{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_61241/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_61241","id":"gutenberg_61241","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61241","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Pentateuch -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"\u250c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2510\n \u2502 \u2502\n \u2502 Transcriber\u2019s Notes \u2502\n \u2502 \u2502\n \u2502 \u2502\n \u2502 Punctuation has been standardized. \u2502\n \u2502 \u2502\n \u2502 The Table of Contents has been modified by the Transcriber \u2502\n \u2502 to agree with the text. \u2502\n \u2502 \u2502\n \u2502 The original text shows quotations within quotations set \u2502\n \u2502 off by similar quote marks. The inner quotations have been \u2502\n \u2502 changed to single quotes for improved readability. \u2502\n \u2502 \u2502\n \u2502 Characters in small caps have been replaced by all caps. \u2502\n \u2502 \u2502\n \u2502 Non-printable characteristics have been given the following \u2502\n \u2502 Italic text: --> _text_ \u2502\n \u2502 Bold text: --> =text=. \u2502\n \u2502 \u2502\n \u2502 This book was written in a period when many words had \u2502\n \u2502 not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have \u2502\n \u2502 multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in \u2502\n \u2502 the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated \u2502\n \u2502 with a Transcriber\u2019s Note. \u2502\n \u2502 \u2502\n \u2502 Footnotes are identified in the text with a number in \u2502\n \u2502 brackets [2] and have been accumulated in a single section \u2502\n \u2502 at the end of the text. \u2502\n \u2502 \u2502\n \u2502 Transcriber\u2019s Notes are used when making corrections to the \u2502\n \u2502 text or to provide additional information for the modern \u2502\n \u2502 reader. These notes are identified in the text by a \u2666 symbol, \u2502\n \u2502 and are accumulated in a single section at the end of the \u2502\n \u2502 book. \u2502\n \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2518\n\n\n\n\n THE PENTATEUCH,\n\n IN ITS\n\n PROGRESSIVE REVELATIONS OF GOD TO MEN.\n\n\n DESIGNED FOR BOTH PASTORS AND PEOPLE.\n\n\n BY REV. HENRY COWLES, D.D.\n\n\n\n\n \u201cUnderstandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can\n I unless some man should guide me?\u201d\u2015\u2015ACTS VIII: 30, 31.\n\n\n\n\n NEW YORK:\n D. APPLETON & CO.,\n 549 AND 551 BROADWAY.\n 1874.\n\n\n\n\n Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by\n REV. HENRY COWLES, D.D.,\n In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C.\n\n\n\n\n PREFACE.\n\n\nMY reasons for treating the Pentateuch topically rather than textually\nwill be obvious. Criticism on the original text is rarely needed. There\nis seldom the least occasion to aid the reader in following the line\nof thought or the course of argument. The demand here is rather for\nthe discussion and due presentation of the great themes of the book.\nMy plan has therefore aimed to meet this demand, discussing these\nthemes _critically_ so far as seemed necessary either because of their\nintrinsic nature or because of popular objections or misconceptions;\nand always _practically_ so far forth as to show the important moral\nbearings of these themes as revelations of God to man. It has been,\nhowever, my purpose to explain all the difficult, doubtful, or\ncontroverted passages.\n\nThe modern objections to Genesis, more or less related to true science,\nhave been brought under special examination because they are at present\neliciting so much public attention. Let all real truth be welcomed and\nheld in honor, whether revealed in the works of God or in his word. It\nis _knowledge of God_ that we seek; some of which we learn through his\nworks of creation or of providence; more through his revealed word. It\nbehooves us to dismiss all apprehensions lest these diverse forms of\ndivine revelation may come into real conflict, and equally, all fear\nlest the Bible should be compelled to recede as Science advances.\n\nThe points of contact between sacred and profane history and\nantiquities have been carefully examined, both for their own intrinsic\ninterest and for the incidental confirmation which they bring to the\nsacred volume.\n\nAs will appear in the Introduction I have had an eye somewhat to the\nidea of _progress_ in these successive steps of divine revelation\u2015\u2015yet\nwith an aim not so much to prove a point disputed as to illustrate\na fact sometimes overlooked; hoping thus to heighten the reader\u2019s\ninterest.\n\nThis wonderful grouping of those events of the earliest ages of\ntime, given us of God through the masterly hand of Moses, is for every\nreason worthy of profoundest study. In the humble hope that these pages\nmay serve to obviate old difficulties; suggest new aspects of truth;\ninspire fresh zeal in this study; and enhance the spiritual profit of\nevery reader\u2015\u2015this volume is submitted to the Christian public.\n\n HENRY COWLES.\n\nOBERLIN, O., October, 1873.\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS.\n\n\n INTRODUCTION, p. 1.\n\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n CREATION, p. 9.\n Naturally the first fact revealed; Its moral lessons, 9;\n The origin of this record and the manner of its revelation to\n men, 12;\n Nature and the supernatural, 13;\n Theories on the origin of life, 14;\n The sense of the word \u201cday\u201d in Gen. 1: 16; Argued\n (1) From the laws of language, 17;\n (2) From the narrative itself, 18;\n Objection from the law of the Sabbath, 21;\n (3) From Geological facts and their bearings on the question,\n 22;\n Prominent points of harmony between Genesis and Geology,\n 25;\n (4) Does \u201cCreate\u201d (Gen. 1: 1) refer to the original production\n of matter? 26;\n (5) The relation of v. 1 to v. 2, and to the rest of the\n chapter, 29;\n (6) The work of the fourth day, 31;\n (7) The sense of the record as to the _origin of life_,\n vegetable and animal, 32;\n (8) On God\u2019s \u201cmaking man in his own image,\u201d 33;\n (9) The relation of Gen. 2: 4\u201325 to Gen. 1, 35;\n (10) Invariability of \u201c_kind_\u201d in the vegetable and animal\n kingdoms, 37;\n The theory of Mr. Darwin, 38;\n The issue between Darwin and Moses, 38;\n Darwin\u2019s five main arguments, 39;\n Brief replies, 40;\n Objections bearing generally against Darwin\u2019s scheme, 43;\n (1) It requires almost infinite time back of the\n earliest traces or possibilities of life, 43;\n (2) Requires what Nature does not give\u2015\u2015a close\n succession of animal races, differing but\n infinitesimally from each other, 43;\n (3) His argument is essentially _materialistic_ and is\n therefore false, 45;\n (4) It ignores man\u2019s intellectual and moral nature, 46;\n (5) It ignores or overrides the law of nature by which\n hybrids are infertile, 46;\n (6) This scheme is in many points revolting to the\n common sense of mankind, 46;\n (7) It is \u2666reckless of the authority of revelation, 48.\n\n\n CHAPTER II.\n\n THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN, 49;\n Two main questions:\n 1. Is the human family older than Adam? 49;\n (1) The argument for man\u2019s high antiquity,\n From traces of his skeleton, 50;\n From his tools and works, 51;\n (2) From the traditions and chronologies of the old\n nations, 59.\n\n\n CHAPTER III.\n\n HEBREW CHRONOLOGY, 60;\n 2.\u2002How far back was Adam? 60;\n From birth of Christ back to the founding of Solomon\u2019s\n Temple, 60;\n First disputed period\u2015\u2015that of the Judges, 60;\n Second disputed period\u2015\u2015that of the sojourn in Egypt, 62;\n Third disputed period\u2015\u2015between Terah and Abraham, 64;\n Fourth disputed period\u2015\u2015from the creation to the flood, 66;\n Fifth disputed period\u2015\u2015from the flood to the call of\n Abraham, 68.\n\n\n CHAPTER IV.\n\n ANTIQUITY OF MAN RESUMED, 72;\n On the Antiquity of Egypt, 72;\n The date of Menes, its first king, and of the pyramids, 74;\n Unity of the human race: Were there races of pre-Adamic\n men, now extinct? 75;\n Are the present living races descendants of the same first\n pair? 75.\n\n\n CHAPTER V.\n\n THE SABBATH, 77;\n As old as Eden; made for man as a race.\n\n\n CHAPTER VI.\n\n THE EVENTS OF EDEN, 81;\n I. Is the description of man\u2019s fall symbolic or historic? 81;\n II.\u2002The moral trial, 84;\n III.\u2002The temptation, 87;\n IV.\u2002The fall, 88;\n The curse; the first installment of the penalty for\n transgression, 89;\n The first promise, 90.\n\n\n CHAPTER VII.\n\n FROM THE FALL TO THE FLOOD, 92;\n 1. Notes on special passages;\n Gen. 4: 1, \u201cI have gotten a man\u2015\u2015the Lord,\u201d 92;\n Gen. 4: 6, 7\u2015\u2015words of the Lord to Cain, 92;\n Gen. 4: 23, 24, the song of Lamech, 92;\n 2. Abel\u2019s offering and the origin of sacrifices, 93;\n 3. The great moral lessons of the antediluvian age, 95.\n\n\n CHAPTER VIII.\n\n THE FLOOD, 99;\n Its moral causes, 99;\n Its physical causes, 101;\n Was this flood universal? 102;\n As to the earth\u2019s surface, 102\n As to its population, 104;\n Traditions of a great deluge, 105.\n\n\n CHAPTER IX.\n\n FROM THE FLOOD TO THE CALL OF ABRAHAM, 107;\n 1. The law against murder and its death-penalty, 107;\n 2. The prophecy of Noah, 108;\n 3. The genealogy of the historic nations, 110;\n 4. Babel and the confusion of tongues, 112.\n\n\n CHAPTER X.\n\n ABRAHAM, 114;\n His personal history; the divine purposes in the new system\n inaugurated with him; Concentration of moral forces; a more\n definite _covenant_ between God and his people; Utilizing\n the family relation, 116;\n Developing a great example of the obedience of faith, 120;\n In leaving his country at God\u2019s call, 120;\n In waiting long but hopefully for his one son of promise, 120;\n In obeying the command to offer this son a sacrifice, 120;\n God\u2019s revelations to Abraham _progressive_, 122;\n The missionary idea in this system\u2015\u2015blessings to all the\n nations, 125;\n The Messiah included in these promises, 126;\n Sodom and Gomorrah, 128;\n The angel of the Lord, 130.\n\n\n CHAPTER XI.\n\n THE PATRIARCHS, ISAAC, JACOB, JOSEPH, 132;\n Isaac, 132;\n Jacob, 133;\n At Bethel, 133;\n At Mahanaim, 137;\n The struggle of prayer; The points and grounds of this\n conflict; The law of prevailing prayer, 140;\n Jacob and Joseph, 143;\n Developments of personal character, 144;\n Joseph in Egypt, 146;\n The hand of God in this history:\n Seen in the sufferings of the innocent, 155;\n Seen in overruling sin for good, 158;\n The purposes of God in locating Israel in Egypt, 160;\n Ancient Egyptian history and life confirms Moses, 162;\n Special passages considered:\n Going down into Sheol, Gen. 37: 35, 166;\n Jacob\u2019s benedictions upon his sons, Gen. 49, 168;\n The Scepter of Judah, Gen. 49: 10, 169;\n The less readable portions of Genesis, 171;\n Close of Genesis, 172.\n\n\n CHAPTER XII.\n\n EXODUS 173;\n The oppression, 173;\n Moses, 175;\n His great mission, 179;\n The ten plagues, 185:\n These plagues supernatural, 187;\n Several of them specially adapted to Egypt, 189;\n The case of the magicians, 190;\n The shape of the demand upon Pharaoh to let the people go, 193;\n The hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart, 194;\n History of the case, 194;\n What is said of God\u2019s purpose in it, 203;\n Light on this case from God\u2019s revealed character, 204.\n\n\n CHAPTER XIII.\n\n THE PASSOVER, 205;\n Consecration of all first-born, 207;\n The long route to Canaan, 209;\n The march and the pursuit, 210;\n The guiding pillar of cloud and of fire, 211;\n The locality of the Red Sea crossing, 215.\n\n\n CHAPTER XIV.\n\n THE HISTORIC CONNECTIONS OF MOSES WITH PHARAOH AND EGYPT, 216.\n\n\n \u2666CHAPTER XV.\n\n THE EVENTS NEAR AND AT SINAI, 222;\n The manna, 222;\n Rephidim; water by miracle, 225;\n The battle with Amalek, 229;\n Jethro, 230;\n The Scenes at Sinai, 232;\n The national covenant; The giving of the law, 232;\n The moral law, given from Sinai, 236;\n To be distinguished from \u201cthe statutes and judgments,\u201d 236;\n The commandments considered severally;\n 1. 238;\n 2. 239;\n 3. 241;\n 4. 241;\n 5. 243;\n 6\u20139. 243;\n 10.\u2002245;\n Progress in the revelations of God to man, 246.\n\n\n CHAPTER XVI.\n\n THE HEBREW THEOCRACY, 251;\n The supreme power, 251;\n The powers of Jehovah\u2019s Vicegerent, 253;\n The General Assembly and their Elders, 254;\n The scope afforded for self-government, democracy, 255;\n The fundamental principles of this system, 258;\n Its union of Church and State, 259;\n Its principles and usages in regard to war, with notice of the\n war-commission against the doomed Canaanites, 261;\n The grant of Canaan, and the command to extirpate the\n Canaanites, 262.\n\n\n CHAPTER XVII.\n\n THE CIVIL INSTITUTES OF MOSES, OR THE HEBREW CODE OF CIVIL LAW,\n 270;\n General view of it, 270;\n Analysis of the crimes condemned, 273;\n Crimes against God:\n Idolatry, 273;\n Perjury, 274;\n Presumptuous sins, 275;\n Violations of the Sabbath, 276;\n Blasphemy, 276;\n Magic arts, 276;\n Crimes against parents and rulers, 279;\n Crimes against person and life, _i. e._ crimes of blood, 280;\n Cities of refuge, 282;\n Murder by unknown hands, 284;\n Crimes against chastity, 285;\n Statutes to protect rights of property, 286;\n Statutes against usury, 288;\n Statutes for the relief of the poor, 289;\n Crimes against reputation, 292.\n\n\n CHAPTER XVIII.\n\n CIVIL INSTITUTES OF MOSES CONTINUED;\n Hebrew servitude, 294;\n Man-stealing, 294;\n No rendition of fugitives, 295;\n Severe personal injuries entitled to freedom, 295;\n Periodical emancipation, 296;\n Religious privileges of servants, 298;\n The slavery that existed before Moses, 299;\n The condition of Israel in bondage in Egypt, 299;\n The Jubilee, 300;\n Its bearing upon foreign servants, 301;\n Meaning of \u201cbond-servant,\u201d 302;\n Servants of foreign birth, 302;\n Judicial Procedure, 304;\n Judges, 304;\n The seat of justice, 305;\n The processes of prosecution, 305;\n Advocates, 305;\n Of witnesses, 305;\n Punishments, 306;\n Fines, 306;\n Sin and trespass offerings, 307;\n Stripes, 307;\n Excommunication, 308;\n Modes of capital punishment, 308;\n Disgrace after death, 308;\n Judicial procedure and punishment summary, 308;\n Statutes without penalties, 309;\n Two Historic Questions, 311;\n How far is this system indebted to Egypt? 311;\n How far have the best civil codes of the most civilized\n nations been indebted to this Hebrew code? 314;\n Progressive revelations of God in this code, 319.\n\n\n CHAPTER XIX.\n\n THE RELIGIOUS SYSTEM OF THE HEBREWS, 321;\n Classification of sacrifices, 322;\n Choice of animals for sacrifice, 323;\n The scenes of sacrifice, 324;\n The significance of sacrifices, 325;\n Of the portion taken as food, 326;\n Special sacrifices, 327;\n Sacred times and seasons, 327;\n The Morning and Evening Sacrifice, 327;\n The Sacrifices for the Sabbath, 328;\n The sacrifices at each new moon, 328;\n The three great festivals, 328;\n The Passover, 328;\n The Feast of Pentecost, 328;\n The Feast of Tabernacles, 329;\n The great day of Atonement, 331;\n Sacred Edifices and Apparatus, 334;\n The Sacred Orders, 335;\n Present value of the Mosaic ritual, 336;\n Its lessons on the blood of atonement, 338;\n That these lessons are steps of _progress_ in the revelation\n of God to men, 340.\n\n\n CHAPTER XX.\n\n HISTORIC EVENTS OF HEBREW HISTORY FROM SINAI TO THE JORDAN, 342;\n The golden calf, 342;\n The intercession of Moses, 343;\n The Lord reveals his name and glory, 346;\n Incidents connected with this idol-worship, 350;\n Lessons from Moses on prayer, 353;\n Taberah and Kibroth-hataavah, 354;\n Miriam and Aaron envious of Moses, 355;\n Kadesh-barnea and the unbelieving spies, 356;\n Rebellion of Korah and his company, 360;\n The fiery serpent and the brazen one, 363;\n Balak and Balaam, 364;\n Balaam\u2019s prophecies, 367;\n His prayer, 368.\n\n\n CHAPTER XXI.\n\n ON THE LAST FOUR BOOKS OF THE PENTATEUCH, 375;\n Their _method_ and _subject-matter_, 375;\n Leviticus, 376;\n Numbers, 376;\n Deuteronomy, 377;\n Deut. 12\u201326, 378;\n The prophet like Moses, 380;\n The blessings and the curses, 383;\n The last words of Moses, 384;\n The Song of Moses, 386;\n Moses blesses the tribes, Deut. 33, 394;\n Death and character of Moses, 401;\n The Mosaic system and the future life, 403;\n Progressive developments of truth and of God, 412.\n\n\n Advertisements, 415\n\n\n\n\n INTRODUCTION.\n\n THE REVELATIONS OF GOD TO MEN PROGRESSIVE.\n\n\nIT is supposable that God might have made his entire written revelation\nof himself to men _at once_, through one inspired prophet and one only;\nin one definite locality (Eden or Jerusalem), and all brought within a\ntwelve-month. But he did not deem this the wisest way. He preferred to\nspeak at considerable intervals of time\u2015\u2015through a long succession of\n\u201choly men of old;\u201d \u201cat sundry times and in diverse manners\u201d (Heb. i: 1).\nAmong the choice results of this progressive method we may name the\nfollowing: (1.) That by means of it God made large and admirable use of\n_history_. This was revealing himself to men, not simply by his _words_\nbut by his _works_. In ways which men could not well mistake, he was\nthus able to manifest himself as the God of nations; also as the God\nof families; and not least, as the God of individual men. It was vital\nto human welfare that he should place himself before men as being\nnot a heathen Brumha, sunk in unconscious sleep for ages, but as the\nAll-seeing, ever-active One, exercising a real government over men,\nruling in equity and yet with loving-kindness; ever present amid all\ntheir activities and impressing himself upon the thought and the heart\nof the race. In this line of policy how admirably did he give promises\nto his servants to inspire their faith in himself; then prove that\nfaith through years and ages of trial and delay; but at last confirm\nhis word by its signal fulfillment! By what other method could He so\neffectually reveal himself as a _personal God_\u2015\u2015the personal Friend\nof his trustful children\u2015\u2015evermore worthy of their supreme confidence,\nwhether they could or could not see at once all the reasons of his\nways?\n\nHis providential rule over nations as such found in this method ample\nscope for the fullest illustration. The record of this ruling in the\nministrations of prosperity and adversity; in the rise and the ruin\nof great nations through the lapse of the world\u2019s early centuries,\nconstitute a marvelously rich portion of this progressive revelation of\nGod to man.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015A Bible made up of words from God without any _deeds_ of\nGod would be open to dangerous misunderstanding and thus might in great\nmeasure fail of its purpose. At best it would be tame and unimpressive\ncompared with the method God has chosen of revealing himself largely\nin actual works at innumerable points along the ages for more than four\nthousand years.\n\n(2.) Again; no small gain accrued from the large number and various\nqualities of the holy men through whom God spake. The personal blessing\nto themselves was too rich to be limited to any one man. Rather let it\nbe shared by many scores of men, standing forth before their respective\ngenerations age after age from Adam down to him of Patmos.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015We may\nalso note the large range of diversity in their personal character\nand in their endowments as authors. How varied were the circumstances\nof their lives and the moral trials which were the refiner\u2019s fire to\ntheir spiritual life! How abundantly by this means did their personal\nexperiences illustrate the ways of God with those who come nearest\nto him in the fullness of heart communion! How many chapters are thus\nprovided of the most reliable most varied and easily applied Christian\nexperience!\n\nBy means of the diversity of inspired writers, the Bible is enriched\nwith the charms of a large variety in style, as well as in the\nexperiences of the Christian life. Among all the sacred penmen, no\ntwo minds are cast in the same mold. Poetry, eloquence, imagination,\nlogic, sublimity, pathos\u2015\u2015in what endless combinations do we find\nthese gifts apportioned and manifested! How should we admire the wisdom\nwhich chose out men of gifts so diversified, and then adopted a method\nof inspiration which left each writer\u2019s mind to the unrestrained\ndevelopment of its own peculiar genius.\n\n(3.) Yet farther; the progressive historical method of making up the\nBible opened the door widely for miracles and prophecy. The occasions\nfor miracles were multiplied. They could be introduced naturally where\nmanifold and not single results should accrue. In this way there was\nno need to manufacture opportunities for miraculous interposition.\nAbundant occasions arose to demand them, when consequently they had\na most thrilling effect. We may see this in the scenes of the Exodus,\nthe conquest of Canaan, the rescue of Hezekiah and his people.\n\nSo also of prophecy. It asks for _time_. On the supposition that\nthe fulfillment is to appear in the Scriptures, an interval of some\nduration must come between the utterance and the fulfillment. It was\nalso wise that prophecy should subserve the superadded purpose of\nspiritual comfort to God\u2019s people during the ages between comparative\ndarkness and forth-breaking light. In fact it gave to God\u2019s people the\nfirst single beams of morning twilight, bearing the grateful assurance\nthat the Sun of Righteousness would surely rise on the nations in the\nfullness of gospel times.\n\n(4.) Still again; by this method of making up inspired history it\nis placed side by side with profane history and the most ancient\nmonuments of the race, and thus invites investigation on the point\nof its truthfulness. Is this progressive history of God\u2019s ways toward\nmen confirmed by whatever reliable history of the same period has come\ndown to us through other sources? This point well deserves and richly\nrewards a careful examination.\n\n(5.) Moreover, it is to be presumed that God would commence his\nrevelation of himself to our race in the very infancy of their\nexistence. The Bible shows us that he did. Assuming that at this point\nthey had every thing to learn, we ought to expect that their first\nBible lessons would turn their thought to the great truths of _natural\nreligion_\u2015\u2015the manifestations of God in his _works of creation and\nprovidence_. In harmony with this reasonable expectation, we read\u2015\u2015\u201cIn\nthe beginning God created the heavens and the earth.\u201d In that opening\nchapter of revelation, God said, \u201cLet there be light,\u201d and it was;\nalso \u201ca firmament\u201d above, and it was; \u201cLet the dry land appear,\u201d and it\nappeared; \u201clet there be light-bearers in the heavens,\u201d and they shine\nforth; let grass and herbs grow; let creatures live in the waters, in\nthe air, and on the dry land, and it was so; and finally, \u201clet us make\n_man_,\u201d far unlike all the rest\u2015\u2015\u201cin our own image and likeness\u201d\u2015\u2015and\ngod-like man sprang into being. So onward the narrative witnesses to\nthe ever-present hand of God in the mists, the rains, and the teeming\nvegetation of the new-made world. God, the great Author of nature; God\nin nature and evermore over all nature, was the first lesson recorded\nin God\u2019s revelation of himself to men.\n\nIn natural order, the next lesson like this, is _God in\nprovidence_\u2015\u2015God administering the agencies of earthly good or ill,\nmaking his presence manifest among his intelligent and moral offspring,\nand even \u201ccoming down to see\u201d (as the early record has it) what men\nwere doing and whether the cry coming up to him told truthfully of the\nguilty violence perpetrated by man upon his fellows. This idea\u2015\u2015God\nruling over the race in righteous retribution for their good or\nevil deeds\u2015\u2015was obviously one of the first great moral lessons to be\nillustrated, enforced, impressed. So vital is this conviction to the\nends of a moral government that it should not surprise us if the actual\nadministration of present rewards and punishments in the common course\nof human life in this world should be made far more prominent and\npalpable in the early than in the later ages of the race, so much so as\nto force itself upon the dullest eyes and compel the attention of the\nmost stupid and reluctant observers.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Such (we shall have occasion\nto notice) was unquestionably the divine policy throughout the earlier\nstages of human history, abundantly apparent in the records of the\nBible. In later times, the exigencies of a system of probation, and\nespecially the importance of giving large scope to _faith_, after\nsufficient evidence has been afforded, served to impose narrower limits\nupon present retribution, reserving the larger share to the perfect\nadjustments of the great future. In the earlier stages of human history,\nit would obviously be vital to give men sufficient demonstration that\nGod _does rule_, and therefore is to be believed when he threatens to\npunish either here or hereafter, and consequently is evermore to be\n_feared_ as the certain avenger of crime. Hence the imperative need\nin those early ages of such manifestations of God\u2019s justice as would\nimpress the _fear_ of his name. With our eye open to the native pride\nof depraved souls and to their appalling tendency to disown God and bid\nhim \u201cdepart\u201d and not trouble them with his \u201cways,\u201d it will not surprise\nus that God should shape his earliest agencies of providence to inspire\nfear rather than love. It needs but the least thought to see that this\npolicy was a simple necessity\u2015\u2015the most obvious dictate of wisdom.\nIn this point revelation might naturally be _progressive_, advancing as\nsoon as was safe and wise from manifestations inspiring fear to those\nwhich would reveal his love.\n\nThe doctrine of divine providence in regard to the sufferings of good\nmen\u2015\u2015one of the hardest problems of human life\u2015\u2015might be expected to\nunfold itself gradually. It would be quite too much for the infancy of\nhuman thought and knowledge to grasp this problem and master all its\nintricacies. Hence the scope for a gradual unfolding (as we may see)\nall the way from the discussions in Job and the Psalms to the clearer\nlight which shines in the epistle to the Hebrews, as also in Peter and\nPaul. This beautiful illustration of progress in divine revelation will\nwell reward attention in its place.\n\n(6.) On the supposition that God\u2019s scheme for the recovery of our\nlost race contemplated some atonement for sin\u2015\u2015a provision in its very\nnature and relations toward both God and man exceedingly delicate and\ncritical\u2015\u2015it is at least presumable beforehand that God would bring\nout this idea _with great care_\u2015\u2015with the wisest precaution against\nmisconception, and not improbably with some foregoing illustrations\nof its significance and of its intended application. Precisely this\nwe see in the great sacrificial system of the Mosaic economy. We only\nput essentially the same idea into other and more general terms when\nwe say that a protracted course of successive revelations provides\nfor making an antecedent economy pave the way for a subsequent one\u2015\u2015a\nfirst revelation preparatory to a second\u2015\u2015one set of ideas imprinted\nand impressed upon the human mind, made conducive to other and higher\nrevelations yet to follow. The wisdom of such progressions can not fail\nto impress itself upon all thoughtful minds.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Thus God\u2019s revelations\nof himself from age to age were adjusted to the advance in spiritual\ndevelopment which he had provided for in the human mind. As training\nand culture developed higher capacities, new lessons were in order and\nhigher attainments were made. \u201cWhoso is wise and will observe these\nthings, even they shall understand\u201d the loving-kindness and matchless\nwisdom of the Lord.\n\nTo forestall misapprehensions (possible and sometimes actual), let\nit be noted that progress in the revealed science of God by no means\nsupersedes what has gone before. Naturally it only serves to place old\ntruths in new and richer light. No one fact affirmed concerning God\nin the earlier ages is denied in the later. Certain features of his\ncharacter may be brought out more prominently in the later lessons, but\nthere is no unsaying of the things said before. Nothing can conflict\nwith this axiom of divine science\u2015\u2015\u201cI am the Lord; I change not.\u201d\nProminence may be given in the early ages to such manifestations as\nimpress men with fear and as set forth God\u2019s righteous justice toward\ntransgressors; while later revelations may disclose more fully the\ndepths of divine love and compassion. Yet let none infer that God is\nless just in the New Testament than in the Old, or that the earlier\npolicy of God\u2019s throne has been modified to a larger leniency toward\npersistent criminals. The men who flippantly talk of throwing aside the\nolder revelation \u201cas they do an old almanac\u201d mistake most egregiously.\nGod has written nothing to be thrown aside. The oldest records still\ngive us lessons of God shining with unfading freshness and undimmed\nglory. The statutes binding on Israel in the wilderness and in Canaan\nmay not be in the same sense binding on our age, but they have not\nfor this reason become valueless. They made revelations of God then,\ntruthful and rich; they make revelations of God still which it were\nbut small indication of wisdom or good sense to ignore.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n CREATION.\n\n\nFITLY the written word of God to the race begins with the _creation_.\nIn every reflecting mind the first inquiry must be this: Whence am I?\nWhence came my being\u2015\u2015this wonderful existence; these active powers?\nIt must be that I am indebted for all these gifts to some higher Being;\nhow earnestly then do I ask\u2015\u2015_To whom?_\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015No other question can claim\npriority to this. Every thing in its nature and relations gives it\nprecedence above all other questions. Inasmuch as my reason affirms\nto me that I owe my existence to some great Maker, I feel that I must\nknow Him and must know my responsibilities to Him. I need to learn also\nhow the further question\u2015\u2015my future destiny\u2015\u2015may link itself with my\nrelations to Him who brought me into being.\n\nOf secondary yet similar interest are the corresponding questions as\nto the world we live in. Who made it? Does its Maker hold it under his\nown control? Does He still operate its forces and wield its agencies?\nHave I any obligations and duties toward Him who made the earth and all\nthat is therein? Verily I must assume that if there be a God, at once\nCreator and Upholder of the earth and Father of his rational offspring,\nhis written word will hasten to throw light on the otherwise dark minds\nof his children\u2015\u2015will let them know that \u201cin the beginning God made the\nheavens and the earth\u201d and man.\n\nThe _moral lessons_ of this great fact\u2015\u2015God our Creator\u2015\u2015are forcibly\nbrought out in later scriptures. Listen to the Psalmist: \u201cO come, let\nus sing unto the Lord ... for he is a great God and a great King above\nall gods. In his hands are the deep places of the earth; the strength\nof the hills is his also. The sea is his and he made it, and his hands\nformed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel\nbefore the Lord our Maker, for he is our God and we are the people of\nhis pasture and the sheep of his hand.\u201d (Ps. 95: 1\u20137.) Note also the\nblended sublimity and beauty of David\u2019s appeal: \u201cPraise the Lord; sing\nunto him a new song, for the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.\nBy the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them\nby the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together\nas an heap; he layeth up the depth in store-houses. Let all the earth\nfear the Lord; let the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him,\nfor he spake and it was: he commanded, and it stood fast.\u201d (Ps. 33:\n1\u20139.) Still higher if possible rises the lofty strain of Isaiah when\nhe would set forth the unequalled power of the great Creator as the\nRefuge and Salvation of his trustful children:\u2015\u2015\u201cWho hath measured\nthe waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out heaven with a span,\nand comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the\nmountains in scales and the hills in a balance? To whom then will ye\nliken God\u201d? etc. (Isa. 40: 12, 18).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015So when Job had indulged himself\ntoo far in questioning the ways of God in providence, the Lord replied\nout of the whirlwind, demanding of him\u2015\u2015\u201cWhere wert thou when I laid\nthe foundations of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding. Who\nhath laid the measures thereof if thou knowest\u2015\u2015who hath stretched the\nline upon it? Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened, or who\nlaid the corner-stone thereof when the morning stars sang together and\nall the sons of God shouted for joy\u201d?... \u201cCanst thou lift up thy voice\nto the clouds that abundance of waters may cover thee? Canst thou send\nlightnings that they may go and say unto thee, Here are we\u201d? (Job 38:\n4\u20137, 34, 35.)\n\nIn that great conflict of ages against idolatry, the one final appeal\nwas wont to be made to this great fact of God\u2019s Creatorship. We have\nexamples in Ps. 115: 2\u20138 and Jer. 10: 1\u201316 and elsewhere.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Thus\nthroughout the sacred word this great fact that God is our Creator,\ninvolving the whole sphere of God in nature, stands as the first\nwitness to his true divinity, the first proof that in him we live\nand have our being\u2015\u2015the ground of the first claim upon us for\nsupreme homage, worship, trust, love and obedience. The first lessons\ntaught in Eden were taken from this great and open volume of natural\nreligion. The first lessons which God\u2019s people were to place before\nthe heathen in their mission work of the early ages were drawn from\nthe visible worlds and from their testimony to the Great Creator. These\nmanifestations are the alphabet of God; the point therefore from which\nprogressive revelations begin.\n\nNoticeably the record of the creation (Gen. 1 and 2) rests not with\nsimply giving the general statement that God made all things, but\nenters somewhat into the particulars, reciting in certain points the\n_steps of the process and the order of its details_. First the heavens\nand the earth had a beginning and this beginning was _from God_. At\nsome stage in the process, perhaps the next in order after the heavens\nand the earth could be said to be, the earth was chaotic, _i. e._\nformless and desolate; then God brought forth light; then to clear the\natmosphere somewhat of mists and vapors, he caused some of its waters\nto rise into the expanse, and some to descend to the earth below;\nthen gathered waters below into seas, leaving portions of the earth\u2019s\nsurface dry land. Then he brought forth grass and herbage; next, the\nlight-bearers in the heavens appeared\u2015\u2015the sun, moon and stars; then\ncame into being fish, reptiles and fowl; and on the sixth day land,\nanimals and man. Thus in six successive periods of time, through steps\nof gradation easily traced by the witnessing \u201csons of God\u201d (Job 38: 7),\nthe processes of this creative work were finished. The Great Father\nwould have his first-born unfallen \u201csons\u201d as well as his later-born and\nredeemed children enjoy these works of his creative hand, and therefore\nhe developed them slowly and in the order of naturally successive steps\nthat they might see that all was truly \u201cgood,\u201d \u201cvery good.\u201d\n\nPartly because of advances made within recent times in physical\nscience, partly because of speculations not always friendly in tone to\nthe inspired record, and partly because of the intrinsic interest and\nimportance of the subject, some special points in this narrative demand\nvery particular attention.\n\n1. _The origin of the written record and the manner of its revelation\nto men._\n\nThe entire book of Genesis is ascribed to Moses on most valid grounds;\nwhether as compiler only or as original author, is, therefore, the\nfirst question.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015I do not see how this point can be determined with\nabsolute certainty. The probabilities in my view favor the supposition\nof previously written documents, these probabilities arising, not\nto any considerable extent from manifest differences of style in\nits various portions, and not at all from diversities in the use\nof the names of God, Jehovah and Elohim; but mainly from the strong\npresumption that such genealogical records as abound in Genesis,\ncoupled so largely with numbers, would be put in writing before the\nage of Moses. Men who had the knowledge of writing would certainly\nappreciate its utility for the preservation of such facts as\nthese.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015And further; the very use of the word \u201cgenerations\u201d[1]\n(Gen. 2: 4) in the sense of history, and much more still the statement\n(Gen. 5: 1), \u201cThis is the _book_ of the generations of Adam,\u201d raise\nthis presumption nearly or quite to a certainty.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In making up the\nhistorical portions of the Scriptures it seems rational to assume that\nthe Lord moved \u201choly men of old\u201d to put in writing such facts falling\nunder their personal observation and immediate knowledge as he deemed\nuseful for these sacred records. In some cases the writer might be\n(as was Luke) just one remove from the original eye-witnesses, yet\nin a position to learn the facts with \u201cperfect understanding\u201d and\n\u201ccertainty.\u201d We should not doubt the _power_ of God to give to holy\nmen these historic facts by immediate revelation; but the question is\nnot one of power, but of wisdom, of divine policy, and of fact. The\ndivine policy seems to have been (in this case as in miracles) never\nto introduce the supernatural, the miraculous, to do what the natural\nmight accomplish equally well. On this principle inspired men were\nmoved of God to use their own eyes and minds in writing Scripture\nhistory in all cases when the facts came within their certain knowledge.\nThere were facts, like these of the creation, which fell under no human\neye, and which therefore do not come under this principle. Some form\nof direct revelation from God is, therefore, to be assumed here. Though\nthe supposition of a revealing angel might find some support from\nsubsequent prophetic Scriptures, yet a direct revelation from God to\nsome inspired writer is the more obvious supposition.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It has been\nasked\u2015\u2015Was this creation in its processes and announcements shown in a\nmanner analogous to prophetic vision\u2015\u2015the writer then recording in his\nown phrase what he saw and heard?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015There being no testimony on this\npoint from either of the two parties\u2015\u2015the divine Revealer or the human\nwriter\u2015\u2015we must leave it undecided. Fortunately it is of no particular\nimportance to us.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It is, however, of some importance that we\nconsider the question whether in this account of the creation we are\nto look for statements adjusted to science\u2015\u2015not merely to the stage of\nits progress in this present year of the nineteenth century, but to the\nperfect science of ultimate fact; or, on the other hand, for statements\nadapted to the average mind of Hebrew readers in the age of Moses,\nwritten for their comprehension, instruction and spiritual culture. I\nanswer unhesitatingly, the latter. \u201cAll Scripture, given by inspiration\nof God, is profitable for doctrine ... and for instruction in\nrighteousness\u201d (2 Tim. 3: 16), and was of God designed and shaped for\nthese ends.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Yet let it be borne in mind; these statements respecting\nthe processes of creation, being in the sense intended, actually true,\nwill not conflict with any true science. They may omit processes which\nhuman analysis and research may render probable, passing them as not\ngermain to the scope of a moral revelation and as not likely to be\nintelligible to the masses of mankind.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Finally\u2015\u2015that the assumed\nstand-point of view from which these processes of creation are\ncontemplated is on this earth and not elsewhere in the universe is\ncertain from the fact that it was written to be read and understood by\nmen and not by angels. Hence we must expect the facts to be presented\n_as they would have appeared to a supposed observer upon our globe_.\n\n2. _What is the true idea of nature, and what the line between nature\nand the supernatural?_\n\nA reference to familiar facts will best set forth the case. Thus; it\nis in and by nature that at a certain temperature water becomes vapor;\nat another temperature, ice; that vapor rises in the atmosphere, water\nruns downward, and ice abides under the laws of solids. On the other\nhand it is _not_ in nature that water in any of its forms creates\nitself. Its elements can not begin to be, save by some power above\nnature.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Again, by nature plants and animals reproduce their kind,\nbut never can of themselves _begin_ their own existence. Hence some of\nthe processes brought before us in this record of creation come under\nthe head of nature; others are as obviously supernatural\u2015\u2015from the\nimmediate hand of God. The work of the second day\u2015\u2015the mists of the\natmosphere, in part ascending in vapor, in part precipitated upon the\nearth in water\u2015\u2015seems to have followed natural law. In the work of the\nthird, the waters on higher portions of the earth\u2019s surface subsiding\ninto the seas, follow the law of flowing water. But the original\ncreation of matter and the beginnings of life, both vegetable and\nanimal, must have been supernatural\u2015\u2015from the immediate fiat of the\nAlmighty.\n\nThis point would scarcely need special definition had not extreme views\nbeen put forth in our times; as (_e. g._) that nature is virtually\na second-rate deity\u2015\u2015indebted to God, indeed, for the original gift\nof its powers, but thenceforward working those powers independently\nof God\u2015\u2015made to run without God after he has once wound it up as the\nmechanic makes and winds up his watch. But the Scriptures recognize no\nsuch semi-deification of nature. According to their teaching, God still\n\u201c_upholds_ all things by the word of his power\u201d (Heb. 1: 3); \u201cBy him\nall things consist\u201d (Col. 1: 17)\u2015\u2015_i. e._, are maintained in their\nexistence\u2015\u2015are held to system and order under natural law. It is\nprecisely God himself who gives or withholds the rain; who calls to\nthe lightnings and they answer, \u201cHere we are\u201d\u2015\u2015(Job 38: 35); and it\nis none the less God who wields these agencies because he does it in\nharmony with principles which are just as fixed as he pleases to have\nthem. Therefore true science will take no exception to the doctrine\nthat nature is nothing more or less than _God\u2019s established mode of\noperation_. We may call these modes of operations \u201claws\u201d or \u201cpowers,\u201d\nand may think and speak of them as constituting \u201cNature;\u201d but if we\ncome to regard Nature as a maker and a doer, working independently of\nGod, we have (inadvertently perhaps, but none the less really) ruled\nGod out of his own universe. Both Scripture and reason hold that \u201cin\nhim we live and move and have our being.\u201d (Acts 17: 28.) The broad fact\nthat God\u2019s intelligent creatures must live in this material world and\nbe constantly acting upon matter and acted upon by matter, suggests\nabundant reasons why God should ordain fixed laws for the changes and\nstates of all material things. But why should we think of God\u2019s hand as\nany the less present in all these changes of material states and forms\nbecause they follow fixed and ascertainable laws? In truth the divine\nwisdom is only the more abundantly manifested by means of this reliable\nuniformity.\n\nAnother doctrine yet more extreme severs all connection between\nnature and an intelligent Power above and over her, and thus makes\nher _supreme_ in her domain. This is so far Atheism\u2015\u2015ruling God out\nfrom at least the entire material universe.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Yet, again; to make\nnature herself intelligent\u2015\u2015to ascribe to nature whatever traces of\ndesign appear in her operations, and to hold that nature is herself\nthe universe, undistinguishable from any higher spiritual power, is\nPantheism.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It is therefore important to define nature so that her\ntrue relations to the Supreme Intelligence\u2015\u2015the very God\u2015\u2015Creator\nand Lord of the universe\u2015\u2015shall be distinctly seen and reverently\nrecognized.\n\nThe advocates of extreme naturalism have labored faithfully to verify\ntheir doctrine by experiment. They have put Nature to task\u2015\u2015not to\nsay torture\u2015\u2015to compel her to originate _life_. Pushing their chemical\nanalysis of those forms of matter in which life is thought specially to\nreside, they flatter themselves that they have at last got their hands\non the very elements which, brought together, make life, viz. carbonic\nacid, ammonia, and water, chemically combined. To this compound they\ngive the name, \u201cprotoplasm.\u201d They have found, they say, that where life\nis there is protoplasm, its home and dwelling-place at least; and that\nlife never appears lodging in any other home. They can not see that the\npresence of life adds any thing to this compound, or that its absence\ntakes any thing away. Therefore they are sure they have found what\nmakes life.\n\nNow the skillful chemist in his laboratory has not the least difficulty\nin providing himself with carbonic acid, ammonia, and water. Why then\ndoes he not evolve the long-sought-for _life-force_ and prove his\ndoctrine, past all doubt? Let him bring out new beings, new forms of\nlife, vegetable or animal or both, in ample diversity, for the range\nis unlimited. Let his laboratory push forth into being such troops of\noffspring as will forever confound gainsayers and prove that Nature,\nproperly manipulated, is equal to the production of life-forces in\nendless variety and abundance.\n\nHave any modern scientists done this? Not yet. Have they made any\napproximation toward it? Mr. Huxley thinks he has come so near to it\nthat if he could only have at his service the favorable conditions of\nthe very earliest state of matter, he should succeed. \u201cIf it were given\nme (says he) to look beyond the abyss of geologically-recorded time\nto the still more remote period when the earth was passing through\nphysical and chemical conditions which it can no more see again than\na man can recall his infancy, _I should expect to be a witness of the\nevolution of living protoplasm from not living matter_. That is the\nexpectation to which analogical reasoning leads me.\u201d[2]\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u201cNot living\nmatter evolving living protoplasm\u201d means that matter itself, dead\nmatter, begets real life. Nature would thus become herself a creator,\nexercising the most decisive functions of the Infinite God. Mr. Huxley\ncan not make Nature do this exploit in the present state of this world\nor of the universe; but he fully believes there was a time when he\nshould have seen it if he had been there! This is his proof of the\nnew doctrine. He will not presume to \u201ccall it any thing but an act\nof philosophic faith.\u201d\n\n3. _The sense of the word \u201cday\u201d as used in Gen. I. of the six days of\ncreation._\n\nTo simplify the subject I make the single issue\u2015\u2015Is it a period of\ntwenty-four hours, or a period of special character, indefinitely\nlong? The latter theory supposes the word to refer here not so much\nto _duration_ as to _special character_\u2015\u2015the sort of work done and the\nchanges produced during the period contemplated.\n\nTurning our attention to this latter theory, we raise three leading\ninquiries:\n\n(1.) Do the laws of language and, specially, does the usage of the word\n\u201cday\u201d permit it?\n\n(2.) Apart from the bearing of geological facts, are there points in\nthe narrative itself which demand or even favor this sense of the word?\n\n(3.) What are the geological facts bearing on this question, and what\nweight may legitimately be accorded to them?\n\n(1.) Beyond all question the word \u201cday\u201d is used abundantly, (and\ntherefore admits of being used) to denote a period of special\ncharacter, with no particular reference to its duration. We have a\ncase in this immediate connection (Gen. 2: 4), where it is used of the\nwhole creative period: \u201cIn the _day_ that the Lord God made the earth\nand the heavens.\u201d Under the same usage we have \u201cthe _day_ of the Lord\u201d\n(1 Thess. 5: 2) for the day of judgment; \u201cthe _day_ of God,\u201d in the\nsame sense (2 Pet. 3: 12); \u201cthe _day_ of salvation\u201d (2 Cor. 6: 2);\n\u201cday of redemption\u201d (Eph. 4: 30); a \u201cday of darkness and of gloominess;\na day of clouds and of thick darkness\u201d (Joel 2: 2). \u201cIn the day of\nprosperity, be joyful; but in the day of adversity, consider\u201d (Eccl.\n7: 14). \u201cIf thou hadst known in this thy _day_ the things,\u201d etc. (Luke\n19: 42). So also Job 19: 25, and John 8: 56, etc.\n\nTo set aside this testimony from usage as being inapplicable to the\npresent case, it has been said\u2015\u2015(a.) That here is a succession of days,\n\u201cfirst day,\u201d \u201csecond day,\u201d \u201cthird day,\u201d etc., and that this requires\nthe usual sense of days of the week.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015To which the answer is that\nhere are six special periods succeeding each other\u2015\u2015a sufficient\nreason for using the word in the peculiar sense of a period of special\ncharacter. Each of these periods is distinct from any and all the rest\nin the character of the work wrought in it.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The reason for dividing\nthe creative work into six periods\u2015\u2015\u201cdays\u201d\u2015\u2015rather than into more or\nfewer lies in the divine wisdom as to the best proportion of days of\nman\u2019s labor to the one day of his rest, the Sabbath. God\u2019s plan for\nhis creative work contemplated his own example as suggestive of man\u2019s\nSabbath and was shaped accordingly. This accounts for dividing the work\nof creation into six special periods, correlated to God\u2019s day of rest\nfrom creative work.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b.) It will also be urged that each of these\ndays is said to be made up of evening and of morning\u2015\u2015\u201cThe evening\nand the morning were the first day,\u201d etc. But the strength of this\nobjection comes mainly from mistranslation and consequent misconception\nof the original. The precise thought is not that evening and morning\ncomposed or made up one full day; but rather this: There was evening\nand there was morning\u2015\u2015day one, _i. e._, day number one. There was\ndarkness and then there was light, indicating one of the great creative\nperiods.[3]\n\nIt is one thing to say\u2015\u2015There were alternations of evening and\nmorning\u2015\u2015_i. e._ dark scenes and bright scenes\u2015\u2015marking the successive\nperiods of creation, first, second, third, etc.; and another thing to\naffirm that each of these evenings and mornings _made up_ a day. The\npoint specially affirmed in the two cases, though somewhat analogous,\nis not by any means identical.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Let it be considered moreover, that\nwhile in Hebrew as in English, _night_ and _day_ are often used for the\naverage twelve-hour duration of darkness and of light respectively in\neach twenty-four hours, yet in neither language are the words _evening_\nand _morning_ used in this sense, as synonymous with night and day.\nIndeed \u201cevening\u201d and \u201cmorning\u201d are rather points than periods of time;\ncertainly do not indicate any definite amount of time\u2015\u2015any precise\nnumber of hours; but are used to denote the two great changes\u2015\u2015_i. e._\nfrom light to darkness and from darkness to light; in other words,\nfrom day to night and from night to day. Therefore to make evening and\nmorning added together constitute one day is entirely without warrant\nin either Hebrew or English usage and can not be the meaning of these\npassages in Genesis.[4]\n\n(2.) _The showing of the narrative itself_, considered apart from the\nbearing of geological facts.\n\n(a.) Here vs. 3\u20135 demand special attention, this first day being the\nmodel one.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015I understand \u201cevening\u201d to be the chaotic state of v. 2,\nwhen \u201cdarkness was on the face of the deep,\u201d and \u201cmorning\u201d to be that\nfirst \u201clight\u201d which God spake into being. The reason for using these\nwords\u2015\u2015\u201cevening and morning\u201d\u2015\u2015in this sense I find in the universal\nsentiment of mankind that light is pleasant and darkness is not. This\nsentiment is indicated here; \u201cGod saw the light that it was good.\u201d The\nstate of chaos was in contrast with this\u2015\u2015dismal, dreary, awakening no\nsense of beauty or order; no emotions of joy. The light of day brings\njoy, and the freshest and best sensation of it comes with the morning.\nHence these words were fitly and beautifully appropriate to the two\ngreat creative states\u2015\u2015first chaos; secondly, light\u2015\u2015which together\nmarked off the first of the six creative days.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But we can not for\na moment think of this chaotic state as being only twelve hours. We\ncan not rationally think of the word \u201cevening\u201d applied to it as having\nany reference to time, duration. It was an evening only in the sense\nof being dark, desolate, any thing but joyous like the morning. The\nword \u201cevening\u201d may be chosen rather than night for the sake of a more\nperfect antithesis with \u201cmorning.\u201d\n\n(b.) Throughout at least the first three of these creative epochs\nthere was no sun-rising and setting to mark off the ordinary day.\nThese therefore were not the common human day; but, as Augustine long\nago said, these are the days of God\u2015\u2015divine days\u2015\u2015measuring off his\ngreat creative periods. God moved through these six great periods by\nsuccessive stages of labor and of rest. Beginning with the long evening\nof chaos; then advancing to a glorious day of light; then, after a\ncessation analogous to man\u2019s rest by night, he proceeded to the work of\nthe second day\u2015\u2015the joyous and beautiful development of the firmament\nin the heavens. So onward by stages of repose and of activity, these\nfigurative evenings and mornings continued through the six successive\nepochs of creation.\n\n(c.) In some at least of these creative epochs, the work done demands\nmore time than twenty-four hours. For example, the gathering of the\nwaters from under the heavens into one place to constitute the seas\nor oceans and leave portions of the earth\u2019s surface dry land. Nothing\nshort of absolute miracle could effect this in one human day. But\nmiracle should not be assumed here, the rule of reason and the normal\nlaw of God\u2019s operations being never to work a miracle in a case where\nthe ordinary course of nature will accomplish the same results equally\nwell. We must the more surely exclude miracle and assume the action of\nnatural law only throughout these processes of the creative work\nbecause the very purpose of a protracted rather than an instantaneous\ncreation looked manifestly to the enlightenment, instruction, interest,\nand joy of those \u201cmorning stars,\u201d the \u201csons of God\u201d who beheld the\nscene, then \u201csang together and shouted for joy\u201d (Job 38: 7).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\n\nThe greatness of the work assigned to the fourth day stringently\nforbids our compressing it within the limits of one ordinary human day.\nEspecially is this the case if we understand the verse to speak of the\noriginal creation of these light-bearers\u2015\u2015the sun and the moon and the\nstars also, and of their adjustment in their spheres for their assigned\nwork. Think of the vastness of the sun and of the numbers, magnitude,\nand immense distances of the stars; and ask how it is possible that the\ncreation of these bodies could be either instructive or joyful to the\nbeholding angels if it had been all rushed through within twenty-four\nhours of human time.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This difficulty is in a measure relieved if we\nsuppose the fourth day\u2019s work to have been, not the original creation\nof these heavenly bodies, but only the bringing of them into the\nview of a supposed spectator upon the earth\u2015\u2015_i. e._ by clearing the\natmosphere so as to make these heavenly bodies visible. The question at\nissue between these two constructions of the fourth day\u2019s work must be\nexamined in its place.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The amount of creative and other work brought\nwithin the sixth day should be noticed. First, God created all the\nland animals; then Adam; then he brought \u201cevery beast of the field and\nevery fowl of the air\u201d to Adam to see what he would call them\u2015\u2015which at\nleast must assume that Adam had attained a somewhat full knowledge of\nlanguage, and that he had time enough to study the special character\nof each animal so as to give each one its appropriate name, and time\nenough also to ascertain that there was not one among them all adapted\nto be a \u201chelpmeet\u201d for himself. Then the \u201cdeep sleep\u201d of Adam\u2015\u2015how long\nprotracted, the record saith not; and finally the creation of Eve from\none of his ribs\u2015\u2015all to come within the sixth day; for the creation of\nEve certainly falls within this day, being a part of the creative work,\nand accomplished, therefore, before God\u2019s seventh day of rest from all\nhis work began. These labors of the sixth day, moreover, were precisely\nsuch as should not be rushed through in haste. The importance, not to\nsay solemnity, of these transactions and the special interest they must\nbe supposed to awaken in the first-born \u201csons of God\u201d most stringently\npreclude precipitate haste. It is not easy to see how Moses or his\nintelligent readers of the early time could have supposed all this to\nhave transpired within the twelve hours of light in a human day.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015We\nmay say, moreover, in regard to each and all of these six creative\nperiods that if the holy angels were indeed spectators of these scenes\nand if God adjusted his methods of creation to the capacities of these\npupils\u2015\u2015these admiring students of his glorious works\u2015\u2015then surely\nwe must not think of his compressing them within the period of six\nhuman days. Divine days they certainly must have been, sufficiently\nprotracted to afford finite minds scope for intelligent study, adoring\ncontemplation, and as the Bible indicates, most rapturous shouts of joy.\n\nAgainst the theory of indefinitely long periods, it is objected that\n_the law of the Sabbath demands the usual sense of the word \u201cday.\u201d_\nThe record in Gen. 2: 2, 3, is\u2015\u2015\u201cOn the seventh day God ended his work\nwhich he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work\nwhich he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,\nbecause that in it he had rested from all his work which he had created\nand made.\u201d The words of the fourth command are\u2015\u2015\u201cSix days shalt thou\nlabor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the\nLord thy God, etc.\u2015\u2015for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth:\nwherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nreal argument here rests on the analogy between God\u2019s working and\nresting, and man\u2019s labor and rest. In each case the period of labor\nis six out of seven; of rest, one in seven. This argument does not\nrequire that God\u2019s six working days and one resting day should be of\ntwenty-four hours each. If it did, we should be hard pressed to show\nthat God\u2019s seventh day of rest from creation\u2019s work was a merely human\nday from sun to sun. No; it suffices if we make God\u2019s days of creative\nenergy and of creative rest each and all _divine days_\u2015\u2015all alike\nperiods of indefinite length\u2015\u2015all of the same sort; and on the other\nhand man\u2019s days of labor and his day of rest, all human days, of the\nsame sort with each other, from sun to sun. As God\u2019s resting day is\nplainly of indefinite length\u2015\u2015a period known by its character and not\nby its duration, so should his days of creative labor be: not only\nso _may_ they be, but so they _ought_ to be according to the analogy\nand argument in the case.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015We come therefore to the conclusion that\nentirely apart from the demands of geological science, the creative\ndays must be periods of indefinite length, called \u201cdays\u201d with reference\nto the peculiar work done in them and to their peculiar character, and\nnot as being the ordinary human day of twenty-four hours. It may be\nadmitted, moreover, that the phraseology and the whole shaping of the\nnarrative in respect to days may have contemplated the institution\nof the Sabbath\u2015\u2015to be founded as shown above upon the analogy of\nGod\u2019s labor and rest with man\u2019s permitted labor and enjoined rest in\ncommemoration of God\u2019s work of creation.\n\n(3.) We are to consider _the geological facts bearing on this point and\nthe weight legitimately due to them_.\n\nIf the point last put has been sustained, it will be seen at the\noutset that even should geology make large demands for time, far\nbeyond the ordinary human day, we shall have no occasion to strain\nthe laws of interpretation to bring the record into harmony with such\ndemands.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015We open this inquiry therefore into the facts of geology,\nnot so much to make out if possible a harmony between them and Genesis\nby toning down the facts of science or by toning up the inspired record,\nas to show how readily and how beautifully the facts just as they are\n(so far as known) accord with the legitimate sense of the sacred record.\n\nPreliminary to the main inquiry before us is the question as to the\nprimary original state of matter. Was it brought into existence in\nits primordial elements\u2015\u2015those molecules which not only defy all human\neffort at analysis, but which seem to be in their nature the simplest\nforms of matter?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Chemistry has shown that many of the most familiar\nsubstances, long supposed to be simple, are really compound. Were\nthey brought into existence in the state in which we commonly see\nthem, or in their ultimate, most simple elements? For example, did\nGod originally create water, or the two gases (hydrogen and oxygen) of\nwhich it is composed, which were subsequently combined chemically into\nwater?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015On this point the Scriptures are silent. If Science has any\nthing to reveal about it, the field is open to her and she may proceed,\nnothing in the sacred Scriptures dissenting or restricting. If she\nsucceeds in proving or half proving that the first state of matter\nwas nebulous\u2015\u2015a \u201cfire-mist\u201d\u2015\u2015gaseous in form, very well. I do not see\nthat the record of Moses contests this theory. It passes this point\nwith no dogmatic statements whatever, not even a fact which necessarily\nimplies either the affirmative or the negative. The record in Genesis\ndoes assume that at the point where the second day\u2019s work begins, the\natmosphere was heavily charged with vapor, and that a part of this\nwas precipitated upon the earth in water and a part borne upward into\nthe higher strata of the atmosphere. The third day\u2019s work gathered\nthe waters then upon the earth\u2019s surface into the ocean beds and left\nportions of the land dry. Consequently the state of the atmosphere, and\nin general the condition of the waters of our globe were not arranged\nat first just as we have them now. So much we are told.\n\nThere are yet other preliminary questions.\n\nOn the shores of lakes, seas, oceans, we find pebbles rounded and\nsmooth, mineralogically of the same elements which are found in rock\nformations. Were they created in this rounded and worn state, or were\nthey once portions of these rock strata, but subsequently broken up by\nnatural agencies and worn by the action of flowing water?\n\nAnother case. Coal beds often contain what seem to be whole trees and\nhuge vegetables (ferns, etc.) apparently charred and converted into\ncoal. Were they created just as we find them, or were they indeed trees\nand vegetables before they became coal?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Yet another case. The rocks\nnearest the surface contain almost universally more or less of what\nseem like fossilized plants and animals. They have the form of the\nplant or animal in wonderful perfection. Were these fossiliferous\nrocks, containing apparent fossils, created as we see them, or were\nthese fossils once real plants and animals?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015I see no reason whatever\nto hesitate over these questions. We can not suppose that God created\nthese worn and rounded pebbles, these charred trees and ferns, these\nprints of animal footsteps\u2015\u2015these _fac-similes_ of his creative work\nin the vegetable and animal kingdom, for the sake of puzzling or\nmisleading, or, in plainest words, deceiving his intelligent offspring.\nHe never could have meant to baffle all scientific inquiry into his\nworks of creation. Rather we must assume that he lays his works open\nto such inquiries, and invites men to study and learn his ways. If this\nbe admitted, it follows that these stratified and fossil-bearing rocks\nopen to us a great volume of Pre-Adamic history of our globe, revealing\nits processes of rock-formation; to some extent its climatic and\nvarious conditions for the support of life, vegetable and animal, and\nfor its successive populations of plants and animals.\n\nGrouping comprehensively some geological facts bearing on the\nduration of the great creative periods, I note (1.) Vast strata of\nrock-formations, widely diverse from each other, too diverse to have\nbeen formed under the same circumstances and conditions of our globe.\nSome\u2015\u2015the lowest in relative position\u2015\u2015appear to have been once in a\nstate of fusion under intense heat, while others\u2015\u2015in general all the\nhigher rocks\u2015\u2015seem to have been deposited under water. Mineralogically,\nthese rocks differ from each other very widely and also from the fused\nrocks.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(2.) Again, some are manifestly composed of fragments of\npre-existing rocks, broken off and worn by long-continued attrition\nand then compacted\u2015\u2015known as pudding-stone\u2015\u2015the breccias.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(3.) Yet\nagain; immense strata of these intermediate and higher rocks contain\nfossil organic remains, some of vegetables, others of animals or of\nboth, and also in very great variety. More marvelous still; they are\nfound occurring in groups, bearing a well defined relation to each\nother, so that one strata of rock contains species of vegetables and\nalso of animals in a measure adapted to each other, and adjusted to\nthe condition of the earth\u2019s surface and climate at one and the same\ntime. Another strata shall contain a different group, to some extent\nnew and yet not altogether so, but lapping on with some of the earth\u2019s\nold inhabitants reproduced, and omitting other species.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(4.) Again,\nimmense beds of coal are found, undoubtedly of vegetable origin,\ndiffering somewhat widely from each other as having been formed from\ndiverse vegetable and forest material, and under various degrees\nof heat and pressure. No small amount of time must be given for\nthe growth and deposition of these mountain piles of tree and\nfern.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The charring of these coal-pits of nature was provided\nfor in the \u201cfervent heat\u201d of the earth just below the surface,\ncoupled with pressure brought upon them it would seem by convulsions\nand upbreakings, to which the earth\u2019s crust has been many times\nsubjected.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(5.) Limestone, largely of animal origin, demands in\nlike manner time for the growth of the animals whose shelly incasements,\naccumulating age after age, have made such ample provision of limestone\nand of lime for the use of man.\n\nThis list of nature\u2019s facts as the practiced eye reads them from the\ncrust of our earth does not claim to be exhaustive. If it were all,\nhowever, it would still be amply sufficient to sustain the demand for\nlong creative periods as opposed to ordinary human days. It should not\nbe forgotten that this demand, coming forth from the facts developed in\nthe crust of the earth, falls in most fully with what we have seen to\nbe the legitimate construction of the Mosaic record.\n\n_Prominent points of harmony between Genesis and Geology._\n\n(1.) Creation was a _gradual process_, spanning from beginning to\nend long periods of time. I use the word \u201ccreation\u201d to comprehend not\nonly the original production of matter, but its subsequent changes and\ntransformations till the earth was fully prepared for the abode of man.\n\n(2.) _The earth was for a considerable time under water._ The record of\nMoses is decisive to this point. The current theory in respect to the\nformation of most if not all the rocky strata of the earth\u2019s crust is\nequally so.\n\n(3.) _There was light on the earth before the appearance of the sun._\nGenesis dates the light from the first day; the appearance of the sun,\nfrom the fourth.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The theory that the primitive state of created\nmatter was gaseous (or nebulous) provides for this, since it is well\nknown that the chemical combination of the two gases that form water\n(for instance)\u2015\u2015a combination produced by electricity, evolves light.\nBut we are not restricted to this hypothesis to account for light\nbefore the sun was visible. The state of the atmosphere may furnish\nall the causes needed. See below, page 32.\n\n(4.) _Vegetables were created before animals._ So Moses, for he locates\nthe former on the third day; the latter on the fifth and sixth. This\nis of course the order of nature since the animals are to subsist on\nvegetables. Geology finds vegetables in fossil state below the earliest\nanimals.\n\n(5.) Among the animal tribes, those of the water are before those of\nthe land. Genesis gives us fish and reptiles and even fowl before the\nmammals\u2015\u2015land animals\u2015\u2015the former on the fifth day; the latter with\nman on the sixth. Geology indorses this order, showing that fish and\nreptiles lie in rocks lower and older than quadrupeds.\n\n(6.) Man is last of all. The testimony of the rocks is here at one\nwith that of Genesis\u2015\u2015other animals and the vegetables also, long ages\nbefore man.\n\nNow how has it happened that this record, coming to us through Moses,\nharmonizes so wonderfully with the main results of a science yet in\nits infancy\u2015\u2015almost utterly unknown until the present century? Is it\ndue to the scientific attainments of Moses? Is it not rather due to\ninspiration\u2015\u2015\u201choly men of old\u201d\u2015\u2015Moses himself or the fathers before\nhim\u2015\u2015being taught by the same Being who \u201cin the beginning created the\nheavens and the earth?\u201d The marvel is that this record should be so\nconstructed as to present a very intelligible view of the processes of\nthe six days\u2019 work to the average mind of the race before geological\nscience was born, and yet when this science begins to develop the\nconstitution and composition of the earth\u2019s surface, the inspired\nrecord is found to harmonize with these developments in all important\nfeatures. So it is wont to happen. Truth rejoices in the light. A\ntruthful Bible and all true science meet in loving communion, evincing\ntheir common parentage\u2015\u2015offspring of the same Infinite Father.\n\n4. \u201cIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.\u201d Was this\nthe original production of matter; or was it only the modification of\npre-existent matter into new forms? (1.) That this was the original\nproduction of matter is probable a priori _because it is true_, and\nbecause it is a truth very important to affirm in this first revelation.\nMatter is _not_ eternal and self-existent. Those who intelligently\nbelieve in one Supreme God\u2015\u2015an Infinite, Intelligent Spirit, will need\nno words wasted to disprove the assumption that matter existed from\neternity, the Author of itself; for this assumption ascribes to matter\nthe distinctive qualities of God himself.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It is moreover important\nthat God should declare himself to be the author of all existing matter\nin the universe. This is one of his great and distinctive works\u2015\u2015one\nwhich human speculation has been prone to deny him, and which therefore\nit is of the utmost consequence that he should affirm. (2.) The passage\n(Ps. 90: 2) ascribed to Moses, expressly declares that God existed\n\u201c_before the mountains_.\u201d \u201cBefore the mountains were brought forth,\neven from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.\u201d Moses did not think\nmatter to be eternal. He knew and taught that God existed from eternity\nand that matter did not. The obvious sense of his words is that God\n\u201cbrought forth\u201d (_i. e._ into existence) the mountains of this earthly\nglobe.\n\n(3.) The writer to the Hebrews affirms that this doctrine\u2015\u2015God the\noriginal Creator of matter\u2015\u2015is accepted _by faith_, _i. e._ upon the\ncredit of God\u2019s own testimony. \u201cBy faith we understand that the worlds\nwere framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not\nmade of things that do appear\u201d (Heb. 11: 3). Not being constructed out\nof matter previously apparent, they must have been made by the direct\nproduction of matter not before existing.\n\n(4.) This is the natural and obvious sense of the words and this the\nplace to affirm this first fact in the work of creation. This is the\npoint to start with. How came the matter of the universe into being at\nall? Whence came this material substance composing the heavens and the\nearth? In the beginning God created it.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It may be said truthfully\nthat if God had purposed to reveal himself as the Author of matter\u2015\u2015the\nreal Maker of it all\u2015\u2015he could have found no words more fitted to his\npurpose than these. Hence to deny that this is their sense is the next\nthing to denying to God the right or the power to reveal this fact at\nall.\n\n(5.) It is objected that the primary sense of the word bara[5] (used\nhere) is not to bring into existence what had no existence before,\nbut \u201cto cut, to cut out, to carve\u201d (Gesenius); \u201cto cut, form, fashion\u201d\n(Fuerst). But this objection, though plausible to a merely superficial\nview, is really of very little force. Usage, not etymological relation,\ngives law to language. The etymological, primary sense of _barak_, the\ncommon Hebrew word for _bless_, is to break; then to bend as the knee,\nto kneel and to cause one to kneel; and then, perhaps from the custom\nof kneeling to receive the patriarchal benediction, or to implore\nblessings from God, comes the ultimate and by far the most common\nsignificance\u2015\u2015to bless. Usage in every case must determine the most\ncommon and therefore most probable sense; then the context and the\nknown opinions of the writer come in to aid toward the true sense in\nany given instance.\n\nIn the Hebrew verb regard must be had to its form, technically\ncalled its \u201cconjugation,\u201d since the sense of the several conjugations\nfrom the same root may vary widely. In this verb (bara) the sense of\nHiphil conjugation is to _fatten_\u2015\u2015which is very remote from the sense\nof \u201cKal\u201d and of its passive \u201cNiphal.\u201d In Piel only do we find the\netymological sense to cut, to carve out (five times only) and these\nspoken of human operations exclusively (Josh. 17: 15, 18 and Ezek.\n23: 47 and 21: 19). But in Kal and its passive Niphal, we find the word\nused forty-eight times, and _always of divine operations_\u2015\u2015always of\nsome form of creative work wrought by God himself and never by man.[6]\n\nThe testimony therefore from usage is entirely conclusive to the point\nthat this word in this form of it was specially appropriated to signify\nGod\u2019s creative acts\u2015\u2015the exertion of his creative power.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015There are\ntwo other Hebrew words having the sense to make, to form, [asah and\nyatsar], which are sometimes used of God as creating but by far most\noften of _man\u2019s_ work in forming and molding material things. Now note\nthe argument. The Hebrews had these three words for _making_, out of\nwhich one only is used exclusively of God\u2015\u2015never of man\u2015\u2015as a maker.\nNow there is one special sense in which God can make and man can not,\nviz. that of bringing into existence what had no existence before.\nOver against this, place the fact that their word \u201cbara\u201d is used of\nGod\u2019s making forty-eight times and of man\u2019s making never, and we must\nconclude that they expressed by this word that distinctive power of God\nwhich man never can even approach\u2015\u2015viz. the power to _give existence to\nmatter, to mind and to life_. In passages where this sense of \u201cbara\u201d is\nappropriate, there can be no question that it is the real meaning.\n\n5. _The relation of v. 1 to v. 2 and to the rest of the chapter._\n\nSome have maintained that v. 1 is only a statement in general terms\nof the contents of the chapter, a heading, stating no particular\nfact distinct from what follows.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Others take it to be one fact in\nthe series\u2015\u2015the first step in the process of the creative work\u2015\u2015the\nsuccessive steps then following in due order. This latter construction\nI accept; and urge in its support,\n\n(1.) That this is the most obvious sense of the words. The word \u201cAnd\u201d\n(v. 2) \u201c_And_ the earth was without form,\u201d etc., must be taken as\n_continuing_ the subject\u2015\u2015not as _commencing_ it. It should give us\nanother and succeeding fact, and not be taken to _begin_ a detailed\nhistory.\n\n(2.) This is the natural order of the facts. First, matter must be\nbrought into existence. Nothing can be done with it, nothing can be\nsaid about it, until it _is_. The first verse therefore is the natural\nbeginning of the narrative\u2015\u2015the first fact to be stated. The second\nverse gives naturally the next fact, viz. the condition of this matter\nimmediately prior to the six days\u2019 creative work upon it. Deferring\nthe little he has to say upon the \u201cheavens,\u201d he calls our attention to\nthe earth as being of chief interest to man, and makes this the main\ntheme of the chapter.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015An observer would have seen the earth mantled\nin darkness, its atmosphere laden with murky vapors and dense mists;\nthe surface (if indeed the waters below could be distinguished from\nthe waters above) one wide waste of waters, all formless, vast, dismal;\nwith nothing of order or beauty on which the eye could rest. Above and\nupon this shapeless mass the Spirit of God was hovering, or shall we\nsay _incubating_, for such may be the figure involved in the Hebrew\nverb. Moreover it seems to be implied that this action of the creative\nSpirit was protracted. The Hebrew participle (used here) expresses\ncontinued action\u2015\u2015was brooding over, incubating, this wild, waste,\ndesolate mass.\n\nSome scientific men suppose they find in this second verse, not\nwater, but the gaseous matter which ultimately became water and\nsolid earth. This construction originates in a theory in regard\nto the primal form in which the matter of our world came from the\nCreator\u2019s hand, which theory may or may not be true, but if true is\ntoo remote from the common mind and too foreign from the scope of\ndivine revelation to allow us to suppose that God would refer to it\nin his revelation.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Carrying out this scientific theory, some have\nheld[7] that not only the \u201cwaters\u201d of v. 2 but those of vs. 6, 7,\nwere gases, not waters. The fatal objections to this theory are\u2015\u2015that\nthese \u201cwaters\u201d are the same which in vs. 9, 10, are \u201cgathered into\none place\u201d and \u201ccalled seas;\u201d also that the common people for several\nthousand years could not have understood Moses if he had spoken of\ngases\u2015\u2015certainly could not have understood their common word for\nwaters to mean gases.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It is not well to strain and force this simple\nnarrative to speak so scientifically as to be unintelligible to those\nfor whom it was primarily written.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The first state of created matter\nmay have been gaseous. The record in Genesis has said nothing to forbid\nthis. It certainly could not come within its province to teach it.\nSuffice it that time enough may be found between verses 1 and 2 for a\nportion of this gaseous matter to form water\u2015\u2015not to say also to form\nthe more solid portions of this globe.\n\nThe connection of v. 2 with v. 1 is such that an indefinitely long\nperiod may have intervened. The first verb of v. 2 implies no close\nconnection with v. 1. But in v. 3 the form of the first verb\u2015\u2015\u201cAnd\n_then_ God said\u201d\u2015\u2015does make a close historical connection with v. 2.\n\n6. The work of the fourth day. Were the light-bearers (\u201clights\u201d in the\nsense of luminaries) in the heavens, viz. the sun, moon, and stars also,\n\u201cmade,\u201d created, on this day, or simply brought forth to the view of a\nsupposed observer upon the earth?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The latter theory that they were\nnot first brought into being then, but only brought into view from the\nearth\u2015\u2015seems to me most probable, because\u2015\u2015(1.) To suppose them created\nthen would be out of all proportion for one day\u2019s work among the six.\nThroughout the other five days\u2019 work a beautiful proportion obtains:\nit should therefore be expected in this.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015If it be said that this\nconsideration draws its great strength from our astronomical knowledge\nof those heavenly bodies\u2015\u2015much more enlarged than those of the age\nof Moses, I answer (a.) Moses, \u201clearned in all the wisdom of the\nEgyptians,\u201d was not altogether a novice in astronomy\u2015\u2015(b.) Modern\nastronomy is essentially true, not overrating the relative magnitude\nof the heavenly bodies; and this record in Genesis comes from one who\nknew all the truth.\n\n(2.) If these verses be understood to speak of their original\ncreation, it would seem to be out of place here between the creation\nof vegetables (third day) and of the earliest born animals (the fifth).\nBut in the sense of bringing these heavenly bodies to view and the sun\ninto its normal action upon vegetables and upon animal comfort, it is\nprecisely in place.\n\n(3.) According to the interpretation given to v. 1 (above) the matter\ncomposing these heavenly bodies was brought into existence \u201cin the\nbeginning\u201d when \u201cGod created the heavens\u201d as well as \u201cthe earth\u201d and\nbefore the six days\u2019 work began. If so, then the intervening processes\nof modification must naturally have been going on from that time until\nthis fourth day.\n\n(4.) Some expositors and scientists account for the light on the first\nday without the sun by means of electricity or other chemical agents;\nbut it is scarcely possible that Moses and his first readers could\nhave thought of any thing but the sun as the source of that light,\nespecially because \u201cGod called it Day,\u201d and the darkness alternating\nwith it then (as ever since the earth began its diurnal revolutions)\n\u201che called Night.\u201d This reference to day and night must naturally carry\nevery Hebrew mind to the _sun_ as the source of that light and to its\nwell-known withdrawal at evening as the reason for the darkness and\nthe night.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It need not be supposed that the body of the sun was then\nvisible. The state of the atmosphere might have admitted a portion of\nhis light and yet not have disclosed his face. In our times we have\nseen cloudy, dark days, with no sun visible, yet with a manifest\ndistinction between day and night.\n\n7. The true sense of the record as to the origin (1) of vegetable\nlife (vs. 11, 12), and (2) of animal life (vs. 20, 21, 24, 25.)\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nimportant words are, \u201cLet the earth bring forth grass\u201d (v. 11); \u201cand\nthe earth brought forth grass\u201d (v. 12). \u201cLet the waters bring forth\nabundantly the moving creature,\u201d etc. (v. 20); \u201cand God created every\nliving creature that moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly\u201d\n(v. 21). \u201cLet the earth bring forth the living creature\u201d (v. 24); \u201cand\nGod made the beast of the earth,\u201d etc. (v. 25).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Here note that the\n_historical statements give the true sense of the imperatives_, and\nshow plainly that the earth and the waters are not creative but only\nsustaining powers, and that they bring forth and sustain only under\nthe fiat of the Almighty\u2015\u2015only _when_ and _as_ God said, Do it. For the\nwhole tenor of these chapters (Gen. 1 and 2) presents to us God himself\nas sole and supreme Creator. In the closest connection with the earth\u2019s\nbringing forth the living creature, we are told that _God made_ the\nbeast of the field. Though the waters brought forth abundantly, yet it\nwas still God himself who created \u201cevery living creature that moveth.\u201d\nThe agency of the earth in producing grass is presented in a popular\nway\u2015\u2015the precise, fundamental thought being, that God made the earth\nhis instrument in bringing forth all things that grow; and in like\nmanner in sustaining animal life.\n\nIf we will, we are at liberty to push our queries and ask not\nonly _who_ gave life, vegetable and animal, but _how_? In just\n_what way_ did he impart that something\u2015\u2015be it quality or power or\nsubstance\u2015\u2015which we call _life_? and deeper still\u2015\u2015What _is_ life? Is\nit some subtle form of matter, or only some indefinable force given\nto matter; and if this be it, To what special form of matter is it\ngiven? If it be matter, did God sow the tiny germs thereof in the\nwaters and on the land and leave them to be developed under auspicious\ncircumstances? Or did he breathe forth from his own infinite life these\nlife-forces into material things to make plants or animals?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015And\nyet again; What was the status of that lump of dead matter (small or\ngreat) at the point when God put into it the life-force and it became\nliving matter, vegetable or animal? Was the first form of the living\nanimal the egg, or its microscopic cell; or was it the fully developed\nanimal, prepared for all life\u2019s functions, and ready to furnish other\nlife-bearing cells for reproduction? On these points what says the\nrecord? Not much at the utmost. It does seem to assume that Adam began\nexistence, not an infant in the normally helpless condition of human\nbirth, but with fully developed powers. Beyond this we look in vain\nto the record for light. We only know that the life-force\u2015\u2015that subtle\nentity which always eludes the most vigilant search\u2015\u2015which distances\nall the strides of scientific scrutiny\u2015\u2015which mocks at chemical\nanalysis and never comes to our call;\u2015\u2015this life-force we simply know\nis _from God himself_ and _from God alone_. The original gift of it is\nhis prerogative and the secret thereof is for evermore with him.\n\n8. In the passage\u2015\u2015\u201cLet us make man in our image, after our likeness\u201d\n(v. 26) there are two special points to be considered:\u2015\u2015(a.) In _what\nsense_ is man made in the image of God? (b.) The explanation of the\nplural pronouns, \u201c_us_\u201d and \u201c_our_\u201d\u2015\u2015\u201cLet _us_ make man in _our_ image.\u201d\n\n(a.) Inasmuch as God is a spirit and never to be thought of as having\na corporeal nature\u2015\u2015material, tangible to our bodily senses, we are\nat once shut off from all reference to man\u2019s physical, corporeal\nnature and shut up to his spiritual nature to find in it the points\nof this resemblance. Consequently man is made in God\u2019s image as being\ngifted like his Maker with intelligence and with capacities for moral\naction\u2015\u2015beyond comparison the noblest possible elements of being. He\nhas the sense of moral obligation and the voluntary powers requisite\nto fulfill such obligation. He can find his supreme joy in voluntarily\nseeking the good of others, even of all other sentient beings, and\nin laboring even to the extent of self-sacrifice to promote their\nwelfare. This is the pre-eminent perfection of God\u2015\u2015the very point\nultimately in which man is made in his image, and capable of becoming\nmore and more Godlike, forever approximating toward his holiness and\nblessedness.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015His intellectual powers are only the servants of these\nhighest and noblest activities of his being.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b.) The use of the\nplural pronouns\u2015\u2015\u201cLet _us_ make, in _our_ image\u201d\u2015\u2015has been accounted\nfor variously. Some would make this plural intensive, corresponding\nto the emphatic plural in Hebrew nouns. But there seems to be no\nreal analogy in the two cases.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Some make it the plural of dignity\n(\u201cpluralis excellentiae\u201d), as an oriental monarch puts forth his edict,\nsaying \u201cwe,\u201d not I. But the great simplicity of this whole narrative\ngoes against this explanation. Moreover, this usage, so far as it\nappears in literature, sacred or profane, is later by many ages than\nMoses. Besides, there is no apparent reason why God should assume more\ndignity in saying\u2015\u2015\u201cLet us make man,\u201d than in saying, Let us make light,\nor the sun in the heavens. Indeed, the form of the divine behest\u2015\u2015\u201cLet\nthere be light,\u201d seems to our ideas the more sublime and the more\nexpressive of God\u2019s supreme dignity.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015I see no explanation of this\nplural that is at all satisfactory save that which assumes a reference\nto the persons of the Trinity. As one reason for such reference it\nmay be suggested as certainly not improbable\u2015\u2015that the idea of man,\nGod\u2019s chief work in creation, was coupled with his future history\n(all present to the divine mind)\u2015\u2015as fallen, yet also as redeemed, and\nspecially as redeemed _by means of the incarnation of the Son of God in\nhuman flesh_. Supposing this incarnation present to the divine thought,\nthe significance of this plural would be\u2015\u2015Let us proceed to make in our\nown image this wonderful being whose nature the eternal Son shall one\nday assume\u2015\u2015this man who is to bear relations to us so extraordinary,\nso wonderful before the angels, so signal before all created minds,\nso glorious in its results to the whole moral universe! Have not\n_we_\u2015\u2015Father, Son and Holy Ghost\u2015\u2015a most surpassing interest in the\ncreation of this being, man!\n\n9. _The relation of Gen. 2: 4\u201325 to Gen. 1._\n\nHere are two points of some importance to be considered.\n\n(1.) Are the two passages by the same author?\n\n(2.) Do they both speak of the creation of the same first man, _i. e._\nthe same Adam, or is the Adam of Gen. 2 another and different first\nman, brought into being long subsequent to him of Gen. 1: 26\u201328?\n\n(1.) That the two passages are from different authors has been\nmaintained on the following grounds.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(a.) That v. 4\u2015\u2015\u201cThese are the\ngenerations[8] of the heavens and the earth\u201d\u2015\u2015appears like the heading\nof a new and distinct portion of history.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But nothing forbids\nthat it should be the heading of a new section or chapter of the same\ncontinuous history by the same author, resuming his subject with only\na very comprehensive allusion to the great facts of creation which he\nhad given in chap. 1, as fully as his plan required. This done he may\nproceed to a more full account of the creation of man and the events\nof his early history.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b.) That the account here differs somewhat\nfrom that in Gen. 1, _e. g._ as to the creation of man, and yet more\nespecially, the creation of woman.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But these differences are not\n\u2666discrepancies and are fully accounted for by the scope and design of\nthis portion, viz. to give the history of the first man and woman in\nmuch more detail.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(c.) But especially this diversity of authors has\nbeen argued from the different names of God which appear in these two\npassages. In chap. 1 and 2: 1\u20133, the name is simply and exclusively\nGod (Elohim). In chap. 2: 4\u201325 and in chap. 3, the name is \u201cthe Lord\nGod\u201d (Jehovah Elohim).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This difference is indeed a palpable fact,\nand has been the theme of an indefinite amount of critical speculation\nbased for the most part on the utterly groundless assumption that the\nsame author can not be supposed to have used both these names for God.\nThose critics (mostly German) who have flooded their literature with\ndisquisitions on this subject assume in the outset that none but a\n\u201cJehovist\u201d ever used the name Jehovah, and none but an \u201cElohist,\u201d\nthe name Elohim, it being in their view impossible or at least absurd\nthat the same author should use sometimes one of these names and\nsometimes the other\u2015\u2015which assumption seems to me supremely arbitrary,\nirrational, and uncritical. Authors now use at their option the various\nnames for God, either for the mere sake of variety, or because in some\nconnections one seems more euphonious or more significant than another.\nWhy may not an equal license of choice be accorded to Hebrew writers?\nIt is unquestionable that the same Hebrew author _does_ use both of\nthese names for God.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015They made far more account than we of the\nvarious senses of the several names for the Deity. The names Jehovah\nand Elohim, were not precisely identical in their suggested ideas,\nalthough both are legitimately used of the one true God. Elohim\nsuggests that he is the Exalted, Eternal One, the Infinite Creator of\nall. This name is therefore specially appropriate in chap. 1. \u201cJehovah\u201d\nconceives of him as the Immutable and ever faithful One, coming into\ncovenant relation with his people as the Maker and the Fulfiller of\npromise. (See remarks on this as God\u2019s memorial name in my Notes on\nHos. 12: 5). Hence as the narrative in Gen. 2 and 3 brings God before\nthe mind in these special relations to the first human pair and to\nthe race, this name is here specially appropriate. But lest some\nmight suppose that this Jehovah is thought of as another God than the\nElohim of chap. 1\u2015\u2015the writer uses both names\u2015\u2015the Elohim who is also\nJehovah to his rational creature man and especially to all his obedient\ntrustful people.\n\n(2.) That Gen. 2: 7 relates to the creation of the same first man\nas Gen. 1: 26\u201328, and not of another man ages later, seems to me to\nadmit of no rational doubt. The inducements to make out two distinct\ncreations, _i. e._ of two different first men, come from the supposed\nproof of the existence of man on the earth ages before the Adam\nof antediluvian history. I propose to treat below this question of\n_the antiquity of man_. Let it suffice here to say that we must not\nmutilate the record or disregard the laws of philology for the sake\nof making the sacred narrative conform to theories which are yet\nrather assumptions than scientifically proven facts.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As to the\ncorrespondences and variations in the two narratives of the creation\nof man, the first makes prominent his being created in the image of\nGod: the second assumes this in the fact that God gave him law in Eden;\nin the knowledge of the lower animals which his naming them assumes;\nin the superior dignity which the Lord\u2019s bringing them before him for\nnames implies; and in the fact that among them all no helpmeet for\nhim could be found. His nature ranked far above theirs.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The earlier\nnarrative says briefly that God \u201ccreated them male and female.\u201d The\nlater one expands this fact much more fully and makes it the foundation\nfor the law of marriage. The later record treats with the utmost\nbrevity the main part of the six days\u2019 work and must have been written\nwith the previous record before the mind, to be a supplementary and\ncontinuative history, designed to bring out prominently the creation of\nwoman and the scenes of the garden, its moral trial and ultimately its\nresults.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The supposition of a different Adam from that of the former\nrecord could never have occurred to the Hebrew mind, and therefore can\nnot be accepted as the sense of the passage.\n\n10. _Invariability of \u201ckind\u201d_ in the vegetable and animal kingdoms.\n\nThe record in Genesis sets forth that God created grass, herb, and\nthen fruit tree; \u201ceach after his kind;\u201d also reptiles, fish, fowl and\nland-animals, each \u201cafter his kind;\u201d and finally man \u201cin the image\nof God.\u201d Over against this the modern theory which bears the name of\nDarwin holds that all the animals of our globe \u201chave descended from at\nmost only four or five progenitors, and plants from an equal or lesser\nnumber;\u201d[9] and moreover, that man has in this respect no pre-eminence\nabove the beasts, but has descended in the same line with them from\nsome one of the four or five progenitors of the great animal kingdom.\nMore still he says in the same connection\u2015\u2015\u201cAnalogy would lead me one\nstep further, viz. to the belief that _all animals and plants_ have\ndescended from some one prototype.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These four or five progenitors\nof the whole animal kingdom correspond substantially with what Webster\ncalls the five sub-kingdoms, viz. Vertebrates, Articulates, Mollusks,\nRadiates, and Protozoans. The technical classification under these\nsub-kingdoms into Classes, Orders, Families, Genera, and Species\nbecomes of little or no account in any discussion of Darwin\u2019s system,\nfor his theory of \u201cdescent with modifications\u201d is reckless of all\nthese lines of demarkation, traveling over and through them all without\nfinding the least obstruction.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Let it be distinctly understood\ntherefore that though Mr. Darwin makes frequent use of the word\n\u201cspecies,\u201d and entitles one of his volumes\u2015\u2015\u201c_The Origin of Species_,\u201d\nyet his theory takes a far wider range than the question whether\n\u201cspecies are variable.\u201d In his view not only are species variable,\nintermixing at will and passing from one into another, but genera also\nand families and orders and classes\u2015\u2015not to say also each of the great\nsub-kingdoms of the animal world;[10] even the distinction between\nanimals and vegetables fades away under his analogical argument. Hence\nthe issue between Darwin and Moses is relieved of whatever uncertainty\nhangs over the dividing line between species and varieties, and may\nfitly be limited to these two points; the invariability of \u201c_kind_\u201d\nin the sense of Moses in Genesis; and the distinct origination of man.\n\nUnder Mr. Darwin\u2019s system \u201ccommunity of descent\u201d and not \u201csome unknown\nplan of creation\u201d is \u201cthe hidden bond\u201d which unites together all living\nexistences of our globe. \u201cLooking to some unknown plan of creation\u201d\n(in his own words) has prevented the truly scientific classification\nand history of the forms of life in our world. The Bible has stood\nin the way of the growth of science.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Under his system the changes\nby natural descent from any given parent to its offspring, taken\nindividually, have been exceedingly small. Hence the theory requires an\nindefinitely long time from the point of the original creation of the\nfour or five primordial forms to the present status of living things,\nvegetable and animal, in our world.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The above remarks will suffice\nfor a very general introduction to Mr. Darwin\u2019s system.\n\nWishing to bring this discussion within the narrowest possible limits\nand yet do justice to Darwin, to Genesis, and to the truth, I propose\nto state briefly his main arguments; then comprehensively my rejoinder\nto them severally in their order, and then subjoin some general\nconsiderations bearing upon his entire theory.\n\n1. Darwin holds that by natural law the offspring vary, though slightly,\nfrom the parent, and hence, that, given an indefinitely long time, he\nhas any desired amount of variation.\n\n2. When animals multiply beyond the means of subsistence, there\nensues a struggle for life in which the strongest and most favored\nin circumstances are the victors and survive. This law which he calls\n\u201cNatural Selection\u201d (or \u201cthe survival of the fittest\u201d) works a gradual\nimprovement in the race. A twin argument with this comes from \u201csexual\nselection,\u201d the amount of which is that in the case of some at least\nof the animal races, there arises a struggle among the males for\nthe possession of the females, in which struggle the most attractive\nin beauty or in song, or the champions in fight, being the victors,\nperpetuate the race and thus improve it. This law of the animal races\n(\u201csexual selection\u201d) works precisely in the same line with the law\ncalled \u201cnatural selection.\u201d It may serve therefore to provide a little\nmore of the same thing, but no new or different product whatever. Hence\nit does not seem to call for a distinct refutation.\n\n3. Homologous anatomical structure is found to obtain very extensively\namong widely diverse races, _e. g._ in the arm of man, the fore-leg of\nthe monkey and indeed of all quadrupeds, in the wing of the bird and\nthe fin of the fish. This indicates a common parentage.\n\n4. Some animals which, fully grown, differ from each other widely, are\nscarcely distinguishable in the embryo. Hence he infers their common\norigin.\n\n5. The fact of rudimentary organs is assumed to be _historic_,\nproving that some ancient progenitor used them, and that they have\ngradually passed out of use. This is held to prove that great changes\nof structure come of genealogical descent.\n\n\n BRIEF REPLIES.\n\n1. To Darwin\u2019s first law, viz. that the offspring always vary though\nslightly from the parent, and therefore, given indefinite time, he has\nany desired amount of variation, I reply that this law of variation\nbecomes practically worthless for his theory, because these variations\nfrom parent to offspring run in all conceivable directions and not in\nthe one definite direction required for his purpose, _i. e._ toward a\nhigher grade of perfection, or [which his argument requires] toward a\nnew form of animal life. For example, there is always some change in\nthe human countenance from parent to child. Yet who does not know that\nthose changes run in every possible direction and not in one uniform\nline of progress or advance, as from monkey toward man and from man\ntoward angel? For another example we may take the shape of the skull\nand of the brain\u2015\u2015evermore differing slightly from parent to offspring\nyet not by any means on one given line. The skulls of Egyptian mummies\nentombed three thousand years ago do not differ appreciably from those\nof the Copts (their lineal descendants) of to-day, _i. e._ are no more\npithecoid\u2015\u2015ape-like. On Darwin\u2019s theory three thousand years backward\nought surely to approximate toward the ape; otherwise these variations\nare fruitless. This law of successive genealogical changes amounts\nto nothing for his argument unless the changes consent to _come into\nline_ so that their results shall actually _accumulate_ with the lapse\nof ages. The fatal lack in the argument is\u2015\u2015no husbandry of these\ninfinitesimal changes\u2015\u2015not the least perceivable accumulation.\n\nA second branch of my reply suggests that Mr. Darwin _misinterprets\nthis law of nature_, viz. perpetual variation from parent to offspring.\nIt is doubtless a law, but Darwin has quite missed its divinely\nordained purpose\u2015\u2015which is to indicate the relationship between parent\nand child on the one hand, and yet maintain individual identity on\nthe other. The resemblances answer the former purpose; the differences,\nthe latter. Beings constituted to bear personal responsibilities so\nmomentous as those of man must be so organized that every one can\nidentify his own individuality, lest one man be hung for some other\nman\u2019s crime.\n\n2. His second argument comes from the law of \u201cnatural selection\u201d\u2015\u2015\u201cthe\nsurvival of the fittest\u201d\u2015\u2015with which it is convenient to couple the\nprecisely similar law of \u201csexual selection\u201d\u2015\u2015the ascendency of the\nsmartest over their inferiors, to perpetuate the race. Here a specific\ncase will suffice both to illustrate and to refute. The principle of\n\u201cnatural selection\u201d has a fair chance for itself in the spawn of the\nshad. It is no doubt true that none but the smartest out of the many\nthousand spawned at once survive so as to become parents in their turn.\nYet who believes that these smartest shad are becoming sturgeon or\nsharks or whales by this law of progress? Are they actually found to\nbe any thing but shad after never so many hundred generations? It may\nseem superfluous to push the still more pertinent question\u2015\u2015Are these\nsmartest and most ambitious shad really found to be working up out of\ntheir watery element, I _i. e._ working up into ducks or geese, or into\nblackbirds and crows? For just this is Mr. Darwin\u2019s theory\u2015\u2015the line\nof ascent running up from fish to fowl; from fowl to mammal and so on\nup to man. The questions here suggested are therefore only the fair\nand scientific test and touchstone of his argument. A law which has\nnot made its results even perceptible since the birth of the first shad\nknown to human history must be regarded as scientifically worthless.\n\nMy second remark here is that Darwin errs not in finding these to\nbe laws of nature\u2015\u2015\u201cnatural selection,\u201d \u201csexual selection\u201d\u2015\u2015but in\ninterpreting them, I _i. e._ in detecting their divinely ordained\ndesign and their actual working and product. I suggest that these\nlaws, apparently made for the improvement of races, may be requisite\nto enable them to hold their own against the ever present tendency\nto degeneracy. Life is a perpetual struggle against death. The\nlife-principle finds an antagonist force in chemical law which is\nevermore hurrying organized matter back to its inorganic state. Still\nfurther, be it considered, races excessively prolific would rapidly\nlose vitality but for these laws of natural and sexual selection. We\nmay therefore rationally assume that these laws are simply forms of the\ngeneral principle of _self-preservation_, and not a purposed provision\nfor lifting a lower race up to the plane of a higher.\n\n3. As to homologous anatomical structure, _e. g._ of the arm, fore-leg,\nwing, fin, paddle\u2015\u2015there are abundant reasons for its existence aside\nfrom the assumption of Darwin that it proves a common ancestry for\nman, monkey, calf, bull-dog, eagle, toad and whale. The ball and socket\njoint at man\u2019s shoulder is the perfect thing for use. Equally so is\nthe same kind of joint for the fore-leg of a horse, the wing of an\neagle or the fin of a fish. God made the anatomy of man\u2019s arm perfect.\nWhat forbids that he should make an equally perfect machinery for the\nmotions and various uses of other animals? The reason of this uniformly\nperfect machinery is found in the wisdom and benevolence of the Great\nMaker, and proves nothing in favor of a common descent from some one\nparent, _i. e._ it proves nothing _unless_ you may assume that God\ncould not have made two kinds of animals with homologous anatomical\nstructures\u2015\u2015two kinds, each with machinery perfect for its purposes.\n\n4. As to the similar appearance of the embryo in very dissimilar races,\nthere may be differences in the embryo which no microscope and no human\ntest have yet discovered. The force of this argument seems to me to\ncome rather from ignorance than from knowledge.\n\n5. As to rudimentary organs, their history is very obscure and their\ndesign also. I suggest that Mr. Darwin begin with the history and the\nreason for the rudimentary organs which appear on the bosom of the\nmale in the species man. When he shall have mastered this problem\u2015\u2015the\nhistory and the reason\u2015\u2015we can afford to consider his argument\ntherefrom in proof that man has a common ancestry with whatsoever\nother animal he may find having this male organ, not rudimentary but\nin full activity. Probably he will prove that man must have come down\nby descent from that class of animals which economically combine the\ntwo sexes in one and the same individual!\n\n * * * * *\n\n_Some objections of a more general bearing upon Darwin\u2019s scheme._\n\n1. His system requires indefinite, almost infinite, ages of time back\nof the Silurian strata, _i. e._ back of the oldest known remains of\nlife, vegetable or animal, on our globe.[11] That is, he requires for\nthe development of his system an almost infinite extension of time\nback beyond the earliest traces or proofs of life, vegetable or animal,\non our globe. And this, he would have men believe, is the perfection\nof modern Science!\u2015\u2015a science which pushes its sphere _in time_ back\nindefinitely beyond all known facts upon the bare evidence of theories\nand assumed analogies!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But even this gives not the full force of the\nobjection made by true Science to his system. It is not merely that he\nbuilds upon assumed facts where no known facts are\u2015\u2015which is building\nupon nothing\u2015\u2015but where no facts _can be_, which is building not merely\nupon negatives but upon impossibilities. There is no room for his\nassumed facts where he locates them. If Geology proves any thing it\nproves that vegetable and animal life commenced on our planet as soon\nas the planet was ready and _not sooner_, and that we have the remains\nof the earliest living organisms in the oldest fossil-bearing rocks.\nHis scheme is therefore conditioned upon impossibilities and must be\nfalse.\n\n2. His system requires a close succession of animal races, differing\nfrom parent to offspring by only the least possible amount, with no\nleaps, no gaps whatever. Thus from monkey up to man the system calls\nfor at least a few scores not to say hundreds of intermediate links.\nWhere are they? His suffering theory cries out for their support: there\nis no answer. The earth\u2019s surface responds not to the call; even \u201cthe\ndepths say\u2015\u2015They are not in me!\u201d From the original monad up to man\nall the way through at least the long line of the vertebrates\u2015\u2015reptile,\nfish, bird, mammal\u2015\u2015that is to say, through the serpent tribe; the\nfish kingdom; the swallow, blackbird and eagle, and especially through\nthe quadruped family\u2015\u2015the horse and camel and particularly the monkey\nhousehold\u2015\u2015through all this remarkable line of ancestry, Darwin\u2019s\nsystem demands a very gradual upward march by the shortest possible\nstages of progress, so that the intermediate links must be barely\nless than infinite. It certainly ought to be very easy to trace a\ngenealogical line so well represented. It is estimated that thirty\nthousand fossil species have been recognized. How many of these\ncan be formed into this genealogical line from the aboriginal\nvertebrate\u2015\u2015supposed to be aquatic and Ascidian\u2015\u2015up to man? Has\nMr. Darwin set himself to marshal this proof-line of witnesses to his\nsystem? No. Not only has he not _done_ this very appropriate thing, but\nhe has _said_ little, quite too little on this most vital point, in the\nway of showing what could be done. He reiterates that the geological\nrecords are very imperfect. Doubtless they quite fail to come up\nto meet the demands of his system. It is the fatal weakness of his\ntheory that just where it should find facts in animal history for its\nsupport, they are not there! He himself admits that if you believe in\na tolerably full showing of animal history in the geological records of\nour globe, you must disbelieve his system.[12] He needs quite another\ngeological record for his proofs.\n\n3. His argument is essentially _materialistic_. In his reasonings and\nassumptions, all there is of mind in man or any animal is _of the_\nbrain and the nervous organism. All animals have wants and are moved by\na sense of want to supply them. This begets self-originated activity,\nand this activity involves thought\u2015\u2015yet only as a function of the\nmaterial brain. Most of the animals are social by nature: hence another\nmember in this family of wants and enjoyments, begetting another class\nof impulses and activities. But whether it be man or monkey, dog or\nkitten, these activities and these plans and thoughts underlying them,\ncome of the nervous organism, of which the brain is the center. On\nhis theory and in his words (Origin of Species, pp. 93, 94) \u201cthe moral\nsense is fundamentally identical with the social instinct.\u201d Hence it\nbecomes the burden of his argument that the brain in man and in monkey\nis homologous\u2015\u2015almost perfectly the same in shape, in quality, and in\nits bony incasement. He seems to be quite unaware that there may be\nsomething in the human brain that a twelve-inch rule will not measure,\nnor the nicest made scales weigh, nor the sharpest chemical tests\ndiscern. It seems never to have occurred to him that even if the brain\nof man and of monkey weighed in the same notch, fitted into the same\ncast, responded alike to the same chemical tests (which, however, is\na good way from being the case), yet there might be material qualities\nin the human brain too subtle and ethereal to be appreciable under any\nknown physical test; and much more still might be a spirit inhabiting\nthe human brain and working through it which the monkey has not.\n\u201cThat the breath of the Almighty hath given to man understanding\u201d is\na fact higher than the range of Darwin\u2019s philosophy. The _prima facie_\nprobability thence arising that God would fit up a special material\norganism for the one only mind made in his own image seems to have\nentirely escaped Mr. Darwin\u2019s notice. The record by Moses on this\npoint\u2015\u2015that God created man by a special act, entirely independent of\nall other forms of life, vegetable or animal, commends itself to the\ngood sense of most men as more than probable, as indeed supremely\nrational and unquestionably true.\n\n4. It is but a natural result of his materialistic system that he\nshould have no adequate conception of the pre-eminent glory of _man\u2019s\nintellectual and moral nature_. With great ingenuity he labors to make\nit appear that Tray feels shame and guilt and even the moral sense of\noughtness\u2015\u2015all the same in kind with those of man. He does not say in\ndefinite words that the best developed dog is capable of knowing his\ndivine Creator and of rendering to Him the obedience, love, and homage\nof an adoring heart\u2015\u2015is capable of becoming consciously a trustful\nchild of God and a temple of the Holy Ghost. He does not quite say this;\nindeed he does not seem to appreciate these exalted functions of a soul\nmade in God\u2019s image, or to think them worthy of particular notice. It\nis a capital fault in his reasoning that he ignores almost entirely\nthese highest, noblest activities of man\u2019s nature. Thus ignoring these\nmost vital points which lift man so high above all the lower animals,\nhow can it be expected that his reasoning upon the material relations\nof man and beast should be otherwise than lame and fallacious?\n\n5. Scientifically it is a sufficient condemnation of this system that\nit is compelled to fritter away the fundamental law of species which\nGod fixed, not upon its surface but deep in its nature, viz. that\nhybrids shall be infertile\u2015\u2015incapable of propagation. The crossing\nand consequent interblending of distinct species, genera, families,\nand orders, if by their nature possible, would long ages ago have\nthrown the animal world into inextricable confusion, effacing every\nline of distinction. Such a result must have been simply fatal to all\nscientific classification. If Mr. Darwin\u2019s theories had been taken as\nthe divine plan, the world would have had more grades and orders of\nanimal life than there have been days since the first monad came into\nbeing.\n\n6. The scheme is in many points revolting to the common sense and sober\nconvictions of men. Some of its assumptions lie close upon the border\nof the ridiculous. Think of the stride upward from vegetable life to\nanimal\u2015\u2015the plant pulling its roots out from the soil and beginning to\nuse them for legs! And of the very analogous aspirations and endeavors\nof the fish to live out of water\u2015\u2015to push out his fins into wings;\nconvert his superabundant fat into muscle; expand his lung and soar off\nin mid-heaven\u2015\u2015the very eagle himself! The effort to tone down these\nabsurdities within the limits of sober sense by simply taking it little\nby little, spreading the change over a few thousands or millions of\nyears and subdividing the work among a vast number of generations may\nhelp to confuse some minds and blunt the edge of its absurdity; but\nsoberly considered, the absurdity is still there. Hence we may note the\nfact that most writers seem to find themselves quite unable to discuss\nthis theory to any extent without sliding, perhaps unconsciously, from\nsober argument into ridicule and irony.\n\nI am well aware that, to abate if not nullify the force of this\napparent absurdity, it will be said that along the actual line between\nplant life and animal life, the vegetable and animal kingdoms are\nactually brought closely side by side; that plant life shades off by\nalmost imperceptible stages till it comes so near to the lowest forms\nof animal life that the dividing line is scarcely if at all perceptible.\nThis fact no scientist disputes. The real question turns upon its\npurposed object or ultimate reason. Is it, as Mr. Darwin\u2019s theory\nassumes, to bridge over this dividing line and facilitate the march of\n\u201cgenealogical descent with variations\u201d across what else would be a bad\nif not an impassable gulf?\n\nThis being the claim set up by Mr. Darwin, I answer\u2015\u2015\n\n(a.) The proper test of this theory is simple: Is there any \u201c_march_\u201d\nhere at all\u2015\u2015_i. e._ any _progressive movement_ from one form of\nvegetable life to another, from lower forms to higher, or as this case\nseems to demand, from higher forms to lower, for along this dividing\nline we have the lowest known forms of both vegetable life and animal?\nIs this army of the lowest vegetable species and of animal life-forms,\ndown in this dark microscopic valley, really _on the march_, or is it\nabsolutely moveless and fixed? Are the flora on the vegetable side of\nthe line really, doffing their plant-life uniform and regalia, and\nemerging on the other side of the line into fauna to swell the hosts\nof animal-life forms? This it would seem must be the test for the proof\nor disproof of Darwin\u2019s theory.\n\n(b.) But again, I would reply in this as in other points; Mr. Darwin\nmisses not so much the facts of nature as the ultimate reason of those\nfacts. What is the ultimate reason for the remarkable fact that the\nplant kingdom crowds itself so closely upon the confines of the animal?\nNot, I answer, to facilitate the transit of generations from the one\nprovince to the other. Of such transit there is not the first shade\nof evidence. But the reason is that the Great Author of nature out\nof his infinite resources has _filled both kingdoms perfectly full\nof life-forms_ so that no territory between their respective domains\nlies unoccupied. It is simply a fecundity of life-forms or species,\nanalogous to the fecundity of living representatives under most of\nthese species\u2015\u2015all alike traceable to the infinite resources of the\nCreator\u2019s wisdom and power.\n\n7. Finally, this theory is reckless of the authority of revelation. It\nmakes no effort to reconcile its doctrines with the testimony of the\nScriptures. Especially on the great points of the creation of man\u2015\u2015as\nto his body, independent of all other animals; as to his spirit,\nmade in the very image of God; and as to woman, formed from man\u2015\u2015this\nsystem stands in absolute antagonism with God\u2019s word.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It should\nnot surprise us, therefore, that the common sense of mankind (with\nrare exceptions) revolts from its absurdities. It should not surprise\nus that Science\u2015\u2015the true Science which builds, not on unsupported\nassumptions but on ascertained and incontestable facts\u2015\u2015should disown\nthese theories and speculations. True Science, here as elsewhere, now\nand forever, is at one with Revelation; and these pillars of the great\ntemple of Truth are in not the least danger of being shaken.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II.\n\n THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.\n\n\nUNDER this head several questions arise:\n\n1. _Is the human family older than the Adam of Scripture history?_\n\n2. _How far back really is the date of Adam?_ _i. e._ How many years\nintervened from Adam to the flood and how many to the Christian era?\n\nSubsidiary questions are\u2015\u2015\n\n(a.) Were there one or more races of primeval men pre-Adamic but now\nextinct?\n\n(b.) Have there been various \u201c_head-centers_\u201d of the existing human\nfamily; or only one and that Adam? Or (the same question in another\nform) are all the living varieties of race lineally descended from Adam\nand all from Noah?\n\nThe special interest of these questions will hinge upon their relation\nto the Scriptures\u2015\u2015_i. e._ their supposed or real bearing upon the\ntruth of the Scripture history\u2015\u2015the friends of the Bible desiring to\nknow whether any well sustained facts exist to affect its credit, or\nto modify its currently received interpretation: and on the other hand,\nmen whose sympathies are not with the Bible, being inquisitive to see\nif by any means its authority can be impugned or impaired.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It is\nobvious that this sort of special interest, for or against the Bible,\nis liable to affect the candor and fairness of the investigation on\neither side. The friends of the Bible, however, have really not the\nleast occasion to fear for its stability. It is indeed possible that\nour interpretation of its chronology may require modification\u2015\u2015but\nalways and only toward truth. Also we may have erred in supposing the\nBible to have taught what it never intended to teach. But the real word\nof God can have nothing to fear from the advance of human science\u2015\u2015that\nis to say, from the real knowledge of actual facts.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015With the utmost\ncomposure, therefore, we welcome all candid investigation, subjecting\nevery new theory to appropriate scrutiny, sifting the evidence on which\nit rests with no prejudice for or against the conclusions to which it\nmay compel us.\n\n1. _The high antiquity_ claimed for man is fitly the first question in\norder. Here the evidence comes and of necessity must come\n\n(1.) From _traces of man_ upon the crust of the earth, _i. e._ in the\nrock-strata, the drift-deposits, or in caves and lake-dwellings, or in\nmonuments of human labor and skill:\n\nAnd (2.) from the traditions of the most ancient nations and the high\nantiquity of their existence, civilization, and monuments.\n\nUnder the first head the traces are either\n\n(A.) _Remains of the human skeleton_; or\n\n(B.) _Remains of man\u2019s work and of his tools._\n\n(A.) As to the _remains of the human skeleton_.\n\nBy universal admission these remains are not found in the rocks that\nbear in abundance the fossil vegetables of the third great epoch of\ncreation; nor in those yet higher strata that contain the oldest forms\nof animal life whose home is in the waters; nor is man found with the\nreptiles, say of the fifth day of creation; nor indeed until we come to\ndeposits of the most recent date, of a kind at least similar to those\nwhich are known to be forming within the historic age of man.\n\nFrom these admitted facts I make this special point, viz. that if man\nhad lived on the earth contemporary with the oldest animal species,\nwe ought to find not merely one skeleton or half a skeleton buried\nalong-side of myriads of fossil sea-shells and fishes, but a fair show\nof specimens, so many at least as to leave no question as to his being\na joint occupant with them of the earth as it then was. One or two,\nor even a dozen skeletons, gathered from every explored portion of the\nearth\u2019s surface, are too few for the base of a theory like this because\nsuch scattered cases, in number so meager, are always subject, more or\nless, to abatement from the following possibilities:\n\n(a.) The human family in all ages have buried their dead, and often,\nduring the earlier ages, in rock-hewn sepulchers or in natural caves;\n\n(b.) In all ages of the world men have been liable to fall into\nrock-fissures and ravines and to die there; and to leave their\nskeletons to become fossil there, particularly in calcareous and\nsimilar rocks where decomposition or solution in water and new deposits\nare in progress;\n\n(c.) Men have been wont to frequent caves for shelter, for safety\nin war or from persecution, and consequently might leave their bones\nthere; or\n\n(d.) Their bones may have been dragged into caverns by flesh-eating\nanimals or borne into strange positions by underground currents of\nwater; or again,\n\n(e.) Since the historic Adam, drift deposits have in some circumstances\nbeen forming under water, in which waters men have been liable to be\ndrowned and their skeletons to become imbedded in those deposits.\nChanges of elevation may bring such deposits to view.\n\nSuch possibilities must practically nullify confidence in the proof\nof man\u2019s high antiquity from his bones so long as the specimens are so\nexceedingly few and even these few found only quite near the surface.\n\nThis argument will be appreciated by those who duly consider, on the\none hand, that if man were on the earth in those pre-Adamic ages, it is\nin the highest degree improbable that his population ranged at a dozen\nfor the area of all France, and a few hundreds only to a continent\u2015\u2015for\nwhat should forbid him as well as the lower animals to \u201cbe fruitful and\nmultiply and replenish the earth\u201d? Besides, a population so sparse and\nconsequently weak could have made no stand against armies of hyenas,\nleopards, bears and lions.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015On the other hand, the occurrence of\nhuman bones, in numbers so very few and so remote from each other,\nwill be much more rationally accounted for by the possibilities above\nindicated.\n\nYet let it be understood:\u2015\u2015The way is open for any extent of further\ninvestigation. We have no occasion to fear the result of the search.\nLet the rocks be torn up and examined; let mountains be tunneled and\ncanals be dug; let railroad grading go where it will; if the human\nskeleton should be found where none of these or similar possibilities\nadmit its date since Adam, we will certainly give the case all due\nconsideration and weight.\n\n(B.) Next is the argument _from man\u2019s work and from his tools_.\n\nHere a larger field opens. My limits scarcely allow me to do more\nthan indicate briefly the present state of the question.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Thus far\nexplorations have been mostly restricted to Northern and Western Europe,\nsay north of the Alps and of ancient Greece, in the regions anciently\nknown as Gaul, Germany, Scandinavia and Britain. The supposed remains\nof man\u2019s tools and work are found chiefly in caves and lake-dwellings,\nor under drift, and only to a small extent in monuments above the\npresent surface. The lake-dwellings specially referred to are in\nSwitzerland, where during the very dry winter of 1853\u20134 several\nremarkable villages were found built on piles below, the present\naverage watermark, which were once without doubt the abodes of men,\nwith quite abundant traces indicating their modes of life, civilization,\nimplements, and the contemporary animal races.[13]\n\nThe various stages of civilization developed in these ancient remains\nhave been usually classified under three heads:\n\n1. The _Stone age_, in which man\u2019s cutting implements, working tools\nand weapons of war, were of stone. This age is sometimes subdivided,\nthe older part being called \u201cPalaeolithic\u201d [old stone], and the more\nrecent, \u201cNeolithic\u201d [new stone].\n\n2. The _Bronze age_, its implements being chiefly of copper or brass.\n\n3. The _Iron age_, where iron first appears.\n\nNow the great question\u2015\u2015the only one that comes within our range of\ninquiry\u2015\u2015is the _date_ of these traces of ancient men. When did the men\nof the Stone age and of the Bronze and the Iron age live?\n\nIn the outset, it can not be assumed reasonably that this stone-age\ncivilization, apparent in Northern and Western Europe, was _necessarily\nuniversal at that time over all the earth_. It may have been coeval\nwith the very high civilization of Egypt and even of Babylonia,\nPhenicia, Etruria. We must consider that large portions of the world in\nthose early times were unknown to each other, even as interior Africa\nhas been unknown to the civilized world almost to this very hour. It\nis therefore entirely an open question\u2015\u2015Was this stone-age civilization\npre-Adamic? Was it anterior to Noah; or shall its place in the ages be\nfound contemporaneous with the early civilized nations of known history?\n\nIt is important here to premise yet further that the earth\u2019s surface\nhas at no very remote period experienced considerable elevations and\ndepressions and changes of temperature. Especially there are proofs\nof an extraordinary period of glaciers and icebergs, by means of\nwhich huge bowlders have been transported from their ancient beds\nand scattered afar, and vast masses of debris, rocks ground down and\npulverized, mixed with sand, gravel, and small stones, have been heaped\nup along the line of the glaciers and spread over their track. It is\nnot easy to conceive the full measure of _utility_ resulting from this\ngreat ice-flood and glacier movement, in grinding the surface of the\nrocky strata and mixing this finely pulverized matter with decomposed\nvegetable elements to prepare soil for our earth\u2019s surface.\n\nThe opinion is becoming general that man was not placed upon the earth\nuntil _after_ this glacial and ice-bound age. He could not have lived\nhere then: certainly not in portions reached by glacial action and ice\nfloods; the earth was not ready for him till afterwards. No decisive\ntraces of his presence at an earlier period have been found. Such\ntraces appear shortly after.\n\nThe problem of the _time_ of man\u2019s first appearance upon the earth\nis for the most part one _of estimates_; and these estimates in the\ndepartment of geology are comprised, at least chiefly, under these five\nheads:\n\n(1.) The time required for the _alluvial deposits_ underneath which his\nremains or implements have been found.\n\n(2.) The time required for the _growth of the peat_ under which we find\nman or his works.\n\n(3.) The time required for the succession of forest growths since his\nfirst appearance.\n\n(4.) The age of the animal races, extinct or living, whose remains are\nfound associated with his.\n\n(5.) We have next and last another source of testimony which is mainly\nfree from the uncertainties of estimate, viz. the question of\ncommercial relations between the barbarous stone-age, bronze-age, or\niron-age tribes, and the civilized nations of the early historic ages.\n\nThe estimates on these several points demand distinct consideration.\n\n(1.) The estimate of the time required for the alluvial deposits along\nthe banks of rivers, has been extremely various. Lyell, having visited\nthe delta of the Mississippi river in person, estimated its time-period\nof accumulation at one hundred thousand years.[14] But a careful\nexamination made by gentlemen of the Coast Survey and other United\nStates officers, reduces this time-period to four thousand and four\nhundred years.[15] Again, Mr. Lyell estimates that 220,000 years are\nnecessary to account for changes now going on upon the coast of Sweden.\nLater geologists reduce the time to one-tenth of that estimate. A piece\nof pottery was discovered deeply buried under the deposits at the mouth\nof the Nile. It was confidently asserted that the deposits could not\nhave been made during the historic period, until it was proved that\nthe article in question was of Roman manufacture.[16] Such diversities\nsuffice to show at least that somebody has blundered. Some of these\nhigh estimates are gratuitously extravagant. All estimates from the\ndrift deposits, bearing on the antiquity of man, ought in reason to be\nmade with careful reference to these two modifying considerations:\n\n(a.) That drift deposits may have been, and with the utmost probability\nwere, much more rapid in the earlier ages than at present. At the close\nof the glacial and ice period vast masses of loose matter were ready\nto be swept rapidly as drift by river freshets. Any farmer may have\nan illustration of this if he will plow his side-hill field, running\nhis furrows up and down the hill. He will find that the first powerful\nshower will bring down far more drift than the fortieth. It would be\nvery short-sighted in him to take the drift of the tenth year after the\nsaid plowing for his rate of annual deposition and estimate the whole\nperiod from this data. But on this mistaken principle some geologists\nhave made their time estimates for the drift simply monstrous.\n\n(b.) Human remains and tools may in many ways get far below the\nsurface of the drift. They may have been buried under it after\nits deposition. While the drift lay under water, (soft and pliable\ntherefore,) flints, arrow-heads, knives, or human bones, may have\nsunk in the mire.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These and similar considerations may demand large\nabatement from the time-estimates built upon the amount of drift found\nabove the remains of man.\n\nWe may apply these modifying considerations to the case given by Lyell\n(Antiquity of Man, pp. 27, 28) of the drift deposits near the Lake of\nGeneva. Here are five inches in thickness deposited since the Roman\nperiod (known by its enclosed memorials) which we safely put at 1800\nyears. Next below is a strata of six inches depth, marked by bronze\nimplements, which he estimates to reach back from the present time,\n3000 to 4000 years. Similarly, the next strata (seven inches) indicated\nas the Stone age, he counts at 5000 to 7000 years old. But if the\ndepositions were much more rapid in the early than in the later ages of\nour world, these estimates for the ages of bronze and of stone must be\nmaterially shortened, and may reasonably be brought within the historic\nperiod of man.\n\n(2.) The time required for the formation of _peat beds_ has been\nusually estimated upon its observed growth and accumulation at\nthe present day. Yet in the case of peat-growth as in the case of\ndrift-deposits, it is at least possible and would seem highly probable\nthat its growth and deposition were much more rapid during the\nearlier ages of our race than at present. The virgin soil was richer;\nthe climatic influences may have been more propitious. It should\nbe considered also here (as in the case of drift) that the remains\nof man and his implements, instead of resting invariably upon the\nsurface of the peat, may by various means have gone down much below\nthe surface. The time of man\u2019s presence, therefore, as measured by the\ntime estimated to be necessary for the deposit of the peat found above\nhim, may be quite overestimated.\n\nThe peat beds of Denmark are put by Lyell (Antiquity of Man, p. 17) at\na minimum of 4000 years. In the valley of the Somme (France) they are\nfound 30 feet deep; and in its upper strata there are Romish and Celtic\nmemorials, showing that its depositions continued a considerable time\nafter the historic age of Rome.\n\n(3.) The time required for the succession of forest growths since the\nappearance of man.\n\nGeologists find in Denmark, earliest, a growth of Scotch fir; next,\nof oak; last, coming down to the present, of the beech. The age of\ncivilization known as the Stone age synchronizes nearly with the fir;\nthe Bronze age with the oak; the historic period with iron implements\nanswers to the beech.[17] Now the problem is\u2015\u2015How much time is\nrequired for one species of forest growths to run its course and become\nsupplanted by another?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Obviously this problem must depend not on\ntime alone, but on climatic changes. Moreover, one kind of trees may\nrequire less time than another to exhaust the soil of the elements\nspecially congenial to its health, vigor and stability. I do not see\nthat any reliable measure of time can be found for estimating the\nlife-period of different species of forest growths.\n\n(4.) Attempts have been made to estimate the antiquity of man from\nthe animal races with which his remains have been found associated.\nThe animals brought into this estimate have been chiefly the mammals,\nquadrupeds, most nearly related, by anatomical structure, to man. Great\naccount has been made of the fact that the remains of man (his bones\nor his tools) have been found in connection with the remains of land\nanimals now extinct. The uncertain element in all such calculations\nis the date at which the said animal species became extinct. This is\nperhaps fully as doubtful as the age at which man began to live on\nthe earth. So far as is known, some species have disappeared within\nthe present century; _e. g._ the Great Auk, or Northern Penguin\n(alca impennis), last seen alive in 1844. Several species, once quite\nprominent for their hugeness or other qualities, are supposed to have\ndisappeared within the historic period of man; _e. g._ the mammoth,\nthe mastodon, the woolly rhinoceros, the cave-bear, etc. But precisely\n_when_ they severally became extinct, no existing data suffice to show.\nOf course it avails little to prove that man was coeval with a few\nanimal races now extinct.\n\n(5.) Far more important in my view is the light thrown upon the\nantiquity of the Bronze and Iron ages of civilization in Northern and\nWestern Europe by the traces of commercial relations between those\nrespective peoples and the civilized nations of the known historic\nages. In this case, the elements of uncertainty common to the preceding\nestimates are mostly if not wholly eliminated. When among the relics of\nthe Bronze age, say in Switzerland or in Denmark, we find art-specimens,\nvaluable for use or beauty, which manifestly came from Phenicia,\nEtruria, or Egypt, bearing unmistakably the stamp of their civilization,\nand specifically, of their art, we need no further proof that the\nold Bronze age lay _in time_ along-side of the reign of Etrurian or\nEgyptian art and civilization. On this subject the British Quarterly\n(Oct., 1872) on \u201cThe present Phase of Pre-historic Archeology\u201d\ndiscusses the question whether the Bronze civilization in Central and\nNorthern Europe was introduced by an invading people from the East, or\nby peaceful commerce with the peoples contiguous to the Mediterranean,\nviz. the Phenicians of Palestine, the Etrurians of Italy, and the\nEgyptians. The argument is strongly in favor of the latter alternative.\n\u201cThe beautiful bronze swords, spear-heads, axes, knives, razors, etc.,\nwhich lie scattered over Northern and Central Europe are remarkable\nfor the singular beauty of their form and ornamentation\u201d\u2015\u2015all bearing\nso much unity of design as to prove a common origin from the same\nsource. \u201cThe double spirals, and dotted circles and spirals and zigzag\nornaments which are so common on the bronze articles of France, Germany,\nBritain, Ireland, and Scandinavia _are identical with the designs which\nare found in Etruscan tombs_. Some of the bronze swords and spear-heads\nare also identical; and the peculiar spuds and bronze axes, used by the\nEtruscans, are similar to those which are found in Northern Europe.\u201d\n(pp. 247, 248).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The limits of my plan forbid a full presentation\nof this argument. Suffice it to say briefly that very great progress\nhas been made within the last fifty years toward disentombing the\npre-historical ages of Central and Northern Europe, and bringing out\ntheir relation to the early historic civilization of Egypt, Phenicia,\nand Etruria. The results thus far seem to identify the oldest race of\nman as known by his remains (_i. e._ they of the earlier Stone age)\nwith the Esquimaux of Lapland; the men of the later Stone age, with\nthe Iberian or Basque people of Spain; after whom were the Celts\nand the Belg\u00e6 who were on the field at the period where Roman history\ntouches Britain and Gaul.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015How far back in time those Esquimau\ntribes lie, it seems yet impossible to determine; but the next wave of\npopulation\u2015\u2015they of the later Stone age\u2015\u2015falls far within the period\nof scripture chronology\u2015\u2015not necessarily older than the Phenicians,\nAssyrians, and Egyptians. Inasmuch as Phenician art and commerce were\nin their glory during the reigns of David and Solomon, we may at least\nprovide a considerable interval of time for the Esquimau tribes of\nthe older Stone age before we encounter the deluge of Noah, and much\nmore still, before we come up to Adam. It is a fact of no trifling\nimportance that the oldest race detected by the explorers of the\nearth\u2019s crust can be so clearly identified with the Esquimaux now\noccupying the highest northern latitudes inhabited by man.\n\nMore abundant still are the proofs which bring the Bronze and Iron ages\nof Northern Europe within what were the historic times of the nations\non the borders of the Mediterranean.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The estimates made by some\ngeologists and antiquarians which carry the later Stone, the Bronze,\nand the Iron peoples back into the mighty Past anywhere from 10,000 to\n100,000 years seem to me extremely fanciful and unscientific. Thorough\ninvestigation into all the facts bearing on the case coupled with sober\nestimates of the time which they indicate, will at no distant day bring\nthis problem of the antiquity of man to a satisfactory solution. It\ndoes not become us to fear any revelations which come legitimately from\nwell ascertained facts.\n\n * * * * *\n\nAnother argument for the high antiquity of man has been drawn _from the\ntraditions of the most ancient nations_\u2015\u2015China and India; also _from\nthe great population, the early civilization, and the art-monuments of\nEgypt_.\n\nOn the point of the traditions and chronologies of the ancient nations\nof the East, the first problem is to ascertain what they are and what\nthey claim. If they run up their figures (as sometimes said) to 20,000\nyears, the extravagance of the claim vitiates its credibility.[18] We\nput it to the account of fancy and fiction, or of national pride, and\nrule it out from the realm of historic science. But if as estimated\nby Bailly (Kitto; Chronology, p. 434) the years from the Christian\nera back to the creation are put in Chinese chronology at 6157; in the\nBabylonian, at 6158; and in the Indian (by Gentil) at 6174, we give\nthese chronologies our respectful attention. The fact that the extreme\ndifference in these three is but seventeen years is certainly striking,\nand indicates either a common origin of authority or an approximation\ntoward the truth; perhaps both. We shall soon have occasion to compare\nthese figures with the latest and most approved results of Biblical\nchronology.\n\n * * * * *\n\nAs to the age of Egyptian art, civilization, and political power, the\ntime allowed for its development in harmony with Usher\u2019s chronology\n(the one usually indicated in editions of the English Bible) must\nbe admitted to be short\u2015\u2015almost incredibly short. Here I submit that\nthe primary question should be\u2015\u2015the correctness of Usher. Let the\nBible system of chronology be rigidly scanned\u2015\u2015not for the purpose\nof making it tally with Egyptian claims, or with any other system of\nchronology not sacred; but for the purpose of arriving at the truth\nas ascertainable from the Bible itself.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III.\n\n HEBREW CHRONOLOGY.\n\n\n _From the Birth of Christ to the Creation._\n\nBY general consent the birth of Christ is made the central point\nof all sacred chronology, the Christian ages being reckoned forward\nfrom that point (A. D.) and the Jewish or earlier ages being reckoned\nbackward (B. C.). We treat of the latter only.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Going backward from\nthe Christian era, there is general agreement and no reasonable ground\nfor diversity till we reach the period of the _Judges of Israel_. The\ncardinal points are:\n\n B. C.\n The decree of Cyrus for the restoration of the Jews. 536\n The duration of the captivity, from the fourth year of\n Jehoiakim, 70 years. 606\n (But counted from the fall of the city under Zedekiah,\n 52 years only.)\n From the revolt, first year of Rehoboam to the fall of\n the city, 388 years. 976\n To the founding of the temple, beginning of Solomon\u2019s\n fourth year, 37 years. 1013\n\nThis last epoch has chronological importance\u2015\u2015the foundation of the\ntemple laid\u2015\u2015A. D. 1013.\n\nThe first disputed, diversely estimated, point is the _period of the\nJudges_; yet the proof texts and authorities cover the period from the\nExodus to the temple. Usher makes the period of the Judges 339 years;\nJahn and many others, 450. Usher relies on 1 K. 6: 1: \u201cIn the 480th\nyear after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt,\nin the fourth year of Solomon\u2019s reign over Israel ... he began to build\nthe house of the Lord.\u201d\n\nHis computation runs thus:\n\n YEARS.\n Hebrews in the wilderness. 40\n Hebrews under Joshua. 17\n Samuel and Saul together.[19] 40\n David (2 Sam. 5: 4, 5). 41\n Solomon up to the founding of the temple. 3\n Judges\u2015\u2015to fill out 480. 339\n \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\n 480\n\nThe long period for the Judges rests primarily on Acts 13: 20, which\nstates that \u201cafter having divided to them the land of Canaan by lot,\nGod gave them judges 450 years until Samuel the prophet.\u201d Placing 450\nin the above computation in place of 339\u2015\u2015an excess of 111 years\u2015\u2015we\nfind the date of the Exodus B. C. 1604 instead of Usher\u2019s figures\n\u2666B. C. 1491.\n\nIn support of this long period for the Judges may be urged\u2015\u2015\n\n(1.) The authority of Paul as above (Acts 13: 20) which makes this\nperiod 450 years.\n\n(2.) Josephus makes the interval from the Exodus to the founding\nof the temple 592 years, and not 480. The Jews of China also make\nit 592\u2015\u2015facts which favor the supposition that the Hebrew text of\n1 K. 6: 1, is in error. It can not be supposed that either Josephus\nor the Chinese Jews adjusted their figures to harmonize with Paul.\n\n(3.) The internal dates in the Book of Judges demand the long period\nand can not be harmonized with the short one:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Thus Judges 11: 26\nshows that the Hebrews had then dwelt in Heshbon, Aroer and along the\ncoast of Arnon 300 years. These years lie between the entrance into\nCanaan and the beginning of Jephthah\u2019s judgeship. We have then this\ncomputation:\n\n YEARS.\n 300 years, minus 17 years for the term of Joshua, is 283\n Add for Jephthah (Judg. 12: 6) 6\n For Ibzan 7 years; for Elon 10; for Abdon 8 (according\n to Judg. 12: 8, 11, 14) 25\n Servitude to the Philistines (Judg. 13: 1) 40\n Sampson (Judg. 15: 20 and 16: 31) not less than 20\n Eli (1 Sam. 4: 18) 40\n A period without dates (narrated Judg. 17\u201321) estimated\n at 40\n \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\n Makes a total of 454\n\nIt is entirely impossible to bring these internal dates in the history\nwithin the short period of 339 years for the Judges. We must therefore\naccept the long period\u2015\u2015450 years\u2015\u2015and place the Exodus in 1013 + 591\n= B. C. 1604.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe next period of conflicting authorities is the _Sojourn in Egypt_.\nThe issue lies between the long period, 430 years, and the short one,\n215 years.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The first proof text is Ex. 12: 40: \u201cNow the sojourning\nof the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was 430 years.\u201d Next is\nGen. 15: 13: \u201cThy seed shall be a stranger in a land not theirs and\nshall serve them; and they shall afflict them 400 years\u201d:\u2015\u2015which\nis quoted substantially by Stephen, Ac. 7: 6.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015On the other hand\nstands Gal. 3: 17, which makes the giving of the law on Sinai 430 years\n_after_ the covenant made with Abraham. The interval from that covenant\nto Jacob\u2019s standing before Pharaoh is readily computed thus: From the\ncovenant with Abram, he being then 75 years old (Gen. 12: 4) to the\nbirth of Isaac, Abraham 100 years old (Gen. 21: 5) is 25 years.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015From\nbirth of Isaac to birth of Jacob (Gen. 25: 26) 60.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Jacob standing\nbefore Pharaoh (Gen. 47: 9) at 130, the sum of which numbers is 215.\nAccording to Paul, this would leave for the sojourn in Egypt but 215\nyears.\n\nA distinct class of proofs came from an estimate of the generations\nbetween the fathers who went down into Egypt and the sons who entered\nCanaan. Of this, presently.\n\nReverting now to the obviously conflicting proof texts above cited,\nwe may note that Ex. 12: 40 is read variously\u2015\u2015the Septuagint (Vatican\ntext) adding after \u201cdwelt in Egypt,\u201d the words\u2015\u2015\u201cand in the land of\nCanaan;\u201d while the Alexandrian text of the Septuagint adds also\u2015\u2015\u201cthey\nand their fathers.\u201d Both these additions appear also in the Samaritan\ntext and in the Targum Jonathan; while the Masoretic Hebrew is\nsupported by the more reliable Targum of Onkelos; also by the Syriac\nand the Vulgate. These additions as in the Septuagint are clumsily\nmade. The dwelling in Canaan, referring to Abraham and Isaac, should\ncome in _before_ the dwelling in Egypt if at all, and not _after_. The\ndiversity between the two texts of the Septuagint is suspicious. The\nauthority of the old Hebrew text stands unshaken.\n\nThe passage Gen. 15: 13 is strong to the same purport, since it was\n\u201cin a land _not his own_\u201d (_i. e._ not Canaan), and was a state of\ntyrannous oppression which was to continue 400 years\u2015\u2015points which\nforbid us to include in this 400 years the life-history of Abraham,\nIsaac and Jacob.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As to Paul (Gal. 3: 17) his readers had before them\nonly the Septuagint; he would therefore naturally follow its authority,\nand the more readily because the difference between that and the Hebrew\nin the length of the interval was a point of no importance to his\nargument.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe evidence from the lapse of generations during the sojourn in Egypt\nis of great, not to say decisive, importance to our question. Here,\nhowever, opinions as to its bearing differ totally. One of the test\npassages is Ex. 6: 16\u201320, which makes the whole age of Levi 137 years;\nof Kohath, his son, 133; of Amram\u2015\u2015apparently his son and the father\nof Moses, 137. The age of Moses when he stood before Pharaoh (Ex. 7: 7)\nwas 80. Kohath was born in Canaan; his father was older by several\nyears than Benjamin; presumably, therefore, his children were older;\nyet Benjamin had ten sons when he went down into Egypt (Gen. 46: 21).\nIf we suppose that Kohath was 25 when he went into Egypt, then he lived\nthere 108 years. Amram lived there 137, and Moses at the Exodus had\nlived 80. With these given generations and ages, this computation is\nstretched to its utmost extent since it supposes Kohath\u2019s death at 133\nand Amram\u2019s birth to have occurred in the same year; also Amram\u2019s death\nat 137 and the birth of Moses to be in the same year; yet the sum is\nonly 325, which is less by 105 years than the long period. With these\ndata the short period (215) might be readily provided for.\n\nBut several circumstances combine to show that there must be several\nomitted links between the Amram here spoken of, and Kohath. For in this\ngenealogical list (Ex. 6: 16\u201320) we have but two names between Levi,\nthe tribe-father, and Moses, viz. Kohath and Amram. But between Joseph,\na younger tribe-father, and Zelophehad, a contemporary of Moses, there\nare four intervening names (Num. 26: 28\u201333); between Judah and Bezaleel\nthere are six (1 Chron. 2: 3\u20135, 18\u201320); between Joseph (through Ephraim)\nand Joshua, there are nine (1 Chron. 7: 22\u201327).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Again, we have in\nNum. 3: 27, 28, a census of the four Kohath families. The males, from\none month and upward, are 8600. If we set off one-fourth of these to\nAmram (_i. e._ 2150) and remember that the Amram who was father to\nMoses had but one other son, Aaron, (known to this genealogy) with four\nsons, and that Moses had but two, we shall see it utterly impossible\nthat the male offspring of Moses and of Aaron could number 2150.\nTherefore Amram, the immediate son of Kohath, must have been several\ngenerations back of the Amram who was father of Moses.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The genealogy\nof Jochebed, the mother of Moses, might also be explained, but space\nforbids.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The vast increase of Hebrew population, from the 70 souls\nwho went down into Egypt to the 600,000 men of age for war who went out\n(Ex. 12: 37), suggests a longer time than 215 years. The evidence on\nthe whole preponderates decisively against the shorter and in favor of\nthe longer period, 430 years.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe third doubtful period in Hebrew chronology lies between Abraham\nand his father Terah, the question being the age of Terah at Abraham\u2019s\nbirth. Some authorities make it 70 years; others, 130. The proof texts\nare\u2015\u2015(a.) Gen. 11: 26; \u201cTerah lived 70 years and begat Abram, Nahor,\nand Haran.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b.) Gen. 11: 32; \u201cThe days of Terah were 205 years; and\nTerah died in Haran.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(c.) Acts 7: 4; \u201cAbram came out of the land\nof the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran; and from thence, _after his father\nwas dead_, he removed into this land wherein ye now dwell.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(d.) Gen.\n12: 4; \u201cAbram was 75 years old when he departed out of Haran.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\ndifficulty is that if Abram was born when his father was 70 and lived\nwith him till his death at the age of 205, he should have been 135\nand not merely 75 when his father died and he went into Canaan.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015To\nsurmount this difficulty some construe the text (a.) to mean that Terah\nlived 70 years before the birth of his first son; that Abram was not\nhis first-born but is named first on account of his greater prominence\nin history and in character; and that Abram was not born till his\nfather was 130.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Others assume that Stephen made the slight mistake\nof supposing that Terah was dead when Abram left Haran for Canaan,\nmisled by the circumstance that the historian, in order to dispose\nof his case, narrated Terah\u2019s death _before_ he spoke of Abram\u2019s\nemigration to Canaan, although (as they assume) it in fact occurred\n60 years afterwards.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Others assume an error in the number of years\nassigned as the full age of Terah, making it 145 instead of 205\u2015\u2015the\nSamaritan text giving these figures.\n\nThe assumption that Stephen was mistaken is to be rejected; partly\nbecause it was vital to the purposes of his speech that his historic\npoints should be accurately made\u2015\u2015at least in harmony with current\nJewish opinion\u2015\u2015to say nothing of the further fact that he is before\nus as one \u201cfilled with the Holy Ghost\u201d and specially inspired; partly\nbecause the history represents Terah as sympathizing fully in the\nspirit of the removal from Ur to Canaan, and apparently prevented\nfrom going only by the infirmities of age.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The choice seems,\ntherefore, to lie between the first named explanation and the last.\nThe first\u2015\u2015making the passage (Gen. 11: 26) mean only that Terah lived\n70 years before the birth of his eldest, but became the father of\nthree sons\u2015\u2015leaving us at liberty to fix Abraham\u2019s birth at his 130th\nyear\u2015\u2015is a possible construction, but is rendered somewhat improbable\nby Abram\u2019s question (Gen. 17: 17) \u201cShall a son be born to him that is\n100 years old\u201d? How could he have thought this strange if in fact he\nhimself had been born when his father was 130?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015There may be an error\nin the number of years of Terah\u2019s life; the Samaritan text may be right\nin making it 145. This is below the average age of his fathers; but\nin those as in all other days, men were subject to die before they\nreached the maximum age of their generation. It would seem that he set\nout from Ur with the reasonable expectation of going to Canaan. Hence\na probability that he died unexpectedly, and at an earlier age than his\nfathers. I can express no positive opinion upon this case.\n\n * * * * *\n\nTwo other doubtful periods remain to be considered, viz. _The interval\nfrom the creation to the flood; and the interval from the flood to the\ncall of Abram._ The question upon these two intervals is substantially\nthe same, so that they may properly be presented together. It hinges\nin both cases upon the authority of the texts\u2015\u2015viz. for the former\ninterval, Gen. 5: 3\u201332; and for the latter, Gen. 11: 10\u201326.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In\nform these tables are not chronological but genealogical. They do\nnot reckon from any given era, as if (_e. g._) to show the interval\nfrom the creation to the flood, but give the age of each member of\nthe genealogical line when his son of the same line was born. It is\ntherefore by adding together these measured portions of each man\u2019s life,\nviz. the years he lived before the next member in the line was born,\nthat we obtain the entire interval.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The tables give three facts\nas to each man\u2019s life; (a.) how old he was when his son in this line\nwas born; (b.) how long he lived afterwards; and (c.) the sum total\nof his years. If the chain is perfect, with neither missing nor\nsupernumerary links, and if the numbers of the first class are all\ncorrect, the result must be reliable. But plainly the result will be\nchanged at once by changing the first set of numbers and the second to\ncorrespond,\u2015\u2015without changing the third at all.\n\nIn the present case from Adam to Noah inclusive are ten generations.\nThe sum of the first class of numbers as it stands in our Hebrew text\nis 1656, to the year of the flood. The only question of difficulty\nis upon the _authority of the text_. The Septuagint makes the same\ninterval 2262\u2015\u2015an excess above the Hebrew of 606 years.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In like\nmanner from the birth of Arphaxad to the call of Abram (ten generations\ninclusive) the Hebrew text makes a total of 365 years; the Septuagint\n1015, or by another text of the Sept. 1115, making an excess of 650 or\n750 years. The sum of excess in the two periods is 1256 or 1356.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nfollowing tables will serve to show how these diverse footings are\nproduced. The numbers given by Josephus have some interest: I therefore\nplace them in the table for the period before the flood. The numbers\ngiven in the Samaritan text are frequently brought into this comparison.\nThey differ considerably from either of the other authorities, but seem\nto me of no particular value, and are therefore omitted.\n\n A.\n\n HEBREW TEXT. SEPTUAGINT. JOSEPHUS.\n \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\n Age Age Age\n at Rest at Rest at Rest\n Son\u2019s of Son\u2019s of Son\u2019s of\n NAMES birth. life.Total. birth.life.Total. birth.life. Total.\n \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\n 1. Adam 130 800 930 230 700 930 230 700 930\n 2. Seth 105 807 912 205 707 912 205 707 912\n 3. Enos 90 815 905 190 715 905 190 715 905\n 4. Cainan 70 840 910 170 740 910 170 740 910\n 5. Mahalaleel 65 830 895 165 730 895 165 730 895\n 6. Jared 162 800 962 162 800 962 162 800 962\n 7. Enoch 65 300 365 165 200 365 165 200 365\n 8. Methuselah 187 782 969 *187 782 969 187 782 969\n 9. Lamech 182 595 777 188 565 753 182 595 777\n 10. Noah 500 450 950 500 450 950 500 450 950\n To the flood 100 100 100\n \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\n Total 1656 2262 2256\n\n * The Vatican text of the Seventy makes this number 167.\n\nComparing the Hebrew figures with those of the Septuagint, it seems\nplain that one set or the other has been altered _by design_. It should\nbe borne in mind that the Septuagint is a translation from Hebrew into\nGreek, made about 285 B. C., which is not far from 1500 years prior\nto the date of our oldest Hebrew manuscripts. Also that Josephus wrote\nin the latter part of the first century after Christ, giving Jewish\nhistory quite faithfully _as then understood_.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In the first table\nJosephus sustains the Septuagint with only the one slight exception of\nmaking Lamech 182 instead of 188 at the birth of Noah\u2015\u2015his total being\nthereby six years less.\n\nThe reader will note carefully how these main differences between the\nHebrew and the Septuagint stand. In the first five names and in the\nseventh, the years in the first column\u2015\u2015_i. e._ the age of the father\nat the birth of his son, are less by 100 in the Hebrew than in the\nSeptuagint, or (what amounts to the same thing) greater by 100 in the\nSeptuagint than in the Hebrew. To correspond, the years in the second\ncolumn are greater by 100 in the Hebrew than in the Septuagint, so\nthat the totals as they appear in the third column come out the same\nin both texts.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These are the only important variations. The other\nis a slight one\u2015\u2015the Septuagint adding six years to the age of Lamech\nat Noah\u2019s birth, or the Hebrew taking six years off from the number as\nin the Septuagint. In this case Josephus is with the Hebrew text.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It\nmay be noted also that in the cases of Jared and Methuselah, the\nfigures agree.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Now the question is\u2015\u2015_Which text is pure, and which\nhas been corrupted?_\n\nA better view perhaps of the whole question will be obtained if at this\npoint we study the corresponding table for the period from the birth of\nArphaxad (two years after the flood) to the call of Abram, made up from\nthe Hebrew text, from the Septuagint and from the Samaritan text of\nGen. 11:10\u201326:\n\n B.\n\n HEBREW TEXT. SEPTUAGINT. SAMARITAN.\n \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\n Age Age Age\n at Rest at Rest at Rest\n Son\u2019s of Son\u2019s of Son\u2019s of\n NAMES birth. life.Total. birth.life.Total. birth.life. Total.\n \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\n 1. Shem 100 500 600 100 500 600 100 500 600\n 2. Arphaxad 35 403 438 135 400 535 135 303 438\n 3. Salah 30 403 433 130 330 460 130 303 433\n 4. Eber 34 430 464 134 270 404 134 270 404\n 5. Peleg 30 209 239 130 209 339 130 109 239\n 6. Reu 32 207 239 132 207 339 132 107 237\n 7. Serug 30 200 230 130 200 330 130 100 230\n 8. Nahor 29 119 148 179 125 304 79 69 145\n [or 79]\n 9. Terah 130 135 205 130 135 205 70 75 145\n [or 70] [or 70]\n 10. Abram,\n his call 75 75 75\n \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015 \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\n Total 365 1015 1015\n\nHere it will be noticed that the important differences are of the same\nsort as in the corresponding table before the flood. In a series of six\nnames (Arphaxad to Serug inclusive) the Hebrew has 100 years less in\neach life than the Septuagint _before_ the dividing point. In the first\n(the important) column, the Samaritan agrees with the Septuagint. The\nyears in the second and in the third columns are quite irregular. In\nthe case of Nahor the Septuagint exceeds the Hebrew either 50, as in\nthe Alexandrian text of the Septuagint, or 150 as in the Vatican text.\n\nOn the question\u2015\u2015Which of these texts, the Hebrew or the Greek, has\nbeen corrupted? it may be said in favor of the integrity of the Hebrew:\n\n(a.) That it is the original.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b.) That in general it has been\npreserved by the Jews with extreme care and guarded against corruption\nwith the greatest vigilance.\n\n * * * * *\n\nIn favor of the integrity of the Septuagint on the points now in\nquestion may be urged\u2015\u2015\n\n(a.) As to the period from Adam to Noah, the general concurrence of\nJosephus\u2015\u2015an independent and reliable witness as to the state of all\nthe Jewish authorities of his time. In regard to the period after the\nflood, the corresponding concurrence of the Samaritan text in all vital\npoints.\n\n(b.) The fact that there is no known reason for intentional corruption;\nwhile over against this it has been supposed (with how much probability\nit is difficult to say) that the Jews during their controversies with\nthe Christians on the great question of the Messiah (A. D. 150\u2013400)\nfound it for their interest to shorten the period from the creation to\nthe Christian era in order to prove that the Messiah had not yet come.\nThis presupposes it admitted on both sides that he was to come within\nsome given number of years after the creation\u2015\u2015perhaps 4500 or 5000.\nWe have already seen reason to suppose that the Hebrew text of 1 Kings\n6: 1 is in error\u2015\u2015perhaps corrupted. It is manifestly less than the\ntruth by the difference between 480 and 591.\n\n(c.) The accuracy of the Septuagint chronology on these contested\npoints does not appear to have been called in question until at least\n400 years after the translation was made\u2015\u2015never before A. D. 150, about\nthe date when the controversy arose respecting the Christian Messiah.\n\n(d.) It was in use and fully accredited before the Christian era.\n\n(e.) It was used and its authority fully admitted by the fathers of\nthe Christian church.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This fact and the next preceding render it at\nleast probable that the Hebrew text _at that time_ was in harmony with\nthe Septuagint.\n\n(f.) The Chaldean and Egyptian annals seem to demand more time back to\nthe flood or to the creation than the present Hebrew text admits, and\ntherefore lend their influence (to be taken for what it is worth) in\nfavor of the Septuagint rather than the Hebrew because of its longer\nperiods.\n\n(g.) In table A it will be readily seen, comparing the figures of\nthe first column in the Hebrew with the corresponding figures in the\nSeptuagint, that the latter are very uniform while in the Hebrew there\nis a wide diversity between the highest and the lowest, four standing\nconsiderably below 100 and two above 180. The probability seems to be\nsomewhat against so wide diversity.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In table B the Hebrew figures\nin the first column are sufficiently near each other. Out of seven in\nsuccession the extremes are 29 and 35. We have an equal uniformity in\nthe first column of the Septuagint and of the Samaritan, six of these\nfigures being the same as in the Hebrew with only the addition of 100.\nThe Hebrew figures seem low relatively to the total years; and on the\nother hand the Septuagint figures seem too high. Especially is this\nobjection formidable when we remember Abram\u2019s surprise that God should\npromise him a son when 100 years old (Gen. 17: 17). \u201cShall a child be\nborn to him that is 100 years old?\u201d\u2015\u2015as if it were a thing unknown in\nthen recent history. But if all Abram\u2019s ancestors back to the flood\nbegat their respective sons in this line at ages ranging from 135 to\n130 (or all but Terah) it is somewhat difficult to account for his\nsurprise. The best we could say would be that the average human life\nwas fast lessening. I regard this as the most serious objection of\ninternal character against the integrity of the Septuagint text.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015On\nthe whole the chronological questions at issue between the Hebrew text\nand the Septuagint, turning upon the authority of their respective\ntexts, are very much complicated and not a little doubtful. I have laid\nbefore the reader what I regard as the main arguments, and rest the\ncase here, hopeful that greater light may yet arise, leaning, however,\ntoward accepting the authority of the Septuagint.\n\n * * * * *\n\nReviewing the points made in this examination of Hebrew chronology,\nit will be seen that we extend the time beyond Usher\u2019s system,\n(a.) In the period of the Judges at least 111 years; (b.) In the\nsojourn in Egypt 215 years; and (omitting the interval between Terah\nand Abram as uncertain), (c.) In the interval from the flood to the\ncall of Abram (if the Septuagint be followed) at least 650 years, and\nperhaps 750; and (d.) In the period from the creation to the flood, 606\nyears\u2015\u2015a total of 1582 or 1682 years.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Or, to put the case in another\nform, we put the Exodus in the year (B. C.) 1603; Jacob\u2019s going into\nEgypt, B. C. 2033; the call of Abram, B. C. 2248; and by the Septuagint\nthe flood, 3265 or 3365; and finally, by the Septuagint, the creation,\nB. C. 5527 or 5627.\n\nThis approximates toward harmony with the reported results of the\nIndian chronology which locates the creation B. C. 6174; also the\n\u2666Babylonian, B. C. 6158, and the Chinese, B. C. 6157\u2015\u2015the excess of\nthe latter above the longest sacred chronology being only 530 years.\nThe approach toward harmony in these three not sacred chronologies\u2015\u2015the\nIndian, the \u2666Babylonian and the Chinese\u2015\u2015the extreme difference being\nonly 17 years\u2015\u2015is certainly a remarkable fact.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV.\n\n THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN RESUMED.\n\n\nAS to the antiquity of Egyptian art, civilization and political power,\nthere are two main questions:\n\n1. _How much time, after Noah, is required?_\n\n2. _How much can be allowed in harmony with the most reliable\nauthorities of Hebrew chronology?_\n\n1. Under the head of _time required_, it is in place to note the\ncircumstances which favored the very rapid growth of Egyptian\ncivilization and also of the numerical and political power of Egypt.\n\n(a) Mizraim, the father of Egypt, who gave his name to the kingdom, was\na grandson of Noah and the father of seven sons (Gen. 10: 1, 6, 13, 14).\nConsequently he started _early and strong_.\n\n(b) The fertility of the Nile valley was prodigious; it was capable,\ntherefore, of sustaining an immense population, and so would attract\nother people besides the lineal descendants of Mizraim. Every thing was\npropitious for the early and rapid peopling of their country.\n\n(c) Fixed residence, coupled with cheap bread and abundance of it, put\nthe Egyptian on vantage-ground above any other ancient nation for the\nearly culture of art and for rapid growth in all that made Egypt great.\n\n(d) It is a capital mistake to assume that the arts and sciences _were\noriginated_ in Egypt after the flood, and that therefore a very long\ntime must be allowed for their growth and development up from utter\nbarbarism. For there was surely no insignificant amount of art and\nscience among the builders of Noah\u2019s ark. The yet earlier history of\nthe race names \u201cthe father of all such as handle the harp and organ,\u201d\nand also \u201can instructor of every artificer in brass and iron\u201d (Gen.\n4: 21, 22).\n\n(e) It is a significant fact that the Chaldean tradition of the deluge\nas preserved by Berosus sets forth the special care taken by Noah to\npreserve and transmit to the new-born nations after the flood the arts\nand sciences which had been developed before that catastrophe. They\nsay he was admonished to put in writing an account of these arts and\nsciences and deposit it in a place of safety until the flood should\nbe past. This tradition reveals the fact of a current belief that\nthere was such knowledge to be preserved, and that means were used to\npreserve it.\n\n2. Under the head of _time required_ it remains to give a synopsis\nof the latest and most reliable results of Egyptologists in regard to\nthe Egyptian date of _Menes_, their first king, and of the building of\nthe three great pyramids\u2015\u2015these being the most important epochs of the\nearliest Egyptian antiquity.\n\nThe standard historic authority (not, however, above suspicion) is\nManetho, an Egyptian priest of Heliopolis, of the age of Ptolemy\nPhiladelphus (reigned B. C. 284\u2013246), who is supposed to have made up\nfrom the ancient records of his nation a list of thirty or thirty-one\ndynasties of Egyptian kings, beginning with Menes and ending with the\nconquests of Alexander the Great, giving the years of each king\u2019s reign.\nUnfortunately it comes down in a somewhat fragmentary condition, as\ncopied by Julius Africanus (died A. D. 232), who was himself in part\ncopied by Eusebius (of the fourth century) and by Syncellus (flourished\nA. D. 780).\n\nUntil recently it has been the current opinion of the best\nauthorities (still held by many) that these dynasties were at some\npoints _contemporary_ and not _successive_\u2015\u2015some of them reigning\nin Upper Egypt, others in Middle or Lower Egypt, _at the same time_.\nThis would raise the problems\u2015\u2015How many and which were contemporary?\nHow much is the entire period actually shortened by this\ncontemporaneousness?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moreover it has been supposed also that on the\nsame throne there has been at some points a joint occupancy of two or\nmore kings\u2015\u2015father and son perhaps, or of some rival claimants; so that\nthe entire duration of a given dynasty may be less than the sum of the\nreigns of its enumerated kings.[20]\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The problem of whole duration\nbeing complicated by these elements of uncertainty, it has been the\ngreat aim of recent investigation to gather in all possible aid from\nthe monuments and bring their testimony to bear upon the tables of\nManetho. The results are variously estimated and the problem can not\nbe regarded as yet fully settled.\n\nI place together the opinions of some of the best authorities:\n\n\n I. _For the date of Menes, reputed the first king._\n\n B. C.\n Bunsen\u2019s latest revised recension of Egyptian Chronology\n locates him[21] 3059\n J. P. Thompson at least as far back as 3000\n R. S. Poole (Smith\u2019s Bible Dictionary, p. 682) 2717\n Sir Gardner Wilkinson (see \u201cAids to Faith,\u201d p. 294) 2690\n Wm. Palmer (Smith\u2019s Bible Dictionary, p. 687) 2224\n The \u201cOld Chronicle\u201d (very valuable authority) 2220\n Eratosthenes and \u2666Apollodorus, original authorities,\n in no respect inferior to Manetho 2793\n\nOther estimates from less reliable authorities carry him back yet\nfurther.\n\nFor convenience of comparison we place here our corrected Bible\nChronology for the call of Abraham\u2015\u2015viz. B. C. 2248; and for the\nflood, by the longest Septuagint text, B. C. 3425, and by the shortest,\nB. C. 3325. These dates afford ample time for Mizraim, grandson of\nNoah, to make a home and found a community in Egypt, in which Menes\nmight presently reach the dignity of being the first king.\n\n\n II. _The date of the Pyramids._\n\n B. C.\n Bunsen in his latest recension, about 2600\n Prof. C. Piazzi Smith, by astronomical calculations 2170\n George Rawlinson (in \u201cAids to Faith,\u201d p. 297) 2400\n\nThese dates may be compared with the call of Abraham\u2015\u2015B. C.\n2248.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015J. P. Thompson (Genesis and Geology, p. 86) says\u2015\u2015\u201cThe three\ngreat pyramids by the common consent of Egyptologers are assigned to\nthe fourth dynasty of kings of the old empire, as given by Manetho.\u201d\n\nIt will be seen that these dates for Menes, the first king, and for the\noldest pyramids are amply provided for within the extension of sacred\nchronology as above indicated.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Other points in Egyptian antiquities\nwill be treated of in their place.\n\n * * * * *\n\nOn the general subject of the _antiquity of man_, it only remains to\ntouch briefly the subsidiary questions stated above, p. 49.\n\n(a.) _Were there one or more races of primeval men, pre-Adamic, but now\nextinct?_\n\nSo far as reliable facts have yet come to light there is no sufficient\nevidence of the affirmative. Our investigations into the antiquity\nof man do not seem to demand a longer time than the extended sacred\nchronology above presented affords. It is perhaps too soon to say that\nno evidence will yet appear of a pre-Adamic race not in existence now.\nBut it will be soon enough to recognize the fact when the evidence\nshall have been adduced. Till then, it is more scientific to believe\nonly so far as we have knowledge based on evidence.\n\n(b.) _Have there been various head-centers of existing human species,\nor only one, and that Adam?_\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Or (the same question in different\nform) Are all the living varieties of race lineally descended from\nAdam? and all from Noah?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These questions contemplate the well known\ndiversities of race in the existing human family.\n\nThe classification of _race_ is made somewhat variously by different\nauthors; but the more common one makes _five_ classes: The Caucasian,\nor white; The Mongolian, or yellow; The Ethiopian negro race, or black;\nThe American, or red; and the Malayan, or brown. (See Webster.)\n\nLet it be premised in the outset that this distinction of race is\none of _variety_ and not of _species_. It sits upon the surface and\ndoes not penetrate to the inner nature. All these races have the same\nanatomical structure; the same physical organs; and what is far more,\nthe same intellectual and moral nature. Every-where they exhibit the\ncommon effects of the fall of Adam; the same depravity of moral nature;\nthe same common need of redemption by Christ.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These are cardinal\ntraits and tests. What is the color of the skin compared with the stamp\nof God\u2019s image upon the very nature itself?\n\nThat these races intermingle and cross indefinitely is sufficient\nproof that they are only _varieties_, and by no means distinct\n_species_.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Yet this of itself does not prove that all men have\ndescended from one first man\u2015\u2015Adam. For the Lord had power to create\nfive or ten Adams, each the head-center of as many distinct races,\nyet all, of the one species, _man_. So far therefore as respects the\ncreative power of God or the constitution of man, this is an open\nquestion: _What then are the facts_?\n\n1. The Scriptures imply with the strongest form of implication that\nthe Adam of Genesis is the father\u2015\u2015the one only father\u2015\u2015of the whole\nhuman race. The narrative of the creation; of the fall; and of the\nfirst promise of redemption\u2015\u2015all imply this. Paul implies it in those\npassages in which he compares the ruin of the race through the one\nman Adam with the salvation provided for the race through the greater\nsecond _Man_, Jesus Christ. The strong passages are Rom. 5: 12\u201319 and\n1 Cor. 15: 21, 22.\n\n2. The diversities of race may be accounted for as produced by either\nor both of two causes; (a.) Climatic influences; (b.) Sporadic,\nabnormal peculiarities, appearing suddenly, and perpetuating themselves\nby inheritance.\n\n3. The geographical distribution of the race from one head-center,\nAdam, is certainly possible. There is some reason to suppose that the\nrelative position of the seas, oceans, and continents at their points\nof nearest approach may have been different in the earlier ages from\nthe present.\n\n4. The proofs of a common language from which all known human languages\nhave been derived conspire to sustain the common origin of all the\nhuman family.\n\nThis list of proofs might be extended and the argument from these\npoints greatly expanded.\n\nOn the subordinate question whether Noah was the common ancestor of all\nthe races living since his day, the answer turns mainly on the point of\nthe universality of the deluge; or rather, on this precise point\u2015\u2015Did\nthe deluge destroy all the living men except those saved with Noah in\nthe ark?\n\nThis question will be considered in its place.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V.\n\n THE SABBATH.\n\n\nIT has been already suggested that the division of the creative\nwork into six days rather than into five or ten or any other number,\ncontemplated the weekly Sabbath and was designed to connect this\nSabbath for man with God\u2019s rest from this creative work so that the\nSabbath should be at once a memorial of the creation and should bear in\nitself the force of God\u2019s example in his relative periods of labor and\nof rest. God created this beautiful earth for man\u2019s abode, and man to\ndwell upon it; therefore let man remember his Great Creator and Father,\nthoughtfully contemplating his works, admiring and adoring, worshiping\nand serving the Glorious Author of both his being and his blessings.\nGod wrought six days and rested one; so let man throughout all the\nages of earthly time. Such is the relation of the Sabbath to God and\nto man.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Note therefore\n\n1. _God ordained and enjoined it._ It is precisely a divine\ninstitution\u2015\u2015not man-made but heaven-born; an outgrowth of God\u2019s wisdom\nand love for his offspring man\u2015\u2015for that one of all his creatures whom\nonly God \u201cmade in his own image.\u201d \u201cGod blessed the seventh day and\nsanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which\nGod created and made\u201d (Gen. 2: 3). \u201cBlessed and sanctified\u201d\u2015\u2015not _as\nto himself_ but _as to man_; _i. e._ not to make the day a blessing to\nhimself but a blessing to man; not to make the day holy _to himself_\nbut holy _as to man_. It was a day for man to keep holy and a day\nladen with blessings for man on condition of his sacredly observing\nit in its true spirit and intent.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In accord with this view are our\nSavior\u2019s words (Mk. 2: 27), \u201cThe Sabbath was made for man\u201d\u2015\u2015to become a\nblessing for man, one of the great and sure channels of mercy from the\nGreat Father to his obedient children. Thus the Sabbath was instituted\nfor man when the race existed in Adam and Eve alone\u2015\u2015one of the\ninstitutions revealed from God and enjoined in Eden\u2015\u2015good for man\nbefore his fall, and surely not less needful to the race fallen than\nto the race sinless. Let it be distinctly considered that this Sabbath\nwas instituted with no limitations of time or race or nation\u2015\u2015not for\nEden alone; not for the race before their fall only\u2015\u2015to become defunct\nwhen man began to sin; not for the Jews alone to be only a Jewish\nnational observance and to become obsolete when the ceremonials of\nJudaism \u201cwaxed old and vanished away.\u201d It was indeed prescribed anew\nto the Hebrew nation and enforced with new sanctions, especially by his\nobligations to his covenant-keeping God for national deliverance from\nEgyptian bondage; but this weighs not a feather against the doctrine\nthat the Sabbath was made _for man_. While the Sabbath obligation,\nthus heightened by new mercies, might be said to become more sacred and\nobligatory upon the Jewish nation, this fact could by no means make the\nday less sacred to the Gentiles of every land and of all time.\n\n2. As sustaining scripturally this argument for the divine appointment\nof the Sabbath for the race of mankind, let it be noted that the\nseven-day division of time is unquestionably traceable to this primeval\ninstitution. It did not originate in the revolution of the earth on\nits axis which makes the common day, nor in its revolution in its orbit\nround the sun which makes the year, nor in the changes of the moon\nwhich mark off lunar months. It is an abnormal\u2015\u2015we might say unnatural\ndivision of time\u2015\u2015one which comes not of nature but from a source above\nnature\u2015\u2015from God directly and from God alone.\n\nHistorically we find this seventh-day period in existence during the\nflood. Noah observed it and sent out the raven and the dove after\nseven-day intervals of time.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It becomes most distinctly apparent\nin the recorded history of the manna (Ex. 16: 22\u201330). By the natural\nlaw of the manna, each next day\u2019s supply was distilled each night\nupon the adjacent grounds, ready for the labor of gathering it in\nthe early morning. This would normally make labor a necessity for\ntheir subsistence _every day_, leaving them no Sabbath. Therefore God\narrested the normal law at the Sabbath point and provided a double\nsupply on the morning next preceding, giving none on the morning of the\nSabbath. Moreover by another special provision, this double supply was\nkept two days from putrefaction\u2015\u2015in this case only, so that it sufficed\nperfectly for their wants till the Sabbath was past. Some of the people,\noblivious of the Sabbath, \u201cwent out on the seventh day to gather, and\nfound none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep\nmy commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you\nthe Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two\ndays; abide ye every man in his place; let no man go out of his place\non the seventh day\u201d (Ex. 16: 27\u201330). Most decisively therefore does\nthis narrative assume that the Sabbath was not then a new institution\nbut an old one. This scene and these words, be it remembered, were\nbefore (not after) the giving of the ten commandments from Sinai.\n\nTo the same purport is the form of the fourth commandment; \u201c_Remember_\nthe Sabbath day to keep it holy.\u201d The Lord does not say\u2015\u2015I now\nintroduce a new and special precept. His words, \u201cRemember\u201d etc. do not\nimply this but imply the very opposite of this. So also do the reasons\nassigned; viz. God\u2019s creative work finished in six days with rest on\nthe seventh. If this were a reason for the Sabbath, it was certainly\ngood for Adam in Eden and for all of Adam\u2019s children to the end of the\nworld. Corresponding to this we may note that in this fourth command\nGod does not say\u2015\u2015I appoint each seventh day for a sign between me and\nthee and a memorial of your national deliverance from Egyptian bondage\n(as many have maintained\u2015\u2015to make out that the Sabbath was nothing but\na Jewish institution) but this is not the form in which the Sabbath\nstands in the immortal decalogue. These points\u2015\u2015a \u201csign\u201d between the\nLord and Israel and a memorial of deliverance from Egypt, came in fitly\nafterwards as a supplement\u2015\u2015an appendix to this fourth command _in its\nspecial relations_ to the children of Israel. See Ex. 31: 12\u201317 and\nEzek. 20: 12, 20, with my Notes on the passage in Ezekiel. But these\nspecial and superadded relations of the Sabbath to the Hebrews can\nnot possibly in reason diminish the obligation of the original Sabbath\nordained for man as a race in Eden.\n\n4. To complete the argument for a perpetual Sabbath, it is only needful\nto add that our Lord re-endorsed it and gave it the whole weight of\nhis sanction for all future time; and in these several ways: (a.) By\nre-endorsing the entire decalogue\u2015\u2015\u201cI am not come to destroy the law\nbut to fulfil\u201d (Mat. 5: 17). The scope of the sermon on the mount\u2015\u2015(of\nwhich these words are a part) proves that his eye was on the great\nmoral law of ten commandments. Plainly he could not have spoken of the\nMosaic ceremonial law, and therefore must have spoken of that special\ncode of precepts of which the Sabbath was the fourth.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b.) He\nendorsed the Sabbath as perpetual and universal by solemnly\ndeclaring\u2015\u2015\u201cThe Sabbath was made _for man_\u201d (Mk. 2: 27).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(c.) Also\nby affirming it to be his own prerogative to enforce the Sabbath and to\nset forth its spirit and expound its obligations. \u201cTherefore,\u201d because\nthe Sabbath was made for man, for all men of all time, \u201ctherefore,\nthe Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath\u201d (Mk. 2: 28). It was in\norder to relieve the law of the Sabbath (as then currently expounded)\nfrom burdensome, excessive and injurious constructions which human\nnature could not bear and which were alien from its true spirit, that\nour Lord confronted the traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees and\nsought to place this great institution upon its true and eternal\nbasis.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(d.) Finally as showing historically that our Lord had never\na thought of terminating the obligation of the Sabbath at his death but\ndesigned its obligation to be perpetual, we have this very incidental\nword\u2015\u2015\u201cPray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the\nSabbath day\u201d (Mat. 24: 20). When the Roman armies should bring down\nthe judgments of the Almighty upon the doomed city of the murderers of\nJesus, his followers must flee to the mountains across the Jordan; yet\nlet it be their prayer that they might not be compelled to flee either\nin the severity of winter\u2019s cold, nor on the holy Sabbath. Flight for\nlife might be morally admissible even on this sacred day; yet it would\nbe most appropriate to pray that God would spare them this moral trial\nand not subject them to the necessity of labor on this holy day.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In\nthese various ways our Lord most fully and undeniably re-endorsed the\nSabbath as for all time.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI.\n\n THE EVENTS OF EDEN.\n\n\nTHE first human pair have their first earthly want met by their Maker\nin a _home_\u2015\u2015a quiet, beautiful spot (precisely _where_ we know not,\nbut near the source of the great Euphrates) in which trees of beauty\nfor the eye and of nutritious fruitage for subsistence supplied some\npleasing occupation for the mind and wholesome labor for the hand;\nwhere, happy in each other\u2019s love and blessed with the freest communion\nwith their Maker, not a thing was lacking to fill their cup of joy.\n_If_ it might only _last_\u2015\u2015and for this, nothing more was needful\nsave that their moral nature should be cultured, their faith and love\nand obedience strengthened up to the point of being thoroughly, fully\nconfirmed: then their lot would have been most blessed. As a requisite\nmeans for such culture, God subjected their faith and obedience to\none gentle test\u2015\u2015to one point of moral trial. To have endured this\nsuccessfully would have made them morally stronger and have drawn them\nyet nearer in love and trust to their Great Father; but to fall before\nit\u2015\u2015Ah! this is the experience of human life, but too well known in its\nfruits of sin and woe!\n\nThe history of these scenes is before us in this third chapter of\nGenesis. Our leading inquiries may fitly take the following order:\n\nI. Is this description _symbolic_ or _historic_; _i. e._ symbolic of\nall human sinning; or historic as to this first sin, its antecedents\nand immediate consequents?\n\nII. _The moral trial_;\n\nIII. _The temptation_;\n\nIV. _The fall_;\n\nV. _The first promise_;\n\nVI. _The curse_, being the first installment of the great penalty upon\ntransgression.\n\nI. The preliminary question as to the character of this record\ndemands a brief notice. In my view it is not to be taken as a symbolic\nrepresentation of the universal fact that the race yield to temptation\nand fall before it, but as a historical account of the first human\nsin\u2015\u2015including the person of the tempter and his methods; the working\nof his temptations upon Eve and then upon Adam and the first group of\nimmediate results.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Under this construction of the narrative, I find\nhere a real serpent, and a real, not a merely symbolical, Satan\u2015\u2015the\nserpent supplying the external guise, the sense-medium; but Satan, the\nintelligent mind, the malign purpose. The narrative seems to indicate\nthat Satan chose the serpent for his service because of his well known\nsubtlety. It is of small account to push our conjectures on this point\nbeyond what is written (here and elsewhere); but it is supposable that\nthe serpent was Satan\u2019s fittest instrument as being less likely to\nexcite surprise by his uttered words.\n\nThat this record speaks of a real serpent and of a personal devil I am\nconstrained to believe, because,\n\n1. This is the obvious sense of the narrative\u2015\u2015is the construction\nwhich the mass of readers most naturally put upon it, supposing them to\nbe unsophisticated, holding their minds in harmony with the simplicity\nof the Scripture narrative and so in a mood to take most readily its\nobvious sense.\n\n2. This construction is implied and thereby endorsed in subsequent\nscriptures: _e. g._ Isaiah (65: 25) having said\u2015\u2015\u201cThe wolf and the\nlamb shall feed together\u201d\u2015\u2015peace and love supplanting violence and\ncruelty\u2015\u2015adds, \u201cAnd dust shall be the serpent\u2019s meat\u201d\u2015\u2015with manifest\nreference to this primal curse on Satan\u2019s special agent. See also a\nsimilar reference in Solomon\u2019s Messianic Psalm (72: 9): \u201cHis enemies\nshall lick the dust.\u201d Also Micah 7: 17.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These allusions presuppose\na real serpent in the scenes of Eden.\n\nThat the real personal devil was there, the responsible agent, is\nsurely implied by our Lord (Jno. 8: 44): \u201cYe are of your father the\ndevil; _he was a murderer from the beginning_ and abode not in the\ntruth because there is no truth in him.\u201d So also John (1 Jno. 3: 8):\n\u201cHe that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from\nthe beginning,\u201d _i. e._ ever since that first great sin in tempting\nour common mother. \u201cFor this purpose was the Son of God manifested\nthat he might destroy the works of the devil\u201d\u2015\u2015according to that first\npromise\u2015\u2015\u201cI will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy\nseed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his\nheel.\u201d Paul incidentally gives his construction of this narrative: \u201cThe\nGod of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly\u201d (Rom. 16: 20);\nand our Lord also in Luke (10: 18, 19): \u201cI beheld Satan fall as\nlightning from heaven; and I will give you power _to tread on serpents_\nand scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.\u201d In 2 Cor. 11: 3,\nPaul gives us a plain, historic version of this narrative\u2015\u2015\u201cBut I\nfear lest by any means, _as the_ serpent beguiled Eve through his\nsubtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that\nis in Christ.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But Satan is perhaps most sharply identified in the\ndescriptive points made by John (Rev. 12: 9 and 20: 2): \u201cAnd the great\ndragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan,\nwho deceiveth the whole world.\u201d ... \u201cAnd he laid hold on the dragon,\nthat old serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand\nyears.\u201d Our Lord, as also Paul and John, saw in this narrative a real\nSatan and also the veritable serpent, made his instrument.\n\n3. That Satan should use such an instrument is manifestly within\nand not beyond his power. It has in certain points its analogy in the\ndemoniacal possessions recorded by the Evangelists. As to power he\nis spoken of as the god and prince of this world, \u201cthe prince of the\npower of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of\ndisobedience.\u201d\n\nThe Scriptures attribute to holy angels great power over material\nagencies; and with scarcely less fullness to Satan and his legions also.\nIn the case of demoniacal possessions, nothing can be more obvious than\nthe manifestations of _Satanic mind_, mind speaking through human lips\nindeed, yet giving utterance to Satanic thought. \u201cWe know thee who Thou\nart.\u201d \u201cWhat have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou\ncome to torment us before the time\u201d? (Mat. 8: 29 and Mk. 5: 7 and Luke\n8: 28. See also Acts 19: 15.)\n\n4. Other points in this narrative are recognized in the Scriptures\nas historic and not merely symbolic. Paul wrote to Timothy (1 Tim.\n2: 13\u201315): \u201cFor Adam was first formed, then Eve, and Adam was not\ndeceived; but the woman being deceived, was in the transgression.\nNotwithstanding, she shall be saved in child-bearing,\u201d etc.\u2015\u2015all\nreferring very definitely to this narrative as fact and not merely\ndrapery illustrating some universal truth.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015To the same purport is\nPaul in Rom. 5: 12, 19: \u201cAs by one man sin entered into the world and\ndeath by sin.\u201d \u201cAs by one man\u2019s disobedience many were made sinners,\u201d\netc. So also 1 Cor. 15: 21, 22.\n\n5. The sin of the first pair stands in its appropriate historic place\nhere (not a merely symbolic place), being immediately connected with\nthe curse upon the serpent (and under him upon the devil); upon the\nwoman also, and the man and the ground; also with the expulsion from\nEden and man\u2019s changed life, from the ease and the delights of Eden to\nsweating labor upon a stubborn soil, in perpetual conflict with noxious\ngrowths.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These considerations suffice in my view to prove that this\nnarrative must be taken as simple history, and not as symbolic drapery\nemployed to set forth, not these specific events, but only the general\ntruth of human depravity.\n\n\n II. _The Moral Trial._\n\nProvision was made for this trial by one simple prohibition, forbidding\nto them the fruit of one tree in the midst of the garden. Of all else\nthey might eat as they pleased. All they could need for subsistence\nor enjoyment was freely permitted them; but the fruit of this one\ntree they might not eat on pain of death. This was the test of their\nobedience. This was to discipline their faith and their love toward\ntheir divine Father. There the tree stood before their eyes in the\nmidst of the garden\u2015\u2015every sight of it suggesting their Great Father\u2019s\nword\u2015\u2015not to be eaten at all on penalty of death. Will they cheerfully\nand even joyfully deny themselves so much for the love they bear their\nFather? So long it shall be well with them. Every time they put down\nthe temptation to eat of it they will become stronger in their spirit\nof obedience and more happy in God. It was a means of continual culture\nin holiness, ever leading onward and upward into deeper communion with\nGod and more assured and joyous submission to his will, more strength\nof purpose in obedience, more delight in whatever self-denial obedience\nmight involve. Surely it is not too much to say that they might make\nthis means of moral culture a priceless blessing to their souls. How\ncould paradise meet the greatest of all their wants\u2015\u2015the want of their\nnew-born souls\u2015\u2015without this one provision for proving and invigorating\ntheir loving obedience to their God?\n\nNeed we then raise the question\u2015\u2015_What was God\u2019s purpose in this\nprohibition?_ The answer is at hand\u2015\u2015To accomplish precisely this\nresult; to give the first human pair a test of obedience which should\nbe naturally a means of moral culture and of growth in holiness.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nhorrible thought\u2015\u2015that God meant and sought to make them sin\u2015\u2015how\ncan we say less of it than that it is born of Satan! For it assumes,\nas Satan did in the garden, that God sought, not their good, but\ntheir hurt; is not benevolent but malevolent! Our souls recoil from\nthis assumption. Doth not the Scriptures say truly (Jas. 1: 13),\n\u201cNeither tempteth he any man\u201d? Never, for the purpose of drawing him\ninto sin!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Is it replied:\u2015\u2015God certainly knew they would eat that\nforbidden fruit; the answer is, Undoubtedly he did; but this proves\nnothing as to his purpose and aim in placing them under this moral\ntrial. If it be yet said\u2015\u2015He might have made the trial so much less\nthat they would have borne it successfully: the proper answer is,\nWho knows that? Who is wiser or more loving in such an emergency than\nGod?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Consider also that while God knew they would fall, he also\nknew that he could redeem the race through his Son, gloriously; and\nso could make the wrath of both wicked men and devils subserve his\npraise. We may account this to be his reason for subjecting the first\npair to a form of trial (every way good and wise in itself and well\ndesigned)\u2015\u2015although he foresaw they would fall before it. It was still\n(as he saw the case through to its remotest end) better than any other\nform of trial; better than no trial at all, supposing such a thing in\ntheir case possible.\n\nThus may we vindicate God\u2019s ways in this transaction. It was kind in\nhim to grant for their free use every other fruit in the garden\u2015\u2015all\nthey could need. It was right that he should impose some test of their\nobedience and love. Indeed it was a natural necessity of their moral\nnature that this question of obeying God, always and every-where,\nshould come to issue. As surely as they were moral beings, capable of\nknowing duty and of doing it, born into being with susceptibilities\nto happiness which sometimes must be virtuously denied at the demand\nof God and of the greater good, so surely they must meet this trial\nsooner or later, in one form or another, until they become so strong\nin their holy purpose, so fixed in the spirit of love and obedience\nto God that temptation to sin is of course spurned away and duty is\ndone for evermore without a question. Moral trial, therefore, if not in\nthis precise form, yet in some analogous form, is the necessary means\nof developing moral strength and confirmed holiness; is therefore the\nnatural pathway to the blessedness of heaven. Thus, with no wavering of\ndoubt, we may vindicate God\u2019s ways toward man in this first great moral\ntrial brought on our race.\n\nIn what sense was this called, \u201cThe tree of the knowledge of good and\nevil\u201d? (Gen. 2: 9, 17 and 3: 5)\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It brought the knowledge of evil by\nfearful experience; the knowledge of good to a certain extent by the\nfreshened sense of contrast with the experience of evil. Sin gives to\nmoral beings _such_ knowledge of good and of evil\u2015\u2015knowledge it were\nbetter far for them they should never have!\n\n_Was the fruit of this tree a natural poison?_ We do not know. God\nhas not told us. It may have been or it may not. God does not base his\nprohibition on this ground. There are other grounds, all-sufficient,\nwithout this. It might perhaps be urged with some plausibility that the\nanalogy of this earthly life favors the affirmative inasmuch as for the\nmost part, God\u2019s prohibitions of food and indeed of animal indulgence\nin general, are based on this principle\u2015\u2015Abstain from poison; do\nthyself no harm. God is not wont to prohibit aught that is good for\nfood or pleasurable to any sense, except because it is pernicious,\npoisonous.\n\nWhat was this threatened penalty? _Death, in what sense?_\n\nIn the same sense in which it actually falls upon all who reject\nChrist and fail of his salvation. Upon such the curse of the law falls\nwithout abatement or modification. Their doom must surely be taken\nas the exponent and measure of the meaning of this threatened death.\nOf course it includes the loss of God\u2019s favor; the incurring of his\nfrown.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015That eternal death did not begin instantly was due to arrest\nof judgment for a new probation under the scheme of redemption; and to\nnothing else.\n\n_Was natural death a part of this penalty?_\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Plainly natural death\nbecame the doom of the race, equally of the redeemed and of the\nunredeemed, under the scheme of redemption\u2015\u2015a scheme which carried with\nit more or less of earthly life before the death of the body. But this\nproves nothing as to the breadth of the original threatening\u2015\u2015\u201cThou\nshalt surely die.\u201d What would have been in respect to natural death\nif no scheme of redemption had intervened and the original threatening\nhad been executed at once, we have no means of knowing. Mortality as at\npresent resting on the race and terminating in natural death is one of\nthe incidents of the new probation under mercy, and gives us no light\non the other question, viz. What if no mercy had come in? In general,\nit is of small account for us to ask, What would have been if something\nelse had happened otherwise than it did? _e. g._ What would have taken\nplace if the first pair had endured all temptation? How long would the\ntrial have continued? Would it have terminated by removing the tree,\nor by taking off the prohibition, or only by such complete victory\nover temptation that its presence could have been only a joy and a\ntriumph?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015What part would have been borne by \u201cthe tree of life\u201d? And\nafter their sin, what if they had put forth their hand to take and eat\nof this life-tree?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Speculations of this sort never make men wiser.\n\n\n III. _The Temptation._\n\nOn this point the history is remarkably full and distinct. To those who\nhave given attention to what may be called _the law of temptation_\u2015\u2015the\nway it works and gains its object\u2015\u2015little explanation of the narrative\nis needed.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015We may note that Satan took care not to be recognized as\nan enemy; that he made his first approaches with subtlest caution and\nskill, bringing up the case of the prohibited fruit as a question\u2015\u2015Is\nit _indeed so_ that God hath said, Ye shall not eat of every tree? As\nif he would say\u2015\u2015What do you think about this prohibition? Is it quite\npleasant to be put under such restraint?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015When Eve recited the words\nof God\u2019s prohibition and added something more\u2015\u2015viz. \u201cneither shall\nye touch it,\u201d it is at least supposable that Satan had already sprung\nin her mind the feeling that the injunction was indeed very stringent,\nperhaps unreasonably and unkindly so. It is plain that Satan is\nemboldened and now ventures to strike out squarely against God. Putting\nhis word unqualifiedly against God\u2019s word, \u201cye shall _not_ surely die,\u201d\nhe became \u201cthe father of lies,\u201d \u201ca liar from the beginning,\u201d and threw\nall the weight of his influence into the scale to break down Eve\u2019s\nconfidence in God\u2019s veracity as well as in his real kindness. Then with\nSatanic cunning he took advantage of the name given to this forbidden\ntree to make Eve think that knowledge, great and enviable like that of\nthe gods, would come from eating this fruit. Artfully he charges that\nGod knew this, and sought by the prohibition to debar them from this\nboon of knowledge so desirable. The gilded bait was swallowed but too\nsoon and too thoughtlessly! Eve had listened; she had more than half\nbelieved these lies; she still dallied with the temptation; she looked\nagain at the tree and its fruit; she saw it beautiful and seemingly\ngood for food; and, far beyond this, it appealed to her imagination\nas giving her that unknown wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods\u2015\u2015so she\ntook of it and _ate_!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Then she brought of it to her husband. Her\nwords to him are not on record. We are left to imagine how her example\nmay have wrought upon him, and sympathy also with her doom if Adam\nthought of that; how the feeling\u2015\u2015I must stand or fall, live or die,\nwith this only human friend I have on earth\u2015\u2015may have overcome every\nscruple. So far as appears he yielded without a word of question, much\nless of reproof. He yielded\u2015\u2015and the awful deed was done!\n\n\n IV. _The Fall and its Immediate Effects._\n\nThe first human pair are in sin; they have risen against God their\nMaker in rebellion. Instantly \u201ctheir eyes are opened.\u201d They realize how\nstrangely different are the sensations that come _after_ sin from those\nthat are before. The false hopes, the fascinations, the bewildering,\nbewitching charms of temptation\u2019s hour give place to the awful sense of\nfolly and of wrong\u2015\u2015a sense of passing suddenly into a world of solemn\nand dread realities pertaining to God, duty, and doom. \u201cThey knew\nthat they were naked\u201d; an awful sense of being unfit to be seen; a\nconsciousness of being ugly, loathsome, as if the inner guilt of their\nsouls stood out visibly over their whole bodies\u2015\u2015this seems to have\nbeen their first sensation, and they set themselves to sewing fig-leaf\ncoverings. As evening drew on they heard the voice of the Lord God\nwalking in the garden. That voice which up to this day had been their\nsweetest music now fills their very souls with shame and terror.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It\nis remarkable that Adam\u2019s words and his acts also make so much account\nof his nakedness, apparently of person. Was it that his convictions\nof sin and guilt were yet superficial, so that his sense of shame for\nhis sin turned his thought first to his personal nakedness? Had he yet\nto learn that \u201cGod looketh on the heart\u201d? If so the Lord\u2019s searching\nquestion must have met his case\u2015\u2015\u201cWho told thee that thou wast naked\u201d?\nHow camest thou by this sense of shame, this dread of the eye of thy\ndivine Father? \u201cHast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee\nthat thou shouldest not eat\u201d?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Adam could not do otherwise than\nconfess his sin, yet with an apology which almost or quite reflected\nupon God; \u201cThe woman whom _thou gavest_ to be with me, she gave me, and\nI did eat.\u201d The woman too sought to screen herself somewhat under the\napology of a subtle temptation. \u201cThe serpent beguiled me and I did eat.\u201d\n\nThe secondary results of the fall appear in the curse severally\npronounced of God upon the serpent, upon the woman, and upon the\nground for his sake.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As to the serpent, since he stands before us\nin this entire transaction as a double character, so the curse upon\nhim comes in a sort of double meaning. The most obvious sense of the\npassage assigns a measure of this curse to the literal serpent\u2015\u2015the\nanimal under the guise of whom Satan beguiled his victim. But the\nresponsibility and guilt being upon the very Satan, this curse falls\nchiefly on him. He is degraded, doomed to eternal shame; and in his\ngreat conflict against God and goodness, to disgrace, defeat and\ndamning ruin. Words of telling significance were these;\u2015\u2015\u201cI will put\nenmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;\nit shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel.\u201d The serpent\nguilefully assumed to be your friend. I tear off his mask and expose\nhim in his true nature; I ordain eternal enmity between serpent and\nwoman, and pre-eminently between the serpent\u2019s seed\u2015\u2015the children\nof the devil\u2015\u2015and the great, distinguished Personage known as \u201cthe\nseed of the woman.\u201d This enmity underlies the mighty conflict of\nthe ages\u2015\u2015Christ and Satan each leading on his host to battle and no\npeace or even truce arresting hostilities till the victory of the\nKing of Kings shall be complete and ineffably glorious. Thus the first\nrelation between serpent and woman\u2015\u2015that of assumed but treacherous\nfriendship\u2015\u2015develops into everlasting enmity\u2015\u2015God, her real friend,\nbecoming in the person of his incarnate Son, born of woman\u2015\u2015her\nchampion and the mighty antagonist of Satan and all his offspring.\nHere and thus mercy breaks in upon this scene of sin and ruin, and God\nbegins the wonderful process of making the wrath of Satan the occasion\nof his own infinite glory.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The words which put so tersely the result\nof this great conflict take their shape and borrow their drapery from\nthe guise under which Satan here appears\u2015\u2015that of the crawling serpent.\nHe shall wound the heel of his opponent\u2015\u2015the natural place for the\nserpent\u2019s bite; but his own head bruised and crushed, shall end the\nfight.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This first promise of God to our fallen race sweeps the eye\nover the whole vast field of moral conflict between Christ and Satan,\nand testifies of glorious victory over Satan as the sublime result. It\nwas inexpressibly kind in the Lord to bring in these gleams of light\nand hope upon the trembling souls of the first sinning pair before\nhe proceeded to speak of the specific forms of suffering that must\nrighteously come upon them and their offspring as the testimony of\nGod\u2019s displeasure against sin. Having said this, he proceeds to the\ncurse upon woman\u2015\u2015sorrow in the birth of offspring; and the curse upon\nman\u2015\u2015toil and struggle for subsistence on a soil prolific in noxious\ngrowths and demanding labor as a condition of fruitfulness.\n\nYet let the minor points of this scene sink into the shade in the\npresence of the sublime glory of the great first promise. In the light\nof this we see that though Satan plotted the ruin of the race, yet\nGod counter-plotted the ruin of Satan and the salvation of the masses\nof mankind. When it might have seemed that all was lost, it proved\nthat this extremity was God\u2019s great opportunity, for his strong arm\nwas made bare for help and real victory. This is the birth-hour of\nmost momentous issues. Sin came in upon Eden and upon earth; and many\na bitter sorrow, many a cup of suffering and woe, must needs follow\nin its train; but _Redemption comes in also_; it enters upon its\nco-ordinate work to save the soul from sin and from eternal death and\nto bring in everlasting righteousness. The history of our world in its\nmost vital aspects is foreshadowed here in this first short meeting of\ntheir Maker with this sinning pair. The spoken recorded words were few,\nbut their significance was momentous; the sweep of their bearing, the\nissues of the divine policy here indicated, were destined to fill up\nthe ages of time with stirring and strange conflict, and to send their\ninfluence down through the endless ages of man\u2019s being and of God\u2019s\nkingdom.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII.\n\n FROM THE FALL TO THE FLOOD.\n\n\n1. _Notes on special passages._\n\nIn Gen. 4: 1 our English version stands\u2015\u2015\u201cI have gotten a man _from_\nthe Lord.\u201d Some critics construe these words of Eve to mean\u2015\u2015By the\nhelp or blessing of the Lord; but the more direct and obvious sense\nof the original is this: \u201cI have gotten a man, the Lord\u201d\u2015\u2015as if she\nassumed that this, her first-born son, was really the promised divine\n\u201cseed of the woman\u201d who was to bruise the serpent\u2019s head. The current\nobjection to this construction is that it is too far in advance of\nEve\u2019s theology:\u2015\u2015to which however the obvious reply is\u2015\u2015Who knows how\nfar advanced Eve\u2019s theology may have been? Her imagination may have\noutrun the actual revelation at that point made. All we can say is that\nthese words are recorded as indicating her thought, and that this is\nthe most natural sense of her words.\n\nIn the Lord\u2019s expostulation with Cain (4: 6, 7) we read: \u201cIf thou doest\nwell, shalt thou not be accepted?\u201d but better\u2015\u2015Would there not be an\nelevation\u2015\u2015_i. e._ of countenance, a cheerful _looking up_, instead\nof that fallen, sullen look spoken of in the previous verse.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u201cAnd\nif thou doest not well, sin lies crouching at the door\u201d\u2015\u2015sin being\npersonified and thought of as some animal, perhaps the serpent, ready\nto allure him on to deeper, more damning crime: \u201cAnd _its_ (not _his_)\ndesire is toward thee\u201d\u2015\u2015its Satanic purpose is to ensnare and ruin\nthee: \u201cbut thou shouldst rule over it\u201d\u2015\u2015in the sense of mastering its\ntemptations, commanding them down and ruling them out from thine heart.\n\nThe speech or rather song of Lamech to his two wives (4: 23, 24) must\nbe assumed to have a close connection with the occupation and skill\nof Tubal-Cain, \u201ca workman in brass and iron.\u201d Consciously strong and\nboldly overbearing in view of this new invention and production of\ndeath-weapons, he proudly sings: \u201cI have slain (or could slay) a man\nfor wounding me\u2015\u2015a young man\u2015\u2015for any hurt inflicted upon me; and\u201d\n(there being in this case some real provocation; Cain had none) \u201cif\nCain would be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and seven.\u201d The\nlenity shown to Cain was bringing forth its fruits; the invention of\nimproved death-weapons was also contributing to fill the earth with\nbloody violence.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These little facts indicate the state of society\nwhich culminated in so filling the earth with violence that God was\ncompelled to wash out its blood-stains and its degenerate race with\nthe flood.\n\n * * * * *\n\n2. _Abel\u2019s offering, and the origin of sacrifices._\n\nAbel kept sheep; Cain tilled the ground. \u201cIn process of time\u201d (Heb.\n\u201cat the end of days\u201d)\u2015\u2015the stated time for worshiping God with\nofferings\u2015\u2015Cain \u201cbrought of the fruit of the ground\u201d\u2015\u2015an unbloody\noffering: Abel \u201cbrought of the firstlings of his flock and of their\nfat.\u201d The reference to their \u201cfat\u201d proves that these animals, lambs\nof the fold, were slain in sacrifice.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The record informs us that\nGod looked with favor upon Abel\u2019s offering, but not upon Cain\u2019s. It\ndoes not concern us to know _how_ God signified his approval of Abel\u2019s\nsacrifice, whether by fire from heaven consuming it, or otherwise; but\nit does concern us to ascertain if we can _why_ he approved it.\n\nWe have some rays of light on this point from the writer to the\nHebrews who says: \u201c_By faith_ Abel offered unto God a more excellent\nsacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous,\nGod testifying of his gifts.\u201d Now the simplest idea of faith, the\none element always present in it, is _bowing to God\u2019s authority with\nimplicit confidence in his word_. But in this case bowing to God\u2019s\nauthority implies that God had given some word in reference to bloody\nsacrifices\u2015\u2015the offering of a lamb by shedding its blood upon the altar.\nAnd if God had given any such word of command, it is certainly to be\npresumed that he had also given at least this general idea, that the\nblood of the innocent lamb took, in some sense, the place of the blood\nof the guilty offerer, so that the sacrifice would imply the confession\nof guilt, and also faith in a bloody substitute of the Lord\u2019s own\nproviding.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Prosecuting our investigations we find this broad fact\nof history bearing on the case, viz. that Noah, Abraham and Isaac\nbuilt altars wherever they were sojourning and offered bloody\nsacrifices thereon. Further, God directed Noah to preserve in the ark\nclean animals by sevens, but animals not clean only in pairs\u2015\u2015two of\na species\u2015\u2015a fact which can not be reasonably accounted for save with\nreference to their customary use in sacrifice. We have then before\nus the well-established fact of the early custom of bloody animal\nsacrifices.\n\n * * * * *\n\n_How came this custom into existence?_\n\nIt did not originate _with men_\u2015\u2015certainly not with _good men_. Apart\nfrom divine suggestion, they could not have supposed that the slaughter\nof an innocent animal would be pleasing to God. The presumption would\nbe utterly against this. They could not have thought out the divine\nidea of atonement for sin by the death of Christ, God\u2019s own incarnate\nSon: the very supposition is absurd, for it supposes that men were\nable to sound the infinite depths of God\u2019s wisdom and of his love,\nand to grasp the relations and bearings of his vast moral government\nwith a reach of thought, not human but divine. Yet further; it is\nnot supposable that, having excogitated and discovered the grand idea\nof atonement, they could have devised the plan of prefiguring this\natonement by the bloody sacrifice of the most innocent, harmless\nand lovely of the animal races.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015And further, if they could have\nthought out this miracle of God\u2019s wisdom and love\u2015\u2015both the divine\nidea of atonement, and the expediency of illustrating it for ages by a\nforeshadowing system of bloody sacrifices\u2015\u2015it would still have been the\nheight of presumption in them to have started this system of sacrifices\nwithout God\u2019s special and sanctioning appointment.\n\nWe are therefore shut up to this alternative: Either the whole system\nof altars and bloody sacrifices, as practiced by Abel, Noah, Abraham\nand Isaac, was an unmeaning farce\u2015\u2015a thing of no significance, a mere\namusement or fancy, meaning nothing and good for nothing; or, God\nhimself originated the system and enjoined it, and these good men\nwere observing it in obedience to special revelation from God.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Here\nit will be readily seen that the first side of this alternative is\nperfectly precluded by the fact that God approved their sacrifices. God\n\u201chad respect to the offering of Abel.\u201d He \u201csmelled a sweet savor\u201d in\nthe sacrifices offered by Noah (Gen. 8: 20, 21.) The other alternative\ntherefore, viz. that bloody sacrifices originated in a direct\nrevelation from God\u2015\u2015is the only supposition left us. We must adopt it.\n\nIt can not be necessary to draw out an argument to prove that in\ninstituting this system of bloody sacrifices God gave his people some\nnotion of its significance. The whole record shows that he was on most\nfamiliar terms with them and therefore can not be supposed to have left\na point of so much importance utterly blank. It is not too much to say\nthat unless some light were thrown by the Lord himself upon the meaning\nand purpose of these bloody offerings, the command to make them would\nrequire some apology; for apart from their expiatory significance,\nthey are most revolting to even human benevolence\u2015\u2015most foreign to all\njust notions of what is due treatment of innocent lambs, bullocks and\ndoves from our hand. It should also be considered that their moral\nvalue depends on their significance. All these bloody sacrifices must\nhave been practically valueless unless their expiatory significance\nwas in some good degree understood. That God ordained them for the sake\nof their moral value, who can for a moment doubt?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The conclusion,\ntherefore, seems inevitable that God not only enjoined these bloody\nsacrifices, but gave his people to understand in general their\nsignificance to the extent of fulfilling that unconscious prophecy of\nAbraham (Gen. 22: 8): \u201cMy son, God will provide for himself a lamb for\na burnt-offering.\u201d\n\nThese views, if just, are of vast historic value as showing _how much_\nGod taught his people at that earliest day, pertaining to his great\nthoughts of redemption for a lost race.\n\n * * * * *\n\n3. _The great moral lessons of the antediluvian age._\n\n(1.) It may be regarded as God\u2019s experiment of a very long\nlife-probation for man. Of course this experiment is not to be thought\nof as made to satisfy himself as to its wisdom, but to satisfy created\nfinite minds in this and in every other world. In a case where issues\nso momentous were pending on the results, it must be vital to the honor\nof Jehovah before all created minds that he should fix the average\nperiod of human probation in this earthly life at the best possible\npoint. If he had begun with the same average limit which has obtained\nsince the days of Moses (three-score years and ten), he must have\nanticipated the general impression that this is much too short for\nthe decision of destinies so vast as the welfare of an immortal\nexistence. It was therefore eminently wise that God should begin\n(as we see that he did) with a much longer, even a tenfold longer\naverage life-period.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This very long life, moreover, carried with\nit an extraordinary physical vigor, apparently a very great exemption\nfrom sickness, frailty, suffering, save as induced by the violent\nand murderous passions of man toward his fellows. The discipline of\nsuffering seems to have been at its minimum for all human history. The\nexperiment of almost unimpaired physical well-being was afforded the\nfreest scope for its manifestation.\n\nWhat was the result? The words of Solomon express it well: \u201cBecause\nvengeance against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the\nheart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil\u201d (Eccl. 8: 11).\nThe mass of those generations sunk down morally to the lowest point\npossible, short of a general and promiscuous destruction. \u201cAll flesh\nhad corrupted its way.\u201d \u201cEvery imagination of the thought of man\u2019s\nheart was only evil continually.\u201d \u201cThe earth was filled with violence.\u201d\nHuman life had no sacredness; society, no safeguard; murderous passions,\nno restraint. The race were fast becoming too corrupt to live. If the\nLord had not swept them by a flood, the earth would fain have opened\nher jaws to swallow them from the face of the sun.\n\n(2.) This social and moral degeneracy becomes a very instructive lesson\nfor all time upon the results of the non-punishment of murder. It was\ndoubtless wise for God to begin as he did with Cain; but it was not\nwise to continue that policy after such results had been brought out\nbefore both this world and the whole intelligent universe. What men\nsocially related must needs do for their mutual protection in order not\nmerely to make society a blessing but to make the existence of men in\nsociety a possibility, was precisely the problem to be solved; and to\nits solution this first period of human life\u2015\u2015the antediluvian age\u2015\u2015was\ndefinitely adapted. It brought out the solution perfectly. No other\nexperiment can ever be necessary. When the race started anew after the\nflood, the Lord advanced to the true doctrine and enjoined on social\nman the solemn duty of shielding human life by taking the murderer\u2019s\nblood. \u201cWhoso sheddeth man\u2019s blood, by man shall his blood be shed\u201d\n(Gen. 9: 6). This was one step of manifest _progress_ in the revelation\nof God\u2019s will as to the responsibility and duty of men in their social\nand governmental relations. It was progress in the origination of\nsociety\u2015\u2015progress built on the great lessons of human history.\n\n(3.) Here are also lessons of faith and of heroic virtue in the godly\nlives of the small and it would seem constantly diminishing group of\npious men living among the multitudes of the ungodly. Here was Enoch,\n\u201cthe seventh from Adam,\u201d who preached a righteous God and a coming\njudgment to a hardened generation, but seems to have met with only\nresistance, to the extent apparently of relentless persecution. The\nremark of the apostle (Heb. 11: 5)\u2015\u2015\u201cHe was not _found_ because God\nhad translated him,\u201d may perhaps imply that his enemies sought him for\npurposes of bloody violence, from which the Lord took him away in his\nchariot of fire by translation to heaven!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Here too was Noah, also\n\u201ca preacher of righteousness,\u201d who \u201cwalked with God\u201d\u2015\u2015and was warned\nby him of the impending deluge of waters. He warned his fellow men of\ntheir threatened doom, but warned them only in vain. \u201cThey ate, they\ndrank; they bought, they sold;\u201d they revelled and scoffed\u2015\u2015till the day\nthat Noah entered into the ark\u2015\u2015no longer!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But we speak now of the\nexample of Noah\u2019s faith in God. He saw no portents in the sky; heard\nno muttering thunders in the distant heavens; yet he held on year after\nyear till the ark was ready\u2015\u2015himself preaching and warning; fearlessly\nand heroically witnessing by his labors upon the ark to his positive\nfaith in the forewarnings of God. Thus his faith rebuked the godless\nunbelief of his generation, and testifies to us of the wisdom and\nblessedness of taking God at his word and of adjusting our life to his\ncommand, though in the face of a scoffing world.\n\n(4.) Yet another point in this cluster of great moral lessons\nis indicated for us by Peter (2 Pet. 2: 4\u20139); \u201cFor if God spared\nnot the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher\nof righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the\nungodly:\u2015\u2015the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation\nand to preserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.\u201d\nThat awful word, _retribution_, gathers into itself the fearful\nsignificance of these stupendous events. They are God\u2019s foregoing\njudgments, brought out in this world to foreshadow the sorer\nvisitations of that coming day when God shall bring every work into\njudgment with every secret thing, good or evil. God surely does take\nnote of the sins of men, how long soever he may stay his uplifted hand\nand delay to smite. If wicked men were wise _they would believe God\u2019s\nwords of warning_, and take care not to live over again the life of\nthat doomed generation and meet a final judgment more awful even than\ntheirs!\n\n(5.) Let us not fail to notice those wonderful and beautiful ways\nof God with his children, coming down in such condescending and most\nfamiliar communion, talking with them apparently almost as man talks\nwith his dearest friend; and this not in Paradise only before the fall,\nbut after the fall scarcely less; and onward as the narrative indicates\nin the case of Enoch and of Noah. What more could he have done to\nreveal a _personal God_ to mortals? Surely the God who thus revealed\nhimself in the fresh morning of our race is no dim abstraction, no\nimpersonal Nature or Essence, diffused and diffusible throughout space,\nthe ideal soul of all matter. This effort to dispose of a God with whom\nit is man\u2019s privilege to walk in positive personal communion, but who\nalso takes cognizance of man\u2019s iniquity, and to transmute him into an\nempty, forceless ideality, finds not the least countenance in these\nearliest manifestations of himself to our race. Note how he dwells with\nmen; how he walks with them and lets them walk with him! What is this\nbut free and loving communion? What less can it imply than just what\nthe narrative of man\u2019s creation witnesseth, viz. that God \u201cmade man _in\nhis own image_\u201d\u2015\u2015capable therefore of real and most intimate communion\nof spirit with his Maker? This lesson is written all the way through\nthe Bible. It stands out here with beautiful prominence in this first\ngreat chapter of God\u2019s revelation of himself to man.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VIII.\n\n THE FLOOD.\n\n\n1. FIRST, let us note its _moral cause_\u2015\u2015the reason why God swept off\nthe living from the face of the earth by a deluge of waters.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It was\nessential to the moral results which God sought that this reason should\nbe given very definitely. So we find it given (Gen. 6: 5\u201313): \u201cGod\nsaw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every\nimagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually.\u201d\n\u201cThe earth was corrupt before God; and the earth was filled with\nviolence.\u201d These points are reiterated in most distinct and emphatic\nterms, showing that, outside of the household of Noah, the whole living\nrace had deeply apostatized from God and were boldly and even defiantly\nirreligious. Eliphaz in Job (22: 15\u201317) gives the tradition current in\nhis time, thus: \u201cWho said unto God, \u2018Depart from us,\u2019 and, \u2018What can\nthe Almighty do for them\u2019\u201d\u2015\u2015_i. e._ for Noah and his godly associates?\nDespite the words of Noah who bore to them God\u2019s awful forewarnings\nand preached the righteousness of repentance, they pressed on in their\nsins unmoved and reckless\u2015\u2015\u201ctill mercy reached its bound and turned to\nvengeance there\u201d! It was a whole generation hopelessly corrupt, daring\nthe Almighty to make good his awful words of warning! The result is\non record that all sinners of every age, tempted to like hardihood and\ndefiance of God, may study it with profound consideration.\n\n2. The _antecedent occasions_ of this deep apostasy from God as given\nin the narrative, next demand our attention. They are\n\n(1.) _The pious families intermarry with the godless._\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\n\n(2.) _The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is withdrawn._\n\n(1.) \u201cThe sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and\nthey took them wives of all which they chose.\u201d The \u201csons of God\u201d were\nhis professed children of the godly race of Seth, Enos and Enoch. The\n\u201cdaughters of men\u201d were of the Cainites, cultured probably in music\n(Gen. 4: 21); attractive in person, fascinating in manners\u2015\u2015but alas,\nall corrupt in heart as toward God!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The Jews have a tradition\nthat these \u201csons of God\u201d were fallen angels, once first-born sons of\nGod, who by intermarriage with man\u2019s fair daughters, intensified this\nfearful corruption of the race. This tradition we must reject for the\nfollowing as well as other reasons:\n\n(a.) Nothing is said here about angels. The record gives us no word\nwhich legitimately designates angels\u2015\u2015least of all, the fallen angels.\n\n(b.) According to the Scriptures, angels \u201cneither marry nor are given\nin marriage.\u201d The tradition is therefore not only _without_ Scripture\nauthority but _against_ it.\n\n(c.) If this extreme demoralization had been caused by the marriage\nconnection of fallen angels with the daughters of men, those\nangels should certainly have come in for their share of the visible\nretribution. God gave Satan his share of the curse for his agency in\nthe first great sin. The same justice would have made the fallen angels\nvisibly prominent under this curse of the flood.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Either of these\nreasons singly would be sufficient ground for rejecting this tradition;\nmuch more must they suffice, combined.\n\n(2.) The withdrawal of the divine Spirit is the second assigned\nantecedent of this fatal degeneracy. In our English version we\nread\u2015\u2015\u201cAnd the Lord said, \u2018My Spirit shall not always strive with\nman, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and\ntwenty years.\u2019\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As to the meaning of \u201cMy Spirit,\u201d we must reject the\nsense\u2015\u2015_animal life_\u2015\u2015that which God breathed into man to make him \u201ca\nliving soul\u201d (Gen. 2: 7), as being incongruous with the verb \u201cstrive\u201d:\nalso the sense\u2015\u2015_rational soul_\u2015\u2015that which makes man a rational being;\nand must accept the sense so amply sustained by Scripture usage\u2015\u2015the\ndivine Spirit, sent by Christ to transform human hearts.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The word\n\u201cstrive\u201d to translate the Hebrew verb[22] is not bad. We must reject\nthe construction of some of the old versions, _dwell_, as not in the\noriginal, and as too tame: also the turn given it by Gesenius\u2015\u2015to be\nhumiliated, put down\u2015\u2015as not borne out well by the original; and say\nthat the verb is currently used of judicial transactions\u2015\u2015searching\nout, convincing, convicting; and seems to have a striking analogy\nin that leading word given us by Christ; \u201cWhen he is come, he shall\n_reprove_ the world\u201d\u2015\u2015enforce conviction upon the world\u2015\u2015as to sin and\nrighteousness.\n\nThe next clause is more difficult and perhaps more controverted: \u201cFor\nthat he also is flesh.\u201d Why is the word \u201calso\u201d here? And what is the\nlogic indicated by \u201c_for that_\u201d? Can it mean that God withdraws his\nSpirit because man is _human_\u2015\u2015with a body of \u201cflesh\u201d? Our translators\nseparated the main Hebrew word into three\u2015\u2015the preposition meaning\n_in_, the relative written elliptically, and the particle meaning\n_also_. The construction of Fuerst is better\u2015\u2015\u201cIn their wandering, he\nis flesh,\u201d _i. e._ their degeneracy has brought flesh completely into\nthe ascendant: warring against the spirit, the flesh is absolute victor\nin the fight. Henceforth all further conflict is hopeless. Hence God\nmay righteously say\u2015\u2015nay must in honor to himself say\u2015\u2015My Spirit shall\nnot plead my cause in man forever. He is utterly gone over to the flesh,\nand nothing remains but that he must perish. One hundred and twenty\nyears of merciful respite[23] for patient warning and exhaustive trial\nmust suffice:\u2015\u2015then, if no penitence appear, judgment must fall, and\nthat without remedy!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Thus God places on record the moral causes and\nantecedents of this fearful visitation, that its moral lessons may go\ndown to distant ages for their admonition to the end of time.\n\nThe hour of doom draws nigh. The Lord gave Noah definite notice to\nenter his ark (7: 1) and allowed him seven days time (7: 4) to gather\nin all whom the ark was provided to save. Then \u201cthe fountains of the\ngreat deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened.\u201d Of\nsmall avail for safety then was the gigantic frame of the giants of\nthose days or the defiant heart of unbelieving scoffers!\n\nIt is scarcely needful to speak of the physical means which God\nemployed to produce this flood. The agencies which appear in the\nvolcano and in the earthquake and which God holds imprisoned at no\ngreat depth below the earth\u2019s surface, are all-sufficient for these\nresults. We may suppose that they lifted the bed of the adjacent seas,\nupheaving their waters into the atmosphere to descend in torrents\nof rain, and sinking for the time the inhabited lands\u2015\u2015and the work\nis done. Such alternate upheavals and depressions are, we may say,\nchronic to the crust of the earth. The ancient records of geology bear\nthis testimony. It was not strange therefore but was merciful that\nGod should allay human fears by his promise to drown the earth no\nmore. His bow in the cloud, seen when the sun shone forth after the\nshower, became by God\u2019s special appointment the sign and pledge of this\ncovenant.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015I see no good reason to suppose that the rainbow never\nexisted before. It must have existed by the laws of nature, unless\nthose laws were greatly changed at the flood\u2015\u2015a change which should not\nbe assumed without sufficient reason. No such reasons are apparent. It\nis better therefore to construe the promise\u2015\u2015The well known bow in the\ncloud I give and ordain to be my sign and pledge that the earth shall\nbe deluged with water no more.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Beautiful symbol, kindly and lovingly\nordained; and as we look upon it, delighted with both its beauty and\nits significance, let it heighten our joy that God says of himself,\n\u201cI will look upon it and remember my covenant.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\n_Was this flood universal?_\n\n1. Was it universal _geographically_, overspreading the entire globe?\n\n2. Was it universal as to all _living men_, leaving absolutely none\nalive on the face of all the earth, except those in the ark?\n\n1. That the deluge was of limited extent geographically, and not\nuniversal, may be fairly assumed on the following grounds:\n\n(1.) The moral reasons for a deluge do not seem to require it to be\nuniversal, since obviously that corrupt generation whose sins demanded\nsuch a judgment did not overspread all the continents and lands of the\nglobe, but appear to have been confined within a quite limited area in\nWestern Asia.\n\n(2.) While on the one hand we may not limit the miraculous power of\nthe Almighty; on the other hand, it is not legitimate to assume an\nexpenditure of miraculous power indefinitely beyond what the occasion\ndemands.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This objection is designed to apply, not specially to the\nsupply of water requisite to flood the whole earth at once, for there\nis water enough in the oceans and seas to submerge the continents,\nprovided only that the ocean beds be temporarily uplifted and the\ncontinents relatively depressed: but it does apply with great force to\nthe preservation of the living animals and plants of the whole world.\nThe narrative assumes that the deluge will destroy the land animals\nand the fowls of the air unless they are protected in the ark. It\nalso gives us the dimensions of the ark, and leaves us to estimate\nproximately how many could be saved alive in it. The narrative,\ntherefore, does not authorize us to resort to miracle for the\npreservation of these animal races.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Now it is entirely certain that\nonly an exceedingly small part of all the land animals, insects and\nbirds of the whole world were saved in the ark. Men versed in natural\nscience estimate the living species of vertebrate animals at 21,000;\nof articulates, 300,000\u2015\u2015numbers by far too great to be provided for\nin Noah\u2019s ark.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Yet again: To a great extent the \u201cfauna\u201d (as they are\ncalled)\u2015\u2015the animal species of the several continents\u2015\u2015differ widely\nfrom each other. South America has its families, many of them unknown\nto other continents; Australia has its special group, and Africa its\nown. It is simply incredible that all or even the mass of these animals\ncame to Noah and were preserved in the ark. If they had been destroyed\nby the flood, there should be traces of their sudden annihilation\nin the drift of that flood, and geological research might trace\nthe introduction of new races by special creation to repeople those\ncontinents. No such line of proofs for a universal deluge is found.\nThe absence of such traces of destruction and of new creation makes\nit far more than probable that the flood was limited in extent and not\nuniversal.\n\nStill further it is urged against a universal deluge\u2015\u2015and for aught\nthat appears conclusively\u2015\u2015that volcanic cones exist\u2015\u2015of Etna in Sicily\nand of Auvergne in Southern France\u2015\u2015which, being composed of loose\nscori\u00e6 and ashes, must have been washed away by any deluge that should\nreach them. The cones of Etna are estimated to be 12,000 years old.\n\n(3.) The apparently universal language of the narrative may be readily\nexplained as other similar language must be in the Scriptures, without\nassuming a range of meaning beyond the writer\u2019s personal knowledge. The\nwriter of this narrative (Gen. chaps. 6\u20139) speaks _as an eye-witness_,\nespecially of the great rain; of the ark borne up upon the waters; of\nthe surging back and forth of the billows, and of their covering \u201cthe\nhigh hills under the whole heaven,\u201d _i. e._ as far as the eye could\nreach. The same style of universal language appears frequently in the\nScriptures, yet subject to limitations from the known nature of the\ncase; _e. g._ Deut. 2: 25: \u201cThis day will I begin to put the fear of\nthee\u201d [Israel] \u201cupon the nations _that are under the whole heaven_;\u201d\nActs 2: 5\u2015\u2015\u201cThere were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out _of\nevery nation under heaven_.\u201d Mat. 3: 5: \u201cThen went out to him Jerusalem,\nand _all Judea_, and _all_ the region round about Jordan.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It is\nin point to notice also that the word \u201c_the earth_,\u201d so frequently\nused in this narrative, very often has the sense\u2015\u2015_the land_. It should\nmanifestly have a meaning as broad when used of the extent of the\njudgment as when used of the extent of the sin, and not necessarily any\nmore broad. Of the sin it is said repeatedly\u2015\u2015\u201cThe _earth_ was corrupt\nbefore God;\u201d \u201cthe _earth_ was filled with violence.\u201d Obviously this\nsame \u201c_earth_,\u201d to the same geographical extent and not apparently\nany thing more, was destroyed by the flood. It may be noticed also\nthat the word \u201cground\u201d [Heb. adamah] is used (Gen. 7: 23) as a synonym\nfor \u201cearth\u201d\u2015\u2015\u201cevery living substance which was upon the face of the\n_ground_\u201d\u2015\u2015but this carries with it no sense of universality as to this\nglobe.\n\nThere is every reason to suppose that at this time both the righteous\ndescendants of Seth and the wicked descendants of Cain were living in\nthe great basin of the Euphrates and the Tigris\u2015\u2015with great probability\nnot reaching out beyond the area bounded by the Indian Ocean, the\nPersian Gulf, the Caspian, Black, Mediterranean and Red Seas. This,\ntherefore, we may assume to have been the area submerged by this deluge,\nand we have no occasion to look for its traces beyond these limits.\n\n2. Whether the deluge destroyed all living men from the face of\nthe whole geographical earth except those in the ark, it is perhaps\nimpossible to decide with absolute certainty. If any were not reached,\nthey must have been such as had wandered early, far from their native\nhome, suppose into China or Africa, where neither the corruption which\nbecame the moral cause of the deluge nor the deluge itself reached\nthem. The question is one of probabilities only, for we have no certain\nknowledge on the subject and can not have. The probabilities are in my\nview quite against the supposition.\n\n\n _Traditions of a Great Deluge._\n\nAll the great nations of history have traditions more or less definite\nof a vast deluge in the days of their fathers. As should be expected,\nthese traditions compared with the Bible record are variously modified,\ncorrupt we might say, mixed with fable, magnified as great stories\nare wont to be in passing from lip to lip through many generations.\nIn general those are most pure which are found nearest the locality\nof Eden and which were earliest committed to writing. Some authors\nclassify them into the _West Asiatic_, including the Babylonian, that\nof the Sibylline books, the Phrygian, the Armenian, and the Syrian,\nsome of which are remarkably close to the truth. The _East Asiatic_,\nincluding the Persian, the Chinese, and the Indian; the _Grecian_,\nfound in Plato, Pindar, Apollodorus, Plutarch, Lucian and Ovid; and\nthose of _peoples and tribes outside of the old world_\u2015\u2015the Celts of\nNorthern Europe, the Mexicans, the Peruvians, the Indians of America\nand the tribes upon the Pacific Islands. Lange remarks that the ethical\nidea of the flood as a judgment upon men for their sins is every-where\napparent. The Chaldean traditions, brought down in the writings of\nBerosus (wrote B. C. 260), are singularly minute and quite in harmony\nwith the scriptural account in its main outlines, some of which are as\nfollows:\n\nGiving the name of Xisuthrus to the last of the primitive kings, it\nsets forth that he was warned of the flood in a dream; was commanded\nto write down all the sciences and inventions of mankind and preserve\nthem; to build a ship and save therein himself and his near friends,\nand take in also animals with suitable food. After the flood had\nsomewhat subsided, he let fly a bird which came back; a second which\nreturned with slime on its foot; a third which never returned. Then\nseeing land visible, he opened his vessel and came forth with his wife\nand children; built an altar and offered sacrifice to the gods. They\nfound the country to be Armenia. Portions of the ark were long in\nexistence, sought for as amulets and charms.\n\nThe Chinese story may be taken as a sample of those more remote from\nthe locality of Noah. As given by the Jesuit, M. Martinius, the Chinese\ndate this great flood B. C. 4000; say that Fah-he, the reputed author\nof Chinese civilization, escaped the flood, and together with his wife,\nthree sons and three daughters, repeopled the renovated world.\n\nDr. Gutzlaff communicated a paper to the Royal Asiatic Society (as\nin their Journal xvi: 79) in which he stated that he saw in one of\nthe Buddhist temples in beautiful stucco the scene where Kwanyin, the\nGoddess of Mercy, looks down from heaven upon the lonely Noah in his\nark amidst the raging waves of the deluge, with the dolphins swimming\naround as his last means of safety and the dove with an olive-branch in\nhis beak flying toward the vessel. Nothing could exceed the beauty of\nthe execution.[24]\n\nThose which are found among the ancient people of the Western\nContinent\u2015\u2015the Cherokees, Mexicans and Peruvians\u2015\u2015have special interest\nas proving that, remote as these tribes were from the locality of Noah,\nthey must have had a common origin and must have received this common\ntradition of the flood from the valley of the Euphrates.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IX.\n\n FROM THE FLOOD TO THE CALL OF ABRAHAM.\n\n\n1. _The law against murder and its death-penalty._\n\nWhen the waters of the great deluge had subsided and Noah and his\nfamily found themselves once more upon the face of the solid earth\u2015\u2015an\nunpeopled solitude\u2015\u2015that which we read in Gen. 9, was beautifully\nin place:\u2015\u2015\u201c_And God blessed Noah and his sons._\u201d So long imprisoned\nin the ark; so long in the presence of this fearful visitation of\na righteous God upon a hopelessly corrupt generation, how naturally\nmust their view of human life take on a somber hue, and how refreshing\nto be assured that the Great God was still their loving Father! \u201cGod\nblessed them and said, \u2018Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the\nearth,\u2019\u201d\u2015\u2015for God would have it filled again with living men. Moreover,\nthough few and feeble, they need not fear the violence of the animal\ncreation, for \u201cthe fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every\nbeast of the earth; ... into your hand are they delivered.\u201d Then by\nspecial provision, apparently never made before, God sanctioned the use\nof animal flesh for human food. Yet lest this sanction should make them\ndangerously familiar with the shedding of blood, and tend to lesson the\nsacredness of human life, God solemnly forbade the use of blood for\nfood, and then proceeded to ordain that human blood shed by ferocious\nanimals should be avenged with their life. Then follows special\nlegislation against murder by guilty human hands: \u201cWhoso sheddeth man\u2019s\nblood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he\nman.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015That this is precept and not merely prophecy is so apparent\nthat argument in proof might seem almost an insult to the common\nunderstanding of mankind. Yet the passage has been wrested in this way\nfrom its obvious significance. It should be construed in harmony with\nthe scope of the context. Note therefore, that its close connection\nwith the use of animals for the food of man and with the \u201crequiring\u201d\nof human blood shed by the violence of beasts compel us to find here\nprecept and not prediction. Still more does the historic place of this\nprecept, standing upon the ruins of the old world and in the presence\nof the yet unwasted bones of thousands whose wickedness had culminated\nin such recklessness of human life that \u201cthe earth was filled with\nviolence.\u201d In the presence of such gigantic iniquity, grown up under\nthe experiment of pardoning and not punishing the crime of murder and\ngiving unrestrained license to bloody passion, it was pertinent to\nlay a new and more effectual foundation for maintaining the peace of\nsociety and the sacredness of human life. The solemn lessons of the\npast required, not a prediction of retributive vengeance under the\nsocial law of self-preservation, but a divine precept demanding it and\nenforcing it with its logical reason\u2015\u2015that \u201cGod made man in his own\nimage.\u201d You may take the life of the lower animals for no higher cause\nthan human sustenance\u2015\u2015food for man\u2019s wants;\u2015\u2015but let no man put forth\nhis hand against the blood of man, for he bears the very \u201cimage of\nGod.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015To make this new law the more solemnly impressive, man must\nhimself be the executioner of this divine behest\u2015\u2015\u201c_By man shall his\nblood be shed._\u201d Society itself must commit to some of its members this\nsolemn function and they must take the murderer\u2019s life. Nothing less\ncan shield the life of man from bloody violence; nothing less will duly\nhonor God\u2019s image in man.\n\n * * * * *\n\n2. _The prophecy of Noah._\n\nIn Gen. 9: 25\u201327 we have the first of those patriarchal utterances\nof prophetic sort, in various strain\u2015\u2015blessing and _not_ blessing\u2015\u2015of\nwhich several examples occur subsequently, as in the case of Jacob\n(Gen. 49: 1\u201327); Moses (Deut. 33: 1\u201329). The form is thoroughly that\nof Hebrew poetry\u2015\u2015the brief parallelism of sentiment and language\nbeing the prominent feature.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The circumstances which called out\nthese prophetic words are given briefly in the narrative. Noah having\ncome forth from the ark soon commenced the culture of the vine and\nexperimented (unfortunately) in the free use of its wine. While he\nlay overcome and personally exposed in his tent, his younger son Ham,\nlost to all sense of filial duty, reported the sad spectacle. Shem and\nJapheth, with filial pity and with the most delicate modesty, covered\nhis shame. When Noah awoke to consciousness and came to know what his\nyounger son had done unto him, he said, \u201cCursed be Canaan; a servant of\nservants shall he be to his brethren. Blessed be Jehovah, God of Shem,\nand let Canaan be servant to them. Let God enlarge Japheth, and let him\ndwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be servant to them.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It\nhad been previously said (v. 18), that \u201cHam was the father of Canaan.\u201d\nWhat part, if any, Canaan bore in this transaction, that the curse\napparently due to Ham should fall so specially on him, the narrative\ndoes not say. The offense of Ham lay in the line of his relation as\na son. Perhaps it was for this reason that his punishment lay in the\nhumiliation of _his_ son. Be this as it may, the words were prophetic\nof the future relations of the posterity of Canaan to the posterity\nof both Shem and Japheth. The devoted nations of Canaan were terribly\nexterminated by the Hebrew people, sons of Shem; the remnant (_e. g._\nthe Gibeonites) were made hewers of wood and drawers of water; and\nin the age of Solomon, were subjected to the most severe labors. See\nJosh. 9: 20\u201327, and 2 Chron. 2: 17, 18 and 1 Chron. 22: 2.\n\nWhen Noah\u2019s prophetic eye fell on Shem, the blessings that rose\nto his view were too rich and grand for description. He could only\ngive utterance to his grateful emotions and thanksgivings in the\nwords\u2015\u2015\u201cBlessed be Jehovah, God of Shem\u201d! Blessed be Jehovah, the God\nof the covenant with his professed people, the God of all blessings,\nof ever-enduring love and faithfulness! What will he not do for\nhis chosen people, brought into relations to himself so near and so\ndear!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In this line the sweep of his prophetic eye took in the Hebrew\nrace\u2015\u2015Abraham and the patriarchs; Moses and the pious kings and holy\nprophets; and above all, the Great Messiah\u2015\u2015to be born of David\u2019s line\nand to be the incarnation of God\u2019s mercy to a lost world. No wonder his\nsoul was moved to devoutest adoration\u2015\u2015Blessed be Jehovah who reveals\nhimself as the God of Shem!\n\nOf Japheth he predicts enlargement in the sense of a numerous\noffspring\u2015\u2015\u201cGod shall enlarge,\u201d _i. e. multiply_ \u201cJapheth,\u201d with a play\non the significance of his name which signifies _the enlarged one_. God\nwill verify his name and enlarge the enlarged son; in Hebrew phrase,\nwill _Japhetize_ Japheth.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In the last clause of this verse, the\noriginal leaves us in doubt whether the subject of the verb is God or\nJapheth. Grammatically it might be either\u2015\u2015God shall dwell, or Japheth\nshall dwell, in the tents of Shem. In favor of making Japheth the\nsubject are these considerations:\u2015\u2015(a.) The verse preceding gives the\nprophetic destiny of Shem; this, of Japheth.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b.) The expression is\nnot altogether apposite when applied to God, for although God dwelt in\nthe Hebrew temple and dwells by his Spirit in the bodies of his people,\nyet he is not elsewhere said to dwell _in the tents_ of his people. The\nphrase leads the mind to such dwelling as may be said of men but is not\nsaid of God.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Applied to Japheth it had a most apposite and beautiful\nfulfillment when the Gentile races of Japheth came in as proselytes to\nthe Hebrew communion, but far more when in the Christian age, the Jews\nwere broken off from the old stock that the Gentiles might be grafted\nin, and they were; and may be almost said to have taken possession\nof the deserted tents of Shem as their own through all the Christian\ncenturies to this hour. All Protestant Christendom is this day of\nJapheth\u2019s line, fully at home in the tents of Shem.\n\nA very extraordinary case of the wresting of Scripture to make it\njustify crime\u2015\u2015so great a crime as the enslaving of men\u2015\u2015is the attempt\nto force from this prophecy concerning Canaan a vindication of the\nenslaving of Africans by Americans. The wresting appears in these\ntwo broad facts:\u2015\u2015(a.) That the Africans were not Canaanites, and\ntherefore the prophecy said nothing about the negro race. Admitting for\nargument\u2019s sake that it justified the enslaving of Canaanites, it did\nnot in the least justify the enslaving of African negroes.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b.) If\nthe passage had named the African negro instead of the Canaanite, even\nthen a prediction _of what shall be_ might fall very far short of being\na command as to what man _ought to do_. Prophetic predictions of war\nform not the least justification of war\u2015\u2015fall utterly short of a divine\ncommand enjoining man\u2019s duty. Predictions of the Savior\u2019s death could\nnever justify his murderers.\n\n * * * * *\n\n3. _The genealogy of the great historic nations._\n\nIn Gen. 10 the Bible for once departs from its usual method and gives\na chapter of _universal history_\u2015\u2015the only one. Elsewhere it traces the\nhistory of the one nation which had \u201cthe oracles of God,\u201d and in later\nages, of the Christian church, touching the nations of the outside\nworld only as they come into relations to the seed of Abraham or to\nthe kingdom of Christ. But here we see the sons of Noah branching out\nto people the countries of the great Eastern Continent and to found\nthe old historic nations of the earth.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Japheth whom Prophecy was\nto \u201c_enlarge_\u201d (Gen. 9: 27) furnished the tribes from which grew the\ngreat nations of Northern and Eastern Asia and for the whole of Europe.\nAt first they occupied the maritime regions bordering on the Caspian,\nBlack and Mediterranean Seas, spoken of here as \u201cthe isles of the\nGentiles\u201d\u2015\u2015conforming to the Hebrew usage which called all maritime\ncountries \u201cisles.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Next we have the sons of Ham, among whom were\nNimrod, the builder of Babel; Mizraim with his seven sons who himself\ngave name to Egypt; Canaan whose posterity long held Palestine, and\nseveral names which appear either in the cities or the tribes of the\nvalley of the Euphrates and of Arabia.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Shem seems to have shared\nwith Ham the possession of the great fertile basin of the Euphrates and\nthe Tigris\u2015\u2015the cradle of the race\u2015\u2015together with portions of Arabia\nand in general of South-western Asia.\n\nIt is a matter of some interest to know that this remarkable record\nof the birth of the great nations of antiquity is perfectly sustained\nby the universal history of all subsequent ages. Whether Chaldean\nor Phenician, Egyptian or Arabian, Greek or Roman, Mongol or Tartar,\nIndo-Germanic, Celtic, Belgic or Briton\u2015\u2015all find the germ of their\nnationality in this wonderful chapter, and all concur to swell and\nsubstantiate the proof that the human race sprang from Noah and that we\nhave no occasion to look for pre-Adamic men or for tribes that escaped\nthe flood and have no pedigree among the sons of Noah. While it was\nnever the purpose of divine revelation to give to any great extent\nthe universal history of the race, it is proper to note that what\nit does give bears the divine stamp of truth. All historic science\ndoes it homage. All the light that comes up from the comparative\nstudy of the languages of the race helps us still to follow the track\nof the emigrating tribes as they diverged from the ancient home of\nNoah\u2019s family. The Science of Ethnography begins with this chapter of\ninspiration, Gen. 10.\n\n * * * * *\n\n4. _Babel and the confusion of tongues._\n\nGen. 11: 1\u20139 records a very remarkable event, of far reaching\nconsequences toward the geographical diffusion of the race. Up to this\npoint there was but one language\u2015\u2015as the record has it\u2015\u2015\u201c_one lip and\none set of words_,\u201d \u201clip\u201d being (perhaps) used for the mode of speaking,\nincluding pronunciation and possibly inflection; while words are the\n_matter_ of language, the roots or ground-forms. The fact that the\nlatter have been far less variable than the former, appearing to some\nextent in all subsequent ages throughout all the diversities of human\ntongues, favors this distinction.\n\nMigrating from the Armenian hill country where the ark rested, Noah\u2019s\nposterity reached the fertile plain of Shinar, halted there, and set\nthemselves to the building of a magnificent and lofty tower. There\nbeing no stone at hand, they prepared brick, not sun-dried after the\ncommon Oriental method, but thoroughly burned for greater durability.\nAs both consequence and proof of this durability, the supposed ruins of\nthis great tower, known as \u201cBirs Nimrood\u201d [tower of Nimrod] are still\nextant within the area of ancient Babylon, silently witnessing alike to\nthe labors of those fathers of the nations before their dispersion, and\nto the truthfulness of this sacred record.\n\nThis tower was not built for safety in case of another flood (as some\nhave supposed) for, with such an object, a high mountain and not a\nplain would have been chosen for the site; it could at best have saved\nbut few; and more than all, the record gives a very different view\nof the motive. This motive was _consolidation_\u2015\u2015the aggregation of\nthe masses into one vast nationality or kingdom\u2015\u2015a thought due to the\nambition of some controlling minds aspiring to power, distinction,\nfame. Foreseeing the tendency to dispersion they sought to forestall it,\nto find their own glory in having a multitude under their sway and in\nbuilding monuments that could not perish. For wise reasons God blasted\nthis scheme. Precisely what divine influence was interposed to confound\nthe language of these men, I doubt if it is possible for us to know\ncertainly. It is supposable that the many became restive under the\ndomination of the few and the severe labor of this enterprise, so that\ndiverse counsels and dissolving social bonds had some influence in\nblocking the progress of the work. Misunderstandings sprung up and\nfound expression in diversities of tongue. What could be more natural\nwhen harmony gave place to discord? So this huge tower-building was\narrested and men scattered abroad as they would.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The new tongues\nwhich took their rise here had ample opportunity to diverge more and\nmore widely in subsequent ages. The immense variety in language which\nthe history of the world discloses has been a growth\u2015\u2015the product\nof subtle causes, of segregation and non-intercourse in part, and in\npart also no doubt of diverse mental traits and various influences of\nculture.\n\nWhat the original language was, common to the race up to this point,\nhas been much debated by learned men without arriving at uniform and\nsatisfactory results. Whether it was, as some suppose, the veritable\nHebrew tongue; or as others think, the Aramaic, _i. e._ the Chaldee;\nor whether it is utterly lost\u2015\u2015these are the alternatives; but for\nthe choice between them we can have no very positive data. Those\ndescendants of Noah who best preserved the religious faith of the\nfathers would stand most aloof from the scenes of Babel, and be\nnaturally least affected by its many-tongued controversies and its\nresulting confusion of speech. That they escaped these influences\naltogether is perhaps too much to assume.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015That the Aramaic (Chaldee)\ntongue, closely allied to the Hebrew, held its place for ages in the\nvalley of the Euphrates, strongly favors its claim to be, if not the\nvery tongue of Noah, at least of the same family.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These points\nsuggest probabilities but fall short of certainty.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER X.\n\n ABRAHAM.\n\n\nABRAHAM is one of the great men in the world\u2019s religious history. Why\nhe is so can not be well understood and appreciated without at least\na brief view of the state of the world religiously considered at the\ndate of his call, and the demand thence resulting for the new religious\ninstrumentalities of which Abraham was in a sort \u201cthe head-center.\u201d\n\nIn the age before the flood religion had never really flourished. We\nread of a time when \u201cmen began to call on the name of the Lord,\u201d and\nsomething approximating toward system and concentration appears to\nhave been introduced. But the record is silent as to any marked result\nexcept so far as it may appear in the piety of individual men, _e. g._\nEnoch and Noah. Apparently the religious element failed even to hold\nits own against the on-rushing tides of worldliness. Even the sons of\ngodly fathers formed unhallowed marriage connections, and consequently\nwere borne rapidly down the broad current of degeneracy and moral\ncorruption till only one family remained to represent the piety of all\nthat generation. There was a fatal lack of moral forces.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The flood\nwas a vigorous moral lesson in itself; and besides this, the race\nstarted afresh from the seed of this one pious family. Ten generations\nbring us to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees, near the old cradle of the\nrace. The history of religion during this period from Noah to Abraham\nis exceedingly meager. Gathering up the few fragmentary notices which\nemerge from the general darkness in the age of Abraham, we find that\nhis father\u2019s family in ancient Ur \u201cserved other gods\u201d (Josh. 24: 2);\nthat Abraham, journeying toward the south country of Palestine,\nsojourned awhile in Gerar and was there drawn into grave temptation\nby the apparent godlessness of the people, since he apologizes on this\nwise for representing Sarah to be his sister and not his wife: \u201cBecause\nI thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will\nslay me for my wife\u2019s sake\u201d (Gen. 20: 10, 11). The same temptation\nbefell him previously in Egypt (Gen. 12: 10\u201320)\u2015\u2015probably indicating\nthe same inward thought based on the same apparent public morality.\nThen we have the horrible wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah where not\nten righteous men could be found. And sad to say, we see a very low\ntone of religious and moral life in the family even of Lot, who as the\nnephew and special associate of Abraham should represent the better\nelements of society.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Akin to these special facts is the general one\nthat the personal history of Abraham through a full century of somewhat\nextensive travels and various experience brings him into contact with\nGod-fearing men in only the single case of Melchizedek. Apart from this\none brief but wonderful interview (Gen. 14: 18\u201320) the recorded history\nof Abraham gives the impression of a godly man working his way for the\nmost part _alone_, amid godless people on every hand\u2015\u2015alone save as the\nLord testifies of him\u2015\u2015\u201cI know him that he will command his children\nand his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord\nto do justice and judgment\u201d (Gen. 18: 19).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The case of Melchizedek,\n\u201ca priest of the Most High God\u201d and also \u201cking of Salem\u201d\u2015\u2015a man so\nvenerable in piety, in personal presence apparently, in power and in\nyears, that even Abraham received his blessing and \u201cgave him tithes of\nall\u201d\u2015\u2015this is the one sole bright spot on the otherwise dark religious\nlife of the world as known through the history of Abraham. We marvel\nthat Abraham, so far as appears, never met Melchizedek before and\nnever saw him again. It seems strange that two such men, so kindred in\ncharacter and spirit, each almost alone breasting the strong currents\nof prevailing wickedness, should not have formed at least an infant\nChristian Association to stand by each other and bring their joint\nlight to a common focus in the midst of the world\u2019s deep and far\nspreading moral darkness. But God had a certain great plan to bring out\nwith Abraham and his own way of doing it. It is plain there was need\nof this new plan. The cause of piety and truth was in peril and called\nfor some \u201cnew departure\u201d\u2015\u2015some yet untried method and power. The world\nwas waiting for some Abraham\u2015\u2015_i. e._ for just the system of which\nthe great and godly Abraham was the prominent figure and the historic\nrepresentative.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe patent points in this new system, put in briefest words,\nwere\u2015\u2015_Abraham the head_ of a great family; the _founder_ of a great\nnation; the _representative_ of the family covenant and its first and\nillustrious exemplar; the _progenitor_ of the Great, long-promised\nMessiah; and coupled with his lineal posterity, the _repositories_\nof God\u2019s truth and promises\u2015\u2015_his offspring_, the people with whom\nGod dwelt and was publicly worshiped for ages in the presence of the\nidolatrous nations of the earth; over whom God became their visible\nearthly Sovereign, their recognized King and God.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Thus the Lord\nlaid the foundation for progressive manifestations of himself and for\na growing development of religious truth and of its legitimate forces\nfrom age to age till the Messiah should appear.\n\n * * * * *\n\nPlainly we may recognize among the divine purposes in this new system,\n\n1. In general\u2015\u2015to conserve, concentrate, augment and perpetuate the\nreligious and moral forces of revealed truth.\n\n2. In particular:\n\n(1.) To utilize all the best elements of the family relation, turning\nto fullest account parental care and affection and the facilities\nfurnished by nature to parents for the training and culture of their\noffspring. The germinal idea of this great family covenant lies in the\npromise, so often reiterated\u2015\u2015\u201cI will be a God to thee and to thy seed\nafter thee\u201d (Gen. 17: 7, 10, 19). A marvellous wealth of significance\nlies in these brief words; for what can be more rich and all-embracing\nthan this\u2015\u2015\u201cI will be a God to thee\u201d\u2015\u2015thy God; all that a God can\nbecome to man made in his image; his loving Friend, his \u201cShield and\nexceeding great reward\u201d; his hope and joy and trust; and to crown all,\nhis glorious salvation! Surely this cup of blessings is rich and full\nenough to meet the largest wants of any individual human heart. But\nwhen man becomes a father\u2015\u2015when woman becomes a mother\u2015\u2015a new love is\nborn in the soul and new wants are thence begotten, for the parental\nheart instinctively cries out as the heart of Abraham did\u2015\u2015\u201cO that\nIshmael might live before thee\u201d! Even so\u2015\u2015responds the great parental\nheart of God\u2015\u2015I know the heart of a parent; therefore I said \u201cI will be\na God to thee _and to thy seed after thee_\u201d; not to thee alone but to\nthee, and also, not less, to thy beloved offspring besides.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe _one comprehensive condition_ for the fulfillment of this great\npromise is briefly indicated in the case of Abraham, of whom God\nsaid\u2015\u2015\u201cI know him that he will command his children and his household\nafter him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and\njudgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath\nspoken of him\u201d (Gen. 18: 19). The Lord knew that Abraham would fulfill\nthe conditions so conscientiously and well that he could fulfill\nhis promise. The conditions are thus incidentally brought out\u2015\u2015viz.\nparental fidelity and authority; the early culture and training\nof his household; consecration, the prayer and the faith which are\nlegitimately begotten of this covenant and naturally correlated\nto it;\u2015\u2015these are obviously the fitting conditions upon which the\nfulfillment of this covenant on God\u2019s part must depend.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But, O, the\nwealth of blessings garnered up within its bosom for those who walk in\nthe steps of Abraham with like precious faith and like godly nurture!\nHow wonderfully does piety become self-perpetuating in the family\nline from generation to generation of those who take this covenant to\ntheir inmost heart and find God in it ever faithful and ever true and\nevermore \u201cmighty to save\u201d as he hath said!\n\nHere, strange to say, some good men would thrust in a peremptory\nlimitation, asserting that this family covenant is Abrahamic and Jewish\nonly; good for them, but not good for the Christian age; good in the\nnational but not in the family sense and application thereof.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But\nwhat is the logic of such a limitation? Was the love of parent for\noffspring lost out of the human heart at the coming of Christ? Or\ndid the Lord forget at that point how deeply he had implanted this\nlove in human bosoms? Or did he think that piety, under the improved\nauspices of the gospel age, could thrive without the help of this\nfamily covenant? Or did he reason thus\u2015\u2015that the gospel age having\nthe advantage of the Jewish in so many points, could afford to forego\nthis family promise, and yet not on the whole fall below the Abrahamic\ndispensation?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Or in another point of view, looking at the evidence\nrather historically than logically, it is claimed, as I understand the\nargument, that Christ did not renew the promise\u2015\u2015\u201cA God to thee and\nto thy seed after thee\u201d; and therefore it did not pass over into the\ngospel age.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015To which I reply; The real question is\u2015\u2015not, Did Christ\n_renew_? but, Did he _annul_? Did he say\u2015\u2015I have come to make void\nthe law, not to fulfill? Did he say\u2015\u2015That family covenant which the\npatriarchs loved so dearly, in the faith of which they trained their\nsons and daughters into the love and service of their fathers\u2019 God, has\nwell done its work and can stand no longer? Did he labor to reconcile\nthe parental heart of his Jewish disciples\u2015\u2015loving their dear little\nones so tenderly\u2015\u2015to this sudden withdrawal of divine promise\u2015\u2015to\nthis sore bereavement of hope and slaughter of faith? Was this what\nhe meant when he said; \u201cSuffer the little children to come unto me\nand forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven\u201d? Or was\nthis the meaning of Peter when in the first Pentecostal sermon he\nproclaimed\u2015\u2015\u201cThe promise (of the Holy Ghost) is to you _and to your\nchildren_\u201d (Ac. 2: 39)? Or could this have been the purpose of Paul\nwhen he testified; \u201cIf ye be Christ\u2019s, then are ye Abraham\u2019s seed\nand heirs according to the promise\u201d (Gal. 3: 29)?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The proof that\nthe gospel age ruled out the great family covenant is by no means\napparent.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It should be considered that the covenant is one thing;\ncircumcision another. The covenant does not of necessity die because\ncircumcision is discontinued. The covenant existed before circumcision\nand could be operative without it; indeed could live without any\nvisible sign or seal, if so the Lord pleased.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Nor does the\nperpetuity of this covenant turn on the proof that baptism takes in\nall respects the place of circumcision. Whether it does fill the same\nplace or does not, the covenant standeth sure. There is value in an\nexternal rite or seal\u2015\u2015else God had never enjoined it. But it falls\nexceedingly far short of being the thing of chief value.\n\nInto the argument respecting the change from the old seal to a new one,\nit is not in place here to enter.\n\nThis class of moral sentiments and social affections looks _forward_\nin the line of human generations from parent to offspring. Another\nclass of no small value looks _back_ reverently, not to say proudly, to\n_honored ancestors_. Here also Abraham\u2019s name became a positive power\nupon his posterity\u2015\u2015not indeed of the very highest efficiency\u2015\u2015not\naltogether proof against being corrupted to the pampering of national\npride and even of personal self-righteousness, for bad men might learn\nto say, \u201cWe have Abraham for our father.\u201d Yet still it can not be\nquestioned that for long ages the name and history of Abraham bore the\nprecious savor of his faith and of his staunch fidelity as the servant\nof the living God. It was the prestige of a name both great and good,\nand served to perpetuate his piety among millions of his offspring.\nIn this direction all those qualities in Abraham which made him truly\ngreat as well as eminently good become elements in this new scheme\nfor augmenting the spiritual and moral forces of God\u2019s kingdom among\nmen.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It can not be amiss, therefore, to linger here a moment and\nstudy this wonderful man. Verily the Lord found the right man for his\npurposes in Abram, then living in \u201cUr of the Chaldees.\u201d He called him\nto leave kindred (save the few who joined him in this migration); to\nleave also all there was to him in country\u2015\u2015the land of his fathers\u2019\nsepulchers; and travel several hundred miles to a strange unknown\nland. Abram heard and recognized God\u2019s voice; he bowed to his authority\nand went. This first recorded illustration of his faith in God and\nobedience made its impression upon future ages\u2015\u2015as we may see in the\nwords of Joshua (24: 2, 3); of Nehemiah (9: 7, 8); of Stephen (Acts\n7: 2\u20135); and of the writer to the Hebrews (11: 8\u201310)\u2015\u2015which last may\nbe taken as a specimen of all. \u201cBy faith Abraham, when he was called to\ngo out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance,\nobeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.\u201d\n\nNot a little might be said of many of the lesser yet really noble\nqualities of Abraham\u2019s character\u2015\u2015how magnanimous he appears in his\nbearing toward Lot (Gen. 13: 5\u20139); how dignified before the sons of\nHeth (Gen. 23: 3\u201316); how hospitable in entertaining three strangers\nwho came up as he sat in his tent door in the heat of the day (Gen. 18:\n1\u201316) when he \u201centertained angels unawares\u201d (Heb. 13: 2); how humble,\nreverent yet earnest in his intercession for Sodom (Gen. 18: 23\u201333);\nhow fearless, daring and wonderfully efficient in the rescue of Lot\nfrom the plundering hordes of the East (Gen. 14: 13\u201324); how unselfish\nin refusing to participate in the recovered booty:\u2015\u2015but all these\nqualities fade like stars before the sun when seen in the presence of\nhis wonderful faith and unflinching obedience to the commands of the\nLord his God.\n\nThe most signal manifestations of his faith and obedience cluster about\nthree several points in his history; viz. his call to go forth from his\nancestral home and country; his waiting twenty-five years for the birth\nof his one son of promise; and the command to offer this only son in\nsacrifice.\n\nThat first call revealed the man. It was but to hear God\u2019s voice; and\nforthwith he \u201cconferred not with flesh and blood.\u201d He seems not to\nhave paused a moment to question the Lord about the conditions, or to\nconsider the hardships; and he never \u201clooked back.\u201d\n\nNext that promise of a son, standing so long unfulfilled; year by\nyear the human probabilities fading, dying out, till at length they\nare utterly dead, and nothing remained save the naked promise! This\nwas indeed training Abraham\u2019s faith _to wait_. Inasmuch as God\u2019s\nchosen plan of introducing the Messiah involved long ages of waiting\nand trusting and living on simple promise, this was by no means a\nprofitless or uncalled for illustration of the nature, the value, and\nthe power of _faith_ as in man toward God.\n\nHigh above either of these cases, in point of the fierceness of\nthe trial and the wonderful spirit of calm and steadfast faith\nand endurance, stands the case of God\u2019s command and his consent\nto sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen. 22). The record puts this case in\nthe foreground as to _trial_: \u201cGod did tempt Abraham\u201d\u2015\u2015not in the\nsinful sense\u2015\u2015tempting to make him sin; but in a sense appropriate to\nGod\u2015\u2015subject him to a terribly searching trial. First, God called him\nby name \u201cAbraham\u201d! Then said\u2015\u2015\u201cTake now thy son, thine only son\u201d\u2015\u2015that\nson of promise in whom all thy hopes and all thy heart\u2019s affections\nhave been so long concentrated\u2015\u2015that son \u201cwhom thou lovest\u201d\u2015\u2015take him\nand go, far away three days\u2019 journey to a mountain which I will point\nout, and there \u201c_offer him up for a burnt-offering_\u201d!\n\nWas Abraham shocked? Did he stagger under this stunning blow? Did he\npause to debate the matter with God? Did he beg that the awful agony\nmight be at least delayed till he could collect himself and prepare\nfor a trial so unexpected, so sudden, so terrible to bear? The record\ngives no hint of any thing of the sort. Abraham had heard God\u2019s voice\nmany times before and could not have had the first doubt as to its\nidentity. If the least doubt had crossed his mind he surely would have\nsaid\u2015\u2015\u201cLord, this seems so unlike Thee: Is it not Satan, thine enemy?\nI can not move one step until I know of a certainty that this is thine\nown voice.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But there was no relief in this direction. Yet we almost\ninstinctively ask\u2015\u2015Did not Abraham expostulate? Did he not say\u2015\u2015O my\nLord, this Isaac is the son of thine own promise, my only hope for\nthat great and long promised posterity; and what wilt thou do for _thy\ntruth_? Besides, the deed is so shocking, so revolting to a father\u2019s\nheart! Moreover, hast thou not said\u2015\u2015\u201cWhoso sheddeth man\u2019s blood, by\nman shall his blood be shed\u201d? And what an example this will be before\nall the tribes of the earth! How it will encourage them on to murder\ntheir children in sacrifice to their gods!\n\nWe can readily make up what may seem to us very strong arguments\nagainst obedience to such a command; but it does not appear that\nAbraham whispered in his heart the first one of them. The only hint\nwe have of his deep thoughts in the case comes through the writer to\nthe Hebrew Christians\u2015\u2015\u201cAccounting that God was able to raise him up\neven from the dead.\u201d Plainly the Lord meant to show that his command\nwhen made known unquestionably is to be obeyed without debate\u2015\u2015with\nno misgivings, no faltering, no fear. So Abraham moved firmly on,\nsaying not a word to Sarah, keeping his counsel even from his two\nchosen servants and from his son; holding the strange secret in his\nsolitary\u2015\u2015shall we say, _sad_ bosom?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015No; for there is not the first\nnote of sadness throughout this wonderful transaction. Look at those\nthree days of ongoing journey. Ah, was not this a long time to think\nover the strange deed! And those intervening nights\u2015\u2015was there any\nsleep to his eyes while this terrible suspense lay still between the\ncommand and its execution?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015So far as appears Abraham moved on with\nunshaken fortitude and undisturbed calmness. Certain it is that he\nnever lost his self-possession, for he continued to plan carefully\nand even sharply against disturbing influences. He could not trust his\nservants to stand by; so he halted them at a distance back from the\nscene. He kept the awful secret from his son Isaac until he had him\nbound and laid on the altar and the uplifted blade was ready to fall!\n\nThis was the obedience of faith! The wonderful illustration stands\nout before all the ages with God\u2019s seal of approbation broadly stamped\nupon it.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015When the trial had fully reached its culminating point\nand no room remained for doubt that Abraham would obey God at every\ncost, fearless of consequences, or rather committing all consequences\nto his God, then God\u2019s angel interposed! A ram was provided for the\nsacrifice and the son of promise went back to a more happy home with\na more happy father, doubly blessed in the renewed approbation of his\ncovenant-keeping God. No wonder that God proceeded then to make that\ncovenant stronger and broader and richer than ever before! No wonder\nAbraham stamped into the very name of this ever memorable locality one\nof the grand moral lessons of the scene\u2015\u2015\u201cJehovah Jireh\u201d\u2015\u2015_In the mount\nof the Lord, himself will provide!_ When you come to the mount of last\nand utmost emergency, the Lord will have salvation ready! His angel\nwill appear; the ram of sacrifice will be there; and Isaac may go in\npeace!\n\n * * * * *\n\nAccording to the common law of Christian experience, God\u2019s methods\nwith Abraham were _progressive_; his manifestations of himself moved on\nby successive stages; much this year but more the next; so much indeed\nat the first that it must have seemed to the good man very great, but\nmore and greater were yet to come. The successive epochs at which God\nappeared to Abraham to talk with him of the great covenant are very\ndistinctly marked in the history\u2015\u2015of such sort as many a Christian\nmight record in his own personal life-history.\n\n1. In the outset of Abraham\u2019s history is that eventful _call_ which\nbrought him out from \u201cUr of the Chaldees,\u201d the narrative of which\nstands Gen. 12: 1\u20133. In the promise made to him then the leading\npoints were\u2015\u2015\u201cI will make thy name great\u201d; \u201cI will make of thee a great\nnation\u201d; \u201cthou shalt be a blessing and in thee shall all the families\nof the earth be blessed\u201d; I will stand by thee to bless all who bless\nthee and to curse whosoever may curse thee.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This must have raised in\nAbram\u2019s mind large expectations and assured him that Jehovah was indeed\nhis own God.\n\n2. Immediately after Abram\u2019s arrival in Canaan (Gen. 12: 7) the Lord\nappeared to him specially to identify that as _the_ land which he had\npromised (Gen. 12: 1) to show him and to give to his posterity. There,\nas in each new home, Abram built an altar and in devout worship called\non the name of the Lord who had thus appeared to him.\n\n3. Next, after his magnanimous bearing toward Lot (13: 7\u20139, 14\u201318) in\nwhich he seemed ready to waive all claim to any territory Lot might\nchoose to occupy. The Lord bade him lift up his eyes toward every\npoint of the compass, all round about and reiterated his grant of the\nwhole\u2015\u2015\u201cAll the land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy\nseed forever.\u201d Also, that his seed should be as the dust of the earth.\nHis generous magnanimity toward Lot in nowise damaged his standing with\nGod or his rights in the goodly land of promise.\n\n4. A yet richer scene of divine manifestation followed Abram\u2019s rescue\nof Lot from the plundering horde of the great Eastern kings (Gen. 15).\nThe first words were significant and precious: \u201cFear not, Abram; I\nam thy shield and thine exceeding great reward.\u201d Abram knew enough\nof human nature and of the resentful, lawless spirit of those warlike\nkings to see that he was exposed to their vengeance and that they might\nreturn any day with more military force than his household could muster.\nIt was therefore at once timely and kind in the Lord to meet him at\nthis point with this comforting assurance: \u201cFear not; I am thy shield\u201d;\nI stand between thee and those vengeful foes: my strong arm shall be\na wall of fire round about thee. Moreover Abram had nobly refused to\nappropriate to his personal use even a thread or a shoe-latchet of the\nbooty brought back from his routed enemies\u2015\u2015whereupon the Lord said,\n\u201cI will be thine exceeding great reward.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Truly when a man\u2019s ways\nplease the Lord, he not only keeps his enemies at peace with him but\nmakes all things go well.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015On this re-appearance the Lord promised\nhim a son more distinctly than ever before, and posterity as the\nstars in number. Here it is said definitely\u2015\u2015\u201cAbraham believed God and\nGod counted it to him for righteousness.\u201d His faith pleased God, and\nbecause of it, God accepted him and he stood as one who is \u201c_all right_\nbefore God.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Remarkably the Lord at this time identified himself to\nAbraham as the same God who had appeared to him in his fatherland and\ncalled him forth into Canaan and said, This is the very land I then\npromised to give thee; to which Abraham replied (v. 8), \u201cWhereby shall\nI know that I shall inherit it\u201d? At once the Lord proceeded to ratify\nhis covenant in the usual Oriental manner. A heifer, a she-goat and\na ram\u2015\u2015one from each species commonly used in sacrifice\u2015\u2015are brought\nforward; each is cut into two parts; the parts are laid asunder; a\nturtle-dove and a young pigeon, also used for sacrifice in certain\ncontingencies, were added but not cut in two. Then when night came on,\na deep sleep fell upon Abraham and the Lord gave him in vision certain\nprophetic views of his posterity; and ratified the covenant by passing\n(in the symbol of fire and smoke) between the severed parts of the\nsacrificial animals. Of this method of ratifying covenants we have\nhistorical traces in Jer. 34: 18\u201320. We have also early and decisive\nindications of the same mode in the fact that at least in the Hebrew,\nGreek and Latin tongues the word for ratifying a covenant means\nprimarily to _cut_. The phrase is, _to cut a covenant_. The prominent\nthing in the transaction was the cutting of the animal in twain that\nthe contracting parties might pass solemnly between the parts of it. It\nseems to be assumed that the contracting parties virtually imprecated\nupon themselves a like doom if they proved faithless to their covenant.\n\n5. At the next eventful appearance Abraham had been waiting in\nfaith for the son of promise a quarter of a century and was perhaps\ntempted to think the fulfillment fast becoming impossible. Pertinently\ntherefore the first words of the Lord were\u2015\u2015\u201c_I am the Almighty God!_\nWalk before me and be thou perfect\u201d; fear nothing; my covenant stands\nfast. I will multiply thee exceedingly! Abraham fell on his face and\nGod talked with him, reiterating his promise of posterity, giving\nunwonted prominence to the family feature of his covenant\u2015\u2015\u201ca God\nto thee and to thy seed after thee\u201d\u2015\u2015and instituting the rite of\ncircumcision.\n\n6. The sixth and last recorded appearance followed the triumph of\nAbraham\u2019s faith in the sacrifice of his only son. In this the Lord\nre-affirmed the great elements of his promise\u2015\u2015posterity as the stars\nof heaven; triumphant over their enemies; a blessing to all the nations\nof the earth.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Thus at successive and somewhat remote intervals and\nmostly on special occasions the Lord manifested himself to his servant\nto confirm his faith, to enlarge the range of promise and to signify\nhis pleasure in the obedient trustful life of his friend.\n\nSuch is the religious history of Abraham as related to his covenant\nGod. Corresponding to this is the history of his posterity, the Hebrew\nnation. To them as to their patriarchal father God manifested himself\nthrough long ages, at successive points, _e. g._ in their Egypt life;\nin his uplifted arm over Pharaoh to bring them forth in the memorable\nExodus; at the Red Sea; at Sinai; all through their wilderness life;\nat the Jordan crossing; in the conquest of Canaan, and onward, onward,\ntill the coming at length of that greater Seed of Abraham in whom most\nsignally were all the nations of the earth to be blessed. But to the\ndetails of this latter history we must give more definite attention in\ntheir place and order.\n\n * * * * *\n\nOne other special feature in the great covenant with Abraham should be\nnoticed.\n\nIn many respects this covenant made Abraham and his posterity a\npeculiar people, discriminating broadly between them and every other\nnation, and accumulating the blessings of God upon them in no stinted\nmeasure. It might be apprehended that such exclusiveness would beget\nbigotry, national pride and self-righteousness; but, with wisest\nforethought, the Lord put into this covenant one counteracting element\nof great power, viz. that _he ordained them to be a blessing to all the\nnations of the earth_. \u201cIn thee and in thy seed shall all the nations\nof the earth be blessed.\u201d It was never the thought of God that the\nHebrew people should live to themselves and for themselves\u2015\u2015should\ngarner their own store-house full of heavenly blessings and leave\nall other peoples to shift for themselves as best they might. No;\nGod\u2019s plan contemplated the culture in their souls of the broadest\nbenevolence, and this, pressed into service by a sense of largest\nresponsibility to meet the revealed purposes of God as to their work.\nInto this great system which made them his peculiar people, he put,\nopenly and clearly, the germinal idea of a salvation to be provided for\nthe wide world\u2015\u2015this covenant people to be the almoners of all these\nblessings to the otherwise benighted and perishing nations. Properly\nunderstood and duly regarded, this germinal idea would have developed\nin their hearts and lives the true missionary spirit, would have given\nat once both breadth and depth to their piety, would have made them\nfeel that God had great thoughts of mercy for the whole race of man,\nand had honored them as his ministers in giving this salvation to every\ncreature. At the very least here was opened a thoroughly rich field for\nprayer, the broadest scope for real sympathy with the benevolence of\nthe Great Father of all the nations and a powerful antidote against the\nnarrow exclusiveness which might otherwise have shrunk and shriveled\ntheir piety and narrowed their aspirations to themselves and their\nland. How often in the heart of the good men of later times\u2015\u2015the men\nlike Moses, Samuel, David, Isaiah,\u2015\u2015must the kindling thought have been\nsprung by this great germinal promise\u2015\u2015_When shall these things be?_\nWhen shall the full fruitage of these great promises be realized? What\nhave we to do to hasten the coming of that sublime consummation?\n\n * * * * *\n\nIt remains to speak more definitely of the promises made to Abraham _as\nincluding the great Messiah_.\n\nIn this as in most other Messianic prophecies, the argument is\nthreefold;\n\n(1) The language obviously _admits_ the Messiah, _i. e._ may be\nconstrued without violence to apply to him, or at least to _include_\nhim:\n\n(2) Its meaning is so broad that it _must_ include him; the blessings\nare too great to be supposed possible without him\u2015\u2015apart from him: and\n\n(3) The inspired writers of the New Testament found the Messiah in this\nprophecy.\n\nThe substance of the prophecy is in the words\u2015\u2015\u201cIn thy seed shall all\nthe nations of the earth be blessed\u201d (Gen. 22: 18 and 26: 4). Beyond\nquestion this _may_ include the Messiah as the author of these really\nuniversal blessings\u2015\u2015blessings for all the nations of the earth. Nay\nmore; the blessings are too great, too broad, too far reaching to admit\nany supposable interpretation short of the Messiah and the gospel age.\nHistorically no fulfillment less broad than the Christian can possibly\nbe made out. In Christ and in him only can this prediction be fulfilled.\n\nAnd to crown all, our Lord himself testifies; \u201cYour father Abraham\nrejoiced to see my day; and _he saw it and was glad_\u201d (Jno. 8: 56). It\nmay be noticed that the word used by our Lord was not _me_, my person;\nbut \u201cmy _day_\u201d\u2015\u2015the gospel age; the great events of it; the wonderful\nresults of my coming\u2015\u2015which is no doubt the exact truth. It was rather\nwhat was to be achieved by Christ in the way of blessings upon all\nthe nations than what lay in Christ\u2019s _person_ definitely that Abraham\nprophetically saw.\n\nPaul adds his testimony that these words refer to Christ;\n(a.) Affirming (Gal. 3: 8)\u2015\u2015\u201cThe Scripture, foreseeing that God would\njustify the nations [\u2018heathen\u2019] through faith, preached before the\ngospel to Abraham, saying, \u2018In thee shall all nations be blessed.\u2019\u201d\n\u201cPreached before\u201d is simply predicted, revealed by prophecy, with the\naccessory idea that the thing revealed was the gospel, the news of\nsalvation.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b.) To show that in his view the burden and fullness\nof this prophecy are Christ and nothing less or other than Christ, he\nsays in this connection (v. 16); \u201cNow to Abraham and to his seed were\nthe promises made. He saith not\u2015\u2015And to _seeds_ as of many, but as of\none\u2015\u2015And to thy _seed_, which is Christ.\u201d\n\nWaiving any special effort to justify Paul\u2019s argument from the singular\nnumber of the word \u201cseed,\u201d his testimony is certainly valid to the\npoint for which I have adduced it, viz. that Paul saw Christ in this\nprophecy. How much soever the principles of exegesis may reluctate,\nthey certainly will not deny that he interprets the prophecy concerning\nChrist. Their complaint would be that he ties it down to Christ too\nexclusively.\n\nIt must be held therefore that the promises made to Abraham really\ninclude a prophecy of Christ. We could not infer from the record in\nGenesis how well Abraham understood the reference to the Messiah. But\nthe allusions to this point in the New Testament give us light, our\nSavior most distinctly declaring\u2015\u2015Abraham rejoiced that he might see\nmy day; _he saw it_\u2015\u2015with great joy. The writer of the Epistle to the\nHebrews, speaking of Abraham and the patriarchs as not having received\nthe promised blessings but as seeing them from afar and embracing them,\nhas in mind specially their faith in the promised heavenly city (Heb.\n11: 10, 13, 14, 16), yet not to the exclusion of him who prepares those\nmansions for his people (Jno. 14: 2, 3). His testimony is in point to\nshow that Abraham looked beyond the earthly side of those blessings to\nthe heavenly; rested not in the earthly Canaan, not in the multitude of\nhis lineal sons and daughters; but reached out beyond these to the city\nthat hath eternal foundations and to the blessings of the Great Messiah,\ngood for all the nations of the earth. The nearer and lesser blessings\nhad a power of suggestion, lifting his thought to the more remote and\ngreater. A man who talked with God so intimately can not be supposed\nto have missed these grand ideas of the gospel age and of the heavenly\nstate which we are sometimes wont to regard as the special, not to say\nexclusive, revelations of the New Testament.\n\n\n _Sodom and Gomorrah._\n\nInvolved in this history of Abraham, there occurs this ever memorable\ncase of sudden and most fearful judgment upon the ungodly in this\nworld\u2015\u2015the overthrow of the cities of the plain. Sodom and Gomorrah\nonly are mentioned by name in Gen. 13: 10 and 19: 24, 28); in several\ncases for brevity, Sodom only; but Moses (Deut. 20: 23) and Hosea\n(11: 8) speak of Admah and Zeboim as also overthrown. These were\ncontiguous and (in Gen. 14: 2) confederate cities. The narrative\nsets forth their appalling and absolutely universal wickedness. Other\nreferences suggest the causes or occasions (Ezek. 16: 49, 50), and\nintimate that the better life and the reproving testimony of Lot were\npowerless (2 Pet. 2: 7, 8).\n\nThe narrative also makes prominent the immediate agency of God in this\ndestruction. \u201cThe Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah fire and\nbrimstone from the Lord out of heaven\u201d (Gen. 19: 24). \u201cWhen Abraham\nlooked toward Sodom and all the land of the plain, lo, the smoke of\nthe country went up as the smoke of a great furnace\u201d (v. 28).\n\nThe case became for all future time a standard illustration of God\u2019s\nmost sudden, fearful and utter destruction of the wicked. (See Deut.\n29: 23 and Isa. 13: 19 and Jer. 20: 16 and 50: 40 and Amos. 4: 11 and\n2 Pet. 2: 6 and Jude 7.) It classes itself naturally with the deluge of\nNoah\u2019s time and with the fall of Pharaoh\u2019s host in the Red Sea, and the\nswallowing up of Korah and his company in the wilderness\u2015\u2015all combining\nto show that God never lacks the means or the power to begin his\nthreatened retribution upon the wicked here in time whenever he deems\nit wise for the moral ends of warning.\n\nThe question of secondary agencies is of altogether secondary\nimportance. It may well suffice us that _God\u2019s hand was there_. It\nmatters but little whether he made use of the agencies of the natural\nworld\u2015\u2015lightning and the combustible materials of that locality,\nor otherwise. That these natural agencies were employed is perhaps\nprobable.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The locality of those cities is undoubtedly identified,\nviz. at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, now and for many ages\nsubmerged though in quite shallow water. The adjacent soil affords\nbitumen and other inflammable substances in abundance, indicating\nwith great probability that a prodigious discharge of electricity\nignited the whole region, fire from the Lord out of heaven gleaming and\ncrashing; the atmosphere all ablaze with flames and the very ground on\nwhich the city stood burning with terrible fury. It might seem that the\ndeep moral pollutions of its people had doomed that vast plain to be\nfirst purified by fire and then sunk from human view for all the coming\nages by its subsidence beneath the waters of the Dead Sea.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In view\nof this appalling scene, how terribly significant become the words of\nJude\u2015\u2015\u201cSet forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal\nfire\u201d! How easily and yet how fearfully can the Almighty execute the\njudgments written against guilty sinners who scorn his words of warning\nand dare his vengeance!\n\n\n \u201c_The Angel of the Lord._\u201d\n\nCases occur in Old Testament history in which the Lord appears in\nvisible form and is called interchangeably \u201cthe Lord\u201d and \u201cthe Angel\nof the Lord.\u201d See the personal history of Hagar (Gen. 16: 7, 13); of\nAbraham (Gen. 18: 2, 16, 33 and 22: 11, 15\u201318); of Jacob (Gen. 31:\n11\u201313, 16); of Moses (Exod. 3: 2, 4, 6, 7, etc., and 23: 20\u201323); of\nGideon (Judg. 6: 11, 12, 14, 20\u201323) and of Manoah (Judg. 13: 18, 22).\nThe term \u201cangel\u201d means in general a messenger; but is manifestly\napplied and therefore is applicable to the visible manifestations of\nGod himself, supposably of the second person of the Godhead, _i. e._\nGod as made manifest to mortals. The cases above referred to are\nentirely decisive as to the usage of the phrase, \u201cThe Angel of the\nLord\u201d in some cases (not relatively many) to denote the very Presence\nof the Lord himself coming down to reveal himself to his people. In Gen.\n18: first three men appear before Abraham; he entertains them. Two of\nthem go on toward Sodom; one remains talking with Abraham. It is said\n\u201cAbraham stood yet before the Lord\u201d; then drew near and offered that\nremarkable prayer of intercession for Sodom; after which \u201cthe Lord went\nhis way and Abraham returned to his place.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In Gen. 22, when Abraham\nhad stretched forth his hand to slay his son, \u201cthe angel of the Lord\ncalled to him out of heaven.\u201d Shortly after (vs. 15\u201318) \u201cthe angel of\nthe Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time and said, By\nmyself have I sworn, saith the Lord; etc.... Because thou hast obeyed\nmy voice.\u201d This can be no other than the very God.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The passages\nabove referred to from the history of Moses are striking. In Exod. 23:\n20\u201323 we read: \u201cBehold I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the\nway and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. _Beware\nof him_\u201d (_i. e._ not to offend him) \u201cand obey his voice; provoke him\nnot; for he will not pardon your transgressions, for _my name is in\nhim_\u201d\u2015\u2015name, as usual in the sense of the very qualities of character\nof which the name is a significant indication.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XI.\n\n THE PATRIARCHS.\n\n\n _Isaac._\n\nTHE story of Isaac is brief; his life uneventful, perhaps we might\nsay monotonous. The record shows that the Lord appeared to him on two\ndistinct occasions; at Gerar (Gen. 26: 2\u20135), renewing the covenant\npreviously made with Abraham, with a very full restatement of all its\nsalient points; also at Beersheba (26: 23\u201325) where we are told \u201che\nbuilded an altar and called on the name of the Lord,\u201d in the steps\nof his godly father.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015We see a point of his character in the fact\nstated incidentally, that Esau\u2019s marriage into Hittite families \u201cwas\na grief of mind to Isaac and to Rebekah.\u201d Esau lacked sympathy with\nthe spirit of the pious patriarchs and utterly failed to appreciate\nthe inheritance of blessings which had lain so near the heart of his\ngrandfather Abraham and of his father Isaac\u2015\u2015facts which the historian\ntouches briefly\u2015\u2015\u201cThus Esau despised his birthright.\u201d The writer to the\nHebrews puts the case forcibly: \u201cWho for one morsel of meat sold his\nbirthright\u201d (12: 16).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015We have no means of knowing how persistently\nand wisely Rebekah had labored to win and hold him by her maternal\nopportunities and power. In later years she seems to have withdrawn\nher heart from him to give it (with apparently extreme partiality) to\nJacob.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Of her duplicity in the matter of the paternal blessing, it\ncan scarcely be necessary to say that the fact of its being recorded by\nno means proves that the Lord justified it. Indeed the absence of any\nexplicit condemnation can not be taken as equivalent to a justification.\nJacob\u2019s exile from his father\u2019s house and home for twenty long\nyears\u2015\u2015so manifestly the result of this duplicity\u2015\u2015must have been to\nher mind painfully suggestive. It seems plainly to have been one of\nGod\u2019s ways in providence to rebuke and chasten her for this wrong,\nand perhaps we may add, to save Jacob\u2019s soul by removing him from\na maternal influence which was so defective\u2015\u2015not to say faulty and\npernicious.\n\nAs to Isaac, one point only is named of him by the writer to the\nHebrews in his catalogue of illustrious examples of faith: \u201cBy faith\nIsaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come\u201d (11: 20).\nThese benedictions (recorded Gen. 27: 28, 29, 33, 37, 39, 40) must\nbe regarded as far more than a venerable father\u2019s good wishes\u2015\u2015indeed\nas nothing less than prophetic benedictions\u2015\u2015words uttered under the\ndivine impulses of the Holy Ghost. Their broad outlook embraced the\ngreat outlines of the future history of the two nations that were\nbefore him in the person of his two sons.\n\n\n _Jacob._\n\nIn Jacob\u2019s history there is no lack of stirring incident and critical\nexigency; in his character, no lack of positive elements and vigorous\nforce. _Bethel_ where he seems to have found God first; _Mahanaim_\nwhere the double hosts of God met him and the murderous rage of Esau\nthreatened every precious life in all his household, and he found help\nonly as he wrestled with the angel of the covenant till he prevailed;\nthe scenes of his sojourning in _Canaan_ where Joseph first comes to\nview, envied and hated of his brethren, and his father mourned for him\nmany days as dead; and finally _Goshen_ where the aged patriarch found\nhis lost Joseph yet alive and lord of all Egypt; stood before Pharaoh;\nsaw his sons and sons\u2019 sons\u2015\u2015a growing host; gave them his blessing\nand was gathered to his fathers:\u2015\u2015surely these salient points of his\nhistory indicate no lack of adventure, and in the religious point of\nview, abundant scenes of moral trial\u2015\u2015exigencies that tasked his virtue\nand endurance, his faith and patience, and in the end brought forth his\nchastened soul purified by the discipline of suffering and strong in\nthe faith of Abraham\u2019s God.\n\nTo understand well the scenes of Bethel, we must think of a young man,\nemerging from boyhood\u2015\u2015his fond mother\u2019s chief beloved\u2015\u2015not to say, her\npet boy\u2015\u2015never yet thrown upon his own resources; an heir to wealth;\na child of ease\u2015\u2015perhaps of maternal indulgence;\u2015\u2015but now suddenly\nbrought into peril of life from his twin brother\u2019s indignant rage and\nviolence. It would be so horrible to the mother to see her Jacob slain\nby his own brother\u2019s hand and to \u201close them both in one day\u201d! (Gen.\n27: 45). Safety seemed to be only in flight, so she must needs send him\nsecretly to the distant land of her birth\u2015\u2015the old maternal family home.\nTherefore, with many a pang of heart, and (let us hope) with many a\nprayer, she commended him to the God of the covenant and sent him away.\n\nOne day of thoughtful travel had passed slowly over Jacob, his mind\ntraversing by many rapid transitions from the home he had left behind\nto the new scenes that met his eye; from the brother before whose fury\nhe was fleeing, to the unknown experiences of life among friends he had\nnever seen. At last the sun had gone down; the eye had nothing more to\nsee; weariness called for rest and sleep. With a stone for his pillow,\nwith his tunic wrapt about him, and the broad heavens above for his\ncanopy, he slept and dreamed\u2015\u2015dreamed of a ladder with its foot on\nthe earth beside him and its top in the heavens; and wonderful to\nsee! the angels of God descending and ascending upon it! A new sense\nof communication between earth and heaven came upon him, assuming a\nstrange reality when he saw the Lord standing above it and heard him\nsay, \u201cI am the Lord God of Abraham thy father and the God of Isaac.\u201d\nBefore this Jacob had heard of that wonderful covenant of God so often\nratified with his venerable grandfather and his father. The transfer\nof blessing from Isaac to himself as the lineal heir of both birthright\nand blessing was a thing of quite recent experience. How fully he had\ncomprehended its glorious significance before does not appear; but now\nthat he is cast out alone upon the wide, unknown world\u2015\u2015now that he so\nmuch needs the Great God for his friend\u2015\u2015it comes over him with solemn,\nprecious interest. The words spoken were full of comfort. They reminded\nhim of the great family promise to Abraham, renewed to his father Isaac:\n\u201cA God to thee and _to thy seed after thee_,\u201d and he felt that the\npromise put its finger upon his own aching, solitary heart. He had a\nfresh assurance that his life would not come to nought and be a failure,\nfor the Lord said: \u201cThe land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give\nit and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and\nthou shalt spread abroad to the West and to the East; to the North and\nto the South; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the\nearth be blessed.\u201d And lest these blessings might seem too remote to\nmeet his sense of present peril and need, the Lord kindly added\u2015\u2015\u201cAnd\nbehold I am with thee and will keep thee in all places whither thou\ngoest, and will bring thee again to this land; for I will not leave\nthee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.\u201d How deeply\nthese scenes and words impressed the soul of the youthful Jacob is\napparent in the few words which fell from his lips when he came to the\nfull consciousness of wakeful life. \u201cSurely the Lord is in this place,\nand I knew it not\u201d! I had not thought to meet God _here_ and to meet\nhim _so_! I thought I was utterly alone but lo! _God is here!_\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015We\nmust suppose that Jacob had never been so near to God before. Such a\nmeeting with the Majesty of heaven was new to his experience, and a\nsense of solemn awe\u2015\u2015of reverence amounting to fear, came upon him:\u2015\u2015as\nthe record is, \u201che was afraid and said, How dreadful is this place!\nThis is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of\nheaven.\u201d The ladder stretching upward, its foot resting beside him\nand its top in the heavens, the open door far in the sky through which\nthe angels seemed to come and go; the voice of the Lord himself and\nwithal uttering such words\u2015\u2015ah indeed, the whole effect was as if\nGod and heaven had truly dropped down upon him, and this was God\u2019s\ndwelling-place and heaven\u2019s door was there!\n\nThe scene was entirely too precious to be suffered to pass into\noblivion; so Jacob\u2019s thought turned to some memorial of the scene and\nto a moral adjustment of his future life to this heavenly call. First,\nhe took the stone which had served him for a pillow and set it up for\na _pillar_ and poured oil upon the top of it\u2015\u2015a sacred unction.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015To\nthe place he gave the significant name \u201cBethel\u201d\u2015\u2015house of God\u2015\u2015by which\nit was ever after known. Then, by a solemn vow, he gave himself to\nthe Lord who had thus called and comforted him with promise. We read,\n\u201cJacob vowed a vow, saying, \u2018If God will be with me and will keep me\nin this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put\non so that I come again to my father\u2019s house in peace, then shall the\nLord be my God, and this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be\nGod\u2019s house; and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the\ntenth unto thee.\u2019\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015If we press the word \u201c_if_\u201d at the head of this\nsentence so as to make it thoroughly conditional, and withal suggesting\nsome shades of doubt whether God would prove faithful, we shall wrong\nJacob, imputing to him what manifestly he could not have meant. His\nwords must be taken thus:\u2015\u2015_Inasmuch as_ God has so kindly promised\nto be with me in all my otherwise doubtful way, and to bring me back\ndespite of all peril to my father\u2019s house again, I accept him as in\nvery deed my God; and out of all my accumulated wealth, I will surely\ngive one tenth to him.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The spirit is that of one drawn by God\u2019s\npromised mercy\u2015\u2015not of one who stands in grave doubt whether God will\ncome up to the full height of his promise. These are the words of one\nwho has _no_ doubt on that point and who refers to that promise only\nto say that because of it, under the joyful assurance of it, he gives\nhimself to God in full, prompt, and perpetual consecration. A reverent\nsoul brought so near to God, impressed with a sense that heaven and\nGod are verily here, does not tempt and provoke God by expressing the\nfear that he will not prove faithful to his promises!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Late into the\nmorning Jacob lingered in this hallowed spot as one loth to close such\nan interview with God and break the charm of such sacred associations.\nAnd when at length he must go on his journey, it was with far other\nheart than in his solitary journey of the day before.\n\n * * * * *\n\nOf the scenes of his sojourn at Haran there is no occasion to speak\nparticularly. Perhaps the deception in which his mother and himself\nwere the responsible parties came up fresh and clear to him when he\nfound that Laban had taken similar liberties with him, giving him Leah\nwhen Rachel was in the bond. A man never gets so sharp and keen a sense\nof the wrong of these little deceptions as when he becomes the victim\nand the sting goes deep into his own bosom. This is sometimes the\nLord\u2019s way to testify his disapprobation of this wrong and to impress\nhis own view of it upon those who may have sinfully indulged in it.\n\n\n _Mahanaim._\n\nThe second great exigency of Jacob\u2019s life has its record in Gen. 32.\nTwenty years have passed away in Haran; he has wives, children, and\nample substance of cattle, sheep, camels. Indeed all his children\nexcept Benjamin are now about him. Not feeling at home longer with\nLaban; remembering the Lord\u2019s promise to give Canaan to him and to his\nchildren; mindful moreover of the scenes of Bethel, and we may hope,\nsomewhat fearful lest the household gods which were dangerously near\nthe heart of Laban, might be a snare to his wives and children, he\nfully makes up his mind to return to Canaan.\n\nAt some point on this return journey, (as the narrative states\nrather abruptly), the angels of God met him. Jacob saw them and said,\n\u201cThis is God\u2019s host\u201d\u2015\u2015a convoy\u2015\u2015a kind of military guard, the demand\nfor which presently appeared. He gave name to the place from the\nfact\u2015\u2015\u201cMahanaim\u201d\u2015\u2015the double camps or hosts. They seem to have been an\nintimation to him that danger was near, and that God\u2019s hosts were near\nalso for his rescue.\n\nOn his way back to Canaan, and consequently approaching the residence\nof Esau in the land of Seir, Jacob is fully aware that his coming must\nbe known to Esau, and therefore he sends messengers to him for the\npurpose of conciliating his good will. These messengers soon returned\nto Jacob, saying; \u201cWe came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh\nto meet thee and four hundred men with him.\u201d In an instant Jacob\ncomprehends the situation and sees his danger. Those four hundred\nmen are led on by Esau with no peaceful purpose. The lapse of twenty\nyears has not sufficed to quench the fire of his wrath and to revive\nfraternal affection. Still unforgiving he comes on \u201cbreathing out\nthreatening and slaughter,\u201d exhibiting identically the same character\nwhich he impressed on his posterity and which manifested itself in\nthe vindictiveness of the Edomites at the fall of Jerusalem before the\nChaldean power. Amos (1: 11, 12) and Obadiah (vs. 10\u201316) represent this\nvindictiveness against the posterity of his brother Jacob as the ground\nand reason of God\u2019s overwhelming judgments on their nation and land.\n\u201cBecause he did pursue his brother with the sword and did cast off all\npity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he nursed his wrath for\never.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Such was the bearing of his nation toward the sons of Jacob\nin the day of Jerusalem\u2019s fall; and with this same spirit he is coming,\nat the point of his history now before us, to cut off Jacob\u2019s powerless\nfamily.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015With admirable self-possession and wisdom, Jacob laid his\nplans promptly\u2015\u2015first, to divide his train into two parts, placing\none at some distance in advance of the other, so that if the front\ncolumn were attacked, the rear might stand some chance of escape: and\nsecondly, to send forward a valuable present to Esau;\u2015\u2015\u201ctwo hundred\ngoats; two hundred ewes and twenty rams; thirty milch camels with their\ncolts; forty kine; ten bulls; twenty she-asses and ten foals\u201d (Gen.\n32: 13\u201315)\u2015\u2015enough at least to arrest Esau\u2019s attention and perhaps\nto soothe his spirit toward his brother. These he sent forward with\nfitting words of conciliation:\u2015\u2015but by far the most vital measure\nof relief yet remained\u2015\u2015_prayer to the Great God of the covenant_.\nVs. 9\u201312 record the words of this prayer, apparently as offered to\nGod in the first moments after the messengers returned and apprised\nhim of his danger. The prudential arrangements above named followed,\noccupying the morning hours of the day. When night came on Jacob was\nleft alone save that the Lord came down in form as a man\u2015\u2015the angel\nof the covenant\u2015\u2015and a scene of struggling, wrestling prayer ensued\nwhich ceased not till the dawn of the morning. As the narrative has\nit; \u201cJacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the\nbreak of day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he\ntouched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob\u2019s thigh was\nout of joint as he wrestled with him. And he [the angel-man] said, Let\nme go, for the day breaketh. And he [Jacob] replied\u2015\u2015I will not let\nthee go except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name?\nAnd he said, Jacob. And he said\u2015\u2015Thy name shall no more be called Jacob,\nbut Israel; for as a Prince hast thou power with God and hast prevailed.\nAnd Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name; and he\nsaid\u2015\u2015Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed\nhim there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have\nseen God face to face and my life is preserved.\u201d\n\nWhat we may call the costume, the purely external _forms_ of this\nscene, are striking, peculiar, but thoroughly significant. In view\nof the circumstances, there can not be the least doubt that, mentally,\nspiritually,\u2015\u2015_this is a scene of prayer_\u2015\u2015nothing else, less or more.\nThe prayer is a struggle of soul on the part of the suppliant. He\nis in trouble; he is shut up to God alone for help; and he feels that\n_he can not be denied_. The scene of the wrestling must imply that God\ndebates this matter with the suppliant Jacob, apparently resisting,\ncontending,\u2015\u2015certainly delaying, and prolonging the conflict hour after\nhour of the live-long night till break of day. Seeing that he prevailed\nnot to silence Jacob\u2019s supplication, _i. e._ to break his hold as\na wrestler, he touched the hollow of Jacob\u2019s thigh, crippling the\nwrestler seriously, yet leaving his arms with strength unimpaired\nto hold fast his antagonist. Then as if to test Jacob\u2019s faith and\nendurance to the utmost, he said\u2015\u2015\u201cLet me go, for the day breaketh;\u201d\nto which Jacob replied\u2015\u2015\u201cI will not let thee go except thou bless me.\u201d\nJacob as a wrestler with one thigh out of joint had become powerless\nto cast his opponent; but with his arms in their full strength he could\n_hold on_\u2015\u2015and he did. The culminating point in the struggle is reached\nin these remarkable words; \u201cI will not let thee go except thou bless\nme.\u201d I can not be denied. I have thy promise: it touches this very\ncase\u2015\u2015protection and succor till I return to my country; and I can\nnot let go my hold. I must have help now, or perish!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The change of\nname is richly significant. Jacob, _i. e._ supplanter, suggested the\ndeception by which he obtained from his blind father the blessing; but\nwith it came the rage of his brother and this present peril to himself\nand to his great family. \u201cIsrael\u201d means _a prince with God_\u2015\u2015one who\nhas prevailed in the struggle of prayer and obtained the blessing\nhe sought. The change of name thus indicates the change in Jacob\u2019s\nrelations to God and to Esau which followed his victory in this\nprayer-struggle.\n\nBut what is the significance of this example? What was really the\nanimus of this conflict? what the reason for it; what the point in\ndebate, and what the great moral lessons which it teaches?\n\nOur data for the answer to these questions must come from one or both\nof two sources:\n\n(a.) _The circumstances of the present case_;\n\n(b.) _The principles of God\u2019s spiritual administration_ of grace to his\npeople in connection with prayer.\n\n(a) As to the circumstances of the present case:\u2015\u2015The covenant of God\nwith Jacob is very definite. Jacob understands and manifestly pleads it,\nas we see in this chapter. These are his words as recorded: \u201cO God of\nmy father Abraham and God of my father Isaac\u201d\u2015\u2015the Lord [the _Jehovah_,\nsignifying the faithful God of his people] \u201cwho saidst to me, Return\nunto thy country and to thy kindred and I will deal well with thee:\nI am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies and of all thy truth\nwhich thou hast showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed\nover this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray\nthee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear\nhim, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children.\nAnd thou saidst, I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the\nsand of the sea which can not be numbered for multitude.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It should\nbe noted that the promise in this covenant precisely meets Jacob\u2019s\npresent emergency\u2015\u2015\u201cReturn and I will deal well with thee: thou saidst,\nI will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea.\u201d\nThese points fully covered his present danger. Jacob doubtless had in\nmind the very explicit terms of this covenant as announced to him at\nBethel: \u201cI am with thee and will keep thee in all places whither thou\ngoest and _will bring thee again to this land_; for I will not leave\nthee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.\u201d There\nis therefore no room for mistake on this point. The Lord\u2019s promise to\nJacob is explicit, and in its terms guarantees perfect protection in\nhis present peril. Why, then, it will be asked, was this night-long\nstruggle?\n\nWe may find some light toward the answer if we remember that every\npromise of God to man must in the nature of the case _imply certain\nconditions_; and the promise in this covenant equally with all other\npromises. \u201cIf I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.\u201d\n\u201cYe ask and receive not because ye ask amiss.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As bearing on this\nvery covenant let us recall the ground of the Lord\u2019s confidence that\nhe should be able to fulfill his words to Abraham: \u201cI know him that he\nwill command his children and his household after him, and they shall\nkeep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, _that the Lord may\nbring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him_.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Now it will\nbe in point to consider that these scenes of danger from Esau\u2019s rage\ninevitably brought up between the Lord and Jacob the question whether\nthe deception practiced upon Isaac to transfer to Jacob the blessing\nwhich legitimately fell to Esau could be passed over by the Lord\nwithout rebuke. Was it proper that the Lord should endorse it with no\nrebuke whatever? If he were ever to bear his protest against it, the\npresent was the time.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Yet further, the fact had but recently come\nto Jacob\u2019s knowledge that his favorite Rachel had stolen her father\u2019s\ngods and taken them with her as she left the family home. Had Jacob\nbeen faithful to the God of his fathers in teaching and impressing\nthe worship of the one true God and in protesting solemnly against\nidol-worship? And had he been firm and outspoken against such theft and\ndeception as that of his beloved Rachel? Must not things of this sort\nbe inquired into and definitely settled before the Lord could interpose\nwith such manifest deliverance as would virtually endorse Jacob as\nright before God?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It ought not to escape our notice that while\nthe narrative in the preceding chapter (31) recites the misconduct of\nRachel and shows that Jacob then for the first time became aware of the\nextent of her idolatry, theft, and deception, so a subsequent narrative\n(35: 1\u20134) apprises us in a very significant way that both the Lord and\nJacob remembered this wonderful night of struggle, and that some of\nthe matters then in issue were set right. \u201cGod said to Jacob\u2015\u2015Arise,\ngo up to Bethel [that place of so many hallowed associations] and dwell\nthere and make there an altar unto God who appeared to thee when thou\nfleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. Then Jacob said to his\nhousehold and to all that were with him, _Put away the strange gods\nthat are among you_, and be clean, and change your garments, and let\nus arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar unto God\n_who answered me in the day of my distress_, and was with me in the way\nwhich I went.\u201d Yes, \u201che who answered me in that day of my distress,\u201d\nbefore whom this whole matter was reviewed and debated through that\nlong, fearful night\u2015\u2015who called me to account in that dread emergency\nand pointed out my sins and put my soul to most humble confession of\npast short-comings and to most solemn vows of future service;\u2015\u2015let\nus amend our ways and our doings before the eye of this holy God who\nmercifully spared us in that fearful hour. These circumstances throw\nlight upon this remarkable scene of prayer.\n\n * * * * *\n\n(b.) We may also call to mind _the principles of God\u2019s spiritual\nadministration over his people in respect to answering their prayer_.\n\nHere it is safe to say that God never delays to answer prayer without\nsome good reason. He could not delay from mere caprice.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015On the other\nhand he may delay the blessing sought, for the purpose of holding it\nbefore the suppliant\u2019s mind till he shall better appreciate its worth,\nand his own dependence on God alone for it, and that he may accept it\nmore gratefully and prize it more adequately when it comes. The reasons\nfor delay may often lie in this direction; but in the present case\nof Jacob we must look elsewhere, since in his fearful emergency this\nparticular reason is scarcely supposable. His case was so urgent and\ninvolved interests so dear and so near to his very soul that his mind\ncould scarce need to be sharpened to more intense desire or impressed\nwith a deeper sense of dependence.\n\nAgain, God often holds the suppliant in suspense for the sake of\nthrowing him upon self-examination. It may be simply indispensable\nboth for the good of the suppliant and for the honor of God that he\nshould be put to the deepest self-searching, to compel reflection and\nconsideration for the purpose of convicting him of some sin that must\nneeds be seen, confessed, repented of and put utterly away. We must not\noverlook the great fact that when God grants signal blessings in answer\nto any man\u2019s prayer, it will be taken as a tacit indorsement on God\u2019s\npart of this man\u2019s spiritual state. It will be considered as God\u2019s\ntestimony that he is _not_ \u201cregarding iniquity in his heart\u201d\u2015\u2015that\nthere are no iniquities palpable to the world and present to the man\u2019s\nown consciousness\u2015\u2015indulged and not condemned and forsaken. On this\nprinciple it often happens that God must needs compel the praying\nsoul to the most thorough heart-searching and to the most absolute and\ncomplete renunciation of known sin, before he can honorably and safely\nbestow signal blessings.\n\nIf now we place this obvious principle of God\u2019s spiritual\nadministration alongside of the well-known facts of Jacob\u2019s history,\nwe shall readily see reasons, apparently all-sufficient, for this long\ndelay and this remarkable struggle of prayer before the blessing was\ngiven. The Lord was searching his servant and impressing some great\nprinciples of practical duty upon his mind under circumstances well\nadapted to insure very thorough reformation.\n\nWhen Jacob at length prevailed and the Lord blessed him there, the\ncrisis was past, and the danger really over. It was only for the Lord\nto put forth his finger and touch the heart of Esau:\u2015\u2015then the revenge\nand murderous rage of the Esau that was, gave place to fraternal\nkindness and sympathy. We read, \u201cEsau ran to meet Jacob and embraced\nhim and fell on his neck and kissed him; and they wept\u201d (Gen. 33: 4).\nThe result therefore was far more and better than a mere escape with\nlife from Esau\u2019s murderous purpose. It was the reconciliation of long\nalienated brothers. At least it secured one precious scene of fraternal\nsympathy and love.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015We read little of Esau\u2019s subsequent life. The\nbrothers met at the death-bed and grave of their father (Gen. 35: 29);\nperhaps their paths never came in contact again.\n\nThe scenes of Mahanaim have afforded to the godly of all future\nages some new light on the great subject of prayer. This was the\nfirst strong decisive case on record of prevalence in prayer. Abraham\ninterceded long for Sodom; but with no further result than to show\nthat God was very condescending to hear such prayer, yet that the thing\nasked could not be granted.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Here is a case of positive victory\u2015\u2015a\nreal prevailing with God, reached, however, only after a most\nremarkable struggle. It is a great advance in the revealed science\nof prayer to have a case so illustrative as this of the great laws\nof prevailing prayer.\n\n\n _Jacob and Joseph._\n\nThe group of historic incidents in which Jacob and Joseph were\nprominent actors is eventful and striking; in some points without a\nparallel in human history. If it were fiction, a mere drama, wrought\nout by some gifted imagination, it could not fail to command the\nadmiration of men as a most finished plot, a wonderful outline of\nstrange varieties of human character. Truth is sometimes \u201cstranger\nthan fiction\u201d: and the careful reader of this narrative will testify,\nfar more instructive and impressive.\n\nThe points of chief value will be readily embraced under the following\nheads:\n\nI. The striking developments of personal character in the case of Jacob,\nJoseph, and his brethren.\n\nII. The hand of God in this history, manifested in two respects:\n(a.) In the suffering and moral trial of the righteous: (b.) In his\noverruling control of the wicked to bring forth abounding good from\ntheir wickedness.\n\nIII. The divine plan and purpose in locating the birth of the great\nHebrew nation in such contact with Egypt.\n\nIV. Egyptian history and life, studied in connection with this sacred\nnarrative as affording confirmation of its truthfulness.\n\nI. The reader of Gen. 34 and 35 and 37 and 38 will see that the ten\nolder brethren of Joseph were \u201chard boys.\u201d The sacred historian must\nhave been quite willing to give this impression, else he would not\nhave recorded Reuben\u2019s incest with his father\u2019s concubine (35: 22),\nnor Judah\u2019s criminal connection with a supposed harlot who proved\nto be his own daughter-in-law (Gen. 38), nor the pitiless cruelty of\nSimeon and Levi when stirred up to revenge the dishonor done to their\nsister Dinah (Gen. 34). Especially do the worst elements of depraved\ncharacter appear in their treatment of their younger brother Joseph.\nThe narrative (Gen. 37) is brief; gives facts without comments; but\n_what facts_! Joseph was young and very simple-hearted. Up to the point\nwhere the history introduces him, he had been trained in a religious\nhome\u2015\u2015which seems scarcely to have been the case with the ten older\nsons. Their shepherd life took them into distant parts of the country,\nand seems practically to have removed them much of the time from home\nand its domestic influences. Unfortunately the domestic influences\nof that polygamous home were by no means so wholesome as a religious\nhome ought to furnish. Envy and jealousy were stimulated into fearful\nstrength.\n\nJoseph was sent to help the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. Painfully\nimpressed by their misdeeds, he reported them to his father. The\nspecial love of this aged father for Joseph, manifested in the \u201ccoat\nof many colors\u201d (really a long tunic reaching to the wrists and ankles)\noccasioned more rankling jealousy. Finally, Joseph\u2019s remarkable dreams\nwhich his simplicity related without apparently a thought of giving\noffense, brought their animosity to its climax. Soon Joseph is thrown\ninto their power. They see him coming and conspire to take his life.\n\u201cCome,\u201d (say they) \u201clet us slay him and cast him into some pit, and we\nwill say, Some evil beast hath devoured him; and we shall see what will\nbecome of his dreams.\u201d We are not told which of them suggested this\nmurderous purpose. Reuben, the eldest brother, was the first to protest.\nHis plan was that they should cast him alive into some pit; and then in\ntheir absence he could take him out and return him safely to his father.\nThey consented; stripped him of his new coat, and cast him into a pit\nwithout water. [These pits were dug in that poorly watered country for\nthe sake of getting water for their cattle.] Then they sat down to eat\nbread, perhaps complimenting themselves that they had not murdered him,\nbut had shown their power and for the present had put him out of their\nway. Manifestly their consciences were dead to that sense of guilt\nwhich a few years later forced them to say, \u201cWe are verily guilty\nconcerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he\nbesought us and we would not hear\u201d (Gen. 42: 21). Just then a caravan\nof Ishmaelites and Midianites came in sight, moving toward Egypt, and\nJudah came to the rescue with the proposition to take up Joseph and\nsell him, to be taken as a slave to Egypt. With some manly feeling he\nsays\u2015\u2015\u201cWhat profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood?\nCome, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be\nupon him, for he is our brother and our flesh; and his brethren were\ncontent.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Reuben\u2019s better qualities come up to view again when he\nreturned to the pit, hoping to rescue his brother\u2015\u2015but found no Joseph\nthere! \u201cHe rent his clothes\u201d; he came to his brethren exclaiming, \u201cThe\nchild is not;\u2015\u2015and I\u2015\u2015whither shall I go?\u201d\n\nIn the next scene these brethren were if possible more heartless still.\nIt commonly happens that one crime demands another and yet another\nto conceal the first. So in this case, the next thing is to deceive\ntheir father even though it torture him with the agony of supposing\nhis favorite son devoured by some evil beast. They kill a kid; stain\nJoseph\u2019s coat with its blood; and then send it to their father,\nsaying, \u201cThis have we found; see whether it be thy son\u2019s coat or not.\u201d\nThere was no mistaking the coat, and Jacob\u2019s grief is heart-breaking.\nRemarkably it is said that \u201call his sons and all his daughters rose up\nto comfort him, but he refused to be comforted\u201d; and he said, \u201cI will\ngo down into the grave to my son mourning. Thus his father wept for\nhim.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015How easily those sons might have said: \u201cFather, we have sinned\nagainst God and against thee; but Joseph is not slain by lions; we sold\nhim into Egypt! You may live to see him again.\u201d But not even Reuben or\nJudah had conscience, and truthfulness, and filial affection enough to\nreveal the guilty secret. Miserable comforters were they all to their\nfather\u2019s broken heart!\n\n * * * * *\n\nLeaving Jacob to long years of bitterest grief, we follow the fortunes\nof Joseph. From this point the thread of the story takes him into Egypt\na slave. Sold to Potiphar, an officer under Pharaoh, it soon became\napparent that the Lord was with him and made every thing prosper under\nhis hand. He rises rapidly in the confidence of his master; is put in\ncharge of all his house\u2015\u2015but here springs up a new trial. Joseph is\nbeautiful in person and amiable in manners. Potiphar\u2019s wife, lewd and\nshameless, tempts him with solicitations to adultery. Joseph\u2019s bearing\nin this case was worthy to be put on permanent record to pass down\nthrough all future generations to the end of time, a perfect model of\nboth virtue and wisdom\u2015\u2015the virtue that resists seductive temptation\nwith unwavering firmness; and the wisdom that comprehends and applies\nthe perfect methods of resisting temptation. Joseph did not dally with\nhis tempter; did not suffer the temptation to gather new force, but met\nit instantly with the strongest considerations possible\u2015\u2015\u201cHow can I do\nthis great wickedness and _sin against God_!\u201d God, said he to himself,\nis my best friend; I am his servant. He has stood by me through all\nmy trials and given me this great prosperity; his pure eye is on me;\nI can not do this great wickedness against him!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The sense of a\npresent God settled the question forever. There was indeed another line\nof considerations\u2015\u2015his obligations to the husband of this lewd woman.\nPotiphar had trusted him most entirely; shall he abuse this trust?\nNever.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Thus Joseph\u2019s course was at once decided. But this vile\nwoman persisted in her solicitations, till at length, maddened by\nher failure, she plotted his death. She laid hold of his garment; he\nescaped leaving it in her hands. With this for her proof she accuses\nJoseph of the crime of which she alone was guilty. Joseph is thrown\ninto prison\u2015\u2015because of his virtue and not because of any crime. Of\ncourse the Lord was with him still, and again Joseph rises in the\nfavor and confidence of those in power; is put in charge of all matters\nin the prison, and thus the Lord turned this great trial to account\nto bring Joseph before Pharaoh. Long was the trial; the story of his\nrelations to the chief butler and the chief baker is in point chiefly\nas showing how ungratefully the butler could forget his imprisoned\nfriend and prolong his imprisonment. But the hour of deliverance came\nat last. Pharaoh\u2019s two dreams impressed and disturbed his mind so much\nthat he summoned all his wise men to his help\u2015\u2015but in vain. At this\nopportune moment the chief butler remembers Joseph. He should have\nspoken of him to the king two years before; but engrossed with his\nown prosperity, he forgot his prison benefactor till this time. Joseph\ncomes to the help of the king. His first answer is beautifully modest\nand fragrant with piety. \u201cI have heard of thee, said the king, that\nthou canst understand a dream to interpret it.\u201d Joseph replies: \u201cIt\nis not in me; God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace\u201d (Gen. 41: 16).\nThe dreams are interpreted to signify seven years of overflowing plenty,\nfollowed by seven of extreme famine throughout all the land. Joseph\nsuggests to the king to store up the excess of the plentiful years\nagainst the deficiencies of the famine years. The king sees the wisdom\nof this suggestion and at once appoints Joseph to this responsibility;\nin fact, sets him over all Egypt save only in the honors of the throne.\n\nAt this point the historic thread brings Jacob and his sons in Canaan\nto view again. We are not told whether they had the seven years of\nexuberant plenty there, but the years of famine were there in terrible\npower. They were soon breadless. The father hears that there is corn\nin Egypt; so he sends ten of his sons\u2015\u2015all that are with him save\nBenjamin\u2015\u2015to get corn. It was to be brought on the backs of their asses,\nand therefore it was wise to send them all together.\n\nThe scenes that follow are told with masterly simplicity. Joseph knows\nthem; they do not recognize him: What policy shall he pursue? Why, we\nmay perhaps ask, why does he not make himself known to them at once?\nWhy does he treat them so roughly; accuse them of being spies; throw\nthem all into prison for three days; propose to keep them all confined\nsave one and send him back after Benjamin; but finally compromises the\nmatter by taking Simeon as a hostage, binding him before their eyes,\nand then consenting that the rest may go home and bring Benjamin down\nas the condition of Simeon\u2019s release? Why does he put their money into\nthe mouth of each man\u2019s sack of corn? Why this long delay, and these\nsearching, harassing preliminaries?\n\nIt was not that Joseph was hard-hearted and rather enjoyed using his\npower and taking some revenge\u2015\u2015nothing of this sort. It is indeed said\nin the first stage of this interview\u2015\u2015\u201cJoseph remembered the dreams\nwhich he dreamed of them\u201d (Gen. 42: 9), and thereupon said, \u201cYe are\nspies; to see the nakedness of the land are ye come.\u201d But this only\nshows that his policy was settled upon the spur of the moment. He saw\nwhat he needed to accomplish and laid his plans accordingly. The whole\nnarrative shows that, so far from being void of fraternal feeling and\nhard-hearted, in fact it tasked his firmness of character to the utmost\nto suppress his emotions sufficiently to carry out his purpose. His\nmain purpose was to bring them to thorough repentance. For this end he\nmust needs throw their thought back upon their great sin and bring the\nheavy pressure of present calamity upon them with all its suggestive\npower to show them that God was taking them in hand for that wickedness.\nHe also wished to see how they felt toward their father and toward\nBenjamin. Their feeling toward both the father and his youngest son\nwould be an index of their penitence for their great sin toward himself.\n\nJoseph was a man of consummate wisdom. Few men have ever lived who\nunderstood human nature better than he, or could plan better for a\ngiven effect. Consequently we shall not miss greatly if we infer his\ndesign from the actual effect. When we see what he accomplished, we are\nreasonably safe in saying\u2015\u2015This is what he aimed to do.\n\nObserve now that the first scene had not fully transpired ere he\nheard them saying one to another, \u201cWe are verily guilty concerning our\nbrother in that we saw thee anguish of his soul when he besought us and\nwe would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.\u201d And Reuben\nanswered them (_i. e._ interposed at that point) saying, \u201cSpake I not\nunto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear?\nTherefore, behold also, his blood is required.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Joseph saw that his\nscheme was taking effect; their consciences were at work. How his own\nheart must have throbbed! Accordingly we read\u2015\u2015\u201cHe turned himself about\nfrom them and wept.\u201d But the work is not yet complete; so he brushed\naway the tears and \u201creturned to them and took from them Simeon and\nbound him before their eyes.\u201d Why he chose Simeon is not indicated.\nPerhaps\u2015\u2015not to say probably\u2015\u2015he was the leading spirit in the cruel\nscenes thirteen years before. We remember that Simeon and Levi led off\nin that bloody affray with the men of Shechem. However this may be, he\nwas the eldest after Reuben; and Reuben, though a coarse, rough nature,\nwas on the side of mercy toward the abused Joseph. Simeon, therefore,\nis chosen for the hostage, to be kept in close confinement while\nthe rest are dismissed to go home. Simeon will have abundant time to\nthink over the guilty deeds of that dreadful past! Let us hope that it\nbrought him to genuine repentance.\n\nThe narrative details the return of the nine brethren to their father\u2019s\nhouse; how they told their story there; how Jacob rebuked them for\ndisclosing their youngest brother; how he struggled desperately against\nhis manifest destiny; how he said\u2015\u2015Benjamin shall never go down into\nEgypt; how Reuben interposed in his rough way, saying to his father:\n\u201cSlay my two sons if I bring not Benjamin back to thee\u201d\u2015\u2015as if he could\nnot see that murdering two of his grandchildren would be infinitely\nfar from helping the matter or affording the least relief. With better\ngood sense and a more just appreciation of his father\u2019s feelings, Judah\npled with his father:\u2015\u2015We shall all die of starvation unless we go down\nto Egypt for corn: we must take Benjamin with us\u2015\u2015else we get no corn.\n\u201cSend the lad with me; I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou\nrequire him: if I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee, then\nlet me bear the blame forever\u201d (Gen. 43: 8\u201310).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The heart of their\nfather Israel comes to view here\u2015\u2015yielding to the inevitable necessity;\nwisely getting up a liberal present of the best fruits of their land;\ndouble money, to return what came home with them in their sack\u2019s mouth,\nand to buy again. Saddest of all he gave up his dear Benjamin, and\nthen with many a prayer he sent them to Egypt a second time: \u201cAnd\nGod Almighty give you mercy before the man that he may send away your\nother brother and Benjamin: If I be bereaved of my children, I am\nbereaved.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But he did not see the deep thoughts of God in these\ntrying scenes, and perhaps he had not yet fully learned how wise and\nsafe it is to trust Almighty God to bring out his own results in his\nown way! He will learn more by and by.\n\nEvents thicken; the final consummation hastens on. They are in Egypt\nagain and stand before Joseph. His quick eye sees his beloved brother\nBenjamin among them. At once he gives orders to the ruler of his house\nto prepare a dinner for all these men and to bring them all into his\nhouse. A deeper fear seizes upon them: what, say they, can this mean?\nWhat new charges, what prosecutions, what fresh dangers, are coming\nnow? They meet the Steward at the door and tell him their story about\nthe returned money. The recognition of God in his reply seems strange\nfor an Egyptian\u2015\u2015unless we suppose that Joseph had given him the\nwords. He said, \u201cPeace be to you; fear not; your God and the God of\nyour fathers hath given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money\u201d\n(Gen. 43: 23). \u201cAnd he brought Simeon out to them\u201d\u2015\u2015which might well\nhave given some relief to their burdened hearts.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The dinner hour\napproaches; they are to eat with the lord of the land. They get their\npresents ready; and when Joseph appeared \u201cthey bowed themselves to him\nto the earth.\u201d The historian is careful to mention this for its bearing\nas the fulfillment of that long past dream of the boy Joseph. With\nthe true politeness of profound sincerity Joseph inquires about his\nfather: \u201cIs your father well\u2015\u2015the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet\nalive?\u201d \u201cAnd they answered: Thy servant our father is in good health;\nhe is yet alive; and [again] they bowed down their heads and made\nobeisance.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Now his eye falls on Benjamin, his own mother\u2019s son, and\nhe asks\u2015\u2015\u201cIs this your younger brother of whom ye spake unto me? God be\ngracious unto thee my son.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Ah, but Joseph\u2019s heart is too full; \u201che\nmade haste, for his bowels did yearn upon his brother; and he sought\nwhere to weep, and he entered into his chamber and wept there.\u201d But,\nthe time has not come yet to reveal himself; the searching ordeal\nthrough which he must needs make his brethren pass has not fully\ndone its work; so Joseph washes off the tears; refrains himself from\nshedding more, and orders the food set on. The brethren of Joseph had\nprobably a rather pleasant time\u2015\u2015only it seemed strange to them that\nthey were seated by age from the eldest to the youngest and Benjamin\nhad a five-fold mess! How comes it that the lord of Egypt knows so much\nabout us? They can not see.\n\nThey are getting ready now for home; their sacks are filled with\ncorn again, and again the money is put back into each sack\u2019s mouth,\nand worst of all, Joseph\u2019s silver cup is slipped into the mouth of\nBenjamin\u2019s sack. Ere they are fairly out of the city Joseph posts his\nsteward after them, abruptly charging them with having ungratefully\nstolen his lord\u2019s silver cup. Consciously innocent and deeply indignant,\nthey are rash enough to say\u2015\u2015Let the man in whose sack it is found\ndie, and take all the rest of us for slaves! How were they amazed\nand overwhelmed when the cup was found in Benjamin\u2019s sack! They rent\ntheir clothes in bitterness of heart, and all return to the city. Judah\ncomes to the front here; it is \u201cJudah and his brethren\u201d who come to\nJoseph\u2019s house, and Judah who makes the plea in behalf of Benjamin.\nThe historian is careful to say again that when they met Joseph \u201cthey\nfell before him on the ground.\u201d He also remarks that Joseph was yet\nin his house, having remained there ever since the caravan left in the\nearly morning, too full of thought on this subject to turn to any other\nbusiness.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Now he expects to learn how they feel toward Benjamin and\ntoward their aged father. He must be sure they are all right on these\npoints before he lifts the vail and shows them himself.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015They are\nbrought back as criminals before him. With a sternness that is not at\nall in his heart but in his assumed manner only, he says\u2015\u2015What deed\nis this that ye have done? Were ye not aware that I have the power of\npositive and certain divination?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Judah is in deep perplexity\u2015\u2015but he\nspeaks frankly: \u201cWhat shall we say unto my lord? or how shall we clear\nourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants\u201d\u2015\u2015which\nwords can not, it would seem, refer to any iniquity in the matter\nof the silver cup, but must have referred to the long past crime of\nthe brethren toward Joseph. He can not say less than that they will\nall become the slaves of Joseph, all including even Benjamin.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015No,\nreplies Joseph; I want only the guilty man, Benjamin; all the rest of\nyou may go in peace to your father!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Now the crisis so long dreaded\nhas come. A terrible responsibility falls upon Judah. With wonderful\nsimplicity, with most touching filial affection toward his father, and\nwith masterly skill he rises to the moral sublimity of the occasion. He\ncomes near to Joseph and begins his great plea. Every reader must study\nit. We shall need to go far to find more touching eloquence, a more\nmasterly setting forth of the facts of the case including the whole\nstory from the beginning to the end. The case of the aged father and of\nhis two younger sons left him by his best beloved wife\u2015\u2015put in the aged\npatriarch\u2019s own words\u2015\u2015ran thus: \u201cYe know that my wife bear me two sons,\nand the one went out from me, and I said\u2015\u2015Surely he is torn in pieces,\nand I have not seen him since; and if ye take this also from me, and\nmischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow\nto the grave. Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father and\nthe lad be not with us; (seeing that his life is bound up in the lad\u2019s\nlife)\u2015\u2015when he shall see that the lad is not with us he will die; and\nthy servants will bring down the gray hairs of our father with sorrow\nto the grave. I said to him, If I bring not Benjamin back, I will bear\nthe blame forever. Now therefore I pray thee, let me abide instead\nof Benjamin, the bond-servant of my lord, and let him go back to his\nfather. For how shall I go to my father and the lad be not with me?\nLest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This\nwas more than Joseph could bear. He could refrain himself no longer;\nthe tears would come; the swelling emotions must have vent. Joseph\ncried: \u201cHave every man away from me save these men of Canaan.\u201d\nThe proof of their love to their aged father and to Benjamin is\nunmistakable; Joseph is satisfied. They are penitent for their long\npast crime against him, and he can therefore at length break the secret\nand show himself their long lost brother! How do their ears tingle\nas they hear him say\u2015\u2015\u201cI am Joseph: Doth my father yet live?\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nfirst shock is almost stunning: they can not answer him, for they are\ntroubled at his presence. More kind words and the kindest possible\nmanner are now in place. \u201cJoseph said to his brethren, Come near to\nme, I pray you; and they came near.\u201d Again he says\u2015\u2015\u201cI am Joseph, _your\nbrother_, whom ye sold into Egypt.\u201d Then with a turn which evinces the\nexquisite tenderness of his heart, he begs them \u201cnot to be grieved nor\nangry with themselves;\u201d but to think rather of the design of God in\npermitting and providentially shaping this wonderful series of events.\n\u201cGod did send me before you to preserve life. There are five more\nyears of famine yet to come; God sent me before you to preserve you a\nposterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.\nSo now it was not you that sent me hither, but God.\u201d The best thing\nhe could say under just those circumstances to soothe their mind, to\nassure them of his full forgiveness and to give them consolation in\nplace of the agitation, fear, and remorse that so nearly overwhelmed\ntheir spirits.\n\nArrangements for the future are soon made. Joseph assures them that the\nbest of Egypt\u2019s land shall be given them, and insists that they hasten\nhome and bring their aged father and their little ones\u2015\u2015every thing\nthey have\u2015\u2015down to Egypt, because five more years of famine are to\nfollow. Egyptian wagons\u2015\u2015unknown to Jacob\u2019s household\u2015\u2015are sent, and\nthe brethren are hastened off. Were they not a happy band? The great\nagony of fear is past; the surgings of anxiety and solicitude have\nceased; the pungent convictions of that dread crime long ago against\ntheir younger brother have done their work, and wrought out \u201cthe\npeaceable fruits of righteousness.\u201d This is a wonderful crisis in\ntheir life history. Let us hope that most if not all of them found God\nthrough these fiery trials and these penitent tears!\n\nThey are home again. The first thing is to break this strange secret\nto their father. They make just two points: \u201cJoseph yet alive;\u201d \u201cJoseph\nGovernor over all the land of Egypt.\u201d It was too much\u2015\u2015was too good\nto be believed. The English version has it, \u201cJacob\u2019s heart fainted.\u201d\nBetter\u2015\u2015\u201cJacob\u2019s heart _remained cold_, for he believed them not.\u201d It\nstirred no joyous and warm emotions, for he could not believe it. But\nwhen they told him all the words of Joseph, and especially when he saw\nthe wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, then his spirit rose;\nhis heart waxed warm; he said: \u201c_It is enough_; Joseph my son _is_ yet\nalive; I will go and see him before I die.\u201d\n\nBeersheba, the old home of his father Isaac, lay on his route. He\nstopped there and offered sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac.\nThe night following the Lord met him in vision, saying, \u201cI am thy God\nand the God of thy father; fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will\nthere make of thee a great nation: I will go down with thee into Egypt\nand will bring thee up again; and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine\neyes\u201d\u2015\u2015_i. e._ to close them in death.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015How tenderly appreciative\nof the circumstances and of Jacob\u2019s need was this vision of Beersheba!\nSuch are God\u2019s blessed ways with his children. He can not send them\ninto scenes of special danger or of critical interest, without some\nspecial manifestations of his presence.\n\nII. We are to notice _the hand of God_ in this history in its twofold\nbearings:\n\n1. As active in the sufferings and moral trial of the virtuous;\n\n2. As manifested in his overruling control of the wicked to bring forth\nfrom their wickedness abounding good.\n\n1. As active in the sufferings and moral trial of the virtuous.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nmost cursory reader of this story will see in it a striking case of\nthe sufferings of innocence. Joseph, envied and hated for no fault\nof his; coming near to being murdered by his own brothers, and really\nsold into slavery\u2015\u2015a slavery prospectively life-long and in a distant,\nunknown land; torn away from every thing dear in _home_, at the age\nof seventeen:\u2015\u2015this surely was innocence subjected to the sternest\nsuffering.\n\nHow do such things happen under the government of God? When they do\nhappen, _what do they prove_?\n\na. Negatively: They prove that all the suffering in this world _can not\nbe retribution for sin_. There may be great suffering which can not in\nany true sense be the punishment of great crime. The greatest sufferers\nare not necessarily and always the greatest sinners. Suffering is\nnot graduated to crime.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This lesson Job\u2019s three friends were slow\nto learn. Even Job himself seems not to have learned it thoroughly,\nbut was groping toward it, under the lessons of his own conscious\nexperience. It may not be amiss to suggest here that Job and his\nfriends reasoned _without the light_ which this history of Joseph would\nhave given them if they had ever heard or read it. They either lived\n_before Joseph_, or too remote from these scenes to hear or in any way\nlearn the lessons they teach.\n\nb. Positively this case illustrates some of the ends which God aims to\nsecure by permitting the sufferings of the good; _e. g._ to discipline\nthem to patience under suffering, and to trust in God in the midst of\ndarkness and in spite of it. Joseph\u2019s slavery and prison-life in Egypt\nwould have been simply miserable without this patience and this trust\nin the Lord his God. Suppose he had given himself up to fretting and\nchafing and dashing his head against the strong walls of his prison and\nto wrenching off the fetters with which they \u201churt his feet\u201d (Ps. 105:\n18);\u2015\u2015What could have come of such adjustment of one\u2019s self to dark\nprovidences? Certainly not the sweet and blessed discipline which he\ndid in fact get from his afflictions; certainly not the favor and the\nblessing of his God. Every thing in the future as before his eye was\ndark enough; but he knew there was a God of loving kindness above\u2015\u2015a\nGod who made no mistakes, yet whose purposes were often too deep for\nafflicted man to fathom, and therefore a God whom his children should\nlearn to trust as certainly doing _all things_ well.\n\nAgain; the case serves to reveal God\u2019s pity and his love in that\nhe _goes with_ his children into their slave-life and into their\nprison-life with such smiles of favor, such tokens of his presence,\nas may well make them joyful in the most terrible affliction. As Paul\nand Silas prayed and sang praises within the cold, desolate walls of\na prison while yet smarting under the Roman scourge, and with perhaps\nsome prospect of sufferings more severe when another day should dawn;\nso Joseph found the Lord with him when he reached Egypt a slave;\nwith him when cast into prison because he virtuously repelled a foul\ntemptation to crime. God was there, proving to his servant Joseph that\nno surroundings are so dark that God\u2019s manifested presence will not\nmake them light\u2015\u2015that no sufferings and no bereavements are so severe\nthat God can not throw his smile upon the sufferer and fill his soul\nwith overflowing joy!\n\nYet again; this lesson teaches that God uses means apparently rough\nand stern to prepare his servants for higher responsibilities and more\nsignal blessings. We can not say what Joseph would have been if he had\nremained in the bosom of his doting father\u2019s home through all those\nyears from seventeen to thirty, instead of being in God\u2019s school of\nsuffering and trial; but it is safe to say that he made rapid strides\nforward in this school of God\u2015\u2015in his knowledge of human nature; in his\nquick and manifest sympathy with every one in trouble; in his skill to\ngain the confidence of those about and above him; in his capacity for\nbusiness; and not least in his living piety and his humble walk with\nGod. His surroundings threw him roughly upon his own resources, and\nat the same time sweetly upon God\u2019s resources; and in consequence he\nrose, as few men have even been fit to rise, from slave-life and from\nprison-life, to be the actuary of a great kingdom\u2015\u2015the almoner of bread\nand of life to the nations of the then civilized world; and also to\nbecome one of the most exalted and spotless characters of all history.\nAre not the ways of God truly wonderful?\n\n * * * * *\n\n_The ways of God toward Jacob_ must not be overlooked. We need not\ndebate the question how far his sufferings were those of innocence,\nand how far he was criminally responsible for the lack of moral culture\nand the power of fearful depravity in his sons. Be this as it may, it\nwas hard for him to lose Joseph\u2015\u2015the one son who was a comfort to his\nheart among so many who were quite otherwise. Even after thirteen years\nhis heart seems still to be sore with that great sorrow, so that when\nhis ten sons say that Benjamin must go with them to Egypt, he exclaims,\n\u201cAll these things are against me\u201d! And when at length he is compelled\nto consent, his words indicate that he bows to an inexorable fate\nrather than yields in sweet trust to a divine hand believed to be\nwise and kind, though utterly and inexplicably mysterious;\u2015\u2015\u201cIf I am\nbereaved of my children, I am bereaved.\u201d\n\nJacob lived to see the clouds of darkness lifted and rolled away.\nHe lived to learn that all those things were _not against him_ by\nany means, but were in fact shaped of God to save his great household\nalive through a seven years\u2019 famine; and (what is far more than even\nthis)\u2015\u2015were designed of God for the salvation of those sons of his\nwhose wickedness had brought these sorrows upon him, and whom God\nhad faithfully taken in hand to bring them to repentance. Had he not\nlearned ere this that it was always safe to trust in his father\u2019s\nGod? Had not the Lord said to him, \u201cI will surely do thee good\u201d? As to\nbeing \u201cbereaved of his children,\u201d was not the covenant very definite:\n\u201cA nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall\ncome out of thy loins\u201d? (Gen. 35: 11).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This discipline of the aged\npatriarch was sharp but wholesome. He might have said, \u201cIn faithfulness\nhast thou afflicted me.\u201d The clouds of life\u2019s stormy day cleared before\nsunset. It would be pleasant to hear, if we might, the experiences of\nhis closing years when he came to understand God\u2019s ways and to reap the\nblessed fruits of such chastening sorrows.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThese methods and ends of God in the discipline and culture of his\npeople _reach onward into eternity_. The faithful here are the rulers\nthere (Mat. 25: 21). Those who take God\u2019s discipline kindly here and\nturn it to best account according to his thought and will, have their\nreward above. It is not needful that we know in their details what the\nheavenly responsibilities are, and what the dignities and the honors of\nthose who have been faithful over a few things here; but we are safe in\nthe belief that earthly discipline and culture are not lost attainments\nas to the after life.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As one short day transferred Joseph from the\nprison-house of the kingdom to the lordship of that kingdom, so one day\nis long enough for the transfer of many a humble, suffering saint of\nGod from dungeons of darkness and pain to palaces of royalty and bliss.\nIn the story of Joseph these great truths of God\u2019s administration\nwith his people were breaking forth upon the minds of men by most\ninteresting stages of progress.\n\n * * * * *\n\n2. From these lessons in God\u2019s ways with the righteous, we turn to\nother lessons pertaining to his _ways with the wicked_. This history\nof Joseph shows how skillfully and mightily God manages the wicked,\nmaking their wickedness work (wholly against _their_ purpose) to evolve\nabounding good.\n\nWe have seen how Joseph directed the thought of his brethren to these\nways and designs of God. \u201cBe not angry with yourselves that ye sold\nme hither; for God did send me before you to preserve life.\u201d \u201cSo now\nit was not ye that sent me hither, but God\u201d (Gen. 45: 5, 7, 8). And\nagain seventeen years later, after Jacob\u2019s death, his brethren being\napprehensive lest Joseph might then relapse into revenge, he said\nto them; \u201cFear not, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye\nthought evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass\nas it is this day, to save much people alive\u201d (Gen. 50: 19, 20). We\nshould quite under-estimate Joseph\u2019s knowledge of human nature and his\nsense of moral distinctions if we were to press his words to mean that\nGod\u2019s agencies in those crimes superseded theirs; lifted off their\nresponsibilities and left them essentially faultless.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The reason\nwhy Joseph\u2019s remarks took this turn seems to have been this. He saw\nthat conviction for sin had done its vital work in their souls; that\nthey were apparently penitent and leaning toward the most severe\nself-condemnation\u2015\u2015at a stage where it was both safe and kind to turn\ntheir attention to God\u2019s hand as evolving good from their sin. In so\nfar as we can have confidence in Joseph\u2019s judgment as to their moral\nstate, his words afford proof that his brethren were truly penitent,\nand at a stage where consolation might properly be suggested as some\nrelief to their mental anguish.\n\nThe use which God made of the sin of Joseph\u2019s brethren exemplifies his\nconsummate, far-reaching wisdom. He knew all the future. He saw the\ncoming famine; knew how to advance Joseph to the lordship of all Egypt,\nand to put him there just in time to garner up the surplus of seven\nyears of overflowing abundance, and then dispense these stores of corn\nfor the sustenance of thousands less provident throughout all Egypt and\nall adjacent countries. The resources of God\u2019s providence, guided by\nsuch wisdom, are simply boundless. What can he not do when he wills\nto do it?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The case is equally demonstrative of his _love_. Mark how\nhe bends the great powers of his infinite being to the production of\ngood, to multiply the means of happiness. This view of his character is\ndoubly, yea infinitely precious when studied in its developments in a\nworld, or rather a universe, _with sin in it_. If the Lord were obliged\nto say\u2015\u2015I must content myself with the co-operation of the good, the\nunfallen, turning their agency to best account for the promotion of\nhappiness; but as to the wicked, they are beyond my reach; I can do\nnothing with them; the evil they do must be endured as so much dead\nloss to the universe, never to be of any service toward virtue and\nhappiness\u2015\u2015the case would be, so far, one of unrelieved sadness. We may\nbless the name of our God that his resources of wisdom and power and\nthe outgoings of his love are not thus limited. No indeed; some good\nresults will be extorted from even those horrible crimes of Joseph\u2019s\nbrethren. Even the devil\u2019s wickedness in which he exults as availing\nto frustrate God\u2019s plans and to shake his throne, he will find at\nlength to his everlasting confusion and shame, has been made, by the\nover-mastering wisdom, power, and love of God, to subserve the very\ncause he thought to break down, and to break down every thing he had\nvainly hoped to build up! For is not God wiser and mightier than the\ndevil? The final result of the conflict will prove it.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But it is in\nplace here to note that this story of Joseph\u2019s brethren and of God\u2019s\nover-ruling hand in their case was shedding some rays of light on\nthese previously dark problems, and therefore was indicating progress\nin the revelations of God and of his ways with sinful men.\n\nNor let us overlook this one other point\u2015\u2015that the case evinces\nthe consummate skill of God in managing the free moral activities of\nmen without the least infringement upon their free agency and moral\nresponsibility. We see this in the way they went into their sin\u2015\u2015purely\nof their own free purpose\u2015\u2015after their own envious and proud heart,\nalthough God had purposes to answer by means of this very sin. We\nsee it still more, if possible, in the means he used to bring them\nto repentance; how he put his great hook into their jaws and brought\nthem down to Egypt; took the pride out of them; pressed them with one\ncalamity after another till they came to feel very weak before Almighty\nGod; aroused their long slumbering consciences and kept their thought\nupon that long past, almost forgotten crime against Joseph\u2015\u2015till at\nlength they seem to have become thoroughly penitent. Only by legitimate\nmeans and influences, and only by such a use of these as still left\ntheir moral activities under their own responsible control\u2015\u2015were these\ngrand results reached.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Thus we may take lessons in the masterly\nskill with which God\u2019s agencies interwork with man\u2019s, effective to the\nresult he proposes because God is more and mightier than man.\n\n * * * * *\n\nIII. Taking a broader range of view, we may next study the purposes of\nGod _in locating the birth of the Hebrew nation in the land of Egypt_.\n\nSince God\u2019s purposes never come to nought but are always accomplished\nperfectly, the ends he has in view being surely secured, it is safe\nto reason backward from known results to original purposes. It would\namount practically to the same thing if we were to ask\u2015\u2015What great\nresults were actually secured by locating his people in Egypt when and\nas he did; by shaping their history as he did, and by bringing them out\nat length with his high hand and outstretched arm?\n\n1. In answering these questions we may note that Egypt in that age\nstood at the summit of the world\u2019s civilization, a fully organized\nkingdom, a great and highly cultured people. There is most ample proof\nthat Egypt was then eminent above any other nation in learning, wisdom,\nscience, and art; in jurisprudence, and in the administration of law;\nin industry and in wealth; in short, in all the main appliances and\nresults of a high civilization. The antiquities of Ancient Egypt are\nthe marvel of our times. Her temples, pyramids, and obelisks; her\npaintings and works of art, have come down to our age in most wonderful\npreservation, living witnesses to her ancient greatness. There was\nno other kingdom on the face of the earth where a man like Moses\ncould have been educated and trained to become the law-giver of the\nHebrew nation, or where such a system of civil law as God gave his\npeople by the hand of Moses could have taken its rise and could have\nbeen understood, accepted, appreciated, and ultimately wrought into\nestablished usage and into the national life. We shall have occasion in\nits place to inquire how far the civil system given through Moses was\nborrowed from the Egyptian Code, and consequently how far the scenes\nof their Egyptian life prepared the way for the new national life\ninstituted in the wilderness.\n\n2. The plan of transferring his people from their nomadic, pastoral\nlife in Canaan, to a settled residence in Egypt provided scope for all\nthose developments which we have been studying in the history of Jacob,\nJoseph, and his brethren.\n\n3. Yet more and greater developments of God\u2019s mighty hand were provided\nfor in the deliverance of his people from their bondage in Egypt; in\nhis judgments on Pharaoh and his land; in the destruction of his hosts\nin the Red Sea; in the wilderness life of Israel during forty years;\nand at length in their location in the land of promise. All these\npoints will come under review in their order.\n\n * * * * *\n\nIV. _Some notice should be taken of ancient Egypt as affording\nconfirmation to the historic accuracy and truthfulness of Moses in\nGenesis._\n\n1. Moses assumes that Egypt had a king and a fully organized government.\nThe evidence of this from Egyptian history and antiquities is too\nabundant and accessible to need citation.\n\n2. Also that the people subsisted mainly by agriculture, not pasturage;\nthat their soil was exceedingly fertile and the country one of great\nwealth. The facts on these points also are beyond question. The Nile\nhas always made Egypt rich in soil and in agricultural productions.\nIts periodical inundations have sustained the fertility of that valley\nfor thousands of years. Alternations of years of plenty with years of\nfamine have been their common experience in all ages, though probably\nnever so extreme and protracted as in the age of Joseph.\n\n3. The history by Moses records the fact that in the early stages of\nthis great famine the lands passed over largely to the crown, but were\nleased to the farmers for a certain portion (one-fifth) of the crops\n(Gen. 47: 20\u201326).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Testimony from sources other than sacred proves\nthese points. Herodotus was told by the priests of Egypt that the king\ngave each Egyptian laborer a square piece of land of equal extent and\ncollected from each a yearly rent. Diodorus states that all the land of\nEgypt belonged either to the king, the priests, or the military caste.\nStrabo says that the farmers and tradesmen held their lands subject\nto rent. In the Egyptian sculptures as shown by Wilkinson, only kings,\npriests, and the military orders are represented as land-owners. [See\n\u201cHengstenberg and the Books of Moses,\u201d pp. 62\u201370.]\n\n4. The history by Moses makes an important exception in the case of\nthe priests. Being supported directly from the royal treasury, they\nwere not obliged to alienate their lands during the great famine\nand consequently continued to hold them (Gen. 47: 22). With this all\nprofane testimony concurs.\n\n5. This fact implies an organized priesthood as a favored and therefore\npowerful class in Egyptian society. Egyptian history confirms this and\nshows moreover that they were not merely priests, performing religious\nfunctions, but were the learned and scientific men of the nation; had\ncharge of education; held in their body the art and the \u201cwisdom\u201d of the\nnation and performed largely the administrative functions of government.\n\u201cThe thirty judges (says Drumann) priests of Heliopolis, Thebes, and\nMemphis, were maintained by the king, and without doubt, the sons of\nthe priests also, all of whom over twenty years of age were given to\nthe king as servants; or, more correctly, to take the oversight of\nhis affairs.\u201d \u201cThe ministers of the court were in Egypt the priests,\njust as the state was a Theocracy, and the king was considered as\nthe representative and incarnation of the Godhead.\u201d (Hengstenberg,\np. 68).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It was by virtue of this usage that Joseph married into\nthe class of the priesthood, Asenath his wife being a daughter of\nPotipherah priest of On (Gen. 41: 50).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The reader will perhaps\nrecall the striking analogy between the Egyptian system and the Hebrew\nTheocracy, particularly in the point that the ministers of religion\nwere also ministers of civil law and prominent in its administration.\nThe judges in the civil courts were taken chiefly from the tribe of\nLevi.\n\n6. Joseph\u2019s arraignment of his brethren\u2015\u2015\u201cYe are spies; to see\nthe nakedness of the land are ye come\u201d\u2015\u2015suggests an inquiry into\nthe relations of Egypt to foreign powers. The suspicions of Joseph\nobviously assume a consciousness of great liability to foreign invasion.\nSuch was the fact; and the reasons for it will readily appear. We\nhave only to think of the powerful tribes scattered over vast Arabia,\nthe Hittites and other tribes of Canaan and of the regions North and\nEast\u2015\u2015all stalwart men, all poor and subsisting on precarious supplies,\nyet possessed of fleet animals\u2015\u2015horses, dromedaries, camels\u2015\u2015with which\nthey were able to move masses of men with great celerity. Let such men\nsee the tempting bait of corn in plenty in Egypt, and the marvel is\nhow Egypt could protect herself against sudden and formidable invasion.\nThe monuments of her early history testify to her long and bloody wars\nwith the Hittites and other tribes of Western Asia, often carrying the\nwar into their country as a wiser policy no doubt than to stand behind\nher own walls on the defensive. Suffice it to say here that when those\nAsiatic countries were famishing for bread and it was well known there\nwas corn enough in Egypt, the suspicion expressed by Joseph that those\nten men were spies was not only natural but perhaps even a necessary\nmeasure of policy to satisfy the Egyptians. _They_ must naturally\napprehend danger though _he_ might personally know that these men were\nharmless.\n\n7. Sacred history drops this incidental remark\u2015\u2015\u201cFor every shepherd\nis an abomination to the Egyptians\u201d (Gen. 46: 34). To some extent\nthis feeling was a natural outgrowth of their relations to the nomadic\ntribes of South-western Asia\u2015\u2015to which we have recently referred. But\nthere is some reason to suppose among them a certain special antipathy\nagainst the sheep, more intense than against any other domestic animal\nunless swine be an exception. They had so much respect for the cow\nthat they made her and her species objects of worship. Although they\nattained great skill in the manufacture of linen, cotton, and silk,\nI meet with no allusion to wool. Woolen cloths are never found upon\nEgyptian mummies; linen and cotton were used.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Some writers have\nsupposed that shepherds were held in special abhorrence because their\ncountry had been conquered and ruled by a dynasty of shepherd kings\nfrom the North-east; but the precise date of their invasion and of\ntheir rule over Egypt is very much in doubt.\n\n8. Both Joseph and his father were embalmed after death (Gen. 50: 2,\n3, 26)\u2015\u2015a service performed by the physicians. The antiquities of Egypt\nfurnish most conclusive testimony to their skill in this art\u2015\u2015a skill\nfar surpassing that of any other people known to history. Great numbers\nof those embalmed bodies (\u201cmummies\u201d) have been found in Egyptian tombs\nwithin the present century, in perfect preservation. On this point the\ncoincidences between sacred and profane history are striking.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\npractice was very ancient, some mummies bearing the date of the oldest\nkings. It was performed by a special class of physicians. In harmony\nwith Moses, Herodotus and Diodorus state that the embalming process\noccupied forty days; the entire period of mourning seventy. Classic\nauthorities give accounts similar to those in Gen. 50 of great mourning\nfor the dead. The monuments contain representations to the same\neffect. Funeral trains, processions, of such sort as Gen. 50 records,\nare represented abundantly in the oldest tombs at Elithias, also\nat Sagguarah, at Gizeh, and at Thebes. (Hengstenberg\u2019s Egypt and\nMoses, pp. 70\u201378).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015A coincidence so minute as this is noticed; that\nmourners forbore to shave their hair or beard; but none might appear\n\u2666before the king unshorn. Consequently we observe that in the mourning\nscene of Gen. 50, Joseph does not come before the king in person but\n\u201cspake unto the house of Pharaoh\u201d requesting them to speak in his\nbehalf to the king (Gen. 50: 4\u20136).\n\nQuite in contrast with the usual oriental custom, women were exempt\nfrom seclusion and moved in society with apparently entire freedom.\nThis appears in the family of Potiphar. The ancient sculptures and\npaintings found in their tombs give a very full view of the domestic\nlife of the ancient Egyptians, no point of which is more striking than\nthe high social position of woman and the entire absence of the harem\nsystem of seclusion. \u201cThe wife is called the lady of the house.\u201d (See\nSmith\u2019s Bible Dictionary, p. 677). According to the monuments the women\nin Egypt lived under far less restraint than in the East, or even in\nGreece. Wilkinson\u2019s Egypt is full of testimony to this point (Vol. II.,\np. 389). Hengstenberg\u2019s Moses, p. 24.\n\nSad to say there is abundant evidence from profane sources of a very\nlax morality among married women\u2015\u2015of which the history of Joseph in\nPotiphar\u2019s house is an illustration. Herodotus gives a fact in point:\n\u201cThe wife of one of the earliest kings was untrue to him. It was a long\ntime before a woman could be found who was faithful to her husband.\nWhen at last one was found, the king took her without hesitation for\nhis wife.\u201d\n\nYet other points might be adduced of coincidence between the sacred and\nthe profane records of Egypt as the former appear in Moses. The above\nmay be taken as specimens. Most amply do they testify that the author\nof Genesis was entirely familiar with Egyptian life and manners. The\nsharpest and most unfriendly criticism has hitherto detected no point\nof discrepancy between these respective records\u2015\u2015no point in which it\ncan be made to appear that Moses wrote without well understanding the\nEgyptian life of which he speaks.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The corresponding coincidences in\nExodus will be suggested in their place.\n\n * * * * *\n\nSome special passages occurring in these latter chapters of Genesis\nshould receive attention.\n\n\n _Jacob going down into Sheol to his son Joseph._\n\nIn Gen. 37: 35 Jacob, supposing Joseph to be dead, says\u2015\u2015\u201cI will go\ndown into the grave (Sheol) to my son mourning.\u201d The reader of the\nHebrew text of Genesis has not met with this word before, and may\nreasonably expect to see its meaning discussed here.\n\nIn the outset it should be observed that these words can not\npossibly mean\u2015\u2015My dead body shall go down into the grave proper, the\nsepulcher\u2015\u2015there to lie by the side of Joseph\u2019s dead body. He could not\nhave meant this because the place of Joseph\u2019s supposed dead body was\nentirely unknown to him. He had seen his bloody coat and inferred that\nJoseph was no doubt torn in pieces; _where_, he knew not; and whether\ndevoured by flesh-eating animals he could not know. We must therefore\nreject this construction of his words.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Plainly the Joseph he thought\nof was the undying soul. He expected at his own death to meet Joseph in\nthat state or place which the Hebrews indicated by the word \u201cSheol.\u201d\n\nWhat is the primary significance of this word? What were the views\nof the ancient Hebrews in regard to its location and the state of its\noccupants?\n\nThe noun \u201cSheol\u201d is made from the verb Shaal[25] having the sense,\nto ask, to demand; and conceives of the place as evermore demanding,\ninsatiable; that which is never full; never has enough. The current\nHebrew conceptions of the word may be seen in Prov. 30: 15, 16, and Isa.\n5: 14, and Hab. 2: 5. \u201cThere are three things that are never satisfied;\nyea four say not, It is enough: the grave\u201d [Sheol], etc.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u201cTherefore\nhell [Sheol] hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure;\nand their glory, and their multitude and their pomp, and he that\nrejoiceth shall descend into it.\u201d \u201cWho enlargeth his desire as hell\u201d\n[Sheol] \u201cand is as Death, and can not be satisfied,\u201d etc.\n\nAs to the location of Sheol it seems clear that they thought of it as\nan _under-world_, as somehow beneath the surface of the earth. We see\nthis in the case of Korah and his company (Num. 16: 28\u201334), of whom\nMoses said:\u2015\u2015\u201cIf the earth open her mouth and swallow them up with\nall that appertain to them, and they _go down_ alive into Sheol [Eng.\n\u2018the pit\u2019], then shall ye understand that these men have provoked the\nLord\u201d ... \u201cAs he had made an end of speaking these words, the ground\nclave asunder that was under them and the earth opened her mouth and\nswallowed them up,\u201d etc.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015We find the same view in Deut. 32: 22. \u201cFor\na fire is kindled in mine anger and shall burn unto the lowest hell\n[Sheol], and shall consume the earth with her increase and set on fire\nthe foundations of the mountains.\u201d\n\nIn regard to their conceptions of Sheol as a state of being for the\nrighteous and the wicked dead, it is easy to see that holy men of\nthe oldest time lacked the clear light of the gospel age. Then it had\nnot yet been said\u2015\u2015\u201cIn my father\u2019s house are many mansions\u201d; \u201cI go\nto prepare a place for you, and I will come again and receive you to\nmyself that where I am, there ye may be also\u201d (Jno. 14: 2, 3). They\nhad not heard these words of Jesus\u2015\u2015\u201cThis day shalt thou be with me\nin paradise\u201d (Luke 23: 43); those of Paul: \u201cHaving a desire to depart\nand to be with Christ which is far better\u201d (Phil. 1: 23).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But\nthe patriarchs did expect to \u201cbe gathered to their people\u201d\u2015\u2015the good\nmen who had gone on before. This is said of Abraham (Gen. 25: 8); of\nIshmael (25: 17); of Isaac (35: 29); and of Jacob (49: 29, 33). David\nsaid of his deceased infant child: \u201cI shall go to him, but he shall not\nreturn to me.\u201d Job said of that little known world\u2015\u2015\u201cThere the wicked\ncease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest\u201d (Job 3: 17),\nand yet he sometimes thought of it as intensely dark, for gospel light\nhad not then fallen upon it:\u2015\u2015\u201cBefore I go whence I shall not return,\neven to a land of darkness and the shadow of death; a land of darkness\nas darkness itself; and of the shadow of death without any order, and\nwhere the light is as darkness\u201d (Job 10: 21, 22). Conceptions of this\nstate as well illustrating the fall and doom of wicked kings and\nkingdoms, tinged, it would seem, with the spirit of poetry, may be\nseen in Isaiah 14, and Ezek. 31: 15\u201318.\n\nHow far these notions as to the locality of Sheol are to be ascribed\nto direct inspiration, and how far to a merely human speculation,\nfollowing the leading thought that the body _goes down_ and back to\ndust at death, it seems by no means easy to determine positively. We\nmay be allowed to doubt whether the Lord intended to reveal definitely\nthe _location_ of human souls after death. It was a point of the\nleast conceivable importance; and moreover our knowledge of celestial\ngeography may be yet quite too limited to admit of any intelligible\nrevelation on this point.\n\n * * * * *\n\n_Jacob\u2019s benedictions upon his sons_ on his death-bed\u2015\u2015more or less\nprophetic\u2015\u2015present some points that call for special notice. Remarkably\nthey seem in most if not in all cases to start from the then existing\npresent, and to build their allusions to the future upon it. We see it\nin the case of Reuben\u2015\u2015noted for his outrage of his father\u2019s nuptial\nbed; of Simeon and Levi, whose history suggested their cruelty toward\nthe men of Shechem; of Judah, whose name bore the thought of _praise_\nand whose record in the case of Joseph put him at once in the front\namong his brethren; of Joseph, whose relations to his father and indeed\nto all the family had been surpassingly precious. The special address\nof Jacob to each of these was closely linked to their past history.\nThe prophetic feature in all these cases seems to have been suggested\nby these salient points of their history. Reuben as the first-born\nmight have kept his supremacy\u2015\u2015if he had been worthy of it\u2015\u2015but he\nwas not. Simeon never rose to any distinction, and scarcely held any\nwell-defined territory in Canaan. Levi came into prominence as the\nancestor of Aaron and of Moses, and redeemed himself also by the\nreligious zeal and energy of Phineas in a great emergency during the\nwilderness life (Num. 26: 6\u201313). The tribe were scattered in Israel,\nyet not in the bad sense. Judah and Joseph had each a future more\nresplendent and distinguished than any other of the twelve\u2015\u2015their\nprominence in Jacob\u2019s benediction being fully carried out through the\nhistory of their nation.\n\nSome special passages and phrases should be briefly explained.\n\nIn v. 4, the phrase, \u201cUnstable as water,\u201d does not compare water to the\nsolid earth or to more solid rock as treacherous to the foot and unsafe\nto stand on; but rather as bubbling, effervescing under heat or applied\nforce\u2015\u2015as therefore a fit image of ungoverned passion; of wantonness,\nimpatient of restraint. Reuben had no moral stamina, and therefore\ncould not hold his natural place of headship as the first-born\u2015\u2015a\nmoral lesson worthy of thoughtful consideration. A young man given to\nlicentious indulgence can have no solid bottom to his character. The\nsagacious will never trust him.\n\nv. 5. \u201cSimeon and Levi are brethren\u201d\u2015\u2015of kindred spirit; \u201cinstruments\nof cruelty are in their habitation\u201d; better, instruments of cruelty\ntheir swords are. Most solemnly does the dying patriarch disavow\nall sympathy with their cruelty!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The phrase\u2015\u2015\u201cMine honor\u201d in the\nsense of myself\u2015\u2015my nobler powers\u2015\u2015is specially significant here, for\ntheir spirit was dishonorable, treacherous, basely cruel. Jacob had\na sense of honor which utterly forbade all sympathy with them in this\nthing.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In the last clause of v. 6, the English margin gives the\nsense of the Hebrew: \u201cThey houghed oxen.\u201d They slew not one man only\nbut man as a species; and cut the hamstrings of their cattle.\n\n * * * * *\n\n_The benediction upon Judah_ (v. 10) stands unrivaled in importance\nand is not without difficulty. The main question is whether the\nword \u201cShiloh\u201d signifies the Messiah, in the special sense of the\nPeace-giving One; or refers to the city of that name in Canaan. If it\nrefers to the Messiah, the sense, the application and the fulfillment\nof the passage are facile and truly rich\u2015\u2015thus: Judah shall head the\ntribes and give them kings until the Great Messiah shall come: then\nall the nations (Gentile and Jew) shall obey him\u2015\u2015obedience rather than\n\u201cgathering\u201d being the best established sense of the word. It occurs\nelsewhere only in Prov. 30: 17.\n\nNo facts of Jewish history are better known than these\u2015\u2015that Judah\nled the march through the wilderness, and that from David to Christ the\nscepter was in Judah\u2015\u2015until the Messiah came, when it dropped from his\nhand. \u201cWe have a law,\u201d (said the Jewish Sanhedrim in the age of Christ)\n\u201cand by our law he ought to die\u201d\u2015\u2015_i. e._ for blasphemy. But under\ntheir law, capital punishment was by stoning (Lev. 24: 15, 16, and\nMat. 26: 65, 66, and Jno. 19: 7). Having lost the power of life and\ndeath over criminals, they were compelled to take the case to the Roman\nauthorities. _Their_ mode of capital punishment was crucifixion. Thus\nthe \u201ccross\u201d stands through all the ages to prove that the scepter had\ndeparted from Judah and that the Messiah had come.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But he came not\nonly to die but to reign, and the nations of the wide earth are to bow\nto his scepter.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Such is the construction of this passage, provided\nthe term \u201cShiloh\u201d refers to the Messiah.\n\nThat it does refer to him may be argued on two grounds:\n\n(a.) This construction is facile, natural, and supported by analogous\nprophecies;\n\n(b.) The other which makes Shiloh the name of a town in Canaan, labors\nunder serious, not to say insurmountable difficulties.\n\n(a.) \u201cShiloh\u201d is derived readily from the verb Shalah,[26] kindred\nwith Shalam, both words being in frequent use in the sense of being\nat peace and in rest; expressing good wishes for peace\u2015\u2015_i. e._ for\nall prosperity\u2015\u2015the noun from which might naturally mean the author of\npeace, as we see in Mic. 5: 4. Furthermore, this distinctive feature of\nthe Messiah\u2019s character and mission is the theme of Ps. 72 and of many\npassages in Isaiah, _e. g._ 9: 6, 7, and 11: 1\u201310, and 60: 18\u201322. These\nprophecies naturally follow the lead of this and therefore sustain the\nconstruction here given it.\n\nMoreover, it is natural and highly probable that Jacob whose twelve\nsons were to found the twelve tribes of Israel and who knew that the\nMessiah was to come in the line of _some one_ of his sons, should\nindicate which. Noah had designated Shem: God had designated Abraham,\nIsaac, and Jacob; now the choice is naturally made out of these twelve.\nThat the long promised Seed was in Jacob\u2019s thought is forcibly and\nbeautifully suggested in the midst of these dying benedictions by\nthe words\u2015\u2015\u201cI have waited for thy salvation, O Lord\u201d (49: 18). In the\nsustaining hope of a coming Savior he had waited and trusted through\nmany long years; for these words express the precious experiences of\na life. As Jesus himself testified of Abraham, \u201cHe rejoiced to see my\nday,\u201d hailing it joyously from afar, so Jacob witnesses of himself,\n\u201cI have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.\u201d\n\n(b.) Those who give \u201cShiloh\u201d here the geographical sense argue that\nin every other case of its use in scripture, it refers to the town of\nthat name. This name for a town appears first in Josh. 18: 1, 8, 10,\nand often subsequently in Judges, 1 Sam., etc. But there is no evidence\nthat in Jacob\u2019s day it had come into use in geography. This usage, so\nfar as appears, was long subsequent. Nothing forbids, therefore, that\nJacob should use it simply for its significance\u2015\u2015the Peace-giving One.\n\nAgain, the most marked supremacy of Judah began _after_ the nation had\nreached Shiloh. It is therefore bad history and very inept prophecy\nto represent Judah as holding the scepter _until_ the nation came\nto Shiloh; the fact being that he had not held it in the full sense\npreviously to reaching Shiloh, but did hold it for many centuries\nafter Shiloh had lost its pre-eminence as the religious capital. I see\ntherefore no good ground for setting aside the Messianic interpretation\nof this passage. The argument in its defense is ably and fully drawn\nout by Keil in his Commentary, and yet more fully by Hengstenberg in\nhis Christology, vol. 1. pp. 50\u201363.\n\n\n _The less readable portions of Genesis._\n\nWe have passed several portions of Genesis with little or no notice;\n_e. g._ the genealogical tables, and some of the less important\nsketches of family and tribal history; _e. g._ that of Abraham\u2019s sons\nby Keturah; of Ishmael, Esau, Laban, etc.\n\nOf these less readable passages, let it be noted:\n\n1. They are such as never could find place in a tale of fiction,\ngotten up in some later age to interest and amuse the reader. The\nfact that nobody finds interest and amusement in reading them now\nproves conclusively that no writer of fiction could possibly have\nconcocted such chapters from his own fancy and have foisted them into\na professedly ancient history. The men who forge books of fiction to\npass them off as truthful history are careful not to put in unreadable\nchapters\u2015\u2015void of rational or even imaginative interest to the men of\nafter ages.\n\n2. Consequently these passages are incontrovertible proof of the\ngenuineness and real antiquity of these writings. In their time they\nhad interest\u2015\u2015just that interest which attaches to sober truth: none\nmore or other than this.\n\n3. The Scriptures were written with special adaptation to their\nfirst readers, and must include therefore those matters which had\nreal value and interest _to them_, whether they would continue to have\ninterest and value many thousand years onward or not. This fact, often\noverlooked, has many important bearings.\n\n4. By far the greater portion of these historic books has a permanent\ninterest and value to us and will have to their readers through all\nfuture ages. We see in these ancient books not only the earliest\ndevelopments of human nature in the primitive society of the race, but\nalso the earliest manifestations of God to men, and can trace their\nprogressive unfoldings step by step, age after age by new methods and\nwith clearer light as we move on toward the great era when God became\nmanifest in human flesh.\n\n5. It may well reconcile us to the annoyance (if such it be) of\nsome unreadable portions that precisely these above all others afford\nus the strongest evidence of the genuineness and high antiquity of\nthese entire books. They constitute an internal mark of antiquity\nand genuineness which by the laws of human nature never could be\ncounterfeited. The man who should attempt to counterfeit such proofs\nthat his fiction is true history would not prove himself very sharp\nsave in the skill of spoiling his book and frustrating the only\nconceivable object of a fiction\u2015\u2015for the sake of what?\n\nWe lay down Genesis, profoundly impressed that this oldest volume of\nhuman history is unsurpassed in simplicity and beauty, and wonderfully\nrich in its revelations both of man and of his Maker.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XII.\n\n EXODUS.\n\n\nTHIS second book of the Pentateuch takes its modern name from its\nprincipal event, the exodus of the Hebrew people\u2015\u2015their marching forth\nout of their house of bondage from the land of their oppression, to be\nreplanted under God\u2019s gracious providence in the goodly land promised\nto their fathers.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This one main event as recorded in this book\nincludes many subordinate points, _e. g._\n\nI. The _oppressions_ of the Hebrews by the Egyptians.\n\nII. _Moses_, who became in the hand of God their great Deliverer; his\nhistory; his early training and his call from the Lord to this great\nwork.\n\nIII. _The great mission of Moses to Egypt\u2019s king_; his reception;\nthe ten successive plagues\u2015\u2015miraculous judgments from the hand of God;\nthe case of the magicians; the hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart, and the\nultimate result.\n\n\n I. _The Oppression._\n\nThe narrative shows that this oppression consisted in part in the\nexacting of terribly severe labors, especially in building, including\nthe making of brick, the preparation of mortar, the transportation of\nthese materials, and the erection of buildings. The ancient monuments\nof Egypt confirm the statements of sacred history, showing that the\nEgyptians employed national bondmen in the construction of their vast\nnational works; that they placed over them task-masters; that when the\nworkmen fell short of the required tale of brick, their masters put\nthem to more severe labors, and in some cases to labors of other sort.\nIt has been supposed by some that the ancient paintings represented\nsome of these laborers with the well-known physiognomy of the Hebrews.\n\nIt should be noted that this bondage differed from the slavery of\nmodern times in this one respect\u2015\u2015that the bondmen were held by the\nking and the nation in their national capacity and not by individuals.\nThe Hebrews were not held as private but as public property. The king\nand the nation as such bore therefore the responsibility and guilt of\nthis oppression, and God let his judgments smite them for the most part\nin such a way as to indicate their sin.\n\nA second feature in this oppression was the king\u2019s cruel edict to\nmurder the male infants. This was first enjoined upon the Hebrew\nmidwives. Fearing God more than Egypt\u2019s king, they evaded obedience;\nwhereupon the king commanded all his people to cast the male infants\ninto the river.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The reason assigned for both these measures was\n_public policy_, to prevent the rapid increase of Hebrew population\nwhich the king assumed might be dangerous to his throne and people\nin case of a foreign invasion. Such a policy is at once short-sighted\nand wicked; short-sighted, since kind treatment would have made this\nrapidly growing people their fast friends and helpers; wicked, because\nit violates common morality, insulting God, and provoking his wrath\nby outraging all the obligations which he imposes on men toward their\nfellows. Egypt\u2019s king and court presently found themselves arrayed\nagainst Almighty God and saw him take up the challenge in a fearful\nconflict for mastery. We shall see in the final issue that the Lord\nimproved this occasion to illustrate some of the noblest principles\nof his government over nations and indeed over individuals as well,\nshowing that he abhors oppression; takes the side of the oppressed;\nhurls his fiercest thunderbolts against giant oppressors in every age;\nand every-where holds men to the responsibility of using their power\nto befriend and not to oppress their human brethren.\n\nThis oppression began with \u201ca new king over Egypt who knew not Joseph.\u201d\nIt is generally held that these words indicate a new dynasty\u2015\u2015one\nroyal line superseded by another, perhaps a foreign power coming in\nto supplant the former dynasty. The points of historic contact between\nEgyptian and Hebrew chronology may at some future day be adjusted with\nreasonable certainty. They are not yet. The subject is undergoing a\nsomewhat thorough investigation with some prospect of ultimate success.\nAt present I am not prepared to express positive opinions.\n\nTwo of the disputed periods in Hebrew chronology are necessarily\ninvolved;\n\n(a.) The period of the Judges, which as shown above some reduce to 339\nyears; others extend to 450;\n\n(b.) The period of the sojourn in Egypt, made by some 215 years; by\nothers, 430. Some of the theories which attempt to locate this new king\nof Egypt in his relation to Hebrew history place the Exodus about B. C.\n1600; others B. C. 1491. Some put the commencement of the sojourn in\nEgypt B. C. 2030; others B. C. 1706; yet others B. C. 1815. I have\ngiven my reasons for adopting the longer periods. It is possible that\nEgyptian authorities may yet throw a strong influence upon the decision\nof these much disputed points of Hebrew chronology.\n\nThe narrative shows that the Hebrews had become numerically strong\nand were rapidly growing stronger. Joseph had been dead probably a\nconsiderable time and all the men of his generation. Being 39 years old\nwhen his father came into Egypt and dying at the age of 110, he lived\nto protect his people 71 years. Moses was 80 years old when he came\nbefore Pharaoh, bearing the command of the Almighty\u2015\u2015\u201cLet my people\ngo.\u201d It is probable that the terrible edict to destroy all the male\ninfants did not long precede the birth of Moses. The interval between\nthe death of Joseph and the birth of Moses will depend on the duration\nof the entire sojourn in Egypt, since from this entire sojourn we must\nsubtract the years of Joseph\u2019s life after the sojourn began and the\nyears of Moses before it closed, _i. e._ 71 + 80 = 151. This sum must\nbe subtracted either from 215, leaving 64; or from 430, leaving 279.\nThe latter I assume to be the true period. It provides abundantly for\nthe great increase of the Hebrew people, and accounts for the fear felt\nby Egypt\u2019s \u201cnew king.\u201d\n\n\n II. MOSES.\n\nWe shall study the history of Moses without _the key_ if we overlook\nthe point made by the writer to the Hebrews (11: 23): \u201c_By faith_ Moses\nwhen he was born was hid three months because they saw that he was\na proper child, and they were not afraid of the king\u2019s commandment.\u201d\nFaith in God made them fearless of Egypt\u2019s cruel king. It would seem\nalso that they saw in the peculiar beauty of this child a sort of\nprophecy of his future, something at least which raised expectation\nand put them upon special ventures to save his life. Three months they\nsecreted him within their home. When this expedient could suffice no\nlonger, they prepared an ark of bulrushes\u2015\u2015a little box, water-tight,\nconstructed to float\u2015\u2015and moored it with its treasure among the flags\non the river\u2019s bank. We may suppose that his mother knew the spot where\nthe king\u2019s daughter was wont to take her baths, and that her faith and\nprayer lay back of this venture to throw her darling infant upon the\ncompassion of a stranger woman\u2019s heart. It need not be supposed that\nshe foresaw his future adoption into the royal family, his training\nfor forty years in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and his consequent\nqualification to become the great Hebrew Lawgiver and Deliverer.\nSuffice it that these results lay in the thought of God. She had faith\nenough to commit her darling to God\u2019s care and to leave all the future\nunknown results to his adjustment.\n\nThe ways of God were mercifully kind toward this Hebrew mother. She\nstationed his elder sister as a sentinel to watch the issue, and then\n(let us presume) gave herself to prayer. When this elder sister with\npalpitating heart saw the daughter of Pharaoh take the beautiful child\nto her bosom, she felt that her time had come. Modestly advancing, she\nsaid, \u201cShall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women that\nshe may nurse the child for thee\u201d? Pharaoh\u2019s daughter said, Go. How\njoyfully did she go and call the child\u2019s own mother! God\u2019s finger was\nthere. The mother\u2019s faith has come up as sweet incense before Him and\nher heart is made glad, as only a praying mother\u2019s can be. There was\nno occasion to tell us that she consecrated this child to Israel\u2019s God\nfor any service he might have for him in his after life. Such a mother,\ndrawn by her sweet faith into such relationship to God, could do\nnothing less. Moreover, this was no barren consecration\u2015\u2015was not a vow\nonce made and soon forgotten. Nothing can be more certain than that she\ncared diligently for the moral training and culture of this marvelously\nsaved son. Else how could it happen that \u201cwhen he was come to years,\nhe refused to be called the son of Pharaoh\u2019s daughter; choosing rather\nto suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures\nof sin for a season; esteeming reproach for Christ greater riches than\nall the treasures of Egypt, for he had respect to the recompense of the\nreward\u201d (Heb. 11: 24\u201326)? The seeds of this world-conquering faith must\nhave been dropped early into his tender mind. This hired Hebrew nurse,\npermitted to come into the royal palace by some back-way, was indulged\nthis privilege freely, we know not precisely how long; but let us\npresume that the same faith and prayer kept this door open, at least\nfor her occasional visits in his future years. How many testimonies of\nGod\u2019s love to the fathers of their nation she dropped into his youthful\near; how much she told him of God as \u201cthe exceeding great reward\u201d\nof his believing people; how well she put the contrast between \u201cthe\ntreasures of Egypt\u201d and the treasures laid up for God\u2019s then persecuted\npeople:\u2015\u2015these points are rather left to our inference than definitely\nstated; but we may be very sure that the faith of Moses took hold of\nthese grand truths of then extant revelation; fixed its hold early; and\nheld fast through all his future life.\n\nWe have three co-ordinate narratives of the early years of Moses: that\ngiven in Heb. 11: 24\u201327, very brief, and touching only its specially\nreligious side; while that of Stephen (Acts 7: 20\u201329) is full, even\nsomewhat more full than the narrative in Ex. 2: 10\u201315. Particularly\nStephen adds that Moses was \u201clearned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians\nand mighty in words and in deeds\u201d\u2015\u2015a man like Joseph of immense\nefficiency:\u2015\u2015also that he was \u201cfull forty years old\u201d when it came into\nhis heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel\u2015\u2015a statement\nwhich shows that he distinctly recognized this relationship of brethren.\nSeeing a brother Hebrew abused by an Egyptian he interposed, smote\nthe Egyptian dead, and buried him in the sand. Stephen\u2019s words suggest\nthat this was not merely one of those quick, spontaneous impulses\nfelt by noble souls in view of outrageous wrong, but was a first step\ntoward a contemplated career of interposed force for the rescue of\nhis people from their oppression. \u201cFor he supposed his brethren would\nhave understood how that God by his hand would deliver them; but they\nunderstood not\u201d (Acts 7: 25). The whole of the fact seems to be that\nthe Lord was not yet ready and had not fully prepared Moses for this\ngreat life-work of his yet, and certainly had not inaugurated him into\nit.[27]\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Interposing the next day in a quarrel between two of his own\nHebrew brethren, he learned that his slaying of the Egyptian was known,\nand immediately sought safety by flight to the land of Midian. The Lord\nhad more objects than one in turning his steps thither; not only his\nthen present safety, but the spiritual culture of so much solitude and\nof long-continued, unbroken communion with God and of long tried faith,\ncoupled with the incidental advantage of becoming perfectly familiar\nwith that great wilderness through which he was to lead the hosts of\nIsrael for forty years.\n\nScarcely had he penetrated this desert land in his flight when he\nmade the acquaintance of a priest of Midian [Jethro], and of his seven\nshepherdess daughters, one of whom became his wife. Like the somewhat\nsimilar experience of Abraham, falling in with the priest of Salem,\n\u2666Melchizedek, the circumstance suggests the inquiry how much of the\ntrue knowledge and worship of God existed in those early ages outside\nthe line of Abraham\u2019s family. The historical traces of such piety\nare certainly very few, yet they recur so incidentally that we are\njustified in the hope that these cases are not exhaustive; stood\nnot altogether alone. When we come to consider the history of Job we\nshall take occasion to observe, that his location is certainly in this\ngreat region of Arabia, and that his date must in all probability have\nsomewhat preceded this residence of Moses in the land of Midian. Here\nMoses may have found the story in a traditional form; may perhaps have\nseen Job\u2019s immediate descendants; may possibly have put the story in\nits present form as one of the pastimes of a literary shepherd\u2019s life;\nand then, retaining it in his possession during his subsequent years,\nmay have himself solved the problem\u2015\u2015How came this book in the archives\nof the Hebrew nation, on an equal footing as to inspired authority with\ntheir historical books?\n\n\n _The Great Mission of Moses._\n\nOf the second forty-year period in the life of Moses, little is\nreported save its first scenes and its last. Ex. 3 opens the latter.\nMoses is keeping the flock of his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.\nHe has \u201cled them to the back side of the desert\u201d\u2015\u2015_i. e._ to the\nwest side of it, for in designating the points of compass the Hebrews\nalways turned the face toward the east. The east is in front\u2015\u2015_before_;\nand of course the west is behind. Horeb and Sinai lay on the western\nmargin of the great Arabian desert.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Here \u201cthe angel of the Lord\nappeared to him\u201d (v. 2), called \u201cangel\u201d however only as one who\ncomes or is sent with divine manifestations; for in every subsequent\nmention he is called \u201cthe Lord\u201d and \u201cGod\u201d (vs. 4, 6, 7, 11, 13,\netc.)[28]\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Remarkably this visible manifestation was made by the\nsymbol of fire in a bush\u2015\u2015the bush all aflame yet not consumed. This\nstrange sight attracted the attention of Moses, and he turned aside\nto look into it more closely, when a voice from the bush called him\nby name; warned him not to approach in the spirit of mere curiosity,\nbut to take off his shoes because the place on which he stood was holy\nground. The mystery before Moses\u2019 mind is solved\u2015\u2015the Lord is there!\nHis purpose in this appearing is soon told. He has heard the cry of\ndistress from his oppressed people, has come down to deliver them and\nto bring them forth into Canaan. He has a mission for Moses in this\nwork. \u201cCome\u201d said he, \u201cI will send thee to Pharaoh.\u201d Moses knew the\npower and the pride of Pharaoh, and saw at a glance the difficulties\nof this enterprise. No wonder he shrank back saying\u2015\u2015\u201cWho am I that\nI should do this\u201d? God replied: \u201cI will certainly be with thee\u201d\u2015\u2015a\nsufficient answer to any amount of conscious weakness and faintness of\nheart. The Lord added\u2015\u2015\u201cThis shall be a token to thee that I have sent\nthee; when thou hast brought the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve\n[_i. e._ worship] God in this mountain.\u201d From that moment this token\nwas God\u2019s pledge to Moses of success in bringing the people forth from\nEgypt; and when it was fulfilled in the scenes of national worship and\nconsecration on Horeb, it became doubly a sign to all the people that\nthe Lord their God was in this great movement.\n\nMoses anticipates that the people will ask for the name of God, and he\ntherefore inquires\u2015\u2015What shall I answer them? To which the Lord replies:\n\u201c_I am that I am_\u201d; and then abbreviating the phrase, adds, \u201cThus shalt\nthou say to Israel, _I am_ hath sent me to you.\u201d What immediately\nfollows should be carefully noted. God said moreover to Moses (still\nreiterating the same thought though in other and more familiar terms):\n\u201cThus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: The Lord\u2015\u2015_i. e._\nJehovah, God of your fathers, hath sent me unto you; this is my name\nforever and this is my memorial through all generations.\u201d This v. 15\nis without doubt the key to the true sense of the names as previously\ngiven\u2015\u2015\u201c_I am that I am_,\u201d and in briefer form, \u201c_I am_.\u201d Their\ntrue meaning is in the name _Jehovah_. This name contemplates God\nas evermore existing, the same unchangeable God, and therefore ever\nfaithful to his promises. This view of God assumes that he reveals\nhimself personally as the God of his trustful people, entering into\ncovenant with them and never failing to remember and fulfill that\ncovenant.\n\nIn order to see the full force and pertinence of the passage, it should\nbe considered that by common Hebrew usage, the names of persons were\nsignificant. They were words with a meaning. This is true of all the\nnames by which the true God is made known. And when Moses suggests that\nthe people will ask for God\u2019s name, it is not implied that they had\nnever heard any name for God and did not know what to call him; but\nthis\u2015\u2015They would know what new or special feature of his character was\nto be manifested then. Their question was equivalent to asking\u2015\u2015What\ndoes God propose to do now? What new movement does he contemplate? What\nnew development of God may we expect?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015To the question so understood,\nthe Lord made a direct answer:\u2015\u2015I have come to reveal my eternal\nfaithfulness to my covenant with your fathers. I pledged myself to\nAbraham, Isaac and Jacob that I would bring their posterity into the\ngoodly land of Canaan: I have come down to fulfill that word and to put\ninto your national history an enduring testimony that my name is truly,\n\u201cI am that I am\u201d\u2015\u2015the immutable and eternal God, whose word of promise\nfaileth not forevermore.\n\nThe same course of thought appears again Ex. 6: 1\u20138\u2015\u2015a passage\nwhich should be studied in connection with this. \u201cGod said to Moses,\nI am the Jehovah. I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob\nby the name of God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah was I not known\nunto them\u201d\u2015\u2015the meaning of which is, not that the name Jehovah was\nnever used by them, or given of God to them; but that its special\nsignificance had not been manifested to them as he was then about to\nmake it manifest. His _power_ God had revealed\u2015\u2015his power to protect\nthem in their perils, his power to fulfill to Abraham the promise of\na son; but such a glorious testimony to his faithfulness in fulfilling\npromise as was then to be given, the patriarchs had never seen. The\nredemption of Israel from Egyptian bondage was destined to stand\nthrough all the ages of their history as the crowning manifestation\nof God\u2019s faithfulness\u2015\u2015the standard and unsurpassed testimony to the\nsignificance of his most honored name _Jehovah_. By this shall ye know\nthat I am Jehovah your God when I bring you out from under the burdens\nof the Egyptians and bring you into the land given by solemn oath to\nyour fathers and to their posterity for a heritage (vs. 7, 8).\n\n * * * * *\n\nIn entering upon this redemption of his people the Lord understood well\nthe difficulties to be overcome and fully comprehended the situation.\nIf Moses saw them at a glance, so did the Lord also. It was not\npossible that Moses could have a deeper sense or a juster view than\nGod had of Pharaoh\u2019s great pride, of his consciousness of power and\nstubbornness of purpose. The Lord expected a conflict; was ready for\nit; and by no means disposed to shun it. \u201cI am sure that the king of\nEgypt will not let you go; no, not by a mighty hand\u201d\u2015\u2015not even under\nfearful visitations of God\u2019s supernatural power. The precise sense of\nthis seems to be that Pharaoh would resist God\u2019s will _for a long time_\ndespite the inflictions of his mighty hand and would yield only in the\nlast extremity. In fact he never honestly yielded his will to God\u2019s\nwill, but only bent for the moment before the blast, to rally again\nwith more desperate madness after it had swept by. When at length he\nsaw that the people were really gone, his unsubdued will rose again\nin towering hardihood, to rush more madly than ever before against the\nuplifted arm of the Almighty and meet his doom in the bottom of the Red\nSea!\n\nThis chapter closes (vs. 21, 22) with directions to the children\nof Israel to _ask_ the Egyptians for gold, silver, and raiment.\nThe Lord promised to give them such favor with the people that they\nwould readily grant them what they asked. Our English version puts it\n\u201c_borrow_\u201d\u2015\u2015as if the Israelites at least tacitly promised to bring\nthese borrowed things back, or if nothing more, left the Egyptians to\nexpect this. But this English word \u201cborrow\u201d misrepresents the Hebrew\nand consequently the sense of the passage. The Hebrew verb used here\nnever has the sense of _borrow_, but means simply to _ask_. Indeed\nborrowing was out of the question because the Israelites were not\ncoming back again. It was never God\u2019s thought that they should come\nback. He had come down to deliver them from their bondage and to bring\nthem into Canaan. There is no reason to suppose that the Egyptians\nexpected them back again. They gave what Israel asked, therefore, not\nas a loan, but because the Lord brought them into such relations to\nIsrael that they were glad to get them out of the country any way, and\nperhaps hoped to avert more fearful plagues by these gifts to God\u2019s\npeople. The historian in this case says (Ex. 12: 33)\u2015\u2015\u201cThe Egyptians\nwere urgent upon the people that they might send them out of the\nland in haste; for they said\u2015\u2015We be all dead men\u201d; which the Psalmist\nconfirms (Ps. 105: 38)\u2015\u2015\u201cEgypt was glad when they departed, for the\nfear of them fell upon them.\u201d Manifestly the Lord counted it simple\njustice that Egypt should pay her slaves for long years of unrequited\ntoil, and not send them away empty. Therefore he took measures to make\nthe old masters but too glad to do this tardy justice.\n\n * * * * *\n\nA new instrumentality of most vital importance now came to view,\ndesigned to bring about the redemption of God\u2019s people from Egypt,\nviz. _supernatural agencies\u2015\u2015miracles_ in the legitimate sense of the\nword. Noticeably these miracles were two-fold in character and purpose;\none class designed to identify God to the people and be a witness to\nhis present hand, to confirm their faith in him as their Deliverer:\nthe other designed by terrible inflictions of calamity, to force upon\nPharaoh\u2019s hardened heart the conviction of Jehovah\u2019s power and compel\nhim to let God\u2019s people go. These two objects were to be accomplished;\nthe Hebrew people were to be assured that their own God had indeed come;\nPharaoh must be made to know who Jehovah is; how fearful the judgments\nof his uplifted hand are; and how vain it is for mortals, though on\nthrones of human power, to lift up themselves against the Almighty.\n\nIn the list of miraculous signs sent to convince the Hebrew people, we\nhave (Ex. 4: 1\u20138) the rod of Moses turned to a serpent and then turned\nback again to a rod; then his hand withdrawn from his bosom leprous,\nwhite as snow; then again withdrawn, perfectly restored.\n\nThe narrative gives the reader a strong sense of the reluctance of\nMoses to enter upon this new mission. Over and over again, in varying\nforms, he pleads his want of adaptation; that he is slow of speech,\nnot eloquent; that he sees no improvement in this regard since the Lord\nfirst spake to him; and finally he begs the Lord to send by any body\nelse he pleases, only (he implies) excuse me. Plainly he pushed this\nplea for excuse not merely to the verge of modest propriety but beyond\nit, for we read\u2015\u2015\u201cThe anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.\u201d\nYet he did so far regard the plea of Moses as to give him Aaron his\nelder brother to speak in his behalf. \u201cThou shalt speak to him and put\nwords into his mouth; he shall be thy spokesman to the people,\u201d and to\nPharaoh.\n\nThe way is now prepared for Moses and his family to return from\nMidian to Egypt. He took his wife and his two sons and proceeded on\nhis journey. The scenes of the first night at the inn are recorded in\nthese words: \u201cAnd it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD\nmet him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and\ncut off the foreskin of her son, and cast _it_ at his feet, and said,\nSurely a bloody husband _art_ thou to me. So he let him go: then she\nsaid, A bloody husband _thou art_, because of the circumcision.\u201d This\naccount is very brief, leaving various points unexplained. Probably\nthe facts were substantially these. Of their two sons, one had been\ncircumcised; the other had not\u2015\u2015the prescribed rite having been\ndisobeyed or at least neglected out of the deference of Moses to the\nopposition or reluctance of his wife. But as Moses is now about to\nassume the highest responsibilities between God and the Hebrew people,\nit is vital that his example in this respect should be spotless.\nThe Lord therefore called him suddenly to account in this manner,\nthreatening his very life. The cause is instantly understood; the wife\nof Moses yields and herself performs the rite, though perhaps not in\nthe most submissive and amiable spirit. After this transaction and the\ndevelopments attending it, we must suppose that Moses (prudently) sent\nback his wife and the two children to remain with her father until the\nredeemed Israelites should reach the home of Jethro. We hear no more of\nher and her children till the narrative in Ex. 18 brings them to view\nthus: \u201cWhen Jethro had heard all that the Lord had done for Moses and\nIsrael, he took Zipporah, Moses\u2019 wife, _after he had sent her back_,\nand her two sons and brought them to Moses\u201d etc.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Shortly after this\nscene at the inn, Aaron, sent of God for this purpose, meets Moses\nyet in the wilderness and is introduced to his responsibilities in\nthe issues then pending before Pharaoh and the people. Their first\nintroduction to Pharaoh and the reception he gave to their message\n(Ex. 5) revealed his character and gave pre-intimations of the conflict.\nThey put their case before him:\u2015\u2015\u201cThus saith the Lord God of Israel,\nLet my people go that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.\u201d\n\u201cAnd Pharaoh said\u2015\u2015Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to\nlet Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.\u201d Am\nnot I king over all Egypt? Do you tell me there is some higher king\nthan I and bid me obey his command? I know nothing of your Jehovah: I\nwill never submit to his authority! And as if to show how fearlessly\nhe could resist their summons he at once puts heavier tasks upon\nthe people, in proud defiance, daring the vengeance of their Great\nDefender! Verily the issues hasten to their crisis!\n\nThe suffering people are entirely disheartened and evince a painful\nlack of faith in the God of their fathers. When Moses rehearsed to\nthem the inspiring words recorded Ex. 6: 1\u20138, \u201cThey hearkened not\nunto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage.\u201d Ah, how frail\nis poor human nature! How weak is the faith of this long-oppressed\npeople! But God\u2019s compassions are a great deep and he does not frown\nseverely upon them, broken down though they were in their manhood and\nin their religious trust.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moses too seems to falter before this\nstern reception from Pharaoh and this disheartening attitude of Israel\n(6: 12); but the loving kindness of the Lord endures, despite of these\nsad imperfections in his servants. For the glory of his own name and\nnot for the worthiness or virtue of his people, he has entered upon\nthis redeeming work and he will carry it through.\n\nThe narrative pauses a moment more (Ex. 6: 16\u201327) to give us the\ngenealogy of Levi, for the obvious purpose of showing the place of\nMoses and of Aaron in this record; and then proceeds (Ex. 7 and onward)\nwith the impressive scenes of _the ten plagues on Pharaoh and on Egypt_.\n\n * * * * *\n\nA brief preliminary explanation of some of these plagues will be in\nplace, after which the following points will have special attention:\n\n1. That these ten plagues on Egypt were really supernatural, miraculous.\n\n2. That several of them were very specially adapted to Egypt.\n\n3. The case of the magicians.\n\n4. The divine purpose and policy in shaping the demand made upon\nPharaoh to let the people go.\n\n5. The hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart.\n\n6. The final result as shown in the last of the ten plagues.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe ten plagues in their historical order stand thus:\n\n1. Water turned to blood (Ex. 7: 14\u201325);\n\n2. Frogs (8: 1\u201315);\n\n3. Lice (8: 16\u201319);\n\n4. Flies (8: 20\u201332);\n\n5. Murrain upon cattle (9: 1\u20137);\n\n6. Boils (9: 8\u201312);\n\n7. Hail (9: 18\u201335);\n\n8. Locusts (10: 4\u201320);\n\n9. Darkness (10: 21\u201327);\n\n10. Death of all first-born (11: 4\u20138, and 12: 12, 29\u201333).\n\nReferences to these plagues by name may be seen in Ps. 78: 43\u201351, and\n105: 27\u201338.\n\nBy way of preliminary explanation it should be said\u2015\u2015that the turning\nof water into blood should not be toned down to a mere discoloration\nof the waters of Egypt\u2015\u2015a reddening of such sort as customarily attends\nthe annual rise of the Nile, only carried in the present case somewhat\nbeyond the ordinary degree. For, be it noticed, the record is that the\nwaters were _turned to blood_; that fish could no longer live in it but\ndied (were the fish deceived by the mere appearance, the color?); that\nthe river became offensive to the smell; its waters could not be drank;\n\u201cthere was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.\u201d If this language\ndoes not mean far more than a mere _discoloration_\u2015\u2015something totally\ndifferent from a visual deception; in short, if it does not mean\n\u201c_turned to blood_,\u201d then no language can be found to express it.\n\nIn the third plague, the Hebrew word for \u201clice\u201d[29] were better\nrendered _gnats_, yet an insect unknown to our country. Herodotus\n(B. C. 400) speaks of the great trouble which they cause and of the\nprecautions used against them. Hartmann testifies: \u201cAll travelers speak\nof these gnats as an ordinary plague of the country.\u201d[30] \u201cSo small as\nto be scarcely visible to the eye, their sting notwithstanding causes\na most painful irritation. They even creep into the eyes and nose, and\nafter harvest rise in great swarms from the inundated rice fields.\u201d\n(Keil.)\n\nIn the fourth plague, the word translated \u201cswarms of flies\u201d[31] does\nnot mean a mixed mass or swarm of various insects as our translators\nassumed, but \u201ca stinging, scorpion-like insect\u201d [Fuerst], \u201cso called\nfrom its sucking the blood\u201d [Gesenius]. Sonnini (in Hengstenberg\u2019s\nMoses, p. 117) says\u2015\u2015\u201cMen and animals are grievously tormented by them.\nIt is impossible to form an adequate conception of their fury when they\nwish to fix themselves upon any part of the body. If they are driven\naway they light again the same instant, and their pertinacity wearies\nthe most patient. They especially love to light in the corners of\nthe eyes or on the edge of the eyelids, sensitive parts to which they\nare attracted by a slight moisture.\u201d \u201cThey are much more numerous and\nannoying than the gnats; and when enraged, they fasten themselves upon\nthe human body, especially upon the edge of the eyelids and become a\ndreadful plague\u201d [Keil].\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Obviously the American house-fly gives us\nno adequate idea of this fourth plague on Egypt.\n\nOf the sixth plague, \u201cboils with blains,\u201d it need only be said that\nthey were inflamed ulcers breaking forth into pustules, intensely\npainful. The word for \u201cboils\u201d is the same which describes the plague\nbrought by Satan upon Job.\n\nThe seventh plague, _hail with lightning_, was not unknown in Egypt,\nyet was by no means common, and was specially rare in Upper Egypt\u2015\u2015more\nfrequent in Lower.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The other plagues will be readily understood.\n\n * * * * *\n\n1. It is now in place to show that these plagues were really\n_supernatural_\u2015\u2015miraculous inflictions from the hand of the Almighty.\n\n(1.) Note, they were wrought in response to Pharaoh\u2019s challenge to\nMoses and Aaron to \u201cshow a miracle for themselves\u201d (Ex. 7: 9). The\nLord accepted this challenge. Of course the achievements wrought can\nbe nothing less than miracles. Given on the side of the Lord honesty\nand power; then nothing less than miracles can follow.\n\nHis purpose in these terrible inflictions God announces to Pharaoh in\nthese words: \u201cBy this shalt thou know that I am the Lord\u201d (Ex. 7: 19\nand 9: 14). Events in the common course of nature do not suffice for\nthis purpose upon such a heart as Pharaoh\u2019s. The case demands real\nmiracles\u2015\u2015things done outside and apart from the ordinary laws of\nnature.\n\n(2.) The plagues came and went at the behest of Moses acting under\nGod; in some cases, at a definite time previously indicated. (9: 5,\n18, 29, 33 and 10: 4); while some were removed at a time which Pharaoh\nhimself for his more full satisfaction was allowed to fix (8: 9, 10).\nSo I construe the somewhat disputed words (v. 8); \u201cMoses said to\nPharaoh\u2015\u2015Glory over me: When shall I entreat for thee,\u201d etc. Moses\nwould say\u2015\u2015I yield to you the honor of fixing the time: say when; and\nI meet your time.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Some critics translate simply\u2015\u2015Explain; declare\nyourself (Gesenius); or utter plainly, definitely (Fuerst); but the\nusual sense of the verb, coupled with the preposition (\u201cover\u201d) which\nfollows, strongly favors the construction above given.\n\n(3.) Most of these plagues if not all discriminated sharply between the\nHebrews in Goshen, and the Egyptians elsewhere in Egypt\u2015\u2015_e. g._ flies\n(8: 22, 23) and murrain (9: 4\u20137), etc. This discrimination assumes\nthat the plagues followed no general law of nature, but were altogether\nspecial, _i. e._ were truly miraculous.\n\n(4.) They surpassed and even totally eclipsed the achievements of\nthe magicians; in fact, routed them utterly from the field and showed\nbefore all Egypt that the Almighty God was there!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The case of the\nmagicians will be considered more fully below.\n\n(5.) The conviction was forced upon Pharaoh and the confession extorted\nfrom his lips (utterly against his will), that God\u2019s hand wrought these\nachievements; that these calamities came at his command, and could be\nremoved by his power and not otherwise. Hence over and over he begs\nMoses to pray to his God for their removal. See this in the case of the\nfrogs (8: 8); of the flies (8: 28, 29); of the hail (9: 27\u201329); and the\nlocusts (10: 16\u201318). It is not easy to see how stronger testimony to\nthe reality of miracles can ever exist.\n\n(6.) That these plagues were real miracles, direct from the hand of God,\nit is unquestionably the intent of the whole narrative to set forth and\naffirm. So much, no candid reader of the account has ever questioned.\nSome may say, the narrator was himself deceived: none will deny that he\nsaw God\u2019s finger there and meant to make all his readers see it. None\ncan deny that according to his account even proud Pharaoh saw and felt\nthe very finger of God in them. In fact the narrative makes this its\n_main purpose_, viz. to show that these judgments were nothing less\nthan immediate visitations from the hand of the Almighty. Take out this\nelement and there is nothing left.\n\n(7.) Or thus: If there is any truth in history, the children of Israel\nwere for a long period bondmen in Egypt. Ultimately the day of their\ndeliverance broke and they came forth free. _How came this to pass?_\nWas it by forcible insurrection\u2015\u2015the uprising of slaves cutting their\nway out of bondage into freedom with brave hearts and strong arms\nof their own? Or was it achieved by diplomacy? Or did Pharaoh relax\nhis grasp and let the people go, under the impulses of humanity, or\nas a measure of political economy? All suppositions of this sort are\nnot only unhistorical but utterly chimerical. No solution of this\ngreat problem\u2015\u2015the redemption of Israel from bondage in Egypt\u2015\u2015can ever\nfind rational support save the one given in this record, viz. that the\nAlmighty wrenched them from the grasp of Egypt\u2019s proud and hardened\nking by a series of terrible judgments launched upon him and his people\nin quick and hot succession, until they were only too glad to hasten\nand drive the people out lest they should all be dead men. They were\nmade to feel that the battle was against Almighty God and that they\ncould not succumb too soon.\n\nThe events of this wonderful conflict and victory were stamped into the\nnational life of Israel; they reappear all along the course of future\nages, interwoven into the very warp and woof of her national history\nand into the moral forces which developed the nation\u2019s piety. It might\nas reasonably be maintained that there never was any Hebrew nation as\nthat God did not bring them forth out of Egypt with a high hand, first\nloosing Pharaoh\u2019s grasp by these ten plagues, and last, burying his\npursuing hosts and himself in the waters of the Red Sea.\n\nThe supernatural character of these plagues will stand out yet more\ndistinctly when we shall place them in contrast with the things done or\nattempted by the magicians.\n\n * * * * *\n\n2. _Several of these plagues were very specially adapted to Egypt._\n\nThis does not mean that they were at all less miraculous than any\nother supposable inflictions would have been; but only that they had\nmore or less special fitness to the ends God had in view and were made\nto touch the sensibilities of Egypt and her king in tender points.\nThus, the Nile was Egypt\u2019s pride and glory, indeed her very life, and\nnot improbably (as some maintain) was worshiped by the Egyptians as one\nof their gods. How terrible then to wake in the morning to find it one\nvast sea of blood!\u2015\u2015to have only blood for themselves and their cattle\nto drink; blood every-where for the eye to rest upon in place of the\nglory of the Nile! How terribly suggestive of their national sin\u2015\u2015of\nthe male infants of the Hebrews murdered there, and of the resources\nof Israel\u2019s God to punish the guilty!\n\nSo we must suppose that frogs were often inconveniently plenty in\nEgyptian waters. This visitation of such masses of them brought\nan evil by no means foreign to their experience. The miracle lay\nin their numbers and was none the less a miracle because there had\nbeen frogs there before. It must have been excessively annoying and\nhumiliating,\u2015\u2015if the frog as a near neighbor is as unamiable in that\ncountry as in this.\n\nEssentially the same must be said of the lice [gnats]; of the flies;\nand of boils. All these were forms of evil not unknown in Egyptian\nlife; but yet in the present case were truly miraculous and fearfully\nafflictive.\n\nTheir cattle were so useful and so highly esteemed that some of them\nwere made objects of idolatrous worship. The golden calf of Hebrew\nhistory was an Egyptian idea. There was special pertinence therefore\nin this fearful slaughter among Egypt\u2019s gods!\n\nThe hail, with most terrific lightning, was by far the more appalling\nbecause rain rarely falls there; hail and lightning yet more rarely.\n\nIn the natural course of events, locusts are among the fearful\nvisitations of Oriental countries\u2015\u2015not unknown in Egypt. In this case\nthe fearfulness of the plague lay in their numbers, and the miracle was\nnone the less because they had had some experience before of this form\nof desolation.\n\n * * * * *\n\n3. _The case of the magicians._\n\nThe entire account of them is in these words. After Aaron had cast\ndown his rod before Pharaoh and it became a serpent, \u201cThen Pharaoh\ncalled the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of\nEgypt, did so with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his\nrod and they became serpents; but Aaron\u2019s rod swallowed up their rods\u201d\n(Ex. 7: 11, 12). Again, after the miracle of turning the water to blood,\n\u201cThe magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments\u201d (7: 22). After\nthe miracle of the frogs, \u201cthe magicians did so with their enchantments\nand brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt\u201d (8: 7). Next, when all the\ndust became lice \u201cthe magicians did so with their enchantments to bring\nforth lice, _but they could not_: so there were lice upon man and upon\nbeast. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh\u2015\u2015This is the finger of God\u201d\n(8: 18, 19). Finally, under the plague of boils, \u201cThe magicians could\nnot stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boil was upon the\nmagicians and upon all the Egyptians\u201d (9: 11). We hear of them in this\nhistory no more.\n\nThe Hebrew word for \u201csorcerers\u201d involves the practice of magic arts\nand incantations. The word for \u201cmagicians of Egypt\u201d contemplates them\noriginally as _writers_, the learned class, but couples with that the\nidea of special skill in horoscopy\u2015\u2015the interpretation of dreams and\nthe doing, or at least pretending to do, things beyond the skill of\nthe uninitiated. The word for \u201cenchantments\u201d originally suggests secret\narts, things covered, veiled from the public gaze.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The passage\nDeut. 18: 10\u201314, gives most if not all the nearly synonymous words by\nwhich this class of men and their arts were designated, showing also\nthat they were regarded before the Lord with most intense abhorrence\nas an abomination. By the Mosaic law the practice of these arts was\npunishable with death (Ex. 22: 12).\n\nIn regard to the case of the magicians as presented in this history,\nthe point of chief interest will be this\u2015\u2015Did they really perform\nmiracles? Did they in fact turn rods into serpents, and water\ninto blood, and produce some frogs in addition to what were there\nbefore?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015I am not sure that we have data sufficient to determine\nwith certainty whether these things ascribed to them were simply tricks\nof hand, arts of jugglery; or whether there was really some power\nexerted, more and other than human.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The cases were of a sort in\nwhich deception was at least supposable. All the waters it would seem\nwere turned to blood before their effort was made. If so, they had to\ndo with what was already blood and had only to make it appear to be\nwater before they began operations.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015So of the frogs. When frogs were\nevery-where in such numbers, it would not be specially difficult to\nmake it appear that they produced yet more. The turning of rods into\nserpents is not unknown in the tricks of jugglery the world over.\n\nOf two facts we may be very sure. (1) They had no help from God. Their\nwonders were not wrought by God\u2019s power. We may put this denial on two\nindependent grounds:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(a.) The moral purpose of their work utterly\nforbids the least participation on God\u2019s part. God never fights against\nhimself.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b.) Their power was infinitely less than divine. Compared\nwith God\u2019s, it was shown to be simple weakness. \u201cAaron\u2019s rod swallowed\nup their rods.\u201d Before the plague of lice they were compelled to\nsuccumb, and (utterly against their will and against their interest)\nthey declare to Pharaoh\u2015\u2015\u201cThis is the finger of God\u201d! It utterly\ndistances all our skill. We can not approach it. Before the boils,\nthey writhed in agony. They could not even screen themselves from the\nterrible infliction. Moreover it is made plain throughout the whole\ntransaction that they were powerless to remove even the slightest of\nthese plagues. If they had possessed this power Pharaoh would have put\nthem to this service. It is plain they shrank from even the attempt.\nThe whole scene was a competition between God\u2019s power as manifested\nthrough his servants, Moses and Aaron, and the power of Egypt\u2019s\nmagicians\u2015\u2015resulting in most overwhelming proof that the latter had not\nthe first element of God\u2019s power in it.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It follows therefore that\nif the magicians had extra-human help\u2015\u2015if they had any power beyond\nhuman skill, _they obtained it from Satan_. We may readily suppose\nthey were in league with him, working according to his will. He may\nhave sharpened their wits by his influence, helped their arts by his\nsuggestions, and possibly may have given them superhuman aid in the\nline of physical power. It is not given to us to know the exact limits\nof his power to aid his servants. It is not essential that we should\nknow precisely where these limits are. We know enough to impress the\ninjunction\u2015\u2015\u201cBe sober, be vigilant, because of your adversary the\ndevil\u201d (1 Pet. 5: 8). It may always be our consolation that whenever he\nmatches his power or his skill against the Almighty, he will come off,\nas, in the case before us, utterly worsted in the fight, overwhelmed\nwith defeat and shame.\n\n * * * * *\n\n4. Some attention should be given to the divine purpose and policy\nin shaping the demand made upon Pharaoh to let the people go.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\npoint of special importance here is one which has been thought to\ninvolve the question of strict moral honesty\u2015\u2015it being claimed that\nthe divine demand at first ran on this wise: \u201cLet us go three days\u2019\njourney into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God\u201d\n(Ex. 3: 18)\u2015\u2015leaving Pharaoh to assume that, this being granted, they\nwould return to his service.\n\nThe facts on this point are:\n\n(1.) It was never promised or even intimated that they would return. If\nPharaoh construed the words of God and of Moses to imply this, he did\nso on his own responsibility.\n\n(2.) The demand made upon him that he should let the people go was\nbased in part at least on the religious duty of sacrificing to God in\nthe wilderness (Ex. 5: 1, 3)\u2015\u2015an entirely appropriate demand\u2015\u2015one which\nPharaoh ought to have appreciated, and one which would be more likely\nto have weight with him than any other. For he was himself a worshiper\nof his own gods; he knew the strength of the religious element in human\nnature; he was able to recognize the universal rights of conscience\nby which every man may claim to worship God according to his own\nconvictions of duty. If Pharaoh would not yield to this request he\nwould yield to none. The policy pursued was, therefore, the most\nhopeful and the least likely to arouse opposition.\n\n(3.) Even the severest honesty did not require that the Lord should put\nthis demand in its most revolting form in the outset. True, he might\nhave said from the beginning: \u201cMy people shall never return\u201d; but this\nwould have at once foreclosed all hope of gaining Pharaoh\u2019s consent.\n\n(4.) If the question of the return of the people was thus left a very\nlittle open\u2015\u2015or more correctly, was not peremptorily closed, it served\nthe better to test the heart of Pharaoh. It left the way open to ply\nhim with inducements most likely to be successful; and at the same time\nif he proved obstinate and self-willed, he might show it by bantering\nover the conditions, higgling as tradesmen and their customers\nsometimes do over the price, negotiating like diplomatists for the\nmost favorable terms. But this was the fault of Pharaoh, not of God.\n\n(5.) Most frequently the demand was made in these significant words:\n\u201cLet my people go that they may serve me\u201d (Ex. 8: 1, 20, and 9: 1, 13).\nIsrael is my son; his service is due to me and I claim it (Ex. 4: 22,\n23). You have no right to his services; I demand therefore that you\nlet my son go that he may serve me.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This is at least sufficiently\ndefinite, and is by no means open to the slightest imputation of\nlacking in the point of honesty.\n\n\n 5. _The hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart._\n\nIn this topic, as in the one next preceding, the point of chief\ninterest is the moral one\u2015\u2015that which locates the moral responsibility\nfor the hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart\u2015\u2015that which defines and places\ntruthfully the really responsible agency in the case. Was this\nhardening the work of God, by his immediate hand? Was it wrought by\nhis power so exclusively and in such modes as to overrule and throw\nout of account Pharaoh\u2019s own responsible agency?\n\nOr was the responsible agency that of Pharaoh only, altogether his\nand his alone? Did he harden his own heart, in the exercise of his\nown free will, in carrying out the purpose and desire of his own soul,\nessentially as other sinners and as all sinners do?\n\nThis question is one of immensely vital moment. Let us approach it with\nboth care and candor.\n\nWe may reach the true answer by studying,\n\n(1.) The history of the case;\n\n(2.) What is said of God\u2019s purpose in this matter;\n\n(3.) What he has taught us of his character, and of his agencies in the\nexistence of sin.\n\n(1.) The history of the transaction will doubtless throw light on the\nquestion\u2015\u2015How came Pharaoh\u2019s heart to be hardened? _How was it done?_\n\nThe history of the transaction, developing the steps of the process,\nbears more vitally upon the question, Who is responsible?\u2015\u2015than may at\nfirst view be realized. For, let it be carefully considered: God\u2019s ways\nof working by his immediate, direct, exclusive agency will forever be\nmysterious and inscrutable to us. It is idle for us to ask\u2015\u2015_How_ does\nGod work a miracle? Of course it must be idle for us to inquire after\nthe natural law of such working because the very idea of a miracle is\nthat of a work _not_ wrought according to any known laws of nature. If\nnow the hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart were wrought by God\u2019s miraculous,\ndirect, immediate hand, we shall look in vain for the law of his\noperations. It would be simply preposterous to inquire after the laws\nof mind in accordance with which the thing was done\u2015\u2015the supposition\nbeing that it was done according to _no_ known laws of mind whatever.\n\nOn the other hand if Pharaoh hardened his own heart, there will be\nno mystery about it. It so happens that we all know but too well how\nsinners harden their own hearts. There is rarely the least difficulty\nin tracing the operations of the human mind and the influences of\ntemptation which produce this result. Therefore, if the history of\nthe hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart brings out the working of his mind,\naccording to the common modes of human sinning\u2015\u2015if we see that his mind\nworked as the minds of other proud sinners are wont to work under like\ncircumstances, then the whole question is settled at once and forever.\nIf we can actually _see_ how Pharaoh hardened his own heart and can\nidentify the whole process as being the very same which occurs in the\ncase of all proud sinners who resist God\u2019s power and especially resist\nthe appeals of his love and mercy, what more can we ask? It were worse\nthan idle\u2015\u2015it were impious to exonerate Pharaoh from the least portion\nof the moral responsibility for his hardened heart and to seek to cast\nit over upon God.\n\nIn entering upon the _history of the case_, it is well to note the\nattitude of Pharaoh\u2019s mind toward the God of Israel in the outset. We\nhave it brought out fully (Ex. 5: 1, 2): \u201cMoses and Aaron went in and\ntold Pharaoh: \u2018Thus saith the Lord God of Israel; let my people go that\nthey may serve me.\u2019 And Pharaoh said\u2015\u2015_Who_ is the Lord that I should\nobey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I\nlet Israel go.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This is plain; he says he does not know this God; he\ndoes not recognize his authority or admit his claims. His soul is full\nof practical unbelief in God\u2015\u2015a fact which commonly lies at the bottom\nof all the hardening of sinners\u2019 hearts in every age.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Pharaoh did\nnot at first contemplate crossing swords and measuring strong arms\n_with the Almighty God_. If he had taken this view of the case, he\nmight have paused awhile to consider.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015So it usually is with sinners.\nUnbelief in God conduces to launch them upon this terrible conflict.\nOnce committed, they become more hardened; one sin leads on to more\nsinning till sin becomes incurable\u2015\u2015shall we say it? an uncontrollable\nmadness.\n\nWe may now fitly proceed to give attention to each particular case.\n\nThe first miracle (Ex. 7: 10\u201313) that of changing Aaron\u2019s rod to\na serpent, was rather a _test_ than a _plague_. Pharaoh met it by\ncalling in his magicians to try their hand\u2015\u2015his thought being, My men\ncan do that! They did _seem_ to do it, and though Aaron\u2019s rod-serpent\nswallowed up theirs, yet Pharaoh did not love to be convinced and\ntherefore was not. Under this result, which perhaps seemed to him\na partial victory, he braced himself against God this time.\n\nNext, in the turning of water into blood we read (Ex. 7: 22) \u201cThe\nmagicians did so with their enchantments, and Pharaoh\u2019s heart was\nhardened.\u201d This seemed to him a complete success for his side.\nNaturally, therefore, his heart is hardened to withstand God yet.\n\nUnder the plague of frogs\u2015\u2015not by any means one of the most\nsevere\u2015\u2015Pharaoh seemed to yield; he at least begged the prayers of\nMoses and Aaron; and promised to let the people go (Ex. 8: 8). To make\nGod\u2019s hand the more distinctly visible, Moses said\u2015\u2015Set your own time,\nand I will pray that this plague may cease. Done: \u201cbut when Pharaoh\nsaw that there was _respite_, he hardened his heart and hearkened\nnot unto them\u201d (8: 15). Alas, how he abused God\u2019s mercy! God lifted\nthe plague\u2015\u2015and up springs the old rebellion of his soul against God.\nPerhaps he flatters himself that this is the last, or he hopes that\nMoses will pray the rest away as he has this; or, as often happens, the\nsimple sense of respite without any particular reasoning in the case\nmakes him feel strong again to withstand God. Not the least sense of\ngratitude for the favor\u2015\u2015the mercy of removing the plague! O how many\nof the sinners of our world have done this very thing! Stricken down\nwith sickness, have they not begged for life and besought the prayers\nof all the good, and promised the Lord that with restoring mercy they\nwould give him their hearts and their lives? But when the respite came\ntheir vows were forgotten; their hearts were hardened.\n\nThe plague of lice brings out another element of depraved hearts.\nThe magicians try, but make an utter failure, and (what is to Pharaoh\nmore provoking still) they frankly declare to him, \u201cThis is the finger\nof God.\u201d They retire from the contest, and leave Pharaoh to fight it\nout alone. They can help him no longer. He is apparently vexed and\nmaddened, but not at all subdued. Rather, he rouses himself to greater\ndesperation, for the record puts these points in the closest connection:\nthe frank admission, \u201cThis is the finger of God\u201d; and the stiffening of\nPharaoh\u2019s rebellious will\u2015\u2015\u201c_And_ Pharaoh\u2019s heart was hardened and he\nhearkened not unto them.\u201d\n\nThe plague of flies brings out yet another element of human nature\nwhich not unfrequently comes into play in the hardening of men\u2019s\nhearts against God\u2015\u2015viz. the habit of bantering\u2015\u2015shall we say dickering,\ndriving a bargain and quibbling over the terms and conditions of\nGod\u2019s requirements. The flies are terribly annoying: Pharaoh sees\nthat something must be done; in fact he concludes he must make some\nconcessions: so he calls for Moses and Aaron and says\u2015\u2015\u201cGo ye,\nsacrifice to your God _in the land_.\u201d The last words were emphatic\u2015\u2015in\n_this_ land: stay here, and you shall have time to offer your\nsacrifices. I can not let you go three days journey into the wilderness\nlest ye never come back.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moses insists on the original terms; and\nthen Pharaoh concedes yet a little more: \u201cI will let you go that ye may\nsacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, only ye shall not go\nvery far away. Entreat for me\u201d\u2015\u2015_i. e._ entreat the Lord to take away\nthese flies\u2015\u2015the same word being used here as in v. 8. Moses entreated:\nthe Lord removed the plague, and according to the record \u201cPharaoh\nhardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people\ngo.\u201d Allowing himself to make terms with God and to banter him upon the\nconditions, coupled with the respite\u2015\u2015the temporary relief found in the\nremoval of the plague\u2015\u2015are manifestly the causes and modes in this case\nof his hardening his own heart.\n\nNext is the plague of murrain\u2015\u2015a terrible loss of their cattle. In\nthe antecedent threatening of this plague, Moses said to Pharaoh,\n\u201cThe Lord will _sever_ between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of\nEgypt: there shall nothing die of all that belongs to Israel.\u201d So it\nwas; for we read\u2015\u2015\u201cPharaoh sent [_i. e._ to inquire] and lo! not one\nof the cattle of the Israelites was dead. And the heart of Pharaoh\nwas hardened, and he did not let the people go\u201d (9: 1\u20137). This\ndiscrimination gave a keener edge to the plague; it cut the deeper;\nbut in the result it only maddened him the more. It showed most clearly\nthat God\u2019s hand was in these plagues and that he was on the side of\nIsrael; but Pharaoh was committed to the contest and seemed to have\nbut the one ruling purpose\u2015\u2015to fight it out to the bitter end.\n\nThe plague of boils was a visitation of physical suffering, perhaps\nsomewhat adapted to make a fretful man irritable. The narrative notes\nthe circumstance that the magicians were completely broken down by this\nplague: \u201cThey could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for\nthe boil was upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians\u201d [not upon\nthe Israelites]. As to Pharaoh, all human help fails him; every man\namong his people seems to quail and give up the contest; yet his proud\nheart is only the more maddened and the more determined! It is said,\n\u201cThe Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he hearkened not unto them;\u201d\nbut such mad infatuation is wont to appear in depraved human souls\nwithout any miraculous infliction of hardness from the hand of God.\nThere is not the least occasion to assume any other influences than\nthose of a proud, maddened human heart, working out its own obstinate\nwill against God.\n\nThe hail with attendant thunder and lightning (next in order) were\nfearfully appalling. All Egyptian hearts seemed to quiver with terror\nunder this infliction. Pharaoh is brought (shall we say) to his knees:\nhe sends hastily for Moses and Aaron and says to them: \u201cI have sinned\nthis time; the Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked.\u201d Truly\nthis seems hopeful. For the first time he appears penitent. \u201cEntreat\nthe Lord (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings\nand hail; and I will let you go and ye shall stay no longer.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This\nseems to be a final victory over the proud heart and the long time\ninflexible will of Pharaoh. He confesses sin; he begs again for prayer;\nhe promises to yield to God\u2019s entire demand and let the people go.\nConsequently the plague was removed. \u201cAnd when Pharaoh saw that the\nrain and the hail and the thunder were ceased, he sinned yet more and\nhardened his heart, he and his servants.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Alas for man\u2019s perverse\nand false nature\u2015\u2015his proud heart and his lying lips! How readily he\nrelapses back into his old and much-loved sin and becomes more hardened\nthan ever! The judgments of God extort confessions and tears and\nprayers; but God\u2019s mercies let off this pressure and leave the guilty\nsoul to fly back to its old sins again. So it was with Pharaoh. God\u2019s\nmercies, abused, worked out his ruin. But it were simply monstrous\nto say that this showing of mercy is on God\u2019s part a moral wrong and\nthat it throws over upon him the moral responsibility of hardening the\nsinner\u2019s heart. Yet it was precisely in this way\u2015\u2015perhaps more really\nand potently than in any other\u2015\u2015that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh.\n\nThe plague of locusts brings to view a new group of elements. Egypt\nhad known something about locusts before: so when this scourge was\nannounced, Pharaoh\u2019s servants beg him to yield the contest. \u201cHow\nlong shall this man\u201d [Moses] \u201cbe a snare unto us? Let the men go that\nthey may serve the Lord their God. Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is\ndestroyed\u201d? (10: 7).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Pharaoh yields to their entreaty only so far as\nto send for Moses and Aaron, and again try his hand upon bantering with\nthem and with God over the conditions. \u201cGo serve the Lord, said he; but\n_who are they that shall go_\u201d? Moses answers, Every thing must go; we\nwith our young and with our old; with sons and with daughters; with\nflocks and with herds\u2015\u2015all, absolutely _all_ must go.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015No indeed,\nreplies Pharaoh\u2015\u2015with what we must take as his royal oath\u2015\u2015with the\nmost fearful threat he could make and the most solemn asseveration\u2015\u2015he\nsays, \u201c_Not so_; go _ye that are men_ and serve the Lord, for that ye\ndid desire.\u201d That was all ye asked at first: it is the utmost I shall\ngive! \u201cAnd they were driven out of his presence.\u201d Pharaoh is thoroughly\nmad! This allowing himself to banter them as to the terms of the\narrangement helped him to a stronger feeling of his own importance. He\nseemed to himself to be yet more a king on his throne, and why should\nnot he dictate the conditions?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Soon the plague comes, and for the\nmoment it quite changes the face of affairs. \u201cPharaoh called for Moses\nand Aaron in haste, and said\u201d [again]\u2015\u2015\u201cI have sinned against the Lord\nyour God and against you. Now, therefore, forgive, I pray thee, my sin\nonly this once, and entreat the Lord your God that he may take away\nfrom me this death only.\u201d Apparently he remembers that once before\nhe confessed, and more than once has begged their prayers, and more\nthan once has promised to let the people go. So he labors to give\na little more emphasis to his beseechings this time by confessing\nhis sin against Moses, and especially by the limitation\u2015\u2015\u201c_for this\nonce_\u201d\u2015\u2015once more _do_ hear me\u2015\u2015this time only. But he has been through\nthis very process once before; most of its points, many times before;\nand it is much more easy for him to turn back upon every promise and\nbreak every most solemn vow than it ever has been before. It is safe to\npredict that any sinner who has broken so many solemn vows of amendment\nwill never do any thing better than break vows when God\u2019s mercy lifts\noff the plague. So Pharaoh\u2019s heart is hardened yet again. The statement\nis\u2015\u2015\u201cBut the Lord hardened Pharaoh\u2019s heart\u201d\u2015\u2015yet the way he did it,\nhere as before (9: 34), was by removing the plague; by hearing his\nprayer for relief and apparently trusting his sacred promise to let\nthe people go. This was the way and these the agencies by which the\nLord hardened Pharaoh\u2019s heart.\n\nThe plague of darkness is next in order. Again Pharaoh sets himself to\nnegotiate as to the terms. He will consent that not only the men may go,\nbut their wives and their little ones; _but their flocks must be left\nbehind_. He must have some hostages\u2015\u2015something left in his hands that\nwill bring his bondmen back. Moses says _No!_ we need our flocks for\nsacrifice; not a hoof is to be left behind! Pharaoh is more mad than\never: he not only drives Moses out from his presence, but adds\u2015\u2015\u201cTake\nheed to thyself; see my face no more; for in the day thou seest my face\nthou shalt die.\u201d In this case it is said\u2015\u2015\u201cThe Lord hardened Pharaoh\u2019s\nheart\u201d; but these terrible uprisings and outbursts of madness well up\nfrom the depths of a depraved sinner\u2019s soul. No supernatural miracle\nof divine hardening is at all needful to create them. Pharaoh is too\nproud a king to bear such confrontings of his will. Shall he yield to\nsuch a man as Moses, or even to the God of Moses? Not he. It stirs up\nall the elements of his pride and madness to have his propositions of\ncompromise so peremptorily rejected. It is this in special that works\nin this present case to the hardening of his heart.\n\nThere remains but one more plague\u2015\u2015that awful night on Egypt when the\nwailing cry rang out over all the land, \u201cfor there was not a house\nwhere there was not one dead\u201d! and that the _first-born_! Under this,\nPharaoh for the time really broke down; he called for Moses and Aaron\nby night and said\u2015\u2015\u201cGo ye and all your people, and take your flocks\nand herds as ye have said and be gone, and bless me also.\u201d This\nconceded everything, closing off with begging their blessing upon his\nconsciously guilty soul! The Egyptians too were all astir; they were\nurgent upon the people to send them out of the land in haste; for\nthey said\u2015\u2015\u201cWe be all dead men.\u201d And the people of Israel do really\ngo.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But strange as it may seem, when \u201cit was told the king of Egypt\nthat the people had really gone, then the heart of Pharaoh and of his\nservants was turned against the people and they said\u2015\u2015Why have we done\nthis that we have let Israel go from serving us\u201d?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Forthwith armed\nchariots are made ready and are off in hot pursuit;\u2015\u2015till they find\nthemselves battling the mighty waves of the Red Sea, quailing before\nthe awful eye and under the uplifted arm of the Almighty!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This\nlast instance of hardening the heart seems most like pure and simple\ninfatuation. No doubt Pharaoh and his servants had a fresh sense of\nwhat they had lost in letting go such a host of hard working bondmen.\nNo doubt they also felt the mortification of having been worsted in\nthe long-fought struggle over this national question of letting the\npeople go; but after all they had seen and felt of God\u2019s power to\ncurse and to plague and to crush them, nothing but the most senseless\ninfatuation can rationally account for this last desperate dash upon\nIsrael with the armed force of the nation. Yet no one will say that\nsuch infatuation does not often appear in the history of human sinning.\nIn his own sphere many a poor sinner is just as madly infatuated as\nPharaoh and his people were\u2015\u2015is altogether as senseless, as void of\nwisdom, as reckless of the hot thunderbolts of the Almighty! It is an\nawfully sad fact, a most humiliating confession as to the manner of\nhuman sinning; but it is only too true! There is no need of assuming\nany direct supernatural divine interposition to produce it.\n\nNothing more seems necessary to complete the argument from the history\nof the case unless it be to suggest that when we have accounted for the\nhardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart satisfactorily on the one principle\u2015\u2015the\nwell-known proclivities and activities of a proud, stubborn human heart,\nit is entirely unphilosophical to bring in another principle, viz. the\nmiraculous, immediate, direct action of Almighty Power. When we have\nproved the former power adequate to produce all the results, we have\nvirtually precluded the latter. There can be no reason whatever for\nassuming a joint, co-ordinate action of both the natural laws of the\nhuman mind and of the supernatural power of God. If the former suffices,\nthe latter is uncalled for. Miracles are never to be assumed where\nnon-miraculous agency is fully adequate.\n\nIf it be still argued that the very words declare, \u201cGod hardened\nPharaoh\u2019s heart,\u201d the answer is: God is said to do what he foresees\nwill be done by others and done under such arrangements of his\nprovidence as make it possible and morally certain that they will do\nit. Joseph said to his brethren (Gen. 45: 5, 7, 8), \u201cBe not angry with\nyourselves that ye sold me hither, for God did send me before you to\npreserve life. So now it was not you that sent me hither but God.\u201d\nYet it is simply impious to put the sin of selling Joseph into Egypt\nover upon God. God did it only in the same sense in which he hardened\nPharaoh\u2019s heart. He had a purpose to subserve by means of the sin of\nJoseph\u2019s brethren; and he did no doubt permit such circumstances to\noccur in his providence as made that sin possible and as resulted in\ntheir sinning and in the remote consequences which God anticipated.\n\nIt is of no particular use for us to find fault with the way in which\nthe Scriptures speak of God\u2019s hand in the existence of sin. There is no\nspecial mystery about it. It certainly does not involve the least moral\nobliquity on God\u2019s part; and it is therefore every way prudent and wise\nto interpret such language in harmony with the common sense of the case\nand with the well-known character of God.\n\n * * * * *\n\n2. We proceed to notice what is said of _God\u2019s purpose_ in the\nhardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart. It is the more important to speak of this\nbecause an extreme view is sometimes taken of the central passage (Ex.\n9: 14\u201316); \u201cAnd in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up for\nto show in thee my power,\u201d etc. The extreme view referred to is that\nGod made Pharaoh a great king, put him on a high throne, for the avowed\npurpose of displaying his own great power in his sin and punishment.\n\nBy consent of Hebrew lexicographers, the verb translated \u201c_raised\nup_\u201d means in this case _preserved alive_\u2015\u2015have _caused thee to stand_\nor continue among the living. The previous context moreover seems not\nto be quite accurately put in our English version. It should rather\nbe thus, beginning with v. 14: \u201cFor at this very time I am sending\n[present tense] all my plagues to thine heart and upon thy servants and\nupon thy people that thou mayest know that there is none like me in\nall the earth. For I might now have stretched out my hand and smitten\nthee and thy people with pestilence [_i. e._ might have smitten you all\ndead], and thou wouldest have been cut off from the earth. But truly\nfor this very reason have I preserved thee alive to the end that thou\nmightest show forth [make others see] my power, and for the sake of\nproclaiming my name in all the earth.\u201d To the same purport are the\nwords (Ex. 14: 17, 18) with reference to the final destruction of\nPharaoh\u2019s host; \u201cAnd I will get me honor upon Pharaoh and upon all\nhis host, etc. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I\nshall have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh and upon his chariots and his\nhorsemen.\u201d The great thought is that God turns to account the sin and\nmadness of Pharaoh for the purpose of making known his power to save\nhis people and to crush their foes. He shapes his ways of providence to\nthis end. He might have swept off Pharaoh and his people with the same\npestilence which destroyed so many of their cattle; but he had a wiser\npurpose. He could make a better use of their sin and of their life; so\nhe spared them till he had wrought all his wonders upon Egypt before\nall the nations of the earth; and then he let them plunge into the\nmighty waves of the Red Sea and make their grave there!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Now if\nwicked men _will sin_, who shall object against God that he makes the\nbest possible use of it? Why may he not reveal his power thereby and\nexalt his name as one \u201cmighty to save\u201d or to destroy?\n\n3. It only remains to ask\u2015\u2015What has God taught us of his character as\nbearing on the question before us, and of his agencies in the existence\nof sin?\n\nHere few words ought to suffice. Nothing can be more plain than the\nrevelations of scripture concerning God\u2019s character as infinitely pure\nand holy\u2015\u2015as a Being who not only can never sin himself but can never\nbe pleased to have others sin, and above all can never put forth his\npower to _make them sin_. God can not be tempted with evil, \u201c_neither\ntempteth he any man_\u201d (Jam. 1: 13). When he declares so solemnly and\nso tenderly: \u201cO do not that abominable thing which I hate\u201d! shall it\nstill be said\u2015\u2015But he puts men to sinning; pushes them on in their\nsin; inclines their heart to sin and hardens them to more and guiltier\nsinning? Never!\n\nShall it be claimed that with one hand God gives his Spirit to impress\nthe truth on human souls unto their salvation; and with the other sends\nhis Spirit to augment the forces of temptation and to harden men\u2019s\nhearts unto their damnation? Shall the same fountain send forth both\nsweet water and bitter? Shall the same God renew some human hearts unto\nholiness and harden other human hearts in sin\u2015\u2015all by the same direct\nand similarly purposed agency, each work being done under the same\nimpulses of infinite love?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Surely there must be some egregious\nmisconception of God\u2019s character involved in supposing him capable\nof acts so fundamentally opposite and incompatible\u2015\u2015not to say, in\nsupposing him capable of tempting men into more and greater sin!\n\nThe fact that He wisely and mightily over-rules sin to bring good forth\nfrom it should never be construed to imply that he abhors sin any the\nless because he can extort some good results from its existence.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIII.\n\n THE PASSOVER.\n\n\nTHE first of the three great annual festivals of Israel, and the one\nwhich above all was commemorative in character\u2015\u2015a memorial service\u2015\u2015was\nthe _Passover_. It was designed to commemorate the deliverance of\nIsrael from Egyptian bondage\u2015\u2015the great birth-hour of the Hebrew nation.\nEspecially did it commemorate the scenes of that last eventful night\nwhen God caused his angel of death to _pass over_ the houses of Israel\nas he went through the land of Egypt, smiting the first-born in all her\nhouseholds.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The central thing in this institution was the slaying\nof the paschal lamb\u2015\u2015one for each household\u2015\u2015and the sprinkling of\nits blood upon the two side-posts, and upon the lintel over the door\nof each house. This sprinkled blood, seen by the destroying angel,\nbecame his authority for _passing over_ and by that house, sparing its\nfirst-born, while he spared not one first-born of all the families of\nEgypt.\n\nThere were numerous collateral points in the institution, designed to\nfill it out more completely and make it most impressively a memorial\nservice for all the future generations of Israel; _e. g._ the following:\n\nAs to _time_; it was on the fourteenth day of the month Abib,\ncorresponding to our March or April\u2015\u2015the night next following this\nday being that of the last plague on Egypt\u2015\u2015the night which broke\ntheir yoke of bondage. Henceforth, this was made the first month in\nthe Hebrew year.\n\nThe paschal lambs were _taken by households_. If the family was large,\nit stood by itself; if too small to consume one lamb, then two or more\nwere united, the aim being to have the flesh of the lamb eaten entire.\nIf any thing remained, it was to be burned in the morning.\u2015\u2015It was to\nbe roasted with fire, not eaten raw, and not boiled in water. (Ex. 12:\n8, 9.) The arrangement _by families_ looked toward the great fact of\nthe original event\u2015\u2015that Egypt was _smitten by families_\u2015\u2015there being\nnot a house in which there was not one dead. Its influence must have\nbeen precious through all the ages of Hebrew history in cementing\nfamily ties and sanctifying the family relation.\n\nIt was eaten with _unleavened bread_\u2015\u2015the rule on this point being most\nstringent. No leaven might be eaten or even seen in their households\nduring the entire feast of seven days. So prominent was this fact that\nthe feast was called interchangeably, \u201cThe Passover,\u201d or \u201cThe feast of\nunleavened bread.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The original design of this prohibition seems to\nhave been commemorative\u2015\u2015the great haste of their departure precluding\nthe preparation of leavened bread for their journey. The allusions\nto \u201cleaven\u201d in the New Testament (Matt. 16: 6, 11, 12, and Luke 12\nand 1 Cor. 5: 7) indicate that leaven was associated with \u201cpride that\npuffeth up,\u201d and is quite the opposite of that simplicity and purity\nof heart which God loves.\n\nIt was also eaten with bitter herbs, the vegetable condiments of the\nsupper suggesting the bitterness of that bondage in Egypt out of which\nthey came (Ex. 12: 8).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Yet another suggestive memorial usage was to\neat with loins girt, shoes on, staff in hand (Ex. 12: 11), and in haste,\nas men ready to start a journey at a moment\u2019s warning.\n\nThe feast continued seven days (Ex. 12: 14\u201320), beginning with\nthe evening of the paschal supper. The first day and the last were\nspecially sacred, all labor being prohibited except that which was\nnecessary in preparing their food (Ex. 12: 16).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The object in\nallowing so much time was to provide for extended religious ceremonial\nservices and for wholesome social communion, not to say also for\ncultivating national sympathy and patriotism. As all the males from\nevery tribe in the whole land were required to come together on this\ngreat feast to the one place which God should appoint, the convocation\nwas vast, and its social and religious influences were naturally both\nwholesome and great.\n\nIn the original institution it was specially enjoined that the history\nand purpose of this great festival should _be made known to their\nchildren_. \u201cAnd thou shalt _show thy son_ in that day, saying, This\nis done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth\nout of Egypt\u201d (Ex. 13: 7). \u201cAnd it shall be when thy son asketh thee\nin time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him,\nBy strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house\nof bondage,\u201d etc. (Ex. 13: 14, 15.) How naturally would this wonderful\nstory thrill the young hearts around the paschal board! How swiftly\nwould the hours fly away while fathers rehearsed to sons the great\nnational traditions, or read from the book of the law the narrative,\nand sung again and again the song of triumph over Pharaoh fallen with\nwhich this story closes! Jewish history has it that in ancient times\nit became the custom, after the paschal table was fully spread and the\nfamily had taken their places about it, for the servant suddenly to\nremove the prepared food away. Then when the hungry children opened\ntheir eyes wide and eager lips cried out\u2015\u2015What does this mean? the head\nof the household rehearsed slowly and solemnly the meaning and purpose\nof the feast, with the history of its original institution; then when\nthe curiosity of the little ones had been both aroused and enlightened,\nthe provisions were replaced and partaken with a freshened sense of the\ngrand significance of the Passover.\n\nClosely associated with this festival and fraught with solemn\nsignificance as a memorial institution was the _consecration to God of\nall first-born males_, both the first-born of man and the first-born\nof beast (Ex. 13: 11\u201316). Of the lower animals the first-born males,\nif without blemish and if suitable for sacrifice, were to be offered\nin sacrifice to the Lord. If not suitable (_e. g._ the ass), it must\nbe redeemed with a lamb\u2015\u2015in which case the lamb became the sacrifice,\nand the ass might be used at the pleasure of its owner.\n\nIn the family, the first-born son was consecrated to God. In carrying\nout this principle, a substitution was made by which the entire tribe\nof Levi were put in the place of all the first-born males of Israel and\nheld to be specially consecrated to God. The language (Num. 8: 14\u201318)\nis\u2015\u2015\u201cThou shalt separate the Levites from among the children of Israel,\nand the Levites shall be mine. They are wholly given unto me from\namong the children of Israel, instead of such as open every womb, even\ninstead of the first-born of all the children of Israel, have I taken\nthem unto me. For all the first-born of Israel are mine both man and\nbeast: on the day that I smote every first-born in the land of Egypt,\nI sanctified them for myself. And I have taken the Levites _for_ [in\nthe place of] all the first-born of the children of Israel.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The law\nprescribed the rites by which the Levites were set apart (Num. 8: 5\u201315).\n\nThe original institution of the Passover is rehearsed quite fully\nin Ex. 12 and 13; is referred to again briefly Ex. 23: 15, and 34:\n18\u201320\u2015\u2015this last giving emphasis to the consecration of the first-born.\nA brief notice of it appears Lev. 23: 5\u20138; the accompanying ritual\nservices and offerings may be seen in Num. 28: 16\u201325; and a brief\nresume of the institution as given in Exodus 12 and 13 stands in Deut.\n16: 1\u20138.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe Paschal Lamb with its sprinkled blood became a pertinent and\nimpressive illustration of the central idea of the atonement by the\nblood of Christ, the elements common to both being\u2015\u2015the shedding of\nblood\u2015\u2015the blood of an innocent one\u2015\u2015and especially the passing over\nthe sprinkled souls by the destroying angel, while the unsprinkled\nwere smitten by God\u2019s angel of death.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It is under the force of\nthese and similar analogies that Paul speaks of Christ as being \u201cour\nPassover\u201d\u2015\u2015[rather our Paschal Lamb], and as \u201csacrificed for us\u201d (1 Cor.\n5: 6\u20138). Pushing the analogies of the Passover feast one step further,\nhe thinks of the exclusion of all leaven; then of leaven as naturally\ndiffusive, and so as representing the pernicious influence of bad men\nin the Christian church; and therefore exhorts the Corinthian church\nto cast out the man guilty of incest lest his influence work like\nleaven.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These remoter analogies were forcible to persons familiar\nwith the feast and its usages; yet we can not say they were properly\ninvolved in the typical significance of the Passover. The easy and\nnatural manner in which Paul speaks of Christ as our Paschal Lamb shows\nthat so far the resemblance was a well recognized fact, wrought into\nthe current views of inspired men, not to say, of the church of that\nage. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission; with it\nand by means of it remission comes to the guilty, accepting it with\npenitence and with faith.\n\n\n _The long route to Canaan._\n\nScarcely had the Hebrew hosts set forth for Goshen before the question\nof the _route to Canaan_ must be determined. That Canaan was their\ndestination was settled long before. The first call of Abram designated\nthe land of Canaan as the home of his posterity. Every renewal of that\noriginal promise specified the country which was given them. Now, for\nthe course of their journey, the route along the south-eastern shore\nof the Mediterranean through the land of the Philistines was short\nand direct; but it must have brought them into contact inevitably with\nthose powerful tribes from whom their descendants suffered so much\nduring all the centuries intervening between Joshua and David. Just\nemerging from a bondage which spanned several generations and which\nhad emasculated them of all national courage and spirit\u2015\u2015but slightly\ntrained moreover yet into the moral heroism which comes of living faith\nin God\u2015\u2015they were in no condition to encounter such enemies. The record\nputs these points briefly: \u201cGod led them not through the way of the\nland of the Philistines although that was near, for God said\u2015\u2015Lest\nperadventure the people repent when they see war and they return to\nEgypt; but God led the people about through the way of the wilderness\nof the Red Sea\u201d[32] (Ex. 13: 17, 18). The long circuitous route is\ntherefore chosen.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Wheeling suddenly to the right they put their\nfaces squarely toward the Red Sea, beyond which lay the vast Arabian\ndesert. Ultimately they entered Canaan on its Eastern and not its\nWestern side\u2015\u2015the quarter most remote from the Philistines.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In this\nwilderness route there were great purposes to be accomplished in the\nmoral training and culture of the nation and in the manifestations of\nthe God of their fathers before their eyes. That way lay the passage\nof the Red Sea which God provided as the burial-place for the proud\nhosts of Pharaoh: that way lay Sinai\u2015\u2015those grand mountain cliffs\nwhich God was to shake with his thunders and invest with the smoke and\nthe flame of his glorious presence that the law might be written in\nletters of fire upon the souls of the whole people: that way lay the\nlong, breadless, waterless route of almost forty years wandering and\nsojourning in which the Lord fed the people with angels\u2019 food\u2015\u2015bread\nfrom the lower heavens\u2015\u2015the manna of the desert, and with water once\nand again from smitten rocks, flowing in dry places as a river\u2015\u2015that\nthey might learn the power and the love of their God:\u2015\u2015that way lay\nalso their long tuition and training into their religious system\u2015\u2015a\nwonderful arrangement of sacrifices and ordinances for which the\nlife-time of a generation was scarcely too long. All these great\nresults and yet others were contemplated and provided for in this\nchoice of the wilderness route as their way to the land of Canaan.\n\n\n _The March and the Pursuit._\n\nThe night of the fourteenth day of the first month was one to be\nlong and gratefully remembered. Little sleep was there in the homes\nof Israel or in the dwellings of Egypt on that eventful night. The\nfeast of the Paschal Lamb beginning with the early evening; the dread\nvisitation upon Egypt of the angel of death at midnight; the hasty\npreparation for their journey throughout all the families of the\nchildren of Israel; the gathering and mustering of their hosts for the\nmarch of the next day:\u2015\u2015such was the work of that memorable night. The\nstages of their march are definitely chronicled; one day from Rameses\nto Succoth (Ex. 12: 37); another day from Succoth to Etham, \u201cin the\nedge of the wilderness\u201d (Ex. 13: 20); another from Etham to Pi-hahiroth\nbetween Migdol and the Sea over against Baal-zephon (Ex. 14: 2). The\nsame stages appear in the official record (Num. 33: 3\u20138) in which it\nis added that \u201cIsrael went out with a high hand in the sight of all\nthe Egyptians, for the Egyptians buried all their first-born whom the\nLord had smitten among them; upon the gods also, the Lord executed\njudgment\u201d[33]\u2015\u2015so that the shock of such and so much death and their\nfuneral services for the dead diverted their attention from Israel and\ndetained them from the pursuit for a season, giving the slow moving\nhosts of Israel time to reach the Red Sea before Pharaoh\u2019s swift\nchariots could overtake them.\n\n\n _The guiding Pillar of cloud and fire._\n\nAt this stage commenced that striking but most precious manifestation\nof God\u2019s guiding presence, of which the first record is\u2015\u2015\u201cAnd the Lord\nwent before them in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way; and by\nnight in a pillar of fire to give them light; to go by day and night.\nHe took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of\nfire by night, from before the people\u201d (Ex. 13: 21, 22). If the order\nof the narration corresponds in time to the order of the events, this\nmanifestation of the pillar commenced on the second day of their march\nas they moved from Succoth to Etham \u201cin the edge of the wilderness.\u201d\nAll through those otherwise dreary days of their marching and halting\nfor forty years in the wilderness, this pillar was before them,\nappearing as a pillar of cloud by day but of fire by night\u2015\u2015the symbol\nof Jehovah\u2019s presence in all their way, leading their path as they\njourneyed; marking their place of rest where they were to halt and\npitch their tents.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Subsequent allusions to this pillar of cloud or\nof fire are somewhat numerous, _e. g._ Ex. 29: 43\u2015\u2015showing that _in_\nthis pillar God met his people and sanctified the tabernacle with his\nglory: Ex. 40: 34\u201338, setting forth that when the tabernacle was in\nreadiness, the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord filled the\nmost holy place, making that henceforth his special locality. Yet\nthe pillar of cloud was lifted above the tabernacle as the signal\nfor striking tents and moving forward. Its service as the signal\nfor marching or resting is detailed minutely and beautifully in Num.\n9: 15\u201323; and the prayer of Moses on these special occasions in Num.\n10: 35, 36. When the ark set forward\u2015\u2015\u201cRise up, Lord, and let thine\nenemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee\u201d;\nand when it rested\u2015\u2015\u201cReturn, O Lord, unto the many thousands of\nIsrael.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Other allusions may be seen, Deut. 1: 23 and Neh. 9: 12,\n19 and Ps. 78: 14, and 99: 7, and 105: 39 and Isa. 4: 5.\n\nRemarkably when the Egyptian chariots and horsemen drew near toward\nevening of the third days\u2019 march, \u201cthe Angel of God, [embosomed in this\npillar] which had been in front of their host, removed and went behind\nthem\u201d\u2015\u2015putting himself thus between the men of Israel and the armed\nhosts of Egypt\u2015\u2015\u201cAnd it was a cloud and darkness to Egypt\u2019s hosts but\ngave light by night to Israel, so that the one came not near the other\nall night.\u201d Thus the angel of God in the cloud became, not their guide\nonly, but their protector, their guardian angel. If there were godly\nmen in Israel who like Moses could appreciate the salvation and the\nglory of Jehovah\u2019s presence, their hearts must have been a thousand\ntimes gladdened, and inspired with \u2666inexpressible hope and consolation\nas they lifted up their eyes in their otherwise deepest darkness to\nsee the pillar of fire ever near, the witness that God was near in all\ntheir wanderings. But especially _there_ with the Red Sea before them\nand the chariots of Pharaoh behind\u2015\u2015how safe they might have felt! for\nwho is not safe under the wing of God\u2019s pillar of fire?\n\nWhen Pharaoh\u2019s chariots and horsemen came in sight, rapidly gaining\nupon the slow-marching footmen of Israel\u2019s host, the latter were sore\nafraid and cried unto the Lord (Ex. 14: 10). This crying to the Lord\nwould have been all right if only they had believed and trusted; for\nthen they would have honored their great Protector, and they would\n_not_ have chided Moses for leading them out of Egypt, nor would they\nhave thought so readily of turning back to their cruel bondage.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015With\ntouching forbearance and grace the reply of Moses (from God) breathes\nscarce a whisper of rebuke: \u201cFear ye not; stand still and see the\nsalvation of the Lord which he will show to you to day; for the\nEgyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see no more again forever.\nThe Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.\u201d The Lord\ndid not propose to bring the people into direct battle with the trained\nhosts of Egypt at this early stage of their new life of freedom. They\nwere in no manner prepared for the conflict of arms. This time the Lord\nalone would go into battle against Egypt. Israel might stand still and\nlook on!\n\nMoses, it seems, cried unto God; but whether because there was some\nimplied unbelief in it, or because there was no time and no further\nneed of prayer, the Lord answered\u2015\u2015\u201cWhy criest thou unto me? _Speak\nunto the people that they go forward!_\u201d The time for action and for\nplacid trust in God had fully come.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But that deep Red Sea lies\nacross thy path; lift up thy rod and stretch out thy hand over the sea\nand _divide it_; let Israel march through it dry-shod. The uplifted rod\nof Moses was the signal for the uplifted hand of God by which he forced\nthe waters from their channel by a strong east wind all that night and\nmade the bed of the sea dry for his people to pass over. The miracle\nin this case was exerted upon the wind rather than upon the water. God\ncaused the east wind to blow strongly just when its effect was needed\nfor the end in view. He turned the wind and hurried the waters back\nupon the Egyptians just when the opportune moment came for burying\nthem beneath its mountain waves. If his wisdom had chosen to do so, his\nAlmighty hand could just as easily have annihilated so much of the Red\nSea waters as lay in the way of his people till they had passed its dry\nbed, and then have reproduced them for the destruction of Egypt. But\nin his mighty works God does not seek display but rather results, and\nthese ordinarily by using only the least amount of supernatural agency\nwhich will suffice. It is of little account to attempt to fix the law\nof miracles, yet we may not infrequently observe the same method as is\napparent here.\n\nThe historian alludes to yet another element of divine agency. In the\nmorning watch as the host of Pharaoh were pressing on through the very\nmidst of the bed of the sea, \u201cthe Lord looked unto the host of the\nEgyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and troubled [rather\nconfounded, smote with panic] their marching hosts; and took off their\nchariot wheels that they drave them heavily; so that the Egyptians\nsaid\u2015\u2015\u201cLet us flee from the face of Israel, for Jehovah \u2666fighteth for\nthem against the Egyptians.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It may not be possible, certainly is\nnot specially important, to draw the line here between the natural and\nthe supernatural. We may suppose that the pillar of cloud which had\nbeen darkness to them blazed forth fearfully in their faces, appalling\nthe stoutest hearts with fear; that both horses and drivers were\nconfounded; that wheel crashed into wheel and made advance impossible;\nthat turning back for flight, their disorder and confusion became a\nrout, and that in this hour of crisis the returning waters surge and\ndash upon them and bury them en masse beneath the mountain waves! So\nperished the slave-holders and oppressors of God\u2019s ancient people! Thus\nsignally did Jehovah exalt his name and win glory to himself as the\nAvenger of the oppressed and the faithful God of his Israel. The case\nfalls into the same class with the flood and the fires on Sodom, to\nshow before the ages how readily the Lord can find fit instruments\nof retributive justice for the swift punishment of the wicked even in\nthis world whenever examples are needed to set forth his \u2666displeasure\nagainst sin, and the certainty of his retributions upon the wicked.\nUnder a system which normally puts over this retribution till after\ndeath, it might obviously be wise in the early ages of time to give\nsome exceptional cases to stand as illustrations squarely before the\neyes of living men, witnessing to the terrors of that retribution which\ncan not linger long under the government of a just and holy God.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe night of doom to Pharaoh was the night of redemption to\nIsrael. With the morning light they \u201csaw the Egyptians dead upon\nthe sea-shore\u201d\u2015\u2015men in their armor of battle; horses in the proud\ntrappings of Egypt; broken chariots, all powerless now\u2015\u2015are dashed\nup by the waves of the turbid sea and lie strewn upon the eastern\nshore\u2015\u2015memorials at once of the danger that was and of the victory and\ntriumph that are, and that are to be, the joy of God\u2019s redeemed people.\nMost fitly the deep emotions of the people seek expression in song. The\noldest song known to history and one of the grandest, is here before\nus. \u201cI will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously:\u201d\u2015\u2015Ah,\nindeed, it was the Lord who wrought the victory; who went down alone\ninto that eventful battle and who came back the mighty conqueror! \u201cThe\nhorse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.\u201d Over and over this\ncentral idea appears: \u201cPharaoh\u2019s chariots and his host hath he cast\ninto the sea; his chosen chariots also are drowned in the Red Sea.\u201d\n\u201cThou didst blow with thy wind; the sea covered them; they sank as lead\nin the mighty waters.\u201d Let the Great God of Israel be praised for all\nthis! Appropriately this is the burden of the song: \u201cThe Lord is my\nstrength and my song, and he is become my salvation.\u201d \u201cWho is like unto\nthee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like to Thee, glorious in holiness,\nfearful in praises, doing wonders\u201d?\n\nLet us hope that the hearts of the saved people were deeply moved in\nthe spirit of this sublime song; that they saw God as never before, and\ngave him the homage of their hearts, grateful, trustful, and adoring!\n\nIt may be noticed that Moses leads the thought of the people forward to\nthe remote results of this redemption: \u201cThe nations shall hear and be\nafraid; sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestine; all the\ninhabitants of Canaan shall melt away; fear and dread shall fall upon\nthem ... till thy people pass over and thou hast planted them in their\npromised inheritance.\u201d\n\nThe moral results of this scene, we may hope, were really wholesome\nand effective upon the multitude. It amazes us to find that so soon\nafterward there were some among them who murmured for water, rebelled\nagainst Moses, made and worshiped a calf of gold: but the young, less\ndepraved by their Egyptian life and perhaps more impressible by such\nmanifestations of God, seem to have drank in the solemn lessons of\nthese grand events.\n\n_The locality of the Red Sea crossing_ has been not a little\ncontroverted\u2015\u2015until the researches of modern times. Since Dr.\nRobinson\u2019s personal examination of that region, including the site of\nGoshen, the route of their three days\u2019 travel till they reached the sea,\nthe width of the sea at the various points between which the selection\nmust be made, there has been a general if not universal concurrence\nin the conclusions to which he came. The location a little below Suez\nwhere the sea was supposably not far from one mile in width; where a\nstrong easterly wind would drive out the waters from the channel\u2015\u2015seems\nto fulfill all the historical conditions of the problem. See his\nResearches in Egypt and Palestine, Vol. I. pp. 74\u201386.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIV.\n\n THE HISTORIC CONNECTIONS OF MOSES WITH PHARAOH AND EGYPT.\n\n\nTHE thread of our history having now reached a point where we leave\nEgypt and have seen the last of that one particular Pharaoh, it is in\nplace to take a final review of the questions\u2015\u2015Who was this Pharaoh?\nCan he be identified in the annals of Egyptian antiquities? Have any\npoints of chronological contact between the records of Egypt and the\nrecords of Moses been fixed reliably so that the one system can be laid\nalongside of the other and positive correspondence be made out?\n\nComparing the Hebrew records with Egyptian monuments and history, the\nfollowing points of coincidence may be regarded as established.\n\n1. That (as already observed) the kingdom of Egypt was thoroughly\norganized, was powerful, and had, apparently, the ripeness of age,\nin the times of Joseph and of Moses. In all these respects it was\nfar in advance of the adjacent populations of Northern Africa and of\nSouth-western Asia.\n\n2. That the state of the arts, the attainments of the learned in\nscience, the usages of the people, the reign of law and of social\norder, indicated a state of civilization much in advance of any thing\nelse known in that age.\n\n3. That all the minute references in sacred history to the common\nlife of the people, to their occupations, to their skill in the arts,\nto the productions of the country, to their political relations with\noutside powers, are abundantly verified in the numerous monuments and\nauthorities which testify what the Egypt of that age really was. The\nreference to many of these points in the history of the ten plagues\nadmits of most ample verification from the ancient Egyptian authorities.\n\n4. Particularly we find in Egyptian history the means of explaining how\na new king might arise who \u201cknew not Joseph\u201d (change of dynasty being\na chronic infirmity); and how the monarch of an empire so magnificant,\nwielding a sway so despotic, might be tempted to defy Jehovah and\nproudly scorn to obey his command to \u201clet the people go.\u201d\n\n5. Yet again as to the sort of labor exacted unmercifully of the Hebrew\npeople the evidence from Egyptian antiquities is fully corroborative.\n\u201cThey built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Rameses,\u201d and were\nput to the severest toil in making brick; in the erection of buildings,\nincluding the transportation of the heaviest materials; and to \u201call\nmanner of service in the field\u201d (Ex. 1: 11, 14).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These treasure\ncities are identified with a high degree of certainty; and proximately\nsome of the very kings by whom this service was exacted. Mons.\nChabas[34] thinks he has found the Hebrews under name in official\nEgyptian records. He argues well that it must be in vain to look in the\npublic monuments [_e. g._ in their temples] for any thing disastrous\nto the king or to his people\u2015\u2015those monuments being consecrated to the\ntriumphs and glories of the kingdom\u2015\u2015official bulletins for this very\npurpose. This consideration rules out the ten plagues; the escape of\nthe Hebrews; the overthrow of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. Events\nso disreputable and disastrous to Egypt need not be looked for on her\nsacred monuments.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But the records on papyrus, consisting of both\nofficial and private correspondence, military reports, surveys of\npublic works, financial accounts, etc., may furnish their name. The\nHebrews were an important colony, held forcibly upon the soil of Egypt,\nemployed largely upon her public works. Consequently some notice of\nthem may be reasonably looked for in the class of documents pertaining\nto the business of the realm.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Mons. Chabas maintains very sensibly\nthat we should look for this people under the name \u201c_Hebrews_;\u201d not\n\u201cchildren of Israel\u201d\u2015\u2015this being rather a religious than an ethnic\ndesignation; not \u201cIsraelites\u201d\u2015\u2015this name not having then come into use;\nnot Jews, this name being first used many centuries later.\n\nThree documents have been recently discovered which speak of a\nforeign race under the hieroglyphic name \u201cAperiu.\u201d On principles of\ncomparative philology, Mons. Chabas makes this word the equivalent of\n_Hebrew_.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In the first document the scribe Kanisar reports to his\nsuperior: \u201cI have obeyed the command which my master gave me to provide\nsubsistence for the soldiers and also for the Aperiu who carry stone\nfor the great Bekhen of King Rameses. I have given them rations every\nmonth according to the excellent instructions of my master.\u201d[35]\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nsecond is similar: \u201cI have furnished rations to the soldiers and also\nto the Aperiu who carry stone for the sun of [the temple of] the sun,\nRameses Meriamen, to the south of Memphis.\u201d\n\nFurthermore, Egyptian records show that they put their prisoners of\nwar to such labors; for their kings record on the temples the number\nof captives they have taken to labor upon the temples of their gods.\n\nTwo of these documents on papyri belong to the reign of Rameses II,\nwhom Mons. Chabas assumes to be the king whose daughter adopted Moses\nand whose son and successor, Mei-en-ptah, experienced the ten plagues\nand fell in the Red Sea. (Bib. Sacra, Oct., 1865, p. 685.)\n\n6. It is a well-established fact of history that at one period\u2015\u2015not\nyet located definitely\u2015\u2015Lower Egypt was subdued and held by a Shepherd\nrace, called by Josephus, \u201cHyksos,\u201d supposed to have come from adjacent\nprovinces of Arabia or from Phenicia or both, and to have held the\ncountry from 350 to 500 years\u2015\u2015a Vandal race, savagely desolating the\nnoble monuments of Egyptian art and civilization, and known by the\nnative Egyptians as \u201cthe Scourge.\u201d This Shepherd race was ultimately\ndriven out by the kings of Upper Egypt (a Theban dynasty)\u2015\u2015probably\nbefore the age of Moses; perhaps before Jacob went down into Egypt. It\nmay be considered certain that Josephus and others err in confounding\nthem with the Hebrew people.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Geo. Rawlinson [in Aids to Faith,\np. 293] says\u2015\u2015\u201cThe period of the Shepherd Kings is estimated variously\nas continuing 500, 600, 900, and even 2,000 years; that historic\nmonuments were generally destroyed during their dominion; that no\nreliable historic records exist older than the beginning of the\neighteenth dynasty which expelled the Shepherd Kings; and that\npreviously to their times, \u2018Association\u2019 in Royalty was practiced,\ntwo or even three kings sitting on the same throne at the same time,\ndividing its labors and its honors between themselves.\u201d\n\nAs to the date of this Shepherd rule, the diversity in opinion\namong the best informed students of Egyptian antiquity is by no means\ncomforting or assuring. Dr. Lepsius and others have placed their\ninvasion of Egypt directly after the twelfth dynasty (B. C. 2101), and\ntheir expulsion about B. C. 1591. In his chronology, Jacob went down\ninto Egypt B. C. 1414; Moses led the people out B. C. 1314\u2015\u2015neither\ndate having the least regard to the scripture chronology.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Mons.\nMariette dates it in the eighteenth century B. C., _i. e._ between\nB. C. 1700 and B. C. 1800. With this we might compare the sojourn\nof the Israelites in Egypt from B. C. 2033 to B. C. 1603; or on the\nchronology of Usher, from B. C. 1706 to B. C. 1491.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Brugsch dates\ntheir incursion B. C. 2115, and supposes them to have been Arabs from\nArabia Petraea.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Bunsen\u2019s latest recension places their invasion\nB. C. 1983; their expulsion, B. C. 1548; and the Exodus of the Hebrews\nB. C. 1320\u2015\u2015the last date being certainly wide of the truth.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nevidence is conclusive that their expulsion preceded the resplendent\neighteenth dynasty whose kings ruled over all Egypt, and among whom was\nthe Pharaoh \u201cwho would not let the people go.\u201d Dr. Thompson argues at\nconsiderable length that the entire occupation of Lower Egypt by the\nHyksos must have _preceded_ the residence of the Hebrews there; but\nfeels the difficulties of the problem. He says\u2015\u2015\u201cAs yet the _terminus\na quo_ remains in obscurity\u201d [the point at which their occupation\nbegins]; \u201cwhile the _terminus ad quem_ is beginning to take a fixed\nplace in history.\u201d The date of their expulsion is mostly relieved\nof doubt. The war which resulted in their expulsion was begun by\nSeneken-Ra, about the commencement of the 18th dynasty of Thebes [Upper\nEgypt], and was prosecuted by Ahmes I, otherwise called Nebpeh-Ra, in\nwhose fifth year they were finally expelled. The reign of Ahmes I is\nproximately assigned to the 17th century B. C., _i. e._ from B. C. 1600\nto B. C. 1700.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015A curious inscription has recently been discovered\nby Mons. Dumischen, referring to a brilliant triumph over the Lybians,\nachieved by a certain king Menephtah\u2015\u2015this war being dated nearly\n400 years after the expulsion of the Hyksos. The scribe appended the\nremark\u2015\u2015\u201cOne could not have seen the like in the time of the kings of\nLower Egypt when the country of Egypt was held by the \u2018_Scourge_,\u2019 and\nthe kings of Upper Egypt could not drive them out.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This authority\nseems to prove that the Hyksos held only Lower Egypt; that Upper Egypt\nwas under another dynasty, for a time unable to expel the Shepherd race,\nbut ultimately successful, and subsequently attaining much greater\nmilitary power; also that the Hyksos people were accounted a savage and\nbarbarous race.\n\nIn conclusion I am constrained to say that the study of Egyptian\nantiquities, though richly remunerative and satisfactory in regard to\nalmost every thing else, is still very dubious and perplexing in the\npoint of _definite chronology_. The views of the ablest scholars are\nwidely conflicting; the original authorities still wait for some master\nmind to put them into system, or what is perhaps nearer the truth, for\nthe discovery of competent data from which a system can be constructed\nwhich shall harmonize all the authorities in the case. We want to know\nthe Pharaoh to whom the Lord sent Moses, whose reign synchronizes with\nthe Exodus. We find a series of powerful monarchs in the eighteenth\ndynasty and also in the nineteenth; but which of them answers to\nthis particular Pharaoh, it seems yet impossible to determine with\nsatisfactory certainty. Rameses II, all agree, was a powerful king;\nbuilt immense public works; reigned at least sixty, perhaps sixty-six\nyears;\u2015\u2015but some authorities place him in the eighteenth and some in\nthe nineteenth dynasty, and the extreme difference in the assigned\ndates for his reign is three hundred years.\n\nThe difficulties that invest Egyptian dates and dynasties seem at\npresent to be aggravated rather than relieved by the progress of modern\ndiscoveries. Thus we find in the Bib. Sacra, Oct. 1867, (pp. 773 and\n774) four parallel lists of the first three Egyptian dynasties, viz:\n(1.) That of Manetho; (2.) The Turin Papyrus; (3.) The Tablet of Sethos;\n(4.) The Tablet of Sakharah or Memphis. Compared with Manetho, the last\nthree are of quite recent discovery. They are somewhat defective; yet\nit is not specially difficult to discover a striking similarity and\nin many cases an obvious identity in the names given. But the names\nin Manetho\u2019s list almost utterly lack even similarity; much more do\nthey refuse to come into identity. The authority of the last three\nmust, it seems to me, be decidedly greater than that of Manetho.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nsame difficulty appears when we compare Manetho\u2019s names in the later\ndynasties (_e. g._ 18th\u201320th) with names constantly coming to light\nin recently discovered Egyptian monuments. I know not how this fact\naffects other minds. It can not but lessen my confidence in the\nlists of Manetho. It certainly goes far to lessen their practical\nvalue.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It is somewhat disheartening that these chronological\ndifficulties clear up so slowly. It still remains to be hoped that\nlight will yet break in and that conclusions will be reached in which\nall important authorities will be shown to concur.[36]\n\nIt would be a very great acquisition historically if we might know\nwhat Egypt was doing while the Hebrews were wandering in the wilderness\nforty years. Various circumstances conspire to favor the opinion that\nduring this period her king made a vast military crusade upon Palestine\nand the regions farther north, occupying several years and greatly\ncrippling the powerful tribes [kingdoms so called] then in possession\nof the land of Canaan. Both Josephus and Herodotus give accounts of\na great military expedition of this sort\u2015\u2015leaving, however, the main\nchronological problem _When?_ to be determined.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As to the great\npower of the kings of Canaan, the Lord said to Moses, \u201cI will send a\nhornet before you to drive them out,\u201d _i. e._ to break down their power\nand facilitate the subjection of the country before the arms of Joshua.\nThe original word translated \u201chornet\u201d does not suggest the insect\nnow commonly known by that name; but is equivalent to _scourge_, yet\nnot precisely defining of what sort. It is supposable that Egypt and\nher next kin after the Exodus, were more maddened than subdued by the\nescape of Israel and by the humbling disaster at the Red Sea; that this\ngreat expedition was inspired by the expectation of finding the Hebrew\npeople in Canaan and of punishing them there; that God\u2019s providence\nshielded them with perfect protection in the great Arabian desert\nwhere no Egyptian host could follow them or even subsist; and then with\nthat marvelous wisdom which so often turns the wrath of man to his own\npraise, used their prowess in arms to break down the military strength\nof Canaan and prepare that land for easy conquest before the arms of\nJoshua. It seems obvious that in point of military strength a great\nchange had come over the tribes of Canaan between the visit of the\nspies and the conquest by Israel. Did the Lord use the chariots and\nhorsemen of Egypt to produce this result? To have done so would be\nquite in keeping with that great law of his operations in this sinning\nworld under which he so often turns the wrath of wicked men to account\nmost signally and even gloriously to promote the ends of his own\nkingdom.\n\n\n\n\n \u2666CHAPTER XV.\n\n THE EVENTS NEAR AND AT SINAI.\n\n\n _The Manna._\n\nTHE divine plan of leading Israel to Canaan by the way of the great\ndesert involved the question of _subsistence_\u2015\u2015bread and water for\nsuch a host through so long a journey. It was perfectly obvious that\nthe ordinary resources of this desert were entirely inadequate, so\nthat the alternative was simply, miracle, or starvation. In the choice\nof miracle God had in view not only physical subsistence but moral\nculture\u2015\u2015the perpetual impression upon the millions of Israel that\ntheir covenant-keeping God was feeding them every day with bread\nimmediately from his own hand.\n\nThis bread took the name \u201cmanna\u201d from the question asked by the people\nwhen they found it upon the ground in the morning\u2015\u2015_What_ is this?\nTheir Hebrew words were\u2015\u2015Man-hu; what this? All the ancient versions\nand most ancient authorities concur in deriving the name \u201cmanna\u201d from\nthis original question as put in Ex. 16: 15. [Our English version has\nthe only correct rendering in the margin.]\n\nThe manna fell by night as the dew falls, and it would seem, fell with\nand in the dew so that when the dew evaporated under the morning sun,\nthere remained this very fine deposit\u2015\u2015\u201ca small round thing, as small\nas the hoar frost upon the ground.\u201d \u201cIt was like coriander seed, white,\nand the taste of it was like wafers made with honey\u201d (Ex. 16: 13\u201315,\n31). A subsequent description (Num. 11: 7\u20139) adds\u2015\u2015\u201cThe manna was as\ncoriander seed and the color thereof as the color of bdellium. And\nthe people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat\nit in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and the\ntaste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon\nthe camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The gathering, the\npreparation of it for cooking, and the cooking itself, cost labor,\nyet obviously none too much for the health and morals of the million.\nThe physiological facts to be noticed are that it was sufficiently\npalatable for all practical purposes and had the necessary elements\nfor the real bread\u2015\u2015the staff of life\u2015\u2015for a whole nation during\nforty years of wilderness life, with its alternations of marchings and\nencampments; of labor and of rest.\n\nThe points which evinced the miraculous hand of God were\u2015\u2015that it came\nfrom no known or possible source of supply in the kingdom of nature;\nthat it fell in the full amount needed for the thousands of Israel;\nfell on each of six mornings but not at all on the seventh, the Sabbath;\nthat the average amount on five of these mornings was a supply for one\nday, while on the morning next preceding the Sabbath, a double quantity\nfell, being a supply for two days; that the gathering for the first\nfive days of the week could be kept only one day, but the double supply\nof the sixth day remained sweet and pure for two days; and moreover, a\nquantity laid up by God\u2019s command in the sacred ark remained unchanged\nfor many generations. Thus wonderfully did the Almighty impress his\nhand upon every feature of this bread from heaven![37]\n\nThe allusions to manna in the Scriptures take note of the fact that\n\u201cGod _suffered them to hunger_\u201d before he sent them this supply (Deut.\n8: 3, 16). The record (Ex. 16: 1) states that it was already the\nfifteenth day of the second month since they came out of Egypt when the\nwhole congregation murmured for bread and seemed to themselves about\nto perish of hunger in the wilderness. One month and a half must have\nquite exhausted the hasty and scanty supplies which they brought from\nEgypt. The marvel is how they could have subsisted upon this so long,\neven though coupled with all the supplies possible in that desert.\nThat \u201cGod suffered them to hunger\u201d is however only in harmony with his\nusual method of dealing with his people\u2015\u2015subjecting them to a certain\npressure of want for purposes of moral trial\u2015\u2015the object being to test\ntheir faith in himself; to draw out their soul in prayer for help and\nin trust under darkness and in straits; and to make the blessing when\ngiven doubly precious. What Christian has ever lived long under any\ncircumstances of this earthly life without some discipline under this\ngreat law of the Christian life\u2015\u2015\u201cHe suffered thee to hunger\u201d and then\n\u201cfed thee with angels\u2019 food\u201d?\n\nMoses (Deut. 8: 16) makes a special point of the fact that this bread\nwas such as neither they nor their fathers had ever known before. The\nPsalmist (Ps. 78: 24, 25) takes the lofty poetic view of this great\ngift of God: \u201cHe commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors\nof heaven and rained down manna upon them to eat and gave them of\nthe corn of heaven. Man did eat angels\u2019 food: he sent them meat to\nthe full.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Josh. 5: 12 shows that the manna ceased as abruptly as\nit began, precisely when it was needed no longer. The people having\narrived in Canaan and supplies being within reach from the old corn\nof the land, the manna ceased and fell no more.\n\nAn article of commerce known under the name of \u201cmanna,\u201d produced in\nthe Arabian desert and in other Oriental regions, has scarcely any\npoints in common with the manna of Scripture save the name. It exudes\nfrom shrubs; does not fall from the lower heavens in and with the dew;\nit is obtained at the utmost only about four months of the year; is\nmost abundant in wet seasons\u2015\u2015fails in the dry; is somewhat useful as\na condiment and a medicine, but can never take the place of bread; and\nnever has been known in such quantities as would supply bread for the\nhosts of Israel.\n\nHow long the pot of manna was preserved in the ark of the covenant\ncan not be known definitely. We have the fact that the Lord directed\nits preservation there (Ex. 16: 32\u201334); and the further fact that\nwhen the ark was placed in the new temple of Solomon there was nothing\nin it save the two tables of stone (1 Kings 8: 9). It was doubtless\nkept long enough to subserve all the valuable purposes of a memorial\nto the generations of Israel. It has been embalmed in the Christian\nconsciousness of the Christian age by its symbolical use in the\nteachings of our Lord in which it represents his flesh which he gave\nfor the life of the world\u2015\u2015the far more real bread of life from heaven\n(John 6: 31\u201335, 47\u201358).\n\n\n _Water Supplied by Miracle._\n\nThe subsistence of the Israelites during forty years in the desert of\nArabia involved not only a supply of bread but of _water_ also. On two\ndistinct occasions\u2015\u2015the first at Rephidim, close to Horeb, during the\nlast half of the second month from Egypt; and the second at Kadesh, in\nthe northern border of the great desert, and during the first month of\nthe fortieth year from Egypt,[38] water was supplied them by miracle.\n\nSo great a multitude of people, including their animals, must have\nrequired a large supply of water. Nothing therefore is more probable\nthan that the supply should often be short, and sometimes utterly fail.\nAt Rephidim the people most unreasonably chode with Moses as if he\nalone was responsible for bringing them out of Egypt and for the lack\nof water, and as if their sufferings were so great as altogether to\neclipse all the blessings of that great deliverance. Moses had no help\nbut in the Lord his God. In answer to prayer the Lord provided for a\nmiracle, to be well attested by the presence of a body of the elders of\nthe people. \u201cTake them with thee,\u201d saith the Lord, \u201cand take also thy\nrod wherewith thou smitest the river\u201d (the Nile) \u201cand go. I will stand\nbefore thee there upon the rock in Horeb and thou shalt smite the rock,\nand there shall come water out of it that the people may drink.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nnames given were significant\u2015\u2015\u201cMassah\u201d of their _tempting_ the Lord by\ntheir unbelief; Meribah, of their _chiding_ and _strife_ as to Moses.\n\nThe scenes at Kadesh (Num. 20) were almost forty years subsequent, and\nconsequently involved another generation. The spirit of their complaint\nwas quite the same however\u2015\u2015chiding Moses most unreasonably, petulantly\nwishing they had died before the Lord as so many of their brethren\nwho had fallen under God\u2019s judgments in the wilderness since the\nunbelieving report of the spies and the consequent wrath of God upon\nthe people. Sadly we must note here that this unreasonable and even\ncruel reflection upon Moses stirred his indignation, excited him unduly,\nand found expression in ill-advised words from his lips. The Lord\nhad told him to take Aaron his brother, to gather the people together\nbefore the rock, and then _speak_ to the rock before their eyes and\nit should give forth water. When the eventful moment came, Moses,\ninstead of saying\u2015\u2015Ye have sinned against the Lord your God, yet in\nhis mercy he will give you rivers of water from this rock upon the\nword of command from his servant\u2015\u2015said as in the record\u2015\u2015\u201cHear now, ye\nrebels, must _we_ fetch you water out of this rock\u201d? In circumstances\nwhere man should be nothing and God all in all\u2015\u2015man only a consciously\nunworthy instrument, and God the Supreme and ever to be honored Power,\nit was one of the sad infirmities of the best of men to put himself\nso prominently forward and thrust the Great God so ungratefully into\nthe back-ground. Then, moved by the same excited passion, instead of\nspeaking to the rock, he smote it with his rod, not once only but twice.\nYet the Lord did not rebuke him with failure, but despite of his bad\nspirit, gave forth water abundantly. The rebuke upon both Moses and\nAaron came shortly after in the form of an absolute prohibition upon\ntheir entering the land of promise. They had _so_ dishonored the Lord\nin this case at Kadesh that he must needs express his disapprobation\nby denying to both of them the long-desired consummation of entering\nthe goodly land.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015If the Lord\u2019s rebuke of Moses seem severe, let it\nbe considered that his sin was very great because he had been admitted\ninto so near communion with God\u2015\u2015such communion as had never been\ngranted to any other man. If the guilt of sin be as the light sinned\nagainst, we are not likely to overestimate the guilt of his. The Lord\nspeaks of it as rebellion (Num. 27: 14). And manifestly his sin was\nso public as well as so flagrant that it became vital to the honor of\nGod\u2019s name and government to rebuke it unmistakably.\n\nThe exclusion from Canaan fell sorely upon the heart of Moses. He\nprayed earnestly that God would reverse this decree, but in vain. The\nLord shut off all hope, saying, \u201cLet it suffice thee; speak no more\nunto me of this matter\u201d (Deut. 3: 23\u201327). Sorrowful are the words of\nMoses: \u201cI must die in this land; I must not go over Jordan\u201d (Deut.\n4: 21).\n\nThe question arises naturally: Were these two cases\u2015\u2015at Rephidim and at\nKadesh\u2015\u2015the only supplies by miracle during those forty years? One of\nthem occurred during the first year of the forty; the other, during the\nlast: was the whole intervening period barren of all miraculous supply?\nOr were these two cases put on record rather as specimens than as\nexhaustive history?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Yet another question comes up: How long did the\nsupply in each of these two cases continue? Rephidim was adjacent to\nSinai, and the hosts of Israel remained before and near that mountain\nmany days. Did the supply from the Rephidim rock hold good during this\nentire period? Did it follow them along their journey in the wilderness\nstill further?\n\nTo these questions the first answer is\u2015\u2015that the history is silent as\nto the duration of the supply in either case. Moses might have told us\ndefinitely, but he has not.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Beyond this it only remains to take note\nof the allusions to this supply, made elsewhere in the Scriptures, and\nto suggest the probabilities of the case.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The writer of Ps. 78 sings:\n\u201cHe clave the rock in the wilderness and gave them drink as out of the\ngreat depths. He brought streams also out of the rock and caused waters\nto run down like rivers\u201d (vs. 15, 16). In Ps. 114: 8, we read\u2015\u2015\u201cWho\nturned the rock into a standing water; the flint, into a fountain of\nwater.\u201d These words imply a great abundance for the time and seem to\nassume an ample supply so long as the hosts of Israel remained in those\nplaces. They do not necessarily imply that the waters followed them as\na river in their journey onward from Rephidim or from Kadesh.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nallusions in Isa. 43: 19, 20, and 48: 21 are decisive as to the\ntemporary supply but indefinite as to its duration.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The words of\nPaul (1 Cor. 10: 4) should be noted. \u201cOur fathers all drank the same\nspiritual drink (for they drank of that spiritual Rock that _followed_\nthem and that Rock was Christ).\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In this passage, drinking of the\nRock can be nothing else than drinking _of the waters_ that issued\nfrom the rock. The only question of importance exegetically is\u2015\u2015whether\nthe words \u201cfollowed them\u201d refer to the waters or to the presence of\nChrist as in the pillar of cloud and of fire. The former seems the more\nobvious and natural reference, and, in so far, favors the view that\nthese waters, furnished miraculously, did follow them to some extent\non their journey\u2015\u2015perhaps in the way of fresh supplies provided for\nthem in a similar manner. It can not be doubted that the hosts of\nIsrael _had water_ through all their journeyings; they could not have\nsubsisted long without it. The natural supply must have been vastly\ngreater in that age than in this if it sufficed for this great host at\nall other points of their journey save at Rephidim and at Kadesh. The\nfact of a constant supply of bread by miracle favors the assumption of\nwater miraculously provided whenever the supply from natural sources\nfailed to meet their necessities. This is perhaps the utmost we can say\nin the way of probabilities.\n\n\n _The Battle With Amalek._\n\nWhile Israel was on the march near Rephidim, the Amalekites fell\nsavagely upon their rear in a dastardly, unprovoked assault, described\nby Moses (Deut. 25: 17, 18): \u201cRemember what Amalek did to thee by\nthe way when ye were come forth out of Egypt; how he met thee by the\nway and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind\nthee when thou was faint and weary; and he feared not God.\u201d The day\nfollowing, Moses summoned Joshua to choose men for war and go out\nagainst Amalek, proposing for himself to take his stand upon a hill\nadjacent with the rod of God in his hand. His uplifted hand and rod\nbecame the symbol or rather the visible manifestation of prayer. While\nheld up aloft, Israel prevailed; let down, Amalek prevailed. To achieve\nvictory despite of the weariness of Moses, a stone was placed for\nhim to sit upon; then Aaron and Hur on either side held up his hands\nuntil the going down of the sun. Thus victory was achieved; Amalek\nwas defeated, and what is specially to be noted, a signal illustration\nwas afforded of the power of prayer and a sublime testimony placed\non record before all Israel that in God they were mighty against\ntheir foes and could have nothing to fear. So important were these\ngreat moral lessons that the Lord directed Moses to \u201cwrite this for\na memorial in _the_ book\u201d [not merely _a_ book]\u2015\u2015the well-known public\nrecord in which the wonderful works of God for Israel were to be\npermanently preserved.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Another reason for the record was that Amalek\nwas doomed for this outrage, and the future kings and warriors of\nIsrael received from time to time their divine commission to execute\nthis sentence of extermination. (See Deut. 25: 19, and 1 Sam. 15,\netc., etc.)\n\nThere are some differences of opinion as to the history and\ngeographical location of these Amalekites. The name \u201cAmalek\u201d appears\n(Gen. 36: 12) as the grandson of Esau; whence some have found the\norigin, genealogically, of this people there; but they appear much\nearlier (Gen. 14: 7).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As to their _home_ geographically, their\nnomadic habits require a somewhat wide range of territory within which\nthey may be found. The passages 1 Sam. 15: 7, and 27: 8, locate them in\nthe district lying between the Philistines and Egypt, along the eastern\nshore of the Mediterranean in Arabia Petrea. We find them repeatedly\nassociated with the Midianites, Moabites, and Ammonites in raids upon\nthe children of Israel during the time of the Judges and onward to the\nreign of David (Judg. 3: 12, 13, and 6: 3, and 1 Sam. 30: 1). They come\nto view in the visions of Balaam (Num. 24: 20), spoken of there as \u201cthe\nfirst of the nations\u201d\u2015\u2015a phrase which can scarcely refer to their high\nantiquity (though this construction is barely possible); more probably\nit refers to the fact that they were the first to make war upon\nIsrael after the latter assumed her distinctly national character. So\nunderstood, the description of Amalek looked historically back to the\nfacts before us Ex. 17. Balaam foresaw their early destruction\u2015\u2015their\ncase being in this respect solemnly admonitory to the king of Moab.\n\nLet us not pass this historic fragment without a passing allusion\nto its admirable fitness as the opening scene in Israel\u2019s relation\nto hostile foreign powers. She had and was destined to have national\nenemies. It was clearly in the policy of the Lord her God that she\nshould fight these enemies with arms in deadly combat. Hence it was\nvital that she should be taught in the outset where her strength\nfor victory actually lay. This onslaught of Amalek upon her rear and\nthe ensuing battle, terminating in victory through prayer without\nceasing\u2015\u2015the uplifted arms of their Moses sustained till the sun set\nupon the victorious arms of Joshua\u2015\u2015became their standard lesson\u2015\u2015the\nfirst and the permanent example to show them the fountain of their\nstrength\u2015\u2015the ground of assured victory while they lived in obedience\nto God and trusted his arm alone.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It scarcely need be said that\nall the spiritual conflicts of God\u2019s people with sin and Satan fall\nunder the same general law\u2015\u2015victory through prayer sustained and\nunfaltering\u2015\u2015victory in the strength of Israel\u2019s God alone.\n\n\n _Jethro._\n\nIn Ex. 18, Moses narrates a visit from his father-in-law who brought\nto him his wife and children, left in his care ever since the scenes\nof which we read Ex. 4: 18\u201326. Jethro is before us here as both a good\nand a wise man\u2015\u2015_good_ in that his heart is shown to be with God and\nwith God\u2019s people, \u201crejoicing for all the goodness which the Lord had\ndone to Israel whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians\u201d\n(18: 9); and _wise_ in that he saw at a glance that the burdens then\nborne by Moses in the administration of justice among the people would\nsoon break him down; and in his admirable suggestions of a better\nmethod which from that day became established among the Hebrew people.\nFor both reasons such a visit deserved a permanent record. It refreshes\nus to think of that good man who had known Moses forty years as his\nworthy son-in-law, yet moving only in the humble sphere of a shepherd\u2019s\nwilderness life; but now meeting him God\u2019s recognized Leader of the\nthousands of Israel and hearing from his lips the wonders God had\nwrought on Egypt and on Pharaoh; the deliverance from national bondage;\nthe passage of the Red Sea and the entrance upon a wilderness march\nunderneath the cloudy pillar; subsisting on the \u201ccorn of heaven\u201d and\non rivers of water from the rock of Rephidim; and withal having just\nthen achieved their first victory over the first foreign power that\ndared assail them:\u2015\u2015all this recital from the lips of such a son must\nhave moved the aged father\u2019s heart with unwonted emotions. We are not\nsurprised that he should exclaim: \u201cBlessed be the Lord\u201d [your nation\u2019s\nown Jehovah] \u201cwho hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians\nand out of the hand of Pharaoh. Now I know that the Lord is greater\nthan all gods, for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly, he was\nabove them\u201d (18: 10, 11).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Then, being a priest, [\u201cpriest of Midian\u201d\nEx. 2: 16 and 18: 1], he proceeded to offer sacrifices in the manner\nwhich had come down traditionally from the earliest fathers. \u201cHe took\na burnt offering and sacrifices for God; and Aaron came and all the\nelders of Israel to eat bread with Moses\u2019 father-in-law before God\u201d\n(v. 12). The term \u201cburnt offering\u201d is usually applied to a sacrifice\nwhich is burnt entire upon the altar. The phrase \u201csacrifice for God,\u201d\nrefers here to a peace-offering upon portions of which the worshipers\npartook in the manner of a religious feast\u2015\u2015an act at once religious\ntoward God and social toward man.\n\nThe next day Moses resumed his accustomed routine of labor, sitting for\nthe administration of justice to the people from morning till evening.\nThe spirit which we see in Moses where he appears first in active life\n(Ex. 2: 11\u201313) would naturally put him to this service. His prestige\nas the recognized Leader of Israel under God would turn the eyes of all\nthe people to him as their Judge. Hence naturally this overwhelming\nburden, from which relief came through the wise suggestion of Jethro.\nThis was that a gradation of subordinate courts be instituted so\nthat cases of lesser magnitude and difficulty might be administered\nby others, and only the more difficult be brought before Moses. The\nguiding principle in the classification was at first both tribal and\nnumerical\u2015\u2015following their division into tribes and their numbers.\nAfter their location in Canaan the numerical element gave place to\nthe geographical. Judges had their province and their responsibility\nlimited, not by thousands and hundreds directly but by cities and\nlocalities. With this modification the system passed into established\nusage among the Hebrews.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In a parallel passage (Deut. 1: 9\u201318)\nMoses recites the same transaction, omitting all allusion to his\nfather-in-law, and giving prominence to the qualities requisite in\njudges, and to the principles of justice and righteousness by which\nthey were to be governed.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015At the close of this brief interview\nJethro returned to his home and people. His son Hobab, brother-in-law\nof Moses, appears in the history somewhat later (Num. 10: 29\u201332), and\nseems to have consented to act as guide to Moses and Israel in their\nmarch from Sinai to Kadesh, and not improbably until they reached the\nJordan. The home of the family had been on the East and South of Horeb.\nIn the period of the Judges and onward they are in the Northern border\nof the great Arabian desert. (See Judg. 1: 16 and 4: 11 and 1 Sam.\n15: 6).\n\n\n THE SCENES AT SINAI.\n\n _The National Covenant and the Giving of the Law._\n\nEvents of most vital bearing upon the national life of the Hebrew\npeople are now before us. No longer one family as in Abraham and Isaac\nand Jacob; no longer a mere tribe, clustering several families under\none or more patriarchs, but a group of many tribes, enlarging fast\ntoward the proportions of a great nation;\u2015\u2015and what is more, a people\nno longer under the emasculating incubus of bondage, but emancipated,\nand free to rise and assume the duties of self-government with all its\npossibilities of growth and improvement, personal and national\u2015\u2015this\ngreat people, were at this point summoned of God to enter into solemn\nnational covenant with himself. In its spirit and significance this\ncovenant differed in no essential point from that which God made with\nAbraham more than six hundred years before. In that earlier covenant\nAbraham spake for himself, and so far as it was naturally possible,\nfor his posterity as well; and God on his part promised to be a God not\nto him only but to his seed after him; yet when this seed of Abraham\nbecame a great people, there was special fitness in summoning them to\nrenew this covenant _for themselves_. Precisely this was done before\nSinai.\n\nThe Lord reminded them most appropriately of what he had so recently\ndone for them. \u201cYe have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I\nbare you on eagle\u2019s wings and brought you unto myself.\u201d It was as if\nhe had lifted them up from earth toward heaven and borne them forth and\nout from their national bondage\u2015\u2015as the eagle might take up her young\nand bear them aloft beyond the reach of whatsoever hostile power were\ntied down upon the earth\u2019s surface. God had done this for the definite\npurpose of _bringing them to himself_. \u201cNow, therefore, (he proceeds)\nif ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be\na peculiar treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine;\nand ye shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation\u201d (Ex.\n19: 4\u20136). In this divine proposal the central word, translated here\n\u201cpeculiar treasure,\u201d appears in Ps. 135: 4 translated in the same way;\nbut in Deut. 7: 6 with a different translation\u2015\u2015\u201cA _special people_\nunto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.\u201d\nThe sense is\u2015\u2015a special property\u2015\u2015a people by the choice of God and\nby their own voluntary consecration, made peculiarly his own. Moses in\nDeuteronomy (as above) labors to impress upon the people the thought\nand purpose of God in this covenant relation: \u201cThe Lord did not set his\nlove upon you nor choose you because ye were more in number than any\n[other] people; for ye were the fewest of all people; but because the\nLord loved you and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn\nunto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and\nhath redeemed you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh\nking of Egypt.\u201d Of kindred significance are the other phrases used to\nexpress their new proposed relation to God\u2015\u2015\u201cA kingdom of priests and\na holy nation.\u201d This strong language\u2015\u2015\u201ca kingdom of priests\u201d\u2015\u2015gives\nus the thought of a _whole people_\u2015\u2015every man in all the nation,\npersonally consecrated to God, as if the nation were made up of priests\nand of such only. God would have them understand that the holiness he\nrequired of them was not the professional service of a chosen few, but\nthe free-will offering of every man\u2019s own heart and life. The whole\npeople\u2015\u2015every individual man\u2015\u2015was summoned to come into this national\ncovenant. Would they come?\n\nMoses called for the elders\u2015\u2015who acted as the representatives of the\nwhole people and \u201claid before their faces all these words from the\nLord.\u201d At once all the people answered together and said\u2015\u2015\u201cAll that\nthe Lord hath spoken we will do.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Let us hope that a fair proportion,\nincluding at least many of the representative men of the nation, were\nthoroughly sincere in this profession. It would be grateful to our\nfeelings to believe that they all both understood and meant what they\nsaid. But, alas! subsequent developments forbid this belief. It was\nhowever the formal consent of the nation. As a whole people they gave\ntheir voice to this definite proposal from the Lord their God\u2015\u2015that he\nwould be their God and that they would be his people.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe next thing in order, is the _giving of the law_. A people who\npropose to be the Lord\u2019s and to obey his voice, should be made\nacquainted with his will in the form of _law_. They must be informed\nwhat he would have them _do_. Rules of heart and life, precepts\ndefining the reverent homage and worship due to God, and the acts\nrequired or forbidden as toward their fellow-men should be made\nunmistakably plain. Preparations are accordingly made for the formal\nand solemn promulgation of this great moral law. It is noticeable that\nin these preparations nothing seems to be omitted that might conduce\nto a deep and solemn impression. The people are specially enjoined to\nsanctify themselves, and two full days are set apart for this purpose.\nThey were commanded to \u201cwash their clothes\u201d\u2015\u2015significant of the\npersonal purity of heart which God required.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Then the surroundings\nwere of the most imposing and impressive character. The whole people\nwere gathered in an open plain which lay at the foot of Sinai. The most\nstringent precautions forbade all curious, irreverent approach. Not a\nman or beast might touch the mountain on pain of death. Definite bounds\nwere set for the people over which no one might pass. There before them\nfull in view stood the awful mount\u2015\u2015rugged, grand, cleft with fissures,\nbroken with deep ravines, towering in sublime height and all enwrapped\nin thick clouds out of which lightnings flashed\u2015\u2015the whole mountain\nrocking under the footsteps of the Almighty and reverberating with\nhis awful thunder, and the voice of trumpet exceeding loud so that all\nthe people in the camp trembled. The written description of this scene\ngives us a sense of its ineffable grandeur and sublimity. \u201cMount Sinai\nwas altogether on a smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire;\nand the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole\nmount quaked greatly. When the voice of the trumpet sounded long and\nwaxed louder and louder, Moses spake and the God answered him by a\nvoice.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Essentially the same descriptive points are repeated after\nthe record of the law as promulged from Sinai (Ex. 20: 18\u201321). \u201cAll\nthe people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of\nthe trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they\nremoved and stood afar off, and said to Moses: Speak thou with us and\nwe will hear; but let not God speak with us lest we die.\u201d See also the\nrenewed mention of this scene in Deut. 4: 10\u201312.[39]\n\n\n _The Moral Law as given from Sinai._\n\nPassing from the natural surroundings and scenes of Sinai to\nthe law itself, let it be observed carefully that this law of ten\ncommandments (Ex. 20: 1\u201317 and Deut. 5: 6\u201321) is to be somewhat broadly\ndistinguished from the other \u201cstatutes and judgments,\u201d whether civil\nor religious, which the Lord gave to Israel by the hand of Moses;\u2015\u2015this\ndistinction being apparent in the following points and for the reasons\nwhich they suggest:\n\n1. It was proclaimed by God himself in a most public and solemn manner\nin the hearing not of Moses alone, but of the elders of the people at\nleast, if not of the people en masse, assembled before and around the\nglorious mount.\n\n2. It was given under circumstances of most appalling majesty and\nsublimity\u2015\u2015the mountain being enveloped with clouds and thick darkness,\nyet at some moments all ablaze with the lightning\u2019s flash and rocking\nbeneath Jehovah\u2019s feet.\n\n3. It was written by the finger of God on two tables of stone (Deut.\n5: 22).\n\n4. It differed from any and all other laws given to Israel in that it\nwas comprehensive and general rather than specific and particular.\n\n5. It was complete, being one finished whole to which nothing was to be\nadded\u2015\u2015from which nothing was ever taken away. (\u201cAnd he added no more\u201d\nDeut. 5: 22. See also Mat. 5: 18). The other statutes, as we shall see,\nwere subjected to future modification.\n\n6. The law of the ten commandments was honored by Jesus Christ as\nembodying the substance of the law of God enjoined upon man. With\na master\u2019s hand he grasped and brought out its two great principles,\nunderlying all the precepts: Love supreme to God: love equal and\nunselfish toward fellow-men. \u201cThou shalt love the Lord with all thy\nheart, and thy neighbor as thyself.\u201d (Mat. 22: 36\u201340, and 19: 18, 19\nand Mk. 12: 28\u201334).\n\n7. It can scarcely be doubted that Jesus had his eye specially\nif not exclusively on this law (Mat. 5: 18) as _one never to be\nrepealed_\u2015\u2015from which not one jot or tittle should ever pass away.\n\nTo this great moral law of ten commandments we now give special\nattention and note\u2015\u2015That its introduction (Ex. 20: 2), \u201cI am the Lord\nthy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt\u2015\u2015out of the\nhouse of bondage\u201d\u2015\u2015is special\u2015\u2015not general and universal; is adapted\nto the circumstances of Israel, and gives a special reason why _they_\nshould honor this law as coming from the God of their national covenant,\nthe Redeemer and Savior of their nation. On the one hand this special\nreason why Israel should render supreme homage to Jehovah as their\nDeliverer from Egyptian bondage neither applies specifically to all\nmankind, nor does it imply that this law is not binding on other people\nthan Israel. It was pertinent that as given originally to them it\nshould be preceded and introduced by this special consideration, so\npertinent to their case. Yet it should be thoughtfully considered\u2015\u2015God\nmight have said most truly to every child of his great human family\u2015\u2015I\nam He who gave thee thy being and every good; and therefore I claim\nthy supreme love and homage.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015I see no reason to question that this\nclause was put on the two tables of stone\u2015\u2015its special introduction as\ngiven to the children of Israel.\n\nI. In the first precept, the words \u201cbefore me\u201d are construed variously.\nThe most usual and obvious translation of the Hebrew words is\u2015\u2015_before\nmy face_. In some connections the preposition might mean _upon_ or\n_above_. \u201cMy face\u201d is thought by some to be merely equivalent to\n_myself_. Keil translates\u2015\u2015\u201cliterally _beyond me_, or in addition\nto me, equivalent to except me, or by the side of me.\u201d He rejects\nthe construction, \u201cbefore me\u201d (in my presence) as incorrect, and\nalso condemns _against me_\u2015\u2015in opposition to me. Fuerst has it \u201cabove\n_i. e._ except me.\u201d Murphy says\u2015\u2015\u201cbefore me\u201d is literally \u201cupon my\nface.\u201d It supposes those other gods to be set up _before_ the true\nGod as antagonists in the eye of God and as casting a shade over his\neternal being and incommunicable glory in the eye of worshipers.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\ntwo constructions\u2015\u2015_beyond_ me and _above_ me\u2015\u2015are open to the\nobjection that they seem tacitly to admit other gods provided they\nare inferior and that God is supreme. I prefer as the more obvious and\nnatural construction\u2015\u2015_before my face_. Thus the precept forbids homage\nto any other god in the presence of the supreme and omniscient Jehovah;\nand by consequence, forbids divine honor to any other being or thing\nwhatsoever. \u201cThou shalt have no other gods _before my face_\u201d seems\nto imply that the least acknowledgment of other gods is in its very\nnature an insult to Jehovah, as if it thrust those gods into his\nvery face\u2015\u2015held them up before his eye as more worthy of homage than\nhe. Moreover, as no possible worship of other gods can escape his\neye, or be otherwise than thrust up before his face, the prohibition\nnecessarily shuts off all such worship. You may never worship other\ngods than the One Supreme Being, for it is simply impossible that any\nsuch worship can elude his eye, and you must not put it before his face.\n\nII. The second command prohibits the making and worshiping of images\ndesigned to represent idol gods\u2015\u2015imaginary powers, supposed to have\nmore or less control over human welfare. It equally prohibits images\ndesigned to represent the true God. All such sensuous conceptions of\nGod are necessarily debasing. They rest on false views of God; tend\nto fearful and fatal degeneracy; and must therefore be forbidden under\nmost stringent penalties. The whole history of our race witnesses to\nthe infinite mischief wrought by such sensuous conceptions of God, as\nwell as by the notion of subordinate powers, lower than the one supreme\nyet more than human. This has been one of Satan\u2019s devices to rule God\nout of his universe and transfer to other objects the worship due to\nGod alone.\n\nThis prohibition as it stands here is not enforced by specific\npenalties, but in a way far more impressive it bears us back to the\nvery heart of God, revealing his holy _jealousy_ of any rival to his\nthrone who would wrest and steal away from him the supreme love and\nhomage of his creatures, and give it to supposed gods that are no Gods\nat all. \u201cFor I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers\nupon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that\nhate me.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015By the very law of the family relation, the great sins\nof the father send their curse down upon his children. He makes them\nheirs to an inheritance of shame and sorrow. He entails calamity upon\nhis offspring. Godless and idolatrous himself, he makes his family also\ngodless and idolatrous. The influence of his sin will naturally and\nalmost inevitably blight the morals and the souls of his children after\nhim, and of his children\u2019s children. Let this fact throw its shield\nlike a wall of fire around him and his family, so that, if not for his\nown sake, at least for the sake of his unborn offspring, he will most\nsacredly obey this command and abstain from the least infringement of\nit in spirit or in letter.\n\n\u201cVisiting iniquity\u201d and \u201cshowing mercy\u201d are set over against each\nother\u2015\u2015the penal visitations of judgment for this sin warning men\nagainst it; and the great promises of mercy to the obedient alluring\nthem to its most diligent observance. Judgment is God\u2019s strange\nwork, while mercy is his delight. Therefore we have here the forceful\nantithesis\u2015\u2015the visiting of the iniquities of fathers upon children\nto the third and fourth generation, but the showing of mercy unto\nthousands of generations of them that love and obey. To a Hebrew mind\nthis last clause of the second command would naturally suggest God\u2019s\nmercies to Abraham, the well-known friend of God, upon whose posterity\nGod was shedding forth his blessings to thousands of generations. So\nrichly does the loving God reward his dutiful and trustful children! So\nmuch more grateful to his heart it is to bless even to the thousandth\ngeneration than to visit iniquity even so far as to the third and\nfourth!\n\nIt should be carefully noted that the visiting of the iniquities of\nfathers upon sons falls only _upon those who hate him_. If sons in\nany future generation turn from their sinning to the love of God,\nhis merciful loving-kindness to them is sure. The curse visits only\nthose who persist in the sin of their fathers despite of all the\nwarning judgments that should admonish them to fear God. (See Ezek.\n18).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This injunction against image-making and worship would\nnaturally suggest to the men of Israel the idolatrous Egyptians. Their\nearly fathers received from Noah the knowledge of the one only true\nGod. But they did not love this knowledge, nor the God whom it revealed;\ntherefore, not liking to retain these views of the pure and holy God,\nthey chose to think of him as being like some of his works and began to\nworship such imaginary gods; or they put in his place some lower beings\nor powers as objects of worship. Hence the terrible judgments which the\nchildren of Israel had seen falling upon Egypt and her idols.\n\n\u201cUpon those that love me\u201d is delightfully suggestive of the great\ntruth that the essence of all acceptable worship is love. God looks\ncomplacently on his human children when they delight in his glory, love\nhis character, rejoice in his blessedness, and make it the best joy of\ntheir souls to please him by doing all his will. Such love legitimately\nflows out in reverent worship and adoring homage. Over against this the\nworship of idols in place of God is congenial only to the souls that\nhate God. This command assumes that those who worship other gods really\nhate the one Supreme Jehovah. Therefore it is that his jealousy burns\nagainst them. They withhold from him the love and the homage of their\nhearts.\n\nIII. In the third command the exegetical question is whether it refers\nprimarily and properly to perjury, or to profanity, _i. e._ whether the\nHebrew word for \u201c_in vain_\u201d[40] is precisely falsehood, or emptiness, a\nnothing, a thing of no worth. The current of critical opinion (Gesenius,\nFuerst, etc.) goes for the former, falsehood; and makes the precept in\nits strict sense condemn perjury. Thou shalt not take up the name of\nJehovah to a falsehood\u2015\u2015shalt not use it to affirm the more solemnly\nwhat is false. Yet as what is false has no foundation in fact, and in\npoint of truth is nothing\u2015\u2015is only an emptiness\u2015\u2015it comes to pass that\nthis Hebrew word takes not infrequently this secondary sense; what is\n_empty_, _vain_. Hence some able critics [_e. g._ Keil] construe this\nprecept to prohibit \u201call employment of the name of God for vain and\nunworthy objects so as to include not only false swearing, but trivial\nswearing in the ordinary intercourse of life and every use of the\nname of God in the service of untruth and lying\u2015\u2015for imprecations,\nwitchcraft, or conjuring.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The construction of Keil, being the\nmore broad and comprehensive, and withal being clearly within the\nestablished usage of the original word, is to be preferred. The\ndoctrine of inspiration is\u2015\u2015\u201cThy commandment is exceeding broad\u201d (Ps.\n119: 96).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The _name_ of God is associated closely with the idea and\nthought of God. Hence all irreverent use of this name naturally begets\nirreverence of spirit toward God, and must be fearfully pernicious.\nUsing God\u2019s sacred name to affirm the more solemnly a falsehood is more\nthan mere irreverence, and must incur his highest displeasure.\n\nThe fourth command\u2015\u2015the law of the Sabbath\u2015\u2015has been already treated\nsomewhat fully in connection with the original institution of the\nSabbath in Eden. I must dissent entirely from those critics who deny\nthe existence of any Sabbath law prior to Sinai. To \u201cbless the seventh\nday and sanctify it\u201d (as said in Gen. 2: 3) has no meaning if it do\nnot mean that God required the day to be one of rest from labor\u2015\u2015a day\nof holy time, devoted to other than ordinary uses.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Fully in harmony\nwith this construction of these words is the allusion to the Sabbath\nin the history of the manna (Ex. 16: 22\u201330), and also the _form_ of\nthe precept here (Ex. 20: 8), which is not precisely\u2015\u2015Thou shalt do\nall thy work during six days, but none on the seventh;\u2015\u2015but it is this:\n\u201c_Remember_ the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.\u201d The implied injunction\nof the words spoken in Eden was\u2015\u2015make it a holy day. God blessed the\nseventh day and made it holy: now, therefore, _remember_ that original\ninjunction. To remember a previous day made holy, must surely imply a\nprecept setting it apart as holy time.\n\nAs given here the law of the Sabbath is expanded into its\nlegitimate details. The prohibition of labor is applied to children,\nto servants, to cattle and to strangers. Then the reason for the\ncommand, essentially as given in Eden, is reiterated; \u201cFor in six days\nthe Lord made heaven, earth, sea, and all creatures; but rested on\nthe seventh day; therefore he blessed and hallowed this Sabbath-day.\u201d\nNoticeably, the statement following \u201ctherefore,\u201d uses the same Hebrew\nverbs\u2015\u2015\u201cbless,\u201d and \u201csanctify\u201d [or \u201challow\u201d] which are used Gen.\n2: 3.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It seems plainly implied that God places before men his own\nexample of creative work during six day-periods and of rest from this\nwork on the seventh as a reason or motive for their observance of the\nSabbath\u2015\u2015one day of rest after six of toil. A secondary consideration\nis doubtless that by this arrangement the Sabbath would be perpetually\nsuggestive of man\u2019s relation to God as his Infinite Creator and Father.\nThe linking of the Sabbath to God\u2019s creative work and rest would\nnaturally make that work a fact ever present to human thought\u2015\u2015blending\nits influence with the sacredness and with all the employments of this\nholy day. Man desists from labor. Why? Because God did. After what\nlabor? That of making the heavens and the earth and man. Therefore let\nman remember God as his Creator and render him the homage of obedience\nand the homage of adoration, gratitude and praise. Thus the historic\norigin of the precept became suggestive of the thoughts, the words, and\nthe divine worship appropriate to this holy day.\n\nIt is scarcely in place here to discuss the Christian change from the\nseventh to the first day of the week, further than to remark that a\nsimilar suggestive influence came in as the purpose and object\u2015\u2015_the\nchoice of the day suggesting the resurrection of Christ_. The original\nreference to God as Creator need not be practically lost: but we\nmay practically gain a second group of suggestive and most vital\ntruths\u2015\u2015those which cluster round the resurrection of our Lord.\n\nV. The fifth command consecrates its strength to the family relation.\nAddressed to children it requires them to honor their father and their\nmother, and makes obedience the condition of long life and prosperity\nin the land of their promised inheritance. As read in Ex. 20: 12 the\ncommand specifies only long life, but as repeated in Deut. 5: 16,\n\u201cthat it may go well with thee\u201d\u2015\u2015is added. General prosperity is\nhowever involved and implied in length of days.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Obviously this\nhonor carries with it obedience as well as due respect. Such honor is\nvital to the happiness and the value of the family relation. Without it\nno foundation can ever be laid for a useful and worthy after-life. It\nshould not be overlooked that the earliest training of the infant mind\nGodward should begin with cultivating the honor and obedience due to\nfather and mother. Through all the earliest developments of the infant\nand youthful mind, the parent is to the child in the place of God.\nThe same qualities of character, the same obedience, respect, and\ndeference, which God requires toward himself are to be first implanted\nand developed in the mind toward the human parent. Failing of their due\ndevelopment in this antecedent relation, they are almost certain never\nto be developed toward God: a fatal defect in character is fastened\nupon the child; a cast of mind is determined which but too surely ends\nin hopeless ruin.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It is noticeable that this very association of\nideas, uniting the homage due to parentage and years with the honor\ndue to God appears in the Mosaic law (Lev. 19: 32); \u201cThou shalt rise\nup before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man; and _fear\nthy God_: I am the Lord.\u201d\n\nVI. The next four precepts are a series beginning with the most vital,\ndesigned to protect the rights of person and life; of chastity; of\nproperty; and of reputation. The precepts forbid murder, adultery,\ntheft, false witness, or defamation. The prohibition of murder must\nbe construed broadly enough to forbid personal injuries on the one\nhand; and on the other all those passions\u2015\u2015hate, malice prepense\u2015\u2015which\nnaturally lead on toward violence and murder.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The prohibition of\nadultery in like manner forbids not only all illicit sexual connection,\nbut even unchaste desire (Matt. 5: 27, 28). So the prohibition of theft\ndevolves the duty of caring for our neighbor\u2019s property so far as the\nlaw of loving our neighbor as ourself would require. It is not enough\nthat we do not take his property and appropriate it to our own use.\nWe must protect his right to his property as he should ours. In like\nmanner the law forbidding the bearing of false witness against our\nneighbor involves the duty of protecting and cherishing his reputation.\nWe may never forget that our neighbor\u2019s good name is a treasure to him\nwhich we not only must not steal away, but must so far as in us lies\nguard and defend as if his good were worth as much as our own. The one\ncomprehensive principle which embraces all these points of law toward\nour neighbor and determines their true interpretation is given in the\nlaw of Moses as well as in the law of Christ\u2015\u2015\u201cThou shalt love thy\nneighbor as thyself\u201d (Lev. 19: 34 and Matt. 22: 39 and 19: 19). As to\nthis passage from Moses it should be noted that _in terms_ it speaks\nnot precisely of one\u2019s neighbor but of the _stranger_\u2015\u2015one toward\nwhom you are wont to think your obligations less than toward any other\nhuman being; for he is not a brother born of the same father\u2015\u2015not a\nrelative of the same tribe\u2015\u2015not a citizen of the same commonwealth\nor nationality; but an alien, a foreigner, a stranger toward whom you\nrecognize no other relation than that of a fellow-being of human kind.\nOf such an one the law holds\u2015\u2015\u201cThe stranger that dwelleth with you\nshall be unto you as one born among you, and _thou shalt love him as\nthyself_; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord\nyour God\u201d\u2015\u2015and I enjoin upon you this all-embracing love for the lowest\nof human kind.\n\nIt should be carefully noted that although this group of four commands\n(6\u20139) in each case specifies the extreme form of the sin, the law\nby no means limits its prohibition to this extreme form. Killing is\nthe extreme of personal violence; adultery (strictly the crime of the\nmarried) is the most aggravated form of unchastity; theft is more than\nsimply being reckless of your neighbor\u2019s property; and false witness\nnaturally contemplates a case in court\u2015\u2015public, formal, and of most\ngrave and momentous consequences;\u2015\u2015yet in each and every one of these\nprohibitions it behooves us to remember that God looks at the heart;\nthat the spirit is more than the letter; that the law which specifies\nthe extreme form of a special sin forbids with its full force all\nthe lower grades and all the less flagrant and revolting forms of the\nsame sin. We wrong ourselves most fearfully when we labor to ease our\nconscience by limiting the prohibitions of God\u2019s law to the extreme\nforms of sin which may be named in the statute. It is always our\nhighest wisdom to deal very honestly with our own conscience as before\nGod in the construction and application of his law.\n\nThe tenth and last commandment is peculiar, as compared with all others\nof the second table, in this point\u2015\u2015that it specifies no external act\nwhatever but lays its prohibition directly _upon the heart_. \u201cThou\nshalt not covet\u201d\u2015\u2015shalt not allow thyself to _desire_ in such a way as\nmight tempt thee to try to obtain\u2015\u2015thy neighbor\u2019s house, wife, servants,\ncattle, or any thing that he has. This law aims to forestall temptation.\nIt strikes at the root of such sins as theft and adultery by forbidding\nany such desire as might move you toward the sin. It may be regarded\nas shielding both of the two parties; the one who might commit the\nsin, and the one against whom the sin might be committed. It throws\nits shield over him who might otherwise be tempted, and it also becomes\nin so far a safeguard around him who holds treasures which lustful eyes\nmight covet.\n\nLet us not omit to notice that it was this precept which opened the\nspiritual eye of Paul and gave him a new view of the breadth and true\nsignificance of God\u2019s law. \u201cI had not known sin, (said he) but by the\nlaw; for I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not\ncovet\u201d (Rom. 7: 7). His Pharisaic training (we may suppose) had been\nscrupulous over the tenth part of the mint and anise and cummin\u2015\u2015had\ntaken even ostentatious care of the external matters of the law;\nbut, alas! had _left the heart out_. Here at the close of the\nlaw of Sinai\u2015\u2015last among the precepts that treat of duty to our\nneighbor\u2015\u2015stands one which puts its finger squarely upon the _heart_.\nIt says\u2015\u2015\u201cThou shalt not _covet_.\u201d It not only suggests that God\nlooks within the soul of man for sin, but it demands that every man\nshall look there too and put his own restraining hand directly upon\nthose rising desires which, indulged, would push him into overt sin.\nMoreover, this one precept may be supposed to have suggested to the\nmind of Paul that the whole law of God must be construed on this\nheart-principle\u2015\u2015that every precept it contains goes beyond the letter\nto the spirit\u2015\u2015pushes its demand deeper than the outward act, even to\nthe inner thought, passion, and purpose of the soul. This view put the\nlaw of God in a new light\u2015\u2015we might even say\u2015\u2015revealed a new law to his\nsoul. It gave him a new field for self-examination; brought up new sins\nnever seen or dreamed of before, and at once demolished hopes of favor\nbefore God and of salvation on which he had perilously leaned through\nall his Pharisaic life.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u201cThy commandment\u201d (said one of the Psalmists)\n\u201cis exceeding broad\u201d (Ps. 119: 96). We are not to think of all the Old\nTestament saints as Pharisees. Let us rather hope that many of them\nread in the law of Sinai the law of love, and adjusted to it, not the\noutward life only but the very heart as well.\n\n\n _Progress in the Revelation of God to Man._\n\nThe first twenty chapters of Exodus cover a period eminently rich in\npoint of _progress_ in revealing God to the race.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015More fully than\never before God manifested those special elements of his character\nwhich are unfolded in the new name Jehovah\u2015\u2015I am that I Am (Ex. 3: 14).\nHe had given promises before; then he came forth to _fulfill_ them. He\nhad talked with the patriarchs about faith, and had sought to inspire\nit in their souls. In these great deeds for his people he gave them\ndemonstrations of his eternal faithfulness\u2015\u2015a basis on which their\nfaith might rest, and also the faith of every child of his through all\nthe future ages. God came exceedingly near to his afflicted people in\nEgypt, and never missed any opportunity of suggesting and impressing\nthe idea that these tender testimonies of his love were in proof of\nhis _fidelity to promise_\u2015\u2015were the very acts which his covenant with\nAbraham involved and called for\u2015\u2015called for of their covenant God not\nin vain.\n\nAgain, we see here the _possibility of very great intimacy of communion\nbetween God and man_. As bearing on this point the reader will review\nthe scene between Moses and the Lord at the burning bush; in his\nmission to Pharaoh; in the special directions given him in regard to\nthe sending of each several plague, and usually as to its removal as\nwell. Did ever earthly Potentate stand on more intimate terms with his\nprime minister? Or military chieftain with his subordinate officer? If\nMoses was at any point reluctant, under a conscious sense of capacities\nunequal to the work and of difficulties he could not surmount, did he\nnot bring the matter before the Lord with at least as much freedom as\nthe case could justify?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Especially when we think of Moses coming\nso near to Jehovah in his majesty wielding the terrific agencies of\nflood and storm and fire, of darkness and lightning and the voice of\ntrumpet exceeding loud\u2015\u2015Mt. Sinai rocking beneath his feet, and Moses\nalone drawing near the Awful Presence and talking with God face to face\nthere\u2015\u2015what shall we say of the possibilities of communion between man\nand his Maker? Whatever speculations we may have as to the means and\nmethods by which the thought of God was borne to the mind of Moses and\nthe thought of Moses to the mind of God, the great fact of _communion_\nof mind with mind\u2015\u2015thought meeting thought\u2015\u2015of command from the\nsuperior party, received and obeyed by the inferior\u2015\u2015is on the outer\nface of the whole history and admits of no question. God can speak to\nman so that man shall know the voice to be his and comprehend perfectly\nits significance. Relations of obedience, confidence, and love on the\npart of man toward his Maker are established, and God meets them with\nappropriate manifestations of his favor.\n\nThis great fact is one of telling significance in the whole province\nof Christian experience. Its significance can not terminate with the\npresent life but must pass on to be unfolded far more gloriously in\nthe revelations of the eternal world. \u201cIt doth not yet appear\u201d [in all\npoints] \u201cwhat we shall be\u201d\u2015\u2015but it does appear that God has made us\ncapable of exceedingly intimate relations to himself\u2015\u2015as we shall know\nmore perfectly when we shall see as we are seen and know as also we are\nknown.\n\nYet again; This portion of historic revelation _abounds with\ntestimonies to the power of prayer_ and to its place in the relations\nof God to man and of man to God. We see these revelations in the\nhistory of the plagues on Egypt. So palpably manifest was the power\nof Moses with God in prayer that even proud Pharaoh saw and recognized\nit. Over and over again the king besought the prayers of the man of\nGod\u2015\u2015apparently with unlimited confidence that God would grant whatever\nhe should ask. Though he never had seen such power in prayer before,\nthe force of the facts was too great to be resisted. For once he became\nso far a believer in the communion of man with God, and also in the\npower of God to work wonders which man\u2019s power alone could never reach.\n\nThe war scenes with Amalek and the prayer which turned the victory\nto Israel\u2019s side will be readily recalled. As already suggested, this\nspecimen case, brought out so perfectly in the first national conflict\nof arms, was well adapted to send down to future ages the great secret\nof success against their national enemies. How happy for Israel if\nit had never been forgotten! How well for the Christian world if the\nlessons of that scene were faithfully transferred and applied in all\nspiritual conflicts against foes within and foes without which pertain\nto this ever militant state!\n\nIt is scarcely necessary to speak in fuller detail of the revelations\nof God to man _through miracle_. Every page of this history teems with\nmiracles. Take the miracles away, and truly there would be nothing left.\nThe revelations of God\u2019s will to Moses; the judgments on Egypt; the\nredemption of his people from bondage there; the scenes at the Red Sea;\nthe bread and the water for his needy people; the pillar of cloud and\nof fire; the glories of Sinai and the giving of his law in voice of\nmajesty:\u2015\u2015what are all these but miracles\u2015\u2015the Great God over-stepping\nthe ordinary course of nature to impress himself, the power of his arm,\nthe mandates of his will\u2015\u2015upon human minds? No other such chapter on\nmiracles appears in the Old Testament. Nowhere else do they cluster\nso grandly; not elsewhere do they so much supersede the common laws\nof nature and give character to the entire course of the divine\nadministration. Most abundantly do they testify that the arm of the\nLord is equal to any result which his wisdom may devise. If he has\npurposes to accomplish he can not lack the means or the power necessary.\nThe age of miracles can be brought round again if so he wills it. But\nmore to our purpose is the inference to the adequacy of his resources\nin general, whether with or without miracle.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Yet let us not miss\nthe more vital truth that this cluster of miracles aimed to witness\nto God\u2019s present hand working with Moses, endorsing his mission and\naccrediting his words from the most High. God was then specially active\nin \u201cmaking history\u201d (shall we say?)\u2015\u2015_making history to put into his\nBible_. The Bible was growing; the great crisis which developed into\nthe birth of the Hebrew nation was then transpiring; God\u2019s plans for\ntraining a people who should be holy to himself\u2015\u2015the repository of his\ntruth\u2015\u2015the church of the living God\u2015\u2015were then rapidly unfolding; and\nno vital step in this process could spare the agency of miracle.\n\nYet again; In this portion of sacred history much new light has been\nthrown upon _God\u2019s management of great sinners_. Pharaoh was a standard\ncase of this sort. As already suggested, there are many aspects of this\nmanagement. On one side we see the strong arm, putting his hook into\nthe jaws of Leviathan\u2015\u2015curbing his spirit, breaking down his power;\nburying him and his hosts in the sea. On another side are unfolded\nthe nice relations of even this resistless power to the free moral\nactivities of the great sinner; the wonderful blending of mercies with\njudgments; the patient waiting\u2015\u2015if possibly these manifestations of\nGod\u2019s hand may bring the proud king to real submission; and coupled\nwith this, the steady purpose on God\u2019s part to turn all Pharaoh\u2019s pride\nand guilt and moral obduracy to best possible account\u2015\u2015setting forth\nhis mode of dealing with wicked men in making known his power to save\nhis people and to crush their foes, and his unfailing wisdom in making\nthe wrath of the proudest of mortals evolve his own glory and praise.\n\n * * * * *\n\n_The scenes of Sinai_ were a long and magnificent step of progress in\nthe revelations of God to men. We may think here not so much of the\nexternal surroundings\u2015\u2015the bringing into service of all the grandest\nagencies of nature to impress men with reverence and fear and awe, and\nso to plant the more deeply in their souls the idea of law as emanating\nunmistakably from the Infinite One; but we may consider the _great\nfact itself of a revealed law_. It is surely a point in the progress\nof God\u2019s revelations of himself second to nothing that has gone\nbefore\u2015\u2015second to nothing in all the ages save the greater mission of\nhis Son for the purposes of redemption. God revealing to man a rule of\nduty; expressing it in terms at once so simple and so comprehensive;\nincluding the duties we owe to God on the one hand and to fellow-beings\non the other; putting it on permanent record; accompanying it with\ndemonstrations of majesty and glory, endorsing it so surely and so\nsublimely; adjusting it so nicely in harmony with the intelligent\nconvictions of rational minds, and so commending it to every\nman\u2019s conscience as intrinsically and eternally right:\u2015\u2015truly the\npromulgation of such a law through such agencies is surpassingly grand\nand glorious; and, in the line of our present thought, is one of the\ngreat epochs in the march of God\u2019s revelations of himself to mortals.\nWe pause before it to take in the value of this revealed law; the new\nrelations into which the race are brought thereby toward their Great\nFather; and the bearings of this law upon the whole plan of God\u2019s moral\nadministration toward our fallen race.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XVI.\n\n THE HEBREW THEOCRACY.\n\n\nNATURALLY following the national covenant (Ex. 19) and the giving of\nthe law from Sinai (Ex. 20) and preliminary to the civil code\u2015\u2015\u201cthe\nstatutes and judgments\u201d\u2015\u2015comes in the _Theocracy_\u2015\u2015a term used to\ndesignate the system of government established for the Hebrew people.\n\nHere we may consider briefly the following points:\n\nI. _The Supreme Power._\n\nII. The powers of _Jehovah\u2019s vicegerents_\u2015\u2015his chief executive officers.\n\nIII. The _general assembly_ or congregation, and their _elders_.\n\nIV. The scope afforded for self-government-democracy.\n\nV. The fundamental principles of this entire system.\n\nVI. Its union of church and state.\n\nVII. Its principles and usages in respect to _war_, with a notice of\nthe war-commission against the doomed Canaanites.\n\n\n I. _The Supreme Power._\n\nGod himself was _king_. In every respect the supreme power was his.\nPrecisely this is the sense of the term \u201c_theocracy_\u201d\u2015\u2015_a government\nof God_.\n\nThis comprehensive fact appears in the following particulars:\n\n1. God demanded supreme homage as their king (Ex. 19: 6 and Deut. 6:\n4\u201315, and 7: 6\u201311, and 10: 12\u201321, and 33: 4, 5 and 1 Sam. 8: 6\u20138, and\n10: 18, 19 and Judg. 8: 23).\n\n2. God enacted the statutes. He was the Supreme _Lawgiver_. We\nsometimes speak of the \u201cMosaic code,\u201d of the \u201cstatutes of Moses,\u201d\nmeaning by these phrases only that the statutes came from God to the\npeople by the hand of Moses; never that Moses was himself the author\nof these statutes\u2015\u2015the true legislator. (See Ex. 21: 1 and Deut. 6: 1).\n\n3. God _nominated the chief executive_. He called Moses (Ex. 3: 10, 12,\nand 4: 16 and 1 Cor. 10: 2); and Joshua (Num. 27: 18\u201323 and Deut. 3: 28,\nand 31: 3 and Josh. 1 and 5: 13\u201315). The same was true of the Judges,\nraised up for special emergencies (Judg. 2: 16, 18, and 3: 9, 15, and\n4: 6, and 6: 12, etc., etc.) God called the kings:\u2015\u2015Saul (1 Sam. 9: 17,\nand 10: 1); also David (1 Sam. 13: 14, and 16: 1 and 2 Sam. 5: 2 and\nPs. 78: 70, 71); and to name no more, Solomon (1 Chron. 28: 5).\n\n4. In all cases not otherwise provided for, the ultimate appeal was\nto God. In point we have (Num. 16 and 17) a case of resistance to\nthe authority of Moses\u2015\u2015incipient rebellion. God interposed with his\nsupreme authority. We have a case in civil law, not reached by the\nstatutes, viz. the entailment of real estate in a family of daughters\nonly. Moses brought it before the Lord for adjudication (Num. 27: 5). A\nspecial provision respecting the marriage of daughters holding property\nin land became necessary: this new law was sought from God (Num.\n36: 6).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015A criminal case occurred in which the law was not explicit;\n\u201cit was not declared what should be done\u201d with the criminal (Num. 15:\n32\u201336). The Lord gave them the law for the case.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In the case of\nAchan (Josh. 7) the Lord interposed, not so much because there was no\nlaw for its decision as because the sin was flagrant and the demand\nfor exemplary punishment was very great.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In cases which would\nappropriately require the calling of a Supreme Council, the people\nsought direction from God. (See Judg. 1: 1, and 20: 18, 27, 28 and 1\nSam. 14: 37, and 23: 2, 4, 9\u201312, and 28: 6, and 30: 8 and 2 Sam. 2: 1).\nGod made provision through the prophets for a direct revelation of his\nwill to the people in special cases not otherwise provided for (Deut.\n18: 18).\n\n5. In later times the demand of the people for a human king seemed to\nbe constructive treason. It might be so understood, and therefore the\nLord reasserted his prerogative, although he yielded to their demands\n(1 Sam. 8: 6\u20139, and 10: 17\u201325).\n\n6. It scarcely need be said that God bound himself by promise to reward\nthe people with all national prosperity if obedient, and by threatening,\nto punish them with national calamity for disobedience. These points\nare expanded fully Lev. 26 and Deut. chapters 27\u201330.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015That God\ninflicted these threatened punishments early in their nation\u2019s history\nmay be seen Num. 11: 33, and 16: 1\u201350.\n\nThus it appears that in every appropriate way and in numerous vital\nrespects God manifested his supreme authority over his people Israel.\n\n\n II. _The powers of Jehovah\u2019s vicegerent._\n\nOf this we have illustrations in the cases of Moses, Joshua, the Judges,\nand the kings. These cases show that they were precisely the Lord\u2019s\nprime ministers, commissioned to execute his will. If a law touching\nthe case existed and its application was clear, they simply adjudicated\nthe case and put the law in force. If no statute touching the case was\nextant, they sought one. If the application of the law baffled their\nwisdom, they sought counsel from God. Hence the Scriptures speak of\nthese prime ministers as the Lord\u2019s \u201cservants,\u201d to serve him in this\nhigh capacity. (See Num. 12: 7 and Heb. 3: 2, 5 and Josh. 1: 1, 2, and\n5: 13\u201315 and 2 Sam. 7: 8, etc.)\n\nOf the officers holding under the chief executive there is no occasion\nto speak in great detail. The system of subordinate judges\u2015\u2015lower\ncourts\u2015\u2015has come to view in the history of Jethro (Ex. 18). In Canaan\nthey held their courts in the gates of large cities, and (for certain\ncriminal cases) in the cities of refuge which were cities of the\nLevites\u2015\u2015from which tribe judges seem largely to have been drawn.\n\nThe \u201celders\u201d\u2015\u2015\u201cheads of the house of their fathers\u201d\u2015\u2015held important\nresponsibilities\u2015\u2015a fact due largely to the influence of the\npatriarchal system which had come down from the earliest times, the\nusages of which, therefore, had essentially the force of common law\nin Israel. It was in great measure due to them that after the death of\nJoshua the processes of government went on without any chief executive,\nwith no king, and with no Supreme Judge except as the High Priest may\nhave performed that function.\n\n\n III. _The General Assembly or Congregation, and the Elders._\n\nWe read of great conventions, congregations, assemblies, in which\nit is not definitely said that _all the people_ were there; and\nalso of convocations in which \u201call the people\u201d were present. In some\nat least of the cases of the latter sort, the elders seem to have\nacted distinctly from the masses of the people, being the media of\ncommunication (as the case may be) between the Lord or his servant\nMoses of the one party and the people at large of the other. Thus\nshortly before the giving of the law from Sinai when God ratified\na national covenant with the people, we read\u2015\u2015\u201cMoses called for the\nelders of the people and laid before their faces all these words\nwhich the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together\nand said\u2015\u2015All that the Lord hath spoken we will do\u201d (Ex. 19: 7, 8).\nMoses spake to the people _through_ their elders. It was naturally\nimpossible that any one human voice could be heard by six hundred\nthousand men.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015So in 1 Sam. 8: 4\u201310 \u201cthe _elders_ gathered together\nand said to Samuel, Make us a king;\u201d \u201cand the Lord said unto Samuel,\nHearken unto _the voice of the people_.\u201d \u201cAnd Samuel told all the\nwords of the Lord _unto the people_ that asked of him a king.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These\nelders\u2015\u2015chiefs of the people\u2015\u2015seem to have been a well-defined class.\nNote how they are designated (Num. 1: 16); \u201cThese are the renowned\n[Heb. the _called ones_] of the congregation, princes of the tribes\nof their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.\u201d Also Num. 16: 2: \u201cTwo\nhundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation\u201d\n[Heb. the _called ones_ of the congregation, _i. e._ the men summoned\nto represent their constituents], \u201cmen of renown.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The question\nwill arise whether these _called men_, the recognized heads and\nrepresentatives of the people, held specially delegated powers; whether\nthey were appointed for an occasion and were instructed by the people:\nor whether they held the headship, this representative power, by virtue\nof the ancient usages of the patriarchal system. The latter is the true\nview, for the patriarchal system had the prestige of common law; and\nwe find not the least hint of any _election_ of these \u201cheads of the\nhouse of their fathers\u201d for any special function\u2015\u2015no notice of their\nreceiving special instructions to act as delegated representatives\nof the people.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Let it be noted carefully that on all really great\noccasions when the vital issues of their covenant relation with God\nwere pending, \u201call the people\u201d\u2015\u2015the solid masses\u2015\u2015were convened, and\nof course their elders and high officers with them. We see such a case\nbefore Sinai (Ex. 19); another, shortly before the death of Moses, in\na solemn ratification of their national covenant: \u201cYe stand this day\n_all of you_ before the Lord your God; your captains of your tribes,\nyour elders and your officers, with all the men of Israel\u201d (Deut. 29:\n10\u201312), \u201cthat thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God,\u201d\netc.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Again; after they had entered Canaan in the scene of rehearsing\nthe blessings and the curses of the law from Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal:\n\u201cAnd all Israel and their elders and officers and their judges, stood,\u201d\netc. (Josh. 8: 33). See also Josh. 23: 2 and 24: 1 and Judg. 20: 1 and\n1 Sam. 8. It was supremely appropriate that every man of Israel should\ngive his voice and heart in these great national consecrations of\nthemselves to their nation\u2019s God. The Lord sought to call into action\nevery mind\u2015\u2015to make a deep moral impression on every heart. Therefore\nnone could be exempted; no man could be excused for absence.\n\n\n IV. The scope afforded under this system\n for _self-government\u2015\u2015democracy_.\n\nIt is readily obvious that under this theocracy, the function of\n_legislators_ was out of the question. The people did not make their\nown laws: these were _given_ them\u2015\u2015made by the Lord alone. It only\nremained for them to say whether they would accept the Lord their God\nas their Lawgiver and Supreme King. Such assent and consent on their\npart was appropriate; and precisely this they gave\u2015\u2015as we may see in\nthe case of the moral law of Sinai (Ex. 19: 3\u20138 and Deut. 5: 27, 28);\nand of all the statutes and judgments of their civil code (Ex. 24: 3).\nThis national recognition of God as Supreme Lawgiver was renewed from\ntime to time with subsequent generations of Israel (Deut. 29: 10\u201315 and\nJosh. 24: 15\u201327 and Neh. 10: 28, 29), etc.\n\nThus it appears that the laws under which they lived were not\narbitrarily imposed upon them without their consent\u2015\u2015much less, against\ntheir will; but only with their formal and solemn consent. So far forth,\ntheir government involved an element of freedom and of self-control.\nThey were not tyrannously coerced into subjection to laws which they\nrepudiated. A system of law, in itself most excellent and entirely\nunexceptionable, was presented to them for their adoption or rejection.\nThey adopted it\u2015\u2015apparently with the warmest approbation.\n\nEssentially the same principle obtained in regard to their highest\nhuman executive officer. They did not nominate and choose Moses of\ntheir own motion. No caucus, no primary meeting, no formal election\nbrought out his name as the choice of the people. The Lord alone raised\nup Moses, prepared him for the position he was to hold and brought him\nbefore the people. Then they received him as their leader (Ex. 4: 29\u201331\nand 20: 19 and Deut. 5: 27). In the same manner they accepted Joshua\n(Josh. 1: 16\u201318). In the case of Saul, their first king, the Lord\nnominated, and the people ratified his nomination (1 Sam. 10: 24\nand 11: 14, 15). The Lord called David also (1 Sam. 16: 1\u201312), but\nthe people accepted him as king and cordially ratified his divine\nnomination (2 Sam. 5: 1\u20133). Through his prophet Nathan the Lord gave\nthe kingdom to David\u2019s posterity (2 Sam. 7) and prophetically indicated\nSolomon (1 Chron. 22: 8, 9 and 1 Kings 1: 13, 29, 30); but the people\nstill gave their full-hearted consent (1 Kings 1: 39, 40). The same\npowers were asserted by the people in the case of Rehoboam (1 Kings\n12: 1\u201320).\n\nIt should be specially noted that when the government assumed the form\nof a _human_ monarchy\u2015\u2015an earthly king reigning under God in this real\ntheocracy, it was a limited, not an absolute monarchy. The Mosaic law\nanticipated this change and imposed certain constitutional limitations\nupon the prospective king (Deut. 17: 14\u201320). He must be one whom the\nLord should choose; of native and not foreign birth; must not multiply\nhorses, nor wives, nor treasures of silver and gold; must keep by him\na copy of the law given through Moses, must read it and regard it as\nthe constitution under which he reigned. When the demand for a king\narose Samuel forewarned the people of the assumptions of power which,\nby the usages of mankind, they must expect in their king (1 Sam. 8:\n10\u201317), and took the precaution to put in writing \u201cthe manner of the\nkingdom\u201d\u2015\u2015the constitutional provisions and safe-guards under which\nhe was to reign (1 Sam. 10: 25). No copy of this constitution has\ncome down to us; but it doubtless corresponded essentially with the\nlimitations made by the law of Moses as in Deut. 17: 14\u201320.\n\nThe voice of the people in self-government appears also in the\nappointment of the judges who were to administer the law in courts\nof justice. We have seen how the old patriarchal system was enlarged\nand modified at the suggestion of Jethro (Ex. 18: 13\u201326). This first\nnarrative seems to rest the appointment of these judges entirely\nwith Moses; but his own more detailed account (Deut. 1: 9\u201318) shows\nthat the people were heard in the nomination: \u201cTake you wise men and\nunderstanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers\nover you. And ye answered me and said\u2015\u2015The thing which thou hast spoken\nis good for us to do. So I took the chief men of your tribes, wise men\nand known, and made them heads over you,\u201d etc. Plainly these men had\nacquired position by merit, and held their place and power (before\nthis special appointment) by the general consent of the people.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\ngeneral law in the case runs\u2015\u2015\u201cJudges and officers shalt thou make\nthee in all thy gates, etc., and they shall judge the people with just\njudgment\u201d (Deut. 16: 18).\n\nSelf-government is further developed in the independent action which we\nmay notice occasionally in the several tribes. Especially in the period\nfrom Joshua to Saul, the several tribes acted singly, or in union with\none or more of their fellow-tribes at their option (Judg. 1: 1\u20133, 22\nand 4: 10 and 7: 23, 24 and 8: 23, and 20: 11\u201346). Special cases of\nthis independent action appear in 1 Chron. 4: 41\u201343 and 5: 18\u201323.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015On\ngreat occasions, the people convened en masse for deliberation and\nunited action as in Josh. 22: 12, 16 and 23: 2 and Judg. 20 and\n21.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Obviously they assumed the right to disapprove the action of\ntheir princes as in the case of the Gibeonites (Josh. 9: 18, 19)\u2015\u2015\u201cAll\nthe congregation murmured against the princes.\u201d\n\n\n V. _The Fundamental Principles of this entire System._\n\n1. Jehovah being their Supreme King, supreme love and worship must be\nrendered to him.\n\n2. Idolatry was a state offense, nothing less than high treason, and\ntherefore a capital crime, punishable with death. Any one of their\ncities, given to idolatry, must be utterly exterminated (Deut. 13: 1\u201318\nand 17: 2\u20137).\n\n3. The most stringent laws ordained non-intercourse with idolatrous\nnations and non-conformity to their customs. Inter-marriages with them\nwere strictly prohibited; trade and commerce were at least discouraged\nif not forbidden. These laws may be seen in Ex. 34: 11\u201317 and Deut.\n7: 1\u20135, 16, 23\u201326; and cases of their application in Num. 25 and 31;\nalso in Ezra 9 and 10 and Neh. 13: 23\u201331.\n\nSundry customs, some of which might in themselves be of small account,\nwere prohibited, apparently because associated with idolatry in the\nusages of other nations and in the ideas of the people of Israel\n(Deut. 14: 1\u201321 and Lev. 20: 23\u2013 26). The distinction between clean\nand unclean beasts seems to fall under this principle.\n\n4. This Hebrew Theocracy was engrafted upon a previously existing\npatriarchal government, and therefore it recognized this previous\nsystem as substantially the common law of the land, to be in force\nexcept so far as modified by special legislation under the new regime\ngiven from the Lord through Moses. This principle is illustrated in\nthe powers and functions of the _elders_, known as \u201cheads of the house\nof their fathers\u201d; \u201cprinces\u201d; \u201cheads of the thousands of Israel\u201d (Ex.\n6: 25, and Num. 3: 24, 30, 35, and 1: 16, and 10: 4).\n\n5. It was manifestly an accepted principle, underlying the entire\nsystem, to give the people as wide a range of free responsible action\nas a theocratic government would admit. Democracy must of necessity be\nsubordinate to _theocracy_; the self-ruling of the people must find its\nplace _under_ the supreme ruling of Jehovah. Consequently the law must\ncome entire from God, not from the people. The chief executive must\nreceive his commission from God, though he might be formally accepted\nand his appointment in this way ratified by the people. The Lord sought\nthe willing homage of the people\u2015\u2015the obedience of their heart\u2015\u2015and\ntherefore encouraged the most cheerful and hearty expression of their\nwill and of their homage in entering into covenant with himself, and\nfrom time to time in solemnly renewing it. He would have them feel that\nthey were the people of the Lord by their own real consent and hearty\nacceptance. So much democracy therefore entered into their scheme of\nnational polity. So much there might be. In the nature of a theocracy,\nthere could not be more.\n\n6. As elsewhere shown, the statutes were within certain limits\ngraduated in moral tone to the moral status of the people, being as\nhigh as they would bear\u2015\u2015as near theoretical perfection as could be\nmade effective\u2015\u2015_i. e._ as could secure a general obedience.\n\n\n VI. _Its union of Church and State._\n\nBy this modern phrase is currently meant the subordination of the\nchurch to the civil or state authorities. Such a union in the Hebrew\nnation was a natural consequent upon a theocratic government. The civil\ncode coming from God himself, the religious code must come from him by\nobvious fitness, not to say necessity. In his entire policy with Israel,\nGod sought the most effective moral culture. We find this purpose\nunderlying the entire civil government with its code of civil laws; it\nmust of course underlie their religious institutions. Hence the church\nand the state were worked not only by the same hand but for the same\ngeneral purpose.\n\nIn practice certain crimes against the religious law were enforced\nby the state. Idolatry was a state offense, punishable as other state\ncrimes. So of perjury and blasphemy. (Deut. 19: 16\u201319.)\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It was due\nto the common relations of church and state that to a great extent the\nreligious orders were civil judges. In the absence of a king or other\nchief executive, the High Priest seems to have held that function.\n(See Deut. 17: 12 and 2 Chron. 19: 8\u201311). The subordinate judges were\nlargely taken from the priests and Levites (Deut. 21: 5, and 33: 10).\n\nSince the system provided for an ultimate appeal to God, extreme cases\nwere taken up for the sake of such appeal to the one place which was\nfor the time the seat of God\u2019s special manifestations to his people\n(Deut. 17: 8\u201313, and 19: 17).\n\nThe wisdom of this joint action of the civil law with the religious\nadmits in their case of no question. It may suffice to refer in proof\nto the omnipresent power of idolatry through all the ages from Moses to\nthe captivity, to show the vital need of the civil arm to sustain the\ntrue worship of God and save the nation. On the other hand the state\nwas the stronger for her religious institutions. The great religious\nfestivals, bringing the masses of the male population from every\ntribe three times a year for a sacred week of communion must have been\nof priceless value in sustaining the national unity and a national\npatriotism. Jeroboam was sharp enough to see that the calves at Bethel\nand Dan must take the place of the festivals at Jerusalem, or his\nkingdom would melt away from under him, and his people give their civil\nfealty as well as their religious homage at the old center. Hezekiah\nwould have brought the ten tribes back if he could have drawn their\npeople in a body to the great Passover, as he sought to do.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Hence\nit is quite safe to say that the state was the stronger for the\nnational religion, and their religion the stronger for the aid of the\nstate.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Yet let none rush to the inference that such mutual relations\nof church and state are therefore wise and useful in the Christian\nage of the world. The providences of God shut off from the primitive\nchurch the possibility of such union and shut up Christianity to make\nher first great conquests under the sturdy opposition of the greatest\ncivil power of the age. Experience has long since disproved the\ninference above referred to. The cases are too dissimilar to admit of\nany logical reasoning from that age to this.\n\nIn the Hebrew economy we are struck with the fact that both the\nreligious and the civil code were enforced chiefly by considerations\nand influences, rewards and punishments, coming in from the present\nworld\u2015\u2015not from the future. Let it be supposed that religious duties\nwere in our age enforced by such motives chiefly\u2015\u2015and we should see at\na glance the change that has passed over the world since Moses uttered\nthe concluding chapters of Deuteronomy. Idolatry, then the head sin\nof the ages, was fitly resisted, not only by the civil arm, but by the\nmost fearful array of civil pains and penalties. The capital sins of\nChristendom are now of quite other sort; and the motives to repentance\ncome appropriately from the other worlds yet before us and not from\nthis. It may be difficult for us to realize how stern the necessity\nwas that God should in the earlier ages govern the world, and not least\nhis own people, by motives from the visible and not from the invisible\nworld\u2015\u2015from earth and time and the present life, and not from the\neternal, the future and yet unseen state.\n\n[This subject will receive further attention near the close of this\nvolume.]\n\n\n VII. _The principles and usages of the Hebrew code in respect\n to war_; with some notice of the _war-edict_ for the\n extirpation of the Canaanites.\n\nBy their constitution the war-power was with God. The power and the\nright to declare war rested in him alone. He forbade them to make\nwar on Edom; he commanded them to exterminate Amalek and the devoted\nnations of Canaan, and to \u201cvex the Midianites and smite them\u201d. (As\nto Edom, see Deut. 2: 5; as to Amalek, Ex. 17: 8, 14, 16 and Deut.\n25: 17\u201319; as to the Midianites, Num. 25: 17, 18, and 31:).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Their\nrulers were expected to bring the question before the Lord\u2015\u2015Shall I in\nthis case go up to battle, or shall I forbear? (Judg. 1: 1, and 20: 18,\n23, 28).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Any one tribe might go out to war alone, or might call in\nthe aid of another or of all:\u2015\u2015a fact which shows that the tribes were\nconfederated rather than united and consolidated. On great occasions,\nof common danger, all the tribes associated together, and, with certain\nspecified exceptions, every man able for war was required to go. The\nexceptions are given (Deut. 20: 5\u20138); viz. the man who had built a\nhouse, but had not dedicated it; he who had planted a vineyard but had\nnot eaten of its fruits; he who had betrothed a wife, yet had not taken\nher; and finally, every fearful and faint-hearted man;\u2015\u2015_i. e._ all\nwho had special attractions homeward which might tempt them to desert\nthe ranks, and they whose timid hearts made them worthless and might\nbe contagious:\u2015\u2015in the words of the statute, \u201cLest his brother\u2019s heart\nfaint as well as his heart.\u201d Personal heroism was of prime account\u2015\u2015a\nheroism inspired by faith in Israel\u2019s God. The history every-where\nshows that such armies, fired with religious enthusiasm, strong by\nfaith in the mighty God, were terrible in battle, and for the most part\ncertain of victory. Often as we read these annals of the wars of Israel,\nwe can not resist the conviction that they were means of grace as well\nas of manhood\u2015\u2015an illustration of which may be seen in David before\nGoliath the Philistine (1 Sam. 17).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015When only a small number of men\nwere needed, they were chosen, picked men, naturally the brave, skilled,\nand renowned. See Joshua\u2019s first battle (Ex. 17: 9); his assault upon\nAi (Josh. 7: 7), and the sifting of Gideon\u2019s army (Judg. 7: 1\u20138).\n\n * * * * *\n\n_The grant of Canaan to Israel and the commission to extirpate the\nCanaanites._\n\nThese points call for special examination.\n\nIt has been objected against the morality of the Old Testament\nScriptures that this war-law enjoining the extirpation of the\nCanaanites was cruel and unjust; hence that it either misrepresents God\nand therefore disproves the divine authority of the Old Testament; or\nif it truly represents the God of the Bible, then he does not deserve\nthe homage and the love of his creatures.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These are grave charges\nand should be candidly examined.\n\nThe grant of Canaan and the commission to destroy the Canaanites have\nbeen vindicated by Michaelis and others on the following grounds.\n\n1. The right of prior possession and occupation.\n\n2. This right kept good by burial there, and not by any means\nrelinquished when Jacob was driven by stress of famine into Egypt and\nthen detained there by force.\n\n3. This right protected according to their ability by reassertion,\nperpetually holding forth their purpose to return and their recognition\nof Canaan as their land of promise.\n\n4. That no argument prejudicial to their right of war against the\nCanaanites can be drawn from the absence of formal manifesto, setting\nforth the causes of the war, inasmuch as such a setting forth of\ngrounds and causes of war is a thing of modern and not of ancient usage.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThis course of argument in defense of the war-law in question seems to\nme defective and quite below the truth in the following points:\n\n1. Its primary position\u2015\u2015_prior occupancy_\u2015\u2015seems not fully made out.\n\n2. It makes too little account of God\u2019s original and perfect title to\nall the earth, and his consequent right to give his people any portion\nof it at his pleasure.\n\n3. It fails to give due prominence to the moral grounds assigned by\nGod himself for the extirpation of the Canaanites, viz. their extreme\ndebasement in character; their abominable wickedness; their horrible\nviolations of the common humanities of social life.\n\n * * * * *\n\nAs to prior occupation, Michaelis says the original home of the\nCanaanites was Arabia; that Herodotus testifies that at first they\ndwelt near the Red Sea; Justin, that they had another country before\nthey came to Palestine; and Abulfeda that they dwelt in Arabia. But\nin proof that they were in Palestine before Abraham was, Moses affirms\n(Gen. 12: 6) that when Abram first passed through, \u201cthe Canaanite was\nthen in the land;\u201d also that when Abram and Lot, being rich in cattle\nand \u201cthe land unable to bear them,\u201d \u201cthe Canaanite and the Perizzite\nwere then in the land\u201d (Gen. 13: 7); and further still in his earliest\naccount of the location of primitive families after the flood, he\nsays\u2015\u2015\u201cThe border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as thou comest\nto Gerar unto Gaza as thou goest to Sodom and Gomorrah,\u201d etc. (Gen.\n10: 19). This is the oldest known historic testimony, and unquestionably\nlocates the Canaanites in the original land of Canaan.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moreover, it\nis said that Abraham went with his flocks and herds wherever he would\nas if lord of the country. It may be replied\u2015\u2015So apparently did the\nCanaanites also. If Abraham dug wells, so did they; if he buried his\ndead there, so did they\u2015\u2015with this incidental fact in their favor; viz.\nthat Abraham bought ground of them and paid money for his cemetery at\nMacpelah. This special argument from prior possession can scarcely be\nsustained.\n\nBut it may be maintained that Abram was there _very early_; and what is\nmore, God\u2019s first call to him to leave his native country named Canaan\nas his promised land; and every successive promise reaffirmed this\ngift. Abraham\u2019s title to Canaan therefore rests on God\u2019s right to give\na perfect title. If the Lord of heaven and earth, the Great Creator of\nall lands in all the ends of the earth had not a right to give Canaan\nto Abraham and his posterity, then _he is not God_. Unquestionably\nhe assumed this right and in the exercise of it pledged Canaan to\nthe posterity of Abraham with perpetual reiteration and most solemn\ncovenant. This fact is the more significant because it is the first\nstep in a series of acts all of which aimed to reveal himself before\nthe world of mankind as the true God and the Lord of the whole earth.\nWith these ends in view he chose this people and made them his own;\nmanifested himself among them and before all the world as their\ncovenant-keeping God; gave them Canaan, and by manifold miracles helped\nthem to gain possession of it. Nor is this argument weakened by the\nfact that by means of a special series of providences he led them down\ninto Egypt to dwell there 430 years; suffering the Canaanites meanwhile\nto hold Canaan, not driving them out earlier because \u201cthe iniquity of\nthe Amorites was not yet full\u201d (Gen. 15: 16). Here is suggested the\nreal ground on which the edict for extirpating the Canaanites was made\nto rest. God suffered them to remain there until they had forfeited\ntheir title not to Canaan alone, but to life itself and to any further\nnational existence.\n\nThis point is too vital to be passed without careful attention. In Lev.\n18 we meet with a series of crimes against moral purity\u2015\u2015violations\nof the seventh commandment\u2015\u2015culminating in sodomy and bestiality; and\nclassed with these is the burning of children in the worship of Moloch\n(v. 21). Then God says\u2015\u2015\u201cDefile not yourselves in any of these things;\nfor in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you,\nand _the land is defiled_; therefore do I visit the iniquity thereof\nupon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The same\nsentiments are repeated (vs. 26\u201330). Unnatural lusts had sunk both men\nand women not only down to a level with beasts, but even below them.\nIdolatry had so far quenched the sweet humanities from the parental\nheart that fathers and mothers could burn their own sons and daughters\nto Moloch. These horrible, unnatural crimes were not only an outrage\nagainst the heart of God the Great Father; but, as he forcibly puts it,\nthey defiled the very land itself. The earth was nauseated with these\nabominations and spued out such inhabitants. God\u2019s fair and much abused\nworld could bear them no longer. Nature herself lifted her voice of\nprotest against such wickedness; or, as the strong figure suggests, her\nstomach sickened even to nausea over such unnatural lusts and such a\ntorturing death of innocent sons and daughters. What could a holy and\nrighteous God do with such a people but wipe them out of existence and\nwash the land they had defiled clean of such pollutions?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Lev. 20\nreiterates substantially the same list of abominations against which\nGod warns his people;\u2015\u2015\u201cYe shall therefore keep all my statutes and\nall my judgments and do them, that the land whither I bring you to\ndwell therein, _spue you not out_. And ye shall not walk in the manner\nof the nations which I cast out before you; for they committed all\nthese things, and therefore I abhorred them\u201d (vs. 22, 23).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Perfectly\ndefinite and explicit is the repetition of the same point in Deut. 12:\n30, 31. When the Lord shall have cut off the Canaanites before thee,\nbe not snared into their ways; inquire not after their gods and ways\nof worship:\u2015\u2015\u201cThou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God, for every\nabomination to the Lord which he hateth have they done unto their gods;\nfor even their sons and their daughters have they burnt in the fire\nto their gods.\u201d No fact could be more telling; none more damning. A\npeople so given up to devil-worship as to burn their own offspring at\nhis supposed behest, must be too debased and corrupt to live! The earth\nitself cries out against them, demanding their utter extirpation!\n\nA more full description of the varieties and forms of the devil-worship\nand fellowship common among the Canaanites may be seen in Deut. 18:\n9\u201314, to which it must suffice to refer the reader.\n\nI am well aware that some Jewish doctors, wishing to vindicate their\nfathers from crimes so unnatural have sought to prove that \u201ccausing\nchildren to pass through the fire\u201d was a rite of purification and\nnot actual murder. The attempt is futile:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(1.) Because some of\nthe expressions are perfectly unequivocal; _e. g._\u2015\u2015\u201cEven their sons\nhave they burnt in the fire to their Gods\u201d (Deut. 12: 31). See also\nthe cases in 2 Kings 17: 31, and 2 Chron. 28: 3, and Jer. 7: 31, and\n19: 5.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(2.) The phrase\u2015\u2015\u201cTo make to pass through the fire unto\ntheir gods\u201d is used in the same sense as the phrase\u2015\u2015\u201cto burn in the\nfire.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(3.) That the Phenicians and Carthagenians, closely related\nto the ancient Canaanites, did offer human sacrifices is a well\nestablished fact of history. (See Smith\u2019s Bible Dictionary; \u201cMoloch.\u201d)\n\n * * * * *\n\nWe have seen that the title of Israel to Canaan falls back upon\nGod\u2019s prior title\u2015\u2015upon his right to deed it to whom he would.\nOn the same principle the question whether it was right and just\nfor them to extirpate the Canaanites falls back upon two prior\nquestions\u2015\u2015(a.) Was it right and just for God to extirpate\nthem?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b.) Was it wise for Him to command the Israelites to do\nthis work of extirpation, rather than do it himself by miracle, and\nwithout human hands? Here are our two great questions.\n\n(a.) As to the first\u2015\u2015the right of God to destroy them for their\ncrimes and the justice of doing it\u2015\u2015I see not how it can be denied\nor questioned without denying to God the right to punish sin at all.\nHas God any right to govern his own universe\u2015\u2015any right to resist the\ninfluence of sin and rebellion in his kingdom\u2015\u2015any right to protect\ninnocent children from being burned to death in homage to the devil?\nAlas for the universe if this doctrine can be maintained!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Truly we\nmay say\u2015\u2015If God has no right to exterminate from the earth any one\nindividual sinner, or a nation of many thousands who are too corrupt\nto live, then he lacks the essential rights of a God! If he has not the\npower to do it, he lacks the power necessary to a God. If he has not\nthe firmness\u2015\u2015the nerve (shall we say?)\u2015\u2015the sense of justice and right\nthat would forbid his evading the duty, then he lacks the essential\nattributes of a God. If he has so little love for his offspring that\nhe can see their welfare sacrificed in the worship of the devil and in\nthe sweep of unutterable social pollutions, then he is incompetent to\ngovern a world of sinners!\n\n(b.) But the objector will make his chief stand upon the secondary\nquestion\u2015\u2015Was it wise for God to employ Israel to extirpate the corrupt\nCanaanites?\n\nThe objector will perhaps say\u2015\u2015He might have sunk all Canaan under a\nsecond flood like that of Noah\u2019s time, and no complaint could stand\nagainst him. He might have engulfed those cities in fire as he did\nguilty Sodom, and all the living, cognizant of the moral grounds of\nthe act, would have said, Amen! But that he should set such an example\nof _war_\u2015\u2015the most horrid of all wars\u2015\u2015before the nations of all\nhistory\u2015\u2015before the ages of all time, giving it his holy sanction\u2015\u2015nay\nmore, setting his own most holy people to the bloody work\u2015\u2015this is\nunpardonable. That he should put them to such barbarities\u2015\u2015subject them\nto such demoralization of all the finer sensibilities of the human soul,\nseems too horrid to be thought of!\n\nIt is perhaps well to meet this question in its strongest form, with\nits objectionable points in their most revolting aspect.\n\nI do not feel called upon to say one word to soften down any man\u2019s\nsense of the horrors of war. War _is_ horrid\u2015\u2015but sin is more\nhorrid\u2015\u2015certainly such sin as that of the old Canaanites. In fact war\nis horrid\u2015\u2015not mainly because of the suffering but because of the\n_sin_ that may be in it. And this suggests the true and just reply to\nbe made to the objection now before us, viz. that such a war as that\nof Israel against the Canaanites, waged in obedience to God; waged\nfor the destruction of such sinners and to cleanse the earth from such\nunutterable abominations and pollutions, is _not_ demoralizing\u2015\u2015is\nnot so either necessarily or even naturally; but if done in honest\nobedience to God and with a due sense of the grounds on which God\ncommanded it, must have been the very opposite of demoralizing;\nmust have educated the nation of Israel to a juster sense of the\nabominations of idolatry and of the righteous moral government of God\nover the wicked in the present world. It can not be doubted that these\nwere the ends which God sought to secure in putting this service upon\nIsrael. A lower object to be reached was to vacate the land of Canaan\nfor Israel to occupy; but the far higher object was to wash the land\nof its moral pollutions; to break down and blot out nations too corrupt\nto live. The Lord devolved this extirpation upon Israel that they\nmight thereby get a deeper sense of his abhorrence of such sin\u2015\u2015not\nto say also, a juster view of the intrinsic abominations which God\ncommissioned them to punish.\n\nOr we may put the argument thus: Given\u2015\u2015the great historic fact,\nthe moral corruption of the nations of Canaan and the moral purpose\nof God to exterminate those nations for their corruption. The\nchoice of methods lies between _miracles_ on the one hand, and the\nwar-force of Israel, backed up by God\u2019s providential agencies, on the\nother:\u2015\u2015miracles as in the flood and on Sodom: or the war-commission\ngiven to his people Israel.\n\nNow consider.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u20151. Miracles had already been employed repeatedly\nbefore the eyes of mankind, and the Lord might for this reason wisely\nvary his methods, for the greater and better effect.\n\n2. As already argued, the moral effect upon Israel of being made the\nexecutioners of God\u2019s righteous justice may be presumed to have been\nnaturally wholesome. But not to push this argument\u2015\u2015we may at least\nmaintain,\n\n3. That seen historically\u2015\u2015estimated in the light of the facts of\nthe case, this method _was morally impressive, instructive, elevating,\nwholesome_. Recur to the first war\u2015\u2015that against Amalek; and to the\nscope it gave for illustrations of prayer, and to the sense it inspired\nof their relations to their covenant God. Turn to the record of the\nwar against Moab and Midian (Num. 25 and 31). Mark its powerful protest\nagainst the lewdness involved in those forms of idol-worship, and note\nhow Phineas arose to the sublime grandeur of the emergency and made\na record for himself and for his whole tribe indeed in the history of\nthe nation (Num. 25: 11\u201313 and Mal. 2: 4\u20137). Study the wars of Joshua\nand the moral heroism developed there, and ask if any generation of\nIsrael appear on the page of her national history, exhibiting a truer\nconsecration to God or a more conscientious devotion to his will. And\nwhat shall we say of Deborah and Barak, and of the heroism that shines\nand gleams in the record of their achievements, or of the piety that\nflavors their triumphal song? The same may be said of the wars under\nDavid, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah, and of the songs of praise and\nof proud triumph in Israel\u2019s God which gave expression to the moral\nresults of those wars and victories. That man reads the history of\nthe heroic age of Israel very imperfectly who does not see in it ample\ndemonstration that staunch obedience to God in this matter of war\nagainst the idolatrous, corrupt Canaanites, fostered piety, developed\nChristian heroism and toned up the standard of morality. When they\ncompromised, accepted tribute, and tried their own policy of living\nside by side with such idolaters instead of God\u2019s policy of vigorous\nextermination, then came disaster, religious decline, and most perilous\nmoral corruption.\n\n4. The great conflict of those early ages between God and Satan was\nfought on the point of idolatry\u2015\u2015the real question being whether God or\nthe devil should have the worship of men; whether the supremacy and the\nmoral right to rule the world are with God or with Satan. This being\nthe great conflict of the ages, it should not surprise us that God\nshould let Israel\u2019s land of promise be in a sort the battle-ground, and\nshould bring into play the physical force of arms and let his covenant\npeople come into the fight hand to hand against the hosts of his foes.\nThis arrangement gave scope for his own hand in various providential\nagencies\u2015\u2015thunder, hail-storm, the day prolonged miraculously; panics\noften smiting the hearts of his enemies, and victories that witnessed\nvisibly to Jehovah\u2019s present hand. In an age when men were waiting\nfor God to manifest himself visibly and tangibly; when their spiritual\nperceptions were but dim, and when of necessity the first step in the\nprocess of revealing God to men demanded an appeal to the senses, it\nwas certainly no mistake in wisdom for God to suffer this great fight\nto take on visible form and stand out palpably before human eyes. In\nthe result God made it unmistakably manifest that his soul abhorred\nsuch unnatural and horrid crimes as those of the men of Canaan, and\nalso that he had both the power and the will to inflict on them the\nextremest and most fearful judgments.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XVII.\n\n THE CIVIL INSTITUTES OF MOSES; OR THE HEBREW CODE OF CIVIL LAW.\n\n\nIN scripture phrase, the code is most often called \u201cThe statutes and\nthe judgments\u201d\u2015\u2015the \u201ccommandments and precepts\u201d which the Lord gave by\nMoses (Deut. 6: 1 and Ex. 21: 1).\n\nI approach this subject with a feeling of regret that the necessary\nlimits of this volume forbid any attempt to make my presentation of\nthis topic exhaustive. The utmost I can do within the limits prescribed\nis to give an outline rather than a full development of this code.\nI shall aim to make this outline full enough to show the _steps and\nstages of progress_ in the science of legislation which are obvious in\nthese \u201cstatutes and judgments.\u201d\n\nI must first call attention to certain points of a general nature, most\nof which will need only a brief statement.\n\n1. This code of laws was _given to the Hebrews by God himself, through\nthe hand of Moses_. For the sake of brevity and to distinguish it from\nother codes we may speak of it as the code of Moses and may speak of\nMoses as the Hebrew lawgiver; yet let it be said once for all that we\nrecognize no authority\u2015\u2015no authorship other than that of God himself.\n\n2. This code was built upon the moral law of Sinai\u2015\u2015the ten\ncommandments. It simply expands and applies the general principles\nexpressed or implied in that summary.\n\n3. It was framed with the purpose of reaching the highest moral\nstandard practicable in the circumstances of the people\u2015\u2015the highest\nwhich it was possible to enforce. This doctrine assumes that any\nspecial statute which is so far above the moral status of the people\nas to be practically inoperative and void may be for this very reason\nan evil rather than a good inasmuch as it may break down rather than\nbuild up the law-abiding spirit of the people. Consequently the best\nstatute for any given people may be the best that can be in the main\nenforced\u2015\u2015the best which they can be brought up to respect and obey.\nHence it may happen that some of the statutes in the best practicable\nsystem will be only second best\u2015\u2015_i. e._ not theoretically perfect,\nbut only the best practically for the circumstances. We may illustrate\nthis by the law of divorce, as to which Jesus himself remarks that\nMoses \u201cbecause of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put\naway your wives, but from the beginning it was not so\u201d (Mat. 19: 8).\nThe provisions for an easy divorce were a concession to a sadly low\nmorality among the people\u2015\u2015the best under the circumstances\u2015\u2015the\nbest that could be made operative with that people, but by no means\ntheoretically perfect.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The reader will take note that we had\nno occasion to apply this principle to the moral law of the ten\ncommandments, nor indeed to the underlying principles of this code\nof \u201cstatutes and judgments,\u201d but only to some of its practical\napplications of these principles.\n\n4. It is an inference from our last-named point that this code must\nneeds _take the people as they were_; must have regard to existing\nusages, to the common law under which they had been living, and perhaps\nmust be compelled to tolerate some undesirable usages until better\nprinciples could be inculcated and a higher moral tone of public\nsentiment could be established. Illustrations of this principle appear\nin the prevalent system of servitude, and in polygamy.\n\n5. Another inference from the point above made is that this code\ncan not be held responsible for what was in existence before its\npromulgation; _e. g._ personal slavery. It can be held responsible\nonly for doing the best that could be done with such a people\u2015\u2015a people\nso educated, accustomed to such usages and trained in such ideas.\n\n6. That this code, though given by the Lord himself, was not\ntheoretically perfect but only the best practicable, is obvious from\nthe fact that it was from time to time modified. Cases of this appear\nin the law respecting the six years\u2019 emancipation of Hebrew servants\n(compare Ex. 21: 2\u20137 with Deut. 15: 12\u201317); the taking of pledges from\nthe poor for the payment of debts: (compare Ex. 22: 26 with Deut. 24:\n6, 10\u201315). See also the law of inheritance in a family consisting of\ndaughters only (Num. 36).\n\n7. That this code was framed with the design of a special adaptation\nto the Hebrew people appears in such facts as these, viz. that though\nit went into immediate effect and continued in force during their\nwandering life in the wilderness forty years, yet it anticipated\ntheir ultimate residence in Canaan, especially in its land-law and its\nprovision for the entailment of real estate. Also it anticipated the\nfuture demand for a king according to the usage of contiguous nations\nand provided for this modification in the general government.\n\n8. At the point where the administration of justice first appears,\nthe sole responsibility seems to have rested on Moses (Ex. 18). At\nthe suggestion of Jethro (as we have seen) important modifications\nwere introduced. Further modifications were made after the settlement\nin Canaan. In consequence of the close connection between the church\nand the state\u2015\u2015the religious law and the civil\u2015\u2015the same class of men\nwere to a great extent put in charge of both. The tribe of Levi became\nthe ministers of religion and the administrators of civil law as well.\nExempted chiefly from agriculture and from military service, they\nbecame the learned class\u2015\u2015the lawyers of the nation. \u201cThe priests\u2019\nlips should keep knowledge and they should seek the law at his mouth\u201d\n(Malachi 2: 7).\n\n9. The question how far this divinely revealed code of law is\nauthoritative upon human legislators and should control legislation\nin this Christian age, should be carefully considered. With no attempt\nto exhaust this question, I may suggest briefly:\u2015\u2015(1.) That the great\nprinciples of this code should underlie every code of human law.\nThese principles must be good for all time\u2015\u2015for man in his social and\ncivil relations every-where. For example, its doctrine of equity; its\nlaw of love; its regard for the personal rights of life, chastity,\nproperty; its doctrine of the essential equality of every man\u2019s rights\nbefore the law; and its assumption that the poor, being otherwise\ndefenseless, have special need of the protection of law, and should\nbe regarded therefore as the special wards of government and its\nofficers.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(2.) As the moral law of the ten commandments is obviously\nthe compend and summary of the great principles which underlie this\nHebrew code, so should this moral law be the compend and summary of\nthe principles that should underlie every human code of law in whatever\nage of the world and in whatever stages of civilization.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(3.) As\nthe Hebrew code while accepting the supreme authority of the ten\ncommandments and aiming to embody and apply its principles did yet\nallow to itself a certain latitude in adjusting its \u201cprecepts and\nstatutes\u201d to the condition of the people, so may human legislators.\nLessons of wisdom may be drawn from this code in both these lines\nof its example; viz. its fidelity to the principles and doctrines of\nthe perfect moral law of Sinai; and its careful adaptation of these\nprinciples to the actual status of the people so as to reach the\nhighest possible amount of practical efficiency in securing the ends\nof justice and of virtue.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe brief analysis and treatment of the _civil code_ here attempted\nwill follow mainly the same order of subjects which appears in the law\nof Sinai; thus:\n\nI. Crimes against God:\n\n 1. Idolatry;\u2015\u20152. Perjury;\u2015\u20153. Presumptuous sins;\u2015\u20154. Violations\n of the Sabbath;\u2015\u20155. Blasphemy;\u2015\u20156. Magic.\n\nII. Crimes against parents and rulers (Fifth commandment).\n\nIII. Crimes against the person and life (Sixth commandment).\n\nIV. Crimes against chastity (Seventh commandment).\n\nV. Crimes against property; laws respecting property (Eighth\ncommandment).\n\nVI. Crimes against reputation; violations of truth (Ninth commandment).\n\nVII. Hebrew servitude.\n\nVIII. Judicial procedure.\n\nIX. Punishments.\n\n * * * * *\n\nI. Crimes against God:\n\n1. _Idolatry._ The laws against idolatry included both the professed\nworship of the true God by means of images, and the worship of\nother gods. As the law of Sinai forbade both these practices with\nno special discrimination between them, so did the \u201cstatutes and\njudgments\u201d\u2015\u2015the law apparently holding it of small account to attempt\nany discrimination. In the case of the golden calf (Ex. 32) Aaron\nhaving more knowledge of the true God than the body of the people, may\nhave thought only of worshiping the Lord (\u201cTo-morrow is a feast to the\nLord\u201d); but the people bringing their notions from their Egyptian life,\nmay have had no thought beyond the calf, and so may have worshiped\nit as their God. Plainly the professed worship of God by means of\nimages was a perpetual temptation to let slip all just conceptions\nof God and to worship images only, or some other object than God. No\ndiscrimination in point of penalty appears in the law. Both forms seem\nto have been condemned and punished with no attempt to discriminate\nbetween them. Individual idolaters, after careful examination and clear\nproof of guilt, were stoned\u2015\u2015the witnesses casting the first stone\n(Deut. 17: 2\u20137). No man might allow himself to be seduced into the\nworship of other gods\u2015\u2015no, not by a brother, or a son, or a wife, or\nby friend dear as his own soul, but must expose the sin of his seducer\nand spare not his very life (Deut. 13: 6\u201311). A city given to idolatry,\nif the case be proven, must be utterly destroyed and made a perpetual\ndesolation (Deut. 13: 12\u201316). The statutes were absolutely sweeping\nagainst any possible form of similitude, image, or representation, made\nfor an object of worship; and also against the worship of the heavenly\nbodies\u2015\u2015a form of idolatry both ancient and widely diffused (Deut. 4:\n13\u201319).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015To guard them against temptation in the social line, they\nwere forbidden to eat in idolatrous festivals (Ex. 34: 15). Apparently\nmany special usages were forbidden because of their associations with\nidol worship (Lev. 19: 27, 28). The prohibition to eat blood or fat\nmay have been in part sanitary, but probably was also anti-idolatrous.\nThe distinction between things clean and unclean helped to make them\na peculiar people, and may have been so intended.\n\n * * * * *\n\n2. _Perjury._ The law of Sinai tacitly indicates that the Lord himself\nwould take the perjurer in hand, would never hold him guiltless, and\nwould be responsible for his punishment. The statutes touch only a\nsingle case\u2015\u2015\u201cA false witness rising up against any man to testify\nagainst him that which is wrong\u201d\u2015\u2015ordaining that the case be brought\nbefore the judges who are to make diligent inquisition. If found\nguilty, the evil he thought to bring upon another must be visited upon\nhimself (Deut. 19: 16\u201321).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In general the sanctity of the sacred\noath was shielded by Jehovah himself, searching out and punishing the\nguilty. Oaths seem to have been far less frequent than in the modern\nadministration of law\u2015\u2015less frequent, but more sacred, this binding\nforce being laid on every conscience and left to the awful sanctions\nof Jehovah.\n\n * * * * *\n\n3. _Presumptuous sins._ The law against such sins sought to impress\ndue reverence for God\u2019s authority. A broad distinction was made between\nsins of ignorance and sins where knowledge of duty was presupposed and\nthe offense involved deliberate contempt of God. The external act was\nof smallest consequence. The law said, \u201cThe soul that doeth _aught_\npresumptuously\u201d\u2015\u2015no matter what it be. Certain cases are specified\nhaving these common elements\u2015\u2015that the law was plain; the duty palpable;\nand innocent ignorance not even supposable;\u2015\u2015_e. g._ the law of the\nSabbath against all [needless] work (Ex. 31: 14, 15 and 35: 2, 3). The\ncase (Num. 15: 32\u201336) of the man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath,\nstands in the closest connection with the law against \u201cpresumptuous\nsins,\u201d showing that the offense was seen in that light. The most\nemphatic condemnation of presumptuous sins immediately precedes (vs.\n30, 31) in these words: \u201cThe soul that doeth aught presumptuously, the\nsame reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among\nhis people\u201d (_i. e._ by capital punishment). \u201cBecause he hath despised\nthe word of the Lord and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall\nbe utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.\u201d He must bear it\nhimself, with no atonement provided for his pardon.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Other cases\nspecified are\u2015\u2015the eating of unleavened bread during the Passover (Ex.\n12: 15); neglect of the Passover when its observance was practicable\n(Num. 9: 13); eating certain sacrificial offerings while unclean (Lev.\n7: 20, 21); eating fat or blood (Lev. 7: 23\u201327).\n\nThe reason for laws of this sort, apparently so stringent and severe,\nlies in the facts\u2015\u2015that God was their king; that he looked on the heart;\nand that whatever acts manifested contempt of his authority and treason\nagainst his throne were in their very nature the highest possible\ncrimes.\n\n * * * * *\n\n4. _Laws against violations of the Sabbath_ have been indicated\nsufficiently under the previous head. The statute was so entirely\ndefinite; the line of duty so easily defined and understood, it seemed\nto be assumed that palpable violations of the Sabbath were presumptuous\nsins, and they are treated accordingly. The case of the man who\ngathered sticks was carried up to the Supreme King, apparently because\nthough the law was clear, the external act was in itself trivial. God\u2019s\nanswer amounted to this; No offense _can be trivial_ if the spirit of\nit contemns God\u2019s authority and reproaches his name.\n\n * * * * *\n\n5. _Blasphemy._ A case of blasphemy is specially described (Lev. 24:\n10\u201316, 23). It was referred to God, the Supreme Ruler. \u201cThey put him in\nward that the mind of the Lord might be showed them.\u201d The Lord replied\nthrough Moses: \u201cBring forth him that hath cursed without the camp;\nand let all that heard him lay their hand upon his head, and let all\nthe congregation stone him.\u201d The law was enacted accordingly: \u201cHe that\nblasphemeth the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death, and all\nthe congregation shall certainly stone him.\u201d The majesty of the Great\nKing\u2015\u2015the infinitely holy God, must be held sacred. No punishment could\nbe too severe for a crime which struck so fatally against the reverence\nand homage due to Jehovah.\n\n * * * * *\n\n6. _Magic Arts._ In examining the statutes on this point, we are\nstruck with the number and variety of names which designate these arts.\nThe standard enumeration (Deut. 18: 10, 11) gives at least _eight_;\nviz.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(1.) \u201cHe that useth divination\u201d\u2015\u2015professing to gain knowledge\nand power more than human and in some sense divine:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(2.) \u201cAn\nobserver of times\u201d\u2015\u2015the Hebrew word being related to _cloud_, perhaps\nin the sense of covering, hiding, as the cloud shuts off the sun\u2019s\nlight; practicing covert arts:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(3.) \u201cAn enchanter\u201d\u2015\u2015the original\nsuggesting the serpent, and implying either a hissing, in imitation of\nthe serpent; or the practice of charming serpents, yet always connected\nwith the arts of divination:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(4.) \u201cA witch\u201d\u2015\u2015the Hebrew word\nsignifying one who mutters incantations, its cognate words having the\nsense of praying, but in Hebrew only in the bad sense of seeking help\nfrom others than God:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(5.) \u201cThe charmer\u201d\u2015\u2015a word which suggests\n_binding_ as with the spell of enchantment\u2015\u2015\u201cspell-bound\u201d; often\nused of the charming of serpents:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(6.) \u201cA consulter with familiar\nspirits\u201d; (Heb.) one who prays to the bottle-man\u2015\u2015the Hebrew word\nfor bottle being applied to the ventriloquist from whose body came\nforth unearthly sounds as from a second being imprisoned within him.\nVentriloquism was one of the arts practiced by the ancient magicians\nto excite the wonder and to command the belief of the credulous.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nEnglish phrase\u2015\u2015\u201cfamiliar spirit\u201d\u2015\u2015signifies spirits who stand in such\na relation to the performer that they _come at his call_, like servants\nof his _family_, he having the power to evoke them at his will. Of\ncourse it is pretended that these spirits are other than human and\ngreater than human spirits can be while yet in the body. The original\nHebrew [Ob] comes down to us in the African \u201cObe-man\u201d who still follows\nthe same profession, by means of similar arts.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(7.) \u201cThe wizard\u201d\nis one who claims superhuman wisdom\u2015\u2015the old English accurately\ntranslating the Hebrew: the distinctively _wise one_. Of course the\nword is restricted in usage to this sort of superior wisdom\u2015\u2015that which\nis gained by the arts of magic.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(8.) \u201cThe necromancer\u201d\u2015\u2015precisely\nthe spiritist of modern times\u2015\u2015or rather, of all time\u2015\u2015who claims to\nhave communion with the spirits of dead men.[41]\n\nI have led the reader through this analysis of the original words,\nto aid him toward some just conception of the associated ideas which\ncluster round the _magic arts_ of the Hebrew age. Their name and\ntheir arts are legion. Think of so many classes\u2015\u2015professions\u2015\u2015of\nmen and women naturally shrewd, sharp, cunning; practicing upon the\nsuperstitions, the fears, the gullibility of the millions; gaining\nan almost unlimited control over them; working upon their imagination,\nhaunting them with the dread of unknown powers, bringing up to\nthem ghosts froth the invisible world, claiming to give auguries of\nthe future, playing in every way that may be for their own selfish\ninterests upon their fears and their hopes to extort their money or to\nmake sport of their fears, or to gratify their own or others\u2019 malice.\nOr go still deeper and see all this machinery subsidized by the devil\nto impress men with his supremacy, to extort their homage, or at least\ntheir fear of himself; and perhaps, most of all, to turn them utterly\naway from the true God and to displace him from his proper sphere as\nthe supreme hope and joy and trust of mortals.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It will always be an\nunsettled question\u2015\u2015How much help in the line of superhuman knowledge\nand power does Satan give to his servants who work the infernal\nmachinery of magic arts? But on the point of his interest and sympathy\nin these arts, there need not be the least question whatever. A system\nso near akin in spirit and influence to idolatry\u2015\u2015which so thoroughly\ndisplaces God from the hopes and fears of men, and which seeks so\nsuccessfully to instal these horrible superstitions in his place;\u2015\u2015a\nsystem which perverts the powers of the world to come to subserve\nungodliness and which practically rules out the Blessed God from the\nsphere of men\u2019s homage, fears, and hopes;\u2015\u2015this system has always\nbeen worked by wicked and never by good men\u2015\u2015has always subserved all\niniquity, but piety and morality never;\u2015\u2015this has been a master stroke\nof Satan\u2019s policy and one of the most palpable fields of his triumph\nthrough all the ages.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Let it not surprise us that God\u2019s law given\nthrough Moses denounced it unqualifiedly and made it punishable with\ndeath.\n\nThe nations whom God drove out of Canaan were steeped in its\nabominations and ripened under its influence for their righteous\ndoom.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015I am not aware that even one pagan, idolatrous nation,\nknown to history since the world began, has been free from this\nabomination\u2015\u2015the arts of magic. Egypt, Canaan, Babylon, India, Africa,\nhistoric Greece and Rome; the old nations of Northern Europe, the\nsavages of America\u2015\u2015all come up to testify that they have been cursed\nby its presence and power. The latest edition, modified slightly\nto adjust it somewhat to an age of Christian civilization, is the\n\u201cspiritism\u201d of our day\u2015\u2015of which I need at this point to say but\ntwo things:\u2015\u2015(1.) That its principles and policy, its spirit and\nits influence, are essentially the old \u201c_necromancy_\u201d of the ages of\nall history: and (2.) That it naturally becomes the nucleus around\nwhich chrystallizes whatever elements in society are irreligious and\nunchristian.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This last remark would not deny that some are attracted\ntoward it temporarily by curiosity; but it would maintain that the\nanimus, the soul of the system, is congenial to those who know not God,\nand who choose not to know him;\u2015\u2015who therefore gladly seek a substitute\nfor God, for his Bible, for prayer, and for trust in his providence in\nthese new revelations from the future, unseen world.\n\nPassages in the Old Testament treating of this subject are Ex. 22: 18\nand Lev. 19: 26, 31, and 20: 6, 27, and Deut. 18: 10, 11, 14, and 1 Sam.\n28: 7\u201320, and 1 Chron. 10: 13, 14, and 2 Kings 21: 6, and 2 Chron.\n33: 6, and Isa. 8: 19, 20.\n\n\n II. _Crimes against Parents and Rulers_;\n (Violations of the Fifth Command).\n\nOf crimes against parents, the statutes of Moses specify smiting and\ncursing (Ex. 21: 15, 17); the penalty in both cases, death. The precept\nforbidding to curse a parent is repeated impressively (Lev. 20: 9);\n\u201cFor every one that curseth father or mother shall be surely put to\ndeath: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon\nhim.\u201d This crime stands in the list of those that are anathematized\u2015\u2015in\nDeut. 27: 16: \u201cCursed be he that setteth light by his father or his\nmother; and all the people shall say, Amen.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In Mat. 15: 3\u20136 and\nMk. 7: 9\u201313, our Lord seems to give this law forbidding a son to curse\nfather or mother, coupled with the fifth command, a construction broad\nenough to require him to give them an adequate support\u2015\u2015of course in\ntheir years of infirmity and want.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015That God had a high regard for\nthis filial duty toward parents is manifest in the place of priority\naccorded to the fifth command and in the special promise made to those\nwho fulfill its obligations.\n\nIn Deut. 21: 18\u201321, the case is supposed of a son incurably stubborn,\nrebellious, gluttonous, and drunken, upon whom parental chastisement\nis unavailing. The law very considerately provides that his father and\nhis mother shall lay hold of him and bring him before the elders of his\ncity unto its gates (_i. e._ into open court), and there, as a public\nexample and warning, the men of his city shall stone him with stones\nthat he die:\u2015\u2015\u201cSo shalt thou put evil away from you and all Israel\nshall hear and fear.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Parental love and partiality would guaranty\nthis law against abuse. It is pleasant to note that no case of its\nexecution is on record. Perhaps the severity of the law forestalled its\nviolation.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The spirit of this precept is so fully in harmony with\nthe book of Proverbs that we naturally expect to find it there. (See\nProv. 20: 20 and 30: 11, 17.)\n\nA precept forbidding insult and reproach of magistrates stands in Ex.\n22: 28: \u201cThou shalt not revile the gods [Elohim used probably in the\nsense of _judges_], nor curse the ruler of thy people.\u201d The word \u201cgods\u201d\nhere can not refer to false gods, idols (as the English reader might\nsuppose), for the Hebrew word can not bear that sense, nor would it be\npertinent. The parallelism with \u201cruler of thy people\u201d favors the sense\nabove suggested\u2015\u2015_judges_\u2015\u2015acting under God and in his behalf before\nthe people. Their sacred office under God is assumed to be good reason\nfor treating them with respect and against offering them insult.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015No\npenalty is attached to the violation of this law\u2015\u2015perhaps because\nthe penalty ought to depend so much upon the aggravation of the\noffense.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Under the kings, it was apparently a capital crime, for\nwhen Shimei cursed king David (2 Sam. 19: 21\u201323) Abishai assumed that\nhe ought to die; and his temporary pardon was manifestly due to David\u2019s\nsad consciousness of deep personal ill-desert and of God\u2019s righteous\nvisitations upon him.\n\n\n III. _Crimes against Person and Life_;\n (Violations of the Sixth Command).\n\nUnder this head the salient and vital points are:\n\n1. That the _real murderer must be put to death_, and no \u201csatisfaction\u201d\nbe ever taken in place of his life.\n\n2. That the law discriminated with the utmost care and wisdom between\nreal murder, and homicide, more or less justifiable. [Special laws\ntouching injuries done to servants will be treated under the head of\nHebrew servitude.]\n\n3. A special law provided cities of refuge.\n\n4. Another special law met the case of murder by unknown hands.\n\n5. Inexcusable carelessness causing injury or death was punished.\n\n6. Personal injuries not fatal were specially punished by statute.\n\n1. Real murder was punished capitally. \u201cHe that smiteth a man so that\nhe die shall be surely put to death\u201d (Ex. 21: 12 and Lev. 24: 17).\nThe law appears fully in Num. 35: 9\u201334 and Deut. 19: 4\u201313, 20, 21,\nin connection with provisions for the cities of refuge. With firm and\nsolemn tone the law declared \u201cYe shall take no satisfaction for the\nlife of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall be surely put\nto death. So shall ye not pollute the land wherein ye are; for blood\nit defileth the land, and the land can not be cleansed of the blood\nthat is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it. Defile not\ntherefore the land which ye shall inhabit wherein I dwell, for I the\nLord dwell among the children of Israel\u201d (Num. 35: 31\u201334).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This\nreaffirms and amplifies the doctrine of the law as given to Noah and to\nthe repeopled world; \u201cAnd surely your blood of your lives [life-blood]\nwill I require at the hand of every beast will I require it, and _at\nthe hand of every man_; at the hand of every man\u2019s brother [such a case\nas that of Cain and Abel] will I require the life of man. Whoso [with\nno exception] sheddeth man\u2019s blood, by man shall his blood be shed;\n_for in the image of God made he man_.\u201d Human life is sacred, and God\nprotects it under the sternest possible penalties\u2015\u2015nothing less than\nthe life of the murderer. That God intended this law _for the whole\nrace, for the entire repeopled world_ from and after Noah, is too plain\nto be denied or even doubted. It is not easy to see how another word\ncould be said to make this more plain. The law of Sinai and the code\ngiven through Moses are intensely emphatic, indeed, perfectly decisive.\n\nThe law does not prescribe the mode of this capital punishment. In\nvarious other crimes punishable with death, the mode is by stoning,\ndone, however, not by any one executioner, but by many; in some\ncases by \u201cthe men of the city.\u201d The penalty for murder would often be\nexecuted by the blood-avenger\u2015\u2015the nearest relative of the murdered man;\nand it seems to be assumed that he would use any deadly weapon he might\nchoose (Num. 35: 19, 21, 27 and Deut. 19: 6, 11\u201313).\n\n2. The law discriminated with the utmost care and wisdom between real\nmurder, and homicide, more or less justifiable. Real murder was to be\nproven as follows:\n\n(1.) By previous hatred and enmity. Of course this could be known by\nhuman judges only by its manifestations.\n\n(2.) By violent passion in the act\u2015\u2015which I take to be the sense of\nthe words in our translation: \u201cIf a man come _presumptuously_ upon his\nneighbor; [in Heb.] if a man _boil up with rage_ against his neighbor\nto slay him with guile,\u201d etc. (Ex. 21: 14).\n\n(3.) By evidence of premeditation\u2015\u2015\u201clying in wait\u201d (Ex. 21: 13, and\nNum. 35: 15\u201323, and Deut. 19: 4\u20136).\n\n(4.) By the sort of instrument used (Num. 35: 16\u201318). \u201cAn instrument of\niron;\u201d \u201ca stone;\u201d \u201ca hand-weapon of wood,\u201d _i. e._ _wood of the hand_,\nlarge enough to fill the hand and deal a death-blow.\n\nOn the other hand it would be in favor of homicide if one had killed\nhis neighbor \u201cignorantly\u201d\u2015\u2015\u201cwhom he had not hated in time past;\u201d or\nthrust upon him suddenly without enmity; without lying in wait; or\ncast upon him a stone seeing him not, nor seeking his harm, etc. (Num.\n35: 22, 23 and Deut. 19: 4\u20136). A case for example is given\u2015\u2015the head\nof a man\u2019s ax flying off when he is at work and killing his neighbor.\n\n3. A special law provided for _cities of refuge_. (See Ex. 21: 13 and\nNum. 35, and Deut. 19 and Josh. 20).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015At the era of Moses it was\nalready a time-honored usage that the nearest blood-relative should\navenge the blood of his slain friend. The prevalence and strength\nof this sentiment were due of course, primarily, to the instincts\nof human nature; but secondarily to the fact that as an institution\nfor the protection of person and life, the family was prior to the\nstate.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The Goel [as he was called in Hebrew]\u2015\u2015the blood-avenger\nor Redeemer, could not be expected to exercise cool and impartial\ndiscrimination over the questions lying between murder in the\nfirst degree and homicide. To obviate this evil the Lord introduced\nan important modification upon the previously current usages of\nblood-revenge. It was this. Six cities in Palestine\u2015\u2015three on each side\nof the Jordan were selected in such convenient geographical position\nthat from any point of the whole country the man-slayer might make the\nnearest one within less than one day\u2019s run.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015All these were cities\nof the Levites; hence the leading men of the city would be competent\nto hold a preliminary investigation. The man-slayer fled for his life\nto the nearest of these cities. The legal authorities there protected\nhim against the Goel\u2015\u2015the blood-avenger. The elders of his own city,\nif the case seemed to demand it, might send and fetch him; try him, and\ndeliver him up to the blood-avenger; or remand him back to his city of\nrefuge. Thus this city shielded him against sudden and indiscriminate\nvengeance, and secured for him a trial before the congregation or\nelders of his own city. If his case was proved to be homicide, he\nmust remain within the city of refuge till the death of the high\npriest, after which the avenger\u2019s right to take his life (outside\nthe refuge-city) ceased and he could go at large in safety. This\nprovision affixed a limit to his quasi-imprisonment. Perhaps it was\nalso significant of the pardon for sin provided for in the death of our\nGreat High Priest.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015If the man-slayer allowed himself to be caught\nby the blood-avenger outside his city when he should be within it, the\navenger might take his life with impunity.\n\nThe law was specific on the point that human life must not be taken\non the testimony of one witness only\u2015\u2015a plurality of witnesses being\nrequired (Num. 35: 30, and Deut. 17: 6, and 19: 15).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It was no\ncrime before the law to kill a thief breaking into a house by night\n(Ex. 22: 2, 3). After sunrise, it became a crime of blood to take\nhis life\u2015\u2015it being assumed that he might be caught and compelled to\nmake restitution, and that the peril to your own life and that of\nyour family is materially lessened. The law carefully guarded the\ndefenseless hours of sleep by night. If a thief in defiance of this\nlaw played the burglar by night, he must run his own risk of death in\nthe attempt.\n\n4. A very remarkable statute met the special case of a murder done\nby unknown hands (Deut. 21: 1\u20139). The authorities from all contiguous\ncities took up the case; measured carefully to fix upon the city lying\nnearest to the bloody spot. Then the elders of that city were to take\na heifer never worked in yoke; bring her down into a wild, uncultivated\nvalley\u2015\u2015the home of all weird and thrilling associations\u2015\u2015and there\nstrike off the heifer\u2019s head\u2015\u2015the priests coming near and all the\nelders of that city washing their hands over the headless heifer,\nsolemnly protesting\u2015\u2015\u201cOur hands have not shed this blood, neither have\nour eyes seen it. Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel, and lay\nnot innocent blood unto thy people Israel\u2019s charge.\u201d \u201cAnd the blood\nshall be forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent\nblood from among you when thou shalt do that which is right in the\nsight of the Lord.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The entire scene was well adapted to make the\nimpression that murder is no trifle, and that God held the whole people\nresponsible to some extent for the safety of every human life.\n\n5. _Inexcusable carelessness_, followed by fatal results, was\npunishable by law. A supposed case for a specimen appears in Ex. 21:\n28, 29. The goring ox\u2015\u2015wont to push with his horns\u2015\u2015reported to his\nowner but not \u201ckept in\u201d by him\u2015\u2015killing man or woman\u2015\u2015must be put to\ndeath and _his owner also_, for his culpable negligence.\n\n6. Personal injuries, not fatal, came under special statute. In the\ncase of a mutual quarrel and fight, personal injuries, less than fatal,\nwere punished by requiring their author to pay for the wounded man\u2019s\nloss of time and for his being \u201cthoroughly healed\u201d [nursing and medical\nservices].\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The master who smote his servant unto immediate death,\nmust surely be punished. But if the servant survived a day or two, the\npresumption would be that the master did not intend to kill. His loss\nin the services of his servant was considered his punishment.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Other\nspecial cases appear Ex. 21: 22 and Deut. 25: 11, 12 which were\nbetter read than rehearsed.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The principle of punishment by\nretaliation\u2015\u2015[\u201clex talionis\u201d]\u2015\u2015like for like\u2015\u2015was applied in all\nappropriate cases (Lev. 24: 18\u201321). \u201cIf a man cause a blemish in his\nneighbor, as he hath done, so shall it be done unto him: Breach for\nbreach; eye for eye,\u201d etc. (Ex. 21: 23\u201325 and Deut. 19: 21).\n\n\n IV. _Crimes Against Chastity_;\n (Violations of the Seventh Command).\n\nThe necessity for laws on this point at once discriminating, wise,\nand stringent, will be sufficiently obvious when we consider (1.) The\nstrength of the passion to be controlled\u2015\u2015constitutionally common to\nall ages of the world:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(2.) The sacredness of the marriage relation\nand the inestimable value of moral purity in all human society\u2015\u2015also\ncommon to all ages of the world\u2019s history:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(3.) (Peculiar to the\nearlier ages) the necessity of defining the limits of consanguinity\nwithin which marriage should be prohibited, and all sexual connection\nsternly forbidden. Perhaps we need to remind ourselves that the race\nhaving sprung from a single pair and the world having been repeopled\na second time from one family, those primitive examples may have sent\ndown for many generations a certain looseness which called for special\nrestraint and a carefully defining law:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(4.) The crimes of Sodom,\ntheir polluting influence in so good a family as that of Lot; the low\nmorals of Egyptian life; some sad manifestations in the early history\nof Jacob\u2019s family; the horrible contagion of Moab and Midian when the\ntribes of Israel came socially near them;\u2015\u2015these and kindred facts\nwill be readily recalled as in point to show the necessity of vigorous\nlegislation in the Mosaic code to counteract these untoward influences\nof their antecedent life and of surrounding society.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The thoughtful\nstudent of the Mosaic code as expanding and applying the seventh\ncommandment will be painfully impressed with the disadvantages under\nwhich it labored by reason of the toleration of polygamy, concubinage,\nand domestic servitude. In some points the law bore with special\nseverity upon woman as compared with man\u2015\u2015a sort of imperfection\nwhich was simply an inevitable result of tolerating those ancient\nevils.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It scarcely need be suggested that the value of this part\nof the Mosaic code as a definite model for Christian legislation is\ngreatly lessened by this class of facts. Woman\u2019s place in society then\nwas by no means that which the genius of Christianity has given her.\nUnquestionably this code alleviated her condition as compared with what\nit had been, and brought to her relief as large a boon of blessing as\nthe genius of the age would bear.\n\nIn view, partly of the difficulty of treating this subject with\nminute detail in a way to make its discussion really useful, and\npartly of its inferior value in some points as an example, for reasons\nabove indicated, I shall excuse myself from any minute and extended\npresentation of these laws.\n\nIn general: The laws accord ample space to the condemnation of the\nunnatural crimes of sodomy and bestiality (Lev. 18 and 20, and Deut.\n23: 17, 18, and 27: 21): also to incest, which for historic reasons\nneeded to be thoroughly and stringently defined (Lev. 18 and 19\nand 20): to adultery proper; to the case of a suspected wife (Num.\n5: 11\u201331);\u2015\u2015to seduction and rape; aggravated whoredom in the form\nof public prostitution; of prostitution to an idol; of impurity in a\npriest\u2019s daughter; in a woman betrothed, etc., etc.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The study of\nthese laws would impress pure-minded readers with a sense of the great\npains taken to lift up and regenerate a sadly low and debased condition\nof social morals on these points; and also with a sense of special\ndifficulty arising from the fact that society was quite too low to\nbear the introduction and enforcement of the Christian law of marriage\nas against concubinage, polygamy, and the debasement inseparable\nfrom even modified slavery. We shall rise from the careful study of\nthis department of the Hebrew code with gratitude for the wisdom and\ngoodness which attempted so much, yet with a deeper gratitude that a\npurer and higher code came to mankind through the law of Christ and the\nspirit of an enlightened Christian age.\n\n\n V. _Statutes Protecting Rights of Property_;\n (Expanding the Eighth Command).\n\nIn Ex. 22: 1\u201315, 25\u201328, and 23: 4, 5, we have the earliest instalment\nof statutes on this point. The staple penalty for theft was restitution,\nyet varying widely in amount to meet the peculiarities of the case. In\npastoral life cattle were specially exposed; therefore the law ordained\nthat if the thief had killed the animal or sold it, he must restore\u2015\u2015of\noxen five for one; of sheep, four. But if the animal was found alive\nin his hand, the restitution was only double\u2015\u2015two for one. The law made\nthe charitable supposition that the thief might yet repent and bring\nback the stolen property, and purposely favored this result. On the\nother hand the selling or destruction of the animal would indicate a\nfixed purpose to have the avails of it, and also to render detection\nmore difficult\u2015\u2015both of which purposes the law punished sharply.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It\nmay well be noted that restitution was a telling, stinging penalty,\ntouching the sensibilities of the thief in a very tender point. The\nindolent or unprincipled man who thought to live upon his neighbor\u2019s\ntoil, would find stealing very unprofitable. The law had the more grip\nin those times because if a man tried to put his property out of his\nhands to evade the demand for restitution, or were in fact too poor\nto restore four or five fold, there was always the last resort\u2015\u2015the\nlaw could take him for a slave (\u201cservant\u201d) and make him _work it\nout_.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This was one of the incidental benefits of a hard system: it\ncould be applied so as to make the penalties for theft very effectually\nstringent.\n\nThe law punished trespass upon another\u2019s property and want of care for\nits due protection\u2015\u2015on which points, subsequent, statutes reaffirm and\nexpand what we first find in Ex. 22. (See Deut. 22: 1\u20134.)\n\n * * * * *\n\nWhile the law was vigorous, not to say severe, against criminal theft,\nit was yet _exceedingly lenient towards the unfortunate and innocent\npoor_, _e. g._,\n\n(1.) It gave permission to eat another\u2019s property for the supply of\npresent want. The specifications are\u2015\u2015The grapes of thy neighbor\u2019s\nvineyard; and his standing corn. Thou mayest eat grapes, but not put\none in thy vessel; mayest pluck the heads of grain in thy hand, but\nnever move thy sickle against thy neighbor\u2019s grain (Deut. 23: 24, 25).\n\n(2.) It regulated thoughtfully and compassionately the whole subject\nof _pledges_, _i. e._ securities for the payment of debt. As first\nannounced (Ex. 22: 26, 27), it provided that if the poor man\u2019s garment\nwere taken in pledge, it must certainly be restored to him by sundown,\nbecause it was his bed-covering for the night; and God would surely\nhear the poor man\u2019s cry if he were compelled to lay himself down to\nsleep with no covering.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As subsequently revised or enlarged (Deut.\n24: 6, 10\u201313, 17), the statute peremptorily forbade taking the upper\nor the nether millstone in pledge, because no oriental family could\nsubsist without these. It also forbade the creditor to go in to the\npoor man\u2019s house to get his pledge lest he fix his covetous eye on\nsomething there, but required him to wait patiently outside for the\npoor man to bring it out\u2015\u2015a provision which manifests a specially\ndelicate regard for the feelings of the poor. He was not obliged to\nexpose his deep poverty, nor to disclose all he had to the greedy gaze\nof his more wealthy neighbor.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The law also forbade the taking of a\nwidow\u2019s raiment in pledge.\n\n(3.) The law was entirely explicit and positive in its prohibition of\n_usury_. By \u201cusury\u201d the Hebrew meant, not merely excessive or illegal\ninterest, but _interest_ itself\u2015\u2015_all_ interest\u2015\u2015money paid for the use\nof money, or any thing valuable paid for the use of any other property\nborrowed.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The first statute (Ex. 22: 25) was general, yet fully\ncovered the principle: \u201cIf thou lend money to any of my people that\nis poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt\nthou lay upon him usury.\u201d The law contemplated the poor only; for the\nrich are presumed to be above the necessity of borrowing money. The\nborrowing of money as capital to be used in trade, or in manufacture,\nor in the purchase of land, had no place at all in the business economy\nof Israel. The borrowing which the law contemplated was only that\nof the poor man to meet his imperative necessities. A man who had no\naccumulations to draw from for a sick day or a casualty, must borrow or\ngo hungry. God speaks of such poor as \u201cmy people,\u201d and forbids taking\ninterest on what they must needs borrow.\n\nIn the later books (Lev. 25: 35\u201338 and Deut. 23: 19, 20) we have\nperhaps a later and revised form of the statute. \u201cIf thy brother\nbe waxen poor, thou shalt relieve him. Take thou no usury of him or\nincrease; fear thy God, that thy neighbor may live with thee. Thou\nshalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals\nfor increase.\u201d In Deut. (as above) the law discriminates between \u201cthy\nbrother\u201d and a stranger. \u201cThou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother;\nunto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury.\u201d The ground for this\ndiscrimination against the stranger may be a purpose to discourage his\nresidence in the land; or it may be related to the general fact that\nforeigners were the men of traffic. (The original words for Canaanite\nand for merchant were the same.) Tradesmen, doing business on borrowed\ncapital, might afford to pay interest; and on every principle of right\nand justice, ought to do so. But God did not encourage the Israelites\nin traffic with other nations. It would have been quite too perilous to\ntheir morals, and to their religion.\n\nThe reader will scarcely need the suggestion that the Hebrew law\nagainst interest applies in our Christian age only to the case of\nloans made to the poor to meet their necessities. The spirit of the\nlaw unquestionably _does_ apply in such cases, and does _not_ apply to\nany other.\n\n(4.) _Many special statutes contemplated relief for the poor._\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\ncorners and the gleanings of the harvest field; a forgotten sheaf; a\nfew clusters of grapes also and some olives on the olive tree, must\nbe left for the poor and the stranger (Lev. 19: 9, 10, and 23: 32, and\nDeut. 24: 19\u201322)\u2015\u2015each of these successive statutes adding somewhat\nin detail to the preceding.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The day wages of the poor laborer must\nbe promptly paid, even on the very same day (Lev. 19: 13 and Deut. 24:\n14, 15). But especially the sabbatic year (each seventh) was designed\nto be a special benefaction to the poor. This law (Deut. 15: 1\u201311)\nuses chiefly the word \u201crelease\u201d in regard to the debts of the poor.\nCritics are sharply divided over the question whether this release was\nan entire _remission of debts_, or only a _stay of collection_, putting\nit over for this one year. In favor of the latter view, Michaelis\nand others urge that the reason for stay of collection was that\nno cultivation of land was permitted during this year, and hence\nthere were no crops of this sort, and therefore only diminished means\nof paying debts. Also that the law might be so abused as mostly to\nannihilate all rights of property, inasmuch as the statute (v. 9) would\nvirtually put the property of the more wealthy within the control of\nthe less wealthy. Thou shalt not withhold because the year of release\nis at hand, etc.\n\nOn the other hand, the arguments for construing the law to mean an\nactual release of debt in the case of \u201cthy poor brother\u201d or neighbor,\nare strong, and in my view, conclusive; _e. g._\n\n(a.) This is the legitimate meaning of the original word translated\n\u201crelease.\u201d There should never be any deviation from the legitimate\nsense of the original staple word, without cogent reasons\u2015\u2015a principle\nwhich is doubly strong _in the words of a law_.\n\n(b.) This construction is fully in harmony with the genius of the\nentire code in all its statutes for the relief of the poor.\n\n(c.) On this construction the limitations of the statute are precisely\nin place; _e. g._\u2015\u2015to the case of \u201cthy poor brother.\u201d \u201cThou shalt\nrelease _save when there_ shall be no poor among you\u201d: also\u2015\u2015\u201cIf there\nbe among you a poor man of one of thy brethren, etc., thou shalt not\nharden thy heart nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother, but shalt\nopen thy hand wide unto him, and shall surely lend unto him sufficient\nfor his need in that which he wanteth\u201d\u2015\u2015[not all your property: you are\nnot required to make over every thing you have]. \u201cBeware that there be\nnot a thought in thy wicked heart, saying\u2015\u2015The year of release is at\nhand\u201d [and I shall never get my money or my grain back again], \u201cand he\ncry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee.\u201d This shaping\nof the statute plainly contemplates a real remission of this sort of\ndebts on each seventh year.\n\n(d.) To the same purport is this\u2015\u2015that the law excepts debts against a\nforeigner: \u201cOf a foreigner thou mayest exact it.\u201d Our translators have\ntaken the liberty to add the word \u201cagain,\u201d but without the least\nauthority from the Hebrew. The word \u201cagain\u201d seems to come from the\ntheory that this statute required a stay of collection for one year in\nthe case of the foreigner: but of this there is no proof in the law as\nit came from the hand of Moses.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In the time of Nehemiah (5: 1\u201312)\nthere was unquestionably an entire remission of debts to the poor, and\nnot the least hint that this was going beyond the Mosaic law. On the\ncontrary it is implied that \u201cthe fear of our God\u201d (v. 9)\u2015\u2015equivalent\nto obedience\u2015\u2015would require just this.\n\nThis seventh or sabbatic year had other special features besides\nthe remission of the poor man\u2019s debts as in Deut. 15: 1\u201311. These\nadditional features appear in Lev. 25, which provides (vs. 2\u20137) that\nthis year shall be a Sabbath of rest to the soil\u2015\u2015rest from its usual\ncultivation.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In this chapter we find also a kindred institution\u2015\u2015the\nJubilee\u2015\u2015each fiftieth year\u2015\u2015next following each seventh Sabbatic\nyear. Inasmuch as this arrangement would bring two years of land-rest\ntogether, the Lord gave a special promise that the fertility of the\nyear immediately preceding should suffice against the necessities of\nthese two years of rest\u2015\u2015a fact which testifies that God ruled his\npeople Israel under a system of special providences. If Moses is to be\nconsidered as even in a secondary sense the legislator of the people,\nhe must have had unbounded confidence in God\u2019s special direction and\ncounsel in these statutes.\n\nThe law of the Jubilee gave personal liberty to all bondmen. Of this,\nmore must be said under \u201cHebrew servitude.\u201d It also provided for the\nreturn of all real estate\u2015\u2015all the lands of Canaan\u2015\u2015to their original\npossessors. Lands could be alienated only till the jubilee. They were\nsold, if at all, subject to this law. Consequently a sale of land was\nonly a lease for at longest forty-nine years\u2015\u2015_i. e._ for the years\nintervening till the next jubilee. They were subject to redemption at\nany time\u2015\u2015the price to be graduated by the years which the lease had\nto run. Houses in walled cities were redeemable only within one year\nfrom sale; but in unwalled cities, houses followed the law of land,\nreturning with the land to their original owner at the jubilee. The\nhouses of Levites were accounted as land.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These statutes had a\ntwofold purpose; to afford relief to the poor; and to prevent the\nentire alienation of the lands of Canaan from the tribes, families,\nand individuals to whom they were originally given.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The question,\nhow far these institutions\u2015\u2015the Sabbatic year and the Jubilee\u2015\u2015were\nobserved in the future history of Israel is foreign from our present\npurpose.\n\n\n VI. _Crimes against reputation_;\n (the details of the ninth commandment).\n\nHere are stringent statutes against _false accusation_ and\n_false witness_. Under this general head fall two distinct\ncases:\u2015\u2015(a) Testimony given to favor the guilty (Ex. 23: 1, 3);\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015and\n(b) allegations designed to condemn the innocent (Deut. 19: 16\u201321).\n\n(a.) The former class (as given Ex. 23: 1, 3) forbids not merely\noriginating (\u201craise\u201d), but _taking up_ a false report and seconding\nit by indorsement. It warns men not to be drawn in to help the wicked\nin their malicious plots to screen each other, though they be many.\nThe cause of the poor man which you may not favor (v. 3) is certainly\nsupposed to be a bad one. Your sympathy for him as poor must not\noverride justice and truth.\n\n(b.) False witness, purposed to condemn the innocent, is met by\nthe statute (Deut. 19: 16\u201321). The accuser and the accused are to be\nbrought face to face before the Lord and before the priests and the\njudges who are to \u201cmake diligent inquisition,\u201d obviously hearing both\nparties, and if the accuser is proved to be a false witness, \u201cYe shall\ndo to him as he thought to do to his brother; thine eye shall not pity,\nbut life shall go for life; eye for eye,\u201d etc.\n\nTale-bearing, _i. e._ tattling, retailing scandal maliciously or\nfor a past-time, needed the force of law to abate and suppress it\nin those times as in most other ages. \u201cThou shalt not go up and down\nas a tale-bearer among thy people, neither shalt thou stand against\nthe blood of thy neighbor. I am the Lord\u201d (Lev. 19: 16\u201318)\u2015\u2015\u201cStanding\nagainst the blood,\u201d must mean\u2015\u2015taking ground against the very life,\nand must not be construed to forbid truthful testimony against the\nreal murderer. But the informer should constantly remember that his\nneighbor\u2019s interests and life are too precious to be lightly tampered\nwith. Thy neighbor may have said or done something wrong. Your duty\nin the case is not to scatter broadcast all you know and more than\nyou know of his misdeeds; but first of all\u2015\u2015\u201cThou shalt not hate thy\nbrother in thy heart,\u201d but \u201clove him as thyself\u201d (v. 18); and next,\n\u201cThou shalt in anywise [by all means] rebuke thy neighbor, and not\nsuffer sin upon him.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This last clause has been understood in two\nways:\u2015\u2015(a) Thou shalt not suffer the sin to lie upon him with no effort\non thy part to bring him to repentance: or (b) Thou shalt not bear on\nthine own conscience the sin of neglecting to admonish him; _i. e._\nthou shalt not submit to bear this sin on his account\u2015\u2015a sin which\ncomes of knowing his crime and of failing in your duty to save him\nby means of judicious and fraternal rebuke. The latter construction\nis best sustained by Hebrew usage of the words. See the same words,\nLev. 22: 9 and Num. 18: 32, and the preposition \u201c_upon_ him,\u201d in Ps.\n69: 8\u2015\u2015\u201c_For thy sake_ have I borne,\u201d etc. The verb in this clause\nmeans rather to \u201c_bear_\u201d in your own person, than to \u201csuffer\u201d to exist\nin another.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The passage, so interpreted, assumes it to be your\nsolemn duty to labor to bring your neighbor to repentance if you are\ncognizant of his wrong-doing, and implies that you must lie under a\nload of sin if you fail to do so. But do it _in love_ (loving him even\nas yourself) as well as in all fidelity to his soul, as also to your\nown. Do this instead of going up and down to scatter this scandal among\nthose who will do nothing to save your erring neighbor, and nothing to\nrelieve your conscience of your responsibility in his behalf.\n\nWhile this statute bears against giving information about misdeeds of\nminor sort, there were two crimes of such magnitude that every man was\nbound to testify in the proper form against them; viz. idolatry and\nmurder. See the case of idolatry in Deut. 13: 6\u201314: \u201cNeither shalt\nthou conceal him, but thou shalt surely kill him: thy hand shall be\nfirst upon him to put him to death, and afterward, the hand of all the\npeople.\u201d (Also v. 14)\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The expiation for murder by an unknown hand\nincluded this most solemn protestation: \u201cOur hands have not shed this\nblood, neither have our eyes seen it.\u201d Of course, whoever might have\nseen was most sacredly bound to testify.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XVIII.\n\n THE CIVIL INSTITUTES OF MOSES, CONTINUED.\n\n\n VII. _Hebrew Servitude._\n\nServitude existed before Moses. It was no part of the mission of\nthe Hebrew code to _create_ it. Let it be forever admitted that the\nlaws given of God through Moses can not be held responsible for the\nexistence of slavery. They found it existing and proceeded therefore\nto _modify it_; to soften its more rigid features; to extract its\ncarnivorous teeth; to ordain that the slave _had rights_ which the\nmaster and the nation were bound to respect\u2015\u2015in short, to tone down\nthe severities of the system from unendurable slavery to very tolerable\nservitude.\n\n * * * * *\n\n_By what means was this change wrought?_ What new elements were\nintroduced to abate the severities of real slavery?\n\n1. _Man-stealing was punished with death._ \u201cHe that stealeth a man and\nselleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to\ndeath\u201d (Ex. 21: 16). The law as recited in Deut. 21: 7 applies to a\nman stealing one of his brethren of the children of Israel. As stated\nin Ex. 21: 16 it is universal, with no limitation. Stealing a _man_ is\nthe crime. I see no reason to doubt that the law was intended to apply\nto men of every nationality\u2015\u2015to men as made in God\u2019s image of whatever\nnation.\n\nThis statute struck at the very root of real slavery. Both stealing\nand selling contemplate property\u2015\u2015assume the fact of a property value.\nThe spirit of the law is\u2015\u2015Men shall never be degraded into merchandise.\nEvery body knows that all American slavery began with stealing men\nfrom Africa and selling them. Servitude, involving a certain right to\nservice and property in service, there might be, despite of this Hebrew\nlaw; but real slavery\u2015\u2015property in man as distinct from property in his\nservices, there could not be under this law. Moreover, the severity of\nthis penalty must have thrown its shield of protection over the entire\nsystem of servitude. It was a very palpable indication of God\u2019s stern\ndispleasure against the whole system of chattelizing human beings.\n\n2. The Hebrew law positively forbade the rendition of fugitives.\n\u201cThou shalt not deliver to his master the servant that has escaped\nfrom his master unto thee: he shall dwell with thee, even among you in\nthat place which he shall choose in one of thy gates where it liketh\nhim best; thou shalt not oppress him\u201d (Deut. 23: 15, 16).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Observe\nit was not only impossible to have any law for the reclamation of\nfugitives\u2015\u2015_i. e._ to have \u201ca fugitive slave law\u201d of the recent\nAmerican pattern; but the law was put on the other side. It\ndeclared\u2015\u2015\u201cThou shalt _not_ deliver him up to his master\u201d\u2015\u2015shalt not\ngive his master information and help the arrest; but shalt let him\nchoose his abode by his own free and manly will. If his hardships are\nsuch under his bondage that he prefers to take his risk of finding a\nbetter living elsewhere, let him try it. Let no man stand in his way.\nHe would not leave his master if his personal rights and interests were\nproperly cared for. But if his master is too selfish, or too cruel, or\ntoo exacting of labor, or too stingy of bread or clothing, who shall\njudge but the servant himself? Therefore let the servant better his own\ncondition if he can, and let all selfish, savage-hearted masters take\nwarning!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Such laws exorcise the real spirit of slavery with blessed\nrapidity. It would require but few such ameliorating statutes to tone\nit down from unendurable slavery to very tolerable servitude.\n\nThe spirit of this law is altogether the spirit of the Great Lawgiver\nwhen he found the Hebrews sorely oppressed in Egypt; smote off their\nchains; brought them forth from their house of bondage, and placed them\nbeyond all reclamation. What he required his people now to do in behalf\nof any oppressed servant was only in spirit what he had done for them.\n\n3. Severe personal injuries gave the slave his freedom. \u201cIf a man smite\nthe eye of his servant or the eye of his maid that it perish, he shall\nlet him go free for his eye\u2019s sake.\u201d So of the tooth (Ex. 21: 26, 27).\nThe eye and the tooth are but specimen illustrations of the principle.\nA charge of shot in the leg could not be less under this law than\na passport to freedom.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moreover, the statutes very specifically\nenjoined clemency and forbade rigor in the treatment of Hebrew servants\n(Lev. 25: 39\u201343, 46).\n\n4. Of wider sweep in its influence and of inexpressible value was\n_the system of periodical emancipation_. The term of service for the\nHebrew-born was limited to six years. At the end of this term they went\nout free. Servants of foreign birth (as we shall see) went out at the\nJubilee, each fiftieth year.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The effect of this law was at once to\nlift from the heart the terrible incubus of a life-long bondage\u2015\u2015that\nsense of a hopeless doom which knows no relief till death. Whatever the\namount of discomfort or suffering involved in servitude might have been,\nthe Hebrew servant had under this law the prospect of his freedom at no\ndistant day.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moreover the accompanying provisions of this law were\nthoroughly humane. The servant who had sold himself through extreme\npoverty (Lev. 25: 47\u201355) might be redeemed at any time by a friend,\nor if he could command the means by extra labor or skill, he might\nredeem himself.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015When his term expired, his master must not send him\naway empty, but must furnish him liberally out of his flock and out\nof his floor (grain), and even out of his _wine-press_\u2015\u2015of any thing\nand every thing wherewith the Lord had blessed the master, he was to\nimpart liberally to his manumitted servant (Deut. 15: 12\u201315). So the\nservant would have a fair start in his new self-supporting life. It\nwas a fore-thoughtful provision, full of the milk of a more than human\nkindness.\n\nApparently this periodic emancipation applied to every class of Hebrew\nservants\u2015\u2015to him who had sold himself because he had become too poor\nto provide for his family; to him who had been taken and sold for debt;\nand to him who had been sold into servitude for crime. This latter case,\nhowever, is doubtful.\n\nNoticeably, this law provides for the family rights of the servant. If\nhe had brought his wife with him into this state, he took her out with\nhimself, and of course his children also. If his master had given him a\nwife, he retained her because of his property interest in her services,\nand her children with her for humanity\u2019s sake; for children under six\nyears of age need their mother\u2019s care. Wives in that age of the world\nwere paid for.\n\nLet it be noticed, the law assumes that possibly the servant may love\nhis wife and his children and even his _master_ so well that he chooses\nnot to leave them. Very well; if he will consent to come before the\njudges and in a solemn judicial manner, testify to this love of his\nheart, and moreover, will consent to endure the rather uncomfortable\noperation of having his ear bored through with an awl, then he may\nremain forever\u2015\u2015_i. e._ during life. But the discomforts of this\noperation were intended to bear somewhat against this unlimited\nservitude. The law seemed to say to every servant\u2015\u2015\u201cIt would probably\nbe better for you to be your own master and live in freedom, rather\nthan in even this very comfortable servitude.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Every provision\nof this statute had a purpose. The servant must be brought before\nthe judges to express in this public manner his choice to remain in\nservitude; for this method would make it impossible for the master to\nmisrepresent the will of his servant. Moreover, it seems probable that\nboring the ear was no badge of honor but the opposite, and therefore\nwould bear against the man\u2019s choice of perpetual servitude.\n\nThe law made special provision for the case of female servants. The\noriginal statute (Ex. 21: 7\u201311) put her case on a different footing\nfrom that of her brother. \u201cShe shall not go out as the men-servants do.\u201d\nThe language\u2015\u2015\u201cIf a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant\u201d\u2015\u2015may\nseem at first view to be a case of slave-sale, involving real property\nin human flesh and bones. A closer examination will show that it\ncomes under the usage of _selling daughters to become wives_; for this\npurchase \u201cbetrothed her to her master,\u201d or to \u201chis son,\u201d and the law\nmade special provision for her rights as such; viz. that in case her\nmaster is not pleased with her, he shall let her be redeemed, \u201cand\nshall have no power to sell her unto a strange nation.\u201d If betrothed\nto his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter; if the son take\nanother wife, he shall not abate from his duty as a husband toward her;\nand if he refuse to do all the law demands, she is free\u2015\u2015redeemed by\nlaw, \u201cwithout money.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These statutes of course shape themselves\nto the existing usages in respect to polygamy, concubinage, and easy\ndivorce, sedulously protecting the rights of a female servant under\nthese most unfavorable usages.\n\nIt seems probable that these kind and considerate provisions failed\nto protect her rights as fully as the spirit of the law intended, and\ntherefore a further modification appears at a later period; for Deut.\n15: 17 declares that the six years\u2019 emancipation law shall apply to her\nalso as truly as to her brother;\u2015\u2015\u201cand unto thy maid-servant thou shalt\ndo likewise.\u201d\n\n5. In view of the fact that what we may call \u201creligious privileges\u201d\nincluded rest from labor and more or less of religious and social\nfestivity, the law was very specific in stipulating that the\nman-servant and the maid-servant must share in all these equally with\nthe son and the daughter. We see this in the law of the Sabbath; in\nthe feast upon the second tithes (Deut. 12: 17, 18); and in two of the\ngreat festivals, viz. the Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles (Deut.\n16: 11, 14).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Thus they were put religiously and socially upon the\nsame footing as children in the family. No ban of exclusion, no stigma\nof caste, could attach to their condition so long as these statutes\nwere duly observed.\n\n6. By usage and without the necessity of statute, Hebrew servants\nheld property. The old American doctrine\u2015\u2015\u201cThe slave can own\nnothing\u201d\u2015\u2015had no place in the system of Hebrew servitude. The proof\nis twofold:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(a) The statutes provided that \u201cif able he might redeem\nhimself\u201d (Lev. 25: 49). This permission would be only a taunting insult\nif in fact no Hebrew servant could hold property.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b). The light\nof history bears witness: Ziba was a servant of the house of Saul; but\nhe had servants under him\u2015\u2015a round score; \u201cfifteen sons and _twenty_\nservants\u201d (2 Sam. 9: 10 and 19: 17), and seems to have had charge of\ncultivating Saul\u2019s estates.\n\nThus manifold and effective were the humane provisions which softened\nthe severities of slavery, toning them down to a very tolerable system\nof servitude.\n\n\n _The Slavery that Existed before Moses._\n\nWe have spoken of Hebrew servitude as a _modified_ system\u2015\u2015which\nraises the question\u2015\u2015\u201cmodified\u201d _from what_? What was the pre-existing\nsystem upon which these modifications were superinduced? A full answer\nmust include (a) The patriarchal system as it appears in the case of\nAbraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and (b) The system of Egypt and perhaps\nother contemporary nations.\n\n(a.) In the patriarchal system servitude could not possibly have been\ncompulsory. It must have been voluntary. Force, coercion, was utterly\nout of the question. Abraham had neither army nor police to hold his\nslaves in bondage. In fact they were his armed soldiers as against\nfreebooting incursions or any hostile assault whatever. Manifestly\nthey lived with him while they chose\u2015\u2015no longer. Some of them rose to\nbear important responsibilities, _e. g._ Eliezer (Gen. 24); his two\nyoung men who went with him and Isaac to Moriah (Gen. 22).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Isaac\n\u201chad great store of servant\u201d (Gen. 26: 14), but there is not the\nleast intimation that they were entailed as part of his estate to\neither Esau or Jacob; or that he received them by inheritance from\nAbraham.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Jacob had many servants (Gen. 30: 43), and in fact must\nhave had to help him in the care of his flocks and herds: but the\nhistory shows that he did not take them with him into Egypt. Joseph\u2019s\ninvitation left out the servants (Gen. 45: 10, 11.), and the record\nspecifies all the family except the servants and gives us the actual\nenumeration\u2015\u2015all servants omitted (Gen. 46: 5\u201326). Property in servants\nin the American sense, there was none.\n\n(b.) Of Egyptian slavery enough is known to show that they bought\nslaves brought in from other nations, holding therefore a property\nright in them, and that they constituted a menial class in society.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe condition of the Israelites under oppression there was peculiar.\nManifestly they were not held by individual Egyptians as their\npersonal property, but rather by the crown. The king of Egypt appears\nas the great slave-holder of the Hebrew people, making levies upon\nthem for laborers at his pleasure, and exacting the severest tasks\nwith no limitations but his own will on the one hand and their possible\nendurance on the other. The question of letting the people go was (at\nleast mainly) personal to himself and to his throne. His merciless\nseverity would naturally tend to make slavery in Egypt heartlessly\ncruel. Laws to restrain masters from severity could not be thought\nof under such kings. It is easy to see that when, at and after Sinai,\nthe Lord came to legislate for the Hebrew people, fresh from Egyptian\nusages and laws, there was abundant occasion for statutes to modify\nthe severities of human bondage. With telling force the Lord could\nsay\u2015\u2015Never oppress your servants; ye know how oppression feels!\n\n\n _The Jubilee._\u2015\u2015(Lev. 25).\n\nIn this chapter and here only we have an account of this peculiar\ninstitution. The following points in it deserve special attention.\n\n1. Its main scope and purpose were manifestly of the same sort with\nthose of the Sabbatic year\u2015\u2015a year of rest from labor, of recuperation\nfor both the laborer and his lands, and of joy in the God of their\nmercies. Particularly it made provision for restoring lands which had\nbeen alienated by any means during the forty-nine intervening years. On\nthis eventful year all lands were to return to the original proprietor\nand to his estate. The law provided that alienated lands might be\nredeemed at any time for a price graduated by the years intervening\nbefore the Jubilee. But if the poor man was unable to redeem his land\nand had no relative or friend to redeem it for him before the Jubilee,\nit then returned to him by the statute with no redemption price.\n\n2. We must note its bearing upon Hebrew servants and its relation\nto the seventh year emancipation law.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It treats of two classes of\nservants of Hebrew blood; those who had sold themselves, because of\ntheir poverty, to a fellow Israelite; and those who for the same reason\nhad sold themselves to a wealthy foreigner residing in the land. As\nto the former class, the law enjoins kind treatment; puts strongly\nthe distinction between the hired and the bond-servant\u2015\u2015permitting\nservants of Hebrew birth to be held in the former state but not in\nthe latter; and finally gave him and his children freedom at the\nJubilee.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Inasmuch as the seventh year emancipation law applied to\nthis very class of servants, if it were enforced there could be no\nHebrew servants to go out at the Jubilee except those who had not yet\nserved six full years. This seems to be the bearing of the law of the\nJubilee upon Hebrew servants. We can not assume that it superseded the\nseventh year law and took its place. The historic passage (Jer. 34:\n8\u201317) would quite forbid such a construction.\n\nAs to the second class\u2015\u2015those who had sold themselves to a\nforeigner\u2015\u2015the law gave the right of redemption to any of his friends\nor to himself, and fixed the terms, providing for his freedom at the\nJubilee.\n\n3. The most difficult point is, the bearing of the Jubilee, if any,\n_upon servants of foreign birth_. Did it, or did it not, provide for\ntheir emancipation?\n\nThe passage (Lev. 25: 9, 10) seems very strong in favor of _universal_\nliberty, not omitting bond-servants of foreign birth. The words\nare\u2015\u2015\u201c_Proclaim liberty through all the land unto all the inhabitants\nthereof_.\u201d This proclamation was made with sound of trumpet, ringing\nout its shrill blast over all the land. Now let it be considered: If\nforeigners were not included, and if the seventh year emancipation\nlaw had been duly enforced, there could have been but a meager showing\nof freedmen\u2015\u2015only those few Hebrew servants who had not filled out\ntheir six years of service. Is it credible that so much proclamation\nand so much public display could have meant only the emancipation of\nsay one-tenth or one-twentieth of all the servants in the land?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015At\nany point of their history the number of foreign servants ought\nto have greatly exceeded the number of Hebrew birth\u2015\u2015for two\nreasons:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(a.) The law encouraged the taking of foreigners into\nthis relation:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015and (b.) They continued in it at least till the\nJubilee\u2015\u2015their maximum service being therefore forty-nine years,\nawhile the maximum service of the Hebrew-born was only six. Therefore\nI urge that a proclamation so high sounding and in terms so absolutely\nuniversal can not have left out the great majority of bondmen in the\nland.\n\nThe opponents of this view rely upon the words (v. 46)\u2015\u2015\u201cThey shall be\nyour bondmen forever\u201d\u2015\u2015which they claim must mean _during life_.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But\nit may be replied\u2015\u2015One human life is very much short of _forever_. Also,\nif the statute had meant during life, why did it not say so?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Again;\nthe order of the Hebrew words favors this construction: \u201cForever of\nthem shall ye take servants\u201d\u2015\u2015or somewhat more literally: Forever\namong them shall ye serve yourselves, _i. e._ provide yourselves with\nservants. And this construction harmonizes fully with the drift of the\ncontext, the spirit of which is\u2015\u2015Go to the heathen about you, or to\nheathen families living among you for your supply of bond-servants.\nLet this be the permanent arrangement.\n\nThe English phrase\u2015\u2015\u201cbond-servant\u201d may perhaps give a stronger sense\nthan the Hebrew will warrant. The Hebrew suggests no sort of \u201cbond\u201d\u2015\u2015no\nobligation of law or justice. It expresses a certain degree of emphasis\nby means of repeating the words for service and servant, in this way:\n(v. 39), If thy brother with thee shall become weak \u201c[broken down\nfinancially], and shall sell himself to thee, thou shalt not exact\nof him the service of a servant, [or serve thyself in him with the\nservice of a servant].\u201d This is all that \u201cbond-servant\u201d can mean. It is\na somewhat intensified idea of service.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Another prohibition in this\npassage is sufficiently explicit: \u201cThou shalt not rule over him _with\nrigor_\u201d (vs. 43, 46), _i. e._ literally, with crushing; shalt not break\nhim down; or in the American slave-holder\u2019s phrase \u201cbreak him in.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe case of _foreign servants_ demands yet a few more words of\nexplication. It can not be denied that the spirit of the Hebrew law\nfavored the choice of foreigners for servants, and the increase of\nthis class of population. This is plainly the doctrine of the passage\nLev. 25: 44\u201346.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In connection with this we may profitably study\nthe law of the Passover in its relation to servants (Ex. 12: 43\u201349).\n\u201cThere shall no stranger eat thereof, but every man\u2019s servant that is\nbought for money, _when thou hast circumcised him_, then shall he eat\nthereof.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015That this law contemplated Gentile servants is clear on\ntwo grounds:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(a.) Only such would need circumcision\u2015\u2015all Hebrews\nbeing circumcised when eight days old.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b.) The law (Lev. 25: 44)\nrequired them to take their servants from the heathen, and authorized\nthem to \u201c_buy_\u201d such. The buying of a Hebrew servant was a very\ndifferent thing. The poor Hebrew _sold himself_\u2015\u2015_i. e._ _his\nservices_, and took pay in advance of doing the work. Selling himself\nis precisely the sense of the Hebrew in Lev. 25: 39, 47, though in\nthe former case (v. 39) our translators made it \u201cbe sold\u201d and in the\nlatter \u201csell himself.\u201d The Hebrew verb is equally reflexive in both\nverses.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moreover, no man might steal a Hebrew and sell him on pain\nof death. It does not appear that Hebrew fathers sold their sons. When\nthey took pay for a daughter, it came under the usage of paying for\nwives. She was betrothed to her purchaser (Ex. 21: 7\u201311) and of course\nhad the rights of a wife. Hence this \u201cbuying a servant for money\u201d\n(Ex. 12: 44) contemplates a foreigner.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The law proceeds to say\u2015\u2015\u201cA\nforeigner (one not a servant) and a hired servant shall not eat\nthereof.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Furthermore, circumcision was naturalization; it brought\nthe servant within the pale of the Hebrew community. For this law\nof the Passover declares that \u201cwhen a stranger sojourning with thee,\n_i. e._ in thy land, desires to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all\nhis males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; _and\nhe shall be as one that is born in the land_;\u201d _i. e._ his circumcision\nis equivalent in force to being born in the land; it secures his\nnaturalization. Hence the buying of foreign servants would be a\nperpetual process of naturalizing them, and bringing them into the\nHebrew community. They came to the Passover and were entitled to all\nthe religious privileges of the children of Israel. Abraham himself\ncircumcised, not his sons alone, but \u201call that were born in his house\nor bought with money of the stranger\u201d (Gen. 17: 23, 27).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Thus the\nsystem reached forth its arms, gathered to its genial bosom and blest\nwith religious nurture thousands of alien birth, some of whom attained\nrenown among the servants of the God of Israel. We have the history of\nRahab and Ruth, and to name no more of \u201cUriah the Hittite,\u201d and of\n\u201cIttai the Gittite\u201d [of Gath].\n\n\n VIII. _Judicial Procedure._\n\nUnder this general head the following topics should receive attention.\n\n1. _Judges._ The reorganization suggested by Jethro has been noticed,\nand also its further modification to adjust it to the fixed residence\nin Canaan.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Between Joshua and Saul, there was an irregular series\nof Supreme Judges, closing with Samuel of whose circuit court, taking\nfour cities in rotation, we have a notice in 1 Sam. 7: 15\u201317. The kings\nmanifestly held this function of Supreme Judge. In the absence of other\nJudges, the High Priest seems to have served ex-officio. His powers,\nunder the \u201cJudges\u201d above referred to and the kings, are not sharply\ndefined; but probably religious and semi-religious questions came\nbefore him and his associates. The Judges between Joshua and Samuel\nwere military men.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015A special reorganization of the judiciary under\nJehoshaphat (2 Chron. 19: 5\u201311) will repay a careful reading. It\nprovides subordinate judges in all the fortified cities; solemnly\nadmonishes them to administer justice in the fear of God; establishes\na supreme court in Jerusalem, where \u201che set of the Levites, priests,\nand chief of the fathers of Israel for the judgment of the Lord and\nfor controversies when they returned to Jerusalem\u201d\u2015\u2015the last clause\napparently referring to cases carried up for decision before this\nsupreme court.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It should be noted that we read nothing of cases\ntaken up to a higher court by appeal of a dissatisfied party; but only\nas carried up by the lower court itself when the case seemed too hard\nor too high for its decision. This principle went into operation in the\nreorganization by Moses (Ex. 18: 22, 26 and Deut. 1: 17)\u2015\u2015\u201cThe cause\nthat is too hard for you, bring it to me and I will hear it.\u201d It passed\ninto the general law as we may see (Deut. 17: 8\u201313) which provides for\na supreme court at the religious center, the judges being \u201cthe priests,\nthe Levites, and the judges that shall be in those days.\u201d\n\nThe warnings against partiality and bribery were earnest and\nsolemn\u2015\u2015the penalty for these offenses being left, it would seem,\nto be visited upon the offender by the Almighty (Ex. 23: 6\u20138, and Lev.\n19: 15, and Deut. 1: 17, and 16: 18\u201320). They were not even allowed to\nfavor the poor man in his cause _against justice_ (Ex. 23: 3 and Lev.\n19: 15)\u2015\u2015there being sometimes a temptation to do this out of sympathy\nwith his poverty and his necessities. But God put justice in law above\nsympathy for even the necessitous poor.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The public anathema fell on\nhim who took a bribe to slay the innocent (Deut. 27: 25).\n\n2. The seat of justice\u2015\u2015the place for holding court\u2015\u2015was \u201cin the gates\nof the city.\u201d Hence this being with all Orientals the place of public\nresort, the courts were public\u2015\u2015open to all.\n\n3. The processes of prosecution are not specially described. In cases\nof a personal, private character, the aggrieved party brought suit. In\ncases of a public nature \u201cthe elders of the city\u201d bore responsibilities,\nas we see in the case of murder by an unknown hand. A remarkable case\nof appeal to the sensibilities of the whole nation is given Judg.\n19: 25\u201330, under which the people woke to a consciousness of horrible\nwickedness in Israel, and their indignation became irrepressible; yet\nthey carefully sought counsel of the Lord in this terrible case.\n\n4. _Advocates._ We find no notice of professional advocates. The\n\u201clawyers\u201d of New Testament history were men versed in the law and\nwere teachers of law, but not by any means the modern advocate. Every\nman might be his own advocate, and even women were heard before no\nless a king than Solomon himself (1 Kings 3: 16\u201318). Noble-hearted,\ndisinterested men seem in Oriental life to have undertaken this service\nvoluntarily for the poor and the fatherless, of which Job gives a\ntouching description (Job 29: 7\u201317). Isaiah exhorts to this duty:\n\u201cPlead for the widow\u201d (1: 17). It was the noble doctrine of this\nsystem\u2015\u2015\u201cOur law judges no man before it hears him and knows what he\ndoeth\u201d (Jn. 7: 51). Moses puts it thus\u2015\u2015\u201cYe shall hear the small as\nwell as the great\u201d (Deut. 1: 17). \u201cIf there arise a matter in judgment\nbetween blood and blood, _between plea and plea_,\u201d etc. (Deut. 17: 8).\n\n5. _Of Witnesses_\u2015\u2015the points of chief importance are these:\n\n(1.) They testified under oath\u2015\u2015the manner of administration being this:\nThe witness listened to the rehearsal of the words, and gave his oral\nassent, \u201cAmen,\u201d or, \u201cAs thou sayest.\u201d The passage (Lev. 5: 1) describes\nthe case of one who sins in this way, hearing the voice\u2015\u2015_i. e._ the\nwords of the sacred oath, adjuring him to testify whether he has seen\nor known any thing in this case. Then if he will not make known, \u201che\nshall bear his iniquity.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015A special statute for the case of a wife\nsuspected of conjugal infidelity shows how she is to be put under this\nsolemn oath (Num. 5: 19\u201322). She listens to the words of the oath and\nresponds, \u201cAmen, amen.\u201d (See also Prov. 29: 24 and Mat. 26: 63).\n\n(2.) That the witnesses were examined separately and in presence of\nthe accused appears probable from a comparison of Mat. 26: 61 with\nMk. 14: 55\u201359. Jesus was present (Mat. 26: 62).\n\n(3) As to the requisite number of witnesses\u2015\u2015a criminal case of capital\ncrime required two besides the accuser (Deut. 17: 6 and 19: 15). Hence\nthe phrase\u2015\u2015\u201cIn the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word\nbe established\u201d (Mat. 18: 16).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015A supposed case is stated (Ex. 22:\n10, 11) in which the complainant and the accused are the only witnesses.\nBoth are put under oath; but the testimony of the accused under oath\nseems to be accepted as his vindication.\n\n(4.) By another peculiar provision of the Mosaic statutes, the\nwitnesses in certain cases must be first to execute the penalty (Deut.\n17: 7, and 13: 9, and Acts 7: 58, and John 8: 7). This provision was\ndoubtless morally wholesome.\n\n\n IX. _Punishments._\n\nA few points not already brought to view deserve a brief notice.\n\n1. _Fines._\u2015\u2015Some were fixed by statute. The highest known to the law\n(one hundred shekels of silver) was laid on the man who falsely accused\nhis wife of previous unchastity (Deut. 22: 19). Another case among\nviolations of the seventh commandment appears (Deut. 22: 28, 29).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In\nthe case of an ox goring some one fatally, the penalty of death upon\nhis owner might be commuted to a fine at the discretion of the judges\n(Ex. 21: 28\u201331)\u2015\u2015a wise provision because the real culpability of his\nowner must vary with circumstances. In another case (Ex. 21: 22), the\nsuffering party and the judge fixed the amount of the fine.\n\n2. The sin and the trespass offerings sustained a slight relation\nto fines, since the party bore the cost of the animal sacrificed\u2015\u2015a\nyoung bullock, a kid of goats, etc. These laws may be seen in Lev. 4\nand 5 and in Num. 15: 27\u201329. They pertain to sins of ignorance and of\nremissness; never to presumptuous sins. In addition to the cost of the\nsacrifice the penalty included a public confession of the offense, and\nwas well adapted to make a good moral impression.\n\nThe special cases which come under this general head of sin and\ntrespass offerings were\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(1.) Unintentional transgressions of\nthe Levitical law.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(2.) The rash oath, ill-considered and not\nconscientiously kept (Lev. 5: 4).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(3.) Perjury in a witness;\u2015\u2015not\nhowever the case of false swearing to condemn the innocent, which\nwas punished by retaliation; but the offense of _not_ testifying what\nhe knew when put under oath (Lev. 5: 1).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(4.) Debts due to the\nsanctuary\u2015\u2015a failure to pay tithes; the penalty being, one-fifth\nadded to the original amount and all paid, coupled with the trespass\noffering (Lev. 5: 14\u201316).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(5.) Denying any thing given in trust,\nor retaining another man\u2019s lost property which he may have found,\nand similar offenses, coupled with false swearing (Lev. 6: 1\u20137); the\npenalty being, to restore with one-fifth added and to make his trespass\noffering.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(6.) Adultery with a slave. The penalty\u2015\u2015a sin-offering\nand the punishment of death commuted to stripes.\n\n * * * * *\n\n3. _Stripes_ were made the penalty of certain specified crimes (Lev.\n19: 20 and Deut. 22: 18). The law was careful to limit the number of\nstripes to forty, giving as the reason\u2015\u2015\u201cLest if thou shouldest exceed\u201d\n[this number] \u201cthen thy brother should seem vile unto thee;\u201d _i. e._\nnot merely lest the man might lose his self-respect, but lest he lose\nthe respect of the community, and be hopelessly degraded. In usage\nthe Hebrews limited the number to thirty-nine\u2015\u2015said to have been\nadministered by thirteen strokes of a triple cord.\n\n4. Of retaliation [\u201clex talionis\u201d] notice has been taken already.\n\n5. _Excommunication_; excision; being cut off from his people. When\nexecuted by God himself, it meant destruction by some providential\nagency. Compare 1 Kings 14: 10 with 15: 29 and 2 Kings 9: 8\u201310.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015When\nexecuted by human agency, it was capital punishment, usually by stoning\n(Ex. 31: 14, and Lev. 17: 4, and 20: 17, 18).\n\n6. The customary modes of capital punishment were two: _stoning_ and\n_the sword_. (Deut. 13: 9, 10, and 17: 5, and Josh. 7: 25.) The sword\nappears in later ages.\n\n7. _Disgrace after death_ in some cases heightened the penalty,\n_e. g._ by burning the dead body (Gen. 38: 24, and Lev. 20: 14, and\n21: 9). That in these cases the death was by stoning and the burning\nwas only that of the dead body, seems to be sufficiently proved from\nJosh. 7: 15, 25. \u201cAll Israel stoned him\u201d [Achan and his family] \u201cwith\nstones and burned them with fire _after_ they had stoned them with\nstones.\u201d Their very bodies seem to have been thought of as polluted and\n_polluting_.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Another method of posthumous disgrace was by hanging on\na tree (Num. 25: 4, 5 and Deut. 21: 22, 23). The body must not remain\nsuspended over night \u201cthat thy land be not defiled; for he that is\nhanged is accursed of God.\u201d See cases of the execution of this law in\nJosh. 8: 29 and 10: 26, 27.\n\nSeveral forms of punishment were introduced from other nations in later\nages which we may omit as foreign from our subject.\n\nIn closing this topic let it be noted that judicial procedure and\npunishment were summary\u2015\u2015both the trial and the execution being carried\nthrough with apparently no delay. Compared on these points with the\nmost highly civilized countries of our age, the Hebrews have greatly\nthe advantage, and the efficiency of their law must have been for this\nvery reason surpassingly great. Their methods afforded but the smallest\npossible hope of escape. Punishment followed close on the heels of\ndetection, and usually, we must presume, of crime.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Furthermore,\nthese punishments, compared with those of other nations in that age\nwere by no means severe. Indeed the modes of capital punishment which\ncome to view in the Scriptures as existing among other nations were\nterribly barbarous compared with those of the Hebrew code; _e. g._\nburning in a fiery furnace; being torn in pieces by lions; being sawn\nasunder; crucifixion.\n\nThe design of punishment is put in the plainest terms. In its severer\nforms it is not the discipline of the criminal but the good of the\npublic\u2015\u2015to deter the evil-minded from crime and so to make society safe\nfrom outrage. In the case of presumptuous sins we read\u2015\u2015\u201cThat man shall\ndie, and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel, and all the people\nshall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously\u201d (Deut. 17: 12, 13\nand 19: 20).\n\nIt is worthy of special notice under this head that we find in this\ncode a considerable number of statutes _with no penalty attached_ which\nhuman hands were to inflict. God reserved the infliction of the penalty\nto himself. The fear of his displeasure, coupled with his promised\nrewards for obedience were the only forces coercing obedience to these\nstatutes. They were left upon the conscience of the people, and upon\ntheir fears and hopes under a system in which God\u2019s hand in providence\nwas often made most palpable. For cases in point I may refer to the\nlaws against usury and requiring favors to be shown to the poor;\u2015\u2015as\nfor example (Deut. 15: 9, 10): \u201cBeware that there be not a thought in\nthy wicked heart, saying\u2015\u2015The seventh year, the year of release is at\nhand, and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother and thou givest\nhim naught, and he cry unto the Lord against thee and it be sin upon\nthee. Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved\nwhen thou givest unto him; because that for this thing the Lord thy God\nwill bless thee in all thy works,\u201d etc.\n\nThe moral power of this invisible force upon the heart and conscience\nof the people we shall be able to appreciate more justly if we\ncarefully study the words which stand (Ex. 23: 20\u201325), _i. e._ at the\nclose of the first catalogue of the \u201cstatutes and judgments.\u201d It seems\nto come in here legitimately as a moral force to induce a conscientious\nand careful obedience to these statutes. \u201cBehold\u201d (calling special\nattention) \u201cbehold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the\nway, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of\nhim, and obey his voice; provoke him not, for he will not pardon your\ntransgressions, for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey\nhis voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to thine\nenemies,\u201d etc.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This angel, bearing authority to pardon or not pardon\nsins, and of whom the very God could say\u2015\u2015\u201cMy name is in him\u201d could\nbe no less than really divine. _Name_ in Hebrew usage as applied to\nGod involves and implies his real nature\u2015\u2015his essential attributes.\nCorresponding to this view of \u201cthe angel\u201d in this passage is the\ninjunction to \u201cbeware of him and to obey his voice\u201d; and also his power\nto forgive sins\u2015\u2015\u201cfor who can forgive sins but God only\u201d? This passage\ntherefore affords decisive proof that the personage who manifested\nhimself to Israel in the pillar of cloud and of fire; whose presence\nabode in their tabernacle; whose voice they heard in this holy law\u2015\u2015was\ntruly divine, and yet was mysteriously distinct from the speaker\u2015\u2015the\n\u201cI\u201d\u2015\u2015of this remarkable passage. Truly he was God, manifest\u2015\u2015if\nnot precisely in human flesh\u2015\u2015yet in palpable forms, in tangible\ndemonstrations, in voice of power and tongue of flame; in the luminous\npillar; in perpetual agencies of protection and of supply as to earthly\nneed; and, not least, as their Ruler and their Lord whose voice in\nthese statutes it behooved them to hear and obey as they would hope\nto be blessed in their national life and in any desirable prosperity.\nHence it was both practicable and wise under this Hebrew system to\nleave some statutes upon the naked conscience of the people with no\nattempt to enforce obedience save the appeal to this invisible Presence.\n\nThese remarks will naturally suggest to the thoughtful mind a train\nof inquiries of this sort:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015How can we account for it that the books\nof Moses allude so very rarely to the future state of man\u2019s being\u2015\u2015to\nheaven and to hell? Had even the best men of those times any definite\nbelief in the future life and in its retribution for deeds done in\nthis? How happens it that both the law and the rewards or penalties\nof their civil code, and indeed of their religious code as well, make\nso much account of present retribution and so little of the future?\n\nThese points will be treated more conveniently and in a more\nsatisfactory manner after the religious code shall have been\nexamined and after we have surveyed the history of Israel in the\nwilderness\u2015\u2015_i. e._ at the close of the present volume.\n\nThere are two historic questions pertaining to this civil code of\nthe Hebrews which have sufficient interest to justify a few moments\u2019\nattention; viz.\n\nI. _How far was this system indebted to Egypt?_\n\nII. _How far have the best civil codes of the most civilized nations of\nall subsequent history been indebted to this Hebrew code?_\n\nI. As to the possible relations of this Hebrew code to Egyptian\nlife and jurisprudence, perhaps the word \u201cindebted\u201d is too strong.\nIt is by no means intended to disparage the divine originality\nof this law or of any and every feature of the system. I assume\ntwo things:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(1.) That Moses, \u201clearned in all the wisdom of the\nEgyptians,\u201d may have had intimate personal acquaintance with very\nmany things in civil jurisprudence which the Lord taught him in and\nthrough his Egyptian life rather than by immediate and independent\nrevelation:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015and (2.) That the people became familiar with some\nvaluable usages and customs connected with Egyptian law and Egyptian\nlife, and by this means were prepared to receive and adopt them under\nthis new code and in this new style of life in Canaan, when, without\nthis previous culture, these laws and usage could not have gone into\noperation so readily if at all.\n\nThe Hebrew code and its system of jurisprudence\u2015\u2015as also the entire\nHebrew national life\u2015\u2015were benefited by the Egyptian in the following\npoints:\n\n1. The example and silent influence of a full civil, written code\nof law. That Egypt had such a code admits of no question. The Hebrew\npatriarchs, prior to the sojourn in Egypt, had nothing of the sort.\nTheir life in Egypt therefore gave them their first lessons\u2015\u2015their\nfirst ideas, of a complete code of written law. We shall be in small\ndanger of over-estimating the value of these lessons and ideas in their\nbearings upon a higher civilization.\n\n2. Egypt gave to the Hebrew mind the example of a well digested system\nof judicial procedure, established courts and forms of trial; laws put\nin force by the aid of judges, witnesses, and the systematic execution\nof penalties.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Remarkably the last quarter of a century has brought\nto light documentary evidence of a judicial trial in Egypt as far back\nas the age of Moses, developing the most finished method; well digested\nforms of procedure; a state trial, conducted with great dignity and\ndecorum; and the whole proceeding put on record so carefully that this\noriginal document is before the world in perfect preservation at this\nday.[42]\n\n3. Egypt gave to the children of Israel the example of a national life\n_based on agriculture_, as distinct from and indeed opposed to the\nwandering, unsettled life of the shepherd. The nomadic mode of life,\nperpetuated by necessity to this day in the deserts of Arabia, in which\nindividual right to the soil is unknown and no family has a fixed home,\neach living for the time where its flocks may chance to find herbage\nand water\u2015\u2015this had been the style of the patriarchs before Jacob went\nto Egypt. It was not the best for social and mental culture. God had a\nbetter life for his people prospectively in Canaan, and their residence\nin Egypt introduced them to it and gave them a preparation for it. It\nmade subsistence less precarious; blended the cultivation of the soil\nwith the care of flocks and herds; provided for a denser population;\ngreatly enhanced the opportunities for social culture and for such a\nreligious system as that of Israel. In a word it provided for a much\nhigher Christian civilization than could have been possible under the\nstrictly nomadic mode of life. To Egypt, the nation was indebted for\nthe example and for the training into this agricultural mode of life.\n\n4. In another important respect, the example of the national life\nof Egypt was a preordained training for their own national life in\nCanaan:\u2015\u2015it was that of a people providing for their own wants; living\nwithin themselves; maintaining substantially non-intercourse with\nother nations, and for the most part excluding foreign commerce. Such\nwas Egypt during the residence of Israel there, and such God wisely\ndesigned Israel to be in her promised land of Canaan. As to Israel\nin Canaan, the purposes of this policy are obvious\u2015\u2015protection from\nthe contaminating influences of idolatry, not to say also from the\ncontaminations of luxury and wealth.\n\n5. In Egypt, the priests were the learned class of the empire, and\nheld the highest responsibilities in the civil and judicial as well\nas the religious life of the nation. A system essentially the same was\nintroduced into Israel, the priests and the Levites holding the same\nplace in the nation which they had seen held by the priests in Egypt.\n\n6. It is a very noticeable fact in the history of the legal life in\nEgypt, that though magic arts were in a sense tolerated and indeed\nwere resorted to by the king in his emergencies, yet their influence\nin society proved to be so pernicious as to demand legal restraint.\nWe have the record of a man indicted \u201cfor many crimes and wickednesses\ncommitted through his magic arts and writings, such as paralyzing limbs,\nempowering a slave to do audacious things,\u201d etc. The decision of the\ncourt in his case reads\u2015\u2015\u201cFor his various abominations, the greatest\nin the world, he is condemned to death.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It will be remembered that\nthe Mosaic law held _all_ practice of magic arts to be a penal offense,\npunishable with death (Ex. 22: 18 and Lev. 20: 27).\n\n7. In some points the spirit of the Mosaic code was so greatly in\nadvance of the Egyptian as to stand related to it, not in the way\nof imitation or even modification, but of direct opposition. It\nheld squarely the opposite doctrine and put forth statutes of an\nopposite character. Thus, the Egyptian code legalized slavery, and\nhad its special law for the reclamation of fugitives. Among the\nrecent discoveries in Egyptian antiquities \u201cA warrant for the arrest\nof fugitive slaves\u201d has been brought to light. From the tone of this\nwarrant and from other evidence, collateral, it is inferred that\nslave-holders were obliged by law to register them in a list kept by\ngovernment and disputes with regard to ownership must be brought before\nthe judges. The rights of the master in his slave were not absolute.\nIt was not by virtue of orders direct from the owner that search was\ninstituted and arrest made, but by the authority of a high functionary\nof government, to whom the case is reported and who issues his mandate.\nThus the government itself put forth its hand to recover a slave\nwho had escaped from any citizen.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It was therefore specially\npertinent that the law of Jehovah to Israel should plant itself on\nground precisely the reverse of this:\u2015\u2015_no reclamation of fugitives\nwhatsoever_. Thou shalt _not_ do what Egyptian slave-holders were\nauthorized by the highest authority of the kingdom to do\u2015\u2015force back\nthe escaped fugitive to his unendurable bondage.\n\nIn the line of their religious institutions Israel stood related to\nEgypt in numerous particulars, borrowing some things for the adornment\nof its tabernacle from Egyptian art; and on the other hand, guarding\nby stringent prohibitions against many Egyptian usages associated with\nidolatry. These points will be in place after we have considered the\nreligious institutions of Moses.\n\nII. The second proposed historic question, viz. How far have the best\ncivil codes of all history and how far has the world at large been\nindebted to this Hebrew code?\u2015\u2015opens a field of inquiry quite too wide\nto be fully canvassed within our prescribed limits. A few hints may\nbe useful perhaps to guide the further inquiries of the reader. The\nfollowing points are put comprehensively and suggestively:\n\n1. Moses sought to impress it upon his people that this system far\nsurpassed that of any other nation. \u201cBehold, I have taught you statutes\nand judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me.... Keep, therefore,\nand do them, for this is your wisdom and understanding in the sight\nof all the nations who shall hear of all these statutes and shall say,\nSurely this nation is a wise and understanding people, for what great\nnation hath their God so nigh to them as the Lord our God is to us\nin all that we call upon him for? And what great nation hath statutes\nand judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this\nday\u201d? (Deut. 4: 5\u20138.)\n\n2. The Hebrew system surpassed all others, especially in this\u2015\u2015that\n_it gave to human government and law the sanction of God\u2019s authority_,\nand enforced them upon the human heart and conscience by this most\nimpressive and benign of all influences.\n\n3. Preparatory to this result it maintained against the whole Pagan\nworld the doctrine of _one God_\u2015\u2015perfect in character, supreme in power,\nrighteous in all his administration of rewards and punishments. Only\nso could it make the idea of God a really wholesome power and his\nauthority effective in sustaining civil government.\n\n4. This divinely given code rested upon justice and equity, and\ndetermined every thing by this standard. So doing, it ruled out at once\na multitude of interests and ends which human laws have often sought\nto secure. Its example therefore, in so far at least, was simply and\nsupremely beneficent.\n\n5. In yet further detail, it recognized the common and equal rights of\nall men, irrespective of condition, rank, wealth\u2015\u2015holding constantly\nthe doctrine, \u201c_No respect of persons_.\u201d\n\n6. It appreciated at their just value the rights of the poor and of all\nthat large class who look only to God and to human law for protection.\n\nWe come now to the question of historic fact: _Did this Hebrew code\nand government send forth its influence upon the nations of ancient\nhistory?_ Did it in any perceptible degree leaven the best systems of\nhuman law and jurisprudence.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015If the proof for the affirmative falls\nshort of positive certainty, what is its amount of probability?\n\nHere we may fitly consider\u2015\u2015\n\n(a.) That God chose for Israel the land of Canaan, in the center of the\nancient world of mind; immediately between Egypt on the one hand and\nBabylon, Assyria, Persia\u2015\u2015all the great nations of Western Asia\u2015\u2015on the\nother; and closely contiguous to ancient Greece and Rome.\n\n(b.) That David and Solomon became known to all the great powers of the\nworld of their time. Solomon\u2019s renown turned largely on the fact that\nhis people were prosperous and happy, his government well ordered, and\nhis own wisdom in all affairs of state unsurpassed.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It is simply\nimpossible that such examples should drop powerless upon the nations of\nthe earth.\n\n(c.) That at a later period the personal history of Mordecai, of Esther,\nand especially of Daniel in the courts of Nebuchadnezzar and of Cyrus\nshow that the Jews, their religion, their God, and their law, did\nimpress themselves upon the greatest centers of influence and power in\ntheir time.\n\n(d.) This dispersion of the Jews at and after their captivity planted\nthem in large numbers in the chief seats of human science and learning;\nin Egypt on the South-West; in Babylon, Persia, and adjacent countries\nof the East. It is historically certain that in the age of the\nPtolemies, a large body of learned Jews lived in Egypt; that the Old\nTestament was translated into Greek by request of Ptolemy Philadelphus;\nthat the Egypt of that age was the school of wisdom and jurisprudence\nfor Ancient Greece and was herself the pupil of Moses.[43]\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015That\nthe best Greek authors knew Moses is matter of history. Longinus\nquotes from Moses (Gen. 1: 3) in his treatise on Sublimity; Strabo\nmakes honorable mention of him as a law-giver; and Diodorus Siculus\nacknowledges him to be \u201cthe first of legislators from whom all laws\nhad their origin.\u201d Numenius a Greek philosopher of the Pythagorean\nschool, speaking of Plato, exclaims\u2015\u2015\u201cWhat is Plato but Moses\nAtticising\u201d\u2015\u2015_i. e._ teaching in Attic Greek? Origen believed that\nPlato drew largely from Moses.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The list of eminent Grecian authors\nand savans who went personally to Egypt for wisdom and science is\nlong\u2015\u2015such as Thales, Anaximander, Anaxagoras, Pythagoras, Plato,\nHerodotus. There they came into contact with learned Jews and not\nimprobably with the writings of Moses.[44] Prof. Wines (p. 335) cites\nthe learned Grotius as saying\u2015\u2015\u201cThe most ancient Attic laws, whence\nin aftertimes the Roman were derived, owe their origin to Moses\u2019 law.\nThat the Grecians, especially the Attics, took their laws from Moses\nis credible. This is the reason why the Attic laws and the Roman\ntwelve Tables which sprang from them so much resemble the Hebrew\nlaws.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This similarity between the Attic laws and those of Moses has\nbeen noticed by many other learned men, _e. g._ Josephus, Clement of\nAlexandria, Augustine, Sir Matthew Hale, Archbishop Potter. The last\nnamed in his \u201cGrecian Antiquities\u201d has adduced many points of Grecian\nlaw which seem to have been taken from Moses\u2015\u2015viz. the laws of divorce;\nthe purgation oath compared with \u201cthe oath of jealousy\u201d among the\nHebrews; the harvest and vintage festival; the law of first-fruits; the\nlaw requiring the best offerings for God; the portion for the priests;\nprotection to the man-slayer at their altars; requiring priests to be\nunblemished; the agrarian law; laws regulating descent of property, and\nprohibiting marriage within certain degrees of consanguinity.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Plato\nin his ideal \u201cRepublic\u201d is thought to have drawn largely from\nMoses.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Clement of Alexandria accosts him (by Apostrophe)\u2015\u2015\u201cBut as\nfor laws, whatever are true were conveyed to thee from the Hebrews.\u201d\n\nThese historic facts seem to indicate the definite channel through\nwhich the laws of Moses reached the Grecian mind in its earliest stages\nof culture and thus wrought themselves into the great fountains of\nGrecian and Roman civilization and jurisprudence.\n\n(e.) There seem to be strong grounds for the general statement that\nthe greatest reformers of all known history have acted upon the ideas\nof Moses, and have probably drawn their doctrines more or less directly\nfrom that fountain. I will venture to place in this category Zoroaster,\nPlato, Confucius, Buddha, and Mahomet. These men were in their time\nreformers of society, of morals, and of jurisprudence. Their influence\nled _toward_ if not fully _unto_ the doctrine of _one God_, and by\nnatural consequence to a purer morality and juster views of law and\nequity; of love to one\u2019s neighbor and purity of life.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015I regret that\nmy limits forbid any attempt to present the historic evidence which\nmight support more or less fully these broad, comprehensive statements.\nThe historic evidence that Zoroaster, Plato, and Mahomet drew from\nMoses is very strong. Of the great Indian reformer and of the Chinese\ncomparatively little is known.\n\n(f.) Of Roman law as finally embodied in the great code of Justinian,\nit has been already suggested that its best things came from Moses and\nthe Septuagint through Greece and the Egypt of the Ptolemies.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015I add\ntwo other remarks:\u2015\u2015(a) That in the age of Justinian (first half of\nthe sixth Christian century) primitive Christianity had quite fully\nleavened the public sentiment and thus the jurisprudence of the then\ncivilized world.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b.) That when Justinian created a commission\nof learned jurists to \u201ccollect the scattered monuments of ancient\njurisprudence,\u201d he recommended them in settling any point to regard\nneither the number nor the reputation of the jurisconsults who had\ngiven opinions on the subject, but to be guided solely by reason and\nequity.[45]\n\n(g.) Of Alfred the Great (reigned A. D. 871\u2013901) the central testimony\nof history is that he was severely _just_. Despite of surroundings\nalmost barbarous, he rose by dint of his irrepressible manliness to\nbecome the greatest legislator and scholar of his age, and so was able\nto lay the foundations for the best and truest glory of the English\nname. The common law of England and of the English-speaking world\nbegan its development under his hand. One fact is of itself a volume of\ntestimony to the spirit of this ancient law. When after a long struggle\nWilberforce brought the question before the English bench\u2015\u2015Does English\nlaw sanction human bondage? the world heard the answer\u2015\u2015_Never_.\n\u201cSlaves can not breathe in England.\u201d What moment they take in her pure\nair, they are free! The spirit of her law from the days of Alfred was\njustice and righteousness between a man and his neighbor. The laws\nof Moses were in Alfred\u2019s eye; the spirit of those laws filled and\nfired his noble soul. It is currently said that the telling words\nwhich describe the needy as \u201c_God\u2019s poor_\u201d are original (for our mother\nSaxon tongue) with him. Moses had reiterated the sentiment long ages\nbefore.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Sir Matthew Hale has traced the influence of the Bible\ngenerally on the laws of England. Sismondi testifies that Alfred, in\ncausing a republication of the Saxon laws, inserted several statutes\ntaken from the code of Moses, to give new strength and cogency to the\nprinciples of morality.\n\n\u201cThus have the principles of the Mosaic code found their way to\na greater or less extent into the jurisprudence of all civilized\nnations.\u201d [Wines\u2015\u2015p. 337.]\n\nIt falls within our plan to speak briefly of the civil code of Moses\n_as a series of progressive revelations of God to man_.\n\nI have spoken of the law of Sinai as a manifestation of God to man at\nonce sublime in its majesty and most benignly practical in its moral\nbearings. The civil code\u2015\u2015\u201cthe statutes and judgments\u201d\u2015\u2015carry out yet\nmore fully the practical unfoldings of God\u2019s wisdom and of his sense\nof justice and right as between man and man. It is not easy to select\nthe most striking cases to illustrate this point, for the whole code\nis radiant with divine wisdom and aglow with testimonies of his love,\nmanifesting itself in wisest legislation for human welfare.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Confining\nour attention to the second table of the law of Sinai\u2015\u2015man\u2019s relation\nto his fellow-man\u2015\u2015we may consider how much there is here adapted to\nconserve all the best elements of society\u2015\u2015in securing the honor due\nto parents and rulers; in guarding human life and providing the means\nfor its protection; in making the marriage covenant sacred; on the\none hand shielding the sexual relation of the race against abuses\nmost pernicious; and on the other, providing agencies which may enrich\nman\u2019s social life with priceless blessings. So also the statutes in\ndetail respecting rights of property and rights of reputation are\nreplete with fresh testimonies to the wisdom and the love of the Great\nFather.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Speaking frankly of the impressions made on my mind by this\nstudy of the code of Moses, I must say that no part has seemed to me\nmore deeply imbued with the tenderness and pity of the Lord than the\nprovisions made for the poor, and the restrictions and limitations\nupon personal servitude. In all his utterances on these points the Lord\nassumes that no interests of man more need his protection than these,\nand he comes promptly to the front to give it. He would have us know\nthat over these interests his watchful eye never sleeps; his quick ear\nis never shut to any cry for help. The rich and the mighty may get on\nwithout his special aid; the poor are his own wards and shall never\nlack his sympathy nor his present hand. Human laws are in great part\nworthless\u2015\u2015at least they miss their most important function\u2015\u2015unless\nthey make it their chief endeavor to protect the interests and rights\nof those who, powerless in themselves, drop upon the strong arm of law\nfor their defence. Society and legislation might as well not be as to\nforget that they exist as appointed of God mainly for the sake of the\npoor and the otherwise unprotected and unbefriended. Such needy ones\nevery human society will have for the moral trial of those who control\nsociety, and I may add, to draw out the sympathy of the Great Father.\n\nThese revelations of himself stand forth in sunlight throughout this\nMosaic code. They are a glorious advance upon all that the world had\nseen before. The true mission of civil law is brought out here with\ngreat fullness; for it seems to be every-where assumed that if laws\nprotect and befriend the poor, they protect and befriend _all_. If the\nspirit of law faithfully guards their interests, it can not well fail\nto guard all interests that need the guardianship of human legislation.\nIt is a priceless boon to the race to have these ideas so beautifully\nset forth and so substantially embodied in a code of laws fresh from\nthe hand and from the heart of the Infinite Father.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIX.\n\n THE RELIGIOUS SYSTEM OF THE HEBREWS.\n\n\nTHIS system contemplates as its ultimate end the obedience, homage,\nand worship due from men to God. As a prime means toward this end, it\nprescribes modes and forms of worship. It proposes to bring God near\nto men and men near to God; and for this purpose would cultivate in men\nthe spirit of penitence and of faith\u2015\u2015impressing them with a sense of\ntheir sins and suggesting to them how sin may be forgiven; and how, on\nthe basis of God\u2019s own provision for pardon, he can accept the humble,\nreverent worship of his people.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These fundamental ideas respecting\nthe sinner\u2019s acceptance with God, the system now before us sought\nespecially to develop by means of visible symbols\u2015\u2015these symbols\nconstituting the very elaborate and minutely described _religious\nsystem of the Hebrews_.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This system, having long since \u201cwaxed old\nand vanished away\u201d is no longer in practice, and therefore can not be\nuseful as a rule of present duty, but is useful for the light it throws\non the great and fundamental questions\u2015\u2015How shall man\u2015\u2015a sinner\u2015\u2015become\njust before God? Is an atonement necessary? What are the fundamental\nideas of \u201catonement\u201d? How were they developed in the Mosaic system, and\nwhat light does this development bring to the atonement presented to\nview in the New Testament?\n\nWith superlative wisdom God began to give lessons on this great\nsubject very early in the history of our race. It was wise to give\nsuch lessons long and carefully before the Great Atoning Sacrifice\ncame in human flesh. It was also wise to give them largely by visible\nillustrations\u2015\u2015by the aid of a system having so much of the external\nand the visible that minds not disciplined to abstract thought might\nsee the truth and feel its power by means of sensible manifestations.\n\nThe reader will now see readily the purpose of the ensuing examination\nof this religious system. It is not for historic curiosity\u2015\u2015in which\ncase we might select points amusing or strange or sensational; it is\nnot to guide the worshiper (as Moses sought to do) in the minutest\ndetails of the system that he might make no mistake in obeying it:\u2015\u2015but\nit is to gather as best we may its designed moral impression, to study\nits underlying assumptions, and evolve its true doctrine in regard\nto the great question of the sinner\u2019s acceptance before a holy and\nrighteous God.\n\n * * * * *\n\nBriefly and comprehensively we may classify the leading features of\nthis system viewed externally, on this wise:\n\nI. _Its prescribed sacrifices and offerings._\n\nII. _Its stated times and seasons of worship._\n\nIII. _Its sacred edifices and apparatus for worship._\n\nIV. _The religious orders\u2015\u2015classes designated for sacred service._\n\nI. The sacrifices and offerings of this system may be classified\nvariously:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015_e. g._ (1.) Bloody, or not bloody:\u2015\u2015terms which will be\nreadily understood. The former were slain animals, a portion of whose\nblood was sprinkled. The latter included offerings of flour, oil, wine,\netc.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Or (2.) Some were specially required: others were voluntary or\nfree-will offerings.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(3.) They may be classified with reference to\nthe times and seasons when they were to be made; some being daily, as\nthe morning and evening sacrifice; others for the Sabbath; others for\nthe new moons; others on occasion of the three great yearly festivals;\nand, among the most useful for its suggestive import, those of the\ngreat day of atonement.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(4.) Or we might classify them under\nthe somewhat distinctive names given them in the law, of which we\nfind a large number. We have (a.) The generic word sacrifice [Heb.\nZebah]\u2015\u2015a word which implies slaying, taking life:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(b.) Another\nquite generic term, \u201coffering,\u201d which is used to translate several\nHebrew words, and of course with very considerable latitude of\nmeaning:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(c.) \u201cBurnt-offering\u201d\u2015\u2015[which is the quite constant\ntranslation of the Heb. \u201cOlah\u201d] signifying what _goes up upon the\naltar_ and is consumed there. The phrase \u201cwhole burnt-offering\u201d gives\naccording to the Hebrew, the sense of _completeness_\u2015\u2015the whole of\nthe animal being burned on the altar:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(d.) \u201cSin-offering\u201d\u2015\u2015in\nHebrew, one of the most common words for _sin_\u2015\u2015[hatta]. Paul\u2019s\nuse of the corresponding Greek word (2 Cor. 5: 21) follows\nthis usage of the word for sin: \u201cGod hath made him to be sin\u201d\n[a sin-offering] \u201cfor us who knew no sin,\u201d etc.:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(e.) \u201cTrespass\noffering\u201d;\u2015\u2015which is another of the Hebrew words for sin, offense\n[\u201casham\u201d]:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(f.) \u201cMeat-offering\u201d; some variety of food or drink\nother than flesh:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(g.) \u201cPeace-offering\u201d\u2015\u2015which seems closely related\nto the \u201cthank-offering,\u201d being an expression of gratitude to God; the\nanimal sacrificed being in large part eaten socially by the offerer and\nhis friends; also by the poor, the widow, servants, etc.:\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(h.) Wave\nand heave offerings\u2015\u2015terms which refer to ceremonies of elevating or\nwaving certain parts of the sacrifice.\n\n(5.) A much more important distinction in the Mosaic sacrifices lies\nbetween those which were _expiatory_ and those which were not specially\nso, the former class being slain animals whose fat at least was burned\non the altar and whose blood was sprinkled in specified and various\nways; the latter class having somewhat various objects, but chiefly\nthat of expressing gratitude for blessings or joy in the God of their\nsalvation.\n\n * * * * *\n\nTwo other points in respect to sacrifices are of importance, viz.\u2015\u2015\n\n(a.) _The choice of animals to be slain in sacrifice._\n\n(b.) The killing itself, coupled with the use made of the blood, of the\nfat, and in some cases of the flesh\u2015\u2015with the attendant ceremonies.\n\n(a.) It should be carefully noted that animals for sacrifice were not\ntaken up at random. It was not merely life and blood that were sought.\nThey were not the wild, but the tame, domesticated; not the savage,\nflesh-eating animals, but the docile, grass-eating; not animals mostly\nor altogether useless to man, but precisely those which were most\nuseful; not animals of the sort nobody loves or cares for, but those\nmost loved and cared for, between whom and the human family there\noften arises a special intimacy and affection. In a word they were the\nrepresentatives of utility, docility, and innocence. The ox, patient\nof toil, in his early years invaluable for food; the goat, useful\nfor flesh and milk; the lamb\u2015\u2015the symbol of affection, attachment,\ninnocence:\u2015\u2015these three classes of animals formed the staple material\nfor bloody sacrifice. [Of birds, the turtle-dove and young pigeon,\nbeing less expensive, were permitted to the poor. As naturally\nrepresenting innocence and loveliness, they are quite of the same\nclass].\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It sometimes escapes notice that the Orientals brought these\nanimals much nearer to their hearts and homes than our Western notions\nand habits know of. We forget that not infrequently to this day they\nlive under the same roof along with sons and daughters. The prophet\nNathan in that touching verse about the \u201cone little ewe lamb\u201d (2 Sam.\n12: 3) drew not from his imagination but from Oriental life. \u201cThe\npoor man had nothing save one little ewe lamb which he had bought and\nnourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children:\nit did eat of his own meat\u201d [food] \u201cand drank from his own cup and lay\nin his bosom, and was to him as his daughter.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moreover, the Hebrew\nmight not select for sacrifice the deformed, the torn, the lame, the\nsickly; but evermore, the unblemished, the perfect\u2015\u2015those specially\nlovable and choice pets around which the hearts of the household, young\nand old, were wont to cling: of these must the worshiper take for the\naltar.\n\nLet us think of the scene at that altar of sacrifice. The place is\nin the front court of the tabernacle, whose inner sanctuary was made\nglorious with the visible presence of Jehovah. The one all-engrossing\nthought associated with this sacred spot, was\u2015\u2015_God is here_. I go up\nto meet God. Before his face I bring this prescribed offering. It is\none of my sweet lambs of the flock, or as the case may be, a young\nbullock of one or two years old. I know that the animal must die there.\nEither in my own person or through the priest, acting in my behalf,\nI am to lay my hand on the head of the victim and thus confess my sin.\nFrom that moment the innocent lamb takes my place and stands before\nthe executioner, as if guilty of capital crime. The sight and the smell\nof blood; the struggle and the recoil; the outcry of horror\u2015\u2015the only\nawful, horrible sound uttered by these animals\u2015\u2015go to make up a scene\nwhich, once witnessed, can never be forgotten. We of this age might see\nit in some of its aspects if we would; we rarely do. We should find it,\nnot in our worshiping sanctuaries but in the secluded slaughter-house\nwhither no one is ever attracted\u2015\u2015whither none ever go save those who\nmust. Think of the blood, the death-groans, the struggle, the whole\ndying scene. Is there any meaning in it? Is there any thing in it\nappropriate to the sanctuary of God and to his solemn worship?\n\nThe transaction is by no means so mysterious as it might be. It would\nbe profoundly mysterious were it not that man is a sinner before the\nholy law of God\u2015\u2015a sinner under condemnation of death. It would be\nutterly inexplicable if there were not in nature, in thought, in fact,\nsomething which we may call substitution, to which we give the name\nvicarious\u2015\u2015something which involves, not indeed an entire exchange of\none personality for another, but something which approximates toward it.\nOne being suffers in the place and stead of another. An innocent being\nsteps into the place of a guilty one and takes upon himself the guilty\nman\u2019s doom. We need not pause here to hunt up analogies of this sort\nin human life; suffice it that God signifies by these striking symbols\nthat he has found a place for this principle in his great scheme\nfor the pardon of sinners condemned to death by his holy law, and\nthat he saw fit to fill this Hebrew religious system absolutely full\nof illustrative typical representations of this stupendous fact.\nThe elementary facts in this system of sacrifices, considered as\nillustrating the scheme of pardon are few and simple; thus\u2015\u2015\n\n(a.) Man has sinned against God and stands condemned by his law to\neternal death.\n\n(b.) God loves this sinning man and longs to save him\u2015\u2015but must not\nbreak down his law.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015So he finds a Lamb for a sacrifice whose death\nfor sinners will abundantly sustain the majesty of law, and proceeds\nthereupon to \u201clay on him the iniquity of us all.\u201d This done, it only\nremains that the sinner repent of his sin, and humbly, thankfully\naccept the death of this Lamb of sacrifice in place of his own eternal\ndeath.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These few and simple elements comprise substantially the\nessence of this wonderful system.\n\nThis system seeks a symbolic representation in these bloody sacrifices.\nThe offerer brings forward his lamb of the flock; he lays his hand upon\nthat innocent head and confesses there his sin: he in a sort transfers\nhis own personality\u2015\u2015or more precisely, his own sin and guilt, to\nthat animal victim; he stands by and witnesses the death-scene with\na deepened sense that he deserves a death far worse than that himself.\nBut when the fires from heaven descend and consume his offering, and\nhe finds himself not only spared but blessed of God and bidden to go in\npeace, he gets a sense unknown before, of the peace and joy of pardoned\nsin. The blood sprinkled upon and around the altar and toward the most\nholy place and upon himself becomes a memorial of what his salvation\ncost; the pardon himself receives testifies how much it is worth,\n\u201cspeaking better things than the blood of Abel.\u201d\n\nIf any special argument should seem called for to prove that this is\nthe true significance of these bloody sacrifices, we shall come to it\nwith better preparation after the main points of the system are more\nfully before us.\n\nAs an illustrative system, there is yet one other point of great\nsignificance, viz. that in many of these sacrifices _a portion of the\nanimal was eaten_ by the offerer and by his family and friends. This\ngreat amount of animal flesh was not all consumed by the fires of the\naltar. Yet we are not to suppose that public economy\u2015\u2015the saving of\nso much valuable human food\u2015\u2015was the prime consideration. We must go\ndeeper than this. Nor was it that the Lord would cultivate the social\nnature of his worshiping people, and therefore provided these materials\nfor agreeable social feasting. We must go very much deeper than even\nthis. This feasting upon the flesh of the slain animal is in germ what\nthe gospel gives us in full development, viz. that the same Lamb of\nCalvary who \u201cwashed us from our sins in his own blood\u201d \u201cgave us his\nflesh to eat\u201d as \u201cthe bread of life.\u201d The memorial supper carries in it\nthe same double symbol\u2015\u2015_blood_ and _bread_\u2015\u2015the blood looking toward\npardon; the bread toward sustenance for the spiritual life. So the\npious Israelite might on the one hand see the blood of his sacrifice\ngurgling forth, caught, sprinkled toward the mercy-seat and upon his\nown person; and on the other hand, might take of the flesh of his slain\nlamb and sit down, not merely in peace but in joyful thanksgiving that\ndeath brings life\u2015\u2015that sacrificial blood brings after it the new life\nof the redeemed, restored sinner, and sustenance therefor from the very\nanimal whose body and blood became symbols of his pardon.\n\n * * * * *\n\nBesides these sacrifices of a general character, the system provided\nothers of a special and personal character for individuals under\npeculiar circumstances, _e. g._ for the case of vows; of purification\nfrom ceremonial uncleanness; for the restored leper, etc. Of these\nI need say only that they suggest the fitness of recognizing God\u2019s\nhand every-where, in all possible events and under all the various\ndispensations of providence. These events are never barren of\nsignificance. It behooves us to study their meaning and adjust\nourselves to God\u2019s hand with resignation and with gratitude\u2015\u2015with a\nsense of our unworthiness and of God\u2019s great mercy.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The detailed\nmethods of that ancient system have at this day no vital interest.\n\nScarcely of the nature of sacrifice, yet intensifying the idea of\nceremonial uncleanness was the burning of the \u201cred heifer\u201d\u2015\u2015the\ngathering up of her ashes and the preparation from them of \u201cthe water\nof separation\u201d\u2015\u2015a purification from sin in the ceremonial sense. Num.\n19 gives the details, specifying the sorts of uncleanness which this\npurifying water washed away. The writer to the Hebrews (9: 13, 14)\ngave the great moral inference thus: \u201cFor if the blood of bulls and\nof goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth\nto the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ\nwho through the eternal Spirit offered himself unto God, purge your\nconscience from dead works to serve the living God\u201d?\n\n\n II. STATED TIMES AND SEASONS OF WORSHIP.\n\n 1. _The Morning and Evening Sacrifice._\n\nTwo lambs of one year were offered every day; the one in the morning\nand the other at evening [Heb. \u201cbetween the evenings\u201d]; burnt offerings,\nconsumed wholly upon the altar. They were accompanied with a small\nportion of flour, oil, and wine. This was a perpetual ordinance,\nnever to be omitted. The original institution (Ex. 29: 38\u201346) is\naccompanied with God\u2019s very gracious promise to meet with his people\nand dwell among them, sanctifying the place of this meeting by his\nglory. Nothing could suggest more pertinently and tenderly that God\nloves to see the face of his worshiping people and to meet them as each\nday opens in the morning and as it closes with the setting sun. Let\nthis communion between God and his sons and daughters never be in any\nwise interrupted.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The usage seems to have led pious Jews in later\ntimes to adopt these hours for their morning and evening prayer, as\nwe may see in the case of Daniel (9: 21), and in the New Testament\nhistory.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The ritual for these sacrifices is given in detail\n(Num. 28: 3\u20138).\n\n\n 2. _The Sacrifices for the Sabbath._\n\nEach Sabbath had an extra service in addition to the continual morning\nand evening sacrifice\u2015\u2015two lambs of the first year without spot; with\nthe attendant meat and drink-offerings (Num. 29: 9, 10).\n\n * * * * *\n\n3. _The sacrifices at each new moon_ were on a larger scale than\neither of the preceding, viz. two young bullocks, one ram, and seven\nlambs for the burnt-offering; one kid of goats for the sin-offering.\nAs the Hebrew months were lunar (not solar), these sacrifices upon\nthe appearance of the new moon inaugurated the successive months. It\nwas probably for this reason that they were announced with blowing\nof trumpets (Num. 10: 10). The calendar was thus regulated\u2015\u2015a matter\nof special importance, since it fixed the time of their three great\nreligious festivals as also the great day of atonement.\n\n\n 4. _The Three Great Religious Festivals._\n\nOf these the first in order (the Passover) has been considered already.\n\nThe next in order of time was the _Pentecost_\u2015\u2015otherwise called \u201cthe\nfeast of weeks, of the first-fruits of wheat-harvest\u201d (Ex. 34: 22);\n\u201cthe feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labors which thou hast\nsown in the field\u201d (Ex. 23: 16); also \u201cthe day of first-fruits\u201d (Num.\n28: 26). The other passages which treat of it are Lev. 23: 15\u201321 and\nDeut. 16: 9\u201312)\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The name _Pentecost_ is not from the Hebrew but from\nthe Greek, meaning the _fiftieth_ day, _i. e._ after the great Sabbath,\nwhich fell during the Passover week (Lev. 23: 15, 16).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015On the first\nday after that Sabbath, the first-fruits of their barley harvest were\nbrought before the Lord. From that point seven full weeks were numbered,\nand on the fiftieth day the feast of Pentecost occurred.\n\nThis festival, unlike the other two in duration, was of one\nday only\u2015\u2015at least this is plainly assumed: \u201cIn _the day_ of the\nfirst-fruits\u201d (Num. 28: 26), also in Lev. 23: 21, only one day\nis spoken of.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It was specially a day of thanksgiving for the\nfirst-fruits of the wheat harvest. Two loaves made of the new wheat\nflour were waved before the Lord on this hallowed day.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The reference\n(in Deut. 16: 10\u201312) gives prominence to the social and joyful\ncharacter of the day. \u201cThou shalt keep the feast unto the Lord thy\nGod with a tribute of a free-will offering of thy hand which thou shalt\ngive according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, and thou shalt\nrejoice before the Lord thy God, thou and thy son and thy daughter,\nand thy man-servant and thy maid-servant, and the Levite that is within\nthy gates, and the stranger, the fatherless and the widow that are\namong you.\u201d\n\nAs a feast of joyful thanksgiving over the first-fruits of their\nprincipal grain harvest, it was eminently the appropriate occasion for\nthe Pentecostal scene of the first great Christian ingathering. How\nsuggestive of the gratitude due to God for the shedding forth of the\nHoly Ghost and the glorious fruitage from this gospel power!\n\nSome have supposed (not without reason) that the Hebrew Pentecost\ncommemorated the completion of the giving of the laws by the hand of\nMoses, which they suppose was brought within fifty days from the first\nPassover. Of this however the books of Moses affirm nothing explicitly.\n\nThe third and last of the three great festivals was \u201cthe _Feast of\nTabernacles_,\u201d otherwise called \u201cthe feast of ingathering at the end of\nthe year when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field\u201d (Ex.\n23: 16).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The speciality of this feast was the dwelling in booths or\ntabernacles, made of \u201cboughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees\nand the boughs of thick trees and willows of the brook\u201d (Lev. 23: 40).\nThis feast began on the fourteenth day of the seventh month and\ncontinued during eight days, the first and the last being days of\nspecial solemnity. It had a double purpose, viz. to commemorate the\nforty years wandering of the fathers in the wilderness, dwelling in\ntents; and to give thanks to God for the last harvests of the year\u2015\u2015the\nfruits of the olive and the grape\u2015\u2015last in order\u2015\u2015being now all\ngathered in.\n\nThus none of these three great feasts omitted the element of\nthanksgiving for the fruits of the season, the first barley sheaves\nbeing brought with grateful thanks before the Lord during the Passover;\nthe first-fruits of the wheat harvest giving a special thanksgiving\ncharacter to the Feast of Pentecost; and the latest fruits, the olive\nand the grape, reminding them of God\u2019s crowning blessing upon the\nlabors of the year at the Feast of Tabernacles. What a beautiful\ntraining into the service of thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth!\n\nThis last of the festivals was pre-eminently one of joyful festivity,\nand of loud and high praises to the Lord, their Great Benefactor. The\nJews have a saying\u2015\u2015that \u201cwhoever has not seen the rejoicing of the\nlast great day of the Feast of Tabernacles has never seen a day of joy\nin his life.\u201d\n\nThe principal passages of Moses that treat of it are Ex. 23: 16, and\n34: 22, and Lev. 23: 34\u201343, and Num. 29: 12\u201340, and Deut. 16: 13\u201315.\n\nThe celebration of this feast in the age of Nehemiah (8: 14\u201318) the\nreader should not fail to notice. At this time the law was read daily\nin the hearing of the people. The law of Moses provided for this public\nreading on each seventh, _i. e._ the Sabbatic year, during the Feast of\nTabernacles (Deut. 31: 10\u201313).\n\nThe striking allusion (Jn. 7: 37) to the scenes on the last great day\nof the feast will be readily recalled. A custom unknown to the law of\nMoses had then come into practice\u2015\u2015that of going in vast procession to\nthe fountain of Siloam for water, and bearing it with joyful acclaim to\nthe temple to pour it out there before the Lord. While this procession\nwas passing, Jesus lifted up his voice and cried\u2015\u2015\u201cIf any man thirst,\nlet him come unto me and drink.\u201d May we suppose that possibly the words\nof Isaiah were before him:\u2015\u2015\u201cHo, every one that thirsteth, come ye to\nthe waters\u201d\u2015\u2015to these waters of life which I give for the life of the\nworld!\n\nUpon these three great festivals all the males of Israel were\nrequired to appear before the Lord at the one place of his choice\u2015\u2015the\ntabernacle or the temple\u2015\u2015ultimately in Jerusalem \u201cwhither the tribes\ngo up.\u201d The women of Israel manifestly went when they chose and\ncould. According to Oriental usage they traveled in groups\u2015\u2015little\ncaravans\u2015\u2015several adjacent families, or as the case might be by\nhouseholds, the patriarch with his children and children\u2019s children\ntogether, moving on with many a song of social cheer and grateful\npraise till at length they lifted up their eyes to the hills of the\ngoodly city. The so-called \u201csongs of degrees\u201d (Ps. 120\u2013134)\u2015\u2015more\nstrictly songs of the stages or upgoings\u2015\u2015are specimens of this free\nand outflowing worship of the traveling companies, bound upward to\nJerusalem. The allusion in Luke 2: 41\u201345, is pleasant to think of.\n\nWe must not overlook the fact that the Lord relieved their minds of\nall fear lest their defenseless homes might be assailed and robbed and\nperhaps their wives and little ones murdered by foreign enemies while\nall their able-bodied men were away from their homes in Jerusalem.\n\u201cNeither shall any man desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear\nbefore the Lord thy God thrice in the year\u201d (Ex. 34: 24). None but a\nGod of universal providence and omnipotent resources could safely make\nsuch a promise. In their own Jehovah they might safely trust.\n\n * * * * *\n\nOf sacred seasons, the most peculiar and striking yet remains to be\nnoticed, viz. _the great day of atonement_. This was one day only; was\nnot a feast day but a _fast_\u2015\u2015a day \u201cin which ye shall _afflict your\nsouls_,\u201d _i. e._ subject yourselves to the discomforts and pains of\nentire abstinence from food for the whole day, \u201cfrom even to even.\u201d\nWhoever would not afflict his soul on this day must be \u201ccut off from\nhis people.\u201d All labor was forbidden under the same penalty. The\npassages Lev. 23: 26\u201332 and Num. 29: 7\u201311 give these general features\nof the institution. Only in Lev. 16 do we find a full description.\nIn this chapter it appears that the original appointment of this day\nstands connected with the sad death of Nadab and Abihu, the two eldest\nsons of Aaron for their rash unauthorized offering of strange fire\nbefore the Lord (Lev. 10: 1\u20138). That awful scene of death suggested\nthe great necessity of ceremonial purity in the priesthood and of the\nutmost care and self-control when they came before God. There would be\nsins in the priesthood and sins among the people of which they might\nnot be aware: hence the propriety of one comprehensive, all-embracing\nservice for atonement.\n\nThe points to be specially noted in this service are\u2015\u2015That the High\nPriest washed himself clean; put on white linen garments, symbolic of\npurity, and then made a special offering for his own sins and for the\nsin of all the people. The latter had this striking peculiarity\u2015\u2015that\ntwo goats were taken for a sin-offering, upon whom lots were cast to\nselect one for the Lord and one for Azazel [Eng. \u201cscape-goat\u201d]. Another\nstill more important peculiarity was that on this day only (never on\nany other) the High Priest went alone into the most holy place, bearing\nboth the blood of the sin-offering and incense. First he bore into the\nmost holy place the blood of a bullock as a sin-offering for himself,\nand sprinkled it with his finger upon the mercy-seat and in front\nof the mercy-seat seven times. He also bore a censer full of coals\nfrom the great altar and upon it burned incense, the smoke of which\nenshrouded the mercy-seat. Then the goat upon which the lot fell for\nthe Lord was slain, and the High Priest bore his blood also into the\nmost holy place and sprinkled it there to make atonement for the whole\npeople. No other man save the High Priest might go in at any time on\npain of death.\n\nThe other goat, called in our English version \u201cthe scape-goat\u201d was then\ndisposed of thus: Aaron \u201claid both his hands upon the head of this goat\nand confessed over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel\nand all their transgressions in all their sins, _putting them upon\nthe head of the goat_, and then sent him away by a fit man into the\nwilderness\u2015\u2015the goat bearing upon himself all their iniquities into a\nland not inhabited.\u201d He was then set at liberty in the wilderness (Lev.\n16: 20\u201322).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The precise meaning of the word Azazel [\u201cscape-goat\u201d]\nand the reason for using this name have been much disputed. Our English\nBible fails to give a satisfactory translation of v. 8 where by a most\nobvious antithesis the sacred lot selects one of the two goats for\nJehovah and the other for Azazel. Was it, as many suppose, for Satan,\nconceived of as \u201cwalking through those dry and desolate places, seeking\nrest but finding none\u201d\u2015\u2015to whom this goat, symbolically bearing the\nsins of the whole people, is sent? If so, what is implied and signified\nin this sending of the goat to him? I must say I am not wise on these\npoints. If any ideas were current in that age in respect to Satan\nwhich might illustrate this transaction, they have not come down to\nus. It must I think suffice for us to see in these two goats for a\nsin-offering a sort of double figure to indicate the atonement\u2015\u2015the\nfirst one slain in the usual way and his blood sprinkled before the\nmercy-seat\u2015\u2015a solemn witness that without the shedding of blood there\ncan be no remission of sin: the other, supplementing the great idea of\natonement by a most vivid representation of _sins borne away_\u2015\u2015forever\naway, to be known and remembered no more. The sins of the whole people\nwere transferred to the head of this second goat; he takes them away\ninto the unknown desolate wilderness, never to return. Symbolically,\nthe sins are gone forever!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The prophet Micah (7: 19) gives a turn\nto the same thought only slightly different\u2015\u2015\u201cThou wilt cast all their\nsins into the depths of the sea.\u201d Jeremiah also (31: 34)\u2015\u2015\u201cI will\nremember their sins no more.\u201d No symbol could give more precisely, more\nunequivocally, more forcibly, the great idea of _taking away sins_.\nYou see them transferred to this second goat by means of hands imposed\nand formal declaration, \u201c_putting them_ [the sins] _upon the head\nof the goat_\u201d; and then he is driven away, bearing his burden into an\nunknown, desolate land, never to be heard from again!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The sacrifice\nof the first goat for a sin-offering and the sprinkling of his blood\nbefore the sacred Presence of Jehovah had the usual significance of\nan innocent animal substituted for the guilty sinner\u2015\u2015the former dying\nthat the latter might not die\u2015\u2015thus showing _how_ God could safely\nforgive sin. These two goats therefore represent respectively the\ntwo great ideas which make up the atonement\u2015\u2015the first signifying _by\nwhat means_ God can testify duly against sin while yet he forgives the\nsinner; and the second certifying that\u2015\u2015the innocent victim having been\nsubstituted for the sinner and slain in his stead\u2015\u2015God does truly _take\nsins forever away_. In briefest phrase these coupled ideas stand out\nbefore us in the New Testament: \u201cBehold the Lamb of God who _taketh\naway_ the sin of the world\u201d (John 1: 29).\n\n\n III. _Sacred Edifices and Apparatus._\n\nA system of worship which included altars and sacrifices, and much more,\none which had the ark of the covenant and the visible manifestation of\nJehovah\u2019s presence, demanded an _edifice_ for its center and home. It\nwas essential to the proper reverence that this edifice should provide\na place of seclusion as well as of safe-keeping for its most sacred\nthings.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moreover, so long as the people were unsettled\u2015\u2015subject\nto removal any day\u2015\u2015this structure must be movable, like the tents of\nall nomadic people. Hence the first structure was the _Tabernacle_ or\n_Sacred Tent_.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015A general idea of it may be presented to the reader\nthus:\u2015\u2015Conceive of an inclosed court, one hundred cubits long by fifty\nwide [the cubit being eighteen inches]; this inclosure being made by\nhanging curtains of linen five cubits high, suspended from horizontal\nrods which were supported by posts. The entrance to this inclosure was\nalways at its eastern end, and the eastern section, forming the outer\nor first court, was twenty cubits in depth, cut off from the rest of\nthe inclosed area by curtains.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In the center of the rear portion\nstood the sacred tent proper, thirty cubits in length from east to west,\nand ten cubits in width. This also was in two principal apartments,\nthe eastern being twenty cubits by ten, known as \u201cthe holy place\u201d;\nthe western, \u201cthe most holy place,\u201d or the \u201cHoly of holies,\u201d being\nten cubits square. The perpendicular walls of this sacred tent were of\nboards set on end, ten cubits high, so supported as to be readily set\nup, taken down, and transported. The covering was four-fold, of cloth\nand skins, and was manifestly arranged like the roof of a house, the\ncovering passing over a ridge-pole in the center. Such briefly was this\nsacred structure.\n\nOf its furniture, the important articles were as follows:\n\n(a.) In the open court in front of the tabernacle proper, were the\ngreat altar of burnt-offering and a laver\u2015\u2015an immense reservoir or\ntank for water. (b.) In the holy place\u2015\u2015the first section of the sacred\ntent\u2015\u2015stood the altar of incense; the table of shew-bread; and the\ngolden candlestick.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015(c.) In the most holy place, enshrouded in the\nthick darkness, stood the ark of the covenant, containing originally\nthe two tables of stone on which the ten commandments were written, the\npot of manna, and Aaron\u2019s rod that budded. Upon the lid of this ark,\nknown as \u201cthe mercy-seat,\u201d there reposed the refulgence of the Divine\nPresence\u2015\u2015a visible brightness and glory, called by the later Jews \u201cthe\nshechinah\u201d\u2015\u2015itself overshadowed by the wings of cherubic figures which\nrested upon either end of the ark.\n\nThe whole structure might be readily taken down and transported from\nplace to place with all its furniture; parties being designated for\nthis service.\n\nIn Num. 10: 35, 36 we have the words customarily used by Moses as a\nform of prayer, accompanying the order for striking and pitching tents:\n\u201cWhen the ark set forward Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine\nenemies be scattered, and let those that hate thee flee before thee:\nand when it rested he said, Return, O Lord, unto the ten thousands of\nIsrael.\u201d\n\nOf the temple built by Solomon I need not say more than this\u2015\u2015that\nits plan was essentially that of the tabernacle, differing in the\nfollowing points: Its dimensions were twice as great; and it was built\nfor a permanent, immovable edifice, of the most substantial and costly\nmaterials.\n\n\n IV. _The Sacred Orders._\n\nThe tribe of Levi was chosen and set apart for the services of worship\nand of religious instruction. Out of this tribe the family of Aaron was\nselected for the priesthood. The most sacred services devolved upon the\npriests, the High Priest only being permitted to enter the most holy\nplace once a year, as we have seen. The Levites performed subordinate\nservices, supplying the requisite wood and water for so vast a system\nof sacrifices and offerings, and serving also in the transportation\nof the sacred tent and its furniture. At a later period the service\nof song in the house of the Lord was in their hands.\n\nThe law provided a full ritual for the induction of the High Priest\ninto his office and for the consecration of all the priests to their\nwork. Their robes of office, their various dress on all occasions,\nare detailed with great minuteness.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The law also provided specially\nfor their subsistence. A portion of various sacrifices fell to them\nas their perquisite. The great expense of the entire ritual service,\nincluding the cost of the animals offered for the people at large; the\nsupport of the priests, and to some extent of the Levites, was provided\nfor by law in the tithes; the poll-tax of a half-shekel from every man\nof Israel; and from various other sources.\n\nIn the ultimate settlement in Canaan, forty-eight cities with their\nsuburbs were given to the Levites. They were thus distributed among\nthe entire population of Canaan both east and west of the Jordan,\nand if true to their mission would fill a very important sphere in\nboth the civil and the religious life of the nation. Of their civil\nand judicial duties I have spoken already. They were also teachers of\nreligion.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Their suburban territory would afford them a small amount\nof land for cultivation; but the divine plan was that they who served\nat the altar should live from the altar. While religious services were\nconscientiously performed and the religious spirit was in due strength,\nboth priests and Levites would be comfortably fed and clad. Idolatry\nand religious declension would cut their supplies short.\n\nThe careful reader of those portions of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers\nwhich give the plan of the tabernacle, the ritual of the priests and\nLevites and the minute detail of numerous sacrifices and offerings and\npurifications, will not need the suggestion that in many respects the\ninterest and the value of these details have mostly passed away. Of\nprime importance in that age; vital to the proper construction of the\ntabernacle; vital to the due consecration of priest and Levite and to\ntheir instruction in duty; entirely essential to the ends of a ritual\nsystem which was to be the religious law of a great people\u2015\u2015they were\nall in place then and were indispensable; but in most respects this\ninterest and value have long since ceased. Whereas in the time of Moses\nnot one word of this minute detail was superfluous, not one point could\nbe safely omitted; now, it may be passed over with only brief notice.\nFew will care to read all its particulars.\n\nYet two points deserve remark:\n\n1. That this very minuteness of detail is the strongest evidence of the\ngenuineness and antiquity of these books. They were certainly written\nat the time of the events they record. They never could have been\ngotten up in any age subsequent to the events. The specifications for\nthe tabernacle and for all its furniture had a purpose then; but could\nhave had no purpose to justify such minuteness after the construction\nwas finished. It would be the supremest folly to forge such documents\nages after the events had passed. No man in his senses ever attempts\nsuch a forgery. Men never submit to such labor without an object;\nand the case precludes the possibility of any object _after_ the tent\nwas built and after the ritual was fully understood and wrought into\nestablished usage.\n\n2. While these minute details neither require nor reward particular\ninvestigation in our day, yet taken in whole _they are pregnant with\ngreat moral lessons for all time_.\n\n(1.) There was a perpetual inculcation of cleanliness, external purity;\nand the most careful avoidance of whatever was defiling. The ceremonial\nwashings and cleansings, the removal from the camp, or as the case\nmay be, the seclusion from the court of the tabernacle for a term\nof purification, occur frequently. By a natural law of mind, sin is\nassociated with uncleanness; crime is defiling. Hence, with almost\ninfinite pains the Lord was impressing upon his people the great idea\nthat their God who deigned to dwell among them \u201cwas of purer eyes than\nto behold iniquity.\u201d He could not abide with them save as they kept\nthemselves clean and pure.\n\n(2.) On every hand we note the most solemn inculcation of care,\nthoughtfulness, consideration, especially in their religious worship,\nand the most impressive warnings against a rash and inconsiderate\nspirit. Hence wine was forbidden to the priests when about to go to the\naltar (Lev. 10: 8\u201311). It seemed that God could have no patience with\nthe thoughtless and irreverent. At whatever cost, the fear of the Lord\nmust be impressed upon the people\u2015\u2015else all effort for their religious\nculture would be vain.\n\n(3.) Their great thanksgiving festivals; their numerous thank-offerings;\ntheir vows; their required tithes\u2015\u2015all concur in this one idea\u2015\u2015the\nrecognition of God as the Giver of all blessings, their great personal\nand national Benefactor. No pains was spared to impress and enforce\nthis great truth. The long course of God\u2019s redeeming mercies toward\ntheir nation; the rescue from Egyptian bondage; the miraculous supplies\nof bread and water forty years in the desert; the gift of the goodly\nland of Canaan;\u2015\u2015these were the staple facts of their history which God\nsought to engrave upon the national heart and to work into the living\nthought of the thousands of Israel. By every hopeful appliance their\nreligious system was shaped to keep alive and intensify these feelings.\n\n(4.) More important than all the rest were the great moral lessons\nset forth _by the perpetual presence of atoning blood_. The Israelites\nwere never allowed to forget that they were sinners, and that their\napproach to God must always be through the blood of atonement. No\nday might begin, no day might close, without the shedding of animal\nblood\u2015\u2015the sacrifice of an innocent animal\u2019s life. The great days\nwere great because of the multiplication of these sacrifices\u2015\u2015evermore\ndistinguished and memorable for the rivers of blood that flowed; for\nthe struggles and throes of the dying; for the sprinkling of blood,\n_blood_, BLOOD, all round about the hallowed altar, toward the unseen\nPresence within the most holy place, and upon the assembled hosts of\nIsrael.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It may cost us a few moments\u2019 effort to reproduce those\nscenes before our mind\u2019s eye so as to take in their full significance;\nbut this effort to comprehend that ancient ritual would bring its\nreward. What a demonstration it would be in proof that \u201cwithout\nthe shedding of blood there is no remission\u201d! that God never looks\npropitiously on guilty sinners save through the bleeding sacrifice of\nhis crucified Son! As bearing upon the great questions\u2015\u2015the _fact_ and\nthe _nature_ of the atonement\u2015\u2015this bloody ritual has a most vital and\nimpressive significance. No questions of deeper and more vital import\ncan ever arise than such as these: Was the death of Christ expiatory?\nWas his blood shed for the sins of men? Did he lay down his life,\nan innocent victim, that the guilty sinners who place their hands\nupon his sacred head and there confess their sins may live and never\ndie? In a word, was his death foreshadowed and its true significance\npre-intimated by the bloody offerings enjoined in this Hebrew system?\n\nArgumentatively, it would seem that these great questions are decided\nforever by the following considerations:\n\n1. If the bloody sacrifices of this ancient system do not set forth the\natoning death of Christ, they mean nothing; this, or nothing at all.\n\n2. The writer to the Hebrew Christians testifies that they mean this.\nTo give the proof of this statement in full would repeat entire the\nseventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth chapters of this epistle. It would be\nidle to say that this writer does not refer to the sacrificial system\nof ancient Israel; equally idle to claim that he does not speak of the\nbloody death of Christ; more than idle to deny that in his view that\nold system sought to illustrate this new one\u2015\u2015those bloody scenes were\nforeshadowing pre-intimations of Christ\u2019s death; that those priests\nwere precursors of this greater High Priest; that the blood which\nAaron bore once a year into the most holy place meant neither more nor\nless than that Jesus was in his time to enter once for all into a yet\nmore holy place with his own blood and thus achieve for us eternal\nredemption. Jesus \u201cneeded not daily as did those priests to offer\nsacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people\u2019s; for this\nhe did once\u201d [for all] \u201cwhen he offered up himself\u201d (Heb. 7: 27).\n\n3. All the New Testament writers were Jews; men of Jewish education,\nmen of life-long training in religious ideas based on this Hebrew\nsacrificial system. They never speak of the purpose or results of\nChrist\u2019s death save in terms and phrases taken from this system given\nthrough Moses. Jesus never speaks of his own death save in these\nsame words and phrases. When he speaks of \u201cgiving his life a ransom\nfor many\u201d (Mat. 20: 28); when he said, \u201cThis is my blood of the New\nTestament which is shed for many for the remission of sins\u201d (Mat.\n26: 28); when his great forerunner speaks of him as \u201cthe Lamb of God\nwho taketh away the sin of the world\u201d (Jno. 1: 29);\u2015\u2015or Peter (1 Eps.\n2: 24) as \u201cbearing our sins in his own body on the tree;\u201d or Paul\n(2 Cor. 5: 21) as being \u201cmade a sin-offering for us that we might\nbe made the righteousness of God in him,\u201d it is simply impossible\nto disprove the reference of these terms and phrases to the Mosaic\nsystem\u2015\u2015impossible to give them any other sense than that which\nis illustrated in the bloody death of the sin-offerings and\nburnt-offerings of that ancient law.\n\nThus with bands which no sophistry can sever, the Old Testament\nand the New are bound together, and the atonement prefigured in the\nformer is embodied and made perfect in the latter. The almost ceaseless\nblood-sheddings and blood-sprinklings of the former culminate in the\nlatter in the one great scene of death-agony and blood on Calvary.\nThe grand idea of expiatory suffering\u2015\u2015of the vicarious death of the\ninnocent in place of the guilty, which ages of ceremonial sacrifice\nhad been setting forth and working into the minds of all reverent\nworshipers, had prepared the way for Christ\u2019s disciples to understand\nthe mystery of his bloody death and to teach the Christian world in\nthe writings of the New Testament _how_ the blood of Jesus \u201c_takes away\nsin_.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nIn closing our notice of this religious system, let us revert for\na moment to the fact that all its important features were so many\nimportant _steps of progress_ in the manifestation of God to man. These\nwere lessons in advance of all that had preceded on that greatest of\nall questions\u2015\u2015How shall man approach his Maker, and how shall he offer\nacceptable worship?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015That God deigned to come down and dwell with\nhis obedient people is the precious truth which underlies all these\nprovisions for his worship. How shall man treat this Heavenly Guest;\nhow adjust himself to this pure and majestic Presence; with what\nstate of heart; with what purity and cleanliness of person; with\nwhat offerings and sacrifices and of what significance?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These are\nthe points embraced in these great lessons taught in this religious\nsystem. The perpetual inculcation of cleanliness and of conscientious,\nscrupulous care; the practice of perpetual thanksgiving; but above all,\nthe copious illustrations of the great idea of bloody sacrifice to take\naway sin;\u2015\u2015these have been already named as the salient features in\nthis system, and all (it will be noticed) are _points of progress_.\nBloody sacrifices and altars appear in the worship offered by Abraham,\nNoah, and even Abel. But how much more fully is their true import\nunfolded here? Here is confession of sin on the part of the worshiper;\nhere is the symbolic transfer of sins by imposition of hands upon\nthe head of the victim brought out to die: here is the sprinkling\nof his blood all round about the altar; upon the very mercy-seat\nand immediately in the presence of the Holy One who sat beneath the\ncherubim; upon the worshipers also gathered round the bloody altar:\nhere are the special solemnities of the great day of atonement in\nwhich the whole sacrificial system culminated\u2015\u2015all combining their\nsignificance to unfold the great idea of the vicarious sufferings of\nan innocent victim in place of guilty men.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XX.\n\n HISTORIC EVENTS OF HEBREW HISTORY FROM SINAI TO THE JORDAN.\n\n\n _The Golden Calf._\n\nWE dropped the thread of this history at Sinai to study with undivided\nattention the civil code of Moses and also the religious system. We now\nresume it.\n\nMoses tarried on the Mount forty days to receive from the Lord the\ncivil statutes in detail and also all his instructions in respect to\nthe tabernacle, the priesthood, and the ritual. The time seemed long to\nthe restive people. They became utterly impatient; they lost faith in\nGod and in Moses; fell back upon their previous Egyptian notions; and\nconsequently applied to Aaron, saying: \u201cUp, make us gods which shall\ngo before us; for as for this Moses\u2015\u2015the man that brought us out of\nthe land of Egypt\u2015\u2015we wot not what has become of him.\u201d Aaron replied:\n\u201cBreak off and bring to me your golden ear-rings.\u201d Whether he hoped\nthey would withdraw their request when they saw how much it was to\ncost them does not appear. But it does appear that their enthusiasm for\nidol gods was equal to this sacrifice of their golden ornaments. They\nbrought them freely as Aaron had proposed, and he made of them a golden\ncalf. Strangely enough, the people greeted this senseless thing with\nthe shout: \u201cThese be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out\nof the land of Egypt.\u201d What could this mean? Did they really believe\nthat this calf was the power that brought those plagues on Pharaoh;\nthat rolled away the waters of the Red Sea; bore them safely over,\nbut hurled destruction on Pharaoh\u2019s host? Did they see the Power that\nwrought all these wonders in this powerless calf? Or did they assume\nthat the Invisible Power which achieved this work was well represented\nby this golden image?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The ineffable folly of idolatry according\nto either notion staggers us; we know not what to make of it. If the\nfacts were not so patent the world over and through all the ages of the\nrace, it would be our first impulse to assume it all a fiction and to\nsay\u2015\u2015Men never could be so supremely silly and foolish as to suppose\nthe Great God to be _like a calf_! or as to suppose that a calf,\nwhether of gold or of flesh and blood, could be a God!\n\nWe are tempted to digress, perhaps too much, into a discussion of\nthe _philosophy of idolatry_. On this point it must suffice to say\nthat no philosophy of such a fact can ever be satisfactory save one\nthat assumes and makes large account of human depravity\u2015\u2015thus: Some\nrecognition of superhuman power is inevitable; it is in man\u2019s deepest\nconvictions, and can not be got out. But men shrink from the near\npresence of a pure, sin-hating God. Any thing else is more endurable.\nGive us (they say) some God to worship who will not disturb our sinning,\nor some way of worshiping the Supreme which will at least put that pure,\nall-searching Eye farther off. And as to the reasonableness of such\nnotions of God, there is only this to be said: Sin makes men _think_\nlike fools; sin makes men _act_ like fools!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This philosophy of\nidolatry, and this only, touches bottom and must stand.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In the case\nbefore us, it is noticeable that the people were charmed with this\nnew worship, for they could sit down to eat and to drink _and rise up\nto play_! A fine time they had of it. There was no troublesome sense\nof a pure, sin-hating God there. The question how this calf could be\nthe same God who brought them out of Egypt was of the least possible\nconcern to them.\n\nAaron is swept along in the current of this mad infatuation. When\nhe saw this calf, he built an altar before it and made proclamation:\n\u201cTo-morrow is a feast to the Lord.\u201d Full of heart for such a service\n\u201cthe people rose up early on the morrow and offered burnt-offerings and\nbrought peace-offerings; they sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up\nto play.\u201d\n\nA view of this scene from another stand-point follows next in the\nnarrative. We are shown what transpired on the Mount where the Lord,\nMoses, and his servant Joshua were still engaged together. The God\nof Israel whose eyes are in every place, apprised Moses of what the\npeople were doing. In words adapted to make Moses feel his personal\nresponsibility, and perhaps to intimate that for himself he must disown\nsuch a people, he said\u2015\u2015\u201cGo, get thee down, for _thy people_, whom\n_thou broughtest_ out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.\u201d\nThey have made and are now worshiping a golden calf as the God that\nbrought them out of Egypt.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The Lord closed with a proposal which\nwas in many points of view intensely trying to Moses; viz. that Moses\nshould suffer the Lord to consume this corrupt people. Then he would\nmake the posterity of Moses a great nation, in place of rejected\nIsrael.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Did the Lord say this to prove Moses in the line of personal\npride? However this may have been, the result was morally sublime. The\ntemptation (if we may call it such) made no impression. Moses passes it\nby as a thing not to be thought of. The Lord seemed to anticipate that\nMoses would pray for the people, and therefore said\u2015\u2015\u201cLet me alone that\nmy wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Not\ndeterred a moment by this, \u201cMoses besought the Lord his God and said:\nWhy doth thy wrath wax hot against _thy_ people [not merely \u2018_my_\npeople\u2019] which Thou [not I] hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt\nwith great power and with a mighty hand\u201d? He boldly argues the case:\nWhy, Lord, shouldest thou give occasion to the Egyptians to say that\nthou broughtest forth this people only to slay them in the mountains\nand consume them from the face of the earth? What will be said of thy\nsolemn oath to Abraham to multiply his seed as the stars and to give\nthem Canaan? How will these things bear upon thine own glory before\nearth and heaven?\n\nThis is a most remarkable case of prayer. Was ever mortal more bold and\nmore persistent, despite of all the Lord had said which seemed to shut\nthe door and bar off all entreaty? Yet Moses prevailed, and it does not\nappear that the Lord rebuked him for his persistence or for his\nboldness. It is simply said\u2015\u2015\u201cThe Lord repented of the evil which he\nthought to do unto his people.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This point being so far gained,\nMoses must go down to the people. With the two stone tablets of the\nlaw in hand and Joshua by his side, he descends the mount. Joshua\u2019s ear\nfirst caught the sound from the camp. His military antecedents suggest\nto him a a battle: \u201cThere is a noise of war in the camp.\u201d With juster\ndiscrimination Moses replies: \u201cIt is not the shout of victors; it is\nnot the outcry of the vanquished; but it is the voice of song that I\nhear.\u201d They come within sight\u2015\u2015and true enough\u2015\u2015there was the calf-god,\nand the people were dancing and singing around it with wild, mad\nenthusiasm. What a scene to Moses! How is his soul fired with holy\nindignation! He casts to the earth the two tablets and breaks them\nat the foot of the mount. Next, he demolishes the calf; grinds it\nto powder; mixes it with water and compels the people to drink it. A\nmillion of men are in dismay before him\u2015\u2015all powerless to resist.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015He\nturns to Aaron, his elder brother, to rebuke him. Aaron\u2019s defense is\nboth tame and lame, as that of a man thoroughly ashamed of himself.\n\u201cThou knowest the people, bent on mischief. They beset me to make them\na calf; I told them to bring forward their gold; they did so. I threw\nit into the fire\u2015\u2015and the calf made itself!\u201d\n\nThe more vital movement followed. Moses took his stand in the gate of\nthe camp and cried aloud: \u201cWho is on the Lord\u2019s side? Let him come over\nto me.\u201d The sons of Levi, his tribal brethren, responded to the call\nand came. He bade them take every man his sword and pass to and fro\nthrough the camp, cutting down every man they met. There fell that day\nthree thousand. The sin called for some fearful visitation of God\u2019s\ndispleasure\u2015\u2015something that should impress the whole people with a\nsense of God\u2019s irrepressible indignation.\n\nThus closed this fearful day. After one night\u2019s reflection, Moses\nconvenes the people, brings their great sin before them again, and\nsays\u2015\u2015\u201cI will go up before the Lord; perhaps I may make atonement for\nyour sin.\u201d His prayer is on record\u2015\u2015short, but full of meaning. \u201cOh,\nthis people have sinned a great sin and have made them gods of gold.\nYet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin:\u2015\u2015and if not, blot me, I pray\nthee out of thy book which thou hast written.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015To which the Lord\nanswers: \u201cWhosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my\nbook.\u201d\n\nThe prayer of Moses (v. 32) should be read with a strong emphasis on\nthe word \u201c_if_,\u201d making it equivalent to _O that_: IF thou wilt forgive\ntheir sin, all will be well. O that thou wouldest! If not, life is\nnothing to me; blot me out from the book of the living. Let me rather\ndie than live any longer.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The primary meaning of this \u201cbook\u201d of\nlife is a register of living men\u2015\u2015with reference to the earthly life,\nof this world only and not of the next. It is not to be taken here as\nincluding the future life. The Lord\u2019s final answer spares the national\nlife, but subjects the people yet to visitations of judgment for this\nterrible sin.\n\nThough the main point seemed to be gained\u2015\u2015God could consent to spare\nthe nation\u2015\u2015yet a qualifying condition troubled Moses exceedingly. The\nLord said\u2015\u2015I will send an angel before thee to drive out the Canaanite;\nbut I will not go up in the midst of thee myself, for thou art a\nstiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in the way. It can not be\nsafe for so wayward a people to have with them the personal presence\nof a God so pure and so sin-hating.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In the settlement of this grave\nmatter, Moses was permitted to come very near to the God of Israel, to\ntalk with him as a man talks with his friend. Moses said (in substance):\nThou hast made me responsible to lead this people onward to Canaan;\nbut thou hast not told me whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast\nvery kindly said, \u201cI know thee by name, and thou hast found grace in\nmy sight.\u201d If this be so, show me now thy way that I may know thee;\nthat I may find grace in thy sight; and do not call this people _mine_,\nbut consider them _thine_. Let me know what thy way of dealing with\nme and with thy people is to be and what I may depend upon in this\nthing.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The Lord graciously answers:\u2015\u2015\u201cMy presence shall go with\nthee, and I will give thee rest:\u201d this rest being probably the promised\nrest of the nation in Canaan, and not merely rest in the sense of\na satisfied mind exempt from harassing vexations.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moses promptly\nanswers\u2015\u2015\u201cIf thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.\u201d\nIf thou art not going with us, let Canaan be given up and this whole\nenterprise be abandoned, for what can we do unless our own God be with\nus? How have we ever been distinguished from other peoples on the face\nof the earth, save in this\u2015\u2015that our God, the great, the pure, and the\nHoly One, has been personally present with us?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The Lord graciously\nyields this point also.\n\nMoses has still one more request to make\u2015\u2015the last and perhaps the\ngreatest: \u201cI beseech thee, show me thy glory.\u201d Moses had seen the\npillar of cloud and of fire; more than this, he had been on Mt. Sinai\nwhere the August Presence was so grand and awful that he said\u2015\u2015\u201cI do\nexceedingly fear and quake;\u201d and just at this time we are told that\nthe cloudy pillar descended and stood at the very door of Moses\u2019 tent,\nand the Lord talked with Moses, speaking unto him face to face as a man\nspeaketh unto his friend (Ex. 33: 9, 11). But this last request asks\nfor something yet more deep and spiritual. These recent developments\nhave made on the mind of Moses a painful impression that after all\nhe does not yet know God fully\u2015\u2015does not really understand him; and\ntherefore needs to know him more thoroughly. Where is the line between\nhis mercy and his wrath? How much can he bear in his covenant people,\nand at what point will his mercy surely turn to consuming judgment?\nWhen and on what grounds will he forgive his sinning people and blot\nout their iniquities?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These are the points in the character of God\nwhich he feels that he must know, and which he expresses under the one\nmost comprehensive word\u2015\u2015\u201cthy glory.\u201d They belong to the depths of the\ndivine nature.\n\nThis inquisitive spirit is prompted by one supreme desire in the heart\nof Moses, viz. to do faithfully and well the work to which God has\ncalled him, and to learn how to bear himself toward God under these\nresponsibilities. Therefore the Lord yields here also, the request\nbeing not only reasonable but pleasing to him; for, does not the\nLord always delight to meet those who long to see more of his glory,\nespecially when the deepest aim and purpose of this longing culminate\nin the passion to do the Lord\u2019s work more perfectly?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Noticeably,\nthe Lord\u2019s answer chooses a new word. He does not say\u2015\u2015Yes, my servant\nMoses, I will show thee my \u201cglory\u201d; but this: \u201cI will make _all my\ngoodness_ pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord\nbefore thee.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This is not by any means an evasion of the main\nquestion, for the Lord comes squarely up to the very point that labors\nin the mind of his servant Moses\u2015\u2015the mutual relations in the character\nand ways of God between his mercies and his justice; his compassion\ntoward his children, and his fearful severity to the guilty whom\nno mercy can hold to obedience; whom nothing can move but terrific\njudgments.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It can scarcely be necessary to explain the usage of\nthe word \u201c_name_\u201d as spoken of God: \u201cI will proclaim the _name_ of the\nLord before thee.\u201d We have become familiar with the fact that in the\nScriptures, the _name_ (usually) does more than merely distinguish one\nindividual from another (as in our common parlance), being significant\nof nature, of character, of some predominant quality. It is not that\nGod may be called the Lord, the Lord God, but that he _is_ the Lord,\n_i. e._ the real _Jehovah_\u2015\u2015forever the same, and forever faithful\nto his promises. To proclaim his _name_ therefore is to proclaim his\n_nature_; to testify to his real character.\n\nThe manner and circumstances of this proclamation in the case before us\nare altogether unique and striking. The ground idea is that, in human\nrelationships, we learn the character by _seeing_ the man. We depend on\nthe eye and the sense of sight above the testimony of any other sense,\nand we expect to see the character _in the face_. To \u201csee the face\u201d\nis, therefore, the most complete and satisfactory means of learning the\ncharacter\u2015\u2015of knowing the man\u2015\u2015that we can have under the limitations\nof our present mortal state. The language and the whole transaction\nbefore us rest on these simple facts of our present life.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The Lord\nsaid to Moses: \u201cThou canst not see my face; for there shall no man\nsee me and live.\u201d To see the very face of God would imply a more\nfull revelation of his ineffable glory than mortal man could bear. A\nsoftened manifestation of those unutterable glories is all, therefore,\nthat can be granted even to the man of God, Moses; and this is\nexpressively put by saying: \u201cThou shalt see my _back parts_; my _face_\nshall not be seen.\u201d This was the Lord\u2019s proposal: \u201cBehold, there is\na place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock; and it shall come to\npass while my glory passeth by that I will put thee in a cleft of the\nrock, and I will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: then I will\ntake away my hand and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall\nnot be seen\u201d (Ex. 33: 21\u201323).\n\nIt will be noted that in this narrative Moses makes no attempt to\ndescribe the scenes of this visible manifestation, or the impressions\nit made on his mind. Words are too weak for such a service. Those\nglorious views of God which sight may give, and which we may assume\nthat Moses obtained in this proposed manifestation, each one must have\nfor himself alone and not for another. They will come to all the Lord\u2019s\ntrue children in the day when they shall see even as they are seen\nand know as they are known.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The matters which Moses does record at\nthis point are, that the Lord bade him prepare two other stone tablets\nto replace the broken and to appear with them the next morning on the\ntop of the mount; that he must come alone and let no other man be seen\nin all the mount, nor let any animal of the flock or herd feed before\nthe mount; that then the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with\nhim there, and _proclaimed the name of the Lord_. The words of this\nproclamation are recorded:\u2015\u2015\u201cThe Lord [the Jehovah], Jehovah God,\nmerciful and gracious; long-suffering and abundant in goodness and\ntruth; keeping mercy for thousands; forgiving iniquity, transgression\nand sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the\niniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon children\u2019s children\nunto the third and to the fourth generation.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Profoundly awed by\nthese words and by this impressive manifestation; encouraged by the\nprominence given in it to the ideas of mercy and loving-kindness,\nMoses made haste, and bowed his head to the earth and worshiped, and\nthen lifted up his prayer\u2015\u2015\u201cIf now I have found grace in thy sight,\nO Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us (for it is a stiff-necked\npeople) and pardon our iniquity and our sin and take us for thine\ninheritance.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The same points are prominent here as before (Ex. 32:\n11\u201313)\u2015\u2015that God would forgive the great sin of the people; that he\nwould go among them again, and dwell in the midst of them; and that he\nwould truly take and hold them as his own inheritance. Upon all these\npoints the heart of Moses is intently set, and he brings them before\nGod every time. The Lord responds\u2015\u2015I renew my covenant; I shall go on\nto work marvelously among this people. The revelations of my great name\nbefore them and before all the world by means of them, are only begun.\nI will go before this people to drive out the Canaanite; but this\none thing I must insist upon: My people must wash out every stain\nof idol-worship; they must destroy all idol-altars, break down their\nimages, cut down their groves, have no associations with corrupt\nidol-worshipers; worship no other than the one true and holy God, for\nthe Lord whose name is Jealous is a jealous God. Other requirements\nfollow as may be seen (Ex. 34); Moses fills out another forty days on\nthe mount; the law is again written on two tablets like the former;\nMoses comes down with his face (unconsciously to himself) shining as if\nthe reflection of the more shining face of God still lingered upon it.\nWhen Aaron and all Israel saw this, they feared to come near him. Moses\ncalled to them (_i. e._ to come); Aaron and the rulers (not the people)\ncame and Moses talked with them. Afterward all the people drew near and\nMoses rehearsed the recently revealed commandments of the Lord, putting\na vail on his face while speaking with the people. This glory on his\nface was the sensible witness that he had been in very deed talking\nwith the all-glorious God, and that it behooved them to accept him as\nGod\u2019s authorized messenger.\n\n * * * * *\n\nIn tracing thus rapidly the general course of thought in these chapters\n(Ex. 32\u201334), I have aimed to bring out the salient points and the\nspirit of the transactions. Some things have been passed which it were\nwell to return and examine more fully.\n\nThis first great apostacy into idol-worship was doubtless born of their\nEgyptian life. There they had seen the ox, the cow, and the calf made\nobjects of worship. It is supposable that the leaders in this movement\nwere of that \u201cmixed multitude\u201d who came out from Egypt with them (Ex.\n12: 38), and who seem to have led off in the lusting and murmuring at\nTaberah (Num. 11: 4). Neither of these facts\u2015\u2015their having seen such\nworship in Egypt, nor their being seduced by the Egyptians among\nthem\u2015\u2015can at all excuse their sin. It admits of no excuse.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moses\nrecites the main points of this case again (Deut. 9: 8\u201321), omitting\nthe special manifestation of God\u2019s name, but giving prominence to his\nown anxiety, not to say agony, on their behalf lest the Lord should\nindeed destroy them. \u201cI fell down before the Lord as at the first forty\ndays and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water because\nof all your sin which ye had sinned in doing wickedly in the sight of\nthe Lord to provoke him to anger (for I was afraid of the anger and hot\ndispleasure wherewith the Lord was wroth with you to destroy you)\u201d. He\nalso speaks of his prayer for Aaron whose sin in this matter had been\ngreat (v. 20).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015How much this great apostacy impressed itself upon\nthe nation\u2019s history and affected good men in after ages, may be seen\nin Ps. 106: 19\u201323, and Acts 7: 39\u201343, and 1 Cor. 10: 7.\n\nThe fact that Moses burnt and pulverized the golden calf so that he\nmight compel the people to drink it, shows him to have been profoundly\nskilled in the science of metallurgy. He has not told us what solvent\nhe used, other than fire, for it was no part of his object to teach\nthis art or to exhibit his skill therein. Few men have ever lived in\nany age who could have done it.\n\nThe _social and moral influence_ of this festival for idol-worship is\nexpressively put by Moses: \u201cThe people sat down to eat and to drink,\nand rose up to play.\u201d As the subsequent narrative shows, here was\nrevelry\u2015\u2015dancing, shouting, and song. God was forgotten; all true sense\nof his presence and indeed of his nature was ruled out by the very fact\nthat they had exalted a golden calf into his place. By a law of human\nnature men become like the object they worship. Calf-worshipers go down\nto the level of the calf they worship. Alas! would that they did not\nsink far lower in passion and in crime!\n\nIn Ex. 32: 25 we read: \u201cWhen Moses saw that the people were naked\u2015\u2015(for\nAaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies), then\nhe took his stand in the gate of the camp and said, Who is on the\nLord\u2019s side? let him come unto me.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Modern critics for the most\npart give the Hebrew words the sense, not of being naked, but of being\ncast loose, demoralized, put into the state of being lawless, _without\nrestraint_. The principal verb occurs rarely; it may of itself bear\neither sense above indicated. The sense \u201cnaked\u201d does not well suit the\ncontext; for in what sense did Aaron make them naked? And how could\ntheir nakedness be a reason why Moses should send armed men among\nthem to slay three thousand?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The other sense, therefore, should be\npreferred. Aaron had utterly demoralized them. They were powerless, and\nonly objects of scorn before their enemies. God had in wrath forsaken\nthem.\n\nFrom Ex. 33: 4\u20136 it appears that the people were mourning over the\nsad tidings that God refused to go with them to Canaan, and that they\nindicated their grief in part by leaving off their usual ornaments, as\nGod had commanded them to do. In v. 6 our translation reads, \u201cIsrael\nstripped themselves of their ornaments _by_ the Mount Horeb.\u201d The\nHebrew favors the sense, \u201c_from_ Mt. Horeb\u201d\u2015\u2015_i. e._ from that point\nof their history and onward; signifying that they gave this permanent\nindication of humility and shame for their great sin. Nothing could\nbe more appropriate, since those ornaments of gold were strongly\nassociated with their awful sin in the matter of the calf. It is\npleasant to see that they were so prompt to give this expression of\ntheir sorrow and shame.\n\nIn that most emphatic announcement of the name of the Lord\n(34: 6, 7), we must note the reiteration of the ideas of mercy, grace,\nlong-suffering, compassion, goodness, truth\u2015\u2015as if the leading purpose\nwere to inspire hope and comfort in souls contrite and humble for sin.\nSolemn and awful words were indeed spoken of \u201cvisiting men for their\niniquity;\u201d and not the fathers only but the children also by the laws\nof inevitable connection between parent and offspring. Nationally and\nsocially, the children in this nation must suffer for the sin of their\nparents. The smiting dead of three thousand guilty fathers left many\nthousand children orphans. If for the sins of the fathers God had\ndropped the nation at Horeb, where would have been their promised\nCanaan? What could have been the lot of coming generations of Israel\nbut disaster\u2015\u2015privation of good; accumulation of evil? That God should\nput so prominently in the fore-ground this feature in his threatened\nretribution implies his hope that he might touch the heart of fathers\nand mothers in this way when they were fearfully insensible to all\nother considerations.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As to the bearing of this announcement\nof God\u2019s names upon the then pending question\u2015\u2015What may the nation\nhope for from the God of their covenant? we must suppose that it\nencouraged Moses greatly. He would say\u2015\u2015Assuredly God would not put\nhis mercies forward so sweetly, so richly, so in the front of all his\nmanifestations, if he had not some blessed thoughts of mercy for us.\nLet us trust his loving-kindness! While we will listen to his solemn\nwords of warning against sin, we will believe that it is his purpose\nto forgive this great sin and to grant us still his gracious protecting\npresence. So he presses his suit once more in prayer.\n\nAmong the greatest lessons of this history are those that relate to\n_prayer_. The whole character of Moses as seen in this transaction\nis wonderfully pure and true. How unselfishly he casts away, as not\nto be thought of, the divine suggestion\u2015\u2015\u201cI will make of thee a great\nnation\u201d! With what solid grasp and singular tenacity did he hold fast\nto the great ideas of God\u2019s covenant with Abraham\u2015\u2015to make this nation\nhis own peculiar people; to abide among them; to manifest himself\nin works of power and grace, and get himself a great name in all the\nearth! Shall God forget this covenant; abandon this people; drop them\nmidway from Egypt to Canaan, and leave all the nations to exult in\ntheir ruin and to put it to the caprice or the impotence of Israel\u2019s\nGod? Never.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It is wonderful how Moses holds on upon these strong\npoints in his case and the case of Israel; how thoroughly he proves\nhimself to have been raised up of God for the great mission of Israel\u2019s\nLeader and Advocate with God. With what boldness does he debate\nthe case before the Lord and set forth his strong reasons\u2015\u2015reasons,\nnot of selfish sort, not looking so much to the human side as to\nthe divine; reasons that entered deeply into the greatest of all\nconsiderations\u2015\u2015the honor of God before all the nations, and the\nsuccess of his plans in making Israel his chosen people. As we search\nthe annals of human history in vain to find a stronger case of power\nwith God in prayer, so we must look far to find a case more instructive\nin regard to the proper attitude for praying souls before God, and the\nproper arguments to use in prayer. Moses seemed not so much pleading\nfor himself or for his people, as _for God_. Therefore it was that his\npleas, based on the revealed counsels of the Almighty and fully in\nsympathy with his designs and with his glory, took hold of the heart\nof Jehovah and could not be denied.\n\n\n _The scenes of murmuring and lust;\n Taberah and Kibroth-hattaavah._\n\nThese transactions, recorded Num. 11, seem to have occurred soon\nafter the people moved onward from Sinai. In the official record of\nthe halting stations on their march from Egypt to Canaan (Num. 33),\n\u201cKibroth-hattaavah\u201d is next after Sinai.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The name Taberah does\nnot designate a station, but simply indicates the remote quarter of\nthe camp where the fire of the Lord broke forth upon the murmuring\npeople, till in answer to the prayer of Moses it was quenched.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nparticular ground of this murmuring is not stated. Probably it was\nthe general hardships of their wilderness life; a shrinking from the\nmarch into the depths of the desert, just then commenced.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In close\nconnection follows an account of a more serious murmuring, begun by\nthe \u201cmixed multitude\u201d of Egyptian and miscellaneous followers of whom\nwe read Ex. 12: 38, but into which the men of Israel were drawn. The\nground of complaint was their food. They were tired of their manna and\nlonged for the vegetables and fish of Egypt.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015At this point, as if to\nshow how unreasonable their complaints were, Moses gives a full account\nof the manna, its appearance, the way of preparing it for food, and of\nits flavor. (See what is said on manna in Ex. 16.)\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moses heard the\ncomplaints of the people and was greatly displeased. Naturally he bore\nthe case to God in prayer, but in the spirit of one whose endurance\nwas overtaxed and whose nerves were but too sensitive to his burdens.\nNoticeably the Lord does not rebuke him, but very kindly provides\nrelief by creating a council of seventy elders who shall help him\nto bear his responsibilities for the people. They were to be endowed\nwith a measure of the same divine spirit which abode with him. Having\nreceived this spirit it is said (v. 25) that they \u201cprophesied,\u201d _i. e._\nexhorted, spake under the divine influence, but _added no more_. This\nis obviously the sense of our Hebrew text; and not, as our English\nversion has given it\u2015\u2015\u201cprophesied and did not cease.\u201d If they did not\ncease, we might expect to hear more of what they said. But the word\nused by Moses is decisive. They simply prophesied for once to indicate\nthe presence of the spirit with them, and added no more.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As to the\ncomplaining people, God answered their demands with such a supply of\nflesh that the surfeit, by natural law or otherwise, brought upon the\npeople a fearful plague from which many perished. The vast graveyard\nwhich received the dead gave name to this memorable station\u2015\u2015_The\ngraves of lust, or the graves of the lustful ones_. The Lord had\nbrought up to them quails to cover the whole region about their camp\nfor a day\u2019s journey (twenty miles) on every side to the depth of\ntwo cubits (three feet).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The moral of the case is well put by the\nPsalmist: \u201cHe gave them their request, but sent leanness into their\nsoul\u201d (106: 15); or as another has it: \u201cHe gave them their own desire.\nThey were not estranged from their lust, for while their meat was yet\nin their mouth, the wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest of\nthem and smote down the chosen men of Israel\u201d (Ps. 78: 26\u201331).\u2015\u2015There\nis danger of being too demanding and persistent for the gratification\nof any appetite or passion, lest the blessing we demand may prove a\ncurse. Let God\u2019s wisdom and not our own impulses be our guide, and rule\nour life.\n\n\n _Miriam and Aaron jealous of the honor given to Moses._\n\nIn Num. 12, we are told that Miriam and Aaron speak disparagingly of\nMoses because of his Ethiopian wife, jealous of the almost exclusive\nhonor shown him by the Lord. \u201cHath the Lord indeed spoken by Moses\nonly? Hath he not spoken by _us_ also?\u201d\u2015\u2015Miriam seems to have been\nthe moving spirit in this. She had no special love or even respect\nfor her sister-in-law; but had more than enough of self-conceit and\npride. Perhaps she thought of her prominence in the song on the hither\nshore of the Red Sea (Ex. 15).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Remarkably we find here this verse\ninterposed: (\u201cNow the man Moses was very meek, above all men who were\nupon the face of the earth.\u201d)\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The manner in which this is introduced\nfavors the supposition that it came from some other and later hand,\nlike the account of Moses\u2019 death (Deut. 34: 5\u201312). Yet it is impossible\neither to prove or disprove this supposition.\n\nIt is plain that Moses made no reply to what Miriam said, but left the\nwhole matter with God. His work was not of his own choosing; his high\nposition came to him unsought. The event showed that it was perfectly\nsafe for him to leave his fair name and his high position with the Lord.\nFor the Lord soon interposed: \u201cMoses is more than a prophet: to the\nprophet I make myself known in visions or speak in dreams; but with\nmy servant Moses I speak mouth to mouth, and the very similitude of\nthe Lord shall he behold: Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak\nagainst my servant Moses\u201d?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015All suddenly Miriam is leprous, white as\nsnow. The quick and trained eye of Aaron detects it, and he cries out\nto Moses for pardon and help. Moses, always the man of prayer, calls\nupon God in her behalf and is heard. After seven days\u2019 exclusion from\nthe camp, she returns sound, and hopefully, a wiser and more humble\nwoman.\n\n\n _Kadesh-barnea and the Unbelieving Spies._\n\nIn Num. 13 and 14 stands the record of a series of events of\nexceedingly vital moment to the children of Israel.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015By a route\nnot definitely ascertainable at this distance of time, they had come\n(eleven days\u2019 journey Deut. 1: 2) from Sinai to Kadesh-barnea which\nmost critics concur in locating in the northern part of the wilderness\nof Paran, near \u201cthe mountain of the Amorites,\u201d and also near the\nsouthern border of the land of Canaan. Leaving the wilderness of\nSinai (Num. 10: 12, 13) \u201con the twentieth day of the second month of\nthe second year\u201d [from Egypt]; spending at least one month (Num. 11:\n20, 21) at Kibroth-hattaavah, they were supposably about two years out\nfrom Egypt when the question came up the second time whether the people\nwere prepared to march into the land of Canaan. On the former occasion,\nas we have seen (Ex. 13: 17, 18) the Lord decided this question at once,\nrejecting the short route to Canaan and heading their hosts through\nthe wilderness, because, being then just from bondage in Egypt, they\nwere in no condition, physically or morally, to enter Canaan.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Now at\nKadesh the question comes up again. As the case is put by Moses (Deut.\n1: 22) it would seem that the people suggested the mission of the spies:\n\u201cYe came near unto me, every one of you, and said\u2015\u2015We will send men\nbefore us and they shall search us out the land and bring us word again\nby what way we must go up and into what city we shall come. And the\nsaying pleased me well, and I took twelve men,\u201d etc. But the more full\naccount in Num. 13 ascribes the movement to the Lord himself: \u201cThe\nLord spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men that they may search the\nland of Canaan\u201d (vs. 1, 2). This is probably the more exact account.\nThe people however heartily concurred.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Very wisely the explorers\ndesignated were thoroughly representative men, \u201cheads of the children\nof Israel,\u201d \u201cevery one a ruler among them.\u201d Thus selected, they would\nfairly represent the moral tone of the people on the great point of\nfaith or unbelief; and moreover were men reliable as judges of the\ncountry and of the people of Canaan.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The points which they were to\ninvestigate and report were well defined: \u201cTo see the land, what it is;\nwhether good or bad; the people, whether strong or weak, few or many;\nwhat cities they dwell in; whether in tents or strongholds; and whether\nthe land be fat or lean; and also\u201d (a point of interest to men so long\non the desert) \u201cwhether there be wood therein or not.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In a tour of\nforty days they traversed Canaan to the very northern border and seem\nso far to have done their work well. It being the time of first ripe\ngrapes, they brought a magnificent specimen cluster from Eshcol, so\nlarge as to be borne by two men.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Their report made two strongly\nmarked points\u2015\u2015that the land was truly \u201cflowing with milk and\nhoney\u201d\u2015\u2015all in this respect that they could desire; but on the other\nhand, ten of their number concurred in saying that the people were\nstrong; their cities walled and very great, and some of their warriors,\nmen of Anak, giants of stature, in whose sight they were only as\ngrasshoppers. Their conclusion was\u2015\u2015\u201cWe be not able to go up against\nthat people, for they are stronger than we\u201d (Num. 13: 31).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Two of\nthe spies\u2015\u2015Caleb representing Judah and Joshua of Ephraim\u2015\u2015brought\nin a minority report, differing totally in the one only vital point,\nviz. whether Israel were able to drive out the Canaanites and take\npossession of the land. Or, more fundamentally, they based their\nconviction upon _their faith in God_; while the men of the majority\nreport seem to have made not the least account of God\u2019s help in the\ncase. Caleb and Joshua said\u2015\u2015\u201cThe land is exceedingly good; and if the\nLord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it\nto us; only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people\nof the land, for they are bread for us; their defense is departed from\nthem, and the Lord is with us; fear them not.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Sad to say, these\nconsiderations fell powerless upon the hearts of the ten unbelieving\nspies, and also upon the mass of the people. \u201cAll the people murmured\nagainst Moses and Aaron; the whole congregation said unto them: Would\nGod that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would God we had died in\nthis wilderness\u201d!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015They even proposed to \u201cmake themselves a captain\nand return into Egypt\u201d!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It was inevitable that the Lord should feel\nhimself dishonored and even insulted. \u201cHow long,\u201d said he, \u201cwill this\npeople provoke me? How long will it be ere they believe me for all the\nsigns which I have showed among them\u201d? And again referring to what was\nmost disheartening and cruel of all: \u201cThose men who have seen my glory\nand my miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have\ntempted me now these ten times, and have not obeyed my voice\u2015\u2015they\nshall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers to give them.\u201d\nAh, they had seen all the plagues on Egypt; they had seen Pharaoh\u2019s\nproud host buried in the Red Sea; they had seen Amalek smitten before\nIsrael while the hands of prayer were upstayed before the Lord\u2015\u2015and\nmust all this go for nothing? God had promised to give them Canaan;\ncould they not trust him? They had bound themselves by most solemn\ncovenant to follow him as their king; and shall they go back upon this\ngreat covenant; make another captain; and return to their old bondage\nin Egypt? Alas, for such treachery! Alas, that they will not believe\nin God; that they have no faith in his power to save; and apparently\nno faith in his readiness to attempt it!\n\nHere again (as after the sin with the golden calf) the Lord proposes to\nMoses to smite this whole people with pestilence, and then make of his\nposterity a nation greater and mightier than they (Num. 14: 12). But in\nthis case as in that, Moses listens not a moment to the proposal which\nmight seem flattering to his ambition if he had any; and turns his plea\nwholly to the point of God\u2019s glory before the nations:\u2015\u2015What will they\nsay of him if he abandons this whole people as if in despair?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It was\nwell understood that he had promised to bring them into Canaan; what\nwill they say if he fails to do it? How will it bear upon the name\nand the fame of Almighty God if the nations are left to say\u2015\u2015\u201cBecause\nthe Lord _was not able_ to bring this people into the land which he\nsware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015To\nthis, Moses adds an appeal to that blessed _name_ which the Lord had\ngiven him on the former occasion:\u2015\u2015Let the power of my Lord be great\naccording as thou hast spoken, saying: \u201cThe Lord is long-suffering and\nof great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression. O pardon thou the\niniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy and\nas thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt until now.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015To this\nprayer the Lord promptly answers: \u201cI have pardoned according to thy\nword; but as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the\nglory of the Lord\u201d\u2015\u2015(_i. e._ with the glory of his righteous justice);\nfor of all those men who have seen my glory and my miracles in Egypt\nand in the wilderness, and yet have not believed in me at all, but\nhave utterly dishonored my name, not one shall enter into the land of\npromise. March them back into this great and dreary wilderness; let\nthem wander there forty years\u2015\u2015as many years as they have spent days\nin searching out the land of Canaan. So let their judgment perpetually\nremind them of their sin, till all that unbelieving generation, old\nenough to bear moral responsibility for this unbelief, have fallen\nin the wilderness.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Then their children who, they said, would fall\nbefore the sword of the Canaanites, shall go into the land, drive out\nthose men of Canaan, and possess the goodly land of promise.\n\nThe ten unbelieving spies perish at once by the plague before the wrath\nof God. The people were sorely distressed by this decision. Some of\nthem rushed at once to the mad extreme of marching unbidden against the\nCanaanites\u2015\u2015only to be smitten before them.\n\nThus issued this sad case of strange, cruel unbelief. The conquest\nof Canaan was postponed almost forty years; the generation of twenty\nyears and over when they came out from Egypt were doomed to fruitless\nwandering and an early death in the wilderness; and that nation and the\nworld had one more lesson on the wisdom of believing God, and on the\ninfinite folly as well as guilt of refusing to believe and trust the\nLord.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moses (in Deut. 1: 19\u201346) gives a somewhat full recapitulation\nof these scenes. In Ps. 90 he puts in the form of sacred song his\nmeditation and prayer on this sad yet most instructive event.\n\n\n _The Rebellion of Korah and his Company._\n\nDuring the period of thirty-seven years intervening between the\nscenes at Kadesh last noted and the return to Kadesh in the last year\nof the wandering, one event of most signal and solemn moment occurred,\nviz. the rebellion of Korah and his company, recorded Num. 16, and\nreferred to Num. 26: 9\u201311. The leaders were Korah of the tribe of Levi,\na near relative of Moses, and Dathan, Abiram, and On, of the tribe of\nReuben;\u2015\u2015the former ambitious of the distinction enjoyed by Moses and\nAaron, and doubtless believing himself at least equally capable and\nworthy; the latter probably restive under the loss of that pre-eminence\nwhich was normally conceded to the first-born. Associated with them\nwere two hundred and fifty leading men of the tribes, not otherwise\ndistinctly designated. The movement thus assumed formidable proportions\nin the outset. They seem to have demanded that Moses and Aaron should\nretire from office and give place to themselves; or at least that\nthey should resign and open the way for another election by the\npeople.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moses wisely referred this matter at once to the Lord.\nLet him say who shall be the Leader of this people, and who shall\ncome near before him as High Priest. Take you, said he, every man his\ncenser and put fire therein, and come before the Lord. Let him pass\nupon this great question.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Expostulating with Korah, he said, Should\nit not suffice you that God has given the whole tribe of Levi special\nresponsibilities and honors? Why should ye murmur against Aaron because\nthe Lord hath chosen him to lead in the most holy services?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nReubenite faction, resisting the summons of Moses, stood off\nobstinately. With falsehood and insult they arraign Moses upon two\ngrave charges: (a.) that he had brought them out of a land of plenty to\nkill them in the wilderness; and (b.) had utterly failed to bring them\ninto a land of plenty as he had promised. And now, said they, \u201cwilt\nthou put out the eyes of these men\u201d? Wilt thou dupe them and lead\nthem on blind-fold to their utter ruin?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These were cutting charges.\nMoses was indignant. Appealing to God he said, \u201cRespect not thou their\noffering. I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one\nof them.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Again Moses refers the decision of the great question\nto God. \u201cThe glory of the Lord appeared (we read) unto all the\ncongregation.\u201d Inasmuch as the pillar of cloud and of fire was always\nvisible to the people, we must suppose that on this occasion these\nwords imply an unusual brilliancy\u2015\u2015a blaze of glory.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The first words\nfrom the August Presence indicated the divine purpose: \u201cStand ye aloof\nfrom those rebels; separate yourselves from that whole congregation\nthat I may consume them in a moment\u201d! Suddenly Moses and Aaron are on\ntheir faces in supplication that God would stay his hand; for they seem\nto have feared a most sweeping judgment. \u201cShall one man sin\u201d (said they)\n\u201cand wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation\u201d? Promptly the Lord\nreplied: Give orders to the people to withdraw from the tents of those\nleading rebels as they would escape their doom. They did so, leaving\nonly the leaders and their households in their tents, awaiting the\nresult\u2015\u2015with what feelings and anticipations we know not. Whether their\nimpudent hardihood failed them and terror seized upon them, or whether\nthey stood boldly or stupidly, awaiting the issue, nothing is said to\nshow.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015With words inspired of God, Moses put the great question of\nGod\u2019s choice of Leader upon its decision: \u201cIf those men die only the\ncommon death of mortals, the Lord hath not sent me; but if the Lord\ncreate a new creation [Heb.], _i. e._ work a miracle; do something\noutside the course of nature; if the earth open and swallow up those\nmen alive and all that appertain to them, then ye shall understand that\nthese men have provoked the Lord.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015With not one moment\u2019s delay, as\nthe last word fell from his lips, the earth opened her mouth beneath\ntheir feet and they went down into that awful grave, and the earth\nclosed over them! They perished from among the congregation. Their\nplace was thenceforth vacant forever!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Significantly it is added\n\u201call Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them\u201d\u2015\u2015those\nshrieks of awful horror as they went down thrilled the whole people\nwith terror and they fled from the scene; for they said, \u201cLest the\nearth swallow up _us_ also.\u201d\n\nIt seems almost incredible that after such a scene of holy judgment on\nguilty rebels and of such consternation upon the whole people, we read\nthat on the morrow all the congregation murmured against Moses and\nAaron, saying, \u201cYe have killed the people of the Lord.\u201d This, although\ntheir prayer had saved the masses of the people (v. 22); this, although\nthe hand of God only and of no mortal man had wrought their destruction;\nthis, although they had seen the whole transaction and fled in horror\nlest God swallow them up also!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It should not surprise us that the\nwrath of the Lord broke forth against them and the plague began. Moses\ncried to Aaron to take a censer with incense (the symbol of prayer)\nand run in among the people, waving his censer between the living and\nthe dead. Only so was the plague stayed. Yet fourteen thousand seven\nhundred fell in that fearful judgment.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015We are simply amazed at\nthe perverseness and folly of many of that Hebrew people. \u201cHow often\u201d\nand with what strange infatuation \u201cdid they provoke their God in the\nwilderness and grieve him in the desert\u201d! (Ps. 78: 40.)\n\nThe next chapter (Num. 17) records a special test to show which of\nthe twelve tribes the Lord had chosen for the priesthood. Each tribe\nbrought forward its several rod; Aaron\u2019s among them for the tribe\nof Levi. All were laid up before the Lord for one night only. In the\nmorning Aaron\u2019s rod had blossomed and was bearing fruit; all the others\nwere still dry sticks! Aaron\u2019s was thenceforth laid up in the most holy\nplace\u2015\u2015a perpetual memorial of God\u2019s choice of Aaron and his family for\nthe priesthood.\n\n * * * * *\n\nIf it be asked _by what means_ were Korah and his company destroyed?\nWere the common agencies of earthquake employed in this case? Or was\nthe effect produced by the divine fiat with no intervening force of\nimprisoned steam or explosive gases? All I can reply is that the record\nsays nothing on this point whatever. The agencies common in earthquakes\nhave produced similar results often in the world\u2019s history. If the Lord\nsaw fit he could have brought those agencies into action at precisely\nthat moment; or he might have produced the result miraculously with\nno intervening physical agency. It would be the Lord\u2019s hand in either\ncase. The question which method God employed in this case is of no\npractical consequence whatever, and can never be decided save by a\nspecial revelation from himself.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe events of history beginning with Num. 20 fall within the last of\nthe forty years of wandering. This date is obtained indirectly from\nthe death of Aaron which is recorded at the close of this chapter (vs.\n22\u201329) and was connected with its events. It is definitely dated (Num.\n33: 38) in the fortieth year from Egypt on the first day of the fifth\nmonth.\n\nOf the murmuring for water during this sojourn in Kadesh and the sad\nrebuke of the Lord upon Moses, I have spoken in connection with the\nscenes at Rephidim (Ex. 17: 1\u20137).\n\n\n _The Fiery Serpents and the Brazen One._\n\nOn the journey from Mt. Hor, compassing the land of Edom, the people\nbecame \u201cmuch discouraged because of the way.\u201d Travelers represent\nthis route as abounding unusually in the discomforts of the desert.\nSo Israel, weary, foot-sore, often suffering for water, not satisfied\nwith their manna\u2015\u2015murmured both against Moses and against God. The Lord\nsent fiery serpents among them: many were bitten and died. _Burning_\nserpents, the original calls them, with reference to the virulent\npoison of their bite and the fiery inflammation which ensued. When\nMoses cried to the Lord for help, he was told to make a brazen serpent\nand suspend it high upon a pole, with the promise that any man, bitten\nof a serpent and looking up to this brazen one, should live. Thus\nrelief required as its condition this act of obedience and of faith\ntoward God.\n\nThe chief interest in this scene turns upon its acknowledged and\nundeniable character as a type of Christ. The type (resemblance)\nincludes two distinct points: the _lifting up_; and the _looking_ with\nits results of salvation. The evangelist John (3: 14, 15) has them\nboth: \u201cAs Moses _lifted up_ the serpent in the wilderness, even so must\nthe Son of man be _lifted up_; that whosoever believeth in him should\nnot perish, but have eternal life.\u201d In two several cases Jesus spake\nof himself as being \u201c_lifted up_,\u201d with manifest reference to this\nhistoric scene in the wilderness. \u201cWhen ye have _lifted up_ the Son\nof man, then shall ye know that I am he\u201d (John 8: 28). \u201cAnd I, if I be\n_lifted up_ from the earth will draw all men unto me.\u201d That his readers\nmight not miss his meaning, the Evangelist explains: \u201cThis he said,\nsignifying what death he should die\u201d (Jn. 12: 32). Hence it is plain\nthat Christ recognized the brazen serpent as a special type of himself\nto the point of the manner of his death.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It is not less so in the\nsecond point\u2015\u2015_looking_, the condition of living. Nothing can better\nrepresent the simple act of faith than looking. In looking, there is\na turning of the mind toward the object; and there is some degree of\nexpectation. There _may be_ inexpressible longings. We must assume such\nlongings in the case of the bitten, suffering, dying Israelite in the\ndesert.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015So let sinners, stung with a terrible consciousness of guilt,\nborne down with a sense of want and woe and ruin, look with longing\nheart to the uplifted Lamb of God; yea to Jesus considered as lifted up\nin the agonies of a vicarious death\u2015\u2015dying for us that we might live.\nThere is life in such looking!\n\n\n _Balak and Balaam._\n\nIn Num. 22\u201324 stands a very unique history. The two prominent\ncharacters are Balak, king of Moab, and Balaam, a renowned diviner,\nmagician from the East.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moab, descended genealogically from Lot,\nwas not among the doomed nations of Canaan, and had nothing to fear\nfrom the Israelites, provided only that she neither blocked their march\nnor seduced them into idol-worship. But Moab, both people and king,\nwere \u201csore afraid of Israel because they were many,\u201d and because they\nhad smitten Sihon of the Amorites and Og of Bashan, and had taken\npossession of their respective countries. The near proximity of such a\nhost, marching and encamping with military precision, fed as no other\npeople in that wilderness were ever fed; invincible in arms when their\nGod was with them, and bearing the prestige of victory over Pharaoh\nand Amalek and the Amorites, was very naturally the occasion of no\nsmall alarm. Balak had seen and heard enough to convince him that the\nunseen power of some God was in these strange facts of their history.\nUnfortunately he did not know enough of the true God\u2015\u2015the real God\nof Israel to see that he could be none other than the One Infinite\nGod, and therefore that resistance against him and his people was\nnecessarily and utterly vain. His theology was doubtless of the type\ncommon among all the nations of antiquity, not blessed with the light\nof revelation, viz. polytheism\u2015\u2015gods in unknown numbers; each nation\nhaving its own, one or many\u2015\u2015so that the contest for mastery between\nhostile nations was supposed to turn on the question which had the\nmightiest gods for their help.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015With this theology, Balak\u2019s policy\nwas soon determined upon, viz. to send for the most renowned diviner of\nthe ancient East, and match the prestige of his divination and of his\ncurse against the blessings which the God of Israel was conferring upon\nhis people. He understood well that the strength of Israel lay in the\nstrength of her God. There was miracle there\u2015\u2015superhuman aid coming\nin from a higher Power; and he had no idea of any thing which he could\nbring into the field against this save the most potent divination and\nmagic. So he sent for Balaam to come and curse Israel.\n\nConcerning Balaam; his residence, his previous and subsequent history,\nand his personal character, we have (outside of Num. 22\u201324) three\nreferences in the Old Testament and the same number in the New; viz.\nNum. 31: 8, and Deut. 23: 4, and Josh. 13:22:\u2015\u20152 Pet. 2: 15, 16, and\nJude 11, and Rev. 2: 14. [The reference to both Balak and Balaam in\nMicah 6: 5 adds nothing to their history.] These passages locate Balaam\namong the Midianites (Num. 31: 8); in Pethor (Num. 22: 5); in Aram (Num.\n23: 7); and in Mesopotamia (Deut. 23: 4). The Old Testament passages\ndescribe him as a soothsayer, practicing divination for reward. The New\nTestament writers go to the bottom of his character and represent him\nas \u201cloving the wages of unrighteousness; rebuked for his iniquity, the\ndumb ass, speaking with man\u2019s voice forbade the madness of the prophet\u201d\n(2 Pet. 2: 15, 16). They speak of \u201cgoing after the error of Balaam\nfor reward\u201d (Jude 11), and of him as one who \u201ctaught Balak to cast a\nstumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed\nto idols, and to commit fornication\u201d (Rev. 2: 14).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Further, we\nare told (Num. 31: 8 and Josh. 13: 22) that he was found among the\nMidianites\u2015\u2015enemies of God\u2019s people, and slain with the sword.\n\nThe narrative by Moses (Num. 22\u201324) informs us very minutely how Balak\nsent and brought Balaam to curse Israel, but failed in every endeavor;\nhow he plied him with munificent rewards and royal honors, but God\nwould not let Balaam curse Israel, much as he might have wished to\ndo so; how Balak took his man to one mountain summit and another and\nanother to show him this strange people, superstitiously hoping to\nbreak the spell of his purpose to bless; but all in vain.\n\nThe history taken in whole shows that Balaam was a godless man; that\nhe exceedingly desired to please Balak and get his money, but that God\nwould not let him. His is perhaps a solitary case to show that the Lord\ncan (when he pleases) give some really prophetic visions to an ungodly\nman, and yet hold him so firmly under control that no harm can come of\na wicked prophet.\n\nSome points in this case deserve special examination.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In the\npassage (Num. 22: 9\u201335) it appears that God positively forbade Balaam\u2019s\ngoing at all, yet that the second embassy, greater in number and of\nnobler rank and offering richer pay (v. 15) touched Balaam in his most\nsensitive point and made him long to go. So he told the men to tarry\nand he would see if he could get permission. According to the record\n(v. 20) the Lord said to him that night: \u201cIf the men come to call\nthee, rise up and go with them\u201d; yet the real meaning must be\u2015\u2015If\nyou _will_ go, and if my prohibition avails nothing, go; but do when\nthere according to my word. Balaam was glad to go; but \u201cGod\u2019s anger\nwas kindled because he went\u201d (v. 22)\u2015\u2015a fact which shows very clearly\nwhat sort of permission God had given him. It can not well be doubted\nthat Balaam knew he was going, contrary to the real mind of the Lord;\nfor when did the Lord ever give a real permission, and then kindle into\nanger because his permission was accepted? Or when did he ever leave an\nhonest inquirer after the way of duty to follow his supposed permission\nand then take such offense as in this case at what was in its purpose\ntrue obedience?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Yet while God always deals honestly with the\nhonest inquirer after his will, he may sometimes, both in word and in\nprovidence, let men who love their own will better than his take their\ncourse and bear their own responsibilities. Such I take to have been\nthe Lord\u2019s policy in this case.\n\nThe record sets forth that God used the ass on which Balaam rode to\n\u201crebuke with man\u2019s voice the madness of the prophet.\u201d The ass saw what\nBalaam\u2019s dull eye saw not\u2015\u2015the angel of the Lord with drawn sword,\nheading him in his way\u2015\u2015a fact strikingly suggestive of his dull vision\nin regard to comprehending the spirit of that apparent permission which\nthe Lord gave him to go. Why did he not see that he was led on, not by\nGod\u2019s will, but by his own cupidity, his own intense and over-mastering\ncovetousness? Alas for him; the eye of his ass could see what his\ncultured intellect could not discern\u2015\u2015that God was squarely against him.\nIt was moreover fully the Lord\u2019s purpose, if Balaam _would_ go, to hold\nhim back from Balak\u2019s influence and compel him to bless Israel. This\nrenewed, special charge on this point seems to have been one object in\nthis remarkable meeting of the angel, Balaam and his ass.\n\nDoes any one ask\u2015\u2015_How_ could an ass speak with man\u2019s voice? Were real\nwords uttered, words which any other ears within hearing could have\nheard as well as Balaam\u2019s? Or was it simply a miraculous sensation\nupon his ear, having no cause whatever in the mouth of the ass?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015I\nanswer: It is of small avail to push such inquiries. We can say wisely\nbut two things:\u2015\u2015(a.) That God could work a miracle as easily in one\nof these ways as in the other:\u2015\u2015and (b.) Therefore the method which the\ndescription most naturally suggests is the most probable; viz. that the\nass spake audible words, and Balaam heard them as men are wont to hear\nwords audibly spoken.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe points of real prophecy in Balaam\u2019s visions should be noticed.\n\nObserve that in each case, before Balaam inquired of God he directed\nBalak to prepare seven altars and to offer upon each one bullock and\none ram. The object in this seems to have been to propitiate the Lord\nand secure his favorable consideration. It is remarkable that Balaam,\ncoming from the region of the Euphrates, should have these ideas as to\nthe sacrifice of clean animals. The fact seems to show that the idea of\nanimal sacrifices was revealed to the race in its infancy and that it\nprevailed extensively over the Eastern world.\n\nThe offerings having been made, Balaam retired to \u201can high place\u201d\n(23: 3) as our version puts it, but really to a hill of bare, naked\nsummit to await the Lord\u2019s presence and word there. [Such a summit\nwas chosen for its range of view]. The Lord came and gave him his word\nfor Balak, put thus: \u201cBalak, the king of Moab, hath brought me from\nAram, out of the mountains of the East, saying: \u2018Come, curse me, Jacob;\ncome, defy [in the sense only of curse, maledict] Israel.\u2019 How shall\nI curse whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy whom God hath not\ndefied\u201d? [How can I gainsay the Almighty; how put my word against his?\nBalak asks this of me: I have no power to do it].\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u201cFrom the top of\nthe rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo! the people\nshall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015From\nhis naked mountain top Balaam saw their encampment spread out before\nhim; there they were, a peculiar, secluded people, having neither\npolitical, social, or religious connection with any other nation\nunder heaven. In this most salient feature of their case Balaam saw\na symbol of their whole future history\u2015\u2015dwelling alone, a scattered\npeople, never reckoned as being of or like any other nation of the\nearth.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Their great numbers also were prophetic of their prosperous\nfuture: \u201cWho can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth\npart of Israel\u201d?\u2015\u2015the reference to a \u201cfourth part\u201d coming of the fact\nthat their encampment was in four parts, three tribes to each.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015His\nclosing words are weighty: \u201cLet me die the death of the righteous, and\nlet my last end be like his.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In interpreting these words I can by\nno means assent to the view of many commentators (largely German) who\nsuppose Balaam had no ideas of a happy future life, it being as they\nmaintain far too early in the progress of religious thought for any\nsuch ideas. They therefore restrict his meaning to a happy earthly life,\nprosperous even to its natural end in death.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015I have no faith in such\ninterpretations. They do not come by any fair construction from the\ntext. What Balaam said was: \u201cLet my soul die the death of the righteous,\nand let my after destiny be like his.\u201d After destiny\u2015\u2015the afterpart of\nmy existence, is the legitimate sense of the word here used.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Besides,\nto pray that I may die of the same disease, at the same age, amid\nthe same surroundings, as the righteous, is very tame, is a very\ninsignificant blessing at best, and no sensible man could put his\nsoul very earnestly into such a prayer. I see no reason why we should\nemasculate the prayer even of a Balaam in this style. Let us rather say\nthat he prayed like one \u201cwhose eyes were open; who had heard the words\nof God and knew the knowledge of the most High and saw the vision of\nthe Almighty\u201d (24: 15, 16) as he himself said.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As to toning down the\nsense of his words because their Christian construction would be so far\nin advance of the age, I can not accept the assumed fact that they were\nin advance of the age. I can not believe that Enoch, \u201cwalking with God\u201d\nand translated to heaven knew nothing of heaven until he found himself\nthere; or that Noah whose faith and whose preaching of righteousness\nbreasted the wickedness of that whole generation had no thoughts as to\nthe blessed world to come; nor that Abraham\u2019s faith was limited to the\nhills and to the corn and wine of Canaan and had never an outlook of\nlonging desire and assured hope of a \u201cbetter country even an heavenly\none\u201d (Heb. 11: 16); nor that Moses, \u201cesteeming reproach for Christ\ngreater riches than the treasures of Egypt,\u201d had _no \u201crespect to_\nthe [future] recompense of reward.\u201d The writer to the Hebrews reasons\nfar better than the Neological critics as to the faith and the hopes\nof those glorious patriarchs. I find my sense of fitness and my\nconvictions of truth far better met in his reasoning than in their\nspeculations.\n\nLet it be noted that Balaam spake as one versed in moral distinctions.\nHe understood that the blessed future life falls to the lot, not of\nthe wicked but of the righteous. When a man comes so near to God as he\nseems to have done in these hours, this distinction must be seen and\nfelt.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015That this most appropriate prayer should have proved in his\ncase utterly unavailing is a sad and mournful fact to which we must\ngive some attention in its place.\n\nBalak was by no means pleased with Balaam\u2019s \u201cparable.\u201d Indeed he\nretorts sharply: \u201cWhat hast thou done to me? I sent for thee and\nwas to pay thee to curse that people, and now thou hast blessed them\naltogether\u201d\u2015\u2015with blessings and nothing else.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But Balak proposes\nto try again. Perhaps if the great soothsayer shall see them from\nthe top of Pisgah, he may get a different view and may utter the much\ndesired imprecation upon them. The same process is gone through, of\nburnt-offerings and of withdrawing for a private interview with God;\nafter which Balak eagerly inquires: \u201cWhat has the Lord spoken\u201d now?\nHas he changed his mind? Has he given you leave to curse the Hebrew\npeople?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The answer is pertinent and very decided, but not any more\nto his mind than the former:\u2015\u2015\u201cGod is not a man that he should lie, nor\nthe son of man that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not\ndo it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I\nhave received commandment to bless; and he hath blessed, and I can\nnot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he\nseen perverseness in Israel; the Lord his God _is_ with him, and the\nshout of a king _is_ among them. God brought them out of Egypt; he has\nas it were the strength of a unicorn. Surely _there_ is no enchantment\nagainst Jacob, neither is _there_ any divination against Israel;\naccording to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What\nhath God wrought? Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion,\nand lift up himself as a young lion; he shall not lie down until he eat\n_of_ the prey, and drink the blood of the slain\u201d (Num. 23: 19\u201324).\n\nAt this point of time Israel was on the threshold of Canaan. Sihon and\nOg had fallen. The spirit of a pure and vigorous faith in God was never\nmore thoroughly national than in this generation. As between Moab and\nIsrael, the contrast was never greater. God\u2019s people as seen by his\nprophetic eye were on the eve of sublime victories. No enchantment or\ndivination could have force against them. That was the era in their\nhistory when it might fitly become a standing exclamation:\u2015\u2015\u201cWhat hath\nGod wrought\u201d?\n\nWorse and worse for Balak. Curiously his next effort is to shut\nBalaam\u2019s mouth altogether. Since he can not get from him curses against\nIsrael, he begs him to hold still and not bless them. \u201cNeither curse\nthem at all, nor bless them at all.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Balaam replied: \u201cDid I not say\nto thee, All that the Lord speaketh, that I must do\u201d?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But Balak has\nnot yet lost all hope. Perhaps it was of the Lord rather than of his\nhope however that he is in for another trial\u2015\u2015this time \u201con the top of\nPeor that looketh toward Jeshimon.\u201d Great faith he must have had in the\nprestige of new points of vision\u2015\u2015of other mountain tops.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The altars\nare set up; the bullocks and rams are offered as before. But in one\nrespect the course of events changes. \u201cWhen Balaam saw that it pleased\nthe Lord to bless Israel, he went not as at other times to seek for\nenchantments, but set his face toward the wilderness;\u201d\u2015\u2015which seems to\nimply that on the two former occasions he had pursued his usual methods\nof divination to obtain messages from the spirit-world, but now changed\nhis course, and simply turned his face toward the wilderness where the\ncamp of Israel lay in full view before him. Now we read, not that the\nLord \u201cmet him\u201d and \u201cput a word into his mouth\u201d (Num. 23: 4, 5, 16), but\nthat \u201cthe Spirit of God came upon him,\u201d giving him prophetic visions\nin manner quite different from the preceding. His spiritual eye was now\nopened; what his natural eye had just seen as he set his face toward\nthe wilderness (the camp of Israel), led his thought in these spiritual\nvisions of Israel\u2019s glorious future, and his imagery naturally came\nfrom the scenes still fresh in his mind. \u201cHow goodly are thy tents, O\nJacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel\u201d! Exalted be thy kingdom; glorious\nthy king! His own great God brought him up from Egypt; befriends him\nstill; will give him assured victory over all enemies in his own time!\nBlessed be all who bless thee; cursed be all who curse thee!\n\nBalak is terribly enraged and bids Balaam flee and begone. Balaam with\napparent mildness and undisturbed equanimity proposes to give Balak\nsome further prophetic views of what Israel should do to Moab in the\ncoming days. Again \u201che takes up his parable:\u201d \u201cI shall see him, but\nnot now; I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a star out\nof Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the\ncorners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth\u201d (v. 17).\n\nWho is \u201cthe star\u201d and \u201cthe scepter\u201d of this prophecy?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The leading\nthought of the passage (vs. 17\u201319) and indeed of the entire prophecy\nto the end of verse 24 is _the supremacy of Israel_, and the fall of\nall powers hostile to Israel and to Israel\u2019s God. The key-note is in\nthe words: \u201c_Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion_.\u201d\nThe prophetic future (as usual) is built upon the visible present,\nor perhaps more precisely, springs out of it\u2015\u2015is suggested by it, and\ntakes its phraseology and costume from it. The Lord forces the truth\nupon Balaam\u2019s soul that this Israel whom he was called out from his\nEastern home to curse could not be cursed to any purpose by any earthly\ndivination or power because they were God\u2019s own people, and it was\nhis fixed purpose to bless them. To impress this great truth the more\ndeeply, the Lord reveals to him in prophetic vision that this present\nfact is not transient but destined to reach into the remote future;\nthat it is indeed only a _beginning_ of their supremacy\u2015\u2015a pledge of a\nfar more sovereign ascendency, to be manifested in future ages.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015With\nthis view of the spirit of the prophecy, we must find here, not merely\nDavid in whom as the first conqueror of Moab and of Edom (2 Sam. 8: 2,\n12, 14) these words receive the first palpable installment of their\nmeaning; but yet more surely that greater Son of David whose scepter\nis to rule the nations with a rod of iron.\n\nThat this broad construction is the true one will appear yet more fully\nwhen we compare the use of the word \u201cscepter\u201d here with Jacob\u2019s use of\nit (Gen. 49: 10); the \u201cstar\u201d here with the \u201cstar in the East\u201d (Matt.\n2: 1) seen by other wise men [magicians] from Balaam\u2019s own country;\nand not least, the fact that Edom and Seir became in the usage of later\nprophets symbolic names for the declared and malign enemies of Christ\u2019s\nkingdom (See Isa. 34).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u201cHe shall smite the corners;\u201d better the two\nsides of Moab, _i. e._ Moab from side to side, through and through,\nlaying waste her whole country.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The word \u201cSheth\u201d (\u201call the children\nof _Sheth_\u201d) seems to be used as a common, not a proper noun, the\nsense being\u2015\u2015all the sons of tumult\u2015\u2015all the men of war and strife.\nHer war-power he shall utterly break down. Edom and Seir\u2015\u2015two names for\none and the same kingdom, often affiliated with Moab, shall become the\npossession of their enemies and Israel shall outmaster them through her\nvalor, and yet more through the might of her God\u2015\u2015first fulfilled by\nDavid (2 Sam. 8: 14).\n\nOf Amalek he said: Amalek was first among the nations to assail Israel\n(Ex. 17: 8\u201316); her end shall be utter annihilation. (See the notice of\nAmalek on Ex. 17).\n\nVerses 21, 22, spoken of the Kenites, of whom Jethro and Hobab\nwere the earliest representatives, are not without difficulties, yet\ntheir history places them in marked contrast with Amalek\u2015\u2015friends,\nnot enemies of Israel; and therefore suggests\u2015\u2015not to say demands,\na contrasted prophetic destiny. Placing themselves on the side of\nIsrael, their dwelling-place was strong; their nest in the rocks. Keil\ntranslates the passage\u2015\u2015\u201cDurable is thy dwelling-place, and thy nest\nlaid upon the rock; for should Kain [the Kenite] be destroyed until\nAsshur shall carry thee captive\u201d?\u2015\u2015the question in his view having the\nforce of a negative: The Kenite _shall not_ be destroyed, etc. But it\nis not quite clear that the original words will bear this construction.\nIt is however certain that the prophecy assures the Kenites, as friends\nof Israel, of long-continued prosperity.\n\nAgain Balaam \u201ctakes up his parable,\u201d forcibly impressed with the\nfearful judgments God would send upon the enemies of Israel: \u201cWho\nshall endure the day of such judgments on the guilty foes of God? Great\npowers from the West [ships of Chittim] shall sweep over the ancient\nEastern empires and level them with the dust; and God will stand before\nthe nations far down the ages as one mighty to protect his people and\nto overwhelm their enemies.\u201d\n\nBalaam\u2019s oracles are expressed in the purest style of Hebrew\npoetry\u2015\u2015such as few can read without a sense of its beauty and majesty.\nIf read with a present sense of the moral status of this prince of\ndiviners\u2015\u2015of the conflict in his soul between the love of riches\nand honor on the one hand and some regard to the high behests of the\nAlmighty on the other, we can not well suppress a feeling of sadness\nthat one so gifted by nature and so favored of God with prophetic\nrevelations, should, despite of all, have yet succumbed to the dominion\nof the baser impulses of his soul. His final record is dark and\ndistressing. \u201cHe taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before Israel\u201d\nand drew them into idolatry and fornication (Rev. 2: 14 and Num. 25).\nHe cast in his lot with the Midianites, and (apparently) counseled\nthem into the same infernal policy. Hence when the Lord in self-defense\nhurled down the sword of his people upon Midian and five of her kings\nfell, Balaam the son of Beor also was slain (Num. 31: 1\u20138). Thus he\nwho so plaintively yet so pertinently prayed\u2015\u2015\u201cLet me die the death of\nthe righteous,\u201d met the death of the wicked. He had seen reason enough\nfor the prayer: \u201cLet my last end be like his\u201d; and yet he \u201cdied as the\nfool dieth\u201d\u2015\u2015in arms against Almighty God. While in imagination and\nintellect he might have taken rank with the noblest of earth\u2019s sons,\nyet through the baseness of his impulses and the greed of a covetous\nsoul, he chose his rank among the meanest and utterly missed the\nimmortality which seemed at one moment so nearly in his grasp! For\nawhile God held him to the utterance of lofty thought, and apparently\nof pure and resolute purpose. But no sooner was the Lord\u2019s restraining\nhand lifted off than Balaam slumped into the mire of his selfish,\ncovetous nature and went fast \u201cto his own place\u201d!\n\nThe question has been raised (more curious than useful) how Moses\nand the archives of Israel came into possession of these prophecies of\nBalaam. In answer it has been suggested that, failing to get the pay\nhe expected from Balak, Balaam went to Moses and laid before him the\ncontents of these chapters (Num. 22\u201324) with the hope of ample reward\n(which his covetous heart was loth to forego); but failing here also,\nleft in disgust; threw himself into the arms of Moab and Midian;\nretaliated with selfish malignity upon Israel and Israel\u2019s God, and of\ncourse hurried himself swiftly to his final doom.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Let his example\nnever cease to be a warning!\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXI.\n\n THE LAST FOUR BOOKS OF THE PENTATEUCH:\n THEIR METHOD OF ARRANGEMENT AND SUBJECT-MATTER.\n\n\nTHE manner in which the last four of the five books of Moses are made\nup is peculiar and should have a moment\u2019s special attention. Their\nstriking peculiarity is the blending of matters pertaining to the\nreligious system, to the civil code, and to the national history with\nno well defined order or method\u2015\u2015the historic facts taking their place\nprobably as they occurred and came before the writer, and the other\ntopics being arranged quite miscellaneously. This method obviously\nindicates that the writer was not an author by profession\u2015\u2015a mere\nwriter and nothing else; but one who was pressed with the cares and\nburdens of public office; bearing the chief responsibilities for\nthe constitution of the religious system with its elaborate ritual\nobservances; for the civil code\u2015\u2015its exact record and its judicial\nadministration; and for the general government of the people\u2015\u2015quelling\ndisturbances; answering their complaints; supplying their wants;\nguiding their desert march, and directing their wars in defense against\nassailants. These books answer so perfectly to the circumstances\nof Moses as to leave no rational doubt that he was their author.\nIncidentally and most inadvertently they write out his daily history,\nshowing us how he was occupied during those years when the events he\nnarrates were transpiring. For the most part the record in these four\nbooks pertains to the first two years after Moses entered upon his\ngreat mission and the last two years before his death. There was a\nlong interval between these periods of which nothing special is said.\n\nPassing the first twenty chapters of Exodus which are history and\nfollow the natural order of the events; and passing also the thrilling\nand solemn scenes of Sinai\u2015\u2015the great work of Moses was to receive and\nrecord the statutes of the civil code, and the directions respecting\ntheir religious system, including the construction of the tabernacle;\nthe services of the priests and Levites; the sacred festivals, and the\nwhole ritual of worship. We are told how the long sessions of Moses\nwith the Lord on the Mount were interrupted (Ex. 32\u201334) by the sin of\nthe people in the matter of the golden calf; after which the record of\nthe tabernacle\u2015\u2015its construction, etc., is resumed and continued to the\nclose of Exodus.\n\n * * * * *\n\n_Leviticus_, takes its name from Levi whose tribe furnished the line\nof priests and the servants for all the religious ritual. The first\nnine chapters record ritual observances and sacrifices; then the death\nof Nadab and Abihu, occurring, is recorded in its chronological place\n(chap. 10); after which the author resumes his main subject\u2015\u2015things\nclean and unclean; purifications; the case of leprosy, etc. In\nconnection with the consecration of the High Priest and his duties, we\nhave (chap. 16) the very interesting description of the great day of\natonement. Statutes of a civil character are interspersed with those\nwhich are religious (chap. 19, and 20, and 24); the great feasts are\ndescribed (chap. 23); the Sabbatic year and the Jubilee (chap. 25);\na chapter of moral warnings and admonitions (26); closing with one on\nspecial vows and consecrations (27).\n\n_The book of Numbers_ is named from the theme of its first two\nchapters\u2015\u2015the census of the tribes. Another census was made during the\nlast year of their wandering, viz. on the plains of Moab (chap. 26).\nIt has also an _itinerary_ of the journeyings of the people during\ntheir entire wilderness life (33). Several chapters are devoted to the\nreligious ritual (none to the civil code); and several (more than in\nLeviticus) to historic events; _e. g._ the murmuring and the consequent\nplague at Taberah and Kibroth-hattaavah (chap. 11); the envy and\nsedition of Miriam (chap. 12); the case of the spies and the doom of\nthe unbelieving (13 and 14); Korah and his doom (16). Then passing over\nto the last year of the wandering, we have the scenes at Kadesh\u2015\u2015the\nmurmuring for water and the sin of Moses for which God forbade his\nentering Canaan (20); a conflict of arms with Arad the Canaanite;\nthe fiery serpents; the overthrow of Sihon and Og (21); Balaam and\nhis prophecies (22\u201324); and other matters of miscellaneous character\n(25\u201336).\n\n * * * * *\n\n_Deuteronomy_\u2015\u2015the name meaning the second law, _i. e._ the law\nrepeated\u2015\u2015takes this name from the fact that the book repeats portions\nof the civil code and also of the religious system. It also gives a\nresume (a brief summary) of the leading historical events of the Exodus,\nof Sinai, of the golden calf, and of the murmurings of the fathers in\nthe early years of their wanderings. This book was manifestly written\nwithin the last one or two years of Moses\u2019 life, when the scenes of the\ndesert wandering were drawing to a close. Moses stood before the people,\nalmost the only old man of the nation at the age of one hundred and\ntwenty years, while all the rest (Caleb and Joshua excepted) were under\ntwenty when they came out of Egypt, and not exceeding sixty at the\nwriting of this book. \u201cThe fathers\u2015\u2015where were they\u201d! Fallen in death;\nsmitten with the swift judgments of the Almighty for their murmurings\nor cut off in middle life during their wanderings, to which they were\ndoomed for their unbelief upon the report of the spies. The nation,\nas they stood before Moses, were truly his children. How had he borne\nthem on his parental heart for forty years; given them line upon line\nof statute and of ritual; shaping their civil life and their religious\nlife; watching with the interest of a patriarch every development of\ntheir character; devoted with the deepest love of his heart to their\nmoral culture.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Such was Moses and such were the people whom he\naddressed on the plains of Moab, with the words of sublime moral power,\nrecorded in this book.\n\nIt is not my purpose to repeat the points of this history from Egypt\nand Sinai onward to that hour, which form the staple of Deut. 1\u201311.\nLet it suffice to say that Moses brings them forward here with more or\nless expansion of the details for the sole purpose of _enforcing their\nmoral application_. He makes those historic facts the text for this\nmost impressive sermon\u2015\u2015the basis of a series of exhortations to holy\nliving which well up from the depths of his parental, loving heart, and\ntestify how deeply he sympathized with God and with the true interests\nof his covenant people. Most solemnly does he exhort them against\nthe great sin of their times\u2015\u2015idolatry; and implore them to remember\nthe God of their fathers; the Giver of all their mercies; the God\nof their national salvation. As a specimen of the historic sermon,\nnothing can be more admirable, complete, and effective. Coming from\nsuch a patriarch, from one who had done and suffered so much for his\ncountrymen; who had been admitted so freely into the deep counsels\nand sympathies of Israel\u2019s God; who had been honored of God not only\nas the great law-giver, but also as the Savior and Deliverer of his\nnation\u2015\u2015these words ought to have been listened to with profoundest\nattention. Let us hope they were truly wrought into the very souls of\nthis generation. No one can read them attentively at this day without\na quickened sense of the solemn relations which God establishes between\nhimself and his covenant people in every age of time.\n\n * * * * *\n\nOf the statutes, mostly civil, in small part religious, which chiefly\nfill chap. 12\u201326, there is little occasion for special remark here.\nThey have chiefly come under consideration in my treatment of the civil\ncode of Israel. Some points are much more fully expanded here than in\nthe previous books, _e. g._ the year of release (chap. 15: 1\u201311), the\ncase of female captives (21: 10\u201314). There is some new matter; _e. g._\nthe war-law (20); the expiation for murder by unknown hands (21: 1\u20139);\nthe case of partiality toward sons (21: 15\u201317) and to mention no\nmore, the form of announcement and consecration with which the Hebrew\nworshiper was to bring before the Lord the first-fruits of his land,\nand also his tithes of the third year (chap. 26). These forms are\ninstructive as giving us a just idea of the solemnities of Hebrew\nworship. Let us think of the Israelite coming up to Shiloh or to\nJerusalem, say from the mountains of Ephraim or the pasture lands of\nGilead, after the conquest and possession of Canaan, in obedience to\nthe law here recorded, thus:\n\n \u201cThat thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the\n earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God\n giveth thee, and shall put _it_ in a basket, and shall go unto\n the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name\n there. And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those\n days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy\n God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto\n our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket\n out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD\n thy God. And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God,\n A Syrian[46] ready to perish _was_ my father; and he went down\n into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there\n a nation, great, mighty, and populous: and the Egyptians\n evil-entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard\n bondage: and when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers,\n the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our\n labor, and our oppression: and the LORD brought us forth out\n of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an out-stretched arm, and\n with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: and\n he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land,\n _even_ a land that floweth with milk and honey. And now, behold,\n I have brought the first-fruits of the land, which thou, O LORD,\n hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God,\n and worship before the LORD thy God: and thou shalt rejoice in\n every good _thing_ which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee,\n and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger\n that _is_ among you\u201d (vs. 2\u201311).\n\nThis offering, put so impressively upon its great historic grounds\u2015\u2015the\npreservations and mercies with which God had crowned their nation\nin fulfilling the promises made to the national fathers, became no\nunmeaning service. All is instinct with life. Those children of the old\npatriarchs reposing under their vine and fig-tree in the land flowing\nwith milk and honey had a wonderful history, and God meant to have\ntheir ritual of worship link itself continually with that history and\ntake quickening impulses from those impressive associations.\n\nNot less pertinent and impressive is the form of announcement and\nprotestation for the service of \u201ctithing the tithes of their increase\nthe third year\u201d\u2015\u2015on this wise:\n\n \u201cWhen thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine\n increase the third year, which _is_ the year of tithing, and\n hast given _it_ unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless,\n and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled;\n then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have brought away\n the hallowed things out of _mine_ house, and also have given\n them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless,\n and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou\n hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments,\n neither have I forgotten _them_: I have not eaten thereof in my\n mourning, neither have I taken away _aught_ thereof for _any_\n unclean _use_, nor given _aught_ thereof for the dead: _but_ I\n have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done\n according to all that thou hast commanded me.\u201d (Deut. 26: 12\u201315).\n\n\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015We must note with pleasure the fraternal and liberal spirit\nwhich this service cherished so effectively, remembering kindly the\nLevite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow: the Levite as\nthe religious servant of the nation; the stranger as one but too often\nneglected and forsaken according to the impulses of man\u2019s selfish\nnature, but one whom God remembered out of the depths of his fatherly\ncare for the neglected and forlorn; the fatherless and the widow as\nthose whose cup of affliction is sore and should commend them to every\nhumane sympathy of the heart. Such treatment of the stranger would\nnaturally bring most of them into the Hebrew communion as proselytes.\nWhere else in all the earth could they expect such kindness and such\ninducements to build their family home?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This inside view of the\ninstitutions and usages of Hebrew thanksgiving worship remind us that\nGod\u2019s religion has a social side; forgets not man\u2019s social nature, but\nprovides for fraternal sympathy and for the ministrations of kindness\nand relief to all the children of want and sorrow.\n\nThis chapter (26) closes appropriately with the mutual relations\nbetween God and his people\u2015\u2015they having solemnly declared [\u201cavouched\u201d]\nthe Lord to be their God, and he on his part having in like manner\ndeclared them to be his people.\n\n\n \u201c_The Prophet like unto Moses._\u201d\n\nFrom this point we turn back to consider a special prophecy (Deut.\n18: 15\u201322), passed without notice in the rapid and general view taken\nof those chapters.\n\nMoses is contemplating the state of the people located in Canaan;\nfrequently brought into contact there with diviners, soothsayers, and\nmagicians. The devoted nations of Canaan, he tells them, were rotten\nwith those abominations; and for these sins the Lord drove them out\nbefore Israel. Addressing the Israelites, he tells them they shall\nnot have the least occasion to resort to magic arts for superhuman\nknowledge or help.\n\n \u201cThe Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the\n midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall\n hearken; according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy\n God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not\n hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see\n this great fire any more, that I die not. And the Lord said unto\n me, They have well _spoken that_ which they have spoken. I will\n raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto\n thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak\n unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to\n pass, _that_ whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he\n shall speak in my name, I will require _it_ of him. But the\n prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I\n have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name\n of other gods, even that prophet shall die\u201d (Deut. 18: 15\u201320).\n\nHere the great question will be\u2015\u2015_Is Jesus the Messiah predicted here?_\n\nThe supposable theories are three:\n\n1. That the passage treats of the Hebrew prophets only, and not of the\nMessiah;\n\n2. Of the Messiah only, and not of the Hebrew prophets;\n\n3. Of the Messiah primarily, yet not excluding the Hebrew prophets.\n\nThe reasons for including the Hebrew prophets lie in the connection\nof thought in which the passage stands; its relation to the magicians\nof Canaan, and to false prophets. The Lord says to the people through\nMoses: I do not leave you dependent on magicians; I give you prophets\nas I have given you Moses; they shall teach you my words from time\nto time as ye may need words from your God. Moreover, there will be\ncounterfeit prophets coming up; but I will give you tests of their\ncharacter, take heed to prove and reject them.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This close connection\nof thought demands some reference to the succession of Hebrew prophets.\n\nOn the other hand, the reasons for including the Messiah, and in\nfact for assuming a primary reference to him, lie in the use of the\nsingular\u2015\u2015\u201ca prophet; one great Prophet;\u201d and in his being compared\nto Moses\u2015\u2015\u201clike unto me.\u201d Moses stood in many respects quite above\nthe grade of the future Hebrew prophets, having none like him in the\nobvious sense of this comparison except Jesus.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This construction is\ngreatly strengthened by the authority of the New Testament writers and\nof Jesus himself, who manifestly found here the real Messiah. See his\nwords (Jn. 5: 46). \u201cHe [Moses] wrote of me.\u201d (Compare Luke 24: 44.)\nChrist\u2019s allusion to his words as having authority (Jn. 12: 48, 49)\nseem to refer to this passage (vs. 18, 19). \u201cHe that receiveth not my\nwords hath one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same\nshall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself, but\nthe Father who hath sent me, he gave me a commandment what I should\nsay,\u201d etc.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The Lord said unto Moses\u2015\u2015\u201cI will put my words into his\nmouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him, and\nwhosoever shall not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my\nname, I will require it of him.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The current opinion of the men\ntaught by Christ finds in these words a prophecy of him. Philip (Jn. 1:\n45) said: \u201cWe have found him of whom Moses in the law did write\u2015\u2015Jesus\nof Nazareth.\u201d Peter (Acts 3: 22, 23) cites this very passage as having\nbeen spoken truly by Moses and as being fulfilled in Christ. So also\ndoes Stephen (Acts 7: 37). The Samaritans also (as appears from Jn.\n4: 25) found the Messiah here, since they received of the Old Testament\nscriptures the Pentateuch only. The circumstance that the Christ whom\nthey expected would \u201c_teach them all things_\u201d points certainly to\nthis prophecy rather than to prophecies from Genesis (_e. g._ 3: 15\nor 49: 10).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Finally, the voice from the cloud at Christ\u2019s\ntransfiguration\u2015\u2015\u201cHear ye him\u201d (Mat. 17: 5) corresponds to the\nprominent point of this prophecy\u2015\u2015\u201cUnto him shall ye hearken\u201d (v. 15).\nMoses (present at the transfiguration) must have recognized this\nidentity.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015These considerations compel us to find here a primary\nreference to the Messiah.\n\nThe full answer to the question: How can these words cover both the\none great Prophet\u2015\u2015the Messiah; and also the succession of Hebrew\nprophets?\u2015\u2015will be found in these facts: That the spirit of Jesus\nwas in all the old prophets; that they were his servants, bearing\nhis messages; that he and they were parts of the same great system of\ndivine revelation to men; and that Christ\u2019s mission was at once the\nguaranty and pledge of theirs\u2015\u2015their work being linked in with his as\nthe natural consequent and adjunct. Comprehensively spoken of, the one\ngreat prophet included all the lesser prophets; the promise of the one\nembracing and implying the promise of all.\n\n * * * * *\n\nChapter 27 provides for a special service to be performed after they\nare located in Canaan. The record of its fulfillment appears in Josh.\n8: 30\u201335. The service was two-fold: first the writing of the law\non large plastered stones: second, the proclamation of a series of\nblessings and also of curses in the presence of the whole people.\n\nAs to the first, it does not appear definitely how much was to\nbe written upon these stones. Somewhat more probably than the ten\ncommandments as written originally on two stone tablets; yet probably\nnot all the statutes and judgments which appear in the last four\nbooks of Moses. Perhaps the writing included the curses and blessings\nproclaimed from Mounts Ebal and Gerizim.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The stones were great; the\nnumber is not given. The writing was done while the plaster was yet\nfresh and soft. When hardened it would stand for a considerable time.\nThe purpose was rather present effect than permanent record\u2015\u2015a solemn\ntestimony that the people who had now taken possession of Canaan were\nin covenant with their God to obey this law.\n\nMoses records in full the manner of the rehearsal of blessings and\nof curses: the blessings from Mt. Gerizim; the curses from Mt. Ebal:\nsix tribes standing on the former and six on the latter: the Levites\nsolemnly and in concert pronouncing the words, and the people in\nconcert responding, Amen. Here may be seen the words of these blessings\nand curses (Deut. 27: 14\u201326, and 28: 1\u20136). The \u201ccurses\u201d specify\nthe sins, but the announcement of blessings, assuming in general\nobedience to God, simply enumerates the various good which the Lord\nwill bestow.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The curses do not enumerate _all_ the sins which\nmight be committed nor all upon which curses would fall, but only\nsome heinous crimes as specimens.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This service, performed with\ndue solemnity, must have been impressive. The gathered thousands\nof Israel overspreading the contiguous mountains; the priests and\nLevites rehearsing with loud voice these fearful curses, and the\npeople responding to each curse their expressive Amen:\u2015\u2015how must every\nthoughtful heart have been thrilled, and every sensitive conscience\nrecoiled from the sins thus terribly denounced!\n\nMoses proceeds to expatiate through chapter 28 upon the blessings which\nshould reward obedience, but especially upon the curses that must come\nupon disobedience. It would seem that this catalogue of curses has\nwell-nigh exhausted the possibilities of calamity\u2015\u2015personal, social,\nnational\u2015\u2015that can befall the children of men. Alas! this catalogue\nwas fearfully prophetic of that avalanche of woes which came upon this\nsame people in the destruction of their city and country, first by the\nChaldeans; last and most fearfully, by the Romans. How were the vials\nof wrath through those agencies of God poured out upon the guilty\npeople for their great iniquities!\n\nIn the two next chapters (29 and 30) Moses seems to gather up all the\nmoral forces of the nation\u2019s history into one fervent appeal to induce\nobedience and to press the people to most earnest consecration to the\nLord their God. The great mercies of God upon them and their fathers\non the one hand coupled with largest promises of good hereafter; on the\nother hand, the fearful curses impending over disobedience, are spread\nout to their view: life on the one hand, death on the other, awaiting\ntheir choice, pending upon their decision, sure to come according to\ntheir free election of the one course or the other:\u2015\u2015How are these\nmoral forces made to culminate and press upon the conscience of the\nwhole people!\n\n * * * * *\n\nIt is a solemn act for even one so holy as Moses to gather a nation\nof children about him to say to them his last words and prepare to die\n(chapter 31). There are some last words to be said; some last things\nto be done. Fully conscious that his days are numbered and that his\nend is near he must make the public transfer of his responsibilities\nto Joshua. The written law upon which he has spent so much thought\nand labor must be properly committed to the priests the sons of\nLevi (31: 9\u201313), and provision made not only for its preservation,\nbut for its public rehearsal in each Sabbatic year at the feast of\ntabernacles.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Not the least important of these last things was the\nputting of farewell thoughts into the form of _song_ which might be\ncommitted to memory, impressed with all the power of music (perhaps),\nand embalmed in the hearts of the people with the fragrance and\nimpressiveness of its poetic power. There are properly two songs, one\nof a general character (chapter 32); the other specific, in the form\nof blessing or benediction upon the several tribes (chapter 33). The\nlatter follows the patriarchal usage which we have seen in the case of\nJacob (Gen. 49).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As to the first which is distinctively styled \u201cthis\nsong,\u201d Moses received from the Lord special directions to write it\nout and \u201cteach it to the children of Israel\u201d (31: 19); to \u201cput it in\ntheir mouths that it might be a witness for God against the children of\nIsrael,\u201d and \u201cnot be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed\u201d (v. 21).\nIn this chapter (31: 16\u201330) the Lord not only directed Moses to write\nout this song but gave him its subject-matter almost entire\u2015\u2015the whole\ncurrent of its thought\u2015\u2015the facts in the future history of the people\nupon which it is built:\u2015\u2015in substance, thus:\n\nThe Lord said to Moses\u2015\u2015Thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; other\ngenerations of this people will arise who will depart from me in\ngrievous apostasy\u2015\u2015going after the strange gods of the nations; they\nwill break my covenant with them. My anger will kindle against them\nin that day; I will forsake them and hide my face from them and bring\nupon them sore judgments\u2015\u2015until they say: \u201cAre not these evils upon us\nbecause our God is not among us\u201d?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Yet more definitely the Lord gave\nMoses some of the inducing causes of this apostasy; viz. fullness of\nbread; the absence of want and trial; coming into a land flowing with\nmilk and honey. Filling themselves and waxing fat, they will become\nsensual, pleasure-loving, and lost to the fear of God. So they will\nturn to other gods (v. 20). Hence the occasion for this witnessing song,\nof solemn forewarning, pregnant with moral forces against apostasy and\nrich in suggestions of untold value for those apostate generations to\nwhom it would specially apply.\n\nI place this song before the reader with explanations of its dark\npoints and some suggestions as to its line of thought and its moral\napplication.\n\n 1. Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth,\n the words of my mouth.\n\n 2. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil\n as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the\n showers upon the grass:\n\n 3. Because I will publish the name of the Lord; ascribe ye\n greatness unto our God.\n\n 4. _He is_ the Rock, his work _is_ perfect: for all his ways\n _are_ judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and\n right _is_ he.\n\nThis call upon the heavens and the earth to hear the words of this song\nmust be construed not as a call upon the intelligent beings of heaven\nto listen to it; much less, upon the material sun, moon, and stars,\nand this globe of ours; but rather as poetic usage, due to the lofty\ninspiration of the poet\u2019s soul who feels that the message which burns\nin his heart is so momentous to his people that all nature\u2015\u2015above\nand beneath\u2015\u2015may fitly be summoned to hear. It is his strongest way\nof saying\u2015\u2015Let all people of this and future generations give ear\nand heart to these messages from the God of heaven and earth.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\npoet-prophets of Israel in later days adopt the same form of address\n(Isa. 1: 2, and Jer. 2: 12, and 6: 19).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u201cMy doctrine\u201d\u2015\u2015the truths\nI teach\u2015\u2015\u201cshall drop as the rain\u201d; good for the soul as rain for\nthe grass; refreshing, fraught with real life and the beauty of\nholiness:\u2015\u2015the reason of its great value being, \u201cBecause I am to\nproclaim the _name_ of the Lord\u201d\u2015\u2015_i. e._ his name as significant of\nhis nature.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Appreciating this sacred name, ye will testify to his\ngreatness; your heart will be impressed with a sense of his excellent\nglory.\n\n\u201cTheir _Rock_ is he\u201d\u2015\u2015the writer placing this forcible word first in\norder. The great elements of his character are stable, solid, enduring,\nchangeless: every thing in his nature and work is perfect; all his\nways are righteous; a God of truth is he, whose words of promise or\nof threatening can never fail. \u201cWithout iniquity\u201d moreover; there is\nnothing in him morally tortuous; all is on the right line of equity and\njustice. Such is the Great God of our fathers\u2015\u2015the God of our national\ncovenant. It was pertinent to place these views of God at the head of\nthis song because they set the guilt of forsaking God in its true light,\nand would also vindicate his justice in sending even great calamities\nupon his apostate people.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In later ages David uses this figure\u2015\u2015(the\n\u201cRock\u201d)\u2015\u2015of God with exquisite beauty and force (Ps. 18: 2, and 28: 1,\nand 42: 9).\n\n 5. They have corrupted themselves, their spot _is_ not _the\n spot_ of his children; _they are_ a perverse and crooked\n generation.\n\nThe poet turns suddenly to the great fact of the future apostasy of\nGod\u2019s people.\u2015\u2015\u201cTheir spot\u201d\u2015\u2015moral defilement\u2015\u2015the dark pollution of\ntheir souls. That does not indicate my children. My dutiful sons and\ndaughters never carry such stains; never give their hearts to other\ngods; never turn their backs upon their loving and glorious Father!\n\n 6. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise?\n _is_ not he thy Father _that_ has bought thee? hath he not made\n thee and established thee?\n\n 7. Remember the days of old, consider the years of many\n generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders,\n and they will tell thee.\n\nIs it possible that ye can thus requite your own Jehovah? Is this\nfair treatment of such a Father? Is not the God whom ye have forsaken\nthe very same who hath bought thee from bondage; redeemed thee for\nhimself; made thee a prosperous and happy nation, and established thee\nin permanent strength? Go back over the grand ages of your national\nhistory; ask the fathers for their testimony to the great works of your\nGod in your behalf.\n\n 8. When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance,\n when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the\n people according to the number of the children of Israel.\n\n 9. For the Lord\u2019s portion _is_ his people; Jacob _is_ the lot of\n his inheritance.\n\nIn the original planting of the nations the Lord reserved\nCanaan\u2015\u2015best and fairest of all lands\u2015\u2015for his people. This refers\nto those providential agencies by which God assigned to the nations\ndescended from Noah\u2019s sons their geographical localities and national\nhome. In this arrangement he reserved sufficient territory for\nIsrael\u2015\u2015\u201caccording to their numbers\u201d; and in the best locality for\ntheir residence. The Lord accounted them his own people and gave them\nhis own reserved \u201clot.\u201d\n\n 10. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling\n wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as\n the apple of his eye.\n\n 11. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young,\n spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her\n wings:\n\n 12. _So_ the LORD alone did lead him, and _there was_ no strange\n god with him.\n\n\u201cHe found him in a desert land.\u201d With poetic license the writer\ntouches Hebrew history where he will\u2015\u2015in this case at Sinai where God\nmet Israel visibly, and called them into special covenant with himself.\nAll through that wilderness he led Israel about by his guiding pillar\nof cloud and of fire; instructed him by precepts and statutes; kept\nhim from danger even as a man guards the apple of his eye (which the\nmore poetic Hebrew called the _little man_ of the eye\u2015\u2015that diminutive\npicture of yourself).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The next figure\u2015\u2015at once exquisite in beauty\nand forcible for illustration\u2015\u2015comes from the eagle training his young\nto fly. When he sees that the time has come for this training, he\nstirs up his nestlings\u2015\u2015waking them as the father does his sons at\nthe morning hour; flutters over them as if to show them the exercise;\nspreads abroad his wings; takes them up aloft, casts them off upon\ntheir flying power\u2015\u2015coming swift to the rescue if their strength\nshould fail;\u2015\u2015all to train them into courage, and strength of wing, and\nsteadiness of stroke. So the Lord alone\u2015\u2015he and none other\u2015\u2015did lead\nIsrael. There was no strange god there. In all his wilderness training\nof forty most eventful years\u2015\u2015that tender youth-time of Israel, there\nwas not the least help from Baal or Ashtoreth. But the hand of his own\nGod was every-where; in his daily bread; in his rock-gushing waters;\nin his pillar of cloud and of fire; in his victories over Amalek, Arad,\nand Midian. This high hand and uplifted arm, strong as the eagle\u2019s\npinions, bore the younglings taken from his nest over and through the\nroughnesses of that waste howling wilderness, until at length he set\nthem down in the promised Canaan.\n\n 13. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he\n might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck\n honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;\n\n 14. Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and\n rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys\n of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.\n\nThe fatness of this fertile land calls out the richest poetic\nimagery.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u201cHe made him ride on the high places of the earth\u201d\u2015\u2015letting\nhim down just a little yet but a little from the symbol of the eagle\u2019s\nlofty flight. \u201cRiding on the high places of the land\u201d\u2015\u2015as if his were a\nrailway path, stretched from summit to summit, resting only on mountain\npeaks, commanding every magnificent prospect; or with an eye to his\nconquest of Canaan, the poet sees him sweeping through with the tread\nof a conquerer, for the phrase seems to conceive of the hill-tops as\nthe strategic points in war, commanding the whole country. As we might\nexpect, Isaiah admired and adopted this gem of poetry (Isa. 58: 14).\n\nThe richest luxuries of oriental climes lie at the nation\u2019s feet;\nhoney and oil; butter and milk; rams and goats; \u201cwith the fat of the\nkidneys of wheat\u201d which curiously draws its terms for the best of\nwheat from the favorite qualities of animal food.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In v. 14 the\nHeb. word for \u201cpure\u201d [\u201c_pure_ blood of the grape\u201d], means by its\netymology\u2015\u2015effervescing, bubbling up, in the process of fermentation.\nOur translators probably supposed it to have worked itself \u201cpure\u201d\nby this process. The word seems to describe the process\u2015\u2015not the\nsubsequent state.\n\n 15. But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou\n art grown thick, thou art covered _with fatness_; then he\n forsook God _which_ made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of\n his salvation.\n\n 16. They provoked him to jealousy with strange _gods_, with\n abominations provoked they him to anger.\n\n 17. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they\n knew not, to new _gods that_ came newly up, whom your fathers\n feared not.\n\n 18. Of the Rock _that_ begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast\n forgotten God that formed thee.\n\nHere is the sad moral result of being over-fed,\nover-tempted.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u201cJeshurun,\u201d the upright one; he who had bound himself\nby covenant to walk uprightly with God.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The Hebrews constantly\nassociate fatness with moral obtuseness, insensibility, and consequent\nobliquity. The ceremonial distinctions of things clean and unclean\nassumed this\u2015\u2015swine being utterly unclean, and the fatty portions of\nsacrificed animals being accounted good only for burning on the altar.\nHence the figure\u2015\u2015Jeshurun, too fat for self-control and self-denial;\ntoo fat for the worship of the pure and holy One; and consequently\nhe forsook the God who made and blessed him.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The verb for \u201clightly\nesteemed\u201d means to regard as dried up; withered; of faded beauty.\nSo Israel thought of their God though he had been to them the Rock\nof their salvation. The sad fact of their fall into idol-worship\nis reiterated and made impressively emphatic. They provoked God to\njealousy; for how could he be otherwise than jealous when they cast\nhim off and gave their hearts\u2019 homage to devils; to new gods, unknown\nto their fathers; gods that were no gods at all!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The Hebrew word\nhere for \u201cdevils\u201d means primarily _lords_\u2015\u2015mighty ones. The Septuagint\nand Vulgate give it _demons_\u2015\u2015true to the ultimate idea, for all\nidol-worship is equivalent to the worship of the devil, being real\nobedience to his will.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The blackness of this guilt lies in its\nforgetting, disowning God, our Great Benefactor; our only real Friend.\n\n 19. And when the LORD saw _it_, he abhorred _them_, because of\n the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.\n\n 20. And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what\n their end _shall be_: for they _are_ a very froward generation,\n children in whom _is_ no faith.\n\n 21. They have moved me to jealousy with _that which is_ not God;\n they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will\n move them to jealousy with _those which are_ not a people; I\n will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.\n\nThe most cruel point as to God was that this insult came from\nhis own \u201c_sons and daughters_.\u201d From them he might expect better\ntreatment.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015What shall he do? What can he do, less than to hide his\nface from them and to leave them to try the friendship of the new gods\nthey had so madly chosen? \u201cI will see what their end shall be.\u201d They\nwill see in due time!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In v. 21 there is a play upon the words\u2015\u2015the\nsame verbs, \u201cmove to jealousy\u201d and \u201cprovoke,\u201d being used first of their\nways toward God; next, of God\u2019s ways in retribution toward them. Paul\n(Rom. 10: 14) assumes that this passage at least applies well if indeed\nit does not refer primarily to God\u2019s judgments on Israel by casting her\noff, and taking into her place of privilege the Gentiles whom Israel\nhad been wont to regard as nobody.\n\n 22. For a fire is kindled in my anger, and shall burn unto the\n lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and\n set on fire the foundations of the mountains.\n\n 23. I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows\n upon them.\n\n 24. _They shall be_ burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning\n heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of\n beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.\n\n 25. The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the\n young man and the virgin, the suckling _also_ with the man of\n gray hairs.\n\nThese are the vials of retributive judgment poured out on Israel,\nfirst for her persistent idolatries; last for her murder of her King\nMessiah. The fire is thought of as burning _deep_; not merely skimming\nthe surface but penetrating to the deep foundations of her mountains.\n\u201cHell\u201d here is not to be taken in its modern usage\u2015\u2015the place of\nfuture punishment\u2015\u2015but in the early Hebrew sense as lying below the\nearth\u2019s surface\u2015\u2015the \u201cpit\u201d into which Korah and his company went\ndown.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u201cBurnt with hunger\u201d (v. 24) is more literally exhausted, their\nvitality sucked out of them by famine\u2015\u2015a fearful doom!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The sword\nabroad and terror at home (literally, \u201cin the chambers\u201d), shall bereave\n[Heb.] both the young man and the virgin\u2015\u2015a calamity well compared to\nbereavement of most loved offspring.\n\n 26. I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the\n remembrance of them to cease from among men:\n\n 27. Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their\n adversaries should behave themselves strangely, _and_ lest they\n should say, Our hand _is_ high, and the LORD hath not done all\n this.\n\n 28. For they _are_ a nation void of counsel, neither _is there\n any_ understanding in them.\n\nThe thought is that for these great sins the Lord would have utterly\nannihilated Israel were it not for the honor of his name before the\nnations as their recognized God.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The word for \u201cscatter into corners\u201d\nmeans rather, _to blow away_ as with his powerful breath.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015It is\nnot precisely the \u201c_wrath_\u201d of the enemy, but rather the _reproaches_,\nor the underlying spirit which would manifest itself in insult and\nhaughty exultation. The context shows the true idea. Lest they\nshould say \u201cIsrael is down because _our_ hand is high and _our_ power\nresistless. _We_ have done it. _Their God_ is far enough from being\nAlmighty.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u201cBehave themselves strangely\u201d should rather be\u2015\u2015should\n_reason_ strangely; should make this strange inference, that the\nfall of Israel was due to their own great power, rather than to God\u2019s\nforsaking them for their great sin.\n\n 29. O that they were wise, _that_ they understood this, _that_\n they would consider their latter end!\n\n 30. How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to\n flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut\n them up?\n\n 31. For their rock _is_ not as our Rock, even our enemies\n themselves _being_ judges.\n\nHow does the tenderness of a loving Father\u2019s heart pour itself out\nin these matchless words! O if my people were only wise; wise to\nknow and appreciate their Great Benefactor! Wise to render him the\nhomage, the trust, and the love of their heart! How would one of\nthem chase a thousand of their foes if only their God were on their\nside; if he who is their Rock and Strength had not sold and disowned\nthem!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Expressively Moses adds\u2015\u2015For as they very well know\u2015\u2015we have\nit on their own admission\u2015\u2015their Rock is not as our Rock; their gods\nwere never like our God. Moses did not say this without authority. He\nremembered how the Egyptian hosts in the Red Sea cried out, \u201cLet us\nflee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them against\nthe Egyptians\u201d (Ex. 14: 25). The testimony of Balaam was still fresh:\n\u201cGod hath blessed; I can not reverse it. The Lord his God is with him,\nand the shout of a king is among them. God brought them out of Egypt;\nhe hath as it were the strength of a unicorn. Surely there is no\nenchantment against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. Behold,\nthe people shall rise up as a great lion,\u201d etc. (Num. 23: 20\u201324). The\nfame of God\u2019s wonders for Israel was already abroad among all the\nadjacent nations, as may be seen in the words of Rahab (Josh. 2: 9\u201311).\n\n 32. For their vine _is_ of the vine of Sodom, and the fields of\n Gomorrah: their grapes _are_ grapes of gall, their clusters\n _are_ bitter:\n\n 33. Their wine _is_ the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom\n of asps.\n\n 34. _Is_ not this laid up in store with me, _and_ sealed up\n among my treasures?\n\n 35. To me _belongeth_ vengeance, and recompense; their foot\n shall slide in _due_ time: for the day of their calamity _is_\n at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.\n\nBy a somewhat sudden transition of thought, \u201cfor\u201d [first word of v. 32]\nanswers the implied question\u2015\u2015Why then, if Israel\u2019s Rock is so mighty,\ndoes not Israel live and triumph in perpetual victory and prosperity?\nDo ye ask, _Why not?_ Because they are corrupt like Sodom; their \u201cvine\u201d\nbeing put poetically for themselves morally considered. Their heart and\nlife are altogether rotten.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In v. 34 I take the sense to be\u2015\u2015Do I\nnot remember all their sin? Is it not laid up before me, awaiting its\ntime for a fearful retribution, sealed up as securely as one keeps his\nchoice treasures? \u201cVengeance belongeth to me\u201d\u2015\u2015is my sole prerogative,\nand can not fail of its due execution.\n\n 36. For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself\n for his servants, when he seeth that _their_ power is gone, and\n _there is_ none shut up, or left.\n\n 37. And he shall say, Where _are_ their gods, _their_ rock in\n whom they trusted,\n\n 38. Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, _and_ drank the\n wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you,\n _and_ be your protection.\n\nGod will arise for judgment and retribution. Calamities must scourge\nthe guilty; mercy will spare the innocent and ultimately save his\nZion. In the latter portion of this song (vs. 36\u201342), the divine agency\nseems to be of a twofold character; exterminating the hopelessly guilty,\nbut sparing and restoring the penitent, and ultimately retrieving\nthe fortunes of his kingdom.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015When God seeth that his people are\npowerless and none remain, either bond or free, shut up or let go [the\nsense of the Heb. words translated \u201cshut up or left\u201d], he will ask,\nWhat has become of the gods to whom my people have apostatized, with\nwhom they ate their sacrifices in common? Since those gods have utterly\nfailed them, let me call their attention to myself. Perhaps now it will\nnot be in vain.\n\n 39. See now that I, _even_ I, _am_ he, and _there is_ no god\n with me: I kill, and I make alive. I wound, and I heal: neither\n _is there any_ that can deliver out of my hand.\n\n 40. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live forever.\n\n 41. If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on\n judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will\n reward them that hate me.\n\n 42. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall\n devour flesh; _and that_ with the blood of the slain and of the\n captives from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.\n\nThey shall know the power of their God. When I lift up my awful hand to\nbring down retribution on the guilty apostates among my people, shall\nnot my arrows be drunk with blood and my sword devour flesh? The guilty\nmust fall; yet through the fires of these sore judgments Zion shall\nbe purified and so redeemed.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The last clause of v. 42 were better\nread\u2015\u2015\u201cFrom the head of the princes of the enemy.\u201d\n\n 43. Rejoice, O ye nations, _with_ his people: for he will avenge\n the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his\n adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, _and_ to his\n people.\n\nThis closing strain brings out in unmistakable terms the idea which\nseems to have been implied since v. 36, viz. that these great judgments\non Israel will not ultimately break down God\u2019s cause and kingdom, but\nwill only cut off the hopelessly reprobate and really bring deliverance,\npurity, salvation to Zion. Therefore let all the nations rejoice with\nhis people. They have a deeper interest than they are yet aware of\nin this purifying process for the ultimate redemption of Zion. The\nprophetic eye of Moses sees through to the glorious ingathering of\nthe Gentiles to Christ, and seems to trace the connection of this\ningathering with the judgments sent on apostate Israel in the first\nChristian age.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The outcome of this song is therefore ultimately\nhopeful to the real Zion. It gives a fearfully dark view of the guilty\napostasies of Israel\u2015\u2015those which culminated first in the captivity\nto Babylon; last in the fall of their city before the Romans. In the\nresult God vindicates his great name; purifies his people, and spreads\nthe glory of his name far abroad among the nations.\n\n\n DEUT. 33.\n\n _The blessing of Moses upon the tribes shortly before his death._\n\nThis blessing of Moses follows in general the usage of patriarchal\ntimes, as seen in Noah, but especially in Jacob, the great tribe-father\n(Gen. 49). It also follows the impulses of the great heart of Moses,\nnow a patriarch of one hundred and twenty years, who had long outlived\nthe associates of his earlier days; who had suffered and borne every\nthing for his people and had labored for them more than a father for\nhis sons and daughters. In this parting hour he has some last blessings\nto bequeathe before his eyes shall close in death. Let us listen to his\ndying benedictions.\n\nThe first five verses apply generally to all the tribes. The last four\nalso are general rather than special; while the intervening portion\nof the chapter (vs. 6\u201325) is made up of special benedictions upon\nthe several tribes.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Note also that while the \u201cSong\u201d [chap. 32] is\nlargely in the minor strain\u2015\u2015a sad prophetic vision of the nation\u2019s\nfuture apostasies and consequent calamities, this chapter is _pure\nbenediction_\u2015\u2015the outpouring of hopeful prayers and heartfelt good\nwishes, with no shade of anticipated disaster, no foreseen calamities.\n\n 1. And this _is_ the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God\n blessed the children of Israel before his death.\n\n 2. And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir\n unto them; he shined forth from Mount Paran, and he came with\n ten thousands of saints: from his right hand _went_ a fiery law\n for them.\n\n 3. Yea, he loved the people; and all his saints _are_ in thy\n hand: and they sat down at thy feet; _every one_ shall receive\n of thy words.\n\n 4. Moses commanded us a law, _even_ the inheritance of the\n congregation of Jacob.\n\n 5. And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people\n _and_ the tribes of Israel were gathered together.\n\nThe first thing to be noticed was that greatest fact, equally of the\nlife of Moses and of the life of all Israel, viz. the coming forth of\nthe glorious God in majesty so sublime from the mountains of Sinai.\nHow did the blaze of his glory illumine her towering summits and flash\nforth from all her hill-tops! Such a coming\u2015\u2015when had the world ever\nseen before?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u201cRose up from Seir\u201d would suggest to a Hebrew the\nrising of the sun in his glory.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u201cHe came _with_ ten thousands of\nsaints,\u201d says our English version; but the Hebrew has it _from_\u2015\u2015the\nsame preposition which is used before Sinai, Seir, and Paran\u2015\u2015certainly\nimplying therefore that God came forth _from_ the midst of those ten\nthousand holy ones in a sense analogous to that in which he shone forth\nfrom Sinai, Seir, and Paran. He must refer to holy angels to whom in\ngreat numbers Jacob was introduced at Bethel and Mahanaim. But whether\nthe Lord came forth _from_ them, leaving them in heaven, or shone\nforth _from among_ them, attending him on Sinai, can not be certainly\ndetermined from the words used here. Other scriptures however speak\nof the law as given by the ministration of angels, and therefore fully\nimply their presence on Sinai at the giving of the law. See Ps. 68: 17,\nand Acts 7: 53, and Gal. 3: 19, and Heb. 2: 2.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The last clause of\nv. 1\u2015\u2015\u201cfrom his right hand went forth a fiery law for them\u201d\u2015\u2015involves\ngrave difficulties of a sort which can not well be put before the\nEnglish reader. The word translated \u201claw\u201d is unknown to the ancient\nHebrew\u2015\u2015is not the word used for law in v. 4 and in the Pentateuch\ngenerally. The best critical authorities would unite these two words\nwhich our translators supposed to mean \u201cfire\u201d and \u201claw,\u201d into one word\nof quite different signification, referring perhaps to the pillar of\nfire [Gesenius]; or to some geographical point [Fuerst]; or to flashes\nof lightning [Keil].\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015V. 3 is singularly abrupt, and consequently\nthe course of thought is obscure. God was loving the people [continuous\naction]\u2015\u2015_i. e._ all the nations and not the Hebrews only\u2015\u2015showing that\nGod shone forth from Sinai _in love to the race_. All his holy ones are\nhis wards, upheld by his arm. They lie humbly at his feet; in filial\nloving obedience they receive his words\u2015\u2015indicating most beautifully\nthe spirit with which all true souls welcome God\u2019s uttered words as to\nmoral duty. It is perhaps possible that [as Keil suggests] the \u201choly\nones\u201d here are holy angels; yet I incline to apply the phrase without\nrestriction to all holy beings, man certainly not excluded.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moses\ngave us a law, as a legacy, inheritance, for the whole congregation of\nJacob. He [God] was King in Jeshurun [over the _upright people_], even\nover all that great nation with its congregated tribes and their tribal\nleaders.\n\n 6. Let Reuben live, and not die; and let _not_ his men be few.\n\nAs to Reuben, let his tribe be perpetuated and not become extinct; for\nsome fear on this point might have sprung from the scenes of Num. 16;\nthe fearful death of Dathan, Abiram, and On, all sons of Reuben (Num.\n16: 1, 27).\n\n 7. And this _is the blessing_ of Judah: and he said, Hear, Lord,\n the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands\n be sufficient for him; and be thou a help _to him_ from his\n enemies.\n\nJudah is thought of as leading the tribes in battle, going forth in\nadvance of all others to war. Hence the prayer\u2015\u2015Bring him back safely\nto his people from the scenes of battle. Let his hand [military power]\nbe equal to any emergency.\n\n 8. And of Levi he said, _Let_ thy Thummim and thy Urim _be_ with\n thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, _and with_ whom\n thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;\n\n 9. Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen\n him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own\n children: for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant.\n\n 10. They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law;\n they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice\n upon thine altar.\n\n 11. Bless, Lord, his substance, and accept the work of his hands:\n smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of\n them that hate him, that they rise not again.\n\nThe blessing on Levi suggested the insignia on Aaron\u2019s breast-plate,\nknown as the \u201c_Urim and Thummim_\u201d [described somewhat in Ex. 28:\n29, 30]\u2015\u2015the words signifying _Light and Right_. These breast-plate\ninsignia were used in some way, not altogether clear at this day, in\nobtaining special directions from the Lord.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The tribe of Levi as\na whole became in a sense God\u2019s \u201cHoly One,\u201d bearing in the person of\nAaron these insignia. God had proved them at Massah and Meribah where\nthe people murmured against Moses and Aaron. It was especially in the\nscenes of the calf-worship (Ex. 32) and of the Midianites (Num. 25)\nthat the tribe of Levi, and particularly Phineas, proved themselves\ntrue to God, with higher regard for him and his honor than for father,\nmother, brethren, or children; for they remembered and honored God\u2019s\nword and covenant. Let them therefore have the functions of the\npriesthood, to teach Jacob thy law and to minister at the national\naltar.\n\n 12. _And_ of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the Lord shall\n dwell in safety by him; _and the_ Lord shall cover him all the\n day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.\n\nLet Benjamin, the beloved of the Lord, dwell safely by the side of the\nLord, his protector, abiding between his shoulders\u2015\u2015_i. e._ upon his\nback where fathers are wont to place their children to bear them long\ndistances. This tribe is thought of as God\u2019s child, to be borne upon\nhis shoulder.\n\n 13. And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord _be_ his land,\n for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep\n that croucheth beneath,\n\n 14. And for the precious fruits _brought forth_ by the sun, and\n for the precious things put forth by the moon,\n\n 15. And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for\n the precious things of the lasting hills,\n\n 16. And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof,\n and _for_ the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let _the\n blessing_ come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the\n head of him that was separated from his brethren.\n\n 17. His glory _is like_ the firstling of his bullock, and his\n horns _are like_ the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push\n the people together to the ends of the earth: and they _are_\n the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they _are_ the thousands of\n Manasseh.\n\nThe blessings on Joseph comprise all good upon his land; the dew and\nthe shower, the sunshine and the moonbeams; all the products of the\nmountains and of the deep;\u2015\u2015let all come upon the head of him who was\n_prince_ among his brethren [in Egypt]\u2015\u2015this being the sense, rather\nthan \u201cseparated\u201d from his brethren.\n\n 18. And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out;\n and, Issachar, in thy tents.\n\n 19. They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they\n shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck\n _of_ the abundance of the seas, and _of_ treasures hid in the\n sand.\n\nLet Zebulun and Issachar rejoice both in their going forth and in their\ntents; equally in their labor and in their repose. Living on the shore\nof the great sea, let their influence go forth upon and beyond the\ngreat waters, calling the nations to the mountain of the Lord\u2019s house\nfor worship with sacrifices of righteousness to the God of the whole\nearth; and let Zion under their hand become enriched with the abundance\nof the seas\u2015\u2015of all countries beyond the seas\u2015\u2015bringing their gold and\ntheir treasures to the God of Israel. Isaiah has the same thought often;\n_e. g._ chapters 49, 60, and 66.\n\n 20. And of Gad he said, Blessed _be_ he that enlargeth Gad: he\n dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the\n head.\n\n 21. And he provided the first part for himself, because there,\n _in_ a portion of the lawgiver, _was he_ seated; and he came\n with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the\n Lord, and his judgments with Israel.\n\nThe allusion to Gad seems to be built upon his then recent\nhistory\u2015\u2015leading the movement for locating the two and a half tribes\non the East of Jordan and foremost in battle and in victory over\nthe national enemy; prompt also to go over Jordan to execute God\u2019s\nrighteous judgments on the devoted nations of Canaan.\n\n 22. And of Dan he said, Dan _is_ a lion\u2019s whelp: he shall leap\n from Bashan.\n\nDan is fierce and formidable in war, to which his border locality on\nthe extreme North may have conduced. Jacob touches the same tribal\ncharacteristic (Gen. 49: 16, 17).\n\n 23. And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favor,\n and full with the blessing of the Lord, possess thou the west\n and the south.\n\n 24. And of Asher he said, _Let_ Asher _be_ blessed with children;\n let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot\n in oil.\n\n 25. Thy shoes _shall be_ iron and brass; and as thy days, _so\n shall_ thy strength _be_.\n\nLet Asher be blessed _above_ the sons\u2015\u2015may be the sense\u2015\u2015the favored\none among his brethren. May thy castle-bars [not \u201cshoes\u201d] be of iron\nand brass. But the best authorities on the word \u201cstrength\u201d prefer\n_rest_ [Gesenius], or affluence [Fuerst]. The prayer is that this rest\nor affluence may be life-long.\n\n 26. _There is_ none like unto the God of Jeshurun, _who_ rideth\n upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.\n\n 27. The eternal God _is thy_ refuge, and underneath _are_ the\n everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before\n thee and shall say, Destroy _them_.\n\n 28. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone; the fountain of\n Jacob _shall be_ upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens\n shall drop down dew.\n\n 29. Happy _art_ thou, O Israel: who _is_ like unto thee, O\n people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who _is_\n the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found\n liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.\n\nThese words of unsurpassed sublimity and most exquisite poetry set\nforth the glories of the God of Israel and the blessedness of the\npeople who enjoy such a Father and live under such a Protector. Perhaps\nwe can not give them higher praise than to say they are worthy of the\npen of Moses\u2015\u2015worthy even to be his last words\u2015\u2015he noblest utterances\nof one who above any other mere man had communed with God face to face\nas man does with his dearest friend.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The English translation is\nalmost faultless, constituting one of the grandest passages to be found\nin English literature. In the last clause of v. 27, I prefer to follow\nthe Hebrew more closely and say simply _Destroy!_ The high behest of\nJehovah, hurling the enemy forth from the land of his people is best\nexpressed in the emphatic word, _Destroy!_\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In the last verse, the\nclause, \u201cThine enemies shall be found liars unto thee,\u201d means that they\nshall cringe, fawn, and flatter with false and lying pretenses to gain\nif but a little favor from a people so terrible in arms as Israel with\nGod on her side. The case of the Gibeonites is mostly in point.\n\nIt was due to the stand-point of Moses, looking forth across the\nJordan upon the earthly Canaan, beholding the earthly Israel just then\nentering there; Jehovah the shield of their help, the sword of their\nexcellency, the scourge of their foes\u2015\u2015this mighty God riding sublimely\nupon the heavens for their help, his everlasting arms underneath\nthem forevermore\u2015\u2015that this view should be primarily of scenes in the\npresent life and not in the future; of earthly and material relations\nrather than of spiritual. Yet let us not forget that the manifestations\nof God in blessings of earthly sort foreshadow like manifestations\nin the spiritual life. The God who saves his people here in things of\nearth, in ways so grand, with power so transcendant, in a spirit so\nparental and so tender, may surely be trusted to save and shield and\nbless with his own Godlike wisdom and power against spiritual foes and\nfor the other world no less than for this. Surely there is none like\nthe God of Jeshurun who comes in the tenderness of infinite pity to\nwipe away the penitent tear; to bind up hearts broken for sin; to\nplace underneath all feeble souls his own everlasting arms; to bid\naway every spiritual foe with the mandate _Destroy_; and to gather\nhome his redeemed in his own best time to his Canaan above, of which\nthat ancient land of promise gives us only some poetic images and\nsome illustrations of God\u2019s faithfulness and love. It is quite well,\ntherefore, to exchange the earthly sense of this sublime passage for\nits spiritual significance and transfer its imagery to that world whose\nglories are worthy of sublimer strains than even these.\n\n\n _The death and character of Moses._\n\nThese benedictions having been uttered, it remained for Moses to see\nthe goodly land with his eyes and then close them in death. The record\nis that his vision from the top of Pisgah swept the whole country\nof Palestine even to the Mediterranean\u2015\u2015a statement which implies\nmiraculous power. We must either tone down the statement in extent,\nor admit a superhuman extension of sight\u2015\u2015the latter being by far most\nprobable.\n\nThe record assumes that at his death Moses had no attendant save the\nLord himself\u2015\u2015a circumstance which throws a shade of doubt over the\nultimate disposition of his body. According to the narrative the Lord\nburied him in a valley in the land of Moab; yet the place of his burial\nremained unknown to mortals. Was the fact of his being buried at all\nrevealed to some Hebrew prophet by special inspiration; or was it\nmerely assumed as the common course of events; or was his body really\ntranslated, as in the case of Enoch and Elijah? In favor of the latter\nsupposition are two circumstances; viz. the allusion by Jude (v. 9) to\na dispute over his body between Michael the archangel and the devil;\nand his appearance together with Elijah at the transfiguration of Jesus\n(Mat. 17: 3). These hints comprise all that is known on the point or\ncan be known at present; or as we may say, all that the Lord thought it\nimportant to let us know.\n\nAltogether in keeping with the masterly vigor of mind manifested in the\nlast exhortation of Moses (chap. 27\u201331); in the \u201cSong\u201d (chap. 32), and\nin the tribal blessings (chap. 33)\u2015\u2015is the statement that although at\nthe age of one hundred and twenty, \u201chis eye was not dim nor his natural\nforce abated.\u201d The Hebrew word suggests, instead of natural force,\nthe idea of freshness, youthful vigor. How wonderfully were his powers\nof both mind and body preserved till his great work was done!\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nhistorian who wrote this last chapter says: \u201cThere arose not a prophet\nsince in Israel like unto Moses\u201d\u2015\u2015which raises the question, How long a\nperiod of time is embraced in this comparison? Was this remark made in\nthe time of Samuel, or in the time of Ezra, or at some point between?\nOr was it based upon the belief or the special revelation that the\ndivine policy included but one Moses\u2015\u2015all later prophets down to the\ncoming of the Great Anointed being of a subordinate grade? I do not\nsee that the choice between these several alternatives can be made with\nabsolute certainty, and it is not specially important that we attempt\nto balance nicely the mere probabilities.\n\nWe think of Moses (as of Paul, Isaiah, Daniel) as a sublime\nillustration of God\u2019s marvelous resources for raising up great men\nfor great occasions. Where shall we set the limit to these resources?\nTrue, these great men die (unless they may be translated), but their\nnames die not; their work does not die; their influence travels onward\ndown the ages, and will, long as men live on the earth. They are the\nworld\u2019s really _great men_, belonging to a totally different order\nfrom the C\u00e6sars, the Alexanders, and the Napoleons, or the Platos and\nthe Aristotles of the race. It may not be unprofitable to note that\nall these were _modest men_; meek above most other men; of unaspiring\nspirit; true to their divine mission, and little caring to give their\nthought to any thing else. The fact in the recorded history of Moses\nwhich seems to me the very gem of his life was that God\u2019s proposal,\ntwice made to him, to cut off all Israel and make of him a great nation\n(Ex. 32: 10 and Num. 14: 12) did not get from him a moment\u2019s attention.\nHe never even alluded to it. But as the Lord seemed to overlook the\nglory of his own name before the nations, Moses took the responsibility\n(boldly, shall we say?) of reminding him as to this point. Apparently\nhis soul was so much absorbed in this line of considerations\u2015\u2015the glory\nof God as before the nations of the earth\u2015\u2015that he could not let it\ndrop from his range of view. Hence Moses was mighty (almost omnipotent\nwe may say) in prayer. It would seem to have been the Lord\u2019s special\npurpose to bring out this prime quality of his religious character and\nset it in sunlight before all future ages\u2015\u2015an illustration of the fact\nthat _the great men of all time are mighty with God in prayer_. They\nknow the secret of communion with God. They have easy, unrestricted\naccess to his throne.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015One blemish\u2015\u2015nay rather, one sin, stands on\nthe record of his life in his own hand-writing; one sad, humiliating\nfact mars his history\u2015\u2015viz. that at Kadesh his sensibilities to himself\nwere too keen; that for the moment, self threw even his God into the\nshade, and he cried out: \u201cYe rebels; must _we_ fetch you water from\nthis rock\u201d? True, the complaints of Israel were severely cruel as\nagainst Moses; but how much more so against God! And if Moses had\nthought and felt much less as to himself and much more of God, he\nhad passed through this stern ordeal unhurt. From that point onward\nthis sin could not pass altogether out of his mind. It had been the\naspiration of his life to see the goodly land of Canaan and to plant\nhis children\u2015\u2015the great Hebrew nation\u2015\u2015there with his own hand and see\nthem with his own eyes in their glorious home! We sympathize in his\ndisappointment and trial in that he must die short of Canaan. But this\nis not quite a sinless world. The painful experiences of imperfection\nforce themselves into the best Christian lives. There is a better life\nbeyond!\n\n\n _The Mosaic system and the future life._\n\nThe question often comes up in even the most candid and honest minds:\nWhy is the Pentateuch silent, or at least, _so nearly_ silent as to\nthe rewards and punishments of the future life?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Moreover, there is\na class of critics who are fain to decry the Hebrew people as almost\ncontemptibly low in point of knowledge, culture, and civilization, and\nwho are wont to deny that the Mosaic system, civil or religious, has\nany allusion to the future life or even assumes its existence.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015From\nthis supposed fact, they infer that the Hebrew people and even Moses\nhimself _had no knowledge of the future life_.\n\nIn briefly discussing this subject, I propose,\n\n1. To qualify somewhat the absolute statement\u2015\u2015_No allusion to the\nfuture life or assumption of its existence_.\n\n2. To give some reasons for placing the Theocracy mainly on the basis\nof temporal rewards and punishments.\n\n3. To maintain that Moses and the patriarchs knew and believed in the\nfuture life as one of rewards and punishments.\n\n1. I propose to qualify somewhat the absolute statement\u2015\u2015\u201cNo allusion\nto the future life and no assumption of its existence.\u201d\n\nHere I call attention to the remarkable fact that there are several\nstatutes _without penalties_\u2015\u2015left simply upon the consciences of men\nand upon their sense of the fear of God.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As to those who violate the\nthird of the ten commandments, it is simply said, \u201cThe Lord will not\nhold him guiltless\u201d; but it is not intimated that any due punishment\nshould befall him in the present life. The statutes touching this\nsin stand also without penalties. Correspondingly the statutes forbid\nperjury; but they seem to leave the sanctity of the solemn oath upon\nthe conscience and upon men\u2019s fear of God. So of the precept, \u201cThou\nshalt not revile the judges, nor curse the rulers of thy people\u201d (Ex.\n22: 28).\n\nNow it scarcely need be suggested that human laws without penalties\nare mere puerilities\u2015\u2015virtually no laws at all. Suppose under any human\ngovernment, sundry statutes were left without penalties, the law saying\nonly, \u201che shall bear his iniquity\u201d; \u201chis sin shall be upon him\u201d: Would\nnot the whole body of lawless, law-breaking men say in their heart,\nWhat of that? What then? Every violator of human law knows well enough\nthat there is nothing to fear _from it_ beyond the grave. If human law\nwill only let them have their way in this world, they would scoff at\nthe thought of _its penalties_ in the next.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Now my point is that\nthe Hebrew statutes did not leave the law-breaker\u2019s conscience in this\nattitude. The man who scorned those statutes because they stood without\npenalties in this world _had something to think of for the world to\ncome_. Those statutes, left without penalties for this life were not by\nany means for that reason powerless. So far from being powerless, they\nwere in many minds more terrible than any other statutes. Was it of no\naccount to them that God had said\u2015\u2015\u201cHis sin shall be _upon him_\u201d and\n\u201che shall bear his iniquity\u201d? Did they not know that \u201cit is a fearful\nthing to fall into the hands of the living God\u201d\u2015\u2015fearful, moreover,\nnot because he might bring trouble on them in time, but because there\nis an after-life and the same dreadful God is there\u2015\u2015terrible to those\nwho have defied his authority and scorned his law?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Therefore the\nstatement that this Hebrew code did in no manner assume the existence\nof an after-life and of a God terrible to the sinner there, must be\nsomewhat modified.\n\n2. _I am to assign some reasons for putting this Theocracy mainly on\nthe basis of temporal rewards and punishments._\n\n(1.) It was to be administered chiefly by human agents. Human\njudges sat upon offenses against it, and human hands executed their\ndecisions.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015I qualify these statements with the words \u201cmainly,\u201d\n\u201cchiefly,\u201d stating this as being the case _for the most part_.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nfact as to human agents being admitted, there is no need of further\nreasons for placing the administration of this government mainly on the\nbasis of earthly rewards and punishments\u2015\u2015penalties in this world, not\nin the next. How could human judges award judgments for the world to\ncome, and human hands execute them there?\n\n(2.) God governed Israel _as a nation, not as an individual man_. Now\nsince nations as such exist in this life only, it follows of necessity\nthat all retribution that is truly _national_ must be in time, not in\neternity. The nation as such is not known in the eternal world. The\nindividuals that compose the nation have their own personal account\nto settle with God in the world to come; but this has no bearing upon\nthe government of God over the nation. This national government must\nbe complete in time, else it remains incomplete forever. It may run\non through many human generations; national life may outlast scores\nof individual human lives; but God\u2019s retribution as to nations must\nbe administered in this world, no part lying over to the next. Hence\nwhen God made himself king in Jeshurun over the Hebrew nation, he of\nnecessity established a government to be administered mainly in time,\nnot in eternity; by the rewards and penalties of this world\u2015\u2015not of the\nnext.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This again would be in itself a sufficient reason for the fact\nwe are accounting for, even if there were no other.\n\n(3.) This national system of government was intended to be a moral\nlesson for all other nations of all time. Hence the government must\nbe put on the same basis as that of all other nations _in the point\nof providential retribution_. As God holds every nation on earth\nto a positive retribution in time, giving them prosperity for their\nrighteousness, and adversity for their violation of the common laws\nof humanity; and as he would fain make his administration over Israel\na cogent moral lesson to every other nation on this great point, he\nmust needs govern Israel in this respect _as_ he governs them\u2015\u2015_i. e._\nadministering his retributions _in time_.\n\n(4.) Yet one reason more. Distinguishing carefully between God\u2019s\nprovidential government and his moral\u2015\u2015the former being of time only;\nthe latter of both time and eternity; the former being (for our present\npurpose) over nations as such; the latter over individuals only and\nnot over nations\u2015\u2015it remains to say that God manifestly designed his\nprovidential government over Israel to be suggestive, perhaps we might\nsay typical\u2015\u2015certainly illustrative of his moral government over all\nmen which is not of time only, but which reaches into the eternal world.\nIn the early ages of the world men needed some proof that God would\npunish sin in the world to come. They needed some illustrations of\nGod\u2019s character as a righteous, moral governor. Therefore the Lord\nplanned to put himself at the head of the Hebrew nation, and then in\nthat position, to give to mankind some illustrations in this world of\nwhat all sinners are to believe and expect for themselves, not in this\nworld only or chiefly, but in the world to come. He would make this\nlimited government illustrate that universal one. He would show in the\ncase of the Hebrew people under his law what all men have to expect\nfrom their righteous God when his moral government shall have had full\nscope and shall have administered its perfect retribution in the world\nto come. This divine policy is well set forth by Peter (2 Pet. 2: 4\u20139);\n\u201cFor if God spared not the angels that sinned but cast them down to\nhell\u201d; and \u201cspared not the old world, but saved Noah\u201d; if he \u201cturned\nSodom and Gomorrah into ashes, but delivered just Lot\u201d;\u2015\u2015then (we may\ninfer), \u201cthe _Lord knoweth how_ to deliver the godly out of temptation,\nand to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.\u201d Yes,\nthe Lord _knoweth how_ to do this, and he means to let all living men\nsee that he knoweth how; and see also that being a holy moral Governor,\nhe can not fail to do it. He will give them occasion to see in his\nruling over nations in time that his ruling over individual sinners can\nnot be less righteous\u2015\u2015can not be less retributive according to deeds\ndone; and since equal and perfect justice calls for more time than\none human life on earth, there must be an after part to it, to come\nin when death has located men in the eternal world.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This designed\nuse of a theocratic government over Israel to illustrate God\u2019s moral\nrelations to every individual man, required an administration mainly\nin this world, in time, before human eyes; and is therefore another\nreason for working this theocracy mainly with temporal rewards and\npunishments.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015I do not see that further reasons can be rationally\ncalled for.\n\n * * * * *\n\n3. I am to rebut the inference made from the fact of a theocracy\nadministered mostly in time, viz. _that Moses and the patriarchs did\nnot believe in or even know of a future life_.\n\n(1.) The inference is utterly illogical. The rewards and penalties of\nthe Hebrew system were of time and not of eternity, _for other good and\nsufficient reasons_, and not necessarily for the reason that the Hebrew\nlaw-giver and his people knew of no future life. To be of any force\nthe argument must assume that if Moses had known of a future life he\nwould have built this system upon it. But what is the proof of that?\nBy what right is that assumed?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015On the contrary there are reasons in\nabundance, not to say in excess\u2015\u2015far more than would be sufficient\u2015\u2015why\nthe theocracy should be temporal in its penalties, whether Moses knew\nor did not know of a future life.\n\n(2.) That Moses and the patriarchs assumed and believed in a future\nlife is apparent from _their words_.\n\nMoses wrote of Enoch (Gen. 5: 24); \u201cAnd Enoch walked with God; and he\nwas not, for God _took_ him.\u201d \u201cTook him\u201d _where_? Did not Moses know\nwhere? \u201c_Took_ him\u201d\u2015\u2015in what sense? Is it even supposable that Moses\nthought this was annihilation\u2015\u2015taking a godly man out of existence?\nExtinguishing his being because he walked with God! Is this a credible\nconstruction? Shall it be assumed that Moses was so ignorant, or so\nmisinformed, or so little versed in logic, as this?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015If the Lord had\nmade this problem a special study\u2015\u2015how best to teach and impress the\ndoctrine of a future blessed life for the righteous who walk with God\non earth, we can not see how he could have improved upon the method\nhe actually adopted, viz. to take the godly Enoch from earth to heaven\nwithout dying.\n\nAgain, Moses constantly spoke of the death of the godly patriarchs\nas a being \u201cgathered to their people.\u201d He said this of Abraham (Gen.\n25: 8); of Ishmael (25: 17); of Isaac (35: 29); of Jacob (49: 33).\nAnd he records these as Jacob\u2019s words when he supposed Joseph to have\ndied: \u201cI will go down into Sheol _to my son_ mourning\u201d (37: 35).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015In\nthe face of these facts can it be said that Moses knew nothing of the\nfuture life? Did he think the fathers\u2015\u2015the righteous people\u2015\u2015had passed\nby death into non-existence\u2015\u2015into what was _not life_ in any sense\nwhatever?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Again, when at the bush the Lord said to Moses so solemnly:\n\u201cI am the God of thy fathers; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and\nthe God of Jacob\u201d (Ex. 3: 6), is it credible that Moses was so obtuse\nas not to see that this implied that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were\nyet living, since the Lord could not be the God of dead things, but\nonly of living souls?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015A sensible view of the case may be obtained\nthus: Suppose that Moses had replied\u2015\u2015\u201cLord, I see not how that can be,\nfor Abraham has been dead and out of existence more than two hundred\nyears\u201d! If really Moses had no knowledge of a future life, he ought\nfrankly to have made substantially this reply at the bush.\n\n(3.) In proof of their faith in the future life, is another argument,\nof greater force if possible than their words; viz. their _lives_.\nFor men sometimes say more than they mean, or perhaps something other\nthan what they think; but their lives testify truthfully to their real\nbeliefs.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Here we might expand the argument already suggested by the\nwriter to the Hebrews (11: 8\u201316), calling up to review the actual lives\nof the patriarchs; how Abraham tore himself away from home and kindred,\nand went, obeying a call believed to be from God, to a land before\nunknown; how he and his family sojourned as strangers there, dwelling\nonly in tents but \u201clooking for a city on beyond which hath foundations\nwhose builder and maker is God\u201d; how they lived in the faith of\npromises to be fulfilled far in the future ages of time; and how by\nsuch a life they \u201cdeclared plainly that they were seeking another\nand better country, even an heavenly\u201d one.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015But waiving this, the\nargument will be more directly in point if made on the case of the man\nMoses himself.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Born a slave, it was little of earth that he had at\nhis birth save the faith and consequent heroism of a godly mother. In\nthe providence of God it fell to him to be taken\u2015\u2015a beautiful babe of\nthree months\u2015\u2015into the family of the reigning Pharaoh. There he lived,\ntrained in all the wisdom of Egypt, till he was full forty years old.\nOf prepossessing person and splendid talents; of capacities equal to\nany responsibility, the honors of all Egypt lay before him\u2015\u2015we might\nprobably say\u2015\u2015were pressing upon his acceptance. What did he do?\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The\nwriter to the Hebrews answers our question on this wise: \u201cWhen he was\ncome to years, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh\u2019s daughter,\nchoosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to\nenjoy the pleasures of sin for a season: esteeming reproach for Christ\ngreater riches than the treasures of Egypt.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Was not this choice and\nall this course of conduct unaccountably strange? Did any man in his\nsenses, _knowing nothing of the future life_, ever make such a choice\nbefore or since? What! choose affliction before pleasure; reproach\nbefore the highest of earthly honors? What could be in the man to make\nsuch a choice and even carry it out in his actual life?\n\nThe writer of this Epistle has an explanation to suggest. He says\nin the outset that Moses _had faith_\u2015\u2015a sort of faith described by\nhimself as \u201cthe evidence of things not seen.\u201d Quite unlike the doctrine\nof the critics above referred to\u2015\u2015nay squarely in the face of their\nassumptions, he holds up this Moses as a special and illustrious\nexample of real faith in the future life. \u201c_By faith_ Moses refused\nto be called the son of Pharaoh\u2019s daughter\u201d; \u201c_by faith_ he esteemed\nreproach for Christ greater riches than Egypt\u2019s treasures\u2015\u2015for he had\nrespect to the recompense of the reward.\u201d Aye, he had his eye onward\nupon that glorious recompense of reward which God gives his people when\nthe joys that are transient have all faded out\u2015\u2015when the life that is\nimmortal dawns on the human soul. In his view the pleasures of Egypt\nwere only _for a season_\u2015\u2015too short to be matched against the joys\nbefore him\u2015\u2015fully believed in\u2015\u2015that endure forever.\n\nOf this explanation, say what else men may of it, they must admit\nthat it answers the purpose. It accounts for the choice Moses made\nof affliction before pleasure; of shame before the highest of Egypt\u2019s\nhonors. This explanation represents Moses to be a man of sense, and\nnot a fool. Neological criticism holds him up to the world as void of\nall sense\u2015\u2015as playing the part of supreme folly. Paul said\u2015\u2015\u201cIf in this\nlife only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable\u201d\n(1 Cor. 15: 19). He would have said of Moses, If his hope and belief\nas to God were of this life only\u2015\u2015if he had no belief in the future\nlife and no knowledge of it, then he was of all men most foolish\u2015\u2015most\nvoid of that judgment and good sense which are common to sensible\nmen.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Therefore I claim that the _life of Moses_\u2015\u2015the whole choice\nand purpose and labor of a life of one hundred and twenty years,\nwitness to his full and glorious faith in the future life. The men\nwho deny to him this faith stultify not Moses, but themselves.\n\n(4.) It can scarcely be necessary to suggest that over and above the\nlogical merits of the facts themselves, we have the current traditions\nof Jewish history and the authority of the inspired New Testament\nwriters. He who wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews\u2015\u2015a man of sense as his\nwritings show and of surpassing eloquence and power\u2015\u2015must have spoken\nthe current voice of Hebrew tradition\u2015\u2015to say nothing (in an argument\nwith Neologist critics) of his unquestionable inspiration from God.\n\n(5.) Still further, we have collateral proofs that the future life was\nknown in the age of Moses.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Job gave a grand declaration of his faith\nthat after the perishing of his body he should see God (Job 19: 25\u201327).\nBalaam, representing the thought of the ancient East, saw and believed\nin the blessedness of the righteous dead.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015And to mention no\nmore\u2015\u2015the wise men of Egypt, even before the age of Moses, believed in\nthe future life of man. With scarcely a doubt they built their pyramids\nin the faith of man\u2019s immortality. Sepulchers with them had a special\nand grander significance because they thought of man, not as dropping\nat death into annihilation, but as having even then a future nobler\nlife before him. It is more than supposable that the art and practice\nof embalming the body\u2015\u2015thus providing for it a sort of immortality\u2015\u2015was\nreally an outgrowth of their belief in the immortality of the soul\nand of its returning again to its former bodily home.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015That the\nEgyptians held the doctrine of a future life and of future rewards\nand punishments according to the deeds of this earthly life, is not\nquestioned at all by those who are familiar with her ancient mythology.\nSymbolic representations are found which are affirmed to be nothing\nelse but the personification of the grand principle of the immortality\nof the soul and the necessity of leading a virtuous life.[47] Also\na picture \u201crepresenting the trial and judgment which the Egyptians\nsupposed the soul of a man to undergo before he was allowed to enter\nthe regions of rest and happiness.\u201d[48]\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015R. S. Poole (in Smith\u2019s\nBible Dictionary on \u201cEgypt,\u201d p. 675) says: \u201cThe great doctrines of\nthe immortality of the soul, man\u2019s responsibility, and future rewards\nand punishments were taught\u201d [in Egypt]. \u201cThe Egyptian religion in\nits reference to man was a system of responsibility, mainly depending\non future rewards and punishments.\u201d \u201cEvery Israelite who came out of\nEgypt must have been fully acquainted with the universally recognized\ndoctrines of the immortality of the soul, man\u2019s responsibility,\nand future rewards and punishments.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Dr. J. P. Thompson, in\nsupplementing this article on \u201cEgypt,\u201d refers to Dr. Lepsius as having\ngiven the earliest known text of the [Egyptian] \u201cBook of the Dead\u201d\n\u201cwhich contains the important doctrines of the immortality of the soul,\nthe rehabilitation of the body, the judgment of both good and bad, the\npunishment of the wicked, the justification of the righteous and their\nadmission to the blessed state of the gods\u201d (p. 688). See also Bib.\nSacra, Oct. 1867, p. 775, and Jany. 1869, p. 190.\n\nHence we must conclude that even if it were possible that the Hebrews\nhad no knowledge of the future life before they went to Egypt, they\nmust have learned it there. Really however, the fact that this doctrine\nappears in the oldest records of Egyptian antiquity proves that it\ncame down from Noah\u2015\u2015not to say from Adam. It was not indigenous\nand original with Egypt. It was there because Egypt had retained the\nprimitive beliefs of the race.\n\nIn concluding this argument, I refer to the allusions which appear\nin the Psalms to the future life (_e. g._ Ps. 17, and 37, and 49, and\n73),\u2015\u2015which speak of it not as being then a new revelation, just sprung\nupon the universal darkness of all foregoing ages, but distinctly as\nan old doctrine, to be learned by \u201cgoing into the sanctuary of God\u201d\nand there hearing the old Hebrew scriptures publicly read; and also to\nbe seen as illustrated and assumed in the records of God\u2019s judgments\nin time on such sinners as those of the old world, and of Sodom,\nand as Egypt\u2019s hardened king. Let it suffice here to specify Ps. 73,\nwhose author says of himself: \u201cI was envious at the foolish when I\nsaw the prosperity of the wicked. It was too painful for me until I\nwent into the \u2666sanctuary of God; then I understood _their end_. Surely\nthou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into\ndestruction.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u201cBut [all unlike _their_ doom] thou wilt guide me with\nthy counsel and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven\nbut thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. My\nflesh and my heart faileth; but thou art the strength of my heart and\nmy portion forever.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The good men who wrote thus, and the worshiping\ncongregations who sung these rapturous strains in their temple worship\nwere not in utter darkness as to the final doom of the wicked, or as to\nthe glorious future life of the righteous.\n\n * * * * *\n\nIn closing this volume it only remains to refer in a word to the\nprogressive developments of God\u2019s truth as manifest in these closing\nportions of the Pentateuch. Of previous points and periods in this\nhistory as developing progress I have spoken when the scenes were\nfresh in our reading and thought;\u2015\u2015particularly of the age before\nthe flood; of the scenes in the life of Jacob and Joseph; of the\nscenes of the Exodus and at Sinai; of the civil code and also of\nthe religious Institutes.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The few incidents of history during the\nforty years of wilderness life bring us new lessons, some exceedingly\ninstructive in regard to the intercessory prayers of Moses; many sadly\npainful, touching the unbelief, the murmuring, the sensuality, and the\nidolatrous tendencies of Israel. If it were not that apostasies from\nGod occur in our own age, not at all less guilty considering the light\nsinned against, though less revolting perhaps to the current religious\nsentiments of the age, we might perhaps afford to pass these historic\ndevelopments with little notice. Alas, that they should reveal sins\nof the human heart which it so much behooves us to study for our own\nadmonition!\n\nThe book of Deuteronomy is an acquisition to the moral forces of the\nPentateuch. Speaking now specially of its first eleven chapters and of\nits last nine; _i. e._ of the review which Moses gives of the scenes\nof Sinai and of his accumulation of predicted woes and of appeals\nat once tender and terrible in the last chapters, it is not easy to\nover-estimate their moral power. Let us hope that they thrilled the\nvery heart of that generation and toned up their religious life with\nimpulses not only deep and strong but abiding. That generation, then\nabout to enter Canaan under Joshua, was unquestionably the best,\nmorally, which appears throughout the entire history of Israel. For\nproof of this estimate of them it must suffice to refer to the spirit\nmanifested in Josh. 1: 16\u201318 and in the entire scenes of Josh. 22, and\nindeed in the history throughout this book of Joshua.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Leaving Egypt\nwhile yet young or wilderness born; mostly uncontaminated with her\nidolatries and pollutions of moral life, looking upon the scenes of\nthe Exodus and of Sinai with young eyes and susceptible souls; trained\nunder Moses forty years; taking the ritual of religious worship in\nits freshness, with hearts, let us hope in a good measure tender to\nits first strong impressions\u2015\u2015they give us certainly the best fruits\nof this wonderful moral and religious training. So many fearers of\nGod\u2015\u2015so large a host imbued with the spirit of obedience to God\u2019s\nauthority\u2015\u2015the world had never seen before. They were prepared of\nGod for the conquest of Canaan. They are living witnesses that the\ndiscipline of those desert wanderings was not in vain\u2015\u2015witnesses also\nto the moral and spiritual forces of the new revelations which God made\nof himself during those forty years from Egypt to Canaan.\n\n\n\n\n Advertisements.\n\n\n COWLES\u2019S NOTES ON THE OLD TESTAMENT\n\n =I. THE MINOR PROPHETS.=\n 1 vol., 12mo. $2.00.\n\n =II. EZEKIEL AND DANIEL.=\n 1 vol., 12mo. $2.25.\n\n =III. ISAIAH.=\n 1 vol., 12mo. $2.25.\n\n =IV. PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, AND THE SONG OF SOLOMON.=\n 1 vol., 12mo. $2.00.\n\n =V. NOTES ON JEREMIAH.=\n 1 vol., 12mo. $2.25.\n\n =By Rev. HENRY COWLES, D. D.=\n\n * * * * *\n\n _From The Christian Intelligencer, N. Y._\n\n\u201cThese works are designed for both pastor and people. They embody the\nresults of much research, and elucidate the text of sacred Scripture\nwith admirable force and simplicity. The learned professor, having\ndevoted many years to the close and devout study of the Bible, seems to\nhave become thoroughly furnished with all needful materials to produce\na useful and trustworthy commentary.\u201d\n\n _From Dr. Leonard Bacon, of Yale College._\n\n\u201cThere is, within my knowledge, no other work on the same portions of\nthe Bible, combining so much of the results of accurate scholarship\nwith so much common-sense and so much of a practical and devotional\nspirit.\u201d\n\n _From Rev. Dr. S. Wolcott, of Cleveland, Ohio._\n\n\u201cThe author, who ranks as a scholar with the most eminent graduates of\nYale College, has devoted years to the study of the Sacred Scriptures\nin the original tongues, and the fruits of careful and independent\nresearch appear in this work. With sound scholarship the writer\ncombines the unction of deep religious experience, an earnest love of\nthe truth, with a remarkable freedom from all fanciful speculation, a\ncandid judgment, and the faculty of expressing his thoughts clearly and\nforcibly.\u201d\n\n _From President E. B. Fairfield, of Hillsdale College._\n\n\u201cI am very much pleased with your Commentary. It meets a want which has\nlong been felt. For various reasons, the writings of the prophets have\nconstituted a sealed book to a large part of the ministry as well as\nmost of the common people. They are not sufficiently understood to make\nthem appreciated. Your brief notes relieve them of all their want of\ninterest to common readers. I think you have said just enough.\u201d\n\n\n _D. Appleton & Company\u2019s Publications._\n\n 18 CHRISTIAN CENTURIES.\n BY\n THE REV. JAMES WHITE,\n AUTHOR OF A HISTORY OF FRANCE.\n 1 Vol. 12mo. Cloth. 538 pages $1.75.\n\n =CONTENTS.=\n\nI. Cent.\u2015\u2015The Bad Emperors.\u2015\u2015II. The Good Emperors.\u2015\u2015III. Anarchy\nand Confusion.\u2015\u2015Growth of the Christian Church.\u2015\u2015IV. The Removal\nto Constantinople.\u2015\u2015Establishment of Christianity.\u2015\u2015Apostasy\nof Julian.\u2015\u2015Settlement of the Goths.\u2015\u2015V. End of the Roman\nEmpire.\u2015\u2015Formation of Modern States.\u2015\u2015Growth of Ecclesiastical\nAuthority.\u2015\u2015VI. Belisarius and Narses in Italy\u2015\u2015Settlement of the\nLombards.\u2015\u2015Laws of Justinian.\u2015\u2015Birth of Mohammed.\u2015\u2015VII. Power of Rome\nsupported by the Monks.\u2015\u2015Conquests of the Mohammedans.\u2015\u2015VIII. Temporal\nPower of the Popes.\u2015\u2015The Empire of Charlemagne.\u2015\u2015IX. Dismemberment\nof Charlemagne\u2019s Empire.\u2015\u2015Danish Invasion of England.\u2015\u2015Weakness\nof France.\u2015\u2015Reign of Alfred.\u2015\u2015X. Darkness and Despair.\u2015\u2015XI. The\nCommencement of Improvement.\u2015\u2015Gregory the Seventh.\u2015\u2015First\nCrusade.\u2015\u2015XII. Elevation of Learning.\u2015\u2015Power of the Church.\u2015\u2015Thomas \u00e0\nBecket.\u2015\u2015XIII. First Crusade against Heretics.\u2015\u2015The Albigenses.\u2015\u2015Magna\nCharta.\u2015\u2015Edward I.\u2015\u2015XIV. Abolition of the Order of Templars.\u2015\u2015Rise\nof Modern Literature.\u2015\u2015Schism of the Church.\u2015\u2015XV. Decline of\nFeudalism.\u2015\u2015Agincourt.\u2015\u2015Joan of Arc.\u2015\u2015The Printing Press.\u2015\u2015Discovery\nof America.\u2015\u2015XVI. The Reformation.\u2015\u2015The Jesuits.\u2015\u2015Policy of\nElizabeth.\u2015\u2015XVII. English Rebellion and Revolution.\u2015\u2015Despotism of Louis\nthe Fourteenth.\u2015\u2015XVIII. India.\u2015\u2015America.\u2015\u2015France.\u2015\u2015Index.\n\n =OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.=\n\nMr. White possesses in a high degree the power of epitomizing\u2015\u2015that\nfaculty which enables him to distil the essence from a mass of facts,\nand to condense it in description; a battle, siege, or other remarkable\nevent, which, without his skill, might occupy a chapter, is compressed\nwithin the compass of a page or two, and this without the sacrifice of\nany feature essential or significant.\u2015\u2015CENTURY.\n\nMr. White has been very happy in touching upon the salient points in\nthe history of each century in the Christian era, and yet has avoided\nmaking his work a mere bald analysis or chronological table.\u2015\u2015PROV.\nJOURNAL.\n\nIn no single volume of English literature can so satisfying and clear\nan idea of the historical character of these eighteen centuries be\nobtained.\u2015\u2015HOME JOURNAL.\n\nIn this volume we have THE BEST EPITOME OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY EXTANT.\nThis is high praise but at the same time JUST. The author\u2019s peculiar\nsuccess is in making the great points and facts of history stand out in\nsharp relief. His style may be said to be STEREOSCOPIC, and the effect\nis exceedingly impressive.\u2015\u2015PROVIDENCE PRESS.\n\n\n =A Complete Biblical Library.=\n\n THE\n TREASURY OF BIBLE KNOWLEDGE:\n BEING\n =A DICTIONARY=\n OF\n\n The Books, Persons, Places, Events, and other matters, of which\n mention is made in Holy Scripture. Intended to establish its\n authority and illustrate its contents.\n\n By REV. JOHN AYRE, M. A.,\n OF GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.\n\n _Illustrated with many hundred woodcuts and fifteen full-page\n steel plates, drawn by Justyne, from original photographs by\n Graham, and five colored maps. 1 thick volume, 12mo, 944 pages.\n Price, Cloth, $4.00; Half Calf, $5._\n\n _Sent free by mail on receipt of the price._\n\n\u201cThe general object of this work is to promote the intelligent use\nof the Sacred Volume by furnishing a mass of information respecting\nPalestine, and the manners, customs, religion, literature, arts, and\nattainments of the inhabitants; an account of the countries and races\nwith which the Hebrews had relations, together with some notice of\nall the persons and places mentioned in the Bible and Apocrypha. The\nhistory and authority of the books themselves are discussed conjointly\nand severally. I have been anxious to study the best authorities for\nwhat is asserted, and to bring up the information to the most modern\nstandard. I have not written hastily, therefore, but have spent some\nyears in the compilation of this volume.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Extract from the Preface._\n\n\u201cAmong the books which should find a place in the collection of every\nChristian man, who seeks to have in his possession any thing beyond a\nBible and hymn-book, we know of none more valuable than \u2018The Treasury\nof Bible Knowledge.\u2019 It is in all respects the best, as it is the\nmost convenient manual for the Biblical student yet published. We hope\nto see this work in the hands of every Sunday-school and Bible-class\nteacher.\u201d\u2015\u2015_American Baptist._\n\n\u201c* * * One of the most valuable publications ever issued by that\nhouse.\u201d\u2015\u2015_New Yorker._\n\n =D. APPLETON & COMPANY,=\n Publishers and Booksellers,\n _549 & 551 Broadway, New York_.\n\n\n _D. APPLETON & CO.\u2019S PUBLICATIONS._\n\n BIBLE TEACHINGS IN NATURE.\n By the Rev. HUGH MacMILLAN\n 1 Vol., 12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.50.\n\n _From the N. Y. Observer._\n\n\u201cThese are truly original and delightful discourses, in which\ninvestigations of natural science are skilfully and often eloquently\nemployed to establish divine revelation, and to illustrate its truths.\u201d\n\n _From the Hartford Morning Post._\n\n\u201cThis is a work of rare merit in its way, and may be read with great\nprofit and interest by lovers of Nature\u2015\u2015by those who have the gift of\n_insight_, and who can look up \u2018through Nature to Nature\u2019s God\u2019 and see\nthe \u2018invisible power and Godhead in the things which He has made.\u2019\u201d\n\n _From the Eastern Argus._\n\n\u201cThe healthy mind delights in the beauties and mysteries of Nature, and\nthis volume will be found both instructive and interesting.\u201d\n\n _From the Daily Enquirer._\n\n\u201cThis is a beautifully written work, intended to make the studies of\nthe Bible and of Nature doubly attractive, by pointing out the harmony\nwhich exists between them as revealed to the earnest students of both.\u201d\n\n _From the Norfolk County Journal._\n\n\u201cThe author sees God everywhere revealed in the development of\nNature,\u2015\u2015finds Him in the works of pure and unobtrusive beauty; in the\ngrand and impressive in scenery, and in the wonderful manifestations\nwith which the world abounds.\u201d\n\n\n Musings over the \u201cChristian Year\u201d\n AND\n \u201cLyra Innocentium.\u201d\n\n By CHARLOTTE MARY YONGE.\n\n Together with a Few Gleanings of Recollections of the\n Rev. John Keble, gathered by Several Friends.\n\n _One small thick 12mo. \u00b7 Printed on tinted paper.\n Price, $2.00._\n\n\u201cThe \u2018Christian Year,\u2019 by Rev. John Keble, has found a place in the\nhearts of pious Churchmen, second only to that of the \u2018Pilgrim\u2019s\nProgress\u2019 among Christians generally. It consists of poems on all the\nchurch-days of the year, in which the deepest thoughts of a saint, a\npoet, a scholar, and a pastor, when stirred with the strongest feelings\nboth of Christian and of man, find expression; and these \u2018Musings\u2019 of\nMiss Yonge will interest every admirer of that famous work. In a series\nof annotations on these poems, Miss Yonge has sought to seize and\nexpress the subtle meaning of the poet, and explain a few difficulties\nin their arrangement and allusions. Nearly one-third of the book is\noccupied with recollections of Rev. John Keble, in which is presented\nwith singular distinctness the life of one of the saintliest men of\nmodern times. The style of Miss Yonge is one of charming purity and\nsimplicity, and the entire volume as a book of devotion will be read\nwith profit by all Christians.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Church Journal._\n\n\u201cAll the principal religious festivals of the year are appropriately\nalluded to in this volume, with suitable reflections thereon. The book\npartakes more of a series of sermons than any thing else, although\nprayers are occasionally introduced. All whose religious views\ncoincide with those expressed in the work will find it interesting and\ninstructive.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Rochester Democrat._\n\n D. APPLETON & CO.,\n 549 & 551 BROADWAY, NEW YORK.\n\n\n The Recovery of Jerusalem.\n\n BY\n\n Capt. WILSON, R. E., and Capt. WARREN, R. E., ETC., ETC.\n\n _1 vol., 8vo. \u00b7 Cloth. \u00b7 With Maps and Illustrations._\n\n Price, $3.50.\n\n\u201cThis is a narrative of exploration and discovery in the City of\nJerusalem and the Holy Land. It is a volume of unusual interest\nto the student of antiquities, and throws much light upon what was\nalready partially known about the Holy City, and opens up many curious\nspeculations and suggestions about things that were entirely unknown\nuntil the excavations and explorations commenced which the book\nfaithfully records. The maps and illustrations much enhance the\ninterest, and aid in a thorough understanding of the things described.\nIt is a volume of over 400 pages, 8vo., bound in cloth, and altogether\nbeautifully presented.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Springfield Republican._\n\n\n Christ in Modern Life.\n\n _SERMONS PREACHED AT ST. JAMES\u2019S CHAPEL._\n\n By Rev. STOPFORD A. BROOKE.\n\n 1 vol., 12mo, Cloth \u00b7 Price, $2.00.\n\nThe main thought which underlies this volume is, that the ideas which\nChrist made manifest on earth are capable of endless expansion, to\nsuit the wants of men in every age; and that they do expand, developing\ninto new forms of larger import and wider application, in a direct\nproportion to that progress of mankind, of which they are both root\nand sap. If we look long and earnestly enough, we shall find in them\nthe explanation and solution not only of our religious, but even of our\npolitical and social problems. All that is herein said is rested upon\nthe truth that in Christ was Life, and that this Life, in the thoughts\nand acts which flowed from it, was, and is, and always will be, the\nlight of the race of man.\n\n D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, New York.\n\n\n LECTURE-ROOM NOTES.\n\n VAN DOREN\u2019S SUGGESTIVE COMMENTARY.\n\n D. APPLETON & CO., Broadway, New York; R. DICKINSON,\n 73 Farringdon St., London.\n\n _The following Scholars are interested in the Series_:\n\n=GENESIS.=\u2015\u2015Professor BEECHER, Auburn Theological Seminary.\n\n=PSALMS.=\u2015\u2015Professor I. MURPHY, D.D., Belfast Theological Seminary.\n\n=ECCLESIASTES AND PROVERBS.=\u2015\u2015L. YOUNG, D.D., Virginia.\n\n=ISAIAH.=\u2015\u2015Professor SMYTHE, D.D., Londonderry Theological Seminary.\n\n=MATTHEW.=\u2015\u2015Professor J. VERNAHAN, Ph.D., London.\n\n=LUKE.=\u2015\u2015W. H. VAN DOREN, D.D., Chicago. 2 vols. (_Now ready._)\n\n=JOHN.=\u2015\u2015W. H. VAN DOREN, D.D., Chicago. 2 vols. (_Now ready._)\n\n=ACTS.=\u2015\u2015W. R. GORDON, D. D., New Jersey.\n\n=ROMANS.=\u2015\u2015THOMAS ROBINSON, D. D., Morpeth, England. 2 vols.\n (_Now ready._)\n\n=GALATIANS.=\u2015\u2015Professor T. CROSKEY, Londonderry.\n\n=PHILIPPIANS AND COLOSSIANS.=\u2015\u2015PETER DOAG, D.D., Edinburgh.\n\n=HEBREWS.=\u2015\u2015Rev. THOMAS DOGGETT, Niagara.\n\n=CATHOLIC EPISTLES.=\u2015\u2015J. DEMAREST, D.D., New Jersey.\n\n =Rev. Dr. FAUSSET=, _York, England, the Commentator_.\n\n\u201cI know no exposition of Scripture so terse, so suggestive, and yet so\nfull and so clear.\u201d\n\n =DEAN ALFORD=, _the Commentator_.\n\nAfter a long, friendly letter, he apologizes thus: \u201cI have had time\nonly to read sixty pages. It will be a most useful work.\u201d\n\n =Rev. CHAS. LEE=, _Havestock Hill_.\n\n\u201cThe work of Dr. Van Doren contains the maximum of thought in the\nminimum of space.\u201d\n\n =THE HOMILIST=, _London_.\n\n\u201cThe idea of this series is an unusually happy one. It is pre\u00ebminently\nsuggestive.\u201d\n\n =THE FREEMAN=, _London_.\n\n\u201cThis work is much after our own heart. These volumes are among our\nbest helps.\u201d\n\n =THE CHURCHMAN=, _London_.\n\n\u201cThis work contains under each sentence a few brief, well-chosen notes,\nwhich will be found of great value.\u201d\n\n =SWORD AND TROWEL=, _Spurgeon, Editor_.\n\n\u201cThis commentary is novel in its arrangement, and well sustains its\ntitle of suggestive.\u201d\n\n =CHRISTIAN WORLD=, _London_.\n\n\u201cDr. Van Doren\u2019s work is more condensed than Lange\u2019s, containing the\npith and marrow of criticism. It will be prized by all who love the\ndoctrines of the Reformation.\u201d\n\n =MORNING STAR=, _London_.\n\n\u201cIn this work are condensed the thought and criticism of many volumes.\nWe shall hail with delight a complete work on this admirable plan.\u201d\n\n =J. C. RYLE, D.D.=, _Commentator_.\n\n\u201cA curious and original work. It succeeds in supplying an astonishing\namount of thought and criticism in very few lines.\u201d\n\n =Rev. JAMES HAMILTON, D.D.=\n\n\u201cI am sure Dr. Van Doren will have the gratitude of all whose books are\nfew and whose time is precious.\u201d\n\n =Rev. J. JONES=, _of Belfast_.\n\n\u201cTo ministers and school-teachers I would say, that they will here find\nan amount of knowledge, in my judgment, not to be found in the same\nspace anywhere else.\u201d\n\n =W. L. ALEXANDER, D.D.=, _Edinburgh_.\n\n\u201cI am much pleased with the plan, and with the success with which it\nhas been carried out.\u201d\n\n =THE FORWARD=, _London_.\n\n\u201cThis work is cheap, compact, and suited to this hard-working age. The\nplan is new and useful.\u201d\n\n =BAPTIST MESSENGER=, _London_.\n\n\u201cIn ordinary cases we do not consult commentators in two cases out of\nten with real advantage. But in the \u2018Suggestive Commentary\u2019 we have not\nin a single instance been disappointed.\u201d\n\n =BRITISH QUARTERLY=, _London_.\n\n\u201cDr. Van Doren, in the form of short sentences, brings together the\ngist of all previous commentators, and supplies abundance of hints to\nthose who have but little leisure.\u201d\n\n =ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN=, _London_.\n\n\u201cTo clergymen and students this work is invaluable. We have brought the\nwork under the special notice of our friends in private.\u201d\n\n =WESLEYAN TIMES=, _London_.\n\n\u201cAn excellent idea, admirably worked out. We have tested the work on\nthe Lord\u2019s Prayer, and we cordially commend it.\u201d\n\n =WESLEYAN METHODIST TIMES.=\n\n\u201cIt is a work to make men think, and not save them from thinking.\nThese volumes will be welcome to many a student of the Scriptures.\nHard-worked ministers and Bible-class teachers will be well repaid\nby studying them.\u201d\n\n =THE INDEPENDENT=, _London_.\n\n\u201cThis is a remarkable work, and valuable as well. If there ever was\n_multum in parvo_, it is here found. The labor in preparing it must\nhave been immense. The work is eminently suggestive, and will save an\nenormous amount of time.\u201d\n\n =L. HALSEY, D.D.=, _Professor Theological Seminary, Chicago_.\n\n\u201cEvery page bears marks of thorough and accurate scholarship, and of\npatient, careful study. It is the most _readable_ commentary we have\never met. It is impossible to say things in quicker time or narrower\nspace than he has said them.\u201d\n\n =Rev. Prof. SWING=, _late of Miami University_.\n\n\u201cIn my pulpit preparations, I prefer the \u2018Suggestive Commentary\u2019 to\nLange.\u201d\n\n =PRINCETON REVIEW.=\n\n\u201cThis work has been highly recommended by the journals of Great Britain.\nIt certainly evinces thought, labor, and learning.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n Footnotes.\n\n\n 1 \u2013 \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea\n\n 2 \u2013 Lay sermons on spontaneous generation; pp. 364\u2013366.\n\n 3 \u2013 Dr. A. M\u2019Caul in \u201cAids to Faith,\u201d page 241 renders\n it\u2015\u2015\u201cAnd evening happened and morning happened\u2015\u2015one day.\u201d\n Precisely this is the sense of the Septuagint and of\n the Syriac. See also Tayler Lewis in Lange\u2019s Genesis,\n pp. 132, 133.\n\n 4 \u2013 See the usage in David (Ps. 55: 17), \u201cEvening and morning\n and at noon will I pray.\u201d\n\n 5 \u2013 \u05db\u05e8\u05d0\n\n 6 \u2013 The following synoptical view of the passages in which \u05db\u05e8\u05d0\n or \u05d1\u05db\u05e8\u05d0 occurs is given in the Bibliotheca Sacra (Oct. 1856,\n pp. 763, 764) by Prof. E. P. Barrows.\u2015\u2015\u201cIt is used,\n\n I. _Of the original creation_: 1. Of the world generally,\n or parts of it: Gen. 1: 1 and 1: 21 and 2: 3, 4 and Ps.\n 89: 12 and 148: 5 and Isa. 40: 26 and 40: 28 and 42: 5 and\n 45: 18 (twice), Amos 4: 13. Also Isa. 45: 7 (twice); making\n fourteen times in all.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u20152. Of rational man: Gen. 1: 27\n (thrice) and 5: 1, 2 (twice) and 6: 7 and Deut. 4: 32 and\n Isa. 45: 12 and Eccl. 12: 1 and Mal. 2: 10. Here also we\n may conveniently place Ps. 89: 47; twelve times.\n\n II. _Of a subsequent creation_: 1. Of the successive\n generations of men, Ps. 102: 18 and of animal beings, Ps.\n 104: 30.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u20152. Of nations under the figure of individuals,\n Ezek. 21: 35 (Eng. version v. 30) and 28: 13, 15; three\n times in Ezekiel only.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u20153. Of particular men as the\n instruments of God\u2019s purposes; Isa. 54: 16 (twice).\u2015\u2015\u2015\u20154.\n Of miraculous events; Ex. 34: 10 and Num. 16: 30 and Jer.\n 31: 22.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u20155. Of events foretold in prophecy; Isa. 48: 7.\n\n III. _Of creation in a moral sense_: 1. Of a clean heart\n and holy affections and actions; Ps. 51: 10 and Isa. 45: 8\n and 57: 19.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u20152. Of Israel as God\u2019s covenant people, or\n of a member of Israel; Isa. 43: 1, 7, 15.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u20153. Of a new\n and glorious order of things for Israel and in Israel; Isa.\n 4: 5 and 41: 20 and 65: 17, 18 (twice).\n\n An examination of these passages (half of which relate to\n the original creation) will show that in every instance\n the idea is that of bringing into being by divine power.\n Whether that which is created is new matter, or something\n else that is new, must be determined by the context.\u201d\n\n 7 \u2013 See Bib. Sacra, April, 1855, pp. 325, 326.\n\n 8 \u2013 The word, \u201cgenerations,\u201d obtains the secondary sense of\n family history and then the sense of history in general,\n from the fact that the earliest written historical records\n were so largely made up of genealogies\u2015\u2015the records of\n human generations.\n\n 9 \u2013 Darwin\u2019s Origin of Species, p. 420.\n\n 10 \u2013 \u201cThe Quadrumana and all the higher mammals are probably\n derived from an ancient marsupial animal, and this,\n through a long line of diversified forms, either from some\n reptile-like or some amphibian-like creature, and this\n again from some fish-like animal. In the dim obscurity of\n the past we can see that the early progenitor of all the\n vertebrat\u00e6 must have been an aquatic animal, provided with\n branchi\u00e6 [gills] with the two sexes united in the same\n individual, and with the most important organs of the body\n (such as the brain and the heart) imperfectly developed.\n This animal seems to have been more like the larv\u00e6 of our\n existing marine Ascidians than any other known form.\u201d\n Darwin\u2019s Descent of Man, vol. 2, 372.\n\n 11 \u2013 \u201cIf my theory be true, it is indisputable that before the\n lowest Silurian stratum was deposited, long periods must\n have elapsed, as long as, or probably far longer than, the\n whole interval from the Silurian age to the present day;\n and that, during these vast yet quite unknown periods of\n time, the world swarmed with living creatures.\u201d Darwin\u2019s\n Origin of Species, p. 269.\n\n 12 \u2013 These are his words\u2015\u2015\u201cWhy then is not every geological\n formation and every stratum full of such intermediate\n links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely\n graduated organic chain; and this perhaps is the most\n obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against\n my theory. The explanation lies as I believe in the\n extreme imperfection of the geological records.\u201d\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015And\n again\u2015\u2015\u201cHe who rejects these views on the nature [_i. e._\n the defects] of the geological record will rightly reject\n my whole theory. For he may ask in vain: Where are the\n numberless transitional links which must formerly have\n connected the closely allied or representative species\n found in the several stages of the great formations? He\n may ask, Where are the remains of those numerous organisms\n which must have existed long before the first bed of the\n Silurian system was deposited?\u201d Origin of Species, pp.\n 246, 299.\n\n 13 \u2013 See Thompson\u2019s \u201cMan in Genesis and in Geology,\u201d pp. 88\u201390,\n and Lyell on the Antiquity of Man, pp. 17\u201329.\n\n 14 \u2013 Lyell\u2019s Antiquity of Man, pp. 43 and 204.\n\n 15 \u2013 See Report upon the Physics and Hydraulics of the\n Mississippi River by Capt. A. A. Humphreys and Lieut.\n H. L. Abbott; 1861, pp. 435.\n\n The following extract will impress the reader as at once\n definite and reliable.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u201cIf it be assumed that the rate\n of progress has been uniform to the present day\u2015\u2015and there\n are some considerations connected with the manner in which\n the river pushes the bar into the gulf each year which\n tend to establish the correctness of that opinion\u2015\u2015the\n number of years which have elapsed since the river began\n to advance into the gulf can be computed. The present\n rate of progress of the mouth may be obtained by a careful\n comparison of the progress of all the mouths of the\n river as shown by the maps of Capt. Talbot, United States\n Engineer, 1838, and of the United States Coast Survey in\n 1851\u2015\u2015the only maps that admit of such comparison. They\n give two hundred and sixty-two feet for the mean yearly\n advance of all the passes. This mean advance of all the\n passes represents correctly the advance of the river....\n Adopting this rate of progress (two hundred and sixty-two\n feet per annum) four thousand four hundred years have\n elapsed since the river began to advance into the gulf.\u201d\n Bib. Sacra, April, 1873, p. 331.\n\n 16 \u2013 Hodge\u2019s Systematic Theology, vol. 2, p. 33.\n\n 17 \u2013 See Lyell\u2019s Antiquity of Man, pp. 9\u201311.\n\n 18 \u2013 See \u201cAntiquity and Unity of the Human Race,\u201d by Rev.\n Ebenezer Burgess, pp. 25\u201330.\n\n 19 \u2013 Josephus states explicitly that Samuel and Saul combined\n fill out 40 years.\n\n 20 \u2013 It is a telling fact that according to Julius Africanus,\n Manetho\u2019s numbers for the entire reigns of all the kings\n foot up 5404 years, while the aggregate duration of all\n the dynasties (within the same chronological termini) is\n 3555 years\u2015\u2015_i. e._ the sum of all the dynasties is less\n by 1849 years than the sum of all the kings\u2019 reigns which\n make up those dynasties. See Burgess on the Antiquity of\n Man, pp. 70, 73.\n\n 21 \u2013 Bunsen is cited not as the best authority, but as one\n of the most strenuous for an exceedingly, not to say\n excessively, long duration.\n\n 22 \u2013 \u05d9\u05d3\u05d5\u05da\n\n 23 \u2013 Or this one hundred and twenty years may be the reduced\n standard duration of human life, the thought being\u2015\u2015So\n long a probation, almost a thousand years, is too much; my\n Spirit shall not prolong his effort in vain to this extent;\n I reduce the average life-period to one hundred and twenty\n years.\n\n 24 \u2013 See Smith\u2019s Bible Dictionary, \u201cNoah,\u201d for numerous\n traditions of the flood.\n\n 25 \u2013 \u05e9\u05d0\u05dc\n\n 26 \u2013 \u05e9\u05dc\u05d4\n\n 27 \u2013 Many an American reader will be reminded of John Brown\n striking for the redemption of the American slave.\n\n 28 \u2013 See on the Scripture usage of \u201cthe angel of the Lord,\u201d\n p. 130.\n\n 29 \u2013 \u05db\u05d1\u05d9\u05e1\n\n 30 \u2013 Hengstenberg\u2019s Egypt and Moses, pp. 115 and 116.\n\n 31 \u2013 \u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05d1\n\n 32 \u2013 That this fear was by no means groundless appears in the\n panic which smote their hearts when they saw Pharaoh\u2019s\n host pursuing (Ex. 14: 10\u201312), and also in the unbelieving\n fear manifested on hearing the report of ten of the spies\n returned from their forty days traversing of Canaan (Num.\n 13: 28, 31\u201333, and 14: 1\u20134).\n\n 33 \u2013 Connecting the fact given in profane history that Egypt\n worshiped the ox and the cow as gods, with the fact of\n sacred history\u2015\u2015that all the first-born of their cattle\n fell in this fearful plague, we shall understand how\n signally God \u201cexecuted judgment on _Egypt\u2019s gods_.\u201d\n\n 34 \u2013 See Bibliotheca Sacra, Oct., 1863, p. 881.\n\n 35 \u2013 The term \u201cBekhen\u201d is used for any kind of building\u2015\u2015a\n temple, palace, or even a common house. Descriptions\n of what they built correspond to the sacred record,\n \u201ctreasure-cities.\u201d\n\n 36 \u2013 See Burgess on \u201cThe Antiquity of Man,\u201d pp. 68\u201384, on the\n unreliability of Manetho\u2019s lists and on the relative value\n of other authorities in Egyptian chronologies.\n\n 37 \u2013 The passages which treat of it are Ex. 16: 14\u201336 and\n Num. 11: 7\u20139 and Deut. 8: 3, 16 and Josh. 5: 12, Ps. 78:\n 24, 25 and Wisdom 16: 20, 21.\n\n 38 \u2013 The precise date of the scenes at Kadesh (Num. 20) may be\n inferred from the death of Aaron which followed shortly\n after (Num. 20: 23\u201329), and is definitely dated (Num.\n 33: 38), viz. on the first day of the fifth month in the\n fortieth year from Egypt. The \u201cfirst month\u201d therefore,\n spoken of Num. 20: 1 must have been that of the fortieth\n year.\n\n 39 \u2013 Bearing in mind that the Israelites had lived in the\n valley of the Nile, all unused to mountain scenery, we\n may readily understand how these scenes around the base\n of Sinai must have impressed them. It is quite in place\n here to bring before our mind the physical features of\n this wonderful pile of rocks and cliffs. A modern writer\n supplies the following sketch:\n\n \u201cThe entire Sinaitic group presents the most impressive\n indications of the terrible convulsions by which its\n labyrinth of mountain heights has been rent and torn since\n its first upheaval. From the summit of Mt. Serbal, as\n from a watchtower in high heaven, one looks down upon a\n perfect sea of mountain ridges, often precipitous, always\n intensely steep, and culminating in a sharp edge at the\n height of two, three, or four thousand feet from their\n base. The entire line of these mountains is seen to have\n been rent transversely by clefts from the base to the\n summit, filled with injections of basaltic rocks, striping\n the mountain on every side with black bands. The whole\n assemblage is a perfect ganglion of ridges thrown up in\n wild confusion with its strata dislocated, disjointed,\n dipping in all directions and at every angle from\n horizontal to perpendicular. The mountains of Sinai form\n no system, no regular ranges, like the Alps, the Appenines,\n the Pyrenees, or the mountains of America.\u201d (Bib. Sac.\n April, 1867, p. 253).\n\n \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015Dr. E. Robinson gives his impressions from personal\n inspection\u2015\u2015thus: \u201cHere the interior and loftier peaks of\n the great circle of Sinai began to open upon us\u2015\u2015black,\n rugged, desolate summits; and as we advanced, the dark\n and frowning front of Sinai itself (the present Horeb\n of the monks) began to appear.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015The scenery reminded\n me strongly of the mountains around the Mer de Glace\n in Switzerland. I had never seen a spot more wild and\n desolate.\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015As we advanced the valley still opened\n wider and wider, shut in on each side by lofty granite\n ridges with rugged, shattered peaks a thousand feet high,\n while the face of Horeb rose directly before us. Both my\n companion and myself involuntarily exclaimed: \u201cHere is\n room enough for a large encampment\u201d! Reaching the top\n of the ascent, a fine broad plain lay before us, sloping\n down gently toward the S. S. E., inclosed by rugged\n and venerable mountains of dark granite, stern, naked,\n splintered peaks and ridges, of indescribable grandeur;\n and terminated at the distance of more than a mile by the\n bold and awful front of Horeb, rising perpendicularly in\n frowning majesty from twelve to fifteen hundred feet high.\n It was a scene of solemn grandeur, and the associations\n which at the moment rushed upon our minds, were almost\n overwhelming.\u201d [Robinson\u2019s Researches Vol. I. p. 130,\n 131.]\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015This plain stretching out from the foot of this\n precipitous mount, is supposed to have been the identical\n place where the people were gathered to see the mountain\n all aflame\u2015\u2015to hear the sound of trumpet long and loud,\n and to listen to the voice of God proclaiming the words\n of his law.\n\n 40 \u2013 \u05e9\u05d5\u05d0\n\n 41 \u2013 The word necromancer comes from the Greek; necros\u2015\u2015a dead\n one; and \u201cmantis\u201d divination\u2015\u2015gaining superhuman knowledge\n from the dead.\n\n 42 \u2013 See a \u201cState trial in ancient Egypt,\u201d fully reported in\n Bib. Sacra, July, 1869, p. 577. This is written in the\n hieratic text; is known as \u201cThe Judicial Papyrus\u201d; is now\n in the museum of Turin and is presumed to be the official\n record.\n\n 43 \u2013 Of Ptolemy Philadelphus Prof. Wines says\u2015\u2015\u201cHe was\n delighted with the laws of Moses; pronounced his\n legislation wonderful; was astonished at the depth of his\n wisdom, and professed to have learned from him the true\n science of government.\u201d\u2015\u2015Wines\u2019 Commentaries. See also\n Josephus against Apion, p. 308.\n\n 44 \u2013 Prof. Wines\u2019 Commentaries on the Laws of the Ancient\n Hebrews, pp. 312\u2013388, a work which elaborates its\n theme very fully, substantiating its points by copious\n authorities.\n\n 45 \u2013 Taylor\u2019s Manual of History, p. 335. Moses and the Lord\n speaking through him (Deut. 1: 16, 17 and 16: 18\u201320)\n had announced this doctrine more than two thousand\n years before. It is fair to presume that the earlier\n promulgation had sent its influence down the ages to\n Justinian\u2019s time.\n\n 46 \u2013 Jacob might properly be called a \u201cSyrian\u201d as having lived\n full twenty years with Laban the Syrian in the great\n _Aram_ of the East. The point of his history where he was\n \u201cready to perish\u201d was that of the great famine in Canaan\n which drove him and his household into Egypt for bread.\n\n 47 \u2013 Greppo\u2019s Essay, p. 235.\n\n 48 \u2013 Greppo\u2019s Essay, p. 237.\n\n\n\n\n Transcriber\u2019s Notes.\n\n\n The following corrections have been made in the text:\n\n TOC:\n Sentence starting: (7) It is reckless....\n \u2013 \u2018recklesss\u2019 replaced with \u2018reckless\u2019\n ((7) It is reckless)\n\n Page 35:\n Sentence starting: But these differences....\n \u2013 \u2018discrepances\u2019 replaced with \u2018discrepancies\u2019\n (are not discrepancies)\n\n Page 61:\n Sentence starting: Placing 450 in the above....\n \u2013 \u2018A. D.\u2019 replaced with \u2018B. C.\u2019\n (Usher\u2019s figures B. C. 1491.)\n\n Page 67:\n Sentence starting: 8. Methuselah....\n \u2013 \u2018Methusaleh\u2019 replaced with \u2018Methuselah\u2019\n (8. Methuselah)\n\n Page 71:\n Sentence starting: This approximates toward harmony....\n \u2013 \u2018Baylonian\u2019 replaced with \u2018Babylonian\u2019\n (also the Babylonian, B. C. 6158,)\n Sentence starting: The approach toward harmony....\n \u2013 \u2018Baylonian\u2019 replaced with \u2018Babylonian\u2019\n (the Babylonian and the Chinese)\n\n Page 74:\n Sentence starting: Eratosthenes and Apollodorus,...\n \u2013 \u2018Appollodorus\u2019 replaced with \u2018Apollodorus\u2019\n (Eratosthenes and Apollodorus,)\n\n Page 165:\n Sentence starting: A coincidence so minute....\n \u2013 \u2018befor\u2019 replaced with \u2018before\u2019\n (might appear before the king)\n\n Page 178:\n Sentence starting: Like the somewhat similar....\n \u2013 \u2018Melchisedek\u2019 replaced with \u2018Melchizedek\u2019 for consistency\n (priest of Salem, Melchizedek,)\n\n Page 212:\n Sentence starting: If there were godly men....\n \u2013 \u2018iexpressible\u2019 replaced with \u2018inexpressible\u2019\n (with inexpressible hope and)\n\n Page 214:\n Sentence starting: The historian alludes to yet....\n \u2013 \u2018figheth\u2019 replaced with \u2018fighteth\u2019\n (Jehovah fighteth for them)\n Sentence starting: The case falls into the....\n \u2013 \u2018dipleasure\u2019 replaced with \u2018displeasure\u2019\n (his displeasure against sin,)\n\n Page 222:\n Sentence starting: THE EVENTS NEAR AND AT SINAI....\n \u2013 The header for Chapter XV was omitted from the text. It has\n been reproduced from the information in the Table of Contents.\n (THE EVENTS NEAR AND AT SINAI.)\n\n Page 412:\n Sentence starting: It was too painful for me....\n \u2013 \u2018sactuary\u2019 replaced with \u2018sanctuary\u2019\n (into the sanctuary of God;)","title":"The Pentateuch, in Its Progressive Revelations of God to Men","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":163980}