh- bourhood of Mount Ararat. " AVhile all the types of animals and of plants go on decreasing in per- fection from the equatorial to the polar regions, in proportion to the temperature, man presents his purest and most perfect type at the very centre of the temperate regions, almost in the middle of the great north-eastern continent, in the regions of Iran, of Armenia, and of the Cau- casus; and departing from this geographical cen- tre, in the three grand directions of the lands, the types gradually lose the beauty of their forms in proportion to their distances... Does not this surprising coincidence seem to designate the Caucasian regions as the cradle of man, the ori- ginal point of departure for the tribes of the earth?" (Guyot, The Earth and Man, pp. 137— 139).— FROM THE east] To come from the region in Armenia, in which the Tigris and Euphrates have their source, to Babylonia, it is necessary to keep along on the east side of the Median mountains, and then to issue at once from the east into the plain. Such is now the daily route xi. 1 4.] THE CITY AND THE TOWER. 157 of caravans going from Tabreez (on the borders of Armenia) to Baghdad. They go south as far as Kermanshah, and then, making an almost right angle, take a western direction to Baghdad (Kitto, Script. Lands J p. 5). By this natural explanation, given by a traveller in the country, we are re- lieved from any necessity of adopting the trans- lations: in the east {Kalisch, Wright), in their journeying to the country which lay on the east (Knobel, Delitzsch).—ijA^i> of shinar] Comp. note on ch. x. 10. ver. 3. BRICK FOR STONE, AND SLIME FOR morter] The Babylonian ruins, uncovered in our own days, are found to be composed of bricks both sun-dried and kiln-dried. The slime is the bitumen which is found in great abundance near Babylon. Mr Layard remarks, in reference to the ruins of Birs-Mmroud, that " the cement by which the bricks were united is of so tenacious a qua- lity, that it is almost impossible to detach one from the mass entire." ver. 4. LET us BUILD us A CITY AND A TOWER] It is difficult to discern the intention of the builders of Babel, and the nature of the sin which called down the visitation of God. The common vi^w is that of Josephus, namely, that it was to 158 THEIR DESIGN. [geN. secure themselves against another flood, and thus to set the vengeance of God at defiance. But no intimation is given of this in the sacred narra- tive, and the plain of Shinar would h^.ve been an unlikely place to attempt such a design. Perizonius {Orig. Babylon, ch. 10 — 12) maintains that the tower was meant to be a land-beacon, to prevent the people wandering and being dis- persed on that great plain. In a Latin tractate, ascribed to Archbishop Whately, it is maintained that the intention Avas to institute the worship of the Heaven, and as in the plain there was no mountain, they built this high place, ^Svhose top should be dedicated to Heaven." The follow- ing ex])lanation, founded on the text, is suggested. We find two acts proposed, and tico reasons as- signed for carrying out these acts. It is pro- posed to build a city and a toiver, and the reasons assigned are to malce them a name, and to pre- vent their heing scattered over the earth, AVe find also in ch. x. jiarticular mention made of Nimrod as a God-defying tyrant, and of Babel being the commencement of his kingdom. We find also the prophet Noah declaring that, though God had ordered men to replenish the eai-th, Japheth's race was to be absorbed into the com- xi. 4.] REBELLION AGAINST GOD. 159 munity of Sliem ; and that therefore indirectly the predominance was to be given to Shem. To contravene both these decrees of God, Mmrod commenced the city and the tower. By compel- ling all to concentrate themselves about his city instead of spreadhig abroad, he wovdd thus effect that all the families of the earth should dwell within the tents of Ham. The toiver was built to be the sign of that name {= glory, honour, fame) of universal sway which the race of Ham sought. The Pyramids of Egypt, the palace of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. iv. 30), the edifices con- nected with the names of the Roman C?esars, prove how natural it was to connect with the name of universal sway the striking sign of a gigantic edifice. The city was to be the means of arriving at it ; hence the interposition of the Almighty. He saw that unless restrained at once, all the evil imaginations of men's hearts would have the former ill efiect, and the earth would be filled with violence and impiety. By the confusion of tongues the race of Ham was broken up into discordant sections ; and so, though Nimrod was enabled to extend his kingdom and build his strongholds and invade liis Shemitic neighbour (ch. X. 10, 11), the race of Ham was broken up 160 THE LORD CAME DOWN. [geN. and scattered. That with the design of conquest was associated that of a false worship of the Heaven is not improbable, especially as we find the Hamite nations, even in the earliest stages of their history, immersed in the grossest forms of idolatry. Rom. i. 21 — 23. — TO heaven] Ex- pressive of great height ; Deut. ix. 1 {Kidder). — A name] Fame and renoivn; comp. Gen. vi. 4; 1 Chron. xvii. 8; 2 Sam. vii. 9 {Kidder). — lest WE BE scattered] While they consult to defeat God's purpose, they do that which was the oc- casion of bringing it to pass {Kidder). ver. 5. came down] God is said to descend when he reveals Himself by word or deed to us who live in the lower world {Kidder). Jehovah, not Elohim, is said to come down. ^'God here came forth in his most essential, personal charac- ter" {Heugstcnherg). — the children of men] See note on ch. vi. 2. This expression, therefore, confirms the view that it was an act of defiance against God on the part of the irreligious de- scendants of Noah. ver. 6. IMAGINED TO Do] God sees it neces- sary to interpose miraculously to check the sin- ful development of mcn,'who if left to give effect to their 'sinful imaginations' would have multi- xi. 4- — 7.] THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES. 161 plied iniquity as before the flood. There seems an allusion to the promise of eh. viii. 21. ver. 7. LET us go down] See note on Gen. i. 26. — AND THERE CONFOUND THEIR LANGUAGE] The differences of languages have been sometimes accounted for by the necessary uniform action of natural causes. But, "as another proof how little the history of languages suggests to the philosophical glossologist the persuasion of a uniform action of the causes of change, I may refer to the conjecture of Dr Prichard, that the varieties of language, produced by the separation of one stock into several, have been greater and greater as we go backwards in history: — that the formation of sister dialects from a common language, (as the Scandinavian, German, Saxon dialects from the Teutonic, or the Gaelic, Erse, and Welsh from the Celtic,) belongs to the first millennium before the Christian era; while the formation of cognate languages of the same family, as the Sanskrit, Latin, Greek and Gothic, must be placed at least two thousand years before that era ; and at a still earlier period took place the separation of the great families them- selves, the Indo-European, Semitic, and others, in which it is now difficult to trace the features G. H 162 DIFFICULTIES [geN. of a common origin... Thus in tlie earliest stages of man's career, the revolutions of language must have been, even by the evidence of the theo- retical history of language itself, of an order altogether different from any which have taken place within the recent history of man " (Whewell, Indications of the Creator, p. 164). That the separation of the one original language into many was effected by some violent and sudden force, is the conclusion arrived at by Her- der, Turner, Abel-R^musat, Niebuhr and Balbi; see Wiseman, Science and Rev, Bel, Lect. ii. p. 106. ver. 9. babel] according to its Hebrew deri- vation meaning confusion. The tower is here re- presented to have been left unfinished. The ruins of Birs-Nimroud are supposed to present the remains of it. Jewish tradition declares it to have been levelled to the ground miraculously. There is no sufficient evidence to lead us to identify it with any ruins found in Chaldeea. ver. 10. Here, as in the chronology of the Antediluvian period, differences of numbers oc- cur in the Hebrew text, and in the Septuagint or Alexandrian, and Samaritan versions. The subjoined table of the numbers of the three xi. 7 — 10.] IN THE CHRONOLOGY. 1G3 1. go Shem H. A. S. 100 100 100 500 500 500 600 600 600 Arphaxad H. A. S. 35 135 135 403 /400\ V430; 303 438 /535\ V565; 438 Cainan H. A. S. 130 300 460 Shelah H. A. S. 30 130 130 403 330 303 433 460 433 Eber H. A. S. 34 134 134 430 /270\ V370; 270 464 /404\ V504; 404 Peleg H. A. S. 30 130 130 209 209 109 239 339 239 Reu H. A. S. 32 132 132 207 207 107 239 339 239 Senig H. A. S. 30 130 130 200 200 100 230 330 230 Nahor H. A. S. 29 /179\ 79 119 /125\ VI29; 69 148 /304\ V208>/ 148 Terah H. A. S. 70 70 70 (135) (135) (75) 205 205 145 ^ The lower numbers are those of the Codex Alexandrinus. 11—2 164 UR OF THE CHALDEES. [gen. texts, is taken from Kurtz. H denotes the Hebrew text, A the Septuagint, S the Samaritan. ver. 25. terah] In his days idolatry had pervaded even the family of Shem, Josh. xxiv. 2, 'Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor : and they served other gods! ver. 28. UR of the chaldees] Now proved to be "at Mugheir, on the right bank of the Euphrates, not very far above its junction with the Shat-el-Hie," says Mr Rawlinson, Bamj^t. Leet. p. 370. I have found no other proof of this than the high antiquity of Mugheir, and the fact of the name Hur being supposed to be deciphered on certain commemorative cylinders found there. The objections to this identification are: (1) It places Ur too far south and at an immense distance from Haran. (2) According to it tlie Clialdees or Chasdim would be repre- sented as occupying the country about the south- em portion of the Euphrates at this early period, contrary to the plain intimations of historic docu- ments. For, {a) as is admitted by Sir H. Raw- linson {Herod. Vol. i. p. 449, note), the name Kaldai for the ruling tribes on the lower Eu- xi. ]0 28.] THE CHALDEES. 165 phrates does not occur on the Assyrian inscrip- tions before the ninth century: they are termed Ahhad, (p) Greek authorities place the original seat of the Chaldees in the mountains of Ar- menia and the land of the Carduchi, and near the Black sea; Xenoph. Cyr. iii. 1. 34; Anah. IV. 3. 4; VII. 8. 25; Strab. Xii. 545, 549. This testimony requires more to overthrow it than the assertion of its being merely ^a Greek fic- tion,' Rawlinson, B. L, p. 370. (c) In Isa. xxiii. 13, the Chaldeans are declared to have been brought into Babylon by the Assyrians, (d) The late introduction of the Chaldees into Babylon is intimated by the name Chaldee never being applied to the predicted oppressors of Judah before the time of Isaiah. Putting these proofs together, we infer that the Babylonian Empire was originally founded by a Hamite tribe, ap- parently the Akkad; that the Chaldeans were a Shemitic tribe, connected with Arphaxad, in- habiting either Arrhapachitis, or the country still farther north; that they were introduced into Babylonia about the ninth century before Christ, and at length became the dominant power in that kingdom, the true Chaldean dynasty seeming to commence with Xabopolassar, B. c. 750. Hence 166 ABRAM [gen. Ur of the Chaldees is to be sought for in Arrlia- pachitis, or even farther to the north. Its form (compare Galilee of the Gentiles) leads us to regard it not as a city but as a region; and this is the view adopted by the Septuagint trans- lators, who translate it the country of the Chal- dees; and with this agrees Ewald, who takes TJr= place of residence. Bertheau derives TJr from the Zend root vare= country. According to Knobel it means mountain of the Chaldees. ver. 29. sahai] The daugliter of Abram's father, but not of his mother; ch. xx. 12. ver. 31. AN^D THEY WENT FORTH WITH THEM] i.e. others of the same race or family joined with Terah's family in their emigi*ation {Saadias, Mi- chaslis, Schumann, Tuch, Belitzsch, Wiight). But Knobel and Kalisch insist on translating : they went with each other. — haran] Carrm of the classical writers, in the north-west of Mesopo- tamia, a day's journey from Edessa (Knobel). ver. 32. and the days of terah avere two HUNDRED AND FIVE YEARs] As lie died before (Acts vii. 4) Abram, at the age of seventy-five years (ch. xii. 4), left Haran, on the supposition that Abram was his eldest son, born to him when he was aged seventy, he could not have been more xi. 28 — 32.] NOT terah's eldest son. 167 than 145 years old. It is not, however, necessary to suppose that Abram was the eldest son be- cause in V. 26 he is the first mentioned ; comp. 1 Chron. i. 28. We may, therefore, ado^yt Ussher's opinion, that Abram was not born until sixty years after the birth of Terah's eldest son. Comp. Lee, Inspiration of Holy Script p. 531, ed. 2 ; Ayre, Introd. to 0. T, p. 452. 168 THE COMMAND. [geN. Chapter XII. ver. 1. lord] Abram is chosen from the family of Shem, as the father of that family to whom God was to reveal Himself. "God comes forth from His generality, lays aside His Elohim nature, to come into relation to man, before man can come into relation with Him" {Hengstenherg), — HAD said] when Abram was in Ur, which he left in obedience to the Lord, Acts vii. 2 — 4; Neh. ix. 7.— GET thee out of thy country, ajsd FROM THY kindred] That the special thing here demanded is only the result of the general duty of renunciation and self-denial, appears from the circumstance that the promise was renewed at a subsequent period, when, with a wiUing heart, he had oflfered up his son Isaac as a spiritual sacri- fice to his God (Hengstenberg, CliristoL i. p. 37). We may observe, that on each occasion on which the promise was renewed to Abram, some act of self-renunciation and self-denial on his part had been mentioned immediately before : we may then regard each renewal of the promise as a reward xii. 1, 2.] A GREAT NATION. 169 to him from God, and an encouragement for the future. — WHICH i will shew thee] At first it was hidden from Abram whither he was to go ; Heb. xi. 8, * By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not hnowing whither' Tie went' Ver. 2. I WILL MAKE OF THEE A GREAT NA- TION] This is often taken by commentators as relating to the nation of Israel, and as fulfilled in the greatness of that nation. S. Paul cer- tainly understood it difierently, and as meant of those who being 'baptized into Christ' should ' put on Christ,' and thus being ' Christ's,' should become 'Abraham's seed' (Gal. iii. 27— 29). In Rom. iv. 16, 17, he thus appeals to the passage, Gen. xvii. 4, which is parallel to this : ' To the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us ally as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, — and make THY name great] Thus Abram by the obe- dience of faith obtained the promise of that honour, which the builders of Babel attempted in vain to obtain by defiance of God. 170 THE PLACE OF SICHEM. [gen. Ter. 3. AND I WILL BLESS THEM, &c.] Abram is here not viewed as an individual, but as tlie representative of the chosen race, and as the medium by which the great salvation was to be developed. Hence those who cursed him were not his personal enemies, but those who opposed the Divine plan; in Abram and his seed they hated not the person, but the calling, and the place wliich God had assigned to it in reference to other nations. The whole history of Israel shows the literal fulfilment of the curse. One after the other, the Egyptians, the Amalekites, the Edomites, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Syrians, the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans, have fallen under this curse (Kurtz).— AND m thee shall all families of THE KA.RTH BE BLESSED] Repeated afterwards to Abram twice, ch. xviii. 18; xxii. 18; to Isaac, xxvi. 4; to Jacob, xxviii. 14. Referred to, Ps.xxii. 27, Ixxii. 17; Zech. xiv. 16, 17. Explained by S. Paul as meant of Christ, Gal. iii. 14—16. Ver. 5. THE SOULS THAT THEY HAD GOTTEN] The slaves whom they had become possessed of. ver. 6. THE PLACE OF sichem] "From the hills through which the main route of Palestine must always have run, the traveller descends into xii. 3 — 6.] ITS ASPECT. 171 a wide plain; the wildest and the most beautiful of the plains of the Ephraimite mountains ; one mass of corn, unbroken by boundary or hedge; from the midst of which start up olive-trees, themselves unenclosed as the fields in which they stand. Its western side is bounded by the abut- ments of two mountain - ranges, running from west to east. These ranges are Gerizim and Ebal ; and up the opening between them, not seen from the plain, lies the modern town of [I^ablous,— ^Nablous' being the corruption of * Neapolis,' the ^ New Town/ founded by Vespasian after the ruin of the older Shechem, which probably lay further eastward, and therefore nearer to the opening of the valley. A valley, green with grass, gray with olives, gardens sloping down on each side, fresh springs rushing do^vn in all directions; at the end, a white town embosomed in all this verdure, lodged between the two high mountains which extend on each side of the valley — that on the south, Gerizim, that on the north, Ebal — this is the aspect of Nablous, the most beautiful, per- haps it might be said, the only very beautifid, spot in central Palestine" (Stanley, Sinai and Pal. p. 231). Dr Robinson also gives a glowing description of the beauty and richness of this 172 IMPORTANCE OF SICHEM. [gen. the first abode of Abram in Canaan; Bib. Res. 11. p. 302. It is here called only the place of Slchemj whence we infer that the city was not yet built. The importance which Sichem held in the minds of Abram's descendants, on account of its being the first place where he settled and worshipped the Lord in the midst of the idola- trous inhabitants, is evident from their history. Here Jacob purified his family before he went to fulfil his vow at Bethel, ch. xxxv. 4, and per- haps it was under the very oak under whose shade Abram worshipped, that he deposited the idols and amulets of his family. Here, at the oak, Joshua assembled Israel to pledge them against idolatry ; Josh. xxiv. 1, 26, 27. Here Abimelech was crowned ; Jud. ix. 6. Here Rehoboam assembled Israel to accept him as their king; 1 Kin. xii. 1. — the plain OF moreh] Rather, the oak of Moreh. — the cana- ANITE WAS THEN IN THE LAND] The pre-OCCUpa- tion of the promised land by the Canaanite is men- tioned apparently for the purpose of pointing out the great trial of Abram's faith, in being called to resign his own countiy for the pro- mise of another which he beheld occupied by strangers. ver. 7. TO thy seed will i give this land] :iii. 6 — 8.] promise of the land. 173 k promise repeated to Abram on two other occasions, ch. xiii. 15; xv. 18. The possession of the land of Canaan by Israel was certainly a ful- filment of it, Deut. i. 8; Josh. xxi. 43; but the reference made to this promise by S. Paul, Rom. iv. 13, proves that we are to look for the perfect fulfilment of it to the time when the new hea- vens and new earth shall appear, and the inherit- ance of the saints in light wiU not be limited to the bounds of Canaan ; consider in connexion with this, Heb. xi. 13—16. ver. 8. bethel] Thus named by Jacob, ch. xxviii. 19; called by the Canaanite inhabitants Liiz; captured by the Ephraimites, who restored to it the patriarchal name of Bethel ; famous in after times as one of the sites of Jeroboam's calf-wor- ship. It has lately been discovered by Dr Robin- son under the modern name Beitin, the site of which agrees with the position assigned by Jerome and Eusebius to Bethel, viz. twelve Roman miles from Jerusalem, on the east of the road leading to Sichem. — hai] or Aiy captured by Joshua, Josh. viii. Dr Robinson considers that he dis- covered it in some ruins, one hour's distance from Bethel, and to the south of Deir Duwan ; Bib. Res, L 575. 174 abram's weakness. [gen. ver. 10. AND THERE WAS A FAMINE] A liew trial aAvaits Abrara. The country assigned to him in place of that which he had surrendered is visited by famine. To avoid the impending dan- ger, without waiting for direction he leaves the land of Canaan, and journeys into fertile Egypt. Thus he escapes indeed the trial which God had prepared for him, but he rushes into an ordeal much more trying and severe {Kurtz). — egypt] Enriched by the periodical overflowing of the Nile, this country was often the resort of neigh- bouring nations in a time of famine. ver. 12 — 13. With regard to the deception prac- tised by Abram, see some valuable remarks in Hengstenberg's Essay, The Unholiness of Sacred Persons, in Genuineness of the Pentateuch, Vol. Ti. p. 432. The Jewish Rabbis, some of the Chris- tian Fathers, e. g. Chrysostom and Augustine, and even later Christian writers, e. g. Luther, and still later, Waterland, WorJcs, iv. 186, have tried to jus- tiiy Abram's conduct in this instance. But in doing so they not only lower the standard of morality, but they also by their treatment of the passage, cast away the teaching which it was meant to convey. " Here is a man, not picked out as a model of excellence ; not invested with some xii. 10 — 15.] PHARAOH. 175 rare qualities of heart and intellect ; one apt to fear; apt to Lie; certain to fear, certain to lie, if once he began to speculate according to his own sagacity on the best way of preserving himself. . . . What he is apart from his Teacher, we see in his journey to Egypt; a very poor paltry earth-worm indeed ; one not to be despised by us, because we are earth-worms also ; but assuredly worthy of no reverence for any qualities which were his by birth, or which became his merely in virtue of his call. What he was when he was walking in the light, when that transfigured him from an earth- worm into a man, his after story will help us to understand" (Maurice, Patriarchs and Laivgivers, p. 84). ver. 15. PHARAOH] Rosellini, Lepsius, and Sir G. Wilkinson suppose that Pharaoh is the ancient Egyptian word Ph-rah, i.e. the sun, used to ex- press the royal dignity ; but>» Gesenius defends the derivation given by Josephus, Antiq, 8. 6. § 2, from the Coptic ouro, or with the masculine arti- cle poiiro, the Tcing. In the present uncertainty of Egyptian history and chronology, it is impossi- ble to fix with any approach to accuracy the period in Egyptian history corresponding to the time of Abram's visit. From the circumstance 176 THE PRESENTS OF PHARAOH. [geN. mentioned regarding horses in the note on v. 16, and from the reception which the shepherd Abram met at the Egyptian court, it is most probable that it took place in the reign of one of the Hycsos or shepherd-kings. ver. 16. AND HE HAD SHEEP, &c.] On the ancient Egyptian monuments are found represented aU the animals mentioned here with the exception of the camel, no representation of which has been found, excepting one of late time. (Sir G. Wilkin- son, Rawlinson's Herod. Vol. rv. p. 77^ The camel could properly have been of little service to an agricultural people like the Egyptians. It is of use especially to Arabs and nomadic races. The fact, then, of this Pharaoh possessing camels leads to the suspicion that he was of that shepherd or nomad race who held Egypt in subjection before the 18th dynasty. This suspicion is in a measure corroborated by ihe" omission of horses among the presents made to Abram. Famous as Egypt was from the time of the Exodus for horses, see Deut. xvii. 16, it is now generally concluded that the horse was unknown to Egypt before the 18th dynasty, i. e. that Avhicli succeeded the Hycsos or shepherd-kings. See Rawlinson's Herod. Vol. ii. pp. 178, 354. xii. 15 17.] PHARAOH PLAGUED. 177 Ver. 17. AND THE LORD PLAGUED PHARAOH] The main design of the narrative is to manifest God's watchful care of his chosen servant, how he delivered him from a perplexity that was humanly inextricable, in which he had been involved by his own fault; how while Abram by his carnal policy did his utmost to make the promise of no effect, Jehovah took care that the chastity of the mother of the chosen race shoidd be preserved inviolate ; how the most powerful monarch of the day was made to bow before the defenceless Abram, and render back his prey {He^igsten- herg). 12 178 ACCURACY OF THE WRITER. [gen. Chapter XIII. ver. 1. THE south] The southern part of Ca- naan ; this part of the land is called the south, Josh. X. 40 {Kidder), ver. 3. ON HIS journeys] Lit. hy stations (fie- seniiis).— AT the beginning] " The tent and altar were not strictly speaking at Bethel, but 4n the mountain east of Bethel, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east.' This is a j)recision the more to be noticed, because it makes the whole difference in the truth and vividness of the re- markable scene which follows. Immediately east of the low grey hills, on which the Canaanitish Luz, and the Jewish Bethel afterwards stood, rises — as the highest of a succession of eminences, eacli now marked by some vestige of ancient edi- fices—a conspicuous hill, its topmost summit resting, as it were, on the rocky slopes below, and distinguished from them by the olive-grove which clusters over its broad surface above. From this height, thus offering a natural base for xiii. 1 — 10.] ABRAM AND LOT. 179 the patriarchal altar, and a fitting shade for the patriarchal tent, Abraham and Lot must be con- ceived as taking the wide survey of the country 'on the right hand and on the left,' such as can be enjoyed from no other point in the neighbour- hood" (Stanley, Sin, and Pal. p. 215). Ver. 6. THE LAND WAS NOT ABLE TO BEAR them] As it was already inhabited by the Ca- naanite and Perizzite, there was not room in it for both Abram and Lot. ver. 7. CANAANiTE AND perizzite] This notice is thrown in to account for the land not affording room to both Abram and Lot. The Perizzites — the word means inhabitants of unwalled towns or villages— were the Canaanite inhabitants of the open flat country who were devoted to husbandry, as distinguished from the other Canaanites, who probably were devoted to commerce [Hengsten- herg, Kurtz). ver. 10. ALL THE PLAIN OF JORDAN ... AS THOU COMEST UNTO zoar] The two clauses are to be thus connected ; the intermediate words are a parenthetic description of the country.— it was WELL WATERED EVERY WHERE] "ISTo Crust of salt, no volcanic convulsions had as yet blasted its verdure." "Then, as now, it must have received 12—2 180 lot's choice. [gen. in some form or other the fresh streams of the Jordan, of the xVrnon, of Engecli, of Callirrhoe ; and at the southern end, as Dr Robinson has observed, more living brooks than are to be found in all the rest of Palestine" (Stanley, Sm. and Pal. pp. 216, 285.) — AS THE GARDEN OF THE LORD] The garden of Eden. The beauty and richness of the country induces Lot to make it his abode, not- Avithstanding the notorious wickedness of the peo- ple. His selection of it brings on him many evils : (1) ' In seeing and hearing he vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds,' 2 Pet. ii. 8 ; (2) lie is taken captive when the land is overrun by the four kings, ch. xiv. ; (3) he barely escapes with life from the destruction brought on the land by its wickedness, and sees all his family perish in it but two daughters, ch. xix.; (4) he is betrayed into incest by these two daughters, who were contaminated by the sensuality of their associates. ver. 1:3. BEFORE THE LORD] The phrase de- notes tlie open and avowed manner of their sinning. Comp. ch, x. 9. ver. 14. LIFT UP thine eyes] "Those bleak hills Avere indeed to be the site of cities whose names would be lield in honour after the very xiii. 10 — 18.] ABRAM*S ENCOURAGEMENT. 181 ruins of the seats of a corrupt civilisation in the garden of Jordan had been swept away ; that dreary view, unfolded then in its primeval desola- tion before the eyes of the now solitary Patriarch, would be indeed peopled with a mighty nation through many generations" (Stanley, Sin. and Pal p. 217). ver. 15. FOR ever] The land of Canaan is the pledge and type of the new world, which the faithful, who are the children of Abraham, shall receive for an everlasting possession; and there- fore did his seed after the flesh possess it, in order to make ready for the kingdom of God on the whole earth ; comp. Rom. iv. 13 {v. Gerlach). ver. 18. IN THE PLAIN OF mamre] Rather, hy the oaks of Mamre. At one hour's distance from Hebron, a little off the road to Jerusalem, Dr Robinson came upon some remains of great antiquity, called by the natives Ramet el-Khulil, which he conjectures to mark the position of Abram's abode hij the oahs of Mamre (Bib. Res. I. 215). Both he and Mr Stanley notice a magnificent oak of great antiquity close to Hebron. — HEBRON] " The earliest seat of civilised life, not only of Judah, but of Palestine. Its very name indicates ^community' or ^society'" (Stanley, Sin. 182 HEBRON. [gen. and PaL p. 162). It was built (Numb. xiii. 22) * seven years before Zoan in Egypt.' From Mamre, a contemporary of Abram, it derived the name Mamre (Gen. xxiii. 19), which was again exchanged for Kirjatli-arhaj the city of Arbay who was the progenitor of a race of giants; Josh. xiv. 15. Its earliest name, Hebron, so intimately connected with the history of the Father of the nation, was restored to it by the Israelites on their conquest of Canaan, according to their custom in similar cases. xiv. 1.] THE FOUR KINGS. 183 Chapter XIV. TuCH, in an elaborate article, translated in the Journal of Sacred Literature, Vol. i., contends that this expedition of the four kings was with the particular political object of securing the commercial route to the Gidf of Akaba. ver. 1. amraphel] derived by Von Bohlen from the Sanscrit amarapdla. = ivorshipper of the Gods.— shinar] Babylonia ; see note on ch. x. 10. — arioch] According to Von Bohlen is the Sanscrit dryaJca=venerahle. — ellasar] According to Knobel, Artemita, to the north of Babylonia; according to Sir H. Rawlinson, Senhereh, on the east bank of the Euphrates, between Mugheir and Warka, which on the inscriptions is named Larsa. — nations] Heb. Goim, by Aquila translated Pon- tus, by Symmachus, the Scythians, — chedorlao- mer] Among the names of the earliest kings of Babylon recorded in the inscriptions. Sir H. Raw- linson found that of Kudur-mapidaj with the additional title of Apda-Martu, which he inter- 184 THESE EXPEDITIONS USUAL. [gbN. prets ravagcr of the ivcsL He has thrown out the conjecture of the identity of Chedorlaomer of the Bible with this Kudur-mapula of the in- scriptions. However, not only is Chedorlaomer called here king of Mam, but he is also distin- guished from the king of Babylon or Shinar, and thus the hypothesis is overthrown that he was a king of Elam, who ruled by conquest over Babylon. But still the discovery of a Babylonian monarch bearing the significant title of ^ravager of the w^est' is of great service in corroborating the Scripture narrative, as it proves that even in those early times predatory expeditions were made by the trans-Euphratian nations into the regions on their west. Ver. 3. VALE OF SIDDIM, WHICH IS THE SALT sea] The vale of Siddim, at the destruction of the cities of the plain, became the southernmost portion of the present Dead Sea. — ^vale of sid- dim] Lit. the vale of the fields {Aqulla, Ouk, Saadias), of the plains {KnoheT), of the loiv stony ground {Gesenius, Wright, Kalisch), ver. 4—8. A parenthetic explanation of the fact mentioned in v. 3, that all these kings met in battle in the vale of Siddim. ver. 5. rephaims] translated by the Septua- xiv. 1 — 5.] THEIR CONQUESTS. 185 gint, giants. It appears to denote a race of tall stature, who occupied Canaan previously to its colonisation by the Canaanites. Og, King of Ba- shan, on the far side of Jordan, was of this race; and the valley of Rephaim near to Jerusalem, Josh. XV. 8, xviii. 16 (in the E. V. it is the valley of the giants), and the country of the Reijhaims or giants in the lot of Ephraim, Josh. xvii. 15, afford proof that they were spread over the coun- try to the west of Jordan. From 2 Sam. xxi. 15— 22, we may plausibly conclude that they occupied the country also which the Philistines possessed after them. — ashteroth karnaim] i.e. 'Ashteroth between the two mountains;' Kariialm signifies two horns or high places {Kidder) ; or ^ Ashteroth (Astarte) with the two horns,' on account of this Goddess being worshipped there ; now Tel Asherah, five miles north by west from Mezareib on the eastern side of Jordan (Kitto, Scrii^t Lands, p. 212). — zuziMS] The name signifies the promi- nenL We gather from the position assigned to them here that they were a giant tribe inhabiting the district between the Jabbok and the Arnon. They are, therefore, the same as the race of giants whom the Ammonites, who expelled them, called the Zamzummim; Deut. ii. 20; Jud. xi. 13; Josh. 186 THEIR LINE OF MARCH. [gen. xii. 2 (Kurtz). — haivi] Nothing is known of it. — — THE EMiMs] The name signifies the terrible (Kurtz); they dwelt between the Amon and the Sared. They were expelled afterwards by the Moabites ; Deut. ii. 9—11. — shaveh] Lit. the ])lain of KiriatJiaim,—KiRiATB.Kn,i\ The double city^ a to^vn of Moab on the east of Jordan, afterwards in the possession of Reuben. ver. 6. HORiTEs] The name signifies dicellers in caves, Troglodytes, They were descended from the Canaanite Heth, and were driven from Mount Seir by Esau; Deut. ii. 12. — mount seir] A moun- tainous tract extending from the Dead Sea to the northern end of the Gulf of Elath on the Red Sea. It seems to have derived its name Seir, rugged, from the nature of the country. — el- para^] Rather, the oak of Par an. The whole desert region south of Palestine was designated as the wilderness of Paran, extending down to the mountainous regions of Sinai (Kitto, Scri2)t. Lands, p. 74). Tuch considers El-Paran to be Elath on the Red Sea, which seems to have de- rived its name from the palm trees, groves of which are still found there (Stanley, Sin, and Pal, p. 82). His view of the march of the kings receives some confirmation from its bein^: alon^r the route xiv. 5 — 7.] SITES IDENTIFIED. 187 by which the Israelites (travelling in the opposite direction) passed from Kadesh through Elath to Moab. Mr Stanley remarks against Tuch's sup- position of the identity of El-Paran and Elath, that the word midbar {wilderness) is used in connexion with El-Paran instead of arahah. ver. 7. en-mishpat] Lit. The fountain of judgment; comp. Numb. xx. 12. — kadesh] placed by Dr Robinson at Ain el Weibeh, two good days' journey to the north of Mount Hor, on the border of Edom {Bib. Res. Vol. ii. pp. 174, 194). But see against this view, Stanley, Sin. and Pal. p. 92. Placed with greater probability by Mr Rowlands at Ai7i Kades, twelve miles to the east-south-east of Moilahhi (Kitto, Scrqjt. LandSy p. 81). — the COUNTRY OF THE AMALEKiTEs] The country after- wards occupied by the Amalekites, the powerful tribe descended from Esau (ch. xxxvi. 12). — haze- zon-tamak] Lit. the falling of the j^^a^m, after- wards called Engedi, s])ring of wild goats, a city of Judah near the Dead Sea ; 2 Chron. xx. 2. The ruins of it close to the fountain 'Ain Jidy were discovered by Seetzen, and visited by Dr Robinson. They were found about midway on the western coast of the Dead Sea. Robinson, Bib. Res. i. 504 — 509 ; Stanley, Sin. and Pal. p. 293. 188 SLIMEPITS. [gen. ver. 10. SLiMEPiTs] tvelhofh'dwnen; the Heb. word for slime is that used in describing the buikling of the walls of Babel, ch. xi. 3, which are kno^vn to have been cemented with bitumen. An account of the working of bitumen-wells sunk from remote ages near Ijon is given by Dr Robin- son, Bih. Res. III. 379, and by Mr Thomson, The Land and the Booh, p. 223. It is true that bitu- men-wells are no longer to be found in the vici- nity of the Dead Sea ; but there is every reason to believe that the vale of Siddim in which they existed was submerged at the time of the cata- strophe of the cities of the plain, and that it now forms the southern portion of the Lake. The fact of bitumen being found only in this portion of the lake renders this supposition still more probable, and agrees Avith the mention in the text of bitu- men-wells. Mr Stanley, Sin. and Pal. p. -287, thinks that qidcJcsands are meant, which might then, as now, abound at the northern and southern extremities of the Lake. ver. 13. THE HEBREW] See note on ch. x. 21. ver. 14. HE ARMED HIS TRAINED SERVANTS] Better translated, he led forth his tried, or expe- rienced, ov faith fid men {Gesen., Knob., Kalisch, Wright, Delitzsch). — dan] Situated near the source xiv. 10—14.] DAN. 189 of the Jordan, at Tell-el-Kady, seven miles dis- tant from Banias, the ancient Paneas, Avith which it is not to be confounded. Robinson, Bib, Res, III. 392. " It may be necessary to notice the posi- tion advanced by Hsevernick {Pentateuch, p. 148), that ^Dan,' the Danite settlement and the north- ern bomidary, was different from ^Dan' in Gen. xiv. 14, and was situated not in the sources of Jordan, but in the plain of Coele-Syria. The only argument in favour of this position is the men- tion, in Jud. xviii. 28, of Beth-Rehob, which, in Num. xiii. 21, appears on the way to Hamath. But this (in the total uncertainty of the site of Rehob) can hardly stand against the precise iden- tification of the northern Dan mth the sources of the Jordan, in Josephus, Ant, viii. 8. 4, its con- nexion with Bashan, in Deut. xxxiii. 22, and the use of the w^ord ' Emek' for valley, in Jud. xviii. 28, instead of ^ Bikah,' the word uniformly applied to the district of Coele-Syria" (Stanley, Sin. and Pal. p. 396), We are, therefore, left to suppose that Dan, having lost its name for Laish under its Phoenician possessors, had its primitive name restored to it by its Danite conquerors in re- membrance of the achievement of their ancestor 190 THE KING OF SODOM AND MELCHIZEDEK [geN. Abram. Compare the changes of the names of Hebron and Bethel. As regards the direction taken by Abram in the pursuit of the kings, Hacvernick observes: "He pursues the kings as far as the sources of the river Jordan, and drives them back thence into the district of Damascus (a military road went from Paneas to Damascus, Joseph. Bell. Jiid, iii. 18) ; precisely as in the contrary case, the Damascene king Benhadad im- mediately took possession of this territory, 1 Kin. XV. 20." ver. 15. hobah] At the distance of two miles [to the north] outside the walls of Damascus is the village of Hobah, said to be that to which Abram pursued the kings (Stanley, Sin. and Fed. J). 408). — THE LEFT HAND] Both the Chaldee paraphrasts say, north of Damascus, and that rightly ; for the East is counted the foremost part of the world, and the West [called in Heb. the sea'\ the hindcrmost, and the South is called the right side, opposed to the north, Isa. ix. 12 {Ains- worth). ver. 17—20. On his return, the king of Sodom went to meet Abram as far as the Icings valley, to the north of Salem, where the roads leading xiv. 14 17.] MEET ABRAM. 191 from Hebron and Sodom to Jerusalem met. Mel- chizedec, king of Salem, and a priest of the most High God, also came to salute the victor. Ver. 17. THE VALLEY OF SHAVEH, WHICH IS THE king's dale] In 2 Sam. xviii. 18, we read that Ab- salom erected ^ for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale.' It is not likely that he would have erected this memorial of himself out of his own tribe, and away from the immediate vicinity of the capital. Hence it is probable that the king's dale and the valley of Jehoshaphat, traversed by the brook Kidron, were the same. Although there is no historical ground for connecting this valley of Kidron with the valley of Shaveh, the former answers in all respects to what is said in Genesis of the latter valley. The valley of Jehoshaphat compasses Jerusalem on the north and east, and then is continued in the modern AYady-en-Xdr, which leads to the Dead Sea, and would be the natural route for the king of Sodom to traverse when proceeding to meet Abram in his march southwards to Hebron. In the near vicinity of Jerusalem (Salem) we find a part of the valley in like manner corresponding to the details of the history. " Before reaching the city, and also opposite its northern part, the valley spreads out 192 SALEM IS JERUSALEM. [gen. into a basin of some breadth, which is tilled, and contains jilantations of olive and other fruit-trees. In this part it is crossed obliquely by a road leading from the north-east corner of Jerusalem" (Robinson, Bih, Res. i. 270). yer. 18. melchizedek] Heb. vii. 2, ^ Being by interpretation King of righteousness.' He was probably king of one of the Shemitic pre-Cana- anitish tribes which settled at Jerusalem, whence it was expelled by the Jebusites. Hsevernick re- marks : " His God is ^ the most High God, pos- sessor of heaven and earth;' and these designa- tions of the Deity we find again in the Phoeni- cian religions, from which it is clear that we have here in a purer state the original element of a religion and worship that afterwards became more corrupt" (Introd, p. 150). — salem] Heb. vii. 2, 'which signifies peace.' In Psal. Ixxvi. 2, Jerusalem is called Salem. The Targums and Josephus take Salem to be Jerusalem. Abram's course from Damascus to Hebron Avould almost of necessity lead him by Jerusalem ; and the king of Sodom's route, as he proceeded to meet Abram, would naturally lead him into the valley of Kidron. A large proportion of the best German critics consider that Jerusalem is xiv. 18.] abram's route. 193 here intended ; viz. Gesenius, Winer, Ha}vemick, Hengstenberg, Kurtz, Hofman, and Delitzscli. Mr Stanley {Sin, and Pal, p. 235) defends the Samaritan opinion that Gerizim was the place where Melchizedek met Abram. His argument is not clear. He seems to identify Salem with the insignificant village of Shalim, which Dr Ro- binson discovered near Nablous ; and he repre- sents Abram to have marched southwards from Damascus, and the king of Sodom northwards from Sodom, on the east side of Jordan, until they met in some valley on that side of Jordan, where they were also joined by Melchizedek. How they all got to Gerizim he does not say. However, the judgment of one familiar with the country by long residence in it, is most material on a question like this. Dr Thomson decidedly negatives Mr Stanley's view in every point " Abraham would naturally return on the western sides of the lakes Huleh and Tiberias. I have been round the eastern side of both, and affirm that he could not have selected that road, en- cumbered as he was with a large company of rescued prisoners, and their baggage. ISTor could he have followed the valley of the Jordan. No one who has ever travelled that impracticable G. 13 194 MELCHIZEDEKS GIFT. [geN. Glior will believe that this great company took that path ; and, after wandering over these re- gions in all directions, I am quite sure that the way by which Abraham led back the people of Sodom was along the ordinary road from Galilee to Jerusalem,... This route would bring Abraham to Jerusalem, where the king of Sodom would most naturally meet him. Mr Stanley supposes that the king of Sodom went round the ecistem shore of the Dead Sea ; but that is quite im- practicable, unless one makes a long detour through the interior" {The Land and the Boo% p. 474). This reasoning also disposes of the opi- nion that Salem was identical with the place of that name where John baptized, and which is by Jerome placed on the Jordan, eight miles (Roman) south of Scythopolis. To have brought him near this Salem, the Patriarch's line of march must have been along the impracticable Ghov of the Jordan. — brought forth bread and wine] " The old learned fathers say not, Melchisedek offered the same [bread and wine] in sacrifice to God; but he brought it forth as a present, as the manner was to refresh them after the pursuit and cliase of their enemies. And S. Hierome, in his translation, turneth it not dbtidlt, 'he sacri- xiv. 18.] TO WHOM OFFERED. 195 ficed,' but protidit, 'he brought it forth.' Jose- phus reporteth the matter thus : ' Melchisedek feasted Abraham's soldiers, and suffered them to want nothing that was necessary for their pro- vision. And likewise he received Abraham him- self to his table.' In hke manner Philo Jud^us says that the bread and wine were offered not to God, but to Abraham. Chrysostom and Epi- phanius say thus : ^ He brought forth to them bread and wine.' Tertullian saith : ' Melchizedek offered bread and wine (not unto God, but) unto Abraham returning from the fight.' So S. Am- brose: 'Melchizedek came forth to meet, and offered (not to God, but) unto Abraham, bread and wine.' [Cyril Alex., also, in his comment on this passage, says, 'The blessing Abraham and presenting him bread and wine.'] By these few it may appear that Melchizedek brought forth bread and wine and other provision, not as a sacrifice unto God, but as a relief and sus- tenance for Abraham and his company" (Bp. Jewel, Vol. I. p. 731. Ed. P. S.). The ancient Christian writers who connected this incident with the Eucharist were far from regarding it as a sacri- fice. They viewed it thus : In Abraham they saw the figure of all Christ's faithful people; in 13—2 196 ITS IMPORT. [gen. Melcbizedek, refreshing Abraham on his return from the slaughter of the kings, they saw an image of Christ refreshing the souls of his be- lieving people with the spiritual food of his Body and Blood exhibited in the Lord's Supper. On this subject may be consulted, Jackson, Wo7'JcSj Vol. VIII. 236, &c. ; Waterland, Appendix to Cliristian Sacrifice Explained; Brevint, Depth and 3Iystery of Romish Mass, ch. xi. ; Patrick's Treatise in Gibson's Preserv. However, besides the typical meaning of this act of the priest of God in refreshing Abram, thoughtful writers have seen that even to Abram the presentation of the bread and wine was intended to convey more than mere bodily refreshment. Thus Jack- son writes : " These elements of bread and wine being considered with the solemnity of the bless- ing, have, besides the literal sense, a symbolical or mystical importance, and are thus far at least sacramental, that they served for earnests to secure Abraham that his posterity should quietly enjoy and eat the good things of that pleasant land wherein he was now a sojourner. Briefly, Abra- ham, in sacred banquet which the king of Salem exhibited to him, did, as we say, take livery de seisin of the promised land" {WorlcSy Vol. viii. xiv. 18 20.] THE TITHE, WHY GIVEN. 197 237). Similarly Kurtz.— the priest] More cor- rectly, a 2^ri€st; see Gesen. Ch^am. § 115. 2, a. ver. 19. HE BLESSED HIM] i. c. Melchizedck blessed Abram. ver. 20. blessed be the most high god] When God blesses man, He bestows benefits on him, Deut. xxviii. 1, 2; man blesses God when he praises Him for His benefits, Matt, xxvi. 26 compared with Luk. xxii. 19 {Kidder). — he gave HIM tithes OF all] Heb. vii. 4, ' Con- sider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.' This presentation of the tithe of the spoils was made by Abram before the king of Sodom had offered them all to him as a gift, and therefore when they were strictly the pro- perty of the king of Sodom. The king of Salem, therefore, appears to have stood in some acknowledged relation of superiority to the Sodomites, because Abram gives him as a mat- ter of course an offering from the property of the latter people. See a series of interest- ing papers on The Rephaim in The Journal of Saered Literature, Vol. i. He appears to have been the recognised head of the Shemitic race, which occupied Palestine previous to the 198 THE MOST HIGH GOD. [geN. Phoenician immigration. Entering the laud as traders, tlie Phoenicians would of course at first pay allegiance to the chiefs of the country, and for some time after, even when their rising power might enable them to resist the exac- tion.— THE MOST HIGH god] Here and in the conversation with Abram the names of God are used most appropriately. Melchizedek worship- ped the true God, and that not merely as one out^ of many gods, but as the Most High, whose dominion was over the whole universe. He knew Him not however as Jehovah. In the earlier history, Jehovah both in name and fact was the common property of the whole human race ; but the recollections of God as such gradually grew dim, until they were lost in heathenism. The religion of Melchizedek was just at the stage when the knowledge of Jeho- vah was merged into the knowledge of the one highest and infinite Being, and before this true though partial conception of the Divine Being gave way to Polytheism. Abram, by repeating the designation used by Melchizedek, acknow- ledged that he possessed that conception of God which is the basis of true religion; by adding the name Jehovah, he declares that to himself xiv. 20 — 23.] abram's self-denial. 199 the Most High God was something more. See Hengstenberg, Pent. i. 337. ver. 22. i have lift up mine haio)] i. e. / have sworn; Exod. vi. 8; Numb. xiv. 30. ver. 23. from a thread even to a shoe- latchet] i. e. neither a thread nor a shoe- latchet He would not take from him the most worthless thing of his, much less anything of consequence. — lest thou shouldest say, i have MADE ABRAM RICH] He had taken valuable gifts not very long before from Pharaoh. His refusal therefore in the present instance must have been dictated by the desire to avoid any intercourse or communion with a people of such abandoned wickedness as the Sodomites. 200 THE PROMISE RENEWED. [geN. Chapter XV. ver. 1. THE WORD OF THE LORD] Through- out this and the next chapter we naturally meet Avith the name Jehovah. — in a vision] in the night-time, see w. 5 — 11. — after these things] This seems to intimate that the following promise of the Lord was meant to reward Abram for having spurned the valuable offer of the king of Sodom. — FEAR not] Though exposed to such dangers as he had just incurred, and having to dwell amidst strangers and sinners like the Amor- ites, he should have no real reason for fear. "Humanly speaking, his expedition against the powerful king of the East had been a most dangerous undertaking. It was reasonable to suppose that the vengeance of this powerftil conqueror would overtake him" (Kurtz). — thy EXCEEDING GREAT REWARD] Lit. th]/ reward [shall be] very great; thus translated by Sept., Ains worth, Kalisch, Delitzsch, and Wright. Kno- bel retains the translation of our version. ver. 2. THE STEWARD OF MY HOUSE IS THIS XV. 1 — 5.] THE NUMEROUS SEED. 201 ELiEZER OF DAMASCUS] This clause is involved in much difficulty. It seems best to translate it with Simonis, Gesenius, Maurer and Knobel: the possessor or heir of my substance will he this Eliezer of Damascus.— the steward] Lit. the son of the possession of my house, i.e. my 7^g^V._is THIS ELIEZER OF DAMASCUS] Thus trans- lated by Onkelos, Syr., Gesen., Maurer, Knobel. But Sept., Latin Vulg., Jerome, and Kalisch, taking Dammesek as a proper name, render the clause, he is Dammeseh Eliezer, ver. 3. BORN IN MY HOUSE] Lit. son of my house, which may mean merely one belonging to his household, and not that EUezer was born in Abram's house. ver. 5. TELL THE STABS, IF THOU BE ABLE TO NUMBER THEM] Neh. ix. 23, ^ Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and brought them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.' But the complete realization (Rom. iv. 16—18) was seen by John when in spirit he 'beheld, and lo, a great multi- tude, which no man could number, of all nations stood before the throne, and before the Lamb,' Rev. vii. 9, . 202 THE SACRIFICE. [gen. ver. 6. HE BELIEVED IN THE LORD] ^ Being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, nor yet the deadness of Sarah's womb ; and being fully persuaded that, what He had pro- mised. He was able also to perform,' Horn. iv. 19— 21.— HE COUNTED IT TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUS- NESS] Faith was reckoned to Abram as righte- ousness, or sinless perfection; not that it strictly or literally was so, but it was so accepted in God's account (Waterland, WorJis, iv. p. 575). ver. 8. WHEREBY SHALL I KNOW ?] That Abram seeks a sign is not displeasing to God, more than in the case of Gideon or Hezekiah (Jud. vi. 36, 2 Kin. XX. 8). Nay, the contrary may be dis- pleasing to Him, as we find in the instance of Ahaz (Isa. vii. 12). It depends on the mind Avhicli prompts the request or refusal, whether the re- quest is prompted by belief, which desires con- firmation, or by unbelief, which is concealed under the pretence of the uncertainty of the revelation {v. Gerlach). Similarly Patrick. . ver. 9, 10. The Lord now enters into cove- nant with Abram. As God only passes between the parts of the sacrifice, tlie covenant for the present is on God's side only ; afterwards, by the XV. 6 — 10.] ITS SIGNIFICATION. 203 right of circumcision, Abrani on his side rati- fies the covenant and undertakes its obligations. The covenant is made by sacrifice. For God is holy, and He can therefore only enter into cove- nant yf'iih. man, when sin, which had separated between God and man, had been removed. The division of the sacrificed animals into two por- tions represents the two parties to the covenant. As these portions constitute in reality only one animal, so are the two parties to the covenant joined into one. The passing through the por- tions of the sacrifice represents, as it were, the means by which they who had been separated were to be united {Kurtz), That the rite was of the nature of a covenant appears from Jer. xxxiv. 18 — 20. The explanation generally adopted of the symbolical purport of this rite, viz. that it signi- fied "that so should they be cut asunder who broke the covenant" (PatricF), is very revolting when we remember that the Lord was one party to the covenant. And as Kurtz remarks, "it militates against the institution of sacrifices, as in this case the killing and shedding of blood would not represent the atonement, on the basis of which the covenant was to be made, but only and exclusively an idea wholly foreign to that of 204 HIS SEED TO BE AFFLICTED. [gen. sacrifice."— TAKE an heifer, &c.] The animals which the Levitical Law afterwards authorized. This is one of the proofs we find that the Levi- tical constitution was not a code of perfectly new institutions.— THREE years old] Because then in their prime {Kidder, Patrick, and inter- preters generally). But why then did the Leviti- cal Law consider animals one year old to be sufficient to be offered to God ? The view there- fore adopted by Delitzsch is better : " The ani- mals were three years old, and Jehovah accepted them when in their fourth year, because the seed of Abraham was only to enter the land of pro- mise in their fourth generation." Similarly Fair- bairn, T]jpol, L 317. ver. 11. fowls] Literally in the Heb. raven- ous birds which feed on flesh, birds of prey. — The birds signify the Egyptians, who persecute Abram's descendants, but Abram drives them away, tliat is, God redeems them for His pro- mise made to Abram {Luther), ver. 12. HORROR OF GREAT DARKNESS] A token of tlie affliction of his seed, predicted in tlie next verse. Comp. Esther viii. 16; Ps. Ixxxviii. G; cvii. 14 {Kidder) ; similarly Fairbairn, Typol i. 318. XV. 9 — 14.] THE 400 YEARS. 205 ver. 13. FOUR HUNDRED YEARs] From the juxtaposition of the four hundred years and the fourth generation in the words to Abraham, the one must be understood as nearly equivalent to the other, and the period must consequently be regarded as that of the actual residence of the children of Israel in Egypt from the descent of Jacob— not, as many after the Septuaghit, from the time of Abraham. For the shortest gene- alogies exhibit four generations between that period and the exodus. Looking at the genea- logical table of Levi (Exod. vi. 16), one hundred and twenty years might not unfairly be taken as an average lifetime or generation; so that three of these complete, and a part of a fourth, would easily make four hundred and thirty (Exod. xii. 40, 41). In Gal. iii. 17, the law is spoken of as only four hundred and thirty years after the covenant with Abraham ; but the Apostle merely refers to the known historical period, and re- gards the first formation of the covenant with Abraham as all one with its final ratification with Jacob (Fairbairn, Typoh i. 318). Similarly De- litzsch, ver. 14. judge] Punish.—wiTH great sub- stance] FulfiUed in the gifts which the de- 206 THE SxMOKING FURNACE. [geN. parting Israelites obtained fi'om the Egyp- tians. ver. 15. THOU SHALT GO TO THY FATHERS] i. e. thou slialt die. This phrase (found also Gen. XXV. 8 ; XXXV. 29 ; xlix. 29, 33 ; Deut. xxxii. 50) proves the belief in a future state to have existed among the pious of the earliest ages. As Abram was buried far from the sepulchres of his fathers, its force cannot be explained as a periphrasis for being buried in the same place with one's fathers. ver. 16. THE i]s:iQUiTY of the amorites is NOT yet full] Hence we see that the extirpa- tion of the Canaanites was the just punishment of their sin, delayed until they had abused all opportunities for repentance. When the Lord saw that the time was come to redeem this por- tion of the world from the evil which oppressed it, He used Israel as the instrument of His judg- ments. For proof of the iniquity of the Canaan- ites, see Lev. xviii. 27. ver. 17. A SMOKING furnace] Such as is com- mon in the East, shaped like a cylinder, at the upper opening of which fire enveloped in smoke bursts forth. It was a symbol of the gracious presence of God. The devouring fire of His XV. 14 19.] THE BOUNDS OF THE LAND. 207 Holiness, before which the sinner cannot stand, is in grace enveloped {Kurtz). ver. 18. FROM the river of egypt, &c.] It was not necessary on the present occasion to define the exact geographical bounds of the pro- mised land. Just as the length of the Egyptian captivity was given in round numbers, so here the position of Canaan is described generally as being between the two great empires of Egypt and Mesopotamia, which, as in other places, are represented and denoted by the two rivers, the Mle and the Euphrates, which flowed through them. In Numb, xxxiv. 3, when the occasion re- quired it, the boundaries of the promised land are accurately defined. Thus, Hengstenberg, Hsever- nick, Kurtz, Seil. — the river of egypt] The Nile, and not the brook Rhinocorura, or Wady-el- Arish, which is never termed, as here, naliar {a river), but always nalial [a brooJc), ver. 19. THE KENITES, AND THE KENIZZITES, AND THE KADMONiTEs] Tribcs supposcd to have been original inhabitants of the land, descended from Shem. Kenites mean those who carry lances ; Kenizzites mean hunters {Kurtz), The Kadmon- ites are supposed to have resided about the head-waters of the Jordan. This name is still 208 TRACES OF THE OLD INHABITANTS. [gEN. preserved among the Nusairijeh, north of Tripoli, and they have a tradition that their ancestors were expelled from Palestine by Joshua. A frag- ment of this strange people still cling to their original home near the foot of Hermon. I have repeatedly travelled among them in their own mountains, and many things in their physiognomy and manners gave me the idea that they were a remnant of the most ancient inhabitants of this country (Thomson, The Land and the Book, p. 164). vers. 20, 21. See notes on ch. x. 15, 16; and ch. xiv. 5. xvi. 1 — 5.] SARAI AND HAGAR. 209 Chapter XVI. ^ ' ver. 1. Sarai's name has never yet been men- tioned in the promises as that of the mother of Abram's seed. In her impatience she considers herself excluded, and tries by indirect means to bring about a fulfilment of the promise. Abram yields to her suggestion, and by so doing is in- volved in domestic troubles and sorrows. ver. 2. MAY OBTAIN CHILDREN] Lit. may he huilded by her. In illustration of the expression, comp. Ruth iv. 11 ; Ex. i. 21. ver. 5. MY WRONG BE UPON thee] My wrong is through thee; thou art to Name for the wrong which I suffer, Abram would seem to have borne with Hagar's unbecoming conduct, on ac- count of her being likely to have children (Maurer, De Sola), Or, may you suffer for the injury done to me (Knobelf Wright). — judge between me AND thee] Decide our difference, by punishing thee for thine unthankfulness, and assisting me to get my due {Knohel), G. 14 210 THE ANGEL OF THE LORD. [gen. ver. 7. THE ANGEL OF THE LORD] Through- out the whole of the 0. T. there runs the distinction between the hidden God and the Revealer of God, Himself equal with God, who most fi'equently is called Hhe Messenger,' Hhe Angel of the Lord,' ^Malachi Jehovah,' — one with Him, and yet distinct from Him. This Messenger of the Lord is the Guide of the patri- archs, ch. xlviii. 16; the Caller of Moses, Ex. iii. 2; the Leader of the people through the wilderness, Ex. xiv. 19; xxiii. 20; comp. xxxiii. 14; Isa. Ixiii. 9; the Champion of the Israelites in Canaan, Josh. v. 13; and also the Guide and Ruler of the people of the Covenant, Jud. ii. 1; vi. 11; xiii. 3; or, as He is called, Isa. Ixiii. 9, *the Angel of His Presence.' In Zechariah He measures the new building of Jerusalem, and sends the angel to the prophet, who speaks with him, Zech. i. and ii.; by Malachi, as Hhe Messenger of the Covenant,' greatly longed for by the people, whose return to His Temple is promised, Mai. iii. 1. It nowhere occurs in the 0. T. that an angel speaks as if he were God (since in Daniel, Gabriel, and in Zechariah, the angel who talks with the prophet, clearly dis- tinguish themselves from Jehovah); while this xvi. 7.] THE ANGEL OF THE LORD. 211 Angel of the Lord, in the passage under con- sideration, and often elsewhere in the 0. T., speaks as Jehovah, and His appearing is re- garded as that of the Most High God Himself. Nay, God says expressly of this Angel, *My Name — i. e. My revealed Being — is in Him,' Ex. xxiii. 21. His name, 'Messenger,' or 'Angel,' is to be taken in a general signification, and by no means as if it denoted a class of higher created beings, of angels, which He had taken; comp. Heb. ii. 16. In the N. T. the expressions 'the Word,' 'Son,' 'Express Image,' 'Brightness,' denote the same, viz. the countenance turned to man, the Revealer of the Invisible God. The expressions which our Lord frequently uses, 'He who hath sent me,' 'I am sent from the Father,' particularly refer to this name, as in Heb. iii. 1 He is called ' the Apostle' of our Profession. The future appearance on earth of the God-man is gradually prepared for in the O. T. in two ways ; on the one hand there is promised a mighty and glorious Human Ruler over all (in later times called 'Messiah' — the Anointed of the Lord), to whom at the same time in His human nature, Divine names, attributes, and works are ascribed (ch. xlix. 10; Ps. ii. ex; Isa. ix. 5; Mic. v. 1); 14—2 212 FULFILMENT OF THE PROPHECY [geN. on the other hand, the personal distinction in the Godhead, the Revealer of the Invisible God as a sepamte [rather, distinct y " this word distinc- tion is by the schoolmen conceived more com- modiously applied to this mystery," Barrow] person, is more and more clearly made known (r. Gerlach), Consult, as defending in detail this view of the Angel of the Lord being the mani- festation of the Second Person of the Trinity, Waterland, Wo7'hs, Vol. i. p. 291 ; Bp. Bull, De- fence of the Nicene Faith, i. i. § 10—20; Primi- tive and Apostolical Tradition of the Divin. of Jesus Glirist, c. vi. § 6; Hengstenberg, CJirist- ology of the 0. T. Vol. i. p. 107. — shur] A place to the east of Egypt bordering on the desert which extends to Palestine; Gen. xx. 1; xxv. 18 ; 1 Sam. xv. 7 ; xxvii. 8 ; according to Josephus, Pelusium, but better placed at Suez. The desert extending from the borders of Palestine to Shur, called the desert of Shur, is now called the desert cl Jofar (Gesenius). As the road to Eg}T)t led tlirough the wilderness of Shur, Hagar seems to have attempted to regain her own country. vers. 10 — 12. It is not merely the minute accuracy of this prediction, but especially the xvi. 7 — 10.] CONCERNING ISHMAEL. 213 long-contimied fulfilment of it, which stamps it as the offspring of the Divine foreknowledge. "The Arabians have occupied one and the same country. They have roved like the moving sands of their deserts; but the race has been rooted whilst the individual has wandered. That race has neither been dissipated by conquest, nor lost by migration, nor confounded with the blood of other countries. They have continued to dwell 'in the presence of all their brethren,' a distinct national family, wearing, upon the whole, the same features and aspect which pro- phecy first impressed upon them. The wildness which is incident only to a certain stage of man's social nature has been permanent with them; and although they have been compacted and embodied as a nation for more than three thousand years, they have resisted those changes of habit which it is the effect of civil union, so long continued, to induce* Plainly there is something unusual and remarkable in their case" (Davison, Discourses on Prophecy, p. 482). ver. 10. I WILL MULTIPLY THY seed] Arabia, the population of which, for the most part, con- sists of the descendants of Ishmael, is an abun- dant source of the human family, from whence 214 BEER LAHAI-ROI. [geN. have issued streams far and wide towards the east and west {Bitter in v. Gerlach). The con- quests of Mahomet and his folloAvers spread the Arabs over the south of Western Asia, North Africa, and Spain, the south of which they pos- sessed for 700 years. ver. 12. A WILD man] Lit. an ass of men, i.e. a wild man (Wright). For a description of the wild ass, see Job xxxix. 5 — 8. The whole verse accui'ately describes the unbridled love of liberty, and the wild, roaming, and lawless habits, characteristic of the Bedouin Arabs. — in the PRESENCE of] The expression describes the wide and almost indefinite extent of territories through which the Bedouins roam, so that they seem to be everywhere ^before the eyes of their brethren {Kalisch). Or it might be translated to tJw east of his brethren. See note on ch. xxv. 18 {Knohel). vers. 13, 14. thou god seest me] i.e. regard- est me in my misery. — have i also here looked AFTER HIM THAT SEETH ME?] i.e. Have I not even here (in this wilderness where I am forsaken) ; or, luive I not indeed seen him after his seeing me? When the angel vanished she perceived that it was God who had spoken to her. In memoiy of xvi. 10 15.] SITE IDENTIFIED. 215 this expression, the well was called the well of the Living One who sees me (Delitzsch), And thus in general the passage is taken by Sept., Vulg., Ainsworth, Kid., Pat., Kurtz. A difierent interpretation is adopted by many expositors. Thou art a God of vision, i.e. a God who lets Himself be seen by man without destroying him ; for she said, Bo I even still see ? i. e. Hve, after the vision of God? Wherefore the well was called, The ivell of the life of vision, i. e. the well where her life was preserved after seeing God {Kno- hel, Hengstenh., Gesen., v. Gerl., Rosenm., Wright), Mr Rowlands considers Moi-Mhi (moi = watei^), on the road from Beersheba to Jebel es-Sur, to be identical with Beer lahai-roi. Near it is a ruin called Beit Hagar, Hagar's house, ver. 15. ishmael] Heard of God, 216 PREFATORY. [geN. Chapter XVII. As yet the Lord had made no express men- tion of Sarai, as the mother by whom Abram was to obtain the seed of promise. He now reveals His purpose fully. To assure Abram and Sarai of the certainty of His making them to be the parents of the promised seed, He gives them both new names. At the same time He institutes the rite of circumcision by which Abram is brought into covenant with God (see note on ch. xv. 9, 10), and is also reminded of the spiritual nature of the race to whom God gives His blessing. The use of the divine names in this chapter is very peculiar. The difficulties it f)resents to the ad- vocates of the various document-hypotheses can be removed only by their supposition of the spu- riousness of v. 1. Hengstenberg's explanation of the occurrence of the names El-Shaddai and Elohim appears satisfactory. "Ex. vi. furnishes us with a key to the correct view. In v. 3 there is a verbal reference to v. 1 of this chapter, and xvii. 1 4.] THE DIVINE NAMES. 217 in V. 4 to vv. 7, 8, of this chapter. The time of promise, as belonging to El-Shaddai, is contrasted with the time of fulfilment, as belonging to Je- hovah. When Jehovah made the covenant with Abraham, &c., to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, he was still El- Shaddai. When he fulfilled this covenant, he be- came Jehovah, but not in the fullest sense, till the last point of promise, the blessing on all the nations of the earth, came into fulfilment. In this point of view all difficulty vanishes. The author begins with Jehovah, to show that the God who appeared to Abraham was relatively, in relation to those who preceded him, already Je- hovah. He then uses Elohim through the chapter, in order to intimate that the God, who at that time was Jehovah to Abraham as compared with the rest of mankind, was still even to him but Elohim, in comparison with later revelations of Himself." ver. 1. THE ALMIGHTY god] Hcb. El-Sliad- daij meaning the strong, mighty, God; or the All-sufficient God. — be perfect] i.e. place im- plicit confidence in me alone ; comp. Deut. xviii. 13, 14 {De Sola). ver. 4. FATHER OF MANY NATIONS] See notc 218 THE MANY NATIONS. [geN. on ch. xii. 2. The use made of this promise by St Paul (Rom. iv. 16, .17) proves that for the ful- filment of it we are to look, not to Abraham's descendants by Hagar and Keturah, not even to the Israel after the flesh as such, but to that great multitude of all nations and ages who shall have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Comp. Rom. ix. 6 — 9 ; Gal. iii. 8—14, 26—29. ver. 5. NEITHER SHALL THY NAME] The change of the names of Abram and Sarai is, as it were, a symbol and an earnest of the new thing which the Lord is about to bring forth. For the name indicates the character (Kurtz). — abram] Exalted father, — Abraham] Father of a multi- tude, ver. 6. KINGS shall come out of thee] Rev. V. 10, * And hast made us unto our God kings and priests : and we shall reign on the earth.' ver. 7. AN everlasting covenant] God makes with Abraham and his posterity an ever- lasting covenant; since this covenant of grace was the first germ of the ncAV covenant in Jesus Christ [Gal. iii. 16, ^He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ'] . . . The eternal possession stands. xvii. 4 — 10.] IMPORT OF CIRCUMCISION. 219 in the first instance, in contrast to the present temporary abode of Abraham in Canaan. Yet at the same time is this land the visible pledge, the germ and prophetic type, of the new world, which belongs to the church of the Lord : it is therefore called emphatically, an ^ Eternal Possession.' The same holds good of all the divine ordinances which in the 0. T. are declared to be everlasting ordi- nances; and yet in the N. T. are in the letter abrogated, while in the spirit they have been really fulfilled. So it is with Circumcision, the Passover, the Priesthood, &c. {v, Gerlach). ver. 10. THIS IS MY covenant] The general purport of the covenant was, that from Abraham there was to be generated a seed of blessing. There could not, therefore, be a more appropriate sign of the covenant than such a rite as circum- cision— so directly connected with the generation of offspring, and so distinctly marking the puri- fication of nature — the removal of the filth of the flesh— that the ofi'spring might be such as really to constitute a seed of blessing. It is through ordinary generation that the corruption incident on the fall is propagated. Now, therefore, when God was establishing a covenant, the great end of which was to reverse the propagation of e^dl, 220 Abraham's laughter. [gen. he affixed to the covenant this symbolical rite, to show that the end was to be reached, not as the result of nature's ordinary productiveness, but of nature purged from its uncleanness — nature raised above itself, in league with the grace of God, and bearing on it the distinctive impress of His cha- racter and working (Fairbairn, Typol. i. 322). The spirituality and purity intimated by this sign of the covenant is often urged in the 0. T. Comp. Deut. X. 16; xxx. 6; Jer. iv. 4; ix. 26; Ezek. xliv. 7. As woman since the fall was made de- pendent on man, through the relationship of wife and daughter she was admitted into covenant by what was done by man. ver. 12. EIGHT days] The number seven has in Scripture a peculiar and sacred import. ver. 14. CUT off] This seems to imply an un- timely death (Exod. xxxi. 14), and a punishment generally inflicted by God's hand, rather than that of the magistrate; Levit. xvii. 10; xx. 5 {Kidder), Comp. Exod. iv. 24. ver. 15. sarai] Princess {Gesenim). — sarah] derived from a root meaning to he fruitful {Kurtz), ver. 17. laughed] Rejoiced {Onhelos). And the Hebrew word will bear it, cli. xxi. 6 {Kidder). That his laugliter was not of unbelief, but of joy xvii. 10 — 18.] NOT OF UNBELIEF. 221 and wonder at the gi-acious promise, appears (1) from the fact that he is not reproved as Sarah afterwards was ; (2) from the inspired comment in Rom. iv. 19—21, 'Being not weak in faith, he con- sidered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the dead- ness of Sarah's womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief ; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, &c.;' (3) from the allusion made by our Saviour, Joh. viii. 56, ' Abra- ham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.' Our Lord must have referred to some passage in Abraham's history familiar to the Jews. This is the only one to be found in which mention is made of Abraham's laughing or rejoicing. Our Lord's comment then on it shows, that his joy arose from seeing in Isaac (whom his faith enabled him to regard as existing already) the type and pledge of the coming Saviour, by whom we ' being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteous- ness of life,' S. Luk. i.*73 — 75. See Bp. Andrewes, Serm. viii. On the Nativity, ver. 18. O THAT ISHMAEL MIGHT LIVE BE- FORE thee] Might he highly blessed and fa- voured hy Thee, Those who ascribe Abraham's 222 Ills PRAYER FOR ISHMAEL. [gen. conduct in the preceding verse to unbelief, take this as a wish that Ishmael should be the inheritor of the covenant-blessing. But that the prayer of Abmham was simply for the prosperity of Ish- mael, appears from the Lord's answer in v. 20, 'As for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, &c.' ver. 19. ISAAC] Heb. one laughs; so called from Abraham's joy. His name was a memorial of his father's faith, not of his mother's unbelief {Kidder). ver. 20. The proofs from heathen writers of the punctual fulfilment of this prophecy or pro- mise may be seen in Bp. Newton 07i the Proj^Jie- cies. See ch. xxv. 16. xviii. 1, 2.] THE THREE MEN. 223 Chapter XVIII. ver. 1. appeared] The manner of His aijpear- ing is detailed in v. 2. — the plain] Erroneous translation ; it should be the oahs, or oak-grove. — mamre] Hebron, see note on eh. xiii. 18. — the HEAT OF THE DAY] At nOOUtide. ver. 2. THREE men] As it is said in v. 1 that the Lord appeared to Abraham, and as through- out the chapter it is the Lord who converses with Abraham, it is natural to conclude, with most of the early Christian writers, that the three men were the Word, the Second Person of the Trinity, accompanied by two created angels. Thus Justin Martyr, Chrysostom, Hilary of Poictiers, Eusebius the historian, as cited in Forbes, Instruct. Hist. Theol. L. I. xiv. See this view defended in detail by Hengstenberg, Christol. i. p. 111. A few early writers, Ambrose and Augustine for instance, adopted the view afterwards maintained by the schoolmen, Alexander Halensis and Thomas Aqui- nas for example, that the three men were intended to represent the Trinity ; see Forbes, as above. 224 SHALL I HIDE FROM ABRAHAM ? [geN. ver. 4. WASH your feet] Even yet a custom- ary mark of hospitality in Palestine ; see Robinson, Bib, Res. n. 229. ver. 6. THREE measures] Lit. three seahs = one ephali = 1^ English bushel {Blackadder), ver. 8. butter] The one Heb. word expresses butter and soured milk : either may be meant. The Arabs at the present day use melted butter {semen), and soured milk (Jehen). See Robinson, Bib, Res. ii. 70. For the process of making but- ter, see Thomson, The Land and the BooJcj p. 255. ver. 10. ACCORDING TO the time of life] Lit. as the time lives again, after the winter, in which the year is, as it were, dead; next year about the present time {Knobel). ver. 15. SHE WAS afraid] To this sinful fear or amazement of Sarah, which provoked her to falsehood, the Apostle alludes (1 Pet. iii. 6), when he proposes her as a pattern of obedience to women, and cautions them at the same time against the sinful fear by which she fell {Kidder). vers. 17 — 19. Two reasons are here assigned for declaring to Abraham the Lord's counsel concerning the cities of the plain. (1) The doomed cities were a part of the land of Canaan, which xviii. 4 — 21.] I WILL GO DOWN AND SEE. 225 was promised to Abraham. Hence the Lord ex- plains to him why the cities in which he was so interested were destroyed. (2) To warn Abra- ham and his family, that it was only with those who ^kept the way of the Lord, to do judgment and justice,' that the Lord could deal graciously. "Throughout the 0. T., the judgment on Sodom is held up to Israel as a type and prediction of future judgments, and, therefore, as a warning and call to repentance ; see Deut. xxix. 23 ; Isa. i. 9; xiii. 19; Jer.xx. 16; xxiii. 14; xlix.18; 1.40; Lam. iv. 6; Ezek. xvi. 46" (Kurtz). ver. 19. FOR I KNOW him, &c.] This is better translated : For I have hioivn Mm^ i. e. regarded him with favour, chosen him, to the end that he should teach his children after hhn, so as that they should ivalJc in the ivay of the Lord {Michael., Gesen.y Kal.j Knoh., Wright). For this use of the word to hiotv, as meaning to choose, to care for, see Am. iii. 2 ; Hos. xiii. 4. ver. 20. the cry of sodom and gomor- rah] The cry concerning Sodom and Gomorrah (Wright). ver. 21. I WILL GO DOWN . . . AND see] This he did by sending His two angels, whose treatment by the Sodomites was to be the test and proof of G. 15 226 Abraham's intercession. [gen. their iniDiorality. God tempts people, or rather proves and puts them to the trial, by placing them in particular situations, not for the purpose of making them sin, but in order to bring out their true disposition, and to remove all cavil on men's part as to the justice of His dealings, Hhat He may be justified when He speaks, and clear when He judges,' Ps. li. 4. Thus He is said to tempt Abraham, when He orders him to ofier up Isaac, and from his conduct then He is said to Jcnoio that he feared Him. Thus, Deut. viii. 2, He says, that He led Israel through the wilderness, to prove him, and to knoiv what was in his heart. And, 2 Chron. xxxii. 31, in the matter of the ambassadors of Babylon, God is said to have 'left Hezekiah, to try him, that He might know all that was in his heart.' ver. 22. the men... went toward sodom] Comp. ch. xix. 1. — but Abraham] He to whom it had been promised that he should be ' a bless- ing,' and that 'in him all nations should be blessed,' now comes forward to act in this capa- city, and to intercede with God for the nations of the earth. It seems to be an unnecessary refinement to say that Abraham interceded for Sodom only of the five cities because in it dwelt xviii. 21 — 33.] why for sodom only. 227 his kinsman Lot. He interceded for it because it was Sodom which God was about to visit and prove first of all. And, apparently, God selected it for trial as having had, through the sojourn of righteous Lot, the chief opportunity of enlight- enment, and therefore as being the one in which, if at all, would be found any remains of good. ver. 33. the lord went his way] The Chal- dee saith : the glory of the Lord was lifted up {Ainsworth), 15—2 228 SODOM ON ITS TRIAL. [gen. Chapter XIX. ver. 1. TWO angels] Lit. the tivo angels, namely, those who were mentioned in eh. xviii. 22, as going toivards Sodom. The Jewish tra- dition is, that no angel is sent on two separate missions. The first, therefore, of these two was sent to conduct Lot out of Sodom, and the mission of the other was to destroy the five cities. — sat IN THE gate] Dr Thomson, sj^eaking of the gates of the cities of modern Palestine, says: "The gateway is vaulted, shady, and cool. This is one reason why people delight to assemble about it. Again, the curious and the vain resort thither to see and to be seen. Some go to meet their associates; others to watch for returning friends, or to accompany those about to depart; while many gather there to hear the ncAVS, and to en- gage in trade and traffic. I have seen — in Joppa, for example — the K^dy and his court sitting at the entrance of the gate, hearing and adjudicat- ing all sorts of causes" {The Land and the Bool; p. 27). xix. 1 — 9.] DISPLAY OF DEPRAVITY. 229 ver. 2. nay; but we will abide in the street] They would put Lot to the proof, since it was regarded as a mark of the corruption of morals in a place to allow a stranger to remain in the streets ; Jud. xix. 15 ; Job xxxi. 32 {v. GerlacJi), ver. 4. BEFORE they lay down] to sleep. — FROM every quarter] This translation is de- fended by Hitzig, Maurer, Knobel and Kalisch. Wright and Delitzsch adopt that of the Sept., o'iie and ally all in a body. According to either trans- lation the verse presents an awful proof of the appalling licentiousness of the people of Sodom. ver. 8. I have two daughters] On this proposal made by Lot, may be consulted the remark of Bp. Sanderson, Serm. on Rom, iii. 8. Von Gerlach suggests that, as the daughters were betrothed to men of Sodom, Lot imagined that the i3eople would not proceed to extremities. This suggestion depends on a disputed interpre- tation of ver. 14. ver. 9. STAND back] This, which is the translation of the Sept. and Vulg., is defended by Gesenius, Tuch, Knobel, De Sola, and De- litzsch. But Fpesius and Maurer mamtain that we shoidd translate, come here. — he will needs 230 CHARACTER OF LOT. [geN. BE A judge] From this it would appear that he had before this repeatedly attempted to re- strain them in their wickedness. ver. 11. blindness] They were not struck with actual and permanent blindness, but were dazzled and confused. The word itself occurs but once again, 2 Kin. vi. 18, where also it is used to express a temporary dazzling and con- fusion of the senses, so that objects appear dis- torted and confused {De Sola), ver. 14. WHICH married] The words may be translated thus, in which case these two married daughters must be different from the two mentioned in ver. 7 {Se^Jty Targ., Jon., ScJiu- mann, KnoheT) ; or they may be translated, tvJio were to he married to his daughters, namely, the two referred to in ver. 7 {Joseph., Vidg., Michael., Tiich, Delitzsch), The first translation seems to be supported by ver. 15, *thy two daughters, which are here,' lit. tvhich are at hand. ver. IG. AND WHILE HE LINGERED] All that the Scripture relates of Lot is characteristic of a mind naturally weak, and which selfishness and sensuality had still more enfeebled. Such a person must be quite incapable to act with xix. 9 — 25.] SITE OF ZOAR. 231 promj^titude and vigour in extraordinary circum- stances (J)e Sola), ver. 17. LOOK not back] as if reluctant to abandon it with its j)leasures, and distrustful of the reality of God's threats against those re- maining in it. — THE mountain] of the country afterwards called Moab. ver. 22. zoar] in Heb. means smalhiess ; before this called Bela ; see ch. xiv. 2. It was a town of Moab (Isa. xv. 5; Jer. xlviii. 34), and formed the southernmost boundary of the plain of the Pentapolis (Gen. xiii. 10; Deut. xxxiv. 3). I am disposed, says Dr Robinson, to assign its position to the mouth of the Wady Kerak, where the latter opens upon the isthmus of the long peninsula. In that spot Irby and Mangles found the traces of an extensive ancient site {Blh. Res. II. 107). ver. 25. the plain] Lit. the circle^ as in ch. xiii. 10. Gesenius, Knobel, and others, make the i)hrase, the circle of Jordan, to denote the whole of the Ghor, the valley through which the river flows from the Lake Tiberias to the ex- tremity of the Dead Sea. But a careful ex- amination of the different passages where it oc- curs will show, that the phrase was applied only 232 lot's wife. [gen. to the neighbourhood of the five cities where, before the catastrophe mentioned here, the moun- tains which hemmed in Jordan widened out, so as to give room for the broad and well-watered plain where these cities stood. ver. 26. looked back] This showed that the love of Sodom remained m her still ; that though her feet were come from thence, her heart stayed there behind (Bp. Andrewes, Sermon on laike xvii. 32). — and she became a pillar of salt] The language of the sacred text is quite indefinite, and tells us nothing more than the fact of her death by a divine judgment, and that the place where she was left dead became a heap of salt. ver. 27. This may be the proper place to give a brief summary of what modern research has brought to light concerning the Dead Sea, and the locality of the five cities of the plain. The southern portion of Palestine is now bounded by the lake called by the various names of the Salt Sea (Gen. xiv. 3), the Eastern Sea (Ezek. xlvii. 18; Joel ii. 20), the As2)halt Lake, and the Dead Sea and Bahr Liit. In length about 39, and in breadth about 9 geographical miles, it lies sunk in a deep chasm, shut in on both sides by xix. 25 — 27.] THE DEAD SEA. 233 ranges of precipitous limestone rocks, and bounded on the south by the mountain of rock-salt called by the Arabs, Hajr Usdom. Until lately it was thought that it was brought into existence by a frightful convulsion of nature which accompanied the destruction of the cities of the plain, and which formed this chasm, and that up to that time the waters of the Jordan flowed through the 'Arabah into the Gulf of 'Akabah. But the ob- servations of modern travellers, especially of Dr Robinson, have shown that the Jordan could never have flowed into the Red Sea ; for the surface of the Red Sea is 1312 feet above the acrid waters of the Dead Sea, and 620 above the level of the Jordan even at Lake Tiberias. Instead of the land sloping down from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of 'Akabah, the incline is exactly the reverse, so that the waters of the 'Arabah itself, and also those of the high western desert far south of 'Akabah, all flow into the Dead Sea. Every cir- cumstance goes to show that a lake must have existed in this place, into which the Jordan poured its waters, long before the catastrophe of Sodom. Before that event the lake must have covered a much smaller extent of surface than it does now. The cities which were destroyed must have been 234 THE DEAD SEA. [geN. situated on or near the tract now covered by the southern portion of the lake. For Zoar, to which Sodom was so near, lay almost at the southern end of the present sea ; see note on ver. 22. The fertile plain, therefore, which Lot chose as being well-watered, and which appears identical with or to have contained the vale of Siddim, with its bitumen-wells, lay south of the ancient lake. It would from this appear that, at the time of the destruction of Sodom, by volcanic action or other causes, the surface of the plain of the cities was lowered, and the waters of the lake poured over it from the north; at the same time may have been protruded those masses of rock-salt, exhi- bited in the Mount of Usdom, Avhich have ever since embittered the waters of the lake. The fol- lowing facts, lately brought to light, make this supposition very x)robable. A good modem map of the country will show that the lake is in a manner divided into two unequal portions by the peninsula el-Mesraa, which juts into it from the eastern side. The northern portion, which is about three-fourths of the whole, is throughout of gi'eat depth, as is proved by its soundings of from 1000 to 1227 feet. The southern portion, which is supposed here to occupy the ancient plain, is xix. 27.] THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN. 235 very shallow; in winter being 13 feet deep, and late in autumn so shallow as to be forded even by asses. It is on this portion, and on this only, that the bitumen is found floating ; and it is into this southernmost end that those numerous living streams, noticed by Dr Robinson as more in num- ber than can be found in any other locality in Palestine, make their way. In both these respects this shallow basin gives evidence of having been once the well-watered plain of Jordan, and the vale of Siddim, noted for its bitumen-pits. We are not obliged, however, to conclude that, along with the vale of Siddim, the four cities of the plain were submerged. They lay adjacent to the vale, ch. xiv. 3, 10; and several Scripture pas- sages seem to intimate that in later sacred his- torical times the sites and ruins were visible. Comp. Deut. xxix. 23 ; Zeph. ii. 9. Josephus also mentions that the district Sodomitis, once a fruit- ful country containing many cities, lay along the Dead Sea {Bell. Jml. iv. 8. 4). Hence, it is argued by Kurtz, "as the Dead Sea is still bounded on the south by salt-pits (as described in the passages from Zeph. and Deut.), and as according to Gen. x. 19, these cities had formed the southernmost boundary of Canaan, we are warranted in sup- 236 THE DIVINE NAMES. [geN. posing that the four cities had stood on the spot where now salt-pits surround tlie southern boun- dary of the Dead Sea." This note is derived from Robinson, Bib, Res. i. 502, &c.; ii. 188, &c.; Kurtz, I. 137; Thomson, p. 622; Stanley, p. 287. ver. 28. and he looked toward sodom, &c.] Mr Stanley mentions a height on the east of Hebron as the traditional spot where Abraham saAV the smoke of Sodom rising out of the deep gulf between the hills of Engedi and the moun- tains of Moab {Sin. and Pal. p. 101). Dr Ro- binson distinguished Kerak very clearly from the hill on the west of Hebron {Bib. Res. ii. 85). ver. 29. god] In visiting Sodom and the other cities with j)unishment, God displayed Him- self as Jehovah, the righteous Ruler of man. He punished them for their sins. But though Lot was in moral condition raised far above the Sodomites, his conduct, when leaving the city, and more especially afterwards, w. 30 — 35, proves that his religious feeling was but weak. In accord- ance with this we find the sacred narrative em- phatically declaring that his supernatural deliver- ance was wrought only for Abraham's sake. Hence the sacred writer, when speaking of God's dealings exclusively towards a man who must xix. 27 — 38.] lot's daughters. 237 have regarded God more in the light of the un- earthly, the supernatural, than of the Righteous Everliving Being personally interested in his doings, properly speaks of God in the relation of Elohim. ver. 30. cave] From its limestone forma- tion the hills of Palestine abound in caves. Stanley, Sin. and Pal. p. 148. ver. 31. THE rmsTBORX SAID TO THE younger] Disappointment at the loss of their husbands, sen- suality stimulated by the lusts of Sodom, seem to have excited them to their sin. ver. 32. drink wine] The mountains of Moab are full of spacious caves, in which the inhabit- ants of the plain used to store their abundant vintages. It was in such a cave that Lot took refuge, and used the wine which had now no owners {De Sold), ver. 37. moab] which means, he that is longed for (Kurtz), father's offspring {Gesen^. ver. 38. ben-ammi] Meaning, son of my people. 238 THE DIVINE NAMES. [geN. Chapter XX. The use of the two names of God through this chapter is thus accounted for by Hengsten- berg. For Abimelech God is Elohim ; of Jehovah he knew nothing. Hence only as Elohim could He appear to him. What is told of that appear- ance is given from the account of Abimelech. Abraham used the name Elohim in conversation with Abimelech, that he might adapt himself to his religious position. For that reason he also prayed to Elohim — for the intercession was ut- tered in the hearing of the king to whom a prayer addressed to Jehovah would have been unintelligible. The second Elohim in v. 17, ^so Abraham prayed to Elohim; and Elohim healed Abimelech,' is a consequence of the first. On the other hand, Jehovah must stand in v. 18. For liere the historian speaks in his own proper person, and not as a mere reporter of the views and words of other persons. ver. 1. JOUKNEYED FROM thence] From XX. 1.] NEOLOGIAN OBJECTIONS. 239 Mamre, which from its proximity to the scene of the late catastrophe may have presented unpleas- ing associations to him. — between kadesh and shur] Probably at Beer-lahai-roi, which lay in that position, ch. xvi. 7, 14 ; and where Isaac lived, ch. xxv. 11. — gerar] traced by Mr Row- lands in the name Joorf el-Gerar, three hours S.S.E. of Gaza. Near it he found traces of an ancient city, called Khirbet el-Gerar (the ruins of Gerar). ^ vers. 2 — 18. The transaction related in these verses, and the two similar occurrences in xii. 14 — 20, and xxvi. 6 — 11, are assumed by ratio- nalist writers to be but the one and the same fact, presented by the variations of traditions in three different forms. In the prefatory note on ch. xxvi. it will be shown that there are funda- mental differences between the occurrence men- tioned there in relation to Isaac, and the similar passages in Abraham's history. And with regard to Abraham himself, those who have studied the character and relations of the East, can find no difficulty in such an event repeating itself in Abraham's history. Comp, Hsevernick, p. 143; Ayre, p. 572. A special objection has been raised against the historical credibility of the present 240 ABRAHAM A PROPHET. [gEN. passage, on the ground of the great improbability that a woman, aged about ninety, could have offered any attraction. But the matter admits of ready explanation. Since the visit of the angels to Mamre, when Sarah was, through the creative agency of God, made capable of be- coming a mother, her youth and beauty had returned. Comj). Kurtz, Nachmanides in De Sola's note. ver. 2. abimelech] A name, it would seem, common to all the kings of Gerar; see ch. xxvi. 8 ; Ps. xxxiv. Title, compared with 1 Sam. xxi. 10. Similarly, the national kings of Egypt were all called Pharaoh, and those of the Macedonian line, Ptolemy. ver. 3. THOU ART BUT A DEAD MAN] With the reservation usually expressed or implied, unless thou restorest Sarah. ver. 6. WITHHELD thee] by visiting him and his household with some plague; see vv. 17, 18. ver. 7. A prophet] Heb. nahi. The derivation is disputed. It is derived so as to signify either a sjyeaJcer, or one taucjht, i.e. inspired (Davidson, Introtl. p. 809). According to either derivation it cannot be restricted to express 07ilf/ ^foreteller of things to come, but it must signify one com- XX. 1 — 11.] ANTIQUITY OF THE TERM. 241 missioned or qualified to speak for God to man. As Abraham enjoyed direct intercourse with God, he was a prophet in the strict Scriptural sense of the word; Exod. iv. 15, 16; vii. 1. Comp. Fair- bairn, Proph, pp. 5, 6 ; Lee, Inspiration, note K. It has been argued from 1 Sam. ix. 9, that the ap- pellation of Abraham as a nahi, and not as a seer, roeh, is a proof that the present passage was writ- ten long after the time of Moses. The application of the title to him, on the contrary, proves that the passage must have been written long before the time of even Samuel. For the application of this term nahi to Moses (Deut. xviii. 15, 18), to Aaron (Exod. vii. 1), to the prophetic order in Moses' time (Deut. xiii. 1 — 3), to Miriam (Exod. xv. 20), to Deborah (Jud. iv. 4), proves that it was the genuine old designation of the prophetic order, which in the time of Samuel had fallen into disuse. AVhen under David order was restored to Israel, and a regular line of prophets instituted, it appears that the theocratic title was revived. Comp. Ayre, Introd. p. 761 ; Hsevernick, p. 169. ver. 11. THE FEAR OF GOD] the general prin- ciple of religion, as we should now say. The name Elohim is appropriately and necessarily used. The result proved that Abraham was mis- G. 16 242 HE IS TO THEE [geN. taken in thinking that the fear of Elohim was not there, and he acknowledges that. The fear of Jehovah was really not there {Hengstenherg), ver. 16. A most difficidt passage. Do the thousand pieces of silver denote the value of the presents given (ver. 14) to Abraham {Knohel), or a distinct gift to Sarah {Tuch, Kalisch) ? To what does the i^ronoun which we translate he, heholcl he is, refer; to Abraham {Kalisch), or to the gift of a thousand shekels [Knohel, and most exposi- tors)? AVliat is the meaning of the covering of the eyes ; is it a veil used only by married women (Rosenm., v. Bohlen, Tuch, De Sola), or a protec- tion afforded by her husband {Kalisch), or a gift to condone the injury {Gesen., Knohel, Wright)'? What is the meaning of, and what part of the verb is the word which we translate, thus she was reproved? is it to be translated thus (Genesius), or by, thoic hast justice done to thee (Maurer, Knohel, Belitzsch)'? If we adopt the translation of our version, the passage means that the gift of 1000 pieces of silver should be a proof to Sarah that Abraham was sufficient to protect her from the gaze of licentious eyes, and therefore she had gratuitously practised a deception. We are in- clined to prefer the following translation: I have XX. 11 16.] A COVERING OF THE EYES. 243 given tliy hrother a thousand pieces of silver; lo, it is a condoning gift for all that has happened to thee and to all (thy family, or handmaids) ; and thou hast justice done to thee {Maurer, Knob., Del,), or, and she vjas re])roved (Gesen),—C0YmimG of the eyes] by English expositors taken generally to denote a veil; as if he reproved her for going abroad unveiled in the guise of an unmarried woman. But the veil is not the peculiar mark of difference between married and unmarried women, which this explanation supposes. The expression, to cover the eyes of a person in the sense of to cause him to pardon a tvrong, is not unusual in the Bible; see Job ix. 24; Ex. xxiii. 8; Deut. xvi. 19; comp. Ps. xxxii. 1 ; Ixxxv. 2. 16—2 244 ISAAC IS BORN. [gen. Chapter XXI. ver. 1. THE LORD VISITED sarah] It was not a general divine concurrence which attended the birth of Isaac, but strictly a peculiar operation of the living personal God, revealed to the chosen race, and in a peculiar sense their God, to whom it belonged to make and fulfil promises. Hence the subject requires the use of the name Jehovah {Hengstenherg), — ^visited] denotes the Providence of God, whereby He fulfils what He had promised. Sometimes it is to be understood of evils to be inflicted (Exod. xx. 5) ; at other times it denotes the bestowing mercies, as here, and Ps. viii. 4 {Kidder), ver. 2. AT THE SET TIME OF WHICH GOD HAD SPOKEN TO him] See ch. xviii. 10. The reason which Hengstenberg gives for the use of Elohim, where from the reference we should expect rather Jehovah, is not satisfactory. It is used, he says, to "indicate the contrast between the word of God and the word of man, which is proved by the sequel." Tlie use of the name throughout the xxi. 1 — 8.] THE CAUSE OF LAUGHTER. 245 chapter may be better explained on the principle pointed out in the prefatory note to ch. xvii. The sacred writer has in view the momentous trans- action of the next chapter. By it, as we shall see there, was perfectly fulfilled to Abraham the pro- mise of a son. The birth of Isaac was but the preparatory step to the full completion, which was efiected when Jehovah restored Isaac to Abra- ham on Moriah with the promise now confirmed by an oath. Hence, from the natural birth of Isaac to the time of the sacrifice on Moriah, God is spoken of as Elohim to Abraham, because He was still such to Him comparatively with the revelation of Himself He was to vouchsafe to him there. ver. 3. ISAAC] which means laughter. The name points to the contrast between the idea and the fact; in the first instance, to the con- trast between the promise of God on the one hand, and the advanced years of Abraham and Sarah on the other hand. When, by the birth of a son this contradiction was removed, a new and no less decided contrast appears between the greatness of the blessing which the promise had attached to this son, and the weakness of the child which had just come into the world. The 246 ISHMAEL MOCKS ISAAC. [gen. former contrast had caused the laughter of Abra- ham and Sarah, the latter that of Ishmael {Heng- ste^iberg, Kur% Dreclisler), ver. 6. GOD hath made me to laugh, &c.] God, she says, has made her to laugh with won- der and astonishment, by thus fulfilling His pro- mise, notwithstanding her old age ; and all who hear of it will join in laughter of wondering astonishment {Hengstenhei^g). ver. 8. WAS weaked] It is impossible to fix the exact time when he was weaned. From 2 Mace. vii. 27 ; 1 Sam. i. 23, 24 ; Joseph. Ant. ii. 9, 6, it has been inferred that children were weaned at the end of three years. In 2 Chron. xxxi. 16, nothing is assigned for the provision of the priests and Levites until after three years of age, which renders it probable that they were not weaned sooner. Jerome says, that it was a Hebrew opinion that Isaac was five years old. It is still customary in Persia and India to cele- brate the event with a feast. ver. 9. mocking] For this S. Paul has sub- stituted the stronger expression, persecuted, Gal. iv. 29. " Ishmael laughs, mocking the weak babe, about whom his jiarcnts make so much work^ and with whom they connect such exceeding xxi. 3 — 14.] AND IS CAST FORTH. 247 hopes" (Kurtz, Hengstenherg), See Alford on Gal. iv. 29. ver. 12. IN ISAAC SHALL THY SEED BE CALLED] The promised seed to whom the great blessing belongs, shall not descend from Ishmael, but from Isaac {Kidder). vers. 14 — 21. It is objected that this is but a repetition in a different form of the tradition before recorded in ch. xvi. 4 — 16. There is, how- ever, no improbability in the belief that Hagar twice left Abraham's roof. Amid the simple re- lations of nomad life, as Keil observes, such an occurrence is not at all surprising. And in all the particulars narrated there is so much diver- sity, as to render it impossible to fit the two stories to one event (Ayre). Comp. Kalisch, p. 438. ver. 14. A bottle] Rather a ivatershin, such as is to this day used ; see Robinson, Bib. Res, I. 232 ; Thomson, The Land and the Booh, p. 576. — AND GAVE IT, &c.] i. 0. putting the bottle on her shoulder he gave it to Hagar, and also gave her the boy. There is no ground for the assertion of Schumann and v. Bohlen that the sacred writer, forgetful that Ishmael must now be at least fif- teen years old, represents him as a little child still carried by his mother. 248 THE ANGEL OF GOD. [geN. Ver. 15. SHE CAST THE CHILD UNDER] The Heb. verb may be translated lowered, as in Jer. xxxviii. 6. ver. 17. god] The use of the name in this passage is very striking, as in the parallel nar- rative, ch. xvi., we find Jehovah, and the angel of Jehovah. The variation is thus accounted for. Hitherto, as the circumcision of Ishmael proves, Hagar and Ishmael had formed part of the chosen family, and therefore shared in the relation to Jehovah : with the Almighty's declaration, v. 12, In Isaac shall thy seed he called, they were withdrawn from the jurisdiction of Jehovah, and placed under that of Elohim. The outward sepa- ration from the chosen seed was only a mani- festation of that which had already taken place internally {Hengstenherg). ver. 18. HOLD HIM IN THINE HAND] lAt. johl thy hand to him, i.e. lay hold of him with your hand (Gesen). She was to lead the lad; he was therefore, in the writer's mind, not an infant who could be carried in the mother's arms. ver. 19. OPENED HER EYEs] Made her see a well at a short distance from her, which she had not noticed before. Wells in that arid tract are xxi. 15 28.] COVENANT WITH ABIMELECH. 249 sedulously concealed by the roving Nomads from the intrusion of strangers {De Sola), ver. 20. and he grew, and dwelt, &c.] Thus Kalisch and Kurtz. As he was at most aged seventeen, it could well be said that he grew after that age. Maurer and Knobel would translate, and he was groiving an archer j i.e. acquired increasing skill in the use of the bow, and he divelt, &c. ver. 21. paran] The wilderness of Paran embraces the broad desert tract of table-land between Egypt, Palestine, and Mount Seir, which is now called by the Arabs the desert of et-Tih {Kurtz), ver. 22. phichol] The word, according to the Hebrew derivation, means mouth of ally i. e. commander of all {Gesenius). It seems to have been a general name for the chief captains of the kings of Gerar. — god is with thee in all THAT THOU doest] The blessing of God which rested on Abraham moved reverence in these heathens. We have here an image of the bless- ing which, even in 0. T. times, reached beyond the people of the covenant, and extended itself to the heathen (v, Gerlach). ver. 28. seven ewe-lambs] Seven is a pecu- 250 BEERSHEBA. [gen. liarly sacred number in Scripture, apparently meant to bear reference to the covenant of God. Hence Abraham gives Abimelech seven lambs in token of the covenant or oath passed be- tween them. " The presentation," says Heng- stenberg, ^^of seven lambs was an usual symbol at that time — the incorporation of the transaction and the oaths" {Pentateuch^ i. 285). He gives no proof of the existence of the custom he mentions. Herodotus says that the Arabs, when pledging their faith, smeared blood drawn from their hands on seven stones {Hist iii. 8). ver. 31. beer-sheba] The well of the oath {Gesenius), The site was visited by Dr Robinson in 1838. Although it lies near the desert, the country about it is fit for pasturage. Near the ruins are two wells, called Blr-es-seba, the sides of which are sheathed with solid masonry of great antiquity. The water in both is pure and sweet and in abundance. Bib. Res. i. 203. ver. 33. a grove] Rather a tamarlsJcj a tree which grows to a considerable size in Palestine. xxii.] THE OFFERING UP OF ISAAC. 251 Chapter XXII. This chapter records the most important event in Abraham's career. The references to it in the N'ew Testament (Heb. vi. 13 — 17; xi. 17; Jas. ii. 21) point to it as the climax of all the trials and leadings of his life. Once he has passed beyond it, his life is spent untroubled and unmoved. The inquiry naturally presents itself, why did his trial take this peculiar form? The satisfactory answer seems to be this. The promise was made to Abraham of a blessed race, and of a son Isaac through whom this race was to be derived to him (ch. xvii. 19; xviii. 10; compared with Rom. ix. 7, 8). It might be thought that the promise was fulfilled in the birth of Isaac; but, in Heb. vi. 13 — 17, it is declared that the promise was not fulfilled to him until the ofiering was made on Mount Moriah ; comp. also Heb. xi. 17, lohence he received Mm, For though born by the creative working of God, Isaac was still the naturally 252 WHEREFORE REQUIRED. [gen. born son of Abraham, linked to him solely by the tie of fleshly sonship. The rite of circum- cision brought both father and son only outwardly and in a symbolic way into the spiritual lineage by which they were united in one family to one another and to God. To effect this, and to make Isaac the son of promise and blessing to Abra- ham as well as the son born of the flesh, a fresh trial is laid on Abraham. As formerly he had sacrificed father and mother and kindred and country, so now he is called on to surrender up the life of his only son in whom the promises seemed to centre. His complete dependence and reliance on God stands the trial, and is proved by it. He receives back his son, and with him the sworn, and therefore irrevocably fixed, pro- mise of God, that he himself should be the father of a blessed race, which was to issue from him through Isaac. The trial has its bearing on Isaac also, for, as arrived at an age when he could bear the wood for the sacrifice, he could have resisted the will of his father; but even as the father's will is so conformed to the will of God as to sacrifice his son, so the son's will is so moulded into likeness with the father's as to be obedient to him even unto death. Thus xxii.] THE REFERENCE TO CHRIST. " 253 is proved a true spiritual affinity between them ; and' Abraham receives his son back with the seal of God's promise of being the channel through which he was to be made the father of nations. The sonship of Isaac is therefore per- fected. Viewing the transaction in this light we can see the true typical relationship which con- nects it with Christ's sacrifice. Abraham was by it made the human father of the multitude of blessed nations, and Isaac the son through whom the multitude of nations were to trace their lineage to Abraham. This was the human basis essential in the divine counsels to the Incarnation of the Son of God. And as it was arrived at through denial and sacrifice of the will in compliance to the will of God, it was the fit antecedent of that perfect sacrifice of the Son of God who came to do the will of God, and therefore took on Him the form of a servant, and so perfectly brought His human will into subjection to the Divine will as to become obedient even unto death. See especially Kurtz, I. p. 263. That the ofiering of Isaac and the sacrifice of Christ are typically connected, was always discerned by our old divines ; yet througli failing to observe the true gi'ound of the relation. 254 NATURE OF THE TRIAL [geN. and tlirougli their tendency to run into minute applications, they have for the most part placed it too much in the light of an accidental parallelism between two unconnected events. Of all of them Jackson has come nearest the truth, Works, Vol. VIII. pp. 151, 370, 396. Comp. Pearson, 0)i the Creed, Art. rv; Mede, Disc. xiii. We are thus prepared to discern the accurate use of the divine names. From the time of the natural birth of Isaac up to the time that he is restored to Abraham on Moriah, Elohim is used; after that point is reached, Jehovah appears. For in the first period God was in the sacred writer's eyes unto Abraham only Elohim, in comparison with the fulness of revelation of Himself, as the Personal God blessing His people, vouchsafed to Abraham when God perfectly fulfilled the promise of giving him a son. See pref. note to ch. xvii. ver. 1. GOD DID tempt] or try. Throughout all Scripture, the trials w^hich God exposes men to are represented as means to strengthen faith, and consequently as a divine benefit. The tempta- tion or trial here was, whether Abraham's faith was of such self-renouncing power as to enable him to sacrifice for the Lord that in which centred his afiections and his hopes. Tliough it was only the xxii. 1, 2.] OF Abraham's faith. 255 implicit surrender of his son in mhid and heart that was required of Abraham, yet it was neces- sary to be effected in this shape, in order to avoid all mental reservation and self-delusion on his part. When the mental sacrifice was tho- roughly accomplished by Abraham, then God in- terposed and prevented the actual sacrifice, which was not requisite. Thus Kurtz. For the objec- tions to the transaction on the part of the old English deistical writers, see Waterland, WovTcSj IV. 199; and for those of later German rationalist writers, Hsevernick, p. 172. ver. 2. WHOM THOU lovest] He is to offer up the son whom he had hoped and waited for twenty-five years, and on whose life hung all the precious and glorious promises which held out such unspeakable blessing and salvation itself to all nations. And yet Abraham was to preserve his faith, and his confidence in him who had given them. This was the testing-point in the temptation (Kurtz). Heb. xi. 17 — 19. — land of moriah] The name would lead us to conclude that the mountain was the same with that on which Solomon built the temple (2 Chron. iii. 1). This inference is rendered more probable when we find the distance between Beer-sheba and 256 GERIZIM NOT MORIAH. [geN. Jerusalem, as represented by Dr Kobinson, to be just such as Abraham might have traversed in three days. Dr Robinson travelled with camels from Beer-sheba to Jerusalem, in twenty hours and twenty-five minutes ; Abraham, ivho travelled with asses, took three days to reach his destination. But Gerizim, near Sychem, which Mr Stanley, following the Samaritan tradition, maintains to be the Moriah of Genesis, was a journey of thirty- five hours to the American traveller. This alone proves that it would have been impossible for Abraham to have, reached Gerizim in three days. See this argument strongly confirmed by the ex- perience of Dr Thomson, Land and Booh, p. 475. The name Moriah, here applied to the country, was in the time of Solomon confined to the Temple Mount: various explanations, founded on various derivations, have been given of it : Tliat ivhich is shown of, appearance of Jehovah {Heng- stenherg, Kurtz) \ chosen hy Jehovah (Gesenius); shown hy Jehovah (v, Gerlach); country rich in springs {Ehrard), ver. 5. AND COME AGAIN TO YOu] This de- claration proves that Abraham 'accounted that God was able to raise up Isaac from the dead;' Hcb. xi. 17—19. xxii. 2 — 16.] JEHOVAH-JIREH. 257 ver. 14. jehovah-jireh] i.e. the Lord sees or provides; in reference to his own ansAver in V. 8, God will provide himself a burnt- offering, — AS IT IS SAID TO THIS DAY, IN THE MOUNT OF THE LORD IT SHALL BE SEEN] or, so that it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord provision shall he made; i.e. The Lord is ever present in His holy mountain with His ready help {Wright), The strong hold that this event took of the memories of Abraham's imme- diate descendants is proved by the allusion made by Moses (Ex. xv. 17), where he gives the people prophetic promise of this mountain being the place of the sanctuary. Hengstenberg labours to trace a connexion between the name Moriah (as if it were given to the mountain from this transac- tion) and the name given by Abraham here. But certainly from the reference to the name Moriah in V. 2, it appears to have been in existence be- fore this, and to have been applied not to the mountain but to the country, and hence to have no connexion with the name applied by Abraham to the mountain alone. ver. 16. HAVE I sworn] God's oath imports more than His tvord merely. Blessings i)romised, but not confirmed by oath, were conditional, and G. 17 258 HAVE I SWORN. [gen. the promise revocable. The oath of God Avas always an infallible argument that the thing which He swore was immutable. Thus Dean Jackson, Worls, Vol. VIII. p. 399, &c. ver. 17. POSSESS the gate] i.e. conquer the cities. ver. 20. The account of Nahor's family is here inserted as a necessary introduction to the rela- tion of Isaac's marriage with Rebecca, to prove that she was of his kindred (J)e Sola), xxiii. 1 — 6.] BURIAL OF SARAH. 259 Chapter XXIII. ver. 1. SARAH] The only woman, remarks Lightfoot, the length of whose life is related in Scripture. ver. 2. CAME TO MOURif, &c.] There is some- thing formal in this remark, but it is in perfect accordance with present customs. Should such a person die here to-morrow, there would be a solemn mourning and weeping, — not as indicating the grief of the family so much as in honour of the dead (Thomson, Land and the Book, -p, 577). — came] either from his own tent, or from some other place in the neighbourhood where he hap- pened to be. ver. 6. A MIGHTY prixce] Lit. a prime of God, blessed by God.— m the choice of our SEPULCHRES BURY THY DEAD] A mere Oriental compliment. There has always been the utmost exclusiveness in this country in regard to tombs. Abraham regarded the offer in its true light [Thomson), 17—2 260 ORIENTAL CONTRACTS. [gen. ver. 7. STOOD up and bowed] Anotlier act of respect in accordance with modern manners {Thomson). ver. 8. INTREAT FOR ME TO ephron] There is scarcely anything in the habits of Orientals more annoying than this universal custom of em- ploying mediators to pass between you and those with whom you wish to do business. Nothing can be done without them {Thomson). yer. 9. machpelah] a proper name. Dr Robin- son considers the tradition accurate which marks the very ancient enclosure of masonry surrounding the Great Haram at Hebron as the sepulchre of Abraham {Bib. Res. ii. 79). A description of the enclosure, of the mosque and the cave beneath the mosque, is given by Dr Thomson from obser- vations of himself and other travellers {Land and Booh, p. 581). ver. 11. the field give i thee] One of the usual exaggerations of Oriental politeness; and thus it was understood. ver. 15. shekels] in weight, not in coin; see next verse, and note on ch. xxxiii. 19. ver. 16. and Abraham weighed, &c.] As Jeremiah, by the purchase of the field of Hana- meel, proved his conviction of the return of Israel xxiii. 7 — 17.] ORIENTAL CONTRACTS. 261 fi'om the captivity, so the Patriarch evinces his belief that his descendants will possess the land by this act. ver. 17. AND THE FIELD, &c.] The specifica- tions in the contract are just such as are found in modern deeds. It is not enough that you purchase a well-known lot ; the contract must mention every- thing that belongs to it {Thomson), 262 , MARRIAGE OF ISAAC. [gen. Chapter XXIV. ver. 1. old] about 140 years; comp. cli. xxi. 5, and xxv. 20. ver. 2. servant] generally understood to be Eliezer of Damascus. — put thy hand under my thigh] He commands him to put his hand there, that being mindftd of the promise of circumcision he might not defile his master's race with a foreign marriage {Theodoret). The other ancient writers and the Jewish Rabbins similarly refer the ges- ture to the covenant sign; and rightly, since its use is confined to the patriarchs. Kurtz explains the symbol as referring to the thigh as the seat of power. Why then was the custom not more general? Aben-Ezra takes it as a sign of subjec- tion of the servant to the master ; yet Jacob used it in the case of his son Joseph. ver. 3. THOU SHALT NOT, &c.] The reason of Abraham's precaution will be found in the com- mand afterwards given to Israel (Deut. vii. 3). ver. 7. THE lord] That throughout the nar- xxiv. 1 11.] ACCURACY OF THE NARRATIVE. 263 rative of Isaac's marriage the name Jehovali should be most prominent, is exceedingly natural. The writer's design is not to show, by a single example, the agency of Divine Providence in the marriage institution ; in such a case Elohim would have been suitable. His design is rather to show how the special Providence of the God of revela- tion superintends the chosen race {Hengstenherg). ver. 10. TEN camels] Such an expedition would not now be undertaken from Hebron with any other animals, nor with a less number. The most direct route would be along the west side of Jordan and the lakes, into the Buk'ah, and out through the land of Hamath to the Euphrates, and thence to the city of Nahor {Thomson). — MESOPOTAMIA] Hcb. Aram-naharaim, Aram or Syria of the two rivers, the country between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Padan-Aram, the abode of Bethuel, was a district of Aram-naharaim. ver. 11. CAMELS TO kneel] The action is literally kneeling. — without the city by a well] In the East the people prefer to have the well outside the city, to avoid the noise, dust, and confusion always occurring at it. It is around the fountain that the thirsty traveller and the wearied caravan assemble. It was perfectly natural, there- 264 ELIEZER AND REBECCA. [gen. fore, for Eliezer to halt there {TJiomson). — the EVENING, EVEN THE TIME THAT WOMEN GO OUT TO DRAW water] True to life. At that hour the peasant returns home from his labour. Cool fresh water is then demanded, and of course there is a great concourse around the well. About great cities men often carry water ; but in the country ivoinen only go to the well {Thomson). ver. 15. her pitcher upon her shoulder] The Egyptian and the negro carry on the head, the Syrian on the shoulder or hip (Thomso'ii), ver. 16. WENT down to the well] Nearly all the wells in the East are in wadies [hollows between hills], and many of them have steps down to the water {Thomson), ver. 19. I will draw water for thy CAMELS also] As we might infer from Eliezer's prayer, this was an unusual act of kindness. For although Dr Robinson on one occasion found people ready to offer to draw water for the ani- mals of his party {Bih. Res, ii. p. 22), Dr Thomson often found it difficult to get his horse watered even for money {Land and the Boo\ p. 593). ver. 20. the trough] several of which are generally at the wells (Robinson, ii. 26). ver. 22. golden, eabring] more properly, xxiv. 11 55.] LABAN GIVES REBECCA. 265 nose-ring, an ornament still worn by women in the East. ver. 30. when he saw the ear-ring, he SAID, COME IN, &c.] The greediness of gain, which the subsequent history shows to have characterized Laban, here appears prominently. — thou blessed OF THE lord] We might feel tempted to attribute Laban's use of the name Jehovah to the remains of a deeper knowledge of God which was retained in the family of Nahor; but the exact reference of ver. 31 to ver. 27 is against this opinion. Laban's Come in, thou blessed of Jeliovah, is a mere echo of the servant's Blessed he Jehovah. Also in vers. 51, 52, no independent knowledge of Jehovah is manifested, but only the reception of what the servant had said of him {Hengstenherg). ver. 32. straw and provender] that is, tib^i, and some kind of pulse and grain. There is no hay in the East [Thomson), ver. 50. laran] In those ancient days the brothers appear to have had even a stronger right of protection and care over their sisters than the fathers over their daughters; comp. ch. xxxiv. 13. There are still traces among the modem Arabs of this custom (Rosenmidler). ver. 55. A few days, at least ten] Thus 266 SHE MEETS ISAAC. [gen. most modern exi:)ositors translate in preference to the translation of some Jewish interpreters adopted by Patrick, about ten months, ver. 59. nurse] Deborah; ch. xxxv. 8. ver. 63. to meditate] This translation is supported by Se^jt., Vulg., RosenmuUer, Maurer, Tuch, Baumgarten. The other translations pro- posed are : to pray {Onlielos, Saadias, Luther) ; to converse {Aquila, Symmachus, v, Bohlen); to walh {Ahen-E%raj Kimchi); to mourn for his mother (Knohel). ver. 64. when she saw isaac, she lighted OFF THE camel] It is customary for both men and women, when an emeer or great personage is approaching, to alight some time before he comes up with them. Women frequently refuse to ride in the presence of men {Thomson). An instance of women dismounting until the man passes is found in Niebuhr's travels, as cited by Rosenmuller. ver. 65. took a vail] In the East the bride is brought veiled to her husband. XXV. 1 — 3.] Abraham's descendants. 267 Chapter XXV. ver. 1. keturah] Katura is the name of a tribe in the neighbourhood of Mecca. ver. 2. zimran] Perhaps the Zemareni of Plin. VI. 32 {Delitzsch). Knobel sees a resemblance to the word in Zahram, the royal city of the Kinsedokolpitee of Ptol. vi. 7. 5, 20, 23.--JOK- shan] The Kassanitm of Ptol. vi. 7. 6, who dwelt by the Red Sea to the south of the Kinsedokol- pitse. — MEDAN AND midian] Moclicma on the east coast of the (Elanitic Gulf, and Madiaiia a dis- trict to the north-east of it. The two races seem to have been united; for the Midjanim are called Medanim, ch. xxxvii. 28, 36. — ishbak] or Jisclibak, perhaps appears in ScJioheh, a place in the land of Edom. See Robinson, ii. 123. — shuah] may be compared with the Arab tribe Syayhe, on the east of Aila; or with the place ScJiyhlian in Moabitis. Bildad, the friend of Job, was of this tribe; Job ii. 11. ver. 3. sheba] N'eighbours of the N'abathse- ans, according to Strab. xvi. p. 779; alluded to 268 BY KETURAH. [gEN. in Job i. 15, vi. 19 (Knohel). — dedai^] the bami Dudan in Hegaz or Hedjaz. — asshurim] the powerful and warlike races of the Asyr, dwell- ing in the south of Hedjaz. — letushim] the hanu Letts in Hedjaz. — leummim] the tribe of the beni Lam, who were spread as far as Babylonia and JNlesopotamia. The plural forms of these last names are well adapted to widely diflPused and dispersed tribes (Knobel), ver. 4. ephah] named in Isai. Ix. 6 after Mi- dian, as a tribe which brought gold and incense to the Hebrews. — epher] Probably the banu Glii- phar, belonging to the tribe Kenana in Hedjaz. — hanoch] Hanakye, three days' journey to the north of Mecca. — abidah and eldaah] The Abida and the Wadaa, two important tribes near the Asyr. The preceding notices are derived from the commentaries of Knobel and Delitzsch. ver. 6. concubines] Hagar and Keturah. ver. 8. WAS gathered to his people] An expression which shows that death was not re- garded in those times as the termination of ex- istence. Comp. note on ch. xv. 15. ver. 11. GOD blessed isaac] Elohim appears, because the blessing here referred to was only of an earthly temporal character. XXV. 3 15.] BY HAGAR. 269 vers. 12—15. nebajoth and kedar] thus connected not only in Isa. Ix. 7, but also in Pliny {H. N. VI. 32, Nahatcei et Cedrei). Kaidhdr and Ndbt or Nahit appear in the Arabian ge- nealogies as descendants of Ishmael. The Xa- bathseans were a powerful people who i^ossessed great part of Southern Arabia. Three centuries before Christ they took Petra from the Edomites, and occupied almost all of the original country of that nation. According to Delitzsch, the lan- guage of the Nabathseans was quite Aramaic. Kedar, or the Cedreni, dwelt between Arabia Pe- trsea and Babylonia. — dumah] Hence is derived the name of the town Dumath al Djendel in the district of Djof or Gof, between the Syrian Desert and Arabia Proper, about six days' journey from Damascus, and thirteen from Medina. — massa] perhaps the Masani of Ptolemy, v. 19. 2. {KaliscJi), — tema] A trace of the ancient abode of this tribe may be found in the little castel- lum Thaima, near the border of the Syrian desert, about three days' journey from Medina — jetur] The Itureans, who occupied the north-east of Palestine to the east of Mount Hermon. Nothing can be said with any degree of certainty about the remaining tribes mentioned here. 270 BOUNDS OF ISHMAEL. [geN. Ver. 18. THEY DWELT FROM HAVILAH UNTO SHUR, THAT IS BEFORE EGYPT, AS THOU GOEST TOWARD ASSYRIA] Tlicy clivelt froiii Havilcihy or Chaulan in the south, to SJiiir, the eastern houudary of Egypt, m the north-west, as thou goest toivard Assyria, i.e. all along from Shur in the west to Assyria in the east and north-east. Or we might understand by Havilah, the place Huale on the Persian Gulf, and compare with it the Chaulotsei (Strabo, xvi. p. 7Q7\ or Chaulasii (Dionys. Perieg, 956), or Avalitae (Plin. H, N. vi. 32), though this tribe dwelt more to the north-west. In this case the Ishmaelites would be represented as extending first from the south-east to the north- west, and from that to the north-esist {Knohel), Comp. notes on ch. x. 7, 29. ver. 20. Syrian] Lit. Aramean, inhabitant of Aram. — padan-aram] Aram, which means high- land, is the general name for Syria. Aram-naha- raim, or Aram of the two rivers, is Mesopotamia ; while Padan-Aram {Padan = cultivated land, from Padah = plough) is the name of some particular fertile district in it (ch. xxiv. 10 = xxv. 20), where Xahor took up his abode. ver. 21. barren] for twenty years. ver. 22. she went] This shows that it was XXV. 18 — 29.] TWO NATIONS. 271 not in vision or in dream that she inquired of the Lord. Whither or to lohom she went Scrii^ture says not. ver. 23. two nations] The prophecy was in reference not to the individuals, but to the races which were to spring from them, and which, as elsewhere in Scripture, are regarded as included in the fathers. — the elder shall serve the younger] The promise of the seed of blessing is limited to the race of the younger son. The servitude of the elder to the younger refers to the universal rule which Christ as man merited by His obedience to death (Heb. i. 2, Phil. ii. 10, Eph. i. 22), and to that dominion which His glori- fied Church is to enjoy with Him (Rev. v. 10). ver. 26. esau] Hairy (Geseniiis). The birth of Esau and Jacob, though mentioned after the death of Abraham, occurred fifteen years before it. The order of time is sometimes not observed (Kidder). ver. 27. JACOB] He ivho takes hy the heel, trips up, a supplanter, ver. 28. he did eat of his venison] or, venison was aceording to his taste, venison was his favourite food (Delitzsch, Wright). ver. 29. faint] In the next chapter a famine 272 ESAU SELLS HIS BIRTH-RIGHT. [gen. is mentioned. We may perhaps thus account for Esau's eagerness for food. ver. 30. THAT RED POTTAGE] Lit. that redy red; a repetition expressive of eagerness. The pottage was made of the 'adis or lentiles, still prepared in Palestine for food. "The pottage generally is made of the brown or bronze-coloured, and not of the red kind. I can testify that when cooking it diffuses far and wide an odour ex- tremely grateful to a hungry man" (Thomson, p. 587). Comp. Robinson, i. 166. ver. 31. BmTHRiGHT] The external rights of primogeniture gave at least a double inheritance (Deut. xxi. 17), if not more (Gen. xxv. 5, 6) ; and implied primacy over the family (Gen. xlix. 3). With the latter a third advantage was connected in the family of the patriarchs, viz. the trans- ference of the promised blessing (Kurtz). ver. 32. I AM AT THE POINT TO DIE] The words in the Hebrew do not mean, as the translation intimates, that Esau was at the point of death through hunger, but that his life as a hunter led him into constant dangers {Knohel, Wi-lglit). Or, it means, / must one day or other diej what do I want then with the inheritance? He con- sidered himself only and not his posterity, and XXV. 29 — 32.] A PROFANE PERSON. 273 preferred what was tangible and present, to that which was invisible and in the future (Delitzsch). The epithet profane applied to Esau in Heb. xii. 16 is quite justified by this language of his. Provided that his desires were satisfied in the present time he did not care to hear of spiritual blessings. Though Jacob's desire to take advan- tage of his brother's folly is not to be excused, his conduct we see is not so bad as is represented by our version. G. 18 274 CONTRAST BETWEEN [gen. Chapter XXVL The marked similarity between the contents of this chapter and certain passages in Abraham's life has led rationalist writers to aflEirm that it is only a reproduction of part of Abraham's history. But, notwithstanding the apparent similarity of events, there is a real dissimilarity, having its foun- dation in the differences of character of the two patriarchs. " Abraham takes refuge in Egypt, and Isaac is about to imitate him. But Abraham learns only by the complications and dangers in which he is involved, that this device was contraiy to the will of God. On the other hand, Isaac, whose greater weakness of character would not have been equal to the dangers which there threatened him, or wliose softness could not have resisted the peculiar attnictions of the land, is by divine in- tervention i)reservcd from following the device >vhich he had at first conceived. What Abraham could not experience, Isaac learned by the hun- XXvi. 1.] ABRAHAM AND ISAAC. 275 dredfold harvest which he reaped, viz. that even in a year of famine and failure the land of pro- mise would yield a blessing, and manifest the reality of the promise given him. Analogous and not less apparent is the difference between Abra- ham and Isaac under those circumstances which had led to another fall of Abraham. That patriarch loses his wife. The protection of God does not spare him this trial, although it delivers him from dangers which might thence have resulted. The weaker Isaac is spared this trial, and the protec- tion of God manifests itself in this, that the false- hood of his pretence appears before it is too late. The similarity of their nomadic occupations, and the continuance of former circumstances, account for the fact that in both cases we read of the same stations and wells, and of another alliance with Abimelech. But what a contrast between the personality of Abraham, who commands re- spect, and the patient yielding of Isaac. People do not interfere with the rights and privileges of Abraham, but Isaac must give place before con- tinual hostilities and interferences" (Kurtz). ver. 1. abimelech] Abimelech, like Phichol, was a name of office, not of person. All the kings of Gerar were called Abimelech; see note on 18—2 276 PILGRIM-LIFE OF ISAAC. [gen. ch. XX. 2. We are therefore not obliged by the identity of name to infer the identity of person here and in ch. xx. Still, considering the age that the people at that period lived to, the chro- nology does not forbid this inference, which is rather confirmed by the conduct of Abimelech on this occasion. He who earlier in life had not hesitated to seize the beautiful Sarah, now, when age had quelled his passions, is only fearful lest any of his subjects should insult Rebekah. — unto gerar] In the time of scarcity it was very natural for Isaac to take refuge in the plains of Philistia, which are described by Dr Thomson as exceeding in fertility the richest parts of America. " Without manure, and with a style of ploughing and general culture which would secure nothing but failure in America, this vast plain continues to produce splendid crops every year; and this too, after forty centuries of such tillage" {The Land and the JUiok, p. 557). He includes Gerar in this de- scription. ver. 2. THE lord] used appropriately in this chapter. Hitherto Isaac had prospered through God's general providence, ch. xxv. 11. A famine occurring, as he could not hope, according to the natural course of things as thus regulated, to find xxvi. 1 — 12.] god's protection. 277 support in Palestine, lie seems to have designed to go to Egypt. At the command of Jehovah, who reveals Himself and renews the blessing of Abra- ham, he continues in the country of the Philistines, and (ver. 12) is rewarded by the extraordinary return that the land makes to him, not in the natural course of things, but by the blessing of Jehovah. Even the heathens (ver. 28) saw a special interposition of the God whom Isaac wor- shipped. Comp. Hengstenberg, Pent, i. 352. ver. 8. A window] Heb. the challon; the aper- ture in the parapet round the roof of Abimelech's palace, through which the king could look down on the houses in the town, and see what took place in the domestic privacy of their inner courts. Compare 2 Sam. xi. 2 {v. Bolilen). ver. 10. THOU SHOULDEST HAVE BROUGHT guiltiness] He had in mind the punishment incurred by the outrage committed in Sarah's case, ver. 12. Isaac is taught that even in a time of famine the Lord can provide for His own who obey Him.— IN the same year] In Palestine the harvest is reaped in less than four months after sowing in the same year. — an hundredfold] No improbability in this enormous yield, as is shown by Dr Thomson, p. 83. 278 PHILISTINE AGGRESSION. [gen. ver. 20. esek] The reason of this name being assigned is seen by translating the verse: He called the name of the well, contention (EseJc), because they contended with him. ver. 21. sitnah] which means enmity, ver. 22. rehoboth] sjjace, extension. The name is still preserved in the Wady er-Ruhaibeh, midway between Gerar and Beer-sheba, at the fork of the two main roads to Gaza and Hebron. On the hill to the left of the valley are ruins covering twelve acres in extent (Robinson, i. 196). ver. 24. Forced from the place where in time of famine he had found plenty, he is comforted by a renewed assurance of the Lord's protec- tion. ver. 25. digged a well] apparently in addi- tion to that already sunk by Abraham. It is remarkable that there are tivo wells sheeted with masonry of great antiquity at Beer-sheba. ver. 2G. ahuzzath, one of his friends] Ilis cliief minister and counsellor; comp. 1 Kin. iv. 5; 1 Chroii. xxvii. 33.— phichol] an official title, it would seem, like the name Abimelech, as mmllr or mnshir in the modern Palestine. "If one of these officers is spoken of, his name is nircly mentioned; I indeed never knew any but xxvi. 20 — 34.] COVENANT WITH ABIMELECII. 270 the official titles of these Turkish officers" (Thom- son, p. 560). ver. 33. Rationalist writers find here a proof that the narrative of Isaac's covenant with Abime- lech is only the transaction of ch. xxi. in a dif- ferent shape. But " that the Philistine king made a covenant with Isaac is probable ; that Isaac then received the first intelligence of the well which his servants digged, and that he named it Shebah, in commemoration of the sworn covenant, is pos- sible ; finally, that Beer-sheba is named from two wells, in allusion to the two covenants made be- tween Abimelech, and Abraham, and Isaac, is con- firmed by the two ancient wells which Robinson found there. As we find that Isaac renewed the old names of the wells in other places, it is ren- dered probable that in thus naming the well, he aUuded to the naming by his father of the other well which lay near" {DeUtzsch), — shebah] mean- ing oath. ver. 34. Fresh proof of Esau's profanity. Care- less of the religious hopes and promises of the chosen family, he marries into a Canaanitish family. 280 MORALITY OF THE NARRATIVE. [gen. Chapter XXVII. The conduct of Isaac, Rebekah, and Jacob, as narrated in this chapter, has been made the gi'ound of objection to the moral teaching of the Bible, but very incorrectly. There would indeed be matter for objection if the conduct of these personages was held forth as worthy of approba- tion; but the narrative has been so framed as to express, not indeed by words but by the equally expressive testimony of the issue of events, God's disapprobation of actions, which He permitted but yet overruled so as to bring out His own purposes. Isaac finds his ill-devised attempt to favour Esau recoil on himself and breed dissension between his sons. Jacob has to flee from his home and endure years of exile and hardship among kins- men, who overreach him as he overreached his brotlier. Ilebekah is obliged to drive her best- loved son from her presence in order to secure his safety. Thus the punishment which the tmns- action brings down on each of the offendei-s is the xxvii.] USE OF THE NAMES OF GOD. 281 sure proof of the light in which their conduct was regarded by the Almighty Overruler of events. The explanation given by Hengstenberg of the use of the divine names in this chapter, and in the first four verses of the next, is not satisfactory. The following is proposed. Isaac, thinking that death was at hand, proposed to confer a solemn blessing on his son Esau. Al- though the words, ^that I may bless thee before the Lordl were used by Rebecca when repeating to Jacob what he had said, it is not improbable that Isaac may have used the expression ^before the Lord.' When about to implore a blessing on his son, he might well have had in mind God under that character in which He held forth so splendid a future to his descendants, and who had assured to Abraham and to Isaac the cer- tainty of His promises by immediate marks of favour. For the same reason Jacob would, in V. 20, use the words tlie Lord thy God. In V. 27 Isaac is obliged to use the name Lord, because the garden of the Lord, or Paradise, supplied to him the image of that earthly abode which he desired for his son. In the blessing contained in vv. 28, 29, the name Jehovah would have been misplaced. None of the Patriarchs 282 USE OF THE NAMES OF GOD. [gen. could tiike on themselves to single out the par- ticular person who was to be the inheritor of the blessing of Abraham. Hence, neither Isaac when blessing the supposed Esau, nor Jacob when blessing Joseph, used the name Jehovah. Xay, the use of the name Elohim, leads me to think that Isaac had not at all the blessing of Abraham in view; but that he only, out of the fulness of his partiality for Esau, desired to se- cure his temporal welfare without any thought of Jacob. In the unexpected result he recog- nises the hand of God marking out Jacob as the inheritor of the hopes of the family. For this reason, in ch. xxviii. 3, by a solemn bene- diction he acknoAvledges him as such. He uses the name El-Shaddai, which God had Himself used, in ch. xvii. 1, when giving the promise to Abraham, and beseeches God, in that character, to use I lis Almighty power in controlling and disposing all events, so that, notwithstanding natund improbabilities, the promises might be fulfilled to Jacob. Hengstenberg certainly is mistiiken in tiiking El-Shaddai as conveying a conception of God equivalent to that denoted by Elohim. In ch. xvii. 1, xxviii. 3, xlix. 25, El Shaddcd denotes the Personal God overruling xxvii. 2 4.] THE BLESSING OF ISAAC. 283 by His might all things to the accomplish- ment of His promises, and to the good of His servants. ver. 2. death] Isaac, however, did not die for upwards of forty years after this; see ch. XXXV. 28. ver. 4. SAVOURY meat] The most esteemed dishes of the Orientals are saturated with butter or fat, highly seasoned with salt, spices, garlic, onions, sharpened with vegetable acids, and sweetened with honey or vegetable sweets {Pict Bible). It appears strange that, before pronounc- ing the blessing, Isaac should have demanded meat such as he loved. We cannot regard the meal as a covenant-feast, for in that case both parties must have joined in it. Nothing, there- fore, remains but to suppose that Isaac had wished to excite his animal spirits, and to pre- dispose himself for pronouncing a blessing, by partaking of savoury meat and drinking wine, just as Elisha wished to encourage and excite himself for prophetic inspiration by music. This appears the more likely as, irrespective of its acceptableness, the gift desired was one of love, an expression of the attachment of the son to his father; just as the blessing was an expres- 284 JACOB. [gen. sion of the tenderness of the father to the son {Kurtz}. ver. 12. I SHALL BRING A CTJRSE UPON ME] He is not afraid of deceiving his blind father, only of being detected. ver. 15. goodly] His Jinest or best clothes, worn on especial occasions {Kiiohel, Wright). ver. 16. SKINS OF the kids] The black silky liair of the eastern camel-goat vras used by the Romans for false hair {Tiich). In Sol. Song iv. 1, tlie bride's hair is compared to that of goats {Rosenm). ver. 27. THE SMELL OF MY SON IS AS THE SMELL OF A FIELD, &c.] Many parts of Arabia and Palestine exhale a most delicious odou^ (Herod, iii. 113) ; after a refreshing rain especially tlie air is perfumed with a fragrance inexpressi- bly sweet (Plin. xvii. 5). Thus the garments of Esau, the man of the field, were redolent of the scent of aromatic herbs ; they called up in Isaac's mind the pictures of freshness, health, and abund- ance [KaUsch, Tuchy—A field which the lord HATH BLESSED] He speaks of a field like that of Paradise, resplendent with traces of the Deity— an ideal field, bearing the same relation to an ordinary one as Israel to the heathen— a kind xxvii. 4 — 39.] ESAU. 285 of enchanted garden, such as would be realized in a later period in Canaan, as far as the fidehty of the people permitted it {Hengstenherg). ver. 28. therefore god give thee] This promise is at first annexed to things seen at present, hence it rises to the unseen future. The summit and centre of the blessing is contained in the words, 'Be Lord over thy brethren,' since thereby was signified that he alone was bearer of the blessing, — the others only shared the advan- tage through him. The lordship over the whole race consisted externally in the dominion which the Israelites exercised, in a great measure, over those descended from Esau, but spiritually in the rule of the Messiah which was to last for ever {v. GerlacJi). — fatness of the earth] i. e. fertile meadows {Wright), ver. 33. trembled] He sees that without knowing it he had blessed, not according to his own will, but by the authority and according to the wiU of God {Kurtz), ver. 38. wept] But, Heb. xii. 17, 'He found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.' ver. 39. thy dwelling shall be the fat- ness OF THE earth, &c.] Most modern expositors 2SG THE DWELLING OF ESAU. [gEN. adopt the translation, Thy dwelling shall he with- out fatness of the earth, and without the dew of heaven. "It may indeed be true, as Burckhardt has it (Vol. TL p. 702), that 'the declivities of Mount Seir are covered with corn-fields and orchards,' and as Robinson remarks (Vol. ii. p. 154), that Hhe mountains in the East appear to enjoy a sufficiency of rain, and are covered with tufts of herbs and occasional trees. The wadys too are full of trees and shrubs and flowers; while the eastern and higher parts are extensively culti- vated, and yield good crops.' But it is equally true that Seetzen (Rosenmuller, Antiq.ii. 1, p. 156), from personal observation, describes the country as 'perhaps the most desolate and sterile moun- tain in the world.' And Robinson himself ex- pressly states that the western mountains 'are wholly desert and sterile.' And this must have been the general impression produced by a sight of the country, as the prophet Malachi says in the name of Jehovah, i. 3 : 'I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.' Under the circum- stances, Isiiac is only disposed prophetically to regard the sterile aspect of the land of Esau" {Kurtz). xxvii. 39, 40.] THE fortunes of ESAU. 287 ver. 40. by thy sword shalt thou live] Unlike Jacob, who was to draw his support from the peaceful cultivation of a productive soil, Esau was to owe all to the sword. — and shalt SERVE, &c.] Isaac prophesies "a continuous and not unsuccessful, though ultimately vain, reaction on the part of Esau against the blessing of Jacob. And in point of fact the historical relation be- tween Edom and Israel was one of continual alternation, of submission, of rebellion, and of renewed submission" {Kurtz). At first, and for a long time, the Edomites remained independent ; then Saul subdued them (1 Sam. xiv. 47). David made them subject (2 Sam. viii. 14). Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-Geber, the harbour of Edomites on the shore of the Red Sea (1 Kin. ix. 26). In still later times were they under the dominion of the kingdom of Judah (2 Kin. iii). They revolted against Joram (2 Kin. viii. 20); Amaziah smote them and took Selah (2 Kin. xiv. 7) ; Uzziah also defeated them (2 Chron. xxyi. 2) ; but under Ahaz they made themselves inde- pendent (2 Chron. xxviii. 17). After they had been subjected to the Chaldseans, Persians, Greek- Syrians, they pushed as far as Hebron, and pos- sessed it (1 Mace. V. 65); so that the whole 288 REBECCA TROUBLED. [geN. southern part of Palestine was named Idumsea after them. About 100 B.c. John Hyrcanus entirely subdued them, and compelled them to receive circumcision; since which time they formed one people with the Jews, so much so, that even an Idumajan, Antipater, and his son, reigned in Judsea {v. Gerl). However, as the true fulfilment of the prophecy concerning Jacob is to be sought in the Messianic kingdom, so we may regard Edom as the representative of the God-hating heathen world which was to be put under the feet of the true king of Israel. — ^when thou shalt have the dominion] This would seem to be better trans- lated, wJien thou shalt roam at large {Maiir., Gesen., Knob., Del.). Other translations are : wheii thou shaJcest it (Kurtz) ; when thou art rebellious (Tuch, Wright) ; wheu thou desirest it (Kalisch). ver. 41. DAYS of mourning, &c.] This trans- lation is supported by Tuch, Knob., Del.; but Kalisch and Wright propose, days of grief are at luind for my father, for I will slay, &c. ver. 42. doth comfort himself] Thus Mau- rer and Dclitzsch; othermse translated, will re- vemje hiimclf on thee by slaying thee (Gesen., Kalisch, Wright). ver. 45. deprived of you both] namely, of xxvii. 40 — 46.] NO discrepancy. 289 Jacob murdered by his brother, and of Esau slain for his fratricide, according to ch. ix. 6. ver. 46. This verse is asserted to contradict vv. 42 — 45, where a diflPerent reason is assigned for Jacob's departure. But, as Keil remarks, the one motive does not necessarily exclude the other ; Esau's threatening to slay his brother, and Rebekah's wish that Jacob should marry one of his own kindred, were two separate causes which jointly brought about the one effect. Be- sides this, we can well imagine that with a woman's forethought she would naturally hide from Isaac the anxiety produced by the strife of her children, and assign for Jacob's departure another reason. Comp. Keil, EinL p. 72; Ayre Introd, p. 564 ; Kurtz, i, 301. 19 290 JACOB AN EXILE. [geN. Chapter XXVIII. ' ver. 2. padan-aham] meaning the level or plain Ararrij is not identical with Aram-naharaim or Mesopotamia, by which name the ivhole country between the Euphrates and Tigris was desig- nated. Padan-aram denotes only a district of Mesopotamia, namely, the neighbourhood of the city Haran, which lay in a spacious plain sur- rounded with mountains. Aram-naharaim is mentioned in the Pent., only in Gen. xxiv. 10, and in Deut. xxiii. 4. In the former passage the country in general from which Isaac's wife was to be taken had at first to be mentioned, while the exact place in this country is named as the 'city of Nahor;' but afterwards, when the reader is acquainted mth the country and the particular locality in it, the place might well be mentioned by the special name of Padan- aram, as in Gen. xxv. 20; xxviii. 2, 5, 7; xxxi. 1»; xxxiii. 18; xxxv. 9; xlviii. 7. But in Deut. xxiii. 4 Padan-aram could not be used, because xxviii. 2 — 11.] SCENE OF HIS DREAM. 291 Balaam came from Mesopotamia, but not from Padan-aram (Keil, Einh 87). By this notice is overthrown the argument for the different author- ship of different portions of Genesis and of the remainder of the Pentateuch based on the use of these two geographical designations. ver. 3. GOD almighty] El-SJiaddai. See pref. note on the last chapter. The name represents God as removing by His might the natural dif- ficulties which opposed the fulfilment of His purposes of grace. ver. 9. On the difficulties connected with the names of Esau's wives, see note on ch. xxxvi. 2. ver. 11. The central route of Palestine winds through an uneven valley, covered, as with grave- stones, by large sheets of bare rock; some few here and there standing up like the cromlechs of Druidical monuments. It is impossible not to recall, in this stony territory, the wanderer who *went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran; and he lighted upon a certain place... and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.' Then arose the visions of the night. The stones around seemed to form themselves into the steps of a vast 'staircase^' ^ whose foot was 19—2 202 THE LADDER. [geN. set upon the earth,' — on the bare sheet of rocky ground on which the sleeper lay, — ' and whose top reached to heaven' (Stanley, Sin. and Fed, p. 218). vcr. 12. Jacob as he lies on the earth, a fit representative of sinning helpless humanity, sees heaven and earth connected by a ladder which is traversed by angels 'sent forth to minister for them who are heirs of salvation.' At the same time the voice of God reaches his ears promising Ilis ever-present protection, and announcing that in his seed all tlie nations should be blessed. Viewing this vision in the light of the declarations of the New Testament (comp. Joh. i. 51; xiv. 6; Eph. i. 9, 10; ii. 18; Heb. ix. 8; x. 19), we see that by the ladder between earth and heaven was represented the incarnate Son of God. "All intercourse between heaven and earth, God and man, is in and through Him. If any grace come from God to us, it is by Christ; if any glory come from us to God, it is by Christ too" (Bjy. Sanderson), Comp. Dean Trench's Hids. Lect p. 19'). ver. IG. THE LORD IS IN THIS PLACE; AND I KNEW IT not] This exclamation marks (says 1 lengstcnberg) the internal difference of Jehovali and Elohim. Here Eloliim could not be used. xxviii. 11 17.] BETHEL. 293 for the insertion of it would attribute to Jacob a childish notion of God, irreconcileable with a belief in the Divine Omnipresence. He must have known that Elohim was in every place with him ; but that Jehovah should have revealed Himself to him when separated from the house- hold of the chosen family, and from the place where Jehovah appointed the family to worship Him, — this was the fact which filled Jacob with astonishment and gratitude. ver. 17. THIS is the house of god] Why then does not Jehovah stand here? The reason appears to be this. In the later books of the 0. T. it will be seen that the expression, House of the Lord, denoted the one place where the Lord met His people, and where they worship- ped Him publicly. Wliile Isaac was living, such a Lord's house Avould be only in the j)laces where, by God's appointment, he and the chosen family resided. After his death even Jacob, though heir of the blessing, could not of himself fix a House of the Lord, He coidd therefore only regard the place of the vision as a Beth-el, a place sanctified in his recollections by this appearance of the Lord. ver. 18. FOR A pillar] Heb. a matzehah. 294 A PILLAR. [gen. On account of tlie idolatry which was afterwards connected with these ijlllars, the erection of them was forbidden in the law (Lev. xxvi. 1 ; Deut. xvi. 22), and the children of Israel were com- manded to destroy those that they found (Ex. xxiii. 24 ; xxxiv. 13 ; Deut. xii. 3). " It was a general custom of remote antiquity to erect a stone as a memorial of remarkable events, and to consecrate it by a libation of wine, or by an- ointing it with oil. They were called Bcetylia'' {Tuch). The Bsetylia appear to have been dif- ferent from these commemorative pillars, as ge- nerally they seem to have been meteoric stones, which were regarded as having been sent by some deity, and were worshipped as that deity. It is rash at any rate to derive the worship of these Bsetylia from this action of Jacob, on ac- count of the resemblance between the names Bcetylia and Beth-el; for he was evidently only acting in conformity with an old established cus- tom.— oil] Tliis forms an important and most necessary part of the provision for travellers in the East to carry, not only for food, but also at night to anoint their limbs, which have been scorched and stiflfcned by the sun, and blistered by the burning sands {Rosenm.). xxviii. 18 — 21.] the vow. 205 ver. 19. beth-el] House of God. vers. 20, 21. The translation of the verses which is given in our authorised Version is sup- ported by Delitzsch and Knobel. But Hengsten- berg (who is supported by Tuch, Kalisch, and Wright) translates : If God will he with me, and will heep rm in the way that I go... so that I come again to my father's house in peace, and Jehovah is my God; so shall this stone he a house of Elohim, &c. His reasons for this trans- lation are : (1) the vow can only relate to some external act. Wherever in the 0. T. a vow is mentioned, it never treats of something internal, but of the embodying of gratitude by some ex- ternal act. (2) Jacob's words refer to v. 13, and mean, if Jehovah shall he to me what He was to Ahraham and to Isaac, then will /, &c. 296 JACOB WITH LABAN. [gen. Chapter XXIX. ver. 1. went] Lit. raised his feet Strength- ened by the vision of the night he proceeds on his journey with a light and rejoicing heart {DelltzscJi). ver. 2. A well] Not the one at which Eli- ezer met Rebekah; for that was a spring, to which she descended to get water, and this was a well or cistern dug in the ground, and covered with a large stone. The former was directly without the town, and the present one was in the pasture-grounds at some convenient distance from the town {Raphall), — A great stone] Cis- terns are very generally covered with a large slab, having a round hole in it large enough to let down the leather bucket or earthen jar. Into this hole a heavy stone is thrust, often such as to require the united strength of two or three shepherds to remove. The same is seen occasionally over icclls of living water ; but where xxix. 1 — 17.] SERVES FOR RACHEL. 297 they are large and the supply abundant, no such precaution is needed (Thomson, p. 589). Comp. Robinson, i. 490. ver. 3. This verse is introduced to explain why the three flocks were waiting at the well. ver. 5. SON OF nahor] instead of grandson of Nahor, by a free use of the word ^son,' not uncommon in the Bible. ver. 7. HIGH day] Early in the day. ver. 8. WE cannot] When a well is private property, it is, in neighbourhoods where water is scarce, sometimes kept locked, to j)revent the neighbouring shepherds from watering their flocks fraudulently from it : and even when left un- locked, some person is so far the proprietor, that the well may not be opened, unless in the presence of himself, or of some of his household. CJiardm, the celebrated traveller, conjectures that the well spoken of here belonged to Laban's family; and that therefore the shepherds could not, i.e. dared not open this well, until Laban's daughter came with her father's flock (RaphalT), ver. 12. brother] Kinsmmij as ch. xiv. 16. ver. 17. tender-eyed] She had weak eyes, a great defect according to the Oriental idea of female beauty. 298 THE DECEPTION. [gen. ver. 18. I WILL SERVE thee] This offer is ex- plained by the custom which has always prevailed in the East. As the services which the daughter renders the father are equivalent to those of a domestic, he sustains a loss through her marriage. For this loss the suitor is bound to compensate the parents, either by a stipulated sum of money, or, if unable to do this, by his own servitude for a fixed period. Such in both respects are still the customs of the East, among the Arabs, Curds, &c. as appears in Niebuhr's and Burckhardt's travels {TucJi).—S'EVEN years] The law of Moses, many of the commandments of which were re-enact- ments of long recognised customs, ordered that the servitude of a Hebrew bondman should termi- nate in seven years. ver. 23. HE took leah His daughter] The deceit of Laban became possible by the custom of leading the bride veiled into the dark bridal chamber. This imposition is the Nemesis that overtakes Jacob, and must have reminded him of the similar wrong which he had been guilty of. As instead of the beloved son he had brought to Isaac him whom he had despised and neglected, HO Laban substitutes the despised Leah for the be- loved IJachel {Kurtz). xxix. 18-— 31.] USE OF THE NAMES OF GOD. 299 ver. 27. FULFIL her week] The marriage fes- tivities were kept up for seven days; comp. Jud. xiv. 12. When the seven days were expired Jacob married Rachel. ver. 31. THE lord] Hengstenberg thus ac- counts for the interchange of the divine names in the account of the birth of Jacob's children. Leah was suffering injustice, and out of health. Her hardhearted and jealous sister bore the prin- cipal blame of her husband's aversion to her, and made use of this aversion to ridicule and depre- ciate her. Under these circumstances Leah ac- knowledged, and with her the historian agreed, that the offspring granted to her was not merely the effect of a general operation of Providence, but specially an act of the living, personal, right- eous, and rewarding God. But as to the children of the handmaid no notice is taken of the divine agency, either by Leah or the historian. There was nothing singular or out of the ordinary course of nature either attending or preceding their birth. In the birth of the fifth and sixth sons the divine hand is acknowledged, yet that special importance which was attached to the birth of the first four was no longer felt. Leah's devotional feelings are less strongly excited; her eye is chiefly directed to 800 LE All's SONS. [gen. natural causes, and she acknowledges only an in- distinct divine co-operation. On the other hand, Rachel had no motive to raise herself to Jeho- vali, she would rather dread him as a judge and avenger. Not till the birth of her firstborn, in which she acknowledges a gift of the divine favour, did she become more courageous and confident. She then ventured to ask a sou of Jehovah ; she forgot there was still cause for fear, since she had per- sisted in her unjust conduct towards her sister; so the son whom she asked of Jehovah was given by Jeliovah, but as a son of sorrow. — hated] i. e. loved less (Luk. xiv. 26; Matt. x. 37). vers. 32—35. Reuben] meaning Behold, a son. The birth of a son she appeals to as proof of God having regarded her in her afiliction. — simeon] Hearing,— IjEVi] Attachment— JJJT>An^^ He for whom God w praised {Del), XXX. 2 — 8.] THE TWO SISTERS. SOI Chapter XXX. ver. 2. IN god's stead] who, as the Author of life and death, alone can accomplish your wishes. ver. 3. BEHOLD MY MAID BILHAH, &C.] Such things happen to this day in India and China, often at the request of the lawful wife, when she is herself sterile, or when her children are dead {Pkt Bihl.).—BBAii, UPON MY knees] i.e. the child which she bears I will take to my bosom, and treat as my own {Kiiob.) ver. 6. dan] A judge. ver. 8. WITH GREAT WRESTLINGS] Lit. wUJl im-estUngs of God; i.e. wrestlings regarding God and His favour: In godly emidation I have wrestled with my sister. She describes herself and Leah as engaged in the struggle for the pos- session of God's favour {Heiigstenherg, Knobel). Our translation, great wrestlings^ though sup- ported by Rosenm. and Schumann, is incorrect; since Elohim or God is "never used in this way 302 THEIR RIVALRY. [geN. merely to add emphasis to an expression" {HengsQ. — NAPHTALi] 3Ii/ icrestledfor {RaphalT), ver. 9. WHEN LEAH SAW SHE HAD LEFT bkaring] though only for a time, see ver. 17. ver. 11. A TROOP COMETH] The clause is now generally rendered, idth good fortune, or, accord- ing to the Masorah, good fortune hath come, — gad] Good fortune. ver. 13. asher] Happy, Prosperous; comp. the names, Felix, Prosper. ver. 14. THE DAYS OF WHEAT -harvest] which in Palestine comprises about the whole month of May. — mandrakes] the apples of the Mandragora ver nails. " It is in wheat-harvest that they are still found ripe and eatable in the lower ranges of Lebanon and Hermon. The apple becomes of a very pale yellow colour, partially soft, and of an insipid, sickish taste. The Arabs believe them to be stimulating and exhilarating even to insanity" (Thomson, p. 577). In the East at tlic present day the fruit is thought to help coucei)tion : hence Rachel's eagerness to get it. ver. 18. issachar] meaning there is reward, or he brings reicard. She regards this her own fifth son as the recompense of her self-denial (Dc/.). XXX. 8 — 24.] JOSEPH BORN. 303 ver. 20. zebulun] which means dwelling, ver. 21. DINAH] Judged, vindicated, ver. 23. reproach] as barren ; comp. Isa. iv. 1; Luk. i. 25. ver. 24. Joseph] It has been thought that there is a double allusion in this name : she hare a son and said, God hath taken away (asaj^h) my reproach; and she called his name Joseph; and said, The Lord shall add (Joseph) to me another son. The real derivation of the name is evidently to be sought in the word of ver. 24, shall add [Joseph), while there may be an allusion to the expression of ver. 23, God hath tahen away, Comp. Hsevernick, Introd, p. 75 ; Keil, Einl, p. 72 ; Ayre, Introd, p. 565. As Joseph was born before the fourteenth year of servitude had elapsed, and as the marriage had taken place in the seventh year, twelve children must have been bom during the seven intervening years. The text, however, does not mean to convey that these children were born in succession. The first four children of Leah were born within the shortest possible intervals of time. Before Leah felt her temporary barrenness Rachel had already given Bilhah to Jacob, and whenever Leah imagined that she was to bear no more children she gave Zilpah to her husband. S04 Jacob's wages. [gen. Soon after she again conceived; and before the seven years were elapsed Ibore other three children. It is not necessary to suppose, with Lightfoot, that Zebiilun and Dinah were twins. The occurrence connected mth the mandrakes took place imme- diately before Leah conceived for the fifth time; and it is not improbable that Reuben, a child of about four years, should have been taken to the fields, and have been attracted by the beauty of the fruit {Kurtz). ver. 30. since my coming] Lit. at mij foot, i.e. u'herever I went {Kal., Del., Wright). vers. 32 — 35. The agreement between Jacob and Laban depends on the fact that in the East the sheep are commonly white and the goats black, while speckled and spotted animals are rarely seen. All spotted and dark sheep, and all speckled goats, are removed from the flock intrusted to Jacob, and led over to the flocks intrusted to the sons of Laban, so that only sheep of pure white colour, and goats of pure black colour, remain. All in that flock which should bear diffbrcnt colours were to become the hire of Jacob; and as in the ordinary course of nature, anything of the kind expected by Jacob was scarcely to be anticipated, Laban agrees to XXX. 24 — 37.] HIS CUNNING DEVICE. 305 the demand, selfishly rejoicing over what he believes the folly of his nephew {Kurtz), ver. 33. so shall my righteousness an- swer FOR me] Rather: and my righteousness shall hear witness against me, i.e. I shall be self-condemned {Wright), — ^when it shall come FOR MY hire] Rather: when thou shalt come to inspect my hire {which is) before thy face {Wright), ver. 37. The peculiar weakness of Jacob's character appears in full light here. Instead of leaving the result to the Lord, he has recourse to artifice. He takes advantage of the fact that any impression on the imagination at the time of conception, or during pregnancy, has fre- quently effect on the offspring. (For proofs of this see the authorities in Kurtz, i. p. 318.) First he put rods of various trees of a peculiarly Avhite wood, strakes of which he had peeled away, into the w^atering-troughs, where the flocks would be sure to see them. AVhen speckled animals appear- ed through this device, he separated the animals which were of one colour from those which were sj)otted, and placed them so that the former must look towards the latter, while the latter never saw the former {Kurtz), G. 20 806 HIS WEALTH. [gen. ver. 41. WHENSOEVER THE STRONGER CATTLE DID conceive] The text, without mentioning any j)eriod of the year, simply says that Jacob used liis artifice with the stronger, and not with weak cattle. There is little need of inquiring whether the lambs conceived in spring (as Bochart asserts), or those conceived in autumn (as Pliny and Colu- mella, according to Patrick, affirm), were the stronger. ver. 43. HAD maid-servants, &c.] Von Boh- len asks, ^ Whence could Jacob acquire all these objects, as his gains were limited to sheep and goats?' The words, current money ivith the inercJianty ch. xxiii. 16, prove that trade and traders were familiarly known long before the days of Jacob, who, either by barter, or by sale and purchase, would find no difficulty in con- verting his cattle into whatever he was desirous of possessing {Raphall), xxxi. 3 — 7.] BY THE lord's COMMAND. 807 Chapter XXXI. ver. 3. THE lord] The command given to Jacob to return to Canaan is properly attributed to Jehovah, for the whole journey was under the guidance of Jehovah {Hengstenherg), The Lord does not tell Jacob to return by stealth. But Jacob has yet to learn by more bitter lessons the uselessness of his own crafty contrivances, and the necessity of leaving to the Lord to carry out His promises. ver. 7. TEN times] a round number. Or, as the number denotes completeness, it may mean that his wages had been changed as often as possible. The changes referred to differences in the marks of the flocks; v. 8. — god] This name of God is used by Jacob in addressing his wives, not because Jehovah was unknown to them, but because He stood at a distance from them, so that they could only elevate themselves to Him in some solemn moments, of which the preceding section furnishes instances (Hengstenberg). 20 — 2 308 JACOB DEPARTS. [gen. vers. 11 — 13. Yon Gerlach thinks that Jacob joins together two visions: the one alluded to in ver. 3, and another Avhich he experienced when he first bargained with Laban about the partition of the sheep. The division is needless. There w^as but the one vision, viz. that of ver. 3, in w^hich the Lord, to encourage Jacob to trust to Him and to obey Him, tells him that the increase of his flocks w^as owing solely to the blessing of the Lord, and not to his own artifices. ver. 13. THE GOD OF bethel] with especial reference to the protection there promised to Jacob, and the vow he had there made (Tuch). ver. 14. The daughters of Laban considered their father's bargain with Jacob as very disad- vantageous to them, inasmuch as it quite over- looked the provision of a settlement, w^hich is usually made for females at the time of mar- riage. Laban' s bargain had been exclusively for his own personal advantage {Plct Bible), ver. 19. shear] As the shearing was accom- panied with nuich festivity and rejoicings (ch. xxxviii. 12; 1 Sam. xxv. 4; 2 Sam. xiii. 23), Ja- cob could readily steal aw^ay while Laban's at- tention was thus occupied.— images] Heb. Tera- xxxl. 11 — 23.] BUT BY STEALTH. 809 pJiim. All that we can gather from the Bible of these is, that they were images in the form of man (1 Sam. xix. 13), used by idolaters as ora- cles: "For the Jews and others agi-ee that they were small images made under a certain constel- lation, which they used to consult both in things doubtful and things future. And therefore we read (Ezek. xxi. 21), that the king of Babel, among other divinations, consulted also of Tera- phim" {Mede). As we find that the use of them was considered, though wrongly, not inconsistent with the worship of Jehovah (Jud. xvii, xviii; Hos. iii. 4), the conjecture of Lud. de Dieu is probable, that they were representations of an- gelic powers. However, the use of them is al- ways represented in the Bible as idolatrous; Gen. XXXV. 4; 2 Kin. xxiii. 24; Zech. x. 2. ver. 20. stole away unawares to] Lit. stole the heart of, i.e. deceived. ver. 21. THE river] Euphrates. ver. 23. the mount gtlead] Not " the mount Gilead in the narrower sense, viz. the modern Djebel Djelaad, which lay south of the Jabbok" (Knohel). As the name was applied to the en- tire mountain region between the Anion and Ba- tansea, the mount Gilead of the present passage 310 LALAN OVERTAKES HIM. [gen. refers to some mountain north of the Jabbok hi that region. ver. 24. either good or bad] A proverbial phrase, meaning not to interfere or meddle with. Comp. ch. xxiv. 50; 2 Sam. xiii. 22. ver. 34. camel's furniture] or, saddle used by Arab women, which consists of a heap of carpets and woollen cloaks rising about eighteen inches above the pack-saddle. These are always taken off at the end of a day's jouniey, and used to lie or sit on. Dr Thomson says, that it is still very usual for the Arabs to hide stolen property under the padding of their saddles ; The Land and the Booh, p. 370. Dr Kitto takes the furniture to denote the high wooden saddle of the camel, the concavity of which would form a hiding-place for the teraphim ; but it is not customary to remove these saddles at the end of a day's journey. ver. 40. in the day the drought con- sumed ME, and the frost BY night] Chardiu writes: "I have travelled in Arabia and Meso- potamia both in winter and summer, and have found the truth of what the Patriarch said. The contrariety in the qualities of the air in twenty-four hours is extremely great in some XXxi. 23 54.] THEIR COVENANT. 311 places; one would imagine they had passed in a moment from the violent heats of summer to the depth of winter" {RaphalT). ver. 42. fear of isaac] Whom Isaac feared ; Ps. Ixxvi. 11; Isa. viii. 13. ver. 43. what can i do, &c.] They are so dear to him, that in injuring them he would be injuring himself. ver. 45. pillar] A lasting monument of this covenant. ver. 47. jegar-sahadutha] The Aramaic or Syriac for Galeed — heap of witness, which after- wards became Gilead. ver. 49. mizpah] WatcJi-tower, ver. 53. their father] Terah. ver. 54. offered sacrifice] or MUed beasts. He offered sacrifice to invoke God to be present at this covenant, and enforce its obseiTance. — THEY DID eat bread] As WO have no proof of the existence of peace-offerings before the Si- naitic legislation, it is safest to take this literally, viz. that after offering burnt-offerings to the Lord, they feasted together in token of amity. 312 THE TWO HOSTS. [geN. Chapter XXXIL Ver. 1. THE ANGELS OF GOD MET HIM] As an assurance of God's protection from any vio- lence on the part of Esau or others. Comp. 2 Kin. vi. 17, where we find Elisha similarly protected. ver. 2. mahanaim] two Jiosts or canij^s. The name was continued in that of the Levitical city in the territory of Gad, to the north of the Jab- bok. On Dr Robinson's map is a place Mahneh, which Delitzsch is inclined to identify with Maha- naim. ver. 3. SEIR, THE COUNTRY OF edom] This passage, which makes Esau to have already located himself in Edom, is said to be contradicted by ch. xxxvi. G, &c., where Esau is described to have settled in Seir suhseqmnthj to Jacob's arrival. But the summary account in ch. xxxvi. 6 does not state that Esau went to Seir for the first time after Jacob's return from Mesopotamia and Isaac's death ; and in this passage neither the time nor xxxii. 1 — 10.] Jacob's prater. 313 the reason of Esau's withdrawal from Canaan to Seir is given (Keil, EinL p. 72). It is moreover possible, as Dr Davidson remarks, that Esau may have sojourned in Seir more than once {Introd. p. 597). However it is not improbable that the true reason why Esau did not withdraw his family and possessions to Seir until after Isaac's death, ch. xxxvi. 6, is, that he had not till then com- pletely subdued the Horite inhabitants. As De- litzsch remarks, the fact of his being accompanied by four hundred men shows that he had yet to maintain himself against the primitive inhabitants of Seir whom he had not thoroughly subdued. Ver. 4. MY LORD ESAU ; THY SERVANT JACOB] He disclaims all pretence to earthly supremacy over his brother. vers. 9, 10. The long and bitter discipline which Jacob had undergone at last had its effect on him. When in obedience to God's commands he tremblingly prepares to meet his brother, he throws himself entirely on the protection of the Lord. He now acknowledges the errors and mistakes of his past life, and ascribes his return in prosperity to Canaan not to his own strivings and plannings, but to God's mercy alone. — On the use of the name Jehovah in this address 314 SEEKS TO APPEASE ESAU. [geN. Hengstenberg remarks: "Jehovah, who had pro- mised to do him good, who had by the hitherto glorious fulfilment of His promise given him a pledge for the future, was alone the ground of his comfort and hope. The danger was too great for a mere general faith in a general Providence to sustain his confidence." Ver. 11. THE MOTHER WITH THE CHILDREN] Similarly, Hos. x. 14 (Delitzsch) ; or, tJie mother hemllng over her children to protect them {KnoheT). ver. 13. WHICH CAME TO HIS HAND] Rather, that tvhich had come to his hand, what he had acquired; i.e. he took of his own possessions {Knob., Del). Our translation would mean, that he gave what was in his power to present him. His wealth consisted in flocks and herds only; from them only therefore could he select his gift. ver. 15. MILCH camels] Nothing was more delicious in those countries (as Bochart observes out of Aristotle, Pliny, and many other authors, Hierozoic. u. 2) than camels' milk (PatricJc), ver. 22. jabbok] A river flowing from east to west, and meeting the Jordan about midway between tlie lake of Ccnnesareth and the Dead Sea. Now called the Zcrka. xxxii. 10 — 30.] THE CONFLICT AT PENIEL. 315 vers. 24 — 30. The twenty years' exile which Jacob had brought on himself by trying to sup- plant his brother has now drawn to its close. The Lord by this long period of trials, labours, and disappointments, mixed up still with in- stances of His goodness, was disciplining and purifying His servant before He rei)laced him in the promised land. From ver. 9 — 13 we can see that this long and hard training had at length produced some effect. It had broken down the old man in him, had destroyed the reliance on his own cleverness, and had taught him the hard lesson of waiting in patience on the Lord. He who before thought ever to prevail by deceit, now in a sense of his own utter helplessness, and in a spirit of dependence on God, betakes himself to prayer and supplication to the Lord to carry him over his difficulties. That same night, as he is rejoining his company whom he had sent over the brook before him, his way is checked by a solitary foe. Not discerning him then to be more than man, he grapples with him and wrestles with him. For a time his attempts to prevail are permitted, until towards dawn his antagonist discloses his supernatural might by disabling him with a single touch. Jacob now finding his 31G ITS IMPORT. [gen. helplessness, and from it discerning that it was God he had been striving against, clings in prayer and supplication to Him for His blessing. The man therefore was God, who met him in this guise to teach him that hitherto his life had been a self-reliant opposition to God. The day-break betokens the new career that was to be opened out to Jacob when humbled before God. His thigh, the place of strength, is put out of joint by a touch of Him who had suffered him so long to wrestle with Him, to betoken the destitute helpless state he was reduced to by the course which God had jiermitted him to follow, but had so overruled and directed as to oblige him to throw himself unreservedly on God's mercy. At this very time, he was reduced to the greatest strait, hemmed in on all sides by enemies whom he had himself raised up, and whom he, by the case of Laban, saw to be restrained from violence only by God's interposition. This view of the transaction, which is in the main that of Kurtz, is confirmed by the use made of it by Hosea, in ch. xii. 3 — 7, where the connexion is thus traced by Umbreit : " Tliat which attaches to the people as its especial t, and befaokk the tribes coaqnering the promised lanfL As representing his descendants, he awards to Josex)h a doable portion, a portion beyond^ wbai the other brothers receive ^Turh, Ddlfza^^h). This seems to be the most natural interpretation of tins difficult passage- The explanation which makes Jacob allude to the takini^ of Shechem by Simeon and Levi is quite untenable. It rex)re- sents Jacob to adrjpt as \m own an act, which m the next chxp^er be speaks of with horrr>r. yearly as improbable is the exx>Ianation ^^jccfynl- tng to which the pfyrti/m means the piece of gmraid near Shechem where Jacob dwdl for a time, ch. xxxiii. ID, 20. Brit this he poMieseed hj pnrcfaase, not by conquest. xlix. 1.] PROPHETIC BLESSING OF THE TRIBES. 401 Chapter XLIX. ver. 1. As Jacob draws near to death, not only is he enabled to look into the future with clearer eves, but the spirit of i^rophecy comes on him from above, and in its light he sees the longings of his heai-t fidfilled, and the promised land in the possession of his descendants. His twelve sons are standing round his bed, the re- presentatives and fathers of the tribes by which the land is to be taken. Before his mind there are gathered together in one living picture all the pleasing and painfid events of which they have been the cause. ^Yith prophetic vision he traces the characters and dispositions of the fathers as they are transmitted, expanded or modified, through the history of their descend- ants ; and aided by this insight, he allots to eveiT one, on the authority of God, his fitting portion of that land, in which he himself has led a pilgi'im life for more than a hundred yeai*s, and which now stands with all its natural diversities, G. 26 402 PROPHETIC BLESSING OF THE TRIBES, [gen. and with its rich and manifold productions, as vi- vidly and distinctly before his mind as the different characters of his own sons (Kurtz), — in the last days] Lit. in the end of the days, an expression occurring fifteen times in the 0. T., and there, as in the N. T., always indicating the Messianic era. The possession of the promised land was the first stage of the series of events which were to find their consummation and end in the Mes- siah's kingdom, and which were all preparatorj^ to His coming. Just as was the case with all the prophets, the prophetic insight of Jacob en- abled him to see in the attainment of the first stage of the promise the realization of its full completion, but did not give him such knowledge of the times and seasons as to make him see the length of distance which lay between them. Thus we find the prophets often speaking of the two advents of Christ, as if the one was in time im- mediately consequent on the other. ver. 3. MY FIRSTBORN, AND THE BEGINNING OF MY strength] Comp. Deut. xxi. 17, 'For he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.' Ps. Ixxviii. 51, *And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham.' — beginning Xlix. 1 6.] REUBEN. 403 OF MY STREN gth] i. G. the fivst-fruit of my vigour {Knob., Del, Wright). ver. 4. UNSTABLE AS water] Lit. thou that holiest over like water {Wright). It implieth both his sudden light affections which carried him to evil, and his sudden downfall from dignity {Ains- worth). The figure is taken from water in a boiling caldron, foaming and bursting over its bounds {KnoheT).—Tiiov shalt not excel] The preeminence belonging to him as firstborn is taken from him; 1 Chron. v. 1. — he went up] The change from the second to the third person expresses Jacob's horror at the thought of the deed. ver. 5. brethren] i. e. brethren in the fullest sense, not by birth only, but by likeness of dis- position.— IN THEIR habitations] The marginal translation, are their sivords, is supported by most modern expositors. ver. 6. THEIR secret] or council. He dis- claims any participation in the murderous act of Simeon and Levi. — digged down a wall] is better translated, houghed or hamstrung \the'\ ox. — A wall] Heb. shur. The parallelism usual in Hebrew poetry has led many to prefer the reading shor, an ox. If this reading be adopted, 26—2 404 SIMEON AND LEVI. [gen. the word must be taken either collectively, as meaning oxen, which were slain promiscuously with the inhabitants of Shechem {Knob., Tuch, Wright, Del:), or as a figurative appellation of Shechem himself {Herder, Schumann, Maurer), In Scripture, e.g. Deut. xxxiii. 17, and in the classical T\Titers, Hom. IL ii. 440, the comparison of princes or heroes to oxen is not unusual. ver. 7. I WILL divide them in jacob, and SCATTER THEM IN ISRAEL] Fulfilled literally in both cases. The participation of a leading mem- ber of the tribe in the sin of Peor (Numb. xxv. 14), the great diminution in the number of the tribe at the close of the forty years' wandering (Numb. i. 23, xxvi. 14), the omission of the tribe in the blessing of Moses (Deut. xxxiii.), prove that Simeon eanied the fulfilment of the curse in its fullest meaning by not receiving any se- parate territory in Canaan. The tribe of Simeon was allotted only nineteen unconnected cities within tlie bounds of Judah's portion. Levi, by devotion to the cause of the Lord, turned the curse into a blessing (Ex. xxxii. 26 ; Deut. xxxiii. 9). Levi Avas scattered indeed in Israel, but as the honoured priesthood of the Lord. It may be here remarked, that this passage presents xlix. 6 — 12.] JUDAH. 405 strong internal evidence of the prophecy having been uttered by Jacob. Had it been composed after the exodus, when the tribe of Levi was exalted to the enviable post of ministering to the Lord, the writer could never have thought of representing its lot as a curse. vers. 8 — 12. Jacob, in the prophetic spirit, sees all the blessings assigned to Judah as cul- minating and centring in the Messiah who is to spring from his tribe. In the person of the Messiah he sees Judah receiving the homage which his grateful brethren pay him as the van- quisher of their enemies, and the author of peace and rest for them. He sees the great Saviour, who had rushed down on his enemies with the resistless force of a young lion, and having van- quished them had returned to his throne on high, sitting in the majesty of a repose which no power can interrupt. He sees Judah sitting as ruler of his tribe with his sceptre of tribal sway resting between his knees, until the coming of the Saviour brings, as His name denotes, peace and rest to the nation ; a sure proof that, though the other tribes may be broken, Judah shall re- main unbroken and self-governed through all the storms until the Messiah comes to establish the 406 JtJDAH. [gen. kingdom, and give the blessings promised to Abraham. In Him the tribal sway of Judah shall terminate, only to be changed into that of uni- versal dominion ; for all nations shall flow to Him to be blessed by obeying Him. His kingdom shall be one of peace and rest and happiness; for He comes not in the array of earthly con- querors, but in peaceful guise; and He furnishes richly those blessings which alone can satisfy truly the craving heart of man. ver. 8. judah] The verb from which the name is derived refers, with only two apparent exceptions, to the praise of God. Hence Heng- stenberg explains it, ^ God shall be praised;' and not, as it is generally explained, ^ He shall he praised' Comp. ch. xxix. 35. "He whose veiy existence becomes the cause of exclaiming, * Praise be to God,' will assuredly receive praise from his brethren." — thy hand shall be in the neck OF thine enemies] Thou shalt put to flight all thine enemies, and press them hard when they arc fleeing. Comp. Ex. xxiii. 27; Ps. xviii. 40. For tlie fulfilment, comp. the achioidedged Mes- sianic predictions in the 0. T., Ps. ii. 9, ex. 2, 6; Isa. Ixiii. 2—6 ; in the K T., Act. ii. 34 ; 1 Cor. XV. 25; Ileb. ii. 14; Rev. vi. 2, xix. 10 — 21.— thy xlix. 8, 9.] JUDAH. 407 father's children shall bow down before thee] Phil. ii. 9 — 11, ^Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name : that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,' &c. Comp. Ps. Ixxii. 11. To Judah is transferred the blessing which Isaac had promised to Jacob: ^People shall serve thee ...thy mother's sons shall worship before thee.' The texts cited prove that it was intended to relate to the Messiah, the Immanuel, who was to spring from Judah. ver. 9. A LIONS WHELP... AS A LION... AS AN OLD lion] In the young lion is represented the fearless might and impetuous resistless force, in the full grown lion, the awful majesty of might in repose which the champion of Judah was to possess, and which no enemy would dare to dis- turb.— THOU ART GONE up] As the liou when he has made sure of his prey goes up to his moun- tain retreat ; Song of Sol. iv. 8, ^ Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Her- mon, from the lions' dens.' Ps. civ. 21, 22. For the application, comp. Eph. iv. 8, * When He ascended up on high. He led captivity captive.' — he stooped DOWN, &c.] The figure represents the perfect peace and repose which the deliverer of Judah 408 THE SCEPTRE [gEN. was to enjoy after his complete victory over his enemy. That Jacob had the Messiah alone in view when he represented Judah as a lion, is proved by Rev. v. 5, ^ Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath i^revailed to open the book.' ver. 10. THE sceptre] Heb. shebhet. Pri- mary meaning a rod; hence rod or Avand be- tokening office; hence the office itself, e.g. of king, Isa. xxxiii. 22, ^The Lord is our Judge' {Shebhet), or of ruler or head of tribe, 1 Sam. x. 19, 20, where the tribes were evidently repre- sented by their leaders; hence, lastly, the tribe itself, Ps. Ixxiv. 2, ' Remember the rod [tribe] of thine inheritance;' 1 Kin. xL 13. In this passage it signifies the scei^tre of authority over the tribe. — A lawgiver] Heb. Meeholceh; properly GoveimoVj as in Judg. v. 14. The pamllelism of Hebrew poetry authorizes us to translate it here, ' the ruler's stafij' as in Num. xxi. 18. — the scep- tre... from BETWEEN HIS feet] Judah is repre- sented as the head of his tribe, sitting with hia sceptre or stafi" of tribal authority in his hand, and the end resting on the ground between his knees. On the ancient monuments of Persepolis kings are represented in this attitude. Each xlix. D, 10.] SHALL NOT DEPART. 409 tribe of Israel had, even before the exodus, a certain organized form of self-government, by which its existence as a distinct tribe was main- tained. Jacob foretells that, though the other tribes should be broken up and dispersed, Judah should as a tribe preserve its existence until Shiloh should come. It is proved that Judah, even during the Captivity and under the Roman government, continued as a distinct people under its own rulers and elders, and that thus as a tribe it existed until the destruction of Jeru- salem by Titus. — shiloh] Derived from the He- brew slialahj to he safe, secure, "chiefly used of one who enjoys peace and prosperity" {Geseniiis) ; it means Peacefulness, Best, or Security, and im- plies the great blessing of the reign of the King Messiah, who is here foretold under the name Shiloh. The different derivations according to which the word was meant to signify, he that is to he sent {Jerome), ivhat is destined to him (Sept.), his son (Ccdvin), are now with one accord rejected. But here the harmony of modern ex- position ends ; for even those who regard the prophecy as Messianic, and who derive the word Shiloh from shcdah or a kindred root, differ widely as to the import of the word Shiloh, and 410 SHILOH. [gen. the construction of the sentence in which it stands. There are five interpretations contended for: (1) Until rest comes, and people obey him (Vater, GeseniuSj Knohel). (2) Uvitil he comes to rest, and peo2)le ohey him {Hofmann, Kurtz), (3) Un- til he comes to Shiloh, and the people obey him {Delitzsch). (4) As long as they come to Shiloh (Maurer). (5) Until Shiloh comes, him shall the ^ people obey {Hengstb., Winer), But (1) and (2) are overthrown by the circumstance that, from its form, Shiloh must be a proper name (Hengstb., Cliristol. I. 60 ; Delitzsch, p. 589). Against (3) is the objection that sacred history shows no ful- filment of the prophecy. The arrival of the tribes at Shiloh (Josh, xviii. 1) was followed by no such change, either in the internal polity of Judah, or tlie outward circumstances of the tribe in rela- tion to the other tribes or to foreign nations, as is intimated by the prophecy thus interpreted. For if we take the sceptre to denote tribal sioay, the arrival at Shiloh made no alteration in the tribal constitution of Judah. If we take it to denote the sceptre of royal rule over the tribes, Judah possessed no authority over the other tribes until the reign of David, when Shiloh had long ceased to be the centre of worship for Israel. xlix. 10.] SHILOH. 411 In the wilderness Judah marched first of the tribes, but alike with the other tribes was ruled by Moses. After his death, Judah with the other tribes was ruled by an Ephraimite. On two occa- sions, in the time of the Judges, Judah is men- tioned in such a manner as to show that it held no recognized authority over the rest of Israel (Judg. i. 1 ; XX. 18). But one of the Judges of Israel, Othniel, was of Judah. Against (4) is the objection that the particles translated, as long as, never have that meaning. The interpretation (5) alone is free from grammatical or historical difii- culties, provided that the sceptre of Judah is taken to relate to tribal and not royal government. The tribe of Judah existed self-governed from the time that it became a tribe until the birth of Christ. The only objection is the difficulty of tracing a connexion between the name of the Messiah and the name of the city Shiloh. But (a) there is no absolute necessity of tracing any such connexion. The city may have been thus accidentally named by the Canaanites just as the city of Melchizedek was called Salem, peace. Or (&) it may have been named by the Israelites without any intentional reference to this pro- phecy, just as the founders of Nazareth never 412 SHILOH. [gen. dreamed of the prophecy of the Netzer in Isa. xi.l, and yet the coincidence was used by God to draw attention to Jesus the Nazarene, as Him in whom the i^rophecy was fulfilled. Just in the same way the Israelites may have named the city of the house of their God, Shiloh, in thankful remembrance of the rest Avhich He had given them (Josh. xi. 23 ; xviii. 1), and yet never have thought of alluding to the Shiloli of prophecy. And the Lord may have arranged that thus they should name it in order to raise their minds from the present blessings of the earthly Canaan to those of the real kingdom of God; for when they reflected that this state of peaceful enjoy- ment was under an Ephraimite, Joshua, they might be reminded that this was not the true rest which the Lord promised His people, that it was still to come, when the Prince of Peace, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, should appear. A full discussion of the various interpretations will be found in Hengstenberg, ChristoL i. 47 — 90 ; Kurtz, II. 35— 88. — UNTO him] i.e. to Shiloh. — the gathering] or more properly, tJie tmlling sub- mission,— OF the people] The Hebrew word is that which always denotes the Gentiles. On this prediction of the share of the Gentiles in the xlix. 10 — 13.] ZEBULUN. 413 blessing of Abraham, comp. Isa. ii. 2 ; xi. 10 ; xlii. 4; Ix. 5 ; Ps. Ixxii. 8. Yer. 11. BINDING HIS FOAL, &c.] The images here are all of peace and plenty. Shiloh, to whom the nations are to gather in willing submission, and whose strength is compared to the lion, is yet to come in peaceful guise. In His kingdom is to be the enjoyment of all the abundance that man can desire. Throughout the 0. T. the horse is represented as the animal of warfare (Job xxxix. 19), and the great element of military strength (Isa. ii. 7 ; xxxi. 1 ; Hos. i. 7) ; but the ass is always represented as the animal for employment in time of peace. Thus when, in Zechariah, the peaceful nature of the Messiah's reign is described. He is represented as coming on an ass (ix. 9). That the wine and milh are images of the abundance of the blessings which man should desire, appears from Isa. Iv. 1 and Song of Sol. V. 1. ver. 13. HAVEN OF THE sea] better trans- lated, sliore of the sea, i. e. of the Mediterranean sea. — HIS BORDER SHALL BE UNTO ZIDON] The western boundary was to be Phoenicia, here named from its chief city. This passage also sup- plies internal evidence of the antiquity of this 414 ISSACHAR. [gen. prophecy. Tyre lay much nearer the border of Zebuhm than Zidon did, and had it been in existence at the time must have been mentioned instead of Zidon. According to Jo- sephus, Tyre was not built till the time of the Judges. vers. 14, 15. These words give an account of Issachar's temper and lot. His land was plea- sant, and its inhabitants lovers of peace and rest, and instead of wars and merchandise gave them- selves up to the labours of husbandry (Kidder). The country allotted to Issachar included the most fertile and inviting portions of Canaan. Within its bounds were the valleys of Jezreel, Megiddo and Esdraelon, famous for their beauty and richness. Only once does the history of Israel make mention of Issachar as joining in the warlike exploits of the nation, and that when *the princes of Issachar were with Deborah.' — AN ass] In the East, and especially in ancient times, the ass was much more highly thought of than at present it is in northern Europe. In Palestine and Arabia, Africa and the South of Europe, it is still remarkable for strength and beauty, so that the comparison implies nothing ignoble or mean. Homer compares Ajax to an xlix. IS — 16.] DAN. 415 ass ; and the Caliph Mervan obtained the sirname, the ass, on account of his great strength and daring in battle (Marigny, Hist of the Arabs, ii. 387). The comparison implies that the men of Issachar would be strong, hardy, patient, and enduring {RaphalT). — couching down between two bur- dens] or between the stalls, as in Judg. v. 16. It is a proverbial expression of husbandmen who abandon themselves to idleness and indul- gence (Gesen.). — became a servant unto tri- bute] i. e. a tributary servant. Wright translates, became liable to the service of a slave, i. e. worked without receiving wages. ver. 16. The children of the bondwoman were evidently not considered equal to the sons of Jacob's wives; comp. ch. xxxvii. 2. Jacob, in proceeding fi'om the sons of Leah to the sons of the handmaids, takes care to declare that they were to be founders of tribes just as the children of the freeborn wives. — dan shall judge his people] i.e. the people of the twelve tribes, as in Deut. xxxiii. 7 {Knobel, Delitzsch), It seems better to understand his people as denoting the people of his own tribe. The blessing then means that Dan, notwithstanding his low origin, or the small extent of territory allotted the tribe. 416 GAD. [gen. should exist as an independent, self-governed tribe, like the others. ver. 17. AN ADDER IN THE PATH] The Ce- rastes, a horned snake, still frequently found in Egypt. This snake is of the colour of sand, in which it lies buried on the road, and perceives by means of the horn-feelers the approach of the- horseman. A sharp sting in the hoof causes the horse to throw the rider {v. Gerlacli). The image represents the Danites as managing their wars more by craft and cunning than by open hostility. The prediction does not appear to have Samson particularly in view {Patrick). ver. 18. I HAVE WAITED FOR THY SALVATION, o lord] The thought of the trials he had him- self passed through, and of those which he sees awaiting his descendants, draws from the patriarch this expression of his longing for the promised salvation of the Lord. ver, 19. gad] He makes a kind of play on the name Gad, which resembles Gedud, a troop. This tribe had its inheritance on the eastern side of Jordan, and was harassed by the Ammonites and other predatory tribes (Judg. x. xi.). By the defeat of the Ammonites in Jephthah's time, and the decisive victory over the Hagarenes (1 Chron. xlix. 16 — 22.] ASHER. NAPHTALI. 417 V. 18 — 22), they procured a peaceful enjoyment of their inheritance until the time of the cap- tivity.— A TROOP SHALL, &c.] This should be translated, a troop shall attack him, hut he shall attack their rear, i. e. shall put the invading enemy to flight {Maurer). ver. 20. A description of the fruitfulness of Asher's inheritance. Comp. Deut. xxxiii. 24. For the truthfulness of the prediction, see Stanley, Sin. and Pal, p. 358.— royal dainties] meat fit for the table of kings {Wright), ver. 21. a hind let loose] He compares Naphtali to a hind roaming at large, or, as some prefer translating, a graceful hind, which, " light- footed and swift, easily eludes its persecutors on the mountain-heights" {Kalisch), — giveth good- ly words] It would seem that this tribe excelled in eloquence or poetry. The only proof we have of this gift is the song of Deborah in Judg. v. ver. 22. JOSEPH is A fruitful bough, &c.] Lit. Joseph is the son of a fruit-tree, son of a fruit- tree by the ivell, his branches spread over the wall. The image is plain and elegant. Joseph is com- pared to the layer of a fruit-tree (probably of a layered vine; comp. Ps. Ixxx.), which has the fairest prospect of thriving; beneath it is the «. 27 418 JOSEPH. [gen. well supplying moisture and nourishment, and over it the wall to protect it from wind and weather, and to afford support to its boughs {Delltzsch). ver. 23. the archers, &c.] An image of tlie persecutions which Joseph endured at the hands of his brethren and in Egypt, and which were repeated in the history of Ephraim, which suffered much from the jealousy of the other tribes (Judg. xii.), and also from the frequent attacks of the Syrians. ver. 24. his bow, &c.] Joseph is strength- ened by God Himself so as to withstand his enemies.— THE arms of his hands] It is through the strength of the arms that the hands can bend tlie bow, and so direct the arrow (Delitzsch). But Knobel and Km-tz translate, the strength of his hands.— FROM thence is the shepherd, THE stone of ISRAEL] i.e. from the same divine power and mercy it was that Joseph became the feeder (sheplierd), and the stay and support (stone) of Israel and his family (Ainsw., Kid., Pat, Eosc7im.). The passage is better rendered, the amis of his hands were made strong, or received strength, from the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, from tJience, from the shepJierd, xlix. 22—26.] JOSEPH. 419 from the stone or roch of Israel {Maurer, De- litzscJi). The insertion of *from thence' points emphatically to the Shepherd and Rock of Israel as the source of Joseph's strength. ver. 25. By a slight alteration the English version becomes more intelligible and nearer the original. From the God of thy father — map He help thee! — and from God Almighty — may He hless tJieef [may there corns upon thee] bless- ings of heaven above, dc. {Maurer, Helitzsch). — BLESSINGS OF HEAVEN ABOVE] i.e. fertilizing rains and dews. — blessings of the deep that LiETH under] i.e. springs and abundance of water. — blessings of the breasts and womb] productive cattle. For the reverse of these bless- ings, comp. Deut. xxviii. 23; Hos. ix. 14. ver. 26. the blessings of thy father HAVE PREVAILED ABOVE THE BLESSINGS OF MY progenitors unto the UTMOST BOUND OF THE EVERLASTING HiLLs] For not Only have the blessings of his progenitors been most i3ros- perously fulfilled in him, surrounded as he is by his numerous descendants; but while his fathers could only bless individuals, he is in the act of blessing an entire, great, glorious, and imperish- able people (Raphall), The present translation 420 BENJAMIN. [gen. is supported by Delitzsch.— unto the utmost BOUND OF THE EVERLASTING HiLLs] The emi- nence and long duration of these blessings are metaphorically expressed by the height and du- ration of ancient hills; comp. Isa. liv. 10 {Kid- der),— THAT WAS SEPARATE FKOM HIS BRETH- REN] These blessings belong to Joseph, who, being selected from the number of his brethren to a higher destination, was separated and con- secrated, and whose descendants were to obtain a high importance in Israel {KnoheT), ver. 27. Benjamin is fitly compared to a ravening wolf for his warlike courage and suc- cess against his enemies; an account of which we have, Judg. iii. 15, xx. 21 ; Gal. ii. 5 {Kidder). —THE MORNING,... AT night] denoting the un- ceasing and unwearied boldness and ferocity of Benjamin; comp. Ps. xcii. 2; Eccles. xi. 6. ver. 28. blessed them] Even Reuben, Si- meon, and Levi received a blessing in being taken in as heads of tribes, and inheritors of the promised land {Kidder*), I. 2, 3.] MOURNING FOR JACOB. 421 Chapter L. Ver. 2. HIS SERVANTS THE PHYSICIANS] i.e. those physicians in his service whose peculiar office it was to embalm. As we learn from He- rodotus (ii. 84) that in Egypt each distemper and each organ had its peculiar physician, it is not strange that Joseph should have had several in his service. Comp. Hengstb. Eg, p. QQ. — to embalm] The antiquity of the practice in Egypt is proved from some mummies bearing the dates of the oldest kings. Full descriptions of different modes of embalming are given by Herodotus, Book II. c. 86, and Diodorus, i. 91. However, "they are not justified in confining the modes of embalming to three, since the mummies show a far greater variety" (Wilkinson, Herod. Vol. ii. p. 139). ver. 3. AND FORTY days] Diodorus states that the process of embalming lasted more than thirty days; i. 91. When Herodotus (ii. c. 86) 422 THE FUNERAL TRAIX. [gen. says that the body was kept in natron seventy days, he included in that period the whole time of mourning (Hengstb. Eg, p. 68 ; Wilkinson, He- rod. Vol. II. p. 142). ver. 4. JOSEPH spake unto the house of pharaoh] On every other occasion we find Jo- seph speaking directly to Pharaoh. But now he was in mourning; and, according to the Egyptian custom related by Herodotus, his hair and beard were unshorn; and, as is shown in note on ch. xli. 14, he could not, according to Egyi)tian no- tions of propriety, enter the royal presence. ver. 5. LET ME go] a man in Joseph's high position could not venture to leave his master's country without permission. ver. 9. IT WAS A VERY GREAT COMPANY] "The custom of funeral trains (says Rosellini) was peculiar to all periods, and to all the pro- vinces of Egypt. We see the representations of funeral processions in the oldest tombs at Eile- thyas, and similar ones are delineated in those of Saqqarah and Gizeh; we also find others of a like nature in the Theban tombs, which be- long to the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth dynasties." When we behold the representations of the processions for the dead on the menu- 1. 3 — 10.] BEYOND JORDAN. 423 ments, we seem to see the funeral train of Jacob (Hengstenberg, Egypt). Ver. 10. THE THRESHING-FLOOR OF ATAD, WHICH IS BEYOND JORDAN] As Goreu ho-atad, 'the buckthorn threshing-floor,' is on the other side, i.e. the east of the Jordan, the procession did not take the nearest route, by Gaza and through the territory of the Philistines, but went by a long circuitous route round the Dead Sea, and so crossed the Jordan, and entered Canaan on the eastern side. The reason of this may be attributed to political circumstances, with which we are unacquainted {Kurtz), — beyond Jordan] Lit. across Jordan; and the place was evidently on the east side of Jordan. An argument has been derived from this expression to prove the late authorship of the Pentateuch. Moses, it is argued, could not have described the situation of the place by a term which describes it rela- tively to a person in Canaan. But the use of this term here is to be explained from the ne- cessity imposed on a writer circumstanced as Moses, of fixing on some ideal point of view in relation to which he might speak of localities far distant from himself. Regarding Canaan as his true home, Moses would naturally in such a 424 ABEL-MIZRAIM. [gen. case make it his centre. See Heiigstb. Pent ii. p. 256; Keil. Elnhi^. 132.-~there they moukn- ed] The great external demonstrations of sorrow which the Egyptians exhibited in their mourn- ing are thus described by Herodotus (ii. 85): "Lamentations and funerals were celebmted. When a man died in a house, that is, one of rank, all the females of the family, covering their faces Avith mud, and leaving the body in the house, ran through the streets, girded up, and striking their bare breasts, and uttering loud lamentations. All their female relations joined them. The men beat their breasts in like man- ner, and also girded up their dress." ver. 11. abel-mizraim] This name cannot mean the mourning of the Egyptians, which woidd be Ebel-7nizraim, neither need we sup- pose it to mean, with Gesenius, Tuch, and De- li tzsch, the meadoiv of the Egyptians ; but it is best to consider ahel as a verb in the third person singular pret., Egypt mourns {Wright), ver. 13. HIS SONS carried him into the LAND OF CANAAN] unaccompauicd, it seems, by the Eg}T)tians. A peaceful company of mourning relatives might readily enter a strange land, but the armed escort of Egyptians would hardly be 1. 10 — 26.] DEATH OF JOSEPH. 425 permitted to cross the fi^ontier. And, besides, religious prejudices might deter the Egyptians from assisting at the interment of the patriarch of the shepherd tribe. Ver. 19. AM I IN THE PLACE OF GOD?] He acts as one who believes the truth, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.' ver. 20. See note on ch. xlv. 5. ver. 23. THE CHILDREN OF MACHIR THE SON OF MANASSEH WERE BROUGHT UP UPON JOSEPH'S knees] i. e. were adopted by him, not to be founders of new tribes (see ch. xlviii. 6), but to inherit his special rights and property. Thus Kurtz. ver. 26. in a coffin] A wooden mummy- case, made generally of sycamore, and of shape resembling the deceased. See the passage of Herodotus in note on ver. 2. It is well remarked by V. 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Exposition of the Ordinary Services of the Prayer Book : 5*. 6d. Ecclesiastical History. 10*. &d. The Doctrine of Sacrifice. 75. 6d. Theological Essays. Second Edition. 10*. ed. The Religions of the World. Third Edition. 5*. Learning and Working. 5*. The Indian Crisis. Eive Sermons. 2*. 6d. The Sabbath, and other Sermons. 2*. Grf. Law on the Eable of the Bees. 4*. &d. The Worship of the Church. A Witness for the Redemption of the World. ^*- The Name Protestant, and the English Bishopric at Jerusalem. Second Edition. 3*. The Duty of a Protestant in the Oxford Election. 1847. 1*. The Case of Queen's College, London. l^. ^d. Death and Life. In Memoriam C.B.M. l« Administrative Reform, 3