^BibleHessaj^ 
 
 Cral(5S.Tboix)s 
 
Class 
 Book,. 
 
 D o^ h 
 
 r^5 
 
 GwiigJitW- 
 
 ccnaucHr deposhv 
 
THE BIBLE MESSAGE 
 
 FOR 
 
 MODERN MANHOOD 
 
THE BIBLE MESSAGE 
 
 FOR 
 
 MODERN MANHOOD 
 
 BY 
 
 CRAIG 5. THOM5, Ph. D. 
 
 n 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 THE GRIFFITH & ROWLAND PRESS 
 
 1912 
 
T^5 
 
 Copyright 1912 by 
 A. J. ROWLAND. Secretary 
 
 Published December, 1912 
 
 ©CI.A330457 
 
TO 
 
 m^ mite 
 
 WHOSE FELLOWSHIP OF THOUGHT 
 
 HAS GIVEN UNCEASING JOY AND 
 
 WHOSE DEVOTION TO THE BEST IN 
 
 LIFE HAS BEEN A CONSTANT 
 
 INSPIRATION 
 
PREFACE 
 
 There are two different things, as Doctor 
 Paulsen says, about a page of print: First, 
 By what processes did it come to be? and 
 secondly, What does it mean ? This volume 
 passes as briefly as possible over the first 
 question and seeks an answer to the second. 
 The answer it seeks, however, is not detailed 
 nor exhaustive, but rather the central one. 
 The author's aim, in discussing each Bible 
 narrative treated, has been to point out the 
 theme which lies in it as an organizing 
 principle, and which has vital significance 
 for every age. 
 
 The aim throughout has been, not to write 
 about the Bible, nor to discuss critical ques- 
 tions, but rather, by interpreting some of 
 the principal narratives in the light of the 
 best conservative scholarship of our day, to 
 give the word of God itself a firmer grip 
 upon every mind and a deeper hold upon 
 every heart. The author seeks, not to speak 
 for the word of God, but to set forth that 
 
pretace 
 
 word in such light that it shall speak for 
 itself. 
 
 The book is sent forth with the hope that, 
 amid the shifting thought incident to times 
 of critical study, it may help young men es- 
 pecially to hold fast to the fundamental 
 teachings of God's Revealed Word. 
 
 It has been found impracticable to give 
 credit for suggestions received from many 
 books by specific references to the works. 
 A bibliography is therefore appended, in 
 which are set down a few of the volumes 
 that have been found helpful. 
 
 C S T 
 
 April X, 1912. ^" *^* 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PART I 
 
 THE TRAINING OF GOD's PEOPLE 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. The Narrative of Creation 13 
 
 II. The Temptation of Adam and 
 
 Eve 29 
 
 III. Cain and Abel 49 
 
 IV. The Great Flood 71 
 
 V. Abraham, the Man who Obeyed 
 
 God 89 
 
 VI. Jacob, the Man who Conquered 
 
 by Being Conquered 109 
 
 VII. Joseph, the God-accompanied 
 
 Man 127 
 
 VIII. The Redemption of Israel from 
 
 Egypt 145 
 
 IX. The Beginning of the Conquest 
 
 of Canaan 169 
 
^able ot Contents 
 
 PART II 
 
 THE MISSION OF GOD S PEOPLE 
 Chapter Page 
 
 X. The Book of Jonah 189 
 
 XL The Work of the Prophets 209 
 
 XII. The Nature of Messianic 
 
 Prophecy 231 
 
 XIII. Christ the FulfiUer of Prophecy. 253 
 
 XIV. The Significance of Jesus Christ 
 
 for the i\Iodern Man 265 
 
PART I 
 
 THE TRAINING OF GOD'S 
 PEOPLE 
 
Zhc Iftarrative of Creatton 
 
 <9ene0i0, tbe first and Second Cbapters 
 
IN the present condition of biblical knowl- 
 edge it is of the utmost importance 
 for every one to maintain a right mental at- 
 titude toward reverent Christian scholar- 
 ship. Many good people, confusing devout- 
 ness with conservatism, are prejudiced 
 against warranted conclusions of biblical 
 investigation ; while other equally good peo- 
 ple accept all too readily every new specula- 
 tion. Either of these mental attitudes may 
 result from sheer prejudice or pride of 
 opinion and may be accompanied with very 
 superficial knowledge of the matters under 
 investigation. 
 
 It hardly need be said that there are 
 earlier and later conceptions of the Old 
 Testament Scriptures. The earlier con- 
 ceptions obtained before modern scholar- 
 ship was born, while the later ones are the 
 product of that scholarship. Those who 
 hold to the earlier views are neither more 
 nor less devout and consecrated than those 
 
 15 
 
Zbc ^Btble fncddaae for tlloDetn Olanbood 
 
 who hold to the later ones ; but between the 
 two views young people especially feel 
 themselves in a transitional, or at least an 
 uncertain, state of mind with reference 
 to the Old Testament literature. If one 
 were to ask, " What are the old views ? " 
 and, " What are the new views ? " many 
 could not tell ; and even among those better 
 informed different answers would be given. 
 The conscious state of the average man 
 with reference to the whole matter is that 
 of confusion. Surely the net result of Old 
 Testament scholarship ought to be, and 
 doubtless will ultimately be, to lead men 
 to emphasize the things that are vital to 
 spiritual life and to send to the background 
 of religious thought and emphasis things 
 unedifying to that life. 
 
 In this first chapter we are to consider 
 the story of creation, found in the first 
 two chapters of Genesis. The subject may 
 be simplified by considering it, first, as to 
 the facts and, secondly, as to the teaching. 
 
 I. As to the Facts 
 
 (i) Who was the author of the narra- 
 tive? When was the narrative written? 
 What was the nationality of the author? 
 
 i6 
 
tlbe IFlatrative ot Creation 
 
 Was he prophet, priest, sage, or scientist? 
 What is the nature of the writing — ^his- 
 tory, legend, allegory, parable, prose, or 
 poetry ? 
 
 It is important to observe that regarding 
 these questions the narrative itself is ut- 
 terly silent. Had answers to them been 
 vital to the message which the narrative 
 contains, such answers certainly would 
 have been made clear. But since the narra- 
 tive ignores these questions, surely it is 
 proper for us at least to put them to one 
 side. Let us deliver them over to the 
 scholars — the critics, archeologists, Assyri- 
 ologists, Egyptologists; to those who love 
 to excavate buried cities, dig up tablets and 
 monuments, decipher hieroglyphics, and to 
 any others who are able to help in the 
 work. Let us ask such men to do their 
 best, and return to us with their report. 
 We shall be interested in whatever they 
 may discover, but not shaken by it, since 
 it cannot annul any spiritual teaching of 
 the word. 
 
 Surely it is folly from the religious point 
 of view to contend seriously as to whether 
 any writing of the Scriptures is history, 
 tradition, legend, allegory, parable, prose, 
 
 B 17 
 
tlbc 3iblc (JtlcBBnQc for tllodetn CilanbooD 
 
 or poetry ; for by all of these means we find 
 God speaking to men. Read the account 
 of the rise and fall of David's kingdom, 
 the narrative of the Babylonian captivity, 
 the lives of Christ and of Paul. You are 
 reading history and biography. Turn to 
 the Psalms and the poems of the great 
 prophets, and you find God speaking to men 
 through poetry. Listen to Nathan's re- 
 buke of David, where he speaks of the 
 man's little ewe lamb (2 Sam. 12: 1-6), and 
 to the story of the speaking trees (Judg. 
 9: 7-10), and you find God's messages made 
 plain in allegory. Go to the teachings of 
 Christ and you find the very heart of the 
 gospel in parables. 
 
 Shall it be then a matter of acrimonious 
 debate whether this story of creation is 
 this or that kind of literature? We con- 
 fess, of course, a scholarly interest in what 
 the investigators bring to our notice, but 
 are religiously indifferent to it, since it 
 cannot invalidate the spiritual teaching, 
 which Jehovah by his word is revealing to 
 the souls of men. Very likely it may con- 
 firm the literal truth of the teaching. 
 
 (2) Many scholars affirm that in these 
 first two chapters of Genesis there are two 
 
 18 
 
^be IRarcative ot Creation 
 
 distinct narratives woven together. This 
 claim need not alarm or disturb us, nor are 
 we supremely concerned to show whether it 
 is true or false. The essence of the narra- 
 tive is left us in either case. The scholars 
 tell us that there is an earHer narrative of 
 creation written by a prophet, or possibly 
 a school of prophets; and a later one 
 written by a priest, or possibly a school of 
 priests. They tell us also that there is an 
 earlier and a later Babylonian narrative 
 of creation, as well as a Persian narrative; 
 and that the clay tablets on which these 
 narratives are written have been dug up 
 from buried cities. They tell us further 
 that there are traditions of creation which 
 have been handed down in many nations. 
 These facts none can question. We have 
 no reason to doubt them, nor do we desire 
 to doubt them. 
 
 Is this biblical story of creation then a 
 composite narrative? And did the writer 
 have earlier traditions and stories before 
 him upon which he drew? I am not anx- 
 ious about such questions, because they 
 are matters without vital significance for 
 God's message. It is exceedingly probable 
 that the writer did have earlier materials 
 
 19 
 
Ube Mblc message for flloOem ffilanbooD 
 
 before him ; for, as far as we know, God's 
 method in teaching men has always been 
 to require them to use the materials which 
 they had at hand. The staff that is already 
 in the hand of Moses he must use in de- 
 livering Israel. The few loaves and fishes 
 the disciples must use in feeding the multi- 
 tude. The lives of Christ that " many have 
 taken in hand to write," Luke draws upon 
 in writing his Gospel. It is not God's way 
 to shoot messages like lightning from clear 
 sky when men have materials at hand by 
 which they may be conveyed. But what I 
 seek to make plain is that questions of 
 method in revelation are of minor impor- 
 tance as bearing upon the spiritual teaching. 
 
 2. As to the Teaching 
 
 Let us now go into the narrative itself, 
 seeking an answer to the one question of 
 chief importance, viz.. What message does 
 this narrative bring from God to the human 
 heart ? 
 
 ( I ) God created the world. In this nar- 
 rative the ideas of God and the world are 
 the primitive ideas of ancient civilization. 
 God is thought of as being in the form of 
 man. He acts like a man, thinks like a 
 
 20 
 
Zhc Barcativc ot Ctcatlon 
 
 man, speaks like a man. The earth is con- 
 ceived as being flat, with a great dome or 
 firmament above it. Beneath the flat earth 
 there is the "great deep," and above the 
 dome also there is water. "Windows of 
 heaven " admit water to the earth from 
 above, and " fountains of the great deep " 
 answer a like purpose for the waters be- 
 low. The conceptions of God and the world 
 are those of the age, not those of modern 
 science. Scientific conceptions have no 
 place nor mission here. Had they been 
 put into the narrative, they would have 
 been unintelligible until within the last hun- 
 dred years. Indeed, scientific terms are 
 even now practically valueless as means of 
 conveying spiritual truth. We say that God 
 is cause or force or law, all of which is 
 true enough, but what do we get out of 
 such terms for our spiritual life? Even in 
 this scientific age it is not until God is 
 thought of in terms of personality that we 
 are helped spiritually by the knowledge of 
 him. It is when Christ bids us pray, " Our 
 Father," that our souls grip a divine reality. 
 It is when the Saviour speaks to us the 
 parable of the Prodigal Son that we feel 
 a tugging at our heart-strings. We get 
 
 21 
 
^be Mblc tnceeaQC tor flloOern fllanbooD 
 
 nearest to God by conceiving him to be an 
 enlarged human personaHty — anthropo- 
 morphism, as the theologians call it — not in 
 terms of the chemical laboratory or of 
 physics or in the discoveries of zoolog}^ or 
 geology. The matchless story of creation 
 in Genesis, told for the spiritual help of 
 man, brings God nearer to the mind and 
 heart than any scientific treatise could pos- 
 sibly do. What is its message? Jeho- 
 vah, not idols, created the world. The 
 world did not come by chance. It did not 
 produce or create itself. And it was created 
 for good. This is the first message of the 
 narrative. Surely it could not be set forth 
 more clearly nor uttered with greater 
 majesty and power. 
 
 (2) Jehovah created man. All the con- 
 ceptions here are very simple. An old 
 Babylonian poem tells of a goddess crea- 
 ting a man, Eabani, from a bit of clay. He 
 was clad only in the long hair which covered 
 his body. He ate and drank and sported 
 with the animals. To lure him from his 
 strange companionship a beautiful woman 
 was sent, and by her charms she wooed him 
 from his barbarous life.^ How primitive 
 
 ^ Kent, " Heroes and Crises of Early Hebrew History," 
 P- 37- 
 
 22 
 
 I 
 
^be Vlarcatfve of Cceation 
 
 and yet how poetic and beautiful these con- 
 ceptions are! 
 
 Very similar are the conceptions in the 
 bibHcal narrative. God molds from dust 
 the form of a man, but there is no life. 
 The form lies motionless and inert. Then, 
 bending over the form, God breathes into it 
 the breath of life, and it becomes a living 
 soul. There is no modern science here. 
 The conceptions are wholly primitive. And, 
 as in case of the creation of the world, 
 had they not been so the narrative would 
 have been useless until very recent times, 
 and not of much service then. 
 
 The lesson which the story holds is that 
 " God breathed into man the breath of life." 
 The form of the story is comparatively 
 insignificant. And yet, pedagogically, this 
 Genesis story has been the best in every 
 age; and it is the very best to-day. As a 
 quick and effective instrument of spiritual 
 impression, assurance, and conviction, all 
 the scientific knowledge that we possess is 
 impotent beside it. Its clear-cut lessons 
 are that man is God-inspirited ; he is created 
 in the divine image; the divine life is in 
 him. This is the deepest and sublimest 
 fact of our nature. This great truth throbs 
 
 23 
 
ZTbe 3iSil>le Vdcee^Qc for filoDecn manbood 
 
 in every soul, becomes articulate in every 
 prayer, impresses us anew beside every 
 open grave, and is the very heart of the 
 message of Christ to man, viz., that man 
 by creation is a son of God. 
 
 (3) Jehovah created woman. The narra- 
 tive represents God as first searching among 
 the animals to find a helpmeet for man 
 and as failing in the search. Then, upon 
 Adam there falls a deep sleep, the rib (if 
 that is what the word means) is taken 
 from his side, and the wound is closed. 
 From the rib and flesh taken the woman is 
 formed. She is then brought to the man, 
 who recognizes her kinship to himself, ac- 
 cepts her as his mate, and lives with her as 
 his wife and helpmeet. 
 
 It is a beautiful story, primitive and 
 oriental in every conception, simple in de- 
 tail, yet laden with spiritual import. Should 
 one expect science here ? Even the sugges- 
 tion seems sacrilege. Where in all the 
 world can one find another story consisting 
 of so few words that is such a matchless 
 vehicle of thought and the bearer of such 
 fundamental conceptions of the sexes, that 
 woman is of the same flesh and blood as 
 man; that the breath of God is in her as 
 
 24 
 
Zbc flanatlve ot Creation 
 
 in him; and that she is to him cx)mpanion 
 and helpmeet ? 
 
 He who sees clearly the vital truths of 
 this great narrative and realizes what a 
 teacher it has been to mankind does not 
 wonder at the high place the Hebrews gave 
 to their women. He does not wonder that, 
 under the influence of the Bible, the Greeks 
 ceased to discuss whether woman had a 
 soul. He does not wonder that with the 
 progress of the centuries the home has 
 been purified until woman's good name is 
 held sacred by every man of honor. To 
 him who knows the sad history of woman 
 in heathen lands the Genesis story of 
 creation is to her a decree of emancipation 
 issued from the throne of the Eternal. 
 
 (4) Jehovah provides. Having created 
 the man and the woman, God plants a gar- 
 den eastward in Eden; i. e., the Creator 
 provides for the comfort and enjoyment of 
 his creatures. 
 
 Was this Garden of Eden a real garden? 
 If so, where was it located? What were its 
 fruits? Simply to ask such questions is 
 to make plain how puerile and ridiculous 
 they are in the face of a narrative so 
 beautiful in conception, and so abundantly 
 
 25 
 
i^bc Mblc (UlcBBngc for fHoDern filanboo& 
 
 reassuring for man's spiritual life. Geogra- 
 phy and horticulture have no place here. The 
 message is one of God's care and provision 
 for those whom he has created. At this 
 point the narrative is the forerunner of 
 Christ's teaching that the God who cares 
 for the lily and the sparrows cares with 
 greater solicitude for man. 
 
 But the inspired writer does not stop 
 when he has made clear God's provision 
 for man's body. His eye is upon the spir- 
 itual part of man, that part which he has 
 carefully shown to be inbreathed by God. 
 In the garden Jehovah plants a tree of the 
 knowledge of good and evil, and warns the 
 created pair not to eat of the fruit of it 
 lest they die. 
 
 In ancient literature one may trace many 
 analogies of the tree of life and of the tree 
 of the knowledge of good and evil. A 
 Babylonian hero, after long search, finds a 
 plant called, " The restoration of old age to 
 youth," but it is snatched away from him 
 by a serpent, so that he fails of immortality. 
 Another legend tells of a fisherman who 
 gained entrance to the abode of the gods, 
 where he was given the " food of life," 
 and by eating this food endless life was 
 
 26 
 
Zbc IRatcativc of Ctcation 
 
 secured. Trees were frequently thought to 
 be media of revelation. God appears to 
 Moses in the burning bush. During the 
 period of the Judges there was a famous 
 diviner's tree near Shechem. (Judg. 9:37.) 
 In ancient Greece oaks and laurels were 
 consulted by kings and philosophers. The 
 Arabs to-day believe that the box-thorn 
 sometimes utters prophetic words. The 
 ideas of trees of life and of revelation were 
 common conceptions among the ancients.^ 
 
 In the light of such facts how shall we 
 interpret this narrative of creation? Shall 
 we inquire whether there was a real gar- 
 den? Whether God actually planted trees? 
 And what was the nature of their fruit? 
 To do so is to become the victims of nar- 
 row literalism. Every man lives daily in a 
 whole orchard of trees of the knowledge of 
 good and evil and, contrary to the command 
 of God in his soul, he is constantly tempted 
 to partake of their fruit. 
 
 From this simple but truth-laden story, 
 which on its face shows that it was written 
 by some great prophet of God under the 
 tuition of the Divine Spirit (and why not by 
 
 2 See Kent, " Heroes and Crises of Early Hebrew His- 
 tory," pp. 36, 37. 
 
 27 
 
XLbc Miblc fileegaae tot fDotJCcn manbooD 
 
 Moses?), we should catch the broad sweep 
 of the eternal facts in which our lives are 
 grounded: That man is God-created; that 
 man and woman, because they are of the 
 same flesh and blood, and made the one for 
 the other, should hold each other in sacred 
 honor; that God cares for man and makes 
 provisions both for his bodily necessities and 
 for his spiritual needs. These are primal 
 truths that lie at the foundation both of 
 our spiritual knowledge and our soul-cul- 
 ture. 
 
 28 
 
Ill 
 
 ^be c;emptatton of H&am anb £ve 
 
 Ocncele, tbe Zbivt Chapter 
 
II 
 
 J. The Form of the Narrative 
 
 THE third chapter of Genesis, which 
 narrates the temptation of Adam and 
 Eve, is one of the most remarkable chap- 
 ters in the Bible; remarkable in charm of 
 literary form, in grasp of fundamental 
 truth, in comprehensive understanding of 
 human nature, and in exhaustive treatment 
 of the problem of temptation. The writer 
 sees human life to its depths and speaks for 
 eternity. 
 
 (i) Regarding the form of the narrative, 
 one should not be dogmatic. Some are in- 
 clined to say in haste : " If this narrative is 
 not what I have believed it to be from 
 childhood, I cannot hold to its inspiration." 
 Such an attitude is unreasonably and arro- 
 gantly dogmatic. It does not consider suf- 
 ficiently the difficulties which many have 
 in retaining the beliefs of their childhood. 
 It often presumes to decide scholarly ques- 
 
 31 
 
Zbc JSSible aiceenQc tot Cllodetn manboob 
 
 tions without the necessary scholarship and 
 without having given the subject that study 
 which guarantees competent judgment. In 
 the present condition of bibhcal scholarship 
 one's mind should be as open and flexible 
 as possible regarding the literary form of 
 such a narrative, in order that one's heart 
 may be fully receptive of its spiritual mes- 
 sage. 
 
 For centuries scholars regarded this nar- 
 rative as history, but many have now come 
 to a different and, as they believe, to a better 
 view. The narrative itself bristles with 
 the experiences of every man, and is 
 brimming with elements of life that are 
 universal, 
 
 (2) Before inquiring what the narrative 
 teaches, we should notice a few orien- 
 talisms. 
 
 By the ancients the serpent was regarded 
 as typical of wisdom and subtlety. Our 
 Lord said : " Be ye therefore wise as ser- 
 pents, and harmless as doves" (Matt. 10: 
 16). On account of its lurking nature, sud- 
 den attack, and poisonous bite, the serpent 
 was frequently employed to symbolize the 
 enemy of man, as when John in the Revela- 
 tion speaks of " the old serpent, he that is 
 
 32 
 
ZDc (Temptation of aoam anO J6ve 
 
 called the Devil" (Rev. 12:9). It is 
 natural and fitting, therefore, that from all 
 the animals the serpent should be selected 
 as the tempter of our first parents. 
 
 All suffering and misfortune was an- 
 ciently regarded as the consequence of sin. 
 This popular conviction is insisted upon by 
 the three friends in the book of Job. It 
 wa§ held by our Lord's disciples who, on 
 one occasion, asked the Master : " Who 
 sinned, this man, or his parents, that he 
 should be born blind?" (John 9:2.); to 
 which our Lord replied : " Neither did this 
 man sin, nor his parents ; but that the works 
 of God should be made manifest in him," 
 thus correcting a conception which had pre- 
 vailed for centuries. In the narrative of 
 the temptation the pains of childbirth, the 
 necessity of earning a livelihood by hard 
 toil, and the serpent doomed to a prostrate 
 form, are all attributed to sin. 
 
 (3) The closest parallel to this narrative 
 in ancient literature is the story of a man 
 and woman who were influenced by an 
 evil spirit to disobey the Creator. By 
 cutting down trees and killing animals, 
 contrary to the will of God, they lost their 
 innocence. 
 
 c 33 
 
^be :fl6ib(e tHesdade tot moDcrn fllanbooD 
 
 2. The Teaching of the Narrative 
 
 A careful examination of the story of the 
 temptation reveals the fact that the pro- 
 phetic writer has a remarkably comprehen- 
 sive grasp of the whole problem involved. 
 
 (i) Man comes from the hand of his 
 Creator innocent. Adam and Eve are man 
 and woman grown, and yet they are chil- 
 dren. They manifest all the unconscious 
 innocence of children three or four years of 
 age. In this particular the writer is not deal- 
 ing with a fanciful state, but with an actual 
 condition through which all men and women 
 pass as they grow from the cradle to ma- 
 turity. In the cities of the Orient to-day 
 one may see children unclothed, playing 
 together in unconscious innocence. The 
 writer, in dealing with the problem of temp- 
 tation, naturally and properly goes back 
 beyond all conscious temptation to that con- 
 dition of innocence in which little children 
 play in each other's presence naked and 
 without shame. Thus in a few sentences 
 is laid the foundation for the whole history 
 of temptation from its first dim dawning to 
 its ultimate consequences. 
 
 (2) Of all the trees in the garden, the 
 
 34 
 
 I 
 
^be ZTcmptation of BOam anD Bve 
 
 pair is forbidden only one. The words 
 which the serpent utters are significant: 
 " Hath God really said, ' Ye shall not eat 
 of any tree of the garden '? " That is, has 
 God denied you an)rthing whatsoever ? The 
 writer of the narrative makes a contrast 
 between the many trees of which they 
 may eat and the one of which they may 
 not eat, a contrast which is absolutely true 
 to life. Life's orchard is full of trees. And 
 for every one that is denied us there are 
 a hundred whose fruit we may enjoy. For 
 every one that holds a temptation there are 
 a hundred which have no suggestion of 
 sin. To-morrow we go forth to our work; 
 the day is spent in strenuous activity; we 
 return weary, but with consciousness of 
 achievement; it has been a good day. As 
 we review its experiences we can recall 
 only one or two points, and often none at 
 all, at which we were tempted to sin. Or 
 we throw off the cares of work and go for a 
 day's pleasure. The morning hails us with 
 delight; the waxing hours crown our day 
 with blessing; every friend increases our 
 satisfaction. At evening when we review 
 the day's experiences we find that for every 
 temptation to sin there have been a hundred 
 
 35 
 
^be Mblc nQeeeage tor moDern HQanbooD 
 
 innocent delights and as many refreshing 
 joys. The proportions of this narrative of 
 man's first temptation are true to Hfe. Only 
 occasionally, and in comparatively few rela- 
 tions of life, are we severely tempted; while 
 in the great majority of our points of con- 
 tact with the world we know nothing what- 
 ever of temptation. Of the whole garden, 
 with the exception of an occasional tree, 
 we may freely eat. 
 
 (3) The actual forces of which we are 
 conscious in temptation are clearly por- 
 trayed in this narrative. Neither in accu- 
 racy of delineation nor in vividness of por- 
 trayal can they be improved. On one side 
 is God, who earnestly seeks man's good. 
 On the other side is the serpent, guileful, 
 argumentative, unscrupulous. And between 
 these two stand the childlike pair, wonder- 
 ing, curious, and willing to be persuaded. 
 Where shall one find a more accurate char- 
 acterization of the opposing forces which 
 he feels tugging at his soul in moments of 
 temptation? And where shall one find 
 drawn with greater precision his own men- 
 tal and moral attitudes? It is evident that 
 the inspired writer is not only master of 
 his problem, but master also of the art of 
 
 36 
 
Zbc c;emptation of Bdam anD l£vc 
 
 setting forth that problem so as to bring 
 conviction home to every man. Nowhere 
 else in the Bible, unless it be in the temp- 
 tation of our Lord in the wilderness, are 
 the forces operative in temptation so clearly 
 portrayed and man's duty when tempted so 
 plainly indicated. 
 
 (4) As in life, so in this narrative, the 
 tempter casts discredit upon the sincerity 
 and integrity of God. He says : " For God 
 doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, 
 then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall 
 be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 
 3:5). When one stops to consider the 
 matter, he knows that God desires his good. 
 But sin is never reasonable. Notwith- 
 standing the assertions of reason, when we 
 are tempted there is in our hearts rebellion 
 against God, which carries with it the sus- 
 picion that God is not quite sincere, and 
 that he is endeavoring to withhold from 
 us something that we may legitimately en- 
 joy. Every temptation holds a subtle in- 
 timation that God at heart is not for us, but 
 against us. Sin is the logical sequence of 
 skepticism. Any justification of sin brands 
 God as a deceiver who seeks to take advan- 
 tage of one by withholding from him some 
 
 37 
 
^be Bible flleaaade for filoDern Cilanbood 
 
 good. Thus this narrative expresses in 
 vivid fashion what lies latent and unad- 
 mitted in the heart of every sinning per- 
 son, viz., that what God says is not true, 
 and what God requires is not warranted 
 by facts. 
 
 (5) The same considerations which led 
 Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit have 
 always led men into sin. The text states 
 them as follows : " And when the woman 
 saw that the tree was (a) good for food, 
 and (b) that it was a delight to the eyes, 
 and (c) that the tree was to be desired to 
 make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof 
 and did eat" (Gen. 3:6). As to whether 
 the tree was attractive to the sight, the 
 woman was competent to judge; but as to 
 whether it was good for food or would 
 make her wise, she was wholly incompetent 
 to judge. These supposed facts, which she 
 assumed to be true on the authority of her 
 tempter, could be known only by experi- 
 ence. They were wholly untrue, as the 
 sequel shows. 
 
 But what an accurate representation is 
 here of life as we know it! There is a 
 glamour about temptation. To inexperi- 
 enced eyes it has a subtle attractiveness. 
 
 38 
 
 I 
 
Zbc tremptatton ot BDam atto l£vc 
 
 And does not the tempter always argue that 
 the thing forbidden is not so bad after all, 
 indeed is really good for us, and that we 
 need the wisdom that comes from the ex- 
 perience? Every one who has done per- 
 sonal work in winning men to Christ has 
 heard the serpent's arguments times with- 
 out number. Take, for example, the young 
 man who is tempted to drink. The good 
 fellowship, the jollity, the secret under- 
 standings which other young men have 
 among themselves, are pleasant to his eyes. 
 Already the tempter is saying to him that 
 a social glass does not harm any one, that 
 many great men have been drinking men, 
 that a glass at the right time is really a good 
 thing and puts one at his best ; in the words 
 of the narrative, that the apple is "good 
 for food." The youth persuades himself 
 also that every young man must " sow his 
 wild oats," and that from doing so there 
 comes a necessary experience and a knowl- 
 edge of the world; in the words of the 
 narrative again, that the apple is "to be 
 desired to make one wise." In all tempta- 
 tion the processes are practically the same, 
 and the prophetic writer is laying bare the 
 most subtle wiles of the Evil One. 
 
 39 
 
Zbc MUc OlcssaQC tor flloDcrn fnanboo& 
 
 (6) After Adam and Eve have sinned 
 they hide from God, who walks in the 
 garden, desirous of talking with them as a 
 father would talk with his children. This 
 attitude of hiding from God after sinning 
 is so familiar to every one's experience that 
 it scarcely requires comment. Any man 
 who was once accustomed to pray, but has 
 ceased to do so, needs no one to tell him 
 that he ceased to pray on account of his 
 sins. And while his reason tells him that 
 it is useless to hide from the all-seeing God, 
 in his secret soul he does hide, and he 
 cannot be at ease nor feel at home when 
 God draws near. Sin against either God or 
 man makes us in very truth hide away from 
 the presence of those against whom we sin. 
 This fact the narrative sets forth in match- 
 less manner. 
 
 (7) When Jehovah called the guilty pair 
 to account Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed 
 the serpent, and the serpent made no reply. 
 This portion of the narrative needs to be 
 rescued from that silly facetiousness which 
 has long obscured its deeper meaning. We 
 need to be done with saying that " Adam- 
 like, man always blames the woman." 
 There is no question of sex here. The 
 
 40 
 
^be n:emptation ot Zldam and iBvc 
 
 teaching would be unchanged if Adam had 
 tempted Eve. The facts in the narrative 
 are just as they are in hfe. When one sins 
 he hastens to shift the responsibihty and to 
 blame another for his fault. Occasionally 
 a brave person with his lips says, " I take 
 all the blame." But in his secret soul he 
 does not take all the blame. The son be- 
 lieves that his father was too indulgent or 
 that his mother persisted in looking only 
 upon his best or that he was provided with 
 too much money. The daughter believes 
 that her mother neglected to tell her many 
 things that for her safety she needed to 
 know and that she ought to have been 
 better guarded with respect to her friend- 
 ships. Few there are who have wandered 
 into paths of sin that do not hold others 
 at least in part responsible. 
 
 Does this blaming of others seem cow- 
 ardly? Too long we have thought it 
 cowardly in Adam to blame Eve, but only 
 because we have dealt in a trivial manner 
 with the narrative. The deep truth which 
 the great prophet is uttering is that no one 
 ever sins alone. Others are always in- 
 volved, and are always more or less to 
 blame. No man lives, or can live to him- 
 
 41 
 
Cbe Mblc flle06age tot ftloDcrn filanbooD 
 
 self. Our sinning all but begins before we 
 are born. Especially in early years, our 
 environment is the larger part of our life 
 problem. Others are involved with us, and 
 we with them. We are to blame for the sins 
 of one another. One's Eve is the man or 
 woman at his elbow who leads him to do 
 wrong. And the clearness with which this 
 fact is brought out in the narrative indi- 
 cates the author's comprehensive grasp of 
 the whole temptation problem. 
 
 (8) " And the serpent said unto the 
 woman, Ye shall not surely die," notwith- 
 standing that God had said to her: "Ye 
 shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, 
 lest ye die." But the woman persuaded 
 both herself and her husband that they could 
 eat the fruit and escape the punishment. 
 How true to life! No man, when he be- 
 begins a course of sin, expects to incur the 
 punishment for sin. He knows that others 
 have incurred the punishment, but he ex- 
 pects somehow to escape. No young man 
 who indulges in a social glass expects to fill 
 a drunkard's grave. No embezzler expects 
 to serve time behind prison-bars. No thief 
 expects to commit murder and end his life 
 on the gallows. No one, as a consequence 
 
 42 
 
Zbc (Temptation of BDam anD J&ve 
 
 of social sin, expects to have his home 
 broken up and himself disgraced. Who 
 ever went into sin expecting a diseased 
 body, a degraded mind, and a lost soul? 
 Who ever sowed the wind with any thought 
 of reaping the whirlwind? Who ever be- 
 lieved that through sin his heart would be- 
 come hard, his conscience seared, his will- 
 power impaired, his spiritual perception 
 dulled, and his tastes degraded? All these 
 results he may have seen in others, but in 
 some way he expects to escape them. He 
 believes in his own superior strength, or 
 he is sure that he has wisdom to turn be- 
 fore passing the danger-line. In a word, he 
 believes the serpent when it says to him, 
 " Ye shall not surely die." 
 
 (9) None escapes punishment. The man 
 is punished; in the sweat of his brow he is 
 to till the soil. The woman is punished; 
 in pain and travail she is to bring forth 
 children. The serpent is punished; upon 
 his belly he is to go all his days. With sin 
 there is no trifling. No explanations or 
 excuses are accepted. From the punish- 
 ment of sin there is no escape. " The soul 
 that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:4). 
 
 It is to be noted that no complaint is 
 
 43 
 
XLbc Mblc caicesngc tot filoDern nttanbooJ) 
 
 offered against the severity of God. His 
 punishments are accepted in silence, and 
 presumably as just and deserv^ed. Such 
 dealing with punishment indicates the reve- 
 lation of the mind of the Spirit. The sin- 
 ning man seeks to escape just punishment. 
 The shallow man makes God careless of 
 discipline, both degrading the parent and 
 spoiling the child. But the prophet pene- 
 trates beneath all self-interest, shallowness, 
 and sophistry, and deals with the unre- 
 pentant sinner even as does our Lord. 
 
 (lo) After the sin is committed and the 
 punishment pronounced, the guilty pair is 
 driven forth from the garden. This is an 
 act of great mercy. Life with God in the 
 garden is henceforth intolerable. 
 
 It is to be noted that no mention is made 
 of repentance. Had there been repentance, 
 this driving forth from the garden would 
 be untrue to life, for a repentant man seeks 
 the presence of God, and God welcomes 
 him, invites him, even goes to seek him. 
 But it is evidently not within the purpose 
 of the inspired writer to introduce the sub- 
 ject of repentance. He is dealing with 
 temptation and, true to his theme, he deals 
 with it consistently by showing whither it 
 
 44 
 
 I 
 
Jibe temptation ot BDam an& iBvc 
 
 drives those who yield to it. The great 
 prophet here penetrates to the very heart 
 of spiritual life, for the sinning man must 
 either repent and return to God's fellow- 
 ship or be driven from God's presence. 
 For the unrepentant life in the presence 
 of God is unbearable. It is both a great 
 calamity and a great mercy, but neverthe- 
 less a great fact of life, that the sinning 
 man, because of the benumbing of his 
 moral sensibilities and the deadening of his 
 spiritual perceptions, becomes ever more 
 and more shut out from God. 
 
 (ii) But who, however far gone in sin, 
 does not still hope? And so there is in 
 this narrative a promise which expresses 
 the hope of the sinner's return to God's 
 favor. The serpent has indeed " wounded 
 the heel " of man, but the day is coming 
 when even that wounded heel shall bruise 
 the serpent's head. (Gen. 3:15.) Some 
 have seen in this promise a prophecy of 
 the Christ. Surely the promise is being 
 realized through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 But certainly there is here, first of all, a 
 declaration of the undying fact that under 
 all human circumstances, and after what- 
 ever defeats, " hope springs eternal in the 
 
 45 
 
Zbc JBMc noeadaae tor modem (nanbooO 
 
 human breast," and that for every sinning 
 soul there is hope in God. 
 
 And thus from only a brief review of the 
 narrative it is evident that the writer has 
 sounded human nature to its profoundest 
 depths. The history of temptation from 
 beginning to end he has thoroughly mas- 
 tered. As a teaching upon temptation this 
 story, in its simplicity, comprehensiveness, 
 directness, and power, is above and beyond 
 all comparison. In the literature of the 
 Bible itself it stands alone. It occupies 
 only a single chapter of the sacred record, 
 and yet not one element of temptation is 
 wanting, a. Man comes from the hand 
 of his Creator innocent, b. In a world filled 
 with good things he is denied comparatively 
 little, only the tree in the midst of the 
 garden, c. In every temptation the persons 
 involved are God, man, and the Evil One. 
 d. Between God's will and the will of the 
 tempter man must choose, e. To deceive 
 man the tempter casts discredit upon the in- 
 tegrity and sincerity of Gk^d. /. Man is be- 
 guiled by temptation because evil takes on 
 a form which is pleasant to the eyes, sweet 
 to the senses, and brings a knowledge of 
 the world, g. The sinning man hides from 
 
 46 
 
Ube temptation of BDam and J£vc 
 
 God, and cannot be at home in his presence. 
 h. The fallen man blames others for his fall, 
 and others are involved with him. i. He 
 who yields to temptation persuades himself 
 that in his case the inevitable consequences 
 will not follow. /. None escapes punish- 
 ment. The unrepentant man goes ever 
 farther from the presence of God, is driven 
 forth from the garden, k. Yet hope does 
 not die out of the heart, the seed of the 
 woman shall bruise the serpent's head. 
 Who, by writing volumes on temptation, 
 could add a syllable to the comprehensive- 
 ness and depth of this chapter ? 
 
 It is significant of the prophet's under- 
 standing of the love and mercy of the 
 Creator that he does not represent God as 
 driving Adam and Eve from the garden as 
 those who are abandoned to themselves and 
 beyond the pale of the divine care. God in 
 mercy and compassion clothes the guilty 
 pair with coats of skin. Though in rebel- 
 lion against him, though unrepentant and 
 guilt-stained, yet they are the objects of his 
 care. 
 
 47 
 
imn 
 
 Cain an£> Hbel 
 
 Oenesis, tbe fotxvtb Cbapter 
 
Ill 
 
 OUR first chapter considered the story 
 of creation, in which we saw the 
 prophetic narrative moving straight on to 
 the fact that man is a spiritual being, made 
 in the image of God. Our second chap- 
 ter dealt with the account of the temp- 
 tation of Adam and Eve, which exhibited 
 in great fulness the various elements of 
 temptation. 
 
 Next in the biblical order comes the story 
 of Cain and Abel. And next also in the 
 order of life come man's two fundamen- 
 tal relations: First, his relation to God, 
 expressing itself in worship; and secondly, 
 his relation to man, expressing itself in 
 conduct. 
 
 With these two relations the narrative of 
 Cain and Abel is concerned. In the sim- 
 plicity, incisiveness, and comprehensiveness 
 with which it treats the problems involved, 
 the narrative is unsurpassed. 
 
 51 
 
Zbc Mbic OiceesiQc toe moDern manboo5 
 
 I. The Historic Setting 
 
 Before taking up the narrative itself, it is 
 important to note its setting. 
 
 (i) Have we here a historic account? 
 The narrative is certainly realistic. Yet no 
 more so than Christ's parable of the Prod- 
 igal Son or of Dives and Lazarus. I make 
 this comparison, not to suggest that the nar- 
 rative of Cain and Abel is parable, but for 
 the purpose of again impressing the fact 
 that the character of the narrative, although 
 interesting, is comparatively unimportant; 
 while its fitness for bringing life-lessons to 
 the souls of men is all-important. 
 
 In the study of these narratives, however, 
 we should now begin to gain an idea of the 
 way early history was preserved. As all 
 are aware, the Hebrews and Arabs are 
 closely akin. In the early days, and in the 
 shepherd life especially, their habits were 
 similar. Around their camp-fires in the 
 evening the Arabs to-day relate incidents 
 in the lives of their heroes or any noted 
 events in their history. This has been their 
 custom for ages. In this way stories are 
 repeated by parents to children from gen- 
 eration to generation. As always in such 
 
 52 
 
Cain and Bbel 
 
 repetition, unnecessary details are sifted out 
 of the narratives, and the saHent points em- 
 phasized, until in the fewest possible words 
 the righteous act is approved, the heroism 
 commended, or the sin denounced. When 
 finally the story is put into writing it con- 
 stitutes, not a detailed history, much less 
 simply a parable, but a basis of historic 
 fact, wrought over and over, condensed 
 at one point, emphasized at another, and 
 fashioned into the best possible medium 
 for conveying truth. To be assured that 
 such was the method of the Hebrews in 
 preserving the most important events of 
 their history, and of teaching them to their 
 children, we have but to turn to the biblical 
 record itself: 
 
 In speaking about the Passover service, 
 God said to Moses : " When your children 
 shall say unto you. What mean ye by this 
 service? ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of 
 the Lord's passover, who passed over the 
 houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, 
 when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered 
 our houses " (Exod. 12 : 26). When Joshua 
 led Israel across the Jordan into the prom- 
 ised land, God bade him command twelve 
 men, from every tribe a man, to take stones 
 
 53 
 
Zbc JSible fnesaade for modern CHanbood 
 
 from the bed of the Jordan and pile them 
 up for a memorial in the place where they 
 should first lodge after crossing. The rea- 
 son God gave for such a memorial was: 
 " That this may be a sign among you, that, 
 when your children ask in time to come, say- 
 ing, What mean ye by these stones? then 
 ye shall say unto them, Because the waters 
 of the Jordan were cut off before the ark 
 of the covenant of the Lord ; when it passed 
 over the Jordan the waters of the Jordan 
 were cut off " (Josh. 4: 6f.). There is con- 
 stant reference in the Old Testament to 
 the habit of the fathers narrating to the 
 children the important facts of their national 
 history. Indeed, they were commanded not 
 only to narrate them, but also to erect 
 memorials to commemorate them. 
 
 In some such fashion, therefore, these 
 early stories were doubtless handed down 
 generation after generation, in some cases 
 for many centuries, until an inspired 
 prophet, seizing upon such as were suited 
 to God's message, put them into permanent 
 written form. Surely they are filled with 
 the profoundest life-lessons that words can 
 utter and bear the most-needed truths from 
 the heart of God to the soul of man. 
 
 54 
 
Cain and Bbel 
 
 (2) In this narrative of Cain and Abel 
 what may be called the background, though 
 not of special importance, is very interest- 
 ing. Cain, a tiller of the ground, and Abel, 
 a keeper of sheep, dwell near each other. 
 This fact is thought to locate the scene 
 of the narrative in southern Palestine, 
 where for centuries the two industries 
 flourished side by side. The institution 
 of sacrifice seems to be well developed, for 
 there is no indication that in sacrificing 
 the brothers are doing anything excep- 
 tional. The surrounding country is al- 
 ready filled with people whose vengeance 
 Cain fears as he goes forth from his home. 
 That blood-revenge is an existing institu- 
 tion is shown by Cain's fear that whosoever 
 finds him will slay him. Cain is, therefore, 
 afraid to go forth from the " presence of 
 Jehovah," for, according to the ancient con- 
 ception, each god had power to protect 
 his worshipers only if they remained within 
 his jurisdiction. The mark of protection 
 placed upon Cain is thought to have been 
 some tribal mark which laid every member 
 of the tribe under obligations to protect 
 him and avenge his injuries, thus ward- 
 ing off the stroke of the blood-avenger, 
 
 55 
 
^be aBible medsade toe flloDem tnanbood 
 
 Such is the setting of the story as derived 
 from hints in the narrative itself. 
 
 2, Worship 
 
 (i) Some have thought that Abel's offer- 
 ing was accepted because it involved the 
 shedding of blood, and also that this shed- 
 ding of blood was prophetic of Christ. 
 Every reference in the Old Testament to 
 our Lord Jesus Christ has special sacred- 
 ness to the writer of this book. But we do 
 the Scriptures great wrong when we read 
 back into them from later history what they 
 do not contain or even contemplate. 
 
 Some still discuss the question as to 
 whether the fact that Cain's sacrifice was 
 bloodless constituted his fault. At no time 
 in Israel's history is there an instance or 
 an intimation of God's rejecting any offer- 
 ing because it did not involve the shedding 
 of blood. On the other hand, the fruits of 
 the field were offered side by side with 
 slain animals and met with equal acceptance. 
 Jewish legislation commands both kinds of 
 offerings. The introduction into the Cain 
 and Abel story of this question of the shed- 
 ding of blood seems, therefore, utterly with- 
 out warrant. The whole narrative is so 
 
 S6 
 
Cain and Bbel 
 
 constructed that it is both natural and rea- 
 sonable for Cain, the farmer, to present to 
 God the fruits of the field ; while it is equally 
 natural and reasonable for Abel, the shep- 
 herd, to present an offering from his flocks. 
 Why should the writer of the narrative, 
 who is charging Cain with fault, obscure 
 by an uncertain phrase knowledge so vital 
 to all worshipers? If the offering of the 
 wrong sacrifice were Cain's fault, it was 
 easy for the writer to indicate it plainly. 
 Indeed, it is a fact worthy of commenda- 
 tion in the conduct of the brothers that 
 each offers to God just what he has, and the 
 narrative is so arranged as to put that fact 
 strongly. Whether it was in the mind of 
 the writer as a spiritual teaching, who shall 
 say? The teaching is traceable throughout 
 the Bible, though it is not specially con- 
 nected with sacrifice. 
 
 (2) The great lesson upon which the 
 narrative focuses attention is that Cain's 
 offering was rejected on account of Cain's 
 sin. The writer says specifically that it 
 Cain had done " well," that is, had been 
 righteous, his offering would have been ac- 
 cepted as readily as Abel's. The wording is, 
 "If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted 
 
 57 
 
Zbe Mblc fulceaase for fiilo&em fulanbooD 
 
 up? " There is no indication of what Cain's 
 sin was, only that he did not do " well." 
 But the particular sin is of no special sig- 
 nificance. It is wholly a question of God 
 accepting an offering in lieu of righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 One is astonished to find in this early 
 narrative a teaching that is the oft-recurring 
 message of the prophets, the plain teachings 
 of Christ, and the insistent claim of our 
 own day, viz., that an unrepentant sinner 
 cannot please God with offerings. Turn- 
 ing to Isaiah, we read : " To what purpose 
 is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me ? 
 saith the Lord: . . Bring no more vain 
 oblations" (Isa. i:ii, 13). Why are not 
 the offerings of the people acceptable to 
 God? Because the people are not right 
 in life. "Wash you, make you clean; put 
 away the evil of your doings from before 
 mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do 
 well " (Isa. 1 : 16). Even in the Apocrypha 
 we read : " The sacrifice of a righteous man 
 is acceptable; and the memorial thereof 
 shall not be forgotten" (Sirach 35:7). 
 Christ utters the same truth in these words : 
 " If therefore thou art offering thy gift at 
 the altar, and there rememberest that thy 
 
 58 
 
Cain atiD Bbel 
 
 brother hath aught against thee, leave there 
 thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, 
 first be reconciled to thy brother, and then 
 come and offer thy gift " (Matt. 5 : 2^, 24). 
 And no religious truth is more insisted upon 
 to-day, not only by pulpit and pew, but also 
 by the world at large, than that worship is 
 vain unless the life is consistent therewith. 
 It is significant of the inspired character 
 of this narrative that its writer in dealing 
 with worship, should pierce at once to the 
 very heart of the subject and make clear a 
 truth insisted upon by all the prophets, em- 
 phasized by Christ, and held as one of the 
 most settled convictions of our century. 
 
 (3) Attention should be called to the 
 fact that there is no mention of repentance 
 in this narrative. The prophetic writer 
 knows how to " stick to his text " ; and, 
 just as in the narrative of the tempta- 
 tion he drove straight on to show how God 
 deals with the sinner, not complicating his 
 theme with the question of repentance, so 
 here, with like clearness, he shows God's 
 attitude toward a sinner's worship. Writing 
 in a day when sinners and saints alike of- 
 fered sacrifices to some god, his purpose is 
 evidently to contrast Jehovah's attitude 
 
 59 
 
Zbc M\)lc VRCBBaQc tot (HloDetn fllanbood 
 
 toward the worship of the righteous with his 
 attitude toward the worship of the wicked. 
 In this contrast the question of repentance, 
 though not mentioned, is quite clear, for, 
 from the character of God as shown in the 
 narrative, it goes without saying that if 
 Cain had come to God repentant his offer- 
 ing would have been accepted. 
 
 (4) One does not realize the great im- 
 portance of this narrative, teaching as it 
 does that sin renders worship unacceptable 
 to God, until he calls to mind that heathen 
 nations did not connect righteousness with 
 worship. Indeed, much of their worship 
 was positively immoral. In this narrative 
 is begun the century-long struggle of the 
 Hebrew prophets, in which they strove to 
 secure the very thing that the sacred writer 
 here insists upon, viz., to get righteousness 
 connected with worship. Even in Christ's 
 time the scribes and Pharisees, standing 
 in long robes and broad phylacteries, made 
 long prayers, which they thought were ac- 
 ceptable to God. Though they were the 
 leaders of worship, Christ calls them robbers 
 of widows and orphans and declares that 
 the publicans and harlots enter the kingdom 
 of God before them. 
 
 60 
 
Cain anD Bbel 
 
 Throughout all the Christian centuries 
 also, there have been ardent and enthu- 
 siastic worshipers, but much indifferent liv- 
 ing. The linking together of the v^rorship 
 of God with righteousness of life has been 
 an age-long struggle, a struggle which really 
 holds within itself the whole problem of 
 civilization. When we consider the depth 
 and the difficulties of the problem, we 
 marvel at the clearness with which it is 
 set forth by the inspired writer in this early 
 narrative. 
 
 (5) The story of Cain and Abel also 
 makes clear without seeming effort what 
 constitutes the normal and balanced life, 
 the life that is well pleasing to God. It is 
 not worship alone ; nor yet " well-doing " 
 alone; but both together. While God re- 
 fuses to accept the worship of Cain because 
 he has not " done well," one cannot imagine 
 Jehovah saying to Abel, *' Because you have 
 done well you need not worship me." Wor- 
 ship is taken for granted in connection with 
 well-doing. 
 
 This fact needs emphasis in our day. 
 This narrative is right in its teaching that 
 worship is vain without righteousness, and 
 Christians should accept the criticism of 
 
 61 
 
Zbc Bible aiCBs$iQC tot Alo^em nianbooD 
 
 the world at this point. But the narrative 
 is equally right in what it takes for granted, 
 that though a man does toward his brother 
 as he would be done by, he is not therefore 
 at liberty to ignore God and neglect wor- 
 ship. 
 
 J. Social Relations 
 
 We have seen how clearly this narrative 
 sets forth man's right relation to God. An- 
 other relation which it makes clear — a twin 
 relation to the first — is man's right relation 
 to his brother man. Ours is the social 
 century and we have many text-books on 
 sociology, but the first statement on this 
 subject is the story of Cain and Abel in 
 the fourth chapter of Genesis. Its diagnosis 
 of the social disease is accurate and the 
 cure it prescribes is the only efiFective one. 
 The disease — call it by whatever fine 
 phrases we will — is that man is his brother's 
 murderer. The murder may be physical, 
 social, economic, or spiritual. John says 
 that " whosoever hateth his brother is a 
 murderer" (i John 3: 15). The murderer 
 is the man with the murderous spirit, the 
 man who strikes down his brother in any 
 sense or by any means whatsoever. 
 
 62 
 
Cain anD Bbct 
 
 The cure which the narrative prescribes 
 also is the only one, that man is his 
 brother's keeper. It is not my purpose, 
 however, to discuss sociology, but only to 
 make clear the teaching of the narrative, in 
 order that it may become evident that 
 through it God is speaking to men. 
 
 In this narrative is found a complete 
 catalogue of the soul movements observable 
 in social wrong-doing — jealousy, deceit, the 
 overt act, the lie to cover it up, and the 
 denial of responsibility. 
 
 (i) Jealousy. Cain is jealous of Abel 
 because Abel's offering meets with favor, 
 while his own does not. Abel is a simple, 
 God-fearing man, and not responsible for 
 God's treatment of Cain; nor is he re- 
 sponsible for Cain's sin. It is only just 
 that God should look with favor upon 
 Abel's offering. But jealousy knows noth- 
 ing of reason or justice. It is the first and 
 most fundamental social sin. Man looks 
 with jealous eyes upon his brother's suc- 
 cess, and desires for himself what his 
 brother possesses. With the social problem, 
 therefore, the inspired writer begins at the 
 beginning, for jealousy is the source whence 
 all social discords spring. 
 
 63 
 
Zbc Mblc dleadage foe fnodetn lilanboob 
 
 (2) Deceit. And now, in seeming friend- 
 ship, Cain invites Abel to walk with him 
 in the field. " Let us go into the field " 
 (as found in the Greek Bible), he says. 
 Deceit is the first-born child of jealousy. 
 Cain has a fair face, but a daggered hand. 
 He is like one who presents to another's 
 lips a sparkling but poisonous cup. 
 
 This element of Cain's sin assumes 
 many forms in modem society. For ex- 
 ample, you have a dollar that I covet, and 
 so I put red gauze over my peaches to 
 make you believe that they are just the 
 peaches you want, when I know that they 
 are green and sour. Or I send you the 
 literature of a mine, " from which gold 
 is just about to be shipped," when I am 
 fully aware that there is no gold in the 
 mine. Or I send you a patent medicine 
 that " will cure all your ills," when I know 
 perfectly well that the brandy in it will 
 stimulate you for a little while and that 
 afterward you will be worse than ever. 
 Whatever the form, deceit is the first 
 method of perpetrating social wrong be- 
 tween those of equal standing. 
 
 (3) The Overt Act. When by deceit Cain 
 had led Abel into the field where there was 
 
 64 
 
Cain and Bbel 
 
 none to protect him and where he could 
 strike him when off guard, he seized his 
 advantage and slew him. This method of 
 doing social wrong has not changed. For 
 example, the brewer says to the saloon- 
 keeper : " The nickels that you pay out for 
 treats to the boys now will come back to 
 you in dollars after a while." And when 
 the boy has been deceived and his manhood 
 slain, the dollars do come back' — murderer's 
 dollars, reeking with blood. Or the mo- 
 nopolist, with a smile, out of sheer gener- 
 osity, as he would have you think, puts 
 down the price of goods until he has 
 crowded out his competitor, but when you 
 are at his mercy he makes you pay double, 
 and thus slays you inch by inch. If one 
 visit our city tenements and ask, Why 
 the overcrowding? Why the filth and dis- 
 ease? it will be discovered that the land- 
 lord has the tenant at his mercy and is 
 committing the " overt act." Or if one in- 
 quire when the strike is called, he will 
 learn that it is usually when the contractor 
 is helpless and the public at the mercy of 
 the strikers. 
 
 In the light of such facts of modern 
 life, it is clear with what insight and accu- 
 
 E 65 
 
Zbc DSible mesdadc for flloDetn OQanbooD 
 
 racy the inspired writer sets forth the 
 method of social wrong-doing, and with 
 what unquaHfied condemnation he brands 
 it by designating it murder. 
 
 (4) The Lie to Hide the Wrong. " Where 
 is thy brother ? " Jehovah asks. " I know 
 not," the murderer repHes. It is only a 
 step from deceit to an out-and-out lie, and 
 a full commitment of one's self to the 
 wrong. The narrative brings out with start- 
 ling vividness how inevitably Cain rushes 
 headlong from the less sin to the greater. 
 The point is so clear and so true to life that 
 one need not dwell upon it, for all know that 
 whoever deliberately injures his fellow man 
 will lie to defend himself or to cover up 
 his wrong. 
 
 (5) Renunciation of Responsibility. In 
 a single sentence the prophetic writer rep- 
 resents Cain both as lying to God about 
 his brother and as disclaiming responsibility 
 for him. In this renunciation of respon- 
 sibility we come to the very heart of the 
 social teaching of this narrative. Here is 
 the writer's emphasis and climax. Here 
 the narrative is stained crimson with the 
 blood-guiltiness of Cain, and breathed 
 through and through with the passion of 
 
 66 
 
Cam mt> BDel 
 
 God. " Cain," it makes God say, " thou 
 hast Hed; I saw thee with thy brother; 
 thou hast killed him; thou art responsible; 
 his very blood has a voice, and crieth unto 
 me from the ground, which henceforth to 
 thee shall be barren." 
 
 Need one say that social wrong in all 
 its forms is but another name for the re- 
 nunciation of responsibility ? Wherever one 
 meets social injustice there he meets the 
 question, " Am I my brother's keeper ? " 
 There he meets the vulgar motto, " Every 
 one for himself, and the devil take the hind- 
 most." There he meets that spirit which 
 says, *' I look out for number one, and 
 every one else must do the same." All are 
 but different expressions of the renunciation 
 of responsibility for one's fellows. 
 
 And thus it becomes apparent that this 
 narrative is sounding the social problem to 
 its depths and settling it in the only way 
 that it ever will or can be settled. Man 
 must be his brother's keeper. But in order 
 to be his brother's keeper he must first be 
 right with God. Indeed, this narrative gives 
 us in a life-picture what is equivalent to 
 Christ's summing up of the law and the 
 prophets : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 
 67 
 
XTbe Bible aiC66dLQC for modetn fllanbooD 
 
 God with all thy heart, . . and thy neighbor 
 as thyself" (Luke 10:27). 
 
 4. Answerable to God 
 
 The prophetic writer is not done, how- 
 ever, when he has made plain man's duty 
 to his brother. For his treatment of his 
 brother he must reckon with his God. 
 
 (i) It is significant that the narrative 
 does not say, the voice of thy brother's 
 blood crieth from the ground to you, Cain ; 
 but rather, " to me," Jehovah. When man 
 has wronged his brother, he stops his ears 
 to his brother's cries and the cry is vain. 
 What cares the taskmaster for the cry of 
 the slave? the brewer for the cry of 
 homeless children? the stock-gambler for 
 his ruined victims? Only as the cry comes 
 to God and is taken up by men and women 
 who fear God and love righteousness, men 
 and women who hear as God hears, see as 
 God sees, feel as God feels, and care as 
 God cares, — men and women through whom 
 God is doing his work in the world, has 
 there ever been or will there ever be any 
 righting of wrongs. 
 
 (2) At length the narrative brings the 
 curse upon Cain, and we see him as he goes 
 
 68 
 
Cain an& Bbel 
 
 forth into the land of Nod, the land of 
 wandering. How remarkably true to his- 
 tory is this curse — to the history of Israel 
 in bondage and exile, to the history of 
 Greece in her wantonness, to the history 
 of Rome in her brutality, to the history of 
 Spain in her tyranny over the weak, to the 
 history of every nation that has ignored the 
 laws of God and the rights of men ! 
 
 (3) Yet, it is not for man to take venge- 
 ance in kind. *' Whosoever slayeth Cain, 
 vengeance shall be taken on him seven- 
 fold " (Gen. 4:15). Murder cannot be 
 righted by murder nor deceit by deceit nor 
 injury of any kind by injury of like kind. 
 Christ has shown a better way and the only 
 successful way: ''Love your enemies, do 
 good to them that hate you, bless them that 
 curse you, pray for them that despitefully 
 use you " (Luke 6 : 27, 28) . 
 
 (4) As in the temptation narrative Jeho- 
 vah clothed the guilty pair with skins, so 
 now he places the tribal mark upon the 
 murderer. It is a mark of protection. 
 Though Cain is guilty and unrepentant, Je- 
 hovah loves him, guards him, and provides 
 for him. It is the marvel of marvels, but 
 nevertheless the fact in the life of every 
 
 69 
 
Zbe JBible flnesaage tor fllo2)etn fHanbooD 
 
 sinning man. " For he maketh his sun to 
 rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth 
 rain on the just and the unjust" (Matt. 
 5:45). By his goodness God would lead 
 man to repentance, saying to him as in seem- 
 ing sorrow he said to Cain : " If thou doest 
 well, shall it not be lifted up? and if thou 
 doest not well, sin coucheth at the door." 
 
 70 
 
w 
 
 Zhc (5rcat ffIoo^ 
 
 (Stnceis, Cbapters Six to Sigbt 
 
IV 
 
 I. Flood Stories 
 
 NEARLY all nations that dwell beside 
 the sea have traditions of a great 
 flood. This is true of the Egyptians, Chal- 
 deans, Greeks, Scythians, Peruvians, Mex- 
 icans, the aborigines of Cuba, the Indians 
 of North America, the South Sea Islanders, 
 and many others. Indeed, the only races 
 that do not have such traditions are those 
 living in Africa and in central and eastern 
 Asia. 
 
 (i) Such wide-spread traditions cer- 
 tainly point to a common fact; to a flood 
 so notable in character and extent that the 
 report of it was related by parents to chil- 
 dren generation after generation. It is by 
 no means necessary to conclude that all such 
 traditions reach back to a single event. 
 Many catastrophes have overwhelmed now 
 one seacoast and now another. Of this 
 fact the Galveston flood is a modern ex- 
 
 73 
 
Vkbc JBible flleddade for moDetn manbooD 
 
 ample on a small scale. A sudden sub- 
 sidence of land or an earthquake tidal wave, 
 by overwhelming a city, valley, or island, 
 might easily give rise to such a tradition 
 among any people living near the sea. 
 
 (2) The scene of the Flood-narrative of 
 the Bible is evidently located in the Eu- 
 phrates Valley and is doubtless based on 
 the memory of some great catastrophe 
 which, owing to prolonged hurricane, land 
 subsidence, or a tremendous tidal wave, 
 caused the sea to sweep over that valley 
 from side to side and from end to end, des- 
 troying cities and annihilating the inhab- 
 itants. 
 
 (3) The closest parallel to the biblical 
 narrative is the Babylonian story of a flood. 
 It is recorded on the clay tablets of the 
 great Assyrian library, which was founded 
 about the middle of the eighth century be- 
 fore Christ and has come to our knowledge 
 through modern excavations. In these 
 records there are two or more accounts of a 
 flood, at least an earlier and a later one. 
 
 Scholars claim to find in the Bible also, 
 an earlier and a later siory of the flood 
 woven together. They say that the earlier 
 biblical account has its closest parallel in 
 
 74 
 
^be (5tcat ^looD 
 
 the earlier Babylonian account, while the 
 later biblical narrative shows modifications 
 similar to those in the later Babylonian story. 
 
 (4) The similarities and dissimilarities 
 in the biblical and Babylonian accounts are 
 as follows: 
 
 Similarities: a. To the hero in each ac- 
 count a special revelation is given to build 
 an ark. 
 
 b. In each case the flood is caused by 
 an extraordinary storm of rain. 
 
 c. Both animals and people are taken into 
 the ark. 
 
 d. All men and animals outside of the 
 ark are destroyed. 
 
 e. Seven is the favorite number. 
 
 /. Birds are sent out three times, and the 
 last ones fail to return. 
 
 g. Upon coming out of the ark the hero 
 offers a sacrifice to God, or the gods. 
 
 h. God, or the gods, smell the sweet 
 savor of the sacrifice and are pleased. 
 
 i. Assurance is given that man will not 
 again be destroyed by a flood. 
 
 Such similarities indicate that these 
 accounts are related in some way to each 
 other. But the differences are as marked 
 and as significant as the similarities: 
 
 75 
 
XTbe iflSible (XlceeaQc tot nriodern filanbooD 
 
 a. In the biblical account there is one 
 God, while in the Babylonian there are 
 many. 
 
 b. In the biblical account there is on 
 the part of Jehovah a clearly defined and 
 well-executed purpose, while in the Baby- 
 lonian the gods deceive, quarrel, and are 
 frightened. 
 
 c. In the biblical account Jehovah comes 
 down to smell the sweet savor of the sacri- 
 fice and to accept the offering of Noah in a 
 manner wholly dignified and worthy, while 
 in the Babylonian account the gods swarm 
 like flies about the sacrifice. 
 
 d. The biblical account gives sin as the 
 cause of the catastrophe, while the Babylo- 
 nian gives no cause other than the caprice 
 of the gods. 
 
 e. The biblical story has a spiritual sig- 
 nificance, while the Babylonian is wholly 
 devoid of moral purpose. 
 
 (5) In the biblical narrative we should 
 observe certain orientalisms. As we have 
 formerly noted, God is represented as act- 
 ing like a man. He " repents " that he has 
 made man. He is "grieved at the heart." 
 He " smells " the sweet savor of Noah's 
 offering. 
 
 76 
 
^be 0rcat 3f looO 
 
 The most perplexing of these oriental- 
 isms is that the sons of God are said to 
 marry the daughters of men — evidently as 
 many as they please — thus producing a race 
 of giants. In the first chapter of the Flood- 
 narrative this inter-marriage is given as a 
 cause for the sinfulness of men. 
 
 In the oriental world it was not an un- 
 common belief that the traditional races of 
 giants were produced by the union of demi- 
 gods with men. The kings of Babylon 
 traced their ancestry to the gods. In Greek 
 mythology the Titans result from the mar- 
 riage of the gods with men. " In his 
 familiar dialogues Plato says : ' Do you not 
 know that the heroes are demigods. All 
 of them spring either from the love of a 
 god for a mortal woman or of a mortal man 
 for a goddess.' " ^ Herodotus says that the 
 Egyptians were the only ones who did not 
 hold that belief. It may seem strange to 
 some that the inspired writer did not cor- 
 rect that error. But it is not strange. 
 These narratives are all couched in the 
 ideas of their own day, and they would have 
 been useless otherwise. It did not come 
 within the purpose of the prophetic writer, 
 
 1 Kent, " Heroes and Crises of Early Hebrew History," p. 57. 
 
 77 
 
^be JBible meggase for flloDcrn ftlanbooD 
 
 as we shall see, to discuss how men came 
 to be sinful. That problem he left as he 
 found it in the ideas of his times, for he was 
 intent on a very different matter. 
 
 Our Lord pursued precisely the same 
 method of teaching. He did not disturb, 
 for example, the current notion that many 
 diseases, such as epilepsy and insanity, were 
 due to demoniacal possession. Since it was 
 the custom of the people to drink wine, he 
 turned water into wine, something which he 
 surely would not do to-day. The outworn 
 Jewish ideas and ceremonials he did not tear 
 down. On the other hand, he made use of 
 them, although he well knew that they would 
 soon pass away. Christ often did things 
 morally colorless to escape needless contro- 
 versy and avoid giving needless offense, as 
 when he sent Peter to take money from the 
 fish's mouth for the temple tax, and the ten 
 lepers to the priests to offer sacrifices for 
 their cleansing. Just as any given parable 
 of our Lord's does not teach at all points, 
 but expresses some one truth in current 
 language, so also these Old Testament nar- 
 ratives do not teach at all points, but ex- 
 press in current ideas some one great truth. 
 
 What then is the teaching of this Flood- 
 
 78 
 
ZTbe (5ccat 3f looD 
 
 narrative? What message does it bring 
 from God to men? Recent excavations 
 show that the flood story was current two 
 thousand years before Christ.^ The 
 prophet, therefore, makes use of a story that 
 had been in writing for hundreds of years. 
 The only question of supreme importance 
 is, What does he use it to teach ? 
 
 2. The Teaching 
 
 (i) Getting the Key. If one enter a 
 house by cHmbing through a window in 
 the dark, and in doing so tip over a table 
 and overturn some chairs, when he strikes 
 a match all is in confusion. The best way 
 to enter a house is to get a key and open 
 the front door. Then when the electric 
 button is pushed everything is seen to be in 
 order. These great Bible narratives are 
 houses built for spiritual homes, wherein 
 we are to eat and drink and be made 
 spiritually strong. The first thing neces- 
 sary in studying any of them, therefore, is 
 to get the key, viz., to discern the truth 
 which the writer purposes to present; for 
 this truth determines both the selection and 
 arrangement of his materials. When one 
 
 1 Skinner, '* Genesis," p. 177, note. 
 
 79 
 
Zbc :fi8il>[e meaaaae for flDo^em manbooD 
 
 discerns the particular point upon which the 
 prophet's emphasis rests, subsidiary ques- 
 tions fall away as unimportant and as in- 
 cident to the ideas of the times. 
 
 (2) This Flood-narrative furnishes a 
 notable example of the wisdom of enter- 
 ing by the door rather than through the 
 window. For example, it might seem good 
 exegesis to point to the sinful conditions 
 existing just before the flood and hold that 
 these conditions were an example of the 
 ravaging nature of sin, which spreads 
 like a disease until all are infected and 
 doomed to destruction. This fact is true 
 enough of sin, but upon it the emphasis of 
 this narrative does not fall. The writer 
 does not discuss the cause of sin, nor does 
 he trace its development; but, on the other 
 hand, he brings us suddenly and unex- 
 pectedly upon a society wholly corrupt, ex- 
 cept for Noah and his family. The cause 
 of sin, which is stated only incidentally, is 
 that familiar to the ideas of the times, viz., 
 that the sons of God married the daugh- 
 ters of men. Upon this fact, however, no 
 emphasis is placed. Had the author's em- 
 phasis been upon the cause of sin and were 
 he seeking to eradicate that cause, it would 
 
 80 
 
Ebc Great If looO 
 
 have been much more to his purpose to ex- 
 hibit some method of keeping the sons of 
 God at home than to exhibit the men they 
 had sinned against overwhehned in a flood. 
 (3) But, as with every good writer, the 
 prophet's emphasis makes clear his pur- 
 pose. He brings us suddenly upon a world 
 filled with sinners. The impression we 
 receive is that of confusion and license in 
 which sin runs riot. Then, over against a 
 world filled with abandoned sinners he 
 places Noah, the righteous man, the man 
 who finds favor in the eyes of Jehovah. 
 In this sharp contrast lies the teaching of 
 the Flood-narrative. Two things are made 
 clear: First, that God's attitude toward the 
 sinful is different from his attitude toward 
 the righteous ; and secondly, that the destiny 
 of the sinful is different from the destiny 
 of the righteous. 
 
 J. God's Attitudes 
 
 (i) In the first part of the narrative it is 
 made clear that God is for the righteous 
 and against the wicked. Jehovah is shown 
 to be displeased and grieved at heart with 
 sinners. Because of man's sin he repents 
 that he has made man. Because there is no 
 
 F 81 
 
Ube Xiblc Vtlcee^Qc for fllodecn fllanbood 
 
 hope of reform he plans man's destruction. 
 That is, Jehovah is against sinners. 
 
 On the other hand, Noah is found right- 
 eous. With him, therefore, God is well 
 pleased and, because well pleased, he plans 
 to rescue him from the general destruction. 
 In accordance with this plan, God lets Noah 
 into his secret, bids him build an ark, gives 
 him careful instructions, and rescues him 
 and his family alive while all others 
 perish. How could any writer more force- 
 fully impress the fact that Jehovah is for 
 the righteous? 
 
 (2) In this fact, that God is against the 
 wicked and for the righteous, we reach the 
 very core of religion. This is the central 
 truth which the Bible, both in the Old and 
 New Testaments, labors to teach. The 
 Bible's insistent and ever-recurring message 
 is that God places a fundamental difference 
 between sin and righteousness and that his 
 attitude toward the one is wholly different 
 from his attitude toward the other. What 
 is the teaching of the Jewish sacrificial sys- 
 tem, with its purgings, sin-offerings, sprink- 
 lings, purifyings, and washings? Simply 
 that God is holy and that in order to be 
 well pleasing to him one must put away 
 
 82 
 
^be Great 3Floot> 
 
 sin. What was the significance of the 
 architecture of the temple, its outer courts, 
 its holy place, and its holy of holies? Was 
 it not that God was separating the sinful 
 from the righteous ? This also was the con- 
 tinuous message of the prophets. They de- 
 clared that sin had separated the people 
 from their God; that sin was the cause of 
 the nation's captivity; that sin had made 
 their crops to fail, their vineyards to be 
 blasted, and their children to be slain. 
 " Return unto me, and I will return unto 
 you, saith Jehovah of hosts," cried the 
 prophets. (Zech. 1:3; Mai. 3:7.) But as 
 long as the people clung to their sin Jeho- 
 vah was against them. This is the great 
 truth that rings clear in the message of 
 John the Baptist. '' Repent ye ; for the 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 
 3:2). God wants to bring the kingdom 
 speedily, but it must be founded in right- 
 eousness and a turning to God must pre- 
 pare the way for it. This also is the teach- 
 ing of Christ. When the Father said, 
 " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am 
 well pleased" (Matt. 3: 17), he said it of 
 one who knew no sin. Christ came to re- 
 deem men from sin in order that they might 
 
 83 
 
Zbc aeiblc ftlcasasc tor ftloDern lilanboo5 
 
 be reconciled to God. As long as man per- 
 sists in sin there is no reconciliation. God 
 is against sin. The life of the sinless Christ, 
 the teaching of Christ, and the preaching 
 of the apostles — all are a setting- forth of 
 this basal fact, that God is against sin and 
 for righteousness. 
 
 (3) Need one say that the moral and 
 spiritual weakness of our times lies in the 
 fact that our constant emphasis upon the 
 fatherhood of God and upon the love of 
 our heavenly Father has led many by subtle 
 and imperceptible stages to think that God 
 is indifferent to sin, and that there is not 
 so much difference after all between the 
 sinning man and the righteous man. I 
 would lead the reader back through the 
 centuries of Christian history, which show 
 God's blessings upon the righteous ; through 
 the preaching of the apostles; through the 
 life and teachings of Christ; through the 
 centuries of prophetic teaching and Jew- 
 ish sacrifices to the story of the flood, not 
 for its historic significance, but because the 
 Spirit of the Eternal God bade his prophet 
 use the incident to make clear to men that 
 Jehovah makes an eternal difference be- 
 tween righteousness and sin, that he looks 
 
 84 
 
upon the one with favor and upon the 
 other with unsparing condemnation. 
 
 4, Final Destiny 
 
 The second fact which the Flood-narra- 
 tive makes clear is the final destiny of the 
 righteous and the wicked. The righteous 
 were saved and the wicked destroyed. 
 
 (i) Until we reach the account of the 
 flood there is in the Bible narratives no de- 
 struction of the wicked. Adam and Eve 
 were simply driven out of the garden, and 
 even while being driven out they were 
 mercifully clothed with skins. Cain was 
 simply driven from the face of Jehovah, 
 that is, according to the ideas of the times, 
 from the protection of Jehovah; but in 
 sending him forth Jehovah placed upon him 
 a mark of protection in order that he might 
 not be slain. In the case of both Adam 
 and Cain, however, we see sin only in its 
 beginnings. But in the Flood-narrative we 
 come suddenly upon sin after it has run 
 its course and done its work. All hope, 
 except in the case of Noah and his family, 
 is at an end. 
 
 (2) When we consider that in the whole 
 Old Testament there is practically no teach- 
 
 85 
 
Zbc 3Btble fllesgaae for ttloDcrn rtlanbooD 
 
 ing about the hereafter ; that there are only 
 the merest adumbrations of heaven and 
 hell; that, doubtless owmg to the limited 
 spiritual capacity of the people, practically 
 all rewards and punishm.ents were set forth 
 as physical and temporal, we begin to dis- 
 cern the significance and the mighty force 
 of this Flood-narrative for the spiritual 
 teaching of the times. 
 
 Not until Christ's time is the fact of 
 eternal life made certain and its significance 
 plain. That Hebrew thought concerned it- 
 self most of all with physical good and evil, 
 temporal rewards and punishments, appears 
 on every page of the Old Testament. 
 Abraham, because righteous, was promised 
 a goodly land and descendants as numer- 
 ous as the stars. Before the destruction 
 of Sodom Abraham inquired of God, " Wilt 
 thou consume the righteous with the 
 wicked?" (Gen. 18:23.) That the right- 
 eous and the wicked should meet the same 
 physical fate seemed to Abraham utterly 
 wrong. God said to Moses at Sinai when 
 the Israelites made the golden calf, " Let 
 me alone, that my wrath may wax hot 
 against them" (Exod. 32: 10). It was to 
 be a physical destruction. Indeed, the re- 
 
 86 
 
ward that for centuries glowed before the 
 imagination of the children of Israel was 
 the physical reward of the promised land. 
 
 Throughout the Psalms the punishment 
 implored to fall upon enemies, who were 
 always thought of as sinners against Jeho- 
 vah, was that they might be defeated in 
 battle, a physical punishment. On the other 
 hand, when Israel was defeated in battle 
 and carried into captivity, the prophets de- 
 clared that the physical calamity was on 
 account of Israel's sin. And thus every- 
 where in the Old Testament rewards for 
 righteousness and punishments for sin are 
 represented as physical. 
 
 Among all the writings of the Old Testa- 
 ment there is not another which makes the 
 final destiny of the righteous and the wicked 
 so unmistakable, which sets it forth in a 
 manner so unforgetable, and which leaves 
 such an indelible impress upon the mind as 
 does this Flood-narrative. 
 
 (3) Christ teaches that he is the fulfil- 
 ment of the law and the prophets ; and, true 
 to his claim, he carries the lesson of the 
 flood forward from physical to spiritual 
 destiny, from temporal to eternal rewards 
 and punishments. 
 
 87 
 
Z\)c 3Bible OlcesaQC tor fHloDern filanbooD 
 
 It is not without significance that our 
 Lord's representations of the punishments 
 of the wicked are even more terrible than 
 those of the flood — the worm that never 
 dies, the fire that is never quenched, the 
 seething lake of fire and brimstone. In the 
 New Testament these representations are 
 the outstanding and unforgetable punish- 
 ments of the wicked, as the destructive flood 
 is in the Old Testament. And Christ him- 
 self refers both to the flood and to the fiery 
 destruction of Sodom in connection with 
 the doom of the wicked in the " day that the 
 Son of man is revealed" (Luke iy:26f.). 
 
 Such strong representations are impera- 
 tive when one considers that the punishment 
 and loss of the wicked are what make re- 
 demption necessary, and that the diflference 
 in destiny of righteous and wicked is the 
 fact on which redemption is based. Unless 
 the sinning man is a lost man, Christ's life 
 is shorn of its chief significance and his 
 death on the cross of its main objective. 
 Nowhere in the Old Testament is there a 
 better and stronger putting of this funda- 
 mental difference which God makes be- 
 tween righteous and wicked than is found 
 in the great Flood-narrative. 
 
ID 
 
 Hbrabam, tbe flOan wbo Qf>c^ci> 
 
 (Beneste, Cbaptcrs Uwelve to UvoentB^two 
 
y^ 
 
 7. The Character of the History 
 
 THE story of Abraham, beginning in 
 the twelfth chapter of Genesis, intro- 
 duces us to the most clearly defined historic 
 situation that we have yet met in our study 
 of early Bible narratives. 
 
 (i) To Abraham the Jews traced the 
 origin of their history. Jehovah they ad- 
 dressed as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob. Referring to this fact of origin, 
 Paul says that not those who were the 
 natural seed of Abraham were his true chil- 
 dren, but rather those who had the faith 
 of Abraham; and referring to the same 
 fact, Christ affirmed that God was able 
 even from stones to raise up children unto 
 Abraham. 
 
 (2) But although we feel ourselves on 
 safer ground than heretofore, it is of the 
 utmost importance for us to understand the 
 character of the history. 
 
 91 
 
^be Bible fflessaae tot niloDern fuianbooD 
 
 a. First of all, it is sifted history. In 
 former chapters reference was made to the 
 fact that when history is not written on 
 the spot — and the best history is never thus 
 written — ^but handed down as tradition 
 from generation to generation, the facts 
 irrelevant to the main theme fall away, 
 while the marked incidents and the signifi- 
 cant facts emerge into correspondingly 
 greater prominence, until they are the only 
 things that remain. 
 
 The most cursory examination of Abra- 
 ham's history will show it to be made up of 
 a small number of intensely interesting and 
 significant events, each of which, from a 
 purely literary standpoint, is practically 
 complete in itself. Questions of detail are 
 omitted. There are no answers to such 
 questions as, How did God communicate 
 with Abraham? What were the incidents 
 of the journey to Canaan? How long was 
 he on the way? What sort of reception 
 did he receive in the new land? and many 
 others. Evidently the narrative never was 
 intended to give detailed history. 
 
 b. It may well be believed also that the 
 history of Abraham and his successors is 
 selected history, that is, history made up 
 
 92 
 
Bbrabam, tbc fBlan wbo ©beisct) (Bob 
 
 of incidents selected from many unrecorded 
 events, and for the distinct purpose of teach- 
 ing spiritual truth. It scarcely need be said 
 that to give a detailed history of Abraham's 
 life would require not a meager ten chap- 
 ters, but a volume. 
 
 In the historical portions of the New 
 Testament this selective compression of 
 narrative is very prominent. Indeed, it is 
 the prevailing method of writing. John 
 says that if all the things that Christ did 
 were recorded, he presumes the world itself 
 would not be able to contain all the books 
 that should be written. (John 21:25.) 
 Each of the Gospel writers condenses whole 
 days of miracle-working into single sen- 
 tences. And in Paul's life there are years 
 at a time of which practically nothing is 
 recorded. 
 
 c. This selective process in Abraham's 
 history is doubtless governed by a spiritual 
 purpose, just as it is in the Gospels. John 
 announces the purpose of writing his Gos- 
 pel in the following words : " These are 
 written, that ye may believe that Jesus is 
 the Christ, the Son of God; and that be- 
 lieving ye may have life in his name " 
 (John 20: 31). 
 
 93 
 
Zbc Mbie fllefisagc for ftloDern manbooD 
 
 From the character of Abraham's history- 
 it is clear that the same method was fol- 
 lowed, and followed for the same purpose, — 
 a selective method, for the purpose, not 
 so much of narrating history as of uttering 
 spiritual truth by presenting a man in ac- 
 tion. The inspired writer gives such inci- 
 dents of Abraham's life as exhibit and illus- 
 trate those qualities of character and con- 
 duct which should inhere in and be exhibited 
 by the " Chosen People " and by the people 
 of God in all time. 
 
 It is important to observe that this select- 
 ive process is above all others the one for 
 which inspiration is required and revelation 
 imperative. We say truly that the Bible is 
 a revelation of God and is inspired by the 
 Holy Spirit. But it requires neither inspira- 
 tion nor revelation to record ordinary every- 
 day history. Any one able to write, and 
 with intelligence, can do that. On the other 
 hand, to see as Abraham saw and do as 
 Abraham did requires revelation. And to 
 sift out of Abraham's life the things that 
 are God-revealed and God-inspired and put 
 them into the best form for the teaching of 
 mankind, requires the inspiration of the 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
 94 
 
Bbcabam, tbe £ilan wbo ^bei^eO 0oD 
 
 2, Several Narratives 
 
 (i) Scholars tell us that the history of 
 Abraham as it stands in the Bible is made 
 up of several narratives woven together. 
 These narratives they have separated and 
 placed in columns side by side, as the dif- 
 ferent lives of Christ are placed side by 
 side in a harmony of the Gospels. Indeed, 
 the well-known character of the Gospels 
 furnishes the best illustration of what schol- 
 ars claim to be the character of much of 
 the Old Testament history. Of the Gospels 
 the following facts are well known: 
 
 fl. We have not one history of Christ, but 
 four. 
 
 h. Each Gospel historian writes from his 
 own angle of view. In John's Gospel, for 
 example, there is more of the mystical than 
 in either of the others. On account of his 
 mystical turn of mind, John selects out of 
 all the teachings of Christ his most mystical 
 sayings. 
 
 c. Each Gospel historian writes for a 
 certain class, and embodies in his Gospel 
 what will most effectively appeal to his read- 
 ers. Matthew, who writes for Jews, places 
 his emphasis on the fulfilment of prophecy, 
 
 95 
 
tTbe Xiblc aiceetiQc for modern fHanbood 
 
 which was convincing to Jews ; while Mark, 
 who writes for Gentiles, places his emphasis 
 on miracles, which were convincing to Gen- 
 tiles. 
 
 d. Each of the Gospel writers, while 
 duplicating in some respect the others, has 
 material peculiar to himself. 
 
 e. As Luke states in his preface, his Gos- 
 pel was composed with earlier accounts be- 
 fore him. 
 
 /. At several times during Christian his- 
 tory the four Gospels have been woven to- 
 gether into a consecutive account of Christ's 
 life, and the impression of such an account 
 is exceedingly powerful. 
 
 If now the separate Gospels of Matthew, 
 Mark, Luke, and John should be lost and 
 scholars should undertake to separate this 
 interwoven record into its four original 
 parts, they would be undertaking to do for 
 the New Testament history precisely w4iat 
 scholars have undertaken to do for the 
 Old Testament history. 
 
 (2) Many scholars affirm that as many 
 as four histories of Abraham have been 
 joined together in the Bible narrative; that 
 some of these were written by prophets 
 and others by priests; and that they bear 
 
 96 
 
Bbrabam, tbe (Han wbo ^beiseD 0oO 
 
 different dates. After separating these ac- 
 counts they claim to find to be true of 
 them what is true of the Gospels : 
 
 a. Each author writes from his own 
 view-point, the prophet setting forth spir- 
 itual truth and dwelling little upon historic 
 details ; while the priest is zealous for what- 
 ever pertains to his priestly office. 
 
 h. Accounts are found to vary accord- 
 ing to the times and conditions in which 
 they were written, since at different times 
 both the people and their needs were dif- 
 ferent. 
 
 c. Each writer has material peculiar to 
 himself. For example, Abraham's rescue 
 of Lot and his deception of Pharaoh in 
 regard to his wife do not occur in the earlier 
 narratives. 
 
 (3) The results of the combination of 
 these Old Testament narratives are pre- 
 cisely the same as the results of combin- 
 ing the Gospel narratives : 
 
 a. There is some reduplication — a com- 
 mon fact in the Old Testament. 
 
 h. On account of the mixed materials 
 originally written for different purposes 
 there is sometimes manifest confusion of 
 purpose. 
 
 G 97 
 
tTbe JBiblc tSlceenQe for flloDetn manbooD 
 
 c. Different parts of narratives are of 
 unequal value for spiritual instruction, 
 since the facts which they set forth are of 
 unequal importance. 
 
 J. The Early Prophetic Narratives 
 
 (i) With so much of explanation let us 
 now consider those incidents in Abraham's 
 life recorded by the early prophets of the 
 Hebrew people. They comprise : a. The 
 call of Abraham and his journey to Canaan. 
 
 b. The separation of Abraham from Lot. 
 
 c. The destruction of Sodom, d. The 
 promise to Abraham of the birth of Isaac. 
 e. The expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael. 
 /. The birth and sacrifice of Isaac. 
 
 (2) For the purposes of teaching, these 
 incidents may be reduced to three. The 
 destruction of Sodom simply emphasizes 
 the folly of Lot in choosing the beautiful 
 valley with the wicked city. The teaching 
 import of the incident, therefore, is a con- 
 stituent part of the lesson taught by the 
 separation of Abraham and Lot. The fore- 
 telling of Isaac's birth emphasizes the de- 
 sire of Abraham for a son and heir; and 
 the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael em- 
 phasizes the aft'ection of Abraham and 
 
 98 
 
BDrabam, tbe fllan wbo Obc^e^ (3oD 
 
 Sarah for Isaac. Both incidents, there- 
 fore, simply set out in strong relief Abra- 
 ham's incomparable renunciation in the 
 sacrifice of Isaac. 
 
 This leaves us three clear, strong, and 
 commanding incidents, which embody three 
 calls to Abraham. First, the call to leave 
 his home and go forth, " not knowing 
 whither he went " ; secondly, the call to give 
 Lot his choice of the best pastures, upon 
 which seemingly his own worldly success 
 depended; and thirdly, the call to sacrifice 
 Isaac, for whom he had so deeply yearned, 
 so long prayed, and who now was his only 
 visible hope for the future. 
 
 4. Spiritual Teaching 
 
 (i) In these three calls of God to Abra- 
 ham there is one central lesson, a lesson 
 which stirs the soul with increasing power 
 as one passes from call to call, until the 
 great climax is reached in the sacrifice of 
 Isaac. 
 
 It is hard to leave home ; but harder still, 
 after having left home in the hope of bet- 
 tering one's fortune, to relinquish to an- 
 other the best of one's worldly prospects; 
 and unspeakably harder than either is it to 
 
 99 
 
Zbc Miblc aicss^QC for flloDecn ftlanbooD 
 
 sacrifice on the altar one's only child, espe- 
 cially when that child has been the object 
 of the prayers of a lifetime and is the only 
 visible hope of all that is dearest in the 
 future. 
 
 In these three calls of Jehovah to Abra- 
 ham the fundamental fact is the exhibition 
 of a man obeying God, a man not inquiring 
 the reason, not shirking the cost, not com- 
 plaining of the requirement, but obeying. 
 On the basis of such obedience his very 
 name was changed from Abram to Abra- 
 ham, because on the basis of such obedience 
 he was to be made a world-wide blessing, 
 the father of a spiritual multitude. 
 
 Such an exhibition reveals the heart of 
 religion, for obedience is faith in action, 
 the evidence of love, and the badge of 
 loyalty. Obedience to Jehovah was what 
 made Abraham the father of the faithful, 
 the progenitor of a chosen people, the 
 founder of a spiritual seed. Because Abra- 
 ham was obedient God could promise him : 
 " I will bless thee, and make thy name 
 great; and be thou a blessing: . . and in 
 thee shall all the families of the earth be 
 blessed" (Gen. 12:2, 3). 
 
 The fundamental character of obedience 
 
 100 
 
Bbrabam, tbe fnlan wbo ©beiscD (3o& 
 
 is shown by our Lord when in talking to 
 the disobedient Jews, who claimed to be 
 Abraham's seed, he said, " If ye w^ere 
 Abraham's children, ye would do the works 
 of Abraham" (John 8:39). That is, ye 
 would obey God. Because Christ himself 
 was obedient the Spirit said to him, " Thou 
 art my beloved Son, in thee I am well 
 pleased" (Mark i:ii). Indeed, Christ 
 made the excellency of his own life obedi- 
 ence when he said : " My meat is to do the 
 will of him that sent me, and to accomplish 
 his work" (John 4:34). In obedience lay 
 Christ's supreme victory when in Geth- 
 semane he prayed, " Nevertheless, not as 
 I will, but as thou wilt" (Matt. 26:39). 
 Obedience! That is the one thing in every 
 life which renders it well pleasing to God, 
 and enables God to say, " I will bless thee 
 and make thee a blessing." 
 
 (2) This fundamental teaching will ap- 
 pear in greater fulness as we note care- 
 fully its different elements : 
 
 a. God called Abraham. Nothing is said 
 as to the method of the call. Did God 
 speak from heaven in an audible voice? 
 Did he send an angel? Did he speak to 
 Abraham's conscience by strong impression 
 
 lOI 
 
Zbc Xiblc fllcsease tor flloDern manbooD 
 
 of duty? In regard to such things nothing 
 is indicated. 
 
 When Abraham and Lot separated, it is 
 not sipecially mentioned that God called 
 Abraham to be so generous. Their herds- 
 men were quarreling over pastures and 
 water. That this was an unseemly thing 
 between brethren Abraham did not ques- 
 tion. To his nephew he said : " Let there be 
 no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, 
 and between my herdsmen and thy herds- 
 men " (Gen. 13:8). As far as the record 
 shows, we see here a man simply acting in 
 a worldly matter from a high sense of 
 honor. Abraham did not claim all his rights, 
 but acted the part of a high-minded, noble 
 man. Who can doubt God's call to such 
 action ? 
 
 It seems strange to us that God should 
 call Abraham to sacrifice Isaac upon the 
 altar. But, as formerly noted, these nar- 
 ratives lie imbedded in the ideas of their 
 day. And in ancient times human sacri- 
 fices were not uncommon among many peo- 
 ples. That the Hebrews did not think such 
 sacrifices wrong, but sometimes a duty, is 
 attested by the sacrifice of Tepthah's daugh- 
 ter. And whatever the circumstances in 
 
 102 
 
Bbrabam, tbe fHan wbo ©DeseD (5o& 
 
 Isaac's case, none of the details of which 
 are given, Abraham believed that it was 
 his duty to sacrifice his son, and there was 
 no hesitancy in performance. Moreover, 
 when God stayed Abraham's hand from 
 slaying Isaac and pointed him to a ram 
 caught in a thicket, a step was taken from 
 human sacrifice to the sacrifice of animals. 
 The only question with Abraham was, 
 " Does God call me ? " His immediate and 
 unquestioning obedience was the founda- 
 tion of his religious character. And no- 
 where in the Old Testament is the duty 
 and the beauty of obedience set forth with 
 so much persuasiveness and charm as in 
 this incident. 
 
 God calls every one as truly as he called 
 Abraham and, for aught we know, in the 
 same way. God convicts of sin, makes 
 duty plain, shows the path of righteousness 
 and honor, brings us to the place where we 
 know assuredly what his will is. Our an- 
 swer is the response of our character to 
 God's character, and we become like him in 
 character only as we are obedient. 
 
 b. Abraham had supreme regard for the 
 spiritual. The writer to the Hebrews says 
 that in leaving his home Abraham " looked 
 
 103 
 
Zbc Mblc fulcssase tor modern fllanbooD 
 
 for the city which hath the foundations, 
 whose builder and maker is God " (Heb. 
 ii:io). However we interpret this sen- 
 tence, that to which it points is certainly 
 spiritual, a city that God is building. This, 
 rather than material things, was what the 
 Pilgrim Fathers were seeking. They de- 
 sired homes, farms, cattle, riches ; but some- 
 thing else they desired more than they de- 
 sired these. Their supreme aim was a city 
 that hath foundation, a city where should be 
 found righteous men, freedom, charity, 
 honor, truth — foundations these of perma- 
 nent character and permanent society. This 
 as yet unseen but permanent city, God was 
 building by their hands in America, even 
 as he laid its deeper foundations by the 
 hands of Abraham of old. 
 
 In his relation to Lot Abraham preferred 
 peace and brotherly love to more pastures, 
 more sheep, more cattle, more wells of 
 water, and strife and contention therewith. 
 In a word, he placed the spiritual first, pre- 
 ferring righteousness to material prosperity. 
 When he went into the mountain to build 
 the altar and sacrifice his son, he was simply 
 laying all his most cherished hopes for this 
 world upon the altar of his convictions. 
 
 104 
 
Bbrabam» the (Han wbo Obc^c^ 0od 
 
 What does it mean for one to prefer the 
 spiritual? Surely not simply to pray, read 
 the Bible, and attend church. These are helps 
 to the spiritual. Preference for the spir- 
 itual is preference for righteousness. It is 
 to prefer the truth to the temporary advan- 
 tage of a lie; justice to the gain of injus- 
 tice; noble conduct to the worldly gain of 
 ignoble conduct; the manhood which obeys 
 the law to dollars earned by breaking the law. 
 
 The test of character is the same for us 
 as it was for Abraham. Only those who 
 prefer spiritual excellencies to worldly ad- 
 vantage can God bless and make a blessing, 
 and only such hold the promise of the 
 future. Their spiritual progeny are to be 
 like the stars of heaven and like the sands 
 of the seashore for multitude. The prom- 
 ise that God will bless Abraham and make 
 him a blessing is a prophecy as well as a 
 promise for Abraham's day, which receives 
 more comprehensive utterance in the words 
 of John : " The kingdom of the world is be- 
 come the kingdom of our Lord, and of his 
 Christ; and he shall reign for ever and 
 ever" (Rev. ii: 15). 
 
 c. Abraham never hesitated to pay what 
 it cost to obey God. 
 
 105 
 
Zbc :fBible nQesaagc tor filo2)etn manboot) 
 
 In Jacob we shall see a struggle. In 
 Moses we shall witness objections and ex- 
 cuses. But in Abraham everything but in- 
 stant and implicit obedience drops out of 
 sight. He leaves his home without a mur- 
 mur, gives the best pastures to Lot without 
 an objection, proceeds to sacrifice Isaac 
 without a protest. The cost of obedience 
 he never counted. God's commands he 
 never questioned. 
 
 The fundamental character of such a 
 teaching is evident from the way it touches 
 every human heart, for it strikes deep into 
 the weakness of every son of Adam. We 
 are ever counting the cost of obedience, 
 complaining of what we have to relinquish, 
 and finding righteousness too expensive. 
 We forget that this is downright skepticism, 
 indeed, that it is a positive form of in- 
 fidelity. We forget that in counting the 
 cost we are distrusting God, and setting 
 our own short-sighted judgment in opposi- 
 tion to his judgment. We forget that 
 counting the cost in a grudging way is re- 
 bellion against the divine will. Abraham 
 believed God, and trusted him, and there- 
 fore the cost of obedience was never 
 counted. 
 
 lo6 
 
Bbtabam, tbc fllan wbo ©bc^eO (3oO 
 
 (3) The inevitable conclusion to which 
 the life of Abraham leads is that it pays 
 to obey God. 
 
 a. This fact is made immediately evident 
 in the choice of Lot. He coveted the rich 
 and well-watered valley of the Jordan, not 
 regarding the wickedness of Sodom. The 
 narrative leaves the wicked city enveloped 
 in lurid flames and Lot fleeing from the 
 valley to the mountains, having lost his wife 
 and having left behind all his flocks and 
 herds ; whereas Abraham is seen dying in a 
 good old age and leaving a goodly inherit- 
 ance to Isaac, through whom God's prom- 
 ises for the future are to be realized. 
 
 b. As a matter of historic fact God's 
 promise to Abraham, that he should possess 
 the land, was literally fulfilled; for in the 
 time of David and Solomon one, standing 
 upon the very mountain where God made 
 the promise to the " father of the faithful," 
 could have looked eastward, westward, 
 northward, southward, upon hills and val- 
 leys every one of which was in possession 
 of Abraham's descendants and was ruled 
 over by the King of Israel. 
 
 But the promise to Abraham has a larger 
 fulfilment. As Paul teaches, those who are 
 
 107 
 
Zbe M\)lc tilcB6tLQc foe ttloDern manbooD 
 
 of the faith of Abraham are the children 
 of the promise. (Rom. 4: 16.) And to-day, 
 as all are aware, the Christian nations pos- 
 sess the gardens of the earth and the 
 granaries of the world. They control the 
 world's commerce and are the heirs of its 
 wealth. 
 
 c. God's promise to Abraham of the mul- 
 tiplied seed has been even more signally 
 fulfilled than that of multiplied possessions. 
 One need not trace the history of the He- 
 brews until in Christ's time Israel's sons 
 are in every large city; nor need one point 
 out the fact that to-day they are citizens 
 of every land and nation. It is of greater 
 significance to point to the larger interpre- 
 tation of the promise in Jesus Christ and to 
 recognize that the spiritual seed of Abra- 
 ham is to-day in numbers like the stars of 
 heaven and like the sand that is beside the 
 seashore for multitude. And it is of still 
 greater moment to remember that through 
 all the centuries God has blessed this spir- 
 itual seed and made it a blessing and, as 
 was promised, in Abraham all the nations 
 of the earth have been blessed. It pays to 
 obey God. 
 
 108 
 
IDII 
 
 Jacob, tbe fiHan wbo Congueret) 
 bi2 JBciriQ Conquereb 
 
 Genesis, Cbapters Uwentigsseven to Ubirtc-tbree 
 
m 
 
 I. Jacob's Life 
 
 JACOB and Esau were twin sons of 
 Isaac and Rebekah. Esau became " a 
 cunning hunter," while Jacob was " a plain 
 man, dwelling in tents." 
 
 (i) When these twin brothers were 
 grown, Esau returned one day from hunt- 
 ing and found Jacob 'preparing pottage. 
 Being faint from hunger, he asked his 
 brother for a portion of the food. Jacob, 
 discerning the opportunity for which he had 
 been watching, replied that he would ex- 
 change his pottage for Esau's birthright. 
 The bargain was soon concluded and the 
 meal eaten. Just what the birthright sig- 
 nified at this time is not stated. In later 
 times it came to embrace (a) a double por- 
 tion of goods, (b) the headship of the tribe, 
 and (c) the priestly office in the family. 
 
 (2) When Isaac was about to die he 
 called his favorite son, Esau, bade him take 
 
 III 
 
^be JSible mcdaaae for modern fllanboob 
 
 his bow and arrows, and go to the field for 
 game. The game, when secured, he was in- 
 structed to prepare as his father liked it 
 best, after which he was to receive his 
 father's blessing. 
 
 Rebekah, overhearing Isaac's instructions 
 to Esau, hastily called her favorite son, 
 Jacob, told him what she had heard, and 
 bade him go immediately to the flock and 
 fetch two kids of the goats. These she 
 skilfully prepared to taste like venison. 
 Then, since Esau was a hairy man, she 
 clothed Jacob in hairy garments, and sent 
 him with the savory dish to his father, 
 meanwhile instructing him to pretend that 
 he was Esau. Jacob was afraid that he 
 would be discovered and incur his father's 
 curse, but the insistent mother said, " Upon 
 me be thy curse, my son; only obey my 
 voice" (Gen. 27:13). The deception was 
 successful, and Jacob received the fatherly 
 blessing intended for Esau. When Esau 
 returned from the field and learned what 
 had been done, he cried in anger and re- 
 solved that when his father was dead he 
 would kill Jacob. 
 
 (3) Rebekah, learning of Esau's threat to 
 kill his brother, complained to Isaac that 
 
 112 
 
Sucobf the man wbo ConqueceD 
 
 her life was filled with sorrow on account 
 of Esau's marriages with women of the 
 Canaanites, and requested Isaac to send 
 Jacob to her father's home at Haran, where 
 her brother Laban lived, in order that Jacob 
 might secure one of his daughters for a 
 wife. " If Jacob," said she, " take a wife 
 of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of 
 the daughters of the land, what good shall 
 my Hfe do me?" (Gen. 27:46.) At the 
 request of Rebekah, Isaac sent Jacob to the 
 home of Laban. He did not know, how- 
 ever, that as Jacob went he fled for his life 
 from the enraged Esau. 
 
 Arriving at Bethel weary, Jacob pillowed 
 his head upon a stone and slept. But God 
 spoke to him in dreams, and he awoke in 
 a fright, for he thought he had got away 
 from God. In surprise he said : " Surely 
 Jehovah is in this place. . . How dreadful is 
 this place! . . the gate of heaven" (Gen. 
 28: 16, 17). Then Jacob bargained, agree- 
 ing that if prospered he would serve Jeho- 
 vah. And having registered this vow, he 
 hastened eastward to the home of his 
 mother's brother. 
 
 In Bible narratives the wells where flocks 
 were watered were often fraught with 
 
 H 113 
 
^be M\)lc (MlceeaQc for modern fllanbood 
 
 destiny. At a well the servant of Abraham 
 found Rebekah, whom he brought to the 
 tent of his master to be Isaac's wife. At a 
 well in the southern wilderness Moses de- 
 fended the priest's daughters against the 
 rudeness of the shepherds, and finally mar- 
 ried one of them. So, also, it happened to 
 Jacob. At the well where Laban's flocks 
 were watered he met Rachel and, after four- 
 teen years, she became his wife. The beau- 
 tiful story of their courtship and marriage 
 is a long one, running through several chap- 
 ters. Seven years Jacob served for her sis- 
 ter, Leah, and afterward seven other years 
 for Rachel. Meanwhile, by shrewd trickery, 
 he became possessed of large flocks and 
 herds, and finally, owing to Laban's dis- 
 satisfaction with his methods, was compelled 
 to flee. He was now like one between the 
 devil and the deep sea. He could not turn 
 back to Laban, whom he had tricked, and 
 he was afraid to go forward to Esau, whom 
 he had wronged. 
 
 (4) As Jacob journeyed toward his old 
 home in Canaan, Esau came to meet him 
 with four hundred men. Surely now, he 
 thought, the penalty must be paid for 
 stealing Esau's blessing. His wits, how- 
 
 114 
 
^acob, tbe tman wbo Conauercb 
 
 ever, did not desert him. His flocks and 
 servants he divided into two bands, plan- 
 ning that if Esau captured one, the other 
 at least would be left him. At evening, 
 after placing his wives and children across 
 the brook Jabbok, he returned to spend the 
 night alone, alone with God. All that night, 
 even till the break of day, Jacob wrestled 
 with an unnamed stranger. No one need 
 tell us that there was wrestling that night. 
 Every one knows what takes plac^ when a 
 sinning man in his extremity spends the 
 night alone with his God. After that night 
 of wrestling Jacob was called Israel, the 
 contender with God, the wrestler against 
 God. 
 
 That struggle in the dark presents a weird 
 picture to the imagination, and if we inter- 
 pret it literally, we are in no little confusion 
 as to whom belonged the victory. Jacob 
 was wrestling with unflinching determina- 
 tion, and seemed about to prevail when 
 the unknown antagonist simply touched the 
 hollow of his thigh and he was disabled, 
 and afterward lay clinging to his conqueror 
 pleading, " I will not let thee go, except 
 thou bless me." After the mysterious 
 wrestler blessed him we are astonished to 
 
 115 
 
^bc aSiblc tlle06ase tot flloDern ftlanbooD 
 
 have it said that this conquered and pros- 
 trate cripple " prevailed." But so it was. 
 When Jacob, conquered and prostrate, said 
 to his conqueror, " I will not let thee go, 
 except thou bless me" (Gen. 32:26), that 
 was the hour of his victory. Jacob con- 
 quered by being conquered. He conquered 
 himself when he was conquered of God. 
 That is the condition of self -conquest for 
 every man, and there is no other. The 
 issue of this wrestle is the climax of the 
 Jacob narrative, and its teaching is evident, 
 a teaching for individuals and for nations 
 and for all time. The man who conquers is 
 the man whom God conquers, and the man 
 who defeats God defeats himself. 
 
 2, Elements of the narrative 
 
 In the light of this crucial struggle all 
 else in this narrative finds luminous inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 (i) Look now at the character of these 
 brothers. Esau was an easy-going, hale fel- 
 low. He lived for the pleasure of the pass- 
 ing day. Having no regard for family tra- 
 ditions or hopes, he married women of 
 other nations. Lacking in spirituality, the 
 religion of his own people was no more to 
 
 116 
 
5acobt tbe man wbo ConaueteD 
 
 him than the idolatry of the Canaanites. 
 Indeed, when he estabHshed his home, re- 
 ligion did not enter into the consideration. 
 Because he was the oldest son, to him be- 
 longed the birthright, which among the 
 Hebrews gave a man opportunity and put 
 into his hands the power to mold the future 
 of his people. Yet Esau sold this ines- 
 timable inheritance for a mess of pottage. 
 What an animal sort of man he was, that 
 he could not endure hunger! History 
 counts men by the score who, though com- 
 pelled to live on crusts, never flinched from 
 the pursuit of life's divine purpose. But 
 here is a man of animal appetites. With 
 him all great opportunities and high pros- 
 pects melt into insignificance before physical 
 hunger. Not only in the literature of the 
 Bible itself, but in the literature of all 
 time, Esau stands forth as the animal man 
 placed over against the spiritual man, as 
 the man who lived for the day and the 
 present satisfaction placed over against 
 the man who makes himself the master of 
 his life, and who directs life's endeavors 
 toward worthy ends. We are dealing here 
 with more than an individual. We are deal- 
 ing with a type, a type which the prophet 
 
 117 
 
Xlbe JBtble ttlessa^e tor ftlo^ern fllanbooO 
 
 sets before the eyes of all the world as an 
 example of supreme folly. 
 
 (2) Jacob is a type of precisely opposite 
 character. The contrast is emphasized by 
 the fact that Jacob and Esau are twins and 
 that even in birth Jacob showed a disposi- 
 tion to supplant his brother. 
 
 We have already seen that Bible history 
 is sifted history and selected history. All 
 history used for purposes of teaching is 
 also more or less idealised history. One 
 cannot imagine a stronger contrast than 
 twins of such diametrically opposite char- 
 acter as Jacob and Esau. They seem to 
 be set forth not only as individuals, but as 
 types that stand for two great and distinct 
 classes which have ever been in the world 
 and are in the world to-day. They point 
 to the animalism of the one and the spir- 
 itual aspirations of the other. 
 
 The prophetic writer shows his insight 
 not only into human nature, but also into the 
 ways of God, when for the purposes of 
 teaching he selects not those incidents in 
 Jacob's life which show him a saint, if in- 
 deed such could be found, but those inci- 
 dents which show him a sinner, and a wil- 
 ful and deliberate sinner, as shown by the 
 
 118 
 
3acob. tbe man wbo <Ionauece5 
 
 following facts: When Jacob defrauded 
 Esau of his father's blessing he said to his 
 mother that if he were caught in his de- 
 ception his father would curse him as a 
 deceiver, and he knew that the curse would 
 be merited. In his guilt he fled from his 
 brother and, as he thought, from God. Be- 
 cause of trickery and deceit he had to flee 
 also from Laban. And as he turned his 
 face toward home, though it was twenty 
 years afterward, his guilty conscience smote 
 him for the wrong he had done Esau. 
 Jacob's conduct cannot be justified on any 
 ground of oriental ideas or morals. And 
 in the narrative itself there is no effort to 
 justify it; but, on the other hand, a laying 
 bare of the sins of this wrestler against 
 God without palliation or excuse. 
 
 In spite of his sins, however, Jacob had 
 spiritual aspirations. He wanted the bless- 
 ing of the first-born and ran the risk of 
 his father's curse to secure it. He wanted 
 God's blessing, though he thought to gain 
 it by bargaining. Not only did Jacob have 
 spiritual aspirations, but he had resolution 
 and determination as well. In a word, there 
 was something in Jacob on which God 
 could build. 
 
 119 
 
^be JSiblc VilcseaQc tor fllodcm fHanbood 
 
 (3) As one reads the narrative of these 
 twin brothers he instinctively takes the part 
 of Esau. Our hearts are naturally chival- 
 rous, and we espouse the cause of the one 
 who is wronged. Beyond question, Esau 
 was wronged. We are surprised that God 
 seems to bless Jacob, the wrong-doer, more 
 than Esau. But if we read the narrative 
 again with our eyes upon this particular 
 point we shall see that God did not bless 
 Jacob more than Esau. Esau is shown to 
 be blessed with so many flocks that he re- 
 fused to accept the present that Jacob prof- 
 fered him upon the occasion of their meet- 
 ing saying to him that he already had 
 enough. Esau was blessed with all worldly 
 blessings, and these were the only bless- 
 ings to which he aspired, the only ones that 
 he was capable of appreciating or utilizing. 
 
 When the prophetic writer has made 
 plain the characters of these twin brothers 
 he simply dismisses Esau from his narra- 
 tive, except that he traces to him the Edom- 
 ites. His life the author does not follow 
 as he does Jacob's, for his purpose is to 
 show God's struggle with a sinner who has 
 spiritual aspirations. It would be profitless 
 to follow Esau's life. In him there is noth- 
 
 120 
 
5acol), tbe Illan wbo Conquered 
 
 ing to build a spiritual future upon. Shall 
 a father send to school a son who refuses 
 education? or set up in business a son who 
 is too shiftless to do business? How shall 
 God build a spiritual future upon one who 
 lives for the pleasure of the present? The 
 discernment as well as the purpose of the 
 writer is shown in that he dismisses the 
 easy-going Esau from his narrative and fol- 
 lows the aspiring sinner Jacob. 
 
 (4) Does it seem strange to us that God 
 follows and seeks to guide and bless a sin- 
 ner like Jacob ? Yet God is continually do- 
 ing this. He does not abandon the sinning 
 man. He makes his rain to fall on just and 
 unjust, and often we see a sinner flourish- 
 ing " like a green bay tree." Wlien we were 
 enemies against God Christ died for us. 
 The voice of God is in the soul of every 
 sinning man and calls him to the highest of 
 which he is capable. The Spirit seeks to 
 lead the sinning man into the paths of obedi- 
 ence, and on the basis of obedience God 
 builds the man's future and marks out his 
 service and his destiny. God's ways with 
 Jacob, therefore, are typical of his ways 
 with all men. 
 
 (5) It should be said in passing that 
 
 121 
 
Zbe Mble fiHeggaae (or filoOcrn fllanbooD 
 
 these typical men, Jacob and Esau, doubt- 
 less have a national significance. Not only 
 was Esau the father of the Edomites, but 
 also typical of the Edomites, and the Edom- 
 ites were in a sense typical of idolatrous 
 nations. History shows abundantly that in 
 idolatrous nations there has not been that 
 keen sense of God, that splendid aspiration 
 for higher things, that hungering and thirst- 
 ing after righteousness, and that persistent 
 climbing to diviner heights, which have 
 characterized either the natural or spiritual 
 seed of Israel. 
 
 On the other hand, Jacob is a perfect 
 type of the nation which sprang from his 
 loins. In all of its history that nation has 
 been characterized by Jacob's qualities of 
 character: The same regard for the future, 
 the same high aspiration, the same shrewd- 
 ness in dealing, the same endeavor to wrest 
 God's blessings from his hands without fol- 
 lowing divine methods, the same long, hard 
 struggle with God before being conquered 
 by God, 
 
 Is not Jacob typical also of the " spir- 
 itual seed " ? What a wrestling against God 
 there has been in all the Christian cen- 
 turies! What a difficult task it has been 
 
 122 
 
5aco&, tbe man wbo ConauercD 
 
 for God thoroughly to subdue even Chris- 
 tians to himself! The church of Jesus 
 Christ can indeed say that it has had noble 
 aspirations, but every century has seen the 
 lopping off of some sin. Only gradually is 
 the church conquering by being conquered 
 of God. World types these twin brothers 
 are, both of individuals and of nations, 
 types even of world movements that lie 
 deeper than national life and overstep all 
 national bounds. 
 
 (6) How could a man with Jacob's meth- 
 ods — ^methods of deceit, trickery, and fraud 
 — entertain such high aspirations? We 
 should expect the one to exclude the other. 
 We may answer by asking a larger ques- 
 tion. In Christ's time how could the scribes 
 and Pharisees, who had become hypocrites 
 — outwardly fair enough, but inwardly like 
 " putrid sepulchers " — continue to look for 
 the Christ and aspire to the spiritual leader- 
 ship of the world? It is one of the stran- 
 gest mysteries of life that for a time spir- 
 itual aspirations can dwell together with 
 evil practices. But there comes an hour, 
 and it is the crucial hour of life, when God 
 struggles with a man, and he is either con- 
 quered by God and the evil of his life put 
 
 123 
 
tibe JSiblc {JflcsBaQc fot flloDcrn ^aubooD 
 
 away, or the spiritual aspiration, however 
 long it may linger as a dream, ceases to be a 
 power in his life. The sin must go or the 
 best that is in the man must perish. If the 
 sin remain, it drags the man down. If God 
 conquers, the man conquers and enters 
 upon an enlarging future wherein the best 
 in his life is brought to its flower and fruit- 
 age. 
 
 As a nation the Jews came to their su- 
 preme testing-time in dealing with Jesus 
 Christ. They crucified him, and from tliat 
 hour their spiritual aspirations have been 
 waning, their consciousness of a mission 
 in the world has been fading out, and the 
 door of the future, instead of opening to 
 enlarged national life, is closing ever more 
 inevitably upon them. 
 
 Jacob came to his crisis in that all-night 
 struggle with God at the Jabbok. His 
 methods of life must change or his aspira- 
 tions are vain. The first must go or the 
 second must fade out. He must be con- 
 quered of God or he is a defeated man. 
 But the wrestler against God submitted at 
 last, and by submitting prevailed. From 
 that crucial night Jacob was a different man. 
 There is found in him no more of the old 
 
 124 
 
5acob» tbe fllan wbo Conquercb 
 
 methods; but, on the other hand, he be- 
 came truly a prince of God. 
 
 (7) We are not different from Jacob. 
 Years ago I knew a young man who had 
 various methods of cheating the railroads, 
 so that he traveled for nothing. He was 
 a professing Christian, yet this practice 
 went on for some years, strange excuses 
 being found to salve his conscience. But 
 there came a time when the dishonest prac- 
 tice had to be put out of his life or he had 
 to cease aspiring to be a Christian. The 
 strange fact is that even for a time the evil 
 practice and the noble aspiration could dwell 
 together in the same person, but they did. 
 
 I knew another young man of good home 
 and Christian parents who was converted 
 early in life and began studying for the 
 ministry. After a time he became careless 
 of his religion and fell into evil ways. Yet, 
 not for a moment did he relinquish his 
 purpose of living a Christian life nor of 
 entering the ministry. But there came a 
 time of struggle with God, when the evil 
 had to be put away or his aspiration re- 
 linquished and his purpose abandoned. 
 Happily, his wrestle resulted like Jacob's 
 and his life was one of great usefulness. 
 
 125 
 
XLbc Mblc tllegsage tor fnot)em ftlanboo5 
 
 The noble aspiration and the sinful life, 
 with God fostering the one and wrestling 
 against the other, are for a longer or shorter 
 period true of us all. But God's Spirit 
 does not always strive with men, and ere 
 we are aware the crucial time of life is 
 past and we stand defeated. Our victory 
 is in God's victory over us. We prevail 
 when God prevails with us. This is the les- 
 son of Jacob, that we conquer ourselves 
 when we are conquered by God, and we 
 possess the future when God possesses us. 
 
 126 
 
ID11 
 
 3o8epb, tbe (5o5*accompan(e^ 
 (Ran 
 
 Oeneefs, Cbapteis Ubivtssecvcn to ^ift^ 
 
VII 
 
 I. The Narrative 
 
 JACOB had twelve sons, from whom de- 
 scended the twelve tribes of Israel. Of 
 these twelve sons Joseph and Benjamin 
 were favorites of their father, since they 
 were the children of Rachel, his favorite 
 wife. The father's partiality was especially 
 shown to Joseph, whom he clothed in the 
 long-sleeved, many-colored tunic, which 
 nobles were accustomed to wear and which 
 was better suited to a life of luxury than 
 to that of a shepherd. Such favoritism 
 naturally excited the jealousy of Joseph's 
 brethren, and to jealousy was added hate 
 when Joseph himself innocently related to 
 them his dreams, in which they, and even 
 his father, were represented as doing him 
 obeisance. So bitter did the resentment of 
 Joseph's brethren become that on a day 
 when he visited them in the fields with their 
 sheep they seized him and cast him into 
 
 I 129 
 
^be Mblc tflcBeagc tor flloDern ttlanbood 
 
 a " bottle-shaped cistern," and for a time 
 left him there to die, but upon second 
 thought they drew him out and sold him for 
 twenty pieces of silver to a merchant cara- 
 van going to Egypt. Then, taking his tunic 
 of many colors, they dipped it in the blood 
 of a goat and carried it to his father, who 
 thereafter mourned his favorite son as dead. 
 
 Arriving in Egypt, the merchants sold 
 Joseph to Potiphar, chief executioner to 
 Pharaoh, who purchased him for a house- 
 servant. So trustworthy and efficient did 
 the Hebrew boy prove, however, that he 
 was soon made sole ruler of Potiphar's 
 house. In the absence of the master, 
 Potiphar's wife looked upon the splendid 
 young overseer with lustful eyes and sought 
 to entice him to sin, but being baffled in her 
 design she turned against him, accused him 
 falsely, and had him thrown into prison. 
 
 But Joseph by faithfulness and ef- 
 ficiency again won his way and was soon 
 made overseer of the prison. In one of the 
 wards were confined two servants of the 
 king, his cupbearer and his baker. Each 
 of these men on the same night had dreams, 
 which Joseph interpreted and the interpre- 
 tations came true. As his dreams indicated, 
 
 130 
 
5o0cpb, tbe (5oD*accompanieD ftlan 
 
 the baker was hanged and the cupbearer 
 was restored to his office. 
 
 Two years afterward Pharaoh had a 
 dream which greatly troubled him, and 
 among all the wise men of Egypt there was 
 none who could interpret it. Then the cup- 
 bearer, remembering that Joseph had inter- 
 preted his dream, told Pharaoh of his 
 prisoner's power, whereupon Joseph was at 
 once summoned into the presence of the 
 king. 
 
 Pharaoh's dream Joseph easily inter- 
 preted, and found it to signify that there 
 were to be seven years of plenty, followed 
 by seven years of famine. After the in- 
 terpretation had been given Joseph ventured 
 the suggestion that Pharaoh place a wise 
 man over all Egypt to collect, during the 
 years of plenty, grain sufficient for the 
 years of famine. '' There is none so wise 
 as thou," said Pharaoh, and at his com- 
 mand Joseph was made first lord of Egypt, 
 and was commanded to carry out the plan 
 which he himself had suggested. 
 
 The famine came as predicted and ex- 
 tended not only throughout Egypt, but to 
 Canaan, where Jacob lived with his eleven 
 sons. At length Jacob was compelled to 
 
 131 
 
tibe :il9ib[e mcdaage tor filobern manbooD 
 
 send his sons down to Egypt for com, and 
 Joseph at once recognized his brothers, but 
 they did not recognize him. He made pre- 
 tense of dealing harshly with them, and 
 compelled them to promise that they would 
 return, bringing Benjamin, Joseph's only 
 full brother, with them. 
 
 The story of Joseph making himself 
 known to his brethren runs through several 
 chapters. To condense the account would 
 be to mar it. Every word should be read. 
 When Joseph had concealed his identity as 
 long as he could he bade all others go out 
 from him, and when alone with his brothers 
 made himself known to them, saying, " I 
 am Joseph your brother, whom ve sold into 
 
 Egypt." 
 
 Pharaoh, being informed that Joseph's 
 brothers had come, gave command that 
 Joseph's father and brethren with their 
 families and flocks be brought from Canaan 
 to Egypt. Here they were cared for during 
 all the years of famine and until the death 
 of Joseph. 
 
 2. Character of the Narrative 
 
 (i) After the crucial struggle in Jacob's 
 life, noted in the last chapter, the Bible 
 
 132 
 
506epb, tbe (BoD^accompanfeD fnian 
 
 narrative does not follow Jacob, except in- 
 cidentally. Like a stream in the desert, 
 which sinks beneath the sand and then 
 comes to the surface here and there in 
 oases, the narrative spreads out and records 
 the doings, or rather the misdoings, of 
 Jacob's sons and daughters, after which 
 the scattered parts of the narrative flow 
 together again and concentrate on Joseph. 
 While in all these narratives we recog- 
 nize a historic purpose, it is important to 
 observe that we are dealing with prophetic 
 history, history written by prophets of God 
 with the specific purpose of showing God's 
 relation to men and the working out of 
 God's purposes through men. The pro- 
 phetic method was to show God's relation 
 to individuals, and the individuals chosen 
 are usually presented to us in strong con- 
 trast with other individuals of very different 
 character and conduct. For example, Abra- 
 ham, the man of right choice, is placed in 
 strong contrast with Lot, the man of wrong 
 choice. Jacob, the man of worth ful char- 
 acter is strongly contrasted with Esau, the 
 man of worthless character. And in the 
 Joseph narrative, Joseph, the man of right 
 purpose and faithful conduct, stands in 
 
 133 
 
XLbc Mb\c message tor fBloDern fnanbooD 
 
 strongest contrast with his brothers, who 
 are men of wrong purpose and shameful 
 conduct. 
 
 This contrast is specially marked in the 
 case of Judah. After the prophet has 
 traced Joseph down into Egypt and is ready 
 to present to the reader his pure character 
 in the face of the temptation of Potiphar's 
 wife, he interrupts his narrative for a mo- 
 ment in order to insert that unsavory chap- 
 ter (Gen. 38) about Judah going down to 
 Hirah, the Adullamite, a chapter which 
 some think wholly out of place, interrupting, 
 as it seems, the beautiful, sweet, and pure 
 story of Joseph. The careful reader will 
 observe that this Judah chapter is not 
 dropped just anywhere into the story of 
 Joseph. First, Joseph is very carefully and 
 studiedly followed down into Egypt. In 
 the next section of the narrative the pro- 
 phetic writer is to place before us Joseph's 
 great temptation, for resisting which God 
 is with him and prospers him. But before 
 he gives us this section he introduces the 
 abominable Judah chapter, in which Judah 
 condemns himself for the sin so prevalent 
 in the oriental world and which constitutes 
 Joseph's temptation. With what consum- 
 
 134 
 
5o0cpb, tbe (3oC)*accompanfeD rtlan 
 
 mate literary art and with what true pro- 
 phetic instinct the writer makes this black 
 Judah incident, upon which falls only con- 
 demnation, the background of the white 
 Joseph conduct, upon which God's blessing 
 so abundantly rests! 
 
 (2) Many scholars assure us that while 
 the Joseph narrative has in it an ideal ele- 
 ment, as has all history written primarily 
 for the purpose of teaching, it is absolutely 
 accurate in every reference to Egyptian 
 conditions and customs. On account of the 
 character of the Nile Valley, Egypt lay 
 apart from other nations. Her civilization 
 was distinct and unique. Her customs, lan- 
 guage, and system of writing were shared 
 by no other nation. It is matter of historic 
 record that it was not uncommon for He- 
 brews to rise to power in Egypt. The 
 writer of the Joseph narrative understood 
 the method of Egyptian taxation. He fre- 
 quently uses Egyptian words and names. 
 To bestow a golden collar on one for dis- 
 tinguished services, as upon Joseph, was a 
 well-known Egyptian custom. In Egyptian 
 history there are many references to severe 
 famines. And many other incidental refer- 
 ences indicate the accuracy of the narra- 
 
 135 
 
Zbc JBible fUessage tor flloDern fHanbooD 
 
 live with reference to Egyptian life and 
 customs. 
 
 (3) In all Bible narratives many valu- 
 able lessons are to be found. Just because 
 the narratives are so true to life and lie so 
 deeply imbedded in experience, these les- 
 sons spring up on every hand like flowers in 
 a field. For example, in tlie Joseph narra- 
 tive one author enumerates the following 
 lessons : 
 
 a. Trial develops character, b. \Vliom 
 the Lord loveth he chasteneth. c. All 
 things work together for good to them that 
 love God. d. Helping another, as Joseph 
 helped the cupbearer and baker in prison, 
 lightens one's own burdens, e. God does 
 not forget his faithful servants when they 
 are in trouble. /. He who improves small 
 opportunities will not miss life's greater 
 chances, g. Whosoever would be great 
 among you must be your servant. //. Those 
 who do wrong will be confronted with this 
 wrong in the most embarrassing and unex- 
 pected crises of hfe. i. God overrules evil 
 for good. y. The severest tests of char- 
 acter come at the most unexpected times 
 and in the most unexpected ways. k. 
 Loyalty to humble kinsmen in the time of 
 
 136 
 
5o6epb, tbe 0oOs=accompan(eD Allan 
 
 one's own exaltation is a mark of nobility. 
 /. Forgiveness and love are invincible.^ 
 
 All of these momentous lessons and 
 doubtless others spring legitimately out of 
 the story of Joseph. And yet, when a 
 prophet writes history, sifting out the im- 
 material, selecting from the mass the things 
 essential to his purpose, and idealizing the 
 whole in such a way as to be true both to the 
 history and to the great message he would 
 teach through it, there is to be expected 
 some great central theme that is burning in 
 the prophetic historian's soul, and which it 
 is the aim of his writing to set forth, his 
 purpose to make plain, and his desire to 
 make live in the hearts of his readers. 
 
 In the Joseph narrative, therefore, as in 
 the others, we are to look for the lesson 
 not as for something hidden and which 
 must be discovered, not as for something 
 scattered and which must be gathered up, 
 but rather for a lesson which the narrative 
 bears everywhere upon its face and makes 
 perfectly clear, a lesson that is drawn from 
 every part of the narrative into a central 
 unity, and glows like a single flaming torch. 
 
 ^ Kent, " Heroes and Crises of Early Hebrew History," 
 pp. 133, 142, 143- 
 
Zbc 3Bible fllcasaQe tot fBloDcm Illanbood 
 
 J. The Teaching of the Narrative 
 
 What then is the lesson that flames out 
 of this Joseph story as a beacon-light to 
 guide the souls of men? 
 
 (i) The prophet sets Joseph before us 
 as a man who in all things is faithful to 
 God. Joseph is the purest, sweetest, and 
 morally the staunchest character in the Old 
 Testament. The prophet does not follow 
 his life in detail, but gives us only half a 
 dozen events in his career. With these, 
 however, he flashes upon our minds as by 
 a burst of sunshine the fact that Joseph 
 was faithful to God. This he does by ex- 
 hibiting him staunch in righteousness under 
 the severest possible test in a matter in 
 which the whole ancient world was lax. 
 The vividness with which the picture is 
 drawn and the reply quoted from Joseph's 
 lips : " How then can I do this great wicked- 
 ness, and sin against God?" (Gen. 39:9) 
 shows what the inspired writer is putting 
 to the front of his narrative. It is the 
 faithfulness of Joseph — his faithfulness to 
 his work, his faithfulness to his employer 
 who trusted him, his faithfulness to God 
 in resisting wrong and doing right. 
 
 138 
 
5o0epb, tbc (5oD*accompanleD man 
 
 (2) But when the prophet has exhibited 
 Joseph's faithfulness he has but prepared 
 the way for the great theme that is firing 
 liis soul. That theme is that God is with 
 the man, always with the man, under all 
 circumstances with the man who is faith- 
 ful to him. In every narrative that we have 
 studied thus far this truth has been im- 
 plied. Adam and Eve were sent from the 
 garden because of sin. To Cain God said, 
 " If thou doest well shalt thou not be ac- 
 cepted?" (Gen. 4:7). Noah was saved 
 because he was found righteous. Abra- 
 ham was blessed because he was obedient. 
 Jacob was used of God because he sur- 
 rendered to God. But in this Joseph nar- 
 rative God is shown to be with Joseph in 
 every detail of his life: in his boyish 
 dreams, prophetic of coming greatness; 
 when in the pit, by the timely arrival of the 
 merchants ; when carried into Egypt, by his 
 entrance into the house of Potiphar; when 
 in temptation, by the strength given to re- 
 sist; when in prison, by his ability to inter- 
 pret dreams; when called before Pharaoh, 
 not only by power to interpret dreams, but 
 also by wisdom to suggest remedies; when 
 mler of Egypt, by the success which at- 
 
 139 
 
Zbc :fiSib[e VticesaQC tor flloDem manbooD 
 
 tended his efforts; and later, when he was 
 made the means of providing for his 
 father's household. That the teaching that 
 God is with the one who is faithful to him 
 is central in the mind of the prophet is evi- 
 dent, not only from the fact that it shines 
 forth from every detail of the narrative, 
 but also from the fact that three different 
 times the author declares in so many words 
 that " God was zvitJi Joseph." 
 
 This great and blessed truth has become 
 a commonplace of our faith, at least theo- 
 retically. It is a teaching often expressed 
 and always implied throughout the Bible. 
 It is the message of the prophets when they 
 plead with the people to return unto God 
 that he may return unto them. It is the 
 message of the Spirit at Jordan and at the 
 Mount of Transfiguration, when he said of 
 the Christ, " This is my beloved Son " 
 (Matt. 3: 17; 17: 5). It is the message of 
 Christ when he said : *' I will not leave 
 you comfortless ; I will come to you " 
 (John 14:18). But nowhere in the Bible 
 is the truth that God is faithful to those 
 who are faithful to him more fully or beau- 
 tifully or forcefully expressed than in the 
 story of Joseph. 
 
 140 
 
5o0cpb, tbc (5oO*accompanieD ffilan 
 
 (3) Every life is involved in two con- 
 ditions which at times may give the soul 
 great anxiety. First, we are surrounded 
 by the providences of God, which at times 
 seem kind and at other times cruel. 
 Secondly, we are encompassed by the pur- 
 poses of men, which are sometimes plans 
 for our help and at other times designs for 
 our undoing. Any narrative, therefore, 
 that would show God to be with the faith- 
 ful man must exhibit God with the man 
 in those providences which seem cruel and 
 amidst those machinations of men which 
 seem devilish. It must show that the hard 
 as well as the easy circumstance of Hfe is 
 of God, and that God has power to over- 
 rule the evil designs of men for good. 
 These two facts are precisely what the 
 Joseph narrative makes clear. 
 
 (a) No error has more persistently pos- 
 sessed the mind of man than that pain, sor- 
 row, and misfortune are direct punishments 
 of God. To controvert this error, the book 
 of Job was written. '' Who did sin, this 
 man, or his parents, that he was born 
 blind?" the disciples inquired of the Lord. 
 (John 9:2.) Even at the present time if 
 signal misfortune comes to many, they 
 
 141 
 
XLbc Mblc iXlces^QC tot moDecn fllanbooo 
 
 wonder what sin they have committed to 
 deserve such punishment. In this narra- 
 tive the pit into which Joseph was cast, the 
 slavery into which he was sold, the prison 
 in which he was confined, and the devas- 
 tating famine that came upon Egypt, are 
 shown to be stepping-stones to help Joseph 
 up to the larger purposes of God. This 
 truth one may trace through every century 
 of Israel's history. Their bondage in Egypt 
 gave national solidarity; their wilderness 
 wanderings gave instruction; their numer- 
 ous defeats in battle gave reproof and dis- 
 cipline; their Babylonian captivity secured 
 purification; and finally, the overthrow of 
 Jerusalem made a Jerusalem of the world 
 where all were free to worship God in spirit 
 and in truth. As God was with Joseph, so 
 in all these circumstances he is seen to be 
 with Israel working out his larger purposes. 
 (b) But we are presented with a more 
 difficult problem when into God's provi- 
 dences there enters the personal factor 
 and the circumstances into which we are 
 brought are due to the sins of others or to 
 their evil designs. " Ye meant evil against 
 me," said Joseph to his brethren, " but God 
 meant it for good" (Gen. 50:20). That 
 
 142 
 
5o0cpb, tbe (5oo*accompanieD fllan 
 
 is, the evil that men do God has power to 
 overrule for good and to make useful for 
 the furtherance of his purposes. This does 
 not excuse the sinner nor palliate his sins, 
 nor does it ward off from him the conse- 
 quences of his deeds. These facts the nar- 
 rative abundantly shows. Joseph's brethren 
 are brought in cringing fear to his feet, they 
 confess their sin with trembling lips, and 
 plead for their lives at his hands. 
 
 Thus the Joseph narrative sets forth with 
 great clearness and power what the Scrip- 
 tures everywhere teach and what history 
 abundantly proves, that God is on his 
 throne, that man by sinning cannot defeat 
 the Almighty except as he defeats his pur- 
 poses for his own soul, that ultimately God 
 will have his way while a man's sins will 
 surely return upon his own head to accom- 
 plish his defeat and humiliation. 
 
 (4) Those familiar with Israel's history 
 will at once discern the pertinency of the 
 lesson of the Joseph narrative to Israel's 
 national life. Her besetting sin was un- 
 faithfulness to God. She was ever de- 
 parting from the living God to serve idols. 
 The historic struggle of the faithful few in 
 Israel was to cling to God and to be true 
 
 143 
 
Zbc Mblc iSlcBB^QC for moDem fllanbood 
 
 to him under circumstances which to hu- 
 man eyes portended only evil. The Joseph 
 narrative abundantly shows that those who 
 are faithful to God may hope in him under 
 any and all conditions, and that circum- 
 stances the most dark and discouraging will 
 ultimately work out the larger purposes of 
 the Almighty for those who are true to him. 
 (5) This lesson comes with equal per- 
 tinency and with tremendous power to the 
 modern man. The temptation to compro- 
 mise righteousness in order to win worldly 
 success was never greater than to-day. It 
 is not easy to remain honest when riches 
 are the reward of dishonesty; not easy to 
 be content in lowly position when sin will 
 lift one to high position; not easy to win 
 advancement by slow stages and hard 
 knocks when compromise promises instant 
 success. There is no faith more vital to 
 godliness to-day than confidence that God 
 is always and under all circumstances with 
 the man who is faithful to him, that God 
 will keep that man safe, guide him truly, 
 and bring him to ultimate success and 
 honor beside which all achievements won 
 by sinning are but beggarly acquisitions of 
 debased manhood. 
 
 144 
 
tCbe ■Re&cmptton of Hsrad from 
 i£QWt 
 
 dobu0, Cbaptere Qnc to Uvpent^, anb Deuteronomy, 
 dbaptetf Ubtrt^sone to Ubfrt^^stour 
 
 K 
 
VIII 
 
 ALTHOUGH some hundreds of years 
 intervene between Joseph and Moses 
 — authorities vary from one hundred to 
 four hundred and thirty — a single chapter, 
 the first of the book of Exodus, spans the 
 broad historic chasm. Such a fact may 
 serve to illustrate what has before been 
 remarked, that the inspired writers do not 
 aim to give a detailed history of Israel, but 
 only such events as show the hand of God 
 leading his people. In the study upon which 
 we now enter it is of the utmost importance 
 to observe this fact. It should be noted 
 also that the method of the prophets in 
 showing God's dealings with Israel — a 
 method which eliminates details, and casts 
 events into dramatic pictures — is the most 
 vivid and forceful that could be employed. 
 There are no stories in the world like 
 Bible stories, none that so fascinate the 
 imagination and rivet themselves upon the 
 memory. What makes them the world's 
 
 147 
 
Zbc JBlblc aicsB$iQC tot £lloOern manbooD 
 
 great teachers is not only the truth which 
 they contain, but also the form in which 
 they are cast. 
 
 /. The Narrative 
 
 ( I ) After Joseph's death a king arose in 
 Egypt " who knew not Joseph," and the Is- 
 raelites were reduced to bondage. But the 
 slaves multiplied so rapidly that the reign- 
 ing Pharaoh became fearful lest their in- 
 creasing numbers should overthrow the rul- 
 ing dynasty. An order was therefore issued 
 that all male Hebrew children should be 
 destroyed. 
 
 Because of this law, when Moses was 
 born, his mother placed him in a water-tight 
 basket and anchored the basket to the bul- 
 rushes at the margin of the Nile. Pharaoh's 
 daughter, as was her custom, came to the 
 Nile to bathe, and noticing the basket, with 
 characteristic feminine curiosity, sent her 
 maid to fetch it. The crying babe aroused 
 the royal daughter's sympathies, and when 
 the babe's sister, who had come to watch, 
 approached and said, " Shall I find a nurse 
 for you ? " permission was granted, and the 
 happy sister ran with all speed for her 
 mother, who again received her own child, 
 
 14S 
 
a;be IReDemption ot f srael from JSg^pt 
 
 which she nursed until he was old enough 
 to be taken to the royal court, where Pha- 
 raoh's daughter reared him as her son, and 
 where, according to the sermon of the mar- 
 tyr, Stephen, he became learned in all the 
 wisdom of the Egyptians. 
 
 (2) When Moses was grown to man- 
 hood he keenly felt the cruel bondage of 
 his people, and was conscious of the call 
 of God to deliver them. Happening one 
 day upon an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, 
 he killed the Egyptian and buried him in 
 the sand. Next day, finding a Hebrew 
 smiting a Hebrew, he reproved the aggres- 
 sor, who retorted, " Who made thee a prince 
 and a judge over us? thinkest thou to kill 
 me as thou killedst the Egyptian?" (Exod. 
 2: 14.) When the news of the killing came 
 to the ears of Pharaoh he sought to slay 
 Moses, whereupon Moses fled to a moun- 
 tainous wilderness in the region of the Red 
 Sea. Here dwelt certain nomadic tribes, 
 who evidently worshiped the same God as 
 the Hebrews. A priest of one of these 
 tribes, the Midianites, had several daugh- 
 ters, one of whom Moses married, and for 
 some years afterward he was employed by 
 his father-in-law as a shepherd. 
 
 149 
 
Zbc JBtble fUlessagc for fHoOctn fHanbooD 
 
 (3) One day as IMoses watched his flock 
 God appeared to him in a burning bush and 
 said : " I have surely seen the affliction of 
 my people that are in Egypt, and have heard 
 their cry by reason of their taskmasters 
 . . . and I am come down to deliver them. . . 
 Come now therefore, and I will send thee 
 unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth 
 my people the children of Israel out of 
 Eg)'pt " (Exod. 3:7f.). To this startling 
 message Moses began to make excuses: 
 " Who am I, that I should go unto Pha- 
 raoh? " (Exod. 3 : II.) '' They will not be- 
 lieve me" (Exod. 4: i). "O Lord, I am 
 not eloquent" (Exod. 4:10). To all of 
 which Jehovah answered, Go. " I will be 
 with thee," and the deliverance will be 
 wrought not by your power, but by mine. 
 (See Exod. 3: i2f.) 
 
 (4) With Aaron as his spokesman, Closes 
 goes to deliver Israel from bondage, carry- 
 ing in his hand the wonder-working staff. 
 His request to let the people go, Pharaoh 
 refuses ; and not only refuses, but makes the 
 occasion of placing the Hebrews in still 
 harder bondage, in which they are required 
 not only to make as many bricks per da}^ 
 as formerly, but also to gather the straw 
 
 150 
 
Zbc ■Kc&emption of f gracl from J£QtVt 
 
 used in making them, whence we have the 
 phrase, " To make bricks without straw." 
 The Hebrews themselves now complain 
 against Moses. Those whom he had come 
 to deliver are ready to stone him, where- 
 upon Moses in bitter disappointment cries 
 unto God. 
 
 The plagues are now brought upon Egypt. 
 The Nile turns to the color of blood and 
 becomes foul ; frogs multiply into a pest ; 
 heaps of dead frogs breed all kinds of flies ; 
 flies carry disease germs to man and beast, 
 which break out with fevers, tumors, and 
 boils ; the land is swept with hail until crops 
 are beaten into the ground and trees bat- 
 tered to stubs; swarms of locusts multiply 
 until they obscure the sun; and so afflicted 
 does the pest-ridden, fever-stricken land 
 become that there is scarcely a home in 
 which one does not lie dead. 
 
 (5) When the Egyptians no longer have 
 strength or courage to resist, the Hebrews, 
 who dwelt in Goshen, a place apart from the 
 stricken Nile district, arise under the leader- 
 ship of Moses and flee eastward toward the 
 land whence their ancestor, Jacob, had come. 
 But on the east the Egyptian frontier was 
 guarded by a wall and fortress, which were 
 
 151 
 
Zbc M\)\c tUceesLQc for modern nianbood 
 
 not easily passed. The fleeing host, turn- 
 ing southward, seems to have come upon 
 the wall where it extended a little way into 
 the shallow water of one arm of the Red 
 Sea. An east wind drove back the water, 
 and the Israelites went across this arm of 
 the sea on dry ground. The pursuing Egyp- 
 tians, essaying to follow, were overwhelmed 
 by the returning waters. 
 
 (6) The wandering in the wilderness 
 now begins. Moses is leader, prophet, 
 judge, and lawgiver. There is murmuring 
 because water fails, and murmuring be- 
 cause food fails. Water is provided ; manna 
 is found; and quails are sent. At Sinai, 
 while the mountain smokes like a volcano, 
 trembles as though shaken by earthquake 
 shocks, reverberates with peals of thunder, 
 and flashes fire as though shooting forth 
 lightning, Moses, who at the command of 
 God had gone up into it, receives the Ten 
 Commandments, while at its base the peo- 
 ple make and worship the golden calf. 
 
 And now for forty years, until nearly 
 all who have come out of Egypt are dead, 
 these tribes wander in the wilderness. 
 Moses, on account of his disobedience, is 
 not permitted to lead the children of Is- 
 
 152 
 
Zbc IReoemption ot ITerael from Bgispt 
 
 rael into the Promised Land. This land 
 he himself is not allowed to enter. Go- 
 ing to the top of Mount Pisgah, he views it 
 from afar; and then, after he has blessed 
 the people whom he delivered, whom he has 
 led, borne with, prayed for, and suffered 
 for, he is gathered to his fathers. 
 
 3. Character of the Narrative 
 
 (i) It has already been pointed out that 
 just as there are three accounts of our 
 Lord's life, and sometimes four, so of the 
 principal events of the Old Testament there 
 are several accounts; and in the Bible as 
 it has come down to us, these accounts are 
 woven together. One of the chief serv- 
 ices which Bible scholars have rendered to 
 our knowledge of the sacred word is the 
 separation of these accounts from each other, 
 so that the age, the difference in content, 
 and the influences which determined the 
 form of each, may be approximately known. 
 
 (2) Between the earlier and later records 
 of Moses' work there is a marked differ- 
 ence in form. The one holds closer to 
 natural events, while the other is more 
 filled with the miraculous. The one lies 
 nearer to sober history, while the other 
 
 153 
 
^be JBtble tUcesaQc tot fHoDetn manbooD 
 
 partakes more of dramatic picture. For 
 example, at the crossing of the Red Sea, 
 the earlier account says that Jehovah caused 
 the sea to go back by a strong east wind 
 all night, while the later account represents 
 Moses stretching his rod over the sea and 
 cleaving a path through it so that the 
 waters stand like walls on either side. It is 
 but a different way of expressing the same 
 fact — the marvelous deliverance of God. 
 One way is more literal, the other is more 
 pictorial. One way is more historical, the 
 other is more rhetorical. 
 
 Similar variations are found in the ac- 
 count of the plagues. The older narrative 
 represents these plagues as extraordinary, 
 natural phenomena, which Jehovah uses to 
 deliver Israel. The later narratives are 
 more spectacular and dramatic. One of 
 the later narratives represents Closes, and 
 another, Aaron, as stretching out the rod 
 and bringing the plagues, and again stretch- 
 ing out the rod and dispelling them. It is 
 but a different way of expressing the same 
 thing — the marvelous deliverance of God. 
 
 (3) In one's study of the Bible it is 
 important to note the marked difference 
 between the oriental and the occidental 
 
 154 
 
trbe IRcDemption of ireracl from Baspt 
 
 mind. The occidental thinks in elaborate 
 details; the oriental thinks by leaps and 
 bounds. The one thinks in terms of sober 
 history; the other in pictures. The west- 
 erner seeks a scientific analysis; the east- 
 erner, a dramatic situation. The emphasis 
 of the modern mind is on " How? " " How 
 did God do things?'' The emphasis of the 
 prophetic mind was upon the fact that God 
 did things. And the inspired writers al- 
 ways relate the fact in the most impressive 
 manner. 
 
 (4) That the children of Israel were in 
 Egypt, and that in a remarkable manner 
 they were delivered from Egyptian bond- 
 age, there is no question among the best 
 bibhcal scholars. In fact, it is matter of 
 contemporary record that about the time 
 of the deliverance a series of remarkable 
 calamities overwhelmed Egypt. There were 
 rival pretenders to the throne. Civil war 
 broke out. Petty nobles ruled. The land 
 was deluged with blood. Anarchy pre- 
 vailed. From every side the enemies of 
 Egypt invaded and plundered. For a time 
 government was practically at an end. 
 
 In such details, however, the prophetic 
 writer would not be interested, even if he 
 
 155 
 
Zbc Mblc medsa^e tor fHoDcrn manbood 
 
 were familiar with them. With the civil 
 strife of Egypt, with her foreign wars, or 
 with the destiny of her throne, he is not 
 concerned. His eye is upon the fact, and 
 his heart burns with the fact, that Jehovah 
 brings a marvelous deliverance to his peo- 
 ple. The account of that deliverance he 
 puts in a form which rivets it upon the 
 memory, fires the imagination, and stirs the 
 heart to its depths. 
 
 J. The Plagues 
 
 (i) To each of the Egyptian plagues 
 there is a natural background. And it is 
 not the last time in history that natural 
 events conspired in an extraordinary way 
 to accomplish the purposes of God. There 
 are times when the water of the Nile 
 actually looks like blood. The June rise 
 brings down vegetable matter and minute 
 organisms, which turn the water first green 
 and later a dull red. At such times the 
 water is very unwholesome, and when such 
 conditions are aggravated it is really unfit 
 for use, although the Nile is the only source 
 of water supply in Egypt. When the water 
 is thus foul the conditions are most favor- 
 able for the multiplication of frogs. Early 
 
 156 
 
Zbc IReOemption of "ffgracl from J^aspt 
 
 writers have repeatedly mentioned remarlc- 
 able multiplication of these creatures. In 
 Egypt flies and stinging insects are per- 
 ennial pests; and we have learned from 
 science, and know from experience, that a 
 land filled with dead frogs or decaying fish 
 would furnish the condition for their rapid 
 multiplication. 
 
 Only recently we have learned that in- 
 sects carry disease. It is not surprising, 
 therefore, that after the plague of flies and 
 gnats there should come that of murrain 
 (a fever) upon cattle, and blains (tumors) 
 and boils upon man and beast. As late as 
 1842 four thousand oxen died of plague 
 in Egypt. 
 
 Hail-storms are rare in the land of the 
 Nile, but all the more remarkable when 
 they come. In 1843 Lepsius reports one 
 which made the day as dark as night. And 
 in some parts of the United States we know 
 what it means to have our crops pounded 
 into the earth and our trees all but des- 
 troyed by hail. In Egypt travelers have 
 seen the sun obscured by great locust- 
 flights; and in South Dakota, Nebraska, 
 and Kansas, settlers have seen grasshoppers 
 obscure the sun in the same manner. 
 
 157 
 
XLbc JSible ftlegsage tor flloDern ftlanbooD 
 
 It will be observed that in the plagues of 
 the foul Nile, the frogs, the flies, and the 
 diseases, there is a scientific sequence, in 
 which each might be the occasion of the 
 succeeding one. Observations in Egypt also 
 show that there is a close sequence in time 
 between the plagues. The Nile becomes 
 foul in July or August; frogs are common 
 in September; flies swarm in October and 
 November; the diseases which they spread 
 immediately follow; hail occurs only in 
 the rainy month of January; the swarms of 
 locusts come in early spring. And after 
 such a series of calamities we are not sur- 
 prised to learn that one lies dead in every 
 home. 
 
 The incident of the crossing of the Red 
 Sea does not stand alone in history. In 
 Lake Menzaleh, lying north of the Red Sea, 
 Major-General TuUock reports that on one 
 occasion the waters were driven back sev- 
 eral miles by a strong wind, leaving the 
 bottom of the lake dry. And in 1738 the 
 Russians captured the Crimea by trav- 
 ersing a passage made by the wind in 
 the Putrid Sea.^ 
 
 1 Kent, " Heroes and Crises of Early Hebrew History," 
 p. 183. 
 
 158 
 
tTbc H^eDemption of ITsrael from Bflgpt 
 
 (2) Such is the physical background of 
 these remarkable incidents. What of their 
 miraculous element ? There is such a thing 
 as interpreting Scripture too literally. We 
 should not make miracles out of pictorial 
 phrases, rhetorical expressions, or dramatic 
 situations. And yet beyond question the 
 events of the life of Moses are filled to the 
 brim with the extraordinary workings of 
 God, workings of the greatest significance 
 for all nations and all time. Was there no 
 miracle in the remarkably favorable season 
 in the upper Nile, which prepared in un- 
 usual abundance the materials for the foul- 
 ing of the river? Was there no miracle in 
 the preparation which for some time had 
 been going on to bring the extraordinary 
 multiplication of frogs, the swarming flies, 
 and ravaging diseases ? Was there no mira- 
 cle in the unparalleled hail-storm, and in 
 the unprecedented flight of locusts just at 
 this time? Was there no miracle in the 
 timeliness of the east wind, which just at 
 the right moment made a path through the 
 sea for Israel, and whose ceasing permitted 
 the waters to return to overwhelm the Egyp- 
 tians? 
 
 There is need of care lest, after having 
 
 159 
 
tXbe Mblc OiceenQC tor fHoDem manboob 
 
 defined a miracle according to the terms of 
 logic, we apply our stilted definition with 
 unwarranted freedom and boldness to the 
 workings of God, and thus become the vic- 
 tims and captives of our own phrases: 
 
 God moves in a mysterious way 
 
 His wonders to perform; 
 He plants his footsteps in the sea 
 
 And rides upon the storm. 
 
 Miracle in the largest, deepest, and most 
 worthy sense, there certainly was in the 
 conspiring of these extraordinary natural 
 events to achieve the purposes of Jehovah. 
 And not only was God working in these ex- 
 traordinary events, but also in events of 
 national and international significance, to 
 which reference has already been made. 
 All conspired together under the hand of 
 Jehovah to deHver the children of Israel 
 from Egypt, to constitute them a nation, 
 and to accomplish through them a distinct 
 mission in the world. 
 
 Such wonder-working is of the most far- 
 reaching significance, for it shows God 
 operative in nature and in history. It fills 
 the word " providence " with a fulness of 
 meaning. It locates within the hand of 
 
 i6o 
 
Zbe IReDemption ot ITsrael trom Bfl^pt 
 
 God every event in every nation. It ex- 
 hibits history as illustrating the teachings 
 of Christ: "Ye are of more value than 
 many sparrows," and " The very hairs of 
 your head are all numbered." To be able 
 to see the hand of God in nature, in his- 
 toric events, and in present circumstances 
 and conditions, requires prophetic insight. 
 And such insight is token of the revelation 
 of God and of the inspiration of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 4. God Redeems His People 
 
 But the matters which we have so far 
 discussed constitute no part of the prophet's 
 thought in recording these events. The one 
 fact that thrills his soul is this: God is a 
 Redeemer. He redeems his people. 
 
 (i) Throughout the book of Deute- 
 ronomy the theme of redemption is con- 
 stantly reiterated. " Because Jehovah lov- 
 eth you, and because he would keep the 
 oath which he sware unto your fathers, 
 hath Jehovah brought you out with a mighty 
 hand, and redeemed you out of the house 
 of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king 
 of Egypt " (Deut. 7:8). " And thou shalt 
 remember that thou wast a bondman in the 
 
 L 161 
 
Xlbc Xihlc aicessiQC for modern fllanbooD 
 
 land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God re- 
 deemed thee" (Deut. 15:15). "O Lord 
 Jehovah, destroy not thy people and thine 
 inheritance, that thou hast redeemed through 
 thy greatness" (Deut. 9:26). This de- 
 liverance is constantly referred to in Scrip- 
 ture as a redemption. And the one thing 
 that the Hebrews never ceased to believe 
 in and to hope for, was that God would re- 
 deem them from all their distresses. 
 
 (2) In our studies thus far we have been 
 following the fundamental teachings of the 
 Bible from the first chapter of Genesis. But 
 not till we come to the deliverance of Is- 
 rael from Egypt do we meet the fact of 
 redemption. In the creation story we saw 
 Jehovah as the Creator of the world and all 
 that was in it. In the Temptation narrative 
 we saw the spiritual nature of man thor- 
 oughly analyzed. In the account of Cain 
 and Abel we saw worship and conduct con- 
 joined, while both were required to be 
 the expression of a right spirit. In the 
 Flood narrative we saw the righteous and 
 wicked separated and meeting different 
 ends. In the Abraham story we saw God 
 in his relation to an obedient man. In the 
 Jacob narrative we saw Jehovah wrestling 
 
 162 
 
Zbc IRcOemption of ITsracl from JEsspt 
 
 with a sinner of high purpose, and striving 
 to bend him to his will. In the account of 
 Joseph we saw God's faithfulness meeting 
 man's faithfulness. Not until we come to 
 Moses do we meet the great fact of redemp- 
 tion. All that precedes but paves the way 
 for this fact of supreme interest to man, 
 that God is a Redeemer. And from Moses 
 to the close of the Old Testament the in- 
 spired record follows the outworking of 
 God's redemption in the history of the He- 
 brew people, and contains an increasingly 
 clear and full expression of this central 
 world-fact. The " remnant," of which the 
 prophets speak, is a redeeming remnant. 
 The " suffering servant of Jehovah " is a 
 redeeming servant. The " Coming One," to 
 whom all eyes turn, is coming to redeem. 
 And at length the Christ himself, the Re- 
 deemer, comes to redeem a world in a sense 
 larger and deeper than any of which the 
 Jew thought or dreamed or hoped or 
 prayed. 
 
 (3) Even in this earliest expression of 
 the "glad tidings," the conditions of re- 
 demption are remarkably clear and full. 
 Two of them we find in the call of Moses : 
 
 a. God says, " And now, behold, the 
 
 163 
 
Zbc M\)ic aicee^Qe tor nioDetn fllanbooD 
 
 cry of the children of Israel is come unto 
 me" (Exod. 3:9). Here is the first con- 
 dition of redemption, the cry of the soul 
 unto God. It is true that God's Spirit con- 
 victs of sin ; but there is no redemption un- 
 til there is a movement of the soul in a 
 prayer for help. In nearly every case those 
 whom Christ healed, even physically, cried 
 to him for healing. And to-day, though 
 hundreds may be converted, no one is ever 
 converted who will not pray. This first 
 condition of redemption is as true of na- 
 tions as of individuals. Nations and peo- 
 ples have been redeemed from a lower to 
 a higher state only as they have sought the 
 help of God. No nation has ever been 
 *' exalted " except through righteousness. 
 Sin has ever proved a " reproach " to any 
 people. 
 
 b. To Moses God said : " Come now 
 therefore, and I will send thee unto Pha- 
 raoh, that thou mayest bring forth my peo- 
 ple the children of Israel out of Eg}^pt " 
 (Exod. 3:10). That is, God delivers 
 through a deliverer. He redeems by call- 
 ing, equipping, and sending a redeemer. 
 God's call was in the heart of Closes when. 
 as a young man, he slew the Egyptian. 
 
 164 
 
Zbc TReDemptlon of Hsrael from iBgwt 
 
 That call never comes to one who does 
 not discern needs. From the task set for 
 him, Moses shrank, as has every redeemer 
 of men ; as did Isaiah when he said, ** I 
 am a man of unclean lips " (Isa. 6:5); as 
 did our Saviour when in Gethsemane he 
 prayed, " If it be possible, let this cup pass 
 away from me" (Matt. 26:39). 
 
 But how fully Moses answered the call, 
 and how complete was his self -giving for 
 his people, we learn from those words which 
 he uttered in one of the most difficult ex- 
 periences of the wilderness wandering: 
 " Yet now, (O Lord) if thou wilt forgive 
 their sin . . ; and if not, blot me, I pray 
 thee, out of thy book which thou hast writ- 
 ten " (Exod. 32:32). He bore the mur- 
 murings of the people ; he was charitable to- 
 ward their fleshliness when they longed for 
 the leeks and onions of Egypt; he was pa- 
 tient with their impatience; he pleaded for 
 them in their sins ; and, just as Isaiah never 
 experienced the glory that he prophesied, 
 and John the Baptist never enjoyed the 
 kingdom that he preached, so Moses never 
 entered the Promised Land, but saw it only 
 from afar. Yet, such is the work and the 
 fate of a redeemer of men. The triumph 
 
 165 
 
Zbc JBiblc {JSlesenQc for fllodetn flrianbood 
 
 and the glory are revealed only by the 
 future years. 
 
 (4) There are few more dramatic or 
 impressive scenes in the Bible than that 
 of the giving of the law at Sinai. And, 
 whether so intended by the writer or not, 
 every part of it is wonderfully typical of 
 the long process of redemption. Those 
 whom God redeems are to be redeemed, 
 not only from something, but to something. 
 Moses, talking with God in the cloud-be- 
 girt mountain, is given the tables of the 
 Ten Commandments. Unto these com- 
 mandments the people are to be redeemed 
 until they shall be written on the tables of 
 their hearts. At the foot of the mountain 
 the people, worshiping the golden calf which 
 their own hands have made, have turned 
 their faces again toward Egypt. The 
 golden calf is typical of their past, the 
 commandments of their future; the one of 
 their bondage, the other of their liberty; 
 the first of what they are to be redeemed 
 from, the second of what they are to be 
 redeemed to. 
 
 Typical also is the breaking of the tables 
 of stone; for although the tables of com- 
 mandments be shattered a thousand times 
 
 166 
 
XS^bc IRcDcmption of ITsracl trom Bg^pt 
 
 by the impatience of man, who compre- 
 hends not the long and tedious process of 
 redemption, yet God gives his law over 
 again, " line upon line " and " precept upon 
 precept." 
 
 There is only one scene in the Bible more 
 impressive and more filled with promise than 
 this at Sinai. In it the Redeemer of men, 
 the one in whose heart the law of God was 
 perfectly written, the one who himself was 
 henceforth to be the Law of men's lives, 
 was hanging upon the cross. Over his head 
 the heavens turned to darkness. Under his 
 feet the earth reeled and quaked. No 
 longer now, however, is the law of God 
 fallen and broken, but lifted up, completed, 
 and made effective in Him who was able to 
 say, " It is finished." The first writing of 
 the perfect law of God in a life is finished, 
 and therefore the process of writing the 
 perfect law of God in all lives is begun. 
 
 167 
 
n 
 
 Zbc Beglnnina of tbe Conaueat of 
 Canaan 
 
 3o0bua, Cbaptere One to l^fne 
 
IX 
 
 THE purpose of the Scriptures is spir- 
 itual instruction, and it is important to 
 observe that such instruction is imparted by 
 the Bible records just as they stand. With 
 reference to any narrative, such as that of 
 the crossing of the Jordan, or the taking of 
 Jericho, a number of questions might arise, 
 each of which in and of itself is quite legiti- 
 mate. For example, are these narratives 
 circumstantial history? Are they historical 
 events spiritually interpreted? Or are they 
 pictorial representations of historical facts? 
 While such questions are proper subjects of 
 investigation, there is imminent danger lest 
 in seeking answers to them the great spir- 
 itual truths which the narrator had in mind 
 be overlooked. 
 
 If one were to consider critically any 
 modern sermon, the first question ought to 
 be, What is its spiritual message? This 
 message will be expressed by the various 
 materials just as they are set down by the 
 
 171 
 
Zbc Mblc fnessagc tor ftloDern ttlanbood 
 
 preacher, not by these materials as they lie 
 torn one from the other, and assigned each 
 to its source and original connection by 
 one who discerns no spiritual message in 
 the sermon as it stands. 
 
 It is significant of the spiritual purpose 
 of the Scriptures that the first four inci- 
 dents narrated of Israel's conquest of the 
 Promised Land, set forth four conditions 
 which are fundamental in all spiritual con- 
 quest. 
 
 /. The Crossing of the Jordan 
 
 The first, and possibly the most funda- 
 mental of these conditions, is confidence 
 that God is with his people. This con- 
 fidence is expressed by the narrative of the 
 crossing of the Jordan. It is the time of 
 harvest, when the Jordan overflows its 
 banks, and the least favorable time for a 
 crossing. But suddenly the waters are cut 
 off. The people pass over " dry-shod," as 
 they had passed through the Red Sea 
 under Moses. The inevitable conclusion is 
 that as God was with Moses, so now he is 
 with Joshua; that as Jehovah brought the 
 people out of bondage, so now he is leading 
 them to conquest. The narrative just as it 
 
 172 
 
^be JBefllnninfl of tbe Conquest of Canaan 
 
 stands expresses this fact in unmistakable 
 terms and with great power. 
 
 The modern scientific mind turns with 
 not a Httle skepticism, and even with a 
 feeHng of irreverence upon the narrative, 
 to question its historicity and to challenge 
 its truthfulness. Were the waters of the 
 Jordan really cut off? It happens that the 
 narrative is here rather specific, stating that 
 " the waters which came down from above 
 stood, and rose up in one heap, a great 
 way off, at Adam." Adam was the name 
 of a village which meant " red earth " or 
 " clay." 
 
 A similar incident occurred in A. D. 
 1257. To save a retreating Moslem army 
 it was necessary to repair a bridge which 
 spanned the Jordan. Its foundations had 
 been undermined by the swollen waters. 
 On arriving at the bridge the workmen 
 found the bed of the river dry, and so it re- 
 mained for several hours, until the repairs 
 were nearly completed, when the waters 
 flowed on again. The historian states that 
 the cause of the waters being cut off was 
 a landslide farther up the river, that the 
 swollen stream had undermined the banks 
 until they fell in, thus making a dam across 
 
 173 
 
XLbc Mblc flQeeaage tot modern (nanbooD 
 
 the stream. His interpretation of the event 
 is that it was a remarkable token of Allah's 
 favor.^ Doubtless some such natural oc- 
 currence forms the basis of our Bible nar- 
 rative. 
 
 Nothing is gained and much is lost by 
 not giving full weight to such natural phe- 
 nomena, for they were the providences of 
 God, and had a use in producing in the 
 minds of the Israelites the assurance that 
 God was with them, leading them, and fight- 
 ing for them. Things do not just happen in 
 this world. God is over all. Indeed, the 
 most subtle and fatal infidelity is that which 
 pushes God out of so-called natural events 
 and discerns him only in the supernatural. 
 Too long we have treated the Old Testa- 
 ment as the Pharisees treated Christ, say- 
 ing, " Show us a sign." Too long we have 
 seen God most plainly in the most extraor- 
 dinary. To the Pharisees Christ replied: 
 " Can you not interpret the signs of the 
 times? Can you not discern God in the 
 conjunction of events ? " The really great 
 thing about the Jewish people, and that 
 which made them the spiritual teachers of 
 
 1 Kent. " Founders and Rulers of United Israel," 
 p. 5. 
 
 174 
 
Zbc JSefltnninfl of tbe Conaucet ot Canaan 
 
 the world, was just this fact, their discern- 
 ment of the working of God in all natural 
 phenomena and in all events of history. 
 It was God who gave or withheld rain, God 
 who brought or sent away the locusts, God 
 who blessed or blighted the vineyards, God 
 who granted or refused harvests, God who 
 sent victory or defeat in war, God who re- 
 duced the people to slavery or built them up 
 in national life. There were no natural phe- 
 nomena and no events of history in which 
 they did not discern the hand of God and 
 interpret him as working immediately and 
 effectively. 
 
 Whatever may be the historic facts be- 
 hind the crossing of the Jordan, the great 
 thing as the narrative lies in the record, is 
 the narrator's spiritual interpretation of the 
 event, the prophet's discernment of God at 
 work. Such discernment and such inter- 
 pretation establish in the minds of the peo- 
 ple confidence that God is with them and 
 will fight their battles. It has always been 
 true, and is true to-day, that confidence in 
 the presence and help of God is the funda- 
 mental necessity in all man's work for God 
 and all man's spiritual conquests both of 
 himself and others. 
 
 ^75 
 
^be Mblc fnes^ade for flloDem manbooO 
 
 2. The Taking of Jericho 
 
 A second condition necessary to spiritual 
 conquest is faith that nothing is too hard 
 for God when we obey him. This condition 
 is vividly illustrated in the taking of Jericho. 
 No doubt the narrative is purposely thrown 
 into that form which will set the truth in 
 clearest light and teach it most impressively. 
 
 Jericho lay on the western side of the 
 Jordan Valley, about five miles north of 
 the Dead Sea. It was the lowest city on the 
 face of the earth, being eight hundred feet 
 below sea level. Though situated in a 
 fertile spot, it never gave rise to any man 
 of distinction, and its people never were 
 renowned in war. Yet it was a walled 
 city of some strength. Its ruins to-day com- 
 prise a mound one thousand two hundred 
 feet long and in places fifty feet high. The 
 ancient wall had a stone foundation and 
 was built of burned brick. In places the 
 ruined wall is ten feet high, and from ten 
 to thirty feet thick. Yet its condition when 
 taken by the Hebrews can only be con- 
 jectured. The Bible narrative, however, 
 conveys the idea that it was a city of some 
 strength. 
 
 176 
 
^be JSedinning ot tbe Conquedt ot Canaan 
 
 The method by which Israel took the city 
 was, to say the least, unique, and, from 
 the human standpoint, pitiably inadequate. 
 The Hebrews, led by their priests and the 
 ark of God, march around the city once, 
 and then return to camp. This seemingly 
 futile operation was repeated each day for 
 six days. On the seventh day the city was 
 encompassed seven times. Then at a given 
 signal all the people shouted and the walls 
 came tumbling down. Each warrior entered 
 the city opposite the spot where he stood, 
 and thus Jericho was taken. 
 
 Some scholars have suggested that this 
 method of taking the city was a stratagem 
 to throw the inhabitants off guard. It has 
 been thought that after making a circuit of 
 the city in such futile fashion for six days, 
 the Hebrew army would become an object 
 of ridicule to the inhabitants of Jericho 
 rather than an object of fear. Others have 
 suggested that Rahab and her family be- 
 trayed the city from within, and at a given 
 signal opened the gates. It is more likely 
 that we have not a complete account of 
 this historic event and that more incidents 
 are left out of the record than are inserted. 
 The Bible is not a book of detailed his- 
 
 M 177 
 
tibc JSible (Heeaadc for (iloDem (llanboo^ 
 
 tory, but of spiritual teaching. By confes- 
 sion of the Gospels themselves we have not 
 a complete account of our Lord's life; and 
 the accounts which we have are professedly 
 arranged to emphasize particular phases of 
 the Lord's work. Beyond question we do 
 not make sufficient allowance for pictorial 
 methods of oriental expression; but, on the 
 other hand, interpret rhetorical figures with 
 unwarranted literalness; while, as a matter 
 of fact, rhetorical figures constitute one of 
 the best means of conveying spiritual truths. 
 The account of the taking of Jericho, so 
 simply and effectively narrated, sets forth 
 with startling clearness the fact that noth- 
 ing is too hard for God when men obey him. 
 The outstanding facts of the narrative are 
 these : ( I ) Specific directions for the taking 
 of Jericho are given by the messenger of 
 Jehovah. (2) From these directions Joshua 
 does not swerve in any particular, but fol- 
 lows them to the letter. (3) By Joshua's 
 obedience the seemingly impossible is 
 achieved. The walls come tumbling down 
 as Jehovah had promised; and thus it be- 
 comes evident to all that nothing is too 
 hard for Jehovah when his people obey him. 
 On the threshold of Israel's conquest of 
 
 178 
 
Zbc JScQinnim of tbe Conquedt ot Canaan 
 
 Canaan, when a hundred seemingly in- 
 superable tasks confronted her, this was 
 the truth that she most of all needed to 
 know. Without confidence in Jehovah's 
 power nothing awaited her but disaster and 
 defeat. A lack of such confidence was 
 what led to the long wandering in the wil- 
 derness. The spies might properly inquire 
 the best way to take the land, but not 
 whether the land could be taken, after God 
 had told the people to go up and take it. 
 When God tells his people to do a thing, it 
 may be proper to inquire how it may best 
 be done, but not whether it can be done. 
 God commands no impossible tasks. The 
 spies were sent to see if the hosts of Is- 
 rael could do what God commanded them 
 to do. The result was forty years of aim- 
 less and profitless wandering in the wilder- 
 ness. It is always so. It always leads to 
 wandering in a wilderness when we re- 
 frain from attempting what God commands 
 through fear lest we shall fail. 
 
 This is the truth that every century must 
 learn, and the truth that demands emphasis 
 to-day. Modern conditions have thrust 
 upon us new problems. Weak-hearted 
 Christians are filled with excuses. Regrets 
 
 179 
 
Zbc :Biblc fneaea^e toe tHoDem tllanbooD 
 
 are vain. Amid all the difficulties of modern 
 home life let parents obey God, and nothing 
 will be too hard for him to do for them 
 and their children. Amid all the tempta- 
 tions of business, government, social life, 
 and politics, let men obey God, and God 
 will work wonders in our midst, and walls 
 will come tumbling down — defenses of 
 wickedness which seem impregnable — in a 
 way to astonish the world more than did 
 the tumbling walls of Jericho. It is dif- 
 ficult in our day not to be covetous, not to 
 compromise the right, and not to condone 
 sin. Otherwise how shall we make money, 
 and how shall we gain position and power? 
 Nothing is too hard for God to do for 
 those who obey him. Confidence in this fact 
 on the part of God's people would work 
 marvels in purifying modern life and in- 
 stitutions. 
 
 J. The Taking of Ai 
 
 A third condition of spiritual conquest is 
 an understanding of the fact that not even 
 the least victory is possible to the dis- 
 obedient. Just as the formidable task" of 
 taking Jericho was easy for God's people 
 when they were obedient, so the insignifi- 
 
 iSo 
 
Zbc 3BeQ{nninQ of tbe Conaucat of Canaan 
 
 cant task of taking Ai was impossible to 
 them, when they were disobedient. 
 
 The incident is readily recalled. Spies 
 were sent to determine the strength of Ai, 
 a small village not far from Jericho. They 
 returned to Joshua and reported that it was 
 a place of little strength, and that it was 
 wholly unnecessary to march the whole 
 army up the hilly road for its capture. 
 They regarded two or three thousand men 
 quite sufficient to put all the inhabitants to 
 the sword. The suggestions of the spies 
 were adopted and their advice followed. 
 But the two or three thousand men found 
 themselves outmatched. They were de- 
 feated and, fleeing before the men of Ai, 
 many of them were slain. 
 
 The narrative now discloses the fact that 
 sin was in the camp, and that Israel was de- 
 feated because of disobedience. Thus is both 
 announced and illustrated the truth that in 
 fighting God's battles no victory is possible 
 to those who harbor sin. When the sin of 
 Achan — the secreting of a wedge of gold 
 and a Babylonish garment — was discovered, 
 confessed, and punished, the victory over 
 Ai was won. 
 
 The truth here enunciated is continu- 
 
 i8i 
 
Zbc 3iblc fUeesafle tor flloDetn ftlanbooO 
 
 ously insisted upon by the prophets through- 
 out Israel's subsequent victory. Did the 
 land refuse its increase? It was because 
 the people were robbing God. Was Israel 
 carried into captivity? It was because they 
 had turned to idols. " Them that honor 
 me," saith Jehovah, " I will honor " ( i 
 Sam. 2: 30). 
 
 Translated into terms of modern life, 
 the truth is the same. Even the smallest 
 spiritual battle is lost for the one who con- 
 sciously harbors sin. For the disobedient 
 the otherwise easy victory is already a de- 
 feat. Shall one think to retain health with 
 the microbe of disease already at work in 
 his body ? To be sure, the microbe may be 
 small, but it is deadly, for microbes multi- 
 ply, and their ravages do not depend upon 
 size. So also, rebellion against God in one 
 thing soon spreads to other things. The 
 smallest sin consciously harbored means ulti- 
 mate defeat, for God does not fight the 
 battles of the disobedient. Jehovah does 
 not count sins as big and little. Away with 
 all sin out of the life. Disobedience, whether 
 in things small or great, is the cardinal 
 sin. With disobedience in the heart no 
 spiritual victories are possible. " If ye love 
 
 182 
 
^be XcQinnim ot tbe Conqueet ot Canaan 
 
 me," said Christ, " ye will keep my com- 
 mandments " (John 14:15). Disobedience 
 and love cannot abide in the same life. If 
 one remains the other must go. 
 
 4. Neglecting to Consult God 
 
 A fourth condition of spiritual conquest 
 is that in all matters God is to be consulted. 
 Otherwise dangerous entanglements arise. 
 This fact is clearly set forth in the incident 
 of the men of Gibeon. They came to 
 Joshua wearing old clothes and old shoes, 
 having old sacks, old wine-skins, and moldy 
 bread. They claimed to be ambassadors 
 from '' a very far country," and said that 
 they were sent to make a treaty with Joshua. 
 They declared that the fame of Joshua's 
 greatness and power had reached their peo- 
 ple, and that they had also learned of the 
 greatness of his God. " We are your serv- 
 ants," they said ; " make a treaty with us." 
 The idea, of course, was that there could 
 be no danger to Israel from such a treaty. 
 Since they were from such a far country 
 intermarriage would be out of the question, 
 and Israel would not be influenced by their 
 religion. Joshua, however, had been com- 
 manded not to make treaties, but utterly to 
 
 183 
 
^be JSible medda^e for (lloOetn filanbood 
 
 destroy the inhabitants of Canaan. But 
 these ambassadors were so suave, and their 
 plea so plausible, that Joshua did not think 
 it was necessary to consult Jehovah. This 
 fact the text of the narrative particularly 
 points out. Israel " asked not counsel at 
 the mouth of the Lord." They concluded a 
 treaty with a people who lived not more 
 than a day's journey from them, and as a 
 consequence they were now exposed to all 
 the dangers arising from close association 
 with idolaters. Had Israel consulted Jeho- 
 vah the deceit would have been uncovered 
 and the entanglements avoided. 
 
 One marvels at the incisiveness of such 
 a presentation of truth, truth that is world- 
 wide and age-long. How our problems 
 would be shot through and through with 
 light if we only consulted God about them, 
 problems of personal habit, problems of so- 
 cial practice, problems of business methods, 
 problems of religious duty and cross-bear- 
 ing. To a young woman who consulted me 
 ten years ago on a matter involving a ques- 
 tion of conscience, I suggested that she make 
 it a subject of prayer. " Oh," she replied, 
 " I know what I shall have to do if I pray 
 about it ! " Precisely so. Even the suggestion 
 
 184 
 
(Tbe Bcflinnina ot tbe Conquest ot Canaan 
 
 of taking our problems to God often an- 
 swers them for us. We argue to persuade 
 ourselves of the rightfulness of things that 
 are doubtful. We gather together plausible 
 reasons. Were we simply to consult God, 
 doubt would often vanish and the path of 
 duty become plain. For example, Should 
 one publicly confess Christ? Should he 
 join a church? Should he use narcotics or 
 intoxicants? Should he give a certain pro- 
 portion of his income to the work of God? 
 Instead of gathering arguments to justify 
 one's self for pursuing the easiest or most 
 pleasant course, let one take such questions 
 to God in prayer. And so with every ques- 
 tion which gives rise to reluctance or doubt. 
 The simple practice of sincerely consulting 
 God would revolutionize the lives of many 
 Christians. It would replace half-hearted- 
 ness with whole-heartedness, doubt with 
 certainty, carelessness with conviction, 
 weakness with power, a life negative in in- 
 fluence for Christ with a life positive and 
 constructive. It would cast out sin and 
 replace it with purity and sweetness. 
 
 Thus it appears that from these four in- 
 cidents just as they stand in the sacred 
 record spring these four great truths — - 
 
 i8s 
 
^be Mblc (JRcBBHQc for moDecn nrianbood 
 
 truths fundamental to spiritual conquest 
 either in individuals or nations, viz. : 
 
 ( I ) The necessity of confidence that God 
 is with one and is working for him and 
 through him. (2) The assurance that when 
 God commands, nothing is too difficult for 
 the obedient. (3) The knowledge that no 
 victory is possible to the disobedient. (4) 
 The certainty that he alone walks in a plain 
 and safe path who consults God. 
 
 186 
 
PART II 
 
 THE MISSION OF GOD'S 
 PEOPLE 
 
Zbc Booft of 3onab 
 
X 
 
 I. The Book 
 
 FOR the number of chapters it contains 
 the book of Jonah is beyond question 
 the greatest book in the Old Testament, but 
 its spiritual significance has long been ob- 
 scured by the supposed difficulties of the 
 great fish swallowing Jonah. 
 
 It is strange indeed that the sea-monster's 
 swallowing of Jonah should for so long 
 have been a matter of controversy, when the 
 literalness of the incident is of no spiritual 
 significance whatever. To be sure, the Bible 
 teaches spiritual truth by literal history, but 
 it also teaches by parable, allegory, vision, 
 and poetry. Christ's parables of the Prodi- 
 gal Son, the Wicked Husbandmen, and the 
 Unjust Steward need not be regarded as 
 history in order to convey spiritual teach- 
 ing. Nathan's parable of the Little Ewe 
 Lamb and Isaiah's parable of the Vine- 
 yard give place to no other kind of biblical 
 
 191 
 
Zbe Mblc aic00SLQc tot fllot>etn (llanbooD 
 
 literature for pointedness and power of 
 spiritual teaching. 
 
 Whether or not the book of Jonah is his- 
 tory or parable is simply a question of fact 
 to be determined by the character of the 
 book itself. It is not a question for con- 
 troversy, with the deeper questions of in- 
 spiration and revelation lying in the back- 
 ground of thought, and with the apprehen- 
 sion present that these must be relinquished 
 if the book is not found to be literal his- 
 tory. 
 
 Some stumble over the fact that Christ 
 quoted the book of Jonah and referred to 
 the great fish. To them such quotation 
 seems either to stamp the book as literal his- 
 tory or to impugn the knowledge of our 
 Lord. Christ, however, may have used 
 Jonah as an illustration to make clear to his 
 hearers an obscure fact, just as every one 
 uses illustrations. The essential element of 
 an illustration is, not that it be history, but 
 that it be something well known. One's 
 reference to the Prodigal Son does not in- 
 dicate that he regards this character in 
 Christ's parable as historical. Macbeth, 
 the Merchant of Venice, and Robinson 
 Crusoe are constantly upon our lips as illus- 
 
 192 
 
ZTbc :fi3ooR ot 5onab 
 
 trations, not because they are historical 
 characters, but because they are well-known 
 characters. So also when Christ referred 
 to Jonah he referred to one with whom 
 every Jewish auditor was familiar. 
 
 A prophet by the name of Jonah lived 
 in the eighth century before Christ. He 
 prophesied the extension of the territory of 
 Jeroboam 11. He may, indeed, have gone 
 on a mission to Nineveh, as Elijah did to 
 Sarepta and Elisha to Damascus. But the 
 book of Jonah was not written until two 
 or three hundred years after Jeroboam H 
 and, of course, was not written by Jonah 
 himself. 
 
 When the book is rightly regarded all dif- 
 ficulties are eliminated, and it comes into 
 its own, not as a holder of curious incident, 
 but as a conveyer of spiritual truth. 
 
 2. What the Book Teaches 
 
 The book of Jonah sets forth the great 
 sin of Israel's national life. The following 
 points should be carefully noted: 
 
 ( I ) Jonah, the Jew, God sends to preach 
 to Nineveh, the typical Gentile city. Thus 
 is expressed in concrete form the fact that 
 God chose the Jews to give the knowledge 
 
 N 193 
 
CTbe XMc aicsetLQc tax (iloDetn fllanboob 
 
 of God to the Gentiles. This, as all know, 
 was the historic mission of the Jews. For 
 this they were called out of Chaldea, dis- 
 ciplined in Egypt, trained in the wilder- 
 ness, given a national home at the cross- 
 roads of the nations, and, through war and 
 trade, sent with God's message to all the 
 world. Their mission was indicated by 
 God's words to Abraham : " I will bless 
 thee, and be thou a blessing . . . and in 
 thee shall all the families of the earth be 
 blessed" (Gen. 12:3) ; as also by the fact 
 that Christ was " a light to lighten the 
 Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Is- 
 rael " (Luke 2: 32). That glory lay in the 
 fact that by giving light to the Gentiles, 
 Christ was bringing to fruition the mission 
 of God's chosen people. 
 
 (2) In the story Jonah flees from his 
 mission. He does not want the Gentile city 
 to repent so as to enjoy the favor of God. 
 In this he represents precisely the attitude 
 of the Jews toward the heathen. Israel 
 held the Gentiles fit only for destruction, 
 and longed to see the wrath of God visited 
 upon them. Jehovah's favors, she claimed 
 exclusively for herself. In our Lord's time, 
 what most offended the Jewish authorities 
 
 194 
 
tibc :(Booft of 5onab 
 
 was that Christ went in to eat with publicans 
 and sinners; and for the apostles, the most 
 difficult task was to break with Jewish ex- 
 clusiveness. To Jewish Christians also, it 
 was an offense that Peter entered the house 
 of Cornelius and that Paul preached the 
 gospel to Gentiles. It is plain, therefore, 
 that in the book of Jonah the prophet is 
 holding up the national sin of Israel by pic- 
 turing her running from her appointed mis- 
 sion of giving the knowledge of God to the 
 Gentiles. 
 
 (3) During his flight by sea, however, 
 Jonah is swallowed by a great fish, just as 
 Israel, because unfaithful to her mission, 
 was swallowed up by the heathen nations, 
 and for a time — seventy years — held by 
 them in Babylonian captivity, until the peo- 
 ple were so humiliated and disciplined that 
 they were willing to obey God. 
 
 The imagery of the Jonah story is not 
 peculiar to this book. The heathen world 
 was commonly regarded by the Jews as a 
 surging, restless sea; and the figure of Is-' 
 rael being swallowed up by this sea of 
 heathenism, as by a great sea-monster, was 
 a common one. In Jeremiah 51:34 we 
 read :- " Nebuchadrezzar the king of Baby- 
 
 195 
 
Ubc JSible flleaaade tor fHodecn fllanbooD 
 
 Ion . . . hath swallowed me up like a dragon, 
 he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he 
 hath cast me out.'' Here we have the com- 
 plete figure of the swallowing of Jonah 
 applied to the Jews in Babylonian captivity. 
 
 (4) Next in this great object-lesson 
 Jonah is cast out of the monster's belly on to 
 dry land; and correspondingly, in the ex- 
 perience of Israel — that is, after she has 
 been swallowed up in captivity, and retained 
 among the heathen a few years she is re- 
 turned to Jerusalem by Cyrus to rebuild the 
 temple and the city. This step, also the 
 verse just quoted from Jeremiah, indicates, 
 " He hath cast me out." The forty-second 
 and forty-fourth verses of the same chapter 
 put the whole situation still more clearly: 
 " The sea is come up upon Babylon : she is 
 covered with the multitude of the waves 
 thereof. . . And I will bring forth out of his 
 mouth that which he hath swallowed up." 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that the imagery 
 which we find in the book — that of a great 
 sea-monster first swallowing and then cast- 
 ing out — is not peculiar to Jonah, and its 
 application to Israel's captivity in Babylon 
 and her return to Jerusalem was well un- 
 derstood. 
 
 196 
 
Zbc :f6ooft ot 5onab 
 
 (5) In the Jonah story, not for a mo- 
 ment does God turn aside from his pur- 
 pose. Jonah, taught and disciplined by 
 failure and reverses, is sent a second time 
 to preach to Nineveh. In the history of Is- 
 rael also, never once does God swerve from 
 his purpose. He thwarts Israel in her de- 
 signs for national aggrandizement and great 
 wealth, punishes her for idolatry and other 
 sins, and reduces her to a small remnant of 
 her former self; but that remnant he dis- 
 ciplines and teaches, and finally sends upon 
 its mission to the Gentiles until that mis- 
 sion finds consummation in Christ's apostles 
 preaching to all nations. 
 
 (6) In this remarkable narration Jonah, 
 when commanded a second time to preach 
 to Nineveh, obeys not only with reluctance, 
 but with a spirit of selfishness. He does 
 not want the Ninevites to repent; he does 
 not want God to forgive them and love 
 them as he forgives and loves Israel. In 
 this respect Jonah is pictured precisely like 
 the elder brother in Christ's parable of the 
 Prodigal Son, who is jealous of the father's 
 forgiveness of the younger brother. Just 
 as in the elder brother Christ was portray- 
 ing for the scribes and Pharisees their own 
 
 197 
 
Zbc :Biblc mesaade tot filodetn tllanbcod 
 
 hateful attitude toward the Gentiles, so the 
 prophet in Jonah is portraying for Israel 
 her own hateful attitude toward the heathen. 
 The parallel between the Jonah story and 
 the parable of the Prodigal Son is worthy 
 of special notice, for the attitude of Jonah 
 and the elder brother was precisely the atti- 
 tude of the Jews toward the Gentiles. Even 
 in our Lord's time the scribes and Pharisees 
 could not think of the Gentiles as on the 
 same plane of forgiveness with themselves, 
 and they did not want them to enjoy the 
 favor of God as fully as they did. Even to 
 the apostles it was cause of astonishment 
 that Gentiles as well as Jews received the 
 Holy Spirit ; and Peter must receive a new 
 revelation before he could say: " Of a truth 
 I perceive that God is no respecter of per- 
 sons: but in every nation he that feareth 
 him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted 
 with him" (Acts 10:34, 35). 
 
 5. Truths Embodied 
 
 The book of Jonah is the gospel of the 
 Old Testament, but the gospel carried by an 
 unwilling messenger. The question of a 
 willing messenger to carry God's good news 
 was a perennial one in the Old Testament, 
 
 198 
 
Zbc :iBooft of 5onab 
 
 and in all the Christian centuries it has been 
 the battle-ground of unnumbered lives. Back 
 of the recorded response of Abraham to 
 God's call there was doubtless a struggle. 
 Moses made numerous excuses, and sought 
 to escape his mission. Isaiah, shrinking from 
 the gospel-task, exclaimed : " Woe is me ! 
 for I am undone; because I am a man of 
 unclean lips " (Isa. 6:5); and only after his 
 lips were cleansed, and he again heard God 
 calling, " Whom shall I send ? and who 
 will go for us ? " was he able to reply, 
 " Here am I, send me." That the question 
 of the willing messenger was present to the 
 mind of Christ is evident both from his 
 words : " My meat is to do the will of him 
 that sent me, and to accomplish his work " 
 (John 4:34), and also from his struggles 
 in the wilderness and in the garden. It 
 was the problem that troubled Peter as he 
 entered the house of Cornelius, and that 
 was still unsettled by Paul when God said 
 to him, " It is hard for thee to kick against 
 the pricks" (Acts 9:5). The problem of 
 the willing messenger has constituted the 
 battle-ground of every reformer, missionary, 
 and minister in every century since Christ. 
 Each messenger has first to conquer him- 
 
 199 
 
tibe MUc tBlc00aQc tor moDctn fllanboo& 
 
 self and bring himself to yield to the will 
 of God. The gospel has always been in the 
 heart of God for all men, but to secure will- 
 ing messengers has been both God's battle 
 and man's battle. Jonah is the unwilling 
 messenger exhibited to the eyes of the 
 world, and the exhibition reveals three great 
 truths. 
 
 (i) God's love is universal. His forgive- 
 ness is not only for Jerusalem, but equally 
 for Nineveh. This truth is taught else- 
 where in the Old Testament, but only in 
 the book of Jonah is it set forth with that 
 power of concrete illustration which im- 
 presses it indelibly upon the mind; just as 
 the lesson of the Prodigal Son is taught 
 in many places in the New Testament, but 
 nowhere else with such power of concrete 
 illustration as in Christ's parable. Gra- 
 ciously does the mantle of God's charity 
 cover the sins of the heathen in every line 
 of the Jonah parable. On the ship all the 
 heathen sailors pray, each to his own god. 
 The emphasis of the narrative falls upon 
 the truth that each prays in ignorance of 
 the fact that his god is not the god of the 
 sea, and therefore prayer to him is vain. 
 When these sailors learn that Jonah's God 
 
 200 
 
Zbc 3Booft of ^onab 
 
 is God of the sea, they leave off prayer to 
 heathen gods and pray to Jehovah. The 
 picture of these heathen sailors is one of 
 sincere men worshiping gods v^ho are im- 
 potent to help them; of ignorant men 
 who, when better informed, willingly and 
 promptly follow the better information. 
 
 A like picture of Nineveh is presented. 
 The narrative reduces the sinfulness of the 
 great city to the minimum. Indeed, it sim- 
 ply mentions her sin at the beginning of the 
 book in the words, "for their wickedness is 
 come up before me." Such mention is 
 necessary in order to justify Jonah's mis- 
 sion at all. The emphasis, however, is not 
 upon Nineveh's sin, but upon her greatness, 
 upon the eagerness of the people to acknowl- 
 edge their sins, and upon their readiness to 
 repent. The dominant impression produced 
 on the reader is that of a large city filled 
 with throbbing humanity. One is made to 
 see people, people, miles of people who are 
 ignorant of Jehovah, eager for the words of 
 his messenger, and ripe for the harvest of 
 God. It is as when our Lord, looking with 
 great compassion upon the shepherdless 
 multitude, said, " The harvest indeed is 
 plenteous, but the laborers are few " (Matt. 
 
 201 
 
Zbc Mblc tMlcsBaQc fot tllodetn flilanbooD 
 
 9:37). Nowhere in the Old Testament is 
 there a more beautiful picture of the com- 
 passionate love of God for all men than in 
 this representation of Jonah's work in 
 Nineveh. 
 
 (2) A second truth which the Jonah 
 story makes plain is that he who runs from 
 his mission brings destruction both upon 
 himself and others. Jonah is represented 
 as sound asleep in the hold of the ship, un- 
 aware of his danger, while the ship reels 
 and creaks in the raging sea, and the sailors 
 row in vain and pray in vain to bring it 
 safe to land. Unless Jonah shall wake up, 
 confess his sin, and yield himself a sacrifice 
 for the sailors, all must go to the bottom 
 together. 
 
 How could the condition of Israel be 
 more accurately represented? The nation 
 was sound asleep spiritually, and oblivi- 
 ous to her own danger. She must either 
 give the knowledge of God to the nations 
 or perish with the nations. She must make 
 herself a sacrifice for the heathen or be des- 
 troyed with the heathen, just as the church 
 of Christ to-day must give the gospel to the 
 world or be destroyed by worldliness. It is 
 to be noted that the Jew is safe to-day only 
 
 202 
 
among the nations who have the knowledge 
 of God, and who received that knowledge 
 through Judaism. But for the knowledge 
 of God given to the Gentiles by Israel, Is- 
 rael would have perished from the earth as 
 the people of Nineveh and Babylon per- 
 ished. Though she be scattered among all 
 peoples, it is the knowledge of God given 
 to others by her that has preserved her. 
 
 (3) The third great truth in the book 
 of Jonah is that of redemptive sacrifice; 
 and it speaks eloquently for the clear- 
 visioned inspiration of the prophet that we 
 find this principle here. 
 
 With blanched faces the sailors ask, 
 "How shall we be saved from the raging 
 sea ? " " Take me up," said Jonah, " and 
 cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea 
 be calm unto you " (Jonah 1:12). To avoid 
 the necessity of such an act, the sailors lay 
 to the oars to bring the ship to land, but 
 without avail, and Jonah, the self-appointed 
 sacrifice, is thrown overboard. It is to be 
 noted that Jonah was cast into the sea with- 
 out the least hope of rescue. Jonah, the 
 Jew, made his life a sacrifice for the 
 heathen sailors, and both they and he were 
 saved. 
 
 203 
 
^be astble fXlcssmc for flloDetn fllanboot) 
 
 This lesson of self-giving was what Is- 
 rael needed to learn, for she was seeking 
 her own life, and running from the call of 
 God, which was for her to spend her life to 
 save the nations. 
 
 In Jonah's sacrifice of himself is found 
 the appositeness of Christ's reference to 
 him. Christ, like Jonah, acted on the prin- 
 ciple of self-giving to save others. Jonah 
 sacrificing himself for the heathen sailors 
 was expressive both of Israel's duty to the 
 Gentiles and Christ's self-giving for the 
 world. As Jonah's sacrifice involved three 
 days and nights in the belly of the sea-mon- 
 ster, so Christ's sacrifice involved his de- 
 scent into the tomb for a like period. 
 
 By his sacrifice Jonah saved not only the 
 sailors, but himself as well. Unto them the 
 sea became calm, while unto him there came 
 unexpected deliverance. Without the cast- 
 ing forth of Jonah on to dry land, this 
 great narrative could neither have embodied 
 the redemptive principle nor given us a 
 foregleam of God's method with Christ, in- 
 deed, with all men; for he that saves his 
 own life loses it, while he that loses his 
 life for others saves it. The great fish 
 must not hold Jonah, just as the grave must 
 
 204 
 
XLbc JBooh ot 5onab 
 
 not hold Christ, for the redeemer must ever 
 triumph with the redeemed. 
 
 4. Universal Truths 
 
 (i) The first of these three truths — that 
 God's love is universal — is in all but com- 
 plete possession of the modern mind. But 
 just as Israel failed to hold the fact of 
 God's love for her in proper balance with 
 God's commands to her, so modern men are 
 in imminent peril of luxuriating in what 
 they seemingly believe to be the love of God 
 for disobedient children, prodigal sons, and 
 riotous livers, while they refuse responsi- 
 bility and ignore God-given missions. 
 
 (2) The second of these truths — that 
 avoidance of one's mission means destruc- 
 tion — ^was never more needed than by Chris- 
 tians tOrday. It is a commonplace of con- 
 viction among leaders in Christian work 
 that the vigorous prosecution of missions 
 is necessary to the preservation of the 
 church, and especially to the preservation 
 of its spiritual power. But this fact has 
 not yet gripped the rank and file of the 
 membership of the church, as it certainly 
 must before there can come to the church 
 as a whole that vigor and depth of spiritual 
 
 205 
 
^be SBiblc (JticeeaQc tot tllodetn tllanboot) 
 
 life of which it is capable, and which it 
 must have in order to be the power that 
 it ought to be in the world. 
 
 In our day, however, there are more mis- 
 sions to which Christians must address 
 themselves than that of giving Christ to 
 the heathen. Society is in need of the godly 
 home, of civic righteousness, of political 
 honor, of economic justice, of commercial 
 integrity, and, in all of these relations, of 
 men who are keepers and defenders of their 
 weaker brothers. 
 
 (3) The third of these truths — ^that of 
 redemptive sacrifice — Christians have ever 
 connected too exclusively with the person 
 of Christ, forgetful of the fact that to be 
 a Christian is to incarnate in one's own 
 life this cardinal principle of Christ's life. 
 Christians to-day must come to see that 
 no Christian should live in luxury while 
 Christ's cause, in whatever phase of it, is in 
 poverty; that no Christian should live in 
 unconcern while Christ's cause is in need; 
 that no Christian should secure or hold pub- 
 lic office by compromising principles, and 
 through failure to achieve those beneficent 
 ends for which the office was designed ; and 
 that no Christian should achieve success in 
 
 206 
 
the :fl3oolt of 5onab 
 
 business under conditions which work injus- 
 tice to any, or in any way degrade the lives 
 of others. Redemptive sacrifice means that 
 one throw himself into the breach and be 
 the sufferer, the giver, the spender, the ad- 
 vocate where the needs of others require 
 it. One has well said that Christ comes to 
 us, not with a redeeming doctrine, but as 
 a redeeming person. The Christian also 
 must be one who lives and works, not only 
 with Christ's teaching about redemption 
 upon his lips, but as a redeeming per- 
 sonality. 
 
 207 
 
Zl)e Morft of tbe ipropbcts 
 
XI 
 
 I. The Prophets 
 
 THE prophet is not one who foretells 
 only, but one who speaks for another. 
 Moses had Aaron as his prophet. (Exod. 
 7: I.) To Jeremiah the Lord said: *' Thou 
 shalt be as my mouth" (Jer. 15: 19), that 
 is, the one who speaks my words. Elijah 
 slew four hundred and fifty prophets of 
 Baal, men who were the representatives 
 and authoritative teachers of Baal. In the 
 church at Antioch there were " prophets 
 and teachers, Barnabas, and Symeon that 
 was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, 
 and Manaen the foster-brother of Herod 
 the tetrarch, and Saul" (Acts 13:1). 
 " Judas and Silas, being themselves also 
 prophets, exhorted the brethren with many 
 words " (Acts 15: 32). 
 
 The Old Testament prophet was one who 
 spoke for God. His speech might be the 
 interpretation of a dream, as when Daniel 
 
 211 
 
Zbc Xiblc aicsB^Qc tor fHoDecn fllanbooD 
 
 interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzar; 
 a rebuke for disobedience, as when Samuel 
 rebuked Saul; upbraiding for sin, as 
 when Nathan upbraided David; advice or 
 warning in political affairs, as when Jere- 
 miah advised and warned Josiah; cheer in 
 discouragement, as in the glowing visions of 
 Ezekiel; a picture of the coming redemp- 
 tion, as in the last chapters of Isaiah; or 
 any other word that God would speak 
 through those whom he called and sent to 
 speak in his name. 
 
 While foretelling was not a large element 
 in prophetic work, it was an element by no 
 means to be overlooked. Matthew con- 
 stantly quotes the prophets, and urges the 
 fulfilment of prophecy as evidence that 
 Jesus was the Christ. In the synagogue at 
 Nazareth Christ himself, after reading from 
 Isaiah, closed the book and said : " To-day 
 hath this Scripture been fulfilled in your 
 ears" (Luke 4:21). As Christ walked 
 with the two disciples on the way to Em- 
 maus, he interpreted to them the things in 
 Moses and the prophets and in all the 
 Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24: 
 2y.) And when he appeared suddenly in 
 the room where the Twelve were gathered 
 
 212 
 
Zbc TlClorft of tbe ipropbete 
 
 after his resurrection, he assured them that 
 all things concerning him which were writ- 
 ten in Moses and the prophets and psalms 
 must be fulfilled. (Luke 24:44.) It is evi- 
 dent, therefore, that while foretelling is 
 only a small element in the work of the 
 prophets, it is a very important element. 
 
 When mention is made of the Old Testa- 
 ment prophets we usually think of the great 
 and true prophets — Moses, Samuel, Elijah, 
 EHsha, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, 
 Ezekiel, and several others. While these 
 great and true prophets are the only ones 
 that demand serious study, we shall better 
 understand their position and work if we 
 consider for a moment the history of what 
 may be called the prophetic order. 
 
 It was the custom of heathen kings to 
 consult the gods through wise men — divin- 
 ers, augurs, enchanters, sorcerers, charmers, 
 consulters of familiar spirits, wizards, 
 necromancers, in fact, through all who pos- 
 sessed any knowledge of occult arts. Such 
 were the men whom Pharaoh asked to in- 
 terpret his dream before Joseph was called 
 to interpret it; whom Nebuchadnezzar 
 asked to interpret his dream before Daniel 
 was called ; whom Pharaoh required to du- 
 
 213 
 
Zbc Mblc fXlcee^QC for fHo^ern HQanbood 
 
 plicate the signs wrought by ]Moses when 
 he went to dehver Israel from Egypt. It 
 will be recalled that when the Spirit of the 
 Lord left King Saul, he consulted the witch 
 of Endor. 
 
 Contrary to this heathen custom, Moses 
 declares that God's people shall not consult 
 augury, sorcery, wizardry, and such like; 
 but that the Lord God shall raise up unto 
 them a prophet from among their brethren, 
 into whose mouth God shall put his own 
 words. If that prophet shall speak what 
 God does not speak, or if he shall speak in 
 the name of other gods, he shall die. (Deut. 
 i8:iof.) We see then that somewhat 
 loosely attached to the courts of heathen 
 kings, there were certain prophetic orders 
 of " wise men," called by different names ; 
 and that from these orders Israel was com- 
 manded wholly to depart, and to depend for 
 guidance upon prophets whom God should 
 raise up and authorize to speak in his name. 
 
 In Samuel's time, about one thousand 
 years before Christ, prophetic guilds were 
 found in Israel, called " Sons of the 
 Prophets." The heads of the guilds were 
 called " fathers " ; the members, " sons." 
 The history of these guilds is not wholly 
 
 214 
 
^be inJlorft of tbc iptopbets 
 
 clear, nor is their character altogether cer- 
 tain. But there is no question that in Is- 
 rael there arose large companies of prophets, 
 who were more or less attached to the sanc- 
 tuaries, and who were consulted by the 
 kings in both public and private affairs.' 
 On one occasion King Ahab called together 
 four hundred of these prophets to secure 
 their advice about going to war. 
 
 It is not altogether clear how these 
 numerous prophets were supported. The 
 prophets of Baal were said to " sit at Jeze- 
 bel's table." And it is probable that to some 
 extent the prophets of Israel enjoyed the 
 patronage of the kings, at least to the ex- 
 tent of receiving gifts when they ren- 
 dered service. This is indicated by the fact 
 that when Naaman went to Elisha to be 
 healed of his leprosy he carried a gift. 
 And although the great prophet would ac- 
 cept neither pay nor gift, Gehazi, his serv- 
 ant, ran after Naaman on his departure, 
 and asked a gift for two of the sons of 
 the prophets, who had come to his master. 
 This indicates that the sons of the prophets 
 were in the habit of receiving gifts. Again, 
 when Amos prophesied at Bethel, the priest 
 of the sanctuary, being displeased with his 
 
 215 
 
Zbc Mblc miesgafle tor fllot>ern fllanbooD 
 
 prophecy, said : " O thou seer, go, flee thou 
 away into the land of Judah, and there eat 
 bread, and prophesy there " (Amos 7: 12). 
 This would indicate that prophesying was 
 at least a vocation by which one could earn 
 his living. 
 
 So much of historic background will help 
 us to understand the distinction between 
 true and false prophets. God did not call, 
 nor did he speak through, all who attached 
 themselves to these prophetic guilds. Some 
 prophesied smooth things for pay, proph- 
 esying as from the Lord what would 
 please the king. The four hundred whom 
 Ahab consulted about going to war, said: 
 " Go up, for God will deliver it (Ramoth- 
 gilead) into the hand of the king" (2 
 Chron. 18:5). They knew that Ahab 
 wanted to go to war and desired their ap- 
 proval in doing so. These were false 
 prophets. Jehoshaphat, however, who was 
 consulting with Ahab, was suspicious of 
 these smooth-tongued sycophants, and in- 
 quired whether the king had other prophets. 
 ** There is yet one man by whom we may 
 inquire of Jehovah," said Ahab, " but I 
 hate him; for he never prophesieth good 
 concerning me, but always evil. . . Let not 
 
 216 
 
Zbc Morft of tbe propbet6 
 
 the king say so" (2 Chron. 18:7), said 
 Jehoshaphat ; and when Micaiah was called 
 he delivered the message that God had 
 given him, which was a prophecy exactly 
 contrary to that of the four hundred false 
 prophets. This is an example of the true 
 prophet. 
 
 The prophets of Israel whom God called 
 and through whom he spoke, came from all 
 classes of society, some from within the 
 prophetic guilds, some from without. 
 Isaiah was of the royal family; Jeremiah 
 and Ezekiel were of the priestly order; 
 while Amos was a shepherd and one of the 
 common people. 
 
 Among these true prophets there were 
 those who by reason of their greatness rose 
 above the others, just as Peter, James, and 
 John rose above the other disciples; and 
 Paul above the apostles ; and Savonarola, 
 Luther, and Knox above most preachers and 
 reformers; and the Wesleys, Whitefield, 
 and Moody above most evangelists; and 
 Washington and Lincoln above most states- 
 men. Such prophets were Moses, Samuel, 
 Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Eze- 
 kiel; and also Amos, Micah, Hosea, and 
 others of the minor prophets. 
 
 217 
 
Zbc Miblc fXleeesigc for modem tilanbood 
 
 geon. Christ gathers much history into a 
 single sentence when he says to the scribes 
 and Pharisees : " Woe unto you ! for ye 
 build the tombs of the prophets, and your 
 fathers killed them " (Luke ii : 47). 
 
 (2) Social reformers. The prophets 
 were also social reformers or preachers of 
 righteousness. Just as in the Christian cen- 
 turies, when conditions in the medieval 
 church became intolerable, there arose a 
 Luther to cry out against abuses ; and when 
 in modern times a chilling paralysis crept 
 over religious life, there arose an Edwards 
 and the Wesleys to recall the people to more 
 vital godliness; so also when Israel turned 
 to idols, ignored the teachings of Jehovah, 
 and forgot morals, prophets arose to de- 
 nounce her sins, and to recall her to her 
 duty and her mission. It is in such times 
 that Micah accuses the judges of rendering 
 decisions for reward, the priests of teaching 
 for hire, and the prophets themselves of 
 divining for money (Micah 3:11), and 
 declares that because of such sins Zion shall 
 be plowed as a field, Jerusalem shall become 
 a ruin, and the mountain on which it stands 
 a forest. (Micah 3 : 12.) It is in such times 
 that Isaiah says : " Jerusalem is ruined, and 
 
 220 
 
Zbc moth ot tbc Propbeta 
 
 Judah is fallen; because their tongue and 
 their doings are against Jehovah" (Isa. 
 3:8). In such times also Amos pleads: 
 " Seek good, and not evil. . . Hate the evil, 
 and love the good, and establish judgment 
 in the gate: . . Let justice roll down as 
 waters, and righteousness as a mighty 
 stream" (Amos 5: 14, 15, 24). 
 
 (3) Religious reformers. The prophets 
 were also religious reformers. Not only 
 did the people frequently turn aside to the 
 worship of Baal and other gods, but there 
 were times when even the religious leaders 
 became degenerate. Their perfunctory 
 sacrifices were sometimes the merest for- 
 malism, for the heart had gone out of 
 worship. The priests were corrupt and the 
 prophets were mercenary. Civil offenses 
 were atoned for by the payment of a money 
 fine, so that a man felt free to sin as much 
 as he had money to atone for ; and it was a 
 means of enrichment to the corrupt priests 
 that the people sinned as much as possible. 
 As always in degenerate times, religion be- 
 came superstition, and in proportion as it 
 did so, the people became corrupt. In the 
 midst of such conditions the prophets strove 
 for reformation by connecting religion with 
 
 221 
 
Xlbc Bible filegsagc tor fDo^ctn tllanbooD 
 
 2. The Work of the Prophets 
 
 From what has already been said it will 
 be seen that the work of the prophets may 
 be conveniently described as that of states- 
 men, social reformers, religious reformers, 
 literary men, and foretellers of future 
 events. 
 
 ( I ) Statesmen. The prophets were, first 
 of all, statesmen. Since the Jewish nation 
 was a theocracy, the king held his throne 
 under God. And the prophet was God's 
 spokesman, through whom the divine will 
 was made known. To the king, therefore, 
 these men came, saying, " Thus saith the 
 Lord." According to the prophet's word the 
 king was to go to battle, or refrain from 
 battle; to rebel against the nation that op- 
 pressed Israel, or to submit to oppression; 
 to make alliance with a neighboring nation, 
 or to refuse such alliance; to defend the 
 city, or to submit to the enemy ; and always 
 to cast down the high places, turn from his 
 sins, and trust in Jehovah his God. It was 
 as a patriot-statesman that Samuel reproved 
 Saul for returning from battle with plunder 
 that he was commanded to destroy; that 
 Elijah reproved Ahab for Baal-worship; 
 
 218 
 
Zbc IRHorft of tbe IPropbets 
 
 that Isaiah warned Ahaz not to seek alHance 
 with Assyria; and that Jeremiah under 
 Josiah instituted many reforms. Repeat- 
 edly we find these prophets insisting to the 
 king that if he is obedient to Jehovah his 
 throne will be established; but if not, he 
 will be carried into captivity. 
 
 On account of this statesmanship relation 
 to the king the great prophets arise at spe- 
 cial political crises. Thus when Assyria is 
 threatening Israel, Amos prophesies that on 
 account of her sins Israel shall be over- 
 thrown and taken captive. When the king 
 of Judah is being urged by other powers to 
 resist Assyria, Isaiah warns the king not to 
 make an alliance with Assyria, lest that alli- 
 ance become an entering wedge of oppres- 
 sion. Some of the prophecies of Jeremiah 
 were uttered when the king of Babylon 
 was besieging Jerusalem. 
 
 In this statesmanship relation to the king 
 the prophets are magnificent in their loyalty 
 to God, and to the true interests of Israel. 
 For their heroic patriotism and their far- 
 sighted statesmanship they often suffered. 
 Elijah was pursued by the wrathful Jeze- 
 bel. Jeremiah was rewarded for his faith- 
 ful warnings by confinement in a foul dun- 
 
 219 
 
Zbc Mblc message tor filoDem nnanboo& 
 
 geon. Christ gathers much history into a 
 single sentence when he says to the scribes 
 and Pharisees : " Woe unto you ! for ye 
 build the tombs of the prophets, and your 
 fathers killed them " (Luke ii : 47). 
 
 (2) Social reformers. The prophets 
 were also social reformers or preachers of 
 righteousness. Just as in the Christian cen- 
 turies, when conditions in the medieval 
 church became intolerable, there arose a 
 Luther to cry out against abuses ; and when 
 in modern times a chilling paralysis crept 
 over religious life, there arose an Edwards 
 and the Wesleys to recall the people to more 
 vital godliness; so also when Israel turned 
 to idols, ignored the teachings of Jehovah, 
 and forgot morals, prophets arose to de- 
 nounce her sins, and to recall her to her 
 duty and her mission. It is in such times 
 that Micah accuses the judges of rendering 
 decisions for reward, the priests of teaching 
 for hire, and the prophets themselves of 
 divining for money (Micah 3:11), and 
 declares that because of such sins Zion shall 
 be plowed as a field, Jerusalem shall become 
 a ruin, and the mountain on which it stands 
 a forest. (Micah 3 : 12.) It is in such times 
 that Isaiah says : " Jerusalem is ruined, and 
 
 220 
 
Ube Moth ot tbc ipcopbcta 
 
 Judah is fallen; because their tongue and 
 their doings are against Jehovah" (Isa. 
 3:8). In such times also Amos pleads : 
 " Seek good, and not evil. . . Hate the evil, 
 and love the good, and establish judgment 
 in the gate: . . Let justice roll down as 
 waters, and righteousness as a mighty 
 stream " (Amos 5 : 14, 15, 24). 
 
 (3) Religious reformers. The prophets 
 were also religious reformers. Not only 
 did the people frequently turn aside to the 
 worship of Baal and other gods, but there 
 were times when even the religious leaders 
 became degenerate. Their perfunctory 
 sacrifices were sometimes the merest for- 
 malism, for the heart had gone out of 
 worship. The priests were corrupt and the 
 prophets were mercenary. Civil offenses 
 were atoned for by the payment of a money 
 fine, so that a man felt free to sin as much 
 as he had money to atone for; and it was a 
 means of enrichment to the corrupt priests 
 that the people sinned as much as possible. 
 As always in degenerate times, religion be- 
 came superstition, and in proportion as it 
 did so, the people became corrupt. In the 
 midst of such conditions the prophets strove 
 for reformation by connecting religion with 
 
 221 
 
^be M\)lc VHces^QC for modem manbooD 
 
 righteousness, and by Insisting that forms 
 of worship were empty and useless without 
 right conduct. Thus Samuel insists that 
 " To obey is better than sacrifice, and to 
 hearken than the fat of rams" (i Sam. 
 15:22); and Amos, looking into the very 
 eyes of the servile priests, represents God 
 as saying : '' I despise your feast days, and 
 I will not smell in your solemn assemblies " 
 (Amos 5:21). Hosea, to the same effect, 
 declares in the name of Jehovah : *' I de- 
 sired mercy, and not sacrifice, and the 
 knowledge of God more than burnt-offer- 
 ings " (Hosea 6:6). And Isaiah, looking 
 upon the multitude of sacrifices which the 
 people bring, says : " Bring no more vain 
 oblations. . . Wlien ye spread forth 
 your hands, I will hide mine eyes from 
 you. . . Wash you, make you clean; put 
 away the evil of your doings from before 
 mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do 
 well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, 
 judge the fatherless, plead for the widow " 
 (Isa. i:i3f.). With many such passages 
 of reproof, warning, and denunciation the 
 writings of the prophets are filled. These 
 messengers of God insist that worship be 
 conjoined with right conduct. 
 
 222 
 
Ube TlQlorfi of tbe ipcopbetd 
 
 (4) Literary men. The prophets and 
 also the priests were the Hterary men of 
 Israel. The fact has already been men- 
 tioned that of late years biblical scholars 
 have rendered a great service to Bible 
 knowledge by separating the interwoven 
 narratives from each other, and bringing 
 them as nearly as possible to their original 
 form. The scholars call some of these orig- 
 inal narratives prophetic, others priestly; 
 that is, some were written by prophets, 
 others by priests. Who wrote the story of 
 creation? the story of the flood? the 
 stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and 
 Joseph ? Prophets and priests. The names 
 of many of them are not known, but their 
 work bears the stamp of their characters, 
 breathes their spirit, and reveals their point 
 of view. 
 
 Doubtless the book of Job is best classi- 
 fied as a drama. Beyond question it was 
 written by a prophet, for it has philosophic 
 depth, and a freshness and pertinency to 
 life that are perennial. Many of the psalms 
 are by unknown authors, but they express 
 that spiritual ardor, that abiding faith, and 
 that deep yearning after God, which are 
 characteristic of the prophets ; and some of 
 
 223 
 
Zbc JBMc OlcssaQC for OloOent OlanbooD 
 
 the psalms, as our Lord indicated, have 
 foretelhng significance. (Matt. 22:44.) 
 The writings with which we commonly asso- 
 ciate the prophets are, of course, those 
 books of the Bible which bear their names, 
 and which we know as prophecies. The 
 majority of these men of God, however, 
 including the two great prophets, Elijah 
 and Elisha, left no writings. But from 
 the prophetic literature which has come 
 down to us it is evident that the prophets 
 were to Israel the interpreters of God's will, 
 the rebukers of sin, the teachers of morals, 
 the instructors of worship, the counselors 
 of kings, the cheerers of her desponding 
 hours, and the " lifters-up of her head " 
 when she was crushed under the heel of 
 tyranny. 
 
 (5) Foretellers. The remaining element 
 in the work of the prophets was that of 
 foretelling. We place this last in order 
 only because it is last in time in the sense 
 that it increases in emphasis and amount 
 toward the close of the prophetic era. 
 
 a. This foretelling element first became 
 definite for Israel with God's promise to 
 Abraham that he would bless him and make 
 him a blessing. This was a foretelling of 
 
 224 
 
trbe Morft of tbc propbcts 
 
 great significance, and reaching far into the 
 future. Israel never ceased to beheve that 
 under God she had a great national destiny. 
 The most continuous and insistent plea of 
 the prophets was for that righteousness 
 which God demanded, in order that God 
 might cease to defeat the nation in war, 
 recall her people from captivity, and fulfil 
 through them his purpose of establishing a 
 kingdom of righteousness upon the earth. 
 But Israel did not heed her prophets; her 
 people forsook God's commandments; and 
 neighboring nations led her into captivity. 
 
 b. When at length there seemed no hope 
 of the nation's realizing the purpose of God, 
 the prophets began to speak of a " remnant " 
 and to hold out hope that although the na~ 
 tion failed to realize God's purpose, the 
 remnant would succeed. Isaiah says : " Ex- 
 cept Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a 
 very small remnant, we should have been as 
 Sodom" (Isa. 1:9); that is, utterly des- 
 troyed. He insists that the day will come 
 when a remnant of Israel shall not lean 
 upon their oppressors, but upon the Lord 
 (Isa. 10: 20), and that God shall bring back 
 that remnant with a mighty hand and make 
 a highway for them. (Isa. 11:16.) That 
 
 Q 225 
 
^be Mblc meadage for flloDetn fllanbooD 
 
 is, God shall ultimately realize his kingdom 
 of righteousness on the earth through a 
 small remnant of Israel, a remnant that 
 shall give heed to God's commands. 
 
 c. The later prophets constantly speak of 
 "that day," the ''day of the Lord," the 
 " great day." They are looking for God 
 to come as he has never yet come, to come 
 in a way that should mark the time of his 
 coming as peculiarly his own. 
 
 One cannot find in prophecy any clearly 
 defined program indicating when or how 
 the Lord was to come, or what the great 
 day was to be like, except that it was to 
 usher in a reign of righteousness and bring 
 a condition of peace. Jeremiah says : " And 
 they shall teach no more every man his 
 neighbor, and every man his brother, say- 
 ing, Know Jehovah ; for they shall all know 
 me, from the least of them unto the greatest 
 of them, saith Jehovah" (Jer. 31:34). 
 " Holiness to the Lord " was to be written 
 on the bells of the horses. The lion and the 
 lamb were to lie down together. Although 
 no clearly defined program is here an- 
 nounced, yet there was a profound convic- 
 tion, and an undying faith, that God was 
 coming as he had never come before to 
 
 226 
 
Zbc Moxfi of tbe iptopbets 
 
 produce a condition of peace and righteous- 
 ness hitherto unknown. 
 
 d. At length this remnant of Israel which 
 the prophets foresee, becomes individ- 
 ualized and idealized into the *' righteous 
 king," and the " servant of Jehovah." Jere- 
 miah says : *' Behold, the days come, saith 
 Jehovah, that I will raise unto David a 
 righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king 
 and deal wisely, and shall execute justice 
 and righteousness in the land . . . and this 
 is his name whereby he shall be called : Jeho- 
 vah our righteousness" (Jer. 23:5, 6). 
 Isaiah, prophesying of the kingly office of 
 the Coming One, declares : " Unto us a child 
 is born, unto us a son is given; and the 
 government shall be upon his shoulder ; and 
 his name shall be called Wonderful, Coun- 
 sellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, 
 Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his 
 government and of peace there shall be no 
 end " (Isa. 9 : 6, 7). And the second Isaiah, 
 speaking of the righteous servant of Jeho- 
 vah, says : " I will also give thee for a light 
 to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my sal- 
 vation unto the end of the earth" (Isa. 
 49:6). And speaking further of the work 
 that this righteous servant was to do, he 
 
 227 
 
^be 3Bi\)lc meaaage tot (Dodem filanbooD 
 
 says : " I have put my Spirit upon him ; he 
 will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He 
 will not cry nor lift up his voice, nor cause 
 it to be heard in the street. A bruised 
 reed will he not break, and a dimly burning 
 wick will he not quench ; he will bring forth 
 justice in truth ... I Jehovah . . . give thee 
 for a covenant of the people, for a light of 
 the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to 
 bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, 
 and them that sit in darkness out of the 
 prison-house" (Isa. 42:1-7). And the 
 same prophet, speaking of the method by 
 which the righteous servant of Jehovah 
 shall do his work, says : *' He was despised, 
 and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows, and 
 acquainted with grief: . . Surely he hath 
 borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; 
 . . But he was wounded for our transgres- 
 sions, he was bruised for our iniquities ; the 
 chastisement of our peace was upon him; 
 and with his stripes we are healed. . . He 
 was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he 
 opened not his mouth ; as a lamb that is led 
 to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before 
 its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his 
 mouth" (Isa. 53:3-7)- 
 
 Thus we see how the prophets of the Old 
 
 228 
 
^be Wox^ of tbe propbet5 
 
 Testament looked steadily and expectantly 
 toward the coming of God to establish his 
 kingdom on the earth; how they looked 
 upon righteousness as the condition of God's 
 coming, and also as the ever-increasing fact 
 among men when that kingdom should be 
 established. We see how their view finally 
 centered upon the servant of Jehovah until 
 in their teaching they drew a perfect picture 
 of the Christ, in whom prophecy finds ful- 
 filment, not only as to the kingdom of God 
 and its righteousness, but also as to the 
 character of him who was to usher in that 
 kingdom, and even as to the sacrificial death 
 by which it was to be established. 
 
 229 
 
PII 
 
 Itbe mature of ffteeelanic 
 Ipropbeci? 
 
XII 
 
 MANY passages of Scripture might be 
 cited, which, until recent years, 
 were thought to have no other significance 
 than that of pointing to Jesus Christ. Such 
 passages as : " He (the seed of the woman) 
 shall bruise thy head (the serpent's), and 
 thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15), 
 and " The chastisement of our peace was 
 upon him; and with his stripes we are 
 healed" (Isa. 53:5), as well as others of 
 like import, were held to be Messianic. 
 Such passages, while undoubtedly prophetic 
 of Christ, may also have a broader sig- 
 nificance. Indeed, it may be safely pre- 
 sumed that every text in the Old Testament 
 claimed as prophetic is a message, not only 
 for the future, but also for the time in 
 which it was spoken, and for some imme- 
 diate need. 
 
 Old Testament prophecy is something far 
 more comprehensive than anything em- 
 bodied in a few texts. All are familiar with 
 
 233 
 
TLbc Bible VflcBetiQc tot modem filanboo5 
 
 the fact that the whole history of Israel is a 
 preparation for Christ. But a moment's 
 reflection will make evident the fact that 
 whatever is preparatory must also be pro- 
 phetic. The excavated cellar, corded bricks, 
 and piled lumber are prophetic of the house 
 to be erected. Store windows filled with 
 toys, and additional clerks to serve cus- 
 tomers, are prophetic of Christmas. 
 
 When considering the prophetic character 
 of the Old Testament it is necessary to bear 
 in mind what Christ is, viz., the means by 
 zvhich a perfected humanity is to be secured. 
 Throughout the entire history of Israel her 
 hope of a perfected humanity never changed, 
 but her conception of the means by which 
 it was to be secured changed many times; 
 and each change was made necessary by the 
 converging lines of her history, which at 
 length came to be definitely focused upon 
 the God-man, Jesus Christ. 
 
 The nature of prophecy in Israel cannot 
 be fully understood without first inquiring 
 for the Jew's fundamental conception of 
 humanity. The answer is found in Genesis, 
 where, in the first chapters, Adam and Eve 
 are created perfect, placed in a delightful 
 garden, given dominion over all created 
 
 234 
 
(Tbe mature ot VSlcBBianic iPropbecis 
 
 things, and made to walk and talk with God 
 in happy fellowship. This was Israel's con- 
 ception of a perfect humanity. From this 
 perfect pair it was, of course, expected that 
 a perfect progeny would come. This ex- 
 pectation however failed. Under tempta- 
 tion the holy pair fell and sin increased until 
 Cain became guilty of murder. As time 
 went on conditions became worse, until at 
 the time of the flood all men are wicked ex- 
 cept Noah. Thus far in the record the con- 
 ception of a perfected humanity has not 
 wavered, nor has the hope of recovering it 
 wavered; but righteousness by descent 
 proves a failure, and necessarily the means 
 of securing a perfected humanity undergoes 
 change. 
 
 A new beginning is made with righteous 
 Noah. But Noah, though righteous, is not 
 the innocent man that Adam was; he was 
 rather a man experienced and disciplined 
 by a God-ruled world. The flood taught 
 men the terrible consequences of sin; and 
 it was presumed that men would be right- 
 eous when they reflected on the ruin sin had 
 wrought. Men, however, soon forgot, sin 
 again became dominant, until in the nar- 
 rative of the Tower of Babel the race is 
 
 235 
 
Jibe 3Blble VRcesBiQc tor flloDcm fllanbooD 
 
 represented as scattered to the four corners 
 of the earth, and prone to evil. Again all 
 means for securing a perfected humanity 
 have failed; yet the ideal toward which all 
 endeavors are bent remains the same. The 
 seed of the woman is to bruise the serpent's 
 head, but how the bruising is to be suc- 
 cessfully achieved does not yet appear. 
 
 So far, according to the record, prophecy 
 has been on the broadest possible lines, 
 dealing with the whole race, not only as 
 end, but also as means. There are as yet 
 neither nations nor individuals selected for 
 the purpose of redeeming mankind. This 
 part of the Bible record is not usually re- 
 garded as prophetic, yet beyond question 
 there lies deep within it the hope of the 
 perfection of the race, a hope which the 
 Jew of the Bible never for a moment re- 
 linquishes. 
 
 In the call of Abraham the broad lines, 
 so far as they relate to the means of re- 
 demption, begin to converge and to become 
 more clearly defined. Abraham was called 
 out, even from his own family, and set 
 apart that from him might spring a right- 
 eous nation, as numerous as the stars and 
 as multitudinous as the sands, through 
 
 236 
 
Zbc matute of fUeeeianic propbec^ 
 
 which the whole race was to be redeemed 
 and perfected in righteousness. In Abra- 
 ham all the families of the earth were to be 
 blessed. Here again the conception of a 
 perfected humanity remains unchanged, but 
 the means of securing that perfection has 
 changed radically. God is now at work, 
 not as before, equally in the whole race, 
 but especially in and through a chosen peo- 
 ple. Israel was to be a redeeming nation, 
 a nation of priests standing between God 
 and men, receiving in a special manner from 
 God, and ministering in a special manner to 
 men. For this purpose the priestly nation 
 was not only chosen, but disciplined by the 
 bondage in Egypt, by the wanderings in the 
 wilderness, by the conquest of Canaan, and 
 placed at the crossroads of the nations, 
 until by war, trade, and numerous cap- 
 tivities, the knowledge of Israel's God is 
 wide-spread. 
 
 But notwithstanding God's discipline and 
 use of Israel, there is again seeming failure 
 in Israel's mission. A brief hundred years 
 spans the duration of the united kingdom. 
 That kingdom, which was set up under 
 Saul and rose to its zenith under David, 
 declined to its fall at the end of Solomon's 
 
 237 
 
tibe Xiblc aiCBeaQc for (DoDecn fHanbooD 
 
 reign. The armies of Assyria and Babylon 
 soon crushed the divided kingdom, and the 
 people were carried into captivity. Thus, 
 in its work of redeeming humanity, the 
 kingdom failed. Yet it did not fail, as we 
 shall see. It is as when Gideon's army was 
 too large for the Lord to use, and one com- 
 pany after another was sent home until 
 only three hundred remained. In her cap- 
 tivity, however, Israel's hope of redeeming 
 humanity was not abandoned, but her con- 
 ception of means was again radically 
 changed. 
 
 The nation had not been long in Baby- 
 lonian captivity when her prophets began 
 to declare that a remnant should return to 
 Jerusalem to rebuild the holy city and the 
 temple. By permission of Cyrus a rem- 
 nant did return, and the prophets began to 
 teach, not according to the former belief, 
 that redemption was to come to the race 
 through the whole nation, but rather 
 through this small remnant. Out of the 
 stress of captivity is developed a new con- 
 ception of the means of redemption, a con- 
 ception as much narrower than the one 
 which preceded it as the remnant was 
 narrower than the nation. Thus Israel's 
 
 238 
 
ZTbe ]Qatuce of flledeianic propbec^ 
 
 changing conception of the means of re- 
 demption exhibits converging lines. First 
 it embraced the whole race, then a chosen 
 nation, and later simply a righteous rem- 
 nant. 
 
 The lines, however, were to converge still 
 more, for the prophets did not hold the 
 idea of a redeeming remnant long before 
 an individualizing process began, by which 
 the idea of the suffering remnant soon 
 passed into that of the " Suffering Servant 
 of Jehovah," " Immanuel," " Prince of 
 Peace," " The Anointed of the Lord," the 
 "Elect One," the "Righteous One," the 
 "Holy Lord," the "Son of God," the 
 " Messiah," and other like personifications, 
 some of which are found in the Apocrypha. 
 All eyes were now turned toward the future, 
 so that when Christ came not only the Jews 
 were expecting one to come, but the Gen- 
 tile nations as well. 
 
 Thus we see that Christ was foretold 
 not simply by a few scattered passages of 
 Scripture, but by the whole trend and sweep 
 of Jewish thought and history, which run 
 on toward and converge upon the Saviour. 
 The passages which more particularly point 
 to Christ are but the bursting forth of the 
 
 239 
 
trbe MMc aiceediQc toe moDem HQanbooD 
 
 deep and continuous consciousness of the 
 nation. Jewish history reached its goal in 
 Christ. Upon him the nation's thought, 
 conviction, consciousness of mission, and 
 world-wide expectation were focused. In 
 him at length the means by which the race 
 was to be redeemed and perfected came to 
 clearness of expression, fulness of defini- 
 tion, and was manifested to all the world. 
 It is worthy of note that precisely in keep- 
 ing with these converging lines of redemp- 
 tive history is the fact that the gospel was 
 finally given to the Gentiles by a few spe- 
 cially chosen and trained Israelites, whom 
 we call apostles. 
 
 To recapitulate : The fundamental Jewish 
 conception of life was that of a perfected 
 humanity, living on a garden-like earth, and 
 enjoying full fellowship with God. The fact 
 of sin made redemption necessary before 
 perfection could be realized. From Adam 
 to Noah the means employed to secure per- 
 fection was descent from a righteous pair, 
 but this method failed. From Noah to 
 Abraham the method was descent from a 
 righteous man (Noah, see Gen. 7:1) plus 
 the instruction which came from the dev- 
 astations of sin as seen in the flood; but 
 
 240 
 
tbe nature ot fnessianic ipropbecis 
 
 this method also failed, as is evident from 
 the scattering of the people from Babel. 
 In like manner Israel as a whole failed to 
 become a redeeming nation. Even the suf- 
 fering, sin-bearing remnant failed. At last 
 the individualized remnant, though called 
 by various names, produced wide-spread 
 expectation of the Coming One, and that 
 Coming One was Christ, the Redeemer and 
 Perfecter of humanity. 
 
 I have used the word " failed " only for 
 clearness and to avoid confusing the mind 
 by dealing with too many ideas at the same 
 time. In any method that marks progress, 
 however, there is really no failure. The 
 kindergarten does not fail, though it does 
 not perform the work of the grades. The 
 graded school does not fail, though it does 
 not give a high-school diploma. The high 
 school does not fail, though it does not 
 grant a college degree. Each school marks 
 a step in advance, and each prepares for 
 that which is to follow. So also with 
 every stage of progress in revelation and 
 redemption. Complete success will be real- 
 ized only when the work of Christ is 
 finished, but every step in Israel's history, 
 as also every stage of her thought, was 
 
 R 241 
 
tibe JSible dleedase fot flQoOecn fnanbooO 
 
 both a preparation for him and a prophecy 
 of his coming. 
 
 In connection with this conception of 
 Messianic prophecy, it is important to note 
 two additional facts, which run like golden 
 threads of prophetic foresight through the 
 whole fabric of Israel's history. The first 
 is the intimate relation of the divine and 
 human in Israel's life, which is prophetic of 
 the God-man; the second is the remarkable 
 basis of religious ideas and ethical convic- 
 tions of which Israel became possessed, a 
 basis which marked the fulness of time for 
 Christ's coming, and rendered his teachings 
 intelligible and effective. 
 
 I. The intimate relation of the divine and 
 human in Israel's life is indicated by every 
 circumstance and teaching that points to the 
 facts of revelation and inspiration. Not to 
 go farther back than the patriarchs, many 
 people migrated from Mesopotamia to the 
 west, but Abraham migrated at the call of 
 God, and with the consciousness of a God- 
 given misson. Many slaves were sold into 
 Egypt, but Joseph was conscious that God 
 was with him, and was realizing a purpose 
 through him. Many had been reared in the 
 court of Pharaoh, but Moses was conscious 
 
 242 
 
^be mature of (MlCBSimic ptopbeci? 
 
 of God's call to deliver his people. Israel 
 never forgot her bondage in Egypt, her dis- 
 cipline in the wilderness, her entrance into 
 Canaan, and her conquest of the land; but 
 the one thing uppermost in her remembrance 
 was the presence and help of Jehovah and 
 the consciousness that by the power of God 
 she was achieving divine ends. From Is- 
 rael's later history it is evident that a few 
 more prosperous reigns like those of David 
 and Solomon, or those of Jeroboam II in 
 Israel and Uzziah in Judah, would have des- 
 troyed the spiritual life of the nation and 
 caused Jehovah to depart from her. It re- 
 quired disaster — famine, pestilence, defeat 
 in war, captivity, and all but destruction of 
 national life — to keep Israel close to God, 
 to hold her steadily on her way, and to de- 
 velop in her the necessary redemptive ideas. 
 In all her experiences the uppermost fact in 
 Israel's consciousness was her connection 
 with God, the merging of her interests with 
 God's interests, the subjection of her will 
 to God's will, and the confidence that she 
 under God was to be the savior of the 
 world. Nothing in her life did she consider 
 apart from God; nothing did she hope to 
 achieve except in conformity with the will 
 
 243 
 
XLhc Mblc me00ade fot (lloDem tllanbooD 
 
 of Jehovah. Such an identification of the 
 human with the divine is prophetic of the 
 human and divine in Christ, and in Christ 
 the union came to full expression. Were it 
 pertinent to the subject at this point, it 
 could easily be shown that the complete 
 union of the divine and human in Christ is 
 in its turn prophetic of the ultimate complete 
 union of the divine and human in the race. 
 Christ is but the " first-fruits." 
 
 2. The adequacy of the preparation for 
 Christ is evidenced by the conceptions of 
 redemption which the Jews held ere Christ 
 was born: 
 
 (i) God was regarded as a savior, one 
 who redeemed his people from all trouble, 
 and cleansed them from all sin. 
 
 (2) The suffering of the righteous for 
 the wicked became a familiar fact, and by 
 the prophets was held to be God's method 
 in salvation. Tenacious, indeed, was the 
 idea that suffering meant sin in the sufferer, 
 but the book of Job was written to combat 
 this very conception, and in Isaiah's proph- 
 ecies vicarious suffering was clearly taught. 
 
 (3) The fact that the few were to suffer 
 for the many was also familiar to the later 
 prophets. This idea seems to have devel- 
 
 244 
 
Zbc Ulatute o( mesdianfc propbecis 
 
 oped directly out of the Babylonian cap- 
 tivity. Grasping this idea, the prophets 
 hastened to individualize the few and to 
 teach that the " Coming One " was to bear 
 the sins of all. 
 
 (4) Redemption was to embrace all 
 men. Notwithstanding the narrowness of 
 the Judaism of Christ's time, the higher 
 spirits in Israel never lost sight of this 
 fact. It is found in Jonah's preaching to 
 Gentile Nineveh, in the prophet's vision of 
 all nations hastening to Jerusalem to wor- 
 ship the God of Israel, and in many glowing 
 pictures of universal peace and righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 (5) Peace was to come to the world not 
 by the sword, not by powerful armies, but 
 by one who should smite with the rod of his 
 mouth, by wisdom, by love, and by the 
 knowledge of God. 
 
 (6) The righteousness of men was not 
 to be compelled by outward law, but was to 
 spring from the impulses of the heart, 
 where the law should be written. The ulti- 
 mate and effective conquest was to be the 
 conquest of the heart. 
 
 (7) Moreover, in the great salvation that 
 was to come, God was to take the initiative. 
 
 245 
 
^be :Biblc tJRc^e&Qc tot modern (ilanbood 
 
 When Israel's national life was blotted out, 
 and the future was filled with gloom, Jere- 
 miah looked for Jehovah to take the initia- 
 tive in teaching his people, forgiving their 
 sins, bringing them from their captivity, and 
 reestablishing them as a nation. Already 
 the idea is dominant not only that man seeks 
 God, but that God seeks man. 
 
 (8) Long and tenaciously did the Jews 
 cling to the conviction of national salva- 
 tion, salvation on the ground that they 
 were the " seed of Abraham." When Moses 
 pleaded that he might be blotted out of 
 God's book in order that the nation might 
 be saved, God answered : " Whosoever hath 
 sinned against me, him will I blot out of 
 my book" (Exod. 32:33). In this sen- 
 tence is found the conception of individual 
 sin and punishment, a conception, as the 
 passage indicates, closely connected with 
 national prosperity, and the realization of 
 national hopes. Although the idea of re- 
 viving the nation never perished from the 
 Jewish heart, the individual came more and 
 more into prominence, especially in the 
 minds of those not in authority, so that 
 when Christ came and dealt with the in- 
 dividual, the transition from that of national 
 
 246 
 
^be IQatute of ttlcsBianic prcpbecis 
 
 to that of individual salvation had already 
 been made comparatively easy. 
 
 (9) Even the conception of a future ex- 
 istence, in which sin was to be punished 
 and righteousness rewarded, is found in the 
 Apocrypha. 
 
 Thus it is seen that no conception of 
 truth necessary as a foundation for Christ's 
 work was lacking. All the ideas thus men- 
 tioned, as well as many others, had been re- 
 vealed to the Jews, and by them wrought 
 out into experience. All were a prepara- 
 tion for the Christ, and each was a prophecy 
 of him. Before Jesus was bom in Bethle- 
 hem the prophets declared that he was to 
 be the righteous one, the humble one, the 
 suffering one, the serving one, the redeem- 
 ing one, the triumphant one, the ruling one, 
 the one who should save his people from 
 their sins, fill the earth with righteousness 
 as the waters fill the sea, and transform the 
 deserts of life into gardens. 
 
 The prophetic conceptions thus briefly 
 outlined have peculiar significance for the 
 modern mind, for the continuity of these 
 conceptions appears in our century in three 
 outstanding facts: The hope of social re- 
 generation, belief in the union of the human 
 
 247 
 
Zbc :Bi\)\c tJflcsBsiQc tot modem tilanboot) 
 
 and the divine, and the conviction that Jesus 
 Christ is the source of social renewal. 
 
 First, the hope of social regeneration. In 
 Christ's time the Jews had all but aban- 
 doned hope of regeneration for the Gentiles, 
 a hope which at most had never been wide- 
 spread among them. Christ's apostles, and 
 those who came after them for three hun- 
 dred years, looked for a speedy second com- 
 ing of Christ and the consummation of all 
 mundane affairs. After the Roman Em- 
 pire became nominally Christian and Chris- 
 tianity was well-nigh swallowed up in world- 
 liness, the more devout spirits, in hope of 
 achieving personal salvation, abandoned so- 
 ciety for the hermit's cell and the cloister. 
 The succeeding thousand years was a time 
 of unrest and upheaval, including the Re- 
 vival of Learning, the Reformation, the 
 making of theologies, the developing of 
 philosophies, the multiplication of inven- 
 tions, the prosecution of exploration and 
 colonization, with corresponding spiritual 
 unrest, in which dominant aims were, on 
 the part of Catholics, the integrity of the 
 Church; on the part of Protestants, the in- 
 tegrity of doctrine ; and on the part of both, 
 personal salvation in the world to come. 
 
 248 
 
dbe Ulatuce of Oileesianic pcopbccis 
 
 Ours, on the other hand, is the social cen- 
 tury. Its dominant spiritual purpose is so- 
 cial regeneration. We believe in personal 
 salvation no less than former Christian 
 centuries, but we believe that personal sal- 
 vation can be secured only by one of Christ's 
 spirit who loses his life in bettering his 
 fellows. We also believe in the kingdom of 
 God hereafter no less than former centuries, 
 but we believe in building the kingdom of 
 God here and now, and that only those who 
 promote it here will enter it hereafter. In 
 a word, our century, while holding in bal- 
 ance and proportion the dominant ideas 
 which former centuries have wrought out 
 one by one, has grasped anew and in a 
 larger way the dominant conception of the 
 Messianic teaching, viz., that humanity is 
 to be perfected not in some other world, but 
 in this world, and not in an isolated indi- 
 vidual here or there, but as a whole. That 
 this is the growing conception and the in- 
 creasing passion of our age is manifest in 
 our changing religious ideas, the increasing 
 sensitiveness of our social conscience, our 
 demand for civic righteousness and com- 
 mercial integrity, and in numberless en- 
 deavors to benefit the masses. 
 
 249 
 
 / 
 
c;be JBiblc flUcsaage for fllo^crn ttlanbood 
 
 The second outstanding fact which closely 
 unites the prophetic conceptions to the 
 thinking of our century is the union of the 
 human and divine. Philosophy has de- 
 veloped its theories of pluralism, dualism, 
 and monism, each having passed through 
 many phases. But no philosophy promises 
 to find permanence in human thinking which 
 denies the personality of the human spirit, 
 the personality of the Creator of the human 
 spirit, or the vital union of the two. And 
 so in our philosophy to-day we are talking 
 about the immanence of God in nature and 
 man, about all the natural processes with 
 which science deals being the immediate ac- 
 tivity of the supernatural within the nat- 
 ural, about our world being at heart a 
 spiritual world. After having weighed 
 many philosophies in the balance only to 
 find them wanting, we are coming again, 
 only with a more comprehensive view, to 
 the prophetic conception of the union of 
 the divine and human as that union is seen 
 consummated in the God-man, Christ Jesus, 
 and as we believe it will ultimately be con- 
 summated in the race. 
 
 The third outstanding fact which connects 
 the prophetic conceptions with our think- 
 
 250 
 
^be Ulatuce of (lled0ianic ptopbecis 
 
 ing is the conviction that Jesus Christ is the 
 source of social renewal. Our century is 
 fairly bursting with emphasis upon this fact. 
 " Back to Christ " has of late been a familiar 
 and favorite watchword. Why back to 
 Christ? Because the doctrines forged on 
 the anvil of contending centuries will neither 
 save individuals nor ameliorate human con- 
 ditions. Both processes require the per- 
 sonal, living, and present Christ. And we 
 must know Christ as he was in order to 
 know him as he is, and in order to bring 
 him into vital relations to present needs. 
 
 A practical and efficient Christianity is 
 demanded of the church to-day, and why? 
 Because our century cannot believe in a 
 Christianity that saves an individual with- 
 out inspiring that individual to do good to 
 his fellows; and our century does believe 
 that when Jesus Christ dominates the life 
 of any man that man will inspire others 
 to Christliness. 
 
 No Utopia has solved the social question, 
 and the more earnestly social reformers 
 have striven to ameliorate human condi- 
 tions the more clearly have they seen that 
 the fundamental need is the renewal of the 
 human heart. The emphasis falls increas- 
 
 251 
 
Zbc :Biblc aiceetiQc for modern fHanbooD 
 
 ingly, therefore, upon Christ's redemption 
 of the individual as a social method, and 
 upon renewed society as a society of re- 
 deemed individuals. 
 
 Thus it appears that the controlling con- 
 ceptions of the Old Testament Messianic 
 teaching have come to be the dominant con- 
 ceptions of our own day, with the perfection 
 of humanity the dominant world-hope and 
 the God-man the central world- fact. 
 
 252 
 
Cbrist tbc ]fulfiller of ipropbcc? 
 
XIII 
 
 IN the preceding chapter it was pointed 
 out that Christ fulfilled prophecy, not 
 only in the restricted sense of fulfilling spe- 
 cific predictions, but in the broad sense of 
 fulfilling the whole trend and sweep of the 
 Old Testament Scriptures. In Christ's Ser- 
 mon on the Mount his repeated assertion, 
 " But I say unto you," rings clear and 
 strong over against the statement, ** It hath 
 been said by them of old time." He held 
 the Old Testament as a half-truth destined 
 to be completed by himself. Its partial 
 ideas he supplements; its inadequate ideals 
 he completes; its germinal truths he brings 
 to bloom; its embryonic laws he brings to 
 birth in general principles. In the Old Tes- 
 tament all the revelation is partial. In 
 Christ all is complete. This fact is no- 
 where better seen than in a comparison of 
 the early Bible narratives with the teachings 
 of Christ. To this comparison we direct 
 attention as follows: 
 
 255 
 
tTbe Xiblc OIcbb^qc for flloDcrn Olanboob 
 
 J. The Comparison 
 
 (i) The great lesson of the narrative of 
 creation is that Jehovah is Creator. In 
 Christ the Creator becomes the Father; 
 men are his children; and Father and chil- 
 dren are bound together, or ought to be, by 
 ties of tenderest love. 
 
 (2) In the narrative of the temptation 
 Adam and Eve fail to stand the test and 
 are driven from the presence of God, but 
 the battle is not over. In our Lord man 
 succeeds in the temptation struggle. And 
 the success is not only Christ's individually, 
 but through him the success of those who 
 are his. 
 
 (3) In the story of Cain and Abel the 
 demand is made that worship be united with 
 right conduct. In Christ worship and right 
 conduct are seen in indissoluble union. 
 There is no place in his life where worship 
 ends and conduct begins. All is worship; 
 all is conduct. The two are completely 
 merged. Christ was both Son of God and 
 Son of man, and his Godward and man- 
 ward relations were equally sacred. He 
 worshiped God most ardently when he 
 served men most devotedly. 
 
 256 
 
Cbrist tbe Jfulfiller of ipropbccs 
 
 (4) The narrative of the flood repre- 
 sented God as distinguishing between the 
 righteous and the wicked, as separating one 
 from the other, and as bringing each to dif- 
 ferent ends. But the teaching of the narra- 
 tive was only in embryo, for the end of 
 the wicked was physical death, while the 
 reward of the righteous was continued life 
 and blessings. This teaching Christ com- 
 pletes by lifting it into the spiritual and 
 eternal. He makes clear the fact that the 
 wicked die a spiritual death, that the right- 
 eous live eternally, and that between the two 
 a great gulf is fixed, across which there is 
 no passing. 
 
 (5) Abraham was an obedient man who 
 never questioned God, and never counted 
 the cost of obedience. But Christ brought 
 obedience to its highest and fullest expres- 
 sion by paying the highest price for it, viz., 
 by giving up his life on the cross. And 
 Christ's obedience was not like Abraham's, 
 for physical and temporal blessings, but in 
 the highest sphere and for the noblest ends. 
 
 (6) Jacob was God's wrestler, the man 
 who wanted God's blessings, though he 
 wrestled against securing them in God's 
 way. Beside Jacob, wrestling all night with 
 
 R 257 
 
Zbc Xiblc medsaae for filodern fllanbooD 
 
 the unnamed one at the ford of Jabbok, 
 one should place Christ, wrestling alone in 
 the Garden of Gethsemane; for in each 
 case it is the wrestling of one who desires 
 to obey God, but marvels at God's re- 
 quirement. In each case the wrestling is 
 over the same problem, though in different 
 form, the problem of God's ways with one 
 whom he would use for the redemption of 
 his fellow men. Christ's wrestling in Geth- 
 semane is the climax of a struggle which 
 began in his temptation in the wilderness, 
 and from which doubtless he was never 
 free. " Nevertheless not my will, but thine, 
 be done," spoken in his bloody sweat, has 
 ever since been, and doubtless will ever be, 
 the pattern of wrestling and submission for 
 every man as he faces the mysteries of 
 God's ways as God seeks to use him for 
 the redemption of men. 
 
 (7) In the life of Joseph we saw the 
 faithfulness of God meeting the faithful- 
 ness of man. But in the teaching and life 
 of Christ this truth receives its fullest ex- 
 pression. How could it be better uttered 
 than in the words : " The very hairs of your 
 head are all numbered. . . Ye are of more 
 value than many sparrows. . . If then God 
 
 258 
 
Cbriet tbe Julfillcr of l^ropbecij 
 
 so clothe the grass, which is to-day in the 
 field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; 
 how much more will he clothe you, O ye 
 of little faith?" (Matt. 10:30, 31; Luke 
 12:28.) How could one more fully trust 
 God's faithfulness than did Christ, when 
 on his way to death he bade Peter put up 
 his sword, saying : " Thinkest thou that I 
 cannot now pray to my Father and he shall 
 presently give me more than twelve legions 
 of angels?" (Matt. 26:53.) And how 
 could the teaching be better verified than 
 in the fact that though Christ went to the 
 cross, God made that cross a throne. Our 
 Lord was buried in the tomb, but God 
 raised him up, and proved him to be his 
 only begotten Son by the resurrection from 
 the dead. Paul's soul kindles with the fact 
 that God hath highly exalted Christ, who 
 was faithful unto death, even the death of 
 the cross, and hath given him a name that is 
 above every name, that at the name of Jesus 
 every knee should bow. Never was there 
 faithfulness in man Hke the faithfulness 
 of Christ; and no expression of God's 
 faithfulness surpasses or equals his faith- 
 fulness in raising Christ from the dead and 
 enthroning him in the heart of the world. 
 
 259 
 
tlbe Mblc iHceeuQc for filoDem (llanbood 
 
 (8) In the account of Israel's deliverance 
 from Egypt we come for the first time upon 
 the fact of redemption. The form is crude, 
 for it was redemption primarily from phys- 
 ical bondage. In Jesus Christ both the idea 
 and the fact of redemption stand complete. 
 The idea is that of redemption from sin, 
 which includes everything from which man 
 needs to be redeemed, everything physical, 
 mental, social, spiritual. The fact is the 
 all-sufficient Redeemer, whom God sent into 
 the world " that whosoever believeth on 
 him should not perish, but have eternal 
 life " (John 3 : 16) ; and who himself said, 
 " I have finished the work which thou gav- 
 est me to do" (John 17:4); and when 
 about to die on the cross, again declared, 
 " It is finished " (John 19 : 30). 
 
 If we now enumerate the teachings of 
 these early narratives which have been ful- 
 filled in Jesus Christ, we are surprised that 
 so little that is really fundamental to spir- 
 itual life is wanting: 
 
 a. God, the Creator, is our Father, b. 
 The battle in one's soul can be won through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. c. The worship of 
 God the Father must include brotherly treat- 
 ment of our fellow men. d. The righteous 
 
 260 
 
Cbrigt tbe JFultlUer ot t>tophccQ 
 
 and the wicked shall be separated, and shall 
 meet different ends. e. God abundantly 
 blesses him who does not hesitate to pay 
 the price of obedience. /. The blessings to 
 which we aspire must be secured in God's 
 way. g. God is faithful to those who are 
 faithful to him, and none need hesitate to 
 trust him, even unto death, h. God re- 
 deems men by sending a Redeemer who 
 must suffer for others, and must bear their 
 sins in his own body and in his own heart. 
 
 2. Christ's Faith 
 
 It only remains to point out Christ's faith 
 in the final consummation of his redemptive 
 work, and the partial realization of that 
 faith in history. 
 
 While Christ taught clearly that the Old 
 Testament was fulfilled in himself, com- 
 paratively little emphasis fell from his own 
 lips upon this fact. His look was not back- 
 ward, but forward; his emphasis, not upon 
 the completion of the old order, but upon 
 the beginning of a new order. His king- 
 dom was " at hand," that is, just beginning. 
 It was like a mustard-seed, the beginning of 
 a gradual and strong growth; like yeast 
 placed in meal, the beginning of a leavening 
 
 261 
 
Zbc JSible SilcsstiQc for fnlo^ern filanbood 
 
 process. The sending of a few apostles to 
 evangelize a world was a beginning. Such 
 facts — a few only of many that might be 
 adduced — clearly indicate Christ's forward 
 look and confident expectation. 
 
 Precisely what Christ hoped for, and had 
 confidence in, was, as with the prophets of 
 the Old Testament, a redeemed and per- 
 fected humanity. He sent forth his apos- 
 tles to preach himself as the Redeemer who 
 had power to forgive men and to renew 
 their hearts. The perfection to which men 
 were to be brought was the perfection seen 
 in him. Men were to come to him, take 
 his yoke, learn of him, follow him, love 
 as he loved, sacrifice as he sacrificed, obey 
 as he obeyed, and minister as he ministered. 
 They were to be meek like him, like him to 
 find God's will as necessary as food, and 
 like him to make God's rule among men 
 their first interest and constant effort. Be- 
 yond question Christ looked forward to the 
 time when all men should be thus minded. 
 
 Just as in the Old Testament the redemp- 
 tive process seemed periodically to meet with 
 defeat, and even the conception of a per- 
 fected humanity to be lost sight of, only 
 however to burst forth again enlarged, both 
 
 262 
 
Cbriat tbe Sfninilcx ot propbecs 
 
 in conception and in sphere of endeavor ; so 
 in the centuries since Christ, the processes 
 of redeeming society have seemed period- 
 ically to lag, and even to turn back, while 
 the fundamental conception of Christ was 
 all but lost sight of; yet after each such 
 submergence Christ's conception of a re- 
 deemed humanity has burst upon the minds 
 of men enlarged and clarified. 
 
 That one himself is to be redeemed and 
 ultimately perfected is the least of a twen- 
 tieth-century Christian's thought; just as 
 the fact that Christ was to be glorified was 
 the least of Christ's thought. To-day the 
 Christian who is alive to the things of 
 Christ, over and above the great fact of 
 personal salvation, even over and above all 
 efforts to bring men to personal acceptance 
 of Christ, is thinking of and striving for so- 
 cial redemption — ^the redemption of busi- 
 ness, politics, laws, institutions; the re- 
 demption of men's aims, ambitions, desires, 
 and strivings. 
 
 Volumes would be required to detail the 
 redemptive process during the Christian cen- 
 turies. It is sufficient for our purpose here 
 to indicate a few of the great evils to which 
 Christian civilization is now a stranger, or 
 
 263 
 
Zbc Btblc ffiles^ase tor fBloDcm fHlanboo5 
 
 vvhich it has placed under the social ban: 
 Slavery, serfdom, wars of conquest, pillage, 
 exposure of infants, gladiatorial contests, 
 adultery, gambling, drunkenness, prostitu- 
 tion, and many others. 
 
 God's purpose to perfect humanity, which 
 is traceable in the Old Testament, the New 
 Testament, and in the Christian centuries, 
 was never so evident as it is to-day; and 
 never were so many and such varied forces 
 operative to achieve this " one continuous 
 purpose." The prophecy of our century 
 is that Christ shall see of the travail of his 
 soul and shall be satisfied, and that the 
 kingdom of this world shall become the 
 kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. 
 Of this fact the modern Christian can feel 
 reasonably certain. And surely it ought to 
 fire his soul with enthusiasm for the Re- 
 deemer with whom he is at work, and for 
 the work which the Redeemer and the re- 
 deemed are doing together. 
 
 264 
 
Zl)c Significance of 3e6U6 Cbriet 
 for tbe fiDo&ern man 
 
XIV 
 
 IN the foregoing chapters Christ js seen 
 to be the consummation of the Old Tes- 
 tament, and to have come in the fulness of 
 time. It will not be deemed out of place, 
 therefore, to add to a discussion which holds 
 Christ as its goal, a concluding chapter on 
 " The Significance of Jesus Christ for the 
 Modern Man." 
 
 I. The Fulness of Time 
 
 It may be asked. What constituted the 
 " fulness of time " for the coming of Christ ? 
 This question is nowhere answered in the 
 Scriptures. It is customary to find the 
 answer in the Hebrew preparation, with 
 its well-developed ideas of God, man, and 
 duty ; in the Greek preparation of language, 
 literature, and philosophical ideas; and in 
 the Roman preparation of national unifica- 
 tion, roads, laws, and government. But 
 there is a fulness of time more vital to 
 Christ's work than any of these, and more 
 
 267 
 
Zbc Mblc fnessa^e tor filoDern ttlanbooD 
 
 important for the kingdom of God in the 
 world than all of them, a fulness of time 
 which lies at the center of the historic 
 process, and points the way to Christ's 
 world-significance. 
 
 For many the magic word of the twen- 
 tieth century is " evolution." The applica- 
 tion of the theory of evolution not only to 
 natural phenomena, but to human history 
 as well, has created great disturbance in 
 religious thought by changing somewhat the 
 theological view-point. 
 
 It need not be pointed out here that the 
 evolutionary principle, even in the physical 
 world, is far from proved, except in a 
 modified sense. But the fact needs em- 
 phasis that when applied to the history of 
 man the evolutionary principle of gradual 
 and systematic unfolding does not hold, ex- 
 cept in the most fundamental facts of the 
 soul, and chiefly in the central fact of in- 
 creasing ethical soul-content. Just as the 
 progress of the Gulf Stream is not in the 
 ripples and eddies upon its surface, but in 
 the deep and resistless current beneath, so 
 the evolutionary progress of nature is not 
 in the short seasonal changes which vary in- 
 finitely, but in the life that persists through 
 
 268 
 
Significance of 5e0UB for tbe nQoDern fHlan 
 
 them and is modified by them. It is this 
 life that evolves and comes ever to higher 
 expression and more complete adjustments. 
 So also in human history. There is little 
 if any discernible evolution in historic events 
 until we probe to the deeper things of the 
 soul. To be sure, there are, as in nature, 
 what may be called seasonal growths, as 
 in Greek culture, Italian art, English litera- 
 ture, the French Revolution, and American 
 government and industry. In such historic 
 periods we can trace the starting of the 
 sap, the bursting of the bud, the growth of 
 leaf and blossom, the maturing of seed, and 
 the falling of autumn leaves. Such seasonal 
 growths are found also in the Jewish re- 
 ligion, the early Christian church, the Ger- 
 man Reformation, Puritanism, and other 
 movements. But Greek culture and Italian 
 art do not keep on advancing; the Eliza- 
 bethan age in English literature does not 
 grow more Elizabethan; the French Revo- 
 lution is followed by reaction. Likewise in 
 religion, Judaism rises and falls; early 
 Christianity degenerates into the supersti- 
 tion of the Dark Ages ; the German Refor- 
 mation becomes stereotyped in church form- 
 alism; English Puritanism is dissipated in 
 
 269 
 
tTbe Mblc (nessagc for (lloOern ttlanbood 
 
 many directions, but does not become more 
 Puritan. 
 
 Thus any particular historic movement 
 exhibits only a seasonal development — 
 rise, growth, decay. In view of what went 
 before no one could predict the Dark Ages. 
 No one can account for the sudden out- 
 burst of Italian art in the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, or of invention in the nineteenth cen- 
 tury. Much less can historic characters be 
 accounted for. One would expect Moses 
 at the end of Israel's history, not at its be- 
 ginning; the great prophets as the result of 
 growing schools, not as lone characters. 
 One would look for John the Baptist and 
 Christ as the flower and fruitage of Is- 
 rael's noblest thought, not as the marvel of 
 her most barren period. In like manner 
 one would look for Dante not at the begin- 
 ning, but at the end of Italian literature; 
 and for Shakespeare not as one of the 
 founders, but as the consummate flower of 
 English letters. 
 
 The real evolutionary process of his- 
 tory lies deep within the soul of man. It 
 is religious; and because religious, it is so- 
 cial. It is in this deep soul-growth, a growth 
 in which the soul comes to possess ever 
 
 270 
 
Sidnificance ot 5e0Ud for tbe flloDetn man 
 
 more of ethical content, that the '' fulness 
 of time " into which Christ came is to be 
 found. 
 
 2. The Emphasis of the Twentieth Century 
 
 This deep historic evolution, or this " ful- 
 ness of time " — whichever we choose to 
 call it — will best be traced by asking and' 
 answering a few simple questions: (i) 
 What kind of God have we? One God. 
 (2) What does God require of man? 
 Righteousness. (3) What is righteous- 
 ness? Right conduct. (4) What is right 
 conduct? Service-conduct. (5) How shall 
 service-conduct be attained ? Through faith 
 in Christ. These questions and answers re- 
 veal not only the historic progress of re- 
 ligion, but also the place of religious em- 
 phasis to-day. 
 
 (i) What kind of God have we? 
 Whether monotheism or polytheism was 
 first held by man does not here concern us. 
 The earliest history that we know — that of 
 Egypt and Babylon — is saturated with poly- 
 theism, and holds only the slightest hints 
 of monotheism. And the Hebrews — ^the 
 great monotheists — in the beginning of their 
 history, were not altogether free from poly- 
 
 271 
 
^be 3Bit)le fnedaage for (iloDern fnanbooD 
 
 theism. But as history advanced polythe- 
 ism disappeared from the faith of the He- 
 brews, and the struggle between the mono- 
 theism of the Hebrews and the polytheism 
 of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia, became 
 ever more strenuous, until in the early Chris- 
 tian centuries the polytheism of the great 
 nations about the Mediterranean, and north- 
 ward in Europe, gave place to monotheism. 
 For two thousand five hundred years, and 
 possibly for five thousand years, had we the 
 early data to inform us, the battle raged 
 over the question, What kind of god have 
 we? It is the question most fundamental 
 to the right development of the race. The 
 answer of advancing history is that there 
 is one God, an answer, the whole import of 
 which, as bearing on the unity of the race, 
 we even yet do not fully realize. But, for 
 the dominant nations of the earth, the battle 
 is over. The question is settled. History 
 will never reverse its decision. 
 
 (2) What does God require of man? 
 This was the question with which the He- 
 brews, who first arrived at clearly defined 
 monotheism, especially concerned them- 
 selves. The unhesitating answer of their 
 prophets and priests was that Jehovah, being 
 
 2'J2 
 
Sidniffcance ot Hens tot tbe flQoDetn fiilan 
 
 a holy God, required righteousness in his 
 worshipers. The gods of the heathen were 
 simply magnified men, with all the passions 
 and lusts of men. They did not require 
 their worshipers to be righteous. Indeed, 
 some forms of heathen worship consisted 
 in the grossest sensuality. Sacrifices were 
 offered to appease the wrath of the gods 
 and to purchase their favor. One of the 
 hardest- fought battles of the prophets was 
 to keep the Hebrew people from such idol- 
 worship, and from ignoring Jehovah's de- 
 mand for righteousness. Within Judaism 
 the whole system of worship was a train- 
 ing in righteousness. This was the mean- 
 ing of sacred places, sacred days, sacred 
 fasts and feasts; it was the meaning of the 
 tabernacle, the temple, the holy place, and 
 the holy of hoHes; and the meaning of 
 sacrifices without blemish, not to mention 
 purgings and washings innumerable. This 
 prophetic conception of a righteous God de- 
 manding righteousness in his worshipers 
 not only passed over into Christianity, but 
 Christ himself, who said, " Which of you 
 convicteth me of sin?" has been and is for 
 all Christian nations the pattern of that 
 righteousness which God demands. 
 
 s 273 
 
Zbc Bible OlceetiQc tot filoDem manbooO 
 
 (3) What is righteousness? Is right- 
 eousness ceremonial or ethical? compliance 
 with right forms or right conduct? Over 
 this question prophets and priests contended 
 for centuries. The priests defended the 
 altars and sacrifices. For them faithfulness 
 to correct forms and ceremonies constituted 
 righteousness. The prophets, on the other 
 hand, regarded these only as helps to a 
 righteousness that was ethical. Their con- 
 stant demand was : " Wash you, make you 
 clean ; put away the evil of your doings 
 from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 
 learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the 
 oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for 
 the widow" (Isa. 1:16). Typical, and 
 also conclusive of the whole struggle be- 
 tween prophets and priests, are the words 
 of Samuel to Saul : " To obey is better than 
 sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of 
 rams " (i Sam. 15: 22). 
 
 But a thousand years after Samuel this 
 struggle is seen still going on between 
 Christ and the scribes and Pharisees. The 
 latter had so perfected ceremonial right- 
 eousness that one could scarcely sit or rise 
 or stand or walk or eat without the danger 
 of infringing its precepts. Such ceremo- 
 
 274 
 
Siflniftcancc of ^eaus for tbc nilo&em filan 
 
 nial righteousness Christ disregarded. His 
 chief faults in the eyes of the ceremoniaHsts 
 were that he did not wash before eating, 
 comply with the rules of the Sabbath ob- 
 servance, nor conform to their distinctions 
 of clean and unclean. Christ, on the other 
 hand, accused those who depended on cere- 
 monial righteousness of tithing mint and 
 anise and cummin and neglecting judgment, 
 mercy, and faith. The strictest ceremo- 
 niaHsts he called whited sepulchers, because 
 they were robbers of widows and orphans. 
 
 This struggle between ceremonial and 
 ethical righteousness has perpetuated itself 
 in the differences between Catholicism and 
 Protestantism. The Catholic maintains that, 
 whatever one's ethical character, in order 
 to be acceptable to God, he must be the 
 beneficiary of the ordinances and cere- 
 monies of the Church; while the Protestant 
 maintains that righteousness consists in be- 
 ing right with God and man, and that all 
 ceremonies are but helps to right character. 
 
 A different phase of this same struggle 
 is found within Protestantism itself. For 
 centuries right belief was more esteemed 
 than right conduct; and not those whose 
 conduct was wrong, but those whose beliefs 
 
 275 
 
tTbe JSible tilessage for fllo5cm ftlanboo5 
 
 were rated wrong, were burned at the stake. 
 Such, briefly indicated, is the most strenu- 
 ous historic struggle of the past four thou- 
 sand years. Century after century the con- 
 clusion has been slowly forming that the 
 righteousness which God requires of men 
 is ethical. Upon this conclusion the fore- 
 most nations of the world are agreed, and 
 surely the answer is final. The world will 
 never again believe that God is satisfied 
 with ceremonies, theories, or faiths which 
 do not bring repentance for sin or make 
 men right in their conduct toward their 
 fellows. In this refusal to believe in a re- 
 ligion which does not secure righteousness 
 lies the significance of the alienation of 
 many from the church — ^many of the labor- 
 ing classes, who look upon the church as a 
 rich man's institution; and many writers of 
 fiction, who put their villains in the church 
 and picture their heroes turning away from 
 it. The masses refuse longer to separate 
 salvation from right living, and feel that in 
 this they stand with Christ, who said, " By 
 their fruits ye shall know them " (Matt. 
 7:16). 
 
 To recapitulate: What kind of god have 
 we? One God. What does he require of 
 
 276 
 
Significance ot 5e0U6 for tbe (lHoDctn flQan 
 
 man? Righteousness? What is righteous- 
 ness ? Right conduct. The progress of past 
 thinking has moved straight on from one of 
 these conclusions to the other. To be sure, 
 the processes of thinking and the conclu- 
 sions reached have not been so clearly de- 
 fined as is suggested by the way they are 
 put down here. Historic processes always 
 overlap and intermingle. But conclusions 
 arrived at through centuries of conflict, and 
 which are the result of the most vital proc- 
 esses of history, do not change. 
 
 (4) What is right conduct? The strug- 
 gle over this question seems only begun. Is 
 selfishness or service to be the law of life? 
 Is the badge of right manhood the seeking 
 to save one's life, or the finding of ways to 
 spend it? In a word. Is the self -giving 
 typified by the cross of Christ the sign- 
 manual of right conduct or not? At last 
 the ethics of Jesus are on trial; and the 
 deep soul-struggle which this trial involves 
 is the most significant struggle of history. 
 Over the ethics of Jesus men are now fight- 
 ing the battle for which all previous battles 
 have been fought. In this twentieth cen- 
 tury men are shrinking from the price to be 
 paid for right conduct. Manhood is in its 
 
 ^77 
 
Zbc Mbic message tor rtlo^ern nnanboo& 
 
 Gethsemane, and is praying, " Father, if 
 it be possible, let this cup pass from me." 
 
 To be more specific, when a man in busi- 
 ness refuses to stand for a reform which is 
 necessary to the good of the people because 
 to do so will injure his business, is his con- 
 duct right or wrong? Precisely here — be- 
 tween cost to one's self and service to one's 
 fellows — is the severest conflict of our day. 
 
 It will at once be perceived that this 
 question. What is right conduct? not only 
 probes the depths of every man's secret 
 purposes, but has practical ramifications into 
 all business, all politics, and all government. 
 The right answer to this question, when ex- 
 pressed in life, will be the setting up of the 
 kingdom of God on earth. 
 
 Jesus says that right conduct is service 
 to one's fellows. In his great judgment 
 parable he places in hell those who do not 
 serve others. (Matt. 25:31-46.) Jesus 
 places Dives in hell, not because he wronged 
 or abused Lazarus, but because he did not 
 serve him when in need. (Luke 16: 19-31.) 
 In his parables of the Pounds and the 
 Talents also, Jesus places in hell men whose 
 only fault was that they were not faithful 
 in ministry. (Luke 19: 11-27; Matt. 25: 14- 
 
 278 
 
Significance of Jcsm fot tbe moDetn fnian 
 
 30.) Jesus makes love to men inseparable 
 from love to God, and points to the Samar- 
 itan ministering to the man who fell among 
 thieves on the Jericho road, as giving 
 proper expression to that love. 
 
 It is only placing the emphasis where it 
 belongs and where Christ himself placed it, 
 to say that the significance of Jesus for the 
 modern man lies in the ethics of Jesus. 
 Such an emphasis the strictest theologian 
 need not fear. Indeed, the one who ad- 
 dresses himself adequately to the living of 
 a Christlike life by paying what it costs 
 to do so will find Jesus more human and 
 more divine, more power-filled and power- 
 giving, than the theologians have ever made 
 him. Our age simply refuses to believe in 
 a Christianity which does not advance from 
 theories of Christ's person to the practice 
 of Christ's principles. 
 
 Each century gives to Christianity its 
 own peculiar point of contact with life, de- 
 velops its own heroic situations, erects its 
 own crosses, and makes its own demands 
 for self-surrender and self-giving; but the 
 principle of the cross runs through all cen- 
 turies, and is never for a moment abrogated ; 
 and the place of the cross for the Chris- 
 
 279 
 
XLbc Mtlc !XlcB6tiQc for flloDern manbood 
 
 tian of the twentieth century is in the prac- 
 tice of the ethics of Jesus. Apart from 
 this there is no cross left worthy the effort 
 of a man, no cross left which tasks his 
 soul and calls for heroism, no cross left be- 
 fore which a man will sweat blood and be- 
 come bigger and braver and more Christ- 
 like than those who lived before him. In 
 our age it requires no heroism to proclaim 
 whatever theology one pleases, for thought 
 and speech are untrammeled. Indeed, 
 theories and theologies, which in the past 
 tried men's souls and kindled fires under 
 their feet, are matters of indifference to- 
 day, even to Christians. However ortho- 
 dox we may be, we cannot live by ortho- 
 doxy, for it no longer calls for heroism and 
 sacrifice. Christian men must go forward 
 and grapple with the task of their own cen- 
 tury. They must be genuine brothers to 
 their fellows, and give the service of their 
 lives to redeem men from everything that 
 is contrary to the mind of God, whether in 
 life or environment. Unless Christians will 
 do this, Christianity can but be turned back 
 upon itself to droop and die. It must grow 
 to live. And it must grow by setting for 
 itself a task adequate to its growing man- 
 
 280 
 
significance ot Jcme for tbe flloOecn fiilan 
 
 hood. A Christianity without heroism is 
 without vitaHty; and a Christianity that 
 shirks the crucifixion which its age im- 
 poses upon it is shorn of power. 
 
 What then is right conduct? Service- 
 conduct, conduct which makes every man 
 a beneficent minister to his fellows. This 
 shall be the answer of the growing cen- 
 turies, for " the world is going Jesus' way." 
 
 (5) The last question in the historic 
 series is, how shall service-conduct be at- 
 tained? For the practice of Christ's ethics, 
 do men need Christ as a divine power in 
 their lives? or can they fulfil the claims of 
 God without the divine Christ as a trans- 
 forming and enabling power ? To this ques- 
 tion there are different answers both within 
 and without the church. 
 
 a. Outside of the church the masses of 
 laboring men, for example, whose lives are 
 made bitter by Christians who coin un- 
 warranted profits out of their overwork, be- 
 lieve in the ethics of Jesus — his brotherli- 
 ness, sympathy, hopefulness, and love. But 
 when they see that the ethics of Jesus are 
 not practised by those who hold the tradi- 
 tional faith of Jesus, the faith and the ethics 
 become separated the one from the other in 
 
 281 
 
Zbc Mblc mcasaQc tor {llo&crn nianboo& 
 
 their minds; and while they continue to be- 
 Heve in the ethics of Jesus, they cease to 
 believe in Jesus himself as the Saviour of 
 men. Whatever theologians may say, think- 
 ing men cannot be expected to believe in 
 Christ's power to save men hereafter unless 
 he has power mightily to change them here. 
 The oppressed laboring man has been 
 cited simply as an illustration for the sake 
 of definiteness. To-day men judge the 
 power of Christ by the conduct of Chris- 
 tians. Never was this judgment rendered 
 so relentlessly. And the immediate danger 
 of our century is that men come to ex- 
 pect the fruit of Christliness without plant- 
 ing the tree ; to drink from a stream of liv- 
 ing water where there is no fountain; to 
 have the ability to practise Christ's ethics 
 without the power of Christ in their lives. 
 Historically faith in Christ as divine Sa- 
 viour and Master has been the seed from 
 which the ethical tree grew, the fountain 
 whence the ethical stream flowed. But 
 whether this relation is real and necessary, 
 is speedily becoming the crucial question 
 of our age. It will not be answered theo- 
 retically by theologians, much less by critics, 
 but practically by the doers of Christ's will. 
 
 282 
 
Sidttificance ot 5e0Ud tot tbe modetn Hilan 
 
 b. Within the church many are asking 
 whether the traditional .faith in Christ is 
 necessary to reproduce Christ's ethics. 
 Some already incline to answer this ques- 
 tion in the negative. The general consen- 
 sus of Christian conviction has departed 
 from the postulate of medieval and post- 
 medieval theology, that correct belief in 
 Christ as Saviour will save the soul. Since 
 the days of Baur and Strauss the whole 
 orthodox scheme of Christianity and the 
 traditional view of Christ himself have been 
 questioned; yet none of the questioners 
 would abate one whit the requirements of 
 Christ's ethics. The indifference of prac- 
 tically all Christians to doctrine, the draw- 
 ing together of different denominations on 
 the basis of essentials, the cooperation of 
 Christians of every name in practical work, 
 point in the same direction — to the grow- 
 ing conviction that traditional beliefs are of 
 minor importance, and that living and work- 
 ing like Christ are of supreme importance. 
 The whole drift of thought and conviction 
 within the church is toward increasing em- 
 phasis upon Christ's ethics, and refusal to 
 believe in the genuineness of the Christian 
 life that does not practise them. 
 
 283 
 
tlbe BllJle tJRcBsnQc tot filo&ctn filanbooO 
 
 But this is as yet only a drift, an in- 
 creasing emphasis. The supreme task is 
 coming on and is growing ever more ap- 
 parent. It is a task pecuHar to our century, 
 involving a work of theological reconstruc- 
 tion which shall adequately relate Christ to 
 life, and of practical living which shall ade- 
 quately express Christ in life. It is the 
 Christ lifted up by being reproduced in his 
 followers that must command the faith and 
 hold the love of the changing world. 
 
 Many to-day are unnecessarily alarmed 
 over biblical criticism and the challenging 
 of orthodoxy. The one final answer to all 
 criticism and infidelity is the power of Jesus 
 Christ at work changing a sinner into a 
 saint, a selfish man into a servant, an op- 
 pressor into a helper, a worldling into a 
 worshiper, an exploiter of men into a re- 
 deemer of men, a self-indulgent man into 
 a man who goes to his Gethsemane and his 
 cross as these confront him in daily life. 
 
 J. The Old and the New 
 
 Every thoughtful man not only respects, 
 but reverences those who have wrought so 
 well in the past. It neither indicates a right 
 view of history nor manifests a spirit of 
 
 284 
 
Significance ot Seem for tbc flUoDetn taian 
 
 justice toward one's own generation to bring 
 a railing accusation against the theology of 
 the past or the ethics of the present. It 
 is the farthest from the mind of the writer 
 to do either. His aim, on the other hand, 
 is to indicate in historic sequence the great 
 soul-battles of the centuries as history re- 
 cords them, and to point out the fact that 
 we are now in the midst of a moral conflict 
 which requires heroes, and which, under 
 God, will bring victory to the right, as all 
 previous soul-battles have done. 
 
 In this historic view it becomes evident 
 how necessary have been the theological con- 
 flicts of the past, conflicts which must needs 
 have been waged before others could come 
 on. All honor to the men who were heroes 
 in past struggles, fighting on whatever side, 
 so long as they wielded valiant swords with 
 good consciences. The views of Christ's 
 person and work held by them were neces- 
 sary to their day, as they are also necessary 
 to our day as a basis for any more adequate 
 view that may be formed by the present or 
 future generations. 
 
 Both the theological attitude and the 
 ethics of our day are the best that history 
 has recorded. While there are those within 
 
 285 
 
tbc :ffilblc ftlesgaac for tllobcrn ttlanboo5 
 
 the church who are stereotyped in fixed 
 philosophies of salvation, as were the Phar- 
 isees in their forms and ceremonies, there 
 are also those — and they constitute the 
 majority of Christian people — who are as 
 receptive of and as responsive to the grow- 
 ing truth of our age as were the disciples 
 to the teachings of Christ. And while 
 there are those in the church who do not 
 exemplify in their lives the ethics of Jesus, 
 but hang their souls on a theory of salva- 
 tion, there are others — and they also con- 
 stitute the great majority — who do not look 
 for salvation apart from the practice of the 
 ethics of Jesus, which they regard as evi- 
 dence of their union with and love for the 
 Redeemer. They take Christ simply and 
 seriously. Their hope of salvation is not 
 in a theory to be held, but in a power to be 
 experienced; not in a theology to be ex- 
 plained, but in a life to be lived; not in a 
 ceremony to be performed, but in a love 
 which warms the heart, quickens spiritual 
 circulation, and gives prompt reaction to 
 moral muscle. 
 
 Such facts and tendencies point to and 
 demand a new interpretation of Christ for 
 the modern mind, an interpretation in keep- 
 
 286 
 
Signittcance ot 5edU5 tot tbe niodecn (Dan 
 
 ing with the historic advancement already 
 made — advancement both in theological 
 knowledge and Christian conduct. An in- 
 terpretation of the Christ is needed to-day 
 that will give to Christ's ethics a more cen- 
 tral and vital place in the whole process 
 of salvation; an interpretation that will 
 shame the man who calls Christ " Lord, 
 Lord," and does not do the things that 
 Christ says ; an interpretation that will hold 
 up to the scorn of all thinking men the one 
 who hopes to enjoy the kingdom of Christ 
 in glory, but does not glorify Christ by 
 setting up his kingdom here ; an interpreta- 
 tion that will stamp as a coward and a 
 craven one who has the effrontery to trust 
 in a crucified Redeemer for his own sal- 
 vation, while refusing his own crucifixion 
 for the redemption of his fellows ; an inter- 
 pretation that will bring the blush to any 
 man who presumes to rejoice that he, a lost 
 man, has been found, while indifferent to 
 the fact that his fellows are still lost and 
 perishing; an interpretation that will brand 
 as with the condemnation of God every man 
 who accepts for his own benefit the self- 
 giving Christ while oppressing in any form 
 or manner his weaker brother. 
 
 287 
 
ttbc y^iblc flleeeade tor modern manbcoD 
 
 What such an interpretation will be as a 
 theology it is vain to prophesy. It will be 
 in keeping with the life and teachings of 
 Jesus; it will be true to the principles 
 enunciated by the apostles; it will be con- 
 sonant with the unfolding of Christian truth 
 in history; it will hold the person, Jesus 
 Christ, at its very heart as the power of 
 God for the transformation of individuals 
 and society; it will deal little with theory 
 and much with life; it will endeavor to set 
 up the kingdom of Christ on earth by de- 
 manding the ethics of Christ from every one 
 who accepts him — a demand calling for a 
 self -surrender the most complete, the most 
 difficult, and the most costly that any cen- 
 tury has ever demanded, the days of the 
 martyrs not excepted. 
 
 Were progress in Christian ethics not de- 
 manded by our century, such heroic sur- 
 render is imperative in order to vitalize 
 Christianity itself. The churches are com- 
 plaining that Christians do not pray, do 
 not read the Bible, do not attend public 
 services as once they did — all of which is 
 true. But one, to offer more than per- 
 functory prayer, must feel a need; a soul, 
 to feed on God's word, must be hungry; 
 
 288 
 
Sianiticance ot ^ce\x6 for tbe modern fHan 
 
 men, to seek places of encouragement, cheer, 
 and invigoration, must feel too weak for 
 their tasks. He who will actually under- 
 take to live as Christ requires him to live, 
 will be driven to prayer, driven to the Bible, 
 driven to every place of cheer and help that 
 he can find, for he undertakes a task that 
 will often make him sweat blood, and often 
 nail him to a cross. But no less a task con- 
 stitutes the significance of Jesus for the 
 modern man. 
 
 It is vain to inveigh against the trans- 
 itional state of theology in which we find 
 ourselves. This is but the religious phase 
 of a transition that is not only world-wide, 
 but involves all subjects — the transition 
 from philosophy to science. For centuries 
 the great minds of the world dealt with 
 philosophy. The method of deductive phi- 
 losophy — and inductive philosophy never 
 wholly escaped the deductive method — was 
 to lay down a hypothesis and arrange the 
 facts consistently with it. The explanation 
 was assumed in the hypothesis, which the 
 facts were arranged to prove. To-day prac- 
 tically all philosophers have turned scien- 
 tists. Men are busy digging up the facts. 
 If an explanation appears in the midst 
 
 T 289 
 
Zbc :fiSible Olcesmc toe tllodecn manbooD 
 
 of the facts, well; but if not, the explanation 
 can wait. Men believe in and live by the 
 facts. 
 
 Theology is religious philosophy. And 
 theological thought, like all philosophical 
 thought, has shifted its attention from 
 theory to fact. What are the facts about 
 Christ — the events of his life, the truth that 
 he taught, the appeal that he made to man, 
 the power that he has to change the one 
 who responds to his appeal? What are the 
 facts about the Christian life — the possi- 
 bility of conversion, the conditions of the 
 change, the requirements of converts, and 
 the possibility of meeting the requirements? 
 Such are the questions that interest the 
 rank and file to-day. Men are not interested 
 in philosophical theology, much less in spec- 
 ulative criticism. The people as well as the 
 philosophers have turned scientists. They 
 want the facts. And this is their protec- 
 tion against speculation, both old and new. 
 This passion for facts is big with promise 
 for Christianity. Christ's teaching was that 
 men should face the facts, believe the facts, 
 live by the facts. He called men to himself, 
 not that they might explain him, but that 
 they might know his power in their lives. 
 
 290 
 
Significance of 3esu5 tot tbe ftloDetn ttlan 
 
 One of the most certain facts about Christ 
 is the special significance of his death — a 
 fact central in prophetic utterance, as evi- 
 denced by the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah; 
 central in the teaching of Christ; central in 
 the preaching of the apostles; central to 
 whatever form of Christian faith has re- 
 newed and vitalized sinful men ; and central 
 in the missionary work of the world to-day. 
 
 Christ claimed to be the Son of God 
 and to give his life to redeem men. He 
 did suffer the just for the unjust, and by 
 doing so gave the highest, most appealing, 
 and most powerful expression to a principle 
 which we meet everywhere in life, and with- 
 out which this would be a red-handed, tooth- 
 and-claw world. When any one, without 
 any philosophy of these facts, believes them, 
 allows himself to be appealed to by them, 
 and responds to the appeal, a new-born love 
 enters his soul, and he is changed, for the 
 mightiest transforming force that can lay 
 hold upon a man's soul is the knowledge 
 that one who loves him is suffering un- 
 justly on his behalf. 
 
 The more thorough-going, therefore, be 
 the transition from philosophy to science, 
 from theory to fact, the more Christian will 
 
 291 
 
dbe Mblc mcee&QC tot modetn {llanbood 
 
 the world become. As yet we are only in 
 the kindergarten of science, for as yet our 
 science deals for the most part with the 
 physical, whereas most of our life has to 
 do with the mental and spiritual. The more 
 thoroughly and truly scientific we become 
 the more fully shall we face, accept, and 
 live by the simple facts of Jesus Christ as 
 they appear in his person and in his work 
 for the redemption of men, and the more 
 fully shall we accept the responsibilities 
 which those facts entail. 
 
 292 
 
ffiibUoQrapb? 
 
 The literature of the subjects discussed in this 
 volume is so large that to give a complete bibliog- 
 raphy would be out of the question. The follow- 
 ing works may be mentioned, however, as among 
 those which have been helpful to the author in 
 his studies. 
 
 I. Criticism 
 
 John Skinner. Genesis : A Critical and Exe- 
 getical Commentary. New York, 1910, 
 
 J. E. McFadyen. Old Testament Criticism and 
 the Christian Church. New York, 1903. 
 
 Sir Robert Anderson. The Bible and Modern 
 Criticism. New York, Chicago, Toronto, 1903. 
 
 G. A. Smith. Modern Criticism and the Preach- 
 ing of the Old Testament. New York, 1901. 
 
 James Orr. The Problem of the Old Testa- 
 ment. New York, 1907. 
 
 A. T. Clay. Light on the Old Testament from 
 Babel. Third edition. Philadelphia, 1907. 
 
 N. Schmidt. The Prophet of Nazareth. New 
 York, 1907. 
 
 S. R. Driver. Introduction to the Literature of 
 the Old Testament. Tenth edition. New York, 
 1900. 
 
 S. R. Driver. Modern Research as Illustrating 
 the Bible. London, 1909. 
 
 293 
 
3Btbliostapb« 
 
 Marcus Dods. The Bible, its Origin and Na- 
 ture. New York, 1905. 
 
 W. Sanday. The Life of Christ in Recent Re- 
 search. New York, 1908. 
 
 II. History 
 
 A. P. Stanley. History of the Jewish Church. 
 New edition. Three volumes. New York, 1893. 
 
 C. F. Kent. A History of the Hebrew People : 
 The United Kingdom. Eighth edition. New 
 York, 1901. 
 
 C. F. Kent. A History of the Hebrew People: 
 The Divided Kingdom. Seventh edition. New 
 York, 1899. 
 
 C. F. Kent. A History of the Jewish People: 
 The Babylonian, Persian, and Greek Periods. 
 Fourth edition. New York, 1901. 
 
 J. S. Riggs. A History of the Jewish People: 
 The Maccabean and Roman Periods, New York, 
 1900. 
 
 G. T. Purves. Christianity in the Apostolic 
 Age. New York, 1901. 
 
 J. H. Breasted. A History of the Ancient 
 Egyptians. New York, 1908. 
 
 G. S. Goodspeed. A History of the Babylo- 
 nians and Assyrians. New York, 1902. 
 
 E. A. W. Budge. A History of Egypt: In the 
 Neolithic and Archaic Periods. New York, 1902. 
 
 D. R. Breed. A History of the Preparation of 
 the World for Christ. Second edition. New 
 York, Chicago, Toronto, 1893. 
 
 Shailer Mathews. A History of New Testa- 
 ment Times, New York, 1899. 
 
 294 
 
W. Sanday. Outlines of the Life of Christ. 
 New York, 1906. 
 
 Rush Rhees. The Life of Jesus of Nazareth. 
 New York, 1901. 
 
 G. A, Smith. The Historical Geography of the 
 Holy Land. Thirteenth edition. New York, 1907. 
 
 III. Archeology 
 
 Lyman Abbott. The Life and Literature of the 
 Ancient Hebrews. Boston and New York, 1901. 
 
 A. Guyot. Creation. New York, 1893. 
 
 Karl Marti. The Religion of the Old Testa- 
 ment. London and New York, 1907. Translated 
 into English by G. A. Bienemann. Edited by 
 W. D. Morrison, 
 
 S. G. Smith. Religion in the Making. New 
 York, 1910. 
 
 H. G. Tompkins. The Life and Times of 
 Joseph. London, 1891. 
 
 J. D. Davis. Genesis and the Semitic Tradi- 
 tions. New York, 1894. 
 
 Ira M. Price. The Monuments and the Old 
 Testament. Chicago, 1902. 
 
 James Robertson. Early Religions of Israel. 
 Two volumes. New York, 1901. 
 
 IV. Works Bearing on the Old Testament 
 
 Marcus Dods. Genesis. New York, 1887-1888. 
 
 C. F. Kent. Heroes and Crises of Early He- 
 brew History. New York, 1908. 
 
 C. F. Kent. Founders and Rulers of United 
 Israel. New York, 1908. 
 
 295 
 
C. F. Kent. The Kings and Prophets of Israel 
 and Judah. New York, 1909. 
 
 G. Rawlinson. Exodus. Third edition. New 
 York and London. 
 
 D. W. Faunce. Inspiration as a Trend. Phila- 
 delphia, 1896. 
 
 G. A. Smith. The Book of the Twelve 
 Prophets. Two volumes. New York, 1906. 
 
 S. R. Driver. Isaiah, his Life and Times. New 
 York. 
 
 F. W. Farrar. The Minor Prophets. New 
 York. 
 
 A. F. Kirkpatrick. The Doctrine of the 
 Prophets. London and New York, 1892. 
 
 G. S. Goodspeed. Israel's Messianic Hope. 
 New York and London, 1900. 
 
 V. Works on the Life, Teachings, and Influ- 
 ence OF Christ 
 
 N. D. Hillis. The Influence of Christ in Mod- 
 ern Life. New York, 1900. 
 
 Phillips Brooks. The Influence of Jesus. New 
 York, 1894. 
 
 A. Edersheim. The Life and Times of Jesus 
 the Messiah. Fifth edition. New York and Lon- 
 don, 1883. 
 
 M. G. Campbell. The Crises of the Christ. 
 Third edition. New York, 1903. 
 
 H. E. Robins. The Ethics of the Christian Life. 
 Philadelphia, 1904. 
 
 A. Harnack. What is Christianity? Second 
 edition. New York and London, 1906. Trans- 
 lated into English by F. B. Saunders. 
 
 296 
 
Shailer Mathews. The Messianic Hope in the 
 New Testament. Chicago, 1905. 
 
 A. M. Fairbairn. Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 New York, 1908. 
 
 H. H. Wendt. The Teachings of Jesus. New 
 York, 1896. Translated into English by John 
 Wilson. 
 
 A. M. Fairbairn. The Place of Christ in Mod- 
 ern Thought. New York, 1903. 
 
 James Denney. The Death of Christ. Fifth 
 edition. New York, 1907. 
 
 A. B. Bruce. The Kingdom of God. Sixth edi- 
 tion. New York. 
 
 Shailer Mathews. The Social Teachings of 
 Jesus. New York, 1902. 
 
 G. B. Stevens. The Teachings of Jesus. New 
 York, 1909. 
 
 R. E. Speer. The Principles of Jesus. New 
 York, Chicago, Toronto, 1902. 
 
 J. A. Leighton. Jesus Christ and the Civiliza- 
 tion of To-day. New York, 1907. 
 
 F. G. Peabody. Jesus Christ and the Christian 
 Character. New York, 1905. 
 
 F. G. Peabody. Jesus Christ and the Social 
 Question. New York, 1901. 
 
 Shailer Mathews. The Gospel and the Modern 
 Man. New YoTk, 19 10. 
 
 VI. Theology 
 
 W. N. Clarke. An Outline of Christian The- 
 ology. New York. 
 
 Lyman Abbott. The Theology of an Evolution- 
 ist. Boston and New York, 1898. 
 
 297 
 
aBlbliograpbs 
 
 A. Sabatier. Religions of Authority. New 
 York, 1901. 
 
 W. N. Clarke. The Use of the Scriptures in 
 Theology. New York, 1905. 
 
 H. C. King. Reconstruction in Theology. New 
 York, 1901. 
 
 A. B. Davidson. The Theology of the Old 
 Testament. New York, 1904, 
 
 E. P. Gould. The Biblical Theology of the 
 New Testament. New York and London, 1901. 
 
 G. B. Stevens. The Theology of the New Tes- 
 tament. New York, 1899. 
 
 VII. Works on Related Subjects 
 
 D. S. Cairns. Christianity in the Modem 
 World. New York and London. 
 
 G. P. Fisher. The Supernatural Origin of 
 Christianity. New York, 1887. 
 
 Lyman Abbott. The Evolution of Christianity. 
 Boston and New York, 1900. 
 
 James Orr. The Christian View of God and 
 the World. Ninth edition. New York, 1908. 
 
 G. Macdonald. The Religious Sense in its 
 Scientific Aspect. New York and London, 1903. 
 
 Shailer Mathews. The Church and the Chan- 
 ging Order. New York, 1907. 
 
 R. S. Storrs. The Divine Origin of Chris- 
 tianity Indicated by its Historical Effects. New 
 York, 1884. 
 
 W. R. Harper. Religion and the Higher Life. 
 Chicago, 1904. 
 
 C. E. Jefferson. Things Fundamental. New 
 York, 1903. 
 
 298 
 
P. C. Simpson. The Fact of Christ. New 
 York, Chicago, Toronto, 1900. 
 
 F. G, Peabody. The Religion of an Educated 
 Man. New York, 1903. 
 
 W. N. Rice. Christian Faith in an Age of 
 Science. New York, 1903. 
 
 G. A. Gordon. Ultimate Conceptions of Faith. 
 Boston and New York, 1903. 
 
 J. H. Mcllvane. The Wisdom of the Holy 
 Scriptures. New York, 1883. 
 
 G. P. Fisher. History of Christian Doctrine. 
 New York, 1899. 
 
 John Grier Hibben. The Problems of Philoso- 
 phy. New York, 1909. 
 
 299 
 
DEC 28 1912 
 
 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
 Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
 Treatment Date: May 2005 
 
 PreservationTechnologies 
 
 A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 
 
 1 1 1 Thomson Park Onve 
 Cranbeny Township PA 16066 
 f724) 779-21 1 1