HEROD O TVS ♦ HISTORIC VS
BIBLE MASTERY
To acquire a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible
one must READ it to get an extensive view
of the subject matter, and STUDY it in
order to secure an extensive grasp
of its truths.
By
Rev. STERLING N. BROWN, A. M., D. D.
Howard University
Washington, D. C.
Copyright, 1907,
By Rev. Sterling N. Brown, A. M., D. D.
Washington, D. C.
DEDICATED
To that company of young men
whom the author has instructed
in the English Bible from time
to time, during a period of
twenty five years, at the Hoiv-
ard University School of Theol¬
ogy, and to all seekers after
a comprehensive knowledge of
God's work.
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
THE purpose of this book is to give a
comprehensive view of the Bible, by
noting its salient facts, general divisions, out¬
line study by books, and special studies in
Bible History and in allied topics.
Its interest centers in the fact that this one
volume embraces in its general scope the
broadest view of Bible study, and in that
by its arrangement and classification of the
essential features, a reasonable mastery of
the Bible may, with growing pleasure, be
acquired.
The reason for the preparation this book
is, that for several years as teacher of the
English Bible in the Theological Department
of Howard University, I have not found in
any one volume just what seemed to be need¬
ed by ordinary Bible students. The plan of
studies herein given has been tested in my
classes for years, and it is with enthusiastic
assurance that I commend it as a sure means
to a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible
as a whole.
These lessons are more of a compilation
from many sources than any attempt at orig¬
inality. It has been my aim to prepare a com¬
pendium of the whole Bible in the briefest
possible form comporting with clearness and
general interest. Many subjects are included,
but not treated exhaustively. A general view
of the whole, and not the details, is em¬
phasized. The Bible itself is to be studied
in connection with the text book.
Once getting a clear view of the Bible in its
entirety, and then in its related parts, the de¬
tails will be a pleasant life study. Much of the
failure to become interested in the study of
the Bible is due to the fact that it is too often
considered in its detached, rather than re¬
lated parts. As Bible Mastery may be con¬
sidered a composite production; and, as
credit is not specifically given in the book,
•this general statement of indebtedness to
others is here made.
Trusting that this work may lead to a
closer fellowship with God, through a knowl¬
edge of His Word, I send it forth.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
This book is the outgrowth of necessity. It
was a long cherished wish to find, in one vol¬
ume of convenient size, a manual of the Bible,
simple and yet comprehensive enough to em¬
brace all necessary help for a general mastery
of the English Bible.
Our first thought and contract with the
printer was for a fifty page booklet of notes
and excerpts from many sources. This was
to be used, with the Bible in hand, simply by
my own classes at the University. But once
begun, the work grew to a book of two hun¬
dred and fifty pages.
That which was started to meet a local
need has been sought from all directions,
showing the large demand for such work.
We disclaim originality but believe our ar¬
rangement and general plan are such that
the average student will find help in this
effort to grasp the connected lines of Bible
subjects. These facts are not thrown to¬
gether at random but in every case they are
arranged with the needs of the student in
mind. We know of no other small manual
that covers so much ground.
Bible Mastery is a composite production as
previously stated in the preface.
We are indebted especially to the sources
indicated below and also to many other books
which we have consulted.
"Companion To The Bible.'' "Bible Facts"—De Pu-Travis.
"God's Word Unfolded"—J T. Wheeler. "Bible Briefs"—G. C.
Needham. "Temple Opened"—W. H. Gill. "Bible Introduc¬
tion"—John W. Cook. "Broader Bible Study"—Alexander
Patterson. "Practical Outlines"—H. M. Hamill. "Bible Study"
—H. T. Sell. "History of The English Bible"—T. H. Pattison.
"Story of The Manuscripts"—George E. Merrell. "Bible Reading"
—George F. Pentecost. "Bible History"—W. G. Blaikie. "Bible
Studies"—Jessie L. Hurlbut. "The Analyzed Bible"—G. Camp¬
bell Morgan. "Life of Christ"—James Stalker, "Historical Series
from Bible Studies."
Prof. A. R. Gordon. Prof. J. D. Astley. Prof. F. K. Saunders,
Prof. Chas. A. Briggs, Prof. F. C. Burkitt, Prof. A. B. David¬
son, Conybeare & Howson, J. Patterson Smith, Prof. S. R.
Driver, Prof. Henry T. Fowler, Prof. Chas. F. Kent, Augustus H.
Strong.
THIRD EDITION
"Bible Mastery" has been placed on the
list of required books for Ministerial Study-
by the great Methodist denomination: it has
been adopted as a text book in several Theo¬
logical schools and is being used by many
Bible students.
This Third Edition is printed in grateful
acknowledgement of the uses made of it. May
it help to stimulate a genuine love for the
Bible.
Sterling N. Brown.
COMMENDATIONS
Bible Mastery, by the Rev. Dr. Sterling
N. Brown, has been prepared with a definite
object in view, namely, to serve the needs of
students of the Word who desire in one vol¬
ume accurate and fresh information relating
to the Bible. The book is the outcome of
practical work in the instruction of young
ministers, and the information gathered has
been placed in such a form as to help them
in their preparation to become intelligent ex¬
pounders of the Word of Life. We commend
the book and wish for it a large sale.
Wilbur P. Thirkield, D. D., LL. D.,
Former President of Howard University,
Washington, D. C.
The Book entitled Bible Mastery, pre¬
pared by Rev. Sterling N. Brown, D. D.,
will be very helpful to the intelligent, inter¬
ested and profitable study of the Bible by
all, and an excellent text book for Schools.
Isaac Clark, D. D.
Former Dean of School of Theology,
Howard University.
The author has collected a vast number of
facts, concerning the origin, transmission
and character of the Christian Scriptures,
and analyzed and methodized them in a con¬
densed and very convenient form, both to
interest the general reader and to inform the
Bible student.
Prof. F. P. Woodbury, D. D.,
Howard University, School of Theology.
CONTENTS
Page
Reading- the Bible 1
(1) Misreaders : Routine, Formal, Fragmentary and
spasmodic readers.
(2) Profitable Reading: Dependent upon Seclusion and
Quiet, the Praying Spirit, Rapid Reading Regularly
Consecutively, Chronologically and as a spiritual book.
Studying the Bible 4
Four ways: (1) As a specialty.
(2) Comprehensively.
(3) By Orientalisms.
(4) Critically.
Part I.—Scope of the Book 10
Biblical Facts. (1) Titles: a. In the Bible itself; b. in
common use.
(2) The Writers: Number; Some Prominent Writers;
Occupations.
(3) The Languages.
(4) The divisions; a. The simplest, b. The Jewish, c. Our
present grouping: Law, History, Poetry, and Prophecy.
Book Outlines of Old and New Testaments 2*8
Important Questions 56
The Antiquity, Genuineness, the Authenticity, the Au¬
thority, the Inspiratiaon, the Design, the Canon, the
Apocrypha, the Bible Text, Biblical Criticism, Bible
Chronology, Bible Lands.
Chronological Table 94
Part II.—Bible History 100
Seven Periods. 1. Period of Human Race: Creation,
The Godhead, Extent of the Six Day's Creation, State
of Earth Before Creation, Method of Creation Study
of Days, The New Creation, The Fall, Adam's Proba¬
tion, The Tempter, The Threefold Temptation, Sin,
Consequences of the Fall, Redemption, The Deluge.
Earliest Form of Living, Extent of Deluge, Cain and
Abel, Their Wives, Dates of Deluge, Origin of Nations,
Tower of Babel, The Dispersion, Japhet, Ham and
Shem.
2. Period of Chosen Family: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and
Joseph.
3. Period of the Israelitish People: Moses, Passover,
Exodus, The Law, Tabernacle and Theocracy, Wilder¬
ness Wanderings, Scope of the Law, Joshua and Con¬
quest, The Eastern Altar, The Judges.
4. Period of the Israelitish Kingdom: Saul, Samuel,
Saul's Campaigns, David, His Tribe, Family, Birth
place, Training, Appearance, Character, Activities,
Trials and Writings, Solomon's Life and Character.
The Divided Kingdom 177
The Kings of Israel, Elijah and Elisha, The Moabite
Stone.
The Kingdom of Judah 192
The Kings of Judah, The Four Religious Periods, The
Prophets of the Time, Battle of Megiddo, Jonah, The
Final Decline, The First Invasion.
Contemporary History 207
Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Phoenicia, Carthage,
Greece and Rome.
Period 5.—Period of Jewish Province 212
The Captivites 212
The Restoration 214
Interval Between the Old and New Testaments 215
Period 6.—The Life of Christ 218
General Aspects: Short, passed in Palestine, among the
common people, active life.
Seven Periods—His Thirty Years Preparation, Year of
Obscurity, of Popularity, of Opposition, Week of
Passion, Day of Crucifixion, The Forty Days After
the Resurrection. According to Subjects : His Private
Life, His Preparation for the Public Ministry, Promi¬
nent Sermons, His Conferences with Special Parties,
His Miracles, His Parables, His Sufferings, His Seven
Sayings on the Cross, His Triumphs.
Period 7.—The Apostolic Church 230
Church at Jerusalem,' of Palestine, of the Gentiles;
Paul's Missionary Journeys, His Epistles, The Church.
The Institution of the Bible 234
The Altar, The Tabernacle, The Temple, The Synagogue,
The Sacred Year, The Two Sacraments.
Personal and Official Institutions: The Priest, The
Prophet, The Scribe, The Apostles.
Part III.—Historical Tables 240
1. Original History of the Human Race—2. Probation
of the Human Race—3. Chronology of the Patriarchs—
4. The Chosen Family—5. The Israelitish People—
6. The Divided Kingdom—7. Monarchy of Judah—8.
Period of the Jewish Province.
BIBLE MASTERY
INTRODUCTION
BIBLE READING
How to read the Bible .with interest and
profit may well claim the early thought of
those desirous of knowing the Scriptures.
Some persons revere, and in a way read the
Bible, but get so little therefrom that they
have been classified as misreaders.
They are:
* (1) Those known as routine readers, who
run over so much of the Bible, daily or week¬
ly, according to a set task. They read after a
plan rather than to get the "sense and un¬
derstanding" of the word. (Neh. 8:8.)
(2) Then there are the formal readers of
the Bible, as noted at too many family altars.
The father, as head of the family, takes up
the Bible, opens it at a place marked at the
close of a previous reading, and hastens
through the chapter or selection, without
pause, comment or thought, unless it be to
turn over to look for the end.
(3) There are also partial and fragmentary
readers, who confine their reading to certain
♦Dr. George F. Pentecost
9
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
portions of the Bible, to the utter neglect of
the larger part of it. Some never read the Old
Testament at all, but confine themselves to
the New Testament; and some even limit
their readings to the Gospels. They get some
truth, but it is out of its broad relations.
(4) The periodic and spasmodic reader of
the Bible can not hope to "show" himself
"approved of God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word
of truth." (2 Tim. 2:15.)
Such a reader takes up the Bible only by
spells, or from some new resolution at the be¬
ginning of the year. This kind of reading is
just a little better than no reading at all.
Profitable reading of the Bible is measur¬
ably dependent upon certain definite condi¬
tions :
(1) Seclusion and quiet are helpful. The
fear of interruption distracts the mind, and
so does a feeling of haste.
(2) The praying spirit which seeks Divine
guidance, instruction and blessing is a ne¬
cessity.
(3) It is well to read the Scriptures rapidly
just as any other book is read—in order to
get a survey of the whole. A bird's-eye view
will intensify the interest on special parts.
(4) It should be read regularly. 1. The
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
3
Bible is a large book, containing more matter
than most volumes of its size, since printed
in small type. Its type is about the same as
that of the usual news columns in the daily
paper. By reading seven pages of the New
Testament daily it can be read through in one
month; while the whole Bible can be read in
less than a year, by reading only three pages
daily. 2. A little reading each day is far
better than a large amount read occasionally.
We have daily soul needs for which the Bible
has ample supply. With the Psalmist, we may
also say, "Thy word is" daily "a lamp unto
my feet and light unto my path." (Ps.
119:105.)
(5) The Bible may be read consecutively.
Starting with Genesis the reader may go in
order, straight through to Revelation, daily
taking up the Book where it was previously
dropped. By this method the Bible can be
easily read through, and if pursued thought¬
fully, excellent results, in general knowledge
of the Book, will follow.
(6) It is very helpful to read it chronologic¬
ally * The Bible is not arranged in precise
chronological order, though its books are not
far out of the line of events. From Genesis
♦See Creelman's Introduction to the Old Testament, chronolog
ically arranged.
4
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
to Kings the chronological order is in the
main observed.
(7) The reader of the Bible may expect the
highest profit therefrom, only when he reads
it reverently and recognizes it as a spiritual
book and, in sympathy with its spirit, is wil¬
ling to obey its teachings. While a great deal
in it may be understood by any one, as to its
literary form, historical narrations and ethic¬
al teachings, there is much that can be only
spiritually discerned. The "professional" ob¬
jector or "tireless" critic need not expect to
understand it.
HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE
Studying the Bible means more that sim¬
ply reading it. The significance here em¬
ployed embraces close and thoughtful re¬
search for basic facts and fundamental
truths, with a proper systematizing of the
contents of the books. It should be studied—
I. Comprehensively. The two general
methods of Bible study are the fragmentary
which matches a passage here and there,
sometimes at hap-hazards, often dislocating
it from its vital connections, and the concrete
which embodies the larger and logical view
of the subject matter. It is this broader
or comprehensive method that is hereby rec¬
ommended, as of first importance to the Bible
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
5
student, and the one mainly followed in this
book.
Isolated precepts and promises are valu¬
able and strengthening. But a general knowl¬
edge of the Bible as a whole, before becoming
absorbed in its parts, is the surest way to
stimulate an abiding interest in and to get a
mastery of the details of the Bible. The bird's-
eye view is the comprehensive method and
embraces certain preliminary facts, classifi¬
cations and book outlines, important ques¬
tions about the Bible, the making of the
Bible, the canon of the Old and New
Testaments, the apocrypha, the manuscripts,
the versions, the texts of the Bible, Bible
chronology, Biblical criticism, Englsh trans¬
lations, modern revisions, Bible lands, Bible
History and supplementary facts.
II. As a Specialty. The Jews were taught
from childhood to study the Scripture as a
constant and prominent duty. When they
sat in their homes, walked by the wayside,
lay down for rest, or arose to go, the word of
the Lord was to constitute the theme of their
conversation. Scripture mottoes were to
adorn their houses; and passages from the
law, like amulets, were to be worn upon the
person. Their schools were for the study of
the sacred writings, and their children were
6
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
to be ambitious to become doctors of the law.
(Deut. 6:6-9.)
Never was there greater demand for special¬
ists in the professional and business world
than now, and certainly the preeminent need
among christians is to be able to tell well
God's remedy for sin and to lead man to an
appreciation of its efficacy. The Bible alone
gives information concerning heaven and
hell.
Bible study should be a life study, a patient
study, a prayerful study. It sometimes re¬
quires years over one passage before its
meaning is discovered.
III.. By Studying the Orientalisms, in order
to understand, not specially the movements
and inscriptions of antiquity, wThich are rare¬
ly accessible to the ordinary student, but
those allusions to oriental custom which fre¬
quently constitute the basis of Scripture
phraseology.
Note a few examples :
"Ye shall not round the corners of your
heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of
thy beard." (Lev. 19:27.)
Baal worshippers rounded their beard and
hair to make their faces look like the sun.
Israel was to avoid the very appearance of
idolatry.
"Come now, and let us reason together,
BIBLE INTRODUCTION 7
saith the Lord: though your sins be as scar¬
let, they shall be as white as snow; though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool." (Isa. 1:18.)
A piece of cloth tongue shaped, was tied
upon the neck of the Scapegoat, called the
scarlet tongue. If God accepted the atone¬
ment, this red cloth was said to turn white.
No such change took place for forty years be¬
fore the destruction of Jerusalem.
"O wretched man that I am! who shall de¬
liver me from the body of this death?" (Rom.
7:24.)
The truth concerning the bondage in sin
is intensified by the orientalism. It was a
horrid custom among the despotic rulers of
Paul's day to punish certain criminals by
binding them fast to a corpse. Whether
they walked, or lay down, or ate, they bore
about with them the disgusting, putrefying
carcass. To this fearful burden the Apostle
likens the sins of the old nature ; dead, yet
ever present.
Thus the orientalisms of Scripture are fre¬
quently profitable to unfold and intensify the
doctrine of the text.
IV. By Studying the Bible Critically, if pos¬
sible in the original tongues. By the use of a
variety of translations, with several of these
at command, and referring from one to the
8
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
other, many shades of meaning will be dis¬
covered, and by this method the teaching of
the most obscure passage may be made clear.
A few examples will illustrate the impor¬
tance of studying underneath the English
text. Take 2 Tim. 2:15:
"Rightly dividing the word of truth."
"Rightly treating the word of truth."
"Handling rightly the word of truth."
"Cutting straight the word of truth."
From these various shades of meaning new
light is thrown upon the text. The terms
here used are sacrificial, and refer to the or¬
derly manner in which the sacrifices were cut
up for the altar. (Lev. 1.)
The Christian is God's priest to minister
out the word of the Lord. He must know
how to "give meat in due season.". (Matt.
24:45.) There is to be Jehovah's portion,
the Levite's portion, and the officer's .portion.
Sometimes the delicate surgery of reproof is
committed to the Christian: a dislocated limb
from the body is to be restored. (Gai. 6:1.)
A close study for the meaning of the words
of the Bible is very important, and since all
can not study in the original tongues some
critical exegetical work should be followed.
Any one of the best critical commentaries
may be of special help.
V. The Study of the Bible for practical uses
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
9
is what every christian worker specially
needs. The Bible is the "sword of the Spirit."
It is a book of lessons in Christian life and
Service, and teaches how to lead men to a liv¬
ing Christ. To know it well will make clear
the answers to the inquirer's difficulties, and
will prepare for meeting the various classes
of spiritual need. We must learn to sound
the depths of Bible Study. The Scriptures
themselves counsel us to search for the
knowledge of truth.
PART L
SCOPE OF THE BOOK
The intelligent, well-disposed student may
get a reasonable mastery of the Bible by fol¬
lowing out the plan of study herein indicated.
It is proposed in part First, to give certain
Biblical facts, and briefly discuss the leading
questions that have arisen about the scrip¬
tures, and by outline study to become ac¬
quainted with the Bible in its entirety, its
groups, its books and chapters; and in part
Second, to present outline studies in Bible
History. This comprehensive range of sub¬
jects, well mastered, will give a substantial
foundation for advanced Bible study.
BIBLICAL FACTS*
I. The Titles.
In opening a book we should first
read the title and then look at the table
of contents to see the theme and plan and
scope of the book. The Bible has no table
of contents, but there is a list of its books
printed with most editions, and an examina¬
tion of this will give some idea of the plan
and scope of the Bible.
""Companion to the Bible. Treatise by John W. Cook. Booklet by
De Pu-Travis.
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
11
Names applied to it.
1. In the Bible itself:
(a) As from God—the "Word of God."'
(Eph. 6:17.)
(b) As a spoken revelation—"Oracles."
(Acts 7:38; Rom. 3:2.)
(c) As a written revelation—"Scriptures."
(Luke 24:45-46; John 5:39.)
(d) From its contents—"Law and Proph¬
ets." (Luke 24:44.)
(e) Figurative name—"seed," (Luke 8:
11); "Sword," (Eph. 6:17); "Milk and
Meat," (Heb. 5:12-14, 1 Peter 2:2) ; "Hon¬
ey," (Ezeh. 3:3).
2. In Common use:
(a) Bible. This term is from the Greek
word, Biblia, which means books. It was ap¬
plied first to the collected boks of the Old
Testament. When the canon of revelation
was completed the name was given to the
collected books of both the Old and New Tes-
taments. Chrysostom, the "golden mouthed''
bishop of Constantinople, in the fourth cen¬
tury, regarded the whole collection as one
book, and so called it the "Book," or as at
present, the "Bible." The early Christians
always spoke of them as "The Books" rather
than as "The Book." Technically they were
correct, since the Bible is a collection of
books, and yet the blending of spirit and uni-
12
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
ty of purpose are such that from the 13th cen¬
tury they have been spoken of in the singular
number, as a single book—the Bible. This sin¬
gular number betokens the Bible as one voice
speaking to us, not many voices. The title
"The Bible" first appears in English in Cov-
erdale's translation. (1535 A. D.)
(b) Holy Bible. The term Holy indicates
alike the character and design of the book.
(c) Canonical Scriptures. The Word "Can¬
on" originally meant a straight reed for
measuring; hence a rule, a standard. As ap¬
plied to the Bible, it is the collection of
books which constitute the original written
rule of the Christian faith" (Westcott) as ac¬
cepted by the early Christian churches.
(d) Testaments or Covenants. The latter
word is the better word. In 2 Cor. 3:14-16,
Paul writes of the "Old Covenant" and min¬
isters of the "New Covenant." By the end of
the 2d century these expressions were estab¬
lished to distinguish the Jewish and Chris¬
tian Scriptures.
The word testamentum was used in trans¬
lating into Latin, and from this comes our
English word, Testament. The word Cove¬
nant gives a clearer idea of God's two dis¬
tinct agreements with the human race. (Heb.
8:4-13.)
The word Covenant was a term applied, in
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
the first instance, to the relation itself be¬
tween God and his people, afterwards to the
books in which the records of the relation are
contained and preserved.
The Old Testament applies to that part of
the Bible which contains the record of God's
Covenant with his people under the former
dispensation. It is the history of Redemption
from Adam to Christ.
The new Testament embraces those books
which record God's latter Covenant with his
people, by which the Christians' heavenly in¬
heritance is sealed to them through the Lord
Jesus Christ.
II. Writers.
(1) The number cannot be definitely fixed
as the writers of some books are unknown,
and others, like the Psalms, doubtless had a
number of writers. The Bible, as a whole,
is the work of from thirty to forty different
authors of every degree of cultivation, and of
different orders.
(2) Some Prominent Writers were Moses,
David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, in the
Old Testament, and Matthew, Mark, Luke,
John, Paul, James, Peter, and Jude, during
the time of the New Testament period.
(3) The occupations were of great variety:
"Moses was a statesman; David, a poet
14
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
and king; Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel were
prophets; Matthew, a tax-gatherer; Luke, a
physician; Peter and John were fishermen
and apostles; Paul was a scholar and mission¬
ary."
III. The Languages.
(1) The Old Testament was nearly all writ¬
ten in Hebrew, the language of the Canaan-
ites. Whether it was adopted by the family
of Abraham, after entering the land, or
brought there by him, from the East, is not
settled. The more probable view is that the
Hebrew language was already the language
of Canaan when Abraham entered it.
The following parts were written in Ara¬
maic, a language much like the Hebrews';
Dan. 2 :4-7; 28; Ezra 4 :8-6; 18 ;7:12-16 and
Jer. 10:11.
(2) The New Testament was all written in
Greek, "the language of the educated world
during the early centuries of the Christian
era." Greek became also the common lan¬
guage of the Jews.
(3) The place and time are important. The
Bible was written in widely different places:
*"in the center of Asia; on the sands of Ara¬
bia ; in the deserts of Judea; in the porches of
the Temple; in the school of the Prophets; the
*W. H. Gill
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
15
theological seminaries of Bethel and Jericho;
in the palaces of Babylon; on the idolatrous
banks of Chebar, and in the midst of Western
civilization." It was commenced not later
than in the year of the world 2,500, and
was completed in the year of the world, 4,100.
In other words, it was begun not later than
1500 years before Christ, and was brought to
a close about A. D. 100, the period during its
construction being about 1600 years.
IV. The Divisions of the Bible.
1. The Simplest Division of the Bible is
into the Old and New Testament.
2. Convenient Divisions of the Old Testa¬
ment may be designated as Law, History,
Poetry and Prophecy, and of the New Testa¬
ment, as History, Doctrine (the Epistles) and
Prophecy.
3. Division of books. The Bible is a library
of sixty-six books, thirty-nine of which are
in the Old Testament, and twenty-seven in
the New.
4. Division by Chapters and Verses. The
present divisions of the Scriptures into chap¬
ters and verses are not of Divine origin, nor
are they of great antiquity. (1) Chapters. It
is said that Hugo, a Roman Catholic Cardinal,
in 1250 A. D., made the division into chap-
1 6 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
tars of both the Old and New Testament, to
aid him in making a concordance to the Vul¬
gate Bible. Some think that Archbishop
I angton made this division. (2) Verses. Very
c rly, before the chapter divisions, the books
oi the Bible were divided into sections, to
help in the reading. The divisions by verses
were made by Jewish scholars in the ninth
century, A. D., for the Old Testament, and by
Robert Stephens for the New, in 1551, A. D.
The chapter and verses divisions are impor¬
tant for purposes of reference and critical
study, and yet as a rule these divisions rather
obscure if not destroy the sense. There are
929 chapters in the Old Testament and 260 in
the New; total 1,189. There are 23,214 verses
in the Old Testament and 7,959 in the New;
total 31,173. The Old Testament contains
592,493 words and the New Testament
181,253; total 773,746. The Old Testament
has 2,728,100 letters and the New Testament
838,380; total 3,566,480.
SPECIAL GROUPS
1. The Jewish Grouping of the Old Testa¬
ment (as arranged in the Hebrew Bible) is as
follows:
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
Genesis
17
I. The Law.
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
II. The Prophets:
Former,
Minor
Joshua
Judges
" ' * ' 1 & 2 Samuel
1 & 2 Kings
f Jsaiah
[Major J Jeremiah
Latter. [Ezekiel
(The Twelve
'[Minor Phophets
III. The Writings:
r Psalms
a Proverbs
[Job
The Song of Solomon
Ruth
b | Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Esther
Daniel
Ezra
c <
[Nehemiah
1 & 2 Chronicles
2. Our Present Grouping of the Old Testa¬
ment is as follows:
18
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
Law, 5 books; History, 12 books; Poetry,
5 books; Prophecy, 17 books, 39 in all.
The First Group embraces the law Books,
or the Pentateuch. They are Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These
formerly constituted but one book and are
still called "Moses" as we say "Shakespeare."
Sometimes they are called 'The Law" or "The
Law of Moses." The great feature is law
though there is some very important history.
The Word "Pentateuch" means in Greek "The
Five Volumes" or the "Fivefold Work" from
'"Penta," five, and "Teuchos," a roll or vol¬
ume. This name was given by the seventy
Greek scholars who gave to the world the
Septuagint version, a Greek translation from
the Hebrew.
The Second Group is known as the Histori¬
cal Books. They treat mainly of history.
They are twelve in number: Joshua, Judges,
Ruth, First and Second Samuel, First and
Second Kings, First and Second Chronicles,
Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. It wil assist in
learning these to make three groups of them,
remembering that those in the second group
are to be doubled, and that the first and last
groups end with a female name. There are
several devices for learning the names of the
books of the Bible.
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
19
The Third Group consists of the Poetical
Books, These books are written in poetical
form, not in rhyme of sound, but rhyme of
meaning.
*The true characteristic of Hebrew poetry
is what has been called parallelism, which
consists in such an arrangement of the words
composing the sentence or verse, that when
complete, it resolves itself into two or more
symmetrical measures, generally of nearly
equal length, between which there is a certain
relation, of resemblance, correspondence,
or contrast, as to thought, or language, or
both. Bible scholars recognize three special
fundamental forms of parallelism, which ex¬
ist, often separately, and sometimes in com¬
bination.
Antithetic, the first form, is when two
parallel members are contrasted in meaning,
a form peculiarly adapted to didactic poetry,
specially found in the Book of Proverbs—:
"The memory of the just is blessed;
But the name of the wicked shall rot."
(Prov. 10:7).
Each clause consists of three words. One
pair of words correspond in meaning, as
here, Memory and Name: while the others
are in contrast, Just and Wicked; Is Blessed
"•Bible Companion
20 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
and Shall Rot. Sometimes clauses are to be
supplied mutually from each other. (Prov.
10:1.)
Synonymous, the second form, is where the
same general thought is repeated in two or
more clauses. (Ps. 2:4. 5 : 12. Job. 3 : 3.
Isai. 1:10.) Compound synonymous couplet
is found, as in Ps. 28: 4. Three or more
parallel clauses also occur. (Prov. 1:2 and
Psa. 103:3-5.)
Synthetic, the third form of parallelism
is where, one clause is necessary to complete
the sense of the other. (Prov. 15 :17; 21:2).
Our limits will not allow a further pursuit
of this subject. It may be added that, ac¬
cording to the theme and divisions, Hebrew
poetry is lyric, as in Psalms; epic, as in Job;
didactic, as in Proverbs; pastoral, or idyllic,
as in Canticles, and rhetorical, as in the ear¬
lier prophets.
There is a sense, in which, between song
and poetic statement, or prose poetry, the
whole Bible is itself a grand poem. Its fig¬
urative language, its simplicity, yet boldness
of thought, together with its high moral tone
and constant religious reference, emphasize
this unique truth.
The Poetical Books are five; Job, Psalms,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon.
Their great feature is wisdom of many kinds.
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
21
They represent the essence of the wisdom
of the Old Testament. This includes both
religion and the philosophy of practical life,
as well as the then revealed theology of the
times.
The Fourth Group is called the Prophetical
Books. These are sixteen in number, if
the Lamentations of Jeremiah are considered
as an appendix to his predictions. Other¬
wise there are seventeen books.
They are commonly divided into two
groups: 1. The Major Prophets. Isaiah, Jere¬
miah, Ezekiel, Daniel. 2. The Minor Proph¬
ets, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah,
Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Hag-
gai, Zechariah, Malachi. They are called
Major and Minor, or Greater and Lesser,
not from personal consideration, but in ref¬
erence to the extent of their writings, re¬
spectively. They are not arranged in chro¬
nological order.
To get a clear viewT of the prophetical
books, it is important to understand the
words prophet and prophecy.. Commonly
these words are restricted to the prediction of
future events, not discernable by mere human
sagacity. Their use in scripture, however, is
not so limited. A Prophet is one who speak*3
as God's messenger, inspired and commis¬
sioned to communicate His will to man.
22 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
Thus, Abraham is called a prophet (Gen.
20, 7, where the word first occurs), and so
is Aaron (Exod. 7, 1) although neither
Abraham nor Aaron are known specially as
predictors of future events. Daniel proved
himself to be a prophet by telling Nebuchad¬
nezzar what his dream had been, as much as
by interpreting it; and the woman of Samaria
very properly called Christ a prophet, De-
cause He "told her all things that ever she
did." it is thus apparent that the prophets
were more than foretellers of things fu¬
ture. Their revelations embraced the past
and the present, as well as the future; and
they comprehended those general mora1 prin¬
ciples which are of universal application
throughout all time.
The prediction of future events, however,
is unquestionably one of the most impres¬
sive and important functions of the pro¬
phetic office. Such predictions afford, espec¬
ially in their progressive fulfillment, one
of the most convincing proofs of the Divine
authority of the men who uttered them. They
would naturally be treated by mankind with
more deference than any other inspired mes¬
sages. A prophecy, God's message, was of
the nature of a miracle, and it would be so
regarded by those to whom it was addressed.
Prophets were confined to no tribe, to no lo-
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
23
cality and to no calling. The order was not
restricted to the male sex alone; Miriam, De¬
borah and Huldah were shining names in
this goodly fellowship. The authority of the
prophet was not derived from any ecclesias¬
tical or other human source. No man's hands
were laid upon them in ordination. They
were Jehovah's Ambassadors ; from Him they
received their messages; by Him they were
inspired; and to Him alone they held them¬
selves responsible.
The prophetic order had its foundation laid
in Samuel. It flourished during the Mon¬
archy, continued during the Captivity, and
remained a power till the work of Restoration
was complete.
The prophetic order included a large body.
In Israel, Jehovah's prophets could be
counted by the fifty, (1 Kings 18:4), and that
of the Kings, by the four hundred. Most of
these last, if not all, were false prophets, de¬
pendents of the crown—organs of the admin¬
istration, mere pretenders of the prophetic
gift, who frequently received well merited
and severe condemnation at the hands of such
holy men of God as Jeremiah and Ezekiel,
(Jer. 23, 13-40; 38; Ezek. 13.) These divine
communications were made to the prophets,
sometimes in dreams and in visions of the
nights. Sometimes God employed the min-
24
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
istry of Angels, and again He spoke in an
audible voice, occasionally appearing in hu¬
man form. Ordinarily it would appear that
He revealed His truth to the prophet by
producing the supernatural state of mind
whereby things remote in time and place, or
symbolical representations of these things,
became present living realities and were so
described by him. Hence the prophets are
called "Seers" and their communications of¬
ten called visions, or things seen. It is not
necessary to believe that even the prophets
themselves always understood the full mean¬
ing of their predictions, (II Peter 1:20).
"Knowing this first that no prophecy of the
scripture cometh of private interpretation,"
that is, is not necessarily a prognostication
fnade by a man knowing what he means when
he utters it,—"for prophecy was never sent
after the will of man; but men had utterance
from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit."
Still, whether the prophets understood their
own predictions or not, we must not doubt
that their messages were from God directly
to the People. The Jewish prophets flourished,
beginning with the reign of Jeroboam II of
Israel, from Jonah to Malachi—during a
period of about 400 years.
They are sometimes designated as the oral
and the ivriting prophets. The first term
bible introduction
25
would refer to prophets like Elijah and
Elisha who did not commit their teachings to
writing.
The prophets were divided between Israel
and Judah—Israel seeming to have the larger
number, though only three—Hosea, Jonah,
and Amos are represented in the canon; and
Amos was a prophet of Judah, though he
prophesied to Israel. All the others were
prophets of Judah, though directing their dis¬
courses to both peoples.
Prophetic Groups
(1) Before the Captivity: Jonah, Amos,
Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum and Zepha-
niah.
(2) During the Capitivity: Jeremiah, Hab-
akkuk, Obadiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.
(3) After the Restoration: Joel, Haggai,
Zechariah and Malachi.
Note
1. These prophets declare that God is holy,
merciful to Israel, and demands righteous¬
ness in His people. (Isa. 6 :3 ; 55:6, 7 ; Micah
7:12-20.)
2. That He is certain to punish national
sins, particularly oppression, idolatry and
licentiousness. (Isa. 1 :l-20 ; 10 :5-27 ; Hosea
4; Malachai 3:1-15.)
26 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
3. That righteousness and peace will final¬
ly be established throughout the world. (Isa.
32:15-18; 35 ;52 :9, 10.)
4. Note that by the influence of the proph¬
ets Israel was saved for God. (Hosea 12;
13; Exod. 13:3.) This resulted because the
tru God was revealed and honored, truth
and purity exalted, and "righteousness and
sincerity regarded as fundamental elements
of true life."
5. Note Christ as the prophesied Savior,
born of a Virgin, Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23,
born in Bethlehem, Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:1.
Note the forerunner of Christ, Isa. 40:3;
Matt. 3:1-3;
Christ's death, Zech. 14:4-6; Isa. 53:12;
Matt. 26 :50; his Resurrection, Ps. 16 :10; Isa.
26:19; Luke 24: 6, 31.
Compare Christ's work for the human race,
Isa. 53 with the fulfillment of prophecy in
the New Testament, Isa. 53 :1, with John 12 :
38, and Rom. 10:16; Isa. 53:3, with Heb. 4:
15, and John 1:11, etc.
The Prophetical Books should be read in
connection with the Historical Books which
contain the history of the times in which the
writers respectively lived and prophesied.
They will mutually interpret and illustrate
each other. In fact, the one cannot be un¬
derstood at all without reference to the other.
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
27
(4) Convenient Groups of the New Testament
The Books of the New Testament fall into
three main divisions: The Historical, the
Doctrinal or Epistolary, and the Prophetical.
The four Gospels and the Acts of the Apos¬
tles constitute the Historical portion; the
twenty one epistles form the Doctrinal por¬
tion, while the Apocalypse is the one Pro¬
phetical Book. These divisions are relative
rather than absolute, since there are pro¬
phetical and doctrinal passages in the histor¬
ical books and historical and prophetical
passages in the Epistles. The divisions
describe with sufficient accuracy the general
character of each group.
28
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
BOOK OUTLINES
The following brief outlines are intended to
give a comprehensive view of each book with
the simplest possible divisions. The thought
is to emphasize the few main points of a
book that they may be easily remembered and
utilized for further study. The Bible itself is
to be used in connection with these outlines.
THE LAW BOOKS
Genesis, a book of beginnings, may be
separated into two parts—I. The Original
History of the World or of mankind. It gives
the origin of the World, of man, of sin, of re¬
demption, of the family and of civilization.
Ch. 1-11. II. The early History of the Patri¬
archs or fathers of the Jewish race. From the
call of Abraham to the death of Joseph Ch.
12-50. The period of time covered by the
Book of Genesis is recorded as 2,300 years.
The purpose of the book is to reveal the
unity of God, the unity of the human family
and to show how God began to give a Divine
Religion to mankind.
Lxoclus, a book of Redemption, has three
main divisions. I. Preparation for the de¬
liverance and departure of the Israelites, Ch.
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
29
1-12 :30. II. Their Journeying from Egypt
to Sinai, Ch. 12 :31-19 :2. III. The happenings
at Sinai—Law, Theocracy and Tabernacle,
Ch. 19:3-40. The book comprises a period
from the death of Joseph to the erection of
the Tabernacle, about 145 years. Some make
it 315 or even 360 years. The laws revealed
are moral, ceremonial and civil. The book
illustrates the attributes of God, the charac¬
ter of man and the great work of man's re¬
demption.
Leviticus, a book of laws, contains the form
of approach to the Holy God by a sinful yet
chosen people. There are three principal sec¬
tions. I. Fundamental laws of Sacrifice, Puri¬
fication and atonement, Ch. 1-16. II. The
Law of Holiness, Ch. 17-26. III. Regulations
concerning Vows and Tithes, Ch. 18-27. The
history in this book covers a period of one
month, the thirtenth month after the Exodus.
It is a continuation of Exodus, which closes
with the completion of the Tabernacle. Its
special interest centers in the fact that the
sacrifices and oblations referred to point to
the atonement to be made centuries after¬
ward by the Saviour. The Epistle to the He¬
brews is an inspired commentary upon the
book of Leviticus.
Numbers, a book of wanderings, is a brief
record of what the nation did from the second
30
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
year after leaving Egypt up to its arrival at
the borders of Canaan, in the fortieth year
of the journeying—time about thirty-eight
years. In Leviticus the lessons are given; in
Numbers, we see the nation at school getting
the lessons in warfare and hardship that
made them courageous and self-reliant. The
book may be divided into three sections: 1.
The Preparation made to enter the Promised
Land. Ch. 1-10:10 II. The March from Sinai
to Moab Ch. 10 :ll-20, 11 :l-47. III. The Vic¬
tory. Ch 22-36. The two numberings are im¬
portant as showing the results of sin. Even
the oppression of Egypt had not stopped
their extraordinary increase but sin had done
so here. Ch. 2:32 and 26:51.
Deuteronomy, a book of repetition, con¬
tains the record of three addresses which
Moses delivered to the people on the plains of
Moab at the close of the Desert wanderings.
It tells also of the appointment of his suc¬
cessor, of his song and blessing and an ac¬
count of his death.
The necessity for the book seemed to have
arisen from the fact that a new generation
had grown up which had not heard the origi¬
nal promulgation of the Law at Sinai; that
a new country with the most seductive kind
of idolatrous worship was before the nation
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
and that the people who had led a nomadic
life would now be settled in cities and villa¬
ges and be tillers of the land, and therefore
must be shown the need of conforming their
lives and conduct in these new relations to
God's laws. The three divisions are: I. Re¬
membrance of God's care, the first address,
&c., Ch. 1-4. II. Exposition of the law, the
second address, Ch. 5-26. III. Renewal fo the
Covenant, the third address and conclusion,
Ch. 27-34.
The book is not a full compendium of the
Law; important sections are omitted and
suitable additions are made. The book of
Genesis constitutes a fitting introduction to
the Pentateuch while that of Deuteronomy
brings it to a sublime close. The five books
taken together, embrace a period of 2,553
years in the history of the world, or down to
the year B. C. 1451. The Pentateuch is sup¬
posed to have been written by Moses.
THE HISTORICAL BOOKS.
The twelve Historical Books in the Old
Testament contain the history of Israel from
the first occupation of the Promised Land to
the return from captivity.
Joshua, a book of conquest, is the first of
the historical books of the Old Testament,
£2 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
and so called because it is a record of the
affairs of the Israelites under the leadership
of Joshua, the successor of Moses. It com-
r. rises the history of twenty-five or thirty
years, from the death of Moses to the death
of Joshua, and it is a most necessary and
valuable continuation of the national records
of Israel. Joshua is suppossed to have writ¬
ten the book. The book of Joshua is usually
divided into three parts. I. The Conquest of
Canaan, by the Israelites; Ch. 1-12. II.
Assignment of the Land; Ch. 13-22. III.
Joshua's Farewell Address and Account of
His Death; Ch. 23-24. Joshua was born a
slave in the brickfields of Egypt. He was a
trusted and courageous counsellor and leader
during the wilderness wanderings. He was
appointed by Moses as his successor when
about eighty years of age. It is an interest¬
ing Bible study to follow him across the Jor¬
dan and note the incidents in his three great
campaigns, Central, Southern and Northern.
Judges, a book of deliverances, is so named
on account of recording the history of four¬
teen supreme rulers, deliverers of the people,
called judges. These judges were persons
whom God at different times raised up from
the several tribes, and endowed with extraor¬
dinary courage, wisdom, or piety, qualifying
them to be deliverers and governors of the
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
33
people. They ai3 not to be confounded with
the ordinary judges under the Theocracy, ap¬
pointed by Moses as Municipal helpers rather
than great deliverers and leaders. The list
of the judges stands thus: 1, Othniel; 2,
Ehud; 3, Shamgar; 4, 5, Deborah and Ba¬
rak; 6, Gideon, 7, Abimelech; 8, Tola; 9,
Jair; 10, Jephthah; 11, Ibzan; 12, Elon;
13, Abdon; 14, Samson. Six of the judges
are spoken of at length, while the account of
the rest is brief. Eli and Samuel are also
classed among the judges. The book is a
series of historical pictures revealing the con¬
dition of the country, the people and the
times. It tells of the nation's conflicts with
itself and its Canaanitish neighbors when
there was no kingdom in the land. Since the
departure from Egypt the Israelites had
been under the leadership of two remarkable
men—Moses and Joshua. Now these leaders
are-dead, the tribes are scattered and they
have no king, no common master; hence the
need of raising up these deliverers—judges.
The divisions of the book are: I. The condi¬
tion of Israel after the death of Joshua until
they began to turn aside from serving the
Lord. Ch. 1-3:4. II. Israel's oppression and
deliverance. Ch. 3:5-16. III. An appendix
narrating two events: the idolatry of the
Danites and the extermination of the tribe
34
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
of Benjamin. Ch. 17-21. The authorship of
the Book of Judges is very uncertain, though
it has been generally ascribed to Samuel.
The period comprised in the book has been
estimated from 300 to 400 years, from the
death of Joshua to the death of Samson.
Ruth is properly a continuation of Judges,
and was so classed in the Old Testament
until about the middle of the fifth century
after Christ. It is very important because it
gives the lineage of David through the whole
period of the Judges, and, by the adoption of
Ruth, a heathen proselyte, into the Jewish
Church and into the line of the Saviour's an¬
cestry, there seems to be the intimation of the
future ingathering of the Gentiles into the
church of the coming Founder and King.
Like the Book of Judges, it also treats of
the life of Israel from the death of Joshua to
the rule of Eli. The book may be divided
into three sections: I. An account of Naomi's
departure, her life away and return to the
land of Israel. Ch. 1. II. The interview of Boaz
with Ruth, and their marriage. Ch. 2-4:12.
III. The birth of Obed, the son of Boaz and
Ruth, from whom David sprang. Ch. 4: 13-
22.
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
35
THE THREE DOUBLES
THE SAMUELS, KINGS, CHRONICLED
In the three double books of Samuel, Kings
and Chronicles is found the record of the rise,
glory and fall, of the Israelitish monarchy.
The great event in the books of Samuel is the
establishment of a monarchy.
The Tivo Books of Samuel, books of the
kingdom, constituted originally a single book,
but for convenience was divided by the
Greek translators so as to close the first book
with the death of Saul and begin the sec¬
ond with the accession of David. The books
were probably written by Samuel, Nathan
and Gad. The divisions are: I. The Adminis¬
tration of Samuel. Ch. I. Samuel, 1-12. II. The
Administration of Saul. Ch. I Samuel, 13-31.
III. The Administration of David. Ch. II.
Samuel, 1-24. The first book of Samuel com¬
prises a period of about 100 years; the second
from 40 to 50 years. The books of Samuel
are important as illustrating the Psalms.
The Tivo Books of Kings, representing
Kings, give us the history of the death of
David, the reign of Solomon, the divided
kingdom, and the captivity. The truth of
this history stands today beyond question.
The contact with Assyria, Egypt and Baby¬
lon, is confirmed by the cuneiform and other
inscriptions. The divisions are: I. The
36 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
Reign of Solomon. Ch. I Kings 1-11. II.
The Divided Kingdom. Ch. I Kings 12. II.
Kings 1-18. III. The Kingdom of Judah.
Ch. II. Kings 19-25.
The Two Books of Chronicles—The His¬
tory of Judah,—were originally one volume,
as they are now in the Hebrew Canon, and
ought to be so in ours. Beginning with Gene¬
sis, the books, up to this time, have fitted one
into the other, recording a continuous his¬
tory, but now the connection is broken. The
author, possibly Ezra, goes back to Adam,
and with connected narrative parallels that
of all the previous books of Scripture, from
Genesis to Second Kings, a period of nearly
3,500 years. There are a number of marked
contrasts betwTeen these and the preceding
books, that call for notice.* The tribes, or a
remnant of them, had returned from captiv¬
ity; and in order that the land might be
properly allotted and the Temple service
rightly maintained, "there must be legal
proof of hereditary descent." The tables
furnished the proof. The narrative follows
the line of Judah, Israel not being mentioned
except where obliged to do so. The line of
the Messiah is through David. These books
*Note—1. The outlook confined to Judah.
2. Their story centers around the Temple.
3 Its religious bearing on the nation.
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
37
are made the beginning of an ecclesiastical
history, which extends through the books of
Ezra and Nehemiah. There are important
facts in the earlier books not in the Chron¬
icles, and facts in the Chronicles not found in
the earlier books. The additions may have
been derived partly from documents not now
in existence, and partly, perhaps, from tradi¬
tion. Divisions: I. Introductory, I Chroni-.
cles, Ch. 1-10. II. Reign of David, I Chron¬
icles, Ch. 11-29. III. History of Solomon, II
Chronicles, Ch. 1-9. IV. The Kingdom of
Judah, II Chronicles, Ch. 10-36.
Ezra and Nehemiah, books of return and
rebuilding, give, "a graphic account of the
state of Jerusalem and the returned captives;
the condition of the Persian Government and
its remote provinces." The last three verses
of Chronicles and the first three of Ezra are
identical. From this fact and the similarity
of diction and style it is believed that the two
books were originally one. The Book of
Ezra is an important continuation of the
Jewish history, after the return of the people
from their seventy years' captivity in Baby¬
lon. It embraces a period of about eighty
years: from the decree of Cyrus, B. C. 536, to
the reformation by Ezra, B.C. 456. Divisions:
I. The Return of the Jews to Judea and the
Rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem. Ch.
38
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
1-6. II. Ezra's Arrival at Jerusalem, and the
Reformation Effected. Ch. 7-10. The Book of
Nehemiah refers to a period several years
later than that of Ezra. Nehemiah came to Je¬
rusalem about thirteen years after Ezra, and
when he had governed Judea about twelve
years he returned to Artaxerxes, who granted
him a new commission, with which he went
to Jerusalem again. 'He ruled among the
Jews altogether about thirty-four years. Ne¬
hemiah was regarded as the author of the
book, though the latter part of it is probably
of later origin. Divisions: I. The Commis¬
sion and Journey of Nehemiah to Jeru¬
salem. Ch. 1-2:11. II. The Rebuilding of the
Walls of the City, notwithstanding the oppo¬
sition. Ch. 2 : 12-7 : 4. III. The first Re¬
formation Accomplished by Nehemiah, and
the Sealing of the Covenant to Serve the
Lord. Ch. 7: 5-12 : 47. IV. The Second Re¬
formation, on Nehemiah's Second Residence.
Ch. 13. The Book of Nehemiah closes the
Old Testament history in the year of the
world 3584, and 420 B. C. Malachi, the last
of the prophets, was a contemporary of Ne¬
hemiah.
Esther, a book illustrating Providence,
takes its name from the Jewish maiden who
became the queen of a Persian king, Ahasu-
erus, who has been sometimes identified with
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
39
Artaxerxes Longimanus, but who is now
identified more usually and more probably
with Xerxes, the invader of Greece. The
supposition that the narrative is derived from
the Persian will account for the omission of
the name of God in the book; it accounts,
also for Esther being designated by the title
of queen, for Mordecai being spoken of as
"the Jew," and likewise for the use of the
Persian word Purim. Divisions: I. The
Elevation of Esther to be Queen in the place
of Vashti. Ch. 1-2. II. The Advancement
of Haman and his Plot for the Destruction of
the Jews, Ch. 3. III. The Consequent Dis¬
tress, the Defeat of Haman's Plot, the Tri¬
umph of the Jews over their Enemies, and
the institution of the Feast of Purim, Ch.
4-10. The authenticity of this book has al¬
ways been acknowledged by the Jews, and
regarded by them as next in importance to
the Pentateuch. The book seems to have
been written to explain the origin of the feast
of Purim.
Job, a book of suffering and trust, stands
by itself and makes no allusion to Mosaic Lawr
and Israelitish history. It is one of
the so-called Wisdom Books of the Bible; the
other two are Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
This book derives its name from the person
whose history it records. The authorship of
40 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
the book has been variously attributed to
Job himself, to Elihu, to Moses, and to some
unknown writer. The object of the book
seems to be "to justify the ways of God to
man." Its divisions are: I. An Account of
Job's Circumstances and Trials, Ch. 1-2. II.
The several controversies, three in number,
between Job and his three friends, Ch. 3-31.
III. The summing up of the argument by
Elihu (a younger friend of Job) who cen¬
sures all the disputants, Ch. 32-37. IV. The
awfully sublime address of the Lord to Job,
delivered out of a whirlwind, Ch. 38-41, V.
The restoration of Job's health, friends, prop¬
erty, and his sacrifice and intercession on be¬
half of his censorious friend. Ch. 42.
Psolms, a book of experience, is "a mar¬
velous record of human hearts pouring them¬
selves out from age to age in communion with
God." This record is not one book, but five
distinct collections of sacred poetry, and they
contain the work of a number of authors.
They were written during a period of about
one thousand years; if the 90th Psalm was
written by Moses this time will be greatly
extended. There are altogether 150 Psalms;
100 bear the names of persons, 16 have head¬
ings without names, and 34 have no head¬
ings. To David are ascribed 73, to Asaph,
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
41
12; to sons of Kora, 12; to Heman, 1; to
Ethan, 1; to Moses 1, and to Solomon 2.
The subjects are so many and varied that
it is hardly possible to classify them. They
touch upon every human experience and
every hope of man. The leading themes are
Creation, the King, Jerusalem, the Law, the
Messiah, The Future, God's Love, Mercy,
Justice and Goodness. The prevailing tone
is praise. While some are very joyful others
are sad and plaintive, and still others philo¬
sophical. The divisions into five parts or
books are of great antiquity, and have been
compared to the five books of the Penta¬
teuch. The end of each division is marked
by a doxology. I. First Division, 1-41. IL
Second Division, 42-72. III. Third Division,
73-89. IV. Fourth Division, 90-106. Fifth
Division, 107-150.
Proverbs, a wisdom book, is a part of the
wisdom literature of the Hebrews. It is not
simply a collection of witty and wise say¬
ings, but there is in it a distinct philosophy
of life. There are two great problems con¬
sidered, the moral government of the world
and the duty of man in such a world. They
cover the whole range of Divine arts, ethics,
politics, economics,—that is, the government
of behavior, commonwealth and family.
Not only is the last chapter "a looking glass
.42
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
for ladies," but the whole book is a mirror
for both sexes and for all classes. The book
is composed of various collections of pro¬
verbs. Ewald assigns the earliest to the be¬
ginning of the eighth century, B. C. The
names of the most prominent authors and col¬
lectors are Solomon, Hezekiah, Agur and
King Lemuel. The whole of the book of Pro¬
verbs —excepting the last two chapters—was
either written by Solomon or adopted by him.
He is said (I Kings, 4:32) to have written
"three thousand proverbs," from which most
of these are doubtless a selection. The wise
men were a distinct class, apart from priests
and prophets. They were famous in the
East. There are tivo voices and tivo loays put
in contrast; 1. Words and ways of wisdom,
understanding, knowledge, prudence, subtle¬
ty, instruction and discretion. 2. The voice
utters words of folly, simplicity, brutishness,
stupidity, ignorance and villainy. Wisdom
personified, "utters her voice," and Folly
also gives her invitations. Divisions: I.
The Praise of Wisdom, Ch. 1-9. II. The
Proverbs of Solomon, Ch. 10-22:16. III. The
Sayings of the Wise, Ch. 22: 17-24. IV.
A second collection of Solomon's Proverbs,
Ch. 25-29. V. The Words of Agur, Ch. 30.
VI. The Words of King Lemuel, Ch. 31:
1-9. VII. An Acrostic Poem, Ch. 31: 10-
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
43
31. These proverbs, like all proverbs, need
to be interpreted as generally rather than
universally true.
Ecclesia.stes, signifying preacher, "consists
of meditations upon human life and society,
placed in the mouth of the wise king." At
first the author seems to be a pessimist; an
evil man turned moralist, of a sour and bit¬
ter spirit. But a closer study of the book
shows that the author has a wise purpose in
mind. The design of the book has been
well described as "The quest or search for
the chief good." The uniform belief of the
ancient Church was that Solomon wrote this
book in his old age, when he was brought to
repentance for the idolatrous practice into
which his heathen wives had seduced him.
Divisions: I. The problem to be solved
stated, Ch. 1: 1-11. II. The endeavor to solve
it through wisdom and pleasure depicted, Ch.
1:12-2:26. Ill The quest pursued in
traffic and political life, Ch. 3: 1-5: 20. IV.
The quest is carried into wealth and into the
golden mean, Ch. 6: 1-7: 15. V. The quest
is achieved and the chief good is found to con¬
sist in a tranquil and cheerful enjoyment of
the present life, combined with a cordial faith
in God and in the life to come. Ch. 8:16-12.
The conclusion of the twelfth chapter is a
beautiful exhortation to "Remember the
44 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
Creator in youth." The book was never re¬
ceived by the Jews as one of the poetical
books. Most of it is written in prose.
The Song of Solomon, Union, sometimes
called Canticles, is a dramatic love song,
consisting of a dialogue between the lover
and the loved one. It is the story of a
beautiful peasant girl, a native of the north¬
ern village, Shunem, who was carried away
by Solomon's officers and confined in his
harem at Jerusalem. In the midst of all
the splendor with which she is then surround¬
ed, her heart is still true to the peasant lover
whom she has left behind. Her honor re¬
mains unstained, and she is finally carried
back home, heart-whole and happy by the
swain who came to Jerusalem for her rescue.
Divisions: I. The King's first attempt to
win the love of the Shulamite. Ch. 1-2: 7.
II. The King's second attempt to induce the
maiden to love him. Ch. 2:8-5:8. III. Third
attempt of the King to win the maiden. Ch.
5: 9-6-8 : 4. IV. Triumph of the Shulamite.
Ch. 8: 5-14.
Isaiah (Messiah), the greatest of all the
prophets of the Old Testament, sometimes
called "The Evangelical Prophet," was a
prince amid a generation of princes, and has
been always regarded as the royal prophet of
Israel. Though Isaiah was a prophet of Ju-
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
45
dah, his vision is not restricted to his partic¬
ular kingdom or to his own nation and own
times, but he regards all nations and all
times. He foretells the glory of the Messiah;
he gives the outline of God's purpose towards
Judah and the world, and indicates the final
restoration of the Church. Isaiah lived to
be 100 years old, and it is said was barbar¬
ously murdered, being sawn asunder by that
man of blood, Manasseh. Divisions: There
are two main divisions. I. The prophecies
about Judah and Israel and foreign nations.
The great enemy is Assyria. Ch. 1-39.
(Same number of Old Testament books). II.
"The Books of Consolationsthe restora¬
tion of Israel; the Messianic King; the great
enemy is Babylon. Ch. 40-66, (27, same
number as New Testament books).
Jeremiah, a book of warnings, is a com¬
bination of history, biography, and pro¬
phecy. It marks the utter destruction of a
holy city and sanctuary, and closes the period
of the monarchy. It treats of the death
agony of a nation, and that nation the chosen
people of God. Judah was taken into cap¬
tivity by Babylon because of sin. Jeremiah's
mission was a sad one, that of a would-be
reformer endeavoring to stem the tide of
growing evil. He was compelled to rebuke
wrong and to pronounce the judgments of
46 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
God against the wrong-doers. As a conse¬
quence, the patriotic prophet was met with
such a perfect storm of reproaches, insults,
threats and suffering, as might have appalled
the stoutest heart. His public life was a pro¬
longed martyrdom. Divisions: I. The proph¬
et's utterances against Judah, with items
of his own personal history. Ch. 1-44. II. His
predictions concerning the foreign or gentile
nations, especially Babylon. Ch. 46-51. Ch.
45 is an independent fragment ,and 52 is an
appendix taken largely from II. Kings 25.
Lamentations, book of tears, consists of
five independent poems, all dealing with the
calamities that befell the people of Judah
and Jerusalem in consequence of the siege
and capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans.
Each chapter of this book is a separate poem.
In the first Lament. Zion appears a weeping
widow in the habiliments of Woe; in the
three following, the holy city is in ruins;
while in the fifth the people chant mournfully,
confess their sin, bewail their woe and appeal
to the pity of God. Poetical in form as well
as in fact, these Lamentations of Jeremiah
would seem to properly belong in the poeti¬
cal division of the Old Testament books.
Ezekiel, book of visions, may be divided
into three groups of prophecies: I. Predic¬
tions of the downfall of Judah and Jerusa-
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
47
lem. Ch. 1-24. II. Predictions concerning
foreign nations. Ch. 25-32. III. The
restoration of Israel. Ch. 33-49. Ezekiel
prophesied by Chebar in Babylon, between
the captivities of Jehoiachin and Zedekiah,
the last two kings of Judah. He reanimated
the people and prepared them for the restora¬
tion.
Daniel, a book of victory, discloses the
philosophy of history, both sacred and pro¬
fane. It predicts the course of four great
world empires and the rise and triumph of
the kingdom of God. The Book of Daniel con¬
sists of twelve chapters: six relating to his
history and six to his dreams and visions.
Daniel was a noble youth taken into custody
by King Nebuchadnezzar. He was received
into the palace and educated by order of the
King. He first came into notice through his
interpretation of the dream (Ch. 21) of King-
Nebuchadnezzar. He held the highest gov¬
ernment posts under the Chaldean, Median,
and Persian dynasties. He lived through
the whole period of the captivity, and saw
the return under King Cyrus. As a man he
was very devout; as a statesman and proph¬
et, few if any equal him.
Hosca and Amos set forth the judgments
impending over Israel because of sin, and the
captivity by Assyria. They show that the
48 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
hope of Israel is in the coming of the Mes¬
siah. Hosea was a prophet of Israel, and
but little is known of him except what he
t?lls us. The two parts of his book are: I.
Unfaithful Israel. Ch. 1-3. II. Sin, pun¬
ishment, repentance, restoration. Ch. 4-14.
Amos, third in the list of minor prophets, is
second in point of time, and should be so
considered. There are three divisions: I.
Condemnation of heathen nations. Ch. 1-2.
II. Arraignment and doom of Israel. Ch.
3-6. III. Five visions and history. Ch. 7-9.
Joel predicted judgments to come upon
Judah on account of her evil ways; he also
prophesied restoration upon penitence, and
the outpouring of God's Spirit upon His
people. Divisions: I. A call to repentance.
Ch. 1-2: 17. II. A promise of blessing. Ch.
2: 18-3.
Obadiah furnished the shortest book in the
Old Testament, and briefest of all the pro¬
phecies; he predicted the downfall of Edom,
and the glory of Jehovah's kingdom. He .'s
one of the prophets to the Gentiles exclusive¬
ly. Divisions: I. The judgment announced.
Ch. 1:1-9. II. Its justification. Ch. 1:
10-16. III. Salvation promised. Ch. 1:
17-16.
The Book of Jonah is a narrative, and
"the history of a prophecy," rather than a
BIBLE INTROBUCTION
49
prophecy itself. In both contents and form
it is like the narratives of Elijah and Elisha.
The idea of the author was to teach ex¬
clusively great moral and spiritual lessons,
although the story is full of the miraculous
element. The crux of all the critics, ortho¬
dox and heterodox, is the story of Jonah and
the whale—the fish story of the BiWe. Div¬
isions: I. The call of Jonah. Ch. 1-2. II.
The preaching of Jonah. Ch. 3. III. Jon¬
ah's anger and God's mercy. Ch. 4.
Micah predicted the captivity of Israel by
Assyria, and Judah by Babylon; the resto¬
ration of Judah, the birthplace of Christ, His
Divine nature, and the universality of His
kingdom. One of the most remarkable mes¬
sianic prophecies occurs in this book. It was
this prophecy which enabled the Jewish doc¬
tors to answer the question of Herod, "Where
Christ should be borv>." Divisions: I. Judg¬
ment for national sins. Ch. 1-2. II. Judg¬
ment for social sins. Ch. 3-5. Hi. Judg¬
ment for covenant br-jakmg. Ch. i>-7.
Nahum prophesied with reference to a
single theme, the destruction of Nineveh, the
capital of Assyria. The Assyrian Empire
stood in the eyes of the Jews as the most
brutal type of heathen abominations. The
monuments have confirmed their opinion. To
rightly understand Nahum we must compare
50
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
his prophecy with that of Jonah. The two
prophecies are connected parts of the same
history; the remission of God's judgments
being illustrated in Jonah, the execution of
them in Nahum. Divisions: I. The doom of
Nineveh pronounced. Ch. I. II. The assault
upon Nineveh. Ch. 2. III. The utter ruin
of Nineveh. Ch. 3.*
1 Habakkuk predicted judgments to come
upon the holy city from the Chaldeans; then
the overthrow in turn of the Chaldeans, them¬
selves. To answer the question why wicked¬
ness seems to triumph, and to vindicate God's
righteousness, the prophecy is thrown into
the from of a dramatic dialogue between
Habakkuk and Jehovah. Divisions: I. The
problem of the seeming triumph of wrong.
Ch. 1. II. God's second answer. Ch. 2.
III. God's third answer. Ch. 3.
Zephaiuah was peculiarly a preacher of
rigteousness, and denounced the evils of
bis age in unsparing terms. Through this
preaching a great reformation followed. Div¬
isions: I. The judgTnent for sin announced.
~ vj. uicsouigs lu uie laimiui rem¬
nant. Ch. 3 : 8-20.
*Note-- This P1-0i
Prophecy was fulfilled ii
• ^ . ----- ..i vvi . ana mere nah
wo.-M mPlFe Sin°e that time" The Chaldean
POWer- with Babylon as its capital.
in 607 B. C. and there has
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
51
Haggai and Zechrariah were, in all prob¬
ability, among the exiles who returned with
Zerrubabel from Babylon. They wrere proph¬
ets of the restoration, and encouraged the
rebuilding of the temple and the reestab-
lishment of this religious center for awaken¬
ing the expectation of the coming of Christ,
throughout the world. Divisions: Haggai, I.
An Appeal to Rebuild the Temple, Ch. 1. II.
The more glorious New Temple, Ch. 2: 9.
III. A Blessing, with the New Temple, Ch.
2: 10-19. IV. A special Promise to Prince
Zerubbabel, Ch. 2:20-23. Zechariah. /.
The Rebuilding of the Temple, Ch. 1-8. II.
The Messianic King and Kingdom, Ch. 9-14.
Malachi, after the restoration and rebuild¬
ing of the temple and Jerusalem, encouraged
the people to a more steadfast faith in God
and a certain expectation of the coming of
Christ. Divisions: I. God's Love for His
People, Ch. 1:2-5. II. Israel's Lack of
Love for God, Ch. 1:6-2: 1-16. III. God's
Moral Government of the World, Ch. 2: 17-
3 : 1-6. IV. Results of Israel's Sin, Ch. 3 :
7-12. V. Results of Serving God, Ch. 3:
13-4; 1-6.
52 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS.*
The following brief outlines are intended
to give a clear, related view of the New Testa¬
ment Books and their writers. It is hoped
that the main facts here given will be easily
learned, and so stimulate the student that
with new interest and a more intelligent ap¬
preciation, the Scriptures may be searched
and better understood. The books of the
New Testament are The Four Gospels, The
Acts, The Epistles, and Revelation.
1. The word gospel means "glad tidings,"
''good news." Primarily it describes the
message (Mark 1:1), but since the second
century the name has attached itself to the
books as well. The four gospels are indepen¬
dent narratives in the life of Chrst; each has
matter that the other has not.
2. The Synoptic gospels (seeing together),
the first three, while differing in mahy re¬
spects, cover the same ground, and for this
reason are commonly called the synoptic gos¬
pels.
3. The Writers' names are not mentioned
in the gospels. For these we are dependent
upon tradition and upon certain internal evi-
*For a more detailed study of the New Testament, reference is
made to my "Supplementary New Testament Studies."
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
53
dences. (Luke 1: 1-4 and Acts 1:1). The
purpose of the four authors was to bring to
the attention of men the main facts in the
life of Jesus and to proclaim salvation for
all in His Name. Each writer had a special
message to deliver.
Matthew's Gospel is the oldest, and was
written probably between 38 and 42 A. D.,
within a few years of the Crucifixion. Some
scholars place it about 60 A. D., which is
possibly correct if the Greek version is
meant. The ancient tradition of the Church
that Matthew wrote first in Hebrew or Ara¬
maic, is now generally believed. The book
is characterized by the large space devoted to
the teachings of Jesus (Ch. 5-7) ; to the
methodical arrangement, not chronologically
but in the order of thought. The parables
discourses, and miracles are grouped to show
a completed whole. Emphasis is placed upon
the descent of Jesus from the house of David
and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophe¬
cy (1: 1-17), making clear the purpose of the
book, viz., to present Jesus as the King of
the Jews—the long expected Messiah.
Matthew was one of the apostles, the son
of Alphseus, and a tax gatherer (Matt. 9:9;
10:3). As he had another name (Mark
2: 14), Matthew may have been adopted as
54 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
his new Christian name. He was a Hebrew
and citizen of Capernaum in Galilee.
Mark was written about 65 A. D., in Rome
by John Mark, the son of one of the New Tes¬
tament Marys. (Acts 12 : 12-27). He was a
cousin of Barnabas (Col. 41. 10), and was
associated with Paul in his ministry.
The style of the book is very graphic, and
there is a wealth of information as to persons,
places, customs and terms. He uses the pres¬
ent tense. The word "straightway" occurs
forty-one times. He wrote for the Gentiles
or Romans. No genealogy is given, as none
was needed in writing to the Romans. They
could not appreciate a Jewish Messiah. The
watchword is' 'Tower." The dominant idea
is the wonder-working life of Jesus, in an
incessant, sympathetic activity.
Luke was written about 63 A. D., in Rome
by Luke, a physician, a companion and friend
of Paul. He wrote the Acts, also, later.
(Acts: 1-2 and Luke 1: 1-4.) The preface of
this gospel fully describes its purpose. The
message is to Jew and Gentile. The geneal¬
ogy of Christ is traced to Adam, the progen¬
itor of the whole race, to connect Him with
the human face and not merely with the
Israelitish nation. Jesus is set forth as the
Saviour of Jew and Gentile, the friend of the
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
55
outcast. The world-wide character of Chris-
tiantity is clearly indicated.
John's Gospel was written long after the
others, from 80 A. D. to 96 A. D. It was
probably written near the close of the Apos¬
tle's life, and the larger opinion favors 96
A. D. The message of the book is to Christ¬
ians. John, the "beloved," writes as an eye¬
witness, and seeks to induce faith in Christ,
and to reveal the spiritual Christ. The word
"believe" appears 101 times; the key-note
of its purpose is "The Word was with God,
and the Word was God." It is the divinity
of Jesus, God-man, that is specially pressed.
It supplements the other gospels and settles
all doubt as to the divinity and deity of
Jesus.
The Acts is a missionary record of the
early Church, and shows the conflicts and
conquests of Christianity, from the ascension
of our Lord to the first imprisonment of Paul,
in the city of Rome. It gives an account of
the organization of the primitive Church, and
shows how the gospel spread from Jerusalem
to imperial Rome. Luke, the author, was a
Gentile convert, the only Gentile writer of the
Bible. He was born at Antioch in Syria, 300
miles northeast of Jerusalem, and was prob¬
ably converted under Paul's preaching. He
56 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
wrote the Acts about 65 or 66 A. D., for it
ends with Paul a prisoner at Rome.
The Epistles are twenty-one letters written
to particular churches or individuals, or to
Christians generally, for the purpose of ex¬
plaining: and setting forth the doctrines and
duties of the Christian religion, and to cor¬
rect abuses which arose from contact with
surrounding heathen. According to the cus¬
tom of the time they open with the name or
title of the writer and that of the person or
church addressed, followed by words of greet¬
ing. Hebrews and I. John are exceptions
There were five writers, and six, if Paul did
not write Hebrews. They were Paul, Peter,
John, James, Jude, all eminently fitted to
perform the task of presenting the truths of
the gospel. Paul's theme is Faith; James',
Works; Peter's, Hope; John's, Love; Jude's,
Warning.
Revelation, written by John, the Apostle,
during his exile on the Isle of Patmos, pos¬
sibly about 68 A. D., is a book of Wonders,
of Seals and Revealed Truth.
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
There come to the inquiring mind in Bible
study, questions respecting the antiquity, the
genuineness, the authenticity, the credibility,
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
57
the authority, the inspiration and the design
of the Scriptures. How the Bible came to its
present form, what about the canon of the
Holy Scriptures, the Apocryphal books the
land of the Bible, and its influence and circu¬
lation are all upper-most and reasonable ques¬
tions.
THE ANTIQUITY OF THE BIBLE
This may be discovered from two sources,
namely: internal and external evidence. The
first, by considering its language, allusions,
and character throughout the book. The
second, by noting its historical proof which is
reasonably complete.
The New Testament is referred to by
favorable and hostile writers, during a period
of nearly eighteen hundred years. Refer¬
ences to the New Testament and quotations
from it are to be found in writings that go
back as far as the second century of the
Christian era. There are only a few classi¬
cal writers that exceed the New Testament
writers—such as the poems of Homer, 850 B.
C., about the time of Elisha, and Hesiod, 735,
B. C., about the time of Isaiah. The earliest
profane history that is known to us, is that
of the Greek historian, Herodotus, 425, B. C.
The Old Testament was evidentally very an¬
cient when the New Testament was written.
58
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
Its earliest books were compiled 1500 years
B. C., and its latest portions about 400 years
B. C.—the whole being composed during a
period of 1100 years. Genesis and Job were
written 1000 years earlier than Herodotus.
THE GENUINENESS OF THE BIBLE
A book is genuine when found as written
by the person whose name it bears, or to
whom it is ascribed. It is forged or spurious
when not the production of its professed
author. It is corrupt when varying from the
text.
If we had a manuscript of each book of the
Bible in the author's handwriting, and if the
fact of its being such could be proved, the
genuineness of that book would be beyond
question; and every copy that agreed with the
original manuscripts would be genuine like¬
wise. But we have no such manuscript;
and we are left, therefore, in order to con¬
vince ourselves of the genuineness of the
books as we at present possess them, to such
proof as we can find in the books themselves,
and in the circumstances attending their pre¬
servation and transmission. The proof must
then be found in the internal evidence sug¬
gested by an examination of the books them¬
selves or in external evidence, the same a's
historical testimony.
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
59
GENUINENESS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
1. Beginning with the present day we can
trace the Bible back step by step to the time
of Christ and beyond. No one can doubt
that the New Testament, as we now possess
it, is the same that existed, and was recog¬
nized by the church when it was first printed.
The art of printing brought to literature
the advantages of fixing the dates of books,
and by multiplying copies and editions, of
securing the text from corruption. We are
thus brought by a single step to the
beginning of the sixteenth century. There
are extant printed copies of the New Testa¬
ment, in Greek, dated A. D., 1516, edited by
Erasmus. There are also some copies in Greek
and Latin, dated A. D. 1514. These all, in the
main agree with each other and with modern
editions of the New Testament.
2. Before the invention of printing, we are
dependent on manuscripts.
It is important to note the remarkable
extent to which Divine providence has pre¬
served for us the kind of evidence which
these manuscripts supply.
The number and age of the manuscripts of
the Bible have special bearing. In the case
of Greek and Roman classics, twenty, or even
ten manuscripts are deemed amply sufficient
60
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
to form an approximately accurate text. "No
one doubts the genuineness of the writing's of
Herodotus, and yet not more than fifteen
manuscripts of Herodotus are known to crit¬
ics ; and of these the most ancient belong to
the tenth century of our era, fourteen cen¬
turies after the original composition. A Vir¬
gil in the Vatican claims an antiquity as far
back as the fourth century, or between four
or five centuries after the appearance of the
original; but for the most part, the manu¬
scripts of the classics belong to periods be-
twen the tenth and fifteenth centuries, many
centuries, therefore, after their writers were
in their graves."
For recent editions of the New Testament,
not fewer than six hunderd manuscripts have
been compared, and they go back as far as
the fourth century.
The succession of manuscripts of the He¬
brew Scriptures is even more wonderful than
that of the Christian writings. The number
of manuscripts of the Old Testament extant,
and which extend backwards from the four¬
teenth to the fourth century is something
marvelous. Dr. Kennicott collated 630 of
these manuscripts for his edition of the He¬
brew Bible. Dr. Rossi collated 734 more.
(1) "A manuscript is a copy of the Scrip¬
tures in the original tongue, written by hand
bible introduction
61
on "paper made from vellum ( skins of young
calves) or parchment (skin of sheep or
goats) or from a reed called papyrus. This
ivas done at great expense and trouble. Some
think the Apostles used the cheaper material,
the papyrus (II John 12). If so, its brittle
character will account for the loss of all these
writings. The three oldest manuscripts are
especially fine, being written on the skins of
antelopes, and their leaves are so large that a
single animal ivoidd furnish but tivo."
While the original manuscripts are all lost
we have many carefully made copies.
(2) The manuscripts are classified accord¬
ing to form and size of the letters. Of these
there are in the Greek two forms.
A. Uncial. These are the oldest, and
are written in large capital letters with
scarcely any spacing or punctuation. (GOD
SO LOVED THE WORLD.)
The date of these is from 300-450, A. D.
About one hundred are extant but most are
incomplete. The three most complete and
most precious are the following uncials:
(a) The Sinaitic manuscript, possibly the
oldest, ivas discovered by Dr. Teschendorf, a
German scholar, in the Convent of St. Cath¬
erine, at the foot of Mt. Sinai, in 1859. It be¬
longs, in all probability, to the fourth cen-
62
bible introduction
tury, and is now in possession of the Greek
Church in St. Petersburg. It contains the
New Testament complete and the greater
part of the Old Testament.
(b) The Vatican, so called because it is
preserved in the library of the Vatican at
Rome, is in the possession of the Romish
Church, and so jealously guarded has it been
by the Papal authorities that only in recent
years have students been permitted to study
and copy it. It contains the New Testament
complete to Heb. 9:14, and all the Old Tes¬
tament except Gen. 1-46 and Ps. 105-137.
(c) The Alexandrian ivas discovered in
the old Alexandrian Library in Egypt and
presented to the British Museum in 1628. Ten
leaves of the Old Testament are wanting.
The New Testament is complete excepting
four chapters of Matthew, two of John and
nine of II Corinthians. As the centuries ad¬
vance, the manuscripts rapidly multiply. Of
course the earliest are the most valuable.
B. Cursive. These are ivritten in the small
running hand like our writing and date later
than 450 A. D. Over two thousand are in
existence.
Remarks and illustrations, and explana¬
tions of words and phrases, ivritten between
the lines or on the margin by the owner of a
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
63
manuscript, were sometimes combined with
the original text by a copyist.
(3) The above manuscripts are in the
Greek. "The Hebreiv manuscripts of the Old
Testament do not date back of the 10th Cen¬
tury, A. D. Though not old, they are of
great authority, as the Jewish Scribes copied
their scriptures with most reverent care."
3. After manuscripts, quotations and ver¬
sions may be considered. These both make
up for any defects or imperfections of manu¬
scripts, and also strengthen the evidence al¬
ready given for the genuineness of the New
Testament.
Quotations from the New Testament and
references to it in the writings of the Church
Fathers and the early heretics and opponents
of Christianity are copious—going back as
early as the first century. Among the promi¬
nent Fathers may be mentioned; Clement, a
Bishop of Rome, A. D. 95; Ignatius, Bishop
of Antioch, A. D. 115; Polycarp, Bishop of
Smyrna, A. D. 155; Justin Martyr, Apologist,
A. D. 155; Irenaeus, A. D. 180. The authors
named above are only a few of those belong¬
ing to the early age of the Church, to whom
reference might be made. In not less than
180 ecclesiastical writers, whose works
are still extant, are to be found quota-
64
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
tic ns from the New Testament. These quo¬
tations from the New Testament are so num¬
erous in the writings before the seventh cen-
t.iry, that it is said, the whole text might,
ii it were lost, be reproduced.
Versions: A version of the Bible is a trans¬
lation from the original into another tongue.
The Bible has been translated into over four
hundred languages and dialects.
There are, coordinate with and overlap¬
ping the period of special quotations a num¬
ber of ancient versions. Among these are
the old Syviac, belonging to the second cen¬
tury, probably in use about fifty years after
the New Testament was written, and the
Old Latin version possibly also of the second
century. The old Latin was superseded in
Italy by the Itala and this in turn by the
Vulgate made by Jerome (real name, Euse-
bius Heironymus). Besides these there were
many other versions made at different times
and in different countries; such as the famous
Gothic version of Ulfilas, the Armenian, the
Arabic, the Ethiopic, and the Coptic. These
for the most part are independent testimon¬
ies rather than mere copies from some one
common original as their verbal differences
attest.
{The quotations and versions above men-
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
65
tioned are found to agree, in the main, with
the text as it is received noiv.)
Thus we have, back to the second century,
a series of historical or external evidence that
is all but complete.
4. Before the second century, we have to
depend on the probabilities in the case and on
the internal evidence.
(a) It is hardly probable that writings
which had been unquestioned by friend and
foe before the second century would have
been corrupted in so short a time after their
production, without being detected. The pro¬
bability of genuineness is strengthened by
the absence of any such detection.
(b) The internal evidence may be discov¬
ered from a study of the style and language of
the New Testament Writings. The style is
what might be expected from the professed
writers. The language is Greek and just
such Greek (Hellenistic) as they could have
written only in the first century.
GENUINENESS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
The evidence in favor of the genuineness of
the New Testament, as previously given,
should be sufficient, and we now mention the
line of proof that shows the Old Testament
of the twentieth century to be the same as
that which had its beginning with Moses,
66
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
a. The New Testament has many refer¬
ences and about three hundred direct quota¬
tions from the Old Testament. That the Old
Testament is substantially the same now as
it was in our Lord's time, the proof seems
conclusive.
b. By printing, by manuscripts, by quota¬
tions and versions, we at once go back to the
New Testament period.
c. Josephus, the Jewish historian of the
same time as the New Testament writers,
gives particularly the number and the names
of the sacred Hebrew books; and his list
corresponds with ours.
d. The author of the apocryphal book, Ec-
clesiasticus, lived about B. C. 180. He makes
in this book repeated references to the Old
Testament history. His grandson, who lived
perhaps fifty years later, made reference, in
one of the prologues prefixed by him to Ec-
clesiasticus, to the well-known division—"the
Law, the Prophets, and the rest of the
Books/'
e. Then back beyond this we are taken by
the Septuagint, a Greek translation, proba¬
bly completed B. C. 285. This translation has
been generally received by both Jews and
Christians, and was in common use both in
the Jewish Synagogue and by the early Chris¬
tian Church.
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
67
We thus have evidence of the genuineness
of the Old Testament as far back as the third
century before Christ.
Beyond that point we are dependent, upon
the books themselves. Since the books were
written at distinctly separate periods, fre¬
quent reference to, and quotations from each
other are manifest. Ezra (B. C. 470) refers
to Jeremiah (B. C. 608.). Jeremiah refers to
Micah (B. C. 756). Ezra, David, and Joshua,
refer to the writings of Moses.
The diligence of the Jews in the preserva¬
tion of their sacred books has been often
noticed. Every word, every letter, was sa¬
cred/11 "Copyists preserved them with the ut¬
most reverence, counting every letter of
every book. No word or letter, not even a
yod, was allowed to be written from memory.
Besides, the copying of these records was re¬
garded as a sacred engagement. The copyist
was required, before beginning his work, to
bathe his whole body in water. He was re¬
quired to array himself in full Jewish cos¬
tume. He was not permitted to write the
name of God with a pen wThich had been used
before; and, should a king address him while
writing that name, he must take no notice of
him. Painful and superstitious as most of
*Bible Companion.
68
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
these regulations were, they must have been
of immense value in securing accuracy in
the text. The scribe must have felt an almost
awful responsibility in transcribing words
that had such solemn sanction. It may be
safely said, that the amount of evidence for
the genuineness of the Old Testament wri¬
tings is almost infinitely greater than that
in favor of any ancient secular book."
Variations in the Text.
While it is true that the text of the Bible,
as we at present possess it, corresponds with
the original in the main, still slight varia¬
tions must be admitted. How far these vari¬
ations affect the argument in favor of the
genuineness of the books is very important
and yet, in the absence of special providence,
which can hardly be claimed except in mat¬
ters of momentous issues, some variations in
the manuscripts are inevitable. "The copies
which we possess must have been taken from
other copies again and again—in some in¬
stances, scores or even hundreds of times—
before they reached us in their present form.
Sometimes the writer of a particular manu¬
script wrote from a manuscript before him;
sometimes, perhaps, from dictation. In one
case the eye would at times inevitably deceive
the writer; in the other, the ear."
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
69
It should be noted that in the 7959 verses
of the New Testament there are not more
than ten or twelve "various readings" of very
great importance. "Of the Old Testament, a
careful examiner has noted 1314 'various
readings' of value; but of these, only 147 af¬
fect the meaning and they are not regarded as
important: generally they correct a date or
complete the sense.
It should also be stated that the insertion
cr omission of passages, solely on critical
grounds, does not effect the essential truths
of the Bible.
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE BIBLE
A book is authentic when it is a record of
facts, rather than of what is false or ficti¬
tious. There is a sense in which a book may
be genuine as to its text, and yet not authen¬
tic, or it may be authentic and not genuine.
What can we say as to the facts contained
in the Bible? Are they real and worthy of
confidence? Or must these facts be regarded
as untrue, or as fanciful myths?
THE NEW TESTAMENT
The evidence, already given, seems clearly
convincing that the Scriptures of the New
Testament, as we now have them, belong to
the first century of the Christian era.
70 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
The four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John, are in all probability the produc¬
tions of the persons whose names they bear.
They were acknowledged as such in the very
earliest ages. The authorship of the Gospel
narratives were never impugned, even
through all the controversies which followed
the early promulgation of Christianity.
Assuming the authorship of the books as
claimed, it is not difficult to show that the
professed writers had special opportunity to
know the truth of what they relate.
The apostles Matthew and John were the
constant attendants of our Lord throughout
the whole course of His ministry; they were
therefore eye-witnesses of the facts, or ear-
witnesses of the words, which they relate or
record. Mark and Luke were not apostles
but they were contemporaries of and asso¬
ciates with the apostles and lived in intimate
friendship with them.
Luke is supposed by many to have been one
of the seventy disciples who were ordained
by our Lord to preach His Gospel (Luke
10:1.). If so, his personal knowledge of
Christ must have been almost equal to that of
the apostles themselves. He was for many
years the constant companion of Paul, and
most probably wrote his gospel with Paul's
knowledge and approval. Mark attended
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
71
Peter during much of his ministry, and wrote
his account of our Lord's life under Peter's
immediate direction. The book known as the
Acts of the Apostles was avowedly written
by the same author as that of the Gospel
ascribed to Luke. (Luke 1:1-4 and Acts.
1: 1-4).
From the above facts concerning the writ¬
ers of these five books it is clear that
they were entirely competent to speak know¬
ingly of the things which they relate. They
were therefore neither themselves deceived,
nor was there any reason for them to deceive
others. Their greatest enemies never at¬
tempted to reflect upon the purity of their
lives. By false statements they had nothing
to gain; by holding to their integrity, sim¬
plicity and unvarnished truth, they lost much
of what the world calls dear.
The argument, as far as it applies to the
authenticity of the other books of the New
Testament, may be conveniently reserved
for a subsequent treatment.
THE OLD TESTAMENT
Belief in the authenticity of the Old Testa¬
ment is based largely upon the authority of
the New Testament. Our Lord assumed its
authenticity and reasoned from it. The apos¬
tles also made it the basis of both their argu-
72 BIBLE INTRODUCTION
ments and appeal. Then the very existence
of the Jewish religion can be accounted for
only on the assumption that the facts of Jew¬
ish History are essentially true.
THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE
BIBLE.
The question of the authority of the Bible
is one of the most important that can arise in
discussing the Holy Scriptures. It is fitting
to ask: What is the authority of the Bible?
Is it Divine? Does the Bible claim of itself
Divine authority? Is that claim, if made,
capable of being substantiated?
The supernatural element in Jewish His¬
tory and in Christianity alike has an impor¬
tant bearing upon the Divine authority of
the Bible. The corner stone of our faith is
the resurrection of Christ. *"He who accepts
this stupendous miracle will find little
difficulty in crediting the minor miracles
recorded in the Gospels. A proper recogni¬
tion of the supernatural character of Chris¬
tianity at once removes the doubt respecting
the probability of the miracles of the Old Tes¬
tament. The two dispensations stand or fall
together. The evidence of each is confirma¬
tory of both. The miraculous facts of the
Bible give a basis for believing in a supernat-
*Divine Authority by Wright.
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
73
oral agency that would secure and safe guard
an authoritative, intelligible and adequate,
written record of God's special revelation to
man."
THE NEW TESTAMENT
"The Divine authority of the New Testa¬
ment rests on the Divine authority of the
Lord Jesus Christ. If he was an imposter,
the record of His life and teachings is an im¬
position also. If He was, and is, what we be¬
lieve Him to have been and to be, the book
from which we learn all we know of Him has,
at once, the stamp of His authority."
This is enforced in the fact that every book
of the New Testament represents or assumes
the mission of Christ to have been Divine.
He was a "teacher come from God, the true
light." Then this claim to Divine authority
is made most distinctly by our Lord Himself.
It was chiefly in confirmation of this claim
that He did His many marvelous works. His
prophecies, His power and wisdom, and the
force of His character in life, in death and in
the resurrection, all attest His Divine au¬
thority.
"But, if our Lord was Divine, the authority
of His apostles was Divine also. They were
appointed by Him to carry on His work. The
apostles afterwards proved their commission
74
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
by the miracles which they wrought, 'in the
name and by the power' of their Master; and
also by the impartation to others of the
spiritual gifts that they had themselves re¬
ceived from Him."
The Divinity of Christ and the Divine au¬
thority of His apostles, carry us a long way
in the argument. What our Lord taught
was undoubtedly true, and what the apostles
reported that He taught was truly reported
not only from personal recollection but from
the promised "bringing to their remem¬
brance" the things which He had said. "Of
the eight writers of the New Testament, five,
namely, Matthew, John, Peter, James and
Jude, were among the number of apostles ap¬
pointed by our Lord during His lifetime; and
to them, therefore, the above argument ap¬
plies."
The remaining New Testament writers are
Mark, Luke and Paul. The Gospels of Mark
and Luke, though not written by apostles,
were written, as already stated, by contem¬
poraries and companions of apostles. Mark
was a convert and companion of Peter. The
Gospel of Mark was commonly received, in
primitive times, as having been dictated, or
at least sanctioned and approved by Peter.
Luke's Gospel and also his book of the Acts
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
75
were universally received as sanctioned by
Paul'.
Paul did not become a convert to Chris¬
tianity until several years after the Lord's
resurrection and ascension. We do not know
that he ever saw the Saviour "in the flesh."
But, according to his own testimony, and
that of the Acts of the Apostles ,the Lord re¬
vealed Himself to him. He was declared to be
"a chosen vessel" unto the Lord, "to bear His
name before the Gentiles and Kings and the
children of Israel." Afterwards he was
welcomed by apostles to the apostolic office,
for which he claimed apostolic authority,
vindicating his claim by the exercise of mi¬
raculous powers and the impartation of
spiritual gifts. Paul speaks therefore in
Christ's name; and his teaching, equally with
that of the other apostles, is Divinely author¬
ized. The character and results of Paul's
teaching also add weight to the claim of Di¬
vine authority.
THE OLD TESTAMENT
"The Divine authority of the Old Testament
rests for us primarily on the declarations of
our Lord and of those whom he inspired.
But if the Old Testament Scriptures are gen ¬
uine and authentic, they are also supported
by miracle and sustained by the exercise of
76
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
the gift of prophecy. Moses conversed with
Jehovah 'face to face.' Joshua, Elijah, Sam¬
uel and David spoke and acted, avowedly
under Divine authorization. Isaiah, Jere¬
miah and the other prophets were enabled
continually to declare, 'thus saith the Lord
so that the Old Testament and the New rest
on similar evidence for Divine authoriza¬
tion."*
THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBliC
The Bible is no ordinary human composi¬
tion but is supernatural in origin and Divine
in authorship; in other words it is inspired
of God—as Paul says, God-breathed. There
are two agents which unite in its production
—the Divine and the human. "Holy men of
old spoke"—that is the human; "as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit"—there is
the Divine. (2 Pet. 1: 21.)
As to the extent and varied views of in¬
spiration, it is well to study some special
treatise on the subject. If the fact be assured
we may be content to wait for the theory.
The mode or modes of the Spirit's operations
may be safely left for future consideration.
The three grand operations of the Holy
Spirit in the composition and saving power
of the Scriptures are Revelation, Inspiration
*Temple Opened, W. H. Gill.
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
77
and Spiritual Illumination. Revelation prop¬
erly signifies the supernatural communication
to the inspired penman of the essential truths
of religion which were beyond the reach of
human discovery"; Inspiration signifies that
Divine influence which rendered the sacred
writers infallible in communicating truth,
whether previously known or not—whether
supernaturally revealed, or whether it were
scientific, historical, or other secular truth
within the limits of their own knowledge;
while it is the peculiar province of Spiritual
Illumination to enable the believer to discern
the beauty and excellency of Divine things
when revealed.
The specific function of inspired men was
solely to utter by tongue or pen, without error
or defect, whatever the Holy Spirit moved
them to utter—nothing more, nothing less,
and nothing other. In doing this one thing
they were infallible and in nothing outside
thereof.
All inspired men were not subjects of all
three of the operations of the Holy Spirit. A
few men, as Moses, Isaiah, Paul and John
were granted the three endowments in their
fulness—abundant revelations, inspiration,
and spiritual illumination; others, as Mark
and Luke, inspiration and spiritual discern¬
ment, but no revelations; to all believers in
78
bible introduction
their measure is given the grace of spiritual
illumination; while a few wicked men, as Ba¬
laam and Caiaphas, and "King Saul, who was
also among the prophets," were inspired but
wanting in both the other gifts of the Holy
Spirit. All revelation is inspired, but all in¬
spired matter is not revelation. Revelation
is but a f requent, while inspiration is the con¬
stant, phenomenon presented in the written
word. There is also a wide distinction to be
made between matter inspired by the Ho1t
Spirit and the historical recitals committer
writing by the sacred penmen under His
dance. The Divine Author is no more resi
sible for the "malignant insinuations of t
three bigots in Job," or the profanity c
Peter, or the lies of Abraham, or the crimes
of David, or the sayings of Satan, than the
historian is for the words and deeds of the
actors in the drama he is bound faithfully to
report. It is not implied that Pilate was a
saint because his name is written in the Bible.
The special proofs which seem to establish
the fact of inspiration are as follows:
(1) The claims of the book itself; (2) the
character of its contents; (3) the confidence
of believers that it is from God; (4) its dis¬
tinctness from all other books; (5) the inex-
haustibleness of its interest; (6) the perma¬
nence of its value; (7) its moral and spiritual
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
79
unity; (8) its scientific incorrectness, or its
use of the language of common life to de¬
scribe physical phenomena; (9) its influence
on character and conduct; and (10) the uni¬
form testimony of the church in all ages.
THE DESIGN OF THE BIBLE
"The Bible gives us information concern¬
ing our relation to God as His creatures, and
instructs us respecting the things that we
should know in order to "glorify Him on
earth, and enjoy Him forever." It is not in¬
tended to teach us everything that we might
desire to know, even with respect to our
spiritual life and our eternal destiny. "Secret
things belong to God." Still less is it intended
to teach us science, or philosophy, history or
geography except so far as they, or any of
these, are subservient to its one purpose and
aim."
The great design of the Bible, is to exhibit
God "m Christ, reconciling the ivorld unto
Himself." The Old Testament, rightly un¬
derstood, is an account of the preparation of
the world for the advent of Christ; the New
Testament is an account of that advent, and a
statement and prophecy of its results.
SOME OF THE MOST ANCIENT VERSIONS
1. The Septuagint. This is the translation
of the Old Testament into Greek in the third
gO BIBLE INTRODUCTION
c--itury B. C. Tradition says that it was
ma 'e in Alexandria, Egypt, by seventy-two
(j> rj. 285). It is probable that at first
- nlv t-~ 3 Pentateuch was translated, the other
i 0ks gradually thereafter, but the transla¬
te n is believed to have been completed by
the second century, B. C.
This was the Bible in common use at the
time of Christ and His disciples, and con¬
tains the Apocrypha.
2. The Vulgate. This is the translation of
the entire Bible into Latin by Jerome, a very
learned man, at the close of the fourth cen¬
tury, A. D. This version was partly by di¬
rect translation from the original and partly
by revision of older Latin versions. It grad¬
ually came into general use and hence was
known as the Vulgate or common version. In
the course of time a number of passages were
changed back from Jerome's phraseology in¬
to that of the older Latin versions. In this
modified form the Vulgate was adopted by
the Council of Trent (1545—63) as the au¬
thorized version of the Roman Catholic
Church.
ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
1. Portions of the Scripture were trans¬
lated into English as early as the eighth and
ninth centuries, by such men as the venerable
Bede and King- Alfred.
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
81
2. The first translation of the entire Bible
into any form of modern English was mado
by John Wyclif from the Vulgate only, to¬
ward the close of the fourteenth century—the
New Testament, 1380, and the Old Testament,
1382, before the invention of printing, and
consequently only in manuscript form. It
exerted great influence on the national life,
and helped to influence the formation of the
modern English language. Before Wyclif's
translation, copies of the Bible were mostly
in Latin, an unknown tongue to all but the
learned, and the cost of one was as much as
a laboring man's price of work for 15 years,
and equal to $1400 of our money.
3. Tyndale's translation was the first fr
the original Hebrew and Greek directly in
English. Other English translations haa
been made from the Vulgate or older Latin
versions. William Tyndale was a scholar of
simple, heroic life and was possessed of a sin¬
gularly rich Christian experience. After ten
years of toil and extreme hardship he trans¬
lated the Pentateuch, the historical books and
a part of the Prophets. He published the
first printed New Testament in English, in
1525, and portions of the Old Testament lat
er. His translations were of great value be
cause made from the Greek and Hebrew man-
82
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
uscripts. For his zeal, he was burned at the
stake, October 6, 1536.
The century following Tyndale was not¬
able for its many translations.
4. Cover dale's BibU, the first printed En¬
glish version of the whole Bible, published in
1535 and dedicated to Henry VIII. It was
"translated out of Douche and Latin, with the
help of five sundry translators," evidently
largely following Tyndale's version.
Prior to the time of printing, the Bible was
chained in the churches and to the shelves and
reading desks of the Libraries of Europe,
and in the possession of such wealthy per¬
sons as were able, and desired to purchase
written copies.
5. The Great Bible (Matthew's, 1589) so
called from the size of the pages, was the
first translation authorized by the King.
6. The Genevan Bible, 1560. This trans¬
lation was made in Geneva, Switzerland, by
scholars exiled from England. It was by far
the most scholarly and printed in the best
form of any of these early translations.
7. The Bishop's Bible, 1568, was so called
because eight Bishops had part in the trans¬
lation.
8. The Donay Bible, an English translation
from the Latin Vulgate, was made about the
beginning of the seventeenth century, the Old
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
83
Testament at Douay, in France, and the New
Testament at Rheims, in the same country.
This is the version sanctioned and used by
the Papal church.
MORE RECENT VERSIONS
1. The Authorized Version was made by
order of King James I. and completed in 1611.
It was begun by fifty-four learned men ap¬
pointed by the King. Seven of these in four
years, from illness and other causes, had to
give up the work and it was completed by the
forty-seven remaining. The work covered
seven years. Competent authorities have
pronounced it "the best of any translation
in the world," being, on the whole, a faithful
and accurate reflex of the original text and
the mind of the Spirit.
2. The Revised Version was begun in
June, 1870, by a joint conference of eminent
Biblical scholars of England and the United
States, and completed May 5, 1885. The New
Testament was completed and published in
1880, and the Old Testament in 1885, ex¬
tending over a period of fifteen years.
Very important facts concerning this ver¬
sion :
a. The three old uncial manuscripts were
used in -this version only.
84
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
b. This was the first version to use the
writings of the Fathers.
c. All the known cursive manuscripts,
about two thousand, were consulted.
d. It was the product of the linguistic
scholarship of the world.
It was made necessary by:
a. A discovery of a large amount of hith¬
erto unknown material. These revisers had
access to ancient manuscripts and versions
unknown to any other revisers.
b. The rise of the science of textual criti¬
cism by which the value and place of old
manuscripts can be estimated.
c. The fact that the delicate meaning of the
original is brought out by a better scholar¬
ship.
d. The change in the English language,
whereby since the Authorized Version was
published new meanings have been given to
over two hundred words. 1. Cor. 13 and 1
Thess. 4:15.
3. The American Standard Revision is the
last and by some considered the best of all
the translations. It appeared in 1901 and is
the work of the American revisers.
4. The Twentieth Century New Testament
is written in the language of to-day and is
a valuable aid to Bible Study.
bible introduction
85
5. The Current English Neiv Testament.
THE CANON OF HOLY SCRIPTURES
The word "canon" originally meant only a
carpenter's rule or a straight rod, used as a
standard of measurement, but when applied
to the Bible it indicates those books which
have stood the tests made by the early church
to determine their authenticity and inspira¬
tion ; those that have been authoritatively
catalogued as constituting the Sacred Scrip¬
tures and have been so received. Thus the
book becomes a positive and authoritative
element in determining our standards of doc¬
trine.
the old testament
the old testament—the sacred writings
of the Jews—found in the time of our Lord,
was in two collections. (1) The Palestinian,
so called, written in the Hebrew language,
and (2) The Alexandrian, called the Septua-
gint, or the LXX, written in Greek, which
was the common speech of the Jews who were
of the dispersion, scattered abroad among the
nations. Because there were many Jews
everywhere who knew much of Greek but
little or nothing of Hebrew, the translation of
the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek became a
necessity.
86
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
At the time of our Lord the Hebrew tongue
was a dead language. It may have been the
language of the Temple, as Latin is now the
language of the Roman Catholic Mass, and
used by scholars only, but the common peo¬
ple did not understand it, nor was it spoken
familiarly in Palestine. The native tongue
of Palestine in our Lord's day was the Ara¬
maic, a language similar to the Hebrew,
sometimes called the later Hebrew and having
some such relation to it as the English has
to the German tongue. When "the Hebrew
tongue" is mentioned in the New Testament
it is the Aramaic that is meant, and not the
ancient Hebrew. The Greek, on the other
hand, was the living language and common
speech of the time and was spoken every¬
where.
The Palestinian collection, or Hebrew Ca¬
non, was substantially if not exactly the same
as that of our Old Testament, though the
books were arranged in very different order.
Indeed they wrere regarded as three distinct
groups of writings rather than as one book,
and the three groups, the Law, the Prophets
and the Writings, appear to have been re¬
garded by the Jews as of different degrees of
sacredness and authority: the Law first,
Prophets second and Writings third.
The Old Testament Canon in its present
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
87
shape was formed gradually during a long-
period, beginning with Ezra in the fifth cen¬
tury before Christ, who collected and edited
the Law, followed by Nehemiah, who col¬
lected the Books of the Prophets; while the
Writings, the third group, was not finally
settled and the Canon closed till the Synod
of Jamina, about 90 A. D.
The Alexandrian Collection differed from
the Palestinian not only in being written in
Greek, but also in containing the books com¬
monly called the Apocrypha-non-canonical
Jewish histories—and, as a translation from
the Hebrew, the version was rather free than
literal, frequently missing the sense of the o-
riginal. These Greek Scriptures were, how¬
ever, generally received by both Jews and
Christians; they were in common use both in
the Synagogues and in the early Christian
churches; and from them our Lord and His
Apostles made most of the quotations which
appear in the New Testament.
While the New Testament distinctly refers
to most of the Old Testament books, there are
six whose names the New Testament never
quotes: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles,
Esther, Ezra and Nehemiah; while to Pro¬
verbs, Judges, Chronicles, and Ezekiel it
only makes reference.
The Jewish historian, Josephus, and Philo,
88
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
also an eminent authority, bear testimony to
the fact that these Books which make up our
English Old Testament constituted, with the
six already mentioned, the Palestinian or He¬
brew Canon ; but more weighty than all is the
endorsement of Jesus and His Apostles—that
is, the New Testament accredits the Old.
The Alexandrian or Greek version seemed
equally endorsed, as it was most used and
quoted by the New Testament authorities.
THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON
The Bible of the early Christians was the
Old Testament Scriptures. Upon these they
relied wholly for religious instruction, and
had no thought of any other sacred Scrip¬
ture.
The Books which compose the NewT Testa¬
ment were written during the second half of
the first century of the Christian era, either
by the Apostles of our Lord or other persons
acting under their superintendence and direc¬
tion. The non-apostolic writings received
apostolic endorsement and became, therefore
as authoritative as if written by the apostles
themselves.
At first these apostolic writings were read
for suggestion and instruction only. There
was no thought of ranking them in authority
and sacredness with the Books of the Old
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
89
Testament. It was not long, however, until
the Gospels and Epistles were quoted the
same as the Old Testament Books and
thus arose the need for collecting the apos¬
tolic literature for use in the churches.
The collection for the New Testament Canon
was commenced about one hundred years
after the Books were written, in the second
half of the second century. Lists of books re¬
garded as canonical were made successively
in the first two centuries by Irenaeus, Clem¬
ent of Alexandria and Tertullian; by Origen
in the third century; and by Eusebius "the
Father of Church History," Cyril of Jerusa¬
lem, and Athanasius, in the fourth century.
At the close of the fourth century, by the de¬
crees of two contemporary councils, both held
in North Africa—the councils of Hippo (393)
and of Carthage (397)—the canon as we now
have it was finally settled, after the thorough
scrutiny of the writings for not less than
three hundred years.
Eusebius divided the Christian books into
three classes: (1) Homologoumena, the au¬
thentic and undisputed. These were twenty—
the four Gospels, the Acts, the thirteen Pau¬
line Epistles, 1st Peter and 1st John; (2) An-
tilcfjomena, those called in question. The
seven of this class were Hebrews, James, 2d
Peter, 2d and 3d John, Jude and Revelation.
90
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
These, however, were all received into the
canon at the close of the fourth century. The
Old Testament canon of the Protestants is
identical with that of the Jews, and their
New Testament canon is identical with that
of the Roman Catholics. (3) Notha, the non-
authentic, rejected as apocryphal.
THE APOCRYPHA
The Apocrypha are certain writings con¬
nected with both Testaments for which a
place in the canon of Holy Scripture is
claimed, but without good reason.
The Apocryphal books of the New Testa¬
ment are much more numerous than those of
the Old Testament and yet not one of them
is anywhere regarded as belonging to the
canon. In every language, throughout the
world and by every Church the New Testa¬
ment is universally recognized as composed
of the same twenty-seven books, neither more
nor less.
The Old Testament Apocrypha, consisting
of fourteen writings or books of Jewish ori¬
gin and of great antiquity, written in Hellen¬
istic Greek and found in the Septuagint or
Greek version, were never regarded by the
Jews as a part of their Sacred canon, nor
were they ever quoted by our Lord or His
apostles. The internal evidence, is against the
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
91
inspiration of these books. Some of the
writers claim Divine authority and some of
them virtually disown it. They contain state¬
ments that are at variance with history and
are self contradictory. They are opposed to
the doctrines and precepts of Scripture. For
historical purposes, and for "instruction of
manners," the books are of value; but they
are without authority, and so form no part
of the rule of faith.
THE TEXT OF THE BIBLE
The text of the Holy Scriptures consists of
the original words of the various writings
which compose the Bible, in exactly the same
form and shape in which they were penned,
without note or comment. There is a differ¬
ence between the text and a text of Holy
Scripture. The one is the Sacred writings as
they came from the hands of their authors;
while the other is such as may be found in
any particular copy or edition of the same.
A text is spoken of as pure when it exactly
corresponds with the original manuscript,
and corrupt when it varies from the original.
There is not, however, a single original
autograph copy of the Bible books anywhere
to be found. The original Old Testament
manuscripts possibly perished in the destruc¬
tion of Solomon's Temple by Nebuchadnez-
92
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
zar; while the manuscripts of the New Tes¬
tament may have perished with the brittle
papyrus upon which they were written; or
they may have been destroyed through the
persecutions of the infant Church. It is
doubtless a blessing that these precious docu¬
ments have been lost. They would have
become objects of worship and teachers of
superstition, rather than of faith.
BIBLICAL CRITICISM
Biblical criticism is divided into two de¬
partments : (1) That which relates to the text
itself, called Textual or Lower Criticism, and
(2) That which relates to the literary forms
and contents of the Bible, called the Higher
Criticism. Toward either form of criticism
the Christian Church should be both tolerant
and generous. Earnest men desire to know
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth concernnig the Bible. No criticism
can destroy truth. More Bible is the infal¬
lible cure for scepticism about the Bible.
BIBLE CHRONOLOGY
Chronology is the science of computing
and adjusting the epochs and periods of time.
These epochs are computed by fixing the date
of any given event and measuring the dis¬
tance between it and some other occurrence in
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
93
history. Bible chronology has always been a
subject of earnest study. So far as the Old
Testament is concerned there are immense
difficulties that prevent definite knowledge.
From the days of Solomon, perhaps even
from the exodus, we are comparatively safe;
but in the long period which precedes the ex¬
odus—reckoned according to the shortest
computation, at more than 2500 years, we
must be content with only approximate dates.
The early Old Testament chronology is depen¬
dent chiefly on genealogies. The uncertainty
and incompleteness of these accentuate the
difficulty. Some learned men tell us that man
may have lived on the earth for ten, fifteen
of even twenty thousand years before Christ.
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA.
It is well to get clearly in mind a few lead¬
ing events of Old Testament history, together
with definite dates as a help to one's study.
We have what is called a longer and a
shorter system of chronology. The follow¬
ing table will give the principal dates as
they are fixed by the leading modern chro¬
nologies.
In the English version of the Old Testa¬
ment Archbishop Ussher's dates have been
adopted.
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
The Creation
The Deluge
Call of Abraham
The Exodus
Foundation of the Tem,pie.
Destruction of the Temple
Zerrubbabel's Temple
Herod's Temple
SHORT SYSTEM | LONG SYSTEM
Ussher
Petavious
Clinton
Hales
Jackson
B. C.
B. C.
B.C.
B.C.
B. C.
4004
3983
4138
5411
5426
2327
2327
2482
3155
3170
1921
1961
2055
2078
2023
1491
1531
1625
1648
1593
1012
1012
1013
1027
1014
588
589
587
586
586
520
21
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
95
BIBLE LANDS
The lands of the Bible are in the Eastern
Hemisphere, the country of the Orient. They
are mainly in Asia, which is divided into
Asia Proper and Asia Minor. The Bible
countries which Asia Proper includes are Ar¬
menia, Media, Persia, Assyria, Chaldea, Mes-
sopotamia, Syria and Arabia. In the modern
atlas these countries are all embraced in Tur¬
key in Asia, Persia and Arabia. Asia Minor
extends westward from the Euphrates to¬
wards Europe and lies between the Mediter¬
ranean and the Black Seas. It is a large
peninsula, including the provinces of Pontus,
Cappadocia and Cilicia; Pisidia, Pamphylia
and Galatia; Bithynia, Mysia, Lydia, and
Lysia. The countries in Asia Proper are
those which pertain to Old Testament his¬
tory ; while those embraced in Asia Minor, to¬
gether with Syria are related to New Testa¬
ment story. In the extreme northeastern
part of Africa are Bible lands—Egypt, Libya,
and Cyrene a little to the westward, with
Ethiopia to the South. In Europe are por¬
tions associated with Christian history—Ita¬
ly, Greece, Macedonia (Thrace), Illyricum
and the islands in the Mediterranean Sea and
its arms—the Adriatic and Aegean Seas.
Much effort has been made to locate the
96
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
Garden of Eden but the exact spot has never
been identified, and doubtless never will be.
The place most commonly agreed upon, how¬
ever, is at the confluence of the Tigris and
Euphrates.
PALESTINE*
1. Its Location is in the Southwest of Asia,
and embraces the area between the Mediter¬
ranean Sea and the Arabian Desert, and ex¬
tends from Dan to Beersheba. Promised to
Abraham and his seed. Gen. 12 : 1-7; 13:
14-17; 15: 18.
2. Its Size is 150 miles long and averages
r.bout 65 miles in width. The area is about
12,000 square miles, about the size and shape
of Vermont. The portion west of the Jordan
contains about 6,040 square miles and is
somewhat larger than Connecticut.
3. The Land in the north is mountainous,
the elevation rising to a height of 8,000 feet
above the sea level. In the South the hills
slope to the level of the plains. The central
portion is mountainous. The principal moun¬
tains are Hermon, Lebanon, Carmel, Ger-
azim, Ebal, Zion, Olivet and Nebo. The land
has three marked physical features: the
Jordan Valley depressed below the sea level,
*John W. Cook.
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
97
the hill country of central Palestine and the
fertile lowlands on the Mediterranean.
4. Palestine at the time of the allotment to
the twelve tribes may be seen by referring- to
a map. Num. 26:55-56; 33:54; 34:13;
Joshua 14: 19; also the political divisions un¬
der Judah and Israel. 1 Kings 11: 29-36; 12:
16-21.
5. Palestine in the time of Christ had four
political divisions, namely: Judea, Samaria,
Galilee and Perea.
6. TJie Various Names are: (1) Canaan
(Gen. 11:31), so called because the descend¬
ants of Canaan occupied the land (Gen. 10:
6, 15-20). The portion of the territory west
of the Jordan was called by the ancient He¬
brews Canaan to distinguish it from the land
of Gilead on the East side of the river. (2)
The land of Israel (1 Sam. 13-19: 1 Chron.
22.2 Matt. 2: 20). The entire country was
known by this name after the conquest, but
was given to the northern realm after the di¬
vision of the kingdom. (3) Palestine (Ex.
15: 14; Joel 3:4). This name, by which it
is now universally known, was generally ap¬
plied soon after the opening of the Christian
era. (4) The Holy Land (Zech. 2: 12) was
a name that came into general use in the
middle-ages.
7. The Waters are: (1) The Mediterran-
98
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
ean Sea, which lies between Europe and Af¬
rica, forms the western boundary of Palestine
and has a length of 2,000 miles. (2) The Sea
of Galilee is called Chinnereth or Chinne-
roth, Gennesaret and Tiberias. It is pear-
shaped, somewhat broader at the upper part,
and is nearly 13 miles long. It is surrounded
by hills, those on the east side rising 2,000
feet. The surface of the water is 682 feet
lower than the Mediterranean. The water is
clear and sweet and abounds in fish. At the
time of Christ there were nine cities and
many villages on its shores; now Tiberias and
Magdola are the only ones. (3) The Dead Sea,
called Salt Sea and Sea of the Plain, is an
elongated oval shape, broken by a peninsula
projecting from the eastern shore. It is about
forty-seven miles long, nearly nine miles at
its widest part and is 610 feet lower than the
Sea of Galilee and 1,292 feet lower than the
Mediterranean. No other sheet of water is
known t6 occupy so deep a hollow. The water
is four or five times saltier than that of the
Ocean. (4) The River Jordan has various
sources in the Lebanon range, and in reach¬
ing the Sea of Galilee it falls 1,682 feet. From
this point to the Dead Sea into which it
empties, it falls 610 feet. Its current is there¬
fore very rapid. In going a direct line of six¬
ty miles, the river covers 200 miles.
BIBLE INTRODUCTION
99
8. The Principal Cities: (1) Jerusalem,
the capital of Palestine, is eighteen miles
from the Dead Sea, and thirty-two miles
east of the Mediterranean. It is 3,600 feet
above the Jordan. (2) Bethlehem, the birth
place of Jesus, is a small town five miles
south of Jerusalem. (3) Nazareth is a town
in the south of Galilee, where Jesus lived.
(4) Bethany, the home of Lazarus, of Mary
and of Martha, and the place also of Christ's
ascension, was on Mount Olivet, about two
miles from Jerusalem. (5) Jericho, a city of
unusual historical interest, is thirteen miles
northeast of Jerusalem. It is 1,000 feet be¬
low the Mediterranean and tropical in cli¬
mate. (6) Capernaum, the center of Christ's
work in Galilee is on the Sea of Galilee. It was
the residence of Andrew, Peter, James, John
and probably of Matthew.
PART II.
BIBLE HISTORY
The Bible is essentially a historical book,
and must be studied as such in order to ac¬
quire a thorough knowledge of the Scrip¬
tures. This phase of Bible study is not only
beneficial but specially delightful. It is from
this view point that we can note the lines of
religious development in the life of the race.
The Bible unfolds to us a succession of ages
or periods of dispensation in the history of
man with changing conditions and divine act¬
ings towards him. It shows that God has been
actively at work for mankind in the past, and
that he is still engaged on the same plan en¬
larged. It is interesting to see the extending
sphere of grace. At first God's work is with
the individuals, then later with families, af¬
terwards with a nation, and now with a
world-wide body, the Church; and still later,
not only the whole world but other worlds
come within the sphere of grace.
BIBLE HISTORY
101
It clarifies our vision to study the various
divine covenants given to man, beginning
with the first to Adam, followed with a sec¬
ond to Noah, a third to Abraham, a fourth to
Israel, a fifth to David, a sixth to us in Christ,
and a seventh to the world in the New Earth.
All these are but displays of the everlasting
covenant given Christ in the eternal ages.
We shall also discover in this study a de¬
velopment of truth. Enoch learns more than
Adam, and Noah more than he; and so Abra¬
ham, Moses and others, down to Christ
and His Apostles, receive even greater revela¬
tions, and at last John, the greatest of all.
The Godly characters of the successive per¬
sons who are presented in the Bible are great¬
er, spiritually, than those who were before
them.
The great theme of the Bible is the revela¬
tion of Christ. He is seen first with the
Father in the eternal past, then in creation,
afterwards with the Old Testament Church,
later in earthly life, now in his present state,
in the coming of the Lord ,and at last in the
eternal future. This eternal view of Christ is
the view of the Bible. It is to reveal God,
for Christ is the revelation of God.
The general knowledge of the Bible in¬
tended to be gained by these outlines will be
greatly facilitated by fixing firmly in mind
102
BIBLE HISTORY
the well-defined periods with the events
which bound them, the prominent men of
each period and the principal events of these
men's lives. This, in a special sense, applies
to the study of the Old Testament.
The Bible may be- divided into seven pe¬
riods :*
(1) Period of the Beginning of the Human
Race. This begins with the creation and ends
with the Call of Abraham. The history of
mankind in general is herein given.
(2) Period of the Chosen Family. This
period begins with the Call of Abraham and
closes with the Call of Moses. Jewish history
begins with the Call of Abraham, and this
period deals with the immediate family of
this founder of his race. It is the record of one
family, chosen for a special work.
(3) Period of the Israelitish People. This
period is bounded by the Call of Moses and
the Coronation of Saul. The chosen family
have become a mighty people. Their king is
God, who rules direct through chosen leaders.
(4) Period of Israelitish Kingdom. The
Coronation of Saul marks the beginning of
this period and the Captivity its close. The
People of Israel are now organized into a
kingdom.
*NOTE.—Division given by Prof. J. L. Hulbert, D. D.
BIBLE HISTORY
103
(5)Period of the Jewish Province. This
period begins with the Captivity and closes
with the Destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70.
From the time of the Captivity, the Jewish
people are a subject people, having inde¬
pendence only for a short time under the
Maccabees. Their land is a province of some
world empire, and so the period is given the
name of Jewish Province.
(6) The Life of Christ. This embraces a
period of 33 years, from B. C. 4 toA. D. 28.
(7) The Apostolic Church. Pentecost was
the birthday of this Church. The work begun
by Christ was to be continued by His organ¬
ized disciples. The Acts of the Apostles and
the Epistles present this history.
HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE
OLD TESTAMENT
We come now to take up the first great di¬
vision of the Bible, the Old Testament, and
shall endeavor to obtain a perspective view of
it. It occupies three-fourths of the whole
Bible. It is all one great story, mainly about
the people of Israel. It tells of their rise and
progress, their fall, and predicts their future.
Along with this we learn from this great
sermon in story God's lessons to the race.
104
bible history
The whole history of Israel in the Old Tes¬
tament might be described as The Rise and
Fall of Israel, reaching the highest point in
the time of David and Solomon, and the low¬
est at the time of the Captivity; or this his¬
tory of Israel might be roughly outlined as a
period of two thousand years from Abraham
to Christ. This period might be divided into
four parts represented by four words: (1)
Camp, their history as described in the Pen¬
tateuch; (2) Commonwealth, presented in
Joshua, Judges, Ruth; (3) Croivn, I, II Sam.,
I, II Kings, I, II Chronicles; and (4) Cap¬
tivity, Ezra, Neh. and Esther. But to get a
clear view of Old Testament history, we can
hardly do better than to follow the general
divisions of periods as above indicated.
Period I.—The Beginning of the Human
Race.
The Bible is the source of the earliest his¬
tory of the human race. The first eleven
chapters of Genesis give the original history
of mankind. Here is told the origin of matter,
of the world, of life, of man, marriage and
home, of grace, of sin in the world, of re¬
demption and of civilization.
This period begins with the creation, B. C.
4004, according to the common chronology,
and ends with the call of Abraham, B. C.
BIBLE HISTORY
105
1921, covering in round numbers 2,000 years.
During this long period of more than half of
the entire time of the Bible, no one tribe or
nation or family is selected; but it would ap¬
pear that God dealt with each person directly,
without mediation or organized institutions.
We read of neither priest nor ruler, but we
find God speaking individually with men.
(Gen. 3:9; 4:6; 5: 22; 6: 13.) This period
may therefore be termed one of Direct Ad¬
ministration. All of the history of this period
may be connected with four events: The
Creation, The Fall, The Deluge and The
Dispersion.
I. THE CREATION involves two topics:*
(1) The creation of the world and its phys¬
ical and animal contents. (2) The creation
of man.
The opening sentence of Genesis is one of
the most weighty in the Bible. "In the begin¬
ning, God created the heaven and the earth."
"This sentence denies atheism, for it assumes
the being of God. It denies polytheism, for it
confesses the one eternal creator. It denies
materialism, for it asserts the creation of
matter. It denies pantheism, for it assumes
the existence of God before all things and
apart from them. It denies rationalism, for it
*NOTE.—Dr. Alexander Patterson.
106
BIBLE HISTORY
involves the freedom of the Eternal Being."
(Dr. Murphy.)
The Godhead in creation is a clear teaching
of the Scriptures. "In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth," might be
translated "In the beginning the Godhead
created," &c. The word in the original is
plural. God the Father, God the Son, God
the Holy Spirit had special spheres in crea¬
tion. Note the following: "There is one
God, the Father, of whom are all things, and
we through Him." (I Cor. 8:6). "By
whom also He made the worlds." (Heb. 1:2).
In Him were all things created, in the heav¬
ens and upon the earth, things visible and in¬
visible, whether thrones or dominions or
principalities or powers; all things have been
created through Him, and unto Him; and He
is before all things and in Him all things con¬
sist. (Col. 1:16-17) also (Gen. 1:2 and
Job. 26: 13; 33: 4).
Thus the teaching of Scripture as to crea¬
tion is that God the Father is the ultimate
source of all; Christ was the active agent in
the creation and formation of all, and the
Holy Spirit and the source of life of all. This
agrees with the three great unities in nature,
a unity of substances, a unity of form and a
unity of life; here the Bible and science agree.
The extent of the Six Days' Creation should
BIBLE HISTORY
107
have some consideration as a basis for un¬
derstanding the first chapter of Genesis.
The verse "In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth" is generally interpre¬
ted of the entire universe.
Note the following statement: "The ex-
presssion, 'the heavens and the earth,' was
among the Hebrews the common designation
for the world for which the Old Testament
has no single expression. It always means the
terrestrial globe and its aerial firmament."
"The earth and the entire solar system,
however, being undoubtedly parts of the uni¬
verse, were created, so far as their original
form and substance are concerned, at the
same time as the universe, for all are one in
substance and general form, and in the ener¬
gies that animate them." We must notice that
no time is mentioned when the earth was cre-
aed, or the length of time for the process: all
that is said on these points is that it was "in
the beginning."
What was the State of the Earth before
the six days creation? The revised trans¬
lation which is the true one, reads: "The
earth was waste and void, and darkness was
upon the face of the waters." Here is de¬
scribed not chaos or the primeval state of an
unformed earth but a state of desolation.
The same word is used in Jer. 4: 23, when
108
BIBLE HISTORY
the prophet sees in vision the earth after the
desolations of the last day.
Again the Bible teaches that the earth was
covered with water just before the six days'
work began. It must, therefore, have been
in a comparatively finished state, with more
of a desolate than chaotic condition. All that
intervenes between the original creation of
the earth and its state as here described is
passed over in silence. There is, therefore,
between the first and second verses an inter¬
val in which lies all that geology tell us of.
It is during this interval, as it seems, that the
history of the formation and after progress
of the earth were made; up to the beginning
of the six days' creation. "Here is where the
fossil creatures lived and died. All this is
passed over in silence by the Bible account.
The Bible takes up the story after the desola¬
tions which geology tells was the end of that
time." The world as stated was then left
"waste and void." It is, therefore, not
necessary to read into this chapter in question
the account of the long ages in which were
formed the earth's crust and its countless
races of fossil creatures, though many do so.
Science and the Bible agree that our present
order of nature is a late and comparatively
recent one, as compared to the geologic ages.
Geology tells us that there was such a time
BIBLE HISTORY
109
or age or series of ages of comparative deso¬
lation, just before our present races of ani¬
mals and plants, and especially just before
man came. We are told that there was a
great ice age—during which the great ice
formation was 1,000 feet thick in southern
Ohio, 10,000 feet thick over New England and
12,000 feet thick in South Aemerica. "The
darkness was intense and the whole lasted
200,000 years. Without sunlight and with
such a climate, the earth was well described
as 'waste and void.' Whether or not this was
the age to which the Bible account refers we
cannot say, but it certainly bears a striking
correspondence in many respects."
The Six Days, Creation then seems to be
one of a series of creations or formations,
in which the earth is especially well pre¬
pared for the use of man. "Man, the great
object of the one divine mind was provided
for through long past ages by filling the cel¬
lars of the earth with the wealth of coal and
oil and gas and metals and rocks and other
necessaries for human comfort and well
being. Eternity alone will be able to unfold
the unmeasured favors of Divine forethought
for man. We have here in these special
provisions an illustration of God's prevenient
grace."
The Six Days' Creation may be best in-
110
BIBLE HISTORY
dicated by grouping in such a way that the
opposite days correspond to each other, as
they do in the following arrangement:
1. Light. 4. The Sun, Moon and
Planets.
2. Waters and At- 5. Water and Air Ani-
mosphere. mais.
3. Land and Vege- 6. Land Animals and
tation. Man.
We should note that the creative days are
given in scientific order. First the elements,
light and air, then vegetation, after that the
lowest forms of living creatures, and suc¬
ceeding them the higher orders and man last
of all. Science tells us that the earth was in
darkness and largely covered with water.
Vegetation preceded animal life and the low¬
est forms came first and man was the last
that appeared.
hi the Method of Creation we find the idea
of a succession of creative changes. Whether
the old species were used in the creation of
the new species we are not told. The ex¬
pressions, "Let the earth bring forth," * *
"Let the waters bring forth," may include
such a process. "God could have created new
species by extraordinary births of new from
old ones. Some propose this theory as a solu¬
tion of the difficulty of evolution. This would
BIBLE HISTORY
111
agree with the way the fossil creatures came
and went. They seemed to have come sud¬
denly in small numbers, to have grown to
great proportions and passed out as suddenly
as they came. But regardless of the theory,
the Bible story is that of a creation, and not
of a long and infinitesimal series of changes
proposed by the unproven theory of evolu¬
tion." The study of the succeeding days is
very interesting.
1. The First Day gave light. Not in the
sense that this was the first appearance of
light in the universe or even in the earth.
The account does not say that. It simply
speaks of light on the earth. The sun, whose
relations to the earth are fixed on the Fourth
Day, must then have been shining, but ex¬
cluded from the earth by the dense vapors so
evidently present at the time. The First
Day's work then was simply the admission of
some light through these vapors. Light must
necessarily precede the life of vegetation and
animals.
2. The Second Day gives the formation of
the present atmosphere. The lifting of the
vapors and cleansing of them from the deadly
gases formed "the waters which are above
the earth," viz: the rain clouds separated
from the water beneath.
3. The Third Day's work was the elevation
112
BIBLE HISTORY
of some of the earth's surface above the
ocean's surface and the sprouting forth of
vegetable life. The plants are named in bo¬
tanical order; "grass, herb and tree." They
come properly before animals as a necessary
supply, in some way, of their wants.
4. The Fourth Day's work is the adjust¬
ment of the sun, moon and planets in their re¬
lationship to earth. The sun had long been
in use but upon this fourth day the position
or orbit of the earth underwent changes in re¬
lation to the heavenly bodies in order that
there might be not only a greater degree of
light than formerly, but also to produce the
rotation of seasons and the calculation of
years and days and other periods.
5. The Fifth Day's work was the produc¬
tion of the lowest orders of animal life. The
nature of each class is not distinctly indi¬
cated, but the classes are named in scientific
order.
(a) "Let the waters bring forth the mov¬
ing creature that hath lifeliterally, let the
waters swarm with swarmers. The lowest
orders of water animals are here meant and
not the fish; they come later.
(b) "Let the fowl fly above the earth." This
sentence does not refer to the birds, for they
are mentioned later as "winged fowl." The
BIBLE HISTORY
113
insects that properly come after the lowest
water animals are embraced here.
(c) "Great sea monsters," meaning the
reptile orders, are named next.
(d) "Living creatures that moveth, the
waters brought forth abundantly," refers to
the fertility and increase of the fish orders.
(e) Birds are meant in the "winged fowl."
These come last and are highest in the egg
producing class.
6. The Sixth Day's work gives the mam¬
mals, the highest order of animals, ending
with man. They are called "living creat¬
ures," "cattle," "creeping things," "beasts
of the earth"—nearest man.
The Creation of Man was a special act of the
Godhead. It was preceded by a special con¬
sultation: "Let us make man in our image
after our likeness." All that is said of this
creation expressly forbids the idea that man
had any connection with the brutes whatever
might have been his origin.
The creation of woman came last of all.
The origin of sex is one of the mysteries of
science, as much so as the Bible account.
Matthew Henry says: "Woman was made
of a rib out of the side of Adam, not out of
his head to top him, not out of his feet to be
trampled on by him, but out of his side to be
114
BIBLE HISTORY
equal to him, under his arm to be protected,
and near his heart to be loved."
A New Creation is prophesied of in the
Scripture—a creation that shall be better
than the former one. Isa. 65 : 17; 66 : 22 ; II
Pet. 3: 13; Rev. 21: 1.
II. THE FALL. The account of man's ori¬
gin, state and fall lies at the basis of any gen¬
eral mastery of the teachings of the Bible.
Our first parents are said to have been made
in the image of God and placed in a beautiful
garden spot, called Eden. Adam is described
as perfect but not perfected. He was of capa¬
ble mind, but not experienced nature. He
was submitted to probation, but this did not
necessarily involve temptation. God does
not tempt man (Jas. 1: 12-15), but He does
submit him to trial and to proving (Deut. 8:
2, 3). The necessity for the presence of evil
and temptation is not easily explained. The
origin of evil is the unsolved problem of this
life. Adam's life in the garden was under
the most favorable conditions. There could
hardly have been less suggestion of tempta¬
tion than was presented there. Out of a gar¬
den full of trees only one was prohibited, and
then the Tree of Life was ever present
to give full protection against sin. Their
primitive state must also have been free from
BIBLE HISTORY
115
incitement to evil. It is hardly reasonable to
suppose that the tempter had then such power
as since. The Tree of Knowledge stood for sin
and the turning from it stood for repentance.
The Tree of Life represented Salvation
through Sacrament—through Christ. It was
Adam's power of choice between right and
wrong that made him worthy of God's pur¬
poses. It is the right use of this choice that
makes a saint, and a wrong use, a devil. If
Adam had kept himself from sin he would
doubtless have been lifted out of the state of
probation, into a higher translated state like
that of Enoch.
But Adam's Probation, though under most
favorable conditions, proved his weakness.
The Tempter, who was Satan, exhibited re¬
markable shrewdness in his method of ap¬
proach and statements. He does not reveal
himself directly, but uses a beast of the field,
that is a wild animal as distinguished from a
domesticated animal. It could hardly have
been the ordinary serpent, for it was "more
subtle than any beast of the field," and the
serpent is not especially subtle. It must have
been some creature superior to any animal
now existing. Its form was not that of a ser¬
pent, but more probably that of a human or
semi-human form. It was in all probability
a beautiful creature. It is significant that the
116
BIBLE HISTORY
same word for serpent used by Moses in the
wilderness means "seraph," burning or shin¬
ing, from which we get seraphim. This may
refer to the original form of the serpent. The
serpent form was that given as the penalty,
and hence it could hardly have been the origi¬
nal form. It was through this creature as an
agent that Satan made his approach to Adam.
The Scriptures clearly teach that Satan is the
animating spirit that began his evil work in
the garden and has continued it so ruinously
down through the ages. He, having fallen
himself from his created state, and led by
jealousy towards the new being, and by hope
of conquest, purposed to use him for his own
advancement and power.
The Temptation was threefold. (1) It was
spiritual: "Hath God said ye shall not eat of
any tree in the garden?" This suggested a
doubt of God's goodness. "It is here that
nearly all unbelief begins. Few disbelieve in
God's existence, but many seem to doubt his
goodness and kindness. Satan prefers one to
doubt God's goodness rather than his exis¬
tence. The latter produces indifference, while
the former creates hatred such as Satan
himself has." (2) His second form of tempta¬
tion is an insinuation of God's justice. "Ye
shall not surely die." We have here the basis
of present day false religion, as seen in the
BIBLE HISTORY
117
line of liberalism or in the doubt of penalty
for sin, or any particular danger in the next
world. (3) "After distrust in God's mercy
and disbelief in the warnings as to sin, come
the physical aspects of the temptation. The
first two forms may be regarded as subjective
which produce a state of heart that makes the
latter possible. The last form is objective as
illustrated in the following: "And when she
saw, she took and did eat." Threefold temp¬
tation : Lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and
pride of life (I John 2-16).
The Sin consisted of positive disobedience.
The reference to their shame may also point
to the sin of sensuality. The punishment
was a judgment pronounced first upon the
serpent-animal used as the tempter. It was
remanded to a degraded state without power
or means of further temptation. There was
to be enmity henceforth between Satan and
the woman and his seed and hers. This an¬
tagonism begins with Cain and Abel, then
between the race of Cain and that of Seth, be¬
tween Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau,
Israel and the surrounding nations, and be¬
tween the righteous and ungodly of all time.
The Expulsion of Adam and Eve meant that
Eden was closed to them forever. They went
forth in disgrace, in sorrow and in sin, to
make their way without Eden's protection
118
BIBLE HISTORY
and blessings, and worse still without Jeho¬
vah's presence and fellowship.
The Consequences of The Fall are far reach¬
ing. To this event the Bible traces all the
forms of sin and misery known to mankind.
Spiritual contamination, the ills of sorrow,
sickness and death are the results of the Fall.
"Through one man sin entered into the wTorld,
and death through sin, and so death passed
unto all men for that all sinned." (Rom. 5:
12). Death, before the Fall, had sway only
over the animals, but since then it has extend¬
ed to man also. Medical men tell us that death
is not a necessity if our organs and faculties
were kept in a perfect state. "Man's separa¬
tion from God is attested by his efforts to find
Him by means of idols, and by seeking to
know Him through false worship. Man is still
falling. Savage nations have been decaying
nations until lifted by Christianity or its pre¬
cursor, the religion of Israel.
All the great nations of antiquity have
fallen, the Egyptian, Assyrian, Grecian and
Roman. The present unchristian people are
still falling, as the Chinese and Hindus." The
hope of "dying nations" as well as "dying-
men" is in the Tree of Life only.
Redemption through God's grace was early
provided. Grace was on the ground before
sin. God, Elohim, the godhead, appears in
BIBLE HISTORY
119
the creation chapter, but God, Jehovah, is
used in the account where man is spoken of,
or in other words Jehovah is the Old Testa¬
ment name for Christ (John 12: 41 and Isa,
6:1).
It was Christ, then, who called the guilty
couple and adjudicated their sin. The threat¬
ened penalty was: "In the day thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die." This death
meant spiritual death then and physical death
afterwards. Here came in the saving work of
Christ. He stretched over that guilty couple
His redemption, and brought to them the
means of restored spiritual life. The coats of
skin taken as a covering indicate the very
elements of sacrifice, one giving his life for
another to cover that one's shame and sin.
In this initiation of sacrifice, Christ is pointed
to as the world's Saviour for that early time
as well as for that period subsequent to the
Sacrifice of Calvary.
III. THE DELUGE has its background in
the story of Adam's family. Shortly after the
expulsion from Eden, "Adam," we are told,
"knew his wife; and she conceived and bare
Cain." (Gen. 4:1). This birth is supposed to
have occurred in the first year after the apos¬
tasy; and the birth of Abel perhaps in the
following year. The brothers grew up togeth-
120
BIBLE HISTORY
er; but their occupations were different.
"Abel was a keeper of sheep; but Cain was a
tiller of the ground." The infidel theory that
human beings were at first savage is contra¬
dicted in the fact that savages are not farm¬
ers or shepherds. They live from the chase
and from the spontaneous products of the
-earth. The earliest form of living must have
been simple but not necessarily savage. The
people were naked save as clothed with skins
of animals. They had to seek shelter and
food as best they could. They possibly lived
first in caves and depended on clubs, on stone
implements, on the chase, or ate wild fruits.
They were just about what the remains of
prehistoric man show. The advance, how¬
ever, seems to have been rapid.
The Bible tells of the beginnings of the use
of metals, musical instruments, and domestic
cattle. Cain also goes off and builds a "city."
This of course was a crude erection. It could
hardly have been more than a settlement of
tents or rude huts where families were joined
together by ties of blood, or for agricultural
or pastoral pursuits were attracted to a
favorable locality for mutual asistance and
defense against neighboring clans. Such an
habitation was usually inclosed by a ditch and
hedge or stone wall and so became a "fenced
city." (Deut. 2:23).
BIBLE HISTORY
121
Cain and Abel both had a knowledge of the
true God and were his professed worshippers.
God had revealed himself to them and had
evidently instructed them as to the manner of
his worship. At stated seasons they brought
their offerings unto the Lord. We are told
that "Cain brought the fruit of the ground;
but Abel the firstlings of his flock." In other
words Abel brought a bloody sacrifice which
typified the blood of the cross. Two .reasons
may be assigned why God did not accept the
offering of Cain : (1) It was not presented in
faith. (Heb. 11:4); (2) It was not presented
in the appointed way. God had instituted the
bloody sacrifice; but Cain, either from priae,
self-will, or some other cause, refused to offer
such a sacrifice. Perhaps he had no lamb of
his own and did not like to procure one of
his brother Abel. He could not see why an
offering from the field would not do a~ well.
Cain was a rationalist in religion, while Abel
moved by faith. Abel was murdered proba¬
bly in the 130th year of the world. This is
inferred from the fact that Seth, who was
given Abel's place probably soon after his
death, was born when Adam was 130 years
old. The Bible presents us the history of two
races of antedeluvians. The line of Seth is the
godly one. Enoch and Noah are in that line.
The line of Cain is the ungodly race. The
122
BIBLE HISTORY
Cainites first lived much by themselves for a
long time, but finally intermingled with the
other descendants of Adam and so became
the means of corrupting them. "When the
sons of God saw the daughters of men that
they were fair, they took them wives of all
that they chose." (Gen. 6:2) These daugh¬
ters of men are supposed to have been Cain¬
ites. At any rate they were as wicked and
vile as they were beautiful. The "sons of
God" were Sethites. The results of the union
were giants in stature and giants in positive
evil. It was their wickedness that brought
on the flood. The question is sometimes
asked: "If Cain and Abel were married,
whom did they marry?" We have no state¬
ment that Abel was married, though he lived
long enough to have a numerous posterity,
and the probability is that he was both mar¬
ried and had many descendants. We know
that Cain was married and had children. His
wife must have been a sister, a niece or a near
relative. Adam and Eve doubtless had sons
and daughters besides those mentioned in the
Bible, and in all probability quite a number.
They were created not infants, but in the ma¬
turity of their powers, and became parents, it
is thought, within a year of their creation.
Abel was born, perhaps, the next year. We
hear nothing more of their children for the
BIBLE HISTORY
123
next hundred years, only that they begat sons
and daughters. They may have had fifty
children older than Seth, and so by the time
of Abel's murder there must have been sev¬
eral generations. Some have supposed the
number to have been not less than a hundred
thousand souls when Cain went to the land
of Nod.
The apostasy of the old world became such
in time that wealth, physical strength, the
cultivation of the arts and military achieve¬
ments were substituted for godliness. The
arts, or at least some of them, were carried at
that period to a very high degree of perfec¬
tion ; else such a structure as the ark could
never have been built. Nor did a knowledge
of the arts perish in the flood. It survived
and showed itself in the family of Noah.
Hence we find men, soon after the flood, en¬
gaged in cultivating the earth, in building
towers and cities, in practicing the arts both
of war and peace just as their pride and inge¬
nuity prompted. It was high handed, well
directed wickedness that led to the reign of
violence, and God in His sovereign wisdom
brought the whole age to a close in the deluge.
God's message to Noah to build the ark was
a call of mercy to the world as well as a favor
to Noah. It meant much to enter upon the
great endeavor, against ridicule, expostula-
124
BIBLE HISTORY
tion, censure and persecution. But faith gave
him courage and final victory. He was oc¬
cupied in building the ark and preaching
righteousness over one hundred years.
The Evidence and Extent of the Deluge.
There is no fact of ancient history better es¬
tablished than the deluge. Besides the Bible
there are said to be at least sixteen ancient
accounts of it. There are many and similar
lecords or traditions to be found among the
Romans, Greeks, Scandinavians, the Indians
Chaldeans, the Hindus, the Chinese, the
and Mexicans of America. They all have
the story. An excellent account of the Chal¬
deans was just recently discovered. It agrees
with the Bible account in twenty-five particu¬
lars.
The universality of the deluge, as far as
man is concerned, is verified by its universal
traditions. It may, or may not have included
the entire earth. The direct causes of the
deluge are not known. There are several
possible and reasonable causes. "The atmos¬
phere containing so much more moisture then
than now would by precipitation be the open¬
ing of the windows of heaven referred to.
This, with the discharge of the volumes of
water from the surrounding seas, would an¬
swer the scripture statements and produce
the deluge described. If it accompanied some
BIBLE HISTORY
125
great volcanic upheaval, such as has often
come to earth, as geology and history alike
testify, there would be not only a flood cov¬
ering that region, but extending to all parts
of the earth. The earth has had many del¬
uges and its surface has been over and over
covered with water; the presence of sea shells
on the highest mountains attest that deluges
have been among- the common experiences of
our globe."
The dates of the deluge reduced to our time
are as follows: Noah entered the ark Novem¬
ber 1st. The deluge began November 8th.
It rained 40 days, that is to December 16th.
The waters prevailed all winter and began to
recede in May. The dove was sent out in
July. The earth dried during July and
August. Noah left the ark November 1st, a
>ear from the time he entered.
The Origin of the nations as such began
with the new age, after the flood. Noah was
heir to the whole earth, and with him God
began the race again. All are descended
from him as all are from Adam. So the his¬
tory of the race begins again here. This is
practically the beginning of all history and
ethnology; for while much may be learned of
man before the flood, it will be little at best.
The ninth, tenth and eleventh chapters of
Genesis are the original sources of man's
126
BIBLE HISTORY
early history. In the tenth chapter we find
what is called "The Table of the Nations,"
including seventy nations, more or less, and
to this all must go for a beginning.
The First Settlement. The ark rested some¬
where on the high parts of Armenia, called
Mount Ararat; and in the same general vi¬
cinity on the fertile plains between the Tigris
and the Euphrates was the first settlement of
mankind after the flood. Just how long Noah
and his sons dwelt near the place where they
left the ark is not known. It could not have
been less than twenty years, for there the
good man planted a vineyard and drank too
freely of the wine thereof and exposed him¬
self to the derision of a son and grandson.
Canaan, a son of Ham, born after the flood,
was now old enough to be joined with his
father in the curse, as, in all probability he
had been in the transgression.
We hear nothing of Noah after this, except
that he lived 350 years, almost to the time of
Abraham. It is thought by some that He did
not migrate with his sons to the land of Shi-
nar, but remained in the East, had another
family, and that China, and perhaps some
other eastern countries, were settled directly
by Him. This would account for the utter
silence of Scripture respecting the last 300
years of Noah's life. It would also account
BIBLE HISTORY
127
for the early settlement of some oriental
countries. China seems to have been settled as
early as Egypt; and yet we have no account
of its having been so early reached by any of
the descendants of Shem, Ham or Japheth.
When it is said that the "whole earth was
overspread" by the three sons of Noah the
passage may refer only to the historic earth,
those portions with which Moses was ac¬
quainted.
The Toiuer of Babel. About 200 years
after the flood when the posterity of Shem,
Ham and Japheth had increased to thou¬
sands, and perhaps millions, and when they
had long since been settled in the land of
Shinar and people in order that they might
get to themselves a name, and prevent the
possibility of their being scattered, or de¬
stroyed by another flood, resolved to build a
city, and a tower whose top should reach even
unto heaven. (Gen. 11:4). So they set
themselves, with all their might, to build
what was afterwards called the Tower of
Babel. There is no fact better verified than
this tower. It was used as a place of worship
to the 3rd century, A. D. An ancient man¬
uscript has been found giving a description
of it. (Expository Times, August 1900). It
was composed of six stories; a temple on the
top formed the seventh. It was ascended by
128
BiBLE HISTORY
3G5 steps, sixty of these of gold, the .rest sil¬
ver. It had been abandoned in its early his¬
tory, and finished by subsequent rulers. Its
location is supposed to have been on the spot
around which was afterwards built the great
city of Babylon.
IV. THE DISPERSION seems to have been
in the days of Peleg, the fourth from Shem
(10 :22) while the Towrer was in the course of
erection. God was displeased with the under¬
taking and took measures to frustrate it. In¬
stead of dwelling together and rallying
round a great central city and tower, God de¬
signed that the human family should be sep¬
arated—scattered abroad over the face of the
earth; and in order to accomplish his purpose
and defeat their own, he took the wisest meas¬
ure possible and "confounded their lan¬
guage."
The fact of the unity, of human language
seems wrell established. Language wTas man's
faculty from the first; not a thing of human
invention, but the gift of God. He adapted
the human organs to the use of language, so
that even from the first Adam and Eve, un¬
doubtedly, conversed together, conversed
with God and taught their children to talk, as
we do ours. .We do not know what the origi¬
nal tongue was. It was in all probability
Hebrew.
BIBLE HISTORY
129
When the language of the Babel builders
had been confounded, so that they could not
have intercourse one with another they be¬
gan to disperse and to be scattered abroad. In
the confounding of tongues, it is likely that
the members of each large family or tribe had
a tongue by themselves. They could under¬
stand one another but could not understand
those of another tribe. This would separate
the different families or tribes, while it kept
the members of each particular tribe to¬
gether. The principal nations are as fol¬
lows :
Japheth, the eldest, had eight sons: Go-
mer is represented by the Germanic races;
Magog, Tubal, and Meshech, by the Russian
races; Madai, by the Medes, Javan by the
Greeks and Italians; Togarmah, by the Ar¬
menians ; Tarshis, by the Western European
nations.
Ham, the youngest of the three, had four
sons: Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan.
Cush first lived east of the Euphrates, near
its mouth, and his country was watered by
the ancient Gihon. He afterwards migrated
into Southern Arabia, and then over the Red
Sea into Africa. Cush had six sons, viz:
Seba, Havilah, Sobta, Raamah, Sabtecha,
and Nimrod. The first five of them settled
with their fathers in Arabia and Africa, and
130
BIBLE HISTORY
are called in our Bibles, Ethiopians. They
spread themselves over the greater part of
Africa. Nimrod seems not to have left the
land of Shinar. He was hunter, a warrior
and a leader in the mad project of building
the tower. He seems to have continued its
erection after the dispersion. Babel is called
the beginning of his kingdom. Egypt was
early settled by Mizraim and his seven sons,
perhaps also by his father, Ham. Egypt is
called "the land of Ham." (Ps. 105: 23.)
'The children of Ham seem to have been
most powerful at first. Nimrod ruled for a
time Chaldea, or the land of Shinar; also in
Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Canaan; the
sons of Ham had powerful kingdoms.
Shem, the second, had five sons: Elam,
Asher, Araphaxad, Lud, and Aram. Elam
was the father of the Ancient Persians; Ash-
ur settled Assyria, and from him the country
received its name. Arphaxad seems to have
remained with his father in the land of Shi¬
nar. He was the ancestor of Abraham. Ar¬
phaxad begat Salah and Salah begat Eber
from whom the Hebrews took their name.
Eber had two sons, Peleg and Jokatan.
In the time of Peleg the language
of men was confounded. Though the
Hamites were at first most powerful, at
length the Shemites began to distinguish
bible history
131
themselves and to prevail. Persia, Assyria,
Syria, Armenia and portions of India were
settled by the sons of Shem. At length they
drove out the posterity of Ham from Arabia
and Canaan and possessed those countries.
From this period the Hamites have been con¬
fined chiefly to Africa.
In later times the children of Japheth
have surpassed all others in power. Greece,
Rome, Germany, France, Spain, England—
nearly all of Europe, Northern Asia, and a
large part of India and America have been
peopled by them. The dispersion shows the
Japhetic race in Europe, the Shemitic in Asia
and the Hamitic in Africa.
Period II.—The Chosen Family
This period begins with the call of Abra¬
ham, B. C. 1921, and closes with the call of
Moses, B. C. 1491. Its record extends from
Genesis 12 to Exodus 2.
The first eleven chapters of Genesis, cov¬
ering a period of at least 2,300 years, is a
narrative that converges toward the one point
now reached, the coming of the progenitor of
the chosen people. The remaining thirty-
nine chapters of Genesis are occupied with
a narrative covering a period of about 300
years. This shows the relation of the events
and that all up to this is introductory. Jewish
132
BIBLE HISTORY
history begins here. During this period the
family of Abraham is the only subject of the
history; and from its form of government we
call it the Period of Patriarchial Adminis¬
tration.
Abraham—1. Genealogy is important in
Bible history. Before the flood lives were
prolonged almost to a thousand years, but
afterwards there was a rapid decline. While
Noah lived 950 years, Abraham died at 175.
Noah lived to see nine generations . He lived
to within a year of Abraham's birth. Shem
lived until after the birth of Isaac. Eber,
from whom the whole race took the name of
Hebrew, lived until after the birth of Jacob,
the father of the twelve tribes. Abraham
could have conferred with Shem and learned
all the facts of the flood from him. Shem
could have conferred with several contempo¬
raries of Adam. So that Abraham was only
distant by two generations from Adam,
though he himself was in the tenth genera¬
tion from Noah. What Adam told Methuse¬
lah, he, in turn, could have communicated to
Shem, and he again to Abraham. We can
thus see how the narratives of the Bible may
have been easily transmitted, first orally and
then committed to writing. Abraham was
selected from the line of Shem, the godly;
and Shem from Noah, the one righteous man;
BIBLE HISTORY
183
and he from the line of Seth, in which comes
Enoch. The same process continues in his
descendants. Isaac is taken as against Ish-
mael; and Jacob, instead of Esau. God's
call came to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees.
Here he was born and with his father Terah
and family followed a pastoral life. The
death of his brother Haran, who was the
father of Lot, may have helped to loosen the
ties that bound them to Ur. They must
have lived in an encampment similar to that
of an Arabian tribe of today. Abraham's
life is fully given in the following chapters:
Ch. 11, Abraham's genealogy. Ch. 12,
Call, Haran, Shechem, Bethel and Egypt, Age
75. Ch. 13, Lot, Promise. Ch. 14, Battle,
Melchizedek. Ch. 15, Covenant. Ch. 16,
Hagar, Ishmael, Age 86. Ch. 17, Circum¬
cision, Promise, Age 99. Ch. 18, Angels,
Sodom. Ch. 19, Lot and Sodom. Ch. 20,
Abimelecli and Sarah. Ch. 21, Isaac, Hagar,
The Wells, Age 100. Ch.22, Isaac offffered.
Ch. 23, Sarah's death. Ch. 24, Rebecca,
Age HO. Ch. 25, Keturah, Abraham's death,
Age 175.
2. Abraham's Covenant. It is the covenant
which God made with Abraham that specially
distinguished him. It was given in seven
sections or communications and should be
carefully studied.
134
BIBLE HISTORY
(a) In Ur (Acts 7: 1-4) he is given a com¬
mand with the promise only of a land that
God would show him. This separation in¬
volved giving up home and friends and tak¬
ing the pilgrim life. His obedience here pre¬
pared him for the greater provisions of the
covenant.
(b) At Haran (Ch. 11:32) Terah dies
and is laid to rest. God now promised a land,
a blessing, a great name, to be a blessing,
others to be blessed or cursed for his sake,
and all the families of the earth to be blessed
in him. Leaving Haran was another step of
separation from his brothers and his family,
and from the land of his nativity.
(c) Shechem (Ch. 12: 7) was in the land
pointed out, "unto thy seed will I give this
land." Here he builds an altar and the altar
accompanies him from this on.
(d) At Bethel (Ch. 13) another tie is
broken. Lot separates from Abraham and
chooses Sodom, showing his unfitness to share
in the covenant. Here God tells Abraham
that "his seed is to be as the dust of the
earth."
(e) At Hebron (Ch. 15) the covenant is
formally made and ratified. Abraham's seed
is now promised to be as the stars for multi¬
tude. It is this promise which Abraham be-
BIBLE HISTORY
135
lieved, and his faith in it which was counted
to him for righteousness.
(f) At Hebron (Ch. 17-19) the name
Abram is changed to Abraham, "great father
of a multitude." It was to be an "everlast¬
ing covenant" and Canaan to be an "everlast¬
ing possession." Circumsion is given as a
seal of the covenant. Ishmael, whom Abra¬
ham thought might be the source of the com¬
ing nation, is set aside, and Isaac promised.
(g) At Mt. Moriah (Ch. 22) Isaac is
called for as a sacrifice and is offered. Then
the wealth of the covenant is given Abraham.
God adds his oath, "by myself I have sworn."
Abraham's seed is to be as the stars of
heaven and as the sands of the sea. They are
to overcome their enemies and be a blessing
to the nations of the world.
3. Abraham was great in being made the
depository of the covenant, the faith of the
church, and by the attestation of his faith by
a life of obedience. Abraham had not only
a general idea of God and His power and
goodness, but he apprehended the gospel.
He gave Isaac to be offered believing that
God would raise him from the dead, from
which in a figure he was raised. (Heb. 11:
19). Isaac is a type of Christ in his submis¬
sion. (John 8:56).
136
BIBLE HISTORY
Isaac has but small space in the Scripture
narrative. He has only one chapter ex¬
clusively devoted to him. (Gen. 26:1-32).
He has but a single event mentioned in the
New Testament, his blessing his sons. (Heb.
11:20). He is the submissive and passive
character of the Bible. He is mocked by
Ishmael when a child, is offered unresistingly
as a sacrifice, his wife is chosen for him; he
gives up the wells one after another without
contending, and settles only when let alone.
He is deceived by his son. He is a type of
Christ in his humiliation and in his sacrifice.
He had less capacity or enterprise than either
Abraham or Jacob, but was distinguished for
piety and the virtues of domestic and social
life. Though he undertook no startling event,
his name will ever remain as an honored one.
He died at the age of 180.
Scripture references to events in his life :
Promised, Ch. 17:21; Birth, Ch. 21:2; Of¬
fered, Ch. 22; Marriage, Ch. 24; Heirship,
Ch. 25:6-11; Son's Birth, Ch. 25: 21-26;
The Wells, Ch. 26:1-32; Deceived by Jacob,
Blesses Sons, Ch. 27.
Jacob occupies a large place in Scripture.
His name as Israel occurs more often than
and other save that of God. It is by this
name that the chosen people are called. Seven
great revelations are given him. At leaving
BIBLE HISTORY
137
home (Ch. 28: 10-20). Leaving Laban (Ch.
31: 3). Two before meeting Esau (Ch. 32:
3, 24-32). At Shechem (35: 1). Bethel (35:
9). On going to Egypt (46:2).
The main points of interest are his obtain¬
ing of the birthright and blessing; his prayer
at Bethel; his prayer at Peniel: his return to
Bethel; his dying blessing. The latter is re¬
ferred to in the New Testament as alone
worthy of mention (Heb. 11: 21). The chap¬
ters are from 25-49. Jacob's twelve sons are
Leah's sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,
Issachar, Zebulon; the sons of Bilhah,
Rachel's maid, Dan, Naphtali; sons of Zil-
pah, Leah's maid, Gad, Asher; Rachel's sons,
Joseph and Benjamin.
Jacob, after living 17 years in Egypt, died
at the age of 147, and was by Joseph carried
to Canaan for burial (Gen. 49:.33.)
Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob, fills an
important place and is the center of thought
in one of the most dramatic stories in all the
Scriptures. This story is true to the Eastern
life and conditions. The coat of many colors
was often used for favored children and is so
used to some extent to this day. The pit
into which he was cast was a dry cistern,
such as are abundant in that country. Ara¬
bian caravans pass through that same land
today and would even now buy such a slave.
138
BIBLE HISTORY
In the Egyptian part of the narrative there
are over two hundred points of correspon¬
dence with Egyptian conditions. The personal
story may be best learned by the Chapters 30
to 50. The discoveries of archaeology in
Egypt have given light upon his life in that
land of intense interest. Joseph's life was
that of an Egyptian prince. It can scarcely
be too highly colored. Egypt was far in ad¬
vance in civilization. Joseph lived in a pal¬
ace adorned with paintings, surrounded with
a paradise of palms and tropical plants.
There were couches trimmed with ebony,
ivory and gilding; vases of gold, bronze, ivory
and crystals; perfumes from alabaster cups,
soft carpets and costly furs. He had many
attendants and luxuries at his command. He
was simply loaded with the glitter and glory
cf royalty. With all there are certain notice¬
able facts as to his character. He possessed
goodness in youth at home, fidelity in places
of trust (39 :6), resistance in temptation (39:
8), wisdom in administering affairs (41: 48),
love for his cruel brethren (45). His godly
character was the source of his strength
(Acts 7:9). He died at the age of 110.
When Joseph and afterwards his brethren
went into Egypt, it was ruled by a friendly
dynasty, the Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, as
they were reproachfully called. These Hyk-
BIBLE HISTORY
139
sos Kings had previously conquered the old
line kings of Egypt and being of the same
race as Israel they were naturally well dis¬
posed towards Joseph and his brethren. The
oppression of Israel was caused by the expul¬
sion of this friendly dynasty and the return
to power of the old line kings. A king came
to the throne who knew not Joseph, and had
no sympathy with his people; and as they
were rapidly increasing in number, and the
land likely to be filled with them, the new
king thought by oppression he could keep
them down. He first compelled them to for¬
sake their flocks, and to build treasure cities
for himself. He set over them hard task¬
masters, to afflict them with burdens. But
the more they were afflicted the more they
multiplied.
After the death of Joseph there was a long
period of silence. Israel's sojourn in Egypt,
even under great oppression, was not entirely
a disadvantage. They learned much of
Egypt's civilization, the effects of which they
showed in after life. At leaving, they must
have been far from the rustic people they
were at coming. It would have been impos¬
sible for them to be in daily contact with all
the learning and advancement of Egypt with¬
out lasting benefits in the arts of civilization.
God prepared the people for leaving Egypt
140
bible history
by the hardships of oppression. He also
provided a leader in saving the child Moses
from death and in the remarkable training
which providence made possible to him at
the court of Pharaoh.
Period III.—The Israelitish People
The Third Historical Period, known as
that of The Israelitish People, opens with the
call of Moses, B. C. 1491, and closes with the
coronation of Saul, B. C. 1095. The life of
Moses is divided into three parts of equal
length, in Egypt forty years, in Midian forty
years, in the wilderness forty years. The
first two were necessary to prepare him for
bis divinely given work in the last third of
his life.
His call to deliver Israel came to him while
attending to his flock near Horeb (Ex. 2: 23
to 4: 17). He was then 80 years of age (Acts
7:30; Ex. 7:7). Moses shrank from the
hazardous service and made wThat seemed to
be plausible excuses. God encouraged him
by giving assurance of His continual pres¬
ence and help. Moses in company with his
brother Aaron went first to the Elders of
Egypt and then into the presence of Pharaoh
with their message. Pharaoh is an official
title like Emperor. The Pharaoh who ruled
when Moses appeared was one of the success-
BIBLE HISTORY
141
ors of Rameses II, perhaps Menephtah L
The fact of finding or not finding his mummy
has little bearing on the matter. He may or
may not have been drowned in the Red Sea.
If drowned, the body could still have been
recovered and embalmed, for wTe are told that
many bodies were left on the shore. Pharaoh
refused to let Israel go and so ten plagues
were sent (Ex. 7-11). They were: 1. Nile
turned into blood. 2. Frogs. 3. Lice. 4.
Flies. 5. Murrain on cattle. 6. Boils on man.
7. Hail and fire. 8. Locusts. 9. Darkness
10. Death of first-born.
The Passover, a solemn festival, first ob¬
served on the night of the departure from
Egypt, was ever afterwards kept for seven
days, annually, beginning on the 14th day of
the first month (answering to a part of our
March and April).
The Exodus of Israel is briefly told. They
were prepared. The strange occurrences of
the recent past had terrified them and en¬
couraged their hearts. They were to ask (not
"borrow," as in Authorized Version) from
the Egyptians jewels and money. These were
their hard earned wages unjustly kept from
them. The gifts were lavishly bestowed. They
marched out in order, "by their armies,"
tribes, families and houses. It was not a con¬
fused mass of flying fugitives but something
142
BIBLE HISTORY
of an orderly caravan. There were 600,000
fighting men. This would mean, perhaps,
2,000,000 in all. In haste, yet with order, they
marched out, joined at places by the converg¬
ing companies from various parts, waiting
the movement. They marched in order, proba¬
bly in great divisions, meeting at Rameses or
Pithom, on the edge of the Wilderness. They
crossed near the northern extremity of the
western arm of the Red Sea, probably a few
miles south of Suez. Here the sea is narrow,
not more than two or three miles over, and
could easily have been crossed in a single
night. The pride and unbelief of Pharaoh
hardened his heart to the last point, and he
with his Egpytian host pursued the Israelites
into the sea and were drowned. After cross¬
ing the Red Sea, Moses and his people began
the forty years journey, which forms the sub¬
ject of the books of the Pentateuch after Gen¬
esis. The relations of each book to the journey
should be noted. Genesis takes them to
Egypt; Exodus, from Egypt to Mt. Sinai;
Leviticus was all given at Mt. Sinai; Num¬
bers takes them from Mt. Sinai to Canaan;
Deuternomy was all given at the edge of
Canaan. The journey from Egypt to Canaan
divides itself into five stages.
1. From Egypt to Mt. Sinai. (Exodus 12
to 18). It was a roundabout way to Canaan,
BIBLE HISTORY
143
but was evidently chosen for good reasons.
It hid the nation from the Egyptian and other
enemies. The experience of the bitter waters
at Marah, the Pillar of Cloud, the giving of
manna and quails, the contest with Amelek,
and the visit and advice of Jethro were all
lessons of faith in Jehovah. The time was
about three months.
2. At Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19 to end; Lev. and
Num. 1 to 10.) This was in the general lo¬
cality where Moses spent the forty years,
when banished from Egypt. It was also called
Mt. Horeb. Here God called him out of the
burning bush (Ex. 3). Here the law was
given, the Tabernacle erected, a Theocratic
form of government established, Aaron con¬
secrated to the priesthood, Nadab and Abihu
put to death for offering strange fire before
the Lord (Lev. 8-10). The second Passover
was here observed and here the first number¬
ing of the people (Num. 2: 26) occurred.
3. From' Sinai to Canaan (Num. 1 to 19).
The numbering of the people and the order¬
ing of the camp were at Sinai, just before
they left for the journey. The arrangement of
the camp was in four divisons, one on each
side of the Tabernacle, which was therefore
in the center of the camp. Each of the four
divisions was led by one of the four strong
tribes. The Pillar of Cloud was spread over
144
BIBLE HISTORY
the camp like a canopy, a central stem resting
on the Tabernacle. It shielded them from the
burning sun by day and illuminated the camp
at night. The march to Canaan is character¬
ized by sin and rebellion and chastisement.
Moses becomes so wearied that he is given the
seventy elders to aid him. Miriam and Aaron
rebel against Moses. At Kadish the whole
nation show their unbelief in the good report
of the spies and turn against Moses. God
shuts them out of Canaan and turns them
back into the Wilderness, to wander the rest
of forty years. Korah, Dathan and Abiram
rebel and are destroyed. The blossoming of
Aaron's rod stops the murmuring. Some laws
are given as the need required.
For Thirty-eight Years after their meeting
at Kadesh Barnea, but little is recorded of
them. Only the stages of the journey are
given (Num. 3). They are under the judg¬
ment of God. It is a time of apostasy. They
worship heathen gods (Amos 5: 25, 26; Acts
7:42, 43). Pestilence and other calamities
visit them (Num. 10: 30, 33, 32: 13; Ps.'87:
33). It was probably during this time that
Moses wrote Psalm 90, and possibly also
Psalm 91. With the expulsion of the Hyksos
Kings, Pharaoh extended his empire east as
far as the Euphrates, but after the destruc¬
tion at the Red Sea the power of Egypt re-
BIBLE HISTORY
145
laxed and there was invasion from the east
and there were wars. In the Wilderness the
Israelites were safe from foreign foes.
The Fortieth Year (Num. 20 to end and
Deuteronomy) is full of events. There
is still sin and rebellion but also much of
blessing. Miriam and Aaron both die; the
fiery serpents are sent among the people;
Balaam prophesies in vain against the nation,
but they fall into sin with Moab and many
are destroyed. The second numbering now
takes place, showing that all over twenty
have fallen as foretold. Joshua is chosen
and consecrated. Moses had conducted an
all powerful war with the Midianties and
with Og and Sihon, and their land is given to
Reuben, Manasseh and Gad. It is interesting
to study this brief warfare under Moses. The
allotment of the land and the cities of refuge
are provided for. Moses writes the law, gives
his farewell discourses in Deuternomy, gives
his song, blesses the tribes and dies on
Pisgah. The nation is encamped in the
plains of Moab, by Jordan, near Jericho. This
closes the story of Israel in the Wilderness,
but before entering Canaan let us note a few
facts in review. Abraham was promised that
he was to be a blessing to all the families of
the earth. The plagues of Egypt and Israel's
deliverance made Jehovah's name known to
146
BIBLE HISTORY
all the earth. (Ex. 9: 16). While the whole
world was more and more falling into apos¬
tasy, the Israelites had been in a measure
purged from the contamination of Egypt and
were comparatively a pure race. From the
single progenitor they have increased to a
nation of millions. Their vicissitudes have
been strange and many, but God has never
forsaken them. They now stand at the door
of Canaan. Moses is dead and Joshua is to
be the new leader.
f The Latv, that body of legislation con¬
tained in the Pentateuch, may here be con¬
sidered with profit, before we leave Moses,
There are hundreds of commands, but these
form one body of law. These were given as
needed. They were not all given or arranged
as we have them now. The most necessary
were given first. The decalogue, with other
necessary laws, were given as soon as Sinai
was reached. After the erection of the Taber¬
nacle, the laws of Leviticus were given, these
forming the ceremonial laiv, which could not
have been observed previous to this time..
Before starting on the march from Sinai, the
law of the camp and march w7as given (Num.
1-9). On the way much of the rest of Num¬
bers was given, and just before the death of
Moses, all of Deuteronomy.
The germ and center of the wThole law was
BIBLE HISTORY
147
the decalogue, the ten commandments on the
two tables of stone. These were called the
Testimony, and these gave the name to the
ark which contained them. It was the Ark
of the Testimony. For the same reason it
was the "Tabernacle of Testimony." It
was over these tables of stone that the cheru¬
bim hovered in reverence, and above them
rested the brightness which doubtless filled
the Holy of Holies. It was on the mercy
seat covering the law that the blood of expia¬
tion was sprinkled, the demands of this law
making such atonement necessary. The
pillar of cloud rested on the Tabernacle as a
place of divine approval. The Ten Com¬
mandments then represent the center of all
that complicated system. To understand
these and the relation of all other laws to
them is to obtain the key to all.
The Form of the Decalogue is interesting.
The usual arrangement of the Ten Command¬
ments is to place them in two groups; four
in the first and six in the second; but there
are good reasons for putting three in the first
and seven in the second. It makes a more
fitting division of the matter and places the
fourth commandment among those regarding
human duties. Christ teaches that the Sab¬
bath was made for man. The arrangement
in groups of three for the Divine side of the
148
BIBLE HISTORY
law and seven for the human side makes
manifest the numbers of perfection, respect¬
ively of diety and humanity. Three, the
well known number of the Trinity, is also
adapted to the manifestations of the first
three commandments: The Father is the sub¬
ject of the First Commandment; Christ is in¬
volved in the Second, since He is the only
image of God we are permitted to see or
know; while the Third Commandment looks
to the profaning of the Holy Spirit, for which
there is no forgiveness.
The Ten Commandments were not the
origin of law. The disobedience in the gar¬
den violated every commandment: The First
by acknowledging another God; the Second
by another way of approach to God than
that ordered; the Third by profaning the
name of God as well as by the use of His
name in the temptation; the Fourth Com¬
mandment had been violated by breaking the
Sabbath of rest which God had entered upon
and in which they lived; the Fifth by dis¬
honoring their Heavenly Father; the Sixth
by bringing, death upon themselves and
others; the Seventh by involving sexual sin;
the Eighth by taking what was not theirs; the
Ninth by bearing false witness against God;
the Tenth by coveting. In the skins with
which the first pair were clothed we see the
BIBLE HISTORY
149
germs of ceremonial law, for that covering
meant the very essence of sacrifice, benefit
by the death of another. The law of clean
animals, of the Sabbath, of marriage and
against murder must have been known before
the flood. The curse of Ham shows the duty
of parental honor. The sanctity of property
would come with its possession, so that the
germs of all the laws of the Decalogue seem
to have been in the world before the time of
Moses. It is evident that right was always
right and wrong always wrong.
The Scope of the law embraces the spiritual,
the ethical, the ceremonial and the civil.
These systems all center in the Ten Com¬
mandments. Every law found in the Penta¬
teuch is an extension of one of these com¬
mandments. Duties to God are included in
the first three commandments and duties to
man in the last seven.
*The Conquest of Canaan and possession of
the promised land constituted a long cher¬
ished hope of the people. After forty years of
wandering and schooling in the desert they
are ready to settle down in permanent homes.
Before this could be made possible it was
necessary to cross the Jordan and subdue the
enemy. Moses is now dead and the people
must go forward under a new leader.
*BibIe History—Blaikee
150
BIBLE HISTORY
Joshua, the successor of Moses, though but
little spoken of in the Bible, is nevertheless
an important character. He was the son of
Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim. He was born
in Egypt, a child of the Bondage, about B. C.
1536. He shared in the hurried triumphs of
the Exodus, was chosen captain at Rephidim
(Ex. 17: 9), was with Moses in the mount
(Ex. 24: 13 ; 32 : 11, 17), was one of the two
spies who brought back a favorable report—
Caleb being the other (Num. 14:6-9) and
just before the death of Moses was chosen by
God Himself to be the leader for the people
(Num. 27: 15-23).
Joshua on assuming leadership made im¬
mediate preparation for the conquest of
Canaan. The people were led to the eastern
bank of the Jordan from whence he sent two
spies to Jericho. These spies accomplished
their errand but would have been captured
except for the protection given by Rahab, the
harlot, who hid them in her house and at
night let them down from her window by a
rope, for her house was upon the town wall.
In return for this favor the spies promised
that if she would hang a scarlet line from her
window she would be saved when they took
the city. (Josh. 2.)
The Crossing of Jordan came soon after the
return of the spies. Joshua and all the
BIBLE HISTORY
151
Israelites approached the Jordan in perfect
order. The arK was borne by the priests 2000
cubits (1216 yards) in advance. When the
feet of these preists, the ark bearers, touched
the water the Jordan rose up on a heap so
that the Israelites passed over on dry ground.
The priests remained with the ark in the cen¬
ter of the river until all had passed over; then
twelve men, one from every tribe, took each
a stone from the place where the priests
stood, the priests then passed over and the
waters immediately flowed on as before.
Encampment at Gilgal. Here the twelve
stones taken from the Jordan were placed as
a memorial of the miracle. Here Joshua was
ordered to circumcise all the Israelites. This
rite had been neglected during the whole
forty years' wandering. The passover, first
instituted on the eve of leaving Egypt and
once afterwards observed at Sinai is now,
after about forty years, again kept. It was
here also that the manna ceased to fall. It was
about this time that an angel appeared to
Joshua and announced himself as the captain
of the host of the Lord, using the same words
as were formerly heard by Moses. (Josh. 5).
Joshua's campaigns may be termed Cen¬
tral, Southern and Northern. The plan for
entering the very heart of Palestine and cap-
152
BIBLE HISTORY
turing the stronghold and so cutting in to the
enemy at the center was a strategic move.
The Central. First, Jericho was taken and
destroyed by strictly obeying God's com¬
mands. Rahab and her household were saved
and the curse on the city's rebuilder is pro¬
nounced. Ai, on account of Achan's sin,
was not at first taken, but a second attempt
was successful and the city was destroyed.
The first altar was set up by Joshua in
Mount Ebal. Sacrifices were offered thereon
and the law read to all.
The Southern Caynpaign brings Joshua in
alliance with the Gibeonites, who deceived
him as to their country and secured by false
statements his pledge to "let them live,"
without asking counsel "at the mouth of the
Lord." The Battle with the five kings came
about from their making war upon Gibeon,
whose people appealed for help from Joshua.
The allies of the kings were utterly defeated
and the five kings were slain by order of
Joshua. It was in this battle that the mir¬
acle of sun and moon was in evidence.
The Northern Kings were now aroused at
the success of these invaders, and Jabin, King
of Hazor, organized a powerful league among
the surrounding princes and assembled an
immense host by the waters of Merom. But
Joshua, by rapid marches, fell upon the com-
BIBLE HISTORY
153
binecl forces by surprise and routed them
with great slaughter and burned their chari¬
ots and hamstrung their horses.
Thus Israel became the predominant power
in all Palestine. For seven years Joshua was
engaged in subduing thirty-one kings be¬
longing to seven nations. (Jos. 12:9-24).
A desultory war had still to be carried on,
but the country was soon divided and each
tribe was left to expel its own enemies.
Shiloh: Ecclesiastical Capital. About this
time the Tabernacle was removed from Gilgal
to Shiloh, where it remained 350 years, till
taken by the Philistines in the time of Eli.
(I Sam. 4: 10, 11.)
The Eastern Altar. The people who went
up from year to year, to attend the feast of
the Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, be¬
came suspicious of what seemed to be a pos¬
sible rival altar for worship, as discovered in
the erection of a great altar on the Eastern
bank of the Jordan. An embassy was sent
to get the facts. The suspicion was not well
founded and harmony was restored.
The divisions of the land were: On the
East of Jordan, (1) Manasseh, (half tribe)
on the North, (2) Gad, South of Manasseh,
(3) Reuben, South of Gad. On the West of
Jordan were: (1) Judah, West of the Dead
Sea, (2) Simeon, Southwest of Judah, (3)
154
BIBLE HISTORY
Dan, North of Simeon, (4) Benjamin, North
of Judah, (5) Ephraim, North of Benjamin,
(6) Manasseh, (half) North of Ephraim, (7)
Issachar, North of Manasseh, (8) Zebulun,
North of Issachar, (9) Naphtali North of
Zebulun, (10) Asher, North of Zebulun.
Joshua's parting ivords recall God's bless¬
ings, exhort Israel to cleave unto God, and
warn against transgression. He died at the
age of 110 years.
Israel constituted a Federative Republic
from the death of Joshua to the coronation of
Saul (1426-1095 B. C). During a period of
about twenty-five years previous to the
Judges, the separate tribes sought to conquer
their enemies, the Canaanites, with but par¬
tial success. The special points to be noted
during that time are the introduction of
idolatry, the idolatry of Micah, the war with
Benjamin and the obtaining of wives by force
on the part of the Benjaminites.
The Judges are not to be confounded with
those appointed by Moses in the Wilderness,
who still resided among the people, and
brought the administration of justice to every
man's door. The Judges now to be consid¬
ered were the successors, not of these legal
justices, but rather of Moses and Joshua.
They were the heroes in the dark hours of
their country's history, to deliver their people
BIBLE HISTORY
155
from their enemies and to restore them to the
service of Jehovah. These Judges differed
from the magistrates in being great warriors
and religious reformers, and from Moses and
Joshua in being emergency, rather than
national leaders. Under them there was
no national, visible head, no central gov¬
ernment, but a loose confederation. On the
divine side the government was a pure the¬
ocracy, while on the manward side it was a
pure democracy; that is, it was a Theocratic
Democracy.
The lack of central authority on the char¬
acter of the people was both good and bad—
mostly bad. The evil effects showed them¬
selves in two ways: (1) Tribal Jealuosy
(Judges 8:1-3; 12: 1-6.) (2) Neglect of the
Law of Moses (Judg. 3:4). The good effect
of democracy was that it developed character
and individuality as free institutions always
do. It was an age of heroes and yet a period
of national apostasy and moral degeneracy.
Idolatry and conformity to the age wrought
ruin. Faith and faithfulness gave way to un¬
belief and fickleness. The tabernacle was
hid in darkness and there is but little mention
of the High Priest, (Judg. 2:1-13; 20:28)
though the Tabernacle service must have been
kept up in some measure. It was the dark
age of Hebrew history, when the nation
156
BIBLE HISTORY
was scourged for idol worship and various
sins. Jehovah, however, was true to his
promise and never forsook them. He raised
up at needful times emergency men to deliver
and help them. These deliverers were called
judges. There were fifteen judges. (See list
on page 33). The seven oppressions specially
mentioned are: the Mesopotamian (Ch. 3:
7-11); the Moabite (Ch. 3:12-20); the
Canaanite (Ch. 4); the Midianite (Ch. 6:
1-6) ; the Ammonite (Ch. 10:7-9) ; the Phil¬
istine, earlier and later (Ch. 3: 31; 13) ; and
the corresponding deliverances under Othniel,
Shamgar, Ethud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephtha,
Samson and Samuel.
The Book of Ruth "gives a charming do¬
mestic incident in the midst of the dark ages
of the Judges." The prominent men of the
period are:
Moses, the founder of the nation (Deut. 34:
10-12).
Joshua, the conqueror of Canaan (Josh 11:
20).
Gideon, the greatest of the judges (Judg.
8: 28).
Samuel, the last of the judges (I Sam. 12:
1-2).
The period covered by Joshua and the
Judges is characterized as the Iron Age of
bible history
157
Israel, even as that of David and Solomon is
called its Golden Age.
Period IV.—The Israelitish Kingdom.
The Fourth Historical Period, known as
The Israelite Kingdom, opens with the reign
of Saul, the first king, and closes with the
captivity of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah
—time about 500 years. The kingdom was
divided after the reign of three kings, but
even after the division it was regarded as one
kingdom, though in two parts. We find con¬
stant allusions to Israel as a people of twelve
tribes, even as late as the New Testament
period (Jas. 1:1). These tribes were all
united under one monarch during the reigns
of Saul, David and Solomon, each of whom
reigned forty years, in all 120 years.
The Demand for a King arose from the fact
that the Israelites became tired of the govern¬
ment of the judges, and wished to be like the
other nations about them, and to have a king
of their own. Egypt, Assyria and other
centers of royalty, even less distinguished,
excited their emulation. They may also have
thought that the increasing tribal jealousies
would be healed by having a king. The de¬
mand was a sore trial to Samuel, as it seemed
to involve both ingratitude to himself, and
also disrespect to and want of confidence in
158
BIBLE HISTORY
their heavenly King. By God's direction,
however, the request was not refused. The
people were told that the new arrangement
would mean many sacrifices and hardships.
Saul, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite, was dis¬
covered by lot to be the man on whose head
God wished the crown to be placed. Samuel,
by Divine direction, had already at Ramah
privately designated him for the office.
The Forms of Administration had been:
(1) Direct, when God dealt with each
person without mediation or organized insti¬
tutions ; when He spoke through neither
priest nor ruler but directly to the individual.
(Gen. 3:9; 4:6; 5: 22; 6: 13).
(2) The second form was Patriarchal,
when each family or clan through its head
was recognized. (Gen. 17: 7; 18: 19 ; 35: 2).
(3) The third form was Theocratic, or a
government directly by God. The Lord was
their only king (Judges 8:23), but there was
a priestly order for religious service (Exod.
28: 1) and from time to time men were raised
up by divine appointment to rule who were
called judges (Judg. 2:16).
(4) The fourth form of administration, the
one now to be considered, was Regal, in the
sense that the people were ruled by kings.
The King of Israel however was not a despot,
for his power was limited, and he was re-
BIBLE HISTORY
159
garded as the executive of a theocratic gov¬
ernment. (I Sam. 10:25).
Saul, the first king of the united kingdom,
was a young man of kingly figure and ap¬
pearance. He was brave, energetic, and at
first modest and rightly impressible. But
failing to be guided by the exalted principles
enunciated by Samuel, he soon found himself
swayed by his own wishes and passions
rather than by the desire to improve his
kingdom. He had the name of king but was
in reality little more than a military chief¬
tain. He was fortunate in being of the small
tribe of Benjamin. The two large tribes of Ju-
dah and Ephraim were beginning to be rivals,
and a king chosen at the time from either of
these would have incited bitter opposition.
Saul selected as his capital and residence the
town of Gibeah in Benjamin. It was situated
on a high, isolated hill, about six miles north
of Jerusalem. It commanded an extensive
view in all directions, especially eastward.
Samuel, seems to have continued to exercise
at Ramah the functions as judge after Saul
became king. (I Sam. 7:15). He was how¬
ever chiefly occupied in settling quarrels, pro¬
moting Godliness and training the young,
chiefly Levites, in his "schools of the
prophets." These institutions were estab¬
lished in different places, as Ramah, Bethel
160
B-BLE HISTORY
and Gilgal. They had some one set over them
to foe their teacher and leader. Here young
nen studied the law of Moses, and learned to
expound it. Here was taught also sacred
psalmody and music. Here it was by some
pejdliar devotional exercise that the spirit of
prophecy was imparted whenever it pleased
God to grant it. Perhaps to no individual,
after Moses and Joshua, were the Israelites
so much indebted as they were to Samuel.
He was a prophet in Israel eighty years, and
a judge about sixty years. He anointed as
king both Saul and David. He directed the
affairs of the people, instructed them in the
ways of the Lord, and administered justice
with an even hand. He is supposed to have
revised and edited the books of Moses and
Joshua, and to have written Judges, Ruth
and Samuel, up to near the time of his death.
He died at Ramah, at the age of 92 years.
Saul's Great Campaign consisted mainly of
seven military achievements:
1. Against the Ammonites at Jabesh-Gil-
ead; 2. Against the Philistines at Michmash;
3. Various campaigns against Moab, Edom,
Zobah, and other places; 4. Against the
Amelekites; 5. Against the Philistines, under
the championship of Goliath; 6. Against
David; 7. The last campaign against the
BIBLE HISTORY
161
Philistines, when he fell on Mount Gilboa,
near the plain of Esdraelon.
Saul's reign is believed to have lasted 40
years. His miserable death was but a sad
commentary upon his life. The laws of God
and the rights of man were entirely disre¬
garded in the excitement of his impulsive
self-will.
David, the second king, was in many re¬
spects the most remarkable of the great and
good men of the Old Testament times. Like
Abraham and Moses he marks a new era in
the history of Israel, and his life record as
given in the Scriptures is very full, singularly
varied and intensely interesting.
His Tribe of Judah was the leading one of
the twelve. It had remarkable traditions.
(Gen. 44:18-34; Num, 14 and Judges 1:
12-13).
His Family held a place of special impor¬
tance in his tribe (1 Chron. 2: 10). Jesse,
David's father, was grandson of Boaz and
Ruth, and probably inherited their property,
or part of it. His name is given us pro¬
phetically in Holy Writ: "There shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a
branch shall grow out of his roots." He
was evidently a good man and well advanced
in years when his son became famous (I Sam.
162
BIBLE HISTORY
17:12). He lived, however, for sometime
afterwards (I Sam. 22: 3).
His Birth-place was Bethlehem, situated
six miles south of Jerusalem and about twelve
north of Hebron. Surely the birth-place of
both David and Jesus must be regarded as
sacred.
His Training. David was born B. C. 1080,
about 100 years later than the Trojan War,
and but 40 years after the death of Samson,
one of the latest of the Jewish heroes. The
stirring events of the times would still
be fresh in the minds of the people and
so known to David. The profligacy of
morals under Eli had been succeeded by the
revival under Samuel, whose headquarters
were at Ramah, only a few miles from Beth¬
lehem, and whose holy character and teaching
seemed to have influenced the whole neigh¬
borhood. From this first public notice of
David he was influenced by the fear and the
love of God. His quiet shepherd life helped
him to foster the habit of meditation, and his
absence from other companions led him to
find companionship in his harp, on which he
early became skilled. One of his earliest
exploits was to slay a lion and bear that came
upon his flock.
His Appearance was comely, with ruddy
complexion and beautiful eyes (I Sam. 16:
BIBLE HISTORY
163
12, Marg). Many things indicate that there
was about him a simplicity and openness and
warmth of nature that won all hearts (I Sam.
18: 1, 7, 20; II Sam. 19: 14).
His Character. In his more mature char¬
acter he seemed to unite in himself the high
qualities of nearly all who had gone before
him. In Him was discovered the heavenly
conversation of Enoch, the triumphant faith
of Abraham, the meditative thoughtfulness of
Isaac, the wrestling boldness of Jacob, the
patient endurance of Joseph, the lofty pa¬
triotism of Moses, the warlike skill and ener¬
gy of Joshua, the daring courage of Gideon
and the holy fervor of Samuel. He was a great
king, a great warrior, a great poet, a great
religious reformer and among the most emi¬
nent of the Old Testament types of Christ.
(Math. 15: 22; 20: 30).
His Life Activities may be divided into
five parts, each representing a distinct epoch.
First Epoch—His Shepherd life. David's
fidelity to duty as a shepherd was seen in the
incident of the lion and the bear. It was
soon after this and while he wore the shep¬
herd's dress and possibly with the shepherd's
staff in hand, that he was anointed by Samuel
as king. David as a good shepherd cared
for his flock, and as a king, sought the good
of his people (Psalm 78:70-72)—He was
164
BIBLE HISTORY
three times anointed: first at Bethlehem pri¬
vately (I Sam. 16:1-14); then at Hebron
over Judah (II Sam. 2:4); and finally over
all Israel (II Sam. 5: 1-5).
David as a harper became famous and was
made minstrel, and then armour-bearer to
King Saul. (I Sam. 16: 21, 23). The office
of armour-bearer was honorary, involving
only personal attendance on Saul when re¬
quired.
David's conflict writh Goliath wTas the first
and most memorable of his fights. This oc¬
curred some time after he had returned home
from serving as Saul's minstrel, and possibly
when he had undergone a change of appear¬
ance—passing from a boy to a young man—
so that Saul did not recognize him as his
former armour-bearer. With reference to the
noted conflict in which David so easily out¬
matched the giant, eight definite facts may be
noted : 1. His obedience to his father's wishes,
though he was sent to the army merely to
serve his elder brothers. 2. His self control
and meekness. 3. His view of Goliath's of¬
fence against God in defying his army. 4.
His courage and faith that made him willing
to undertake what would seem to be a rash
step to death. 5. His modest and simple
faith as indicated in his offer. 6. The de¬
cision with which he put aside the untried
BIBLE HISTORY
165
and unsuitable armour of the king. 7. His
majestic assertion before the Philistine of the
claims and prerogatives of the God of Israel.
8. His perfect coolness and the absolute suc¬
cess of his method of attack. He was doubt¬
less skilled in the use of the sling. As re¬
ward for David's victory over Goliath he
was entitled to be the king's son-in-law (I
Sam. 17: 25).
The trials through which God permitted
him to pass were for him schools of discipline.
As a shepherd he learned to give faithful
service and to be devout in contemplation.
His courtier life familiarized him with the
routine of courts and the habits of royalty;
and then his life in the desert, in actual con¬
tact with the kind of material which he must
govern in the future, gave him special fitness.
Some think that the Twenty-third Psalm was
written during the epoch of his shepherd life,
but the reference to his enemies and to his
death seem to point to a later time.
Second Epoch—His Courtier Life. David's
encounter with Goliath, the songs of the
daughters of Israel ascribing more honor to
David than to Saul aroused Saul's jealousy
and caused at least five attempts to kill David
while connected with the court. 1. Saul
spoke to Jonathan, his son, and to all his
servants that they should kill David (1 Sam.
166
BIBLE HISTORY
19:1). 2. In his house he launched a javelin
at his head (19: 10). 3. He sent to David's
house to have him brought up on his sick
bed (19: 15). 4. He sent messengers to Ra-
mah for him, but when there they were filled
with the Spirit ( 19 : 20). 5. He went to Ra-
mah himself and for the time had a similar
experience (19:23, 24). He also stormed
against his son Jonathan for his attachment
to David (20: 23). Jonathan's friendship for
David was not only of the warmest kind, but
it was most disinterested and pure. He did
all in his power to soften the jealousy of Saul,
but it was unavailing.
Third Epoch—David's Outlaw Life may
be noted in connection with ten places.
(Read I Sam. 21-31). 1. At Nob, a city of
priests, between Gibeah and Jerusalem, and
occupied by the high priest and the tabernacle
after the destruction of Shiloh. 2. From
Nob he fled to Gath, one of the cities of the
Philistines and the old residence of Goliath.
3. Leaving Gath he returns to the tribe of
Judah and takes refuge in the cave of Adul-
lam, at Mizpah. 4. He is next found in the
Wilderness of Judah. 5. Then in the Wil¬
derness of Ziph he takes refuge. 6. At Maon
he probably wrote the 54th Psalm. 7. At
Engedi David spares Saul. 8. David's next
trouble, came at Carmel, in the south of Judah
BIBLE HISTORY
167
where David and his men protected Nabal, a
rich farmer, who showed insolence instead of
gratitude. David's plan for visiting signal
chastisement upon Nabal was arrested by a
visit from Abigail, with an ample subsidy.
Nabal died soon after this and David married
Abigail. 9. At Hachilah Saul's life is spared
a second time. 10. David becomes discour¬
aged and goes back among the Philistines
and feigns loyalty to the King. Ziklag, a
border city, is assigned him and his troops.
The Philistines having planned a new war,
David was called to help the king. While
away from home Ziklag had been plundered
and burned and his wives taken away. The
calamity brought David back to the spirit of
trust and prayer. The 56th Psalm seems to
refer to this time. At the death of Saul and
Jonathan the outlaw life of David came to an
end. He showed his regard for Saul as the
Lord's anointed, and for Jonathan, his friend.
Fourth Epoch—David's Royal Life as king
of Judah is most interesting. At the age of
thirty he was made King of Judah, and by
divine direction Hebron was chosen as the
seat of his government. He reigned there
for seven years and a half. Hebron was well
adapted to be the capital of the southern part
of the kingdom. Its upland secured it from
168
BIBLE HISTORY
attack, and its holy associations with noble
spirits would awaken lofty aspirations.
His first act on coming into power was to
send a message of thanks to the men of Ja-
besh-gilead for having buried Saul and his
sons after the fatal battle of Mount Gilboa.
His attitude towards the house of his prede¬
cessor was generous—just the opposite to the
usual policy of Eastern kings, who showed
all possible disrespect.
The Civil War that followed was due to
the fact that Saul's family did not give up
the throne without a struggle. Ish-bosheth,
a son of Saul, had been under Abner, captain
of the host, proclaimed king and the North¬
ern and Eastern tribes had accepted him as
such. At the end of the civil war a deputa¬
tion from the tribes whose jealousy had been
overcome, came to David at Hebron, and
offered him, handsomely and heartily, the
crown of the united kingdom.
David's Capture of Jerusalem was far from
easy, but the advantages of its situation and
also the intimation of God's will that it
should be called by His name (II Chron. 6 :6)
determined David to secure it. He fortified
the stronghold of Zion and prepared a place
on that hill to which he soon brought up the
ark from Kirjath-jearim. Then he pro-
BIBLE HISTORY
169
ceeded to extend the town, and laid the foun¬
dation of what, for nearly three thousand
years has been known as "the Holy City."
Fifth Epoch—His Royal Life at Jerusalem
is embraced in this period. After capturing
Jerusalem, David transferred to it the seat of
Royalty—the future civil and ecclesiastical
capital of the kingdom. After two success¬
ful encounters and several efforts the ark was
brought from Kirjath-jearim and placed on
Mount Zion.
David's desire to build a temple was first
encouraged by the prophet Nathan, but af¬
terwards, in God's name, he was dissuaded.
As David was to be a man of war and his
son a man of peace this honor was passed
on to Solomon.
David's Foreign Warfare was eminently
successful, subduing the Philistines, the
Moabites, the Edomites, the Amalekites and
the Syrians. Thus for the first time the
Jewish territory filled up the whole outline
originally traced in the promise to Abraham
(Gen. 15: 18). Mephibosheth, a lame son of
Jonathan, was brought by David to Jerusa¬
lem and attached to his court, out of pure
friendship for Jonathan.
David's Trespass with Batli-sheba stands
out as one of the darkest crimes in the word
170
BIBLE HISTORY
of God. His wicked scheme to have Uriah
slain in order to get his wife shows the ter¬
rible remnants of sin that may be in the
hearts even of converted men. David was
brought to a sense of his sin through the
prophet Nathan by means of the parable of
the ewe lamb. To this period of David's
life are ascribed certain of the penitential
psalms, such as the 51st, 130th, 22nd and
40th.
David's domestic troubles from this time on
were many and grievous. The rebellion of
Absalom seemed to have been the culmina¬
tion of these. After the vast army of Absa¬
lom was defeated and he had spent time in
mourning for his son, he became composed
and sat in the gate, in no hurry to return to
Jerusalem, or to take possession of the
throne, without an invitation from those who
had driven his away. The tribes all finally
extended to him their cordial welcome and
his restoration to his capital and throne was
under far more agreeable conditions than he
could have dreamed of when driven away.
Sheba, the Son of Bichri, a Benjaminite, led
an insurrection, owing to the fact that he felt
that the ten tribes had not been sufficiently
regarded in bringing back the king. The
ten tribes united in this revolt, while Judah,
the rebellious tribe, was now loyal.
BIBLE HISTORY
171
A Famine was a new form of calamity,
sent on account of faith being broken with
the Gibeonites. We are instructed that "It
is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because
he slew the Gibeonites."
His last ivar seems to have been with the
Philistines. The 18th psalm was composed
as an appropriate conclusion to the history of
his active life.
David's numbering of the people brought
another great chastisement upon him. It is
not very apparent wherein the sin lay, but in
I. Chronicles it is said that "Satan stood up
against Israel, and provoked David to num¬
ber Israel." The numbering was evidently
done for a military purpose, to find out how
many were fit to bear arms. It may have
been done in the spirit of displaying military
power, forgetting the real source of Israel's
safety and glory: "Some trust in chariots and
some in horses; but we will remember the
Lord our God." The numbering showed in
Israel 800,000 and in Judah 500,000 valiant
men ready to draw the bow. But when the
numbering was over the king's heart smote
him and he felt that he had committed a great
sin. He had the choice of three chastise¬
ments—seven years of famine, three months
of defeat before his enemies or three days
pestilence. He chose to fall in the hand of
172
BIBLE HISTORY
the Lord rather than that of man. So the
Lord sent a destructive pestilence, for which
David felt himself to blame. The destroying
angel on his approach to Jerusalem was met
by David on Mount Moriah, where he offered
a sacrifice to appease the anger of God. This
spot afterwards became the site of the tem-
•ple.
Arrangements for Erecting a Temple were
made by David, and toward the close of his
life he handed over to Solomon the immense
stores which he had collected for that pur¬
pose, together with the pattern which had
been given him by the divine revelation.
David's Last Words are supposed to have
been a prophecy of the coming Messiah:
"He shall be as the light of the morning,
when the sun riseth, even a morning without
clouds; as the tender grass springing out of
the earth by clear shining after rain." David
was now three score years and ten and was
visibly approaching his end. Through Bath-
sheba and Nathan, David defeated his son
Adonijah in his attempt to occupy the throne,
and made his son Solomon king. He died
after reigning about forty years and was
buried on Mount Zion—the place to which
he had been the means of imparting such ex-
extraordinary consecration.
BIBLE HISTORY
173
His Devotional Writings though not the
first, were undoubtedly the most distin¬
guished of all sacred songs of the Hebrews.
He himself was the most distinguished
writer of them all, and it is for this
reason that the whole collection has been
named after him. Nearly half of the collec¬
tion is ascribed to him in the superscriptions,
but it is hardly probable that he was the
author of quite so many. Classification of
the Psalms has been attempted without en¬
tire satisfaction. They may be grouped ac¬
cording to their character, as follows:
1. Songs of Nature—8, 19, 29, 65.
2. Songs of Distress and Trust—3, 4, 6, 7,
12, 13, 14, 22, 25, 31, 35, 41, 52-61, 64, 69,
70, 76, 109, 123, 140-143.
3. Songs of Contrition—32, 38, 39, 51.
4. Songs of Trust, Thanksgiving, and Tri¬
umph—5, 9, 11, 16-18, 20-23, 27, 28, 33, 34,
36, 37, 40, 62, 63, 68, 101, 103, 109, 110, 138,
139, 144, 145.
5. Songs of the Sanctuary—15, 24, 26, 30,
122, 133.
Solomon, the third king, was personally
famous for his wealth, wisdom and wanton¬
ness. His first youthful energies were em¬
ployed in building the Temple which David
designed. The magnificence of the Temple
174
BIBLE HISTORY
was very great and according to the most
moderate computation, the value was not
less than £120,000,000 sterling. He had
widely extended his empire and made him¬
self friendly with several other countries,
some of them remote from Palestine. Egypt
was one of these. Nearly 500 years had
elapsed since the exodus, and during that
long period there had been no intercourse
between the two countries. He sustained
also very interesting relations with the king¬
dom of Sheba, in southern Arabia, whose
queen came all the way to Jerusalem to verify
the wonderful reports of his wisdom.
Solomon was a great builder. Besides the
Temple and his own palaces, he had fortified
cities and built noted aqueducts. Among
the most celebrated of the cities was "Tad-
more in the Wilderness," known in later
times as Palmyra. Baalath, or Baalbec, was
another city of importance built or improved
by Solomon.
His Character is something of a riddle. He
seems to have started off with a tender heart
and true reverence for God, as is shown in
his early prayer and answer thereto, and
his prayers at the dedication of the Temple
were humble and fervent; but unfortunately
Solomon became a grievous backslider, as is
seen in his foreign marriages and in his tol-
BIBLE HISTORY
175
eration of idolatry if not an actual partici¬
pant in it. Everything connected with
Solomon and his reign was on a grand scale
—even his sins—entitling him to be called
"Solomon the magnificent." (I Kings 2: 11).
The literary and scientific advancement of
this period must have been great. The
Psalms of David and the writings of Solomon
possess extraordinary literary merit and the
influence and example of two such literary
kings must have been all powerful over their
subjects and the world at large. What
David did for music, Solomon did for natural
history.
The Religious State of the times must have
been noteworthy. Under Samuel a great
revival of true religion had taken place and
the schools of the prophets which he estab¬
lished seem to have been attended with re¬
markable blessing. The coming Messiah
was more clearly revealed and it was ex¬
pressly announced to David that the Great
Deliverer was to be a member of his family.
David also as a type of Christ, conveyed a
fuller and clearer idea of the person and
character of Christ than any typical person
that had gone before him. The Psalms of
David must have served to have enriched the
devotional feelings among Godly people.
The distribution of the Levites and the re-
176
BIBLE HISTORY
modeling of the Temple service must have
secured much attention to the ordinary ser¬
vices of religion. The Psalms of David bore
the marks of the camp, of the tumult of arms
and of the busy bustle of life; while the Song
of Solomon with its images of peace and rest
proclaimed that "the winter was past."
While the mass of the people either wor¬
shiped idols or worshiped God in accordance
with the will, example, or command of their
rulers, there were persons, more or less
numerous, of earnest piety, who worshiped
God in spirit and in truth. In comparing
the history of Solomon in compass with that
of David, it is to be observed that the whole
of Solomon's forty years is compressed into
about nine average chapters in I. Kings,
while the whole of II. Samuel and a large
part of I. Samuel are devoted to the ex¬
ploits of David his father. Nearly half of
the whole of Solomon's history is given up to
the account of the building and dedicating
the Temple (I Kings 5:8). Only what makes
directly for the glory of God finds an extend¬
ed place in God's book. Solomon was a great
king but David was Israel's greatest king
and hero.
BIBLE HISTORY
177
THE DIVIDED KINGDOM
(I. and II. Kings, II. Chronicles)
At the coronation of Rehoboam, Solomon's
on and successor, the Ten Tribes revolted,
,nd with Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, one of
5olomon's officers, founded the Kingdom of
srael; while the Tribe of Judah alone, save
l part of Benjamin and probably a few mem-
>ers of Dan, Simeon and other tribes—the
?ribe of Levi not being reckoned, adhered to
lehoboam and the House of David.
1 The Kingdom of Israel or of The Ten
nribes covers a period of 254 years, from
i. C. 975 to B. C. 721, and had nineteen
:ings. Jeroboam, the master-spirit in the
evolution, had early shown singular admin-
strative ability, insomuch that Solomon had
appointed him a sort of viceroy or lieutenant
'over all the charge of the house of Joseph"
'I Kings 11: 28). While on his way to this
iigh office, Ahijah, the prophet of Shiloh,
net him and intimated that, on account of
Solomon's encouragement of idolatry, ten of
he tribes were to be removed from the alle¬
giance of his son, and committed to the
harge of Jeroboam. Hearing of this an-
louncement, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam;
iut he escaped by fleeing to Egypt, where he
vas protected by King Shishak. On the
178
BIBLE HISTORY
death of Solomon, Jeroboam returned to his
own country and headed the deputation to
Rehoboam, and proposed the terms which
Itehoboam refused. His character and repu¬
tation, and the message from the Lord
through Ahijah, secured for him the unani¬
mous offer qf the throne of the new kingdom.
( Jeroboam's Mistakes were apparent from
the first of his rejgn. 1. He exerted great
energy in fortifying the towns, and so showed
that he set no v^lue on the favor of God, as
the source of protection and blessing to his
people. 2. His great offense which covered
his name with lasting shame was his setting
up two golden calves, one at Bethel and one
at Dan—the northern and southern extremi¬
ties of his kingdom. It was both clever and
impious to the extreme. His object was to
prevent the people froin going up to Jerusa¬
lem to the religious festivals, fearing that
they might withdraw their allegiance from
him and transfer it to Judah. Instead of
three tjmes a year, he required the attendance
of the people but once. He reigined twenty-
two years and acquired the unenviable repu¬
tation that he "made Israel to sin."
Nadab, the son of jerojboani, succeeded his
father as king and as evil doer. It was only
twro years after coming to the throne that he
was murdered by Baasha, a man of Issachar.
BIBLE HISTORY
179
He did nothing of importance to signalize his
reign.
Baasha, the murderer of Nadab, took pos¬
session of the kingdom, and for safety's sake
destroyed all the house of Jeroboam. He
fortified Ramah to prevent any communica¬
tion with the Kingdom of Judah. Ramali,
tlie place of Samuel's residence, was situated
near one of the great passes that connect the
southern with the middle portion of the coun¬
try, so that it was well adapted, when forti¬
fied, for the end which he had in view! Like
his predecessors, Baasha lived in a state of
warfare with the sister kingdom. The prophet
Jehu was sent to remonstrate with him rela¬
tive to his wicked course.
Elah, like his father Baasha, followed in
the footsteps of Jeroboam, and after a reign
of two years was murdered by Zimri, one of
his captains, as Nadjab had been at the hands
of Baasha. Elah and all his house perished
in bis palace, and with him the second royal
ciyna^y of Israel came to an end.
Zimri can Ijar^ty be said to have formed
a 4yp&sty, for his reign lasted but a week.
Beipg besieged by .Omri, another claimant of
the crown, and reduced to desperation, he set
fire to the palace Tirz^h and perished in the
flames.
Omri, after four years contest with Tibni,
180
BIBLE HISTORY
came to the throne, and instead of rebuilding
the ruined palace of Tirzah, he bought the
neighboring hill of Samaria, and built the
celebrated city of that name, which name was
given to it in commemoration of Shemer, the
former owner of the hill. The reign of Omri
was one of some external prosperity. In the
Assyrian inscriptions of the time this mon¬
arch has a special place and the one Israel-
itish name best known.
Ahab, son of Omri, was one of the most
conspicuous names in the history. Under
him the country received a terrible impulse
towards idolatry, and consequently towards
ruin. The special moving power in this di¬
rection was Jezebel, Ahab's wife, a daughter
of the neighboring king of Phoenicia, and a
fanatical promoter of the worship of Baal, the
Phoenician god. An altar and temple to this
idol were among the earliest structures of the
new capital, Samaria. Jezebel was the
"Bloody Mary" of her day and used every
means against the worship of the true God.
Elijah, the prophet, suddenly emerges from
the woodlands of Gilead and presents himself
before King Ahab with an extraordinary
message. It was that "there shall not be
dew nor rain these years but according to my
word." After he had delivered his message,
the prophet disappeared. From this time on
BIBLE HISTORY
181
to the end of his life, Elijah the Tishbite was
engaged in conflicts with regal power. Having
sounded the defiant note to Ahab, it became
necessary for him to find a secure hiding
place. He first found seclusion at Cherith,
near Jericho, where the ravens fed him, and
afterwards about a hundred miles away at
Zarephath, a town in Phoenicia, where he
was sustained by the poor widow's oil and
meal.
In the Contest on Mount Carmel, after a
three years drought, the Lord vindicated his
rightful claim as the true God by fire from
heaven. The defeated prophets of Baal were
then brought down the mountain to the bed
of the Kishon, and put to death. From this
slaughter the King returned to Carmel and
joined the sacrificial feast. Elijah also went
up, apparently on another peak, to pray.
For seven times he sent his servant out to
look over the Mediterranean for signs of rain.
At last the welcome sight appeared and a
message was sent to the King bidding him
prepare his chariot and return to his palace,
lest the rain should swell the Kishon and
prevent his passing over. The hand of the
Lord was upon Elijah and he had a right to
expect that the worship of the true God
would now be restored in its purity over all
the land. But the tidings of Elijah's victory
BIBLE HISTORY
only inflamed the jealous Jezebel, and he was
compelled to flee southward for his life.
At last, worn and weary, he lay down un¬
der a "broom" or retem-tree to die. A mi¬
raculous supply of food and strength carried
him on through the desert until he reached
the lonely plains of Horeb, where, six hun¬
dred years before, Moses had caught sight of
the burning bush and whence he had gone to
deliver his people. The scenery was well
fitted to revive the prophet's faith and cour¬
age. In addition to this, God made a special
communication to him of an encouraging
kind, and sent him to Damascus to anoint
Hazel to be king of Syria; then he was to
anoint Jehu to be king of Israel, and Elisha,
of Abel-mehola (near Lake of Galilee) to be
prophet in his stead.
His journey to Damacus was cheerfully
undertaken, and his faith and courage won¬
derfully. revived. Elisha, a man singularly
like-minded, was his companion during the
remainder of the pilgrimage. Ahab was
slain in the battle which he waged against
Ben-hadad, king of Syria, but before his fatal
expedition Ahab had committed a heinous
crime in getting possession of Naboth's vine¬
yard, for which Elijah had to announce God's
judgment against him. The curse of Jericho
BIBLE HISTORY
183
(Josh. 6:26) was also literally verified in
the reign of Ahab.
Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, reigned about
two years. He was a man of less force of
character, but of the same disposition as his
father. His idolatrous and superstitious turn
was seen in sending to Baal-zebub, the god
of Ebron to inquire whether he should
recover from the effects of a fall. Elijah
remonstrated against this insult to the
God of Israel, whereupon the king at¬
tempted to seize Elijah, but twice in succes¬
sion a fire from heaven consumed the com¬
pany of fifty soldiers that were sent to arrest
him. It appears that the Moabites were
grievously oppressed by Omri and also
by his son Ahab—in all about forty years.
After this, probably in about the first year
of Ahaziah, the Moabites rebelled and re¬
established themselves as masters of the
whole territory. "The Moabite Stone," re¬
cently discovered, throws light upon the
events of this time.
Jehoram, the brother of Ahaziah, succeed¬
ed to the throne and reigned twelve years.
The beginning of his reign was signalized by
one of the grandest events in history. Elijah
the prophet, whose work was now done, was
translated to heaven without dying. For
some time past he had resided with Elisha
184
BIBLE HISTORY
near Gilgal, superintending and stimulating
the school of the prophets, now almost the
only true fountain of piety in the land.
The two prophets are led by divine im¬
pulse from Gilgal, probably to some height
in the neighborhood, thence to Bethel
thence to Jericho and to the Jordan. Here,
at the touch of the prophet's mantle, the
waters separated, and Elijah and Elisha
pass over on dry land. The man of God in¬
vites his younger brother to make his part¬
ing request. As the first born of Elijah's
spiritual family he asked for a double portion
of his spirit, which is not denied him. On¬
ward they go until they reach the mountains
of Nebo—perhaps the very Pisgah from
which Moses disappeared, — and so the
prophet of Israel was borne away into the
presence of the Master whom he had so faith¬
fully served. Elijah's work was to oppose
the mighty tide of corruption which had
arisen through the fanatical schemes of Ahab
and Jezebel. He was necessarily a man of
stern and rigid mold and as such to be ad¬
mired and honored, rather than loved. He rep¬
resented the law in its stern severity rather
than the gospel in its winning and tender
love. After the memorable contest at Mount
Carmel and especially after the death of
Ahab, the open persecution of the Lord's
BIBLE HISTORY
185
servants ceased, and the holy work of the
school of the prophets was carried on with¬
out molestation.
Elisha, after the removal of Elijah, was
the prominent figure in the history of Israel.
He was also of stern character and able to
perform miracles. He healed the bitter wa¬
ters of Jericho, miraculously supplied water
in time of war, supplied oil for the poor wo¬
man's store, restored the Shunammite's son,
preserved the sons of the prophets from the
effect of poisonous herbs at Gilgal, and mul¬
tiplied a present of bread and fruit that had
been given him, so that it served a hundred
men. He, while living at Gilgal, was the
means of Naaman's restoration to health and
conversion to God.
Jehu, a captain of Jehoram's reign, was
anointed king by a son of the prophets, and
commissioned to root out the wicked house
of Ahab. Never did a man execute a bloody
commission with more hearty zeal. The
army having proclaimed him king, Jehu
mounted his chariot, crossed the Jordan and
galloped toward Jezreel. Both Joram and
Ahaziah rode out in chariots to meet him,
but both being of the house of Ahab, Jehu's
sword thirsted for their blood and he struck
them down, mortally wounded. Jezebel was
flung down from a window in Jezreel and
186
BIBLE HISTORY
was devoured by dogs, and seventy sons of
Ahab and the brethren of Ahaziah were put
to death in Samaria. The priests and wor¬
shipers of Baal were enticed into the temple
at Samaria and were killed to a man. And
thus the mighty house of Ahab was brought
to desolation. Jehu, thereupon, ascended
the throne and though zealous in executing
judgment on the house of Ahab, he was, for
the most part, regardless of the will of God.
Although the worship of Baal was abolished,
he encouraged the worship of calves at Bethel
and Dan, as originated by Jeroboam. In
consequence of this unfaithfulness, the king¬
dom of Israel in time fell into the hands of
the Syrians.
The reigns of Jehu and those of Jehoahaz
and Joash or Jehoash, his son and grandson,
lasted in all about sixty years, but they were
not signalized by any remarkable events.
Elisha, who seems to have been living in re¬
tirement for some time, died at a very ad¬
vanced age in the reign of Joash. He must
have had a helpful influence over many indi¬
viduals and in many places; but the nation
at large was too confirmed in idolatry to be
easily reformed. Still idolatry seems to have
been checked, so that the destruction of the
kingdom was for a time arrested.
Jeroboam II. succeeded his father, Joash, to
BIBLE HISTORY
187
the throne. Both he and his father had met
with considerable success in battle with the
Syrians. Indeed, under these two kings the
kingdom of Israel recovered not a little of
its former splendor. The reign of Jeroboam
lasted forty-one years, and was chiefly mem¬
orable for the appearance of some of those
prophets who have left permanent writings
behind them. Jonah, Amos and Hosea be¬
long to this period, and were connected chief¬
ly with the Kingdom of Israel.
These prophets were not superior, either in
gifts or in grace to those who had flourished
before them, but they had a different function
to perform. Idolatry had so fastened itself
upon the people that nothing but a great ca¬
tastrophe or overwhelming judgment would
bring them back to the true worship of the
true God. These prophets proclaimed new
and sweeping judgments against the people
who forsook God, but also gave promises of
restoration.
Jonah, a native of Gath-hepher, in the tribe
of Zebulun, appears first on the field in the
reign of Joash (II Kings 14:25). He had
probably been a pupil of Elisha's, and had
succeeded him as a prominent messenger of
God in the Kingdom. His first prophecy
was that the dominions of Israel, then greatly
diminished, should again be enlarged,—the
188
BIBLE HISTORY
result, doubtless, of forsaking idolatry. This
prophecy was fulfilled in the reign of Jero¬
boam II. who recovered Hamath, Damascus,
and other places that had been lost. But
it was only a short time before idolatry
again broke out anew. It was to rebuke this
state of things that Jonah was commanded to
undertake a remarkable mission to Nineveh.
He was ordered to go and testify against that
great heathen city and to threaten it with de¬
struction on account of its wickedness.
God's intention seems to have been "to pro¬
voke Israel to jealousy"—that is, to rebuke
their apathy and to stir them to repentance,
to show them the result of warning upon a
heathen nation, under a single effort by a sin¬
gle prophet. Such a sight as this would
seem sufficient to rebuke a kingdom like Is¬
rael, that had been favored with so many emi¬
nent prophets and had received such earnest
warnings.
Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, and
had not at the time acquired all the splendor
it achieved under its later kings, but was nev¬
ertheless a city of great magnitude. Jonah
speaks of it as requiring a three days' journey
to walk around it. Sir A. H. Layard, the cele¬
brated excavator of its temples and palaces,
says that the whole space containing ruins is
sixty miles around. This vast space must
BIBLE HISTORY
189
have been half town and half country. Jonah
first shrank from going to Nineveh with the
commission given him. His book tells how
he tried to flee from the face of the Lord and
how his purpose was defeated. Jonah was
sent on a very unusual mission and the whole
circumstances of the case justified the extra¬
ordinary miracle.
The Effect of His Preachings was beyond
his expectation. Nineveh repented and the
Lord resolved to spare it. Jonah was dis¬
tressed at the Lord's forbearance, as he
thought the destruction of the great city of
Nineveh would possibly have frightened his
own people Israel to a state of repentance.
His fault lay in his lack of concern for Nin¬
eveh. The lesson of the gourd was a fitting-
rebuke. The gourd is believed to have been
a castor-oil plant, common near the Tigris,
that grows up quickly and flourishes in the
dryest soil, even among stones and rubbish.
A plant of this kind had served Jonah as a
shield from the sun, and when it withered
he missed it and was greatly distressed. So
God taught him that Nineveh, though not
like Israel, a choice vine, but like this gourd,
an outlandish plant, might be very useful in
Cod's sight, and should be spared. One of
the purposes for which God had spared Nin¬
eveh afterwards became apparent when the
190
BIBLE HISTORY
walls of that very city inclosed the captive
countrymen of the ten tribes.
Amos was another of the prophets that
flourished in the reign of Jeroboam II. He
was first a herdsman of Tekoa, in the king¬
dom of Judah; but, when called to be a
prophet, he appears to have taken up his
residence at Bethel; and there, with great
boldness and vehemence, he prophesied
against Israel and other kingdoms (Amos
7 : 13). He rebuked the corruption of man¬
ners prevalent in Israel, charged the great
men with partiality as judges and with vio¬
lence towards the poor. He represented the
successive punishments that would come to
the people and foretold the captivity of the
ten tribes.
Hosea, a third prophet at this time in the
kingdom of the ten tribes, began to prophesy
in the end of the reign of Jeroboam II., and
continued to do so for six years, till the days
of Hoshea, the last of the kings of Israel.
He was to Israel what Jeremiah was to Ju¬
dah, its weeping prophet. The extreme ten¬
derness of some parts of his writings reminds
us of the Saviour's weeping over Jerusalem.
His prophecies were addressed almost entire¬
ly to the ten tribes. They give a vivid but sad
picture of the degeneracy of the kingdom.
The closing reigns of Israel all indicate
BIBLE HISTORY
191
how idolatry terminates in destruction. The
history of the kings that followed Jeroboam
II. is only one of murderers and profligates.
Zachariah, son of Jeroboam, was openly
murdered after a reign of six months. His
murderer, Shallum, sat but one month on the
throne and was displaced by one Menahem,
who reigned for ten years in Samari^. His
son, Pekahiah, reigped but two years, having
beep killed by Pekah, one of his captains.
Pekah reigned for twenty years but was at
last murcjered by Hoshea. It was ten years,
through tumult and anarchy, before Hoshea
succeeded in establishing himself upon the
throne. (II Kings 16 and 17 : 1).
After a reign of nine years, Hoshea and his
people were carried captive by Shalmaneser,
king of Assyria, and thus the kingdom of the
ten tribes came to an end. The kingdom as
such was never restored por did "the outcast
of Israel" ever attempt to return in a jbody
to their land. A fe\y may have returned with
t]ie Jewish exiles to whom Cyrus gave per¬
mission but the masses remained outcasts.
It is possible that some went to India and
others to Armenia. (James I .1).
192
BIBLE HISTORY
THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH
From Separation to Captivity.
(I. and II. Kings; II. Chronicles; Isaiah;
Jeremiah).
The Kingdom of Judah lasted about 400
(exactly 388) years after its separation from
the ten tribes. It had during that period
nineteen kings, all of that same dynasty, and
lineal descendants of King David. Although
the number of kings was the same as that of
Israel, its duration was about 150 (exactly
134) years longer. The shortened lives of
many of the rulers of Israel were due to
the frequent assassinations, so that while
the nineteen kings of Israel reigned only
about 250 years, the nineteen kings of Judah
reigned about 400 years. From first to last
the kings of Israel were all bad; and yet on
the other hand, while some of the kings of
Judah, as Jehoram, Ahaz, Manasseh and
Amon were fearfully wicked, six—Asa, Je-
hosaphat, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah and
Josiah are mentioned with great praise, and
others are commended.
Judah's physical advantage was vastly in¬
ferior to that of Israel. It had only a frac¬
tion of Israel's population. Its territory
compared neither with Israel's in extent, fer¬
tility or beauty. The Ten Tribes took the
BIBLE HISTORY
193
larger and better part of the country. Only
the rocky and hilly country was left Judah,
while the vast fertile plains were occupied
by Israel. Yet God had a future for Judah.
The hope of the world was bound up with the
fate of that little Kingdom.
Rehoboam, as king of Jadah, first mustered
an army of 180,000, and tried to force the re¬
volting tribes back to their allegiance. The
prophet Shemaiah by divine command
stopped the intended campaign.' The king,
however, continued to show that his trust for
security was in material defenses rather than
in the favor and blessing of God.
There Are Four Religious Periods in the
history of Judah. The various revivals and
declines of religion furnish these divisions.
Under Rehoboam and Abijah religion de¬
clined, and it began to recover in the reign of
Asa.
Under Jehoshaphat the kingdom regained
much of the prosperity it had enjoyed in the
days of King David, to whom he seems to
have borne a considerable resemblance (II
Chron. 17:3). He, himself, seems to have
made a missionary tour over the whole king¬
dom, for the purpose of stirring the religious
spirit of his subjects. Jehoshaphat deeply
felt the evils of the schism between Judah
and Israel, and was induced to form an
194
BIBLE HISTORY
alliance with Ahab as a possible means of
help. Jehu, the prophet, rebuked him for
the alliance, on his return from the battle in
which Ahab was killed and he (Jehoshaphat)
had narrowly escaped.
A Second Decline commenced with the
reign of Jehoram, who succeeded his father
Jehoshaphat at the age of 32, and reigned
eight years. He was the son-in-law of Ahab
and Jezebel, and encouraged his people to
adopt the ahominable practices of idolatry.
Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, reigned but for
a single year. The evil counsel of his mother
Athaliah kept him from profiting by the ex¬
perience of his father; following his wicked
example he was an active promoter of idola¬
try. He was slain by Jehu, while in alliance
with Jehoram, king of Israel, his mother's
brother, as the attempt was being made to
wrest Ramoth-gilead from the Syrians.
Athaliah, the daughter of Queen Jezebel,
whose blood the dogs of Jezreel had just
licked, and the mother of King Ahaziah, ruled
six years with a cruel and tyrannical hand.
The kingdom groaned beneath the infamy of
this woman until Jehoida, the high priest,
proclaimed the youthful Joash as king. The
temple which had been built in Jerusalem, to
Baal, was demolished and the high priest of
idolatry was put to death amid the ruins of
BIBLE HISTORY
195
his altars and images. Joash began a reign
at the early age of seven which continued for
forty years. While Jehoida lived, Joash
gave attention to the outward forms of re¬
ligion, but after the death of the High Priest
he lapsed into the ways of the house of Ahab.
Amaziah reigned twenty-nine years with
very much the same spirit as his father. His
reign was signalized by the war with Edom,
in which he triumphed and a war with Israel
in which he was signally defeated. Like his
father he died a violent death at the hands of
his servants.
Uzziah reigned fifty-two years, the longest
reign yet known in Judah. He was remark¬
able for activity and talent. His capacity
for administration resembled that of King
David. Like his predecessors, he first re¬
garded God but afterwards seemed to forget
Him. The historian of his reign was the
prophet Isaiah. Probably it was from his
writings that the brief account of him in
Chronicles was compiled.
Jotham, who succeeded Uzziah, reigned 16
years. He seemed to have special talent for
material improvements. He built cities, cas¬
tles, and towers in various places and
covered the ridge of Ophel, in Jerusalem, with
houses. From the allusions in Isaiah we learn
that the prevailing state of morals in Jerusa-
196
BIBLE HISTORY
lem was lamentably low. In the reign of this
king, the Ammonites were subdued, but 011
the other hand, Pekah, king of Israel, and
Rezin, king of Syria, began to form a threat¬
ening conspiracy against him.
Ahaz reigned for sixteen years and it was
during this period that true religion sank to
its lowest ebb. Open apostasy was now the
order of the day. Images of Baal, altars in
high places consecrated to idolatry, did not
suffice King Ahaz; he crowned his abomi¬
nable practices by burning his children in the
valley of Hinnom. Divine wrath was swiftly
visited upon this flagrant sin.
Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, was king for
twenty-nine years and introduced new con¬
ditions of life. He was a man of devoted
personal piety and of powerful influence upon
others. He set himself to revive the whole
economy of Moses, which had fallen into
complete neglect. His posts traversed the
whole length of the kingdom to invite the
faithful to the Passover at Jerusalem, with
the words, "Come out of her, my people,
that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that
ye receive not of her plagues." There was
really a genuine revival toward God and
better conditions during his reign.
The great external event of Hezekiah's
reign was his contest with one of the greatest
BIBLE HISTORY
197
warriors of ancient times—Sennacherib, king
of Assyria. Hezekiah revolted from the king
of Assyria and refused to pay the tribute
which his father had promised. In the four¬
teenth year of Hezekiah, Sennacherib, having
succeded to the Assyrian throne, prepared
to invade Judah and force Hezekiah to pay
the tribute which he had refused. Sennach¬
erib advanced upon Hezekiah, but finally,
according to a prophecy of Isaiah, the Assyri¬
an army was slain in one night to the number
of 185,000, by miraculous intervention. The
destruction of this army was one of the
grandest and most striking events of Hebrew
history. It was worthy of a place by the side
of the memorable overthrow of Pharaoh, 800
years before. It was an admirable means of
faith and courage in future trials. But
unhappily it seems to have been so per¬
verted as to minister only to pride and
self-confidence and to make the people
in Jeremiah's time absolutely certain that
Jerusalem would not fall into the hands of
the Chaldeans; though in the latter case,
God's word was as explicit about Jerusa¬
lem's fall, as in the former that it should
be delivered. The Nineveh monuments, re¬
cently deciphered, show Sennacherib to have
been a very great warrior, with enormous re¬
sources. Hezekiah's life was prolonged fif-
198
BIBLE HISTORY
teen years in answer to prayer. It was dur¬
ing Sennacherib's invasion that he was seized
with the remarkable illness which nearly
proved fatal. This period of the history of
Judah was signalized by the appearance of
some eminent prophets who left written
prophecies behind them.
Joel, son of Pethuel, is thought to have
flourished about the time of Uzziah, before
the nation had sunken into the state of cor¬
ruption which it reached in the reign of Ahaz.
Joel mentions as enemies of his country, the
Phoenicians, Philistines, Idumaens, and
Egyptians; but not the Assyrians or the
Babylonians. He tells of an approaching
famine and calls to repentance, fasting and
prayer. He promises the removal of im¬
pending evils and foretells a day of great
blessing. His voice and written testimony
must have prepared the way for the festival
of religion under Hezekiah.
Isaiah, though little is known of his per¬
sonal history, began to prophesy in the reign
of Uzziah, and came forward prominently
during the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah.
Tradition represents him as a member of the
royal family, and even as father-in-law of
King Manasseh, by whom, it is said> he was
sawn asunder. He seems to have occupied
a leading place under Hezekiah in the coun-
BIBLE HISTORY
199
sels of the nation. It is hardly to be ques¬
tioned that Hezekiah himself owed much
of his strong religious convictions to this
messenger of God.
Micah and Nahum prophesied during near¬
ly the same period as Isaiah.
These two prophets, together with Isaiah,
and King Hezekiah, do not seem to have been
separated by long intervals, and when they
perished it could hardly have been known
from what evils they had been taken, for
scarcely had they been gathered to their
fathers when a frightful storm began to dark¬
en the horizon.
The Third Decline and Revival begins with
Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, and closes
with Josiah and those associated with him.
Manasseh became king at the early age of 12
years. He reigned fifty-five years, or most
of that time. He was born about the time
when the Lord gave his father the memorable
deliverance from Sennacherib. He seemed
to entirely undo the good work of his father,
and he not only reared groves and images
to Baal, but the very Temple was polluted by
them. In vain did the prophets of the Lord
remonstrate with him. It had no effect. He
was finally carried by Esarhaddon, king of
Assyria, as prisoner to Babylon. By extra¬
ordinary mercy of God, Manasseh was con-
200
BIBLE HISTORY
verted to righteousness, and was in time to
set free and shown favor by the king. On re¬
turning to Jerusalem he exerted himself to
undo the mischief he had wrought, and to set
up the worship of the true God. He found
the task of undoing old evils very difficult,
and his efforts to reform the kingdom were
not very successful.
Aricon, the son of Manasseh, imitated his
father for two years in the worst practices,
and also restored idolatry, and then was sud¬
denly cut off by assassination.
Josiah, the son of Amon, ascended the
throne at the age of 8 years, and at 16, the
eighth year of his reign, he began to seek af¬
ter the God of his fathers. In the twelfth
year of his reign, or when he was 20, he began
to purge the land from idolatry. His rule
seems to have extended over both Judah and
Israel, and embraced all the territory west of
the Jordan, for he broke down the altars
of Baal, cut down the groves and the calves
and molten images throughout all the
land. (II Kings 22:1-2; II Chronicles 34:
1-7). The active adviser of Josiah in
his plans for reformation at first was,
doubtless, Zephaniah. A year after the work
began, Jeremiah, a new prophet in the
neighboring town of Anathoth, began to ut¬
ter the word of the Lord, and so became a
BIBLE HISTORY
201
most congenial and delightful friend and
helper. Josiah ordered the temple at Jeru¬
salem to be repaired and also the great chest
containing the freewill offerings to be opened
so as to get the money to pay the workmen.
It was at this time that the lost Bible came to
light. For almost a thousand years—from the
judges to the captivity—the references to it
are few and far between. There is no certain
reference to any written legislation in the
Judges, Ruth or the two Samuels. The first
reference to it in connection with the history
of David was made on his dying bed (I Kings,
2 :3)—the first mention of a written law since
the death of Joshua, four hundred years be¬
fore. After this there are but three other
casual allusions to the law of Moses in the
First Book of Kings, and in the Second Book
only five besides the reference to finding the
lost Bible. (II Kings 22: 23; II Chron. 24.)
The fact that the Bible was lost does not
necessarily show that the people were en¬
tirely ignorant of the law; for in the early
days in was the business of the priesthood to
instruct the people, and in the times of the
monarchy the people were reminded of their
duty by the prophets and the seers. It was
true, however, that the instruction of the peo¬
ple was sadly neglected. The copies of the
law were verjr few, possibly only two in ex-
202
BIBLE HISTORY
istence—the original official copy (Deut.
31:24-26), and the copy for the use of the
king, (Deut. 17:18). With wicked kings
and a corrupt priesthood, it is not difficult to
see how the book became lost. The finding
of the book proved to be a great blessing to
the people. By royal proclamation the true
religion was exalted, and the people with
their monarch swore allegiance to Jehovah
and they celebrated with grandeur the dis¬
tinctive feast of the Passover with even
greater strictness and solemnity than had
been in the days of Samuel.
The Battle of Megiddo brought the auspi¬
cious life and reign of Josiah to a disastrous
ending. It seems that Pharoah—Necho,*
King of Egypt, undertook an expedition
against the countries adjacent to the Eu¬
phrates, and Josiah, hearing of this, and
feeling himself bound by the obligation made
by his father Manasseh, to prevent the Egyp¬
tian army from passing through Palestine,
mustered a large body at Megiddo, with the
view of checking the Egyptian forces, and
though reminded by the King of Egypt that
he had no quarrel with Judah, still Josiah
persisted in opposing the Egyptians and was
slain in the battle. On account of this death
*11. Chron., 35, spells Neco.
BIBLE HISTORY
203
Jeremiah was greatly grieved. It is said
"Jeremiah lamented for Josiah with a depth
of tender feeling even beyond that of David
for Jonathan."
Necho advanced to the Euphrates, took the
stronghold of Car-chemish and established
his authority over the country west of the
Euphrates. After three months he returned
from his victories, and acted as lord-para-
mount of Judah. It was at this time that the
great Assyrian empire was approaching its
fall. The Meddo and Babylonians had re¬
volted from Assyria and laid siege to Nin¬
eveh itself. After several repulses Nineveh
was taken and destroyed according to the
predictions of the Hebrew prophets.
5. The final decline begins with Jehoahaz
who had reigned only three months when he
was thrown into chains at Riblah by Necho
and carried into Egypt. Necho also imposed
a heavy tribute on the country and placed
Eliakim son of Josiah, on the throne, instead
of Jehoahaz, and changed his name to Oe-
hoiakim. He reigned eleven years, and was
reckless, wicked and godless.
The First Invasion of Nebuchadnezzar
comes at this time. He was the son of Na-
bopolassar, King of Babylon, and his father's
coadjutor and lieutenant. Having driven
the Egyptians from the fortress of Car-che-
204
BIBLE HISTORY
mish, Nebuchadnezzar advanced to recover
Syria and Palestine. Jehoiakim at first sub¬
mitted, but afterwards rebelled, and so Neb¬
uchadnezzar took Jerusalem by force. For
some reason, however, he spared Jehoiakim,
but carried off several of the princes of Ju-
dah, among whom were Daniel, Shadraek,
Meshak and Abed-nego. Jehoiakim possibly
offered the men of piety to Nebuchadnezzar
thinking that he might thereby rid himself of
those godly lives which must have constantly
reminded him of his father's virtues and his
own sins.
Jeremiah rightly mourned the departure
of these godly youth. It was doubtless in
the reign of Jehoiakim that Jeremiah, driven
by persecution from his native Anathotli,
went to reside at Jerusalem. At the death of
Josiah, a great moral change took place and
there began at once within the walls of Jeru¬
salem one of the noblest and most glorious
moral contests which the pages of sacred his¬
tory record. For more than twenty years
Jeremiah, almost single-handed, gentle and
timid, but strong in a higher strength, stood
forth for the Lord, in opposition to the united
power and fury of the kings, princes and
chiefs of Jerusalem.
Jehoiachin or Jeconiah ruled for three
months.
BIBLE HISTORY
205
Zedekiah, the last King of Judah, an uncle
of Jehoiakim and another son of Josiah, was
placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar.
Through all the eleven years of his reign,
Jeremiah prophesied of the threatening judg¬
ments to come. In Zedekiah's eleventh year,
the city was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and
Zedekiah, attempting to flee, was caught and
was made to witness the execution of his
two sons. His own eyes were then put out,
and he was carried in brazen chains to Baby¬
lon where he died in prison. The temple was
then rifled and burned to the ground, the
walls of the city overthrown, and the palaces
and public buildings reduced to ruins and the
inhabitants were carried into captivity. The
cruelties suffered by the people were fright¬
ful during this last siege. The lamentations
of Jeremiah present us with vivid pictures
of the condition of things.
Jeremiah, who had faithfully warned his
people of the coming calamities from Baby¬
lon, announced also, fearlessly, the coming
destruction of the haughty empire of Nebuch¬
adnezzar. We have no certain knowledge
of the fate of Jeremiah, who had at one time,
on account of faithfulness, been cast into a
deep pit, where we would have died but for
the deliverance which came to him from an
Ethiopian. According to tradition, his coun-
206
BIBLE HISTORY
trymen offended by his faithfulness, put him
to death.
Habakkuk was another prophet during the
last years of Jerusalem. Nothink is known
of his history. He mournfully foretold the
destruction and desolation of Jerusalem; but
his book concludes with the sublime song
pleading for revival and expressing perfect
confidence in God.
Obadiah was also a prophet of this time
and he seems to have been raised up to "bring
down the pride of Esau." He foretold that
while Edom should be desolate, there should
be upon Mt. Zion deliverance and the king¬
dom should be the Lord's.
The Social and Religious Life during the
monarchy may be discovered in the writings
of the prophets which abound in allusions to
the state of society and religion. The mod¬
eration and equality of earlier days had been
departed from, and wealth and luxurious liv¬
ing were the things sought for. The dress,
especially of the ladies, was often most lux¬
urious and highly ornamented (Isa. 3 :18-23).
Splendid equipages were also an object of
ambition (Isa. 21: 7).
The Intellectual Culture of the period must
have been both high and low. Isaiah's ref¬
erence to "the counsellor and eloquent ora¬
tor," the fact that King Uzziah exhibited
BIBLE HISTORY
207
great mechanical and engineering skill, and
the reference of Amos to "the seven stars and
Orion," as if the elements of Astronomy
were generally known, indicate a high de¬
gree of culture. On the other hand, the fre¬
quent references to soothsayers and sorcerers
show a low intellectual condition.
The Moral Status of the people was gener¬
ally very low. Immorality was abounding,
the oppression of the poor was most flagrant,
and vices of every description were practiced.
(Amos 7: 17).
CONTEMPORARY HISTORY
1. Egypt in the reign of Rehoboam made
its power felt in the succesful invasion of
Judsea and the capture of Jerusalem by a
great army under Shishak or Sheshonk I.,
King of Egypt.
The Submission of Egypt to Ethiopia came
about towards the end of the Kingdom of the
Ten Tribes, more than 700 years B. C., by
Sabaes, a conqueror from Ethiopia, who sub¬
dued Egypt and usurped the throne. He is
called So in Scripture, and was the king on
whom Hoshea vainly relied for aid against
the Assyrians. Tirhakah, another king of
the Ethiopian dynasty, was the prince whose
rumored advance against Sennacherib led
208
BIBLE HISTORY
that king to urge the submission of Hezekiah
(Isa. 37: 9).
The Submission to Babylon came about this
time through Psamnuticus, who led the mem¬
orable siege of Ashdod or Azotus that lasted
29 years. He was followed by Necho, who
led the battle when King Josiah was killed.
His successor was Apries, the Pharaoh-hoph-
ra of the Bible (Jer. 4:30). Great efforts
were made by Egypt to conquer Asia, but
Nebuchadnezzar repelled the invaders, and at
last Egypt had to pay homage to Babylon.
2. Assyria's early history is shrouded in
obscurity. Between the time when it ab¬
sorbed Babylon and became the ruling power
in that part of the world, and the time when
it was itself destroyed and absorbed by
Babylon, there were several revolutions and
many new occupants of the throne. Nineveh
was not at all times the capital, or seat of
monarchy, but it was always the largest and
most important city of the empire.
The Records of Nineveh as deciphered
show chiefly two things—lists of campaigns
and conquests on one hand and accounts of
the great public buildings erected by the
several kings on the other.
Sennacherib, who at great cost repaired
and beautified Nineveh, was a great warrior,
and destroyed in Chaldsea seventy-nine cities
BIBLE HISTORY
209
and eight hundred and twenty villages. He
carried off at one time more than 200,000
prisoners. In the light of such military pres¬
tige, Hezekiah's resistance seemed sublime.
Esarhaddon, who carried Manasseh captive
to Babylon, and Sardanapulus who invaded
Egypt and defeated Tirhakah and took pos¬
session of the country, were great conquer¬
ors.
3. Babylon's early history, like that of
Assyria, is but little known. For a long
time it was a dependent kingdom under
Assyria. Occasionally its king asserted in¬
dependence. This was true in the time of
Hezekiah. But the kingdom was soon after
conquered by the Assyrians. The last As¬
syrian king appointed Nabopolasser governor
of Babylon. Nabopolasser, in company with
the Median monarch, destroyed Nineveh,
and was succeeded by Nebuchadnezzar, the
destroyer of Jerusalem.
U. Media as a power seemed for a long
time to have borne some dependent relation
to Assyria, but at length under its King
Cyaxres it achieved its independence and
joined wTith the Babylonians in destroying
Nineveh. Under Cyrus, the Medes and Per¬
sians united and founded the great empire
that succeeded the Babylonian.
5. Phoenicia, though not altogether a
210
BIBLE HISTORY
stranger to arms and war, was specially noted
for its commercial greatness. It was in this
period that Tyre reached its zenith. When
Elijah the prophet passed through it on his
way to Zeraphath, he must have been as¬
tonished at the markets, warehouses and
ships. (Ezekiel 27.)
6'. Carthage was a great empire which
originally sprung from a colony of Tyre. It
was founded 880 B. C., about the time when
Jezebel, a native of the same district, was
forcing on Egypt the worship of Baal. It is
probable that the rapid extension of the Car¬
thaginians did much to spread the impure
idolatrous worship which they brought from
Tyre.
7. Greece for a long time after the Trojan
war, remained in an unsettled state, but when
the fermentation subsided, monarchy had
been abolished, and republican constitutions
had been introduced into nearly all its states.
There was a sort of unity produced through
national games and other institutions, but
not by any common political bond.
In time two of the Greek states, Sparta and
Athens, raised themselves far above their
neighbors. Sparta's law giver, Lycurgus,
who flourished about 880 B. C., was con¬
temporary of Elijah and Jehosaphat. About
the end of the period now before us, Solon,
BIBLE HISTORY
211
the greatest law giver of Athens, was pro¬
pounding his laws to the Atheninas. It is re¬
markable that both he and Lycurgus had
visited Egypt in search of knowledge and
wisdom.
If, according to Herodutus, Homer lived
about 900 B. C., he must have been compos¬
ing the "Iliad" when Elijah and Elisha were
maintaining God's cause in Israel and when
Jehosaphat was fighting the same battle in
Judah. Hesiod, Tyrtseus, Alcseus and Sap¬
pho sung their verses in the seventh century
before Christ; and Aesop may have pub¬
lished his fables at Athens while Jeremiah
was announcing his prophecies at Jerusalem,
The Greeks while giving an immense im¬
pulse to literature, philosophy and art gave
also a new aspect to the religion which
they accepted. They excelled in what may
be called the poetry of religion. Every¬
thing was made bright, lively and beautiful
but there was really no effectual provision for
removing the guilt of man and bringing him
into loving fellowship with God and for ele¬
vating him to a life worthy of his high ca¬
pacities. Socrates and Plato found little help
in the popular religion and they were able to
contribute but little from their own re¬
sources. In Greece was not found much moral
earnestness or a very deep sense of sin.
212
bible history
8. Rome presents a striking contrast to
Greece. Instead of great diversity in man¬
ners, society, arts and governments, the Ro¬
mans were noted for a rigid unity, a sturdy,
plodding, indomitable purpose and a pains¬
taking sagacity that made them always alert
to discover anything in their favor. In the
advanced periods of their history they seemed
to live for conquest alone.
Rome is said to have been founded B. C.,
752, about the time when the Assyrian king
was beginning to invade the kingdom of Is¬
rael. The early history of the Romans is full
of legend and fable and not till a later date
have we authentic facts regarding the people
that were destined, under God's providence,
to be the connecting link between the great
continents of Asia, Europe and Africa, and
finally to prepare the way for the universal
empire of the Messiah.
Period V. The Jewish Province.
(The Captives)
From the time when the seed of Jacob was
taken into captivity and scattered abroad to
the destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, the
Jewish people were, in the main, a subject
people and their land was a province of some
world empire. The period is therefore called
the period of the Jewish Province. It is well
BIBLE HISTORY
213
first to get a clear view of the seceral captiv¬
ities. These came under the two great king¬
doms, Israel and Judah.
1. The Captivity of Israel (the ten tribes)
in the successive invasions of the kingdom by
the Kings of Assyria, with the results of each,
may be seen by glancing at the following
table:
Year
B. C.
Assyrian
Kings.
Kings of
Israel.
People
carried off.
Kings of
Judah.
771
740
721
Put
Tiglath-pi-
Menahem.
Pekah. . .
Hoshea. . .
Reuben, Gad,
Etc
Gilead, Gal-
lee
All Israel. . .
Uzziah. ..
Shalmanesei
Hezekiah.
2. The Captivity of Judah, as in the case
of the ten tribes, had been in successive de¬
tachments—three in number, as follows:—
Kings of
Judea.
Jehoiakim
Jehoiachi
Zedekiah.
The Conqueror
Nebuchadnezzar.
acting for his
father.
Nebuchadnezzar.
People carried off.
Daniel and other princes
10,000 chief people.
Nebuchadnezzar, , Nearly all the people.
The Prophets before the captivity were Jo-
214
BIBLE HISTORY
nah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum
and Zephaniah.
During the captivity (of Judah) Jeremiah,
Habakkuk, Obadiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.
The Restorations
The Jews were restored to their own coun¬
try in several expeditions to Jerusalem.
There were three Jewish leaders and three
Persian Kings especially prominent in the
work.
1. The first Jewish leader was Zerubbabel
who left Babylon when Cyrus came to the
throne, B. C., 535. He completed the re¬
building of the temple, after an interval
of about 20 years, in the reign of Darius
Hystaspes.
2. The second Jewish leader was Ezra, who
went from Babylon about 80 years after Ze¬
rubbabel, B. C., 458, in the seventh year of
Artaxerxes Longimanus. He labored chiefly
to restore the institutions of Moses.
3. The Third Jewish leader was Nehemiah,
who went up from Susa or Shusan, in the
twentieth year of the same Artaxerxes, B. C.
445. He rebuilt the wall and set up the
gates of Jerusalem, and promoted many re¬
forms. After returning for a time to Susa,
he visited Jerusalem a second time. It was
soon after this that Malachi closed the canon
BIBLE HISTORY
215
of the Old Testament. The story of Esther
comes in a few years before the time of Ezra.
The Prophets after the restoration were
Joel, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. The
place and mission of all the prophets should
be carefully studied with the Bible in hand.
INTERVAL BETWEEN THE OLD TESTAMENT
AND THE NEW.
From Malachi, the last prophet of the Old,
to John the Baptist, the herald of the New
Testament, there is a great historical chasm
of about 400 years. During all that time
there was neither prophet nor inspired writer
among the Jews. Our knowledge of this
period is derived from the writings of Jose-
phus, from some of the books of the Apoc¬
rypha, and from the notices of Greek and
Latin historians. Though no further devel¬
opment of revealed religion took place dur¬
ing these four centuries, they constituted a
very memorable period in general history.
They witnessed the fall of the Persian em¬
pire, the rise and fall of the Macedonian, the
rise of the Roman, and the seat of empire
changed from Asia to Europe.
There are Six Sections of the period which
may be sketched in connection with corres¬
ponding divisions of Jewish history.
1. The Persians were the nominal masters
216
BIBLE HISTORY
of Palestine from 536 to 333, B. C. From the
time of Nehemiah to the end of Persian rule,
very little of interest happens; the country is
annexed to Syria and governed by the high
priests who in turn are subject to the Syrian
governors. The office of the high priest is
most sought after and there are many dis¬
graceful contests for it.
2. Palestine was under the Greeks from 333
to 323 B. C. Alexander the Great conquered
it in 333. He was of Macedon and conquered
Greece, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Persia.
He was favorably disposed towards the Jewrs
(according to tradition), and spared the city
of Jerusalem. While in Egypt he founded
the city of Alexandria, and encouraged many
Jews to settle there, granting them special
privileges.
3. Palestine was under the Ptolemys from
323 to 204 B. C. At the death of Alexander
his empire was divided among four of his
generals: Ptolemy, Lysimachus, Cassander
and Seleucus, Egypt and Palestine going to
Ptolemy. One of the Ptolemys, Ptolemy
Philadelphus, was friendly to the Jews, and
under his patronage the Hebrew Scriptures
were translated into Greek, forming the Sep-
tuagint.
4. Palestine was under the Syrians from
204 to 165 B. C. It was during this period
BIBLE HISTORY
217
that Jerusalem was besieged and many thou¬
sand Jews were slain and their temple was
polluted by the sacrifice of a son upon its al¬
tar. It was at this time that Judea became
independent under Judas Maccabseus.
5. The Maccabees ruled Palestine from 165
to 63 B. C., when the temple was purged and
re-dedicated to the service of Jehovah. Sev¬
eral of the Maccabean family ruled until 63
B. C. When Jerusalem was taken by Pom-
pey and Hyrcanus was placed upon the throne
(63-40 B. C.), he being subject to Rome,
paid a yearly tribute. Palestine was under
the Romans from 63 to 4 B. C.
6. Hyrcanus tuas king from 63 to 40 B. C.,
followed by Antigonus, a son of Aristobulus
II., who ruled from 40 to 37 B. C. Herod the
Great was made King by the Roman Senate
on account of help rendered the Romans, and
ruled from 37 to 4 B. C. It was during his
reign that the temple was rebuilt, larger and
grander than the previous one. He also erect¬
ed magnificent buildings in Jerusalem, rebuilt
Samaria, and as a crowning work built the
great seaport of Csesarea. It was in the last
year of his reign that Jesus, the Christ, was
born in Bethlehem of Judea.
218
BIBLE HISTORY
PERIOD SIX.
THE LIFE OF CHRIST
The central figure in all the Bible is Jesus
Christ. His importance in the Old Testa¬
ment is indicated in John 5:39; Luke 24:
27; Acts 10 : 43. His relation to every man
is expressed in John 1: 9. We have in Him
therefore a deeper interest than in any other
man who ever lived.
Out of the large number of facts recorded,
we have chosen a few of the most important.
These may be studied to advantage under
two heads: The general aspect of his life and
the grouping of events in chronological order.
I. The general aspects of His life were as
follows:
1. It was a short life. This man, who has
influenced the world more than any other,
lived less than thirty-five years. His minis¬
try was not more than three years and a half
at the longest.
2. It was a life passed wholly in Palestine.
Only once do we read of his journeying near
any other country, and it is not probable that
he went beyond its borders. (Mark 7: 24).
He never enjoyed the benefits of foreign
travel, or communion with learned men of
the great schools of Athens or Alexandria.
BIBLE HISTORY
219
3. It was a life among the common people.
He lived in a despised province (John 7: 41,
52) ; came from a despised town (John 1: 46)
and was a working mechanic (Mark 6:3).
He received only a common education (John
7: 15), and yet out of these lowly surround¬
ings he grew up the one exalted character,
the one perfect life in all human history.
4. It was an active life. The first thirty
years may have been spent in quiet prepara¬
tion but the three years of his ministry were
very busy (Mark 1:36-38; 2:1-4; 31-34;
John 21: 25).
II. The grouping of the Events of Christ's
life into seven periods, chronologically, is a
helpful means of getting a comprehensive
view of the subject.
1. The first period of His thirty years of
preparation, of which the following facts
should be noticed: (1) It begins with his
birth, Luke 2: 7, and ends with his tempta¬
tion, Matt. 4:1. (2) It is related mainly
by Luke (Luke 1 to 4), with some facts in
Matthew (Matt. 1:2; 4:1-11) and a brief
mention of its closing events in Mark (Mark
1:9-13). (3) It was passed mainly in
Galilee, though with isolated events in Judea,
in Egypt (Matt. 2:14, 15), and in Perea
(John 1: 28). (4) It was ths longest of all
220
BIBLE HISTORY
the periods—nine-tenths of his life—and yet
it is the one having the fewest incidents re¬
corded. For eighteen years of the period no
events are known.
2. The Year of Obscurity comes next. In
this and the next two succeeding periods the
year is not a precise epoch, and may be a
little less or more. (1) It begins with the
first followers, John 1: 35-37, and ends with
the return to Galilee, John 4:43-44. (2) It
is related by John, who, only of all the gospel
writers, records the visits of Jesus in Judea
and Jerusalem. (3) It was principally spent
in Judea, though He visited Galilee, and on
the way made a visit to Samaria. (4) It was
rightly called "year of obscurity," since but
little is known of its aims, its events or its
results. It was accompanied with miracles
(John 3 : 20; 4: 1). Still at the close of this
year he had but few followers, and went to
Galilee to begin his ministry anew.
3. His year of Popularity was in marked
contrast with the year before. (1) This year
began with the rejection at Nazareth, Luke
4: 14-40, and ends with the discourse on the
Bread of Life (John 6:25-71), a day or two
after the miracle of Feeding the Five Thous¬
and. (2) Its events were related by Matthew,
Mark and Luke, with some additional in¬
cidents by John. (3) Galilee was the special
BIBLE HISTORY
221
field for the Saviour's ministry, He having
traversed it extensively during this year. He
went once to Jerusalem (John 5:1-2). (4)
It was a year of unusual activity. He
journeyed, preached and did many works of
mercy. It was the period of his greatest pop¬
ularity, and when great crowds followed Him
and seemed ready to accept him as the Mes¬
siah of Israel. Yet at the close of the year,
He was left as before, alone with his twelve
disciples (John 6: 66-68).
4. The Year of Opposition that so soon fol¬
lowed the popular response presented another
strange contrast. (1) It began with the re¬
tirement to Phoenicia (Mark 7:24) and ends
with the Anointing by Mary (John 12: 1-3.
(2) It is recorded by all the Gospels. (3) At
this time Jesus visited all the five provinces
of Palestine: Decapolis, (a part of the Bashan
district), Mark 7:31; Galilee, Mark 9: 30;
Samaria, Luke 9: 51, 52; Perea, Mark 10: 1,
and Judea, John 11: 7. (4) This part of
the Saviour's life has been designated as "a
period of retirement." It was a time when
he sought to be alone with his disciples that
he might instruct them in the deep truths of
the Gospel and prepare them for His ap¬
proaching death and for their mission as
apostles. Matt. 16: 21.
5. The Week of the Passion is given in de-
222
BIBLE HISTORY
tail. (1) It began with the triumphal entry
on Sunday before the Passover (Luke 22: 1-
13), and ended with the Agony in the Garden
about midnight on Thursday, Matt. 26: 36,
and thus embraced, strictly, but five days.
(2) It is given by all the Gospels, John alone
adding the teaching given at the Last Supper,
John 13-17. (3) All the events took place
in or near Jerusalem. (4) It was at this
time that Christ made his last call to the Jews
and gave his final rebuke for their rejection
of his ministry.
6. The Day of the Crucifixion was the most
important day in the earth's history, and the
events are more fully narrated than those of
any other day in Bible history. It is well
therefore to study it apart from the rest of
the week. (1) It began with the Arrest (Matt.
26:47) soon after midnight, Friday A. M.,
and ended about sunset the same day with
the Burial (Matt. 27:59-60). (2) Each writer
gives his account, John, an eye-witness,
being the most complete. (3) The events took
place in Jerusalem, but few however, if any,
of the localities are definitely known. Jesus,
as the Suffering Saviour, bearing the sins of
the world, is the central'figure of this day.
7. The Forty Days after the Resurrection
constitute the last period in the earthly life of
Christ. (1) It began with the resurrection
bible history
223
early on the first Easter Sunday (Matt. 28:
1-8) and closed with the Ascension, forty
clays afterward (Acts 1 :l-3). (2) All of the
gospels record the appearances of the risen
Saviour, but Luke alone tells the story of
his ascension (Luke 24:50, 51; Acts 1:
9-11). (3) The manifestations of Christ after
his resurrection took place in and near Jeru¬
salem, near the village of Emmaus (Luke
24: 13), and in Galilee (Matt. 28: 16; John
21:1). (4) During this period, Christ's
visible presence was not constant but occa¬
sional; to his disciples only, never to his
enemies; and the same also of his spiritual
body which was freed from the restraints of
the flesh. (Mark 16: 12; Luke 24: 31; John
20:19).
the life of christ according to subjects
The Sayings and Doings of Our Lord as re¬
corded by the four evangelists may be ar¬
ranged under eight heads and studied with
great profit.
/. His Private Life, extending over a pe¬
riod of about thirty years, and including the
following circumstances:
(1) The preparation of John the Baptist
to be his forerunner, of the Virgin Mary to
be his mother, and of Joseph, to be the guar¬
dian of his infancy and pupilage.
224
bible history
(2) His Birth in a stable at Bethlehem,
the singing of the angels, the visit of the
shepherds, and his circumcision.
(3) His Mother's Purification, with the
open testimonies of Simeon and Anna con¬
cerning him in the temple.
(4) The Visit of the Magi.
(5) His flight into Egypt, which was fol¬
lowed by Herod's slaughter of the Innocents.
(6) His Return and Settlement with his
parents in Nazareth and Galilee.
(7) His going ivith them to Jerusalem at
the Passover and questioning with the Doc¬
tors, whence he returned to Nazareth and
subjecting himself to his parents, possibly
worked with them in the trade of carpentry.
II. His Preparation for the Public Minis¬
try in which the following particulars should
be noted:
(1) His public baptism in Jordan by John.
(2) The Testimony of his Father from
Heaven: "This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased."
(3) The Descending of the Holy Ghost like
a dove upon him and his being led into the
wilderness.
(4) His Fasting there forty days and forty
nights.
bible history
225
(5) His Three Temptations offered him by
the Devil whom he vanquished.
(6) His Return to Galilee, where he gath¬
ered the disciples, Andrew, Peter, James and
John, and afterwards Matthew.
(7) His Ordination of the Twelve to be
with Him and of Seventy to go forth two by
two before Him.
III. His Sermons of which the following
are the most prominent:
(1) His Declarations concerning the quali¬
fications of those who aim at blessedness, and
the means that lead to it. (Matt. 5:3 to 7:27).
(2) His Sermon to the clergy, instructing
them what to do, how to teach and what to
expect (Matt. 10:5-42).
(3) His Sermon in behalf of the clergy,
wherein he justifies John the Baptist and his
doctrine, reproves the perverse and censori¬
ous and invites the meek and lowly to come
to him (Matt. 11:7-30).
(4) His Popular Sermon to the promiscu¬
ous multitude concerning the various effects
produced by the preaching of the word and
the necessity for embracing it (Matt. 13 : 18-
23; Mark 4:21-25 and Matt. 13:36-52).
(5) His Sermon for settling differences,
wherein the authority of the church is as-
226
bible history
serted, and for instruction with reference to
the spirit of forgiveness (Matt. 18:3-35).
(6) His Sermon against the hypocrisy of
the Scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 23 :l-39).
(7) His Prophetical Discourse on the de¬
struction of Jerusalem and his own second
coming (Matt. 24:1-51; 25:1-46).
(8) His final Discourse with the disciples
in the upper chamber (John 14:1-31; 15:1-
21; 16:1-33).
IV. His Conferences with special parties:
j (1) With Nicodemus, with whom he dis¬
coursed on the new birth and the necessity
for believing in him (John 3 : 4-21).
(2) With the Woman of Samaria, with
whom he discoursed on living water and
spiritual worship (John 4:10-26).
(3) With The Pharisees, whom he re¬
proved for setting aside God's commands by
their traditions (Matt. 15: 1-20).
(4) With the Sadducees, with whom he dis¬
coursed concerning the resurrection (Matt.
22: 23-33).
(5) With the Lawyers to whom he pointed
out the first and greatest commandment
(Matt. 22: 34-40).
(6) With the People, with whom he spoke
concerning the bread of life and the spiritual
Manna (John 6: 25-58).
bible history
227
(7) With his Disciples, whom he reproved
for struggling for supremacy (Luke 22: 24-
30).
V. His Miracles may be arranged accord¬
ing to the places in which they were per¬
formed as follows:
(1) In Cana of Galilee, the water made
wine and the healing of the nobleman's son.
(2) On The Sea of Galilee, the first draught
of fishes, the stilling of the tempest, the
walking on the sea, the fish with the tribute
money and the second draught of fishes.
(3) In Capernaum, the raising of Jairus'
daughter, the stopping of the issue of blood,
the healing of the two blind men, of the
dumb demoniac, the paralytic, the leper, the
centurion's servant, the man with the un¬
clean spirit, the mother of Peter's wife, and
the blind and dumb demoniac.
(4) In Galilee, the raising of the son of the
widow of Nain, the healing of the woman
with an eighteen years' infirmity, of the man
with the dropsy, of the lunatic child at the
foot of the mount of transfiguration and of
the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman
(5) Beyond Jordan, the dispossessing of
the demoniacs, the feeding of the five thous¬
and at Decapolis, the deaf and dumb healed
228
bible history
and the four thousand fed there, and the heal¬
ing of the blind man at Bethsaida.
(6) In Samaria, the cleansing of the ten
lepers.
(7) In Jerusalem, the giving sight to the
man born blind, the healing of the ear of
Malchus in Gethsemane, and the fig tree
withered on Olivet.
(8) In Judea, the withered hand restored,
the healing of the impotent man at Bethesda
and the raising of Lazarus at Bethany.
(9) In Jericho, the healing of the one blind
man and of the two blind men.
VI. The Parables of our Lord may be di¬
vided aeording to the places where they were
delivered:
(1) In Capernaum, the Sower, the Tares,
the Seed growing secretly, the Mustard Seed,
the Leaven, the Hid Treasure, the Pearl, the
Draw-set, the two Debtors, and the Unmer¬
ciful Servant.
(2) In Galilee, the Lost Sheep, the Rich
Fool, the Servants waiting for their Lord,
the Barren Fig Tree, the Great Supper, the
Lost Piece of Money, the Prodigal Son, the
Unjust Steward, the Rich Man and Lazarus,
and the Unprofitable Servant.
(3) In Jericho, the Good Samaritan and the
Pounds.
bible history
229
(4) In Perea, the Unjust Judge, the Phari¬
see and the Publican, and the Laborers in the
Vineyard.
(5) In Jerusalem, the Door and the Sheep
fold, the Two Sons, the Wicked Husbandman,
the Marriage Feast or Wedding Garment, the
Ten Virgins, the Talents, the Sheep and the
Goats, and the True Vine.
VII. His Sufferings were endured:
(1) In Gethsemane.
(2) At the betrayal by Judas and the ap¬
prehension by the officers and multitude.
(3) Before Annas and Caiaphas.
(4) In the House of Herod Antipas.
(5) In the Praetorium of Pilate.
(6) In the Crowning with thorns, the spit¬
ting upon, the scourging, and the bearing
his own cross.
(7) At Cavalry, in the crucifixion, the
Mockings, the reviling, the gall and Vinegar,
and the hands and feet pierced with nails.
Our Lord's Sayings on the cross were sev¬
en and uttered as follows:
1. Prayer for enemies. (Luke 23:24).
2. Reply to penitent thief (Luke 23: 24).
3. Concerning His Mother (John 19:26-
27).
4. The Mysterious Cry (Matt. 27:46; Mark
15:34).
230
bible history
5. Exclamation from torture (John 19:
28).
6. The Trumpet Shout (John 19:30).
7. The Cry of Confidence (Luke 23:46).
VIII. His Triumphs which succeeded his
sufferings were as follows:
(1) Over principalities and powers of
darkness.
(2) Over death and the grave by his resur¬
rection.
(3) Over all oppositions and impediments
by his forty days conversing with the apos¬
tles in ten definite appearances (Acts 1: 3).
(4) In commissioning his apostles to teach
and baptize all nations in the name of the
most sacred Trinity, Father, Son and Holy
Ghost.
(5) In Trampling the World under foot by
his own most glorious ascension.
(6) By ruling in the midst of his enemies
by the rod of his strength.
(7) Finally by sending the Holy Ghost as
the means for the propagation of the Gospel.
PERIOD SEVEN
the apostolic church
The Church of God has been the same body
under the several dispensations. Pious per¬
sons have in every age possessed the same
BIBLE HISTORY
231
true religion, and been members of the same
church of the living God. Abel, Abraham
and Moses belonged to the same church with
Peter, John and Paul, and they to the same
with Christians of today. The dispensations
have changed, but the church has remained
the same. The earliest dispensation was the
Patriarchal. This was succeeded by the
Mosaic dispensation, which commenced at
Sinai, with the giving of the Law,
and continued till the Gospel dispensation,
which began at the death of Christ and
will continue till the church militant has
passed into the church triumphant. Christ
came to purge his floor, not to destroy it.
(Matt 3: 12; Rom. 11: 17).
The Christian Church under the apostles
may be traced in two directions,—the one
Jewish, the other Gentile. The Jewish line
for the most part follows the track of the
twelve apostles, while the Gentile that of
Paul. The earlier part of the Book of the
Acts presents chiefly the one; the later
chiefly the other.
This early church may be studied, for
clearness, under three heads:
1. The Church of Jerusalem, covering the
period from the ascension to Stephen's mar¬
tyrdom. Jerusalem was the first scene of
the labors of the apostles. They tarried in
232
BIBLE HISTORY
this place in obedience to the divine command.
(Acts 1:4; Luke 24:49).
The Principal Events; (1) The choice of
Matthias to take the place made vacant by
Judas (Acts 1). (2) The day of Pentecost
This day marked the beginning of the Chris¬
tian church and the wonderful manifestation
of the power of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2). (3)
The first sermon (Acts 2). (4) The first
baptism (Acts 2:41). (5) Opposition to
the Jews. Officers sent from the Sanhedrim
to apprehend the apostles (Acts 4:3). (6)
Peter's boldness astonished the members of
the Sanhedrim Acts 4:13). (7) Appoint¬
ment of the first deacons (Acts 6: 1-6). (8)
Stephen's martyrdom (Acts 7:60). This
act was the signal for a fierce persecution,
and the church was scattered abroad.
2. The Church of Palestine, from the mar¬
tyrdom of Stephen to the call of Paul to his
missionary work among the Gentiles. From
the persecution the disciples fled in different
directions but the apostles remained in Jeru¬
salem.
The Principal Events. (1) The Samaritans
received the gospel by Philip (Acts 8:1-14).
(2) The Ethiopian Eunuch is converted and
baptized (Acts 8:27-40). (3) Saul is con¬
verted (Acts 9:1-22). (4) The gospel is
preached to the Gentiles (Acts 10 and 11).
BIBLE HISTORY
900
ZjOO
(The conversion of Cornelius and the vision
of Peter). (5) Peter is arrested and delivered
from prison (Acts 12).
3. The Church of the Gentiles began with
the call of Paul to the missionary work of his
life and has not yet closed (Acts 13-28; ex¬
cepting only the record of the apostolic
council).
Paul's Three Missionary Journeys. The
first with Barnabas and John Mark, start¬
ing from Antioch, in Syria, and visiting
Sileucia, Cyprus, Salamis, Paphos, Perga,
Antioch, in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe,
Perga and back to Antioch. (2) The second
journey with Silas, starting from Antioch, in
Syria, and visiting Syria, Cilicia, Derbe and
Lystra, confirming the churches; Phrygia
and Galatia, Mysia, Troas, Neapolis, Phil-
ippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth,
Ephesus, Caesarea and back to Antioch,
where he remained nearly a year. (3) The
third journey with Timothy, from Antioch,
in Syria, to Galatia and Phrygia, Ephesus,
Macedonia, Greece, Philippi, Troas, Assos,
Mitylene, Trogyllium, Miletus, Patara, Tyre,
Ptolemais, Caesarea to Jerusalem. Paul was
imprisoned and sent from Caesarea to Rome
to be tried. The Book of the Acts ends with
the first imprisonment in Rome.
The Epistles are letters written to the
234
BIBLE HISTORY
churches for the purpose of explaining and
setting forth the doctrines and duties of the
Christian religion and to correct abuses that
sprang up from the contact of the churches
with the surrounding heathenism. They
were directed to particular churches. These
churches either sent the original or copies of
them to their sister churches.
The Church. (1) Its head (Eph. 1: 22; 5:
23). (2) Its members (Heb. 12:22, 23;
Eph. 2 : 19, 20). (3) Its organization (Eph.
4: 12, 15). (4) Its object (Eph. 4: 11, 16).
THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE BIBLE
In studying the institutions of the Bible
we should keep in mind the purpose for which
they were established, and the thing which
they commemorate, anticipate or propagate.
We will find in these a gradual unfolding of
the idea of the great scheme of redemption.
Preparatory to the Christian Church we no¬
tice definite institutions, each related to the
other, and all united in a progressive order.
These are:—
/. The Altai1 was the earliest institution
for worship. Its origin is unknown but it
was early sanctioned by divine approval
(Gen. 4: 3, 4; 8: 20; 12, 8). It was made of
rough unhewn stone (Ex. 20:24-25). The
offierings were of five kinds-
BIBLE HISTORY
235
(1) Sin offering.
(2) Burnt offering.
(3) Trepass offering.
(4) Meat offering.
(5) Peace offering.
II. The Tabernacle, a movable tent first set
lip at Mt. Sinai was an outgrowth of the al¬
tar, and was carried with the Israelites all
through their desert wanderings. It had a
holy place, a holy of holies, an altar for
burnt offerings, a laver, candlestick, table,
an altar of incense, and surrounding the
whole was an open place enclosed by curtains
(Ex. 25 and 26).
III. The Temple, built after the same gen¬
eral plan as the Tabernacle, was a grand per¬
manent dwelling built for God. There were
three temples: Solomon's, Zerubbabel's, and
Herod's.
IV. The Synagogue forms an important link
between the Church of the Old Testament
and that of the New, and greatly aided in
preparing the way for the Gospel. It arose
during the captivity, when the temple was in
ruins and the sacrifices were in abeyance. It
is believed to have been a part of the Jewish
system organized by Ezra, B. C. 440. It was
established wherever the Jews were located,
There were in Jerusalem alone 460 syna-
S36
BIBLE HISTORY
gogues, so that every nationality of Jews hacl
its own (Acts 22 : 19).
(Acts 22: 19).
Every Synagogue contained an "ark," chief
seats, a desk for the reader, places for wor¬
shipers, according to rank, and a lattice gal¬
lery where women could worship without
being seen.
The Officers of the synagogue were: (1)
Three rulers of the synagogue. (2) The
chazzan (Luke 4:20, "the minister"), who
was the clerk, schoolmaster, sexton, etc. (3)
The batlanim. seven men chosen to be present
at every service to act as a legal congregation.
Its Services were on Saturday, Monday
and Thursday, and were conducted by the
members in turn, several taking part in each
service. (1) There were forms of prayer and
with responses. (2) There were readings
from the law and prophets. (3) There were
expositions or comments upon the scripture.
Its influence was wide spread in perpetua¬
ting the worship of God and uniting the wor¬
shipers in more thoughtful and spiritual wor¬
ship than the elaborate ritual of the temple.
It promoted the study of the Old Testament
and attracted the devout and intelligent
among the Gentiles, many of whom became
worshipers of God (Acts 10:1-2), and it
greatly aided the early Christian teachers by
BIBLE HISTORY
237
preparing a place, a plan of service and a
system of organization.
V. The Sacred Year is a term which refers
to certain periodical institutions, such as:
(1) The Sabbath, observed one day in
seven.
(2) The New Moon which was opening day
of each month.
(3) The Seven Annual Solemnities, six
feasts and one fast day.
(4) The Sabbatical Year, one year in every
seven (Lev. 25:2-7).
(5) The Year of Jubilee, once in fifty years.
VI. The Christian Church represents the
highest stage in the development of Worship.
From the altar we come through the taber¬
nacle, the temple, the synagogue, and from
the formalism of earlier times to a spiritual
worship.
The Two Sacraments of the Christian
Church are Baptism (Matt. 28: 19), and the
Lord's Supper (I Cor. 11:25-26).
VII. There are Institutions, personal and
official named in the Bible, each of which rep¬
resents an epoch in the history of redemption.
1. The Priests were man's agents in ap¬
proach to God. In the earliest age each head
of a family was the priest; thus Noah, Abra-
238
BIBLE HISTORY
ham, Melchizidek offered sacrifices (Gen.
12: 8).
The Priestly Family was of Aaron, of the
tribe of Levi, set apart for the priestly office
at the time of the exodus, and this family-
remained a priestly caste until the destruc¬
tion of the Jewish state (Exod. 28: 1). They
were the attendants at the sacrifice, and were
also expected to be teachers of God's will to
men. They carried the needs of the people
to God. Their support was to come from a
tax upon the people, from the perquisites of
the sacrifices, with certain cities set apart for
their residences.
2. The Prophets were possessed with direct
divine inspiration and were recognized as
representatives of divine authority. They
were God's messengers to the people.
3. The Scribes arose with the synagogue,
when the written Word began to take the
place of the inspired teacher. They were
students and interpreters of the law of God,
and spoke not by inspiration upon the
authority of the scripture. The founder was
Ezra (Ez. 7:6).
4. The Apostles were the original founders
of the Christian church, and eye-witnesses of
His life, death and resurrection.
PART III.
Note.—Part Third gives illustrative stu¬
dies in the Bible, and is complete in itself.
These studies are arranged with the view of
making practical use of the Bible in Christian
life and work.
No. 1.
ORIGINAL HISTORY OF THE RACE
PRINCIPAL PERSONS I PRINCIPAL EVENTS
Adam, Eve.
Cain, Abel.
Seth.
Enoch.
Noah.
Creation.
Fall.
Murder of Abel.
Translation of Enoch.
The Flood.
PRINCIPAL PLACES
Eden.
SCRIPTURES
Gen. 1-
Mt. Ararat.
Gen. 6-.
Shem.
Ham.
•Japheth.
Mt. Ararat.
Gen. 9-11.
PROBATION OF THE HUMAN RACE
Representative
men.
Adam
Noah
Abraham
(Israel)
Christ
The testing
Gen. 2:16-17.
Gen. 9:1, 9-17,.
Gen. 12:1-3
The results
Failure—Gen.
3:6-11.
Failure— Gen.
9 :21
Failure- Matt.
23 :37-9.
Matt. 4:1-10.... Success—Matt.
3 :17, 17 :5.
The effects.
Gen. 3 :23-24,
Floorl C n. (j.
Dis rerM'oi). Con¬
fusion, Hr.licl,
Gen. 11.
Cast off. Jeru¬
salem trodden
down, Luke
. Godly seed,
r^a. 53:11 •
Eph. 2 :6, 7 ;
Phil. 2 :9.
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OP THE PATRIARCHS- FROM ADAM TO ABRAHAM.
This table exhibits the years of the birth and death of tlr* patriarchs ; the comparative length of their
lives; who of them were alive at the same peripd ; and the rapid decrease in the length of life after the
ueluge. _ Thus Lamech, the father of Noah, was T^orn A. M. 874, and died A. M. 1651 ; he was contemporary
^—1 Shem was born nearly one hundred
Eber outlived six
with Adam fifty six years, and he died five years before the* flood.
years before the flood, and lived many yeprs after both Abraham and Isaac were boi n.
generations of his descendents, including Abraham.
100| 2001 3001 400] 500', bOOj 700] 800)
Years from i
the Creation]
Adam |1 1- ■—I ! 1 \
Seth |130i 1 1 1 —
Enos 1. . . . |. .. 1-2351 -
Cainan ].... I|. |—325] ; -
Mahalaleel. . 1.... J.... 1... . 1-395) --
Jared I.... 1||. |-4ti0|-
Enoch
Methuselah.
Lamech.
900!l10001l1100|1120ofl3001l1400|l15001ll<iOo|l70oJlHOOil'.>OOl-200012100l,
[- 022j
.|-«87|-
11401
- 11235
1290
- I
Noah 1|j|1 1 ]|1- . 11050
Shem I... .1... .1. . 1
Arphaxad.
Salah
Eber
Peleg
Reu
SeruK
Nahor. . . .
Terah
Abraham. .
1656 [
1651
1658
1693
1723
1757
1787
1810|—-
1840)1007
1878
2006
2096
2026
2049
2083
21581
I
21261
2187
. 12008121831
CHOSEN FAMTLY
PRINCIPAL
PERSONS
AGE
PRINCIPAL EVENTS
PRINCIPAL
PLACES
SCRIPTURES
Abraham.
Sarah.
Lot.
Ishmael.
75 yrs.
100 yrs.
175
Call.
Settlement in Canaan.
Separation from Lot.
Covenant.
Destruction of Sodom.
Birth of Isaac.
Sacrifice of Isaac.
Death.
Ur.
Hebron.
Gen 12:25.
Isaac.
Rebecca.
40
60
180
Marriage.
Birth of Esau and Jacob.
Deceived by Jacob.
Death.
Hebron.
Gen. 24:35.
Jacob.
Rachel.
Leah.
Laban.
Esau.
77
97
130
147
Obtains Blessing.
Vision of Ladder.
Marriage.
In Laban's Service.
Wrestling with the Angel.
In Egypt.
Death.
Bethel.
Haran.
Penicl.
Egypt.
Gen. 25: 50.
Joseph.
17
30
110
Slave and Prisoner.
Ruler in Egypt.
Death.
Egypt.
Gen. 35:50.
Increase.
Bondage.
Egypt.
Ex. 1.
Call of Moses. PERIOD OF THE ISRAELITTSH PEOPLE
PRINCIPAL
PERSONS
PRINCIPAL EVENTS
PLACES
DIVISIONS
SCRIPTURE
Moses.
Aaron.
Joshua.
Caleb.
Call.
Passover.
Exodus.
Crosing the Red Sea.
Giving of the Law.
Building of the Tabernacle.
The Spies.
Forty years wandering.
Farewell Addresses.
Death of Moses.
Horeb.
Egypt.
Mt. Sinai.
Kadesh.
Plains of Moab.
Mt. Nebo.
Wandering in
the Wilder¬
ness.
Exodus.
Leviticus.
Numbers.
Deuteronomy.
Joshua.
Caleb.
Achan.
Crossing of the Jordan ;
Jericho taken.
Conquest of the Land.
Division of the Land.
Cities of Refuge
Death of Joshua.
Jericho.
Shiloh.
Shechem.
Conquest of
Canaan.
Joshua.
Deborah.
Gideon.
Jephthah.
Samson.
Eli.
Samuel.
Ruth.
Deliverance from Canaanites.
Deliverance from Midianites.
Deliverance from Ammonites.
Deliverance from Philistines.
Call.
Ark returned to Philistines.
Anointing of Saul.
Jereel.
Gaza-
Shiloh.
Mizpah..
Mizpah..
Moab.
Times -of the
Judges.
J udges.
Ruth.
1 Samuel, 1-10.
Coronation of Saul. PERIOD OF TSRAELITISH KINGDOM The Captivity.
1095 B. C. 588 B. C.
PRINCIPAL PERSONS
PRINCIPAL EVENTS
PLACES.
DIVISIONS
SCRIPTURE
Saul.
Samuel.
Jonathan.
David.
Israel demands, a king.
Saul anointed and crowned.
Early victories.
Rejected through disobedience.
Acts as priest.
Spares Amalekites.
Persecutes David.
Consults Witch.
Last battle and death.
Mizpah.
Gilgal.
Endor.
Mt. Gilboa.
the United
Kingdom.
I Samuel.
David.
Samuel.
Absalom.
Nathan.
Joab.
Anointed King.
In Saul's Court.
Victory over Goliath.
Covenant with J onathan.
King of Judah: 7 yrs.
King of Israel: 33 yrs.
Brings home Ark.
Sin and Repentance.
Absolom's Rebellion,
Pl^ns for Temple.
Death.
Bethlehem.
Gibeah.
Elah.
Hebron.
Jerusalem.
I Samuel, 16-31.
II Samuel.
Psalms.
I Chronicles.
I Kings, 1-2.
Solomon.
Hiram.
Queen of Sheba.
Crowned King.
Prayer for Wisdom.
Builds Temple.
Wealth and Wisdom.
Apostasy.
Death.
Jerusalem.
Gibeon.
J erusalem.
I Kings, 1-11.
II Chronicles, 1-9.
Proverbs.
Song of Solomon.
Ecclesiastes.
Division of Kingdom.
974 b. c.
THE DIVIDED KINGDOM.
Captivity of Israel.
721 b. c.
KINGDOM OF JUD4.H, SOUTHERN
KINGDOM.
SCRIP¬
TURE
2 Chron.
12-16.
prophets
Shemaiah.
Azariah.
Hanani,
KINGS
DYNASTY OF DAVID
Rehoboam, Evil, 17 years
j^oijam, Evil, 3 years
■psa. Good, 41 years.
(jAsa)
(jAsa)
KINGDOM OF ISRAEL, NORTHERN
KINGDOM.
KINGS
DYNASTY OF JEROjBOAM
1. Jeroboam, Evil, 22j years.
2. Nad^ib, Evil, 2j years.
HOlfSE OF BAASjHA.
1. Baasha, Evil, 24| years.
2. ElahL Evil, 2i years.
"T"
HOUSE OF ZIMRI
1. Zimri, """ Evil, 7 days.
PROPHETS
Jehu.
scrip¬
ture
I King's 12-
15.
I Kings 16 :
1-10.
I Kings 1C :
10-20.
Division oj Kingdom.
974 B. C.
THE DIVIDED KINGDOM—Continued
Captivity of Israel.
721 B. C.
Jehu
Eliezer,
Joel.
Isaiah.
Micah.
4. Jehoshaphat, Good, 25 years
HOUSE OF OMRI.
1. Omri,
2. Ahab,
Evil, 12 years;
Evil, 22 years!
ALLIANCE.
INTERMARRIAGE.
5. Jehoram, Evil, 8 years
6. Ahaziah, Evil, 1 year
Athaliah (Usurper).
Evil, 7 years.
7. Joash,
8. Amaziah,
9. Uzziah,
Good, 40 yeare
Good, 29 years
Good, 52 year.;
3. Ahaziah,
4. Jehoram,
Evil, 2 years,
Evil, 12 years.
HOUSE OF JEHU
l.'Jehu, Evil, 28 years,.
-2. j Jehoahaz, - - Evil, 17 years.
3. ! Johoash, Evil.
4. Jeroboam II. Evil, 41 years.
5. "Zefchariah',-'" Evil, 6 months
Micaiah.
Elijah.
Elisha.
Elisha.
Elijah.
Amos.
Hosea.
Jonah.
Division of Kingdom.
974 B. C. '
THE DIVIDED KINGDOM—Concluded
Captivity of Israel.
721 B. C.
KINGDOM OF JUDAH, SOUTHERN
KINGDOM.
SCRIPTURE
II Chron.
56-28.
II Chron.
29.
PROPHETS
Isaiah.
Isaiah.
KINGS.
(Uzziah)
(Uzziah)
10. Jotham, Good, 16 years.
11- Ahaz, Good. 16 years.
12. Hezekiah.Good, 29 years
KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. NORTHERN
KINGDOM.
KINGS.
HOUSE OF SHALLUM.
1. Shallum, Evil, 1 year
HOUSE OF MEN AHEM.
1. Menahem, Evil, 10 years.
2. Pekahiah, Evil, 2 years.
HOUSE OF PEKAH.
1. Pekah, Evil, 20 years.
HOUSE OF HOSHEA.
1. Hoshea, Evil, 9 years.
CAPTIVIY OF ISRAEL.
PROPHETS
SCRIPTURE
II Kings,
Ch. 15-
II Kings 16
II Kings 16
Captivity of Israel.
721 B. C.
MONARCHY OF JUDAH.
Captivity of Judah.
588 B. C.
DIVISIONS
PRORPHETS
KINGS
EVENTS.
SCRIPTURE
Monarchy of
Judah.
Captivity in
Babylon.
Isaiah.
Micah.
DYNASTY OF DAVID
12.Hezekiah, Good, 29 years.
Cleanses Temple.
Re-establishes Worship.
Assyria is repulsed.
Life prolonged.
II Kings, 18-25.
II Chronicles, 29-36
Prophecies of
Isaiah,
Nahum,
Zephaniah,
Habakkuk,
Jeremiah.
13. Manassah. Evil, 55 years.
Idolatry re-established.
In Captivity at Babylon
Repentance.
Nahum.
Zephaniah.
14. Anion. Evil, 2 years.
15. Josiah, Good, 31 years.
Repairs Temple.
Book of Law found.
Idols Destroyed.
Habakkuk.
Jeremiah.
Jeremiah.
1G. Jehoahaz, Evil, 3 months.
17. Jehoiakim, Evil, 11 years.
18. Jehoiachin, Evil, 3 months
10 day.
19. Zedekiah, Evil, 11 years.
1st Captivity.
Prophets despised.
Destruction of Temple
and City of Jerusalem
Final Captivity of
Baby Ion 588 B. C.
PERIOD OF THE JEWISH PROVINCE Birth of Christ
70 A. I).
DIVISIONS
PRINCIPAL PERSONS
PRINCIPAL EVENTS
PLACES
SCRIPTURE
The Captivity.
Daniel
Nebuchadnezzar.
Belshazzar.
Darius.
Carried Captive.
Interprets the King's Dream.
In the Fiery Furnace.
In the Lion's Den.
Prophecies of Christ.
Babylon '
Daniel.
Ezekiel.
Ezekiel.
Esther.
Ahasuerus.
Mordecai.
Hainan.
Crowned Queen.
Saves the Jews.
Shushan.
Esther.
The Restora-;
tion.
Zerubbabcl.
HaKKai.
Zechariah.
Leads first return to Jerusalem.
Rebuilds Temple.
Jerusalem.
Ezra, 1-G.
Haggai.
Ezra.
Leads second return.
Religious reform.
;
Ezra, 7-10.
Nehemiah.
Malachi.
Cupbearer to Artaxerxes.
Appointed Governor of Judea.
Rebuilds walls of Jerusalem.
Enforces laws as to Sabbath, etc.
Nehemiah.
"Malachi.