OR,
THE FIRST BOOK OF MOSES.
WITH A COMMENTARY.
BY
RT. REV. E. HAROLD BROWNE, LORD BISHOP OF ELY,
AUTHOR OF "EXPOSITION OF THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES,  SERMONS ON THE
ATONEMENT," "THE PENTATEUCH, IN REPLY TO COLENSO," ETC.
(This forms a part of the volume of the "SPEAKERS' COMMENTARY" On the
Pentateuch.)
SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO.,
654 BROADWAY.
I873.








PUBLISHERS' NOTICE.
TI'HE general adoption by the Sunday Schools of the International Uniform Series of Lessons has created a demand
for a concise and intelligible Commentary upon Genesis, which
should present, in an authoritative and popular form, the results
of the most recent research. This want is fully met in Dr. E.
HAROLD BROWNE'S exposition of this book, as given in the
volume of the " Speaker's " Commentary, devoted to the Pentateuch. In order to bring it within the reach of every teacher
and scholar, it is herewith presented in a separate form, and at
a price ($I.50), which cannot fail to secure for it a very wide
circulation.
Dr. E. HAROLD BROWNE, the Lord Bishop of Ely, is widely
known to the American public from  his Expyosilioiz of the
Thirlty-Niine Articles, while his very able work on the Pentateuch, in reply to Colenso, exhibits his special fitness for the
undertaking, which he has so ably accomplished in this volume.
His Commentary on Genesis, while bearing evidence of the
ripest and most devout scholarship, is nowhere overburdened
with a useless parade of learning. It is compact, but exhaustive,
and throughout intelligible to every Bible student. For general
use in connection with that portion of the Holy Scriptures now
under study in our Sunday Schools it must prove very generally
acceptable.
In this connection, tne attention of teachers is urgently
invited to the volume of LANGE'S COMMENTARY Ofn Ge iesis,
translated and edited by Dr. Tayler Lewis and Dr. Gosman,
under the general supervision of Dr. Schaff. The additions
to this volume by Dr. Tayler Lewis, in particular, have attracted
the widest notice in England as well as in this country, and have
everywhere been justly regarded as among the most important
of recent contributions to sacred literature. These two volumes give the student the best and ripest results of modern
biblical scholarship. Lange's Genesis is' a volume of nearly 700
pages, royal 8vo, and is sold at $5 in cloth.




PREFACE.
T is about seven years since the Speaker of the House of
Commons, the Right Hon. J. Evelyn Denison, conceived
the idea of the present Commentary, and suggested its execution.
It appeared to him that in the midst of much controversy
about the Bible, in which the laity could not help feeling a
lively interest, even where they took no more active part,
there was a want of some Commentary upon the Sacred Books,
in which the latest information might be made accessible to
men of ordinary culture. It seemed desirable that every educated
man should have access to some work which might enable him
to understand what the original Scriptures really say and
mean, and in which he might find an explanation of any difficulties which his own mind might suggest, as well as of any
new  objections raised against a particular book or passage.
Whilst the Word of God is one, and does not change, it
must touch, at new points, the changing phases of physical,
philological, and historical knowledge, and so the Comments
that suit one generation are felt by another to be obsolete.
The Speaker, after mentioning this project to several prelates and theologians, consulted the Archbishop of York upon
it. Although the difficulties of such an undertaking were very
great, it seemed right to the Archbishop to make the attempt
to meet a want which all confessed to exist; and accordingly
he undertook to form a company of divines, who, by a judicious
distribution of the labour amongst them, might expound, each
the portion of Scripture for which his studies might best have
fitted him.
The difficulties were indeed many.  First came that of




PREFACE.
treating a great and almost boundless subject upon a limited
scale. Let any one examine the most complete Commentaries
now in existence, and he will find that twenty or thirty ordinary
volumes are not thought too many for the exhaustive treatment
of the Scripture text.  But every volume added makes a work
less accessible to those for whom it is intended; and it was
thought that eight or ten volumes ought to suffice for text and
notes, if this Commentary was to be used by laymen as well
as by professed divines.  Omission and compression are at all
times difficult; notes should be in proportion to the reader's
needs, whereas they are more likely to represent the writer's
predilections. The most important points should be most prominent; but the writer is tempted to lay most stress on what
has cost him most labour.
Another difficulty lay in the necessity of treating subjects
that require a good deal of research, historical and philological,
but which could not be expected to interest those who have
had no special preparation for such studies. In order to meet
this, it was resolved that subjects involving deep learning and
fuller illustration should be remitted to separate essays at the
end of each Chapter, Book or division; where they can be
found by those who desired them.
The general plan has been this. A Committee was formed
to select the Editor and the Writers of the various sections.
The Rev. F. C. Cook, Canon of Exeter, and Preacher of
Lincoln's Inn, was chosen Editor.  The work has been divided
into Eight Sections, of which the present volume contains the
Pentateuch. Each book has been assigned to some writer who
has paid attention to the subject of it. The Editor thought it
desirable to have a small Committee of reference, in cases of
dispute; and the Archbishop of York with the Regius Professors of Divinity of Oxford and Cambridge agreed to act in
this capacity. But in practice it has rarely been found necessary
to resort to them.
The Committee were called upon, in the first place, to
consider the important question, which has since received a




PREFACE.
much fuller discussion, whether any alterations should be made
in the authorized English Version. It was decided to reprint that
Version, without alteration, from  the edition of I6 I, with the
marginal references and renderings; but to supply in the notes
amended translations' of all passages proved to be incorrect. It
was thought that in this way might be reconciled the claims of
accuracy and truth with that devout reverence, which has made
the present text of the English Bible so dear to all Christians
that speak the English tongue.  When the Prayer Book was
revised, the earlier Psalter of Coverdale and Cranmer was left
standing there, because those who had become accustomed to
its use would not willingly attune their devotions to another,
even though a more careful, Version: the older Psalter still
holds its place, and none seem to desire its removal. Since
then, knowledge of the Bible has been much diffused, and
there seems little doubt that the same affection, which in the
middle of the seventeenth century clung to the Psalter and
preserved it, has extended itself by this time to the Authorized
Version of 161 i.  Be that as it may, those who undertook
the present work desired that the layman should be able to
understand better the Bible which he uses in Church and
at home; and for this purpose that Bible itself gives the best
foundation, altered only where alteration is required to cure
an error, or to make the text better understood.
This volume is sent forth in no spirit of confidence, but
with a deep sense of its imperfections. Those who wish to
condemn will readily extract matter on which to work. But those
who receive it willing to find aid in it, and ready to admit
that it is no easy matter to expound, completely, fully and
popularly, that Book which has been the battle-field of all sects
and parties, which has been interpreted by all the ages, each
according to its measure of light, will do justice to the spirit
that has guided the writers.  Such will find in it something
that may help them  better to appreciate the Sacred Text.
1 These emendations are printed throughout in a distinctive type, darker than
the rest of the note.




PREFACE.
"As for the commendation," says Coverdale,'"of God's
holy Scripture, I would fain magnify it as it is worthy, but I
am far insufficient thereto, and therefore I thought it better
for me to hold my tongue than with few words to praise or
commend it." Our English Bible has come down to us, won
for us by much devoted labour, by persecution, by exile,
even by blood of martyrdom. It has still much work to do,
and when we consider the peoples to whom we have given
our language, and the vast tracts over which English-speaking
peoples rule, we feel how impossible it is for us to measure
the extent of that work. We humbly desire to further it in
some small measure, by removing a stumblingblock here, and
by shedding light upon some dark places there. Such human
efforts are needed, but the use of them passes, whilst the Word
of God of which they treat will endure to the end. Yet it is
permitted to offer them with an aspiration after the same
result that attends the Word of God itself; and that result is,
in the words of inspiration, "that ye might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might
have life through His name." (John xx. 3I.)
More than seven years have elapsed since this Commentary was first
projected. It will, doubtless, be admitted that this period is not longer
than might be reasonably demanded for the preparation of any considerable portion of such a work: but it is due to all concerned with this
volume to state that but for unforeseen circumstances it would have been
published much earlier. We have to deplore the premature death of no
less than three contributors, two of whom had undertaken the commentary
on Exodus and Numbers. All the writers in this volume had, in consequence of this and of other circumstances, a much larger amount of
work imposed upon them than they were prepared for, long after the
commencement of the undertaking. For one book they had to write
the entire commentary; for another to re-write, with a special view to
condensation, notes which had been prepared with great ability and
learning by Mr Thrupp. This statement is made simply to account for
the delay in the publication. The other parts of the work are now far
advanced, and two volumes, including the historical and poetical books,
will probably be printed within twelve months.




CON TENTS
GENESIS.
INTRODUCTION. BY THE BISHOP OF ELY.
Document Hypothesis......              2I  Proper names compounded with JAH 2.    6
Unity of plan and purpose through-         Meaning and antiquity of the name
out...........    22    JEHOVAH, with further reference to
Division of book into Toledoth..    ib.    Exodus vi. 2, 3......       b.
Of the names of God, as used in Genesis  24  Elohistic and Jehovistic passages..28,,,,   and  in  Exodus          Alleged  inconsistency with  modern
Vi. 2, 3.......       2      science.......29
COMMENTARY AND CRITICAL NOTES. BY THE BISHOP OF ELY.
pp. 3I —36.
PAGR                                       PAGI
On the Days of Creation.  Chap. i. 5  36  On Circumcision.  Chap.xvii. xI. 3.    Iz
On the Creation and Primitive State of     ~ I. Reasons for the rite. ~ 2. Origin
{Man. Chap. ii. 7.......    43    of circumcision, whether pre-Abra-.
On the Effect of the Fall. Chap. iii. 19.  47    hamic or not.
On the Historical Character of the Temp-   The Dead Sea, Site of Sodom and Zoaro
tation and the Fall. Chap. iii...  48    Chap. xix. 25....  13I
Cherubim.....                     49  ~ I. Characteristics of Dead Sea. Tes~:. Traditional accounts. ~ Z. Taber-       timonies ancient and modern. ~ 2.
nacle and Temple. ~ 3. Seen in             Geological formation.  ~ 3. Were
Visions of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and St         Sodom, Zoar, &c. on the north or
John. ~ 4. The Cherubim of Para-           south of the Dead Sea?
dise.  ~ 5. Etymology  of name.          On the Chronology of Jacob's life. Chap.
Chap. iii. 24.                             xxxi. 41...... 77
On the Early; Civilization of Mankind.     ~ I. Difficulty of the question.  ComChap. iv. X.......      8    mon reckoning. ~ 2. -Suggestion of
Difficulties in the Chronology of Chap. v.  6i    Dr Kennicott.  ~ 3. Dates on this
~ I. Difference of texts. ~ 2. Longevity     hypothesis. ~ 4. Greater facility for
of Patriarchs.  ~ 3. Antiquity of          explaining the events thus obtained.
Human Race, as deduced from  (I)         On Shiloh. Chap. xlix. o..... 232
Geology, (2) History, (3) Language,      ~ x. Different renderings of the word,
(4) Ethnology.                             ~ 2. Choice of renderings, either 4
lT7heDeluge. Chap. viii....       74    or S. ~ 3. Messianic, by consent of
~ I. WVas it historical?  ~ z. Was it        Jewish and Christian antiquity. ~ 4.
universal?                                 Answer to objections.




GENESIS.
I NTRODUCTION.
PAGE,AGE
Document Hypothesis..           I    Meaning and antiquity of the name
Unity ofplan and purpose throughout. 22  JEHOVAH, cwith further reference
Division of book into Toledoth.. 22  to Exod.'vi. 2, 3.... 
Of the names of God, as used in Genesis 24    lohistic and Jehovistic passages.  8
E xod. vi. 2, 3  25    Alleged  inconsistency  with  modern
Proper names compounded vwith JAH. 26      science.                        29
I F it be once admitted that the Pen- wrote the later books, he certainly wrote
tateuch, as a whole, is due to Moses, Genesis; and on the other hand, if he
there can be no difficulty in admitting  did not write Genesis, he wrote nothing.
that Genesis, the most ancient part of Hence to shake the foundation of Genthe Pentateuch, is due to him.  If he  esis is to destroy the fabric of the Pentawrote the history of the Exodus, he, teuch. The progress of the criticism has
either as author or compiler, must have  been sufficiently gradual.  It was sugwritten the introductory history of the  gested long since by Vitringa, that Moses
times of the patriarchs.  The unity of may have had before him  "documents
design is very manifest throughout. Moses of various kinds coming down from the
was employed to mould and form  a  times of the patriarchs and preserved
simple and previously enslaved people  among the Israelites, which he collected,
into an organized nation.  He had to  reduced to order, worked up, and where
give them a code of laws, civil and ec- needful, filled in," scihedas el scrinia _paclesiastical, for the guidance of their na- trum, ayzud Israeli/as conservata, Mosem
tional life. The infant people was to be a  collegisse, digqessisse, ornasse, et utbi deficietheocracy, the germ  and embryo of a  bant, complesse (' Obs. Sac.' I. C. 4).  A
theocracy greater than itself, guarded  conjecture of this kind was neither unand isolated for fifteen centuries, till by  natural nor irreverent.  It is very pro% new revolution it should expand into  bable that, either in writing or by oral
the Church of Christ.  It was obvious  delivery, the Israelites possessed traditherefore, that he, who had to write the  tions handed down from their forefathers.
earliest chapters of its history, should  It is consistent with the wisdom of Moses,
begin by tracing down its descent from  and not inconsistent with his Divine inthose who had from  the first been the  spiration, that he should have preserved
depositaries and witnesses of the truth.   and incorporated with his own work all
If, however, adverse criticism has been  such traditions, written or oral, as had
busy in trying to dislocate all portions of upon them the stamp of truth.
the Pentateuch, to disprove its unity,    The next step in the theory was, that
and so to shake the evidence for its taken by Astruc in I753, who taught,
Mosaic origin; it has been signally busy  that the names of God (Elohim  and
in so dealing with Genesis.  If Moses JEHIOVAH), occurring in the book of Gen



22                        INTRODUCTION TO
esis may distinguish respectively the do- and even throughout the Pentateuch, but
cuments or memoirs from which Moses  these are the two most observable. Then
compiled his history.  He believed that comes the well-known passage in Ex.
there were no fewer than twelve docu- vi. 3, where the Most High says to Moses
ments, the two chief being the Elohistic  that He was known to the fathers by the
and the J ehovistic.                     name of El-Shaddai, but by the name JELater writers again have varied this  HOVAH He was not known to theml
theory with  every possible variation; whence the introduction of the name
some believing that there was one Elo- Jehovah in the history of Adam, Noah,
hist, and one Jehovist document; others  Abraham, &c., is argued to be a proof of
that there were more than one Elohist, later authorship.
and many Jehovists; and exercising a    It may be well then to shew:
subtle ingenuity, most convincing at least    First, that the Book of Genesis is not
to themselves, they have traced minutely  an ill-digested collection of fragmentary
the transitions from  one document to  documents, but a carefully arranged naranother, sometimes even in the midst of rative with entire unity of purpose and
a sentence, guided by some catchword  plan.
or form of expression, which they have,    Secondly, that the use of the names of
as others think most arbitrarily, assigned  God is neither arbitrary nor accidental,
to the first or second Elohist, to the first, but consistent throughout with the Mosecond, third, or fourth Jehovist, accord- saic authorship, and the general scope of
ing to the number of authors in which  the history.
they respectively believe'. Another step    I.  Unzity ofi lan anzdzrprose t/rouzr/zhas been to suggest, that the different out.
documents, often, as it is alleged, giving    First then, as to the organic structure
different versions of the same story, have  of the book, though it may be somewhat
been carelessly and clumsily put toge- obscured by the modern division into
ther.  And a further still has been to  chapters and verses, as it was of old by
deny, that Moses could be either the  the Jewish division of the Pentateuch
Elohist, the Jehovist, or the compiler into peras/him or sections; careful examiand redactor, it being evident that the  nation will shew, that the arrangement is
whole was a later work, due perhaps to  methodical and orderly from first to last.
Samuel, perhaps to Hilkiah or Jeremiah,    The book begins with a general introperhaps still later to Ezra or some sur- duction, from ch. i. I to ch. ii. 3, wherein
vivor from the captivity, or possibly to  the creation of the universe is related in
a collection of the labours, the piously  language of simple grandeur, very possifraudulent labours, of them  all.        bly in words handed down from the reThe salient points in their arguments  motest antiquity, than which none could
are these.  There appear to be two ver- be more fitted here for the use of the
sions of the history of the creation, the  sacred historian.
first from Gen i. I to Gen. ii. 3, in which    After this the book consists of a series
only the name Elohim occurs, the other  of Toledo/h, or genealogical histories, the
from  Gen. ii. onwards, in which the  first of which is called " the Toledoth of
name of JEHOVAH occurs in combination  the heavens and the earth," ch. ii. 4; the
with Elohim.  Again, there appear two  others being the respective histories of
accounts of the Flood, which though in-  the different families of man, especially
terlaced in the book of Genesis, may be  of the ancestors of the people of Israel,
disentangled.   These also are charac- from Adam to the death of Joseph'. The
terized respectively by the same variety
in the names of God. Similar phenomena       The word Toeds/  has by some been renare said to prevail throughout the book,  perl be ois,of atgenerations" cannot properly be used of the creation of heaven and
earth; but it is not necessary to drop the figuraI An abstract of the different theories from  tive language in a translation. By an easy metaAstruc to the present day may be seen in Haver-  phor, the word, which described well the family
nick (' Int. to Pent.' p. 45, Translation, Clark,  history of a race of men, was applied to the
Edinburgh), and'Aids to Faith,' M'Caul's  history of the material creation. The word,
Essay on' Mosaic Record of Creation,' p. I9i.  moreover, as used in Genesis, does not mean a




THE BOOK OF GENESIS.                                    23
great divisions of the book will be found    Some of these sections relate only to
to be:                                    collateral branches and are brief.  The
I. The Introduction, from ch. i. I to  larger sections will be found to have subch. ii. 3.                                divisions within them, which are carefully
2. "The generations of the heavens  marked and arranged. As a ule, ineach
and the earth," beginning with ch. ii. 4, of these successive Toledoz/, the narraand extending on through the history of tive is carried down to the close of the
the fall to the birth of Seth, ch. iv.    period embraced, and at the beginning
3. " The book of the generations of of each succeeding portion a brief repeAdam," from ch. v. to vi. 8.              tition of so much as is needed of the
4. " The generations of Noah," giving  previous account is given, and with it,
the history of Noah's family till his death, very often, a note of time.  Thus the
from vi. 9 to end of ix.                  Introduction is ushered in with the words
5. "The generations of the sons of "In the Beginning."  Then the second
Noah," giving an account of the over- section, referring to what has just been
spreading of the earth, from x. I to xi. 9. recorded, announces "The generations
6. " The generations of Shem," the  of the heavens and of the earth when they
line of the promised seed, down to Abram, were created, in the day that the Lord
Nahor, and Haran, the sons of Terah, God made the earth and the heavens,"
Xi. io to 26.                             ch. ii. 4.  Then again ch. v. I, having
7. "The generations of Terah," the  the same note of time (" In the day,"
father of Abraham, from  whom  also in  &c.) refers back to the account of crethe female line the family was traced  ation, "In the likeness of God made
through Sarah and Rebekah, from xi. 27  He him, male and female created He
to xxv. II1.                              them," &c.  The next section, vi. 9,
8. "The generations of Ishmael," from   "The Toledoth of Noah,' recapitulates
xxv. I2 to xxv. I8.                       the character of Noah, the degeneracy
9. "The generations of Isaac," con- of man, and God's purpose to destroy
taining the history of him and his family  all flesh.  In xi. I o, the age of Shem
from the death of his father to his own  and the birth of. his son two  years
death, xxv. I9 to end of xxxv.            after the flood, are named.  The like
IO. " The generations of Esau," xxxvi. plan is observable in the  "Toledoth
I-8.                                      of Terah," xi. 27; "the  Toledoth of
I.  " The generations of Esau in  Ishmael," xxv. i2; "of Isaac," xxv. 1 9,
Mount Seir," xxxvi. 9 to xxxvii. I.       "who was forty years old when he took
12. " The generations of Jacob," giv- Rebekah to wife;" "of Esau," xxxvi. I:
ing the history of Jacob and his sons to  where his marriages are recorded again:
his own death and the death of Joseph, and lastly, in the case of Jacob (xxxvii. 2),
xxxvii. 2 to the end of ch. 1.            we find, in the verse immediately preceding (viz. xxxvii. I), a note telling us
history of the mode in which persons or things the position of Jacob at the time, and
carne into existence, but rather the history of again in vv. 2 and 3 the age of Joseph
those who descended from them. Thus " the
Toledoth of Adam" gives the history of Adam  ("Joseph  was seventeen  years old"),
and his posterity. In like manner "the Tole- taking us back to a point of time twelve
(loth of the heavens and the earth" is the history  years before the death of Isaac, which had
of the material universe and its productions. been before recorded, that so we might
See Keil on the'Pentateuch,' Vol. I. pp. 70  see the new starting-point of the history.
sqq. (Clark, Edinburgh).
1 It seems strange that the "generations of    Space will not allow  the tracinfg of
Abraham" should not be given distinctly from  similar recapitulations and notes of time
those of his father, and Quarry thinks that the  in the smaller sub-sections of the history.
title may have existed, and have fallen out of
the MS. just before the last clause of xii. 4.
The reason, however, which he himself assigns, very characteristic of the whole book,
seems sufficient to account for the omission, viz. and are had recourse to wherever perthat the history contained in this section is that spicuity of narrative seems to require'.
of Abraham, Lot, Sarah, and of Isaac and
Rfbekah (all descendants of Terah), down to    1 They are traced at length by Quarry (' Ce
the death of Abraharm.                    nesis,' pp. 326 to 340o).




24.                      INTRODUCTION TO
This brief review of the divisions of   JEHOVAH, on the contrary, is as clearGenesis shews that it was not a loosely  ly a proper name as Jupiter or Vishnu.
compacted structure, carelessly or clum- Elohim  and Je.hovah are therefore as
sily thrown together by some one, who  distinguishable as Dews and Jupiter; the
found a variety of heterogeneous mate- difference being only in this, that, whererials and determined to mass them all in  as the worshippers of Jupiter admitted
one: but that it was drawn up carefully, "gods many and lords many," a multi —
elaborately, and with distinct unity of tude of Dii, the worshippers of Jehovah,
purpose; whether from pre-existing do- on the other hand, believe in no Elohim
cuments or not it matters comparatively  except JEHOVAH.  We may see at once,
little to enquire.                     then, that there may be good reasons for
2. Of the names of God as used in the  expecting the title Elohim to be chiefly
Book of Genesis.                       employed in some passages, whilst the
The names by whichthe Supreme Being  proper name JEHOVAH would be chiefly
is called in the Old Testament, and espe- employed in others.  For instance, in
cially in Genesis, are chiefly two, Elohim  the general account of creation it is very
and JEHOVAH, the one generally rendered  natural that Elohim, the Mighty One,
in the versions God, the other LORD. We  the God of creation and providence,
meet also with El (which is but a shorter should be the word in use.  So, where
form of Elohim), with Elion, Most High, foreigners, people of heathen nations, as
(in the Pentateuch occurringonly in Gen. Hagar, Eliezer of Damascus, the Egypxiv. I8 in connection with El; El-Elion, tians, &c. are introduced, it is most naGod most High, though in the Psalms it is tural that the word Elohim  should be
found with Elohim and Jehovah, and also  more frequent than  JEHOVAH, unless
stands alone), and Shaddai, Almighty (in  where some distinct acknowledgment
the Pentateuch generally with El, El-  of JEHOVAH is intended. On the conShaddai; elsewhere standing alone).    trary, when the history of the chosen
The name Eloh/im  is derived either people or their ancestors is specially confrom  the Arabic root Alaha, " to fear, cerned, and the stream of the Theocracy
reverence, worship," or, much more pro- traced  down  from  its fountain head,
bably, from   IKN  (alah) = ~.i  "to be  then the special name of Him, who was
strong, to be mighty'." It is the simple, not ashamed to be called their God,
generic name of God, " The Mighty."  would probably be of more frequent use.
It does not occur in the singular in the  This, if kept clearly in view, will explain
earlier books of Scripture, except in the  many of the so-called Elohistic and Jeabbreviated form of El. The plural is hovistic phenomena in Genesis.  Anoprobably a plural of excellence and ma- ther thing to be noted is this.  The
jesty. As in Prov. ix.I, "'wisdom," occurs  Semitic tongues, especially the more
in the plural Chochmo/h, to signify wis- ancient and simpler forms of them, deal
domn in the abstract, including in itself much in repetition, and where our moall the treasures of wisdom and know-  dern Aryan languages would put a proledge; so Elohim in the plural is applied  noun, they very frequently repeat the
to God, as comprehending in Himself noun. From this general habit of repetithe fulness of all power and all the attri- tion, and especially the habit of repeatbutes which the heathen ascribe to their ing the noun rather than using the proseveral divinities (see Smith's'Dict. of noun, when in any one chapter or section
Bible,' Art. JEHOVAH). Still the word is a  we tind either the word Elohim  or the
title rather than a name.  It is applied  name JEHOVAH, we are very likely to find
to false gods, as well as to the true. The  the same frequently recurring.  In conheathen nations round about the Israel- sequence of this, the several passages
ites would have recognized the existence  will to an European eye look as if they
and the divinity of El and of the Elohim. were strongly marked either by the title
Elohim, or by the name JEHOVAH.  For
It is or probable that the ver to signify  instance, it is alleged that in the first
"fear and worship" is derived from the name account of crtio
of the Deity, than that the name of the Deity  account of  crhation,  h.      ii. 1-3,
was derived from the verb signifying "to fear."   Elohim  occurs thirty-five  times, and




THE BOOK OF GENESIS.                                    25
that there is here no other name of  2, 3, where according to the Authorized
God: but it has been replied, that,'if it Version," Godspake untoMoses, and said
occurred once, it was only natural, owing  unto him, I am JEHOVAH; and I appeared
to the uniformity of the whole passage, unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob,
that it should have occurred again at by the name of God Almighty, but by
each account of a separate creation, and  my name JEHOVAH was I not known to
also that in modern language a pronoun  them." The inference derived from this
would have been substituted in many  passage has been this. The person, who
cases for the repeated title  or name. recorded these words of God to Moses,
Hence the thirty-five are in effect re- would never have written a history of
ducible to one. The passage is scarcely  still earlier times, in which the name
more really marked as Elohistic by the  JEHOVAH should be introduced not only
name Elohim occurring thirty-five times, in the narrative, but in the mouths of
than if it had occurred but once; for its  the various speakers, from  Eve downhaving occurred once would inevitably  wards.  Hence, no doubt, in his earlier
lead to its continued and frequent recur-  history the writer of this passage would
rence'.                                   surely have been an Elohist.  The parts
The most important passage in rela-  of Genesis then, which are characterized
tion to this question is, of course, Exod. vi. by the use of the title Elohim, may probably be attributed to him: but all the
1 Quarry,'on Genesis,' pp. 341, 400, 401i  parts in which JEHOVAH predominates
The following table of the alternation of the  were evidently added afterwards, and
names in the first Ii chapters is given by the  must be due to some one who was not
learned author, and will shew how different the
virtual occurrence of the respective names is  alive to the incongruity of introducing
from  the apparent, superficial occurrence on  Jehovistic language into a  history of
which so much has been built:             events and speeches prior to the revela-....    J.   tion of the name JEHOVAH.  It follows,
iii. i —5. Elohim  3...time =     of course, that the very first who could
iv.. Jehovah I...             possibly have written the original Elo2-16. Jehovah 8...      =      listic narrative was Moses, the J ehovisa5. Elohim  i... =-I         tic portions being necessarily much iater
26. Jehovah I...         I   than Moses.  It is further argued, howv.  I. Elohim  2      =I'22-24. Elohim  3... =I         ever, that names compounded with the
29. Jehovah i...      =      sacred name of JAH or JEHOVAH do not
vi. 2-4. Elohim  2... =A          occur till the time of Samuel. hence
5-8. Jehovah 4...             it is added that the name could not
9 a-22. Elohim  5.... I         have been known, nor the sixth chapter
vii. — 5. Jehovah 2...      =I   of Exodus written, till the time of Sa9. Elohim  I... =I          muel: and further, it is now alleged that
6 Jehovah I...          the name JEHOVAH is unknown even to
Jehovah i. 
viii.  I. Elohim  2...=I           the writer of the earlier Psalms, and that
Is. Elohim  I... =           therefore probably David learned it late
20-2I. Jehovah 3...      =      in life from its inventor Samuel.
ix. i-6. Elohim  2... -I            The romance of modern criticism is as
8 —i7. Elohim  4....z
26. Jehovah I...             remarkable as its perverse ingenuity: for
Elohim  1... =            when once a theory has been suggested,
27. Elohim  I    =I           its author and  his followers proceed
x.  9. Jehovah 2           =I    forthwith to construct an elaborate hisxi. 5-9. Jehovah 5....
_    _-   tory upon it, as much as if, instead of
Ig  1   excogitating a theory, they had discover"Hence for the purposes of the present en- ed a library of authentic records.  The
quiry, and as evidence of any predilection of wider the theory is from  all that has
either name, the case is just as if in these eleven  hitherto been believed from  concurrent
chapters, in the order of succession and at the  testimony and careful enquiry the more
distances here indicated, the name Elohim had  t              1 n        h
recurred singly I5 times, and the name Jehovah it finds acceptance and is hailed as a
12 times."                               discovery.  If we look a little closely




,26                       INTRODUCTION TO
into the foundations of the theory, it will JEHOVAH is part of the same, but proappear as baseless as other dreams.      bably the third person present, or, as
First, as regards the names compound-  others think, the same tense of a causative
ed with JAH, we have at all events Joche-  (Hiphil) form'.  But if so, there can be
bed, Joshua, Jonah, Jotham, Micah and  no question, as even Ewald fully admits,
Jonathan and mount Moriah, besides  that the name must have been prethree named in Chronicles, Azariah (i  IMosaic.  In Hebrew the verb is always
Chr. ii. 8), Abiah (I Chr. ii. 24), Ahijah  haya/, though in Syriac and Chaldee it
(I Chr. ii. 25), all of which at least ap- is always havah.  A name therefore depear to have been so compounded, and  rived from,avak and existing in ancient
which it is a gratuitous slander to say  Hebrew, must have come down from a
were the inventions of later days. More- time prior to the separation of the Heover, it by no means follows, that one  brews from their kindred Aramreans, i.e.
age should have had the fashion of a  not later than the time of Abraham.  In
special form  for the  composition of fact the name  invn  (IHVH) could not
names, because we find that fashion  have been found among the Hebrews, at
prevailing some centuries later.  Names  any period of history from  the descent
compounded with any name of God are  into Egypt to the captivity of Babylon:
rare in the early ages, but became coin- and as it undoubtedly exists in Hebrew
mon in the later.  Secondly, as regards  writings prior to the captivity, so it must
the Psalms, there is no foundation what- have originated before the time of Joseph.
ever for saying that the earlier Psalms    We must conclude, then, that the name
are Elohistic and the later only Jeho- JEHOVAH was not unknown to the patrivistic. Many of the manifestly and con-  archs, nor do the words of Exodus necesfessedly later Psalms (as the 78th, 82nd, sarily mean that it was.  These words
I I4th, &c.) are eminently Elohistic, whilst literally are, " I am JEHOVAH: and I apmany of the earliest (as the 24th, 27th, peared (or was manifested) to Abraham
34th, &c.) are as eminently Jehovistic'.   and to Isaac and to Jacob by El-ShadBut again, the form and derivation of dai, but My name JEHOVAH was I not
the name JEHOVAH points to a pre-Mosaic  known to them:'" that is to say, " I
origin.  Some of the German writers in- manifested myself to the patriarchs in
deed have tried to trace the name to an  the character of El-Shaddai, the Omniattempt at expressing in Hebrew letters  potent God, able to fulfil that which I
the name of the Phcenician god, lao. had promised; but as to my name (i.e.
Time will not allow of a lengthened con- my character and attributes of) JEHOVAH
sideration of this theory here.  Suffice it I was not made manifest to them'." (So
to say that its chief support is an oracu-  LXX. Vulg. oivc E6cXwo-a, nooz indicavi).
lar response of the Clarian Apollo quoted  The words strictly and naturally imply
by Macrobius ('Sat.' I. c. I8) about 400  this. The ancient versions seem to conA.D.; which has been clearly proved by  firm  this interpretation.  It is no new
Jablonsky to have originated in a Juda-  one framed to meet modern objections,
izing gnostic2.                          but was  propounded  by Aben Ezra
It is now generally admitted by com- and Rashi among the Jews, and by
petent Semitic scholars, that the word  many of the most illustrious Christian
signifies "the existent"  or something  commentators of past times.
nearly akin to this. The true pronuncia-    The theory then of the late invention
tion, of course, is lost; but there can be  of this sacred name has really no foundano reasonable doubt, that, as the name  tion.  That its use was very much more
of God declared to Moses in Ex. iii. I4,
of God declared to Moses in Ex. iii. 4,   1 Thus it corresponds in form with such names
viz. ul~X, I AMn, is the first person pre- as Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, which are all the third
sent of the substantive verb, so the name  persons singular present of verbs.
1 The Editor has shewn this more at length    2 "In El-Shad lai" is interpreted to mean
in his tract, called'The Pentateuch and the  "as El-Shaddai," "in the character of ElElohistic Psalms' (Longman).             Shaddai," (Gesen. Lex. s.v.! div. C.). "The
2 See the whole question discussed in Smith's  name of Jehovah," as meaning the character of'Dict. of Bible,' I. p. 953, and Quarry,'Genesis,' Jehovah, is very common. Cf. Ps. v. I1, viii. I,
p. 3oo sqq.                              ix. Io, Is. XXvi. 8, xxx. 27.




THE BOOK OF GENESIS.                                27
prevalent after the revelation to Moses Josh. xxiv. I4, the Israelites in Egypt
in Exodus than it had been before, there  had learned to serve strange gods, there
can be no reasonable doubt. God made  would be the more reason why Moses
His special covenant with Abram, be- should set before them  the one true
ginning with the emphatic words, "I  God, as their own God, and exhibit Him
am El-Shaddai," Gen. xvii. I. So again  under His name, JEHOVAH, thereby the
on a like occasion He spake to Jacob, more clearly to mark Him off from the
Gen. xxxv. II.  Hence both Isaac and  false Elohim of Egypt, and the false EloJacob seemed to lay especial stress upon  him of Canaan.
that name in times of trouble and anxiety    Now the facts of Genesis remarkably
(see Gen. xxviii. 3, xliii. I4), as recalling  coincide with all this probability.  Some
to them the faithfulness and the power portions of the narrative do indeed preof their covenant God.  But to Moses  sent what is called an Elohistic aspect;
the words are frequently spoken, "I am  and especially those portions, which, of
JEHOVAH," and the covenant, which had  their very nature, are most likely to
been assured to the patriarchs by God as have existed in the traditions current
El-Shaddai, the Mighty God, is now  from old time among the Israelites, viz.
assured to the people of Israel, by the  the general account of the Creation, the
same God, as JEHOVAH, the self-existent, Flood, the covenant of circumcision made
the cause of all being, governing the  with Abraham, and  the genealogical
past, the present, and the future. Let tables. These then Moses appears to
us then suppose, that Moses had access have adopted, much as he found them,
to, or knowledge of, oral or written  perhaps perpetuating, word for word, in
traditions concerning the Creation, which  his writings what before had been floatmlust from the nature of the case have  ing in unwritten record. Yet these porbeen originally matter of revelation, the  tions of the narrative are not loosely
Flood, the history of Abraham, Isaac and  thrown in, but rather carefully and orJacob; it is most likely that he would  ganically incorporated and imbedded in
have made these the ground-work of his the whole.
history. If the name,JEHovAH, was known    For instance, in the history of creation,
to the patriarchs, but had, as seems most we have first, in Gen. i. ii. I-3, that
likely from the first chapters of Exodus, which was very probably the ancient pr/been latterly but little used, perhaps meval record of the formation of the
whlolly disused, among the Israelites in world.  It may even have been commuEgyplt; then it is pretty certain that nicated to the first man in his innocence.
these traditions or documents would  At all events, it very probably was the
have had El, Elohim, or Elion, for the great Semitic tradition, handed down
name of God, perhaps even to the exclu- from Noah to Shem, from Shem to Abrasion of the name JEHOVAH. In working ham, and from Abraham through Isaac,
tup these materials into a continuous his- Jacob and Joseph, to the Israelites who
tory, some of the documents would be  dwelt in Egypt. Without interfering with
preserved entire, others might be so ar- the integrity of this, the sacred author
ranged and so worded as to fit them to  proceeds in the same chapter to add a
be connecting links one with the other, supplementary history, briefly recapituwhile we should probably find many por- lating the history of creation, with some
tions of the history in the hand of the au- little addition (in vv. 4-7), and then
thor or compiler himself. If Moses was proceeding to the history of Paradise,
that author, though he would often use the Fall, the expulsion, and the first bitthe name Elohim, we might naturally  ter fruits of disobedience.  In the first
expect to find that he had a fondness part of this second or supplementary
for that sacred name by which the Most history we meet with a signal phenome-High had declared Himself as the spe- non, viz. that, from ch. ii. 4 to the end
cial Protector of His people; and hence  of chapter iii. the two names (or rather
we might look for that name in passages the generic and the personal names) of
where another writer perhaps would not God, JEHOVAH and Elohim, are used
have introduced it. If, as we infer from  continually together. There is no other




28                      INTRODUCTION TO
instance in Scripture of' this continued  observable, The like occurs again in
and repeated use of the united names. ch. xi. 6; where neither Elohim, nor JEIt is evident, that the author, who adopt- HovAH-Elohim, but JEHOVAH alone is
ed the first ancient record and stamped  the name of God made use of'. There
it with authority, and who desired to  is not space to go through the book of
bring his people to a worship of the great Genesis and shew how similar principles
self-existent JEHOVAH, used this method  prevail throughout. If the basis of the
of transition from the ancient Elohistic history of the Flood were an ancient Elodocument to his own more immediate histic document, Moses appears to have
narrative, in order that he might more interwoven it with a further narrative of
forcibly impress upon his readers, that his own. The one portion may be markthe Elohim who created all things was ed by the prevalence of one name, the
also the JEHOVAH, who had revealed  other by that of another name of God;
Himself to Moses, and who was now  but the consistency of the one with the
to be spoken of as the Protector and  other is complete throughout (see notes
King of the great Theocratic race, whose  on the history, infra). The same will
history was to be traced down even  appear in other portions of Genesis,
from the very creation of Adam. The though the creation and the flood most
consistency and close connection of the clearly exhibit both the phenomena retwo parts is admitted by some, who are lied on by the theorists and the facts
far from admitting the Divine original leading to a refutation of their theory.
or high inspiration of the Pentateuch.   It must not, however, be thought that
"The second account," says Kalisch (in  the variety in the employment of the
loc.) "is no abrupt fragment; it is not sacred names could have resulted only
unconnected with the first; it is not su-' from the variety of the materials used
perfiluous repetition; it has been com- by Moses and the additional matter
posed with clear consciousness after, and  introduced by himself. Careful obserwith reference to, the first. The author vation will shew, that, whilst often it
of the Pentateuch added to an ancient was a matter of indifference whether
document on creation the history of the one or the other name was introman's disobedience and its consequence. duced, yet there was no mere careless-...The first account was composed in- ness in the introduction. On the condependently of the second; but the  trary, in most passages it is impossible
second is a distinct and deliberate con- to doubt that the choice of the name
tinuation of the first....It does not mere- adopted is the happiest possible.
ly recapitulate, but it introduces new    Thus in the first history of creation
facts and a new train of thought."  The  we have Elohim, the mighty one, God
consistency of the two narratives, and  of Creation and Providence, then in
a consideration of the alleged incon- order to mark the transition of subject
sistencies, will be seen in the commen- and yet the unity of the Being spoken
tary (on ch. ii. especially). One singular of, we have for two chapters JEHOVAH
point of resemblance it may be well to  Elohim; but when we come to the ivth
point out here. In ch. i. 26, in the so  chapter and to Eve's exclamation, when
called Elohistic document, we have the  she hoped that her firstborn should be
remarkable words, " Let us make man," the ancestor of the promised seed, the
the plural pronoun used by the Almighty  words ascribed to her connect her hope
Himself, and the appearance of deli- with JEHOVAH, Him whom the Israelites
beration. In ch. iii. 22 (in the so called  learned to look on as their covenant
Jehovistic portion) we have again, " Be- God, who was to make good all the
hold the man is become as one of us:"  promises to the fathers. Again, in ch.
again the very observable plural, and  v. the genealogy from Adam to Noah
again  perhaps even  more markedly  has no Divine name except Elohim, till
anthropomorphic language, as though  we come, in v. 29, to the birth of Noah,
the Most High were taking counsel, and his father's pious anticipation that
before executing His judgments. This he should be a comfort to his race, in
identity of thought and speech is very      1 See Quarry, p. 348.




THE BOOK OF GENESIS.                                 29
reference to the earth, which had been  ter.  Surely this is constructing a theory
cursed.  The use of the name JEHOVAH  in despite, not in consequence, of the
in this verse points us at once to the  facts on which it ought to stand'.
fact that Noah became the second head    Again anthropomorphisms are said
of the Theocratic race, the new deposi- to characterise the  Jehovist passages.
tary of the promises of God.  If we  This is by no means unlikely, considerpass on to ch. xiv. we are introduced  ing that JEHOVAH is the personal name
to Melchizedek, priest and king of a  of God, and that by which He was
Canaanitish people.  He is a worship- pleased to reveal Himself familiarly to
per of E1-ElIionz, God most High, this  His people; yet they are far from  exbeing evidently the name by which the  clusively belonging to  the Jehovistic
Almighty was known to him and to his portions.  Lastly, all the indications of
countrymen.  Once, however, the name  a more advanced civilization, such as
JEHOVAH occurs in the chapter, but it the use of gold, jewels, earrings, musical
is in the mouth of Abraham, and Abra- instruments, camels, servants, &c. are
ham evidently uses it that he may shew  assigned to the Jehovist, and are thought
that he acknowledges the El-Elion wor- to mark a period later than  that of
shipped by Melchizedek to be one and  Moses.  But surely the Israelites, who
the same with the JEHOVAH, who was the  had dwelt for centuries in the fairest
God of Hebrews.  "I have lift up my  province in Egypt, and Moses who had
hand to JEHOVAH, El-Elion, possessor been bred up in the court of a powerful
of heaven and earth," xiv. 22. A similar and  luxurious  Pharaohn,  must have
propriety of usage prevails throughout been familiar with a civilization considerGenesis, and will frequently be referred  ably in advance of anything that we
to in the notes.                       read of in Genesis.  Indeed the graphic
Again, verbal peculiarities are said to  account which  Genesis gives of the
distinguish the so called Jehovistic from  simple habits of Abraham and the other
the so called Elohistic portions of the  patriarchs is one proof of its antiquity
Pentateuch, so that, besides the variety  and  its truth.  It is very  doubtful
in the use of the names of God, it is whether an author even in the time of
possible for a keen eye to disentangle  Samuel, more than doubtful whether one
the different documents the one from the  in the reign of Solomon, of Josiah, or
other by noting the phraseology peculiar one of those who returned with Ezra
to each.  It will be plain that, if even  from  captivity, could have written the
this were proved and patent, it would  history of the forefathers of his race
still not interfere with the Mosaic origin  with all the truthfulness, all the simof Genesis, so long as we admit that plicity, and all the accuracy of detail
Moses may have used the so called  to be found in the Book which is called
Elohistic  MSS.  or  traditions.  The  the First Book of Moses.  Moses could
Elohistic phraseology would then  be  have written it, for he had every conceivcharacteristic of the more ancient docu- able qualification for writing it. The
ments, the Jehovistic would belong to  writer of after times, who could have proMoses himself.  It is, however, very  duced that book, must have been himself
clear, that the peculiarities are greatly  a wonder, unsurpassed by any of those
magnified, if they exist at all. Some- wonders which he is supposed to have
times indeed the theorists discover that devised and recorded.
a passage must belong to the Elohist
for instance, because it contains Elohistic    The supposed inconsistency of the
expressions; but then, though the name  statements in Genesis with the recent
JEHOVAH occurs in it, that name must
be a later insertion because it does not   I The distinction between the Elohistic and
correspond with the general wording of Jehovistic words and phrases is carefully and
the chapter.  Thus the name JEHOVAH  elaborately investigated by Mr Quarry ('Genesis,'
in c. xvii.  is argued to be evidently  p. 578 sqq.). The conclusion at which he
arrives is the very reverse of the conclusion
out of place, because Elohim  occurs arrived at by the believers in the fragment
everywhere else (ten times) in the chap- theory.




30 INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF GENESIS.
discoveries of science will be found  undoubted difficulty; yet perhaps not
treated of in the notes to the earlier insuperable, when we consider all that
chapters. It may be well here only to  may have happened (no where more
say, that in the present state of our probably than here) in the transmisknowledge, both critical and scientific, sion of the text from Moses to Ezra
a patient suspension of judgment on  and from Ezra to the destruction of Jemany points seems our wisest attitude. rusalem.
It is plain that a miraculous revelation    Let us suppose that it had pleased
of scientific truths was never designed  God to reveal to Moses the fact that
by God for man.  The account of the earth revolves round the sun, a
creation is given in popular language; fact familiar now to children, but unyet it is believed that it will be found  known to astronomers for more than
not inconsistent with, though not an- three thousand years after the Exodus.
ticipatory of, modern discovery. And  The effect of such a revelation would
after all, modern discovery is yet in a probably have been to place the believer
most imperfect condition, the testimony  and the astronomer in a state of anof the rocks and of the stars but im- tagonism. The ancient believer would
perfectly read, whilst there is room for have believed the truth; yet the obno small diversity of sentiment on the  server of the heavens would have trimeaning of many of the expressions umphantly convicted him of ignorance
in Genesis. At present the greatest in- and error. We can see plainly that the
consistency alleged as between Genesis wise course for both would have been
and science is to be found in the ques- to suspend their judgments, believing
tion of the antiquity of man. Whilst the Bible and yet following out the
there is at least good reason for with- teaching of nature. A  Galileo would
holding confident assent from the con- then have been, not feared as a hereclusions of some eminent geologists as tic, but hailed as a harmonist. There
to the evidence of the drift; it is quite  appears now  to some  an inconsispossible to believe that Genesis gives tency between the words of Moses and
us no certain data for pronouncing on  the records of creation. Both may be
the time of man's existence on the earth. misinterpreted.  Further research into
The only arguments are to be drawn  science, language, literature and exegesis,
from the genealogies. As those given by  may shew that there is substantial agreethe Evangelists are confessedly incom- ment, where there now appears partial
plete, there cannot be sufficient reason  inconsistency.  It would evidently have
for maintaining that those in Genesis served no good purpose, had a revelamust have been complete. It is true tion been vouchsafed of the Copernican
that we have only conjecture to lead  system, or of modern geological science.
us here: but if the genealogies, before Yet there may be in Scripture truth popuand after the Flood, present us only larly expressed concerning the origin of
with the names of leading and "repre- all things, truth not apparent to us, besentative" men; we can then allow no  cause we have not yet acquired the
small latitude to those who would extend  knowledge to see and appreciate it. Certhe duration of man upon the earth to tainly as yet nothing has been proved
more than the commonly received six which can disprove the records  of
thousand years. The  appearance of Genesis, if both the proof and the recompleteness in the genealogies is ar cords be interpreted largely and fairly.




THE FIRST BOOK OF MOSES,
CALLED
GEN ESIS.
CHAPTER   I.                      2  And the earth was withot t fotm,
The reation.of heaven and earf/,  3 of ate  and void; and darkness was upon the
light, 6 of thzefirmament, 9 of the earmt sepa-  face of the deep. And the Spirit of God
rateiftonz  the wzaters, ii and mtadefrciifisd   moved upon the face of the waters.
14 of the sun, moon, and stars, 2o offisha and And God s           Let there be'.Cor.4.6
fozewl, 24 of beasts and cattle, 26 of man in 3  And God  sad,  Let there be 
Psalg. 3   lthe inzage of God. 29 Also the ap5oi ntment light: and there was light.         t Heb. be.T36.~   of food.                                    4.  And God saw the light, that it  trCe t..n.
PCI4..I. T N   "the  beginning  God  created  was good: and  God  divided  t the bet...ee.
ebr7. 23.    the heaven and the earth.             light from  the darkness.                 Ihess.
CHAP. I. 1. In the beginning] Not "first  passages of Scripture in which the verb in
in order," but "in the beginning of all things."  question occurs, the idea of a true creation
The same expression is used in Joh. i. I, of is that which is most naturally implied. Even
the existence of the "Word of God," " In  where the translators have rendered it otherthe beginning was the Word."  The one  wise, the sense is still clearly the same, e.g. in
passage illustrates the other, though it is partly  Numb. xvi. 30, "If the LORD make a new
by the contrast of thoughts. The Word cwas,  thing (lit. create a creation), and the earth
when the world was created.                 open her mouth;" or again, Ps. lxxxix. 47,
God created]  In the first two chapters  " Wherefore hast Thou made (Heb. created)
of Genesis we meet wirth four different verbs  all things for nought?"  The word is evi.
to express the creative work  of God, -viz.  dently the common word for a true and orii, to create; z, to make;- 3, to form; 4, to  ginal creation, and there is no other word in
build. The first is used of the creation of Hebrew which can express that thought.
the universe (v. I); of the creation of the    the heaven and the earth]  The universe
great sea-monsters, whose vastness appears  popularly described according to its appearto have excited special wonder (v. zi); and  ance as earth and sky.  In similar language,
of the creation of man, the head of animated  as Grotius notes, the new creation, to be
nature, in the image of God(v. 27). Every- hereafter looked for, is described z Pet.
where else we read of God's making, as from  "il. 13, as "new heavens and a new earth."
an already created substance, the firmament,  The Hebrew  word for heaven is always
the sun, the stars, the brute creation (vv. 7, plural, whether as expressive of greatness, or
I67 25, &c.); or of His forming the beasts, perhaps of multitude, like the old English
of the field out of the ground (ch. ii. I9); or  plural, welkin.
lastly, of His building up (ii. 22, margin)    2. And the earth'was'without form, and
into a woman the rib which He had taken  -void] Desolate and void. Thesetwowords
from  man. In Isai. xliii. 7, three of these  express devastation and desolation.  They
verbs occur together.  "I have created him  are used of the desert, Job xii. 24; xxvi.
for my glory, I have formed him, yea, I have  7; of the devastated city, Isa. xxiv. xo; of
made him."  Perhaps no other ancient lan-  "the line of wasting, and the plummet of
guage, however refined or philosophical, could  destruction," Isa. xxxiv. I.  In Jer. iv. 23
have so clearly distinguished the different acts  they describe the utter wasting of a conof the Maker of all things, and that because all demned and desolated land.  Whether in the
heathen philosophy esteemed matter to have  present verse they indicate entire absence of
been eternal and uncreated.  It cannot justly  life and order, or merely that the world was
be objected that the verb create, in its first sig-  not then, as now, teeming with life; whether
nification, may have been sensuous, meaning  they express primeval emptiness, or rather
probably to he'w  stone or to fell timber.  desolation and disorder succeeding to a former
Almost all abstract or spiritual thoughts are  state of life and harmony, cannot immediately
expressed by words which were originally  be determined. The purpose of the sacred
concrete or sensuous; and in nearly all the  writer is to give a history of man, his fall,




32                                GENESIS. I.                                    Iv. 5.
5  And God called the light Day,  tAnd the evening and the morning t Heb.
and  the  darkness he called Night.  were the first day.                           evAendn
was, and the moorwing wis, 
his promised recovery, then specially of the'Aids to Faith,' p. rio, &c.; but very prochosen seed, and of the rise of the Theocracy. bably the creation of the sun is related in v. I,
He therefore contents himself with declaring  where under the word heaven (or heavens)
in one verse generally the creation of all may be comprehended the whole visible unithings, and then in the next verse passes to  verse of sun, moon, and stars. Now, the
the earth, man's place of abode, and to its pre- history is going on to the adaptation of the
paration for the habitation of man.  Count-  earth for man's abode. In v. X a thick darkless ages may have elapsed between what is ness had enveloped it. In this 3rd verse the
recorded in v. I, and what is stated in v. z. darkness is dispelled by the word of God,
Some indeed have insisted on the close con- the light is separated from the darkness, and
nection of v. 2 with v. I, because they are  the regular succession of day and night is estaunited by the word And: but this particle, blished. Still probably there remains a clioudthough necessarily implying transition, does ed atmosphere, or other obstacle to the full
by no means necessarily imply close connec-  vision of sun and sky. It is not till the fourth
tion. The Book of Leviticus begins with  day that these impediments are removed and
"And the Lord called unto Moses."  The  the sun appears to the earth as the great
Book of Exodus begins with the same word  luminary of the day, the moon and the stars
And, though centuries intervene between its as reigning in the night. Light may, perhaps,
history and that of the Book of Genesis; and  have been created before the sun. Yet the
so our translators have very reasonably ren- statement, that on the first day. not only was
dered the Hebrew particle in that passage not there light, but the succession of day and
And, but Noow. The meaning of the verse  night, seems to prove that the creation of the
before us evidently is, "' In the beginning God  sun was "in the beginning," though its visible
created the universe;" but, at the time now  manifestation in the firmament was not till the
to be spoken of, the earth, which is our chief fourth day.
concern, was shapeless and waste. The verb
"was" as used in this verse implies, not    4   God        the light, that i   as good
succession, but condition at the  time in  The earlier the records, the more we find
squcessiotn, butcondionon. at the time     in them of anthropopathic language, as the
better fitted to simple understandings. The
darkness was upon the face of the deepl  design of words like these is to express emNo light penetrated to the desolate and dis-  phatically, that all the works, as they came
ordered ruin.  The deep may mean either  direct from the hand of God, were good, and
the confused mass itself, or, as more fre- that the evil did not result from any defect in
quently, the abyss of waters and the clouds the workmanship, but from the will of the
and mists with which the earth was sur-  creature not according with the will of the
rounded.                                   Creator.
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of   divided the light from  the darkness]  In
nthe Jwater]  The  Targum  of Onkelos and mih the chaotic condition described in v. z, all
many Jewish commentators render "'a mighty  things were confused and commixed; but
wind was moving," &c., which is favoured, when God called the light out of darkness
though not proved, by the absence of the ar-  He set bounds to both of them, and caused a
ticle. The common rendering is the more  succession of day and night, calling the light
natural, especially if the word "moved" sig-  day and the darness night
nifies, as some think, not merely fluttering or
hovering, as of a bird over its nest, but also    5. And the evening and the morning were
brooding, as of a bird sitting on its eggs.  (See  the first day]  Literally, "And it was (or
Deut. xxxii. ii, where it is used of the eagle  became) evening, and it was (or became)
fluttering over her young.)  The Spirit of morning, day one."
God appears to be represented as the great    Some think the evening is put before the
quickening principle, hovering or brooding  morning, because the Jews reckoned their
over the earth and the ocean, and breathing  days from evening to evening.  Others think,
forth upon them light and life.            that, as the darkness was first and the light
3.  God said] In the cognate languages  called out of darkness, so the evening (in
wGord hsaid e In    h the cognate languages  Heb. ereb, the time when all things are mixed
the word here rendered said has the force of and confounded) is placed before the morning;
and thus the whole period of chaotic darkness
Let there be light: and there.was light]  may have been the first night, and the first
Was light created before the creation of the  day that period of light which immediatedy
sun and other luminous bodies?  That this  succeeded the darkness.
is possible has been shewn by Dr McCaul,   See Note A at end of the Chapter.




v. 6-14.]                       GENESIS. 1.                                            33,Psal1.36.   6  q And God said, cLet there be  Earth; and the gathering together of
r. to.a 2   firmament in  the  midst of the  the waters called he Seas: and God
tei.iex-  aters, and let it divide the waters  saw that it was good.
-....i frtO.  fom  the waters.                        1 i  And God said, Let the earth
7   And God made the firmament,  bring forth tgrass, the herb yieldingf fHeb.
and  divided  the waters which  were  seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit'.
under the firmament from  the waters  after his kind, whose seed is in itself,
which  were  above  the  firmament:   upon the earth: and it was so.
and it was so.                                12   And the earth  brought forth
dJet. 5s.    8   And  God  called  the  dfirma-  grass, and herb yielding seed after his
115-   ment Heaven.  And the evening and  kind, and  the  tree  yielding  fruit,
the morning were the second day.           whose  seed  was in  itself; after his
e Psal. 3  9    qT And  God  said, eLet  the  kind: and God saw that it was good.
& 136. 5. waters under the heaven be gathered          13 And the evening and the mornlob 38. 8. together unto one place, and let the  ing were the third day.                      fDeut
dry land appear: and it was so.               14.  t  And  God said, Let there I9
1o   And God called the dry land  be flights in  the firmament of the Psal. 136
6. Let there be a firmament] The earth is  or the expansion.  The LXX. rendered itfirspoken of as covered with waters, partly, that  mament (see here Quarry' on Genesis,' p. 79);
is, the waters of the sea, partly the heavy  and hence it has been argued that Moses
clouds and vapours, which hung round it in  taught the sky to be a hard, metallic vault,
its state of desolation and darkness.  The  in which the sun and stars were fixed; but
dispersion of some of these vapours lets in the  the most learned modern commentators, inlight. Then, in the present verse, the clouds  eluding Gesenius, Kalisch, &c., believe theand mists are described as raised up above  true etymology of the word to shew that
the firmament, the firmament itself dividing  expanse, not frrzmament, is the right translation.
between the waters of the ocean and the  The teaching however of the present passage
~clouds of heaven.  It is plain from this that  does not depend on the etymology of the word.
the word rendered fir mament embraces the  If a writer in the present day uses the English
atmosphere immediately surrounding the sur-  word heaven, it does not follow, that he supface of the earth, which bears up the clouds  poses the sky to be a vault heaved up from
floating in it, in or on the face of which also  the earth.  Neither would it follow that the
the birds are described as flying (see v. 2o).  inspired writer had taught, that the portion of
In v. 24. the  word  is extended  further  atmosphere, intervening between the sea and
to embrace the whole region of the sky in  the clouds, was a solid mass, even if the word
wrhich sun and roon and stars appear.  In  used for it had etymologically signified solidity.
this respect, as Le Clerc notices, it corr-esponds with  the  classical word crelzm,  et te   rt   i   forh  rs]    e
have here the first calling forth of life upon
which meant at times the air just round us, at e             e       first
the earth, vegetable life first, soon to be sucotiher times the place of the stars and planets;               life         earth was made
and so lilkewYise of our owfn English word  ceeded by animal life.  The earth was made
henen we may say the birdsl i   of o n heavenh w fruitful, and three kinds of vegetation were
clouds of heaven, or the stars of heaven. The  assigned to it; the tender grass, the comol-iginal sense of the wsord has been much de  mon covering of the soil, fit chiefly for the
use of the lower animals; herb bearing seed.
bated, but is of little consequence; for the   se of the ld er animals; herb bearing sed
ccredwrrit'er woulduse the commnon language  rwhich should be adapted to the service of
of his people, and not go out of his way to  man; and trees, with their conspicuous frits;
devise one which would be philosophically  all three so ordained, that their seed sho-ld
accurate.  The verb, from  which the sub-  be in themselves, that they should contain,
stantive is derived, signifies (I) to beat or  not a principle of life only, but a power also
of fecundity, whereby the race should be perstamp upon, Eeky s. varnping, xxv. xxii.     petuated from generation to generation.
spread abroad by stamping, z S. xxii. 43;
(3) to beat out metal into thin plates, or gold    14. Let there be lights] Lit. luminaries,
into gold leaf; Ex. xxxix. 3, Num. xvi. 38,  lig.ht-bearers, spoken of lamps and candleIsai. xl. xl.; (4) to spread forth, extend,  sticks, Ex. xxv. 6, Num. iv. 9, s6.  The
stretch out, Job xxxvii. I8, Ps. cxxxxvi. 6,  narrative only tells what sun. moon, and stars
Is. xlii. 5, xliv. 24. The most probable mean-  are in relation to the earth. x;vhen the clouds
ing of the substantive therefore is the expanse  and mists are dispelled from  its surface, the
VOL. I.                                                                    C




34                                 GENESIS. I,                              [v. 15-24.
i Heb. be- heaven to divide t the day from  the  bring forth abundantly the   moving  I Or,
tween. Me tch-ee5.xg.
dayeade night; and  let them   be for signs,  creature  that hath  tlife, and  fowl t Heb.:,wet~t.  and for seasons, and  for days, and  that may fly above the earth in the
years:                                    topen firmament of heaven.                tHeb.
15   And let them  be for lights in       21 And God created great whales, vfz-, tthe firmament of the heaven to give  and every living creature that moveth,.f...:%
light upon the earth: and it was so.   which the waters brought forth abunI6   And  God  made  two  great  dantly, after their kind, and  every
teb.af, lights; the greater light tto  rule the  winged fowl after his kind: and God
the rule ofe
the day,  day, and the lesser light to rule the  saw that it was good..     night: he made the stars also.               22  And God blessed them, saying,
17   And  God  set them  in  the  iBe fruitful, and  multiply, and  fillchap. 8.
firmament of the heaven to give light  the waters in the seas, and let fowl &9.,.
upon the earth,                            multiply in the earth.
eJer.3r.35.   I8   And  to grule  over the  day       23  And the evening and the mornand over the night, and to divide the  ing were the fifth day.
light from   the darkness: and  God          24  ~[ And God said, Let the earth
saw  that it was good.                     bring  forth the living creature after
I9  And the evening and the morn-  his kind, cattle, and creeping thing,
It  Esdr  incg were the fourth day.        and boast of the earth after his kind:
6. 47.     20 And God said, "Let the waters  and it was so.
seas confined within their boundaries, and  life.  The word nephesh, which we have
the first vegetation springs up; then the  rendered breath, corresponds nearly with the
sky is cleared up, the sun, moon, and stars classical psyche, the vital principle. It is used
appear and assume their natural functions, of the breath, of the living principle, of the
marking days and nights, seasons and years; soul or seat of feelings and affections, and of
and God makes or appoints them, the sun to  living beings themselves.
rule the day, and the moon to rule the night.    and fowl, &c.] and let fowl fly.
16. he made the stars also] The purpose    21. great wvhales]  Great sea  monof the sacred narrative being to describe the  ste r s. The word is used of serpents, Ex. vii. 9,
adaptation of the earth to the use of man, no  Deut. xxxii. 33, Ps. xci. 13, Jer. i. 34, and of
account is taken of the nature of the stars, the crocodile, Ezek. xxix. 3, xxxii. 2. It is
as suns or planets, but merely as signs in the  not likely that the Israelites should have had
heavens. The words in the text may be a  much knowledge of the!larger species of whales
kind of parenthesis, not assigning the special which do not frequent the shores of the Meditime of the creation of the stars. Moieover,  terranean.  Their early acquaintance with
the word used is "made," not "created," see  Egypt had impressed them with a horror of
on v. I.  When tlhe Sun and Moon became  the crocodile, and in the desert they had
great lights to rule the day and to rule the  become familiar with large serpents.  In
night, then also the stars shone forth; the  Is. xxvii. 1, and perhaps in Job vii. It, this
heavens were lit up by the sun in the day-  name apparently belongs to sea monsters; but
time, by the moon and stars in the night-  we may remember that the Hebrews applied
season, all of them declaring the glory of God  the term sea to great rivers also, like the Nile
and shewing His handy-work.                 and the Euphrates. (See Is. xix. 5, Jer. li. 36,
20. the moving creature] The versions ren- Ezek. xxxii. 2, Nahum iii. 8.) It seems, on the
der reptiles. The word is of wide significance, whole, most probable, that the creatures here
most frequently used of reptiles and fishes; the said to have been created were serpents, crocoverb from which it comes, and which is here diles, and other huge saurians, though possibly
translated " bring forth abundantly," means any large monsters of sea or river may be into scwarnz, to creep, to propagate itself rapidly. cluded. The use of the word created in this
MWe may prohably therefore understand here place has already been remarked on v, I.
the insect creption, the fishes of the sea, and  Another reason for its use may be, that, as he:the reptiles and saurians of sea and land.  Egyptians paid idolatrous worship to crocothat hath life]  Literally perhaps,' Let diles, the sacred historian would teach that:the waters swarm with swarms of the breath  they also were creatures of God.
of life."  Let the waters teem  with innu-    24. The fifth day was chiefly occupied
merable crcatures, in which is the breath of in peopling the waters with fishes and reptiles,




v. 25, 26.]                     GENESIS. 1.                                             35
25 And God made the beast of the            26  I And God said, k Let us make k chap. 5-.
earth  after his kind, and cattle after  man in our image, after our likeness: & 9. 6.
their kind, and every thing that creep-  and let them  have dominion over the 7.Cor. I
eth upon the earth after his kind: and  fish of the sea, and over the fowl of Ephes. 4.
God saw that it was good.                   the air, and over the cattle, and over CQe ~. Io,
and the air with birds.  The work of the  made after the likeness of the angels.  To a
sixth  day gives inhabitants to  the land,  similar effect Maimonides,'More Nevochim,''"cattle" (i.e. the well-known animals, which  p. ii. ch. 6. See Munster in lor., Cleric. in loc.,
afterwards became domesticated, though the  Heidegger, p. 32.
name was not exclusively attached to them),    Some interpreters, both Jewish and Chris" and creeping things," such as serpents, lizards,  tian, have understood a plural of dignity, after
crawling insects and the like, "and beast of the manner o~ kings. This is the opinion of
the earth," i. e. either the wilder and fiercer  Gesenius and most of the Germans.  But the
beasts, as distinguished from cattle, or perhaps  royal style of speech was probably a custom
more generally animals of all kinds.         of much later date than the time of Moses.
26.  And God sqid, Let us make man] It  Thus we read Gen. xli. 4I-44, " I have
has been observed by commentators, both  set thee over the land of Egypt.... I am
Jewish and Christian (e. g. Abarbanel, in loc. Phraoh." Indeed this royal style is unknown
Chrysost. in loc.), that the deliberation of the  in Scripture. Some of the modern rationalists
Creator is introduced, not to express doubt,  believe (or affect to believe) that the plural
but to enhance the dignity of the last work,  name of God,  lohim, was a mere relic of
the creat:ion of man. So even Von Bohlenl ancient polytheism, and that though Moses
" A gradual ascent is observed up to man, the  habitually attaches a singular verb to the plural
chief work of creation, and in order to exalt  nominative, yet here'the plural unconsciously
his dignity, the act of his creation is accom-  escape-d from the narrator's pen" (Von Bohl.).
paniesd by the   librations o      reator."  The ancient Christians with one mind see in
The creative fiat concerning all other creatures  these Cords of God that plurality in the Divine
runs, "'Let the waters bring forth abundantly,"  unity, which was more fully revealed, when
"Let the earth bring forth," &c. Man is that  God sent His only  begotten Son into the
great "piece of work," concerning which God  world, and when the only begotten Son, who
is described as taking forethought and counsel,  was in the bosom  of the Father, declared
as making him in His own image, and (ch. ii  Him to mankind. So e. g. Barnabas (ch. iv.),
Justin  M., Irenars, Theophil., Epiphan.
7) as breathing into him the breath of life  Justi   M., Ireni us, Theophil., EQTipht..
Three times in v. 27 the verb created is used  ('Hares.' xxxiii. 4-z), Theodoret ('Quest. in
concerning the production of man; for, though Gen.').
his bodily organization may, like that of the
beasts, have been produced from  already    in oar image, after our likenefs]  Many
beasts,   have been  produced from  already  Christian writers think that nothing is meant
created elements ("the dust of the ground, except that man was created hol" and innoch. ii. 7); yet the complex being, man, "of    cent, and that this in-lre of God was lost
reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting,"  when  Adam  fell. That holiness, indeed,
was now for the first time called into being,  foird  part of tAhe likeness may be infelred
and so was. unlike the beasts, wholly a new   from  Col. iii. so, "t he new man, which is
creation.                                    fror  Col. iii. IO, "the new man, vhich is
renewed after the image of Him that created
Let us make] The Jews vary much in their  him;" but that the image of God was not
explanation of these words.  Philo speaks of  wholly obliterated by the fall seems clear
"the Father of all things addressing his own  from Gen. ix. 6, Jas. iii. 9.  And, if so, then
powers" (',De Profugis,' p. 359).  The Tal-  that image did not simply consist in perfect
mud says, "The Holy One, Blessed be TIe,  holiness.  Some, both Jewish and Christian,
does nothing without consulting the family  have supposed that it referred to that dowhich is above" (Sanhed. c. iv.).  Moses  minion, which is here assigned to man.  As
Gerundinus says, that God addressed the  God rules over all, so man was constituted
earth, for, as the earth was to give man  the governor of the animal world.  St Basil
the body, whilst God was to infuse the spirit,  M. in i Hexaemeron' (qu. by Clericus) conso "in our likeness" was to be referred both  siders that the likeness consisted in fieedom
to God and to the earth.  Abenezra writes,  of will.  This probably is a most important
"When, according to God's commandment,  point ill the resemblance. The brute creatures
the earth and the sea had brought forth  are gifted with life and will and self-conplants and living beings, then God said to  sclousnlC:. s, and even with some powers of
the angels,'Let us make man, we will be  reason' but they have no self-determining will,
occupied in his creation, not the seas and the n,) chlice between good and evil, no power
earth."' So he considers man to have been  of sidf-:-ducation, no proper moral character,
c2




36                                   GENESIS.  1.                             [v. 27 —31.
all the earth, and over every creepingo  which is upon the face of all the earth,
thing that creepeth upon the earth.         and every tree, in the which is the fruit
27 So God created man in his own  of a tree yielding seed; "to you  it "c}-p.c 
image, in the image of God created he  shall be for meat.
IMatt. i9. him; Zmale and female created he them.      30 And to every beast of the earth,'Wisd. 2.    28 And God blessed them) and God   and to every fowl of the air, and to.z chap. 9. said unto them, "'Be fruitful, and mul-  everything  that creepeth  upon  the
I-    tiply, and replenish the earth, and sub-  earth, wherein there is tlife, I havegiven t Ieb.
due it: and have dominion over the  every green  herb for meat:  and itso.l.
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of  was so.
the air, and over every living thing          31 And ~God saw every thing that a Ecdcis
t Heb.   that tmoveth upon the earth.               he had made, and, behold, it was very
f Hib.    29 $q And God said, Behold, I have  good. And the evening and the mornseeZ~Zrg   given you every herb tbearing seed,  ing were the sixth day.
and so no true personality. God is the essen-  All this was accompanied at first with perfect
tially personal Being, and in giving to man an  purity and innocence; and thus man was like
immortal soul, He gave him  also a true  his Maker, intelligent, immortal, personal, writh
persornality, self-consciousness, power of free  powers of forethought and free choice, and
choice, and so distinct moral responsibility.  at the same time pure, holy and undefiled.
NOTE  A  on CHAP. I. v. 5.  Ox THE DAYS OF CREATION.
Tr.I  vexed question of the duration of the  mounting up through birds and mammals,
days of creation cannot readily be solved from   till it culminates in man. This is the course
consideration of the wording of this verse.  of creation as popularly described in Genesis,
The English Version would seem to confine it  and the rocks give their testimony, at least in
to natural days, but the original will allow   the general, to the same order and progress.
much greater latitude. Time passed in regular  The chief difference, if any, of the two witsuccession of day and night. It was an inge-  nesses would seem to be, that the Rocks speak
nious conjecture of Kurtz, adopted by FlHugh  of (I) marine plants, (z) marine animals, (3)
Miller, that the knowledge of pre-Adamite  land plants, (4) land animals in their succeshistory, like the knowledge of future ages,  sive developements; whereas Moses speaks of
may have been communicated to  Moses,  (X) plants, (a,) marine animals, (3) land anior perhaps to the first man, in prophetic  rnals; a difference not amounting to divervision, that so perhaps vast geological periods  gence. As physiology must have been nearly
uwere exhibited to the eye of the inspired  and geology wholly unknolwan to the Semiwriter, each appearing to pass before him as  tic nations of antiquity, such a general COrso many successive days.  It has been said  respondence of sacred history with modern
moreover that the phenomena under the earth's  science is surely more striking and importsurface correspond with the succession as de-  ant than any apparent difference in details.
scribed in this chapter, a period of compara-  Efforts have been made to compare the Intive gloom, with more vapoutr and more car-  dian cosmogony with the Biblical, which
bonic acid in the atmosphere, then of greater  utterly fail. The cosmogony of the Hindoos
light, of vegetation, ofmarine animals and huge  is thoroughly adapted to their Pantheistic
reptiles, of birds, of beasts, and lastly of man.  Theology, the Hebrew  corresponding -with
(See Kurtz, Vol. I. p. xxvii. sq., Hugh Miller,  the pure personal Monotheism  of the Old' Test. of Rocks,l passirn, 8&c.) In the present  Testament. The only important resemblance
condition of geological science, and with the  of any ancient cosmogony with the Scriptural
great obscurity of the record of creation in  account is to be found in the Persian or Zothis chapter, it may be wise not to attempt  roastrian; which is most naturally accounted
an accurate comparison of the one with the  for, first by the fact, which will be noticed
other.  Some few  points, however, seem   hereafter, that the Persians, of all people, exclearly to come out.  In Genesis, first of all,  cept the Hebrews, were the most likely to
creation is spoklen of as "in the beginning," a  have retained the memory of primitive tradiperiod of i definite, possibly of most remote  tions, and secondly, that Zoroaster was prodistance in the past; secondly, the progress of  bably brought into contact with the Hebrews,
the preparalion of the earth's surface is de-  and perhaps with the prophet Daniel in the
scribed as gradually advancing fr;om the rocks  court of Darius, and may have learned mruch
to the vegetable world, and the less perfectly  from such association.
organised  an:imal creation, then  gradually




V. I-4.]                     GENESIS.  II. II.7
CHAPTER  II.                      2 aAnd on the seventh day God  Exod.
TZefirst sabbath.  4 Th/e manner of the cren-  ended his work which he had nmade; a2,', 7
tion. 8 Theplanztin, of the garden of Eden,  and he rested on the seventh day from Deut 5.
o10 and the river thereof.  I7 Th7e tree of                                     I4
knowoledge otnly forbidden.  i9, 20 The all his work which he had made.           e).. 4
in< of the creatur'es. 2ir The making of zoo-    3 And God blessed the seventh day,
Wmanz, and institution of marriage.     and sanctified it: because that in it
T HUS  the heavens and the earth  he had rested from all his work which
were finished, and all the host  God "created and made.                      Heb.
of them.                                     LIff4 q These are the generations of,eaed to
CHAP. II. 3. And God blessed the seventh  complete; and that, having called man into
day] The natural interpretation of these words  being, He ordained him for labour, but yet
is that the blessing of the Sabbath was imme-  in love and mercy appointed that one-seventh
diately consequent on the first creation of man,  of his time should be given to rest and to the
for whom the Sabbath was made (Mar. ii. 27).  religious service of his Maker. This truth is
It has been argued from the silence concerning  repeated in the ivth Commandment, Ex. xx.
its observance by the patriarchs, that no Sab-  Ix; though there was a second and special
batic ordinance was really given until the  reason why the Jews should observe the
promulgation of the Law, and that this pas-  Sabbath day, Deut. v. x5: and very probably
sage in Genesis is not historical but anticipatory.  the special day of the seven, which became
There are several objections, which seem fatal  the Jewish Sabbath, was the very day on which
to this theory. It is first to be observed, that  the Lord brought them  from  the land of
this verse forms an integral part of that history  bondage, and gave them rest from the slavery
of the creation, which, if there be any truth  of Egypt.  If this reasoning be true, all manin the distinction, is the oldest portion of the  kind are interested in the sanctification of the
Pentateuch, the work of the Elohist, very  Sabbath, though Jews only are required to
possibly handed down from the earliest ages  keep that Sabbath on the Saturday; and not
of the world, and taken by Moses as the very  only has it been felt by Divines that the
groundwork of his inspired narrative. Second-  religious rest of the seventh day is needful for
ly, the history of the patriarchs extending  the preservation of the worship of God, but
over at least ezoo years is all contained in the  it has been acknowleged even by statesmen
boor- of Genesis, and many things must have  and physiologists that the ordinance is invalubeen omitted, much more memorable than  able for the physical and moral benefit of
the fact of their resting on the Sabbath, which  manklind. The truly merciful character of
in their simple pastoral life would seldom hlave  the ordinance is fully developed in the Law,
called for special notice. Thirdly, there are  where it is extended not only to the manindications even in Genesis of a division of  servant and maidservant, but to the ox and
days into weeks or hebdomades. Thus Noah  the ass and the cattle, that they also should
is said twice to have waited seven days, when  rest with their masters, Ex. xx. lo, Deut. v. 14.
sending the dove out of the ark, Gen. viii.
Io, i2. And the division of time into weeks'wbich  God created and made] Lit. "which
is clearly recognized in the history of Jacob,  G   created t mae. So the Targum
Gen. xxix. 27, a8. TEhe same hebdomadal  of Onkelos and the Syriac version render it.
division was known to other nations, who are  The Vulgate has'which God created that
not likely to have borrowed it from  the  He might make it."  Onl the difference
between the verbs create and make see on
Israelites after the timne of the Exodus. Moreoer it appears that,  ee the giving     ch. i. i. The natural meaning of the words
over, it appears that, before the giving of
the commandments fionm  Mount Sinai, the  here is, that God first created the material
Israelites were acquainted with the law of the  universe,  the heavens and the earth," and
Sabbath. In Ex. xvi. i a double portion of  then made, moulded and fashioned the new
manna is promised oin the sixth day, that  created matter into its various forms and
none need be gathered on the Sabbath. This  organisms. This is the explanation of the
has all the appearance of belonging to an  R. Nachmanides, "all His work which He
acknowledged, though perhaps neglected, or-  had created out of nothing, in order that He
dinance of Divine Service, not as if then for  might make out of it all the works which
the first time the Sabbath were ordained and  are recrded in the six days."  (Qioted br
consecrated. The simple meaning of the text  Fagius,' rit. Sacri')
is therefore by far the most probable, viz.    4.  These are the generations, &c.] The
that God, having divided His own great work  Jerws tell us, that, when these words occur
into six portions, assigned a special sacredness  without the copulative and, they separate the
to thle seventlh on -which that work became  words following from  those preceding, but




38                                  GENESIS. II.                                     v. 5.
the heavens and of the earth when             5 And every plant of the field bethey were created, in the day that the  fore it was in the earth, and every
LORD  God  made the earth and the  herb of the field before it grew: for
heavens,                                   the LORD  God had not caused it to
that when they have the and, then they unite  sacred writer is about to describe more in dewith the preceding.  It is apparent, that the  tail the results of creation. The world had
narrative proceeds in direct order from Gen.  been made; next comes a history of its nai. I to this verse, ii. 4, and that from  this  tural productions, its plants and trees, and
verse there is a return to the first formation  chief inhabitants.  And as the history of a
of plants and vegetables and to the creation  man's family is called the "' book of his geneof man, a kind of recapitulation, yet with  rations," so the history of the world's producsome appearance of diversity.  This has been  tions is called " the generations of the heavens
noticed long ago. In the I7th century (I655)  and the earth."
Is. Peyreyrius wrote a book to prove, that'uben they'were createdj By these words
the accbunt of the creation of man in ch. i  the inspired  writer reveals the truth  set
related to a pre-Adamite race, from which  forth in the former chapter, that heaven
sprang  a great majority of the Gentiles,  and earth were creatures of God, "Lthe genewhereas the account in ch. ii. was of the  rations" referring to what is to come after,
creation of Adam, the direct ancestor of the  not to what preceded, as though the universe
Israelites and of the nations in some degree  hadsprung romgeneration or laturalproduc
related to them. The book was condemned  tion.
an" suppressed.  Some modern writers have
more or less embraced its views, but it seems    the LORD  God]  It has long ago been
that the whole Bible, both Old and New   obser   that the sacred name JEHOVA 
Testament, refers to Adam as the head of the               first time here in verse 4. The
whole human race, so that, if pre-Adamiite  Jews give as a reason, that the works being
man existed at all, the race must probably have  now perfected, the perfect name of God, "the
been extinguished before Adam was created.  LORD God," is for the first time adopted. It
Moreover, ch. ii. 4 sqq. is evidently a conti-  seems most probable, that the sacred writer,
nuation of ch. i., although there is a return  having in the first chapter recorded the creaor recapitulation in vv. 4, 5, 6, 7, in order to  tion as the act of God, giving to Him then
prepare the way for an account of Paradise  His generic name as the Supreme Being, now
and the fall. See note at end of the chapter   passes to the more personal history of man and
The word "generations," toledothhis immediate relation to his Maker, and thereThe word 11 generations,"   toledoth, which  fore introduces   the more personal name of
occurs for the first time in this verse, meets
us again continually at the head of every prin-  God, the name by which He became afterwards
known to the patriarchs, as their God. The
cipal section of the Book of Genesis.  Thus  union o the patrarchs, as ther  od.  he
union of the two names JEHOVAH  Elohim
chl. v. i, we have " the book (or account) of  throughout chapters ii. iii. is singularly apthe generations of Adam," in which the de-lohim of the
scendants of Adam are traced to Noah. From   prtpriate, as indicating that the Elohim of the
ch. vi. 9 we have the generations of Noah,  first chapter is the  same as the JEhAH
where the history of Noah and his sons is  who appears afterwards in the ourth chapgiven. In ch. x.  we come upon the generations  history. On the name o ime hroughou the docuof the sons of Noah, where the genealogical  histos  n       the  names of God and to Genesis.
table and the history of the descendants ofenesis, see Int
Shem, Ham, and Japhet are recorded.  Ch.    5.  Afnd every plant of the _fehl]  So the
xi. (IO-26) gives us the generations (or  LXX. and the Vulg.  But the Targums, the
genealogical table) of Shem.  Ch. xi. 27 be-  Syr., Rashi, and the most distinguished mogins the generations of Terah, the father of  dern Hebraists, such as Rosenmiuller, GeseAbram. Ch. xxv. xz gives us the generations  nius, &c., translate, "Now  no plant of
of Ishmael.  Ch. xxv. 19 the generations of  the field was yet in the earth, and
Isaac. Ch. xxxvi. I, the generations of Esau;  no herb of the field  had yet sproutxxxvii. 2, the generations of Jacob, which are  ed forth; for the LORD God had not
continued to the end of the book.            caused  it to  rain  upon  the  earth,
The word itself naturally signifies the gene-  and there was not a man to till the
ration or posterity of any one.  It is used in  ground."
general to usher in a history of the race or    It was objected long ago, and the objection
descendant of the heads of the great patri-  is repeated with all its force by the German
archal families. The application of the word  critics of the day, that this is opposed to
here is very appropriate. The primary crea-  ch. i. II, where we read, I" God said, Let the
tion of all things had just been recorded; the  earth bring forth grass," &c.  Hence it is




v. 6 —.]                       G EN E SIS. II.
rain upon the earth, and there was not  t of the' dust of the ground, and breath- t Heb.
a man to till the ground.                   ed into his nostrils the breath of life;.O..d.t Of.
BOr,       6 But l1there went up a mist from   and -man became a living soul.                   0ICor. s5.
a mtst  4th
the earth, and watered the whole face          8 Il And the LORD  God planted a C4i Cor.
"w"nt -h  of the ground.                            garden eastward in Eden; and there IS 45
7 And the LORD God formed man   he put the man whom he had formed.
inferred that the first and second chapters  is said to have created man in His own image,
constituted two independent and contradic-  because the production of a rational, personal,
tory traditions, clumsily put together by the  responsible being clothed with a material
compiler of Genesis. The difficulty had been  body was a new creation.  Spiritual beings
anticipated by R  Nachman. who observes,  existed before; animal natures had been called
that this passage does not refer to the pro-  forth from earth and sea; mall had an animal
duce of the earth created on the third day,  nature like the beasts, but his spiritual nature
but to those herbs and plants, which are raised  was in the likeness of his Maker.  So in this
by the cultivation of man.  L. de Dieu also  chapter again  the Creator is described as
(' Critica Sacr.' in loc.) notices, that the words  forming man from the earth, and then breathrenderedplant,field and greuw, never occur in  ing into him a living principle. It is probably
the first chapter, they are terms expressive  not intended that the language should be phiof the produce of labour and cultivation; so  losophically accurate, but it clearly expresses
that the historian evidently means, that no  that man's bodily substance was composed
cultivated land and no vegetables fit for the  of earthly elements, whilst the life breathed
use of man were yet in existence on the earth.  by God into his nostrils plainly distinguishes
the LORD God had not caused it to rain  that life from the life of all inferior animals.
zon the earh, and there   s not a man to till  All animals have the body, all the living soul,
the ground.  (6). But there'went up a mint,  ch. i. 2o, 21, but the breath of life, breathed
&c.]  It is objected here also, that the first  into  the  nostrils by God Himself, is said of
chapter speaks of the earth as enveloped in  man  alone.  Cp. "the body, soul and spirit"
waters and vapours, and that there could  of ancient philosopy and o  the Apostle
Paul.
therefore have been no lack of rain and mois-  P
ture.  The inconsistency is again more apparent than real. In the first place, the mist, or    8.  a garden]  The versions render a
vapour, or cloud, here mentioned as watering  Paradise, which is a Persian word, signifying
the ground, may perhaps tally well with that  rather a park than a garden, pleasure grounds
watery condition of the atmosphere, of which  laid out with shrubs and trees.
we read in ch. i. But next, the purpose of    in Eden]  The word Eden signifies dech. ii. is to give an account, not of the crea-  light and the Vulgate  renders a garden  of
tion or adaptation of the whole earth, but of
t a f a   s delight, a pleasure garden; but the word is a
the preparation of a special chosen spot for
the  eparlyabode of ma    Thiath  spot may have  proper name, and points to a region, the extent
the early abode of man. That spot may have. I             *..,       of which is unknown. Two countries are
been in a region where little or no rain fell,  mentioned in Scripture with the same name,
and which derived all its moisture from vaviz., one in Mesopotamia near the Tigris,
pours or dews. It may not have been wholly       K. xix., Is. xxxvii. 2,.    ii. 23;
without vegetation, but it was not a cultithe other in the neighbourhood of Damascus,
vated field; no herbs, or shrubs, or fruit-  Amos i; but neither of these can be identrees'fittedfo man's use grew there;Amos i. $; but neither of these can be identrees fitted for man's use gew there; no rain  tified with the region in which Paradise was
was wont to fall there (as some render c,  placed.   uch  has been written on the site
"not even a mistwentuptowte tp laced.  Much has been written on the site
"1 not even a mist went up to water the
grond," or more probably), "1yet there went  of Paradise, but with no very definite result.
groulnd,   or more probably), yvet there went
u t t   w e fae of te  The difficulty consists in discovering the four
up a mist and watered the whole face of the                                          It is
groud." e  te Crer me        rivers mentioned in vv. II, I%, 13, I4.  It is
roand." hm   hen  the Creator made Adam,      generally agreed that one, Phrath (v. I4) is the
tht he miht not wander about a helpless  Euphrates, and that another, Hiddekel, is the
savage, but that he might have a habitation                                 all the ancient
*d to X.,., lia g e  o,.,Tigris, and so it is rendered by all the ancient
suited to civilized life, a garden or cultivated  VSS   The name of the Tigris in Chaldee is
VSS.  The name of the Tigris in Chaldee is
field was planted for hilm, provided with such..
fieldas was best adapted to his  Diglath, in Syriac Diklath, in Arabic Dijlat,
vegetable produce as was best adapted to his             
>comforts and  anlts.                        all closely corresponding with Hiddekel, and
firom  one of them  the word Tigris itself is
7.  AZnd the LORD God formed man of the  probably a corruption.  The following are
dust of the A;round, &c.] Here again, as in i. 26,  the principal opinions as to the names of the
27, the formation of mnan is ascribed to the  other rivers, and consequently as to the site
direct workmanship of God.  In ch. i. God  of Paradise.




40                                   GENESIS. II.                                      [v. 9.
9 And out of the ground made the  food; the tree of life also in the midst
LORD  God to grow  every tree that  of the garden, and the tree of knowis pleasant to the sight, and good for  ledge of good and evil.
I. Josephus identified the Gihon with the  of authority seems in favour of No. 2, or
Nile.                                         something nearly corresponding with it;, and
2,. Calvin, Huet, Bochart, and others be-  it is the solution (molre or less) adopted by the
lieved the river of Paradise to have been the  best modern interpreters.
united streams of the Tigris anl Euphrates
called the Shat-el-Arab, which flows by Bas-    9.  made the LORD God to grosv] aVe
sora. Its four heads, on their shewing, would  must understand this of the trees of Paradise
have been, on the north, the two separate  only.
streams of the Tigris and Euphrates, on the
SI.            the tree of  life also in the midst of  the
south, Gihon, the eastern, and Pison, the  garden]  Jewish and many Christian comwestern clhannels, into which the united stream   mentators consider that there was a virtue in
again bratnches out below Bassora, before it  this treewhich was calculated to preserve
falls iilto the sea. Havilah would then be the  from diseases and to perpetuate animal life.
north-eastern part of Arabia, and Cush the  Kennicott (' Two Dissertat.' Diss. i.) argued
region of Kissia, Susiana or Chuzestan.  A   that the word "tree" is a noun of number,
general exposition of this view may be found
Geog of e 0. T., ch       whether in the Hebrew or the Greek (comp.
in VWiells,       *      *g. of  *p  * r   Rev. xxii. a), and that all the trees of Para3. J. D. Michaelis, Rosenmtiller, and Karl  dise excep        t the      tree of knowledge,   the true
Von Raumer, who appear to be followed bye tree of knowledge, "the 
test of good and evil," were trees of life, in
Kurt,   identify Eden w ith the Armenian  the eating of which, if man had not sinned,
highlands,  making Pison to be the Phasis or  his life would have been perpetuated continuArtaxes and Gihon to be the Oxus, Havilab
Araxes, and Gihon to be the Oxus, Havilah  ally. The fathers inclined to the belief that
is with them the country of the Chwalissi,
the life to be supported by this tree was a
w1hich is said even now to be called by the
VIch  is said even now to he called by the  spiritual life.  So $t Augustine (' De Gen. ad
Russians Chwaliskoje More.                     L
4.Hu e ens  Ch bvaliskvoje  torae.  w      lit.' vIII. 4) says, " In other trees there was
o   Heidegger believed that Eden wasaa   nourishment for Adam; but in this a sacraportion of the Holy Land.
O thers again find. the site in India or  ment," i.e. The tree was a sacrament or mys5.  Others again find the site in India or
tic image of, and perhaps also supporting, life
C-casssi~a.                               eternal.  Its reference not to temportal, bu
Of these opinions No. I is utterly untena-.'.
Of  *hs    *iin   o      u     untena- r:  * to eternal life, seems to be implied in Gen. iii.
ble. The identification of Gihon with thee implied in Gen. iii..z. In Prov. iii. I8, XVisdom  is compared to
Nile probably originated with the Alexandrian   2. In Prov.      8, Wisdom is compared to
Jews pr who f or the honour ofh their countrydn.the tree of life: and in Prov. xiii. Iz, we read.
Jewss,  who for the honour of their country       hen the desire cometh, it is a tree o
II When the desire cometh, it is a tree of
would have had the Nile to be one of the         " which connects it with the hope of the
life," which connects it with the hope of the
rivers of Paradise.  This was confirmed by  future.  And so perhaps we   ay say pretty
the mistranslation of Cush into Ethiopia.  It
is imosbe  ovvrsconfidehtly, that whatever  was the physical
is isi   however, seing  aside all r ques-  effect of the fruit of this tree, there was a lestions of inspiration, that one so familiar with
sonl contained in it that life is to be sought
Egypt as the writer of Genesis should have  s                    
conceived of the Nile as connected with the  by man, not from  within, from  himself in
his own powers or faculties,  but fi'om  that
Tigris and Euphrates.  See Kurtz,'Hist. of  his own powers or facties, but from that
Old Covenant' (Clark's Library), Vol. I. p. 73.  which is without him  even from  Hi  who
only hath life in Himself. God only hath
No. z has the advantage of pointing to an                    Himself     God        b
single river whic  might in  te   life in Himself; and the Son of God, who by
single river, which might in primitive times  eternal generation fm the Father hath it
have been described as branching out into                       f          the   Fte    at 
four divisions or heads. Moreover, Arabia in  given to Him  to have life    Himself was
whc cetl  va a    typified to Adam under this figure as "the
which certainly was a region called Havilah, is   
near to the western channel, whilst    Author of eternal salvation."  Joh. i. 4, xiv..blr.o.eft  n  6, Rev. ii. 7, xXii.  2 (see Falius in loc. and
which may have corresponded with the land        Rev. 1. 7, xxii. 2 (see Fagius in Ic. and
of Cush borders on the eastern channel.     Heidegger,' Hist. Patriarch.' Exerc. Iv.).
of Cushb, borders on the eastern channel.
The chief difficulty in No. 3 is that at pre-    the tree of knowledge of good and evil]
sent there is no junction between the heads  Onkelos paraphrases, " of the fruit of which
(Of the four rivers, Tigris, Euphrates, Oxus,  they who eat learn to distinguish between
and Araxes, though all may take their rise in  good and evil."  The tree appears to Lave
the same mountain system, and may possibly  been the test, whether man would be good
in more ancient times have been more nearly  or bad; by it the trial was made whether
related.  The question is one which has been  in keeping God's commandments he would'mruch discussed, and is not likely soon to be  attain to good, i.e. to eternal life, or by
*et at rest: but the weight of argument arnd  breaking them he shoull hIIave evil, i.e. eter



V. 10 —I7.]                   GENESIS.  II                                            4I
o10 And a river went out of Eden to        14 And the name of the third x, zer
water the garden; and from  thence  is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth
it was parted, and became into four  11toward the east of Assyria.  And the ii or,
heads.                                    fourth river is Euphrates.
a Eclus.    l I The name of the first is dPison:      15 And the LORD God took lithe   o1r,
24 29.  that is it which compasseth the whole  man, and put him  into the garden of i'fn"i.
land of Havilth, where there is. gold;  Eden to dress it and to keep it.
12 And  the gold of that land is    i'6 And the LORD God commandgood: there is bdellium  and the onyx  ed the man, saying, Of every tree
stone.                                     of the  garden  tthou  mayest freely tmIeb.
I3 And the name of the second  eat::/ot s/Od
river is Gihon: the same is it that           17 But of the tree of the knowledge eat.
t Heb.
oCuh.   compasseth the whole land oftEthiopia.  of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of
nal death. The lesson seems to be, that man  to African Cush, i.e. Ethiopia.
should not seek to learn what is good and      14. toward the east of Asl;sia]   The
evil from himself but from  God only; that  name Asshur included Babylonia, an.d evenl
he should not set up an independent search  Persia: see Ezra vi. Aa, where Darius is called
for more knowledge than is fitting, throwing  King of Assyria: but in the time of Mioses
off the yoke of obedience and constituting  probably Assyria proper would be underhimself the judge of good and ill. Some have  stood, a region of low land on the left banlk
thought that the tree had not this name from   of the Tigris, perhaps only including the
the first, but that it was given it after the  country afterwards called Adiahene.  It is
temptation and the fall, either because the  hardly correct to say, that the Tigris runs
tempter had pretended that it would give  "to the East of Assyria."  Perhaps the ren.wisdom, or because Adam  and Eve, after  derings in some of the versions "towards" or
they had eaten of it, knew by bitter experi-  "before Assyria" may be correct.
ence the difference between good and evil.t has 
17. tou s,:ai't not eat of it]  It has been
12. bdellium] a transparent gum obtained  questi-oncd why such a test as this should
from  a tree (Borassus dfabelliformis) which  have been given; whether it be consistent with
grows in Arabia, India, and Media (Plin.' H.  God's goodness to create a sin by making an
N.' XII. 9. ~ I9). This is the translation of  arbitrary enactment; and how "the act of
Aqu., Symm., Theod., Vulg.: Josephus and  eating a little fruit from  a tree could be
many moderns, as Celsius ('Hierob.' i. 324),  visited with so severe a penalty."  But we
Cleric. in loc. adoptit. The LXX. renders " the  may notice that if there was to be any trial
carbuncle;"' the Arabic, "sardius;" Kimchi,  of man's obedience in Paradise, some special
Grotius, Bochart, Gesenius, and others, with  test was almost necessary.  His condition of
great probability take it to mean " pearls,"  simple innocence and happiness, vwith no disof which great abundance was found in India  order in the constitution of his body or in
and the Persian Gulf, and this falls in well  the affections of his soul, offered no natural
with Bochart's belief, that Havilah bordered  temptations to sin. Adam and Eve had none
on the Persian Gulf.  It appears far more  but each other and their Creator near them;
probable that it should mean either pearls or  and they could have had no natural inclinasome precious stone than a gum like bdellium,  tion to sin against God or against their neighwhich is of no great value.                 bour.  If we take the ten Commandments
the onyx] Most of the versions give "onyx"  as the type of the moral law, we shall find
or " sardonyx;" Onkelos has " erl."         none that in their state of healthy innocence
they could naturally desire to break (see Jo13. Ethiopia]  Cush.  This is a word of  seph Mede, Bk. I. Disc. 4o). Their position
wide extent.  It generally belongs either to  was one of freedom indeed, but of dependArabia or to Ethiopia.  From Gen. x. 7 sqq.  ence.  Their only danger was that they
it will appear how widely the sons of Cush  should prefer independence upon God, and
spread forth: their first settlement appears to  so seek for themselves freedom in the direchave been in Arabia.  Nimrod founded the  tion of evil as well as in the direction of
kingdom of Babylon. Afterwards they set-  good; and the renouncing dependence upon
tied largely in Ethiopia.  In the mlore an-  God is the very essence of evil in the creacient books of Scripture, the Asiatic Cush is  ture.  Now  the command concerning the
more frequently, perhaps exclusively, intend-  fruit of the tree, simple and childish as it may
ed.  Later the name applies more commonly  appear, was one exactly suited to their sim



42                                  GENESIS. II.                              LV.I8-23.
it:  for in  the day  that thou  eatest  to every beast of the field; but for
Ileb.   thereof tthou shalt surely die.            Adam  there was not found an help
sJdatdioe.    18.I And the LORD  God said, It  meet for him.
is not good that the man should be            21 And the LORD  God caused a
CECclas. alone; I will make e him an help meet  deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he
7,5b.   for him.                                   slept: and he took one of his ribs,
asJbefore    19 And out of the ground the LORD   and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
God formed every beast of the field,          22 And the rib, which the LORD
and every fowl of the air; and brought  God had taken from  man,  made he t ioeb.
I Or,    them unto IAdam to see what he would   a woman, and brought her unto the bai',t
te ""a. call them: and whatsoever Adam call-  man.
ed every living creature, that was the        23 And Adam  said, This is now
name thereof.                              bone of my bones, and flesh of my
tHeb.      20 And Adam  tgave names to all  flesh: she shall be called Woman,
~aie dZ.    cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and   because she was'taken out of man.  I
ple and childlike state.  Moreover it is not  it was God's will to place Adam, in order to
inconsistent with God's general dealings with  mature his mental powers, and to teach him
mankind, that he should at times see fit to  the use of language, the animals are brought
test faith and obedience by special and un-  to him that he might name them. Nouns are
usual trials.  Compare Gen. xxii. I, Matt.  the first and simplest elements of language;
xix. z I.                                   and animals, by their appearance, movements
thou shalt surely die]  St Jerome (' Qu.  and cries, more than any other objects sugin Gen.') proposes to adopt the translation of  gest names for themselves.
Symmachus, "' Thou shalt become mortal or
liable to death."  It is needless so to trans-                   fod n help meet for
late, but the meaning of the threat probably  him]  There is some obscurity in the origiwas that the effect of eating of the fruit of  nal of the words "an help meet for him;"
that tree should be to poison the whole man,  they probably mean "a helper suited to," or
soul and body, with a deadly poison, making  rather " matching him."
the body mortal, and the soul "dead in tres-       22, the rib...made He a cqwoman] lit. The
passes and sins."  WVith the day of trans-  side He built up into a woman.  The
gression a life commences, which is a living  word which primarily means "rib" more fredeath. St Paul uses the expression, " Death  quently signifies " side:" whence many of the
worketh in us." There was, however, doubt-  rabbins adopted the Platonic myth (see Euseb.
less some remission of the sentence, so that'Pra p. Evang.' xii. Iz), that man and woman
they did not die instantly, as was the case  were originally united in one body, till the Crewith the Ninevites (Jonah iii. Io); and then  ator separated them. The formation of woman
a remedy was provided which might ultimate-  from  the side of man is without question
ly turn the curse into a blessing.  Still the  most mysterious: but it teaches very forcibly
sentence was ncever wholly reversed, but the  and beautifully the duty of one sex towards
penalty tool effect at once.                the other, and the close relationship between
19. the LORD God formed] The account  them, so that neither should despise or treat
of the formation of the brute animals here  with unkindness the other. That respect for
does not, as some have supposed, necessarily  the weaker sex, which we esteem a mark of
imply that they were created after Adam;  the highest refinement, is taught by the very
but it is introductory to the bringing them   act of creation as recorded in the earliest ex —
one by one to Adam that he may name them,  isting record.  The New Testament tells us
and it is intended to lead up to the statement  that marriage is a type of the union of Christ
that they were none of them  suited to be  and His Church; and the fathers held that
Adam's chief companions. They were form-  the formation of Eve from the side of Adam
ed by  God of earthly materials; but the  typified the formation of the Church from
breath of Divine life had not been breathed  the side of the Saviour.'he water and
into them.                                  blood which flowed from that side were held
bIroufght them  unto Adam  to see'~whbat he  the *lne to signify baptism, the other to belong
vuouidt call thzem] The power of speech wuras  to the other great Sacrament, both water and
quould call them] The power of speech was blood cleansing from sin and making the
one of those gifts which friom the first distin-  Church acceptable to God.
guished man from all other animals; but, as  Church acceptable to God.
tending to that civilized condition in which   23.  vomnzan, because she was taken out vq




V. 24, 25.j                  GENESIS. II.                                           43
Matt  9'   24  Therefore shall a man leave          25 And they were both naked, the
farkIo. 7. his father and his mother, and shall  man and his wife, and were not a56.   cleave unto his wife: and they shall be  shamed.
Eph. 5. 3T. one flesh.
man] Hebrew "Ishsha because she was taken    24. 7Therefore, &c.] These may have been
out of Ish." Hence many have argued that  the words of Adam, or of the inspired hisHebrew must have been the primitive lax-  torian. Matt. xix. 5 seems to refer them to the
guage. The same, of course, is inferred from   latter, which also is the more natural interother names, as Eve, Cain, Abel, &c., all  pretation.  Then too they have more obhaving appropriate significance in Hebrew.  viously that Divine authority which our Lord
The argument is inconclusive, because it is  so emphatically ascribes to them. Such inciquite possible to translate names from one lan-  dental remarks are not uncommon in Scripguage into another, and to retain the meaning  ture; see for instance ch. xxxii. 32.
which those names had in their original tongue.
NOTE A  on CHAP. II. V. 7.  ON  THE  IMMEDIATE CREATION  AND PRIMITIVE
STATE OF MAN.
ON the question of man's direct creation in  Though it has been asserted without any
distinction to the hypothesis of development,  proof that man, when greatly degenerate,
and on his original position as a civilized  reverts to the type of the monkey, just as dobeing, not as a wild barbarian, we may re-  mesticated animals revert to the wild type;
mark, ist, It is admitted even by the theorists  yet the analogy is imperfect and untrue. Man
themselves, that in the present state of the  undoubtedly, apart from ennobling influences,
evidence the records beneath the earth's surface  degenerates, and, losing more and more of the
give no support to the hypothesis that every  image of his Maker, becomes more closely asspecies grew out of some species less per-  similated to the brute creation, the earthly
fect before it. There is not an unbroken chain  nature overpowering the spiritual. But that
of continuity. At times, new and strange forms  this is not natural to him is shewn by the
suddenly appear upon the stage of life, with no  fact, that, under such conditions of degeneprevious intimation of their coming. 2ndly,  racy, the race gradually becomes enfeebled,
In those creatures, in which instinct seems  and at length dies out; whereas the domestimost fully developed, it is impossible that it  cated animal, which reverts to the type of
should have grown by cultivation and suc-  the wild animal, instead of fading away, becessive inheritance. In no animal is it more  comes only the more powerful and the more
observable than in the bee: but the working  prolific. The wild state is natural to the
bee only has the remarkable instinct of build-  brutes, but the civilized is natural to man.
ing and honey-making so peculiar to its race;    Even if the other parts of the Darwinian
it does not inherit that instinct from its pa-  hypothesis were demonstrable, there is not a
rents, for neither the drone nor the queen-bee  vestige of evidence that there ever existed any
builds or works; it does not hand it down to  beast intermediate between apes and men.
its posterity, for itself is sterile and child-  Apes too are by no means the nearest to us
less. Mr Darwin has not succeeded in re-  in intelligence or moral sense or in their food
plying to this argument. 3rdly, Civilization,  and other habits.  It also deserves to be
as far as all experience goes, has always been  borne in mind, that even if it could be made
learned from without.  No extremely barba-  probable that man is only an improved ape,
rous nation has ever yet been found capable of  no physiological reason can touch the quesinitiating civilization. Retrogression is rapid,  tion, whether God did not when the imbut progress unknown, till the first steps have  provement reached its right point, breathe into
been taught.  (See Abp. WVhately,'Origin  him "a living soul," a spirit "which goeth
of Civilization,' the argument of which has  upward," when bodily life ceases.  This at
not been refuted by Sir John Lubbock,'Pre-  least would have constituted Adam  a new
historic Man.' Both have been ably reviewed  creature, and the fountain head of a new race.
by the Duke of Argyll,'Primeval Man').    On the derivation  of mankind from  a
Moreover, almost all barbarous races, if not  single pair, see Prichard's'Physical Hist. of
wholly withput tradition, believe themselves  Mankind,' Bunsen,'Philosophy of Universal
to have been once in a more civilized state,  History,' Smyth,'Unity  of the Human
to have come from a more favoured land, to  Race,' uQatrefages,' L'unit6 de l'espace
have descended from ancestors more enlight-  Humaine,' &c.
ened and powerful than themselves. 4thly,




44                                GENESIS. III,                                 v. I- 7.
CHAPTER  III.                      4 aAnd the serpent said unto the 2Cor..l..
I The serYent deceiveth Eve. 6 Man's shame-  woman, Ye shall not surely die:        I Tim. 2.
feid fall. 9 God arraignethz them.          5 For God doth kno   that in the I4
serpent is ctursed. I  T'he promised seed. I6  5
Thepunishoenzt of mankind. 2r 5Tzeir first  day ye eat thereof, then  your eyes
clothing. 22 ~l/eir caslizf, ofl ofg5aradise.   shall be opened, and ye shall be as
OW  the serpent was more sub-  gods, knowing good and evil.
IN 8 til than any beast of the field         6 And when the woman saw  that
which the LORD God had made. And  the tree was good for food, and that
I Heb.   he said unto the woman, tYea, hath  it was tpleasant to the eyes, and a tHeb.
IYea, be-                                                                                   a, desire
{Lt&',..,. God said, Ye shall not eat of every  tree to be desired to mnae one wise,  dsired
tree of the garden?                        she took of the  fruit thereof,'and bE( CUS.
2 And  the woman said unto the  did eat, and gave also unto her hus-  TiM. 2.
serpent, WiTe may eat of the fruit of  band with her; and he did eat.               I4the trees of the garden'                     7  And  the  eyes of them   both
3 But of the fruit of the tree which  were  opened, and  they  knew  that
is in the midst of the garden, God hath  they were naked; and they sewed fig
said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither  leaves together, and made themselves ii Or,
shall ye touch it, lest ye die.:aprons.                                  i,
ChIAP. III. 1. Nlo- the serpent] "Almost    5. God doth knorw] The tempter reprethroughout the East the serpent was used as  sents God as envious of His creatures' happian emblem of the evil principle," Kalisch, ad  ness, the ordinary suggestion of false religion
h. I.: but Kalisch himself, Tuch and others  and unbelief. Then he suggests to Eve the
deny that the evil spirit is to be understood  desire of self-dependence, that which is in fact
in this narrative of Genesis.  Yet not only  the origin of all sin, the giving up of dependdid the East in general look on the serpent as  ence on God, and the seeking for power,
an emblem of the spirit of evil, but the earliest  wisdom, happiness in self.
traces of Jewish or Christian interpretations    asgo]  Or more probably, "as Got.'
all point to this. The evil one is constantly  The plural word Ellohbm stands at times for
caled by the Jews'the old serpent," Ran-  false gods, at times for angels, but most comnacsb as a,'kadrn;oni (so also in Rev. xli. 9,  monly for the one true God.
"' that old serpent the devil").  In Wisd. ii.
24, we read, "' By the envy of the devil death    knowing good' and evil]  Having a clear
entered into the world."  Our Lord Himself  understanding of all great moral questions;
says, "the Devil was the murderer of man  not like children, but like those of full age,
from  the beginning" (Joh. viii. 44). Von  who "'by reason of use have their senses exBohlen observes that " the pervading Jewish  ercised to discern both good and evil" (Heb.
view is the most obvious, according to which  v. 14).  This was the serpent's promise,
the serpent is considered as Satan; and the  though he knew that the result would be
greatest confirmation of such an interpreta-  really a knowledge of evil through the pertion is the very general agreement of the Asi-  version of their own will and their own ill
atic myths" (ad h. 1.). Some have thought  choice.
that no serpent appeared, but only that evil   6. to make one,ise] Gesenius and others,
one, who is called the serpent; but then he  after the LXX. and Vulgate, render to look
could not have been said to be " more subtle  upon.
than all the beasts of the field."  The reason
7. the eyes of them both vwere opened, &c.
why Satan took the form of a beast remark-  lTheir eyes were truly opened as the serpent
able for its subtlety may have been, that so  had promised them, but only to see that in
Eve might be the less upon her guard.  New  the moment when they departed from  God
as she was to all creation, she may not have  they became slaves of the flesh, that the freebeen surprised at speech in an animal which will and independence of God, and knowing
apparently possessed almost human sagacity.  the good andthe evil, delivers them up to the
Fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud...         powe:of evil. Man, who had his glorious.. For in the wily snake                    destiny before him of becoming by means of
Whatever sleights nonewouldsuspicious mark,  the knowledge and love of God, and by obeAs from his wit and nature subtlety         dience, the free lord of the world, ceases, by
Proceeding, which in other beasts observed  disobedience, to be master of himself."  (0.
Doubt might beget of diabolic power,        Von Gerlach,'Comment.' ad h. 1.).
Active within beyond the sense of brute.     fi  lea ves]  Celsius, Tuch, and  Gese-'Paradise Lost,' IX. 9I.    nius, have doubted whether this was the Ficus




v. 8-I5-.]                  GENESIS.  III.                                         4-5
8 And they heard the voice of the         12 And the man said, The woman
LORD God walking in the garden in  whom  thou gaveft to be with me, she
the tcool of the dayT: and Adam  and  gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
his wife hid themselves from the pre-       13 And the LORD God said unto the
sence of the LORD God amongst the  woman, What is this that thou hast
trees of the garden.                     done?  And the woman  said, The
9 And the LORD God called unto  serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Adam, and said unto him, Where art          14 And the LORD  God said unto
thou?                                    the serpent, Because thou hast done
Io And he said, I heard thy voice  this, thou art cursed above all cattle,
in the garden, and I was afraid, be-  and above every beast of the field;
cause I was naked; and I hid myself.  upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust
I I And he said, Who told the; that  shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten            15 And I will put enmity between
of the tree, whereof I commanded  thee and the woman, and between
thee that thou shouldest not eat?        thy seed and her seed; and it shall
Carica of Linnaeus, supposing it to have been    14.  cursed above all cattle]  \r e can
the AMzsa  Paradisiaca; but the word is that  hardly doubt that these words were in part
used throughout Scripture for the well known  directed against the animal, which was made
fig tree (see Rcediger in Ges.'Lex.' p. 1490).  the instrument of man's ruin, as in the law
8. I tee voice of the LORSD God]  The  the ox which gored a man was to be put to
Whole of this history of the creation and the  was ever to bear about the remembrance of
h-oie oft this history of the creation and the  death like a malefactor. Thus the serpent
fll is full of these anthropomorphic represen-  that evi t     ea   b  the    man
tations. The Creator is spoken of as if con-  that evil, which he had been made the means
suiting about the formation of man (i. 26), as  of ploducing, was to be the enemy of man,
r~ecetinlg oXn the res!ult of His creation, and  causing him suffering, but in the end sufferdeclaring it all very good (i. 3I), as resting  ing from him utter destruction; yet, as the
fdon   His Tolk (ii. a), as planting a garden  serpent was but the outward form of the
fro Adam  (ii. 8) bringing the animals t him  spirit of evil, so the language of the Alto nAdame the  (ii. I9), then  building up the  mighty, which outwardly refers to the serrio of Adam inito a woman, and bringing her  pent, in its spiritual significance is a curse
to Adam to be his bride (ii. 22). Here again  upon the evil one. And as the curse is for
tAdam hears His voice as of one walking in  the sake of man; so in it is contained a prothe garden in the cool of the day. All this  over that which  first caused its fall. The
the garden in the cool of the da.r  All this  mise that the human race shall finally triumph
corresponds well with the simple and childlike character of the early portions of Gene-  most natural interpretation of the cursW  ight
sis. The Great Father, through His inspired  indicate, that the serpent underwent some
w7ord, is as it were teaching His children, in  change of folrm.  It would, however, be quite
the infancy of their race, by means of simple  consistent with the narrative, even in its most
langnagSe, and in simple lessons. Onkelos has  literal acceptance, to understand that it merely
here "a The Voice of the TWAord of the LORD."  implied continued and perpetual degradation
It is by this name, "the WVord of the LORD,"  coupled with a truceless war against mankind.
that the Targums generally paraphrase the  kind
name of the Most High, more especially in    15. seed] Allix, as quoted by Bishop Pathose passages where is recorded anything like  trick, observes that in this promise God did a
a visible or sensible representation of His MIa-  kindness to Adam, who otherwise by the
jesty. The Christian fathers almost uniyer-  temptation might have been estranged from
sally believed that every appearance of God  his wife; but here the promise of redemption
to the patriarchs and prophets was a manifes-  is through the seed of the'woman.  I Martation of the eternal Son, judging especially  riage, which had been the vehicle of the fall,
from J oh. i. 1i8.             i~i         is now also to become that of salvation; the
cool of the day]   Lit. "wind  of the  seed of the woman is to bruise the head of
day," which is generally understood of the  the Serpent."  (Kurtz, I. 78.)  The promise
cool breezes of evening. Paradise had been  is, no doubt, general, that, though the seed
to man the place of God's presence, which  of the serpent (mystically Satan and all his
brought heretofore happiness, and security. servants) shall continually wage war against
Now that sin had come upon him, the sense  the descendants of Eve, yet ultimately by
of that presence w as accompanied with sharme  God's appointment mankrind (the whole seed
and fear,                                  of the woman) shall triumph over their spi



46                                GENESIS. III.                              [v. I6-I.
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise  voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the
his heel.                                  tree, of which I commanded thee, sayI6 Unto the woman he said, I will  ing, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed
greatly multiply thy sorrow  and thy   is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow
conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring  shalt thou eat ofit all the days ofthylife;
forth children; and thy desire shall be       i8 Thorns also and thistles shall
Otr,    Ilto thy  husband, and  he shall crule  it tbring forth to thee; and thou shalt t He
subjed to                                              th  hebo  h   il
itby/ us-  over thee.                              eat the herb of the field;               sbud.
bc.r..4.  17 And unto Adam  he said, Be-             I9 In the sweat of thy face shalt
34.   cause,thou hast hearkened unto the  thou eat bread, till thou return unto
ritual enemy.  If there were no more than  it is rendered by most ancient Versions and
this in the language used, even so there would  Comm. as Syr. Sam. Saad. St Paul refers to
be, an obscure indeed, but still a significant  it in the words "The God of peace shall
promise of some future deliverance.  But the  bruise Satan under your feet shortly." Rom.
last words of the verse seem  not merely  xvi. 20.
general but personal.  In the first clause it    16.  Unto the woman He said  It is nois said, that there should be " enmity between  ticed by Tertullian, that though God punished
thy seed and her seed;" but in the second  Adam and Eve, He did not curse them, as
clause it is said, " It (or he) shall bruise thy  He  did the Serpent, they being candidates for
head."  It was the head of the particular  restoration ('adv. Marcion.' ii. 2c)     f
serpent (not of the seed of the serpent only),
which the seed of the woman was to bruise.    I quill greatly multiply ty sorrowq and thy
And though we must not lay stress on the  conception] Some suppose this to be a hendismasculine pronoun "he," because the word  duoin for "the sorrow of thy conception."
for seed is masculine in Hebrew, yet there is  The words rather mean that woman's sorrow
the appearance here of a personal contest,  and her conception should both be multiand a personal victory. This inference is  plied. The mother has not only the pains
strengthened by the promise being made to  of childbirth, but from all the cares of materthe seed of the'woman. There has been but  nity greater sorrow connected with her comone descendant of Eve, who had no earthly  mon  offspring than  the father has.  The
father; and He was " manifested that He  threat of multiplying conception indicates,
might destroy  the works of the devil."  not that Eve had already borne children, but
Though the Jewish writers do not   rl    that childbirth would not dirhave been  uninterpret the promise of the Messiah;  yet  knownhadthefirstpairremainedin Paradise.
the Targums of Jerusalem and of the Pseudo-    Tihy desire shall be] Desire here expresses
Jonathan both say that this victory over the  that reverential longing with which the weakserpent shall be " in the days of the Messiah."  er looks up to the stronger.  The Vulgate
It is well known that Roman Catholic  therefore renders, "Thou shalt be under the
divines have attributed the victory to the  power of thy husband."  This is also the inVirgin Mary, misled by the rendering o   terpretation ofAbenezraand ofmanymoderns.
some MSS. of the Latin, Ipsa, she. The  The comparison with ch. iv. 7 shews that there
original Hebrew  is perfectly unequivocal;   is somewhat of dependence and subjection irmfor, though the pronoun might be so pointed  plied in the phrases.
as to signify either he or she, yet the verb    17. And unto Adam He said]  Hero for
is (according to the Hebrew idiom) mascu-  th first time Ad   occurs without an aricle
line. Moreover the LXX. has seed in the  as a proper name
neuter, but the pronoun referring to it, "  hpe,"
in the masculine, which would naturally refer    cursed is the ground for thy snke]  The
it to some individual son of the woman.'whole earth partakes of the punishment, vwhich
The Syriac Version also has a masculine pro-  the sin of man, its head and destined ruler,
has called down. The creature itself is subjected to vanity, Rom. viii. 20o. Death reigns.
shall bruise] The LXX. followed by the  Instead of the blessed soil of Paradise, Adamn
Vulgate and  Onkelos has "shall watch,"  and his offspring have to till the ground now
probably meaning to watch and track as a  condemned to bear thorns and thistles, and
hunter does his prey; but the word in Chal-  this is not to end, until the man returns to
dee signifies "to bruise or crush."  In this,  the earth from  which he was taken. Yet
or nearly this sense it is used in the only  even here there is some mark of mercy: for,
other passages in which it occurs in Scrip-  whereas the serpent is cursed directly, and
ture, viz. Job ix. 27, Ps. cxxxix. xi, and so  that with a reference to the earth he was




V. 20-24.]                  GENESIS. III.                                          47
the ground; for out of it wast thou  lest he put forth his hand, and take
taken: for dust thou art, and unto  also of the tree of life, and eat, and
dust shalt thou return.                  live for ever:
20o  And  Adam  called  his wife's    23 Therefore the LORD God sent
tCHebak.  name lEve;  because  she was the  him  forth from  the garden of Eden,
mother of all living.                    to till the ground from whence he was
2I Unto Adam also and to his wife  taken.
did  the  LORD  God make coats of    24 So he drove out the man; and
skins, and clothed them.                  he placed at the east of the garden
22 q[ And the LORD God said, Be-  of Eden  Cherubims, and a flaming
hold, the man is become as one of  sword  which  turned  every way, to
us, to know goodand evil: and now,  keep the way of the tree of life.
to travel over; here on the contrary the  stood upright, a knowledge, which evil angels
earth, rather than the man, is cursed, though  have from their own deliberate choosing of
for the man's sake and with reference to him.  evil instead of good. The difficulty of this
(Tuch.)                                    interpretation is, that it supposes God to
19. See note A at end of Chapter.        speak of Himself as One among other spi20. Evze] Chavvah, Life. Not only be-  ritual beings, whereas Ile cannot be likened
cause she gave birth to all living, but perhaps  to any one, but is infinitely above and beyond
with a further prophetic meaning, in refer-  all created natures. Some therefore would
ence to the promise just given, because the  understand here and elsewhere, the plural as
race of man, now subject to death, should  a mere plural of majesty. Still there is a
* be made alive by the Offspring of the woman,  manifest plurality of person. It is not merely
"like Us," but " like one of Us."  Hence it
22.  the mran is become as one of us]  was the universal belief of the early Christians,
Man was not a mere animal, following the  that here as in Gen. i. 2n, God was speakimpulse of sense, without distinction of right  ing to, and of, His coeternal Son and Spirit.
and wrong.'He had also a spiritual per-    See note B at end of Chapter.
sonality, with moral will and freedom  of
forechoice. His lower nature, though in sub-    lest he putfoIth his hnd] Vatablus, who
iooks on the tree of life as no more than
iection to the higher, as that was in subjec-  looks on the tree of life as no more than
tion to God, yet acted as a veil, screening  as though God bad said, "Lest he should
from him what might have been visible to
pure spiritual intelligence: hence, though he  have a vaon expectation excited in him bi
knew good from knowing God and living in  laying hold of this symbol of  y promise;
that shall be taken from him which might
dependence on Him, yet he knew not evil,
having had no experience of it hitherto.  His  give him such a hope of immortality," ad
Il therefore, although sinful, was not like. I. But Augustine, who spoke of the tree
the sin of angels, who had no animal nature  of life as a sacrament, probably meant by a
tohs obscure  vision  or to tempt by sense,  sacrament something more than a mere emto obscure vision or to tempt by sense.
Their fall must have been more deliberate,  blem  and many of the fathers looed on
more wiiful, less pardonable.  But,  hen  this judgment of God, whereby man ws
man by fatal mischoice  learned  that there  excluded from the reach of that, which might
man by fatal mischoice learned that there                                   a merc
was evil in the universe as well as good, then  have made him immortal, as rather a mercn b
he had acquired a condition like to that of
perpetuated, it would have been an tremorspiritual beings, who had no veil to their
understanding, and could see both on the  tality of sin. So Gregory Nazianzen says
fright handi, and on the leftt The meaning  the exclusion from the tree of life was "that
then of this mysterious saying of the Most  evl might not be immortal, and that tle
High may be, that now by sin man had  punishment might be an act of benevolence."
attained a knowledge like the knowledge of  (Greg. Naz.' Orat.' xxxvii n. I.  See Papure spiritual existences, a knowledge which  trick).
God has of necessity, a knowledge which the    24. Cherubims]  See note C at end of
angels have, who might have fallen but who  Chapter.
NOTE A  on CHAP. III. v. 19.  ON THE EFFECT OF THE FALL.
NOTHING can really be plainer than that the  suiting from the presence of God and a life
narrative describes a most deplorable change  in dlependence on His support, to a state of
in the condition of the first parents of man-  sin and shame following on disobedience to
kind, a change from a state of holiness re-  His will and a desire to become independent




48                               GENESIS. If[.
of Him. It is the distinctest possible ac-  have actually brought in. And the remedy
count of a sin and of its punishment.  More-  would have been apparently less simple and
over in all subsequent teaching of Scripture  more complicated.  As the Scripture history
the whole human race is represented as shar-  represents it to us, and as the New Testament
ing in the exile of Adam from his Maker,  interprets that history, the Judge of all the
and hence in his sinfulness; for holiness and  earth punished the sin of Adam by depriving
happiness are inseparable from the presence  him  of His presence and His Spirit (that
and the Spirit of God. It may be impossible  "'original righteousness" of the fathers and
fully to explain all the justice or the mercy of  the schoolmen, see Bp. Bull, Vol. It. Dis. v.
this dispensation. Yet we may reflect that and Aquinas,'Summa,' ii. i. qu. 8z. art. 4),
man was created a reasonable, free-willing,  and thus subjecting  him  to  death. But'responsible being.  All this implies power to  though He thus "concluded all under sill,"'will as God wills, and power to will as God  it was indeed "that lHe might have mercy oll
does not will. It implies too something like  all," Rom. xi. 32. The whole race of man
a condition of trial, a state of probation.  If  condemned in Adam, receives in Adam also
each man had been put on his trial separately,  the promise of recovery for all. And in the
as Adam  was; judging from experience as  Second Adam, that special Seed ofthe Womlan,
well as from the history of Adam, we may  the recovery of the whole race is effected,
see the probability that a large number of  insomuch that as in Adam all died, even so
Adam's descendants would have sinned as he  in Christ all shall be made alive. And thus in
sinned. The confusion so introduced into  truth the mystery of sin can only be cleared
the world would have been at least as great  up by the mystery of redemption; whilst both
as that which the single fall and the expulsion  exhibit the justice of God brought out into its
once for all of our first parents from Paradise  fullest relief only under the light of His love.
NOTE B on CHAP. III. V. 22.  ON THIE HISTORICAL CHARACTER OF TIIE TEMPTATION AND THE FALL.
TIIE traditions of all, especially  Eastern  though widely distinguished from it by the
nations, have more or less of resemblance  gross Pantheism of the Hindoo Theology:
to the record of the first three chapters  but that the Hebrews can owe nothing to these
of Genesis. This is, according to some, to  is evident from the fact that they are not conbe explained by mere similarity in all early  tained in the Vedas and the most ancient
mythology.  According to others it results  Sanscrit literature, from  which alone it is
from  the Hebrew  histories borrowing the  possible that even the later Jewish writers
myths of neighbouring countries and pro-  could have borrowed. Indeed the history of
pounding them as historical truths.  There  Krishna first appears in the'Bhagavat Gita,'
can be no reasonable doubt, that the writer  a work  assigned  to the 3rd century afof Genesis puts forth his history as history.  ter Christ, and which is supposed to have
Hence some of the early rationalists admitted  drawn largely from  Christian or Pseudoan historical foundation, though they thought  Christian sources. The nearest resemblance,
it coloured by subsequent fancy. Eichhorn  however, is traceable between the Biblical
for instance ('Urgeschichte,' Th. 2. B. a) sup-  record and the teaching of the Zendavesta. As
posed that Adamn dreamed of the formation  there is a likeness in the history of Creation
of Eve out of his side.  Eve (as Abarbanel  and in the description of Paradise, so there is
had also imagined) saw  the serpent eating  a special similarity in the account of the fall.
poisonous fruit, then ate of it herself and  According to the doctrine of Zoroaster, the
gave it to her husband; and thus awakened  first human beings, created by Ormuzd, the
in them both sensual thoughts and the first  good principle, lived in a state of innocence
feelings of shame. A thunderstorm seemed to  in a happy garden with a tree wvhich gave
them the voice of God; they fled in terror  them life and immortality; but Ahriman, the
forom Paradise, and in the unkindliness of a  evil principle, assuming the form of a serpent,
sterile land, the toils of agriculture and the  offered them the fruit of a tree, which he had
pangs of childbirth found a punishment for  himself created; they ate and became subject
their fault.  But such forced explanations  to evil and to a continual contest between
saon gave way to mythical interpretation.  light and darkness, between the good motions
Paradise is but the golden age of the He-  of Ormuzd, and the evil suggestions of
brews; the tree of life is the Ambrosia or  Ahriman.  As the Hindoo traditions are
Amrita of Greece or India; the tempter  disfigured by Pantheism, so are the Persian
finds a parallel in the contests of Krishna  by dualism; and both are markedly conwith the serpent, or in the Persian myth of  trasted with the pure monotheism  of the
Ahriman'deceiving the first human beings  Bible History.  But Hartmann, Von Bohlen,
under a serpent's form. The Indian cosmo-  and other mythical interpreters, have imagingony and the history of Krishna certainly  ed that the Mosaic account was really borbear some resemblance to the Jewish history,  rowed frorn the Zoroastrian; a theory which




GENESIS. III.                                          49
could only be established by proving that the  patriarchs; anti then the fact, that the tradlearly chapters of Genesis were not written  tions of Persia were of all others the nearest
till after the Babylonish captivity; for it was  to the Jewish traditions may easily be exthen that the Jews first came into close con-  plained. Let us suppose the account in
tact with the Persians, and might have bor-  Genesis to be the great Semitic tradition.
rowed some of their superstitions.         perhaps delivered direct from Shem to AbraAgainst so late a date the language of the  ham, from Abraham to Jacob, from Jacob
first chapter of Genesis is conclusive.  There  to Joseph, and incorporated under Divine
are indeed a few Aramaisms in Genesis; but  guidance by Moses in his history. Is it
it has been ruled most justly, that "Arama-  unlikely that Japhet may have given the very
isnms in a book of the Bible are proof either of  same account of his own posterity? and
a very early or of a very late origin."  The  where would it have been so well preserved,
Patriarchs, who came from  Ur of the  as in Iran, that spot, or at least near to that
Chaldees, may have naturally spoken a He-  spot, where the Aryan races seem longest to
brew  not unmixed with Chaldaisms, and  have dwelt together, and where the tradition
some names, as that of Eve (Chava) and  was most likely to have been undisturbed
that of the LORD (JEHOVAH), both of by constant migrations? The Persians prided
which have a Chaldee or Aramaic form, could  themselves on their pure and ancient denot possibly have been invented later than  scent; and modern ethnologists have given
the age of Moses, unless they were invented  to those tribes which peopled India and
after the Babylonian Captivity, when the  Europe the name of Aryan, after the inhabitJews again came into contact with the Chal-  ants of Iran and the noblest race among
deans in Babylonia. That the Aramaisms of  them, the Arii. If the Hebrews retained the
Genesis really mark antiquity, not novelty,  Semitic tradition  pure  and  uncorrupted,
should almost be self apparent to one familiar  through their adherence to the worship of
with the original. The Hebrew of the first  the true God, whilst the Persians had the
three chapters of the Bible is most emphati-  Japhetic tradition, though corrupted by dualcally archaic. It cannot therefore be a modern  ism, the resemblance between their respective
Chaldaized Hebrew, but is a Hebrew  so  accounts would be in every way natural,
ancient as still to retain strong traces of its  and the real historical basis of them both
original union with its sister dialect Chaldee.  would be the simplest solution of the diffiIts peculiar conciseness is the exact opposite of  culty.
the diffuse and verbose style of the Chaldee    It may only be necessary to add that this
in Daniel or Ezra. The 3rd verse of Genesis  reasoning will not be affected, even if we
owes much of its proverbial grandeur to this  should concur with those who argue, that
very conciseness. So many thoughts are  the history of the fall is a true history though
perhaps nowhere else in the world uttered in  veiled under allegorical imagery, i. e. that
so few syllables. The very reverse of this is  Adam and Eve were created innocent and
true of the language when it had become  holy, that they were subjected to a trial and
infected by the Chaldee of the Captivity.  fell under it, thereby bringing in sin and
But, if the legends of the Zendavesta were  death upon mankind, but that the description
not borrowed by the Jews in their captivity,  given of this in Genesis is not literal but
then the real contact point between them   emblematical and mystical (see for instance
and the Jewish history must be found in  Quarry'on Gen.' p. Ix2, and Warburton
pre-Mosaic times, in the days of the early  quoted by him).
NOTE C on CHAP. III. V. 24. CHERUBIM.
(I) Traditional accounts of the Cherubim. (2) Cherubim figured in Tabernacle and Temple.
(3) Cherubim seen in visions of Isaiah, Ezekiel, St John.  (4) Cherubint of Paradise.
(5) Etymology of name.
IN this passage the Cherubim appear to be  by man."  It is possible that Josephus' Phaliving beings, angels of God, fulfilling the will  risaic prejudice in interpreting the second comof God.  Elsewhere (except in brief allu-  mandment may have led him to"this profession
sions as Ps. xviii. io; z Sam. xxii. II) we find  of utter ignorance concerning the forms of the
them as sculptured or wrought figures in the  Cherubim, for he charges Solomon witha breach
Tabernacle and the Temple; or as images in  of the law on account of the oxen under the
the visions of prophets, which visions have al-  brazen sea (' Ant.' vIII. 7. ~ 3), and in the face
ways more or less of the other imagery of the  of Exod. xxvi. 3 I (compared with Ezek. x. 2o),
Temple presented in them (Ez. i. x; Rev. iv.  he denies that the veil of the tabernacle had any
and perhaps Is. vi.).                      living creatures on it (' Ant.' HIi. 3. ~ 6). Still
Tradition gives no satisfactory account of  the Apostle (Heb. ix. 5), who speaks of "the
the appearance of these cherubic figures. Jo-  Cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy seat,"
sephus, (' Ant.' III. 6. ~ 5) says that they were  adds, " of which we cannot now speak par"winged animals in form like nothing seen  icularly," as though, after the captivity and
VOL. 1.                                                               D




50                               GENESIS. III.
the destruction of the first Temple, not only  nacle and the Temple, representing either
had the sacred figures never been restored, but  the personal angels of God, or at least those
even the memory of their shapes had been  ministers and agents of His in creation which
lost.                                      do His pleasure and wait upon His will.
1. The Tabernacle and the Temprle] When  We should infer, that their offices were (X)
Moses is commanded to make the ark, we  to guard what is sacred and unapproachable,
learn that he was to make the CapporethJ,  the gate of Paradise (Gen. iii. 4), the ark of
the mercy seat or covering of the ark, of the covenant of the LORD, in which were
pure gold, and Cherubim  looking towards  deposited the two tables of the Law (comthe mercy seat, stretching forth their wings  pare Ezek. xxviii. I4-I6, where the Prince
on high to cover the mercy seat. The Che-  of Tyre is compared to a Cherub, who in
rubim were to be of a piece with the mercy  Eden covers with his wings the precious
seat, or at least of the same material (Ex.  stones): (z) to surround the mystic throne
xxv. I7-20).  There is no appearance of  of God and to attend His presence (hence
more than one face to each Cherub, nor of  the Most High is constantly spoken of as
more than two wings. The Cherubim  on  dwelling between the Cherubim, i.e. by His
the mercy seat in the Tabernacle appear to  Shechinah on the mercy seat, I S. iv. 4;
have been exactly imitated by Solomon in  2 S. vi. 2; 2 K. xix. I5; Ps. lxxx. 2, xcix.
the Temple, unless they were the very Cheru-  x; Is. xxxvii. I6): (3) perhaps to bear up
bim of the Tabernacle removed to the Temple.  the throne of God upon their wings, and
Their height is said to have been ten cubits,  to carry Him  when He appeared in His
and their wings touched the walls on either side  glory. (Comp. z S. xxii. II; Ps. xviii. Io,
(x K. vi. 27). Besides the two Cherubimon the  "He rode upon a Cherub, and did fly: yea,
mercy seat, figures of Cherubim were wrought  He did fly upon the wings of the wind.")
on the curtains of the Tabernacle (Ex. xxvi.    2. The visions of Isaiah, Ezekiel and St
I, 31, xxxvi. 8, 35), and were afterwards  John]  It is doubtful whether the Seraphim
engraven on the walls and doors of the Tem-  in the vision of Isaiah ch. vi. (the only place
ple, along with palms and flowers, (I K. vi.  in which they are named in Scripture) be the
29, 32, 35): also on the bases of the ten lavers,  same as the Cherubim or not. The scene
on the borders that were between the ledges  is the same as in the Cherubic visions of
were " lions, oxen and Cherubims." (I K. vii.  Ezekiel and St John, viz. in the Temple (vv.
29). Then again were four wheels a cubit  I. 6). The Seraphim  occupy a place like
and a half high, and again we find "Cheru-  that of the Cherubim, viz. just by the
bims, lions and palm trees." (-. 36.)      Throne of God; and their taking the live
The special offices of the Cherubic figures  coal from the altar seems to connect them with
in the Tabernacle appear to have been, first,  the burning coals of Ezekiel's Cherubim (Ez.
the watching and guarding of the ark and  i. 13). As far as we can judge these Serathe sacred law deposited within the ark, to-  phim resemble the Cherubim of the Taberwards which they are represented as look-  nacle and the Temple in having human forms
ing and over which they spread their out-  and single faces, but they have six wings
stretched wings, and secondly, to attend and  each: "-With twain he covered his face,
bear up that mystic presence of God, which  and with twain he covered his feet, and with
*appeared in the Cloud of glory over the  twain he did fly."
mercy seat. That Cloud of glory had led    WVe come now to the visions of Ezekiel
Israel through the Red Sea and the wilder-  and St John. These visions also have their
ness, the guide and guardian of God's people,  seat in the Temple as the image of Heaven.
the symbol of His presence, especially in the  (See Ezek. x. 2, 3, S, 18, where we meet
giving of the law, having a twofold aspect, at  with the altar fire and the courts of the Temtimes as darkness, at times as a pillar of  pie: and Rev. passim, where all the imagery
light; now a glory settling on the Taber-  is drawn from the Temple, e.g. the candlenacle or resting above the ark, at another  stick ch. i. I2, the High Priest ch. i. 13, the
time accompanied with fire and lightnings, so  altar ch. vi. 9, &c.)  In both visions the
that the people durst not look on it. (Ex.  throne corresponds with the place on which
xiii. 21, 22, XiV. 19, 24, xvi. TO, xix. i6, 18,  the Cloud of glory rested between the Che20, xx. 18, xxiv. I6, 17, xxxiii. 9, xxxiv. 5,  rubim. The Cherubim  then are described
xxxvii. 6-9, xl. 34-38; Num. ix. I5-23,  as living creatures (Ezek. i. 5; Rev. iv. 6),
xii. 5-Io, xvi. 19-42).  WThen the Taber-  in the form of a man (Ezek. i. 5) with four
nacle is set up, the Law is deposited in the  (Ezek. i. 8, ii. 23, x. 7, 8-2I), or with six
Ark, the cloud is promised to rest upon the  wings (Rev. iv. 8), having eyes all over
covering of the Ark, and, as the Cherubim  (Ezek. i. I8, x. I2; Rev. iv. 8). In Ezekiel
guard the Law and the Testimony of God,  they have each four faces, viz. of a man, of a
so they may be supposed reverently to sur-  lion, of an ox, of an eagle (Ezek. i. Io, x.
round the throne of His glory.              i6). In St John they have but one face
If we went no farther, we should natu-  each, these faces being respectively of a man,
rally conclude, that the Cherubim were wing-  of a lion, of a calf and of an eagle (Rev. iv.
ed human figures, sculptured in the Taber-  7). Their feet appear to Ezekiel as straight




GENESIS. III.                                           5'
feet, like the feet of oxen (Ezek. i. 7).  In  is it that some Egyptian type should have
Ezek. x. I4, we have the very singular phe-  been followed: and we find in the Egyptian
nomenon that the face of a Cherub seems  Sculptures, and in the i8th dynasty, which
identified or synonymous with the face of a  was probably the dynasty of the Exodus, excalf or an ox. (Comp. Ezek. i. Io; Rev. iv.  anmples of a shrine or ark wonderfully calcu7.)  It is thought by many, that in these  lated to remind us of the ark of the Covenant
latter visions we have a fuller description of  made by Moses. It is carried by persons of
the Cherubim  of the Tabernacle and the  the sacerdotal race, by staves, as the Levites
Temple than  we could gather from  the  carried the ark. In the centre is the symbol
earlier accounts in Holy Scripture.  It is  of the Deity, and two winged human figures
supposed that they too, like the Cherubim  spread out their wings around and over it.
in the visions, must have been composite  (Lepsius,'Denkm.' iii. B1. 14.)  These two
creatures, if of human form, yet with heads  figures, however, represent the goddess Ma,
of other animals, either as described by Eze-  under the two-fold notion of "justice" and
kiel or by St John.  Moreover, as such com-  "truth."  This is clear from the ostrich feaposite figures must plainly have been emblem-  thers on the heads of the figures. This godatical, it has been thought that the Cheru-  dess is often called "the double Ma," and it
bimn by their faces of a man, a lion, a bull  is very doubtful, whether, notwithstanding
and an eagle, perhaps expressed the strength  this apparent similarity, there is any relation
and wisdom of the Divine Majesty, or per-  between these figures and the Cherubim of the
haps the strength and the swiftness, with  Tabernacle.
which His ministers do His will.  Again, as    What then is to be said of the vision of
they surround the throne and guard the Law   Ezekiel and of St John who nearly repeats
of the Most High, so perhaps we may un-  the imagery in Ezekiel? VWe may observe,
derstand, that the natural and the spiritual  that Ezekiel was a priest (Ezek. i. 3). iHe
creation being knit up together in one great  was therefore probably familiar with the
scheme, these symbolic creatures indicate that  sculptures in the Temple, especially the Cheall things, all creation, wait upon God, all  rubim carved on the bases of the ten lavers,
do His will, all work together for good to  along with bulls and lions, and with four
the godly and for judgment on the un-  wheels curiously connected with them. His
godly. They guard His law, and execute  vision, the scene of which was the Temple,
its judgments, and keep off the sinner from   naturally was mixed up with objects in the
the blessing of its rewards.                Temple.  The connection of his Cherubic
The existence cf composite winged em-  figures with wheels is explained by I Kings
blematical figures amongst nations more or  vii. 29, 30, 33.  Even the lion and bull.-heads
less connected with the Hebrews is now well  of these figures may have come from  the
known. The Sphinx and the Griffin have  mingling of the Cherubim with the bulls and
long been familiar to us: but it has been re-  lions in the Temple. But, besides this, he saw
marked as singular that Mr Layard should  these visions by the river Chebar in the land
have discovered in Nineveh gigantic winged  of the Chaldeans; and there he and his people
bulls with human heads, winged lions, and  would, no doubt, have become familiarized
human figures with hawk or eagle heads, cor-  with the gigantic winged guardians of the
responding so nearly with the winged Cheru-  temples and the palaces in Babylonia and Asbim of the visions of Ezekiel and St John.  syria, the bulls and lions and eagle-headed
These gigantic figures too are generally placed  men, and human-headed bulls. It is highly
as guards or sentinels at the entrances of tem-  probable that the difference between the Cheples and palaces, like the guarding Cherubim  rubim in Ezekiel's vision (repeated with cerof Holy Writ. Moreover, they are evidently  tain variations in St John's), and the Cherunot objects of idolatrous worship, but appear  bim in the Tabernacle and the Temple rerather as worshippers than as divinities.  It  sulted in part from this. In God's dealings
is argued, that it is not improbable that Mo-  with man, He constantly uses for lessons
ses should have adopted similar emblems, op-  things just before men's eyes.  And so He
posing the true worship to the false, and  may have done'n this case with Ezekiel. It
placing in the temple of the true God em-  is almost certain that Ezekiel's visions did not
blems of protection, watchfulness, power, and  represent accurately that to which he had
glory, similar to those used in the temples of the  been used in the Temple. Hence he appears
gods of the nations. (See Lammert,' Die Che-  not at first to have recognized them as being
rubim' in  Jahrbiicher fuir Deutsche Theol.'  Cherubim; but at the end of his second vision
Zwdlfter Band, Viertes Heft, Gotha, I867).  he tells us, that now he knew they were CheIt is, however, to be observed, that nothing  rubim (Ezek. x. 0o). To Moses, on the other
connects Moses with Assyria or the Assyrian  hand, but still on the same principle, God had
sculptures: and indeed those found by Mr  dictated the carving of figures like those
Layard in the Temple of Kojundjik, which  which he had seen in Egypt, figures emblemare most to the point, are not considered by  atical of guardianship, and of the reverence
himn to be of great antiquity. Far more likely  of those who wait constantly upon God, but




52                                GENESIS. IV.                                Iv. I-3.
which had never been objects of idolatrous  turning every way of the sword of flame perworship. Thus He sanctioned, or at least  haps points to this; and the sacred writer
tolerated, that which seems so dear to re-  may possibly have signified under the symbols
ligious humanity, the use of symbolism, where  of angelic beings the great ministering powers
dangers fiomn its abuse were not great. We  of nature.
conclude, therefore, notwithstanding much    This at least is taught us by the Cherubim
authority to the contrary, that in all proba-  guarding the way to the Tree of life. Parability the Cherubim of glory shadowing the  dise had been lost by sin; but it was not gone
mercy seat were winged human figures, with  for ever. The tree of life, and the garden
human faces too.                           where it grew, were still in full glory under
The Cherubim of Paradise]  It is noticed  the keeping of God and of His holy angels.
that Moses describes the placing of the Che-  The forfeited life is not irrecoverable: but it
rubim' at the gates of Eden in words suggest-  can only be recovered through fighting and
ed by that which he had to carve in the  conquest, suffering and death. There were
Tabernacle.  " He placed...Cherubim" is in  between it and man the ministers of righteous
the Hebrew  lath "HIe made to dwell," a  vengeance and the flaming sword.
term specially belonging to the dwelling of    The Etymology of the word Cherzub is very
the glory of God in the Shechinah, the cloud  obscure. Some derive it from Z:ln (Cherab)
of glory. And the Paradise Cherubim were  " to plough," it being inferred from Ezek. i.
to keep, lit. "to guard," ('Ye)) the way  Io compared with x. 14, that the true Cherub
to the tree of life, as the Cherubim in the  form was that of an ox. Others compare
Tabernacle guarded the Ark of the Covenant.  gin? (Kerob) "near," i.e. admitted to the
Those, who believe the Cherubim in the Ta-  special presence of God. The Talmudists asbernacle to have been like those seen by Eze-  sert that the name signifies " a child," and
kiel, naturally believe also that they were but  that the faces of the Cherubim were the faces
emblems of those powers of nature and crea-  of children. Eichhorn and others compare
tion by which the Creator so constantly  the Greek typo.+, ypulror, firom  the Persian
works His will.  The Cherubim  and the  greifen "to hold," and consider the name to
flaming sword at the East Gate of Paradise  be nearly equal in significance, as well as in
to them  mean only that the way back to  derivation, with the fabulous Griffin or Gry-.
Eden and to the tree of life was closed by  phon of the East.  Gesenius suggests the
such natural hindrances as the Author of na-  root'n9 (Charab) = n'n (Charam) "to shut
ture saw fit to interpose. It is not impossible  out," "to consecrate" (hence haram, a sathat even if the Cherubim of the Tabernacle  cred shrine). According to this derivation,
were not composite creatures, but simply  the Cherubim  would be the guardians and
winged human figures, much the same may  defenders of that which is consecrated, of the
have been meant. There are doubtless hosts  Shrine or the Paradise.  Canon Cook (see
of spiritual beings that surround the throne of  Appendix to this volume) has traced the word
God and do His will; but all things serve Him.  to an Egyptian root, which probably means
He maketh the winds His angels, and a flame  " carve," or at any rate " shape."  In Matt.
of fire His ministers. The stern, mechanical,  xviii. z, XEPe3 is the Coptic for VtopXj.
CHAPTER  IV.                   Cain, and said, I have gotten a man
I The birth, trade, and relhzioan of Cain anrid  from the LORD.
Abel. 8 The nzmrder of Abe. I I The curse
of Cain. I7 Enoch thefirst city. I9 LZazecl  2 And she again bare his brother
and his two zvives.  5 The birtlh of Seth, 26  tAbel.  And Abel was ta keeper oft Hfeh
aZnd Eni3OS.                            sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the tHleb
ND  Adam  knew  Eve his wife;  ground., edbe.
and  she  conceived, and  bare        3 And tin process of time it came o, e"'n
CHAP. IV. 1.  The last Chapter was a  Jonathan "a man, the angel of the LORD."
history of the first birth of sin; this gives us  Following  the latter paraphrast, Luther,
an account of its developement, as also of the  Munster, Fagius, Schmidt, Pfeiffer, Baumfirst out-spreading of the human race. Cain  gart. and others, have rendered "I have gotand Abel are respectively types of the two  ten a man, even JEHOVAH," as though
opposing principles discernible throughout the  Eve understood that the seed, who was to
sacred history; Cain of the unchecked domi-  bruise the serpent, should be incarnate Deity,
nion of evil, Abel of the victory of faith.  and supposed that Cain was that seed. We
Ihave gotten a man from the LORD] LXX.  can, however, scarcely see ground enough to
"by means of the Lord;" Onk. " from   believe that Eve's knowledge was so advanced,
the Lord;" Syriac "for the Lord;" Pseudo-  or her faith in the Messiah so lively as to




v. 4.]                         GENESIS. IV.                                              53
to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit  firstlings of his tflock and of the fat t Hles
of the ground an  offering unto the  thereof.  And  the  LORD  had  are- goals.
LORD.                                       spect unto  Abel and  to  his offer- 4.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the  -ing:
have called forth such an exclamation.  It is  the year."  So Fagius, Bochart,'Clericus,
more probable that the particle rendered in  Dathe, Rosenmiiller, and many others.  Cleour Version from is a preposition (it is in the  ricus quotes from  Aristot.'Ethics,' VIII. 2.
next chapter (v. 24) rendered cwith), and that  " It appears that ancient sacrifices were offerit signifies, as the LXX. has it, by means of,  ed after the gathering of the fruits of the
or, as Gesenius, by the help of:  There is,  earth, they being a kind of first fruits. Morehowever, little doubt that her words had  over, at that time, men were most at leisure."
some pregnant meaning, and that she looked
on Cain as at all events one of that race    an  ering]
on hain asats destin vednt tm     ov'er that rae   signifies an unbloody oblation. It is frequently
which was destined to triumph over the seed  translated  a meat oering."  Its nature is
of the Serpent.                           translated "a meat offering."  Its nature is
of the Serpent.                              defined, Lev. xi. i seq.
"The use of the name (JEHOVAH) is  defined, Lev
significant, though we cannot think that Eve    4. of the firstlings  of his Sock and of the
already knew this name of God, which was  fat thereof]  There has been in all times a
first revealed to iman at a later period of his  difference of opinion as to the Divine or huhistory, and which is of Hebrew  origin,  man origin of sacrifice.  Sacrifices were so
whereas that language probably did not exist  thoroughly sanctioned by the Divine law in
until the time of the dispersion at Babel.  after times, so generally accepted by God,
Yet, doubtless, the historian expresses the  and made so conspicuously types of the Lamb
true meaning of Eve's speech which she spoke,  of God, that it is difficult to conceive how
inspired by that help which had been gra-  they should have arisen but from  a Divine
ciously given her of God" (Keil,'Bibl. Com-  command.  Yet, there is a deep silence as to
ment.').                                     any such command, whilst the institution of
2. Abel.] She called her first-born Cain  the Sabbath and of other positive ordinances
(possession), but this second Hebel (breath,  is distinctly recorded.  Hence, many have
vaopour, vanity, nothingness), because all hu-  thought that sacrifice was dictated by an inman possession is but vanity.  Yet it is not  stinct of natural religion, and then, by a consaid, that Abel was so named by Eve herself,  descension to man's infirmity, sanctioned for
as Cain had been.  Hence it is possible, that  a temporary purpose, and  constituted  an
the name Abel was that by which he became  image of redemption.  It is impossible to say
known, after his life had passed away like a  what the view of the Apostolic fathers was;
breath or a vapour.                          but from the time of Justin Martyr (' Apol.'
Abel qwas a keeper of sheep, but Cain cwas  II. 9;'Dial.' pp. 237, 292), the fathers gena tiller of the ground]   The word ren-  erally adopted the belief that sacrifice was a
dered sheep includes sheep and goats.  It is  human, not a Divine ordinance. A remarkobserved that the wildest nations live by  able exception to this appears in a passage of
hunting, those, who have thrown off the first  the most learned of the 4th century divines
barbarism, are nomadic, feeding sheep and  (Euseb.'Dem. Evang.' I. 10o), in which he
cattle, those more civilized are agriculturists  distinctly ascribes the origin of sacrifice to a
(see Rosen.). Hence the rationalist view co-  Divine inspiration, though even this does not
incides with the heathen, that a state of na-  necessarily imply a Divine command.  It
ture was pure barbarism, and that man gra-  may be fairly said, that no certain concludually emerged from  it into nomadic, then  sion on this question can possibly be arrived
into agricultural, and finally into civilized  at, in the silence of Scripture.  The principal
life. In contradistinction to this, the account  arguments on the side of the Divine origin
of Genesis represents man as placed by his  may be seen in Bp. Jer. Taylor,'Duct. Dub.'
Maker in a state of very simple civilization.  Bk. II. R. xII. ~~ 27, 30;  Witsii' Egypt.'
Adam in Paradise was "to dress and to keep"  Ilt. I4; Kennicott,'Two Dissertations,' II.
the garden (Gen. ii. I5).  His sons must  p. I84 sq.; Magee' On Atonement,' Disc. II.
have learned from him the knowledge which  and notes; Faber,'Three Dispensations,' Vol. I.
he had thus acquired.  It is not likely to  The arguments on the opposite side may be
have been extensive knowledge, probably the  found in Spencer,'De Legibus Heb.' Lib. III.
very simplest possible, but still sufficient to  Diss. ii.; WVarburton,' Div. Legat.' Bks. vs.
rescue them from a state of pure barbarism,  Ix.; Davison's'Remains,' art. on origin of Saand from the necessity of living by the chase.  crifice. The work of Outram,'De Sacrificiis,'
See note A at the end of this Chapter.     should by all means be consulted, which takes
3. in process of time] Lit. "at the end of  an impartial survey of the whole question.
days."  Abenezra understands "-c at the end of    had respect unto]  Comp. Num. xvi. rI;




54                                  GENESIS. IV.                                   Lv. 5 8.
5 But unto Cain and to his offering         7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not II Or,
he had not respect.  And Cain was  Itbe accepted? and if thou doest not excel-.
very  wroth, and  his  countenance   well, sin liqth at the door.  And Iunto'Icy?
fell.                                       thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt sz,,becz,
6 And the LORD  said unto Cain,  rule over him.                                     b Wisd. xac
Why art thou wroth? and why is thy             8 And Cain talked with Abel his 3-iatt. 2
countenance fallen?                        brother: and it came to pass, bwhen 35-ohn.:EJohn 3.
12. Jude il.
Amos v. 2z.  How did the Almighty express  understand sin to mean the punishment of sin,
His approval of Abel's offering?  According  in which sense the word is sometimes used,
to the ancient Greek translation of Theod., it  see Zech. xiv. J9 (so Onk., Vatablus, Cornel.
was by sending down fire to consume the sa-  a Lapide). Some again interpret " a sin offercrifice, as in Lev. ix. 24; Jud. vi. zI; I K.  ing" (another frequent sense of the Hebrew
XViii. 38; i Chr. xxi. 26; 2 Chr. vii. I. This  word) which in the form of an animal victim
explanation has been adopted by St Jerome,  lies or crouches at your door (see Kennicott,
Rashi, Abenezra, Kimchi, Luther, Grotius,  as above, p. 2i6, and Lee,'Lex.' s. v. nIfNa ).
Delitzsch, and many others.  Nothing but  The chief objection to this latter interpretaconjecture can guide us in this matter.  itWe  tion is that there is no instance of this use of
must be content to suppose, that some sign,  the word before the giving of the Law; which
intelligible to both the brothers, was given   Law appears to have brought out into clearer
from  above.  The reason, as well as the  relief the knowledge of sin and the need of
mode, of the acceptance of Abel's gift has  sin-offering.  See Rom. iii. 20.
been greatly debated. Ver. 7, and Heb. xi. 4,    And unto thee shall be his desire, &c.)
seem to prove that the difference of spirit in  There are two principal interpretations or
which the two offerings were made caused  these worcs, which have divided commentethe diversity of acceptance.  The Apostle  tors in all times the one set referring his desays, "c By faith Abel offered a more excellent  sire to Abel, the other to sin. The LXX.
sacrifice."  Faith, therefore, was the motive  Version clearly refers it to Abel, which interpower; yet the result may have been that the  pretation is auopted by Chhrysost., Ambrose,
sacrifice so offered was a better, fuller, and   Augustine, and most of the fathers, by Gromore acceptable sacrifice.  Some have main-  tius, Vossius, Heidegger, by our own transtained that Cain brought fruits only, that  lators, and by a majority of English conlmenAbel brought both fruits and the firstlings of  tators.  The sense will then be, that Cain,
his flock (see Kennicott, as above, p. 194).  whose jealousy had been excited by God's
The wording of the original does not seem to     eptance of A
warran, whilst we may see in the  acceptance of Abel, need not, if he behaved
wa1rrant this. But, whilst ore may see in the  well, fear that Abel should be preferred bedifferent spirit and disposition of the offerers  fore him; his pre-eminence of birth should.
a reason why one should be accepted and the  still be preserved to him: the desire of the
other rejected, still " the view so often ex-  younger brother should be towards him (an
pressed, that Abel's bloody sacrifice resulted  idiomatic expression specially noting the longfrom a more profound religious apprehension  ing of one who looks up to another as an obthan that of Cain, which was' without shed-  ject of reverence, and so noting dependence,
ding of blood,' seems to agree with the gene-  as of a younger brother on an elder, cp. Gen.
ral bearing of the text" (Kurtz,'Hist. of 0.  iii. o6).   The other interpretation, which is
C.' Vol. i. p. 89); even if it be not admitted             thou
C.' Vol. I. p. 89) even if it be not nite  apparently, though not certainly, favoured by
that a Divine ordinance had already sanction-  the Vulgate, is given in the Targunls of Jered animal sacrifices.                         salem and Pseudo-Jonathan, and adopted by
5. countenance fell   Cp. the original of  Rashi, and most Jewish writers, by Luther's
Nehem. vi. i6.                               translation, Munster, Pererius, Rosenmtiller,
7. shalt thou not be accepted]  Is there   Von Bohlen, Delitzsch, Knobel, Keil, and
not acceptance?  Lit. "lifting up " either  most of the Germans.  The sense of the pasof guilt (i. e. pardon), or of the countenance, as  sage on this supposition would be,'" Sin lieth
when a suppliant bending down his face is  crouching like a wild beast at the door of the
accepted, and so his face raised up and cheer-  soul; its desire is towards thee, yet thou
ed.  Or more probably as the A. V., Is there  art not given over into its power; but if thou
not acceptance?  Shalt thou not be accepted  wilt, thou shalt be able to keep it in subjecby God?                                      tion."  The former of these interpretations,
if thou doest not uvell, sin  ieth at the  which is also the more ancient, seems both
door]  This is generally explained as mean-  more natural and more according with the
ing that sin crouches at the door or the soul,  simple meaning of the original.
like a wild beast, ready to devour it.  Others    8. Cain talked ECith Abel] The origin.




v. 9-I4.]                     GENESIS. IV.                                             55
they were in the field, that Cain rose        I2 When thou tillest the ground, it
up against Abel his brother, and slew   shall not henceforth yield unto thee
him.                                       her strength; a fugitive and a vaga9 Si And the LORD said unto Cain,,, bond shalt thou be in the earth.'Where is Abel thy brother?  And he           i3 And Cain said unto the LORD,
said, I know not: Am I my brother's  11 My punishment is greater than I can i Or, Ayj
iniquizy is
keeper?                                    bear.,rotler
Io And he said, VWhat hast thou            I4. Behold, thou hast driven  me iZaaybe
done? the voice of thy brother's t blood  out this day  from  the  face of the fJrvi.e.crieth unto me from the ground.            earth; and from  thy face shall I be
II And now  art thou cursed from   hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a
the  earth, which  hath  opened  her  vagabond in  the earth; and it shall
mouth to receive thy brother's blood  come to pass, that every  one that
from thy hand;                            findeth me shall slay me.
means more naturally "Cain said to Abel."  Adam and his family, should wander about
Accordingly in some few of the Masoretic  without a settled habitation or a fertile dwellMSS. there is the mark of an omission here.  ing place, living hardly in a barren and inhosThe Samaritan Pentateuch, the LXX., Syr.,  pitable wilderness.
Vulg., read "' Cain said to Abel his brother,    13  My punishment]  There is great vaLet us go into the field." These latter words,  riety of interpretation hee.   The Herews
riety of interpretation here. The Hebrews
however, do not occur in the Greek Versions  constantly expressed sin and punishment Jbr
of Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, or the  sin by the same words; moreover to bear,
most ancient Targum, that of Onkelos  it Is  and to take away or forgive, were thoughts
probable that the words were inserted in the  closely connected.  Hence (I) "My sin is
Sam., LXX., &cc. as a gloss, from the difficuly  too great to be forgiven" (as in the Marg.) is
of explaining the passage without them;  and  the rendering of LXX., Onk., Syr., Vulg.,
that this is really an example of an ancient  Saad.  Whilst (2) Abenezra, Kimchi, and
and obsolete usage of the verb to say, which the majority of modern commentators, render
here means either to talk cwith, as the A. V.,    the A. V., "y punishment is greater
or to tell, as Jerome, or to command, to lay a  than I can bear."  Both these renderings
command upon, according to Arabic usage, as can be defended on good grounds by Hebrew
Prof. Lee.                              usage. The latter seems more accordant with
10. the voice of thy brother's blood crieth  the temper of Cain's mind, and is probably
unto me]  The verb " crieth" here agrees  correct.
with "blood," which is in the plural, in
which form it is used specially of blood shed,    14. nronz thy fac  shall I be hmd] Though
drops of blood, above all of blood shed by                             manifested 
violence and murder.  Murder is a crime  presence as in Eden, yet there were at times
which cries to heaven for vengeance, and  some indications of that presence, (e.g. see v.
though the blood may be hidden, its voice  4).  It may perhaps be inferred that some
cannot be silenced,                         special place had already been set apart for
Divine worship and sacred service.  (On this
11. novw art thou cursedfrom the earth] The  subject see Blunt.'Undesigned Coincidences,'
words are variously rendered (I) " Cursed  I.p. 9 eighth Edition, IX863).
art thou from the ground," i.e. the curse shall     eth
ewery one that findeth  me shall siay me1
come upon thee from the earth, which shall                     deth me shall sla'  me]
not yield thee her fruit (Abenezra, Kimchi,  Josephus, Kimchi  Michaelis  and  others,
Knobel). (2)  Cursed art thou away from   have supposed that Cain feared death from
Knobel.  (2,) L' Cursea art thou away from   the beasts of the field;  but most commentathe land," i.e. Thou art cursed and banished  the beasts of the field
tots rightly understand that his fear was from
from the land, in which thou hast dwelt, and  tors rigbtly understand tat is fear was from
in which thy father and brethren are dwelling
Renm aterThKnb     (3)  Cused  served by Kurtz that, according to hints gaart thou even more than the earth" which  thered fiom Gen. iv. 2S, the murder of Abel
had  been cursed (ch.    7).  Of these     probably took place just before the birth of
had been cursed (ch. iii. 17).  Of these (3)                    -er the creation of man,
seems quite inadmissible; either of the others
yields a pertinent sense. The second is the  Gen. v. 3.    e need not suppose that Cain,
most probable.                              Abel, and Seth, were the only sons of Adam.
Indeed, from  Gen. v. 4, we infer that there
12.  When thou tillest, &c.]  The curse  wereothers. Cain, Abel, and Seth, are menwas in effect, that Cain should be banished  tioned for obvious reasons; Abel for his piety
from  the land inhabited and cultivated by  and his early death, Cain for his wickedness




56                               GENESIS.  IV.                             Lv 15 —I9.
15 And the LORD said unto him,  he builded a city, and called the name
Therefore  whosoever slayeth  Cain,  of the city, after the name of his son,
vengeance shall be taken on him seven-  Enoch.
fold.  And the LORD set a mark upon         i8 And unto Enoch was born Irad:
Cain, lest any finding him should kill  and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehim.                                     hujael begat Methusael:  and  Mei6 gq And Cain went out from the  thusael begat tLamech.                      f Feb.
presence of thu ILORD, and dwelt in         I9 i, And Lamech took unto him Le'n''
the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.  two wives: the name of the one was
tHeb.      I7 And Cain knew  his wife; and   Adah, and the name of the other ZilCu-aock. she conceived, and bare tEnoch: and  lah.
and the worldly wisdom of his posterity, Seth  though not the gardenz of Eden, in which
because he was the ancestor of the promised  Adam had dwelt since the fall, was esteemed
seed. There may then, in I30 years, have  a sacred spot, a spot in which still a peculiar
grown up a very considerable number of chil-  presence of God was looked for by man. See
dren and grandchildren to Adam  and Eve.  on v. I4.
An Eastern tradition assigns to them no less
than 33 sons and 27 daughters.               n~od] i.e. "vandering."  It is 1mpOssible
to say where Nod was situated, except that
15.  Therefore]   The  LXX.,  Symm.,  it lay east of Eden.
Theodot., Vulg., Syr., read Not so.  So
Dathe and others.                            17. Enroch] It has been contended that
in these genealogies Adam=-Enosh, Enoch
ofwhosoeper  slaeth   Cain, though guilt Xy  or Chanoch = Enoch, Cain = Kenan, Irad 
of a terrible sin, may not have had the fullalaleel,    ethusael
and fixed purpose to commit murder, but i Jered, Mehujael = Mahalaleel, Methusael =
and fixed ppose to commit murder, but in    ethuselah. In the first place, however, there
a moment of furious anger have seized a  is a manifest difference in the roots of the
weapon and dealt a murderous blow, perhaps  names so identified; next, the paucity of
hardly aware of its deadly consequences.  names at this early period may have natuHence, it may be, the Most High forbids him  rally  led to similar names being adopted
to be put to death, but sentences him to a  in different families; 3rdly, the relationship
perpetual banishment from his early home,  of the families of Seth and Cain, and the proand to a life of misery and sorrow. Kalisch ably occasional intercourse between t
bably occasional intercourse between them,
well observes, af The early death of Abel can  would not unnaturally tend to  the same
be no punishment; he seemed in fact to enjoy  result. Dettinger is quoted by Kurtz (Vol.
the peculiar favour of God; his offering was
graciously accepted. We find, therefore, i                ving called attention to th
l    fact, that the text furnishes more detailed
this narrative the great and beautiful thought,  particulars about Enoch and Lamech, whose
that life is not the highest boon; that the  names were so similar to Sethite names, in
pious find a better existence and a more bless- der to prevent
order to prevent the possibility of their being
ed reward in another and a purer sphere; but  o.d.eward Xn another and a purer sphe confounded, and to shew more clearly that
that crime and guilt are the greatest evils  confounded, and to shew more clearly that.;....the direction in which these two lines tended
that they are punished by a long and weari-                       See Kurt as above,
Ir  @  ~ <          was markedly opposite. See Kurtz as above,
some life, full of fear and care and compunc-  Hvernick ntrod. to Pentateuch. 
*ion  rf X  *   72 -ce."                  Havernick,'Introd. to Pentateuch,' p. Io9.
tion of conscience.                "
set a mark upon Cain] Gave a sign to    builded a city] Rather "began to build a
Cain. LXX. The interpretation that God  city," lit. "was building a city."  It is not
provided Cain with some mark which would  necessary to suppo e that the city was built
make him known is adopted by Pseudo-Jona-  immediately on the birth of Enoch. It may
than, most of the Jewish Commentators,  have been built when Cain had lived many
Luther, Calvin, Piscator,'Wogal, &c. Most  years and was surrounded by children and
modern commentators agree that God gave  grandchildren. The word city is, of course,
some sign to Cain to assure him  that he  not to be interpreted by modern ideas: a
should not be slain, (Abenezra, Gabe, Dathe, village of rude huts, which was distinguished
Rosenm., Gesen., Maurer, Hitzig, V. Bohl.,  from the booths or tents of the nomads,
Tuch,  Baumg.,      OKalisch, Delitzsch).  Of  would satisfy all the conditions of the text.
what nature the sign may have been, we have    19. Lamech took unto him troo wises] Here
now no means of learning.                  we have the first example of polygamy; which,
16. the presence of the Lord]  It is ques-  though afterwards tolerated, had its rise
tioned whether this means merely from con-  among the sons of Cain, and is evidently menversing with the Lord, or whether Eden,  tioned for reprobation.




v. 2o —23.]                  GENESIS. IV.                                           57
20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was  ficer in brass and iron: and the sister
the father of such as dwell in tents,  of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
and of such as have cattle.                 23 And Lamech said unto his wives,
21 And  his brother's name was  Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye   Or,
I would
Jubal: he was the father of all such  wives of Lamech, hearken unto my slZy
as handle the harp and organ.            speech: for hI have slain a man to....'ZZt
22 And Zillah, she also bare Tu-  my wounding, and a young man llto &c.
I                                                  In          a U Or, inz
~oueb.cur  bal-cain) an tinstructer of every arti-  my hurt.                              Or,y 1s,,..
20.  the father of such as dwwell in tents,  born at least 5oo years after the creation of
and...hae cattle] Jabal invented tents and  Adam, according to the Hebrew Chronology,
introduced the custom  of pasturing cattle  or Iooo years according to the LXX. Chronoround the tents, and perhaps even of stalling  logy.  VWhether we must understand that
them  in tents.  Moreover, the word here  he invented the use of both copper and iron,
used for cattle implies larger cattle, whereas  or only of copper or bronze, which led in
that used of Abel v. a applied only to smaller  course of time to the farther invention of
cattle: Jabal therefore was the first who in-  iron, it may be difficult to decide from the
troduced the thorough nomadic life. (See  concise and obscure wording of the text.
3Bochart,' Hieroz.' P. I. Lib. II. C. 44.)  That the most ancient inhabitants of Europe
21. the harp and the organ] The kinnur,  were ignorant of the use of metal, as indimhich descended to the Greeks and was by  cated by the discovery of flint weapons in the
them called Kinura, is described by Josephus  gravel, can be no proof that they were unas having ten strings and as played on by a  known to the early descendants of Adam.
plectrum; but in I Sam. xvi. 23, xviii. Io  If the colonists of Australia were for the
xix. 9, David is said to have played on it  next thousand years to be separated from all
with his hand. It was probably, when in-  connection with the rest of the world, it is
vented by Jubal, the simplest form of stringed  quite possible, notwithstanding their present
instrument. The word rendered organ was  high state of civilization, that they might
apparently a pipe, bagpipe, panpipe, or some  utterly lose many of the arts of civilized life,
very simple wind instrument: 0 nkelos renders  and perhaps, if there were a deficiency of coal,
it by pipe or flute. " It is not an accidental  or lime, or native metals, even the use of mefact, that the lyre and the flute were intro-  tallic instruments.
duced by the brothers of a nomadic herds-    Nothing can be more natural or probable
man. It is in the happy leisure of this occu-  than the difference of character and developpation that music is generally first exercised  ment in the descendants of Cain and Seth
and appreciated."  Kalisch.                respectively. In the former we see the children of this world wise in their generation,
22.  an instructer qf every artfcer in  rapidly advancing in art and the acquirebrass and iron] So Onkelos. Perhaps (with  ment of riches, but sensual, violent and godLXX. and Vulg.)  s ener of eery nstr-  less. In the latter we find less of social and
mzent in bronze and iron. The word rendered
brass is certainly either bronze, or, more proba-  pote  r eu, nv ml cp   lated by the dictates of conscience and by
bly, a native metal, copper (see Smith's'Dict. of  faith in the Providence and Grace of God.
the Bible,' art. Bss).  Bronze is a alloy of    Resemblances to the names of Lamech's
copper and tin, very much harder than either
copper and tin, very much harder than either  family have been traced in the names of those
of them and also than brass, with a little more  to whom the Latins attributed similar inventin it becomes bell-metal. Previously to this  tions. Thus Tubal Cain has been thought
time all weapons for defence or instruments of  =Vulcan, Naamah, "the lovely, or beautin
husbandry may have been of flint, or wood,  ful," may then= Venus, Jubal, the inventor of
or bone. Uncivilized nations at the present the lyre = Apollo. It is observed also that
time have weapons made of flint, wood, bone,  the refinement and perhaps the luxury of the
shark's teeth, &c. W here nations have lost
hrks t,. Wr n n  he l    descendants of Cain appear in the names of
the usages of more civilized life, they seem to  their wives and daughters,  naamah, lovely,
have fallen back on a flint age, then to have  Adat   beauty or ornament Zilah, s
invented bronze weapons (in the case of South  A  eauty or ornament Zllah, shdow.
America weapons of gpld), and lastly to have    23, 24.  And Lamzech said, &c.]
discovered the use of iron. Tubal Cain is  And Lamech said unto his wives,
here described as the first who made metal  Adah and Zillah, hear my voice.
instruments and sharpened them. It is not to  Ye wives of Lamech, give ear unto my speech,
be objected, that this was too early for the  For I slay a man if he woundeth me,
invention of metals. If Tubal Cain was con-  Even a young man, if he hurteth me,
temnporary with Enoch (the descendant of  Lo! Cain would be avenged seven-fold,
Seth in the same degree) he must have been  But Lamech seventy-and-seven fold.




s58                              GENESIS. IV.                              [v. 24-26.
24 If Cain shall be avenged seven- hath appointed me another seed infold, truly Lamech seventy and seven-  stead of Abel, whom  Cain slew.            I Heb.
fold.                                       26 And to Seth, to him  also there  Oroc.
25  ~ And Adam  knew  his wife  was born  a son; and he called his themselves
again; and she bare a son, and called  name *Enos: then  began  men  lto.n..eof,    his name t Seth: For God, said she,  call upon the name of the LORD.    LORD.
The speech of Lamech has exercised the  as the ancestor of the Theocratic race and of
skill of translators and interpreters of all  the promised seed.
times. Its obscure and enigmatical character    26. then began men to call upon the name of
is admitted as a mark of its remote antiquity  the Lord] Then began he to call on the
even by the most unfaeourable critics. The  name of the LORD. There is great diversity
apparent meaning of the words is this. Amid  in the interpretation of these words. The Sathe violence of the times, especially among  maritan Pentateuch and the Vulgate refer them
the descendants of Cain, Lamech comforts  to Enos, "Then he, i.e. Enos, began to call
his -wives with the assurance that with the aid on the name of the LORD." The LXX. has
of the bronze and iron instruments now in  "Then he hoped," &c. it being possible to
his hands, he could kill any one who injured  refer the verb to a root signifying " to hope,"
him  (" I slay or would  slay a man for  whence some have understood, that the birth
wounding me"); and that, if it had been  of Enos inspired a new hope that the promise
promised to Cain, that he should be avenged  to Eve should be fulfilled. The Targum of
seven fold, there was power in the hands of  the Pseudo-Jonathan has " In those days men
Lamech's family to avenge seventy-seven fold. began to make themselves idols, which they
The speech is one of confident boasting. La-  called after  the name of the Word of the
rnech trusts  in is weapons of brass and steel  LORD." This interpretation is adopted by
to maintain his cause, even when referring to  some celebrated Jewish commentators (Kimwords used by God to his forefather Cain.    chi, Rashi, &c.), who derive the verb fiom
The chief difficulty lies in the use of the  a root signifying "to profane," and render
perfect tense in the verb slay: lit. "I have  "Then was there profanation  in calling on
slain," (which is the rendering of the LXX.  the name of the LRan."  Jerome ('Qunst.')
Vulg., Syr., &c.). That difficulty seems to  mentions this as the opinion of many Jews in
have suggested the supposition that a not may  his days.  The most natural sense of the
have fallen out (,which is the rendering of  Hebrew is, that when Enos was born, Seth
Onkelos, "I have not slain,") or that it should  his father in gratitude and hope then began
be rendered interrogatively ("Have I slain?"):  to praise the LORD and to call on Him with
but the more probable explanation is, that in  reassured hope in His mercy and His prothis ancient distich the perfect tense is used to  mises. There is nothing to connect the verb
express the arrogant confidence of the boast-  with Enos as its nominative case rather than
er; even as at times the perfect is adopted in  with Seth; nor again is there  any good
the most sure word of prophecy, the future  ground for the notion that emphasis is to be
being represented as having all the certainty  placed on the special name of God, jEEnovAhn;
of  the past.  The words rendered in the  as though then for the first time- He was
A. V. "'co my  wounding"-"  to ray hurt"-  invoked under that name. The sacred narraprobably mean "for my wounding," &c. i. e.  tive has all along used the name JEHovAIh;
"for w aounding me," or " in revenge for his  and whether we believe it to have been known
wounding me."                             from earlier times or to have been revealed
25.  Seth] i.e. "'Foundation," from  the  first to Moses, there is nothing whatever to
word signifying to place, rendered here "ap-  connect its revelation and acknowledgment
pointed."  Seth caine into the place of Abel, Fwith the birth of Enos.
NOTE A.  ADDITIONAL NOTE ON CHAP. IV. V. 2.  ON  THE EARLY  CIVILIZATION OF MANKIND.
HAVERNICK  ('Introd. to the Pentateuch,' preparation of metals, belong to prehistoric
Translation, p. o04) has shewn that the tra-  times, and that in the historic period these
ditions of ancient nations, the Phcnicians,  arts have made comparatively no great adEgyptians, Greeks, &c. refer the invention  vances."  The recent discoveries of human
of agriculture to the earliest mythic ages;  remains, and of the implements of human inand that the investigators of history, Her-  dustry in the gravel and drift formations on
der, Link, Schlosser, &c. have been led to  the Earth's surface, may seem to contradict
the conclus;on that "the discovery of the  all this. Ethnologists distinguish,i flint age,
breeding of cattle, of agriculture, and of the  a bronze age, and an iron age, as harving ex



V. 1, 2.]                      GENESIS. V.                                            59
isted in ancient Europe; during the first. of  places of defence and of sepulture, containing
which only flint instruments, during the se-  pottery, ornamental sculpture, articles in siicond bronze, during the third, iron instru-  ver and copper, and stone weapons, with
ments appear to have been in use. And, as  skulls of the Mexican type. Above these
for the most part in the earlier periods, the  have grown a succession of forests, in which
skulls seem to have been smaller and of a  the Red Indians for centuries may have
lower type than those of later date, the theory  housed and hunted  (Lyell, pp. 39, 40).
of early barbarism and of progressive civiliza-  They prove that in those very ancient days
tion has been thought to derive confirmation  there must have been a civilization, of which
from Geology. Sir Charles Lyell says also,  all traces have vanished above the surface of
that "' had the original stock of mankind been  the earth.  As regards the fossil skulls found
really  endowed with  superior intellectual  in Europe, that knowrn as'"the Neanderthal
power and with  inspired knowledge, and  Skull" is of the lowest type, and is said to be
had possessed the same improvable nature as  the most apelike skull ever seen, though its
their posterity, the point of advancement,  capacity, 75 cubic inches, is greater than that
which they would have realized ere this,  of some individuals of existing races. It was
would have been immeasurably higher" (' An-  discovered in a cavern with the thigh of a
tiquity of Man,' p. 3738). He goes on to say  bear: but there is nothing to prove its great
that, instead of rude pottery and flint wea-  antiquity.  It may be very ancient, but may
polls, we should in that case have found works  be comparatively modern.  But the skuil
like those of Phidias and Praxiteles. It may  found at Engis near Liege, which appears to
be answered, that Scripture does not repre-  have been contemporary with the Mammoth,
sent the first man as " endowed with superior  and is assigned by Lyell to the post-pliocene
intellectual power and with inspired know-  age, although the forehead is somewhat narledge."  All that we learn is, that Adam   row, may be matched by the skulls of indiwas placed in Eden to till it, that his power  viduals of European race (Lyell, p. 80o): and
of speech was exercised by having to name  the skull of the fossil man of Denise, though
the brute creation, that he had a simple com-  said to be contemporary with the Mammoth
mand given him, and afterwards a special  and coeval with the last eruption of the Puy
promise. Morally he may have been, in the  Volcanoes, and therefore as old as, or older
first instance, in a state of innocence, without  than, any other human skull yet discovered,
being intellectually in a condition of emi-  is of the ordinary Caucasian or European
nence.  As for the advance of knowledge,  type (Lyell, p. 2oo). No prudent Geologist
many nations have been in a state of mental  will admit, concerning any of these crania,
cultivation and of art knowledge incompa-  more than that they bear marks of rude as
rably beyond that of Adam and his children,  compared with civilized races, rather more
and yet have remained for centuries upon  mastication, more prominent marks of muscenturies without any apparent progress; for  cular attachment and the like, all things of
instance, the people of China. All that we  every day occurrence. So, in fact, the argusay is, that his primary state was not a state  ment from Geology is really coincident with
of savageness, but rather of rudimentary civi-  the testimony of Scripture and of universal
lization. And this is really not opposed, but  primitive tradition, viz. that man, in his oriconfirmed, by the records of Geology. " We  ginal condition, was not a helpless savage, but
must remember, that as yet we have no dis-  had at least the rudiments of civilization and
tinct geological evidence, that the appearance  intelligence.
of what are called the inferior races of man-    When we read that Cain was a tiller of the
kind has always preceded in chronological or-  ground, we do not necessarily conclude, that
der that of the higher races" (Lyell, as above,  he cultivated wheat and barley; he may have
p. 90). On the contrary, some of the most  known only of fruits, vegetables, roots, &c.
ancient remains of man and man's art give  Yet it is observable, that cereals have been
indications of considerable civilization.  In  discovered with some of the very early rethe valley of the Ohio there are hundreds of  mains of human industry.
mounds, which have served for temples, for
CHAPTER  V.                    God created man, in the likeness of
TI  gT7eneazlogy, age, and death of thestriarz-cis  God made he him;
jfroo  Adz ancto iVoah.  24 Tre god/inzess    2 b Male and  female  created  he a wiN,.
and translation of Enoch.               them; and blessed them, and called 2j
(Thl~on.  I-iS is the abook of the genera-  their name Adam, in the day when
tions of Adam. In the day that  they were created.
CHAP. V. 1. the book of the generations]  history of Adam  and his descendants. See
The record or recounting of the genealogical  ch. ii. 4.




60                                 GENESIS. V.                                 [v. 3-20.
3 ~ And Adam  lived af hundred             I2 q[ And  Cainan  lived  seventy
and thirty years, and begat a son in  years, and begat tMahalaleel:                 I Gr.
his own likeness, after his image; and        I3 And Cainan lived after he be-,~r~zel
called his name Seth:                      gat Mahalaleel eight  hundred  and
Chron,   4 cAnd the days of Adam  after he  forty  years,  and  begat  sons  and
&,    had begotten Seth were eight hundred   daughters:
years: and he begat sons and daughters:       I4 And all the days of Cainan were
5 And all the days that Adam lived  nine hundred and ten years: and he
were nine hundred and thirty years:  died.
and he died.                                  I5 ~ And Mahalaleel lived sixty
6 And Seth lived an hundred and  and five years, and begat tJared:               tHeb.
t Heb.   five years, and begat tEnos:                 I6 And Mahalaleel lived after he 7ercd.
Ens  7 And  Seth lived after he begat  begat Jared eight hundred and thirty
Enos eight hundred and seven years,  years, and begat sons and daughters:
and begat sons and daughters:                 I7 And  all the days of Mahalaleel
8 And all the days of Seth were  were eight hundred ninety and five
nine hundred and twelve years: and   years: and he died.
he died.                                      I8 Iq And Jared lived an hundred
9 q And Enos lived ninety years,  sixty  and  two years, and he begat
and begat t Cainan:                        Enioch.
to And Enos lived after he begat           19 And Jared lived after he begat
Cainan  eight  hundred  and  fifteen   Enoch eight hundred years, and begat
years, and begat sons and daughters:   sons and daughters:
I I And all the days of Enos were         20 And all the days of Jared were
nine hundred and five years: and he  nine hundred sixty and two years:
died.                                      and he died.
3. Adam lived, &c.] The genealogy given  genealogy was "a memorial witnessing both
is that of the Sethites, probably as the line  the truth of God's promises and also the faith
of the promised seed. The genealogy of the  and patience of the fathers." The chronology
Cainites was given much more imperfectly in  of this chapter is very different in the Hebrew,
the last chapter, and with no dates or chro-  the Samaritan and the Septuagint, as will be
nological marks, because, says Keil, being  seen in the following table of the generations
under the curse of God, they had no future.  from  Adam  to the flood  (see also  note
He quotes Baumgarten as saying, that this  infra).
Hebrew Text.      Samaritan Text.       Septuagint.
sYe                 ars XYears Y
before  Rest  Whole before  Rest  Whole 1efore  Rest Whole
birth of of Life. Life, birth of of Life. Life. birth of of Life. Life.
Son.               So.                 Son.
Adam'I33    oo00   930    I 30         0      30  700   930
Seth               105   807   91g2 I    5  807   912   205   707  9gr' 
Enosh               90  8t5   905       90   815   905    190   715   905
Cainan             7o  840  g9           o 70 So 98  I      70  740   9Io0
Mahalaleel          65  8.30   895      65   830   895      65   730   895
Jared               62  80oo   962      62  785   847       6,  Soo   062
Enoch               65   300   365    6   300   365. i65   oo i 365
Methuselah          187   782   969     67   653   720    IS7   782   969
Lamech18   595   777                    53  600o  653    i88  565i 
Noah               500                 500                 5oo
Shen; at the Flood   Too                00                 10oo
Date of Flood      t656               1307                26 2
6. ]~'nos] i.e. man. Adam  signifies man,    9.  Caincan] i.e. possession.
mankind, generally. Enos, or Enosh, is rather    12. AMahalaleelj The Praise of God.
mortal, amiserable man. The now  growing    15. Jared] The root of this name sigexperience of human sorrow  and firazility  nifies Do descend, Descent.
may have suggested this naml                  18. Enzoch] i. e. consecrated.




V. 2 —-32.j                  GENESIS. V.                                           6i
2i ~T And Enoch lived sixty and  were nine  hundred  sixty and  nine
fGr.   five years, and begat tMethuselah:         years: and he died.,atse.    22 And Enoch walked with God              28 qT And Lamech lived an hunafter he begat Methuselah three hun-  dred eighty and two years, and begat
dred years, and begat sons and daugh-  a son:
ters:                                       29 And he called his name t Noah, t Gr. A7n4
23 And all the days of Enoch were  saying, This same shall comfort us
three hundred sixty and five years:      concerning our work and toil of our
d Ecclu.    24  And  dEnoch  walked  with  hands, because of the ground which
44Heb.I  God: and he was not; for God took  the LORD hath cursed.
him.                                        30 And Lamech lived after he be25 And Methuselah lived an hun-  gat Noah five hundred ninety and five
dred eighty and seven years, and begat  years, and begat sons and daughters:
lemech.  3Lamech:                                   3I And all the days of Lamech
26 And Methuselah lived after he  were seven hundred seventy and seven
begat Lamech seven hundred eighty  years: and he died.
and two years, and begat sons and           32 And  Noah was five hundred
daughters:                               years old: and  Noah begat Shem,
27 And all the days of Methuselah  Ham, and Japheth.
21. Methuselah] Perhaps "the missive of  This caused great grief among the Phrygians,
death." Bochart interprets "His death the  whence "to weep as in the days of Annacus"
sending forth," as indicating that his death  became a proverb. At his death came the
was contemporary with the pouring forth of  deluge of Deucaliois, and all men were dethe waters, for Methuselah must have died  stroyed (Suidas, v. Nwtovaos, Steph. Byz. v.
in the very year of the flood. Gesenius gives'IKSVLov).
the sense of the word as wvir teli, "the man    29. he called his name Noah, saving, rhis
of the sword" or " of the dart."  From its  same shall comfort us, &c.] The name' Noah"
frequent occurrence in Phcenician inscriptions,  signifies " Rest," and the connection between
&c., there can be little doubt that Methu=   the thought of rest and that of comfort is
Betha=man.                                 obvious. Lamech appears as one oppressed
24. he'wLas not'; for God took him] The with the toil and labour needful to subdue
LXX. rendering  seems to interpret this of  the earth, and with the feeling that God had
translation. So do all the Targums. In cursed it and made it sterile. He expresses a
Ecclus. xliv. x6, we read cHe pleased the  hnpe, that Noah would be a comfort to his
Lord and was translated (into Paradise, ac- parents and the bringer of rest; whether the
cording to the Vulgate), being a pattern of  mere natural hope of a father that his son
repentance."  The words are, no doubt, ob-  should be a support and comfort to him, or
scure. Yet, when we remember how  uni-  a hope looking to the promise made of old
versally the promise of the Old Testament is  to Eve, or a hope inspired by prophetic vision
of life and blessing in this world, not of an  that Noah should become the second founder
early and happy death, we could scarcely  of a race, the head of a regenerated world,
doubt that the ancient interpretation was the  it may be hard to say. There may have
true one, even if it had not been that given  been an unconscious prophecy in the expresin Heb. xi. 5. The history of Enoch is rea-  sion of a merely pious hope.
sonably supposed to be the origin of the    Whitch the LORD hath cursedl  This ocPhrygian tradition concerning a certain An-  curs in a chapter which modern critics call
nacus or Nannacus, who lived upwards of  Elohistic. Therefore they consider this an in30oo years, concerning whom it was prophe-  terpolation. The truer inference wonld be that
sled that after him all would be destroyed.  the Elohistic theory is unfounded.
NOTE  A.  ON THE CHRONOLOGY IN CH. V.
Difficulties in the Chronology.  I Difference of texts.   2 Longevity of Patriarchs.
3 Antiquity of human race, as deduced  (I) from  Geology, (2) from  History,
(3) from Language, (4) from Ethnology.
THE genealogies in this chapter and in  may be considered together. The difficulties
chapter xi. are the only sources extant for  which suggest themselves may be arranged as
the construction of a chronology of the patri-  fallows:
archal ages. The questions which arise are    i. The disagreement between the Hebrew,
of the same kind in both genealogies, and  Samaritan and Septuagint texts.




62                                 GENESIS. V.
2. The extreme longevity assigned to the  globe; and thou:h sceptics argue that this
patriarchs.                                 only places the Scriptural account on a level
3. The insufficient time allowed for the  with other mythic histories (see Von Bohlen,
existence of man upon the earth.            Vol. Ir. p. Ioo), yet we may reply that, if
I. The first of these difficulties is such  the Scripture account were true, the tradias to render it impossible to arrive at a'tions of other nations would be almost sure
certain conclusion as to the exact dates of  to preserve some traces of the truth, and that
the creation of man, the Deluge and the call  this is a more probable explanation of the
of Abraham; but it in no degree affects the  fact, than the supposition that all these naveracity of the Sacred Record.  It is true,  tions, however unconnected with each other,
that there appears something like design in  should have stumbled upon the same fabulous
the alterations which must have taken place;  histories.
thus the Hebrew  gives the age of Adam        It is well observed by Delitzsch; "We
as 130 + 800 = 930, whilst the LXX. give  must consider that all the old-world popu230 + 700 = 93o, and so on in the case of most  lation was descended from a nature originally
of the Patriarchs, the results being frequently  immortal (in Adam andl Eve), that the climade to tally, whilst the constituents of these  mate, weather, and other natural conditions
results disagree. Hence, whilst some have  were very different from  those which succharged the Alexandrian  translators with  ceeded, that the life was very simple and
lengthening the periods, in order more nearly  even in its course, and that the after-working
to satisfy the demands of Egyptian chrono-  of the Paradisiacal state was not at once lost
logy, others have supposed that the rabbins  in the track of antiquity." To this Keil adds,
shortened the time, to escape the force of the  that this long life must have been very faChristian's argument, that the world was  vourable to the multiplication of mankind,
six thousand years old, and that therefore  for the formation of marked characters, and
the Messiah must have come.  If either of  the developement of the good and evil qualithese charges be true, it only brings us in  ties of different races. Family affection, piety,
face of what is already familiar to all critics,  good discipline and morality would strike
viz. that the errors of copyists were some-  their roots deeper in pious families; whilst
times intentional, but that even these do not  evil propensities would be more and more
affect the general integrity of the text.  It is  developed in godless races. Supposing, howwell known that there have been some few   ever, that physiology should ultimately decide
designed corruptions in the text of the New  that the extreme longevity of the patriarchs
Testament.  It need not surprise us there-  was not possible, without a continued mirafore, if we find reason to think that there  cle, we should only be driven to the principle
were some attempts of a like kind in the text  already conceded, that numbers and dates,
of the Old Testament.  If anywhere the  especially in genealogical tables, are liable in
temptation to correct existed; it could never  the course of transcription to become obbe stronger than in the genealogical tables of  scured and exaggerated.
the ancestors of the Jewish race. Indeed, as    3. The third objection is derived from the
numbers are of all things the most liable to  opinion now very generally gaining strength,
become confused in ancient documents, very  that man must have been in existence on the
great errors in restoring them may be con-  earth more than four or even six thousand
sistent with the most honest intention on the  years before the Christian era.
part of the restorers.  And, though we be-    The arguments for the antiquity of man
lieve in the Divine guidance and inspiration  are:
of the original writer, we have no right to      (I)  Geological.
expect that a miraculous power should have      (X)  Historical.
so watched over the transmission of the re-      (3)  Linguistic.
cords, as to have preserved them from all pos-   (4)  Ethnological.
sible errors of transcription, though a special    (I)  The very eminent British geologist,
Providence may have guarded them from such Sir C. Lyell, has attempted to prove, that
loss or mutilation, as would have weakened  man, having been contemporary with the
their testimony to Divine and spiritual truth.  mammoth and other extinct mammalia, must
a. As to the extreme longevity of the  have been living at least ioo,ooo years on the
Patriarchs, it is observable that some eminent  earth.  Although unfortunately in physical
physiologists have thought this not impos-  science a great name always carries with it a
sible; and even Buffon, by no means inclined  crowd of followers, far more than in politics,
to credulity on the side of Scripture, ad-  literature or religion, yet in the present inmitted the truth of the record, and could see  stance Sir C. Lyell has failed to carry conphysical causes for such long life in early  viction to some of the most eminent of his contimes. (See'Aids to Faith,' p. 278.)  It is  temporaries. Elie de Beaumont on the contiundoubted, that the traditions of ancient  nent and several of the most distinguished
nations, as Greeks, Babylonians, Egyptians,  geologists in England demur to his concluHindoos, and others, point to the great  sions.  The conclusions are based on two
longevity of the early inhabitants of the  principal assumptions; first, that relies of




GENESIS. V.                                             63
man, flint instruments or the like, are found  as yet we have no distir.:t geological evidence
in recent and post-pliocene formations, which  that the appearance of what are called the
have been deposited in juxtaposition with  inferior races of mankind has always preceded
bones of the mammoth and other extinct  in chronological order that of the higher races."
mammalia; secondly, that the present rate  p. 9o. On the contrary, it was shewn above
of deposition must be reckoned as the normal  that the evidence which we have points to
rate, and that at that rate the beds, which  some degree of civilization in the earliest
overlie the extinct mammal and human re-  periods.  Indeed had it not been so, it is
mains, must have taken a vast time to form.  hardly possible that man should not soon have
Of course much depends on the argument  become extinct in the presence of so many
from  uniformity. There are many men of  animals whose mere physical powers were so
science, who, accepting Lyell's general prin-  much greater than man's.  But then is it
cipies, yet believe that in former ages there  credible, that for some go,ooo years the huwere causes at work, which would have pro-  man race should have been stationary, having
duced much speedier deposition and great-  acquired almost from the first the art of maker rapidity in the formation of beds of all ing flint instruments, but all farther progress
kinds, than we see going on at present.  It  in the arts of civilization having apparently
may perhaps be true, that man was coeval  been reserved to the last 6,ooo years? On the
with the mammoth; but a mammoth was  whole, it seems impossible not to conclude that
found early in this century in Siberia pre-  the geological evidence as to the antiquity of
served in the ice, with skin and hair fitting it  man is as yet imperfect and imperfectly read.
to live in a cold climate, and with flesh upon it,    (z)  The historical arguments are chiefly
of which it was possible to make soup. Now,  derived from  Egyptian sources; for, though
even allowing for the great preserving power  the Indians, the Chinese, and the Babylonians
of ice, there is neither proof nor probability  profess to go back to hundreds of thousands
that this animal had been dead loo,ooo years  of years of past history, it is generally ador even more than 6,000 years. But again, it  mitted that their historic times do not at the
seems probable that man was in existence at  very utmost extend farther back than to the
a time when animals now inhabiting tropical  P7th century B. c. The eminent Egyptologers,
climates roamed at large in the forests of Gaul  Bunsen and Lepsius, relying on the monuments
and Britain.  How long it may have taken to  of Egypt and the statements of Manetho, claim
reduce the climate of Great Britain from  a  for Egypt a national history from nearly io,ooo
tropical to it's present temperate condition, is  years B.C. It is, however, quite certain that
a qluestion very difficult to solve. A change  much of the evidence for this is of the vaguest
in the Gulf Stream, an alteration in the re-  possible character, and that very large deducspective elevation of land and water, let alone  tions must be made for myth and for conall question of the gradual cooling down of  temporary dynasties.  In all probability the
the earth itself, would do much towards this.  earliest Egyptian  dynasty cannot be dated
13esides, not human bones, but only flint in-  farther back than B.C. 2700.  (See'Aids to
strliments are found in the gravel and caverns  Faith,' Essay vI. I7, pp. 252 sq., also'Biblical
iwitdh bones of extinct mammals. Moreover,  Dict.' Arts. Chrocol/gqy, Egyept, and the Exthe present opinions of geologists rather go to  cursus at the end of this volume).
negative entirely the tropical character of the    (3) The linguistic argument is of this na-.
British climate inthe mammoth and tiger periods.  ture.  Languages are of slow growth.  The
Sir Chas. Lyell admits that even now  "the  divergence of several modern European lanBengal tiger ranges occasionally to latitude 520  guages from  Latin has been comparatively
North" (i.e. the latitude of England, and pro-  inconsiderable in I:oo years.  Can we then
bably in a climate much colder than England),  believe all languages to have been formed, and
"and abounds in latitude 480, to which the  to have diverged so widely from  each other,
small tailless hare or pika, a polar resident,  since the dispersion at Babel? One answer
sometimes wanders southwards" ('Antiq. of  to this is, that only those languages which
Man,' p. I58). IWe may see therefore many  have a literature change slowly.  As long
contingencies which might have brought hu-  as the Authorised Version of the Scriptures
man remains into contact with the remains of  and the works of Shakspeare are read in
tropical animals, at a period much more recent  English, the English language will never be
thian that assigned to such proximity by this  much unlike what it is now, or what it was
eminent writer.                             three centuries ago. But where there is no
Difficulties of various kinds attach to Sir  literature, a few years create a complete reCharles Lyell's very large numbers; for in-  volution; wild tribes in a single generation
stance, at anything approaching to the present  cease to understand each other.  And, even
rate of increase the descendants of a single  keeping out of sight the miracle of the dispercouple would have multiplied to nearly the  sion at Babel, emigration, which carried no
number of the present population in about  literature with it, would soon have created
6coo years. Again, according to Sir C. Lyell's  an endless diversity of tongues.  The cni-cf
own admission, "we must remember, that  difficulty, however, is in. the slow growth of




64                                 GENESIS. VI.                                   [v. I -3,
languages to a high degree of grammatical  imperceptible, are at other thnes extremely
perfection, such as of Greek to the language of  rapid. The early condition of mankind, with
Homer some 900 years B.C., and of Sanskrit  its frequent migrations, wide separations and
to the language of the Vedas, nearly o100  little intercommunion, must have been favourvears B.C. But we must remember, that the  able to rapid change, whilst its later more
Samaritan and LXX. chronology allow an  stationary condition is favourable to contiinterval of more than 3ooo years from the  nuance and perpetuity of type.
Flood to the Christian era, and i8oo years    There is one other important objection
(the difference between 3ooo and  20oo) will  made to the genealogies in this chapter and in
give considerable scope for grammatical de-  Chapter xi. viz. that each gives a catalogue
velopement.                                  of but ten generations; which looks as if
(4) The ethnological argument is ground-  neither were historical.  A probable solution
ed principally on the apparently unchanging  of this difficulty would seem to be, that the
character of some of the races of mankind.  genealogies neither were, nor were intended
Especially it is observed, that in very ancient  to be, complete.  Like other genealogies or
Egyptian monuments the negro race is de-  pedigrees, sacred and profane, ther omitted
picted with all its present features and pecu-  certain links, and perhaps only recorded and
liarities. It would therefore be impossible, it  handed down to posterity those ancestors of
is argued, that all the varieties of man should  the race who, for some reason or other, were
have sprung up, if their ancestors were a  more than the rest deserving of remembrance.
single pair, brought into being not more than  This solution would be entirely satisfactory,
600ooo or 80oo years since.  It is replied, that  if it were not for the appearance of chronologisupposing, which is disputed, the alleged an-  cal completeness which both the genealogies
tiquity of the monuments in question, still  exhibit in their present form; the age of the
a race, continuing under nearly the same cir-  patriarch at the birth of his son and suc-,umstances, is not likely to change since first  cessor, and the number of years which he
its peculiarities were produced by those very  live~d after that birth, being given in every
circumstances.  Such has been the case with  case.  If therefore the above explanation be
the negroes since the time of the Egyptian  adopted, it would almost be necessary to add
monuments. If we take the LXX. chronology  that, in the course of transmission and tranas correct, the negroes may have been in Africa  scription, a greater appearance of completeness
for nearly i5oo years before the reign of  had been given to the catalogues than had
Sethos I., when we find them so clearly de-  existed in the original record.  Such hypopicted on the monuments. Their change to  theses are never to be too lightly adopted;
that climate, their fixed habits of life, and  but they are far more probable than those of
isolation from other races, may have soon im-  the modern critical school, which reject the
pressed a character upon them, which whilst  historical truth of the earlier books of the
continuing to live under the same condition  Bible. The genealogies of our Lord given in
ever since, they have never lost for a period  the  Gospels have undoubtedly some links
extending now to more than 3000 years.  But  omitted, and yet are reduced to a form of
we witness rapid changes in race when cir-  great completeness. This is a strong argucumstances rapidly change.  The European  ment for believing that the genealogies in
inhabitants of the North American States are  Genesis may have been treated in the same
said even in two or three generations to be  manner. W;,e may observe that this supporapidly acquiring a similarity of feature and  sition, viz. that some links are omitted, will
conformation to the original inhabitants of  allow a much greater antiquity to the race
the soil, though not losing their European  of man, than may at first appear on the face
intelligence and civilization.  Many similar  of the text of Scripture. In fact, if it be cor.
facts are noticed; which prove that changes  rect, the time which it would allow, is almost
of race, thouugh sometimes so slow as to be  unlimited.
CHAPTER  VI.                     the earth, and daughters were born
TAze zwoickedness of te zworld, wzAic/h provoked  unto them
God's wazctr, and cartsed t/ei food. 8 XNoah  2 That the sons of God saw  the
findet  gfrace. It Thle order, form, andZ edP    daughters of men that they were fair;
ofJ the ark,                             and they took them wives of all which
ND  it came to pass, when men   they chose.
began to multiply on the face of        3 And the LORD  said, My spirit
CHAP. VI. 1.  And it came to pass] The  of the first rise of sin, of its terrible manifestinspired writer has now given us an account ation in the murder of Abel, of its further




. 3.]                         GENESIS. VI.                                              65
shall not always strive with man, for shall be an hundred and twenty
that he also is flesh: yet his days years.
developement in the race of the first murder-  stom, Cyril of Alexandria, and Theodoret,
er, and of the separation from the profane of  condemn this view as monstrous and profane.
the descendants of the pious Seth.  He pro-  The rationalistic interpreters (Gesenius, Roceeds in this chapter to assign a reason for  senmiller, Von Bohlen, Tuch, Knobel, Ewald,
the still more universal spread of ungodliness  Hupfeld, Kalisch, Davidson, &c.) naturally
throughout the world, such as to call down  prefer it, as favouring their belief, that the
from  heaven a great general judgment on  first chapters of Genesis exhibit merely the
mankind.                                     Hebrew mythology.  But it is also adopted
2.  the sons of God sa.zv the daughters of  by several of the more orthodox German
men] Wr7ho were the sons of God? and who  commentators, as  Hofmann, Baumgarten,
the daughters of men?                        Delitzsch, Kurtz, who contend that some
I.  Perhaps the most ancient opinion was  very portentous wickedness and excess of sin
that the sons of God were the young men of  must have been the cause of the Deluge; a
high rank (as in Ps. lxxii. 6, "I have said,  complete subverting of the whole order of
Ye are gods, and ye are all the sons of the  God's creation, so that the essential condition
most Highest"), whilst the daughters of men  of man's social life was imperilled and overwere the maidens of low birth and humble  thrown. The chief arguments in favour of
condition: the word for rneJ in this passage  this view are (X) that "sons of God" mostly
being a word used at times to signify men of  mean angels, see Ps. xxix. 1, lxxxix. 7; Job i.
low estate (cp. Isai. ii. 9, v. i ).  According   6, ii. ir, xxxviii. 7; Dan. iii. 25; (2) that
to this interpretation the sin lay in the un-  the "daughters of men" can only be antibridled passions of the higher ranks of so-  thetic to something not human; (3) that the
ciety, their corrupting the wives and daugh-  context assigns a monstrous progeny to this
ters of their servants and dependants, and the  unnatural union; (4) that St Jude and St Peconsequent spread of universal licentiousness.  ter appear. to sanction it; (5) that any ordiThis seems to have been the earliest interpre-  nary promiscuous marriages are not sufficient
tation among the Jews. It is adopted by the  to account for the judgment of the flood.
Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan. by Sym-    3. The third interpretation is that "the
machus, Abenezra, Rashli, Kimchi, and by  sons of God" were the descendants of Seth,
some moderns, Selden, Vorstius, and others.  who adhered to the worship and service of
The chief. objection to this is that there is  the true God, and who, according to some
scarcely proof enough that the name "sons  interpretations of cl. iv. 26, were from the
of God" was ever given to Amen of high rank,  time of Enos called by the name of the Lord,
or that the word for man (Adam) ever meant  and that " the daughters of men" were of the
people of low rank, except when contrasted  race of the ungodly Cain. This was the bewith another word for man (namely, Ish).  lief of the eminent Church fathers, ChrysoCompare vir and  omno in Latin.              stom, Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoret, Augus2a. A second interpretation,' also of great  tine, and Jerome. It was adopted by Luther,
antiquity, is that the sons of God were the  Calvin, and mlost of the refrmners, anld has
angels, who, moved to envy by the connubial  been the opinion of a great majority of mohappiness of the human race, took to them-  dern commentators.
selves human bodies, and married the fair    4.  It was suggested, by Ilgen, that the
daughters of men.  This interpretation  is  Cainites were called "sons of the gods" besupposed to have the support of some ancient  cause of their ingenuity and inventions, and
MSS. of the LXX. (as mentioned by August.  that their intermingling themselves with the' De Civ. Dei,' xv. 23).  It is argued that St  other races of men caused the general corrupJude (6, 7) evidently so understood it, as he  tion of mankind.
likens the sin of the angels to the sin of the cities    5. The author of'the Genesis of the
of the plain, "' the going after strange flesh."  earth and of man' suggests that "' the sons of
The same is thought to be alluded to in 2 Pet.  the gods" (so he would render it) may mean
ii. 4. Philo ('De Gigant.' Vol. I. p. 262); Jo-  the worshippers of false gods. These he looks
sephus (' Antiq.' Lib. I. c. 4, ~ i): and the most  on as a pre-Adamite race, and would render,
ancient of the Christian fathers, as Justin  not "daughters of men," but "daughters of
Martyr, Tatian, Athenagoras, Clement of  Adam." The pre-Adamite worshippers of the
Alexandria, Tertullian, Cyprian, Lactantius,  false gods intermarried with the daughters of
moved probably by their reading of the LXX.  Adam.
and being ignorant of Hebrew, adopted this    Of these interpretations it appears most
interpretation.  The Apocryphal Bookl  of  probable that the right is a modification of 3.
Enoch and some of the Jewish writers also  WYe are not probably justified in saying that
expounded it so.  The later fathers, Chryso-  there were but two races descended from
VOL. I.                                                                      E




66                                  GENESIS. VI.                                  [v. 4, 5.
4 z-There were giants in the earth  children  to  them, the  same  became
in those days; and also after that,  mighty men which were of old, men
when the sons of God came in unto   of renown.
the daughters of men, and they bare           5 ~1 And GOD saw that the wickedAdam, the race of Cain and the race of Seth.   for that he also is flesh]   The modern
Adam may have had many sons; but the his-  interpreters, Gesenius, Vater, Schum, Tuch,
tory of the Cainites is preserved because both  render "Because of his error he is become
of their impiety, and of their ingenuity; that  wholly flesh," or, as Rosenmiller, " whilst
of the Sethites, because at least in one line of  their flesh causeth them to err."  The objecthat race piety and true religion flourished,  tion to the reading of the Authorized Version,
and of them came the family of Noah which  which is that of all ancient Versions and comwas preserved in the ark. There appears to  mentators, is that the particle rendered that
have been a growing corruption of mankind,  never occurs in the Pentateuch, but only in
more rapid, no doubt, in the family of Cain  the later Psalms and other clearly more
than in any other race, but still spreading far  modern books of the Old Testament.  It is
and wide. The line of the Sethites, traced in  in fact an Aramean particle.  But it must
ch. v., alone appears to have kept itself pure,  never be forgotten, that Aramaisms are to be
the little Church of God, in the midst of  expected, either in the most modern, or in
gathering darkness of the world around. This  the most ancient portions of Scripture. There
little Church may well have been called "the  is therefore good reason to adhere to the
children of God," a term by no means limited  Authorized Version.
in Scripture to the holy angels. They alone    yet his days shall be an hundred and
were the salt of the earth; and if that salt  twenty years] Josephus ('Ant.' I. 3, 2) and
should lose its savour, all would become  after him, Tuch, Ewald, Hdvernick, Baumworthless and vile.  W7hen therefore some of  garten, Knobel, Hupfeld, Davidson, &c.,
these "sons of God" went out from  their  suppose that this alludes to the shortening
own little home circle, to make mixed mar-  of the term  of human life.  But all the
riages with the general heathenized races  Targums, Saad., Luther's Version, Rosenm.,
round them, the elements of corruption were  Hengst., Ranke, Hofmann, Kurtz, Delitzsch,
brought from the world into the Church, the  understand "There shall yet be a respite or
Church itself became corrupted, and the sin-  time  for repentance of I2  years, before  the
gle family of Noah appears to have been kept  threatened vengeance shall overtake them."
pure from that corruption, just as afterwards  The normal duration of human life did not
the family of Lot was the only family in as Delitzsch truly observes, become fronm
Sodom free from the pollution and depravity  this time I2o years, and the whole context
of the cities of the plain. The salt had lost  shews, that thejudgment impending was that
its savour.  At all events too little was left  of the Flood, and that it uas  a respite fiom
to purify and to save the world.  It could  that which is here promised, that time might
but save the souls of the few righteous that  be given fr Noah's preaching, and man's
were therein.                                repentance. The only argument, that can
Concerning the giants, see note on v. 4.   even appear to have weight against this in3. My spirit shall not alwuays strive]  Is  terpretation is that of Tuch, repeated by Bp.
rendered, (i) "shall not dwell" by LXX.,  Colenso, viz. that Noah was Soo years old
Vulg., Syr., Onk., Saad.., and others.  (2)  (cp. ch. v. 32) when this saying, "His days
"' Shall not judge," or which probably is the shall be zo0," is ascribed to the Almighty,
same thing, " shall not strive," by Symm.,  ad that he was 6oo years old (c. vii. 6)
Targg. Joh. and Jerus., Rashi, Kimchi, Lu-  when the Flood came.  Hence there were
ther, Rosenmiller, &c. This is the rendering  but Ioo years, not I20 given as a respite.
of the A. V. and is probably correct.  (3)  But there is really no ground whatever for
" Shall not rule," by De STette, Rosenmiiller,  asserting that all which is related in ch. vi.
Maurer, Knobel, IDelitzsch, &c.  (4) "Shall  tool place afer Noah was 500 years old.
not be humbled," Gesenlius, Tuch, &c.  No  XW5hat is said in v. 32 is that Noah was o50
great difference in the general significance of  years old, when his three sons were born.
the passage will be produced by adopting a  The Deluge may have been threatened long
T before this..different translation.  Kimchi, and some of
the German commentators, understand, not    4. There wvere giants in the earth in those
that the Holy Ghost shall no longer dwell or  days, and also after that, &-c.] It is hence
itrive with man, but that the spiritual princi-  argued that by "Sons of God" must be
ple implanted by God in man shall no longer  meant angels or fallen angels; from  the:rule in him, or no longer contend against his  union of whom with the daughters of nian
ani-mal nature.                               sprang the race of giants.  But there is no



v. 6-I5.1                     GENESIS. VI.                                            67
nessof man was great in the earth, and        Io And  Noah begat three  sons,
I Or, /ie  that 1 every imagination ofthe thoughts  Shem, Ham, and Japheth.'iatoZfl. of his aheart was only evil tcontinu-     II The earth also was corrupt bebrew word ally.                                    fore God, and the earth was filled
signifieth    6 And it repented the LORD that  with violence.
not only
t/,e i,2,gi- he had made man on the earth, and        12 And God looked upon the earth,
nation,
but also  it grieved him  at his heart.            and, behold, it was corrupt; for all
theasr- a 7 And the LORD  said, I will de-  flesh had corrupted his way upon the,t ISes..  stroy man whom  I have created from   earth.
2 chap. 8. the face of the earth; tboth man, and      13 And God said unto Noah, The
Matt. I5.  beast, and the creeping thing, and the  end of all flesh is come before me;
tHeb.   fowls of the air; for it repenteth me  for the earth is filled with violence
every day.
tHeb.   that I have made them.                     through  them; and, behold, I will
Tnfto as.,a.  8 But Noah  found  grace in the  destroy 1ithem  with the earth.              H Or, from
eyes of the LORD.                             I4 qT Make thee an ark of gopher the ea,,/h.
9 SW These are the generations of  wood; trooms shalt thou make in the t Heb.
aEcclus. Noah: " Noah  awas a just man and  ark, and  shalt pitch  it within  and' ""aSt
4 Pet7.2. 5. I perfect in his generations, and Noah  without with pitch.
i;srz~,li,    walked with God.                        15 And this is the fashion which
thing said of a race of giants springing from   sentiments are even more than in the later
this union.  " In those days were the (well-  books of Scripture attributed to the Almighty.
known) Nephilinm, in the earth" cannot have  No sound criticism would see any appearance
such a sense, especially when what follows  of myth in this.
is taken into account, "and also after that,    9. These are the genertions of] See note
when the sons of God went in unto the  on ch. ii. 4.
daughters of men, and they bore children
to them, these became mighty men, men of    14. an ark of gopher zwood]  The word
renown."  Evidently the passage shews, that  for ark occurs only here and in Exod. ii. 3,
Niephilim were on earth before this union,  5 of the ark or boat of papyrus or bulrushes.
and afterwards also from  these marriages  This word might perhaps lead us to suppose
sprang men of warlike spirit, who made  that the ark was of the form of a vast chest
theimselves a name. The result was, as when  or coffer, rather than of the form of a ship;
the Israelites afterwards made marriages with  fitted to carry a heavy burden, not to sail
the Midianites, a great and general corruption  over the waters; yet the proportions given
of manners. The warlike character and per-  are those of a ship, though of rather greater
haps bodily strength of these Nephilim is speci-  width than usual, see on v. I5.
ally noted, as explaining what is said in v. I3,    gopher rwood]  It is uncertain what this
that the earth was filled with violence.    wood was.  The Targumists followed by
Nephilim. The LXX., Vulg., Syr., and  many Jewish and Christian commentators
Targum render " Giants;" Aq. and Symm.  rendered Cedar, others Juniper or Box.  Ful"violent men." Most derive the word from a  ler, Bochart and Celsius suggested Cypress, in
root signifying to Jfal; and understand " the  which  thev have been followed by most
rallen " (whether men or angels), or, more  modern commentators. The affinity between
probably,  "those who fall on others," rob-  the roots gophar and cupar is great, and cypress;ers or tyrants. (Aquila, Rosenm., Gesenius,  is a wood well fittedfor ship-building and
Kurtz.) O(thers (among whom  Tuch and  abounding in the parts of Syria next to BaKnobel) derive from a root signifying uwon-  bylon, which many have supposed to be the
der, and understand monsters, prodigies.  We  country inhabited by Noah.
r:-et with the name again Num. xiii. 33, as
mlet wtrith the name ag*~ain N'um. Xiii. 33, as   -rooms] literally nests, different compartthat of one of the Canaanitish tribes, who  ments fitted for the habitation of men and
appear to have been men of large stature,  animals.
as vwere the Rephaim, the Anakim and others.
This very likely was the reason, why the    pitch] more probably asphaltos, bitumen,
word came to be rendered "giants," which  which is said to be particularly suited for
does not seem  to have been its original  closing up the interstices of the timbers and
meamning.                                   making a vessel watertight.
6. it reepented the LORD] All the language    15. this is the fashion]  The actual form
-of this portion of Scripture is suited to the  of the ark is not described. The proporinlfant condition of the world. Hence human  tions only are given, which are not very
E2




68                                GENESIS. VI.                               [v. I6 —9
thou shalt make it of: The length of  a flood of waters upon the earth, to
the ark shall be three hundred cubits,  destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath
the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the  of life, from  under heaven; and every
height of it thirty cubits.                thing that is in the earth shall die.
i6 A window  shalt thou make to            I8 But with thee will I establish
the  ark, and in a cubit shalt thou   my covenant; and thou shalt come
finish it above; and the door of the  into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and
ark shalt thou set in the side thereof;  thy wife, and thy sons' wives with
with lower, second, and third stories  thee.
shalt thou make it.                           I9 And of every living thing of all
17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring  flesh, two of every  sort shalt thou
different from those of "The Great Eastern."  ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish them
Reckoning the cubit at HI inches; the pro-  from above." It is quite possible that it may
portions would be length 525 ft., breadth 87  have been a window  course running for a
ft. 6 in., height 52 ft. 6 in.; those of " The  cubit long under the top or deck of the ark,
Great Eastern" being length 680, breadth 83,  lighting the whole upper story very similar to
depth 58. (See Smith's'Dict. of Bible,' Art.  the clerestory of churches (see Knobel here).
Noah.)  The length of the cubit is doubtful,  The word is translated by Symmachus'a
as there appear to have been 2 or 3 differ-  transparency."  It seems not impossible that
ent measures so called. In all probability  some transparent substance was used. This
it means the length from the elbow to the  may easily have been known to the Anteend of the hand, a variable measure, of  diluvians, who had made the progress in arts
course, but'sufficiently accurate for the pur-  described ch. iv. 21, 22. Perhaps the invenpcses of those simple times. It is mentioned  tion was lost after the Deluge, an event
by the German commentators that Peter Jan-  which must have reduced mankind to almost
sen in I609 built a vessel of the same pro-  original simplicity and rudeness.  It is by
portions as the ark, though smaller, viz.  no means clear, that these windows were all
Length Izo, width 2o, depth i2 ft.  It was  in the roof or deck. They may have been in
found most convenient for stowage, contain-  the gunwales, i.e. on the higher part of the
ing one-third more freight than ordinary yes-  sides of the vessel, like the port-holes of a
sels of the same tonnage, though  it was  modern ship of war.  And, if they were
unsuited for making way quickly through  covered with a transparent substance, it is
the water.                                  quite possible that they may not have been
John Temporarius quoted by Heidegger  confined to the upper story of the ship, as
(' Historia Sacra,' I. p. 338) made a curious  the word "above" does not necessarily mean
calculation, according to which the ark would  on the upper part of the vessel, but may
have afforded abundant room  for all the  mean the top of the window course.
animals then known, and food for their
voyage. Tiele also in his commentary cal-   the door of the ark]  There was naturally
culates that there was room for 7ooo distinct   ut one opening beside the window course,
species. (See Kurtz, I. p. Ioi.)            through which all the inhabitants of the ark
were to be let into it.
16.  A cvindozvs shalt thou make to the
ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above]    19.  tawo of evely sort shalt thou brinzg
There is a great variety of interpretation  into the ark] Of course if we will admit nohere, some rendering a Wvindo-w, others light,  thing out of the ordinary course of nature,
or daylight or a transparent subsfanco, others,  we shall be unable to receive the Mosaic
after the LXX., an inclined roof, or sloping deck.  history of the Deluge.  Yet, even on natural
Much too has been said against the historical  principles, we may in some measure explain
truth of a narrative, which could assign but  Noah's power over the beasts..~When a
one window  of a cubit long to so vast a  terrible  catastrophe is closely  impending,
ship.- The interpretation of Gesenius seems  there is often a presentiment of it in the
evidently the true, viz. that the unusual word  brute creation.  Under the pressure of great
translated " window" (the word in ch. viii. 6, is  danger or great suffering, the wildest animals
quite another word) means really a set of  will at times become perfectly tame and
windows, a window  course, a system  of  tractable.  Most likely too, Noah and his
lighting: and the use of the feminine gender  family would choose pairs of very young
in the pronoun suggests to the same high  animals, just old enough  to  feed themauthority, that the right rendering would be,  selves, as being the most tractable and as
"A window system shalt thou make to the  requiring less room  than those full grown.




v. 20 —4.]               GENESIS. VI. VII.                                             69
bring into the ark, to keep them alive    AND  the aLoRD said unto Noah, 2 Pet.
with thee; they  shall be male and                Come thou and all thy house 5
female.                                    into the ark; for thee have I seen
2o Of fowls after their kind, and   righteous before me in this generaof cattle after their kind, of every  tion.
creeping thing of the earth after his         2 Of every clean beast thou shalt
kind, two of every sort shall come  take to thee by tsevens, the male and t Heb. e-.
unto thee, to keep them alive.             his female: and of beasts that are not ven" SCvC"
21 And take thou unto thee of all  clean by two, the male and his female.
food  that is eaten, and  thou  shalt         3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens,
gather it to thee; and it shall be for  the  male and  the female; to keep
food for thee, and for them.               seed  alive upon the face of all the
-et.. i.   22 -CThus did Noah; according to  earth.
7'      all that God commanded him, so did he.        4 For yet seven days, and I will
CHAPTER  VII.                    cause it to rain upon the earth forty
days and forty nights; and every livXNoa/, wet/e  Hs famimy, ansd t/Ze livinlg  ing substance that I have made will I
lures, euter sito Ike ark.  17 The be. inniuzg,
ilzreesse, anter  coneizznanhce of/ ste fbo i'   tdestroy from off the face of the earth. floH',
If the ark was to hold, not only birds and  here is but an amplification of the former
quadrupeds, but insects and reptiles, possibly  injunction, which had probably been given
eggs or larvae may have been preserved.     Izo years before.  In the first instance it
was said that Noah's family should be preCHAP. VII. 1. Anda the LORD said unto  served together with a pair of every kind of
Joah]  The preceding chapter accounts for  beast. In the second, that, whilst the general
a period of Iso years.  At the beginning of  rule should be the saving of a single pair,
that period, God had declared His will to  yet, in the case of the few clean beasts, there
destroy mankind by a flood, unless they should be preserved, not one pair only but
profited by the time still given them  for  seven. The objection that this was an antirepentance.  Noah is ordered to prepare an  cipation of the Levitical distinction of beasts
ark, the building or which may have occu-  into clean and unclean, is wholly groundless.
pied the greater part of this season of respite   The boundary line between clean and unHe is told at the very first that he and his  clean animals is marked by nature.  Every
sons are to go into the ark, and that a pair  tribe of mankind would distinguish between
of every kind of cattle and fowls and moving  the sheep and the hyaena, between the dove
things should go in with him and be pre-  and the vulture.  Whether animal food was
served alive. In the present chapter we  eaten before the Deluge or not, it is certain
reach the end of the I20 years. The ark  that flocks and herds were fed for the sake of
has been built in the prescribed form  with  their milk and wool, and that of them victims
due preparation  and  capacity.  Noah has  were offered inr sacrifice. This alone would
done according to all that God had com-  separate between the clean and the unclean.
manded him (ch. vi. sz), and now the Lord  It is not improbable, that the distinction even
gives to Noah fuller directions concerning the  of the names " clean and unclean " had been
animals which he was to take with him.      fully established by custom, long before it
2. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to  was recognized and ratified by the Law.
tbhee by sevens, the male and his female]  It is    3. Offowis lsao of the air by sevens] In the
questioned whether there were to be seven or  Samaritan, the LXX. and Syr. this verse runs,
seven pairs of every clean beast. Some think  c " And of all the fowls of the air which are
there were to be only seven, the odd number  clean by sevens, the male and the female, and
being accounted for by the fact that the  of all fowls which are noti clean by two, the
clean beasts were preserved for sacrifice, that  male and the female, to keep seed alive upon
therefore more of them were needed than of  the face of all the earth."  This must have
unclean beasts, and the number seven was  been a very ancient reading; but it appears
adopted as a sacred number. The addition  to have arisen fr-om a gloss or commentary
of the words " the male and his female"  having crept into the text.  It probably gives
(comp. v. 9), seems to favour the belief that  the true sense of the passage.
seven pairs are intended.  In any case there is    4. yet seven days] The I2o years ended
no inconsistency between this verse and ch.  and the ark prepared for the saving of his
vi. 20, "two of every sort."  The command  house, Noah is allowed yet seven days more




70                               GENESIS. VII.                              [v. 5 —5.
5 And Noah did according unto all  Noah's life, in the second month, the
that the LORD commanded him.             seventeenth day of the month, the
6 And Noah was six hundred years  same day were all the fountains of
old when the flood of waters was up-  the great deep broken  up, and the
on the earth.                             1windows of heaven were opened.    U Or,
7 ST And Noah went in, and his            I2 And  the  rain  was upon  the
sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives  earth forty days and forty nights.
with him, into the ark, because of the      13 In  the  selfsame day  entered
waters of the flood.                      Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Ja8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts  pheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's
that are not clean, and of fowls, and  wife, and the three wives of his sons
of every thing that creepeth upon the  with them, into the ark;
earth,                                      I4 They, and every beast after his
9 There went in two and two unto  kind, and all the cattle after their kind,
Noah into the ark, the male and the  and every creeping thing that creepeth
female,  as  God  had  commanded  upon the earth after his kind, and
Noah.                                    every fowl after his kind, every bird
I Or, on   io And it came to pass l after seven  of every  sort.                          t.
te seven/i days, that the waters of the flood were  I5 And they went in unto Noah
day.                                                 I5 And they went in unto Noah'
upon the earth.                          into the ark, two and two of all flesh,
iI e In the six hundredth vear of  wherein is the breath of life.
for gathering all safely into the place of  the ark could rest on Ararat on the i7th'of
refuge before the flood sets in.           the seventh month. Thus the I7th of the
9. two and twmo]  This again is no co-n-  seventh month appears to have been exactly
tradiction to v. a.  The rule was that all  five months of thirty days after the I7th of
animals, clean or unclean, should go in two  the second month. This would make the
and trwo, that rule was not broken, but am-  Noachic year a year of 36o days, correspondplified, by the direction in verse z, that of    h the old Egyptian year, unless any
clean animals there should be more than a  intercalation of five days was made use of.
single pair, viz. seven or seven pairs.    On the presumption that this reckoning is
11. In the  conclusive, it has been argued that the account
11. In the six hundredth year of Neoah's   of the Flood must have been of much later
life, in the second month, the seuenteenth  daly  date than Moses, as the Israelites never learnofj the month] The questions concerning the  ed to reckon by solar time till after the BabyDeluge year are complicated by the uncer-  lonish captivity. It is certain however that
tainty, I. whether the year was the old civil  the Egyptians used solar time long before the
year beginning with the month Tisri in the  date of the Exodus which is answer enough
autumn, or the sacred year which from the  to this difficulty.
time of the Exodus was appointed to begin    With regard to the fort  days' rain it
with the month Abib, the Passover month,  seems pretty certain that those  ee nt adi
seems pretty certain that those were nGt addiin the spring: z. whether the calculation be  tional to  but part of, the 250 days of the
Lunar or Solears teitetowmy -prevalence of the flood. Supposing the above
As regards the first question, we may no-  calculation to be correct, we have the very
tice th ththe year did not begin from Abib, un-  remarkable coincidences that on the i 7th day
til the time of the Exodus, and that even then  of Abib the ark rested on Mount Ararat on
the civil year was reckoned from Tisri. Hence  the I7th day of Abib the Israelites passed
we may naturally conclude, that the year of  over the Red Sea-on the i  7th day of Abis
the Flood began with Tisri, or about the  Christ our Lord rose again from the dead.
autumnal Equinox. If so, the i7th day of
the second month would bring us to the    ewere all the fountains of the great deep
middle of November, the beginning of the  broken up, and the swindoUws of heaven cvere
wintry and rainy season.                   opened]  It cannot be imagined, that this is a
The second question seems at first sight  philosophical explanation cf the flood. Tht
resolved by comparing this verse (vii. i I) with  use of Scripture is always to describe the
vii. 24 and viii. 4, from which comparison it  phenomena of nature, not to trace their hidappears that the flood began on the   7th of den causes. The words here written express
the second month, lasted ISo days, i.e. five  only the effect produced upon man's senses.
months of 30 days, and had subsided, so that  There was a flood of waters from above and




v. 16-4.]              GENESIS. VII. VIII.                                           71
I6 And they that went in, went  the creeping things, and the fowl of
in male and female of all flesh, as God  the heaven; and they were destroyed
had commanded him: and the LORD   from the earth: and CNoah only re- I Wisd io.
shut him  in.                             mained alive, and they that were with 2 Pet. 2. 5.
17 And the flood was forty days  him  in the ark.
upon the earth; and the waters in-           24 And the waters prevailed upon
creased, and bare up the ark, and it  the earth an hundred and fifty days.
was lift up above the earth.                       CHAPTER  VIII.
I8 And the waters prevailed, and   I 7The zalers asszvag'e.  4 The ark reste/zh on
were increased greatly upon the earth;    A4r-lat. 7 The ravenz and te (dove. I5 Noah,
and the ark went upon the face of    beinhY comandedi, i8 goeth forth of fje ark.'20 H-le bdildeth anz alta; and offereth/ sacrifce,
the waters.' I which God accetpeth, andiraomiseth to curse
19 And the waters prevailed ex-           ze earlt/z no more.
ceedingly upon the earth; and all the   A/ND  God remembered Noah, and
high hills, that were under the whole            every living thing, and all the
heaven, were covered.                     cattle that was with him  in the ark:
20 Fifteen cubits upward did the  and God made a wind to pass over
waters prevail; and  the mountains  the earth, and the waters asswaged;
were covered.                                2 The fountains also of the deep'Wisd. io,  21 bAnd all flesh died that moved  and  the  windows  of heaven  were
4'      upon the earth, both of fowl, and of  stopped, and the rain from  heaven
cattle, and of beast, and of every creep-  was restrained;
ing thing that creepeth upon the earth,      3 And the waters returned from off
and every man:                            the earth tcontinually: and after the tHeb.
tHeb.      22 All in whose nostrils was tthe  end of the hundred  and fifty days an.rze-p
the breath
~/,f iet, breath of life, of all that was in the  the waters were abated.
zSf/i'r"f  dry land, died.                           4 And the ark rested in the seventh
23 And every living substance was  month, on the seventeenth day of the
destroyed which was upon the face of  month, upon the mountains of Arathe ground, both man, and cattle, and  rat.
from beneath. The clouds poured down rain,    CI-IAP. VIII. 1.  God remembered Noah]
and the seas and rivers swelled and burst their  As it is said, I Sam. xv. x, " It repenteth
boundaries; so that to one who witnessed it  Me that I have anointed Saul to be king,"
it seemed as though "the fountains of the  i.e. I have decreed to put another in his
great deep were broken up, and the windows  place, and above (Gen. vi. 7), " It repenteth
of heaven were opened."                     Me that I have made man," i.e. I have deter16. and the LORD shot him inl] Bj  sozme  mined to destroy man; so here " The Lord
providential or supernatural agency the door  remembered Noah" does not point to a preof the ark, which could not have been secured  vious forgetfulness, but to God's great mercy
with pitch or bitumen by Noah, was secured  towards him (Theodoret).
and made water-tight.                         2. The fountains, &c.] The clouds were
dispersed by a wind, the waters no longer
17, 18, 19.  In these verses the frequent  increased, and the effect was, as though, after
repetition of the same thought in almost the  the forty days of rain and flood, the founsame words has been supposed by Astruc and  tains of the deep and the windows of heaven
others to evidence the work of different  were closed
hands. Repetition, however, is universal in
a simple state of society, wherever great    A.  Arrat] The belief that this is the
strength of expression is aimed at.  Even in  mountain-range now commonly called Mount
late Hebrew such repetition is familiar, but in  Ararat, the highest peak of which rises nearly
early Hebrew it meets us at every turn.     17,ooo feet above the level of the sea, rests on
a very uncertain foundation.  Far more pro20. Fifteen cubits upyvard] i. e. from 25  bable is the opinion that Ararat was the
to 28 feet: a depth apparently above the  ancient name of Armenia itself, or, rather, of
neighbouring mountains, perhaps depressed by  the Southern portion of Armenia. The name
convulsion, or otherwis?.  See note on the  occurs only here, and in X Kings xix. 37; Is.
Deluge at the end of the eighth chapter.   xxxvii. 38, where it is mentioned as the place




72                             GENESIS. VIII.                               [v. 5 —IO.
tIIeb.     5 And the waters tdecreased con-          8   Also  he  sent forth  a  dove
goietg,, g tinually until the tenth month: in the  from  him, to see if the waters were
decreas-  tenth month, on the first day of the  abated  from   off  the  face of the
month, were the tops of the mountains  ground;
seen.                                       9 But the dove found no rest for
6  T And it came to pass at the end  the sole of her foot, and she returned
of forty days, that Noah opened the  unto him into the ark, for the waters
window  of the  ark  which  he had  were on the face of the whole earth:
made:                                    then he put forth his hand, and took
Heb.      7 And he sent forth a raven, which  her, and tpulled her in unto him into t Hebgoi;',g  went forth tto and fro, until the waters  the ark.                               eto co e..
rItAz,,. were dried up from off the earth.         To And he stayed yet other seven
to which the sons of Sennacherib fled, after  such is the marginal rendering of the A.V.
the murder of their father. Most of the  which though not supported by the VSS. is
ancient VSS. render the word by Armenia  accordant with other Hebrew idioms (see
(Aq., Symm., Theod., Vulg., and in Kings  Quarry,'Gen.' p. 397). Another objection to
and Isaiah the LXX., though in Gen. the  Armenia is found in the statement of Strabo
LXX. leave it untranslated). The Targums  (lib. xI. p. 527), that the vine does not grow
tender Kardu or Kardon, probably meaning  there (cp. Gen. ix. zo). Accordingly HarKurdistan, or the Gordyozan  mountains,  douin contends that Ararat could not have
which run to the South of Armenia, dividing  been in Armenia, but is to be sought for in
the valley of the Tigris from  Iran, on, or  the North of Palestine, where it borders on
near to which mountains, in the Chaldzan  Antilibanus and Syria (' De Situ Parad. terres.'
tradition of the Deluge preserved by Bero-  in Franzii, Edit. Plin.'Nat. Hist.' Tom. x.
sus, Xisuthrus is said to have landed. Jerome  pp. 259, 260). Yet the Io,ooo are said to
('on Isai.' xxxvii.) tells us, that " Ararat is a  have found old wine in Armenia (Xen.'A nab.'
champaign country of incredible fertility,  4. 4, 9); and vines are said at this day to
situated in Armenia, at the base of Mount  grow in the highlands of Armenia, at a level
Taurus, through  which  flows the river  of 4000 feet above the sea. (See Ritter, quoted
Araxes." Moses, Archbishop of Chorene, A.D.  by Knobel, on ch. Ix. 2o.)  Von Bohlen,
46o, the famous historian of Armenia, also  arguing from Gen. xi. z that Ararat lay easttells us that Ararat was a region, not a moun-  ward of Shinar, identifies it with Aryavarta,
tain. A Mohammedan tradition has no doubt  the sacred land to the North of India, to
placed the site of the ark's resting on the  which the Hindoo tradition points. The
top of the highest ridge of the mountain,  Samaritan VS. places it in the Island of
called anciently Macis, by the Persians Coh  Ceylon. Though on such a question cerNoah; and this has been thought to corre-  tainty is impossible, the arguments in favour
spond with what is related by Nicolaus of  of Armenia are very strong.
Damascus, that there was a mountain in Ar-    6. the windoqw] or opening, from a verb
menia called Baris, to which people escaped  meaning to perforate or open. This is quite
in the general Deluge, and on which a vessel  a different word from that used vi. i6. ThL
struck, parts of which long remained (Jo-  A.V. would suggest the idea, that Noah was
seph.' Ant.' I. 4). All this, however, is some-  commanded (vi. i6) to make a window, and
what vague. WVVe can only say with certainty  that now he opened that window; whereas
that, so long as the time when the LXX. VS.  the original expresses the fact, that Noah was
was made, Ararat was believed to correspond  commanded to make a window-course, or
with, or to constitute a part of Armenia.  light system, and that now he opens the winMoreover, general belief has pointed to the  dow  or casement in the ark which he had
necghbourhood of Armenia as the original  made on purpose to open.
dwelling-place of the first fathers of man-                              It has been
kiind.                                       7.  qwuent forth to and fro]  It has been
Yet the claims, not only of the central  supposed that there were carcases of men and
mountain peak, but even of any portion of  beasts floating on the waters, that from them
Armenia, to be the site of Noah's landing-  the raven found a place to light upon, and
place, have been disputed by many. In Gen. also food; and hence, though it returned
xi. z the migration of the sons of Noah to-  from time to time and rested on the ark, it
wards Shinar is said to be I" from the East."  never again sought an entrance into it.
If sol it could not have been from Armenia.    8. a dove]  Noah, finding no sufficient
It is, however, most probable that the right  indication from the raven, now sends forth
rendering should be, as in Gen. ii. 8, xiii. II,  the dove, a bird which rests only on dry
not "from the East" but "eastward," and  places and feeds only on grain.




V. II —20.]                 GENESIS.  VIII.                                           73
days; and again he sent forth  the            i6 Go forth of the ark, thou, and
dove out of the ark;                       thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons'
rI And the dove came in to him   wives with thee.
in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth         I7  Bring  forth  with  thee  every
was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah  living thing that is with thee, of all
knew  that the  waters were abated  flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and
from  off the earth.                       of every creeping thing that creepeth
12 And he stayed yet other seven   upon the earth; that they may breed
days; and sent forth the dove; which   abundantly  in  the  earth,  and  be
returned not again unto him any more.  fruitful,  and   multiply   upon   the
13 qI And  it came to pass in the  earth.
six hundredth and first year, in the          I8 And Noah went forth, and his
first month, the first day of the month,  sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives
the waters were dried up from off the  with him:
earth: and Noah removed the cover-            19  Every  beast,  every  creeping
ing of the ark, and looked, and, be-  thing, and every fowl, and whatsohold, the face of the ground was dry.  ever creepeth upon the  earth, after
I4 And in the second month, on  their tkinds, went forth  out of the t Heb.
the seven and twentieth day of the  ark.
month, was the earth dried.                  20 91 And Noah builded an altar
I5 qT And God spake unto'Noah,  unto  the LORD; and tool of every
saying,                                    clean beast, and of every clean fowl,
il.  an  olive leaf]  Theophr.' Hist.  of the German commentators see in the acPlant.' L. Iv. c. 8, and Pliny,' Hist. Nat.' L.  count of this sacrifice a late interpolation,
XIIi. c. 25, are cited as saying that the olive  derived from the Mosaic or Levitical customs
grew under water in the Red Sea, and bore  of sacrifice.  Delitzsch justly observes that
berries there. AVhether this be so or not, it  in most of the traditions of the Deluge, exis probable that the olive may live more  ternal to the Israelites, as the Phoenician,
healthily under a flood than most other trees.  Indian, Greek, &c., a sacrifice forms part of
It is eminently hardy, and will grow in a  the legend. The pretence, therefore, that in
favourable soil without care or culture. The  the Biblical narrative this was an afterthought
following passage illustrates the extraordinary  of a Jehovist interpolater riust be gratuitous.
powers of adaptation to circumstances pos-    21.  a sweet sa'vonr]  Lit. "the savour
sessed by some plants.  " The formation of  of satisfction   or delectation,"  the word
sprouts gives the plant the means of attach-  Nichoach, " satisfiction," having a reference
ing itself to the most varied conditions, of  to Noach "brest."  Cp. like expressions in
persisting through periods of continued cold  Lev. ii. I2, xxvi. 3I; Ezek. vi. I3, xx. 41.
and heat, damp or drought, according as the  The gratitude of Noah, and his faith as maniclimate may produce, and guarding against  fested by the sacrifice, were acceptable to
death in all cases of frustrated seed-develop-  God.
ment......Thus Littorella lacustris, which
never flowers under water, maintains and in-    for the imal ntion  of man's  heart is
creases itself by lateral runners, year after  evilfrom his youth] In ch. vi. A, it is writyear, at the bottom of the lakes of the Black  ten that God's anger was nloed,   because
Forest, and only comes into flower when the  every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
water retreats in the driest years, which  was only evil continually."  Here, on the
scarcely occur oftener than once in ten " (A.  contrary it is said, that " the Lord said in His
Braun,'IRejuvenescence in Nature,' p.I, 42,  heart, I will not curse the ground any more
The olive (Ole        for man's sake, for the imagination of his
Ray Society).  The olive (Olea Europea) is heart is evil from his youth."  The Germans
generally a plant of the Mediterranean: other  discover an inconsistency between the words
discover an inconsistency between the words
species occur at the Cape of Good Hope,  of the Elohist in vi., and those of the Jethe Himalava mountains, and elsewhere.
the  Himalaya mountains and elsehere.  hovist here. Soi-me have endeavoured to recon-.pluckt of] rather, as Vulg., fre shl.   cile these passages by translating "although"
20.  every clean beast]  Probably not  instead of "for."  The true solution is, that
every beast which was afterwards permitted  in the first instance (ch. vi. S) the actual sinto the Israelites for food, but those which  fulness of man, the constant tendency of every
were esteemed clean for sacrifice; viz. oxen,  imagination of his thoughts to evil, is represheep and goats, doves and pigeons. Some  sented as moving the anger of God, and tend



74                              G  ENESIS.  VIII.                           I[v. 2 L 22.
and offered  burnt offerings on  the  is evil from  his youth; neither will I
altar.                                    again smite any more every thing living,
I Heb.     2I And the LORD smelled ta sweet  as I have done.,Z-'t.    savour; and the LORD  said in his          22 tVVAhile, the  earth  remaineth, i Heb.
chap. 6. heart, I will  not again  curse the  seedtime and harvest, and cold and thtdysal
chp..  ground  any  more  for man's sake;  heat, and  summer and winter, and teear 
19.     for the aimagination of man's heart  day and night shall not cease...
ing to man's destruction; but in the present  creatures, and how He is moved not to curse,
instance (ch. viii. 2I) the Lord is described as  but to pity and to bless those who turn to
considering the feebleness of his nature, and  Him with penitent hearts, and faith in that
pitying that natural propensity to evil, which  great Sacrifice, of which Noah's offering was
every man inherits at his birth.            a type and a prophecy.
The word in the original for imagination,    22. seedtime and harvest] The Deluge
is the word which the Rabbins used to ex-  bad confounded earth and sea. There reignpress that desire of evil, which results from   ed as it were one long winter, almost one unoriginal sin (Buxt.' Lex. Chald.' p. 973; Ges.  broken night, over the whole world. But' Thes.' p. 6  9). Accordingly in ch. vi. we see  thenceforth the Lord decreed, that seasons
God's righteous indignation against the hard-  should follow in their course, the season of
ened, impenitent, unbelieving sinner. Here,  sowing and the season of reaping, the cold
on the contrary, we read of the Lord's com-  and the heat, the summer and the winter, the
passionate kindness to His feeble and erring  day and the night.
NOTE  A  on CHAP. vIII.  THE DELUGE.
i.  Was it historical?  (a) Traditions among all races of men. (/ff  Explicable only on
the supposition of historical foundation.    2.  WVas it universal?  (a)  How to
judge of the narrative. (3) Universal probably to mankind. (y) Geological difficulties. (8) Rationale of Deluge.
Two great questions concerning the Flood of  the second trial, returned no more. Judgirng
Noah naturally present themselves: i. Is the  then that the flood was abated, he took out
account of it historical or mythicali. WVas  some of the planks of the vessel, and found
the Deluge partial or universal?           that it had stranded on the side of a moun1. Many of the Germans, and according  tain. Whereupon he and all his left the ship,
to Davidson "all good critics" have aban-  and offered sacrifice to the gods. The place
doned the historical character of the narra-  of landing was in Armenia; where part of the
tive. The physical difficulties are supposed  vessel still remained, from which the people
to be insuperable. The whole therefore is  of the country scraped off the bitumen and
said to be "mythical, embodying the old  made amulets (see Cory's'Ancient Fragm.'
Hebrew belief in the retributive character of  pp. 22, 29, ist Edition). Of the Aryan tradisin" (Davidson,' Introd. to O. T.' Vol. I. p.  tions, first, the Greek is to be found in the well
187).  How then, it may be asked, does it  known classical legend of the floods of Ogyges
happen, that so many nations retained a recol-  and Deucalion. Pindar ('01.' Ix. 37), first
lection of the same great event?  The races  mentions the flood of Deucalion. The acof mnankind have been divided by modern  count is given at length by Ovid; by whom
Ethnologists into Semitic, Aryan (Iranian or  the reason assigned is the general prevalence
Indo-European) and Turanian.  It'will be  of violence and wickedness ('Metam.' I. 240,
found, that in all these races there are tradi-  &c.). Apollodorus (Lib. I.) ascribes the detions of a flood, which destroyed all mankind  luge of Deucalion to the determination of
except one family. The Semitic account is  Jupiter to destroy the men of the brazen age.
to be found in the Bible and in the Chaldaean  And Lucian (' De Syra Dea') speaks of it as
tradition, which is the nearest to that of the  having destroyed the whole human race. The
Bible, and which comes down to us in the  Persian tradition may be that embodied in
fragments of Berosus preserved by Josephus  the Koran, though there probably incorpoand Eusebius. According to that tradition,  rated with the Scriptural narrative.  The
Sisuthrus or Xisuthrus being warned of a flood  Hindoo tradition represents Manu as warned
by the god Cronus, built a vessel and took  by a great fish to build a ship, that he might
into it his relatives and near friends, and all be preserved during an impending deluge.
klinds of birds and quadrupeds. The vessel The ship was saved by being lashed on to the
was five stadia in length and two in breadth.  horn of the fish, and was ultimately landed on,TVhen the flood had abated, he sent out birds,  a northern mountain.  (See the tradition at
which first of all returned to himi, but, after  length, Hardwick,'Christ and other Masters,'




GENESIS. VIII.                                            75
p. ii. ch. iii. ~ 3.)  The Phrygian story of  The existence of cosmogonies, more or less
Annakos (supposed to be Enoch) who foretold  alike, may be easily conceived of. But, that
the Deluge, is singularly confirmed by a medal  in all parts of the world, among races the
struck at Apamea (called Apamea Kibotus, i.e.  most remote and dissimilar, there should preApamea, the Ark) in the reign of Septimius  vail a belief, that, after man was created on
Severus, on which is depicted an ark or chest  the earth, all men but one family, were defloating on the waters. Two people are seen  stroved by a Deluge, is intelligible only on
within it and two going out of it.  On the  the supposition, that some such event actop of the ark a bird perches, and another  tually did occur; an event simply, graphically
flies towards it with a branch between its  and accurately related in the Book3 of Genesis,
feet, on the vessel; in some specimens of this  but variously distorted and disguised in the
coin, are the letters NO2. It can hardly be  legends of the heathen world.  An universal
doubted, however, that this coin, and the tra-  belief, not springing directly from some indition connected with it, come somewhat  stinctive principle in our nature, can with
directly from  Hebrew  sources. The third  reason only be ascribed to tradition of an
division of the Human Race, the Turanian,  historical fact. The only other explanation
has also everywhere traditions of the Deluge.  suggested is utterly impossible, viz. that in
In China, Fa-he, the reputed founder of  many parts of the world among the more
Chinese civilization, is represented as escap-  civilized and the most barbarous alike, reing from  the waters of a deluge, and he  mains of marine animals found beneath the
reappears as the first man at the produc-  Earth's surface had suggested the same betion of a renovated world, attended by his  lief, viz. that there must have been an univerwife, three sons and three daughters (Hard-  sal Flood. Even supposing this possible, how
wick, Part iii. p. i6). The inhabitants of  does this account for the similarity of the
the Polynesian Islands, who are probably of  tradition not generally only, but in minute
Malay origin, especially the Figi islanders,  particulars in the remotest parts of the inhave distinct accounts of a deluge, in which a  habited world?
family, eight in number, was saved in a    2. The second question, VWas the Deluge
canoe (Hardwick, InI. I85).  Similar tradi-  Universal? has long divided those who betions prevailed throughout the continent of  lieve that it was historically true, and that it is
America, the aboriginal inhabitants of which  correctly related by Moses. The most literal
are now generally believed to be all of one  interpretation of the language, especially of
stock, and by their physical and linguistic  the words, Gen. vii. I9, "all the high hills
peculiarities are by the greatest ethnologists  that were under the whole heaven, were
identified with the Turanian races of Asia.  covered," would lead to the conviction that
(See Bunsen,'Philos. of Univ. Hist.' Vol. II.  it must have been universal.  Yet it is cerp. II2.) In Central America, the inhabitants  tain, that many, who accept implicitly the
of Mexico had paintings representing the De-  historical truth of the narrative, believe the
luge, a man and his wife in a bark or on a  inundation to have been partial.  Of such
raft, a mountain rising above the waters, and  we may distinguish two classes of writers,
birds, the dove, the vulture, &c. taking part  ist those who think that all the then living
in the scene. In North America, the Chero-  race of man was destroyed; but that those
kee Indians had a legend of all men destroyed  regions of the earth not then inhabited by
by a deluge, except one family saved in a  man were unaffected by the Flood  2and,
boat, to the building of which they had been  those who  believe that the Flood swept
incited by a mysterious dog, which recalls the  away only that portion of mankind with
Indian fable of the friendly fish (see Hard-  which the Sacred narrative is chiefly conwick, Part IIi. pp. I6I —64).               cerned; and which had become corrupted
Thus among the more civilized countries  and vitiated by the promiscuous marriages
of Europe, and in well nigh every portion of  mentioned in ch. vi. i, 2.
Asia and America, in every different race of    In order to place ourselves in a fair posimankind, we find traditionary accounts of  tion for judging of these questions, it may be
this great catastrophe, and of the miraculous  well to consider the nature of the narrative,
deliverance of a single family. The mythical  and the common use of language among the
interpreters insist, that every nation had its  Hebrews.  And if we do so carefully, we
mythic age, its mythic traditions, and that as  shall surely be led to conclude, that the
we discover the same myth of a deluge in all  Deluge is described as from  the point of
other nations, we naturally conclude that  view of an eye-witness.  It has been so much
the Hebrew narrative is in like manner my-  our wont to look on all the early portions of
thical. But how can it be explained, that in  Genesis as a direct revelation firom God to
all parts of the world, people have stumbled  Moses, that we rather consider the picture to
on the same myth?  VWhat is there, apart  be drawn, if we rmay speak so, as from the
from tradition, that so commends the fable of  point of view of the Omnipotent.  Yet, even
a Deluge and of the saving of one household  if we are right in esteeming all as a simply
to the imagination and invention of mankind?  direct revelation, it may be, that, the reve



76                              GENESIS. VIII.
lation was given in prophetic vision, and that  Noah and denunciation of judgment on marnMoses wrote, not merely what he had heard,  kind. He describes the building and the
but also, and rather, what he had seen. But  proportions of the ark. He narrates the 40
we may remember too, that the custom  of  days of rain and the swelling of the rivers
Scripture is to refer historical records to the  and of the ocean, in the words which most
evidence of eye-witnesses. This is very much  forcibly describe that great catastrophe (Gen.
the case in the New Testament. The Apostles  vii. i ).  He then describes how the waters
and Evangelists constantly claim to have been  prevailed, till the ark was raised up and
present at the scenes which they relate (see  floated over them  (v. I8).  At length, not
especially Luke i. I, 2; Joh. xix. 35, xxi. 24;  only did the ark float, but the highest hills
Acts i. 3; I Cor. xv. 3-8; 2 Pet. i. I6; i Joh.  disappeared (v. I9); nothing was visible
i. I); and they relate them as those scenes ap-  under the whole vault of heaven. but sea and
peared to them. The baptism of Jesus, the  air. The very words are " All the high hills
transfiguration, the walking on the waters, the  under the whole heaven were  covered."
multiplying the loaves and fishes, the Cruci-  T\rhere the ark was at this time, or where
fixion, the Resurrection, the Ascension, the  Noah and his family had been dwelling
tongues of fire at Pentecost, are all simply  before, we cannot tell. The country may
painted as they who were present saw and con-  have been mountainous, and so, in order to
ceived of them. And this is equally true in the  hide the hills from  view, the waters must
Old Testament. Take for instance the much  have been very deep, or it may have been a
debated miracle of the sun and the moon  plain country, as many think the region
standing still at the command of Joshua.  round about Babylon, with few hills in sight
The phenomenon is related just as the con-  and those not of great altitude; in which
tending armies witnessed it.  It is not re-  case but a moderate depth of water would
ferred to its natural causes, whatever they  have sufficed to cover all the highest hills
may have been. That merely is related  under the whole canopy of heaven. The
which actually appeared.  At Joshua's com-  inhabitants of the ark probably tried the
mand, and of course by Divine intervention,  depth of the Deluge by a plumb line, an
the Sun and the Moon, which would natu-  invention surely not unknown to those who
rally have seemed to describe an arc in the  had acquired the arts of working in brass and
heavens and to descend into the west, thenir,  iron (ch. iv. 22), and they foulnd a depth of
on the contrary, seemed to stand still in the  r5 cubits.  Then all flesh, all that was on
midst of heaven. Now just so is the Delulge  the dry land, died. And, as the gathering of
described in Genesis. It is pictured, as it  the waters is thus described, so in ch. viii.
would have presented itself to the eyes of  the subsidence is given in the same simple
Noah and his family. Moreover, on  the  graphic style. At length, on a specified day,
principle iust mentioned, it is in the highest  the ark rests. It is found that it had stranddegree probable, that the description is really  ed near to some of the hills in a generally
that which was given by one of such eye-  plain country, perhaps to the south of Armewitnesses.  It would have been very strange  nia, perhaps in the north of Palestine, perif no such description had been given and  haps somewhere in Persia, or in India or
preserved.  Shem  would almost certainly  elsewhere. The waters continually decrease,
have related it, over and over again, to his  it may be the vapoqirs also clear off; and at
children and grand-children. They would  length the summits of the surrounding hills
have treasured it up in their memories and  become visible, though the plain country still
have handed it on. As has been so notori-  is flooded. Noah then sends out the Raven.
ously the case among later nations (see Max  It goes to and fro, but returns no more to
Muller's'Sans. Lit.' p. Soo) the very words  the ark. No account is given of its wanderof the original narrative would be carefully  ings; what appears to Noah and his family
recorded from  father to son, whether in  is all that we learn. So too of the Dove.
writing or by oral tradition; and so, in all  It goes forth and, finding no rest, comes back
probability, we have in Genesis the very  again.  Once more it is sent out. Whither
syllables in which the Patriarch Shem  de-  it goes no one can tell, all that appears is,
scribed to the ancestors of Abraham  that  that it has found dry land. It brings back
which he himself had seen, and in which he  an olive leaf in its beak; and Noah judges
had borne so great part. The Divine autho-  that the waters were abated.  From first to
rity  of the narrative would be no more  last the description is just that which Shem
affected by this, than the authority of the  or Noah would have given of all that he had
Gospel of St Mark is affected by the pro-  himself seen.
bable fact that St Mark relates that which    If this be the true explanation  of the
St Peter communicated to him as the result  narrative, we may then more readily see
of his own ocular and aural experience.  how the question of the universality of the
Let us then view it thus.  One of the eight  Deluge stands. The words used may certainhuman beings saved in the ark relates all that  ly mean that the Deluge was universal, that it
he saw. He mentions first God's warning to  overwhelmed, not only all the inhabited parts




GENESIS. VIII.                                            77
of Asia, but also Europe, Africa, and America,  with the ungodly; that the inhabited world
Australia, New Zealand, and Oceanica: most,  was consequently filled with violence, and
if not all, of which Islands and Continents  that God had decreed to destroy all mankind,
were probably then without human inhabit-  except one single family; that therefore all
ants.  Yet, if only the inhabited world was  that portion of the earth, perhaps as yet a
inundated, and all its inhabitants destroyed;  very small portion, into which mankind had
the effect would have been the same to Noah,  spread, was overwhelmed by water. The ark
and would, most likely, have been described  was ordained to save the one faithful family;
in the same words. The purpose of God  and lest that family, on the subsidence of the
was to sweep away the sinful race of Adam   waters, should find the whole country round
That purpose would have been effected by a  them a desert, a pair of all the beasts of the land
Deluge, which covered the whole of that  and of the fowls of the air were preserved along
portion of the globe, which may be called  with them, and along with them went forth to
the cradle of the human race. The words of  replenish the now desolated continent.  The
the narrative are perhaps no stronger than  words of Scripture (confirmed as they are by
would have been naturally used to describe  an universal tradition), appear, at least, to
such a catastrophe. The most striking is  mean as much as this. They do not necesthe passage, "All the high hills under the  sarily mean more.
whole heaven," ch. vii. I9.  But this is no    The geological objections to the history of
more than such expressions as, " I begin to  the Deluge are chiefly such as the discovery
put the dread of thee upon the nations that  of loose scoria on the tops of the extinct volare under the whole heaven," Deut. ii. 25:  canoes of Auvergne and Languedoc, the im-' all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to  possibility of the waters extending to the
buy corn," Gen. xli. 57: "as the Lord thy  height of IS cubits above the mountains, and
God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom   the permanent distribution of the animal kingwhither my lord hath not sent to seek thee,  dom over the different parts of the world.
&c.,"  I Kings xviii. Io.  WVhen the ancients    It'is said the loose scoria on the mountains
speak of the whole world, they mean at most  of Auvergne and Languedoc must have been
the whole world as known to the ancients.  swept away by an universal flood.  It is,
When they speak of the whole heaven, they, however, quite conceivable, even if the Deluge
mean the Pwhole visible canopy or expanse of extended to those regions and to the tops of
the sky; and so, when they speak of the earth,  those hills, that the gradual rise and subsithe land, the dry ground, they mean at times  dence of the waters may have left there revery limited portions indeed of the earth's  mains of volcanic action, which are not so
surface. The strictest interpretation of the  light as has been asserted, almost untouched.
record, according to the habit of speech  The difficulty in conceiving of the waters
among Semitic nations, will allow us to un-  rising I5 cubits above the highest mountains
derstand that a Deluge prevailed, extensive  is a difficulty in the mind of the objector, not
enough to destroy all the living race of man,  in the text of Scripture, which nowhere
and to cover with water the Whole visible face  speaks of such a rise. (See the earlier Dart of
of nature.  It is another question, whether  this note.) The possibility of vegetation surwe may admit, that any portion of the human  viving has been considered in the note on ch.
race, except the eight persons miraculously  viii.  I. The most serious difficulty in conpreserved, can have escaped.  Some suppose  ceiving of a Flood universal (not only to the
the descendants of Cain to have peopled  world inhabited by man, but to the whole
China, and not to have been involved in the  surface of the globe) is in the history of the
Deluge, which, in their belief, was sent on  distribution of the animal kingdom.  For expurpose to destroy those apostate and dege-  ample, the animals now  living in South
nerate Sethites, who had defiled the chosen  America and in New Zealand are of the same
race  by  intermarrying  with  unbelievers.  type as the fossil animals which lived and died
Others think that the Nephilim of Numb.  there before the creation of man.  Is it conxiii. 33 were descendants of the Nephilim of ceivable that all should have been gathered
Gen. vi. 4, who must therefore have survived  together from  their original habitats into
the Deluge.  Others again, as the authors  the ark of Noah and have been afterwards
of'The Genesis of the Earth and Man,' redistributed to their respective homes?  The
and of'Adam  and the Adamites,' suppose  difficulty, however, vanishes entirely, if the
that there was a pre-Adamite race of men, sacred narrative relates only a submersion of
and that the history in Genesis relates only  the human race and of its then dwelling-place,
the fortunes of the Adamites, having no re-  a sense of that narrative, which exact critiference to the rest.  WTithout pronouncing  cism shews to be possible, perhaps even the
too hastily on any fair inference from  the  most probable, irrespective of all questions of
words of Scripture, we may reasonably say,  natural science. The cavils against the single
that their most natural interpretation is, that  window, the proportions of the ark, &c.
the whole race of man had become grievously  have been considered in their respective places.
corrupted, since the faithful had intermingled  The peculiar unfairness of the objections




7S                                GENESIS. IX.                                    [v. I-3.
urged is to be found, not so much in the ob-  vain.  Yet surely we can see, that the great
jections themselves, as in the insisting at the  moral lesson and the great spiritual truths
same time on an interpretation of the Scrip-  exhibited in the Deluge and the ark were
ture narrative, on principles which would not  well worth a signal departure from the combe applied to any other history whatever.  mon course of nature and Providence. The
Not only are we required to expound ancient  judgment was far more marked, the deliand Eastern phraseology with the cold exatAt-  verance far more manifestly Divine, than they
ness applicable only to the tongues of Nor-  would have been, if hills or trees or caves
thern Europe, but moreover to adhere to all  had been the shelter provided for those to be
the interpretations of past uncritical ages, to  saved. The great prophetic forepicturing of
believe that there was but a single window in  salvation from a flood of sin by Christ and
the ark, that the ark stranded on the top of a  in the Church, of Christ would have lost all
mountain, within sight of which it very pro-  its beauty and symmetry, if mere earthly
bably never sailed, that the waters of the  refuges had been sufficient for deliverance.
Flood rose three, or even five miles above the  As it is, the history of Noah, next after the
sea level, and other prodigies, which the sa-  history of Christ, is that which perhaps most
cred text, even in its most natural signifi-  forcibly arrests our thoughts, impresses our
cance, nowhere either asserts or implies.    consciences and yet revives our hopes.  It
If it be inquired, why it pleased God to  was a judgment signally  executed at the
save man and beast in a huge vessel, instead  time.  It is a lesson deeply instructive for all
of leaving them a refuge on high hills or in  time.
some other sanctuary, we perhaps inquire in
CHAPTER   IX.                       2  And  the fear of you and  the
I God blesseth Boah. 4 Blood and mtrder are  dread of you shall be upon every beast
forbidden. 8 God's covenant, 13 signfled r6  of the earth, and upon every fowl of
thei            oa rlenisthe ai upon 8  a reeise                          upon the world,
2o 5lantelh a vineyard, ei is drunken, and  the air, upon all that moveth upon the
msocXked of his son, 25 czrseth Canaan, 26 bless-  earth, and upon all the fishes of the
ct/ Shies, 2 7rayetzfr7aaphet, 29 anddiet.   sea; into your hand are they delivered.
A   ND   God blessed Noah and his            3 Every moving thing that liveth
Caihap. I,  9  sons, and said unto them, aBe  shall be meat for you; even as the
&..7.  fruitful, and  multiply, and replenish    green  herb  have  I  given  you  all chp 
the earth.                                 things.
CHAP. IX. 1. Arind God blessed Noah, &c.]  man's supremacy and power over the inferior
Noah, now become the second head of the  animals.  It has been a question whether
human family, receives a blessing, the former  there had been a permission of animal food
part of which is but a repetition of the bless-  or not. The almost universal opinion of the
ing first pronounced on Adam, ch. i. 28.  ancients was that only vegetable food was
The sin of man had frustrated the intent  then permitted; and if we remember that
of the first blessing. The earth had been  most probably the early race of men lived
filled with licentiousness and violence, fatal  in a warm and genial climate, and that even
to the increase of mankind, and at length  now some of the Eastern nations are conbringing down a judgment, which swept all  tented and healthy upon a vegetable diet,
but one family away.  Now all begins anew;  we shall be the more disposed to acquiesce
and God repeats the promise of fecundity,  in an interpretation which seems to do less
which sin had made of none effect.           violence to the text.  It cannot, however,
be said that there was firom  the first a
2. the fear of you and the dread of you]  prohibition of animal food.  From very early
The small remnant of mankind just rescued  times we find sheep and cattle kept at least
from the Deluge might have perished from   for milk and wool, and slain for sacrifice,
the attacks of wild beasts, which had pro-  ch. iv. 2, So.  Whether then it had been
bably been young and tame in the ark, but  conceded or not from the first; it is likely
were now adult or adolescent and returning  that those who fed and sacrificed sheep, like
to their own wild natures. The assurance  Abel, who kept cattle, like Jabal, or who
given in this verse was therefore a very need-  handled instruments of bronze and iron, like
ful comfort to Noah and his family.          Tubal Cain, would in the course of time
have learned the use of animal food. If so,
3. Every moving thing that liveth shall  we may consider the words of this verse as
be meat foryou]  In the primal blessing (ch.  a concession to the infirmities or the necesi. 28, 29, 30) there had been mention of  sities of mankind, coupled with restrictions,




. 4 —Io.]                    GENESIS. IX.                                           79
~Lev. I7.  +4  But flesh with the life thereof,      7 And  you, be ye fruitful, and
14~.   which is the blood thereof, shall ye  multiply; bring forth abundantly  in
not eat.                                  the earth, and multiply therein.
5 And surely your blood of your           8 qT And  God spake unto Noah,
lives will I require; at the hand of  and to his sons with him, saying,
every beast will I require it, and at    9 And I, behold, I establish my
the hand of man; at the hand  of  covenant with you, and  with your
every man's brother will I require the  seed after you;
dMatt. 26.life of man.                               io And with every living creature
dMt. 2    -6 dWhoso sheddeth man's blood,  that is with  you, of the  fowl, of
by man shall his blood be shed: efor  the cattle, and of every beast of the
chap. I. in the image of God made he man.    earth  with  you;  from  all that go
27.    eite y         o                                  wmlt                           go
which may have been called for by the savage    6. /hJoso sheddeth man's hloodl Here the
eractices of the Antediluvians.            manner in wlich God will require the blood
s4.  wfe  ith the life thtereof  Rashi and  of the murdered man is specified. There
shall be a legal retribution, life for life.
some other Jewish commentators understand
a prohibition of the practice of eating flesh    for in the image of God made he man]
cut from the living animal, and so Luther  The slaughter of brute animals was pertranslated, " the flesh which yet lives in its  mitted, though wanton cruelty towards them
blood."  The monstrous wickedness of the  was forbidden; but man was made in the
Antediluvians, by which the earth was filled  image of God, and to destroy man's life has
with violence, may have taken this form  in it the sin of sacrilege. Moreover, the
among others; and these words without doubt  image of God implies the existence of a percondemn by implication all such fiendish  sonal, moral, and therefore, in the creature,
cruelty. They prohibit also the revolting  a responsible will. Though  the holiness,
custom  of eating raw flesh; for civilization  which was part of the likeness, was lost in
is ever to be a handmaid to religion. But  the fall, still the personality and the moral
over and. above all this, there is reference to  being remained. To destroy the life of such
that shedding of blood, or pouring out of  an one is therefore to cut short his time of
life, which formed so great a part of typical  probation, to abridge his day of grace, to
sacrifice, and which had its full significance  step in between him and his moral Governor,
in that pouring out of the soul unto death,  to frustrate, as far as may be, God's purposes
which won for man the resurrection to eter-  of love and mercy to his soul.  Hence the
nal life. We need not look for any scientific  sin of murder is the greatest wrong which
explanation of the connection between life  man can do to his brother man; perhaps also
and blood here, or in the subsequent legal  the greatest insult which man can offer to
enactments (e.g. Lev. iii. 17, vii. 26, xvii. Io;  Him  who is the loving Father of all men.
X Sam. xiv. 32; Ez. xxxiii. 25). The ancients  The Jews held that there were seven preno doubt generally believed the blood to be  cepts given to Noah, which were binding on
the seat of the life; but it is also literally  all mankind, to be observed by proselytes of
true, that the shedding of blood is equivalent  the gate and by pious Gentiles, viz. abstinence
to the destruction of life; and so in these  from murder, from eating the flesh of living
early injunctions the God of mercy taught  animals, from  blasphemy, idolatry, incest,
the value not only of human, but of all  theft, and the submission to constituted auanimal being, and along with the forbidding  thority; the first two and the last are exof manslaughter forbade wanton cruelty and  pressly enjoined in the words recordea d in
indifference to the sufferings of His brute  this chapter, the other four result from the
creatures.                                 dictates of natural religion.
5. And surely your blood of your lives will   9.  I establish my covenant with you, and
I require, &c.] There have been many pro-  -withyour seed after you] A new covenant is
posed translations of this verse. The A.V.,  now made with all the human beings rescued
which accords with the most important an-  from the flood, and through them even with
cient versions, no doubt gives the true mean-  the beasts of the field, that there should not
ing.  "The blood of your lives" probably  again be a flood to destroy all flesh. This,
signifies "your life blood."  Under the law   perhaps, more than any other part of the
the ox that gored was to be killed (Ex. xxx. history, seems to prove that the Deluge ex28), which seems a comment on this passage.  tended at least to the destruction of all the
In Ps. ix. x2 God is said to be the requirer  then living race of man.
of blood, a phrase id~nti*:.l with that made    10. from all that go out of the ark, to
use of here.                               every beast of the earth] An idiomatic ex



So                               GENESIS.  IX.                             [v. I I-2 T.
out of the ark, to every beast of the       i6 And the bow  shall be in the
earth.                                   cloud; and I will look upon it, that
fIsai. 54.   i i And  I1 will establish my cove-  I may remember the everlasting cove9.      nant with you; neither shall all flesh  nant between God and every living
be cut off any more by the waters of  creature of all flesh that is upon the
a flood; neither shall there any more  earth.
be i flood to destroy the earth.            I7  And  God  said unto  Noah,
12 And  God  said, This is the  This is the token of the covenant,
token of the covenant which I make  which  I  have  established  between
between me and you and every liv-  me and all flesh  that is upon  the
ing creature that is with you, for per-  earth.
petual generations:                         I8 Sq And the sons of Noah, that
i3 I do set my bow in the cloud,  went forth of the ark, were Shem,
and it shall be for a token of a cove-  and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham  is
nant between me and the earth.           the father of tCanaan.                  t He'
FEcclus.    I4 gAnd  it shall come to  pass,    19 These  are the three  sons of C;''..'a
43- I  - when I bring a cloud over the earth,  Noah: and of them  was the whole
that the  bow  shall be seen- in the  earth overspread.
cloud:                                      20o And Noah began to be an hus5 And I will remember my cove-  bandman, and  he  planted  a vinenant, which is between me and you  yard:
and every living creature of all flesh;     21 And he drank of the wine, and
and the waters shall no more become  was drunken; and he was uncovered
a flood to destroy all flesh.            within his tent.
pression, signifying that the covenant shall region or continent, so the flood had reduced
extend not only to those that go out of the  mankind almost to the simplicity of the days
ark, but also to every beast of the earth.  of Adam. Still, without doubt, many of the
Not only those preserved in the ark, but all  inventions of the antediluvian race would
other animals are Lto be interested in this pro-  have been preserved by the family of Noah;
rnise. From  which we can hardly fail to  and probably among the rest the cultivation
infer that the destruction of the lower animals  of the vine.
was confined to a celtain district, and not    21. he drank of the wine]  Many have
general throughout the earth.
general throu.ll —p —ghout the earth-.    supposed that Noah was the discoverer of
13.  I do set mny bo} in th.e clotd]  it,  the art of making wine, and even that he
I have set rIVy bow. The covenant was  was the great planter of the vine. So they
an universal covenant; the sign of the cove-  have palliated his faultby ascribing it to
nant wras therefore ato be one visible to all  ignorance of the effects of wine. It is hardly
nations, and itntelligible  to  all minds. It  probable that, with all the difficulties of his
appears at first sight as if the words of the  new position, Noah should have invented fersacred record implied that this was the first  mentation. More likely is it, that the inger-ainbow ever seen on earth. But it would  nious and intemperate descendants of Cain
be doing no violence to the text to believe,  had long before discovered it. Noah may
that the rainbow had been already a faiiiar  have been but little used to strong drink, and
sight, but that it was newly constituted the  hence may not have known that it would so
sign or token of a Covenant, just as after-  soon overcome him; yet we may well follow
wards the familiar rite of baptism and the  the wisdom of Calvin, and say, "Leaving all
cusstomary use ofm bread  and  wire were by  this in uncertainty, let us learn from Noah's
our Blessed Lord ordained to be the tokens  intemperance how foul and detestable a vice
and pledges of the Neve Covenant in Christ  drunkenness is."  The Holy Scriptures never
between His  Heavenly FNaether and every  conceal the sins even of God's greatest saints,
Christian soul,                            and the sins of saints are sure to meet with
chastisement. Noah's piety is plainly recorded.
20. Noah began to be an husbandman]  It is also plainly recorded that he fell into
Husbandry had been much used before the  sin, whether partly of ignorance or wholly of
flood; but nowv there was a new condition of  infirmity; that sin brought with it shame,
the earth, and all was, as it were, begun  and, as is so often found, was the'occasion of
again.  As an incursion of barbarians has  sin to others, and led on to consequlences
often swept away the civilization of a whole  disastrous to the descendants of all those who




v. 22-27.]                   GENESIS. IX.                                             81
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan,          24 And Noah awoke from his wine,
saw  the nakedness of his father, and  and knew what his younger son had
told his two brethren without.             done unto him.
23 And Shem  and Japheth took a            25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan;
garment, and laid it upon both their  a servant of servants shall he be unto
shoulders, and  went backward, and  his brethren.
covered the nakedness or their father;        26 And  he  said, Blessed  be the
and their faces were backward, and   LORD  God of Shem; and  Callaan lo....
they  saw  not their father's naked-  shall be nhis servant.                          i
ness.                                         27 God shall 1 enlarge Japheth, and su....'.
in any degree shared in the guilt'of it. Noah  it has sometimes been thought, that Japheth
sinned, Ham sinned, perhaps, too, Canaan  was the eldest and Ham  the youngest, the
sinned.  So there was a heritage of sorrow   order being changed for the sake of putting
to the descendants of Noah in the line of  first Shem, who was the progenitor of the
Ham, to the descendants of Ham in the line  chosen seed.  Yet many writers of great auof Canaan.                                  thority, both Jewish and Christian, under22. Ham, the father of Canaan]  The  stand by the term here used, "his younger
great difficulty in this history is that Ham   (lit. little) son," not his son Ham, but his
appears to have sinned, and Canaan is curs-  grandson Canaan.  (So Levi Ben Gerson,
ed.  Some see in this simply the visiting  Abenexra, Theodoret Procopius,Joseph Sea
of the sins of the fathers on their children.  liger, &c.). This would correspond with the
But then why only on one of those children?  tradition mentioned by Origen (see last note),
A propriety has been discovered in the curse  that the sin of Ham was shared by Canaan,
on Canaan, as he was Ham's youngest son,  or perhaps chat Canaanl vas the guity perjust as Ham was the youngest son of Noah.  son, his father only not having condemned,
Yet this is all gratuitous and without autho-  but rather joined in his wickedness.
rity from the text of Scripture.  It has been  25. Cursed be Canaan, &c.]  In the patrithought, once more, that Noah's prophecy ex-  archal ages, when there was no regular order
tended to all the posterity of Ham, but that  of priests or prophets, the head of the family
only that portion which affected Canaan was  was the priest, and these blessings and curses
preserved by Moses, in order to animate the  spake they not of themselves, but being high
Israelites in their wars against the Canaanites;  priests they prophesied.  Yet we can hardli
others again have conjectured, that in the  fail to see also in these histories a lesson, that
prophecy of Noah, instead of " cursed be  a parent's blessing is to be valued, a parent's
Canaan," we ought to read, " cursed be Ham   curse to be dreaded.
the father of Canaan," but such conjectures,        Blesed be the LORD God of Shem]
without authority of MSS. are quite inadmis-    26. Ble     ssed be the LD God of  S
sible. The extreme brevity of the narrative  Tile plopecy here  assumes the form  of a
renders it impossible to explain it fully.  No-  thanksgiving to God, frol  whom  all holy
thing is said, save only that Ham  saw -his  desires and good counsels come, and who had
father naked, and then told his brethren. Wie  put into the heart of Shem to act piously. At
are even left to infer that he told this scoff-  the same time, t is clearly implied, that the
ingly; but for the curse that follows, we  Lord, JEHOVAH, shoull be very specially
the God  of Shem, which  was fulfilled in the
might suppose that he had only consulted  section of the descendants of Abraham  to
them as to how best to conceal their father's
shame. Something therefore there plainly is,  b the peculiar people of God.
which requires to be supplied in order fully    Canzaan s/hall be his servant]  Noah foreto clear up the obscurity.  Yet this cannot  tells the subjugation of the land of Canaan
now be discovered.  Conjecture only is pos-  by the people of Israel, when the Canaanites
sible.                                      should beco-ne servants of the descendants of
Origen mentions as a tradition among the  Shem.
Jews, that Canaan first saw the shame of his
grandfather and told it to his father.  In that    27.  God shall e e Japheth  There is
case, it may have been that the chief sin lay  a paronomasia on the name Japheth, which
with Canaan, and hence that he especially in-  probably signifies " enlarged."  The Hebrew
herited the curse, Mliany cornmenitators have  word " shall enlarge" is, neglecting the vowel
adopted this opinion, and it would certainly  ponts, letter for letter the same as the word
solve most of the difficulty.               Japheth. The prophecy looked forward to
the wide territory which was assigned to the
24. His yoznger son]  Ham  is always  descendants of Japheth, reaching from India
named second among the sons of Noah; but  and Persia in the Esast to the remotest bounVOL 1.                                                                     F




g2                            GENESIS. IX. X.                                 [v. 28,1.
he shall dwell in the tents of Shem;                 CHAPTER  X
and Canaan shall be his servant.
28  il And Noah lived  after the    Th1eeviteroizs of Noah. a The sonsof9z.
flood three hundred and fifty years.        Jst /z. 6 The sons of        Se11am. 8  irod the
29 And all the days of Noah were
nine hundred and fifty years: and he         T OW   these are the generations
died.                                      1.     of the sons of Noah, Shem,
daries of Europe in the West, and now         How fully all these predictions have been
spreading over America and Australia.      carried out in the history of Asia, Europe
and he shall dzvell in the tents of Shem]  and Africa, hardly need be said.
(I) The Targum  of Onkelos, Philo, Theo-    28.  And Noah lived, &c.]  These two
doret and some other interpreters, Jewish and  verses seeIn the natural conclusion of ch. v.
Christian, understood He i.e. God, shall dwell  but are disjoined from  it in order to insert
among the descendants of Shem." (2) Many  the history of the life of Noah.
more, (e.g. Calvin, Bochart, Rosenm., Tuch,
Del., Reinke, Keil), following the Targum of    CHAP. X. 1. Now  these are the generathe Pseudo-Jonathan, consider Japheth to be  tions]  From the history of Noah the sacred
the subject of the proposition. Jonathan's para-  narrative proceeds to the genealogy of the
phrase is' "The sons of Japheth shall be pro-  sons of Noah. It is admitted on all hands
selyted and dwell in the schools of Shem,"  that there exists no more interesting record,
and the majority of Christian interpreters un-  ethnological and geographical, independently
derstood the prophecy to be similar to that  of its Scriptural authority.
in Isai. lx. 3, 5, " Gentiles shall come to thy    The genealogy traces the origin of all nalight, and kings to the brightness of thy rising  tions from a single pair. The human race de-...the abundance of the sea shall be converted  scended from Adam had been destroyed by
unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall  the flood, with the exception of Noah and
come unto thee."  Nearly all those nations  his family. Though it is quite possible to
whose history and language shew them to be  interpret the language of the sacred narrative
Japhetic have been converted to a belief in  consistently with the belief that the Deluge
the religion of the God of Shem, which has  was not universal, it at least appears most
long been the religion of all Europe, and  probable that the man-inhabited world was
which is now mtaking way even among the  submerged.  And again, although some have
Aryan races of Asia.  (3) It has been sug-  contended that the different races of man are
gested by some, though with little ground of  so dissimilar, that they must have descended
probability, that instead of "tents of Shem,"  from  different primitive stocks; yet the inwe should render "tents of renown," the taber-  quiries of naturalists and physiologists at prenacles of Japheth being spoken of as famous  sent tend rather to diminish than to increase
and illustrious.  Of the three interpretations,  the number of distinct species, both in the
(2) may be pronounced somewhat confidently  animal and the vegetable world, and so to
to be the true. By that the continuity of  mate it even the more certain that human
the whale prophecy is preserved. The first  beings constitute but one species deducible
part, v. 25, refers only to the descendants of  from  a single pair. The same anatomical
Ham and Canaan. The second is the blessing  structure, especially of the skull and brain,
on Shem, with a -repetition of the condem-  the same intellectual capacities, though differnation of Canaan. The third is the blessing  ently developed in different nations, the same
on Japheth, concluding also with the condem-  general duration of life, the same liability to
nation of Canaan.                           disease, the same average temperature of the
The prophecy then embraces the following  body, the same normal frequency of the pulse,
particulars: I. That the world should be  the fruitful intermarriage of all races, and
divided among the descendants of Noah, but  that with no instinctive natural repugnances,
that Japheth should have the largest portion  are manifest indications of an unity of species
for his inheritance.  2. That the descendants  (Del.). From the time of Blumenbach (whose
of Shenm should preserve the knowledge of the  book I De natura  generis humani unitate' is
true God, and be specially chosen to be His  still a standard work on this subject) down to
inheritance and His peculiar people. 3. That  the present day, the most eminent physiologists
the descendants of Japheth should ultimately  agree in considering these and similar argudwell in the tents of Shem, that is, according  ments well nigh conclusive in fayour of the
to Jewish interpretation, should learn from   unity of the human race. (Consult especially
the descendants of Shem  the knowledge of the  Prichard,' Phys. Hist. of Mankind;' Smyth,
true God. 4. That Canaan, and perhaps other' Unity of Human Race;' Quatrefages,' L'unit6
Hamitic nations, should be depressed and  de i'espece humaine,'and his report on'Anthro-educed to a condition of servitude.        pologie'). To these physiological considera



V. 2.1                         GENESIS. X.                                           83
Ham, and Japheth: and unto them   and Magog, and Madai, and Javan,
were sons born after the flood.           and Tubal, and Meshech, and TiT Chron.   2 nThe sons of Japheth; Gomer,  ras.
tions we may now add the evidence to be de-  This is the more to be noticed, when we
rived from human language.  " It was a pro-  learn that in savage tribes those who speak
found saying of William  Humboldt, that  the same dialect will sometimes, by separaman is man only by means of speech, but that  tion and estrangement, become in the course
in order to invent speech, he must be man al-  of a single generation unintelligible to each
ready"  (Lyell,'Antiquity of Man,' 468).  other.
This alone is an argument for the unity of    Certain rules are to be observed for the
that race which is distinguished from all other  clearing up of some difficulties in the geneanimals by the possession of articulate lan-  alogy of this chapter.  T. Though some noguage. But, moreover, the greatest philolo-  tice may be taken of the progenitors of all
gists of the present day seem to be approach-  nations, yet naturally those families, more or
ing the conclusion that the evidence of com-  less connected with the Hebrews, are the
parative grammar, so far as it goes, is in fa-  longest dwelt upon. 2. Whereas all are said
vour of the original unity of human language.  to  have settled and dispersed themselves
" One of the grandest results of modern com-  "after their families in their nations," it will
parative philology has been to shew that all appear that only the larger division by nalanguages belonging to one common stock-   tions is traced in the case of more remote
and we may say, enlarging this view, all lan-  peoples, whereas those related to or borderguages of the earth-are but scattered indica-  ing on the Hebrews are traced both according
tions of that primitive state of human intel-  to the wider division of nations, and the
lect, and more particularly of the imitative  narrower of families.  3. Although the first
faculty, under the higher excitement of poeti-  division of the earth is spoken of as made in
cal inspiration, in which the language origi-  the time of Peleg, and some families may be
nated, and with which every language remains  traced no farther than up to the time of such
connected, as well through the physiological  division, yet the developement of those more
unity of the human race, as through the his-  specially treated of is brought down to the
torical unity of the family to which it more  time of Moses. 4. For none, however, must
especially belongs" (Meyer ap. Bunsen,' Chris-  we seek a very remote settlement, as the
tianity and Mankind,' Vol. IIs. p. I63).  So  original dispersion could not have extended so
writes Dr Meyer: and Prof. Max Mluller  far. 5. In some cases the names of nations
says, "These two points Comparative Philo-  or tribes appear to be substituted for the
logy has gained.  (I) Nothing necessitates  names of individuals, such as the Jebusite, the
the admission of different independent begin-  Hivite, the Arkite &c., very probably also such
nings for the material elements of the Tura-  as Kittim, Dodanim, Mizraim &-c.; and even
nian, Semitic, and Aryan branches of speech:  perhaps Aram, Canaan and the like. This
nay, it is possible even now to point out radi-  may be accounted for in more than one way.
cals, which, under various changes and dis- "The purpose of the sacred writer was to
guises, have been current in these three  trace nations and families, rather than to give
branches ever since their first separation. (z)  a history of individuals, and he therefore
Nothing necessitates the admission of different  speaks of nations known by name to the
beginnings for the formal elements of the Tu-  Israelites as begotten by (i. e. descended from)
ranian, Semitic, and Aryan branches of speech;  certain patriarchs, in preference to tracing
and though it is impossible to derive the  their descent through unknown individuals.
Aryan system of grammar from the Semitic,  Perhaps too individual patriarchs and progeor the Semitic from the Turanian, we can  nitors had become known by tradition to
perfectly understand how, either through in-  posterity, not by their own original names,
dividual influences, or by the wear and tear  but by the name of the place they had settled
of grammar iW its own continuous working,  in, or by the name of the tribe which they
the different systems of grammar of Asia and  had founded  and ruled.  The origin of
Europe may have been produced" (Max  names is often very obscure, and it has been
Muller, bid. pp. 479, 480).  Once more, al-  common in most rude societies for persons to
though it may not be possible simply to as-  be called after places or properties.  It is
sign all Semitic tongues to the descendants of  quite possible that even the very earliest patriShem, Aryan to the descendants of Japhet,  archs, as. Shemn, Ham  and Japheth, Canaan
and Turanian to the descendants of Ham; it  and the like, may have been known in after
is still observable that comparative philology  ages by  names which  adhered  to them
seems to have reduced all languages to three  through  ever's in their history or places
distinct stocks, even the rapid degeneracy of  where thev  had fixed themselves.  Thus
barbarian dialects not wholly obscuring their  Shem may have been the man of rame, the
relationship to one of these three families.  most renowned of Noah's sons, Ham, the
F2




84                                   GENESIS. X.                                     [v.3.
3 And the sons of Gaomer; Ash-  kenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
man who settled in the cwarms  regions of  the Scythians in the reign of Cyaxares, they
Africa, Japheth the father of the fair people of  made an irruption into Asia Minor, from
Europe, or perhaps the man whose descend-  which  they  were driven  back  again  by
ants spread abroad mor'e widely than the   Alyattes.  Their name, which then nearly
rest. Canaan again may have been the dwell-  disappears in Asia, is recognized again in the
er in losw lands, while Aram may have derived   Cimbri, who occupied the Cimbrian Chera title from having chosen the high lands for  sonesus and other parts of the North of
his home. This theory, if true, would not  Europe, and in the great Celtic tribe of
interfere with the historical character of this  Cymry, the ancient inhabitants of Britain
Chapter; especially if we consider that He-  and the present inhabitants of NWales.
brew may not have been the primitive tongue,    Magog] The statement of Josephus (' Ant.'
in which case all these names must either  s. 6), that the descendants of Magog were
have been translations of the original names,  the Scythians is generally accepted as true.
or names by which the bearers had become  In Exek. xxxviii. 2, 14; xxxix. a. 6, we find
known  to  posterity.  WVe have many ex-  IMIagog as the name of a people inhabiting
amples in Scripture of persons changing their  "the sides of the North" closely connected
names or adopting new names from  events  with Meshech the Moschi, and Tubal, the
in their history, e.g. Abram  changing into  Tibarenes, with a prince named Gog, having
Abraham; Esau to Edom; Jacob to Israel;  horses and armed with bows, which correSaul to Paul, &c., &c. The whole number  sponds with the local position and military
of families noticed in this chapter amounts to  habits of the Scythians. The Scythians, ac7o; tut it is to be oseved that in somine  cording to their own traditions, lived first in
cases the descent is traced only to the grands  Asia near the rinver Araxes, afterwards they
sons, in other cases to the great grandsons  possessed the whole country to the ocean and
of Noah: in the family of Shem only, the  the lake Maotis, and the rest of the plain to
ancestor  of the  Hehrews, the descent is  the river'Tanais (Diod. Sic. It. 3). Herodotus
traced through six generations.              (I.  Io3-Io0) relates their descent upon
2. Japheth]  It is doubtful whether Ja-  Media, and Egypt, till they were surprised
pheth was the eldest or the second son of  and cut off at a feast by Cyaxares.  From
Noah, see in v. 2i.  He is generally men-  their intermixture with the Medes, the Sartinned last in order, Shem, Ham and Japheth.  matians appear to have arisen, and from them
but fi-om ix. 24, it is generally inferred that  the Russians.  See Knobel.
Hami was the youngest. In this genealogy he    AIladal]  The Mledes were called Alada
occurs first, the reason being probably this;  by themselves, as appears from  the arrowShern is reserved to the last that his desceti  headed inscriptiols, changed in the Semitic
may be traced to a greater length, and Han   to Madai, and by the Greeks to Medoi.
last but one, because his descendants were  They dwelt to the S. and S. W. of the Casthose most closely connected with the de- pian, and coming over to Europe in small
scendants of Shem. The etymology of t        pe lparties mingled with the Scythians, whence
name Japheth should seem fromix. 27 to be  sprang the Sarmatians.
firom  the root Pathah, to extend.  But the
language in ix. 27, may be only an example    Ja'van] From Javan was " Ionia and tle
of the paronomasia so common in Hebrew   whole Hellenic people" (Jos.'Ant.' i. 6).
poetry;  and Gesenius, Knobel and others  Cp. Is. lxvi. xI9,  Ezek. xxvii. I3, Daniel  viii.
prefer to derive from raphah, to be fair, from   21, where Alexander is called king of Javan;
the fair complexion of Japheth and his de-  Joel iii. 6, where "the sons of the Javanites"
scendants.                                   are put for the Grecians (vies'AXalcov), Zech.
ix. I3.  Greece is called Ionia in Egyptian
Goazmer  Josephus n ('Ant.'. 7) says that  hieroglyphics and Yuna in a Cuneiform inGomer was the ancestor of those whom the  scriptin  at Persepolis (Gesen. s.v.).  The
scription at Persepolis  (Gesen. s.v.).  The
Greeks called Galatians, who were formerly  Ionians were the most Eastern of the Helcalled Gomarites. The descendants of Gomer lenic raCes, and so were the best known to
have accordingly been generally identified with  the Asiatics. The course of migration had
the Celtic race called in ihe time of Homer
Cimmerii, who are first known as inhabiting  parts of Greece.
the  Chersonesus Taurica, which still retains the name Crimea.  (See Herod. Iv. Iz,    Titbal, and M11/eshech] These names con45. asch.'Prom.' V. 72.-)  The relation of  stantly occur together; see Ezekl. xxvii. 13,
Gonmer to Magog and Madai corresponds  xxxii. 26, xxxviii. 2, 3, xxxix. I; where we
with the original juxtaposition of the Cimmne-  find them joined with the invading army of
rians to the Scythians and Medes, the Cim-  Gog and Magog, and going with Javan to
merians dwelling  first on the confines of  Tyre to purchase slaves and vessels of brass.
Asia and Europe.  Being driven thence by  Meshech is by Josephus said to be the father




v. 4.1                          GENESIS. X.                                              85
4 And the sons of Javan; Elishah,  and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
of the Cappadocians, who had, he tells us,  Tanais.  Knobel conjectures that the Celts
a city called Mazacha, and to Tubal he  or Gauls were the descendants of Riphath,
traces the Iberians who dwelt between the  and that they first lived near the CarpaEuxine and the Caspian.  Later writers have  thians, which he identifies with the Montes
long identified Meshech with the Moschi, in-  Riphzi.
habitants of the Moschian mountains between     Togarmabh]  Mentioned again Ez. xxvii.
Armetla, Iberia and Colchis.  Bochart was   4., xxxviii. 6.  Josephus identifies with the
the first to identify Tubal with the Tibareni,  Phrygians, Bochart with the Cappadocians.
who dwelt on the Southern shore of the Eux-  Michaelis, and after him most moderns, preine towards the East and near to the Moschi.  fer the Armenians; so Rosenm., Gesen,
Knobel considers the Tibareni to be con-   W7iner, Knobel, &c.  The Armenians themnected with the Iberians: Tubal= Tibar=   selves traced their origin to Haic the son of
Iber.                                        Thogoreu or Thorgau (Mos. Choren.. 4,
Tiras]  Josephus identifies the descendants  ~ 9).  Ezekiel (xxvii. 14) attributes to Toof Tiras with the Thracians.  So Jerome,  garmah great traffic in horses; and Strabo
the Targums, and most modern commenta-  (xl. 13, ~ 9) speaks of the Armenians as
tols.  Tlhe Getx and Daci, north of the  famous for breeding horses.  Modern philoDan ube, belongecd to the Thracian  stock.  logists consider the Armenian as an Aryan
According to Grimm  and some other anl-  or Indo-European language, which correthorities, the Getae were the ancestors of the  sponds with the descent from Japheth.
Goths, which would immediately connect the    4.  And the sons ofa Javan; Elishah] EzeThracian and Teutonic races together.  The  kiel (xxvii. 7) mentions the isles of Elishah
chief reason, however, for considering Tiras  as those whence the Tyrians obtained their
the ancestor of the Thracians seems to be the  purple and scarlet.  Some of the Targums
similarity of the names.  Accordingly other  identify with Hellas, in which they are folresemblances have been found. Tuch for in-  lowed by Michaelis, Rosenin., and others. Jostance is in favour of the Tyrseni or Tyr-  sephus (' Ant.' I. 6) identifies with the JEolians,
rheni.                                        which is the view adopted by Knobel.  Bochart preferred the Peloponnesus, which was
3. the sons of Gonzer; Ashkenaz] There  famous for its purple dye, and of which the
is little to guide us to the identification of  most important district was called Elis.
Ashkenaz, except the name and the mention  VWhichever view  he adopted, there is little
of Ashkenaz Jer. li. 27 in company w.ith  doubt that the descendants of Elishah in the
Ararat and MIinni, which makes it probable  time of Ezekiel were a maritime people of
that the descendants of Ashkenaz dwelt near  the Grecian stock.
the Euxine and the Caspian.  Bochart sug-    Tarshish] By Josephus identified with Targests Phrygia, where were the lake and river  sus in Cilicia; by the LXX. (Is. xxiii. I,
Ascanius.  The Rabbi Saadias says the Slavi.  &c.), Theodolet, and others, with Carthage;
T'arg. of Jonathan gives Adiabene.  Some,by Eusebius, who is followed by Bochart and
have discovered a resemblance of sound in  most moderns, with Tartessus in Spain. TarScandinvian, and also to Saxon. The modern  shish, from the various notices of it, appears
Jews called Germany Ashkenaz; and Knobel  to have been a seaport town towards the
considers this to be the true interpretation of  WVest (cp. Ps. lxxii.; Is. lx. 9); whither the
thie name; though etymologically he finds in  Phoenicians were wont to traffic in large
it the race of Asa or the Asiatics, Ash-genos.  ships,  "ships of Tarshish"   (see I K. x. 22,
TIhese Asa or Asiatics he thinks, dwelt in  xxii. 48; Ps. xlviii. 7; Is. ii. I6, xxiii. x, I4,
Asia Minor (comp. Ascania), and after the  Ix. 9) sailing from the port of Joppa (Jon. i.
T'oian war migrated towards Pannonia and  3, v. a)  It as a most wealty and lloutheice torwTards the Rhine.  The Scandi-  rishing mart, whence came silver, iron, tin,
navians traced their origin to Asia, and called  and lead (Ps. lxxii. io; Is. lxvi. Ig; Jer. x. 9;
the home of their gods Asgard.  It has been  Ezek. xxvii. I2, 25). The name Tartessus is
conjectured by Bochart and others, that the  identical with Tarshish, the t being constantly
Black sea was called the sea of Ashkenaz,  substituted by the Syriac for the Hebrew
which sounded to the Greeks like Axenos,  sibilant (cp. Bashan= Batan  a, Zor=Tyre,
their original name for it, and which by an  &c.). The Spanish were among the most
euphemism they changed to Euxeinos.           famous of the Phoanician colonies, and were
Rip,ltl]  Josephus says Paphlagonia, in  specially rich in metal (Diod. Sic. v. 3' —38;
which he is foloowed by Bochart, Le Clerc,  Arrian. II. I6; Plin.'H. N.' III. 3; Mela, II.
&c   Most modern commentators compare  6, &c.); of which colonies Tartessus was thle
the Riphxan mountains, which the ancient  most illustrious.  It appears to have been
geographers (Strab. vilI. 3, ~ I. Plin.'I-I, N.'  situated at the mouth  of the Guadalquiver
I n.  i. MNela, I. I 9, &c.) place in the remote  (Strabo, IIr. p. 148). Two passages in ChroNorth.  MIela (II. z) places them East of the  nicles (z Chron. ix. 2t, xx. 36) seem  irre



86                                 GENESIS. X.                                    [i.5 -— 7.
5 By these were the isles of the           6 qT 6And the tons of Ham; Cush, b Chron
Gentiles  divided   in  their  lands;  and Mizraim, anc Phut, and Canaan. I' 
every one after his tongue, after their       7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and
families, in their nations.                Havilah, and  Sabtah, and  Raamah,
concilable with this, and induced St Jerome  the Egyptian name for Egypt, probably the
('in Jerem.' x. 9), and after him Bochart and  same word as Ham, signifies blackness, with
others, to suppose that there must have been  perhaps some notion of heat (see Plutarch,
another Tarshish in the Indian Ocean, which'De Iside et Osiride,'~ 33). The blackness is
could be approached by the Red Sea, an opi-  now generally admitted to refer to the soil,
nion now generally rejected. Knobel supposes  denoting its colour and fertility.  (See Exthat the original inhabitants of Tarshish were  cursus.)  In Ps. lxxviii. 5I, cv. 23, cvi. 22,
the Tusci, Tyrsenians, or Tyrrhenians, a Pe-  Egypt is called the land of Ham, which seems
lasgic, though not Hellenic race, inhabiting  to confirm  the belief that Kem  (in Greek
great part of Italy, Corsica, and Sardinia, and  Chemia) is the same as I-Ham. The descendthat very probably Tartessus in Spain was a  ants of Ham  appear to  have colonized
colony or offshoot from these people.        Babylonia, Southern Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia,
Kittim (or Chittim)]  Identified by Jose-  and other portions of Africa.
phus with Cyprus, in which we meet with        Much has been written of late about the
the town of Cittium; by Eusebius, and after  Hamitic languages. The frequent mixture
him by Bochart, with the inhabitants of the  of the Hamites with the descendants of Shem
part of Italy contiguous to Rome.  In I  makes it very difficult to discern clearly beMaccab. i. I Alexander is said to come from   tween their tongues.  Bunsen considers ChaChittim, and (I Macc. vii. 5) Perseus is called  mitism to be the most ancient form of SemiKing of the Kitieans, which induced Michae-  tism, in fact Semitism, before the Hamites
lis and others to suppose the Chittim  to be  and Shemites thoroughly parted off from each
the Macedonians.  Most modern interpreters  other and firom their primeval dwelling-place.
seem to acquiesce in the opinion of Josephus,  The ancient Egyptian has a Semitic base with
that Cyprus (see Is. xxiiLi, Ia) may have  Turanian (negro) infusion, but the Hamitic
been a chief seat of the Chittim, but add  races have so frequently been conquered,
that probably their colonies extended to the  morally and physically, by the descendants
isles of the Eastern Mediterranean (see Jer.  of Shem  and Japheth, that their original
ii. Io; Ezek. xxvii. 6). So Gesen., Knobel,  languages have been lost or corrupted by the
Delitz., Kalisch.                            prevalence of Semitism or Aryanism.
Dodaniin] has been compared with Do-    Csh  The name Cush is generally transdona in Epirus.  By Kalisch it is identified  lated Ethiopia.  The etliopians a  he time
with the Daunians. Gesenius suspects Doda-  of Josephus were called Chus i Cushites
nim to be equivalent (perhaps by contraction)  Of Josephus were called Chusi  Cushites
- /  and that is still the Svrwiac name for the
with nDardanihi= Dardani or Trojanst  an  Abyssinians. There is, however, good reason
opinin which lie confirms by the autho14lty   to believe, with Bochart, and others, that
of the Bereschit Rabba on this verse. Knobel             with Bochart, and others, that
the first home of the Cushites was Chuzisconjectures that we have traces of Dodanim  tan and the adjoining parts of Southern Asia,
both in Dodona (a name which he says pre-  from  whence they spread in different direcvailed  through  Illyricum   and  Northern  tions     main    d  havin  crossed te   a
Greece) and also in Dardania and the Dar-  and settled in      y thiopia
dans. There is another reading in I Chr.  and settled iny some of those, pia. ho a
i. 7, and here also (Gen. x. 4) in the Gr. and  Certainly some of those, who are here
Samaritan, viz. Rodanin, Rhodii, the people  mentioned (e.g. Raamah, Sheba, Dedan, vv
of Rhodes.                                   7, 8) as the descendants of Cush, established
colonies in Asia.  Some passages in the Old
5.  isles of the Gentilesl The word here  Testament seem to require that we should
rendered Isle very probably meaning originally  place Cush in Asia, as Gen. ii. 13; so also
"habitable region" (Is. xlii. 15), is generally  Exod. ii. i6, 21, compared with Num. xii. r;
used either of islands or of places on the sea  in the latter of which Zipporah is called a
coast.  On the whole of this verse see Jos.  Cushite, whilst in the former she is said to be
Mede, Bk. x.'Disc.' XLIX. L. By the phrase   a daughter of the priest of Midian. This
"Isles of the Gentiles" were understood those  connects Cush with iMidian, which was in
countries of Europe and  Asia Minor to  Arabia Felix, near the Red Sea.  Again, in
which the inhabitants of Egypt and Palestine  Hab. iii. 7 Cush and Midian appear to be
had access only by sea.                      connected. In Job xxviii. I9 we read of "the
6. Ham] It is generally thought that the  topaz of Cush."  Now, there is no reason
name means warm, which is to be compared  to suppose that Ethiopia produced topazes,
with the Greek Aithiops (Ethiopian), which  but Pliny (xxxvII. 8) speaks of an island ot
has a similar significance. The word Kern,  Arabia in the Red Sea as f.amous for this




v. S.]                        GENESIS. X.                                              87
and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raa-           8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he bemah; Sheba, and Dedan.                     gan to be a mighty one in the earth.
gem, which is also noted by Dioidorus (III.  were near neighbours; there may have sprung
39). All this connects Cush with Asia, and  from  them  a mixed race, which spread toseems to prove that the first settlement of the  ward Tyre and Sidon and dispossessed, partCushites was in Asia.  Their subsequent  ly also intermingled with, a Semitic race oriemigration into Africa, so that one division  ginally inhabiting the region of Palestine and
was on the East and the other on the WXrest  Phcenicia.' As Abraham and his descendants
of the Gulf of Arabia, may account fbr  appear to have changed their native Aramean
the language of Homer, who speaks of the  for the Hebrew of Palestine, so very probably
A,;thiopians as divided into two distinct tribes  the Hamitic Canaanites, long mingled with
('Od.' I. 23), a distinction observed by Strabo  Shemitic races, acquired the language of the
('Geogr.' I. p. zi), by Pliny (lib. v. c. 8), and  children of Shem. The whole character of
by Pomponius Mela (lib. I. cap. 2).          the Canaanitish civilization and worship was
Mzra    is udoubtedly Egypt. The o  Hamite, not Semitic.  Like the sons of Seth,
_Mizraim7 is undoubtedly Egypt. The origiln and meaning of the word has been muc~h  the sons of Shem lived a nomadic, pastoral
life; whilst, with a like resemblance to the dedebated, but with no certain conclusion.  If   e; c hidst, with a like resemblance to the der
the singular be the Hebrew Mazor, it should  scendants of Cain, the  arrites were builders
thesignify  a mobend or foHtebrew pa     Gesenius  of cities and fortresses, and rapidly grew into
signify a mound or fortifed place.  Gesenius
and others prefer the Arabic Meser, a limit  prosperous, mercantile races, with an advanced, but corrupt civilization.  Compare
or boundary.  The dual form has been supposed to indicate Upper and Lower Egypt.  Egypt, Babylon, Nineveh, Tyre, Sidon, and
It perhaps may be the rendering or transcrl-ip-  Arabs &.
tion of Mes-ra-n "children of Ra," i.e. of         v
the Sun. The Egyptians claimed to be sons    7. the sons of Cush; S&ba] Seba appears
of Ra. (See Excursus.) It certainly seems as  to be the name of a commercial and wealthy
if the name belonged rather to a race or na-  region of Ethiopia; see Ps. lxxii. io; Is. xliii.
tion than to a man; and, therefore, the son  3, xlv. T4.  In the last passage the Sabeans
of Ham  here named is probably designated  (Sebaim) are called "men of stature;" and
as the founder or ancestor of the Egyptians  Herodotus says'hat the Macrobian Ethioor people of Mizraim.                        plans "were reported to be the tallest and
Phut] The name Phut occurs several times  comeliest of men" (ImI.  o).  According to. osephus (I Ant.' II. Io), Mero[ was anciently
in the Old Testament, and generally in con-  called Seba until Cambyses gav it the name
nection with the Egyptians and Ethiopians, h
nection  with the Egyptians and Etiopians,   of his sister MeroP.  Meroe  is described as a
sometimes with Pelersia  and Ll2ri-d.  See J er.  strong fortress situated in a most fertile counxlvi. 9; Ezek. xxvii. no, xxx. 5, Xxxviii. 5; Nab.nc     o th  rivrs Astop
iii. 9. The LXX. in Jeremiah and Ezekiel  L                 u
al. wa.   re.der L  LXX.    In Soremia p and hze l and Astaborus.  The ruins of Meroa still realways render JLibyans.  So Jose~phus says  main to the north-east of the Nubian town
(' Ant.' I. 6), that Phut colonized Libya, and f 
that the people were from him called Phut-        eny
ites.  The Coptic name of Libya is Phaiat    Havilah] Havilah, the son of Joktan, ocSt Jerom  speaks of a river      curs, v. 29, among the descendants of Shem.
Some identify the descendants of Havilah
Mauritania, and  the region round it, as called  the son of Cush with the Avalitae on the
Phut to his time. ('Tradit. Hebr.')          coast of Africa; whilst others place them  in
Canzaan]  The name is thought by some  Chawblru of Arabia Felix. There is an inevito be derived friom the nature of the country  table contrsion from the name of a g;,andson
in which the descendants of Canaan lived, viz,  of -Iam being the same as that of a descenda flat, depressed region, from the Hebrew root  ant of Shem.  Niebuhr and others have asCana (hiph.) to depress. The fact, that the  seroed that there were two Chawlans, and
Canaanites appear to have spoken a Semitic  have ascribed one to the Shemite, the other to
tongue has been alleged as a reason why they  the Hamite.  It seems very possible that the
should not have been of Hamitic descent.  descendants of Havilah the son of Cush inKnobel has well observed, however, that they  termingled with the descendants of Havilah
are said by the ancients to have removed from   the Joktanide, and so ultimately formed but
the Red Sea to  the Mediterranean, with  one people, whose dwelling-place was Chawwhich agrees tihe mythology which brought  Ian, the well-known fertile region of Yemen.
into relation the Phcenicians' ancestors Age-    Sabtah] By Gesenius and others, who connor and Phcenix sometimes with Belus and  fine the Cushites to Africa, the descendants
Babylonia, sometimes with ZAgyptus and Da-  of Sabtah are placed on the African shore
naus (the AEthiop), Cepheus aIld Libya.  In  of the Gulf of Arabia. More commonly, and
the earliest days the Hamites and Shemites  more probably, their home is sought for in




88                               GENESIS. X.                                 [v. 9, 1.
9 He was a mightv hunter before             io And the beginning of his kingthe LORD: wherefore it is said, Even   dom  was I Babel, and Erech, and Ac- tI;Br a.
as Nimrod the mighty hunter before  cad, and  Calneh,  in  the  land  of
the LORD.                                  Shinar.
Hadramaut, a province of Southern Arabia,  brews being to call any ancestor a father, and
where Pliny (vI. 32) places the city of Sab-  any descendant a son. The name Nimrod is
batha or Sabotha.  It is said, that to this day  commonly derived from, the Hebrew marad,
in Yemen and Hadramaut there is a dark  to rebel. The Eastern traditions make him a
race of men distinguished from  the fairer  man of violent, lawless habits, a rebel against
Arabs, and belonging evidently to a different  God, and an usurper of boundless authority
original stock.  (Knobel.)                   over his fellow-men, at whose instigation men
Ramanh]  LXX. Rhegma.  The connec-  began the building of the tower of Babel.
tion of Raamah with Sheba and Dedan, of  (Jos.'Ant.' i. 4.)  He has accordingly been
whom  he is here said to be the father (cp.  identified with the Orion of the Greeks, and
Ezek. xxvii. 22), leaves no doubt, even with  it has been thought that the constellation
those who confine the other Cushites to Ethi-  Orion, called by the Hebrew lKesil " the fool,
opia, that the settlement of Raamah must be  the impious:" and by the Arabs "the giant,"
sought for in Southern Arabia, in the neigh-  was connected Nwith Nimrod, who is said in
bourhood of Sheba and Dedan.  Ptolemy  the LXX. to have been a "giant on the
(vI. 7) places Rhegma, and Steph. Byzant.  earth."  The Scripture narrative, however,
RKhgma on the shore of the Persian Gulf.     says nothing of this violence and lawlessness,
Sabtechah] is by some placed in Ethiopia.  and the later tradition is very doubtful andi
Bochart, who is followed by Knobel, places  vague. The LXX. spell the name Nebrod,
it in Caramania, on the Eastern shore of the  so also Josephus, which some have referred
Persian Gulf, where the ancients (Ptolem.  to a Persian root signifying'var, a warrior;
vi. 8; Steph. Byz. z) mention Samidace or  but this etymology is altogether uncertain,
Samydace.                                    and not to be relied on.
Sheba, and Dedan]  Sheba occurs again    he bgzan to be a mighty one in the earth]
in v. 28 as a son of Joktan, and Sheba and  He was the first of the sons of Noah distinDedan together, Gen. xxv. 3, as children of  guished by his warlike prowess.  The word
Joktan, the son of Abraham  and Keturah.  "mighty one" (in the LXX. "giant") is conThis is evidently another example of the in-  stantly used for a great warrior, a hero, or man
termingling of the Cushites with the Joktan-  of renown.  Cp. Gen. vi. 4; Judg. vi. Iz;
ides, and generally of the early descendants  xi. I; I S. ix. I; 2 K. v. i; Ps. xxxiii. i6,
of Shem and Ham.  In Ezek. xxvii. I52zo  lxxviii. 65; Is. xiii. 3, &c.
we find the Cushite Dedan supplying Tyre
9. Ha was a mighty  hunter]  LXX. "a
with merchandise brought from  beyond the
w~ithl merchandise brought fr~om  beyond the  giant hunter."  Bochart says that by being a
sea, while the Shemite Dedan supplies the pro-  fious hunter he gathered to himsf all the
fan. ous hunter, he gathered to himself all the
duce of flocks.  Sheba is known  to us as  enterprising young  en of is generation, tenterprising young inen of his generation, atan important and opulent region of Arabia  tached them  to his per
T) 1 Tr 1 *- r 1.                           tached them to his person, ard so became a
elx    a K. x. I; Ps. lxxii. IO. IS; Job.   kind of king among them, training his follow15, vi. 19; Is. Ix. 6; Jer. vi. Ta; Ezek. xxvii.  ers first in the chase, and then leading them
22; Joel iii. B.)  The Sabeans are spoken  f  to war.  Compare   cules, Theseus,  eleby Strabo (xvi. p. 777) as a most opulent           c. among he  reeks. The Jerusle
and powerful people, famousformyrrh, frank-  ager, &c. among the Greeks. The Jerusalem
and powerful people, famous for myrrh, fi-ank-  Targum   renders 11 He was mighty in hunting
incense, and cinnamon, their chief city being  and in sin  efore the Lord, fohe  as a
Mariaba, (in Arab. Marib). This was after-  a            bL
Marsiaba,  in Arab. Marib).  This was after-.  hunter of the sons of men in their languages."
wards the famous kingdom of the Himyaritic  The Syriac also renders' a warrior."  FolArabs, so called probably from  the ruling  lowing these, many have understood, that he
family of Hnimyar.  It is probable, that the  was a hunter of men, rather than a hunter of
Cushite Sheba, and his brother Dedan, were  beasts.
settled on the shore of the Persian Gulf (see
Raamah above); but afterwards were com-    before the LoRD]  Is most likely added
bined with the great Joktanide kingdom of  only to give emphasis, or the force of a suthe Sabeans.                                 perlative (cp. Gen. xiii.:o, xxx. 8, xxxv. 5;
8. Cush begat Nimrod] Nimrod is here  I S. xi. 7, xiv. I5, xxvi. 2; Ps. civ. I6;
separated from the other sons of Cush, per-  Jonah iii. 3; Acts vii. 2o): though some unhaps because of his great fame and mighty  derstand "against the Lord," as I Chron.
prowess; but it is quite possible, that the  xiv. 8, where it is said "avid   ent out
words " Cush begat Nimrod" may only mrean  against them," literally "before them."
that Nimrod was a descendant of Cush!, not    10. And the behginning of his kingdom,was
immediately his son, the custom  of thc He-  Bab.l] The later Chald-zans and Babylonians




V. I1, I2.]                   GENESIS. X.                                             89
IOr, h'     i r Out of that land " went forth         I2 And  Resell between Nineveh st"zeets0
went out                                                                                    t/3 cit5'
intoAssy- Asshur, and  builded  Nineveh, and  and  Caiah:  the  same  is  a  great
Or;, Mlfe  lithe city Rehoboth, and Calah,        city.
spoke a Semitic language, but the most ancient    Shinar] Unquestionably the country round
Babylonian inscriptions shew that the earliest  about Babylon, the great plain or alluvial
inhabitants spoke a Turanian  or Cushite  country watered by the Tigris and Euphratongue, and were therefore of the same race  tes. The name seems to have been Jewish;
as the Ethiopians and Southern Arabians.  though there was a town in Mesopotamia
Moreover, the most ancient traditions bring  known to the ancients, called Singara (Arab.
the first colonists of Babylon from the South.  Sinjar); and Rawlinson found in the AssyThus Belus, son of Poseidon and Libya, is  rian and Babylonian inscriptions the name
said to have led a colony from Egypt into  Sinkareh in cuneiform characters.  The name
Babylonia, and there fixing his seat on the  too is found in Egyptian monuments of the
Euphrates, to have consecrated the priests  iSth dynasty, from Thothmes I.
called in Babylon Chaldeans (Diod. Sic. lib.
i. c. ii.): and the fish-god Oannes, the great  So11. Out o that land weant forth A.shvr]
civilizer of Babylon, is said to have risen out   o LX., Sr., Vulg., Saad., Ltth., Calv.
of the Red Sea (Syncell.'Chron.' p. S). Nim-  J. D. Michael., Dathe, Ros., V. Bohlen. But
rod is probably to be identified with Belus;  the reading of the margin, " fro  this land
t the word Bls itself (= Bel Baal) is nt  he went out into Assyria,'" is the rendering of
butL the word Belus itself ( = Bel = Baal) is not
so much a name as a title, meaning lord or  all the Tarums, of Nachmanides, and after
mraster, and may have been given traditionally  t1em, of Drusius, Bochart, Le Clerc, De
W,~ette,     Baumg., Tuch,  Gesenius, Knobel,
to the first founder of empire in the earth.'The words " beginning of his kingdom' may  Delitzsch, Kalisch, and most modern intersignify that Babel was the first, or possibly  preters.  The syntax fully admits of this
that it was the chief city founded by Nimrod.   nterpretation; and the general sense of the
passage requires it. Nimrod is the subject
Erech]  The Targums, Ephraim Syr. and  here treated of.  Asshur, the son of Shem,
Jerome, render Edessa. Bochart says Areca  v. 22, was at least a generation older than
on the confines of Babylonia and Susiana:  Nimrod, who may probably have first colobut it is now generally agreed to be ArchoE,  nized the countr,-t called after him, Asshur
the ruins of which, called W\arka, lie about  (or Asds,/ ia); Nimrod, or one of hisdescendthirty hours to the south east of Babylon.  ants, afterwards invading and governing that
The numerous mounds and remains of bricks  country. Asshur was a region through which
and coffins indicate that this was probably  the Tigris flowed, to the N. E. of Babylonia,
the burying place of the kings of Assyria.  including a portion of Mesopotornia.
(See Rawlinson, lFive Monarchies,' Vol. r.
P. 23.)'anXad buzlzhed NineqJve] According to Hel-odotus, Ninus (the mythic founder of Nineveh)
Accard   Spelt Archad by the LXX. and  was the grandson of Belus, the mythic founder
Achar by the Syr., has been compared by  of Babylon (Herod. I. 7).  This, the most
Bochart with the river Argades in Sithacene,  ancient Greek tradition, well corresponds  ith
the whole region having perhaps been called  the account of Scripture, for the sords " he
Archada. Le Clerc, who is followed by Ge-  went out into Asshur," might be rendered
senius, suggests Sacada, a town lying not far  "one went out into Asshur," not distinctly
below  Nineveh, where the Lycus falls into  defining Nimrod as the individual who built
the Tigris.  Knobel proposes a tract north of  Nineveh.
Babylon called Accete.  The only ancient    Nvieh, the ancient metropolis or Assyria,
authorities (the Targums of Jerusalem  and  on the Eat branch of the Tigris,became in
Pseudo-Jonathan,  Ephraim  Syrus, Jerome,  after ages the largest and most flourishing
Barhebrxus) render the word by Nisihis, a  city of the old world.  It is described in the
city on the river Khabour.  Michaelis and  book of Jonah as "an exceeding great city
many moderns adopt this as the probable site  of three days' journey" (Jon. iii. 3), with
of Accad.                                    20o,ooo children "' who knew not their right
Calneh]  (Calneh, Amos vi. 2. Calno, Is.  hand from their left" (Jon. iv. iT), which
x. 9, perhaps Canneh, Ezek. xxvii. 23, where  would make a population of about a,ooo,ooo.
one of De Rossi's MSS. reads Kalneh). Targg.  According to Diodorus Siculus, it was no
Jer. and Pseudo-Jon., Euseb., Jerome, Ephr.  less than  55 miles in circumference (Diod.
Syr. give Ctesiphon on the east bank of the  IL. 3), built, no doubt, like the ancient cities
Tigris, opposite Seleucia, N.E. of Babylon.  of the East, with pastures and pleasure grounds
The name Calneh survived in Chalonitis, a  interspersed among streets and houses. Even
region of Assyria, where Pliny places Ctesi-  in Babylon, which was of less extent than
phon.  In this identification of Calneh with  Nineveh, Diodorus (ii. 9) says, that there
Ctesiphon most modern interpreters agree.   were gardens and orchards, and land sufficient




90                                GENESIS.  X.                               [v. I3, 4.
I3 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and           14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim,
Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naph-  (out of whom  came Philistim,) and
tuhim,                                    Caphtorim.
to provide corn for all the people in case of a  Again, in Ezek. xxx. 4, 5, Cush, Phut, and
siege. Nineveh is mentioned among the cities  Lud are connected with Mizraim. In Isaiah,
or fortresses captured by Thothmes III. (see  on the contrary, we find (lxvi. I9) Lud " that
Excursus, p. i). It was attacked by Phraortes  draw the bow" connected with Asiatic and
the Mede, who perished in the attempt to take  European tribes, Tarshish, Pul, Tubal, and
it (Herod. I. Ioz). His successor, Cyaxares,  Javan. The existence of the two tribes both
having laid siege to it, B.C. 625, was obliged  called Lud, the one Semite and the other
to raise the siege by an incursion of Scythians  Hamite, is inevitably a cause of confusion.
(Herod. I. I03); but finally succeeded in re-    Anamim] Another Mizraite race, concernducing it, B. C. 597 (Herod. I. Io6). From that  ing whom no certain or very probable conjectime it lay desolate, though Tacitus (' Ann.' ture  can  be  made.  Knobel identifies them
XII. 13) and Ammianus (xvIII. 7) mention a  with an Egyptian  name of the Delta.
fortress of the name. Its site has been identified by modern travellers with the ruins of    Lehairn]l  Generally agreed to be the same
Nebbi Yunus and Koyunjik, nearly opposite  as the Lubim, X Cioi. xii. 3, xvi. 8. reckoned
to Mosul on the East banks of the Tigris.  among the Eftiopian forces, and in Nah. iii. 9,
(See esp. Layard.' Ninev.' Vol. I. pp. I36.)  Dan. xi. 43, named with the Egyptians; ac-.
The language of the inscriptions discovered  cording to Josephus, the Libyans. The oiin these ruins appears to be an ancient Semi-  ginal home of this people appears to have
tic dialect. This is not inconsistent with the been to the west of the Delta
foundation of the city by a descendant of    Najphtuhim]  Mentioned  only here and
Nimrod; for the indigenous race was no  I Chr. i. II. Bochart, followed by Michaelis,
doubt derived from the colonization by As-  Jablonski, Gesenius and others, compares the
shur, the son of Shem, and the adoption of  name of the Egyptian goddess Nephthys, the
the Semitic language has parallels in the cases  wife of Typhon, to whom the parts of Egypt
of Babylon and Canaan (see above on v. 6).  bordering on the Red Sea were consecrated.
Moreover, it is thought that in Assyria, as  Plutarch (' De Is.' p. 355) says, "The Egypwell as in Babylonia, two distinct languages  tians call the extremities of the land border-'xisted, the older being Taranian, the other  ing on the sea by the name of Nephthys."
Selaitic; accordingly, at Koyunjik, vocabu-  If this be so, the Naphtuchim were probably
laries have been discovered with two languages  a people dwelling on the Red Sea on the conarranged in parallel columns, and tablets ap-  fines of Egypt.  Knobel supposes them  to
parently in a Turanian dialect have been  have been the midland Egyptians, who in
found in the ruins.                         their great city Memphis worshipped Phthah,
11. and the city Rehoboth] Lit. "the streets  and were called in Coptic Phaphthah, "the
of the city."                              (people) of Phthah."
12. the same is a great cityJ  It is ex-    14.  Pathrbusim] The people of Pathros,
tremely difficult to identify Rehoboth, Resen  mentioned often in the prophets (as Is. xi. II;
and Calah with any known sites. Perhaps  Jer. xliv. I; Ezek. xxix. 14, xxx. I4).  The
the most probable conjecture is, that the four  name Pathros occurs, sometimes as if it were
cities here named, viz. Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir,  separate from Egypt, sometimes as if it were
Resen, and Calah, were all afterwards corm-  part of Egypt; whence Bochart concluded
bined under the one name of Nineveh, and  that the Thebaid was intended, which at times
that the words, v. I,+ "the same is a great  is reckoned as in Upper Egypt, at times as
city," applied to this united whole, not to the  distinct from it. Pliny mentions Phaturites
single state of Resen. This is adopted by  as a praefecture of the Thebaid, (' Hist. Nat'
Niebuhr, Grote, Knobel, Rawlinson, De-  1. v. 9, ~ 47). The words of Ezekiel (xxix.
litzsch.                                    I4), where Pathros is called the land of the
13.  Ludim]  There was also a son of  Egyptians' birth, is compared with Herod.
Shem  named Lud, v. 22; but these Ludim   (II. I5), who says Thebes was anciently called
were an African tribe. They are probably  Egypt.  Pa-t-res in Egyptian means "the
the same as Retu, the Egyptian name for  land of the south."
"man," especially the Egyptians. The name    Casluhimn]  Bochart conjectured the Colappears to have belonged to the old popula-  chians, who were an Egyptian colony (Herod.
tion of Central Egypt. In Jerem. xlvi. 9,  II. 104; Diod. Sic. I. 28; Strabo. I. 3). In
Gush, Phut, and Ludim are mentioned toge-  this he is followed by Gesenius and others,
ther, the Ludim  are said to "handle and  though the similarity of name seems the chief
bend the bow," and all are placed in the  reason for the identification.  Forster (' Ep.
army  of Pharaoh-Necho,  king of Egypt.  ad Michael.' p. I6 sqq.) conjectured Casiotis,




v. 5,I6.]                     GENESIS. X.                                           91
tHeb.      15 q1 And Canaan begat tSidon his         i6 Andthe Jebusite, and the Amo"zi'C~o'  firstborn, and Heth,                    rite, and the Girgasite,
a region between Gaza and Pelusium, so  Gesenius mentions this with approval, and it
called from Mount Casius.  He is followed  is advocated by Knobel. Recent investigain this by Knobel, who says the name in  tions in  Egyptian  identify  Caphtor with
Coptic signifies burning, hence applicable to  Capht-ur, i.e. the Great Capht.  This is
a dry, arid, desert region. He combines Bo-  compared with the Egyptian name Coptos.
chart's view with Forster's, supposing that  Again, the name AEgyptus is probably identithe Colchians were a colony from Casiotis.  cal with Ai-Capht, i.e. the coast of Capht,
This view is adopted and ably defended by  (compare t1'13i  N, I-Caphtor, "the isle or
Ebers (' JEgypten,' &c. p. 2zo).           coast of Caphtor," Jer. xlvii. 4). This Capht,
Out of whom came Philistinm] In Jer. xlvii.  or Capht-ur, was probably the Northern
4, Amos ix. 7, the Philistines are traced to  Delta, from which the Phcenicians emigrated
the Caphtorim. Hence Michaells and others  into Asia. Thus Capht became the Egyptian
think that there has been a transposition  name for the oldest Phoenicians, whether in
in this verse, and that it ought to run " and  Asia or in Africa. (See Ebers,'A gypt.' &c.
Caphtorim, out of whom  came Philistim."  voc. Caphtorim; see also Excursus.)
The Samaritan text, however, and all Ver-    15. Sidon his first-born]  Sidon was, acsions read as the Hebrew. Bochart therefore has conjectured, that the Casluchim and  nician state.  Of all the  Phicis  Homer
Caphtorim  were tribes which intermingled, knew  only Sidon.  The city  stood on the
the Caphtorim having strengthened the Cas-  Eastern coast of the  edity  stood on the...Eastern coast of the Mediteanen, about
luchian colony by immigration, and that hence  20 miles North of Tye, which latter is said.he Philistines may have been said to have  2o miles North of Tyre, which latter is said
the Philistines may have been said to have
come fom either. The name Philistine which  by Justin to have been a colony of Sidon.
come blom either. he name P hipistine, which So important was Sidon in most ancient times,
probably comes from an 1Uhiopic verb fXA   that all the Phcenicians are comprised under
to emigrate, is often rendered by the LXX.  the name of Sidonians (josh. xiii. 6; Judg.
(as Judg. xiv. 3, xiv. I) by allophyloi, aliens,  xviii. 7): and this extension of the name was
foreigners..known to the Greeks and Romans (compare
The following difficulties are urged against  Urbs Sidonia, i.e. Carthage, which was a
the Egyptian origin of the Philistines; first,  colonyofTyre Virg.'In.'I.677; alldSidothat their language was probably, like that of  na Dido, Tin.' I. 446, 63, &c.).  The name
the other inhabitants of Canaan  Semitic; *            -
the other inhabitants o  Canaan, Semiic   Sidon is supposed to be derived from fishing;
secondly, that they uwere uncircumcised (i S.  for the Phcenicians called fish Sidon (Gesen.
xvii. 26), whilst Herodotus tells us that the'Thesaur.' p. 1iis).
Egyptians were circumcised. The linguistic
difficulty may be explained by the very pro-    Heth]  The ancestors of the Hittites, who
bable supposition, that the invading Philis-  inhabited the hill country of Judea, estines or Caphtorim adopted the language of  specially in the neighbourhood of Hebron.
the conquered Avim (Deut. ii. 23), or other  These, however, were but one portion of the
tribe amongst whom they settled. The other  race, which according to Josh. i. 4 (cp. Ezek.
disappears, if we consider, that everything in  xvi. 3) became more important.  In the time
dress, customs, and religion of the Philistines  of Solomon and Joram there were independindicates that they separated off from  the  ent kings of the Hittites, I K. x. 29; 2 K.
other Mizraic tribes at a very early period   vii 6. They are by most Egyptologers idenand that circumcision was probably adopted  tified with the Kheta, a very powerful tribe,
by the Egyptians at a much later date. and masters of Syria.
Caphtorim]  It is plain from  Jer. xlvii. 4,    16.  the Jebusite]  Inhabitants of Jebus,
where the Philistines are called "L the remnant  the ancient name of Jerusalem, mentioned
of the isle (or maritime country) of Caph-  Judg. xix. Io, II; I Chr. xi. 4, 5. The Jetor," that we must look for the site of the  busites, a mountain tribe (Num. xiii. z9; Josh.
Caphtorim  near the sea. The Targums and  xi- 3), seem never to have been conquered,
ancient Versions render Cappadocia, followed  or to have recovered possession of Jerusalem
by most of the ancients, and by Bochart.  and to have retained it, till David took Jebus,
Others (Swinton, Michaelis, Rosenmfiller, &c.)  I Chr. xi. 4, 5: and even after the conquest
have conjectured Cyprus, the original name  we find Araunah the Jebusite, who is called
of which has been thought to have been  "Araunah the king" (z S. xxiv. 23) living in
Cubdr or Cyptrus.  Calmet and others pre-  peace and prosperity in the land.
fer Crete, comparing the statement of Taci-   the Amorite] Apparently the most powtus (' Hist.'v. 2) concerning the Cretan origin  erful and widespread of all the Canaanitish
of the Jews, and supposing that he may have  tribes, dwelling chiefly in the hill-country of
confounded the Tews with the Philistines.  Judzea, subject to five kings (Josh. x. S), but




92                                  GENESIS. X.                               [v. 17 — 2.
I7 And the Hivite, and the Arkite,  unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Adand the Sinite,                             mah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
18 And the Arvadite, and the Ze-           20 These  are the sons of Ham,
marite, and the Hamathite: and after-  after their families, after their tongues,
ward were the families of the Canaan-  in their countries, and in their nations.
ites spread abroad.                           2I 1q Unto  Shem  also, the father
19 And the border of the Canaan-  of all the children of Eber, the broites was from  Sidon, as thou comest  ther. of Japheth  the elder, even  to
A4.z.at.  to Gerar, unto tGaza; as thou goest,  him  were children born.
also spreading to the other side of Jordan, to  to the habitation of this race.  The ancient
the North of the Arnon (Numb. xxi. I3),  interpreters, Targg., Rashi, Saad., and probaeven to the river Jabbok (Num. xxi. 24).  bly Jerome, give Emesa; Michaelis, led by
Simonis, followed by Gesenius, traces the  Bochart's conjecture and followed by Rosenm.,
name to an old word Amor or Emor, eleva-  Gesen., Kn-obel, suggests Samyra, a city of
tion, mounlain, the Amorites being moun-  Pheinicia on the sea coast, near the river
taineers or highlanders.                     Eleutherus, the ruins of which are still called
the Girgasite]  Josephus (' Art.' i. 6)  Samra.
says we have the name and nothing else of    the Hamathite]  Hamath was an importthis people.  Eusebius and others have identi-  ant city, called by Amos (vi. 2) "Great
fied them with the Gergesenes (Matt. viii.  Hamath," the chief city of Upper Syria on the
23), who lived to the East of the Lake of  Orontes at the foot of Libanus (Judg. iii. 3;
Gennesaret.  There is a difference of reading  Jer. xlix. 23; Zech. ix. a), the nletropolis of
in St Matt.; some DMSS' having Gerasenes,  a region called the "land of Hamath" (z
others Gadarenes; but Gesenius thinkls, that  K. xxiii. 33). It was called Epiphaneia by
Gerasa is but a corruption by the omission of  the Macedonians (Jos.'Ant.' I. 6). It still
g from Girgasa.                              however in the East retains the name of Ha17. th~e HIwite]  A  people living in the  lmah, and has been visited and described by
neighbourhood of Hermon and Lebanon (Josh.  Burckhardt and other modern travellers.
xi. 3, Judg. vi. 3), near Sichem also (Gen.    and after-ward Cwere the families of the
xxxiv. z), and Gibeon (Josh. ix. I, 7): Gese-  Canaanites spread abroad]  The first place of
nius interprets the name to signify pagani, the  habitation of the Canaanites was probably on
inhabitants of villages.                     the Mediterranean, in Phcenicia, in the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon; but by degrees
the Arkite]  Inhabitants, according to Jo-   ourhood of Tyre and  idon; but by degrees
sephus, of Arca a city of Phcenicia, near Liba-  they spread abroad through the whole of
nlus, I2 miles to the north of Tripoli. It wTas  Palestine, from Tyre and Sidon on the North
afterwards called  Cesarea Libani, a name  to Gerar and Gaza and even to Lasha.
f:ound on coins of the reign of Vespasian.    19. Lasha] The Targum  of Jerusalem
Alexander Severus was born here.  Shaw and  and  Jerome (' QuOst. ad Genes.') identify
Burckhardt describe the ruins of a fine city  Lasha with CallirrhoP, which Pliny (' N. H.'
as still to be found there, called Tell Arka.  v. c. 6) and Josephus ('B. J.' I. 33) speak of
the Sinite] St Jerome (' Quest. in Genes.'  as famous for its warm springs. It was situad h. 1.) says, that " near Arca was another  ated on the East of the Red Sea.
city called Sini, which, though ruined, still    21.  Shern also, the father of all the chiretained its ancient name." Michaelis (' Spicil.'  dren ofEber]  As Han is specially called the
Pt. 1i. p. 29) quotes Breidenbach ('Itiner.' P.  father of Canaan, so probably Shem is desig47) as mentioning a city of the name of Syn  nated as the father of Eber. The Hebrews
in the same neighbourhood in the fifteenth  and the Canaanites were brought into concentury.                                     stant conflict and exemplified respectively the
18.  the Ar-zvadite]  Inhabitants probably  characters of the Hamites and the Shemites,
of the city of Aradus, on an island of the same  their ciaracters and their destinies.
name, about three miles fromn the Phcenician    the brother of Japheth the elder]  There
coast.  The LXX. render here and elsewhere  is a great ambiguity in the original of these
the Aradite, and Josephus ('Ant.' I. 6) says  words. The LXX., Symm., Targ. of Onke"the Aradite inhabited the island of Aradus."  los render as in the English text; so Rashi,
Gesenius derives the name from a root, signi-  Abenezra, Luther, Cleric., J. D. Michael.,
fying " to wander," and quotes Strabo (xVI.  Dathe, &c. But the Syriac, Arab., Vulg. ren2, ~ r3) as saying that the city was built by  der i"the elder brother of Japheth," in which
flgitives from Sidon.                        they  are followed by Rosenm., Gesenius,
the Zemarite] There is little certainty as  Knobel, Delitzsch and most modern con



V. 22 —25.1                   GENESIS. X.                                              93
c Chron.   22 The Cchildren of Shem; Elam,            24  And  Arphaxad  begat'Salah; teb.
1. 17'IDS hel,. t.
t HIb. Ar- and Asshur, and *Arphaxad, and Lud,  and Salah begat Eber.
pae-sl'zanc.  and Ararm.                             25'And unto Eber were born two d, Chro=[
23 And the children of Aram; Uz,  sons: the name of one was Peleg; I
and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.             for in his days was the earth dividmentators, who say, that if "the brother of  from the Jordan and the Sea of Galilee to the
Japheth the Elder" had been meant, the He-  Euphrates.  The name Aram has been supbrew idiom would have required the addition  posed to mean high (from Aram r= rn, to be
of "son" —" the elder son of Noah."  This  high).  In Genesis we read of Aram-Nahaappears to be true: moreover, Shem is gene-  raim, i.e. Aram between the two rivers = Merally mentioned first, and is perhaps put last  sopotamia, which, or part of which, is also
here, because the writer proceeds almost with-  called Padan-Aram; and Laban who dwelt
out interruption from  this point with the  there is called the Aramean (Gen. xxv. 20,
history of the descendants of Shem.  In Gen.  &c.).  Homer ('I1.' ii. 783); Hesiod ('Th.'
ix. 24, Ham appears to be called the youngest  304); Pindar (' Fr.' v. 3), &c. speak of the Syson of Noah; but see note on that verse. On  rians as Arimi.
the whole, the common order of enumeration     23. Uz] From him no doubt was named
is probably the order of ag-e.'" the land of Uz,"' in which Job lived.  (Job
22.  The children of Seminl The Shernites  i. I.) It is there rendered by the LXX. Audwelt chiefly in Western Asia, South of the  sitis. Ptolemy (v. i9) mentions the _Esita
Asiatic Japhethites.                         as inhabiting the northern part of Arabia DeElam]  Elymais, a region adjoining Su-  serta, near to  abylon and the EuphratesI
siana and Media, called by the Arabs Chu-  which Bochart, Gesenius, and others, identify
with the inhabitants of Uz or Ausitis. The
zistan. Daniel (viii. z) places Shushan (i. e.
Susa) in Elam, which immediately connects  name Uz occuls also among the descendants
Elam with Susiana.                           of Abraham (Gen. xxii. 2I), and again (Gen.
sshur]   ithout doubt thexxxvi. 28) among the descendants of Seir the
5Asshur] Wia.thout fisdoubt, the  ances c ~ Hivite; and it has been conjectured, with
thie Assyrians.  At first, per~haps, the nami  more or less probability, that these different
Asshur or Assyria was restricted to the re-  Semitic families may have coalesced.
gion round about Nineveh, Iknown to the
Greeks as Adiabene.  Afterwards it spread,    liol] Josephus places in Armenia, accord
especially to the North-west, and embraced  ing to Bochart, that part called Cholobotene
the Syrians. The foundation of its principal  by the Greeks, as though it were Beth-Chul,
greatness is ascribed to the Babylonians in  the home of Hul.  Michaelis, followed by
v. II. This corresponds with the tradition in   Knobel, suggests that the name Celesyria
Herodotus (r. 7), which attributes the foun-  may have come from Hul or Chul.  Rosendation of Nineveh to Ninus, the son of Belus,  muller has suggested the Ard el Hhuleh, a
the founder of Babylon.                      district near the sources of the Jordan.
_Arphaxad]  Bochart conjectured that the    Gether]  No probable site has been fixed
on for the descendants of Gether.
tame Arrapachites, a province in Northern
Assyria, bordering on Armenia, was derived    JMlkash]  Josephus (' Ant.' i. 6) says, " Mash
from Arphaxad; and as this was the country  founded the Mesanuans," i.e. the inhabitants
of the Chaldees, it has been thought that in  of Mesene, near Bassora, where the Tigris and
the three last consonants of the name Ar-  Euphrates fall into the Persian Gulf. The
phaxad, viz. ch-s-d, are contained the ele-  opinion of Bochart is adopted by Gesenius,
ments of the name Chasdim (i. e. Chaldseans).  WV:iner, Knobel, and others, that the descendJosephus certainly tells us that " Arphaxad  ants of Mash were the inhabitants of Mons
gave the name Arphaxadxans to those after-  Masius, a range of hills to the North of Mewards called Chaldoeans" (' Ant.' I. 6).     sopotamia.
LudJ  Josephus says the Lydians (I Ant.'    24.  Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah
I. 6). He is followed by Euseb., Jerome, and  begat Eber] The name Salah appears to signify
by Bochart, and most moderns.  The re-  sending forth, extension, as Eber, the name of
semblance of their manners and of their more  his son, signifies passing over.  Many of the
ancient names to the Semitic confirms this  names in these genealogies are significant, and
tradition. It is probable, that their first home  were probably given to their bearers late in
was not far from Armenia, whence they mi-  life, or even historically, after their deaths.
grated into Asia Minor.                      Salah and Eber seem to point to this facr,
Aram] The country called Aram in Scrip-  that the descendants of Arphaxad were now
ture was the highland region lying to the  beginning to spread forth from the first cradle
north-east of the Holy  Land, extending  of the Semitic race, and to cross over the




94                                  GENESIS. X.                                [. 26 —29.
ed; and his brother's name was Jok-           27 And  Hadoram, and Uzal, and
tan.                                       Diklah,
26 And  Joktan  begat Almodad,             28 And  Obal,  and Abimael, and
and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and  Sheba,
Jerah,                                        29 And Ophir, and Havilah, and
great rivers on their way to Mesopotamia,  moon.  Bochart has suggested the identificaand thence to Canaan.                        tion  of his descendants with the  Alilei
25. Peleg; for in his days'was the earth  (Agatharch. c. 49; Strabo, xvI. p. 277)=the
divided] It is generally supposed fi-om this,  Beni Hilal ("the sons of the new moon'),
that Peleg lived contemporaneously with the  who dwelt south of Chawlan.
dispersion of Babel.  It is, however, quite    27. Hadoram]  There has been no sapossible, that the reference is to a more par-  tisfactory identification  of the descendants
tial division of regions and separation of races.  of Hadoram  with any known race, though
The genealogy is now  specially concerned  Bochart compared the Adramita of Ptolemy
with the descendants of Shem and the ances-  (v;. 7)  and  the Atramitd of Pliny (vI. 28)
try of the promised race, which is here traced  in the south of Arabia.
down to Peleg to be continued farther in ch.
xi. i8 sqq.  The two races, which sprang       UzalJ This name is identified with LAwfrom Eber, soon separated very widely from   zal, the ancient name of Sanaa, the capital
each other, the one, Eber and his family, city of Yemen
spreading north-westward towards Mesopo-    Diklah] in Syriac signifies Palm; whence
tamia and Syria, the other, the Joktanides,  Bochart and Gesenius identified the descendsouthward into Arabia.  As the sacred nar-  ants of Diklah with the Minaci, a people
rative in vv. 3I, 32, speaks expressly of the  of Yemen, who inhabited a palm-growilng
general spreading forth of the sons of Noah,  country. Michaelis conjectured a people conand in ch. xi. i-9 relates the confusion of  tiguous to the Tigris, the name of which river
their languages, it is very probable that in  in Syriac and Arabic was Diklat.
this verse the division of the land concerns    28.  Obal, and Abirnael]  Only very tiun
only the separation of the Shemites.         certain conjectures have been made as to
Joktan]  There is a general consent in fa-  these names.
your of the colonization of Southern Arabia    Sheba] We read much of Sheba, a counby the descendants of Joktan, with the names  try in Arabia Felix, abounding in gold, preof whom correspond several of the districts  cious stones, fiankincense, and famous for
and cities of that country. The Arabs iden-  its merchandise (I K. x. I; Job vi. I-; Ps.
tify Jolktan with Kalltan, who was the tra-  lxxii. Io, 15; Is. Ix. 6; Jer. vi. 20; Ezek.
ditional ancestor of the Beni Kahtan, inha-  xxvii. 22; Joel iii. 8). The Arabic and Greek
-bitants of Yemen or Arabia Felix.  In Ara-  accounts of the Sabaeans, a people, whose
bia the Joktanides, no doubt, found some  capital was Saba or Mariaba, three or four
peoples settled there already, viz. the Cushite  days' journey from  Senaa, correspond thodescendants of Ham (ver. 7), and the Ludite  roughly with all this.  See on ver. 7 above.
descendants of Shem (ver. 22). The Arabic
authors are silent concerning any Cushites,    29. Opir] On  no geographical question
but derive the ancient Arabic races from the  has a greater diversity of opinion existed than
K ahtanides (i.e. the Joktanides).           on the site of Ophir.  The position of ()phir,
as a son of Joktan, and the settlement of the
26.  Almoarlac   The names Modad and    t
a   o*a    The names       and  other Joktanides in Arabia, form  a strlong
Morad (r being often a corruption of d by a  argument  in favour of placing Ophir in A
clerical error) occur frequently in Arabic ge-.              
c goe-  bia also. The historical notices, however, inl
nealogies. The syllable Al is probably the        s   The historical notices, hoeer, 
(l~c~'~l~~efinit;~;. )'llab. li is probably the books of Kings and Chronicles (i K. ix.
einite article.      ~z~26-28, x. II, XXii. 48; 2 Chr. viii. I, ix. To)
Sheleph] has been compared by Bochart  have inclined many to place Ophir either in
with the Salopeni of Ptolemy (vI. 7), in-  India or in Africa: whilst others have thought,
habiting the interior of Arabia, and is iden-  that two Ophirs are mentioned in Scripture,
titied with a tribe of Sulaph or Seliph in Ye-  one in Arabia, the other in India or Ceylon.
men. The Arabic writers speak of a large  The question is discussed at length by Geseregion called Salfie, south-west of Sanaa.   nius,'Thes.' p. 142. See also' Dict. of Bible,'
IRazarmcarveth] The name agrees in every  s. v. Ophir.
letter with Hadramaut, the name of a pro-    Havilah]  It is generally  thought that
vince on the southern coast of Arabia, fa-  Chawlan, in Arabia Felix, was the home of
mous for its fertility in myrrh and frankin-  the descendants of Havilah.  (On the Cushite
cense, and for the unhealthiness of its climate.  Havilah, see note on v. 7.)  Whilst some
Jerab3] The name in Hebrew signifies the  have thought that there were two Chaw



v. 30, 4.                 GENESIS. X. XI.                                             95
Jobab:  all these were the  sons of    f Babel 5 Therconfusion, oftonzgies. IoThe
Jokta.                                      geznerations of Shez. 27 The g'enerations of
Joktanl.                                     Terah the father of Abram. 3r Terah goeth
30 And their dwelling was from;'rom Ur to flKtran.
Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a               D   the whole earth was of one awis  o
mount of the east.                   r      A
mounthesarte of the east.   IS    Z           language, and of one'speech. 5,'Ieb. lit
3x These are the sons of Shem,
2 And  it came  to pass, as they t Heb
after their families, after teir tongues,from  the  ast, that they
in their lands, after their nations.he 
found a plain in the land of Shinar;
32 These are the families of the
sons of Noah, after their generations,  and they dwelt there.
in their nations: an  by.  Atnd'they said one to another, t Teb.
in their nationsd      and  by the earth after  G    to, let us make brick, and  mburn a sai
the nations divided in the earth after                                              to his
them  throughly. And they had brick,e/gbou'r.
for stone, and  slime  had  they  for b.ur..,zent
to a bcrnCHAPTER   XI.                   mortar.                                  ig.
I One Ia guage iz the world. 3 The building  4 And  they said, Go  to, let us
lans, one belonging to the descendants of the  must render "eastward," lit. "on the sides
joktanide and the other to the sons of the  of the east."
Cushite Havilah; others have thought that the    a plain]  The word more naturally means
two races were intermingled and confounded.  a deep valley, but it is often used of a wide
Jobab] Ptolemy (vi. 7) mentions the Jo-  vale or plain.
barite near the Indian Sea, which Bochart    Shinar] \Without doubt the region round
conjectured to have been Jobabita, in which  about Babylon, to which, besides Babylon,
he is followed by Gesenius. Bochart and Ge-  pertained the cities of Erech, Kalneh and
senius think the name to be = the Arabic Je-  Accad (Gen. x. Io, where see note).  The
bob, a desert.                              fertility of this country for the production of
30. And their dowelling zwas from Mesha,  wheat is greatly praised by Herodotus (I.
as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the East]  193).
IvIesha has been identified by Bochart with
3. lt us make brick, and burn them
the seaport of Musa or Muza, mentioned by  throughl  The regions of Assyria and BabyPtolemy vr. 8; Pliny vI. 23, &c.  iichaelis,  trogl]  The egions of Assyria and Baby
Pfollowed by Rosenmy.ler, s, &c., &c. preh,  lonia consisting of rich alluvial plains would
ferred Mesene, a place at the mouth of tile  provide no stone and were specially abundant
Tigris and Euphrates, not far from Bassora.   in brick earth   Hence, when Nimrod built
Babel and other towns in Shinar (ch. x. Io),;Sephar]  is pretty  certainly  ZafAr  or  he and those with him must have learned the
Dhafari, a seaport on the coast of Hadra-  art of brick-making. The building of villages
maut.  It is pronounced in modern Arabic  in the earlier settlements of the Noachidx had
Isfor, and is not so much one town as a series  been probably of wood or stone.
of villages near the shore of the Indian Ocean.
(Fresnel, quoted by Gesenius, p. 968.)        they had brickfor stone, and slime had theyfor
mortal] All the versions give asphalte or bitumen for the word chemer, "slime". Herod.
CrI-TAP. XI. 1.  one languagne] The general
opinion or the Jews and ancient Christians  (0. 179) describes the building of the walls of
tas that this language was Hebrew. The  Babylon much as the sacred history describes
was tat thisla ewas H      The  this building of the tower of Babel.  He says
names of the most ancient places and persons  a deep foss vas dug all round the city, from
mentioned in Scripture being Hebrew seems  which the mud was taken in large bricks and
to countenance this belief.  But it is impos-  burnt in furnaces.  Then for mud or mortar,
sible to arrn'ive at any certainty on the question, they used hot bitumen and so built the walls
it being notorious that names have been trans-e mentions a town called Is
lated fiom one language into another in man  the city    e mentions a town called IS,
instancesd f                                with a river of the same name near it, about
eight days'journey from Babylon, where much
2. it came to pass, as they journeyed from   bitumen was obtained and carried to Babylon
the east]  On the difficulty in these words,  for the building of the city. See also Strabo
and on the first home of the descendants of  (Lib. xvI. p. 74), who speaks of the excelNoah, see note on viii. 4.  If Armenia was  lence of the Babylonian bitumen for building.
that first home, we must suppose either that  Justin also (Lib. I. a) speaks of Semiramis as
they had journeyed in a south-easterly direc-  having built Babylon with brick and liquid
tion before they turned towards Shinar, and  bitumen, which flowed in great abundance in
then they would journey from the east, or we  the neighbourhood. Diodor. Sicul. (ii. Iz),




96                                 GENESIS. XI.                        [v. 5,6.
build  us a city and a tower, whose           5 And  the LORD  came down to
top may reach unto heaven; and let  see the city and the tower, which the
us make us a name, lest we be scat-  children of men builded.
tered  abroad  upon  the  face of the         6 And the LORD said, Behold, the
whole earth.                                people is one, and they have all one
Pliny (' H. N.' xsxx. 5), Athenaus (Lib. II.  sage seems the true.  In ch. x. Io, we find
5), and other ancient writers, mention a lake  that Nimrod founded a kingdom in Shinar.
close to Babylon abounding in bitumen, which  He and his followers were apparently actufloated on the waters. (See Reland,  Palestin.' ated by an ambitious spirit, not satisfied with
II. pp. 244, 245). The town of Is, mentioned  the simplicity of a patriarchal life, nor willing
by Herodotus (as above), is identified by mo-  to be scattered abroad, as so many were, by
dern travellers with Heets, where bitumen  the migratory instinct that seems to have led
pits are still found on the western bank of the  the descendants of Noah thus early to form
Euphrates. Some of the heaps of ruins, which  extensive settlements, but desiring to found
have been identified with the ruins of Baby-  an empire, to build a city, with a strong
Ion, exhibit specimens of sun-dried bricks laid  citadel, and so to hold together in a powerin bitumen, producing walls of great strength  ful commonwealth, and to establish for themand solidity. Mr Layard tells us that at Birs  selves a name, fame, importance, renowln,
Nimrod, "The cement, by which the bricks  thereby, it may be, attracting others to join
were united, is of so tenacious a quality, that  their community.  Perhaps there was an alit is almost impossible to detach one from the  lusion to this in the prophecy (Is. xiv. 2t),
other," ('Nineveh and Babylon,' p. 499).     "I will... cut off from  Babylon the name
and remnant and son and nephew " (i. e. grand..
4. a tower, whose top zmaJy reach unto hea-  son or posterity) "saith the LORD."  The
yuen] That is to say " a very high tower," just  tradition which assigns the lend in the buildas the cities of the Canaanites were said to be
great and walled up to heaven " (Deutl. i.,  ancient and general.  (See Joseph.'Ant.' I.
ix. i), or as Homer ('Od.' v. 239), speaks of  4, Aug.' De Civit. Dei,' xvI. 4, &c.) Itmay
a pine tree I'high as heaven."  Many have  have arisen chiefly from  what is said of him
identified this tower with the temple of Belus  in ch. x. 9, Io, II.  It is worthy of remall,
(Her-od. s. I8I), which is described as con-  that, though the descendants of Shem  and
sisting of eight squares one upon    other,  Japheth shared in the judgment which conthe dimensions of the lowest or base being a  founded the tongues, yet their dialects have
stadium in length and in breadth. The mound  to this day a nearer resemblance between
called Birs Nimroud is generally supposed to  themselves than those which may perhaps be
be the ruin of the' temple of Beltus.        attributed to the children of Ham.  As the
let us make us a name, lest uwe be scattered  Shemites and Japhethites have had a higher
abroad upon the face of the'whole earth] Jose-  civilization, so they have retained a purer
phus gives as the motive for building the  language   The  Semitic dialects all have a
totwer of Pabel, that the builders feared  strong family likeness.  The Aryan or Indoanother deluge, and hoped tlat the towver  European (i.e. probably the Japhetic) dialects,
would be high enough to save them from its  though more diverse than the Semitic, are yet
wa'ters;  Nsimrod, the leader in the scheme,  all easily assignable to a common origin; whiht
boasting that he could so defy the vengeance  the Turanian and other languages branch cR
into endless varieties.
of God. Again some have thought, that Noah  into endless varieties.
had deliberately marked out the settlements of    5. the LoARD came doeun to see]  An inhis posterity (Usher, ad A. M. i 7r57), and that  stance of the natural anthropomorphic lanNimrod and his followers were unwilling  guage suited to the teaching of man in a state
to submit to this. Then some Jewish wri-  of simple and partial civilization.
ters have interpreted the word name (Shem)    the children of men buildedl  It has been
to mean God, "thename of God" being often  thought,  though  perhaps  on  insufficient
put for God Himself; and so have imagined  ground, that "children of men" as in ch.vi. z,
that the builders of the tower proposed to  designates the impious portion of the human
make an idol temple. Others have supposed  race, bad men, as opposed to " children of
that the descendants of Ham under Nimrod  God;" and possibly the rebellious offspring
made here some reference to Shem, the fa-  of Ham.
voured son of Noah, as though they would    6. this they begin to do] Perhaps rather
have said, " A blessing has been promised to   " this is tle beginning of their deeds."  This
Shem, but we will make a Shem  for our-  is their first act of daring and impiety, and
selves."  Clericus suggested that the word  unless they be effectually checked, nothing
SIenem  meant here a monument (cp. 2 S.  will restrain them  firom  going farther and
iii. I).  The simplest sense of the pas-  farther.




v. 7 —I3]                     GENESIS. XI.                                                97
language; and this they begin to do:  confound  the  language  of  all the
and  now  nothing will be restrained   earth: and from thence did the LORD
from  them, which they have imagined   scatter them  abroad upon the face of
to do.                                       all the earth.
7 Go to, let us go down, and there           Io  qI bThese  are the  generations   i Chron.
confound  their language, that they   of Shem: Shem was an hundred years I' I'
may  not understand  one  another's  old, and  begat Arphaxad  two  years
sCeech.                                      after the flood:
8  So  the  LORD  scattered  them               I  And Shem  lived after he begat
abroad fiom  thence upon the face of  Arphaxad five hundred years, and beadl the  earth: and  they  left off to   gat sons and daughters.
build the city.                                 12 And Arphaxad  lived five and
9 Therefore is the name of it called  thirty years, and begat Salah:
j',,niwn,. " Babel; because the LORD did there        13 And  Arphaxad  lived  after he
8.  they left ofj to bzild  the city]   It    10.  These are the generations of Sherm]
seems, therefore, very doubtful how far the  VWe have here the third genealogical table.
builders could have proceeded in building  The Ist was given in ch. v. from  Adam to
their tower, and hardly likely that the famous  Noah; the 2nd in ch. x, the genealogy of the
temple of Belus should have been to any con-  three sons of Noah, the descendants'of Shem
siderable extent erected by them, though not  being traced down as far as Peleg.  Now we
improbably that great structure may have been  have the line of Shem farther carried down to
raised on the foundation laid at this time.  Abraham, the fatherofthe faithful, theancestor
The tradition that God overturned it with a  of the promised seed. In ch. x. no account is
tempest(Jos.'Ant.'I. 6; Euseb.'Praep. Evang.'  given of the length of the generations or of the
Ix. 4), though probably unfounded, witnesses  duration of life; but here in ch. xi. as before
to its not having been completed.             in ch. v., both these are supplied. Concerning
9. Babe/] Fromrn Ba/al7, tco conzfolnqd, con- the chronological question and the ages of the
tracted from  Ba/lbal, con9fusion.  The Gr-eek  patriarchs, see Introduction and on ch. v. note
tradition was, that the city was named after  A. It may be observed here, that we marl at
Belus, its mythic founder.  So the Etymo-  once the transition from  the antediluvian to
logicum  iMagnum  says that "s Babylon was  the postdiluvian duration of life.  Noah lived
named after Belus, who founded it."  Hence  950 years, Shem only 6oo, Arphaxad, the first
Eichhlorn suggested, that the name originally  born of Shem after the deluge, only 43 8; when
was Bab Bel, "the gate or court of Bel,         e come to Peleg,  ho seems to have been. e. Baal or Belus.  So Rosenmiiller, Gese-  contemporary with the dispersion, life is still
nius and others have thought it might be Baib  shorter, Peleg lived 239 years, Reu 239, Serug
I1, the " Gate of God." These derivations are  230,  Nahor: 48.
really much less likely than that given by       The following table exhibits the different
Moses. There was no such person as Belus,  calculations according to the Hebrew, the
except that Nimrod, whose scriptural name  Samaritan, and the Septuagint texts respectprobably signifies rebel, may by his own people  ively.
have been called Baal, Belus, Lord.
H-lebrew Text.        Samaritan.          Septuagint.     Hebrew Text.
Years I     I      I Years               Years
before  Rest |Whole before  Rest  Whole before  Rest  Whole  Year Year of
birth of of Life. Life. birth of of Life. of Life. birth of of Life.  Life. of birth
Son.                Son.                 Son.                 AM.   A.M.
Shem         100   500   6oo             500   6oo   100   500   600   1558  2158
Arphaxad      35   403   438   135              438   135   400   535   68    097
KainanI                                                130   330   460
Salah         30   403   433    13o   303   433    130   330   460   i693 21T6
Eber          34   430   464   134   270   404   I34'270   404   1723  2187
Peleg         30   209 ~239   130   109   239    130   209   339   1757  1996
Reu           32   207   239   13    107   239   132   207    339   I787  2026
Serug         30   200   230   130   [oo   230   130   200o 330   x819  I997
Nahor'29   II    148  9          69    1      I48  Ii 125   304   TS849  1997
Terah         70   135   20        70    75   145        0    I35'209   187 8  2083
Abraham                                                                    1948  21 23
VOL. I.  




98                                GENESIS. XI. XI.                            v. I4-29.
begat Salah four hundred and three            22 And Serug lived thirty years,
years, and  begat sons and  daugh-  and begat Nahor:
ters.                                         23 And Serug lived after he begat
I4 And Salah  lived  thirty years,  Nahor two hundred years, and begat
and begat Eber:                            sons and daughters.
I5 And Salah lived after he begat          24  And  Nahor lived  nine  and
Eber four hundred and three years,  twenty years, and begat fTerah:                 fLue 3.
and begat sons and daughters.                 25 And Nahor lived after he begat 34,:trI
c i Chron.   I6 CAnd Eber lived four and thir-  Terah an hundred and nineteen years,.dC 9ed  ty years, and begat dPeleg:               and begat sons and daughters.
Lukne3.35   17 And Eber lived after he begat          26- And Terah lived seventy years,
Peleg four hundred and thirty years,  and gbegat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. fJoshua
and begat sons and daughters.                 27 q Now  these are the genera- 4Chron..
i8  And Peleg lived thirty years,  tions of Terah: Terah begat Abram, 2X
and begat Reu:                             Nahor, and Hlaran; and Haran begat
I9 And Peleg lived after he begat  Lot.
Reu two hundred and nine years, and           28 And Haran died before his fabegat sons and daughters.                  ther Terah in the land of his nativity,
2o And Reu lived two and thirty  in Ur of the Chaldees.
e Luke3. years, and begat eSerug:                     29 And  Abram  and Nahor took
35  2   And Reu lived after he begat  them  wives:  the name of Abram's
Serug two hundred and seven years,  wife  was Sarai;  and the name of
and begat sons and daughters.              Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter
27. Noew these are the generations of Terah]  doubly defended by a trench of immense
Not perhaps a distinct genealogy, but the wind-  depth, cut out of the living rock behind it.
ing up of the genealogy which had already  The other is an abundant.pring (the Callirbeen traced to the sons of Terah, and the ex-  rhoe of the Greek writers) issuing in a pool
panding it into a fuller account of the fami-  of transparent clearness and embosomed in a
lies of these sons and especially of Abra-  mass of luxuriant verdure, which, amidst the
ham.                                        dull brown desert all around, malkes, and
must always have made, this spot an oasis, a
2,?. Ur of tide Chaldlees] Mentioned cnly  JParadise in the Chaldzan wilderness." (Dean
here. There is great diversity of opinion as  Starleyi  On the JeCish Cha rch,' 1- ps 7( )
Lo the site of this city, except that it was in  ipolemusasquctedby Euseb.IPcp. Evang.'
Chaldea, i.e. the southern part of Babylonia.  sx. i7, says that Abrahan was born in the
Bochart, followed by Michaelis, Rosenmriller  city of Babylonia called Camarine, which
ant many others, identified it with Ur, which is        the city Uria and by interpretamentioned by Ammianus Mlarcellinus (xxv. 8. tion city of the Chaldees,  ich Gesenius e
c* 26), whende t  ren of th  tion city of the Chaldees, which Gesenius excol. n6), aheun describing the retn  or the e th    plains by saying that Ur in Sanscrit signifies
oman  rmy under Jovian after the death of  city, country, (cognate perhaps with the HeJulian, as lyilng between Nisibis and the Tigris.  brewt, c 9t),  the original anuage of the
tatn brew I,.), the original language of the
Ancient tradition and the opinion of many             
Ancernt connect it withtChaldees having been cognate with the Indian
moderns connect it with the modern  O rfa,
the Edessa of the G1eeks well krnown in  and Persian. This city is supposed to be now
represented by the ruins Umgheir on the right
Christian times as the capital of Abgarus,  represented by the ruins U he  on the right
its first Christian King, who is said to have  bank of the Euphrates. which appears by its
written a letter to, and to have received a  bricks to have been called Hur by the. natives.
letter from our Saviour.  " The traditions of  (Proressor Rawlinson in  Dict. of Bible.')
Abraham still live in the mouths of the Arab   29. Iscab] According to Josephus ( Ant.'
inhabitants of Orfa.  The city lies on the  I. 6), Targum  Pseudo-Jonathan and Jerome
edge of one of the bare rugged spurs which  (' Qu. in Genes.') the same as Sarai. This,
descend from the mountains of Armenia, into  however, hardly seems consistent with Gen. xx.
the Assyrian plains in the cultivated land,  I2, where Abram speaks of Sarai as daughter
which, as lying under the mountains, was  of his father but not of his mother; though
called Padan-Aram.  Two physical features  it is very difficult to say with what exactnesd
must have secured it from the earliest times  the terms father, daughter, brother, &8c. are
as a nucleus for the civilization of those  used.  Ewald has conjectured that Iscah was
regions.  One is a high crested crag, the  Lot's wife and therefore mentioned here; but;natural fortification of the present citadel,  there is no evidence for this




v. 30-2.]                GENESIS. XI. XII.                                            99
of Haran,. the father of Milcah, and                 CHAPTER  XII.
the father of Iscah.
r God c[lIceth Abtarm, anzd eIvsseth himrt  wz'lJ  a
30 But Sarai was barren; she had    prozmise of Christ.   4 Re dtyartetlh wilh Zot
no child.                                   frot I aran. 6 FIe journeyeth through Ca31  And  Terah  took  Abram  his    noaan, 7 zovzich is promzised Zimt in a vision.
r o He is driven by a fanzinze into Egypt. I I
son, and Lot the son of Haran his    Fear mahketh hain fciasn his wuife to be his sisson's son, and Sarai his daughter in    ter. 14 P/ia, aok hav i-takel herfrom kitz,
law, his son Abram's wife; and theyv   byp gles is conpelled to soestore her.
t Neh. 9. went forth with them  from  h Ur of            OW   the,LORD  had said unto  Acts 7.3.;dith7 the Chaldees, to go into the land of                Abram,  Get thee out of thy
Acts 7. 4. Canaan; and they came unto Haran,  country, and from  thy kindred, and
and dwelt there.                           from  thy father's house, unto a land
32 And the days of Terah  were  that I will shew thee:
two hundred and five years: and Te-           2 And I will make of thee a great
rah died in Haran.                         nation, and  I will bless thee, and
31. and they'went forth wcith theni] i.e.  vii. z St Stephen tells us, what also appears
Terah and Abram went forth with Lot and  most likely friom  the history in Gen., that
Sarai. The Samaritan (followed by LXX.  God appeared to Abram " lwhen he was in
and Vulg.) by a slight transposition of the let-  Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran."
ters and different pointing reads'"He brought  This led our translators to render "had shaid."
them forth."                              -, The Hebrew lacks the pluperfect tense; but
Haran] The Carrhoc of the Greeks and  the continuous character of the narrative from
Romans, where Crassus fell, defeated by the  this point marks the propriety of adopting a
Parthians (Plutarch,'Vit. Cras.' 25. 27. 28.  simple perfect, which is also the rendering of
Plin. v. 24).  It is called Charran in Acts  the ancient versions. The recounting briefly
vii. 4.                                     of events up to the death of Terah in the last
32.  two hundr-ed and fve years]  The.chapter was by a prolepsis. %We have here
Samaritan Pentateuch has here oine h/.7Znd-ed  the beginning of a new Chapter in the history,
of a new dispensation and a new covenant.
and forty five, which Bochart and others conaidelfortyie; which Bochart and others con-  Henceforth the narrative concerns only the
sider the right number.  St Stephen (Acts  chosen people of God and those who affect
vii. 4) says the migration of Abram  into  them and their fortunes.
Canaan was after his father's death: but from
v. 26 szupra it seems as if Terah was only    Get thee out of thy couzntiry] Lit. Go thee,
70 when Abram  was born, and by xii. 4  a pleonasm of the pronoun, common in many
we find that Abram  was 75 when he left  languages.  The call was evidently firom the
Haran. This, according to the Samaritan,  birthplace of Abram, Ur of the Chaldees;
would appear to be the very year of his  and  not only Abram, but his father and
father's death.  It is certain that the Samari-  other of his family seem  at first to have
tan text cannot have been tampered with by  obeyed the call: for Terah took Abram and
any Christian hand to bring it into conformity  Lot and Sarai, and L" they went forth fiom Ur
with St Stephen's statement, and it may very  of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan"
likely have preserved the true reading.  It is  (ch. xi. 3i).  The land is here called by the
possible, however, that Terah  may have  Almighty "the land that I will shew thee,"
been really 130 years old when Abram was  but Mloses, in ch. xi. 3I, calls it the land of
horn: for though it is said in ver. 26 that  Canaan, the destination of Abram  being
Terah lived seventy years and begat Abram,  known to Moses, though it was not at the
Nahor and Haran, yet it does not follow that  time of his call known to Abram himself.
Abram was the eldest son, having been named    2. I Nwill mnake of thee a great nation]
first as being the heir of the promises and the  Literally fulflled in the glories of Israel,
subject of the future history.  Indeed some  spiritually and more largely in the spiritual
of the rabbins consider Abram to have been                     Abraham's seed a
the youngest son, in which case he may have  according  to the promise," (al. iii. 29.
been born when his father was I3o years old        
nd thou shlah be a blessino- Kimchi on.
(see Word~sworto h on Acts vii. 4).         Zech. viii. I z, followed by Clericus and
CHAP. XII. 1. Now the LORD had said]  Knobel, interprets "shalt be an example or
Now  the LORD  said.  The former chap-  type of blessing," so that men  shall say
ter had carried the history down to the  "Blessed be thoiu, as Abraham was blessed."
death of Terah.  The present chapter returns  Others, as Roseniiiller, Gesenius, &c. conto the date of the call of Abram.  In Acts  sider the substantive to be put for the partiG2




ioo                              GENESIS. XII.                                 [v. 3-6
make thy narme great; and thou shalt         5 And Abram  took Sarai his wife,
be a blessing:                             and  Lot his brother's son, and all
3 And I will bless them  that bless  their substance that they had gatherthee, and curse him that curseth thee:  ed, and the souls that they had gotten
chap. I3. band in thee shall all families of the  in Haran; and they went forth to go
& 22. 8. earth be blessed.                         into the land of Canaan; and into the
Acts 3. 25.  4 So Abram  departed, as the LORD   land of Canaan they came.
had spoken unto him; and Lot went             6  eU And Abram  passed through
with him: and Abram  was seventy  the land unto the place of Sichem,
and five years old when he departed   unto the plain of Moreh.  And the
out of Haran.                              Canaanite was then in the land.
ciple, a blessing for blessed, comp. Zech. viii.  and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem"
I2. More probable, as well as more natural,  (Is. ii. 3). It has indeed been said with truth,
is the interpretation adopted by Tuch, D)e-  that the Semitic nations, and especially the
iitzsch, Keil, and others, and commended by  descendants of Abram, were from the time
the last words of v. 3,'"Thou shalt be a  of Abram to Christ the only believers in the
blessing or cause of blessing to others besides  unity of the Godhead, and that ever since the
thyself."                                    Christian era they only have taught monotheism to mankind. But that which was the
3.  1 vill bless them  that bless thee, anzd  special blessing to Abram's race, has also,
curse him that curseth thee]  God's blessing  springing from that race, become the universal
was to extend to Abram's friends and fol-  blessing to mankind. Of him "as concerning
lowers, and the enemies of Abram were to be  the flesh Christ came."
subject to God's curse. Two different Hebrew words are here translated by the one.  seventy and feyears old]  See on ch.
English word curse.  Some think that the  Xi. 32.
one expresses more properly the reviling and   5. the souls that they had gotten] that
malediction of man, the other the wi'thering  is, the slaves or dependants whom they had
curse of God.  Both, however, are used of  attached to them.  So in Ezek. xxvii. 13,
God and of man, cp. Job iii. 8; Deut. xxi.  slaves are spoken of as " souls of men."  Onz3.  The first in the English Version, that  kelos renders, "The souls which they had
used of God, is undoubtedly the stronger of  converted to the law in Charran."  So the
the two.                                    Pseudo-Jonathan  and  Jerusalem  Targums
in thee shall all far'ilies of the earth be  render  "the souls whom  they had prose
lyted."  And following this tradition, Rashi
blessed] Here again Rashi, Cleric., Knobel,  says thatAndbrm   made proselyts radition, Rai
and some others interpret the words to mean  ad       Abra m made proselytes of the mn.
that Abram should be so blessed in his family  and  Sarai of the women.
that all families of the earth should wish for    into ths land of Canaan they came] Leavlike blessings (comp. Gen. xlviiii. 20, " In thee  ing Haran they must have crossed the river
shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as  Euphrates, firom  which'crossing it is very
Ephraim  and Manasseh"). The words how-  commonly supposed the name Hebrew was
ever, can with no shew of reason be rendered  derived (rendered by the LXX. in Gen. xiv.
otherwise than as rendered in the Authorized  I3, o 7repclrrl, the crosser over). Thence their
Version, following the LXX. and Vulg. Nor  course must have been southward over the
can it be understood otherwise than that all  desert, probably near to Mount Lebanon, and
families of men should in some mlanner de-  thence. to the neighbourhood of Damascus.
rive blessing through Abram. The Taigum of  Josephus (' Ant.' I. 7) quotes from Nicolaus
Onkelos has for thy sake, and so the Jerusa-  of Damascus (' Hist.' bk. iv.), l"Abraham
lem   Targum; but this is an unauthorized  reigned in Damascus, being come with an
exposition.                                 army from the country beyond Babylon called
It is not necessary to assert that the pre-  the land of the Chaldxans.  But not long
diction here given was such as to enlighten  after, leaving this country with his people he
Abram with any fiull clearness as to the way  migrated into the land of Canaan, which is
in which his seed should bless all nations.  now called Judaea."  Josephus adds, that the
Indeed the promise is twofold, general and  name of Abraham was even in his days famous
particular. Generally it is true, that Abram's  in the country of the Damascenes, and a vilseed was for centuries the sole depositary  lage was pointed out there, which was called
of God's objective revelations, and that that  Abraham's habitation.
knowledge of God which was confided to    6. the place of Sichem]  So named by
them  has by them  been spread to all na-  anticipation.  The word place may perhaps
tions.   "Out of Zion went forth the law,  indicate that the town did not vet exist.




v. 7,.]                     GENESIS. XII.                                            10I
7  And  the LORD  appeared  unto   an dallar  unto  the LoRD, who  ap- dchap. tI
Cap,'33 Abram, and said, CUnto thy seed will  pared unto him.                               4I give this land: and there builded he        8  And  he  removed  from  thence
It is generally supposed that Sychar (Joh. iv.  foliage would, no doubt, be a natural resting
5) is the name by which it was known  place for a caravan or Arab encampment in
among the later Samaritans, though the iden-  the desert; but the great fertility of the valtity of Sychar with Shechem  is not quite  ley of Shechem favours the belief that there
certain (see Smith's'Dict. of the Bible,' Art.  may have been a grove rather than a single'Sychar'). The word Shechem  signifies a  tree.  Nothing is known as to the meaning of
shoulder, and, unless the town derived its  the word lMoreh: it may have probably been
name from  Shechem  the son of Hamor, it  the name of a man, a prince of the land, or
pi nbably was situated on a shozlder or ridge  owner of the property.
of land connected with the hills of Ebal and    the Canaanite qwas then in the land] The
Gerizim.  Josephus ('Ant.' Iv. 8) describes  original settlement of the sons of Canaan
the city of Shechem or Sicima as lying be-  seems to have been in the South near the Red
tween Gerizim on the right and Ebal on the  Sea; a Semitic race probably occupied the
left. The name Neapolis was given to it by  regions of Palestine and Phoenicia; a colony
Vespasian; and the ancients clearly identify  of the Canaanites afterwards spreading norththe later Neapolis with the ancient Shechem;  wards, partly dispossessed and partly mingled
e.g. Epiphanius (' Har.' IIi. io55), "In Si-  with the ancient Shemite inhabitants, and
chem, that is in the present Neapolis."  The  adopted their language (see note on ch. x. 6,
modern name is Nabulus.  The situation of  see also Epiphan.' Heres.' LXVI. n. 84). The
the town is described by modern travellers  historian therefore most appropriately relates
as one of exceeding beauty. Dr Robinson  that, at the time of the emigration of Abram
writes, "All at once the ground sinks down  and his followers, the Canaanite was already
to a. valley running toward the Wiest, with a  in possession of the land. The conjecture,
soil of rich black vegetable mould.  Here a  therefore, that these words were written by
scene of luxuriant and almost unparalleled  a later hand than that of ivoses, after tlhe
verdure burst upon our view. The whole  ancient Canaanite inhabitants had been exvalley was filled with gardens of vegetables  pelled, is altogether beside the mark.
and orchards of all kinds of fruits, watered                LO
7.  -,,,Ind the LORD appeared unto  aram]
by sever-al fountains which burst forth in                                   n    Aariovs partsf and flow wehsward in refresthing  This is the first mention of a distinct appearvarious parts and flow westward in refreshing  ance of the LORD to man. His voice is heard
ance of the LORD to man. His voice is heard
streams. It came suddenly upon us like a by Adam, and He is said to have spoken to
scene of fairy enchantment we saws notching  by Adam, and He is said to have spoken to
scene of fairy enchantment,   we saw nothing   Noah  and to Abram: but here is a visible
v  Noah and to Abram: but here is a visible
to compare to it in all Palestine" (Vol. II  manifestation.  The following  uestions nap. z75. See also Stanley's'Sinai and Pales-'Lin)IP34 Ti sot, pbaby nt yt  turally arise, I. Was this a direct vision
tine,' p. 234.)  This spot, probably not yet  of JEHOVAH  in Bodily shape?  2. Was
so cultivated, but even then verdant and  it an  mpression   oduc ed on  the mind of
beautiful, was the first. dwellingplace of the                          vision of God
a+   *. X.... >.           the seer, but not a true vision of God?
Patriarch in the land of promise.                  as  it an  angel personating  God?
the plain of Mloreh]  The oak (or tere-  4. W~as it a manifestation of the Son of
binth)  of Moreh.  There is considerable  God, a Theophania, in some measure antivariety of opinion as to the nature of the  cipating the  Incarnation?   (I)  The first
tree here mentioned, called Elon in He-  question seems answered by St John (Joh.
brew.  Celsius ('Hierob.' I. p. 34) has ar-  i. r8), " No  man  hath  seen  God  (the
gued that all the cognate words, EI, Elon,  Father) at any time."  (2) The second to
Elah, &c. signify the terebinth tree, the word  a certain extent follows the first.  WThether
allon only being  the  oak.  So  Michaelis  there was a manifestation of an objective
('Supplem.' p. 72),  Rosenm., Delitzsch,  reality, or merely  an  impression  on the
Keil, &c. The question is discussed at great  senses, we cannot possibly judge; but the
length by Gesen. ('Thes.' p. 5so), who doubts  vision, whether seen  in sleep or waking,
the distinction between Allon and Elan (a dis-  cannot have been a vision of God the Father.
tinction merely of vowel points), and inter-  (3) The third question has been answered
prets both by oak, or perhaps generally a large  by many in the affirmative, it being conforest tree. The LXX. and Vulg. render oak.  cluded that "the Angel of the LORD," a'The Targums (followed by the English Ver-  created Angel, was always the means-of comsion) render plain (see also Stanley,'Sinai  munication between God and man in the Old
and Palestine,' p. 414). It may be a ques-  Testament. The great supporter of this opition also whether the oak of Moreh was a  nion in early times was St Augustine ('De
single tree, or whether the word used may be  Trin.' III. c. xi. Tom. viii. pp. 80o5-8Io),
a noun of multitude, signifying the oak grove.  the chief a:-guments in its favour being the
A  single tree of large size and spreading  statements of the New  Testament that the




102                               GENESIS. XII.                                 [v. 9-12.
unto a mountain on the east of Beth-  the  land:  and  Abram   went down
el, and pitched his tent, having Bethel  into Egypt to sojourn there; for the
on the west, and  Hai on the east:  famine was grievous in the land.
and there he builded an altar unto the         I I And it came to pass, when he
LORD, and called upon the name of  was come near to enter into Egypt,
the LORD.                                   that he said unto Sarai his wife, BetHeb.      9 And Abram journeyed, tgoing on  hold now, I know that thou art a fair.a.Sjougr- still toward the south.                  woman to look upon:
neying.    IO  Il And there was a famine in            12 Therefore it shall come to pass,
law was given "by disposition of angels,"  should be the inheritance of his children. Ac"spoken by angels," &c. (Acts vii. 53; Gal.  cordingly, he built an altar there, as conseiii. I9; Heb. ii. 22).  It is further argued by  ctating the soil and dedicating it to God.  It
the supporters of this view, that "the angel  is not mentioned that he offered sacrifice, but
of the LORD" is in some passages in the Old  as the Hebrew word for altar means the place
Testament, and always in the New Testa-  of slaughter or of sacrifice, there can be no
ment, clearly a created angel (e. g. Zech. i. I I,  doubt, that it was an altar of burnt offering,
I2, &c.; Luke i. 1i; Acts xii. 23); and that  which he built, as was Noah's altar (ch. viii.
therefore it is not to be supposed that any of  20o), the only altar spoken of prior to this
these manifestations of the Angel of God or  time.
Angel of the Lord, which seem so markedly    8. he removed]  lit. he plucked xup his
Divine, should have been anything more than  tent pegs. The journeying was by repeated
the appearance of a created Angel personating  encampments, after the manner of the Bethe Most High.  (4) The affirmative of the  douins.
fourth opinion was held by the great majority
of the fathers from the very first (see, for in-   beth-el, i. e. the House of God. Ths is
stance, Justin.'Dial.' pp. 280-284; Tertull.  by anticipation.  It was called Lzlo at this'adv. Prax.' c. i6; Athanas.'Coot. Arian.' time (see ch. xx.iii. I9; Judg.  i 23)  The
Iv. pp. 464, 465 (Ed. Col.); Basil,' adv.  pesentname is  eitan.
Eunom.' ri. i8; Theodoret,'Qu. V. in Exod.'    Hai] was about five miles to the East of
The teaching of the fathers on this head is  Beth-el, the ruins of which bear the name of
investigated by Bp. Bull,' F. N. D.' Iv. iii.  Medinet Gai.
In like manner the ancient Jews had referred    called upon the name of the LORD.]  See ch,
the manifestation of God in visible form to the  iv. 26.
S.bechinah, the lIetatron, or the Memra de
Jah, apparently an emanation from God, havy-    9. going on  till toward the south] The
ing a semblance of diversity, yet really one  words express a gradual change of place,
with Him, coming forth to reveal Him, but  after the nomadic fashion.  As food ofiered
not truly distinct from Him. The fact, that  itself he pitched his tent and fed his cattle,
the name A.ngel of the Lord is sometimes used  and when food filed he went onwards to
of a created Angel, is not proof enough that  fresh pastures.
it may not be also used of Him who is called    10. a famine]  A country like Cansa-n,
"' the Angel of mighty counsel" (eEyadX77,s imperfectly cultivated, would be very subject
3ovoXk"AAyyeXo!, Is. ix. 6, Sept. Trans.), and  to droughts and famine. The part of Egypt,
"the Angel of the covenant" (Mal. iii. I);  which lay immediately South of Canaan, apand the apparent identification of the Angel  pears to have been especially fertile.  It uwas
of God with God Himself in very many pas-  at that time inhabited by a people skilled in
sages (e.g. Gen. xxxii. 24, comp. vv. 28, 30,  agriculture, and flooded periodically by the
Hos. xii. 3, 4; Gen. xvi. Io, I3, xlviii. IS, i6;  Nile. Egypt is still the refuge for neighbourJosh. v. 14, vi. 2; Judg. ii. i, xiii. 22; Isa. vi. I;  ing nations when afflicted with drought.  It
cp. Joh. xii. 41; Is. lxiii. 9) leads markedly to  is said that Abram went down to Egypt "to
the conclusion, that God spake to man by an  sojourn," not to live there; for he had reAngel or Messenger, and yet that that Angel  ceived the promise of inheritance in Canaan,
or Messenger was Himself God. No man saw   and, though this famine may have tried, it did
God at any time, but the only begotten Son,  not shake his faith.
who was in the Bosom of the Father, declared    11. Behold.. thou  r arfair czoman] Sarai
Him.  Ite, who was the Word of God, the  was now  more than sixty years old: but
Voice of God to His creatures, was yet in  her life extended to I27 years, so that she was
the beginning with God, and Hle was God.    only then in middle life; she had borne no
Unto thy seed.vill I give this land: and there  Children, and at the age of ninety, though not
budildd he an altar] This is the first definite  naturally young enough to have a son, was,ronmise to Abram, that the land of Canaan  yet preserved in a coainltiinLn ef unusual and




v. 13-19.]                  GENESIS. XII.                                          I03
when the Egyptians shall see thee,          I6 And he entreated Abram  well
that they shall say, This is his wife:  for her sake" and he had sheep, and
and they will kill me, but they will  oxen, and he asses, and menservants,
save thee alive.                         and maidservants, and she asses, and
13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my  camels.
sister: that it may be well with me         I7 And the LORD plagued Pharaoh
for thy sake; and my soul shall live  and his house with great plagues bebecause of thee.                         cause of Sarai Abram's wife.
I4 T And it came to pass, that,    I8  And  Pharaoh  called  Abram,
when Abram  was come into Egypt,  and said, WThat is this that thou hast
the Egyptians beheld the woman that  done unto me? why didst thou not
she was very fair.                       tell me that she was thy wife?
I5 The princes also  of Pharaoh          19 Why saidst thou, She is my
saw  her, and commended her before  sister? so I might have taken her to
Pharaoh: and the woman was taken  me to wife:  now  therefore behold
into Pharaoh's house.                    thv wife, take her, and go thy way.
preternatural youth, so that she bore Isaac;  "Excursus on Egyptian WVords" (by the Rev.
her fair complexion would contrast favourably  F. C. Cook) at the end of this volume.  It
with the swarthy complexion of the Egyptians.  may be compared with the title " Sublime
The Arab life of Abram naturally made him   Porte."
wary of danger. He was about to sojourn    It is difficult to fix the particular Pharaoh
in *a country with a despotic government,  or dynasty under which  Abram  came into
and among a licentious people. \Ve see in  Egypt. Generally the characteristics of the
the conduct of Abram  an instance of one  Court, as briefly described in Genesis, point
under the influence of deep religious feeling  to a native dynasty of very remote date. Some
and true faith in God, but yet with a con-  circumstances, the friendly reception of a
science imperfectly enlightened as to many  Semitic nomade and the use of camels (v. I6)
moral duties, and when leaning to his own  among the Egyptians, have suggested the
understanding suffered to fall into great error  belief that Abram's  Pharaoh must have
and sin. The candour of the historian is  been a shepherd king (see Smith's Dict. of the
shewn by his exhibiting in such strong relief  Bible, Artt. Pharaoh and Zoan); and  Sir
the dissimulation of Abram  as contrasted  Gardiner xW.ilkinson (' Ancient Egyptians,'
with the straightforward integrity of Pharaoh.  Vol. I. chap. ii. p. 42) has identified him with
15. Phlaraoh]  The name or title, by  Apophis or Apepi, the sixth monarch of
which the kings of Egypt are called ings of Egypt are Manetho's th dynasty. tlled is, hoever,
OId Testament.  josephustellsusthat "Pha-  impossible to  admit so late a date. The
raoh among the Egyptians signifies king."  Pharaoh of Joseph was almost certainly a
It used to be thought that it was the Coptic  ing of the zth dynasty.    Arams Phaword Ouro with the article Pi or Ph. (Ja-  raoh must therefore at latest have been one of
blonski, Diss. iv. section,'De Terra Gosen')  the first kings of that same dynasty, if not
Later the opinion of Rosellini, Lepsius, Raw-  belonging to a dynasty earlier still.  The oh
linson, Poole and others has been that it cor-  jections, derived from the camels, and other
responded with the title of the Sun-God  apparent indications of a shepherd reign, are
RA, with the article, PH —RA, a name which  fully considered in Excursus I. "1 On the
was given to some of the kings of Egypt.  Bearings of Egyptian History on the PentaGesenius objects to this from its lacking the  teuch,'" at the end of this volume, by Rev. F.
final oh ('Thes.' p. 29); and there isinsui-  C. Cook: and the period of Abram's sojourn
cient evidence that the title was really a  in Egypt is shewn to be most probably under
common title of the kings. Very recently M.  one of the earlier sovereigns of the i2th
De Rougel has shewn that the hieroglyphic,  dynasty.
which is the regular title of the Egyptian    the yvoman qvas taken into P araoh's house]
ldings, and which signifies "'the great house"  Probably even at that early period Egypt had
or "the double house," must be read Peraa  reached such a pitch of corrupt civilization
or Perao. This singularly corresponds with  that the sovereign had a hareem, and Sarai
J ---- --— o —---- -t hat chosen to be one of his wives.
the statement of Horapollo (i. 6i), that the  was
iging was called o'or  Iyar,'- the great house."    18. Pharaoh called Abram] Josephus says,
The identity of this with the name Pharaoh  that the priests told Pharaoh for what cause
is admitted by Brugsch, Ebers ('IAEgypten,  that plague had fallen on him (' Ant.' r. 8).
&c.' p. 26), and is argued at length in the  It is more likely that Sarai herself, being




Io4                        GENESIS.  XII.  XIII.                            [v. 2 o-7.
20 And Pharaoh commanded his  the place where his tent had been at
men concerning him: and they sent  the beginning, between Beth-el and
him  away, and his wife, and all that  Hai;
he had.                                     4. Unto the a place of the altar, a chap. I
which he had made there at the first: 7.
CHAPTER  XIII.                  and there Abram called on the name
r Abram and Lot returnz out of Egypt.  7 Ey  of the LORD.
dzisareemen t they laort asuzznder. I o Lot oeth
to wicked Sodom. 1 Glod srenewel  the pro-   5  e  And Lot also, which went
maise to Abrain. Is8 Hi removetz to l7ebron,  with Abram, had flocks, and herds,
and there buildeth an altar.           and tents.
AND  Abram  went up out of E-           6 And the land was not able to
gypt, he, and his wife, and all  bear them, that they might dwell tothat he had, and Lot with him, into  gether: for their substance was great,
the south.                               so that they could not dwell. toge2 And  Abram  was very rich in  ther.
cattle, in silver, and in gold.             7 And there was a strife between
3 And he went on his journeys  the herdmen of Abram's cattle and
from the south even to Beth-el, unto  the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the
interrogated about it, confessed the truth    3. on his journeys]  By his stations, or
(Patrick).                                 according to his encampments, i.e. either sta19. so I mig7ht have taken her] Heb. So  tion by station, as before, pitching his tent for
I took her. LXX. Syr. Onk. Though the  a time at one station and then removing it to
Vulgate followed by the Arabic has, " so that  another; or perhaps, returning by his former
I might have taken her."  The meaning is,  stations, according to his original encampDeceived by Abram's words, Pharaoh took  rnents when he was journeying southwards.
her with the intention of maklting her his wife,    unto the place Swhere his tent had been at the
but was hindered from doing so by the afflic-  beginningz,]  Shechem was the first place at
tions with which God visited him (see Theo-  which he rested and built an altar; but he
doret,' Qu. LXXII. in Gen.' Op. xii.  Au-  probably remained there a comparatively short
gustin,'De Civit. Dei,' xvI. 18). St Jerome  time. The Canaanites then in the land (ch.
("'rad. Heb. in Genes.') refers to Esth. ii. I2, Xii. 6) would doubtless have occupied all the
where we learn that the custom of Eastern  most fertile country about Shechem.  His
monarchs was, that a maiden should undergo  second place of sojourn was the mountain
twelvemonths of purification before she was  near Bethel, where he is said to have built an
actually taken to wife.  It was, he thinks,  altar and called on the name of the Lord, and
during some such period that Pharaoh was  where very probably he had continued until
plagued and prohibited from marrying Sarai.  the famine began to prevail. (See ch. xii. vv.
It deserves to be noticed, that throughout the  7, 8, 9, io.)
history of the chosen race, Egypt was to them  6. tie land quas not able to bear theus]
the scene of spiritual danger, of covetousness  Lot was the sharer of Abram's prosperity.
and love of riches, of worldly security, of They came up out of Egypt with much larger
temptation to rest on an arm  of flesh, on  possessionsthanbefre, more'"locksandherds
man's ownl understanding, and not on God  and tents' for their now mo-e numerous reonly. All this appears from the very first, in  tainers. The land too had but just recovered
Abraham's sojourn there, Sarai's danger, their  from a state of drought and dearth: "and the
departure full of wealth and prosperity.   Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the
land" (v. 7), and probably by their occupaCHAP. XIII. 1.  and  Lot'with him]  tion contributed to the scarcity of pasture.
Lot is not mentioned in the descent into.
Egypt, because no part of the narrative there  this people. TheyBut little is  non of
concerns him. On the return to Canaan he  this people  They are not mentioned in the
becomes a principal actor,                 catalogue of nations in Gen. x.  They are
mostly coupled, as here, with the Canaanites.
into the south] That southern part of Ca-  They appear from Josh. xi. 3, xvii. IS, to have
naan, whence he had gone down into Egypt,  dwelt in the woods and mountains. Bochart
The south, or Negeb, is almost a proper name.  describes them (' Phaleg.' Iv. 36) as a rustic,
2.  very rich]  He had grown rich in  agrarian race, living without cities and in
Egypt. He has now to experience some of villages only, the name itself signifying pagani,
the dangers and ev ils of prosperity.'villagers, rustics.




v. 8-I5.]                   GENESIS. XIII.                                           to5
Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled           II Then  Lot chose  him  all the
then in the land.                          plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed
8 And   Abram    said unto  Lot,  east: and they separated themselves
Let there be no strife, I pray thee,  the one from the other.
between me and thee, and between              I2 Abram  dwelled in the land of
my herdmen and thy herdmen; for  Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities
we be'brethren.                           of the plain, and pitched his tent to-' 9  Is not the  whole land before  ward Sodom.
thee? separate thyself, I pray thee,         13  But the men of Sodom  were
from  me: if thou wilt take the left  wicked and sinners before the LoRD
hand, then I will go to the right; or  exceedingly.
if thou depart to the right hand, then        14. q And the LoRD said unto AI will go to the left.                     brain, after that Lot was separated
io And Lot lifted up his eyes, and  from  him, Lift up now  thine eyes,
beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it  and look from  the place where thou
was well watered every where, before  art northward, and  southward, and
the LORD destroyed Sodom  and Go-  eastward, and westward:
morrah, even  as the  garden of the          I5  For all the land which  thou 7"Chap.
LORDn, like the land of Egypt, as thou   seest, bto thee will I give it, and to & 26. 4.
Delut. 34.
comest unto Zoar.                         thy seed for ever.                        4.
dwelled then in the laand  See on xii. 6.  or plain along the river —through which it
8.  Let there be no str~ie]  A noble ex-  flows, perhaps as comprehensive as the Ghor
ample of disinterestedness and love of peace  itself. (Robinson,'Phys. Geog.' p. 73.)
exhibited by the father o(f the faithful.     13.  sinners before the LORD]  Sodom,
10. Lot lifted      his eyes] They were  Gomorlah, Admah and Zeboim  are menZA. Lot li~ted  lr~L3 hiS ep~sl.hey.ee  tioned, Gen. x. I,  as among the first settleprolbably encamped on that mountain on the  tinned, Gen. x. i9, as among the first settleeast of Bethel, having Bethel on the west and  ments of the Ce  aanites. The fertility of the
Hai on the east, where  Abram  had built
lu::urious   and enervating character of the
the altar and called on the name of the Lord  l ious and enervating character of the
climate, rapidly developed the sensual vices
(ch. xii. 8).  The very spot can be traced  of this early civilizedbu depraved race. Their
fiom the indications of the sacred text (Stan-    er.             Thi
ley'som the indications of the sacred text (Stan-From   wickedness is mentioned here perhaps in antithis Ispot Lot and  Abram  chose their rme-  cipation of the history in ch. xix., but partly
this spot Lot and  Abram  chose their re-  -   *                 -
also in order to exhibit more clearly the
spective possessions.  Lot saw the plains of  also in ord
thoughtlesslyess and wrldliness of Lot
Jordan, watered by fertilizing rivers, not vet       their and worldliness of Lot in
o'  1.    -..'1    @    choosing their neighbourhood for his resibroken up by the overflowing or outbursting        as
of the great salt lake, very probably irrigated      distinguished from the humility and
like the land of Egypt which he had lately
left, where the Nile refreshed the soil, and the    14. Lift zp now thine eyes, &c.]  He'was
plague of famine never came.  Taking no  probably still on the hill east of Bethel. Here
warning by the dangers, bodily and spiritual,  once again, on his return from Egypt to the
which had beset them in Egypt, he feared not land of his inheritance, God renews his prothe proximity of the wealthy and luxurious  mise to Abram.    The world, with its dan-.nhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, but gers and its honours, may have tempted
thought their land pleasant even as the garden  Abram, but it had not corrupted him. He
of the Lord.  He chose the rich pastures of  came back from Egypt with larger knowledge,
the plain, and left Abram  the less promis-  probably all the more armed against sin by
ing, but, as it proved, the safer inheritance of  having had some experience of its seductions.
the hill country of Judza.  It was a selfish  He is still the chosen of God; and he is comchoice, and it proved a sad one.            forted under separation from his kinsman, and
as thoul comest unto Zoar- See on ch. xiv. 3  the discovery of that kinsman's lower motives
r  See on ch. xiv. 3* and less disinterestedness, by the assurance
12. land of Canaan]  That is, Canaan  that God was still ever with him and pledged
strictly so called.                         to preserve and provide for him.
the plain]  Lit. " the circuit or neighbour-    15.  to thee]  The land even in present
hood," the country round about Jordan.  So  possession was his, so far as was needed by
the LXX.  (Ges.'Thes.' p. 7.I7.  Stanley,  him as a nomade chief, though its permanent'Sinai and Palestine,' p, 287.) The low tract  occupation was to him andt his seed after hir,




Io6                         GENESIS. XIII. XIV.                               [v. I6-2.
i6 And I will make thv seed as    I8 Mel7chizedek blesseth Abram. 20o  brarm
the dust of the earth: so that if a man      ivtk kim? tithe  am The rest of the spoil, his
hpartZners havinfg had their portions, he recan number the dust of the earth, then    storeth to the k/ein of Sbdom.
shall thy seed also be numbered.               ND  it came to pass in the days
I7 Arise, walk through the land i  of Amraphel king  of Shinar,
the length of it and in the breadth   Arioch  king of Ellasar, Chedorlaoof it; for I will give it unto thee.       mer king of Elam, and Tidal king
I8 Then Abram removed his tent,  of nations;
t Hb.   and came and  dwelt in the  tplain           2 That these made war with Bera
~;$ai.   of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and  king of Sodom, and with Birsha king
built there an altar unto the LORD.    of Gomorrah, Shinab  king of AdCHAPTER  XIV.                    mah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim,
The bottle of foar igs against -five.   i Lot  and  the  king  of  Bela, which  is
is takenr pirisonser.  4 Abrani rescueth /him.  Zoar.
for ever] i.e. in perpetuity. But, when we  as in early times was the case with all fertile
consider that the promises to Abram  have  countries (Thucyd. I. z). The history of this
their full completion in Christ, to whom are  war is a remarkable episode, and is thought
given " the uttermost parts of the earth for a  by many to be a very ancient document inpossession," there need be no limit to the sense  corporated by Moses in his great work. So
of the words " for ever."                   Tuch, Ewald, Kurtz, &c. who all bear tes18. the plain of Mamre] The Oaks (or  timony to its internal proofs of historical acterebinths) of Mamre, see on ch. xii. 6. Pro-  curacy. TheoccurrenceofthenameJE-Obably it means l"the oak grove" or'"Wood  VAH in it is inconsistent with the theory,
of Mamnre," called after IMamrne the Amorite,  which assigns the use of that name only to
the friend andally of Abram  (ch.xiv. I3-  4)  the later portions of the book of Genesis.
Hebron] Called Arba or IUsjoth arba  (see   in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar]
ch. xxiii., xxxv. 4. Judg. i. Io) till after the  The king of Shinar, (Babel, Onkel., Bagdad,
death of Moses, when Caleb too the city Arab. Erpen., Pontus, Jonathan,) as being the
death of MIoses, when Caleb took the city
and changed its name to Hebron. It has been  representative of Nimrod, founder of the
thought therefore that the words here "which  great Babylonian Empire, is mentioned first.
is Hehron,'" must have been inserted by a  The name Amraphel is probably Assyrian, its
later hand than that of Moses. It is more  derivation unlnown.
probable that Hebron was the original name,    Arioch]  If, as it is supposed, the root of
changed to Kirjath-arba during the sojourn  this word be ari, a lion, the bearer of it would
of the descendants of Jacob in the land of  appear to have been Semitic.
Egypt, and restored by Caleb at the conquest    Ellasar] Jonathan Telassar (see z K. Yxi\.
of Palestine.  So Karme (cited by Rosen-  Iz; Isa. xxxvii. I%), a place not far off.  It is
muller), Hengstenberg, Keil, &c.; see also on  more probably identified with Larsa or Lach. xxiii. 2. This was the third resting place  rancha, the Larissa of the Greeks, a town in
of Abram:  i. Shechem, 2. Bethel, 3. He-  Lower Babylonia, or Chalde-a, between Ur
bron.  Near it was the cave of Machpelah,  and Erech, on the left bank of the Euphrates
where he and Sarah were buried.  It is now   (Rawlinson, Kalisch, &c.).
called El thalil, " the friend," i. e. the house    Chedorlaomer king of Elarn]   It seems
of the friend of God.  Near to it stands an  from the narrative that at this time the king
ancient Terebinth, once a place of heathen  of Elam was the most powerful of the Asiatic
worship (Delitzsch). The cave of Machpe-  princes (Le Clerc).  lie  Elamites appear to
lah still is there, surrounded by a mosque, in  have been originally a Semitic people (ch. x.
which lie probably the dust of Abraham and  22).  If then they had now gained a superiIsaac, and perhaps the embalmed body, the  ority over the Hamitic races, it is not imDromummy, of Jacob, brought up in solemn  bable that the Canaanites of the plain of Jorstate from Egypt, ch. 1. I3 (Stanley,'Sinai  dan, having been originally subject to the
and Palestine,' p. IO;).                    kings of Shinar, or Babylon, bore unwillingly
the transference of their fealty to the Shemite
CHAP. XIV. 1. And it came topass] Wv'e  king of Elam, and tool the first opportunity
come now  upon a new  scene in the life  of throwing off their allegiance, whereupon
of Abram.  The choice of Lot was soon  the king of Elam, now the head of the four
seen not to be a wise choice, even for earthly  kingdoms named in this verse, gathered his
happiness. The rich plains of Sodom  and  subjects or tributary allies. and strove to reGomorrah were likely to be scenes of strife,  duce the Canaanites again to subjection. Re



v. 3 —5]                    GENESIS. XIV.                                          Io7
3 All those were joined  together          5 And in the fourteenth year came
in the vale of Siddim, which is the  Chedorlaomer, and  the  kings that
salt sea.                                  were with  him, and smote the Re4 Twelve years they served Che-  phaims in  Ashteroth  Karnaim, and, 1or,
dorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year  the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims lzzo
they rebelled.                             in IShaveh Kiriathaim,                    tazinz.
cent discoveries shew that Susa (the capital  the reason why the five kings chose it for the
of Elymais) must have been one of the most  field of battle, as being more favourable to
ancient cities of the East. Sir Henry Rawlin-  the weaker party.
son thought he discovered a name corespond-'which is the salt sea]  The extreme deing with Chedorlaomer on Chaldwan bricks,  pression of the Dead Sea, 13 i6 feet (Robinson,
viz. Kadur-Mapula, the second portion of the'Phys. Geog.' p. 90o), and other geological
word being of course distinct.  Another title  phenomena, are thought to favour the belief,
by which Kadur-Mapula was known was  that there must have been originally some
" Ravager of the West," which corresponds  lake at the extremity of the valley of the Jorwith the account here given of Chedorlaomer.  dan; but perhaps after the destruction of
Rawlinson and others consider the dynasty  Sodom and Gomorrah the lake greatly exof Chedorlaomer not to have been Semitic,  tended itself, so as to cover much which bebut belonging to a race of Harsites, who had fore may have been low valley land. The
subdued the original Elymscans.             vale of Siddim i3 generally thought to have
Tidal king of nations] Symmachus renders  been at the southern extremity of the Dead
"King of the Scythians," which is approved  Sea, where are now to be seen the principal
by some commentators, because Scythia was  deposits of salt and bitumen, the site being
inhabited by many different tribes (Fuller,  occupied by the shallow southern portion of' Miscell. SS.' Lib. IL c. 4, quoted by Rosenm.).  that sea (see Robinson,' Physical Geography
Le Clerc, followed by Rosenmuller, prefers  of the Holy Land,' pp. 73, 213).
Galilee, called " Galilee of the Gentiles" or    4. Twelveyears, &c.]  See on v. i.
"nations" (Is. ix. I;  Matt. iv. iS.  See
also Strabo, Lib. xvi. ~ 34, who says that    5. Rephaims] The LXX. renders " Githese northern parts of Judxa were inhabited  ants," so virtually do Onk. and Syr.  It is,
by various mixed tribes,' Egyptians, Arabs, no doubt, the name of an ancient people;
Phoenicians).  But all this was probably later  very probably a tribe resident in the Holy
in history, and the name Galilee of the na-  Land before the immigration of the Canaantions was given to Galilee, because it was still ites. They appear to have been a people of
inhabited by other tribes, whilst Judoea was  large stature.  Og, the king of Bashan, at the
inhabited by none but Israelites (Gesenius,  time of the Exodus, is mentioned as the last'Thes.' p. 272)~).  W~Se may most probably  remaining of their race (Deut. iii.  I). Their
conjecture that Tidal was owned as the chief  habitation was to the north-east of the valley
of several nomade tribes, who, like Abram, of the Jordan, the country afterwards called
had no stationary home. For Tidal, the LXX, Pera. They must also have extended to the
has Thargal, which is preferred by some, as  south-west; for the valley of Rephaim, named
having the meaning of "Great chief" in the  after them, appears to have been in the neighearly Hamitic dialect of the lower Tigris and  bourhood of the valley of Hinnom and BethEuphrates country  (Rawlinson, in Smith's  lehem, to the south of Jerusalem  (see Josh.' Dict. of Bible').                         xv. 8, xviii. I6; 2 S. v. xI, 22, xxiii. I3).
The name "Rephaim," in later times, is con3.  oale of Siddim]  The meaning of  stantly used for " the dead," or rather for the
this name has been a great puzzle to inter-  " ghosts or manes of the dead" (Job xxvi. 5;
preters. The LXX. render it "the salt val-  Ps. lxxxviii. II; Prov. ii. 18; Is. xiv. 9, xxvi.
ley."  Onkelos evidently refers the derivation  14). Whether there is a connection between
to Sadeh, a plain (as though Mt11. was plural  the name of this ancient and afterwards
of,;i1).  So Aquila and Rashi.  They  extinct people, and this word thus used for
are followed by Stanley (' Sinai and Palestine,'  " the dead," is very doubtful (Gesen.'Thes.'
p..49I).  Aben Ezra derives it from  Sid  p. 1302).
(1*'t), lime, because of the abundance of    Ashteroth Karnaim]   " Ashteroth of the
bitumen, which was used as lime (see ch. xi.  two horns."  It is most probable that this
3).  Gesenius suggests an Arabic root signi-  was the same as the Ashtaroth, where Og the
fying an obstacle, and so concludes that the  king of Bashan dwelt (Deut. i. 4; Josh. ix.
valley of Siddim was a plain full of rocky  Io), in the east of the inheritance of the tribe
valleys and irregularities.  In v. Io it is said  of Manasseh; and that it was named from the
to be full of bitumen pits, which was perhaps  worship of Astarte (Ashtoreth), whose image




Io8                              GENESIS. XIV.                                    [v. 6,7.
6 And the Horites in their mount  En-mishpat, which  is Kadesh, and,Or,    Seir, unto I El-paran, which is by the  smote all the country of the Amav-v~,,. wilderness.                                 lekites, and also the Amorites, that
7 And they returned, and came to  dwelt in Hazezon-tamar.
was such as to suggest the idea of a horned  from the Dead Sea southward to the Elamitic
figure (see Gesen.' Thes.' p. 1082).  In like  Gulf.  Mount Seir is called in the Samaritan
manner Athor (the Egyptian Venus, as As-  Pentateuch and the Jerusalem Targum "'Gatarte was the Phoenician). was depicted with  bla," and the northern part of the range is
horns like a cow (see Rawlinson's' Herod.'  still called " Jebal," or "'the mountain," by
Vol. II. pp. 6I, 62). Some, however, think  the Arabs. The wonderful excavations in the
the two horns to refer to two hills, between  rocks near Petra may very possibly be due to
which the city lay, and the name " horned"  these "Horim," or cave-dwellers. They were
was intended to distinguish this town from   driven out by the Edomites (Deut. ii. I2),
the city comrnonly called Ashtaroth only (see  who also after the manner of their predecesRosenm. in loc. and Smith's' Dict. of Bible,'  sors " made their nest high like the eagle."
s. v. Ashtaroth).                              El-paran] i.e. " the oak or terebinth wood
Zuzinms]  Little is known concerning the  of Paran."  The great wilderness, extending
name or place of this people. The LXX. and  to the south of Palestine, the south-west of
Onk. render "the strong or mighty ones."  Idumzca, and thence to the Sinaitic range,
L e Clerc thinks the name means I" wanderer,"  appears to have been called the wilderness of
from the root Zuz Tit, "to move oneself."  Paran.  It probably lay to the west of the
Michaelis understands "dwarfs."  Both deri-  wilderness of Sin, but at times is to be taken
vations are rejected by Gesen. (' Thes.' p. 4Io0).  in a wider sense, as comprehending the desert
They are very generally thought to be the  of Sin (see Gesen.'Thes.' pp. 47, og1090o). Elsame with the Zamzummims (Deut. ii. 20),  paran is here said to be by the wilderness, i. e.
who are spoken of as a race of great stature,  on the eastern side of the great desert, markand connected with the Horim, as are the  ing the farthest point to whrich the expedition
Zuzims here.                                 of Chedorlaomer reached. The wilderness of
zin H-am] If the Zuzim be the same as ithe  Paran is identified with the modern desert of
Zamzm,   they must have dwelt in  he   El-Tih, the wilderness of Zin or Sin being the
X\Vady-el-Arabah (Stanley, ISinai and Palesterritory of the Ammonites, and Tuch, fol-bh (Stnley,'na and Pales
lowed by Knobel, considers that Ham here is  tine, p. 92)
t1he same as Rabbath-Ammon.  There is an-    7. to En -mishpat, wchich is Kadesh] The
other reading in seven Samaritan MSS. fol-  LXX. renders "to the well of judgment,"
lowed by the LXX. and Vulg. viz. (a   a/i a   the Vulg. "to the well of Mishpat."  Some
c ili) "withem" butthe point-  suppose it to have derived its name from
arV7oi~, cZ1um7 illis)'~ with them;" but the pointing of the Masorites seems more likely to be
tlhe true.                                   (Num. xx. i2), and that the name is here
given proleptically; but it is evidently here
the Emims] The name is supposed to be  given as the ancient name to which the more
the Hebl-ew for "terrible ones."  The Rev.  modern Kadesh corresponded.  Syr., Onk.,
". C. Cook identifies the name with Amu,  Jerus. render Kadesh by Rekam.  Josephus
thie Egyptian word for nomad Semites.  In  calls it Arekem, which he says now bears the
D)eut. ii. io, II, where they are mentioned in  name of Petra (' A. J.' Iv. 4). This identity
the same connection as here, they are spoken  of Kadesh with Petra is ably defended by
of as "a people great and many and tall."  Dean Stanley ('S. and P.' pp. 94, 95).  AnThey dwelt in the country afterwards occu-  other site for the ancient Kades, or Ain-Mishpied by the nMoabites.                       pat, is vindicated for Kudes or Kades, lying
Shavzeb Kiriathaim] or "the plain of Kiria-  to the east of the highest part of Djebelthaim," or "the plain of the two cities." Kiri-  Halal, about i2 miles to the E.S.E. of Morathaim  is mentioned, Num. xxxii. 37, Josh.  lakhi (see Williams,'Holy.City,' Vol. I. p.
xiii. I9, as in the possession of the sons of  467; Kalisch, Delitzsch, Keil, in loc.) Strong
Reuben. Eusebius says it was well known in  objections to both these sites are urged in the
his day, a village inhabited by Christians,  art. Kades in Smith's' Dict. of the Bible.'
close to the Baris, about Io miles west of    Amnlekites]  See note on ch. xxxvi. i2,
M/edeba ('Onorm.' KtLptaOct'L).                Hazezon-tamar] i.e. " The pruning of the
6. the Horites in their mount Seir]  The  palm," the same place which was afterwards
name " Horites" means "inhabitants of caves."  called Engedi, " the fountain of the wild-goat"
These people dwelt in the mountain region  (z Chr. xx. 2). The palm-groves, which gave
called Seir (lit. "the hirsute," probably from   the original name, and for which Pliny says
Its thick forests and brushwood), extending  Engedi was famous (' Nat. Hist.' v.  7), have




v. 8 —I5.]                 GENESIS. XIV.                                          1og
8 And there went out the king of  Sodom  and Gomorrah, and all their
Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah,  victuals, and went their way.
and the king of Admah, and the king         12  And they took Lot, Abram's
of Zeboiim> and  the king of Bela  brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom,
(the same is Zoar;) and they joined  and his goods, and departed.
battle with them  in the vale of Sid-       13 q And there came one that had
dim;                                     escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew;
9 With Chedorlaomer the king of  for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre
Elam, and with Tidal king of nations,  the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and
and Amraphel king of Shinar, and  brother of Aner: and these were conArioch king of Ellasar; four kings  federate with Abram.
with five.             -14 And when Abram  heard that
Io And the vale of Siddimwasfull  his brother was  taken  captive, he
of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom  II armed his Strained servants, born in his II Or,
and Gomorrah fled, and fell there;  own house, three hundred and eigh- IlOftr,t
and they that remained fled to the  teen, and pursued them unto Dan.    i'istzructtl
mountain.                                   I5 And he divided himself against
i i And they took all the goods of  them, he and his servants, by night,
disappeared, but the ibex, or Syrian chamois,  here used means "to draw out," as a sword
still inhabits the cliffs in the neighbourhood  from its sheath: and the word trained is ap(Stanley,'S. and P.' p. 295). The place was  plied to the teaching of children (Prov. xxii. 6),
situated in the wilderness of Judaa, to the  and to initiation or consecration, as of a house
west of the Dead Sea, according to Josephus  (Deut. xx. 5), or a temple (I K. viii. 63).
3o0 stadia from Jerusalem (' Ant.' Ix. c. I).    born in his owun hozse] Of his own patriarchThe ruins found at a place called Ain Jiddi,  al family, not bought, hired, or taken in war.
with a fountain in the midst of a mountain    unto Dan] Some taking this Dan to be the
country, to the west of the Dead Sea and of  same as Laish, which was not called Dan till
about the latitude of Hebron, are supposed to  after the country was conquered by the
mark the original site of Engedi or Hazezon-  Danites (Josh. xix. 47; Judg. xviii. 29), have
tamar.                                    thought that this passage was not from the
10.  Iiimepits] Bitum-en-pits: ofasphalt  hand of Moses. So Ewald ('Gesch.'I.  3), who
or bitumen, fronm wrhich  the Dead Sea was  supposes Dan to have been substituted by a
afterwards called Lacus Asphaltites, or Sea of  laterhand for Laish in the original MS. Others
Asphalt.                                   have thought that another place was meant
fell there] i.e. were overthrown there; for  here (so Deyling, Havernick, Kalisch, Keil).
the king of Sodom seems to have been one of  Keil contends that the Dan, formerly called
those who fled to the mountains and escaped,  Laish, which was on the central source of the
see v. 17.                                 Jordan (see Joseph.'Ant.' I. Io; Stanley,'S.
and P.' p. 395), could not have been the Dan
13. one that had esca~ped] Rather those I 0 here mentioned, as it did not lie in either of
that escape   (Ew. 277;  Ges.'Thes.' the two roads leading from the vale of Siddim
p. II         ies),                       to Damascus.  Both he and Kalisch think
the Hebrew] i.e. either "the descendant of  this Dan to be the same as Dan-jaan (2 S.
Eber," which seems most accordant with the  this Dan to be the same as Dan-jaan   (2 S.
Eber," which seems most accordant with the  xxiv. 6), apparently belonging to Gilead, and
words in ch. x. 2z, where Eber seems to have  to be sought for in northern Per a, to the
given a general name to his descendants, or  soutl-west of Damascus  The chief objec*(as the LXX., Aq., Vulg., and most ancient  tion to this is, that Josephus (as above,'Ant.'
interpreters), " the stranger from beyond the  I. IO) and Jerome (I Q. Hebr. in Gen.' ad h..)
Euphrates,"' an appellative from the Hebrewf   distinctly speak of the Dan here mentioned, as
noun or preposition Eber, 73t, signifying the  situated at the source of the Jordan. The con"opposite side, beyond."  The mention of jecture of Le Clerc (Cleric. in loc.) is not
Abram  as the Hebrew is due to the fact,  contemptible, viz. that the original name of
that the messenger, who came and told him  the fountain was " Dan," i. e. "judge," (cp.
what had happened, was an inhabitant of the  Ain-mishpat, the fountain of justice), the
land, and Abram was to him one of a strange  neighbouring town being called Laish; but
country and strange race.                  that the Danites gave the name of the rwell,
the plain]  The oaks or oak groves.  which corresponded with that of their own
14. He armed his trained servants] Ie led  tribe, to the city as well as the fountain,
out his trained  servants.  The verb    15. he divided h;nself against them, he




110                             GENESIS.  XIV.                            [v. If —IS.
and smote them, and pursued them             I7 4T And the king of Sodom went
unto Hobah, which is on the left hand  out to meet him after his return from
of Damascus.                              the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and
I6 And he brought back all the  of the kings that were with him, at
goods, and  also  brought again  his  the valley of Shaveh, which is the,:Sam.s
brother Lot, and his goods, and the  aking's dale.                                 1).
women also, and the people.                  i8 And'Melchizedek king of Sa- I.
and his servants, by night] From v. 24 it ap-  Adel and Adel-Chan, i. e. "' the just king," a
pears that besides Abram's own servants  title common to some Mahommedan kilngs,
there went out with him Aner, Eshcol and  as the princes of the Deccan and Golconda:
Mamre, with their followers. These divided  but the Hebrew form of the word seems to
their forces, surprised the invaders at differ-  point to a proper name rather than to a title.
ent points of attack during the darkness, and  Cp. Abi-melech, Gen. xx. 2, Adoni-zedek,
so routed them.                            Josh. x. 3. The Targums of Jerusalem and
Hohah, uwhich is on the left hand of Damas-  Pseudo-Jonathan say, that Melchizedek was
cus] i.e. to the north of Damascus, the north  Shem, and St Jerome (' Qw. ad Genes.' in lc.)
being to the left of a man, who looks toward  tells us that the Jews of his day said he was
the sunrising. A place called Choba is men-  Shem the son of Noah, and calculating the
tioned, Judith xv. 6; Eusebius (' Onom.' v. days of his life, shewed that he must have
X)o,/3) says that in his day a village existed in  ived  to the time of Isaac. (See also Epist.
the neighbourhood of Damascus called by  LXXIIIo'ad  Evang.' Opp. I. p. 438). This
this name, which was inhabited by Ebionites.  opinion has been adopted by many moderns,
About two miles from Damascus is now a  and is defended at length by Jackson' On the
village called Hobah, said to be the place  Creed,' B. Ix.  It probably arose from conto which Abram pursued the kings (Stanley,  siderations of the great dignity of the king'S. and P.' p. 414 k).                     and priest, who blessed Abraham and took
tithes of him, and from the readiness of the
17.  the valley of Shaveh, which is the  Jews to ascribe such dignity only to an anking's dale]  In X    S. XVlii. e 8, we read that  cestor of their own. The Jews very anciently
Absalom in his lifetime " took and reared up  considered him at least to be. a type of Mesfor himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale:  siah (Schoettgen.'Hor. Hebr.' T. II. p. 645);
for he said, I have no son to keep my name in  but they generally seem to have believed that
remembrance: and he called the  pillar after  he was a prince of the country, as the Targum
his own name, and it is called unto this day,  of Onkelos and Josephus, which both describe
Absalom's place."  Josephus (' Ant.' vII. Io)  him simply as king of Jerusalem, in which
says, that the monument was two stadia from  they are followed by most commentators of
Jerusalem. This would correspond well with  modern times. It is a question of interest,
the valley of the Upper Kidron, where are the  but impossible to solve, Was he of the Canaantombs of the judges and other ancient sepul-  itish race or Semitic?  On ch. x. 6, some
chres, a very likely place for Absalom to have  explanation is given of the fact that the
erected what was evidently intended as a  Canaanites spoke a Semitic tongue.  The
sepulchral monument. The tomb now known  name and titles of Melchizedek are Semitic,
as Absalom's is probably not his, as it appears  but this proves nothing. He dwelt among
to be of later date, corresponding with the  Canaanites; but there had probably been
rock-tombs of Petra belonging to a period  Semitic inhabitants of the land before the
later than the Christian era (Robinson,'Phys.  immigration of the Canaanites (see on ch. xii.
Geog.' p. 92). It is not, however, possible to  6); and so Melchizedek, who was a worshipdetermine the situation of the valley of Shaveh,  per of the true God, may have been one of
and its identity with the later King's Dale of  the original Shemite stock. There were, howa S. xviii. I8, without first fixing the site of ever, worshippers of the true God, besides the
Salem, of which Melchizedek was king. If  Israelites, retaining patriarchal truth, as Job,
Salem be Jerusalem, then Shaveh may wrell  and Balaam, and so it is not certain that Melhave been the valley of the Kidron, close to  chizedek was a descendant of Shem. He
Jerusalem: but if Salem  were some more  is, in fact, as the Apostle tells us, introduced
northern city, we must leave the position of  is without father, without mother, without
Shaveh undetermined.  See on v. I8.        descent," with no mention of the beginning
18. Melchizedek] Various have been the  of his priesthood or the ending of it, and so
conjectures in all ages as to the person of Mel-  specially suited to be a type of the Son of
chizedek. Some have supposed the name to  God. He is mentioned once besides in the
be a title, like Augustus or Pharaoh, rather  Old Testament, viz. in Ps. cx. 4, where the
than a proper name, comparing Malek-ol-  priesthood of Messiah is said to be after the




Tv.19.1                       GENESIS. XIV.
lem  brought forth  bread and  wine:           19 And he blessed him, and said,
and  he was the priest of the  most  Blessed be Abram  of the most high
high God.                                   God, possessor of heaven and earth:
order of Melchizedek; and again in the New   rusalem; but the more ancient opinion, viz.
Testament, Heb. v. vi. vii., where the com-  that the cities of the plain lay south of the
parison between the royal priesthood of Mel-  Dead Sea is ably defended by Kuinoel (' Ep. ad
chizedek and that of Jesus is drawn out at  Hebr.' vII. I), Robinson (' B. R.' II. x88,
length.  The special points of resemblance of' Phys. Geog.' zI3), Kurtz, Knobel, Delitzsch,
Melchizedek to Christ are: I. that he was not  Kalisch, Keil, &c., and is most probably the
of the Levitical order, local, national, but pre-  true.  See also note on the Dead Sea at the
vious to the giving of the Law, catholic, uni-  end of ch. xix.
versal; 2. that he was superior to Abraham,    the priest]  This is the first time that the
blessed and took tithes of him; 3. that (as  wordpriest, Cohen, itepe~s, sacerdos, occurs in
often in old times, Virg.'JEn.' III. 8o; Arist.  the Bible, and it is in connection with the'Pol.' III. 14, &c.), he was both king and  worship of an ancient people, perhaps not
priest; 4. that no beginning and no end are  related by blood to the chosen race.  The
assigned either to his priesthood or his life;  etymological meaning of the word is unknown.
5. his name too " king of righteousness and  The word itself is applied afterwards both to
king of peace," are eminently suited to a type  the Levitical priesthood and to the priesthood
of the Son of God (Heb. vii. 2, 3).  The  of false religions. The patriarchs seem to have
bringing forth bread and wine is not referred  had no other priesthood than that of the head
to by the Apostle; but the ancient Church  of the family (Gen. viii. 2o, xii. 8, xxii., xxvi.
loved to dwell on this as typical of the insti-  af, xxxiii. 20; Job i. 5); but here we find
tution by the Saviour of the ava-la civatl/LaKros,   Melchizedek designated as a priest and as perthe incruentum scacriJcium, as they were wont  forming many priestly acts, solemnly blessing,
to call the Holy Eucharist; and later ages  taking tithes, &c. There is no distinct menmay have made more of it than Scripture will  tion of sacrifice, which was afterwards the
warrant.  (See Jackson, as above, Bk. IX.  most special function of the priesthood.  As,
sect. ii. ch. x.)                             however, sacrifice was a rite of common use
king of Salem]  Josephus ('Ant.' I. io),  among the patriarchs, and, later at least, among
Onkelos and all the Targg. understand Jeru-  all surrounding nations, there is no reasonable
salem, which is called Salem in Ps. lxxvi. 2,  doubt but that Melchizedek was a sacrificing
and this is pretty certainly the true interpreta-  priest, and so more fitly a type of Christ, who
tion.  Jerome however ('Epist. Lxx1II. ad  offered Himself a sacrifice without spot to
Evant.' Tom. I. p. 446, edit. Vallars.), says it  God (see Kuinoel on Heb. vii. I). Philo indeed
was not Jerusalem, but a city near Scy-  asserts that Melchizedek offered the first fruits
thopolis, called Salem up to his time, where  of the spoil in sacrifice, E'rmLVL'KL E'vE (' De
the ruins of Melchizedek's palace were shewn,  Abrah.' p. 38i), a thing by no means improand of which it is written (Gen. xxxiii. 18),  bable; and connected with such a sacrifice
" Jacob came to Shalem."   Yet Shl/em, in  may have been the bread and wine, correGen. xxxiii. is rendered by Onkelos and a  sponding with the mola and libations of later
majority of modern commentators, not as a  days.
proper name, but rather " in peace" (see note    the most high Gord]  This is the first time
on ch. xxxiii. i9).  Moreover, Jerome else-  we meet with this title, Elion.  It occurs
where ('Qu. in Gen,') speaks of Melchizedek  frequently afterwards, as Num. xxiv.  6 (where
as'"king of Salem, which was the former  it is used by Balaam, also an alien firom the
name of Jerusalem." Probably Salem was the  family of Abraham), Deut. xxxii. i8, Ps. vii.
oldest, Jebus the next, and Jerusalem  the  I8, ix. 2, xviii. I3, xlvii. X, lxxviii. 35, &c..
more modern name of the same city, though  where sometimes we have Elion alone, somesome think that the Salem here was the same  times joined with El, sometimes with JEHOas Salim  near AEnon, where John baptized  VAH. It is observed that Sanchoniathon (ap.
(Joh. iii. 23). If, as is most probable, Siddim,  Euseb,'Prep. Evang.' I. io) mentions Elion as
Sodom and Gomorrah, lay to the south of the  the name of the Phcenician Deity.  So the
Dead Sea, there is no reason why Salem should  words alonim cwalonuth, which occur in the
not have been Jerusalem, or that the valley of  well-known Punic passage in the Poenulus of
Shaveh, which is the " king's dale," should not  Plautus, are supposed to correspond with the
have been the valley of the Kidron. If the view   Hebrew Elionim  velionoth, "gods and godadvocated by Mr Grove (' Dict. of Bible,'  desses."  This may be true; the worship of
art. Shaveh, Sidcdim, Sodom, Zoar), and de-  the Phcenicians, as of other heathen nations,
fended by Dean Stanley (' S. and P.' pp. 249,  was, no doubt, a corruption of the ancient
&c.), viz. that the valley of Siddim was north  patriarchal faith: but it is plain, that Aof the Dead Sea, be correct, then no doubt,  bram  here acknowledges Melchizedek as a
Salem must have been a place far north of Ie-  worshipper of the true God: and in v. 2z,




32    ~~                     GENESIS. XIV. XV.                                [v. 20O-I,
2o  And blessed be the most high           24 Save only that which the young
God, which hath delivered thine ene-  men have eaten, and the portion of
mies into  thy  hand.  And he gave  the men which went with me, Aner,
ceb,. 7. him  ctithes of all.                      Eshcol, and Mamre; let them  take
21  And  the king of Sodom  said  their portion.:,4,.   unto Abram, Give me the tpersons,                   CHAPTER  XV.
and take the goods to thyself.             X God enzcouraSgetz  Abram.  2 Abram  com22 And Abram  said to the king of   plaineth for want of ant heir.  4 God proSodom, I have lift up mine hand unto    mzseth him  a son, and a  bdliflying of his'seed.  6 Abram i~s jstfied by faih.  7 C(rthe LORD,  the most high   od   the    naan is promised again, and conifirmed by a
possessor of heaven and earth,               sis'n, 2x anda visiotn.
23 That I will not take from  a  A           FTER  these things the word of
thread  even  to  a  shoelatchet, and            the LORD came unto Abram  in
that I will not take anything that is  a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I
thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have  am  thy  shield, and  thy  exceeding
made Abram  rich:                          "great reward.                           a Ps. 6.
Abram  uses the very titles of God, which  careful not to lay himself under any obligahad been used by Melchizedek before, coup-  tion to their king, lest he should become too
ling with them the most sacred name JEH-IO-  much associated with him and them.
VAIH, the name of the Covenant God, under    24. tlhe young men]   Abram's  trained
which He was ever adored by the chosen seed  servants, whom he had led to the fight (Cp.
as specially their God.                     a S. ii. I, I K. xX. I4).
19. possessor of heaven and earth] The
LXX. and Vulg. have "IMaker of heaven          C-IAP. XV. 1.  After these things the word
and earth."  This is probably the true mean-  of the LoRD came onto Abram  in a vision]
ing, but the word may have either significance   We have in this chapter a repetition of the
(Ges.'Th.' p. Iz2I. So Deiitzsch and Keil).  promises to Abram, given when he was first
20. he gave him tithes of ali] The sen-  called (ch. xii. I), and when he first entered
tence, as it stands, is ambiguous, but the  into the land of Canaan (ch. xii. 7), with the
sense is ob viously (as LXX.., Joseph., Jona-  farther assurance that his own son should be
than, and Ileb. vii. 6) i" Abrait gave Melchi-  his heir. This is the first time that the exzedek tithes of all," i. e. the spolia opima, the  pression so frequent afterwards " the word of
tenth part of the spoil which he had taken  the LORD" occurs in the Bible. It has been
fi-om the enemy (Joseph.' Ant.' I. io).    questioned whether the " vision" was a dream
or waking vision. The same word is used of
21. Give me the persons, and take the goods  Balaam, " which saw the vision of the Alto thyself.] i. e. restore those of my people,  mighty, falling, but having his eyes open"
whom  you have rescued, but keep what-  (Num. xxiv. 4, 6). The way in which Abram
ever other property of mine you may have  was led out and saw the stars, and the siubselighted on.                                 quent reality of the sacrifice, look like a waking
22. I have lift zup mine hand unto the  vision, and it is not till v. iz, that he falls into
Lo.RD] A common form of solemn attestation  a deep sleep.
in all nations.  (See Dan. xii. 7, Virg.'I fl.'    Fear not]  Abram   had  now become a
XlcI. I95.) On the identification of the name  great man, with wealth and a comparatively
EI-elion with JEHOVAH, and on the use of  settled home: but he was in a land of stranthe latter name, see notes on vv. 1, 8S.    gers, and many of them of godless life.  He
23.  That I ewill not take]  Lit. "If I  had been engaged in a war, and his vely
wvill take."  The particle if was constantly  victory might bring reprisals.  In his old age
used in s-wearing, there being, an ellipsis of  he had no children to support and defend
some such expression as " God do so to me  him. Accordingly he now is assured of God's
and more also if," (I S. iii. I7). The particle  farther protection, and secured against those
is literally rendered in Heb. iii. II.  There is  feelings of despondency natural to one who
a marked difference between  Abram's con-  was lonely, childless, and in danger.  It is
duct to Melchizedek, and his conduct to the  observed that the words "fear not" have inking of Sodorn.  From  Melchizedek he re-  troduced many announcements of Messiah, as
ceives refreshment and treats him with honour  Job. xii. i5; Luke i. 13, 30, ii. Io (VWordsand respect. Towards the king of Sodom he  worth).
is c;stantaand reserved. Probably the vicious    thy exceeding great reward]  The word
lives of th-e in-::aitants of Sodom made him   ereat is here an infinitive absolute used ad



v. 2-6.]                     GENESIS. XV.                                            II
2  And  Abram  said, Lord  GOD,  shall come forth out of thine own
what wilt thou give me, seeing I go  bowels shall be thine heir.
childless, and the steward of my house       5  And  he brought him  forth  ais this Eliezer of Damascus?               broad, and said, Look now  toward
3 And Abram  said, Behold, to me  heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be
thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one  able to number them: and he said
born in my house is mine heir.             unto him, bSo shall thy seed be.            n Rom. 4.
4 And, behold, the word  of the            6 And he Cbelieved il the LORD i8.Rom. 4.
LORD  came unto  him, saying, This  and he counted it to him  for right-     6.,Gal 3. 6.
shall not be thine heir; but he that  eousness.                                     Jal.. 2. 23.
verbially, so that the more exact rendering  ger.  It is quite possible that the title " son
may be, "Thy reward exceeding abundantly."  of my house," was applied to inmates of the
The LXX. render "Thy reward shall be  hoase, especially those in honourable office in
exceeding  great,"  which  is approved  by  the household, whether born in the family, or
Roediger (in Ges.'Thes.' p. 1257), Rosenm.,  afterwards adopted into it. The relation of
Delitzsch.                                  the head of a family to his retainers was, in
the case of Abram  at least, truly paternal.
2. Lord GOD]  Adonai JEHOVAH. This  It evidently more resembled the connection
is the first use of these two words together.  between a feudal chief and his vassals than
When separate, both are rendered by versions,  that between a master and his slaves. That
ancient and modern, by the same word LORD.  some of them  were "bought with money,"
Except in v. 8, the same combination occurs  appears indeed from  the passages above reagain in the Pentateuch, only in Deut. ill. 24,  ferred to; but they were evidently not in the
ix. 26. In all these passages it is in the voca-  abject condition which attached to slavery in
tive case, and JEHOVAH alone does not occur  later days, and the principal among them was
in Genesis as a vocative (Qarry,' Genesis,'  marked out in default of his own offspring as
p. 234).                                    heir to his master, though Abram had near
seeing Igo childless] Abram, though blessed  relations, and some of them  at no greater
personally, feels that the promises of God seem   distance from him than Lot and his family,
to extend into the future, and does not un-  then living in the plains of Jordan.
derstand that they can be fulfilled in him
alone.                                         5. tell the stars] In the promise to Noah
the rainbow had been the sign given from
the stewvard of my house is this Eliezer of  on high, a sacramental promise of mercy
Damascus] The literal rendering is "The son  to mankind. Now to Abram the still brighter
of the business" (or perhaps'" of the posses-  and more enduring token is the starry firimasion ") "of my house, he is Damascus Eliezer."  ment. His seed should abide as.' the faithful
It is most probable that "Damasctus" is put  witness in heaven."  There is the pledge of a
for " a man of Damascus," as the Authorized  brilliant future for his house, even as regards
Version. The words rendered "steward of  material prosperity; the pledge of still greater
my house" are very obscure, so that some  blessings to that spiritual family, which by
ancient versions leave them untranslated. The  baptism into Christ became "Abraham's seed,
older critics generally render "son of the  and heirs according to the promise" (Gal. iii.
business," i.e. "steward;" the majority of  27, 29).
modern commentators, after the Syriac, preferring " son of possession," i.e. "heir."  The    6. Aind he believed in the LORD; and he
passage, therefore, must be read either "the  counted it to him for righteousness] The root
steward," or " the heir of my house is Eliezer  of the word rendered believoed has the sense of
of Damascus."  The tradition of Abram's  supporting, sustaining, strengthening. Hence
connection with Damascus has already been  in the Hiphil conjugation (as here), it signireferred to (see Nicol. Damasc. Ap. Joseph.  fies to hold as firm, to rest upon as firm, hence'Ant.' I. 7; Justin. xxxvI. 2).  If Abram   to believe and rely upon as true and stable
came into Palestine by the way of Damascus,  (Ges.'Thes.' p. 114). The promise here made
it is not unlikely that he should have taken  by the LORD to Abram  was given to him
his principal retainer from that place.     before circumcision, whilst there was yet not
3. one born in my house]  Lit. "son of  even the germ of Levitical Law. It contained
3. one born in my house]  Lit. " son of.
my house."  The expression is like, but not  in it the promise of Christ.  It elicited from
necessarily equivalent to that in ch. xvii. I 2,7  Abram the great evangelical principle of faith.
necessarily equivalent to that in ch. xvii. Iz, 2z  7
God promised that which was opposed to all
(nl".:1), he that is born in the house, as op-  appearance and likelihood.  Abram relied on
posed to those bought -with money of an y stran-  that promise. He surrendered his own wisdom
VOL. I.                                                                   H




114                            GENESIS. XV.                                [v. 7-Ir.
7 And he said unto him, I am  the  three years old, and a turtledove, and
LORD that brought thee out of Ur of  a young pigeon.
the Chaldees, to give thee this land          Io And he took unto him all these,
to inherit it.                             and divided them  in the midst, and
8 And he said, Lord GOD, where-  laid each piece one against another:
by shall I know that I shall inherit it?   but the birds divided he not.
9 And he said unto him, Take me            I  And when the fowls came down
an heifer of three years old, and a she  upon the carcases, Abram  drove them
goat of three years old, and a ram  of  away.
to the wisdom of God, and so gave up his  thought he saw a vision" (Acts xii. 9): and
own will to the will of God.  So he became  even where there is much faith, a man may
the heir of the promises; and the internal  distrust himself, may feel that though now
principle of faith became to him  the true  the belief is strong, yet ere long the first imprinciple of righteousness.  It was the only  pression and so the firm conviction may fade
righteousness possible for the feeble and the  away. Thus Gideon (Jud. vi. I7), Hezekiah
sinful; for it was a reposing on the power  (2 K. xx. 8), the Blessed Virgin (Luk. i. 34)
and the love of the Almighty and the Holy  asked a sign in confirmation of their faith,
One. It was therefore reckoned to him as  and, as here to Abram, it was graciously
what may be called a passive righteousness,  given them.
and at the same time it was productive in him
of an active righteousness: for the soul which  9.   ake me an  heier of three years old
relies on the truth, power, and goodness of  The age chosen was probably because then
another, in the strength of that truth, power,  the animals were in flll age and vigour
and goodness, can itself be active in them all:  (C-rysost.'in Gen. Hm. xxv.).  The
taking advantage of the power and goodness  animals were those which specially formed
relied upon, it becomes itself powerful and  the staple of Abram's wealth: they were also
good and true. The Apostles naturally dwell  those, which in after times were specially
upon this first recorded instance of faith, faith  ordained for sacrificial offerings.  It has been
in God, implied faith in Christ, and consequent  said, that the transaction was not a real
accounting of righteousness, rlecorlded hefore  sacrifice, as there was no sprinkling of blood,
all legal enactments, as illustrative of the great  nor dferin g on an  altar: but the essence of
evangelical grace of faith, its power as resting  the true Hebrew sacrifice was in the slaying
on One who is all powerful, and its sancti-  of the vic
fying energy, as containing in itself the prin-  bnc, sacrifice) signifies laying: and it was
ciple of holiness and the germ of every right-  rather with the shedding of blood than with
eonus act.  (Rom. iv. v.; Gal. iii.; Heb. xi.;  its sprinkling that atonement was made (Heb.
Jas. ii., &c. &c.)                          ix. 22). The covenant was made according.
to the custom of ancient nations. The sacri7.  I am the LORD that brought thee out  ficed victims were cut into two pieces, and
of Ur of the Cjhaldees] In ch. xi. 3i, Terah is  the covenanting parties passed between them
represented as having left Ur of the Chaldees  (see Jerem. xxxiv. I8, I9).  The very word
and settled in Haran with Abram, Sarai and  covenant in Hebrew, Berith, is supposed by
Lot; whilst in ch. xii. I, Abram is represented  Gesenius to be firom a root signifying to cut
as having been called by the Lord to go out of  (' Thes.' p. 238); and the common formula
Haran, cp. v. 4. These different statements  for "to make a covenant" is carath berith,
are thought to be inconsistent with each other  " to cut a covenant" (so v. i8), comp. the
and referable to three different hands.  W he-  Greek opKta rEvezew (Hom.' Il.' v. 124) and
ther there was a distinct command to Abram   the Lat. faidus fetrire (see Bochart,' Hieroz.' I.
to leave Ur does not appear. The LORD by  332). The division into two is supposed to
His Providence may have led him and his  represent the two parties to the covenant;
father out of Ur to Haran, with the design of  and their passing between the divided pieces
leading him further onward, and afterwards  to signify their union into one. In this case
by special revelation have called him to leave  Abram  was there in person to pass between
Haran and to go to Canaan (see Quarry,  the pieces, and the manifested presence of God
P. 430).                                    passed between them under the semblance of
fire (v. 17).
8. quhereby snalt I knoco]  Abram  be8.'whereby snail I knoz]  Abram  he-    10. the birds divided he no]  So under
lieved God; but there may have been some  the Law thedoves offered as burnt offerings
misgiving as to the reality of what he saw and  were not cleft in two (Lev i. I7).
heard; like St Peter, who 1"wist not that it
was true which was done by the angel, but    11. thefowls] The birds of prey. The




v. 12-18.]                  GENESIS. XV.                                          xI5
1x2 And when the sun was going  in peace; thou shalt be buried in a
down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram;  good old age.
and, lo, an horror of great darkness        I6  But in the fourth generation
fell upon him.                           they shall come hither again: for the
I3 And he said unto Abram, Know   iniquity of the Amorites is not yet
dActs7.6. of a surety dthat thy seed shall be a  full.
stranger in a land that is not theirs,      17 And it came to pass, that, when
and shall serve them; and they shall  the sun went down, and it was dark,
afflict them  four hundred years;        behold a smoking furnace, and t a burn- t Heb.
I4  And also that nation, whom   ing lamp that passed between those azlamt~0f
they shall serve, will I judge: and  pieces.                                     echap. z2
afterward shall they come out with          I8  In the same day  the  LORD 7-.
great substance.                         made a covenant with Abram, say -& 26. 4.
I5 And thou shalt go to thy fathers -. ing, eUnto thy seed have I given this Deut. 34word used (ait) means any rapacious animal,  mean either going to the grave, in which his
especially vultures or other birds of prey. It  father or his people had been buried, or, (as
is probably of the same root as the Greek  by Knobel and others) going to that place,
aEros, eagle.                              where the souls of his ancestors are in the
Abram dro~ve them arway] It is generally  state of separate spirits. That it cannot mean
thought, that the vultures seeking to devour  the former here seems to follow fi-om the fact,
the sacrifice before the covenant was rafied   hat Abram  was not to be buried in his
typified the enemies of Israel, especially the  father's burying-place, but in a grave which
typlne  himse l prcIsed especially the  he himself
Egyptians; and in a spiritual sense they repre   he himself purchased in the land of his adopsent the spiritual enemies, which seek to  tion.
destroy the soul, keeping it from union with    16. in the fourth generation]  On the
God through the accepted sacrifice of His  chronology from  the Descent into Egypt
Son (see Knobel in loc.).                  to the Exodus, see note on Exod.
12. when the sun was going dozwn] The    the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full]
evening came on before all the prepara-  The Amorites, the most powerful people in
tions were made, a solemn time for conclud-  Canaan, are here put for the Canaanites in
ing the covenant between God and the seed  general. Their state of moral corruption is
of Abram; but it may have been said that it  abundantly manifest in the early chapters of
was evening, not night, in order to shew that  Genesis; and in the Divine foreknowledge
the great darkness was preternatural (V. Ger-  it was seen that they would add sin to sin,
lach).                                     and so at length be destroyed by the Divine
vengeance. Still the long-suffering of God
a deep sleep] The same word as that used  waited for them, giving time for repentance,
Gen. ii. zI, when Eve was taken from Adam's  if they would be converted and live.
side. The constant translation,'Kotrao-t (ecstasy), by the LXX. shews the belief that the    17. when the sun qwent down, and it was
sleep was sent by God for purposes of Divine  dark] Or, " when the sun had gone down,
revelation.                                that there was a thick darkness." So the Vulan horror of great darkness] Lit. a h or r or,  gate.
a great darkness.  Theprophets werefre-    a moka
quently appalled when admitted to the special  was the tok en of the presence of  God, as
was the token of the presence of God, as
presence of God: but here perhaps the horror  when He appeared to Moses in the burning
was connected also with the announcement  bush, and to the Israelites in a pillar of fire.
about to be made to Abram of the suferings  The word lamp may very probably here
of his posterity,                          signify a flame or tongue of fire.  The
13. four hun   In Ex.. 40  Hebrew  word which is cognate with lamp,
13yis called 430Possiblyhears]  tn  ec g   and the other Aryan words of like sound
is called 43o. Possibly here the reckoning is
in round numbers; also the Hebrews were not  significanceo, a.) has prbably its radical
ill-treated during the whole 430 years.    Compare laim, lip, &c. (see Ges.'flam
Compare labium, lip, &c. (see Ges. I Th.'
p. 739).
15. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in
peace] A similar expression occurs ch. xxv..   18. made a covenant] Lit. "cut a cove8, xxxv. 29, xlix. 33.  It is interpreted to  nant."  See above on v. 9.
H 2




II6                         GENESIS. XV. XVI.                                 [v.1 9-2 —
land, from the river of Egypt unto the    back to submit herself,  i and tellert her of
great river, the river Euphrates:            her child. I5 Ishmnel is born.
19 The Kenites, and the Keniz-                OW'V  Sarai Abram's wife bare
zites, and the Kadmonites,                        him  no children: and she had
20 And the Hittites, and the Pe-  an  handmaid) an  Egyptian, whose
rizzites, and the Rephaims,                name was Hagar. /
2I And the Amorites, and the Ca-           2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Benaanites, and the Girgashites, and the  hold now, the LORD  hath restrained
JeSusites.                                 me from  bearing: I pray thee, go in
CHAPTER  XVI.                    unto  my  maid;  it may  be that I
may obtain children by her. And t Heb.
I Sarai, behin barren, gitlve/h Hagar to Abram.                                     be bzui1td,
4 zaBr, beiong  /t~ictedfor dersisin  her mris-  Abram  hearkened  to  the  voice  of by er.
tress, rZZnneth awayo. 7 An anzelr seeth her  Sarai.
the river of Egypt] Many understand not  Genesis, and the connection of the first four
the Nile but the WaEdy-El-Arisch which, how-  verses perfectly natural. The promise of offever, is called  "the brook or stream  of  spring had been made to Abram, and he beEgypt" as in Is. xxvii. Iz, not "I the river of  lieved the promise.  It had not, however,
Egypt."  The boundaries of the future pos-  been distinctly assured to  him  that Sarai
session are not described with minute accu-  should be the mother of the promised seed.
racy, but they are marked as reaching from   The expedient devised by Sarai was according
the valley of the Euphrates to the valley of  to a custom still prevalent in the east.  Laws
the Nile.  And in z Chron. ix. z6, it is dis-  concerning marriage had not been so expressly
tinctly stated that "all the Kings from the river  given to the patriarchs as they afterwards were.
(i.e. Euphrates) even unto the land of the  Yet the compliance of Abram  with Sarai's
Philistines and to the border of Egypt" were  suggestion may be considered as a proof of the
tributary to Solomon.  Cp. z S. viii. 3.    imperfection of his faith; and it is justly
observed, that this departure fi-om the pri19. The Kenites]  An ancient people in-  meval principle of monogamy by Abraham
habiting rocky and mountainous regions to  has been an example followed by his descendthe south of Canaan, near the Amalelkites  ents in the line of Ishmael, and has proved,
(Num. xxiv. zI seq.; I S. xv. 6, xxvii.  o,  morally and physically a curse to their race.
xxx. 29), a portion of which afterwards mi-    o
grated to Canaan (Judg. i. i6, iv. I, 7).     an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose namne wns
Iagar] Hagar, no doubt, followed Sarai from
the Kenizzites] Mentioned only here. Bo-  Egypt after the sojourn there recorded in ch.
chart (' Phaleg,' Iv. 36) conjectures that they  xii., when it is said that Abraham  obtained
had become extinct in the period between  great possessions, among other things, in "menAbraham and Moses.                          servants and raidservants," v. i6. It is genthe Kadmonites] i. e. "the Eastern people."  erally thought that the name Hagar signifies
They are not elsewhere named.   Bochalt  flight, a name which may have been given her
thought they might be the Hivites, elsewhere  after her flight from  her mistress, recorded
enumerated among the Canaanites, and spoken  in this chapter, in which case the name is here
of as inhabiting the neighbourhood of Mount  given her proleptically, a thing not uncommon
Hermon (Josh. xiii. 3; Judg. iii. 3), which  in Scripture history. Others suppose that she
was to the east of Canaan.                  derived  her name from  having fled with
her mistress out of Egypt.  As she was an
20. the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and  Egyptian, it is not likely that the Hebrew or
the Rephaims] See on ch. x. i5, xiii. 7, xiv. 5.  Arabic name of Hagar should have been given
21.  the Amorites, the Girgashites, and  her by her own parents.
the yebusites.] See on ch. x. I5, s6.'the  Can.ites]  here    2. it may be that Imay obtain children by her]
the Canaantites]  here distinguished from  tLit.  I may be built up by her." The words
the kindred tribes, are described as inhabiting   " house" and " family" are in most languages
the low country " from Sodom to Gerar, unto  used figuratively the one of the other. The
Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodonl, and Go-  house, considered as representing the family,
morrha, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto  is built up by the addition of children to it,
Lasha" (Gen. x. I9).                        and so the very word for son, in Hebrew, Ben,
is most probably connected with the root
CHAP. XVI. 1. Now Sarai, &c.] The re-  banah, "to build" (see Ges.'Th.' p. a15).
capitulatory character of this verse is con-  Comp. ch. xxx. 3, where also it appears that
sistent with the general style of the book of  the wife, when she gave her handmaid to her




v. 3-I2.]                  GENESIS. XVI.                                          II?
3  And  Sarai Abram's wife took  found her by a fountain of water in
Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after  the wilderness, by the fountain in the
Abram  had dwelt ten years in the  way to Shur.
land of Canaan, and gave her to her    8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid,
husband Abram to be his wife.            whence camest thou?  and whither
4- T And he went in unto Hagar,  wilt thou go?  And she said, I flee
and she conceived: and when she saw   from the face of my mistress Sarai.
that she had conceived, her mistress        g And the angel of the LORD said
was despised in her eyes.                unto her, Return to thy mistress, and
5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My  submit thyself under her hands.
wrong be upon thee: I have given            lo And the angel of the LORD said
my maid into thy bosom; and when  unto her, I will multiply thy seed
she saw that she had conceived, I was  exceedingly, that it shall not be numdespised in her eyes: the LORD judge  bered for multitude.
between me and thee.                        i I And the angel of the LORD said
6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Be-  unto her, Behold, thou art with child,
hold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to  and shalt bear a son, and shalt call
t'tbiat  her tas it pleaseth thee.  And when  his name "Ishmael; because the LORD IIThat is,
tsgod tiyes Sarai tdealt hardly with her, se fled  hath heard                              o thy afflictio.  tenr.
thiwne eyes.                   hth                                                       hear.
t Heb.  from her face.                              12 And he will be a wild man; his
af/licded
fher.     7 IT And the angel of the LORD   hand will be against every man, and
husband, esteemed the handmaid's children as  flight from Sarai, took the route most likely
her own.                                  to lead her back to her native land of Egypt;
3. after Abram  had dwelt ten years in  and Gesenius supposes that Shur very probathe land of Canaan] Abram was rnow 85 and  bly corresponded with the modern Suez.
Sarai 75 years old (cp. xii. 4, xvi. i6, xvii. I7).    8. Hagar, Sarai's maid] The words of
These words are doubtless intended to account  the angel recal to Hagar's mind that she was
for the impatience produced in them by the  the servant of Sarai, and therefore owed her
delay of the Divine promise.               obedience.
4. her mistress wvas despised in her eyes]    11. Ishmael: because the LORD hath heard]
Among the Hebrews barrenness was esteemed  i.e. "God heareth, because JEHOVAH hath
a reproach (see ch. xix. 31, xxx. I, z3; Lev.  heard."  The name of God, by which all
xx. o20, &c.): and fecundity a special honour  nations might acknowledge Him, is expressed
and blessing of God (ch. xxi. 6, xxiv. 6o; Ex.  in the name Ishmael, but the name JEHovAnI,
xxiii. 26; Deut. vii. 14): and such is still the  the covenant God of Abraham, is specially
feeling in the east. But, moreover, very pro-  mentioned, that she may understand the probably Hagar may have thought that now   mise to come to her from  Him, who had
Abram  would love and honour her more  already assured Abraham of the blessing to
than her mistress (cp. ch. xxix. 33).      be poured upon his race.
5. My wvrong be upon thee] i.e. 1"my    12. a wild man]  Lit. "a wild ass of,
wrong, the injury done to me is due to thee   or amnong men;" i.e. wild and fierce as a wild
must be imputed to thee, thou art to be  ass of the desert. A rendering has been sugblamed for it, inasmuch as thou sufferest it  gested, "a wild ass, a man, whose hand is
and dost not punish the aggressor."  So in  against every man."  The suggestion is very
effect all the versions, LXX., Vulg., Targg.,  ingenious; but for such a rendering we should
&c.                                        have expected to find the word Ish (vir) not,
as it is in the original, Adam (homo). The
7. the angel of the LORD]  In v. 13 dis-  word pere, wild ass, is probably from  the
tinctly called the LORD. See on ch. xii. 7.  root para, signifying "to run swiftly." This
Shur] according to Joseph. (' Ant.' vI. 7) is  animal is frequently mentioned in Scripture,
Pelusium, near the mouth of the Nile, which,  and often as a type of lawless, restless, unhowever, seems more probably to be the equi-  bridled dispositions in human beings (see Job
valent for Sin (see Ges.'Thes.' p. 947). On-  xi. 12, xxiv. 5; Ps. civ. II; Is. xxxii. I4;
kelos renders here "Hagra."  The desert of  Jer. ii. 24; Dan. v. 2I; Hos. viii. 9).  In
Shur is generally thought to be the north  Job xxxix. 5, another Hebrew word is used,
eastern part of the wilderness of Paran, called  but most commentators consider that the same
at present Al-jifar.  Hagar, no doubt, in her  animal is meant. The description of their




II8                        GENESIS. XVI. XVII.                                [v. I3-IchIap. 25. every man's hand against him; aand         I6 And Abram  was fourscore and
I8.     he shall dwell in the presence of all  six years old, when Hagar bare Ishhis brethren.                              mael to Abram.
13 And she called the name of the                CHAPTER  XVII.
LORD  that spake  unto  her, Thou   1 God renewetlh the covenant. 5 Abram  his
God seest me-:  for she said, Have    name is changed in token  of a greater blessI also  here  looked  after him  that    ing. Io Circumcision is instituted. I5 Sarai
her name is changed, and she blessed. I7
seeth me?                                   Isaac is promised.  3 Abraham and Isnihmae
I4 Wherefore the well was called    are circumcised.
2cha. 24.   Beer-laha-roi; bholdit is between          ND   when  Abram   was  ninety'rFhatis, Kadesh and Bered.                         tX  years old and nine, the LORD
kt / thf   I5 qT And Hagar bare Abram a son:  appeared  to  Abram, and  said unto a chap. 5.
iveth an.d and Abram   called  his son's name,  him, I am the Almighty God;,walk i Or,
which Hagar bare, Ishmael.                 before me, and be thou 1 perfect.        or, szice
great speed in Xen.' Anab.' Lib. I. is well  litzsch, and most moderns. The name of God
known. Gesenius refers to a picture of the  throughout this chapter is JEHOVAH, except
wild ass of Persia in Ker Porter's'Travels  when Hagar the Egyptian speaks; yet the God
in Georgia and Persia,' Vol. I. p. 459, and  of vision who reveals Himselfto her is carefully
says, that a living specimen which he' saw  identified with the JEHOVAH of Abraham.
in the London Zoological Gardens in 0835       14. Beer-lahai-roi]  "The well of life
exactly corresponded with this picture ('Thes.'   f vision," i.e. where life remained after vision
p. 1123).                                   of God. (See Ges.'Thes.' p. I75.)  This
his hand wvui/ be against every man, &c.]  seems to be the meaning of the name accordor "upon every man," a common phrase for  ing to the etymology derived from  the last
violence and injury (cp. Gen. xxxvii. 27; Exod.  verse, though others render it "the well of
ix. 3;Deut. ii. I6; Josh. ii. I9; r S. xviii. I7,  i,  the living One (i.e. the living God) of vision."
xxiv. 13, I4). The violent character and law-    between Kadesh and Bered] On the site of
less life of the Bedouin descendants of Ishmael  Kadesh and its uncertainty see on ch. xiv. 7.
from the first till this day is exactly described  The' uncertainty  of the site of Bered is still
in these words.                             greater, and therefore the difficulty of arriving
in the presence of all his brethren] Lit. "in  at the exact position of Beer-lahai-roi is alfront" or "before the face of all his brethren."  most insuperable. Mr Rowlands (in Williams'
This may point to that constant attitude of' Holy City,' I. 465) thinks that he has disthe Bedouin Arabs, living every where in  covered its site at a place called Moilahhi,
close proximity to their kindred races, hover-  about io hours south of Ruheibeh, in the
ing round them, but never mingling with  road from Beersheba to Shur, or Jebel-es-sur,
them: or, we may render " to the east of all  a mountain range running north and south in
his brethren," atranslation adoptedby Rosenm.,  the longitude of Suez.
Gesen., Tuch, Knobel, Delitzsch, &c. The
Arabs are called in Job i. 3, "'the children of    CHAP. XVII. 1. lAnd uwhen Abram  ewas
the east," and in some passages of Scripture  ninetyyears old and nine] i.e. just thirteen years
the phrase "in the presence of," is explained  after the events related in the last chapter,
to mean "eastward of" (see Numb. xxi. Ix;  compare v. 25, where Ishmael is said to be
Josh. xv. 8; Zech. xiv. 4); the rationale of  now thirteen years old.
this being, that when a man looked toward    the Almighty God] El-Shaddai. The word
the sunrise, the east was before him.       Shaddai, translated by most versions "mighty,"
13. Thou God seest ne: for she said, Have  or "Almighty,"isgenerally thought(byGesen.,
I also here looked after hinm that seeth nzie?]  Rosenm., Lee, &c. &c.) to be a plural of exThou art a God of seeing, for have  cellence (in this respect like Elohim), derived
I also seen here after seeing?  The  from the root Shadad, the primary meaning
Authorized Version has nearly followed the  of which appears to have been "to be strong,"
rendering of the LXX. and Vulg., which is  "to act strongly," though more commonly
inadmissible. The meaning of the words is pro-  used in the sense of " to destroy, to devastate."
bably, "Thou art a God that seest all things,"  The later Greek versions Aq., Sym., Theod.,
(or perhaps "that revealest Thyself in vi-  render iLcavob, "sufficient," "all-sufficient."
sions"); "and am I yet living and seeing, after  So Theodoret, Hesych., Saad. Accordingly,
seeing God?" (cp. Judg. xiii. ax). So ap-  Rashi and some of the Jewish writers conparently Onkelos; and this rendering is adopt-  sider it to be compounded of two words, slg-.
ed by Rosenm., Gesen., Tuch, Kalisch, De-  nifying" who is sufficient?" the improbability




v. 2-12.1                 GENESIS. XVII.                                          I19
2 And I will make my covenant  thy seed after thee, the land Iwherein tHeb.
between me and thee, and will mul-  thou art a stranger, all the land 0fofetfY.s
tiply thee exceedingly.                  Canaan, for an everlasting possession;
3 And Abram fell on his face: and  and I will be their God.
God talked with him, saying,                9'q And God said unto Abraham,
4 As for me, behold, my covenant  Thou shalt keep my covenant thereis with thee, and  thou  shalt be a  fore, thou, and thy seed after thee in
tlfeb.   father of I many nations.               their generations.
fucaoins.   5 Neither shall thy name any more       1o This is my covenant, which ye
be called Abram, but thy name hall  shall keep, between me and you and
Rom. 4. be Abraham; bfor a father of many  thy seed after thee; CEvery man child' Acts 7. 8
17'     nations have I made thee.                 among you shall be circumcised.
6 And I will make thee exceeding          I i And ye shall circumcise the flesh
fruitful, and I will make nations of  of your foreskin; and it shall be a
thee, and kings shall come out of thee.  dtoken of the covenant betwixt me dActs7.8.
7 And I will establish my cove-  and you.                                      Rom.4..
nant between me and thee and thy            12 And he that is'eight days old tlHeb.
seed after thee in their generations  eshall be circumcised amongyou, every eight days.
for an everlasting covenant, to be a  man child in your generations, he that  Lev2. x2
God unto thee, and to thy seed after  is born in the house, or bought with ohn 72. 2.
thee.                                    money of any stranger, which is not
8 And I will give unto thee, and to  of thy seed.
of which derivation is very great. The title,  afterwards to Christians in Christ, and sealed
or character, El-Shaddai. is said, Exod. vi. 2, 3,  to them in the sacred rite of baptism.
to have been that by which God was revealed    4. of many nations] Of a multitude
to the patriarchs, not ttien, at least in its full  of nations; as in margin.
meaning, by the name JEHOVAH; and it is    5. Abraham] i.e. "father of a multinoted as occurring in those passages which  tude."  He was originally Ib-ramn, "exalted
the German critics call Elohistic.  In this  father." Now he becomes Ab-rahaim, "father
very verse, however, we read it in immediate  of a multitude;" raham, in Arabic, being a
juxtaposition with the name JEHOVAH, and  vast number, a great multitude. Abraham
in Rutn i. zo, zI, we find the identification of  was literally the ancestor of the twelve tribes
JEHOVAH with Shaddai. Probably, like Elo-  of Israel, of the Ishmaelites, of the descendhim, and Adonai, we may consider El-Shad-  ants of Keturah and of the Edomites; but
dai (a title known to Balaam, Num. xxiv. 4,  spiritually he is the father of all the faithful,
I6, and constantly used in Job), to have been  who by faith in Christ are "Abraham's seed,
one of the more general world-wide titles of  and heirs acbording to the promise" (Gal. iii.
the Most High, whilst JEHOVAH was rather  29). It has been very generally believed that
the name by which His own chosen people  the letter H here introduced into the names
knew  and acknowledged Him.  The title,  both of Abraham and Sarah is one of the two
which especially points to power, seems most  radical letters of the name JEHOVAII (as the
appropriate when a promise is made, which  other radical y was introduced into the name
seems even to Abram and Sarai to be well-  Joshua), whereby the owner of the name is
nigh impossible of fulfilment.             doubly consecrated and bound in covenant to
2. I'will make my covenant] The word  the LORD (see Delitzsch, in loc.). The cusfor "make" is different from that used in  tom  of giving the name at the time of cirxv. I8. There God is said to have "cut" a  cumcision (Luke i. 59) probably originated
covenant with A'uDram  by sacrifice, which  from the change of Abraham's name having
phrase has probably special reference to the  been made when that rite was first instituted.
sacrifice and also to the two parties who made    10. This is my covenant] i.e. the sign,
the covenant by sacrifice (see on xv. 9). Here  token and bond of the covenant.
He says, " I will give my covenant between    12. eight days old] Seven days, a sacred
Me.and thee."  The freedom of the covenant  number, were to pass over the child before he
of promise is expressed in this latter phrase. was so consecrated to God's service. There
It was a gift from a superior, rather than a  was a significance in the number 7, and then
bargain between equals; and as it was ac-  was a reason for the delay that the child
companied by the rite of circumcision, it was  might grow strong enough to bear the oper.
typical of the freedom of that covenant made  ation.




120                             GENESIS.  XVII.                               [v. 13-18.
13 He that is born in thy house,            i6 And I will bless her, and give
and he that is bought with thy money,  thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless
must needs be circumcised: and my   her, and tshe shall be a mother of na- t Heb.
covenant shall be in your flesh for an  tions;  kings of people  shall be of  e...ome
everlasting covenant,                       her.                                      natios.
14J  And  the  uncircumcised  man           17  Then  Abraham  fell upon his
child whose flesh of his foreskin is not  face, and  laughed, and  said in  his
circumcised, that soul shall be cut off  heart, Shall a child be born unto him
from  his people; he hath broken my   that is an hundred  years old?  and
covenant.                                   shall Sarah, that is ninety years old,
I5 iT And God said unto Abraham,  bear 
As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not          18 And Abraham  said unto God,
call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall  O  that  Ishmael might live  before
her name be.                               thee!
13. He that is born in thy house, &c.]  signify "my princess:" the change to Sarah
"' Moses has nowhere given any command,  indicating that she was no longer the princess
nor even so much as an exhortation, inculcat-  of a single race, but rather that all the families
ing the duty of circumcision upon any person  of the earth should have an interest in her (Jenot a descendant, or a slave of Abraham, or  rome,' Qu. Hebr.' p. 522); many think th:4t
of his descendants, unless he wished to par-  Sarai means simply "noble, royal," whilst Satake of the passover.... In none of the his-  rah more definitely means " princess;" which,
torical books of the Old Testament do we  however, seems neither etymologically nor
find the smallest trace of circumcision as ne-  exegetically probable. Ewald explains Sarai
cessary to the salvation of foreigners, who ac-  as meaning  "contentious," from  the verb
knowledge the true God, or requisite even to  Sarah, M't7, which (Gen. xxxii. 29; Hos. xii.
the confession of their faith: no not so much  4) occurs in the sense of " to fight, to conas in the detailed story of Naaman (z K. v.);  tend."  This meaning is approved by Gesein which indeed every circumstance indicates  nius ('Thes.' p. 1338), but the more usual
that the circumncision of that illustrious per-  derivation is probably the true.
sonage can never be supposed" (Michaelis,
Laws of Moses,' Bk. IV. Art. x84). There  "s e shall become na ior s.
is a marked distinction in this between circumcision and baptism.  Judaism  was in-    17. lazughed] Onkel. renders "rejoiced."
tendl-ed to be the religion of a peculiar isolated  Pseudo-Jon. " marvelled." The Jewish compeople. Its rites therefore were for them alone.  mentators, and many of the Christian fathers,
Christianity is for the whole human race; the  understood this laughter to be the laughter of
Clhulrch is to be catholic: baptism to be ad-  joy not of unbelief (Aug.' De Civ.' xvi. 26).
ninistered to all that will believe.         So also many moderns, e.g. Calvin, "partly
exulting with gladness, partly carried beyond
14. that soul shall be cut of from  his  himself with wonder, he burst into laughter."
peopile] Tlhe rabbinical writers very generally  It is thought also that our Blessed Lord may
ucjddersstand that the excision should be by  have alluded to this joy of Abraham (Joh. viii.
Divine judgment. Christian interpreters have  5), " Your fther Abraham rejoiced to see
hmostly understood the infliction of death by  My day, and he saw  it and was glad;" for it
the hand of the rmagistrate: some (Cleric. and  Xwas at the most distinct promise of a son, who
Miichael. in loc.) either exile or excoinmuni-  was to be the direct ancestor of the Messiah
cation.  The latter opinion was afterwards  that the laughter is recorded (cp. also the
retracted by Michaelis, and it is pretty certain  words of the Blessed Virgin, Luke i. 47). On
that death in some form is intended (see Gesen.  the other hand it must be  admitted, that A'Thes.' p. 78).                        braham's words immediately  following the
15. thou shalt not call her name Sarai,  laughter, seem at first sight as implying some
but Sarah shall her name be]  There is but  unbelief, or at least weakness of faith, though
little doubt that Sarah signifies "n Princess," in  they may be interpreted as the language of
allusion probably to the princely race which  wonder rather than of incredulity.
was to spring from her, though Ikenius, fol-    18. 0 that Ishmael might live before theel]
lowed by Rosenmuller, argues in favour of a  These words may be interpreted in two
meaning to be derived from the Arabic root  ways, according as we understand the laughSaraa, signifying, "to have a numerous pro-  ter of Abraham. They may mean, " I dare
geny."  As to the original name Sarai, the  not hope for so great a boon as a son to be
older interpreters generally understood it to  born hereafter to myself and Sarah in our old




V. I9 —27.]               GENESIS. XVII.                                             I 2 I
/chap. I8.   i9 And God said, f Sarah thy wife  his son, and all that were born in his
& 2. 2.  shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou   house, and all that were bought with
shalt call his name Isaac: and I will  his money, every male among the men
establish my covenant with  him  for  of Abraham's house; and circumcised
an everlasting covenant, and with his  the flesh of their foreskin in the selfseed after him.                            same day, as God had said unto him.
20o And as for Ishmael, I have heard       24 And Abraham was ninety years
thee:  Behold, I have blessed him,  old and nine, when he was circumand will make him  fruitful, and will  cised in the flesh of his foreskin.
echap. 25. multiply  him  exceedingly; 9twelve        25 And Ishmael his son was thir-'2.     princes shall he  beget, and  I will  teen years old, when he was circummake him a great nation.                   cised in the flesh of his foreskin.
21 But my covenant will I establish        26 In the selfsame day was Abrawith Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto  ham  circumcised, and Ishmael his son.
thee at this set time in the next year.      27 And all the men of his house,
22 And he left off talking with him,  born in the house, and bought with
and God went up from Abraham.              money of the stranger, were circum23 q And Abraham  took Ishmael  cised with him.
age, but O that Ishmael may be the heir of    20. as for Ishmael, I have heard thee]
Thy promises!" or they may imply only a  There is an allusion to the significance of the
fear, that now, when another heir is assured  name Ishmael, viz. 1" God heareth."
to Abraham, Ishmael should be excluded from   25. Ishmael his son wqas thirteen years old]
all future inheritance.                     The Arabs have in consequence always circumcised their sons at the age of 13. Josephus
19.  Isaac] i.e. "he laughs," the thrd per-  mentions this (' Ant.' 1. 13), and it is well
son singular of the present tense: similar forms  known that the custom still prevails among
are Jacob, Jair, Jabin, &c.                 the Mahometan nations.
NOTE A on CHAP. XVII. V. IO. CIRCUMCISION.
(i)  Reasons for the rite.  (2) Origin of circumcision, whether pre-Abrahamic or not.
(a) Egyptians said to have first used it.  (3) Answer from lateness and uncertainty
of the testimony. (.y) Balance of arguments.
TuIE reasons for this rite may have been  but was then made the token of the Noachic
various, Ist, to keep the descendants of Abra-  covenant; as the stars of heaven were made
ham  distinct from  the idolatrous  nations  the sign of the earlier covenant with Abraham
round about them, the other inhabitants of  (ch. xv. 5); may it have been also, that cirPalestine not being circumcised, 2ndly, to  cumcision already prevailed among some naindicate the rigour and severity of the Law of  tions, and was now divinely authorized and
God, simply considered as Law, in contrast to  made sacred and authoritative? There would
which the ordinance that succeeded to it in  be nothing necessarily startling in the latter
the Christian dispensation indicated the mild-  alternative, when we remember that the corness and mercy of the new covenant, 3rdly,  responding rite of baptism in the Christian disto signify that the body should be devoted as  pensation is but one adaptation by supreme au-,J living sacrifice to God, " our hearts and all  thority of natural or legal washings to a Chrisoar members being mortifiedfrom all carnal and  tian purpose anid a most spiritual significance.
worldly lusts," and so to typify moral purity.    It is certain that the Egyptians used cir(See Deut. x. i6; Jer. iv. 4; Acts vii. SI).    cumcision (Herod. II. 36, 37, 104; Diod.
An important question arises as to the ori-  Sicul. I. 26, 55; Strabo, xvII. p. 524; Phil.
gin of circumcision. XWas it first made known  Jud.'De Circumcis.'i. p. 2IO; Joseph.'Ant.'
and commanded to Abraham, having nowhere  viii. Io;' Cont. Apion.' I. 22; II. I3). The
been practised before? Or, was it a custom   earliest writer who mentions this is Herodoalready in use, and now sanctified by God to  tus.  He says, indeed, that the Egyptians and
a higher end and purport? A similar question  Ethiopians had it fi-om the most remote antiarose concerning sacrifice. W~as it prescribed  quity, so that he cannot tell which had it
by revelation or dictated by natural piety and  first; he mentions the Colchians as also using
then sanctioned from above? As the rainbow  it (whence Diodorus inferred that they were
probably did not first appear after the flood,  an Egyptian colony), and says that the Phce



122                            GENESIS. XVIII.                                  [v.,2.
nicians and Syrians in Palestine admit that  which the Egyptians, and above all the Egypthey "learned this practice from the Egyp-  tian priests, especially affected, partly to guard
tians" (Herod. II. Io04). This is evidently a  against disease incident in those hot climates
very loose statement. The Phcenicians pro-  (see Philo, as above, p. 2 1; Joseph.' C. Apion.'
bably did not use it, and the Jews, whom He-  II. I3), partly for other reasons, which may
rodotus here calls " the Syrians in Palestine,"  have been real or imaginary (see Michaelis, as
admitted that they had once dwelt in Egypt,  above, Art. i86). This side of the question
but never admitted that they derived circum-  is ably defended by Michaelis;' Laws of Moses,'
cision from thence. The statements of Dio-  as above, and Kalisch, in loc.
dorus and Strabo, which are more or less   In answer it is truly said, that the Greek
similar to those of Herodotus, were no doubt  historians are too late and too loose in their
partly derived from him, and partly followed  statements to command our confidence; that
the general belief among the Greeks, that the  the tribes cognate with the Egyptians, such as
" Jews were originally Egyptians" (Strabo, as  the Hamite inhabitants of Palestine, were noabove). It is stated by Origen (' in Epist. ad  toriously uncircumcised, that the Egyptians,
Rom.' ch. II. 13) that the Egyptian priests,  especially the Egyptian priests, are not unsoothsayers, prophets, and those learned in  likely to have adopted the rite at the time
hieroglyphics were circumcised; and thesame  when Joseph was their governor and in such
is said by Horapollo (I. 13, I4).  If these  high estimation among them, and that the
ancient writers were unsupported by other  question concerning the relative dates of Abraauthorities, there would be no great difficulty  ham and the different Egyptian dynasties is
in concluding that Herodotus had found cir-  involved in too much obscurity to be made a
cumcision among the Egyptian priests, had  ground for such an argument as the above to
believed the Jews to be a mere colony from   be built upon it. (See Bp. Patrick, in loc.;
Egypt, and had concluded that the custom   Heidegger,' Hist. Patr.' II. 240; Wesseling
originated in Egypt, and from them was learned  and Larcher,'ad Herod.' II. 37, I04; Graves
by the Ishmaelites and other races. It is, how-' on the Pentateuch,' Pt. II. Lect. v.; Wordsever, asserted by some modern Egyptologists,  worth, in loc.)  Again, the argument dethat circumcision must have prevailed from   rived from  the ancient Egyptian language
the time of the fourth dynasty, i.e. from at  proves nothing, the words are lost or doubtleast 2400 B.C., therefore much before the date  ful. The argument from the mummies proves
generally assigned to Abraham, B.c. I996, and  nothing, as we have-no mummies of the anthat it was not confined to the priests, as is,  cient empire. The figures in the hieroglyphics
they say, learned from the mummies and the  are later still. The only argument of weight
sculptures, where circumcision is made a dis-  is that derived from  the old hieroglyphic,
tinctive mark between the Egyptians and their  common in the pyramids, which is thought
enemies (see Sir Gardiner Wilkinson, in Raw-  to represent circumcision. It may on the
linson's' Herodotus,' pp. 52, 146, I47, notes).  whole be said, that we cannot conclude from
If this be correct, we must conclude, that the  the loose statements of Greek writers x5
Egyptians practised circumcision when Abra-  centuries later than Abraham, nor even from
ham first became acquainted with them, that  the evidence of monuments and sculptures
probably some of Abraham's own Egyptian  as yet perhaps but imperfectly read and unfollowers were circumcised, and that the Di-  certain as to their comparative antiquity,
vine command was not intended to teach a  that circumcision had been known before
new rite, but to consecrate an old one into a  it was given to Abraham; yet that on the
sacramental ordinance. Some even think that  other hand, there would be nothing inconthey see in the very style of this and the follow-  sistent with the testimony of the Mosaic
ing verses indications that the rite was not al-  history in the belief, that it had been in use
together new and before unknown; for had it  among the Egyptians and other African tribes,
been new and unknown, more accurate di-  before it was elevated by a Divine ordinance
rections would have been given of the way in  into a sacred rite for temporary purposes, to
which apainful and dangerousoperation should  be served in the Mosaic dispensation. A very
be performed (Michaelis,' Laws of Moses,' able summary of the arguments on both sides,
Bk. Iv. Ch. iii. Art. I85).  The Egyptians,  not, of course, embracing those drawn from
Ethiopians, and perhaps some other African  the more recent discoveries in Egypt, is given
races, are supposed to have adopted it, partly  by Spencer,' De Legg. Heb.' lib. I. c. $. ~ 4.
from  regard to cleanliness (Herod. II. 36),  See Deut. x. I6 and Note.
CHAPTER  XVIII.                    AND  the  aLORD  appeared  unto  Heb.I3
X Abraham entertaineth three angels. 9 Sarah    him  in the plains of Mamre: a2
is rprazedfor laughing al the strangge pro-  and he sat in the tent door in the
misce 17 The destruction of Sodoom is revealed  heat of the day;
to Abraham. 23 Abraham maketh intercession
for the men thereof:                       2  And  he lift up  his eyes and




V. 3-7.]                  GENESIS. XVIII.                                         I23
looked, and, lo, three men stood by  and  tcomfort ye your hearts; after t$ ebhim: and when he saw them, he ran  that ye shall pass on: for therefore
to meet them  from the tent door, and  tare ye come to your servant.  And t Heb.
bowed himself toward the ground,         they said, So do, as thou hast said.   passed.
3 And said, My Lord, if now I have       6 And Abraham  hastened into the
found favour in thy sight, pass not  tent unto Sarah, and said, tMake ready tJHas
away, I pray thee, from thy servant:   quickly three measures of fine meal,
4 Let a little water, I pray you, be  knead it, and make cakes upon the
fetched, and wash your feet, and rest  hearth.
yourselves under the tree:                  7 And Abraham ran unto the herd,
5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread,  and fetcht a calf tender and good, and
CHAP. XVIII. 1. plains of Mamre] Oaks  in the strangers, but could not have known
or oak  grove of Mlamre, see xiii. 18;  their heavenly mission.
xiv. 13.                                     3. My Lord] It is to be noticed that Abrain the heat of the day] Abraham was sitting  ham here addresses One of the three, who
in his tent under the shade of the trees, at the  appears more noble than the rest. The title
noon day when the sun was oppressive, and  which he gives Him is Adonai, a plural of excelwhen the duty of hospitality specially sug-  lence, but the Targum of Onkelos has rendered
gested to him the receiving of travellers, who  JEHOVAH (ns), as supposing that Abraham
might be wearied with their hot journey. The  had recognized the divinity of the visitor.
time of the day may be also mentioned, that   4.  wash yourfeet]  In the hot plains of
it might be the more certain that this was an  the east travellers shod only with sandals
open vision, not a dream of the night.  found the greatest comfort in bathing their
2. three men] In v. I it is said, "The  feet, when resting from a journey. (See ch.
LORD appeared unto him;" in v. 2A it is said,  xix. 2, xxiv. 3z; Judg. xix. Zi; I Tim. v. io.)
" The men turned their faces from thence, and
went towards Sodom; but Abraham stood    5. comfort ye your hearts]  Lit.  sup
yet before the LORD;" in ch. xix. I it is said,  port your hearts."  The heart, considered as
"There came twcwo Angels to Sodom at even."  the centre of vital functions, is put by the
It appears from the comparison of these pas-  Hebrews for the life itself. To support the
sages, and indeed from the whole narrative,
that of the three men who appeared to Abra   powers and spirits. (See Ges.'Thes.' p. 738,
ham, two were angels, and one was JEHO-  6, G  I. a.)
VAH Himself. On the belief of the ancient   for therefore are ye come to your ser-vant]
Church that these manifestations of God were  The patriarch recognizes a providential call
manifestations of God the Son, anticipations  upon him to refresh strangers of noble bearof the Incarnation, see note on ch. xii. 7. See  ing, come to him on a fatiguing journey.
also on this passage, Euseb.' Demonst. Evan.'   6. three measures of fine meal] Three
Lib. v. c. 9. There was, however, a belief seahs of the finest flour. A seah was
among many of the ancients that the three  the third part of an ephah according to the
men here appearing to Abraham symbolized  Rabbins. Josephus ('Ant.'Ix. 4) and Jerome
the three Persons of the Trinity; and the  ('Comm. on Matt.' xiii. 33), say that the
Church by appointing this chapter to be read  seah was a modius and a half. The accuracy
on Trinity Sunday seems to  indorse this  of this comparison between the Hebrew and
belief.  This need not conflict with the  Roman measures is doubted, as it does not coropinion, that the only Person in the Trinity  respond with the calculations of Rabbinical
really manifested to the eyes of Abraham was  writers. (See Ges.'Thes.'pp. 83, 932; Smith,
the Son of God, and that the other two were' Dict. of Bible,' Vol. III. pp. I74", 1742.) The
created angels. Indeed such a manifestation  two words, Kemach soleth, rendered "fine
may have been reason enough fcr the choice  meal," are nearly synonymous, both appearing
of this lesson on Trinity Sunday. It has been  to mean fine flour, the latter being the finer
observed that One of the three mentioned in  of the two. They might be rendered "flour
this chapter is called repeatedly JEHOVAH, but  of fine flour."  According to the Rabbinical
neither of the two in ch. xix. is ever so called.  Commentary,' Vajikra Rabba,' soleth is the
boywed himself tozvard the ground] This was  kemach of kemachs, the fine flour of fine flour.
merely the profound eastern salutation (cp.  (See Ges.' Thes.' p. 959.)
ch. xxiii. 7, It2, xxxiii. 6, 7). Abraham as yet    cakes upon the hearth] Probably the slmwas "entertaining angels unaqwares" (Heb. xiii. pler form of cake baked in the midst of hot
a). He may have observed a special dignity  cinders.




I24                           GENESIS. XVIII.                              [v. 8 —5.
gave it unto a young man; and he  ceased  to  be with  Sarah  after the
hasted to dress it.                      manner of women.
8 And he took butter, and milk, and      I2 Therefore Sarah laughed within
the calf which he had dressed, and set  herself, saying, After I am waxed old
it before them; and he stood by them   shall I have pleasure, my clord being. Pet, 3
under the tree, and they did eat.        old also?
9g v And they said unto him, Where        13 And the LORD said unto Abra-.s Sarah thy wife?  And he said, Be-  ham, Wherefore  did  Sarah  laugh,
hold, in the tent.                       saying, Shall I of a surety bear a
io And he said, I will certainly  child, which am old?
return unto thee according to the time      I4 Is any thing too hard for the
Cchap. 17. of life; and, lo, bSarah thy wife shall  LORD? At the time appointed I will
2, 2.  have a son.  And Sarah heard it in  return unto thee, according  to  the
the  tent  door, which  was behind  time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
him.                                        I5 Then Sarah denied, saying, I
I I Now  Abraham  and Sarah were  laughed not; for she was afraid. And
old and well stricken in age; and it  he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.
8.  butter] i. e. thick  milk  or clotted    Xato  yva, a, qblXdr'l rrfpLTrXop/rlEV0o  8'
cream. The modern Arabs have a simple              evLavTro
mode of churning, and make very good but-      rE'ES dykaa Xa  r;Kvva.
ter. Robinson ('Res.' ii. p. I8o) describes                     Hornm.'Od.' A. 247the baking of cakes and making of butter  (See Rosenm. in loc.; Ges.'Thes.' p. 470.)
among them in the present day. It is, how-  Prof. Lee ('Lex.' p. I93) denies the soundever, most probable, that the word, rendered  ness of this criticism, and virtually indorses
butter in the Old Testament, was rather thick  the Authorized Version, " as (at) the season,
milk, or more probably, thick cream, though  period, of a vigorous woman."  There is,
in one place (Prov. xxx. 33), it may perhaps  however, very little doubt that the criticism
be rendered cheese. The ancient inhabitants of is correct.
Palestine used olive oil where we use butter.
(See Rosenm. and Ges.'Thes.' p. 486.)       12. laughed] Whatever may have been
the nature of Abraham's laughter (see xvii.
they did eat] That spiritual visitants, though  I7), this of Sarah's seems to have resulted
in human form, should eat, has been a puzzle  from  incredulity.  She may scarcely have
to many commentators. Josephus (' Ant.' I.  recognized the Divinity of the speaker, and
ii) and Philo ('Opp.' II. i8), say it was in  had not perhaps realized the truth of the
appearance only, which is implied by Pseudo-  promise before made to Abraham. St Au-.
Jonathan, Rashi and Kimchi. If the angels  gustine distinguishes between the laughter of
had assumed human bodies, though but for a  Abraham  and that of Sarah thus, "The
time, there would have been nothing strange  father laughed, when a son was promised to
in their eating. In any case, the food may  him, from  wonder and joy; the mother
have been consumed, miraculously or not;  laughed, when the three men renewed the
and the eating of it was a proof that the visit  promise, from  doubtfulness and joy. The
of the angels to Abraham was no mere vision,  angel reproved her, because though that laughbut a true manifestation of heavenly beings.   ter was from joy, yet it was not of full faith.
10.  he said]  In v. 9 we read "they  Afterwards by the same angel she was consaid," i.e. one of the three heavenly guests  firmed in faith also."' De C. D.' XVI. 31.
spoke for the others.  Now  we have the    my lord] See I Pet. iii. 6.
singular number, and the speaker uses language suited only to the Ruler of nature and    13  the LORD said   Here the speaker
of all things.                             is distinctly called JEHOVAH, and it seems
much more reasonable to believe that there
according to the time of life] There is some  was a Theophania of the Son of God, than
difficulty in the rendering of these words.  that a created angel was personating God and
The phrase occurs again, z K. iv. I6.  It is  speaking in His name.
now generally thought that the sense is the
same as in ch. xvii. z, "at this set time in    14. Is any thing too hard for the LORD?]
the next year" (cp. xviii. I4); and that the  Lit. "Is anything too wonderful for the
words should be translated, "when the season  Lord? " Cp. Luke i. 37.
revives," i.e. when spring or summer comes    At the time appointed I wvill return unto thee,
round again. Compare                       according to the timze of lif/] See on v. Io.




v. 16-28.]               GENESIS. XVIII.                                        I25
I6 qT And the men rose up from from thence, and went toward Sodom:
thence, and looked toward Sodom:  but Abraham  stood yet before the
and  Abraham  went with  them  to   LORD.
bring them on the way.                     23 qT And  Abraham  drew  near,
I 7  And the LORD  said, Shall I  and said, Wilt thou also destroy the
hide from Abraham  that thing which  righteous with the wicked?
I do;                                      24 Peradventure there be fifty rightI8 Seeing that Abraham shall surely  eous within the city: wilt thou also
become a great and mighty nation,  destroy and not spare the place for
and all the nations of the earth shall  the fifty righteous that are therein?
* chap. x2. be dblessed in him?                    25 That be far from thee to do after
Acts 3. 25. i9 For I know  him, that he will  this manner, to slay the righteous with
Gal. 3. 8 command his children and his house-  the wicked: and that the righteous
hold after him, and they shall keep  should be as the wicked, that be far
the way of the LORD, to do justice  from thee: Shall notthe Judge of all
and judgment; that the LORD may  the earth do right?
bring upon Abraham  that which he          26 And the LORD said, If I find in
hath spoken of him.                      Sodom fifty righteous within the city,
20 And the LORD said, Because the  then I will spare all the place for their
cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great,  sakes.
and because their sin is very grievous;    27  And Abraham  answered  and
21I I will go down now, and see  said, Behold now, I have taken upon
whether they have done altogether  me to speak unto the Lord, which am
according to the cry of it, which is  but dust and ashes:
come unto me; and if not, I will    28  Peradventure there shall lack
know.                                    five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou
22 And the men turned their faces  destroy all the city for lack of five?
16. Abraham went wcith themr] The three  viii. 29, xi. 2. The meaning would then be,
heavenly visitors all go towards Sodom. A-  "I have foreknown and chosen Abraham,
braham goes some way with them, how far  that he should be the depositary of my truth,
is not said. There is a tradition that he went  and should teach his children in the way of
as far as Caphar-berucha, from which the  religion and godliness, that so the promises
Dead Sea is visible, through a ravine.    made to him should be fulfilled in his seed
and lineage. So Ges. (' Thes.' P-5 7 I), Rosenm.,
17. Shall I hide from  Albraham]  The  Tuch,  Knobel, Delitzsch, Keil, &c.
LXX. adds here " my son," which is quoted           e        chv.'
by Philo (s. p. 40I, Mangey) as "Abraham    20. the cy] Cp.. ix. I3.
my friend:" so that in all probability, copies    21. I ctvilgo down]  Ch. xi. 5, 7; Ex.
of the LXX. in the time of Philo had this  iii. 8. The reason for God's thus revealing
afterwards familiar name of Abraham  ex-  His purpose to Abraham seems to have been,
pressed in this verse. Cp. 2 Chr. xx. 7; Isa. that, as Abraham was to be the heir of the
xli. 8; James ii. 23.                     promises, he might be taught and might teach
his children,'who were afterwards to dwell in
19. For I knotvw him, that] This is the  that very country, that God is not a God of
general reading of the ancient Versions, LXX.,  mercy only, as shewn to Abraham and his
Vulg., Targg., &c. &c.  It does not,' how-  descendants, but a God of judgment also, as
ever, seem to correspond with the Hebrew   witnessed by His destruction of the guilty
idiom. The literal rendering would be, " I  cities of the plain.
have known him, to the end that, in order    22. the men turned theirfacesfrom thence,
that, he should command his children, &c."  &c.] The two created angels went on to SoThe word (Mop, to know) is sometimes used  dom (see ch. xix. I), "but Abraham stood
of the eternal foreknowledge and election of yet before the LORD," stood yet in the preGod, as in Amnos iii. 2, "; You only have I  sence of that third Being who was not a
known of all the families of the earth."  Cp. created angel, but the eternal Word of God,
Exod. xxxiii. i%; Job xxii. I3; Ps. lxxiii. II,  " the Angel of Mighty counsel" (Isai. ix. 6,
cxliv. 3; Is. lviii. 3; Nah. i. 7. And compare  LXX.); "the Messenger of the covenant"
a similar use in the Greek Testament, Rom.  (Mal. iii. x).




126                      GENESIS. XVIII. XIX.                               [v. 29-3.
And he said, If I find there forty and             CHAPTER  XIX.
five, I will not destroy it.                ZLot entertainelh two antgels. 4 The vicious
29 And he spake unto him yet again,    Sodomites are stricken with blindness. I2 Lot
and said, Peradventure there shall be    issentfor safety into t/ie mountains. i8 He
obtainetl leave to go into Zoar. 24 Sodom and
forty found there.  And he said, I    Gomorrah are destroyed. 26 Lot's wife is a
will not do it for forty's sake.           iillar of salt. 30 Lot dwelleth in a cave. 3 
30 And he said unto him, Oh let not    The incestuous original of Moab andAmmon.
the Lord be angry, and I will speak:   AND  there  came two angels to
Peradventure there  shall thirty  be.t —  Sodom at even; and Lot sat in
found there.  And he said, I will not  the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing
do it, if I find thirty there.           them  rose up to meet them; and he
31 And he said, Behold now, I have  bowed himself with his face toward
taken upon me to  speak  unto the  the ground;
Lord: Peradventure  there shall be          2 And he said, Behold now, my
twenty found there.  And he said, I  lords, turn in, I pray you, into your
will not destroy it for twenty's sake.   servant's house, and tarry all night,
32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord  and awash your feet, and ye shall rise a chap..8
be angry, and I will speak yet but this  up early, and go on your ways. And 4
once: Peradventure ten shall be found  they said, Nay; but we will abide in
there.  And he said, I will not de-  the street all night.
stroy it for ten's sake.                    3 And he pressed upon them greatly';
33 And the LORD went his way, as  and they turned in unto him, and
soon as he had left communing with  entered into his house; and he made
Abraham:  and  Abraham   returned  them  a feast, and did bake unleavened
unto his place.                          bread, and they did eat.
32. I will not destroy it for ten's sake]  them all the rites of hospitality. In those days
A noted example of the efficacy of prayer, of  there were neither inns nor perhaps even
the blessedness of a good leaven in a city or  caravanserais, so thait private houses only could
nation, and of the longsuffering mercy of God.  give lodging to strangers.
-we qwill abide in the street all night] The
CHAP. XIX. 1.  trwo angqels]  Lit, the  "street," lit. "the broad, open space," protwo ang~els. So LXX. Thetwo men, +who  bably included all the streets, squares, and
left Abraham still standing in the presence of inclosures, frequently extensive in an eastern
the LORD (ch. xviii. 22) now came to Sodom city, and in these early days perhaps less
built over than in modern towns. The warmth
of the climate would make it easy to pass the
Lot sat in the gate of Sodom]  The gate of  night in such a place. The words of the angels
the city was, in the ancient towns of the  may be compared with our Lord's manner as
east, the common        place of public resort, both  recorded Luke xxiv. 2S, " He made as though
for social intercourse and public business.  He would have gone further."  The visit of
This gate of the city nearly corresponded with  the angels was one of trial previous to judgthe folrutm or marlket-place of Greece and  ment (see ch. xviii. zI), trial of Lot as well as
Rome. Not only was it the place of public  of the people of Sodom.  Lot's character,
sale, but judges and even kings held courts of  though he is called "; a righteous" or upright
justice there. The gate itself was probably an  "man" (2 Pet. ii. 7), was full of faults and
arch with deep recesses, in which were placed  infirmities, but here he comes out well under
the seats of the judges, and benches on either  the trial. His conduct is altogether favourside were arranged for public convenience. ably contrasted with that of the inhabitants
(Cp. ch. xxxiv. 20; Deut. xxi. I9, xxii. i;  of the city, and so he is delivered, whilst they
Ruth iv. I.  See also Hom.'I1.' Lib. Ii. are destroyed.
48.)                                        38. a feast]  Lit. "a drink, or banquet,
bowed himself] See on ch. xviii. z.     symposium."  It is the word used commonly
2. my lords] The Masorites mark this word  for a sumptuous repast.
as " profane," i. e. as not taken in the divine,    unleavened bread]  As having no time to
but in the human sense. Lot, like Abraham,  leaven it. Literally the words mean " bread
only saw in the angels two men, travellers  of sweetness," i.e. bread which had not been
apparently wearied with the way, and he offers  made bitter by leaven.




v. 4 —3.]                  GENESIS. XIX.                                          I27
4 IT But before they lay down, the       9 And they said, Stand back. And
men of the city, even the  men  of  they said again, This one fellow came
Sodom, compassed the house round,  in to sojourn, and he will needs be a
both old and young, all the people  judge: now  will we deal worse with
from every quarter:                      thee, than  with  them.  And  they
5 And they called unto Lot, and  pressed sore upon the man, even Lot,
said unto him, Where are the men  and came near to break the door.
which came in to thee this night?           Io  But the men put forth their
bring them out unto us, that we may  hand, and pulled Lot into the house
know them.                               to them, and shut to the door.
6 And Lot went out at the door            I  And they smote the men bthat b5Wisd. xg
unto them, and shut the door after  were at the door of the house with
him,                                     blindness, both small and great: so
7 And said, I pray you, brethren,  that they wearied themselves to find
do not so wickedly.                      the door.
8 Behold now, I have two daughters        I2 e1 And the men said unto Lot,
which have not known man; let me,  Hast thou here any besides? son in
I pray you, bring them out unto you,  law, and thy sons, and thy daughters,
and do ye to them  as is good in your  and whatsoever thou hast in the city,
eyes: only unto these men do nothing;  bring them out of this place:
for therefore came they under the           13 For we will destroy this place,
shadow of my roof.                       because the Ccry of them  is waxen 20.hap 
4. all the people from every quarter] The  writer relates the history simply and without
utter shamelessness of the inhabitants of  comment, not holding up Lot as an example
Sodom, as well as their unbridled licentious-  for imitation, but telling his faults as well as
ness, is briefly but most emphatically expressed  his virtues, and leaving us to draw the inferin this verse. The Canaanitish nations in  ences. He brought all his troubles on himself
general, and the cities of the plain especially,  by the home he had chosen. He was bound
were addicted to those deadly sins so strictly  to defend his guests at the risk of his own
forbidden to the Israelites.  See Lev. xx.  life, but not by the sacrifice of his daughters.
227 23.
9. Stand back] Lit. "Come near, farther
6. Lot wvent out at the door unto them,  off."
and shut the door after him]  Lit. "went out
at the doorway, and shut the door after   crvill needs be ajudge] ore "Judging, he win
at the doorway, and shut the door after  judge," referring, probably, as Tuch observes,
him."
to Lot's frequent remonstrances with them for
8. I have two daughters] These words  their licentiousness and violence, which is reof Lot have been much canvassed in all times. ferred to in 2 Pet. ii. 7, 8.
St Chrysostom thought it virtuous in him not
to spare his own daughters, rather than sacri-    11. they smote the men that were at the
fice the duties of hospitality, and expose his  door of the house wqith blindness]  Perhaps the
guests to the wickedness of the men of Sodom   word for blindness rather indicates confused
('Hom. xxIII. in Gen.'). So St Ambrose ('De  vision, LXX. doparla. In Wisd. xix. x7, the
Abrah.' Lib. I. c. 6), speaking as if a smaller  darkness in which these men were involved is
sin were to be preferred to a greater. But St  compared with the plague of'darkness which
Augustine justly observes, that we should  may be felt," which fell on the Egyptians
open the way for sin to reign far and wide, if  (Ex. x. 22). If it had been actual blindness,
we allowed ourselves to commit smaller sins,  they would hardly have wearied themselves to
lest others should commit greater (' Lib. contr.  find the door, but would have sought some
Mend.' c. 9. See also' Quu. in Gen.' 42). We  one to lead them by the hand (August.' De
see in all this conduct of Lot the same mixed  Civit. Dei.' xxII. I9). The same word, the
character.  He intended to do rightly, but  root of which is very doubtful (see Gesen.
did it timidly and imperfectly. He felt strongly'Thes.' p. 961), occurs only once again, in
the duty of hospitality, perhaps by this time  2 K. vi. i8, where, apparently (see vv. i9, 20),
he had even some suspicion of the sacred cha-  not real blindness, but indistinctness of vision
racter of his guests, but his standard of right,  and misleading error are described.  Aben
though high when compared with that of his  Ezra interprets it as meaning "blindness of
neighbours, was not the highest. The sacred  eve and mind."




128                            GENESIS. XIX.                               v. I4-22.
great before the face of the LORD;  they had brought them  forth abroad,
and the LORD  hath sent us to de-  that he said, Escape for thy life; look
stroy it.                                 not behind thee, neither stay thou in
I4 And Lot went out, and spake  all the plain; escape to the mountain,
unto his sons in law, which married  lest thou be consumed.
his daughters, and said, Up, get you        I8 And Lot said unto them, Oh,
out of this place; for the LORD will  not so, my Lord:
destroy this city.  But he seemed as        19 Behold now, thy servant hath
one that mocked unto  his sons in  found  grace in thy sight, and thou
law.                                     hast magnified thy mercy, which thou
IS qT And when the morning arose,  hast shewed unto me in saving my
then the angels hastened Lot, saying,  life; and I cannot escape to the mounArise, take  thy wife, and thy  two  tain, lest some evil take me, and I
t Heb.   daughters, which tare here; lest thou  die:
e~ fond0r.  be consumed in the I iniquity of the     20o Behold now, this city is near to
uniFshF-  city.                                   flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh,
dWisd. Io.  i6 And  awhile he lingered, the  let me escape thither, (is it not a little
6.      men laid hold upon  his hand, and  one?) and my soul shall live.
upon the hand of his wife, and upon         21 And he said unto him, See, I
the hand of his two daughters; the  have accepted tthee concerning this t Heb.
LORD being merciful unto him: and  thing also, that I will not overthrow t'yace.
they brought him  forth, and set him  this city, for the which  thou  hast
without the city.                         spoken.
I7 T" And it came to pass, when          22 Haste thee, escape thither; for
13. the LORD hath sent us to destroy it]  of the devoted region, which he had formerly
The angels speak here as messengers of judg-  coveted for his own, and where, when he
ment, not as He, who conversed with Abra-  parted from Abraham, he had made his habiham, ch. xviii. 17-33.                     tation, and sought to enrich himself.
14. which married his daughters]  Lit.    18. my Lord]  The Masorites have the
"the takers of his daughters."  LXX. " who  note kadesh, i.e. " holy," but it is probably no
had taken his daughters." Vulg. "who were  more than the salutation of reverence, see
about to marry his daughters."  Some, Kno-  v. 2. For, though Lot had now found out
bel, Delitzsch, &c., have held that besides  the dignity of his guests, there is no evidence
those mentioned, vv. 8, 30, Lot had other  that he thought either of them to be the Most
daughters, who had married men of the city,  High. Indeed the word might be rendered
and who perished in the conflagration with  in the plural "my lords," as the Syr. and
their husbands. It is more commonly thought  Saad.
that he had only two daughters, who were    19. I cannot escape to the mountain] Lot
betrothed, but not yet married; betrothal  and his family were, no doubt, exhausted by
being sufficient to give the title "son in law"  fear and anxiety and he felt that if he had to
or " anbridegroom " to their affianced hushands.  go r and antand hf   that, he  had to
or "bridegroom" to their affianced husbands.
go to the mountains of Moab, he would be
15.  whbich are here]  Lit. " which are  exposed to many dangers, which might prove
found."  This seems to Knobel and others to  his destruction; another instance of defective
indicate that there were other daughters, but  courage and faith, which yet is pardoned by a
that these two only were at home, the others  merciful God.
being with their husbands in the city (see on    some evil] The evil, i.e. the destruction
v. x4); but it very probably points only to  about to fall on Sodom; all Lot's conduct
the fact, that Lot's wife and daughters were  here denotes excessive weakness.
at home and ready to accompany him, whilst
his sons in law scoffed and refused to go.   20. is it not a little one?] Though Zoar
may have been involved in the guilt of the
1.6. the LORD being mercfiul unto him]  other cities of the plain, Lot pleads that it has
Lit. " in the mercy" (the sparing pity) " of  but few inhabitants, and that the sins of such
the LORD to him."                          a small city can be but comparatively small.
17. that he said] i.e. one of the angels.  So Rashi.
the plain] The kikkar, the circuit of the    21. I have accepted thee]  Lit. " I have
Jordan. Lot was to escape from the whole  lifted up thy face."  It was the custom in the




V. 23-28.]                 GENESIS. XIX.                                           129
I cannot do anything  till thou  be  and all the plain, and all the inhabitants
come thither.  Therefore the name  of the cities, and that which grew upon
of the city was called Zoar.             the ground.
f Heb.     23 ~1 The sun was t risen upon the        26 e But his wife looked back from
gonefovrth. earth when Lot entered into Zoar.     behind him, and she became a pillar of
e.Deut. 29.  24 Then ethe LORD rained upon  salt.
Luke 7. Sodom  and  upon  Gomorrah  brim-            27 ~T And Abraham gat up early in
9ai.     stone and fire from  the LORD out of  the morning to the place where he
Jer. 5~. 40 heaven;                               stood before the LORD:
Amos4. II.
Jude 7.    25 And he overthrew those cities,         28 And he looked toward Sodom
East to make supplication with the face to  "The LORD rained from Himself."  It is a
the ground; when the prayer was granted,  common idiom in Hebrew to repeat the noun
the face was said to be raised.            instead of using a pronoun.
22. Zoar]  i.e. "~ little."  It appears by    brimstone and fire...out of heaven]  Many
several ancient testimonies to have been be-  -explanations have been offbred of this. Whelieved that Zoar or Bela, though spared from   ther the fire from heaven was lightning, which
the first destruction of the cities of the plain,  kindled the bitumen and set the whole country
was afterwards swallowed up by an earth-  in a blaze, whether it was a great volcanic
quake, probably when Lot had left it, v. 30.  eruption overwhelming all the cities of the
(See Jerom' ad Jos.' xv. and'Qu. in Gen.'  plain, or whether there was simply a miracuc. xlv.; Theodoret'in Gen.' xixo). This  lous raining down of ignited sulphur, has
tradition may account for the statement in  been variously disputed and discussed. From
Wisdom x. 6, that five cities were destroy-  comparing these words with Deut. xxix. 23,
ed, and of Josephus (' B. J.' IV. 8. 4), that  where it is said, " The whole land thereof is
the "shadowy forms of five cities" could be  brimstone and salt and burning," it may be
seen; whereas Deut. xxix. 23 only mentions  reasonably questioned, whether the " brimfour, viz. Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and  stone" in both passages may not mean bitnZeboim: yet, on the other hand, Eusebius  mten, with which unquestionably, both before
(v. 3aXA) witnesses that Bela, or Zoar, was  (see ch. xiv. Io), and after the overthrow, the
inhabited in his day, and garrisoned by Ro-  whole country abounded (see also Jerusalem
man soldiers.                              Targum  quoted in the last note). The Al24. the LORD rained upon Sodom and Upon  mighty, in His most signal judgments and
Gomorrah brimstone andfire from the LoRD out  even in His most miraculous intervention
of heaven]  The LORD is said to have rained  has been pleased often to use natural agencies;
as, for instance, He brought the locusts on
from the LORD, an expression much noted by  as, for instance, He brought the locusts othem
commentators, Jewish and.Christian.   yl  Egypt with an East wind and drove them
commentators, Jewish and.Christian. Several
of the Rabbins, Manasseh Ben Israel, R. Si-  back with a West wind (Ex. x. I3, I9).
meon, adthers, by the first JEIOVA  under   Possibly therefore the bitumen, which was the
sta the  angel Gabriel, the angel of ner   natural produce of the country, volcanic or
stand the angel Gabriel, the angel of the  otherwise, was made the instrument by which
LORD: but there is certainly no other passage  th offending cities made the instrumen  y which
in Scripture, where this most sacred name      *                    *-  
in Scripture, wheto a cre  this most sacred name  velation to Abraham, the visit of the angels,
is given to a created angel. Many of the  the deliverance of Lot, mark the whole as
fathers, Ignatius, Justin M., Tertullian, Cy-   iraculous and the resut of direct interven7                  A                    a * sT-1 *rT11 I- nmiraculous and the result of direct intervenprian, Athanasius, Hilary, The Council' of
Sirmium, &c. see in these words the mystery  ton from above, whatever tay have been the
of the Holy Trinity, as though it were said,  instrument which the Most High made use of
I" GOD the'Word rained down fire from GOD  t work His pleasure.
the Father;" an interpretation which may    26. a pillar of salt] All testimony speaks
seem to be supported by the Jerusalem Tar-  of the exceeding saltness of the Dead Sea,
gum, where "the Word of the LORD" is  and the great abundance of salt in its neighsaid to have "rained down fire and bitumen  bourhood (e.g. Galen.'De Simp. Medic.
from the presence of the LORD."  Other pa-  Facult.' IV. I9). In what manner Lot's wife
tristic commentators of the highest authority  actually perished has been questioned. Aben(as Chrysostom, Jerome and Augustine) do  Ezra supposed that she was first killed by the
not press this argument. Aben Ezra, whom   brimstone and fire and then incrusted over
perhaps a majority of Christian commentators  with salt, so as to become a statue or pillar of
have followed in this, sees in these words a  salt. There was a pillar of salt near the Dead
peculiar "elegance or grace of language;"  Sea, which later tradition identified with Lot's
"The LoRD rained...fronl the LomrD" being a  wife (Joseph.' Ant.' I. ir; Iren. Iv., 5; Tergrander and more impressive'node of saying,  tullian,' Carmen de Sodoma;' Benjamin of
VOL. I.                                                                 I




Iro                             GENESIS. XIX.                             Lv. 29-37.
and  Gomorrah, and toward all the  that we may preserve seed of our
land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo,  father.
the smoke of the country went up as         33  And  they  made their father
the smoke of a furnace.                   drink wine that night: and the first29  T1 And it came to pass, when  born went in, and lay with her father;
God destroyed the cities of the plain,  and he perceived not when she lay
that God remembered Abraham, and  down, nor when she arose.
sent Lot out of the midst of the over-      34  And it came to pass on the
throw, when he overthrew  the cities  morrow, that the firstborn said unto
in the which Lot dwelt.                  the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight
30 qT And Lot went up out of with my father: let us make him drink
Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and  wine this night also; and go thou in,
his two daughters with him; for he  and lie with him, that we may prefeared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt  serve seed of our father.
in a cave, he and his two daughters.        35  And  they  made  their father
31 And the firstborn said unto the  drink wine that night also: and the
younger, Our father is old, and there  younger arose, and lay with him; and
is not a man in the earth to come in  he perceived not when she lay down,
unto us after the manner of all the  nor when she arose.
earth:                                      36 Thus were both the daughters
32 Come, let us make our father  of Lot with child by their father.
drink wine, and we will lie with him,       37  And the firstborn bare a son,
Tudela,'Itin.' P.44. See Heidegger, II. p. 269).  nunquam esse matres quarm sic uti patre debuThe  American expedition, under Lynch,  erunt,'C. Faustum,' xxII. 43~) It is too appafound to the East or Usdum a pillar of salt  rent that the licentiousness of Sodom had had
about forty feet high, which was perhaps that  a degrading influence upon their hearts and
referred to by Josephus, &c.              lives.
29. God remembered Abraham] He re-    32. let us make our father drink,wine]
membered Abraham's intercession recorded in  It has been suggested in excuse for Lot, that
ch. xviii. and also the covenant which He had  his daughters drugged the wine. Of this,
made with Abraham, and which was gra-  however, there is no intimation in the text.
ciously extended so as to benefit his kinsman  But the whole history is of the simplest chaLot.                                       racter. It tells plainly all the faults, not of
30. he Jfeared to dwell in Zoar] Jerome  Lot only, but of Abraham and Sarah also.
('Qu.' ad h.l.) supposes that Lot had seen  Still though it simply relates and neither praises
Zoar so often affected by earthrquakes that he  nor blames, yet in Lot's history we may trace
durst no longer abide there, see on v. 22. the judgment as well as the mercy of God.
Rashi thought that the proximity to Sodom   His selfish choice of the plain of Jordan led
was the reason for his fear. The weakness of him perhaps to present wealth and prosperity,
Lot's character is seen here again, in his not  but withal to temptation and danger.  In
trusting God's promises.                   the midst of the abandoned profligacy of
~dw~elt in a ca~ve]  These mountainous re-  Sodom he indeed was preserved in comparative purity and so, when God overthrew the
gions abound in caves, and the early inhabit-, he                     d o e       te
ants formed them  into dwellingplaces; see  cities of the plain, he yet saved Lot from de..
struction. Still Lot's feebleness of faith first
on ch. xiv. 6.
caused him to linger, v. i6, then to fear escape
31. there is not a man in the earth] Iren.  to the mountains, v. I9, and lastly to doubt
(iv.  i;) Chrysostom (' Hom. 34 in Ge-  the safety of the place which God had spared
nes.'), Ambros. (' De Abrahamo,'. 6), Theo-  for him, v. 30. Now  again he is led by
doret, (' Qu. in. Gen.' 69), excuse this incestu-  his children into intoxication, which betrays
ous conduct of the daughters of Lot on the  him, unconsciously, into far more dreadful
ground, that they supposed the whole human  wickedness. And then we hear of him no
race to have been destroyed, excepting their  more.  He is left by the sacred narrative,
father and themselves. Even if it were so, the  saved indeed from the conflagration of Sodom,
words of St Augustine would be true, that  but an outcast, widowed, homeless, hopeless,
"' they should have preferred to be childless  without children or grandchildren, save the
rather than to treat their father so." (Potius  authors and the heirs of his shame.




v. 38.]                   GENESIS. XIX.'3'
and called his name Moab: the same  a  son, and  called  his name  Benis the father of the Moabites  unto  ammi:  the same  is  the  father of
this day.                                 the  children  of Ammon  unto  this
38 And the younger, she also bare  day.
37.  Moab] According to the LXX.=me-  race, of Bedouin habits, worshippers of Moab, i.e. "from  the father."  So also the  lech, "the abomination of the Ammonites."
Targ. of Pseudo-Jonathan, Augustine, Je-  I K. xi. 7rome, &c. alluding to the incestuous origin of    De Wette and his followers, Rosenmiller
MVoab. The IMoabites dwelt originally to the  Tuch, Knobel, &c. speak of this narrative, as
East of the Dead Sea, from  whence they  if it had arisen from the national hatred of
expelled the Emims (Deut. ii. i i). Afterwards  the Israelites to the Moabites and Ammonites,
they were driven by the Amorites to the  but the Pentateuch by no means shews such
South of the river Arnon, which formed their  national hatred (see Deut. ii 9, I9): and the
Northern boundary.                         book of Ruth gives the history of a Moabitess
38. Ben-ammi] i. e. "son of my people,"  who was ancestress of David himself. It was
in allusion to his being of unmixed race. The  not till the Moabites had seduced the Israelites
Ammonites are said to have destroyed the  to idolatry and impurity, Num. xxv. I, and
Zam-zummim, a tribe of the Rephaim, and to  had acted in an unfriendly manner towards
have succeeded them and dwelt in their stead.  them, hiring Balaam to curse them, that they
(Deut. ii. 22.) They appear for the most part  were excluded from the congregation of the
to have been an unsettled marauding violent  Lord for ever. Deut. xxiii. 3, 4.
NOTE A  on CHAP. XIX. 25.  THE DEAD SEA, SITE OF SODOM  AND ZOAR.
(i)  Characteristics of Dead Sea.  Testimonies ancient and modern.  (2)  Geological
formation. (3)'Were Sodom, Zoar, &c. on the North or South of the Dead Sea?
THI-E Dead Sea, if no historical importance at-  masses of fossil salt which lie in a mountain at
tached to it, would still be the most remark-  its South-west border, and by the rapid evaable body of water in the known world.  poration of the fresh water, which flows into
MIany fabulous characteristics were assigned  it (Stanley, IS. and P.' p. 292; Robinson's
to it by ancient writers, as that birds could'Phys. Geog.' p. I95).  Both ancient and
not fly over it, that oxen and camels floated in  modern writers assert that nothing animal or
it, nothing being heavy enough to sink (Ta-  vegetable lives in this sea (Tacit.' Hist.' v. 6;
cit.' Hist.' v. 6; Plin.'H. N.' v. i6; Seneca,  Galen.' De Simpl. Med.' Iv. 19; Hieron. ad
I'Q. Nat.' lib. II.). It has been conjectured  Ezech. XLVIL. i8; Robinson,'Bib. Res.' Ii.
by Reland, with some probability, that le-  p. 2z6). The few living creatures which the
gends belonging to the lake of Asphalt said to  Jordan washes down into it are destroyed
have existed near Babylon (see on ch. xi. 3)  (Stanley,'S. and P.' p. 293). No wonder,
were mixed up with the accounts of the Dead  then, that the Salt Sea should have been called
Sea, and both exaggerated (Reland,' Palest.'  the Dead Sea, a name unknown to the sacred
ii. pp. 244 seq.).                          writers, but common in after times.  Even
The Dead Sea called in Scripture the  its shores, incrusted with salt, present the apSalt Sea (Gen. xiv. 3; Numb. xxYxiv. 3, 12),  pearance of utter desolation. The ancients
the Sea of the Plain (Deut. iii. 17, iv. 49;  speak much of the masses of asphalt, or bituJosh. iii. i6), and in the later books, " the  men, which the lake threw  up.  Diodorus
East Sea" (Ezek. xlvii. I8; Joel ii. 20; in  Sic. affirms that the masses of bitumen were
Zech, xiv. 8, "the former sea" should be ren-  like islands, covering two or three plethra
dered "the East Sea"), is according to Lynch  (Diod. Sic. Ii. 48); and Josephus says that
40 geographical miles long by 9 to 9-3 broad.  they were of the form and magnitude of oxen
Its depression is 13x6 feet below the level of  (' B. J.' Iv. 8. 4).  Modern travellers testify
the Mediterranean. Its depth in the northern  to the existence of bitumen still on the shores
portion is 1308 feet. Its extreme saltness was  and waters of the Dead Sea, but it is supknown to the ancients. Galen. (' De Simplic.  posed by the Arabs, that it is only thrown up
Medicam. Facultat.' c. i9) says that "its taste  by earthquakes. Especially after the earthwas not only salt but bitter." Modern travel-  quakes of 1834 and I837, large quantities are
lers describe the taste as most intensely and  said to have been cast upon the Southern
intolerably salt, its specific gravity and its  shore, probably detached by shocks from the
buoyancy being consequently so great that  bottom of the Southern bay (Robinson,'B. R.'
people can swim or float in it, who could not  [i. p. 229;' Physical Geog.' p. 201. See also
swim  in any other water.  This excessive  Thomson,'Land and Book,' p. 223).
saltnes- is probably caused by the imml-ense    There is great difference between the NorthI 2




132                                GENESIS. XX.                                     [v.,92.
ern and Southern portions of the sea. The  the plain as having lain at this Southern exgreat depth of the Northern division does not  tremitv of the sea. The general belief at preextend to the South.  The Southern bay is  sent that that portion only of the sea can have
shallow, its shores low and marshy, almost  been of recent formation, and hence that that
like a quicksand, (Stanley,'S. and P.' p. z93).  only can have occupied the site of the vale of
It has been very generally supposed from Gen.  Siddim, the belief that Sodom was near the
xiv. 3, that the Dead Sea now occupies the  vale of Siddim, the bituminous, saline, volcanic
site of what was originally the Plain of  aspect of the Southern coast, the traditional
Jordan, the vale of Siddim, and to this has  names of Usdum, &c., the traditional site of
been added the belief that the cities of Sodom,  Zoar, called by Josephus (as above) Zoar of
Gomorrah, &c. were situated in the vale of  Arabia, the hill of salt, said to have been Lot's
Siddim, and that they too were covered by  wife, and every other supposed vestige of the
the Dead Sea. Recent observations have led  destroyed cities being to the South, all tend to
many to believe that probably a lake must  the general conviction that the cities of the
have existed here before historic times. Yet  plain (of the Kikkar) lay either within or
it is quite conceivable that the terrible catas-  around the present South bay of the Dead
trophe recorded in Genesis, traces of which  Sea. On the other hand, Mr Grove (in. Smith's
are visible throughout the whole region, may' Dict. of the Bible') has argued with great
have produced even the deep depression of  ability in favour of a Northern site for these
the bed of the Dead Sea, and so have arrested  cities, and he is supported by Tristraln (' Land
the streams of the Jordan, which may before  of Israel,' pp. 360 —363). The chief grounds
that time have flowed onwards through the  for his argument are Ist, that Abraham  and
Arabah, and emptied itself into the Gulph of  Lot, at or near Bethel, could have seen the
Akabah. At all events, it is very probable  plain of Jordan to the North of the Dead Sea,
that the Southern division of the lake may  but could not have seen the Southern valleys
have been formed at a comparatively recent  (see Gen. xiii.  o): 2ndly, that what they saw
date. The character of this Southern part,  was  "the Kiykkar of the Jordan," whereas
abounding with salt, frequently throwing up  the Jordan flowed into the Dead Sea at its
bitumen, its shores producing sulphur and  Northern extremity, but probably never flownitre (Robinson,'Phys. Geog,' p. zo4), corre-  ed to the South of that sea: 3rdly, that later
sponds accurately with all that is told us of  writers have been misled by apparent simithe valley of Siddim, which was "full of  larity of names, by the general belief that the
slime pits" (Gen. xiv. Io), and with the his-  sea had overflowed the sites of the cities and
tory of the destruction of the cities by fire  by uncertain traditions. It is, however, to
and brimstone and the turning of Lot's wife  be observed, that Mr Grove's arguments rest
into a pillar of salt.  Very probably there-  on two somewhat uncertain positions: first,
fore the vale of Siddim may correspond with  that, in Gen. xiii. 1 I0-3, Lot must have been
what is now  the Southern Bay of the Dead  able to see, from between Bethel and Ai, the
Sea. There is, however, no Scriptural au-  cities of the plain; whereas it is possible that
thority for saying that Sodom and the other  the language is not to be pressed too strictly,
guilty cities were immersed in the sea. They  Lot seeing at the time the river Jordan North
are always spoken of as* overthrown by fire  of the present Dead Sea, and knowing that
from  heaven (cf. Deut. xxix. 23; Jer. xlix.  the whole valley both North and South was
I8, i. 40; Zeph. ii. 9; 2Pet. ii. 6). And Jose-  fertile and well watered; secondly, that no
phu.s (' B. J.' Iv. 8. 4) speaks of " Sodomitis,  part of the Dead Sea can be of recent foronce a prosperous country from  its fertility  mation, notwithstanding the terrible catasand abundance of cities, but now  entirely  trophes all around it, to which not only Scripburnt up," as adjoining the lake Asphaltites.  ture but tradition and the present appearThis was observed long ago by Reland (II. p.  ance of the whole country bear testimony.
256), and is now generally admitted by tra-  On the other hand, both tradition, local names
vellers and commentators.  All ancient testi-  and local evidences are strongly in favour of
mony is in favour of considering the cities of  the Southern site of the cities destroyed.
CHAPTER XX.                           ND Abraham' journeyed from
I Abrahanm sojorzrnet/ at Gerar, 2 denieth his     thence toward the south counwfe, and loseth her.  3 Abimelech is re.  try,  and  dwelled  between  Kadesh
provei for her in a dream. 9 He rebuketh  and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.
Abraham, I4 re.storetl Sarah, i6 and re-        And Abraham  said of Sarah his
provetzi her. 17 He is healed by Abraham's   2,  nd  Abraham  said  of Sarah his
prayer.                                   wife, She is my sister: and AbimeCHAP. XX. 1.  From  thence] i.e. from   visitors, and whence he had beheld the smoke
Mamre, where he had received the heavenly  fi'om the conflagration of the cities of the plain.




v. 3-7.]                     GENESIS. XX.                                            I33
lech  king of Gerar sent, and  took   He is my brother: in the lintegrity n r,
Sarah.                                     of my  heart and  innocency of my ior, Siizety
3 But God came to Abimelech in  hands have I done this.                          rity.
a dream  by night, and said to him,           6 And  God  said unto him  in a
Behold, thou art but a dead man, for  dream, Yea, I know  that thou didst
the woman which thou  hast taken   this in the integrity of thy heart; for
tHeb.   for she is *a man's wife.                   I also withheld  thee  from  sinning
atoaned    4 But Abimelech  had  not come  against me: therefore suffered I thee,sa~odb   near her: and  he  said, Lord, wilt  not to touch her.
thou slay also a righteous nation?           7 Now  therefore restore the man
5 Said he not unto me, She is my   his wife; for he is a prophet, and he
sister? and she, even she herself said,  shall pray for thee, and  thou  shalt
It may have been painful to him to abide in a  bated by Keil (p. i70, Eng. Trans. p. 2,42.). He
place where he would be hourly reminded of  observes, that the name Elohim indicates the
this terrible catastrophe, or he may merely  true relation of God to Abimelech; but that
have travelled onward in search of fresh pas-  in v. I 8, JEHOVAH, the covenant God of Abraturage.                                     ham, interposes to save him. All the more midwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and so-  nute details of this history are different from
journed in Gerar]  He settled apparently in a  that in ch. xii. In Abimelech we see a totally
fertile country lying between the two deserts  different character from that of Pharaoh; the
of Kadesh and Shur, and finally took up his  character, namely, of a heathen imbued with
residence as a stranger or sojourner (so the  a moral consciousness of right and open to
word "'sojourned" signifies) at Gerar, a place  receive a divine revelation, of which there is
which, St Jerome says, was on the southern  no trace in the account of the king of Egypt.
border of the Canaanites. Gerar was not far  It is *not to be wondered at that the same
from Gaza (Gen. x. I9), and Beersheba (xxvi.  danger should twice have occurred to Sarah,
26). Its site has probably been identified by  if we remember that the customs of the heaRowlands (Williams'' Holy City,' I. 465)  then nations, among which he was sojourning,
with the traces of an ancient city now called  were such as to induce Abraham to use the
Khirbet-el-Gerar, near a deep WVady called  artifice of calling his wife his sister.
Julf-el-Gerar, about three hours to the south-    4. had not come near her]  A pparently
south-east of Gaza.                         a divinely sent illness had been upon him,
2. She is my sister] This was Abraham's  vv. 6, i8.
plan  of action, when  sojourning  among    a righteous nation] i. e. a nation guiltless as
strangers, of whose character he was ignorant,  regards this act of their king; but it may be,
see v. 13.  He has been defended as having  that the people of Gerar were really exempt
6" said she was his sister, without denying that from the worst vices of Canaan, and living in
she was his wife, concealing the truth but not  a state of comparative piety and simplicity.
speaking what was false" (August.'c. Faust.'   6. suffered I thee not to touch her]  See
xxiI. 3). But, though concealment may not  on v. 4.
necessarily be deception, we can scarcely ac-    7. he is a prophet] i.e. one inspiled by
quit Abraham either of some disingenuous-  God, or the medium of God's communications
ness or of endangering his wife's honour and  and revelations to mankind. Thus Exod. vii.,
chastity, in order to save his own life.     Aaron is said to be Moses' prophet, becaulse
Abimelech] Father of the king, or perhaps  he was to convey the messages and co,.lnmaolds
father king, the common title of the Philistine  of Moses to Pharaoh. An objection has been
kings, as Pharaoh was of the Egyptians. The  made to the antiquity of the Pentateuch from
age at which Sarah must have been at this  the statement in i S. ix,. 9, that "he that is
time, some twenty-three or twenty-four years  now called a Prophet was beforetime called a
older than when Pharaoh took her into his  Seer." Hence it is argued that the Pentateuch,'souse (ch. xii. IS), creates a considerable dif-  which always uses the word prophet, cannot
ficulty here. We may remember that Sarah  be of the great antiquity assigned to it. The
after this became a mother, that though too  difficulty is only on the surface. "Prophet"
old for childbearing under normal conditions,  was the genuine name applied to all who deshe had had her youth renewed since the visit  dared God's will, who foretold the future,
of the angels (Kurtz), when it was promised  or even to great religious teachers.  "' Seer"
that she should have a son. The assertion of  had a more restricted sense, and was appromodern critics that this is merely another ver-  priated to those only who were favoured
sion of ch. xii. io-2o, the work of the Elohist,  with visions from heaven. The word prophet
whilst that was by the Jehovist, is ably com-  occurs constantly in the Pentateuch in the




134                              GENESIS. XX.                                 [v. 8-I6.
live: and  if thou  restore  her not,         I2 And yet indeed she is my sister;
know thou that thou shalt surely die,  she is the daughter of my father, but
thou, and all that are thine.              not the daughter of my mother; and
8 Therefore Abimelech rose early  she became my wife.
in  the morning, and  called  all his         I3 And it came to pass, when God
servants, and told all these things in  caused me to wander from  my father's
their ears: and the men were sore  house, that I said unto her, This is
afraid.                                    thy kindness which thou shalt shew
9 Then  Abimelech  called  Abra-  unto me; at every place whither we
ham, and said unto him, What hast  shall come, asay of me, He is my  d chap. i
thou done unto us? and what have  brother.                                          13
I offended thee, that thou hast brought       14 And Abimelech took sheep, and
on me and on my kingdom  a great  oxen, and menservants, and womensin? thou hast done deeds unto me  servants, and gave them  unto Abrathat ought not to be done.                 ham, and  restored  him   Sarah  his
IO  And Abimelech said unto Abra-  wife.
ham, What sawest thou) that thou              15 And Abimelech  said, Behold,
hast done this thing?                      my land is before thee: dwell twhere t Heb.
I  And Abraham  said, Because I  it pleaseth thee.                               as isged
thought, Surely the fear of God is            I6 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, eYes.
not in this place; and they will slay  I have given thy brother a thousand
me for my wife's sake.                    pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee
general sense of one in communion with God,  heathenism of the Canaanitish races, and had
and made the medium of God's communica-  lately witnessed the overthrow of Sodomn for
tions to man. The word " seer" would gen-  the licentiousness of its people, and he natuerally be out of place in such a passage as this,  rally thought that the inhabitants of Gerar
or such as Ex. vii. I, xv. 2o; Num. xi. 29,  might be equally forgetful oif God, and therexii. 6, &c.; but in the tine of Samuel, whien  fore prone to all wickedness.
"the word of the LORD was precious there    12. she is my sister; she is the daughter of
was no open vision," (I S. iii. i;) the appli-  myJ'ather, but not the daughter of ny  mother]
cation of the title "' seer" to Samuel, who had  Sarah's name does not occur in the geneavisions specially vouchsafed to him, was very  logies, and we do not know any thing of her
appropriate; yet after his time, though the  birth but that which is here stated.  Such
name was sometimes employed to designate  marriages, though afterwards forbidden (Lev.
the inspired teachers of mankind, the older  xviii. 9, II, xx. 17;  Deut. xxvii. zz), may
and more comprehensive title of "prophet"  not have been esteemed unlawful in patriagain came into common use, not only for  archal times, and they were common among
teachers of religion generally, but also for the  the heathen nations of antiquity (Ach. Tatius,
most favoured of God's servants. (See'Mosaic  Lib. I.; Diod. I. 27; Herod. III. 3i; Nepos,
Origin of the Pentateuch,' by a Layman,   Cimon,' c. r.) Many Jewish and Christian
P. 97.)                                     interpreters, however, think that daughter here
he shall pray for thee] As the prophets  means gnddaughter, and that Sarah was the
were the instruments of God'srevelations,  same as Iscah, the sister of Lot (ch. xi. 29),
e  who is called "the brother of Abraham" (ch.
His messengers, to man; so men made the  xiv I6).
prophets instruments for sending their prayers
up to God (Cleric.). Cp. Jer. vii. I6, xi. I4,    13. God caused me to uander] In general
xiv. II.                                    the name of GoD (Elohim), though of plural
form, is joined with a singular verb.  In this
10.  WGhat sauest tho]   Manly  recent  case, however, the verb is in the plural. Similar
commentators, Knobel, Delitzsch, Keil, &c.,  constructions occur ch. xxxv. 7; Exod. xxii. 8;
render, " W.hat hadst thou in view?"  The  2 S vii. 23; (cp. I Chr. xvii. 21); Ps. viii. I%.
more simple sense is, what didst thou see in  In Josh. xxiv. I9, the adjective is in the plural.
the conduct and manners of me or my people,  The Samaritan Pentateuch here and in ch.
that thou shouldest have done so to us? Didst  xxxv. 7 has the verb in the singular.
thou see us talking away the wives of strangers    16. a thousand pieces of silver] Lit. "a
and murdering the husbands?                 thousand of silver." The versions insert "she11. Surely the fear of God is not in this  kels" or'didrachmas;" nothing can be known
place]  Abraham  had seen the impiety and  of the weights and measures of this early time.




v. 17-6.]              GENESIS. XX. XXI.                                          I35
a covering of the eyes, unto all that   AND  the LORD visited Sarah as he
are with thee, and with all other: thus  f      had said, and  the  LORD did
she was reproved.                        unto Sarah aas he had spoken.           a chap. x7,
17  qT So  Abraham   prayed  unto        2 For Sarah bconceived, and bare &a8. IO.
God: and  God  healed  Abimelech,  Abraham  a son in his old age, at the aActs 7.8.
and his wife, and his maidservants;  set time of which God had spoken to Heb. ii.
and they bare children.                  him.
i8 For the LORD had fast closed          3 And Abraham  called the name
up all the wombs of the house of  of his son that was born unto him,
Abimelech, because of Sarah Abra-  whom  Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
ham's wife.                                 4. And Abraham  circumcised  his
son Isaac being eight days old, cas God c chap. 17.
CHAPTER  XXI.                   had commanded him.                      12.
I Isaac is borns. 4 1ie is circtumcised. 6.Sactah's    5 And Abraham  was an hundred
joy. 9 tlagar and Ishmael are cast forth.  years old, when his son Isaac was
I5 Hfagar in distress. 17 The angel con-  born unto him.
fortethz her. 22 Abimeleciz's covenant withG
Abraham at Beer-sheba.                    6  AT And  Sarah  said, God hath
Probably the thousand pieces of silver indicate  God, who interposed for Abraham and prethe value of the sheep and oxen, which Abi-  served the mother of the promised seed.
melech gave to Abraham, though some think
it was an additional present.
CHAP. XXI. 1. the LORD did unto Sarah
16. he is to thee a covering of the eyes]  as he had spoken] In ch. xvii. i6, GOD proThere is great variety of opinion as to the  mised that He would give Abraham a son
sense of these words. If we follow the ren-  by Sarah his wife, on which promise Abradering of the Authorized Version, the most  ham  fell on his face and laughed, whether
probable interpretation is that of Heidegger,  from incredulity or for joy. What God (EloSchrweder, Rosenmoller, &c., viz. this, that in  him) then promised here the LORD (JE1IOearly times in the East unmarried women often  VAnI) fulfils.
went unveiled, but married women always    2. at the set time of zwhich God had spoken
veiled themselves. Cp. Gen. xxiv. 65. Hence  to him] The "set time" was fixed, ch. xvii.
Abimelech meant to say, that Abraham should  2i, and xviii. Io, 14. (See note on ch. xviii.
be like a veil to Sarah, screening her from the  Io.)  Modern critics see in ch. xvii. and in
eyes of all other men.  See Rosenm. in loc. this ch. xxi. an Elohistic portion of the hisHeidegger, II. p. I63. The words might have  tory of Abraham, and in ch. xviii. a Jehobeen rendered, as by the LXX., Vulg., Targg.,  vistic portion. Yet this present chapter seems
Syr., "it" or "they," i.e. the one thousand  clearly to point back to both ch. xvii. and ch.
pieces of silver " are to thee a covering of the  xviii., and in its first verse it uses twice the
eyes," in which case the meaning would pro-  name JEHOVAH, whilst in the second and
bably be " this gift is to thee for a covering to  subsequent verses it has constantly the nanme
the eyes, so that thou shouldest overlook or  Elohim until we come to v. 33, when both
condone the injury done to thee."  So St  names are conjoined, for Abraham is said to
Chrysostom, and among moderns, Gesenius,  have called on the name of "' The LORD, the.
Tuch, Knobel, &c.                          everlasting God."
thus she,was reproved] Here also there is   3. Isaac] The name which God had apgreat diversity of interpretation; but the Au-  pointed for him, ch. xvii. I9. See also note
thorized Version is probably correct, and we  on ch. xviii. x2.
must understand the words to be those of the    6. God hath made me to laugh] Whathistorian, not of Abimelech. So apparently  ever was the nature of Sarah's laughter when
Onk., Arab., Saad., Kimchi, Gesen., Rosenm.,  the promise was made to her (see ch. xviii.
&c.                                        I 2), she now acknowledges that God had
18. the LORD]  Keil has obserlved, that  made her to laugh for joy; and she recognizes
the various names of the Most High are used  that He, whom she then took fo:, a traveller
very significantly in these two last verses. The  and who made the promise, at which she
care of Abimelech and his wives belonged to  laughed, was truly GoD.
the Deity (Elohim).  Abraham directed his   quill laugh cith me] The Hebrew might
intercession not to Elohim, an indefinite and  mean "laugh at me" or "laugh with me."
unknown god, but to Ha-Elohim, "the" true  The Authorised Version rightly follows the
"God;" and it was JEHOVAH, the covenant  LXX., Vulg., Targg., &c.




136                             GENESIS. XXI.                                [V 7 —I4
made me to laugh, so that all that  woman shall not be heir with my son,
hear will laugh with me.                   even with Isaac.
7 And she said, Who would have             ii And the thing was very grievsaid unto Abraham, that Sarah should  ous in Abraham's sight because of his
have given children suck? for I have  son.
born him a son in his old age.                I2 q[ And God said unto Abraham,
8 And  the  child  grew, and was  Let it not be grievous in thy sight
weaned: and Abraham  made a great  because of the lad, and because of thy
feast the  same day  that Isaac was  bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath
weaned.                                    said  unto  thee, hearken  unto  her
9 IT And  Sarah  saw  the  son  of  voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be
Hagar the Egyptian, which she had  called.
born unto Abraham, mocking.                   I3 And also of the son of the bondio Wherefore she said unto Abra-  woman will I make a nation, because
Gal. 4. ham, dCast out this bondwoman and   he is thy seed.
4*' her son: for the son of this bond-           I4 And Abraham  rose up early in
7.  Who would have said]  The render-  riding" (see Buxtorf,' Lex. Chald. and Taling of the Authorised Version is most like-  mud,' p. 7I9), as does the Syriac. The later
ly correct.  The obscurity of the passage  Targums (Pseudo-Jon. and Jerusalem) unprobably arises from  its poetical form.  It  derstand some acts of idolatrous worship or
has been long ago observed, that the words  perhaps impurity, (comp. Ex. xxxii. 6, where
are apparently those of a short poem or hymn,  the same word is used for " play," and I Cor.
like the hymn of Hannah, I S. ii. I-7, or  x. 7).  It is quite untrue that the word
the Magnificat bf the Blessed Virgin, Luke i.'laugh," here rendered "mocking," is never
46-55, the resemblance to which is the more  used but in a good sense.  In ch. xix. 14, it
noticeable, as Isaac was an eminent type of  is rightly rendered " mocked."  See also Gen.
the Lord Jesus (see W\ordsworth ad loc.).  xxvi. 8, xxxix. I4, I7; Ex. xxxii. 6. It proThat these words were of the nature of a  bably means in this passage, as it has generally
hymn or poem is seen in the use of a poetical  been understood,  zn"mocking laughter."  As
word (millel) for "said," instead of the more  Abraham  had laughed for joy concerning
common words (dibber or amar); and also in  Isaac, and Sarah had laughed incredulously, so
the appearance of regular parallelism of the  now Ishmael laughed in derision, and probamembers of the sentence.                    bly in a persecuting and tyrannical spirit
(see Gal. iv. z9).
8. the child grerw, and wUas weaned] From
I S. i. 23, 24; z Macc. vii. z7; Joseph.    10.  Cast out]  These words are quoted'Ant.' ii. 9. 6, it has been inferred that chil-  by St Paul (Gal. iv. 3o), introduced by " But
dren were not weaned among the Hebrews  what saith the Scripture?"  The words were
till they were three years old.  Ishmael was  those of Sarah, but they are confirmed by the
thirteen years old when he was circumcised,  Almighty, v. 12.
ch. xvii. 25, and one year after Isaac was
ch. xvii. 25. and one year after Isaac was    12. in Isaac shall thy seed be called] Here
born, ch. xvii. z2.  If therefore Isaac was
is the distinct limitation of the great pro
three years old at his weaning, Ishmael must   is            the descendants of Abrahave been then seventeen. If Isaac was but  ham  in the  line of Isaac (see Rom  ix   )
ham in the line of Isaac (see Rom. ix. 7).
one year old, Ishmael would have been fifteen.  Go's promises gradually developed themX  God's promises gradually developed themmade a great fecast]  By comparing i S.  selves in fulness, and yet were gradually rei. 24, 25, it would seem that this was very  stricted in extent: to Adam  first; then to
probably a religious feast.                 Noah; to Abraham; then to one race or seed
of Abraham, viz. Isaac; to one of Isaac's
9. mocking]  The word, which natural-  children, viz. Jacob; to one of the twelve paly means to laugh, is rendered by the LXX.  triarchs, viz. Judah; then to his descendant
and Vulg., "playing  with Isaac."  Tuch,  David; and lastly to the great Son of David,
Knobel, &c. say the word means merely,  the true promised Seed; but as all centred in
"playing like a child."  Gesenius thinks it  Him, so too from Him they have spread out
was "playing and dancing gracefully," and  to all redeemed by Him, though more espeso attracting the favour of his father, which  cially taking effect in those, who are " the
moved the envy of Sarah. The Targum  of  children of God by faith in Christ Jesus"
Onkelos appears to give the sense of 1"de-  (Gal. iii. 26).




V. I5-I7.]                 GENESIS. XXI.                                          I37
the morning, and took bread, and a          I6 And she went, and sat her down
bottle  of water, and  gave it unto  over against him a good way off, as it
Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and  were a bowshot: for she said, Let me
the child, and sent her away: and she  not see the death of the child.  And
departed, and wandered in the wilder-  she sat over against him, and lift up
ness of Beer-sheba.                       her voice, and wept.
I5 And the water was spent in the         17 And God heard the voice of the
bottle, and she cast the child under  lad; and the angel of God called to
one of the shrubs.                        Hagar out of heaven, and said unto
14. a bottle]  A  skin or leathern bot-  those in the former part, not having been retie, probably made of the skin of a goat or a  lated at first, lest there should be a break in
kid. (See the word bottle in Smith's'Dict. of  the continuity of the history of Isaac and
the Bible.')                               Ishmael.
putting it on her shoulder]  Hagar was an    15.  she cast the child under one of the
Egyptian, and Herod. (II. 35) says that the  shrubs]  From this expression again it is iinwomen in Egypt carried burdens on their  ferred that Ishmael must have been a child in
shoulders, but the men carried them on their  arms. Such a conclusion, however, is not
heads.  According to the testimony of the  borne out by these words, nor by the whole
sculptures both men and women carried bur-  narrative. The boy was young, but he was
dens on their shoulders. It is common now   evidently old enough to give offence to Sarah
in the East to see women carrying skins of  by mocking (v. 9). At a time when human
water in this way.  (See Robinson,' B. R.' 1.  life was much longer than it is now (Ishmael
P. 3,40, II. pp. I63, 276.)                himself died at I37), fifteen or sixteen would
and the childtl  The sacred writer has been  be little removed from childhood. The growcharged with an anachronism here, both from  ing lad would easily be exhausted wkn the
his use of the word I" child," when Ishmael  heat and wandering; whilst the hardy habits
must have been from  fifteen to seventeen  o the Egyptian handmaid would enable her
years old (see note on v. 8), and because it is  to endure much greater fatigue.  She had
said that the original indicates that he, as well  hitherto led the boy by the hand, now she left
as the bread and water, was placed on Ha-  him fainting and prostrate under the shelter
gar's shoulder. The word for "I child" toe-  of a tree. (So Le Clerc followed by Rosenled), however, is used for boys of adolescent  muller.)
age, as in Gen. xlii. 2,, of Joseph, when he    16. a good mway off, as it mwvere a boUmwas seventeen. It is true, the Vatican MS. shot]  Lit. I"as far off as the drawers of a
of the LXX. renders I" he placed the boy on  bow," or " as they who draw a bow," i.e. as
her shoulders," which Tuch adopts as the  far as archers can shoot an arrow.
right rendering; but the Alexandrian MS. of
the LXX. has simply "and the boy," whilst    17. the angel of God]  No where else i
the hasmplI n  th boy"          Genesis does this name occur.  Elsewhere it
the Vulg., Targg., Syr., connect the words                    e 
*   a-    s s t t-1  Ad  *   *1  1   is always "the Angel of the LORD."  We
"'putting it on her shoulder" only with the  is always "the Angel of the L9   And
bread and the bottle of water, which is per-  meet with it again in  xod.  xiv.,   And
fectly consistent with the Hebrew, whether  the Angel of God, which went
camp of Israel, removed, and went behind
the verb be rendered by the past tense, or, as  camp of Israel, removed, and went behind
probably wih a y i  te        them." The identification of the Malach Eloprobably with accuracy in the Authorised
Version, by the participle.  The promise,  him with Eloim (cp. vv., i9, 2o,) here is
which Abraham   had just receive, that Gd  exactly like the identification of the Malach
which Abraham hadjust received, that God
JEhOvAI- with JE:inovArI in other passages;
would make a nation of Ishmael also, v. 13   J            J                 p3, 
may pabl  h navn ld   Ishimat tust tha. t te  a clear proof that there is not that difference
may probably have led him to trust that the            Elohistic and Jehovistic passages
boy and   his  mother would be provided for,  n the E'entate c f wch somc has bee
and so to leave them with only provision forwritten. In ch. xi. 7, whilst Hagar was
their immediate wants.                        ten.  In ch. xvi. 7, whilst Hagar was
still Abraham's secondary wife, we read that
in the vilderness of Beer-sheba] Abraham,  the Angel of the LORD, the covenant God of
who had been now for at least a year dwell-  Abraham, appeared to her. She and her son,
ing in the neighbourhood of Gerar (ch. xx. i),  by Isaac's birth and their expulsion from
may very probably have by this time taken  Abraham's household, are now separated from
up his residence at Beersheba (see vv. 33, 34). the family and covenant of promise, yet still
The name Beersheba is here given prolepti-  objects of care to Him who is "the God of
cally (see v. 31), unless the events in the lat-  the spirits of all flesh," and " of all the ends
ter palt of this chapter took place before  of the earth."




138                            GENESIS. XXI.                            [V. 8 —32.
her, VWThat aileth thee, Hagar? fear    24 And Abraham said, I will swear.
not; for God hath heard the voice of    25 And Abraham  reproved Abithe lad where he is.                    melech because of a well of water,
I8 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold  which Abimelech's servants had viohim  in thine hand; for I will make  lently taken away.
him a great nation.                        26 And Abimelech said, I wot not
19 And God opened her eyes, and  who hath done this thing: neither
she saw  a well of water; and she  didst thou tell me, neither yet heard
went, and filled the bottle with water,  I of it, but to day.
and gave the lad drink.                    27 And Abraham  took sheep and
20 And God was with the lad; and  oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech;
he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness,  and both of them made a covenant.
and became an archer.                      28 And Abraham  set seven ewe
21 And he dwelt in the wilderness  lambs of the flock by themselves.
of Paran: and his mother took him a        29 And Abimelech said unto Abrawife out of the land of Egypt.          ham, What mean these seven  ewe
22 qi And it came to pass at that  lambs which thou hast set by themtime, that Abimelech  and  Phichol  selves?
the chief captain of his host spake        30 And he said, For these seven
unto Abraham, saying, God is with  ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand,
thee in all that thou doest:            that they may be a witness unto me,
23 Now therefore swear unto me  that I have digged this well.
Neb.   here by God tthat thou wilt not deal    31 Wherefore he called that place
5f adt   falsely with me, nor with my son nor   Beer-sheba; because there they sware 11 Thatis,
ltazt lie           I 3                                                                The well.to, me. with my son's son: but according to  both of them.                            of Mse
the kindness that I have done unto         32 Thus they made a covenant at oatk.
thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to  Beer-sheba; then Abimelech rose up,
the land wherein thou hast sojourned.  and Phichol the chief captain of his
18. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him  ch. xxvi. 26, and, as it signifies "the mouth
in thine hand] So the Versions, according  of all," it has been supposed to have been the
to the common use of the same verb with  name of an officer, the grand vizier or prime
the same preposition. Cp. Deut. xxii. 25;  minister of the king, through whom all comJudg. xix. 25, 29; z S. xiii. ii, &c.; and see  plaints and petitions were to be made to him.
Gesen.'Thes.' p. 463.  " From  this," says  Abimelech was also an official name. See on
St Jerome, "' it is plain that the boy whom   ch. xx. z.
she held in her hand had been her companion    23. that thou quilt not deal falsely with
on the journey, not a burden on her shoul-  me]  Lit. "if thou shalt lie unto me;" the
ders,"'Qu. in Gen'.                      common form of an oath in Hebrew.  See
19. God opened her eyes, and she sanw a  above, on xiv. 23.,well of,water]  Very probably the mouth of    31.  Beer-sheba] i.e. "'the well of the
the well had been purposely covered by the in-  oath," or, it might be, " the well of the
habitants of the desert, and was now by God's  seven." There was a connection between the
gracious intervention discovered to Hagar.    sacred number seven and an oath; oaths being
21. in the'wilderness of Paran]  (See on  lratified with the sacrifice of seven victims or
ch. xiv. 6). Probably the great desert, now  by the gift of seven gifts (as seems to have
called the desert El-Tih, i. e. "the wander-  been the case here), or confirmed by seven
ings," extending from the W;ady-el-Arabah  witnesses and pledges.  (See Herod. III. 8;
on the east, to the gulf of Suez on the west  Hom. Il.' xIx. 243). Beer-sheba was in the
and from the Sinaitic range on the south to  WVady-es-Seba, a wide water-course or bed
the borders of Palestine on the north.    of a torrent, twelve hours south of Hebron,
in which there are still relics of an ancient
took him a wifie out of the land of E2gyptl
ctook him a to the  out o  the land oprevalet i  town or village, called Bir-es-Seba, with two
According to the custom then prevalent in
bs or-  t   1  t   r  s  deep wells of good water. See Robinson
the East for parents to choose wives for their'
S  B. R.' I. p. 204, seq.  St Jerome speaks of
sons. (See ch. xxiv. 4, 55; Exod. xxi. xo.)   the city as remaining in his day ('Qu. adGen.'
22. Phicholj The name occurs again in  xxI. 3I).




v. 33-I.]             GENESIS. XXI. XXII.                                             I39
host, and they returned into the land               CHAPTER  XXII.
of the Philistines.                         i Abraham is tempted lo offer Isaac. 3 Ife
o rar, tree.   33 q[ And Abraham planted a " grove    giv/et/ proof of his failh and obedience.  I!
in Beer-sheba, and called there on the        The angcl s/ayet// An. x3 Isaac is exchanged
wi'// a rtmzl.  14 7he p/ace is cal/ed 7ehvovaname of the LORD, the everlasting    jireh. i5 Abraham is blessed againz. 20 The
God.                                         generation of NVahor unto Rebekah.
34 And Abraham  sojourned in the   AND  it came to pass after these a Heb. i.
Philistines' land many days.                       things, that aGod  did tempt I7.
33. Abraham planted a grove]  Rather  is great variety or' tradition, but no evidence,
a tamarisk tree.  This is the rendering of  as to the age of Isaac in this chapter.  AcKimchi, which is adopted by Gesenius (' Th.'  cording to Josephus ('Ant.' I. I4), he was
p. 159), Rosenm., and most of the German  twenty-five.  Aben-Ezra supposes that he
critics. (The ancient versions vary very much  was only thirteen, whilst some of the rabbins
in their interpretation.) The hardiness of this  put him even at thirty-seven (see Heidegger,
evergreen shrub would fit it to be a perpetual  II. 28).
memorial to Abraham and his followers that
this well was theirs.                          God did tempt A4braham]  Lit. "The God
*thisvel was theierls. God]did tempt," &c. possibly referring to the
the LoDn, the everlastin. g God]  " JEHO-  last two verses of the last chapter (where J,VAII, the God of eternity."  The word, ren-  HOVAH is called El-olanm), meaning " this
dered everlasting, means probably "the hidden  same God."  Much difficulty has been most
time," that, whose beginning and ending are  needlessly found in these words.  St James
hidden in darkness, hence "eternity" (Ges.  tells us (i. I3) that II God cannot be tempted'Th.' p. 1o35). It signifies also "the world,'  with evil, neither tempteth He any man,"
"the universe," and hence, according to Mai-  language which it has been thought difficult
monides, it means here the God of the uni-  to reconcile with this history in Genesis. So,
verse, the Creator of the world.  So the  some have endeavoured to explain away the
Samaritan, Syr., and Arab. versions.  The  words of this passage, as though Abraham
more probable sense, however, is that given  had felt a strong temptation rising in his own
in the Authorised Version, which corresponds  heart, a temptation from Satan, or from self,
with the LXX., Vulg., Onk., and other  a horrible thought raised perhaps by witnessTargg.  The  JEHOVAH  whom  Abraham   ing the human sacrifices of the Phoenicians,
worshipped is here identified with' El-O lam,"  and had then referred the instigation to God,
the God of eternity, which was very probably  thinking he was tempted from above, whereas
a local name for the supreme Being.  Com-  the real temptation was from beneath. The
pare " Elion" in ch. xiv. 22.                difficulty, however, has arisen from not observing the natural force of the word here
CHAP. XXII. 1.  And it came to pass  rendered "did tempt," and the ordinary use
after these things] This is the only note of  of that word in the language of the Old
time that we have in this chapter, excepting  Testament, especially  of the  Pentateuch.
the fact that Isaac was now grown old enough   According to the highest authorities, the prito bear the wood of the burnt offering, and to  mary sense of the verb corresponds with that
carry it up the mountain. The words "after  of a similar word in Arabic, viz. "to smell,"
these things," rather refer us to all that had  and thence "to test by smelling" (see Ges.
been passing before.  Abraham, after long'Thes.'p. 889, and the testimonies there cited).
wanderings and many trials, is presented to us  Hence it came to signify close, accurate, deliin the last chapter, as eminently comforted  cate testing or trying.  It is translated by
and in a condition of peaceful prosperity.  "prove," "assay," "adventure,"  try," and
The promised, longed-for son has been given  that very much more frequently than it is
to him; his other son Ishmael, though no  translated by "tempt."  For instance, David
longer in his household, is growing up and  would not take the sword and armour of
prospering, Abraham is in treaty and at peace  Saul, because he had not "proved them,"
with his neighbours the Philistines, he sojourns  I S. xvii. 39.  Again, he prayed in the words
for many days at Beer-sheba and its neigh-' examine me, O LORD, and prove me" (Ps.
bourhood, with abundance of cattle, in a  xxvi. a); and in very numerous and familiar
place well watered and fertile.  Thus it ap-  passages in the Pentateuch, we read of God
pears to have been with him till now, when   "proving" men, whether they would be obehis son, his only son Isaac, whom he loved, is  dient or disobedient, the samc Hebrew verb
growing up to early manhood, his chief com-  being constantly made use of.  (See Ex. xv.
fort and stay and hope in this world.  But  A5, xvi. 4, xx. 2o; Deut. iv. 34, viii. z, i6,
times of prosperity are often times when trial  xiii. 3, xxxiii. 8). Accordingly, whilst most
is needed for us, and so we find it here. There  of the versions adhere closely to the sense of




140                            GENESIS. XXII.                                     [v. 2.
Abraham, and said unto him, Abra-            2 And he said, Take now thy son,
tHeb.   ham: and  he said, IBehold, here I  thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest,
am.                                       and get thee into the land of Moriah;
~"try," tentare, in this passage, the Arabic  tified this Mount Moriah of the temple with
renders it very correctly,'" God did prove  the mountain in the land of Moriah, on which
Abraham." Words having the sense of "try"  Abraham was to offer his son, whence probamay generally be used either in a good or a  bly here Onkelos and the Arab. render "the
bad sense. This particular word has gener-  land of worship."  No sufficient reason has
ally a good sense, except where men are said  been alleged against this identification except
to try or tempt God, e.g. Ex. xvii. a; Num.  that in v. 4, it is said that I" Abraham lifted up
xiv. 22; Deut. vi. i6; Ps. lxxviii. I8; cvi. 14,  his eyes, and saw the place afar off," whereas
&c. The whole history of Abraham  is a  Mount Zion is said not to be conspicuous
history of his moral and spiritual education  from a great distance.  Thence Bleek, De
by the teaching of God himself. He was to  Wette, Tuch, Stanley ('S. and P.' p. 251,
be the head of the chosen seed, the father of' Jewish Church,' I. 49), and Grove ('Dict.
the faithful, himself the type of justifying  of Bible,' s. v. Moriah), have referred to Moreh
faith.  Here then, after long schooling and  (Gen. xii. 6), and attempted to identify the
training, in which already there had been  site of the sacrifice with "the natural altar on
many trials (such as his first call, his danger  the summit of Mount Gerizim," which the
in Egypt, his circumcision, his parting with  Samaritans assert to be the scene of the sacriLot, &c. &c.), one great test of his now   fice. Really, however, the words in v. 4,
matured and strengthened faith is ordained  mean nothing more than this, that Abraham
by God.  We have many instances of the  saw the spot to which he had been directed at
trial of men's faith by the Most High.  One  some little distance off, not farther than the
remarkable example is that recorded in Matt.  character of the place readily admits. The
xix. zI.  It cannot be that He who sees the  evident meaning of the words " the mount of
heart needs such trials for His own informa-  the vision of the LORD" (see v. I4); the fact
tion: but it is important for our instruction  that the mount of the temple bore the same
and correction, for example to future ages,  name (z Chr. iii. I), the distance, two days'
and for the vindication of God's justice, that  journey from Beer-sheba, which would just
such trials should be permitted, and that so  suffice to bring the company to Jerusalem,
men's characters should be drawn out and ex-  whereas Gerizim could not have been reached
hibited to themselves and others. So St Au-  from Beer-sheba on the third day, are a:,gugustine, " all temptation is not to be blamed,  ments too strong to be set aside by the single
but that whereby probation is made is rather  difficulty mentioned above, which is in fact
to be welcomed. For the most part a man's  no difficulty at all. This identity is ably despirit cannot be known to himself, unless his  fended by Hengstenberg ( Genuineness of the
strength be proved not by word but by actual  Pentateuch,' ii. i62, translated by Ryland),
trial." (' De Civit. Dei,' xvi. 32. See also  Knobel (in loc), Kalisch (in loc.), Kurtz (' Hist.
Ambros.' De Abr.' i. 8.)                   of Old Covenant,' VolI.. X 7 i), Thomson (' The
Land and the Book', p. 475), Tristram (' Land
2. Take now thy  son,  thin     on, thine  of Israel,' p. 52).
more ways than one Isaac might be called    offer him therefor a burnt ojering] It canhis "only son."  He was the only son by his  not justly be urged that the command was
wife Sarah: he was the only son of promise,  (I) in itself immoral, or (X) that it was a
and to ~wthom the promises were given and  virtual sanction of human sacrifice.  (i) As
assured: by the expulsion of Hagar and Ish-  to the objection that it was immoral, it may
m-nael he was the only son left to his father's  be said, that the true basis of all morality is
house. The rendering therefore of the LXX. obedience to the will of God; but further
"beloved" is not necessary. The words, em-  than  this, it is plain from the whole story
phatic as they are, "Thy son, thine only son,  that the  command was wholly of the nature
whom thou lovest," are all calculated to im-  of a trial.  Abraham was the special type of
press and enhance the sacrifice which Abra-  trustful, obedient, loving faith.  He believed
ham is called on to make.                   that all which God commanded must be right,
Moriah]  The meaning of the'name seems  all that He promised must be true.  Hence
clearly to be Mori-jah, "the vision" or "the  he knew that when the injunction was clear,
manifested of JEHOVAH."  To this root it  the obedience must be undoubting.  The
is evidently referred by Sym., Vulg. ("the land  wisdom, the justice, and the goodness of God,
of vision"), Aq. ("the conspicuous land"),  were such that, though he might not underLXX. (" the lofty land").  In 2 Chr. iii. I,  stand the reason of the dispensation, he must
Solonmon is:aid to have built his temple on  reverently and patiently submit to it. This
Mount Moriah; and the Jewish tradition  too was not a mere blind credulity.  He had
(Joseph. Ant.'. I. 13. a; VI. I3. 4) has iden-  lived a long life under the special guiding,




V.3-9.]                  GENESIS. XXII.                                          141
and offer him  there for a burnt offer-     6 And Abraham  took the wood of
ing upion one of the mountains which  the burnt offering, and laid it upon
I will tell thee of.                     Isaac his son; and he took the fire in
3 qI And Abraham  rose up early in  his hand, and a knife; and they went
the morning, and saddled his ass, and  both of them  together.
took two of his young men with him,    7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham
and Isaac his son, and clave the wood  his father, and said, My father: and
for the burnt offering, and rose up,  he said, tHere am  I, my son.  And t Heb.
and went unto the place of which God  he said, Behold the fire and the wood: Be/tolddt
had told him.                            but where is the "lamb for a burnt Or, kid.
4 Then on the third day Abraham   offering?
lifted up his eyes, and saw the place       8 And Abraham said, My son, God
afar off.                                will provide himself a lamb for a burnt
5 And Abraham said unto his young  offering: so they went both of them
men, Abide ye here with the ass; and  together.
I and the lad will go yonder and wor-       9 And they came to the placewhich
ship, and come again to you.             God had told him  of; and Abraham
training, and teaching of the Lord, and so he  crated into the planet bearing his name, having
knew in whom he had believed. The comrn-  an only son by a nymph named Anobret,
mand therefore, strange as it was, was but a  called therefore Jehoud" (= Heb. Jahid),
final test of the firmness of his faith; and his  "which is even now the name for only-beobedience to that command testified that the  gotten among the Phenicians, when great
faith was intelligent as well as unconditional  perils from  wars were impending over the
and unwavering.  (2) The objection that  land, having clothed his son in royal appathis was a virtual sanction to the heathen  rel offered him up upon an altar which he
custom of offering human sacrifices is still  had built," (Euseb.'Praep. Evang.' Lib. I.
less tenable. That such sacrifices were com-  c. Io).
mon in later times is unquestionable, and pro-    3. rose up early in the morning]  The
bably they may have been already adopted by raham's obethe Canaanites, who celrtainly were afterwardsimple
dience are plainly marked in all the simple
much addicted to them.  Although we must  detailsofths verse
ascribe them not to Divine but to Satanic
influence, their observance plainly shewed the    5. come again to you] It may be questioned.
devotion of the offerers to the religion of their whether this had in it a prophetic significance,
demon gods. The God of Abraham would  Abraham "accounting that God was able to
have His special servant, the father of the  raise his son up even from the dead" (Heb. xi.
chosen race and of the promised Seed, mani-  17). In fact it was proved by the event to be
fest his faith and obedience to the true God  a prophecy, though Abraham may have utto be not less than the faith and obedience of tered it unconsciously (so Rashi): and that
idolaters to their false gods. This could not  faith in God, which never forsook the patribe more signally done than by his readiness to. arch, probably in the lowest depth of his
overcome all scruples and all natural feelings  anxiety brought a gleam of hope, that in some
at the command of Him whose voice he knew,  unforeseen way his son, even though slain,
and whose leading he had so long followed. should yet be restored to him  at last (see
But the conclusion of the history is as clear a  Origen,' Homil. vIII. in Gen.' ~ 5).
condemnation of human sacrifice as the earlier
6. laid it upon Isaac his son]  Compare
part might have seemed, had it been left in-  Joh. xix. 17 the great Antitype bearing the
complete, to sanction it. The intervention of          the  r        i        Ori
the angel, the substitution of the lamb, the  wood for the sacrifice of Himself (Origen. D.''IHom. viii. in Gen.' ~ 6' Aug.'De C. D.'
prohibition of the human sacrifice, proved  XVI 32; De Trin.' III 6)
that in no case could such an offering be acceptable to God, even as the crowning evidence    8. God'will prozvide himself a lamb for a
of faith, devotion, and self-sacrifice.  The  burnt o/fring] The lamb. The fathers see
following is the well-known perverted account in this again an unconscious prophecy by
of the sacrifice of Isaac in the Phcenician  Abraham (see Origen as above, and Ambrose
traditions, as preserved from Sanchoniatho by' De Abr.' lib. I. 8). He probably meant to say
Philo Byblius, "Cronus, whom the Phceni-  that God had provided that Isaac should be
cians call Israel, being king over that country,  the lamb or victim for the burnt-offering: but
who after hi.5 death was deified and: conse-  his words were more literally fulfilled in the




I42                            GENESIS. XXII.                             [V. vI —13.
built an altar there, and laid the wood      I2 And he said, Lay not thine hand
in order, and bound Isaac his son, and  upon the lad, neither do thou any thing
bJames 2. blaid him on the altar upon the wood.  unto him: for now I know that thou
Io And Abraham  stretched forth  fearest God, seeing thou hast not withhis hand, and took the knife to slay  held thy son, thine only  son fron
his son.                                  me.
i i And  the  angel of the  LORD          I3 And Abraham lifted up his eyes,
called unto him  out of heaven, and  and looked, and behold behind him a
said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said,  ram caught in a thicket by his horns:
Here am I.                               and Abraham went and took the ram,
unexpected event, the ram caught in a thicket,  in Gen.' LXXIII). Compare Origen (' Homil.
and in a deeper spiritual significance when God  vIII. 8), who refers to those words of the
sent His Son to be " the Lamb of God that  Apostle:-" God spared not His own Son, but
taketh away the sin of the world."         freely gave Him up for us all."
9.  Abraham  built an altar there]  R.    thou hast not w(ithheld thy son] These words
Eliezer in' Pirke Avoth,' c. 3I, has a tradi-  in the LXX. (ourK ferco rof vio tro-U) ap-.
tion that this was the same place at which  pear to be referred to in Rom. viii. 32 (Tro
Adam  sacrificed, at which Abel offered his  Zl&ov vioO ovd e'4ce-aro).  Whence we may
burnt-offering, and where Noah built an altar  learn that St Paul held the sacrifice of Isaac
and offered a sacrifice: so that it was appa-  to be prophetic of Christ.
rently supposed that Abraham  merely re-    13. behold behind him a ram  caught in
paired the ruins of the ancient altar.  What-  a thicket by his horns]  T'here is a various
ever the tradition is worth, it may illustrate  reading (supported by many MSS., by the Sathe history. An altar of earth or of loose  marital Pentateuch, LXX., Vulg., Syr., Sam.,
stones would be very quickly raised.       and perhaps Onkelos), which might be renbound Isaac his son]  It was common to  dered thus: "1 Behold a single ram caught,"
bind victims, especially human victims (Ovid,  &c. a ram, that is, separated from the flock.' Eleg. ex. Ponto.' IIi. 2z; Virg. i An. ii. 134).  There is a similar expression in Dan. viii. 3:
The Jews agree that Isaac yielded submis-'" Behold, there stood before the river a ram,"
sively to his father's will and consented to Le  lit. " one ram," or a "I single ram." The sepabound and sacrificed (Joseph.' A. J.' i. 23; ration of the ram thus caught is significant,
Eliezer,'in Pirke,' c. 3I; so also Chrysost.  both historically, as shewing the Providential'Homil. in Gen.' 46). Herein he was the  agency of God, and also as pointing to that
truer type of Him, " who, when He was re-  Lamb of God, who was " separate from sinviled, reviled not again; when He suffered,  ners" (Heb. vii. 26), bearing alone the burden
He threatened not; but committed Himself to  of our iniquities. St Augustine thinks the
Him that judgeth righteously" (I Pet. ii. 23).  horns caught in the thicket typical of the
10. stretched forth his hand] The steady  Lord Jesus crowned with thorns before His
deliberate purpose of Abraham, and yet all sacrifice (' De C. D.' xvI. 32).
the natural shrinking of his spirit, are admi-    ofered him up for a burnt ofering in the
rably expressed in the details of the history.    stead of his son]  It has been argued that the
lamb substituted for Isaac, not Isaac himself,
11. the Anoge of the the LORD]  Up to this  was the true type of the Lord Jesus, who
verse we have only the name  Elohim, God.  died that we might live.  This, however,
Now   that the Divine intervention to save  would be a very imperfect explication of the
Isaac and to accept a ransom for his life is mystery. The antitype is always greater than
related, we find the name, JEHOVAH, the  the type, and hence in the prophetic system
great covenant name frequently made use of,  of the Old Testament, types are multiplied
though the name Elohim occurs again in the  that they may express collectively that which
next verse.  The Being here called "the  can but partially be expressed by one of them.
Angel of JEHOVAH," who speaks as with  The fathers recognize the double type in this
Divine, supreme authority, is doubtless the  whole history.  The father with full delibeAngel of the Covenant (Mal. iii. I), the ever-  rate purpose offering up his dearly beloved,
lasting Son of the Father, who alone " hath  only-begotten son, the son willingly obedient
declared Him" (John i. 18).                unto death, the wood for the sacrifice carried
12.  noxw I know that thou fearest God]  by the victim up the hill, the sacrifice ful" God tried Abraham," says Theodoret, "not  filled in purpose though not in act, and then
that He might learn what He knew already,  the father receiving his son in a figure from
but that He might shew to others, with how  the dead (Heb. xi. I9) after three days of
great justice He loved the patriarch" (' Qu.  death in the, father's purpose and belief; all




v. 14 —6.]                GENESIS. XXII.                                          I43
and offered him up for a burnt offer-       i5 q And the angel of the LORD
ing in the stead of his son.             called unto Abraham  out of heaven
IThat is,    I4. And Abraham called the name  the second time,                            c Ps. o05.
ThORD   of that place "Jehovah-jireh: as it is    I6 And said, cBy myself have I 9ccus. 44.
will see,  said to this day, In the mount of the  sworn, saith the LORD, for because  k  73.
vie,    LORD it shall be seen.                   thou hast done this thing, and hast Heb. 6. r.
this is as much an actual prophecy of the  gested the belief, that the name Moriah in v.
sacrifice and resurrection of the Son of God  X is used proleptically, and that it really orias was possible without a true slaying of  ginated in this saying of Abraham.
Isaac, for which was substituted the slaying    as it is said to this day, In the mount of the
of the rarm.  That which Isaac's sacrifice  LORD it shall be seen] Or, " it shall be prowanted to make it perfect as a type was  vided."
actual death and the notion of substitution.    There is great variety of renderings in the
These therefore were supplied by the death of  ancient Versions. Indeed, if we disregard the
the ram, and his substitution for a human  vowel points, it would be equally possible to
life. Theodoret says ('Qu. in Gen.' LXXIII.)  translate " In the mount of the Lord it shall
that I Isaac was the type of the Godhead, the  be seen or provided," or " In the mount the
ram of the manhood."  This perhaps sounds  Lord will see or provide," or'" In the mount
fanciful at first; but the correspondence is in  the Lord will be seen."  The LXX. takes the
truth very exact. Isaac was of too noble a  last, the Vulgate, Syriac and Samaritan take
nature to be slain upon the altar; God would  the second. - Onkelos departs from his habit
have abhorred such an offering. Hence the  of translating, and paraphrases, like the late
Most High prepares a victim to be as it were  Targums; "' And Abraham worshipped and
joined with Isaac and then to suffer, that  prayed there and said before the Lord, Here
thus the sacrifice should not be imperfect.  shall generations worship; whereupon it shall
So the ever blessed Son of God was by nature  be said in that day, In this mountain Abraabove the possibility of suffering; hence the  ham worshipped before the Lord." St Jerome,
Eternal Father prepares for Him  a perfect  taking the Latin, explained it thus: "This behumanity  ("a Body hast Thou prepared  came a proverb among the Hebrews, that if
me"), that He might die in that nature which  any should be in trouble and should desire
was mortal, the immortal, impassible nature  the help of the Lord, they should say, In the
being yet inseparably united with it. Thus,  motunt the Lord vwill see, that is, as He had
Isaac and the ram together symbolized and  mercy on Abraham, so will He have mercy
typified in almost all particulars the sacrifice,  on us" (' Qu.. Hebraic. in Gen.' XXII).
the death and the resurrection of the Son of    On the whole, the pointing of the MasoGod, who also was the Son of man,          rites, a tradition never lightly to be rejected,
We may observe too, that not only was  which is followed by the Authorised Version,
Isaac thus made the most memorable type of  seems to give the most probable sense of the
the Redeemer of the world (Isaac, who other-  passage (So Ges.'Thes.' p. I246; Rosemn.,
wise seems less noticeable than either Abra-  Knobel). But, in any case, there seems not
ham or Jacob), but also that Abraham had the  only a general assurance of God's providential
singular honour of representing the highest,  care of His people, who in trouble may reholiest God and Father, who " spared not His  member that " the Lord will provide," but
own Son, but freely gave Him up for us all"  also a special prophecy, ist of the manifesta(Rom. viii. 32. See Aug.'De Civ. D.' xvI.  tion of the Lord in His temple at Jerusalem,
32).                                       where He was to be seen in the Shechinah or
14. JEHovAH-jireh] i. e. " the Lord will  cloud of glory between the Cherubim, where
see," or 1" the Lord will provide."  The same  He provided access to Himself and sacrifices
wrords which Abraham  had used in v. 8,  for His service; andly, of the coming of the
but with a change in the sacred names.  In  Lord to His temple (Mal. iii. i), thereby
v. 8, when Isaac had asked, s" where is the nmaking " the glory of the latter house greater
Lamb?" Abraham  answered, Elohim jireh   than of the former" (Hagg. ii. 9); and of His
" God will see," or " provide a lamb for Him-  providing there a Lamb for a sacrifice, which
self."  Now he perceives that he had uttered  should save not only from temporal but from
an unconscious prophecy, and that the God  eternal death, taking away the sin of the
(Elohim) in whom  he trusted had shewn  world.
Himself indeed JEHOVAH, the Eternal Truth    16.  by myself have I swcorn]  This is
and the covenated Saviour of his servants, and  the final promise of the Lord to Abraham,
so he names the place JEHoVAH-jireh.  The  confirming all the former promises by the
connection which there is between these words  solemnity of an oath, and " because He could
and the word Moriah (see on v. z) has sug-  swear by no greater, He sware by Himself"




144                             GENESIS. XXII.                               [v. r7-24o
not withheld  thy  son, thine  only          2o  IT And  it came to  pass after
son:                                       these things, that it was told AbraI7 That in blessing I will bless  ham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath
thee, and in multiplying I will mul-  also born children  unto  thy brother
tiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven,  Nahor;
and as the sand which is upon the sea        21 Huz his first-born, and Buz his
Heb. lip.'shore; and thy seed shall possess the  brother, and Kemuel the father of
gate of his enemies;                       Aram,
9chap. 12.  I8 dAnd in thy seed shall all the         22 And  Chesed, and  Hazo, and
kI8.Is. nations of the earth be blessed; be-  Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
Ecclus. 44. cause thou hast obeyed my voice.          23 And Bethuel begat eRebekah:'Called,
Acts 3. 25.  i9  So Abraham  returned unto his  these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, R'bec9a.
Gal. 3. 8.    19 So                     unt               bZ
young men, and they rose up and went  Abraham's brother.
together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham          24 And his concubine, whose name
dwelt at Beer-sheba.                       was Reumah, she bare also Tebah,
(Heb. vi. 13). The vast importance of the  nations. St Jerome (' Qu. in Gen.') thinks
revelation and of the promise here recorded is  that Job was a descendant of Huz or Uz the
proved by this remarkable act of the Most  son of Nahor. It is said that Job was of the
High.  " God, willing more abundantly to  land of Uz (job i. i), and his friend Elihu
shew unto the heirs of promise the immuta-  was "a Buzite of the kindred of Ram" (xxxii.
bility of His counsel, interposed Himself by  2).  If Ram be the same as Aram, we have
an oath" (or "made Himself the Mediator to  then the three names in this verse-Iuz, Buz
be sworn by," ElE-rlruTEVOcv;OpKc); " that by  and Aram  occurring in the history of Job.
two immutable things" (i. e. His word and His  In Jerem. xxv. 23 Buz is placed with Dedan
oath, Chrysost., Theod., Theophyl.), "in  and Tema, apparently in Arabia Petroea.
which it was impossible for God to lie, we    2
might have a strong consolation, who have  dim  (or Chaldans) to have derived their
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set  name rom  him, to which conjecture the ocbefore us" (Heb. vi. I 7, i8). Abraham had  currence of the Chasdim also in the Book of
by Divine grace achieved a victory of faith   ob, ives some colour (see on v. 21).  If,
unheard of before in the world's history; and  indeed,   Ur of the Chaldees"  as so called
so to him personally a most blessed and most  when Abraham  dwelt theees"  was so called
solemn promise is given of prosperity, honour   would be  an anachronism, but very prothis would be an anachronism, but very proand enlargement to him and to his seed after
bably it may have been known as Ur of the
him. But this great victory of Abraham's  Chaldees   hen Moses wrote, and so desiwas the type of a still greater victory to be  nated by him, though the Chaldees or Chaswon hereafter by God and God's only begot-   ed by im   not ave  been  in existence in the
ten Son; and so the promise to Abraham includes a promise still greater to all mankind   days of Abraham.
for in the seed of Abraham all the nations of    23. Bethuel begat Rebekah]  The relathe earth were to be blessed for ever.  N. B.  tionship therefore of Rebekah to Isaac was
Onkelos renders here, " I have sworn by My  that Rebekah was daughter of Isaac's first
_VWord," Memra; and the Arabic, "I have  cousin. They were, as we should say, first
sworn by My own Name."                      cousins once removed.  Nahor was the elder
is in-  brother of Abraham, and his granddaughter
20.  it was told Abraham]  This is in-  may have been of a suitable age to be the
troduced for the sake of tracing the genealogy  wife of Abraham's son.
of Abraham's brother Nahor down to Reof Abraham's brother Nahor down to Re-    these eight] The sons of Nahor, like the
bekah the wife of Isaac, v. 23.             sons of Ishmael and of Jacob, were twelve in
21. Huz] See on ch. x. 23, where we  number.  But though it happens that among
have seen Uz and Aram together before. It  the descendants of Terah three persons had
is only natural that names should have been  twelve sons, there is such a diversity in the
repeated in the same race, the race of Shem. Uz  other circumstances of the family, such a
and Aram also occur among the posterity of  difference with regard to their mothers, and
Esau (Gen. xxxvi. 28), whence Idumea is  there are so many other patriarchs, Abraham,
called "'the land of Uz" (Lam. iv. zI). This  Isaac, &c., the numbering of whose children
recurrence of names in juxtaposition creates  were quite unlike these, that the notion of a
some obscurity as to the sites to be assigned  mystic number. is utterly untenable (see Keil
to their descendants in the division of the  in ioc.).




V.'-7.]            GENESIS. XXII. XXII.  -45
and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maa-  before his dead, and spake unto the
chah.                                      sons of Heth, saying,
CHAPTER   XXIII.                     4 I am a stranger and a sojourner
I Thle age and deaith of Sarai. 3 T/Ieg jr-  with you: give me a possession of a
chase of M.iaczpea/i, 19 zohere Sarah owas  buryingplace  with  you, that I may
bonied,.                                 bury my dead out of my sight.
AND  Sarah was an hundred  and            5 And the children of FHeth  anseven  and  twenty years old:  swered Abraham, saying unto him,
these were the years of the life of Sarah.   6 Hear us, my  lord: thou  art a
2 And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba;  *mighty prince among us: in the choice t Heb
the  same  is  Hebron  in  the  land  of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none G od.G'
of Canaan: and  Abraham  came to  of us shall withhold  from  thee his
mourn  for Sarah, and  to weep  for  sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury
her.                                       thy dead.
3 qI And Abraham  stood up from            7 And  Abraham  stood  up, and'
CHAP. XXIII. 1. _And Saranh sas an hitn-  bury their dead rather than to burn thenm;
dred and seven and twenty years old] Sarah  corpora condmere quam  cremare (Tac.'Hist.'
is the only woman whose age is mention-  v. $).  It is observable that this is thus mened in the Scriptures (Lightfoot,'Har. of  tioned first, when the first death takes place
Old Testament,' Gen. xxiii.), because as the  in the family of him, who had received the
mother of the promised seed, she became the  promises. The care of the bodies of the demother of all believers. (I Pet. iii. 6) (Del.,  parted is a custom apparently connected with
Keil.)  She died 37 years after the birth of  the belief in their sanctity as vessels of the
fsaac, as she was go when he was born.      Grace of God, and with the hope that they
2. K.irath-arba; the same is iebron in the  may be raised again in the day of the restitulandof Canaan]. See on ch. xiii. i 8. The suppo-  tion of all things. The elaborate embalming
sition that the name Hebron was not given till  of the Egyptians had perhaps a very different
the time of Joshua, and that the  use of it in  significance, looking rather to retain the beGenesis indicates a later hand, is contradicted  loved body in its former shape, and perhaps
by the natural force of these words. They  to preserve the living principle in permanent
appear plainly to have been written by some  existence with it, rather than hoping that the
one not then living in the land of Canaan.  body, being'Isown a natural should be raised
H-.ebron was apparently the original name,  a spiritual body."
which was changed to Kirjath-arba, and re-    5. safying onto him]  The Sam. Pent. and
stored again by Caleb, Josh. xiv. IS.       LXX.read (by the variation of a single letter),
A4brabamz came to mourn for Sarah]  Aben-  "saying, Not so."
ezra and others infer from this that Abraham   6. thou art a nrety jrine amo   sl lit " a
\was not with Sarah when she died. It may  prince of God."  See on ch. x. 9, the name
nmean no more than that Abraham vwent into  of God being apparently added to give a suSarah's tent to mourn for her,              perlative force: cp. I Sam. xxvi. I2, where
R. D. Kimchi writes, "jWhen the Scripture
4.  I am  a stranger and a sojourner]  would magnify anything, it joins it to the
(Cp. Heb. xi. I3).  Abraham had only pas-  name of God."
tured his flacks, moving from place to place,    in the cho ce of our sepolchres butry th dlftd
as a nomad chief; but the various Canaanitish  The Hittites in the complimentary manner
tribes had settled in the land, building cities  common in oriental bargains (see Thomson,
and cultivating fields; and so as Lighltfoot'Land and Book,' p. 578) offer Abraham  to
observes ('Harm.:' on Gen. xxiii.), " a bur-ial  bury his dead in their sepulchres; but there
place is the first land that Abraham  has i~  was a separation between them of faith and
Canaan."  The heir of the promises was but  life, which forbade Abraham to deposit the
a stranger and a pilgrim, never to rest but in  body of Sarah in the same grave with the
the grave, but with a glorious future before  people of the land.  We know nothing of the
him for his race and for himself; assured that  funeral rites of the Canaanites at this early
his seed should possess the land, and himself  period, nor wrlhether they buried the bodies
"4desiring a better country, that is a heavenly."  of the departed or only their ashes. It is,
Give me a possession of a buryingplace cwith  however, very probable, that there were idoyolu  This is the first mention of burial.  It  latrous rites connected with their sepulture,
was noted by the heathen historian as a cha-  which it would have been unlawful for Abraracteristic of the Jews, that they preferred to  ham to countenanc..
VOL. I.-                                                                  K




146                           GENESIS. XXIII.                              [v. S-IS.
bowed himself to the people of the          I I Nay, my lord, hear me: the
land, even to the children of Hleth.    field give I thee, and the cave that
8 And he communed with them,  is therein, I give it thee; in the presaying, If it be your mind  that I  sence of the sons of my people give I
should bury my dead out of my sight;  it thee: bury thy dead.
hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron         2 And Abraham bowed down himthe son of Zohar,                         self before the people of the land.
9 That he may give- me the cave           13 And he spake unto Ephron in
of Machpelah, which he hath, which  the audience of the people of the land,
Tifeb.  is in the end of his field; for tas  saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray
$,,oey.  much money as it is worth he shall  thee, hear me: I will give thee money
give it me for a possession of a bury-  for the field; take it of me, and I
ingplace amongst you.                    will bury my dead there.
Io And Ephron dwelt among the            I4 And Ephron answered Abrachildren of Heth: and Ephron the  ham, saying unto him,
f Heb.   Hittite answered Abraham in the tau-        I 5 My lord, hearken unto me: the.ears.    dience of the children of Heth, even  land is worth four hundred shekels
of all that went in at the gate of his  of silver; what is that betwixt me
city, saying,                             and thee? bury therefore thy dead.
7.  bo-wed himself]  The Vulgate has   for as much money as it is vorth] lit. "for
"adoravit coram populo."  It wassimply the  fall money."  The same words are rendered
deep reverence common in the East (cp. I  I Chron. xxi. 22, "for the full price."
Sam. xxv. 24; xxviii. 14; I Kings xviii. 7;    10. all that went in at the gate of his
Kings ii. i; Esth. viii. 3). It was a matter  city]  The transaction took place publicly at
of courtesy and respect, also of entreaty or of the gate of the city, the forum or public place
gratitude.                                 of the ancient cities of the East, see on
9. the cave of Machpelah]  The soil of  ch. xix. i.
Palestine being rocky  naturally suggested    11. the fiell give I thee] Compare z Sam.
sepulture in caves (see Winer,'Realw.' s.v. xxiv. 20, 24. Both conversations, that beGrabes, Smith,'Dict. of Bible,' s.v. Burial).  tween Abraham  and Ephron, and that beAll the ancient Versions render the words  tween David and Araunah, are specimens of
"cave of Machpelah" by "the double cave,"  the extreme courtesy of the Eastern people in
deriving Machpelah from the verb Caphal to  the transaction of business.
divide, to double. Interpreters have explained    13. But if thou vilt give it, Ipray thee,
this in various ways, as either that there were  hear me]  Rather perhaps, "But do thou,
two entrances to the cave, or that it had a  I pray thee, hear me."  Two particles of
double structure such that two bodies (as  wishing or intreating are used.
e.g. that of Abraham and Sarah) might be
laid there (see Heidegger, H. 131).  Others,  i oney for the iel  Lt. "themoneyofthe
however, treat the word as a proper name,  field," i.e. the value of the field.
and Gesenius considers it more probably to    15. four hundred shekels of silver] The
signify "portion" than "duplication." Thesite  word shekel means merely weight, cp. pondus,
of this ancient burialplace is,well ascertained. pound. See on ch. xx. x6, where no namne fo
Josephus tells us that "Abraham and his de-  a coin or weight occurs, but only the words "a
scendantsbuilt monuments over thesepulchres"  thousand of silver."  Here we first have the
here (A. J. I. 14), which were said to be  name of a weight, though probably not of
stillvisible in-the daysof Jerome (' nomnrast.').  a coin. There is no mention of coinage in
Now a mosque is erected over the ground  Scripture before the Babylonish Captivity;
believed to cover the sepulchres. The Haram   but the Egyptians had rings of gold and silver
or sacred precinct of the mosque is surrounded  of fixed weight long before VlMoses, which
by a wall, believed to be as ancient as any-  are represented on the monuments. The first
thing now remaining in Palestine. The pre-  actual Jewish money appears to have been
sent condition and appearance of it are de-  coined by Simon Maccabmeus (I Macc. xv.).
scribed by Robinson ('B. R.' II. p. 43I sq.),  It is not easy to conjecture accurately what
see also Thomson,''Land and Book,'p.  go80, and  the value of a shekel may have been in the.a full account of the sepulchre in the appendix  time of Abraham. In later times the LXX.
to Stanley's'Sermons in the East.'        and the New Testament (Matt. xvii. s4)




v. 6-3.]            GEN  ESTIS. XXIII. XXIV.                                          I147
i6 And Abraham  hearkened unto   ham fcr a possession of a buryingplace
Ephron; and Abraham  weighed  to  by the sons of Heth.
Ephron  the  silver, which  he  had
named in the audience of the sons of                CHAPTER  XXIV.
Heth, four hundred shekels of silver   I 4Abraham swearetlh his servant.  io T7e
e  h  silver,serva, n'sjourney: 1  hzis. raye;: 14 hissign.
current money with the merchant.             i5 IPe'eka:ze z'etelhJ him, I8 fzufilletkz his sizn,
I7  ~1  And  the  field  of Ephron,    22 recezivekt jeuzes, 23 seetvetl her Kindred,
/                             28~~~~~~~~~5 a*zd invviyiteh hiz  home. -O6 The servant
which was in Machpelah, which w vas    250rsed God. i.  Iii n  entert.6inetke sem.
blesseti God. 29 Laban entertaineth him.
before Mamre, the field, and the cave    34 T'he servant shertelh his message..o50
which was therein, and all the trees    Laban and Bethecel a  prove it. 58 Rebekak
that were in the field, that were in all   co;sente/,Z to go. 62 isaac meeleth her.
Mlle borders round about, were made            ND  Abraham  was old, and well t Heb.
sure                                         A   stricken in age: and the LORD     ins./iS Unto Abraham for a possession  had blessed Abraham  in all things.
in the presence  of the  children  of         2 And Abraham  said unto his eldHeth, before all that went in at the  est servant of his house, that ruled
gate of his city.                          over all that he had, a Put, I pray a chap. 4
i9 And after this, Abraham buried  thee, thy hand under my thigh:                29Sarah his wife in the cave of the field       3 And I will make thee swear by
of Machpelah  before Mamre:  the  the LORD, the God of heaven, and
same is Hebron  in the land of Ca-  the God of the earth, that thou shalt
naan.                                      not take a wife unto my son of the
20 And the field, and the cave that  daughters of the Canaanites, among
is therein, were made sure unto Abra-  whom  I dwell:
identify the half shekel with the didrachma,  was I37 at the death of Sarah. Isaac was
which would make the shekel nearly half an  then 37; and when he married Rebekah, he
ounce, azo grains of our weight, or a little  was 40 (see ch. xxv. 20o). Abraham therefore
less in value than half-a-crown of our present  must have been in his I4oth year at this time,
money. The field therefore would have been  and he lived 35 years after it (oi. xxv. 7).
purchased for about fifty guineas, 52/. IOs.    2. unto his eldest servant of his house] Lit.
(See Gesenius,'Thes.' p. 1474; WViner,'R.  "to his servant, the elder of his house."  The
V. B.' s.v. srekel; Smith's'Dict. of Bib.' s.vv.  word elder in Hebrew as in most languages is
money, shekel, wceights and measures.)      used as a title of honour, cp. Sheykh, Senatus,
16.  current money vwiit  the merchant]  yEpov7ES, presbyter, Signor, Mayor, &c. (Ges.
Lit. "silver passing with the merchant." The'Thes.'p. 427; Hammond, on Acts xi. 30).
Canaanites were great merchants, so much  It is generally supposed that this was Eliezer
so that the very word Canaanite became a  of Damascus, see ch. xv. 2.
synonym  for merchant, see Job xl. 30 (in    Put, Ipray thee, thy hand under my thi3g] A
Authorised Version xli. 6); Prov. xxxi. 24.  form of adjuration mentioned only here and
It is therefore very probable that they early  of Jacob, ch. xlvii. 29.  Various conjectures
learned the use of silver as a means of barter:  have been made by Jews (Joseph.' Ant.' x. I 6;
and though it may not have been coined, yet  Hieron.'Qa, in Gen.;' Ambrose,'De Abrathe masses or bars of silver may have been  ham.' I. 6; Eliezer, in'Pirke,' c. 39), and by
early formed  into conventional shapes, or  the fathers (Ambros.'De Abrahamo, I. 9;
marked with some rude sign to indicate their  Hieron. ubi supra; August.' De C. D.'
weight (see Ges.'Thes.' p. 982).           XVI. 33); but nothing is known with certainty
17. the feld, &c.]  Not only the cave,  ofthe signification of the action.  Aben-Ezra
as first proposed by Abraham, but the whole  supposes that it. was a form of oath prevalent
field with trees in it, which may have formed  in patriarchal times but only taken by inferiors,
part of that grove of Matare, where Abraham   as here by Abraham's steward, and in Gen. xlvii.
dwelt before the overthrow  of Sodom and  29 by a son to. his father; that accordingly it
where he built an altar to the Lord.        was a kind of homage, the servant or son therecwvere amade szure unto Abraham] Lit. "stood  by indicating subjection and the purpose of
firm to Abraham."                           obedience.  (See Heidegger, I. pp. I34, 135;
Rosennl. in Ioc.)
CIHAP. XXIV. 1.  Abcraham',was old] He    3. of the daughters of the Canaanites]
K2




148                           GENESI S.  X              I V.              Iv. 4 —-II.
4 But thou shalt go unto my coun-  angel before thee, and thou shalt take
try, and to my kindred, and take a a wife unto my son from thence.
wife unto my son Isaac.                     8 And if the woman will not be
5 And the servant said unto him,  willing to follow thee, then thou shalt
Peradventure  the  woman  will not  be clear from this my oath: only bring
be willing  to  follow  me unto  this  not my son thither again.
land:  must I needs bring thy son           9 And the servant put his hand
again  unto  the  land  from  whence  under the thigh of Abraham his master,
thou camest?                             and  sware to  him  concerning  that
6 And  Abraham   said unto him,  matter.
Beware thou that thou bring not my          Io 10    And  the servant took ten
son thither again.                       camels of the camels of his master, and
7 MI The LORD  God of heaven,  departed; nfor all the goods of his  Or,o a..
which took me from my father's house,  master were in his hand: and he arose,
and from the land of my kindred, and  and went to Mesopotamia, unto the
a chap..2. which spake unto me, and that sware  city of Nahor.
7. &13. IS. Unto me, saying, b Unto thy seed will   I I And he made his camels to kneel
&26 4.-  I give this land; he shall send his  down without the city by a well of
The licentiousness of the Canaanites had pro-  other passages in Genesis (xxv. 2o; xxviii. 2,
bably determined Abraham against marrying  6, 7; xxxi. I8; xxxiii. IS; xxxv. 9, 26; xlvi. I)5'
his son to one of their daughters. He had  we read of Padan Aram  or simply Padan
also, no doubt, reference to the Promised  (Gen. xlviii. 7), "the Plain of Syria,"'"the
Seed, and desired that the race from which  flat land of Syria." Aram-Naharaim  occurs
He was to come should be kept pure from   again Deut. xxiii. 5; Judg. iii. 8; Ps. lx. 2
admixture with the race of Ham.            (Heb.). Both names describe the low fHat
country lying between the two rivers Tigris
6. Bewvcare thou that thou bring not my son  and Euphrates, though Padan Aram  was
thither,agqain]  Abraham had been distinctly  more limited in extent than Aram-Naharaim.
called of God to leave his own country, and  The whole highland country of Syria appears
to be a stranger and sojourner in the land which  to have been. called Aram, as many think to
was to be his hereafter. It would therefore  distinguish it from Canaan, the low country,
have been an act both of unbelief and of  Aram  meaning "high" and Canaan "low"
disobedience, to send his son back again. He  land. The country, however, vhich lies betrusted that He, who had so called him,  tween the two rivers, is chiefly a vast plain,
would provide his son with a wife from his  though intersected by the Sinjar range, and
own kindred, not defiled, at least as the  becoming more mountainous towards the
Canaanites were, writh heathen worship and  North (see Stanley,'S. and P.' p. x29; Smith's
heathen morality; but in any case he would'Dict. of Bible,' II. p. 338).  Aram-Narather his san should wed among the aliens  haraim was the whole region afterwards called
than return to the place whence he himself  Mesopotamia, lying between the two rivers:
had been bidden to depart.                 Padan Aram being a limited portion of this
10. ten camels, &c.] The journey was  country of flat character in the neighbourlong and could only be performed in safety  hood of Haran (see on xxv. 20, xxvii. 43).
by a considerable company or caravan. The    the city of Nraaor] i. e. Haran or Charran
words which follow, "for all the goods of his  (compare ch. xxvii. 43, and see ch. xi. 3I;
master were in his hand," very probably are  Acts vii. 2).
no more than an explanation of his taking so    11. made his camels to kneel down] That
many camels with him, his master sparing  they might be unloaded, and rest there. (See
nothing to make the journey successful. The  on the whole of this scene, Thomson,' Land
LXX. and Vulgate render "and he took part  and Book,' p. 592.)
of all his master's goods in his hand," as though he time t
Abraham had sent a present with the servanto, where
to conciliate the favour of the bride's family.   Minerv,   in the form  of a girl carrying a
Minerva, in the form  of a girl carrying a
to Mesqpotamia]  Lit. " Aram of the two  pitcher, meets Ulysses as he is about to enter
rivers," or "Aram-Naharaim."' The name  the city of the Phcenicians in the evening.
INaharina constantly occurs in Egyptian in-  See also Robinson,'B. R.' vol. 1I. p. 368, where
scriptions of the i 3th and g9th dynasties. In  a somewhat similar scene to this is described.




V. I2 —22.]              GENESIS. XXIV.                                         149
water at the time of the evening, even  to look upon, a virgin, neither had
tHeb.  the time tthat women go out to draw   any man known her: and she went
wFi.. Wziek water.                               down to the well, and filled her pitcher,
T.dra,    I2 And he said, O  LORD God of and came up.
water go
fori,/.    my  master Abraham, I pray thee,    17 And the servant ran to meet
send me good speed this day, and shew   her, and said, Let me, I pray thee,
kindness unto my master Abraham.    drink a little water of thy pitcher.'Ver. 43-  I3 Behold, CI stand here by the          iS And she said, Drink, my lord:
well of water; and the daughters of  and she hasted, and let down  her
the men of the city come out to draw   pitcher upon her hand, and gave him
water:                                   drink.
14 And let it come to pass, that         19 And when she had done giving
the damsel to whom  I shall say, Let  him drink, she said, I will draw water
down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I  for thy camels also, until they have
may drink; and she shall say, Drink,  done drinking.
and I will give thy camels drink also:     2o And she hasted, and emptied
let the same be she that thou  hast  her pitcher into the trough, and ran
appointed for thy servant Isaac; and  again unto the well to draw  water,
thereby shall I know that thou hast  and drew for all his camels.
shewed kindness unto my master.            2  And the man wondering at her
I5 qT And it came to pass, before  held his peace, to wit whether the
he had done speaking, that, behold,  LORD had made his journey prosperous
Rebekah came. out, who was born to  or not.
Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of    22 And  it came to pass, as the
WHeb.   Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her  camels had done drinking, that the nOr,
good of  pitcher upon her shoulder.              man took a golden " earring of half a jewelfotf
cn-once. ~ i6 And the damsel was *very fair  shekel weight, and two bracelets for ewae.
12. 0 LORD God of my,master Abra-  who accuse the so-called Jehovistic chapters
ham] The Darnascene recognizes JEl-IOVAII, Of being modern (of the date of Sainuel for
the God of his master Abraham, the Supreme  instance), ground their arguments on a minute
Disposer of all things. He had probably  criticism of the difference of the words used
been born a heathen idolater; but Abraham,  by the Elohist and the Jehovist writers reto whom God had been revealed as JEHO-  spectively. It is, however, here very appavAIn, the eternal self-existing, had no doubt  rent that the word child, " nangar," had not,
taught his household to acknowledge Him as  in the time of the writer of this most Jehothe Covenant God of Abraham and his family.  vistic history, been distinguished in the singuIt is very observable, however, that when  lar number into masculine and feminine,
Abraham administers an oath to his servant,  nangar and nangarah, boy and girl.
he makes him swear not only by JEHOVAH,    thereby shall I knoew]  Perhaps more corbut adds the God of heaven and the God of rectly "by her shall I know;" though the
the earth, which might be a stronger sanction  Versions generally render the feminine proto one brought up in ignorance of the faith of noun here by a neuter, the Hebrew having no
his master.                               neuter gender.
give me good speed]  Lit. " cause to meet    15. who uwas born to Bethuel]  See ch.
me," i. e. the person of whom I am in quest.   xxii. 20 and note.
14. the damsel]  The word here used
for damsel is of common gender, signifying  astonished" at finding his prayer so suddenly
a child or young person of either sex. This  ansrered.
is a peculiarity of the Pentateuch. In all the
later books the distinction of gender is ob-    22. earring]  So LXX., Vulg., but per
served, the feminine affix (fl) being used when  haps more probably "' nose-ring." St Jerome
a girl is intended. It is important to notice  in Ezek. xvi. 11, I2, mentions that to his day
this here; first as shewing the antiquity of the women in the East wore golden rings
the Pentateuch generally; secondly, as shew-  hanging down from their foreheads, on their
ing that this chapter, which is markedly je-  noses. Hence here the marginal reading gives
hovistic, is also of marked antiquity. Those,  "iewel for the forehead."  To the present




150                         GENESIS.  XXIV.                          [v. 23 —41.
her hands of ten shekels weight of    32 q And the man came into the
gold;                                  house: and he ungirded his camels,
23 And said, ~Whose daughter art  and gave straw and provender for the
thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there" camels, and water to wash his feet, and
room  in thy father's house for us to  the men's feet that were with him.
lodge in?                                33 And there was set meat before
24 And she said unto him, I am   him  to eat: but he said, I will not
the daughter of Bethuel the son of eat, until I have told mine errand,
Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor.  And he said, Speak on.
25 She said moreover unto him,    34 And he said, I am Abraham's
We have both straw  and provender  servant.
enough, and room to lodge in.            35 And the LORD hath blessed my
26 And the man bowed down his  master greatly; and he is become
head, and worshipped the LORD.        great: and he hath given him flocks,
27 And he said, Blessed be the LoRD  and herds, and silver, and gold, and
God of my master Abraham, who hath  menservants, and maidservants, and
not left destitute my master of his  camels, and asses.
mercy and his truth: I being in the      36 And Sarah my master's wife
way, the LORD led me to the house  bare a son to my master when she
of my master's brethren.              was old: and unto him hath he given
28 And the damsel ran, and told  all that he hath.
them  of her mother's house these    37 And my master made me swear,
things.                                saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to
29 1 And Rebekah had a brother,  my son of the daughters of the Canaanand his name was Laban: and Laban  ites, in whose land I dwell:
ran out unto the man, unto the well.    38 But thou shalt go unto my
30 And it came to pass, when he  father's house, and to my kindred,
saw  the earring and bracelets upon  and take a wife unto my son.
his sister's hands, and when he heard    39 And I said unto my master,
the words of Rebekah his sister, say-  Peradventure the woman will not
ing, Thus spake the man unto me;  follow me.
that he came unto the man; and,    40 And he said unto me, The
behold, he stood by the camels at the  LORD, before whom I walk, will send
well.                                 his angel with thee, and prosper thy
3I And he said, Come in, thou  way; and thou shalt take a wife for
blessed  of the  LORD;  wherefore  my son of my kindred, and of my
standest thou without? for I have  father's house:
prepared the house, and room for the    4. Then shalt thou be clear from
camels.                               this my oath, when thou comest to
day some Eastern nations wear nose-rings. appears also from v. 67, where Sarah's tent
Schroeder ('De Vest. Mul. Hebr.' c. xxii. ~  is named, and Rebekah is installed in it at
2). Hartmann ('Hebr.' iI. I66); W.iner ('R. her marriage. The daughter naturally went
W. B.' II. I62); Gesen. ('Th.' p. 870); Rosen-  to tell her mother rather than her father of
miiller (in loc.), argue for the rendering  what the servant of Abraham had done; the
"nose-ring" in this passage. The word, how- jewel, which he gave her, being perhaps inover, simply signifies a ring.          tended to denote the nature of his embassage.
half a shekel] Probably about 2 drachms
or a quarter of an ounce. See on ch. xxxiii. I4.   33  I czuill not ent, until I hae told mine
errand]  Ancient hospitality taught men to
28. her mother's house] Her father Be- set meat before their guests before asking
thuel was still living (see v. So); but the  them their names and their business; but
mother is mentioned, perhaps because even  here the servant of Abraham felt his message
thus early women may have lived in se- to be so momentous, that he would not ea
parate tents from the men (Rashi): which  till he had unburdened himself of it.




v. 42-58.]               GENESIS. XXIV.                                        t5'
my kindred; and if they give not  way to take mny master's brother's
thee one, thou shalt be clear from my daughter unto his son.
oath.                                     49 And now if ye will deal kindly
42 And I came this day unto the  and truly with my master, tell me:
well, and said, O LORD God of my and if not, tell me; that I may turn
master Abraham, if now thou do pro- to the right hand, or to the left.
sper my way which I go:                   50 Then Laban and Bethuel anaw Vz. 13.   43 dBehold, I stand by the well of swered and said, The thing proceedeth
water; and it shall come to pass, that  from the LORD: we cannot speak unwhen the virgin cometh forth to draw  to thee bad or good.
water, and I say to her, Give me, I    5I Behold, Rebekah is before thee,
pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher  take her, and go, and let her be thy
to drink;                               master's son's wife, as the LORD hath
44 And she say to me, Both drink  spoken.
thou, and I will also draw  for thy       52 And it came to pass, that, when
camels: let the same be the woman  Abraham's servant heard their words)
whom  the LORD hath appointed out  he worshipped the LORD, bowitng himfor my master's son.                    self to the earth.
45 And before I had done speaking       53 And the servant brought forth
in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came  tjewels of silver, and jewels of gold, uHeb.
forth with her pitcher on her shoulder;  and raiment, and gave them  to Re- vzcsses.
and she went down unto the well, and  bekah: he gave also to her brother
drew water: and I said unto her, Let  and to her mother precious things.
me drink, I pray thee.                    54 And they did eat and drink, he
46- And she made haste, and let  and the men that were with him, and
down her pitcher from  her shoulder,  tarried all night; and they rose up in
and said, Drink, and I will give thy  the morning, and he said, eSend me ever. 56.
camels drink also: so I drank, and  away unto my naster.                      &59.
she made the camels drink also.           55 And her brother and her mother
47 And  I asked  her, and said,  said, Let the damsel abide with us   a 11 Or, a
full,ear;'
Whose daughter art thou?  And she few days, at the least ten; after that or, te.,
said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's  she shall go.                         months.
son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and       56 And he said unto them, Hinder
I put the earring upon her face, and  me not, seeing the LORD hath prothe bracelets upon her hands.           spered my way; send me away that
48 And I bowed down my head,  I may go to my master.
and worshipped the LORD, and blessed      57 And they said, We will call the
the LORD God of my master Abra-  damsel, and inquire at her mouth.
ham, which had led me in the right    58   And  they  called  Rebekah,
50. Laban and Bctbuell The brother is  subsequent history of Jacob. The Hebrew
here put before the father, and in v. 39 the  tradition was that Bethuel died on the day that
brother only is mentioned. It appears that  Eliezer, Abraham's servant, arrived (Tarin those days the brother was much con-  gum of Pseudo-Jonathan, on v. 55). Josephus
sulted concerning the marriage of his sisters  (' Ant.' 1. i6) speaks of him as dead, which,
(Cp. ch. xxxiv. 13; Judg. xxi. z2): but it  however, is unlikely, see on ch. xxvii. 2.
has also been observed that Bethuel is altogether kept in the background in this history,    S3. jewels of silver, &c.]  Lit. "vessels
as though he were a person of insignificant  of silver," &c.
character, see ch. xxix. 6, where he is altogether passed over, Laban being called the    55. days, at the least ten] Lit. " days
son of Nahor, who was his grandfather. (See  or ten."  Certain days or at least tell; unless
Blunt's' Coincidences,' p. 3s, and Words-  "days" be a phrase for the regular period
worth in loc.) Laban was evidently an active  of seven days, i.e. a week, when it would be
stirring man, as is manifested throughout the  " a week of days or ten days."




152                            GENESIS. XXIV.                                [v. 59-67.
and said unto her, sWilt thou go with        64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes,
this man?  And she said, I will go.   and when she saw  Isaac, she lighted
59 And they sent away Rebekah  off the camel.
their sister, and her nurse, and Abra-       65 For she had said unto the serham's servant, and his men.                vant, What man is this that walketh
60 And they blessed Rebekah, and  in the field to meet us? And the sersaid unto her, Thou art our sister, be  vant hadsaid, It is my master: therethou the mother of thousands of Iail-  fore she took a vail, and covered herlions, and let thy seed possess the gate  self.
of those which hate them.                    66 And the servant told Isaac all
6I  l And Rebekah arose, and her  things that he had done.
damsels, and  they  rode  upon  the          67 And Isaac brought her into his
camels, and followed the manl: and   mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebethe servant took Rebekah, and went  kah, and she became his wife; and he
his way.                                   loved her: and Isaac was comforted
62 And Isaac came from  the way   after his mother's death.
/chap. I6. of the fwell Lahai-roi; for he dwelt
l25.  in the south country.                                CHAPTER   XXV.
It Or,     63 And Isaac went out Ito medi-  I Tfhe soIs of Abrah/im by Keluferah. 5 T/e
o Piray.  tate in the field at the eventide: and    division of his goods. 7 His age, anld dealh.
he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and,    9 -is bzurial. 12 The enzerations of Ish/-.o ed. 17 II,s age, an d deatz/. I9 Isaac ray,behold, the camels were coming.              el/ foRebekahl, being ba7rren. 2T2 TechildrenJ
59. their sister]  Only one brother is  der "to pray;" some (Syr., Aben-Ezra) "to
mentioned, viz. Laban: but her relatives gene-  walk."  The word, however, appears most
rally are spoken of here, as saying of her,  probably to signify religious meditation (see
"Tanou art our sister, " sister being used in  Ges.'Thes.' p. 1322).  Such occupation
that wide sense for relation, in which brother  seems very characteristic of Isaac, whose
is so often found in Scripture.             whole life was so tranquil, and his temper
her nur-se]  Her name, Deborah, and her  and spirit so calmn and submissive, as suiting
death are mentioned ch. xxxv. 8.            one who was made an eminent type of Him,
who " was oppressed and afflicted, yet He
62.  And Isaac came from the'way of the  opened not His mouth: He was brought as
tvwell of Lahai-roi] Perhaps "Isaac had come  a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep befrom ajourney to Lahai-roi,'" or "had returned  fore her shearers is dumb, so He opened In)t
from g-oing to Lahai-roi."                  His mouth" (Is. liii. 7). St Jerome (' Qua. in
for he dexwelt in the south country] Probably at  Gen.') sees in this quiet meditation and prayer
Beer-sheba.  Abraham's later dwelling places  a type of Him "who went out into a mounhad been Hebron and Beer-sheba.  After the  tain apart to pray" (Matt. xiv. 23).
sacrifice of Isaac, we find him  dwelling at
Beer-sheba (xxii. I9), until we hear of the  4omary  for bothmen   and  women, when udeath of Sarah at Hebron. Very probablyor   t   e                        on,     
Abrm  r d ar ts t        Emir or great personage is approaching, to
Abraham  returned after this to Beer-sheba.
alight some time before he comes up with
And so Isaac, whether living with his father,  tle    oen frequently refuse to ride in
them. Women f           iequently refuse to ride in
or pitching his tent and feeding his flocks near  the presence of men; and when a company of
him, is here represented as dwelling in the  them are to pass through a town, they often
south country.  In ch. xxv. x we find that,  dismhunt and walk"  (homson,'Land an
after Abraham's death, Isaac took up his  doou, P         w93. "
residence at Lahai-roi, to which we find that
lie had been on a visit, when Rebekah arrived,    65. a               boail]  The long cloak-like vail,
where perhaps he had already been pasturing  with which the Eastern women covered their
his flocks and herds (Knobel).  All this is  faces (see Jerome in loc. and in: Comment.
in the strictest harmony; though the German  ad Jes.' III.; Tertullian,' De velandis Virgicritics discover the hand of the Elohist in  nibus' (Cap. xvi.). Even at this early period
chapter xxiii., und in the earlier verses of xxv.,  it seems to have been the custom for brides
and that of the Jehovist throughout xxiv.   not to suffer the bridegroom to see their faces
63.  to meditate]  So LXX., Vuig., but  before marriage (cp. ch. xxix. 23, 25).
the Targg., Sam., Arab., Saad., Rashi, ren-    67.  Sarah's tent]  See on v. 28.




V. - 7.1                  GENESIS. XXV.                                           I53
strive inz her 7cwomb. 24 The birt/h of Esau and    4 And the sons of Mlidian; Ephah,
Jacob. 27 Their dzeffer-ence. 29 EZsau sel/eth  and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah,
Inzs bsirthZ ZrigLt.                    and Eldaah.  All these were the chilHEN again Abraham took awife,  dren of Keturah.
and her name was Keturah.             5 qT And Abraham gave all that he
a Chron.   2 And ashe bare him Zimran, and  had unto Isaac.
1. 32.    Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and       6 But unto the sons of the concuIshbak, and Shuah.                       bines, which Abraham had, Abraham
3 And Jokshan begat Sheba, and  gave gifts, and sent them  away from
Dedan.  And  the  sons  of Dedan   Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastwere Asshurim, and Letushim, and  ward, unto the east country.
Leummim.                                    7 And these are the days of the years
CHAP. XXV. 1. Then again Abraham took  of Mecca, on the Red Sea; Jokshan with the
a'wife, and her name wnas Keturah]  The  Cassanitx on the Red Sea (Ptol. vi. 7, 6);
later Targg. and some other Jewish commen-  Ishbak with Shobek, in Idumma (Knobel,
tators (Rashi and R. Eliezer, in'Pirke,' c.  Del., Keil).
3c; see also Jerome,' Quj. in Gen.'), say that    Medan, and Midian] In ch. xxxvii. 28, 36,
Keturah was the same as Hagar, whom Abra-  the Midianites and Medanites are identified.
ham  took again, after Sarah's death. This  The Midianites dwelt partly in the peninsula
seems inconsistent with v. 6, which speaks of  of Sinai, partly beyond Jordan, in the neigh"the concubines" in the plural, meaning,  bourhood of the Moabites. WVe meet with
doubtless, Hagar and Keturah. The latter,  them first as the merchants to whom Joseph
though called wife here, is called concubine  Was sold by his brethren (as ch xxxvii. 28
in I Chron. i. 32.  Moreover, in I Chron. i.  sqq.), trafficking between Egypt and Canaan.
28, 32, the sons of Keturah are named sepa-  Next we find Moses flying to the land of Mirately from Isaac and Ishmael. The concu-  dian, and marrying the daughter of a priest
bine (Pilegesh) was a kind of secondary wife,  of Midian, Exod. ii. I5, I6, zI, whose flocks
sometiWes called " the concubine wife," Judg.  pastured in the diesert, in the neighbourhood
xix. I; z S. xv. x6; xx. 3. It is generally  of MloulntHoreb (Ex. iii. i). Later we find
supposed, that Abraham did not take Keturah  the people of Midian in immediate juxta-poto wife, till after Sarah's death. So the fa-  sition with the Moabites (Num. xxii. 4, xxv.
thers generally.  Abraham lived to the age of  6, 17, I8),  We find them afterwards as forI75. If we consider this extreme old age as  midable neighbours to the Israelites, invading
equivalent to eighty-five or ninety in the pre-  and oppressing them, though afterwards exsent day, his age at the time of Sarah's death  pelled and conquered (Judg. vi. vii. viii.).  It
would correspond to that of a man of from   has been thought that traces of the name of
sixty-five to seventy now.                 Midian may be found in Modiana on the
Some, however, think, that Abraham took  Eastern coast of the Elanitic Gulf menKeturah to  be a secondary wife, during  tioned by Ptolemy (at,  7), (Knobel).
Sarah's life, though no mention is made of
this marriage till this time, as the chief pur-    3. Sheba, and Dedan] Are named, ch.
pose of mentioning~ it xwas that some account  x. 7, among the descendants of Cush.  It has
should be given of Keturah's children. So  been thought that in these as in other inKeil, Poole (in'Dict. of Bible'), &c. It is  stances, the Shemite and Hamite races interimpossible to decide this question, as the text  married, and that there consequently arose a
gives no note of time. The Authorised Ver-  certain confusion in their names, or that very
sion indeed renders, " Then again Abraham   probably they adopted names froIn those with
took a wife," but the Hebrew only conveys  whom they were thus connected (see on ch.
the notion that Abraham took another wife.   x 6, 7; also Ges. Thes.' p. 322).
2. she bare him Zimran]  Josephus ('A.    4. Ephah] We meet with this MidianJ.' I. Ir.) tells us that the descendants of  itish tribe in Is. Ix. 6, as a people rich in
Keturah occupied the Troglodyte country  camels and gold and incense. The attempts
and Arabia Felix, which statement is repeated  to identify the various descendants of Ketuby Jerome (' Qu. Heb. in Gen.'). Some of their rah, mentioned in this chapter, with the
names occur among the Arab tribes, but it is  names of tribes or cities known to later geonot easy to identify them all clearly      graphers and historians, may be seen in KnoZimran has been thought to be  identified  beI, Del., KeiI, &c. The uncertainty of such
with  the Zabram of Ptolemy (vt. 7, S), the  identification is very great.
royal city of the Cinwdocolpitm to the West    6. eastwzard, unto the east country] That




154                            GENESIS. XXV.                              [v. 8 —2x.
of Abraham's life which he lived, an        14  And Mishma, and Dumah, and
hundred threescore and fifteen years.   Massa,
8 Then  Abraham  gave  up the            15 "HHadar, and Tema, Jetur, Nanghost, and died in a good old age, an  phish, and Kedemah:
old man, and full of years; and was         i6 These are the sons of Ishmael,
gathered to his people.                  and these are their names, by their
9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael  towns, and by their castles; twelve
buried him in the cave of Machpelah,  princes according to their nations.
ill the field of Ephron  the  son  of       17 And these are the years of the
Zohar the Hittite, which  is before  life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty
Mamre;                                   and seven years: and he gave up the
I chap. 23.  IO0  The field which Abraham pur-  ghost and  died; and was gathered
i6.    chased of the sons of Heth: there was  unto his people.
Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.         I8 And they dwelt from  Havilah
i I ST And it came to pass after the  unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as
death of Abraham, that God blessed  thou goest toward Assyria: and he
his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the  tdied in the presence of all his bre-I*U
c chap. x6. cwell Lahai-roi.                     thren.'14
& 24. 62.    I2 qT Now these are the generations    I9 qT And these are the generaof Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom   tions of Isaac, Abraham's son; AbraHagar the Egyptian, Sarah's hand-  ham begat Isaac:
maid, bare unto Abraham:                   20 And Isaac was forty years old
d'Chron.   13 And dthese are the names of  when he took Rebekah to wife, the
1 29.   the sons of Ishmael, by their names,  daughter of Bethuel the  Syrian of
according to their generations: the  Padan-aram, the sister to Laban the
firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and  Syrian.
Kedat, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,             2I And Isaac intreated the LORD
is into Arabia, the inhabitants ou which were  the heavenly Jerusalem," spoken of in Heb.
called Bene-Kedem,;'childreil of the East"  xii. 22, and which God is said to have pre(Judg. vi. 3; I K. iv. 30; Job i. 3  Is. xi. I4). pared for the faithful patriarchs, Heb. xi. i6.
and afterwards I"Saracens," i.e. " Easterns."  9. his sons Isaac and Ishmael] From
8. Abraham gave zop the ghost] The his-  this we see that Ishmael, though sent to dwell
tory of Abraham is thus wound up b -fore  Eastward, had not lost sight of his father
the history of Isaac's family is told. Abra-  and Isaac; and very probably their father's
ham did not die till Jacob and Esau were  death reconciled the two brothers to each
born. Indeed they were fifteen years old at  other. Isaac is put first as the heir, and the
Abraham's death: for he died at I75, Isaac  heir of the promises.
was then seventy-fiye years old, but Esau    16. castles] See on Num. xxxi. 1o.
and Jacob were born when Isaac was sixty    19. And these are the generations of Isaac,
(see v. 26).                              Abraham's son]  This is the beginning of a
cwas gathered to his people] This cannot  new Section in the history of Genesis, which
mean that he was buried where his fathers  continues to the end of ch. xxxv. Accordhad been buried, for he had been a hundred  ing to the uniform plan of the author, there
years a pilgrim in the land of Israel, far from  is a brief recapitulation, in order to make
the home of his ancestors, and he was buried  the Section complete. In this case it is very
in the cave of Machpelah. The place therefore  brief, consisting of the latter part of v. I9,
seems to indicate the belief of the patriarchal  and v. 20.
ages in a place of departed spirits, to which    20. the Syrian of Padan-aram]  The
thc souls of the dead were gathered. Thus  Aramean of Padan-aram. Padan-aram
Jacob expected to " go down into the grave  is the " plain or flat land of Aram," translated
(to Sheol) unto his son," though he did not  or paraphrased in Hosea xii. I2 by Sedehbelieve his son to have been buried, but to  Airam, "the field or plain of Aram."  In the
have been devoured by wild beasts (ch. xxxvii.  last chapter the country of Rebekah is called
35; compare also Deut. xxxii. so50).  St Au-  Aram-Naharaim, or Aram of the two rivers.
gustine (' Qu. in Gen.' 268) interprets the words  See on ch. xxiv. Io. There is no reasonable
"his people," of "the people of that city,  foundation for the belief that Padain-aram




v.X22-25.]                GENESIS. XXV.                                           155
for his wife, because she was barren:  two manner of people shall be sepaand the LORD was intreated of him,  rated from  thy bowels; and the one
and Rebekah his wife conceived.           people shall be stronger than the other
22 And the children struggled to-  people; and ethe elder shall serve the ~Rom. g
gether within her; and she said, If it  younger.                                  12'
be so, why am I thus? And she weont    24 Iq And when her days to be deto inquire of the LORD.                   livered  were  fulfilled, behold, there
23 And the LORD said unto her,  were twins in her womb.
Two nations are in thy womb, and            25 And the first came out red, all
was the old name used by the so-called Elo-  likely, by going to a prophet. The Jerusahist, Aram-Naharaim being the name which  lem  Targum, followed by several Jewish
had been adopted by the later Jehovist. It  commentators says, she went to Shem; others
was natural that the historian, when relating  say to Melchizedec.  Abraham, who was
the embassy of Eliezer of Damascus to Me-  still living, was the head of the family then
sopotamia to seek a wife for Isaac, should  dwelling in Palestine; he had been specially
have used the general name of the country  honoured by revelations from heaven; and
into which- Eliezer was sent, whereas in the  was probably esteemed the patriarch-priest of
present Section more particularity is to be  the whole race. It is most likely, therefore,
expected, where Jacob is described as sojourn-  that if the inquiry was made through a man,
ing for years in Padan-aram, the land of it would have been made through him. Still
Laban; just as in one case it might be natural  we may conclude with St Augustine (' Qu.'
to speak of going into Scotland, whilst in a  72), that nothing is certain except that Remore detailed account, we might prefer to  bekah went to ask of the Lord, and that the
speak of the Highlands of Scotland, or the  Lord answered her.
Lowlands, or of some particular county or
district.i 23. lvwo nations, &c.] The response is
in antistrophic parallelisms, a poetic form, in
21. Isaac  intreated the LORD for his  which no doubt it was more readily handed
cuife, because she cvas barren]  This barren-  down from father to son:
ness had lasted twenty years (v. 26). Another instance of the delay in the fulfilment   Two nations are in  thy womb:
of God's promises, and of the trial of the    and   two  peoples shall be sepafaith of those for whom the greatest blessings   rated from  thy bowels;
are reserved. The word here used for prayer   and nation shall be stronger than
is by many thought to mean frequent and re-      nation,
peated prayer; implying the anxious desire of  and  the  elder  shall  serve  the
Isaac to be blessed with offspring. Gesenius     younger.
(p. Io85) thinks the word is connected with  To this see the reference Mal. i. 2, 3, "Jacob
a root signifying  "to offer incense," which  have I loved, and Esau have I hated," and in
certainly appears to belong to it in Ezek. viii.  Rom. ix. o10-I3, where St Paul shews that
Ir. If it be so, we must believe that the pa-  election to the privilege of being the depositriarchal worship, which from  the earliest  tories of God's truth and the Church of God
times was accompanied with sacrifice, had  on earth is inscrutable, but not therefore nealso, whether from Divine revelation or from   cessarily unjust or unmerciful. Such election
an instinctive feeling, adopted the use of in-  indeed plainly marks that God does not choose
cense.                                     men as His instruments because of their merits,
22; If it be so, cwhy am  I thus?]  An  but it does not shew that He is therefore simobscure saying.  The Vulg. and TPargums  ply arbitrary. In all there is a hidden stream
eunder, "If it was to be thus with me, why  of mercy flowing. The chosen race shall be
did I conceivew"   The Arabic has, "If I  made the means of salvation to others as well
had known it would be thus, I would not  astothemselves. Their privilegeswillbeblessed
have sought for offspring." Much to the same  to them, if they use those privileges faithfully
effect Rashi, "If such be the sufferings of
effect Rashi, "If such be the sufferings Of  Otherwisewhilst they are the channels of God's
pregnancy, why did I desire it?" The Syriac  grace to their brethren, they themselves will
and most of the German Comm. understand  be cast out, and others shall come into their
it, " If it be so, wherefore do I live?"  inheritance..nd she cvent to inquire of the LORD] By    25. red, all over like an hairy garment]
prayer, or by sacrifice, perhaps at some spe-  He seemed as if covered with a kind of fur, a
cial place of prayer; as to the domestic altar  thick down, which is said to be found on some
of Isaac (Theodor.'Qu. in Gen.'), or more  new born infants. It gave an animal appear.




:56                              GENESIS. XXV.                               [v. 26-32.
over like an hairy garment; and they  the did eat of his venison: but Rebe I Hnb.
called his name Esau.                     kah loved Jacob.                          z..s..   hfi
26 And after that came his brother        29 q[ And Jacob sod pottage: and.,.oul/.
/ hIos. 12. out, andfhis hand took hold on Esau's  Esau came from  the field, and he was
3,      heel; and his name was called Jacob:  faint:
and  Isaac was threescore years old          30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed
when she bare them.                        ne, I pray thee,  with that same red t Heb.
27 And the boys grew: and Esau  pottage; for I am faint: therefore was re,,hz.',
was a cunning hunter, a man of the  his name called,Edom.                          tkat red
field; and  Jacob was a plain man,           31 And  Jacob said, Sell me this- aThti
dwelling in tents.                         day thy birthright.                      Red.
28 And Isaac loved Esau, because           32 And Esau said, Behold, I am
ance to Esau, and probably indicated his more  favourite son to sin against truth and justice,
sensual nature.  Owing to this he was called  and brought heavy trials and sorrows on them
Esau,  hairy."                              both.
Jacob]  Meaning, literally, "he holds the    30.  Feed me, I pray thee,'with that same
heel;" but, from the act of a person tripping  red pottage]  Let me, I pray thee, detup an adversary in wrestling or running by  vour some of that red, that red. The
taking hold of the heel, it signifies also to  words express the vehemence of the appetite,
"' trip up," "to outwit," " to supplant." (See  and probably the very words uttered by Esau
xxvii. 36).                                 in his impatient hunger and weariness.  The
red lentil is still esteemed in the East, and has
27. a cunning hunter] Skilled in llunt-  been found very palatable by modern traveling.  Instead of following the quiet pastoral  lers (Robinson,'Bib. Res.' I. 246). Dr Kitto
life of his forefathers, Esau preferred the wilder  says he often partook of a red pottage made
life or a hunter, betokening his wild, restless,  of lentils. "Thie mess had the redness, which
self-indulgent character, and leading him pro-  gained for it the name of red" ('Pict. Bib.'
bably to society with the heathen Canaanites  Gen. xxv. 30, quoted in Smith's'Dict. of
round about.                                Bib.' II. 92). It is also described by Thoma  zman of th Jfield] This is antithetic to  son,'Land and Book,' p. 587, as exhaling an
what follows, "ha dweller in tents."  It pro-  odour very tempting to a hungry man.
bablv indicates still more fully the wild life of    therefore cwas his name'called Edom] Names
Esau. Instead of spending his life in the society  appear to have been frequently given from ac-.
of his family, returning to his tent after the  cidental causes, especially in the East; and
day's labour at night, he roved over the coun-  sometimes the occurrence of more than one.
try, like the uncivilized hunters in half savage  circumstance to the same person seems to
lands.                                      have riveted a name.  Thus we read above
that Esau was born with red hair and colour.
Jacob cqvas  a plain man]  An upright.
Jacoba,     a  man of steady, domestic, moral  His frantic demand for red pottage and selling
habits.'         his birthright to gain it, may have conspired
with his hair and complexion to stamp the
dewelling in tents] i.e. staying at home, at-  name Edom (or Red) upon him. The contending to the pasturing of the flocks and the  jecture of Tuch and others, that the name
business of the family, instead of wandering  was connected with the Red Sea, near which
abroad in search of pleasure and amusement.  the Edomites dwelt, is wholly groundless.
(See Ges.'Thes.' p. 634.)                  The Red Sea was never so called in early
times, or in Semitic tongues. The name Red
28.  Isaac louved Esau, because he did eat  was given in later days to this sea by the
of his venison]  Lit. " because venison was in  Greeks.
his mouth." The bold daring of Eiau was,
perhaps by force of contrast, pleasant to the    31. Sell me this day thy birthright]  It is
quiet spirit of Isaac. That quiet temper was  doubtful what privileges the birthright carnot strong enough to rule such a restless  ried with it in patriarchal times.  In after
youth; there was also a marked selfishness in  times a double portion of the patrimony was
Isaac's affection, which brought with it its  assigned to the firstborn by law (Deut. xxi.
own punishment.  The mother, on the con-  i-c I7); but in the earliest days the respect
trary, loved the well-conducted and helpful  paid to the eldest son is very apparent; and
Jacob.  Yet her love too was not guided by  as the family spread out into a tribe, the
the highest principle, and so led her and her  patriarchal head became a chieftain or prince.




v. 33 —.]            GENESIS. XXV. XXXVI.                                               57
teIb.,    tat the point to die: and what profit
dieg.   shall this birthright do to me?                      CHAPTER  XXVI.
33 And Jacob said, Swear to me   1 Isaac becauzse offamine went to Gerar. ^ God
this day; and  he sware unto him'   instructeth, and blesseth hint. 7 I-e is reraoved
6Heb.,2 and  "he  sold  his  birthright  unto    by AC bmelch for denying his wX.  sr Ife
birthright            groweth rich. i8 He di ~kesek, Si
Jacob.                                        and Rehoboth. 26 Abivzelech maketh a cove34 Then  Jacob gave Esau bread    znant with hint at Beer-sheba.  34 Esauz's
and  pottage of lentiles; and he did    wives.
eat and drink, and rose up, and went   AND  there was a famine in the
his way: thus Esau despised his birth-.          land, beside the first famine that
right.                                     was in the days of Abraham.  And
It also looks as if the head of the family exer-  we see his better feelings overcoming his vincised a kind of priesthood. Then the father's  dictiveness.  Whatever his own final state
chief blessing was given to his firstborn son.  with God may have been, he has disinherited
Abrove all, in the family of Abraham, there  his children, left them wild men of the desert
was a promise of peculiar spiritual privileges,  and the rocks, instead of leaving them  heirs
which, if not fully understood, would have  of the promises and ancestors of the Messiah.
been much dwelt upon by believing minds.  Jacob, with a less prosperous life, has yet
All this -was to Esau of little account com-  gone through a long training and chastening
pared with the desire of present gratification  from the God of his fathers, to whose care
of appetite.  It has been thought, not im-  and guidance he had given himself; he suffers
probably, that the famine impending (see  heavily, but he learns from that he suffered;
xxvi. I) was already, more or less, pressing on  at last he geses down to Egypt to die, cornmthe family of Isaac (Lightfoot,'Harm. of  forted in having his children yet alive, confessO. T.' in loc.). Esau had perhaps been seek-  ing that few and evil had been the days of
ing in vain for food in the chase, whilst Jacob  the years of his pilgrimage, but yet able to
had prepared a mess of pottage, sufficient to  say in peaceful confidence upon his deathbed,
relieve the pains of hunger.  If it were so,  "I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD."
Esau, wearied and famished, may have been  H-e has inherited the promises; but for trying
strongly tempted to give up much for food.  by unworthy means to anticipate the promise
But his worldly and "'profane" character is  of inheritance, he has to go through a life of
exhibited in his contempt for that, which was,  trial, sorrow, and discipline, and to die at last,
whether in a worldly or in a spiritual point of  not in the land of promise, but in the house
view, rather an object of faith or sentiment,  of bondage.
than of sight and sense. Jacob, a man of
wridely different character, had probably looked  CHAP. XXVI. 1. Abimelech]  It has been
with reverence on the spiritual promises, though  doubted whether this be the Abimelech with
with culpable ambition for the personal pre-  whom Abraham was concerned or not. The
eminence of the firstborn. He and Esau were  events related in this chapter took place about
twins, and it may have seemed hard to him  eighty years after those related in ch. xx.
to be shut out from  the chief hope of his  It is not therefore impossible, when men
house by one not older than himself, and  lived to I8o, that the same king may still
whose character was little worthy of his posi-  have been reigning over the Philistines; and it
tion.  This may be some excuse for his con-  has been thought that the character described
duct, but the sacred history, whilst exposing  here is very similar to that in ch. xx.  It
the carnal indifference of Esau, does not ex-  seems more probable that the present Abimetenuate the selfishness of Jacob. Throughout  lech should have been the son or successor of
their history, Esau is the bold, reckless, but  the earlier king. Names were very frequently
generous and openhearted man of this world;  handed down to the grandson, recurring alJacob, on the contrary, is a thoughtful, reli-  ternately, and this may very possibly have
gious man, but with many infirmities, and  been the case here: but moreover, Ahbimelech
especially with that absence of simplicity and  (father king, or father of the king), may very
uprightness, which often characterizes those  likely have been, like Pharaoh, a title rather
who  have  made their choice of heaven  than a name, so also Phichol (the mouth of all,
and yet let their hearts linger too much on  i.e. commanding all), sounds like the title of
earth.                                       the commander in chief or the grand vizier,
The events correspond with the characters  Cp. xxi. 22, xxvi. 26.
of the men.  Esau lives on his rough and       Gerar]  The chief city of the Philistines
reckless life; though towards the end of it  now Kirbet el Gerar.




I58                           GENESIS. XXVI.                                [v. 2-12.
Isaac went unto Abimelech king of  my  wife; lest, said he, the men of
the Philistines unto Gerar.               the place should kill me for Rebekah;
2 And the  LORD  appeared  unto  because she was fair to look upon.
him, and  said, Go  not down into           8 And it came to pass, when he
Egypt; dwell in the land which I  had  been  there  a long  time, that
shall tell thee of:                       Abimelech king of the Philistines look3 Sojourn in this land, and I will  ed out at a window, and saw, and,
be with thee, and will bless thee; for  behold, Isaac was sporting with Rea chap. 13. unto thee, and unto thy seed, aI will  bekah his wife.
T 51.  give all these countries, and I will         9 And Abitnelech called Isaac, and
perform the oath which I sware unto  said, Behold, of a surety she is thy
Abraham thy father;                      wife: and how saidst thou, She is my
4 And I will make thy seed to  sister? And Isaac said unto him, Bemultiply as the stars of heaven, and  cause I said, Lest I die for her.
will give unto thy seed all these coun-     io And Abimelech said, What is
tries; and  in thy seed shall all the  this thou hast done unto us? one of
1 2:,.p.,. nations of the earth be bblessed;     the people might lightly have lien with
22. I5.18   5 Because that Abraham  obeyed  thy wife, and  thou  shouldest have
my voice, and kept my charge, my  brought guiltiness upon us.
commandments, my statutes, and my           I I And Abimelech charged all his
laws.                                     people, saying, He that toucheth this
6  T And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:         man or his wife shall surely be put to
7 And the men of the place asked  death.
him  of his wife; and he said, She is        It Then Isaac sowed in that land,
my sister: for he feared to say, She is  and treceived  in the same year anc,,H
2. the LORD appeared unto him]  The  sin, and the deep importance of strict truthlast recorded vision was at the sacrifice of  fulness had not been fully unfolded to the
Isaac more than sixty years before, ch. xxii.  patriarchs in their twilight state of faith.
These revelations were not so frequent as  The difference in the details of this story
they seem to us, as we read one event rapidly  and the events in the life of Abraham is too
after the other, but just sufficient to keep up  marked to allow it to be thought that this is
the knowledge of God and the faith of the  only a repetition of the histories in ch. xii.
patriarchs in the line of the chosen people  and xx. In the history of Abraham Sarah
and of the promised seed.                  was taken into the house of Pharaoh, and
Go not down into Egypt]  "In the first  afterwards into that of Abimelech, and in
If~amine, which was in the days of Abrahame " f both cases preserved by Divine intervention.
Abraham had gone down to Egypt. Proba-  In the history of Isaac, there is no apparent
intention on the part of Abimelech to take
bly, after this example, and from the plenty  intention on the part of Abimelech to take
with which  Egypt was blessed, Isaac had  Rebekah into his house, but he accidentally
p     dith which Egypt was blessred, Isaac had  discovers that Isaac and Rebekah were not
purposed to go down there now,             brother and sister but husband and wife, and
3. Sojourn in this land]  He was the  then reproves Isaac for his concealment of
heir, to whom the land had been promised.  the truth, on the ground that so some of his
He is to dwell in it, as a stranger and so-  people might have ignorantly taken Rebekah
journer, and not to be tempted by suffering  to wife.
to go down to that land of spiritual danger,
from which his father so narrowly escaped.   12. sored in that land;  The patriarchs
were not so wholly nomadic and pastoral
4. all these countries] The lands of the  in their habits of life as to neglect agriculdifferent Canaanitish tribes named in ch. xv.  ture entirely. Even the Bedouins practise
I9 —z2. The pronoun here rendered "'these", agriculture at the present day as well as grazis one of those ancient forms peculiar to the  ing (Robinson,' B. R.' Vol. I. p. 77).
Pentateuch (ha-el; in the later books it would
bteB kacr-elev).                             an hundredfold] An hundred measures;
i.e. probably a hundred measures for each
7. She is my sister]  Isaac acted on this  measure sown, a very unusual increase, though
occasion just as Abraham had done in Egypt  not quite unknown in a virgin soil, especially
and in Philistia.  Probably too, he called  if -the corn were barley. (The LXX. an'd
kebeklh his sister because she was his cou-  Syr. render here "a hundred of barley,"




v. 13 —29.1             GENESIS. XXVI.                                        I59
hundredfold: and the LORD  blessed        22 And he removed from thence,
him.                                   and digged another well; and for that
I3 And the man waxed great, and  they strove not: and he called the
Heb.  twent forward, and grew until he be-  name of it  Rehoboth; and he said,  That is
Oi,z.g    came very great:                     For now the LORD hath made room
14 For he had possession of flocks,  for us, and we shall be fruitful in the
and possession of herds, and great  land.
POr,   store of llservants: and the Philistines   23 And he went up from  thence
dsbary.    envied him.                         to Beer-sheba.
I5 For all the wells which his fa-    24 And the LORD appeared unto
ther's servants had digged in the days  him  the same night, and said, I am
of Abraham his father, the Philistines  the God of Abraham thy father: fear
had stopped them, and filled them   not, for I am with thee, and will bless
with earth.                            thee, and multiply thy seed for my
i6 And Abimelech said unto Isaac,  servant Abraham's sake.
Go  from  us;  for thou art much          25 And he builded an altar there,
mightier than we.                      and called upon the name of the LORD,
I7 $l And Isaac departed thence,  and pitched his tent there: and there
and pitched his tent in the valley of  Isaac's servants digged a well.
Gerar, and dwelt there.                   26 ~T Then Abimelech went to him
i8 And Isaac digged again  the  from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his
wells of water, which they had digged  friends, and Phichol the chief captain
in the days of Abraham  his father;  of his army.
for the Philistines had stopped them      27 And  Isaac  said  unto  them,
after the death of Abraham: and he  Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye
called their names after the names by  hate me, and have sent me away from
which his father had called them.      you?
I9 And Isaac's servants digged in    28 And they said, tWe saw cer-tHb.
the valley, and found there a well of  tainly that the LORD was with thee: seW.'g we
t Helm   t springing water.                    and we said, Let there be now an oath
20 And the herdmen of Gerar did  betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee,
strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying,  and let us make a covenant with thee;
The water is ours: and he called the      29 tthat thou wilt do us no hurt, t Heb.
n That is, name of the well 1 Esek; because they  as we have not touched thee, and as',~o,,:,tf,.    strove with him.                     we have done unto thee nothing but
2,  And they digged another well,  good, and have sent thee away in
and strove for that also: and he called  peace: thou art now  the blessed of
Ia-.eI  the name of it "1 Sitnah.              the LORD.
which Michaelis and others have adopted.  now filled up, twelve feet in diameter, and
rhe reading and rendering of the Authorised  regularly built with hewn stone (Robinson,
Version are more generally supported, and are'Phys. Geog.' p. 243; see also' B. R.' p. 289).
probably correct.) The fertility of the soil   26. Phichol] See on v. i. The name sigin this neighbourhood is still very great.  nifies "the mouth of all," which would be
17. the valley of Gerar] The word for applicable to a grand vizier, through whom
uvalley signifies properly the bed or course of a  all might have access to the sovereign, or to a
stream or mountain torrent, a wady. It is not  general whose voice gave command to all.
easy to say which of the valleys running to  The former sense would seem the more prothe sea, South of Beer-sheba, may be identified  bable, if it had not been said that Phichol was
with this valley of Gerar (see Robinson,' the chief captain of the artny."'Physical Geography,' p. II2).             29.  thou art now  the blessed of the
22. Rehoboth] Probably identified,as to  LORD] WVe have here twice (see v. 28) the
ite with the Wady er-Ruhaibeh, where are  sacred name JEHOVAH, used by the heathen
the ruins of an extensive city, eight hours  king of Gerar. This does not, however, inSouth of Beer-sheba. Here is an ancient well,  dicate that the writer of this porticn of th:




i6o                     GENESIS. XXVI. XXVII.   [v. 30 —.
30 And he made them  a feast, and  daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and
they did eat and drink.                    Bashemath the daughter of Elon the
3   And  they  rose up betimes in   Hittite:
the morning, and sware one to an-            35 Which cwere ta grief of mind  chap. 27
other: and Isaac sent them away, and  unto Isaac and to Rebekah.                    iIeb.
they departed from him  in peace.                 CHAPTER  XXVII.                   vistirit.
32 And it came to pass the same                sendet Esau  r venison. 6 Pebea
day, that Isaac's servants came, and    instructehs 7ctcob to obtainz i/e blessingz. 15
told him  concerning the well which           aIcob nuzder the person of EsaZ  obtainetA it.
they had digged, and said unto him,    30 EsaL bricSgetlaveiso,. d,3 Isnaac teinb/eyo.
34 Esazt copl7tzinelh,  atd by ziio;trlunztly obvh/e have found water.                      taineth a blessing. 4I Ile threatenet/h _acob.! That is,    33 And he called it I" Shebah: there-    42 rebesao/l  disop/oinzeth it.....anis. fore the name of the city is "Beer-          ND  it came to pass, that when
II That is,                                          a
te ueofsheba unto this day..X   Isaac was old, and his eyes were
a 3   q1 And  Esau was forty years  dim, so  that he could  not see, he
old when he took to wife Judith the  called Esau his eldest son, and said
history had so-called Jehovistic tendencies,  300).  It is supposed by Robinson, that the
or that he simply identified the name JEHo-  one is that dug by Abraham, the other that
vAII with the name Elohim.  Abraham had  dug by Isaac; the name having been afterdwelt for some time in Gerar, either under  wards given to both.
this very Abimelech, or under his immediate
predecessor.  Abraham was known as a wor-                                    &c.] Isaac
shipper of JuEovAhI, and was seen to be  was now a hundred years old.  Esau marblessed and prospered by hin s  seGod.  Now   ries two wives and both of them Canaanites.
again Abraham's son Isaac comes and so-t of his polygamy and his mar
journs for a long time in the same country.  rying without consent of his parents from
He too worships his father's God, and is  among the idolatrous Hittites and Hivites
seen, li!ke his father, to prosper abundantly.  (see ch. xxxvi. 2), he is called I' a fornicator"
The Philistines therefore recognize him, as  by the Apostle (Heb. xii I6).  These two
This f ither, to be a woreshipper of JEiHOVA,  verses do not belong so much to this chapter
and perceive that he has succeeded to his fa-  as to the next. The account of  sau's mar
ther in the favour of their great Protector.  rage, and the consequent grief of Isaac and
Abhimelech does not profess himself a wor-  Rebekah, is intended to prepare the way for
shipper of the LORD, but looks on the LORD  the succeeding history.
as the God of Abraham, and sees that Abra-    35. a grief of mind]  A bitterness of
ham's son Isaac is "Inow the blessed of the  spirit.
LORD."
33.  he called it Shebah: therefore the    CHAP. XXVII. 1. Isaac Iwas oldt  The
name of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day]  Jewish intepreters say he was now one hun"Shebah" means both seven and oath; the  dred and thirty-seven years old, the age at
number seven being a sacred number among  which Ishmael died fourteen years before,
the Hebrews, and oaths being apparently  and it is not improbable that the thought of
ratified vwith presents or sacrifices seven in  his brother's death at this age put Isaac in
number (see ch. xxi. 28). There is no in-  mind of his own end. The calculation on
consistency in the history which tells us that  which it is inferred that Isaac was one hunAbraham gave the name of Beer-sheba to this  dred and thirty-seven, Esau and Jacob being
well long before, and under similar circum-  seventy-seven at this time, is as follows;
stances. The well, dug by Abraham, and  Joseph was thirty years old when he stood
secured to him by oath, had been covered  before Pharaoh (Gen. xli. 46), then came
and lost. It is found by Isaac's servants just  seven years of plenty (v. 47-353), which made
after the covenant made between him  and  Joseph  thirty-seven; then  two  years of
Abimelech. The whole series of events re-  famine ere Jacob came into Egypt (ch. xlv.
calls to Isaac's mind the original name, and  6), which brings Joseph's age to thirty-nine;
that which gave rise to the name, and so he  but at this time Jacob was one hundred and
restores, not the well only, but the name  thirty; therefore Jacob must have been ninealso. " Upon the Northern side of the WVady  ty-one when Joseph was born.  Now Joseph
es-Seba are the two deep and ancient wells,  was born in the last year of the second seven,
which gave occasion to this name" (Robin-  or in the fourteenth year of Jacob's service
son,'Phys. Geog.' p. 242;'B. R.' I. p.  with Laban, at the very end of that year




.o ~ —8.s]               GENESIS. XXVII.                                             I6I
unto him, My son: and he said unto            5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac
him, Behold, here am I.                    spake to  Esau his son.  And Esau
2 And he said, Behold now, I am   went to the field to huntfor venison,
old, I know  not  the  day  of my  and to bring it.
death:                                       6 qT And Rebekah spake unto Ja3 Now therefore take, I pray thee,  cob her son, saying, Behold, I heard
thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow,  thy father speak unto Esau thy brother,
t Hea.   and go out to the field, and Itake me  saying,
some venison;                                7 Bring me venison, and make me
4 And make me savoury meat, such  savoury meat, that I may eat, and
as I love, and bring it to me, that I  bless thee before the LORD before my
may eat; that my soul may bless thee  death.
before I die.                                8 Now therefore, my son, obey my
(ch. xxx. 25, 26). Take fourteen years out  it from  him  for ever by a solemn oath.
of ninety-one, Jacob's age when Joseph was  Moreover, in order that his heart may be the
born, and we have seventy-seven for the age  more warmed to him whom  he desires to
of Jacob, when he was sent away from the  bless, he seeks to have some of that savoury
wrath of Esau to the house of Laban.  (See  meat brought to him which he loved.
Lightfoot's'Harmony of Old Testament' in
loc., works by Pitman, I822, Vol. II. pp. 96,
97).  If this calculation be true, Isaac had: no doubt treasured up the oracle which had
l  Ifo  threis   yealnber tolruie, hIsaac had  assured her, even before their birth, that her
still forty-three years to live, his quiet life  younger son Jacob, whom she loved, should
having been extended to an unusual length. younger son Jacob, whom she loved, shold
There is however great risk of numerical calT~here is however great risk of numerical cal   bear rule over Esau, whose wild and reckless
culations from various causes being inexact.  "bitterness of soule  Lo' her. She probably
The last chapter had brought us down only  knew  that Jacob had bought Esau's birthto the hundredth year of Isaac's life, Esaun
tobeing then  but forty  and   in  some  respects  right. Now, believing rightly that the father's
being then but forty; and in some respects  benediction would surely bring blessing with
an earlier date seems more accordant w;rith  benediction would surely bring blessing with
an earlier date seems more accordant with
the tenor of the subsequent history, it being    l she fears that these promises and hopes
hardly probable that Jacob should have been  faith  fil  She believed, but not with that
seventy-seven when he fled to Laban and, which can patiently abide till God
served seven years for his wife, and then  works out His plans by His Providence. So
another seven years for his second wife; even                     to force forward the
at a period when human life was still ex-  event by unlawful means; even, as some have
thought that Judas betrayed Christ that he
tended so far beyond that of fuiture genera-   ght           
1 t  s.               r                1 z *e might force Him  to declare Himselfla ing
tions. On the chronology of Jacob's life see  and to take the kingdom. Every character
nlote at the end of ch xxxi.                and to take the kingdom.  Every character
in this remarkable history comes in for some
3. quiver]  So LXX., Vulg., Pseudo-  share of blame, and yet some share of praise.
Jon.: but Onkelos, Syr. have "sword." The  Isaac, with the dignity of the ancient patriarch
Iewoish commentators are divided between  and faith in the inspiring Spirit of God,
the two senses. The word occurs nowhere  prepares to bless his son, but he lets carnal
else, but is derived from a verb meaning to  and worldly motives weigh with him. Re"hang," to  "suspend," which would suit  bekah and Jacob, seeing the promises afar
either the  quiver which  hung  over the  off and desiring the spiritual blessings, yet
shoulder, or the sword, the "hanger," which  practise deceit and fraud to obtain them,
was suspended by the side.                 instead of waiting till He who promised
4. that my soul may bless thee]  There  should  shew  Himself faithful.  Esau, deappears a singular mixture of the carnal and  frauded of what seems his right, exhibits a
the spiritual in this.  Isaac recognizes his  natural feeling of sorrow  and indignIation,
own character as that of the priestly and  which excites our pity and sympathy; but we
prophetic head of his house, privileged to  have to remember how  "for a morsel of
bless as father and priest, and to foretell the  meat he sold his birthright," and that so,
fortunes of his family in succession to Abra-  when he would have inherited the promises
ham  in his office of the prophet of God.  he was rejected, being set forth as an example
Yet his carnal affection causes him to forget  of the unavailing regret of such as wantonly
the response to the enquiry of Rebekah, "the  despise spiritual privileges, and when they
elder shall serve the younger," and the fact  have lost them, seek too late for the blessings,
that Esau had sold his birthright and alienated  to which they lead,
VOL. I.                                                                   L




162                          GENESIS. XXVII.                                [v. 9 —24.
voice according to that which I com-         I7 And she gave the savoury meat
mand thee.                                and the bread, which she had prepared,
9 Go now  to the flock, and fetch  into the hand of her son Jacob.
me from thence two good kids of the         I8 ql And he came unto his father,
goats; and I will make them  savoury  and said, My father: and he said,
meat for thy father) such as he loveth:  Here am I; who art thou, my son?
Io And thou shalt bring it to thy         19 And Jacob said unto his father,
father, that he may eat, and that he  I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done
may bless thee before his death.         according as thou badest me:' arise, I
I I And Jacob said to Rebekah his  pray thee, sit and eat of my venison,
mother, Behold, Esau my brother is  that thy soul may bless me.
a hairy man, and I am a smooth man:         20 And Isaac said  unto his son,
12 My father peradventure will feel  How is it that thou hast found it so
me, and I shall seem  to him  as a de-  quickly, my son?   And he said, Beceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon  cause the LORD thy God brought it
me, and not a blessing.                  tto me.                                 t Heb
13 And his mother said unto him,    2z   And  Isaac said  unto  Jacob, fore.
Upon me be thy curse, my son: only  Come near, I pray thee, that I may
obey my voice, and go fetch me them.  feel thee, my son, whether thou be
I4 And he went, and fetched, and  my very son Esau or not.
brought them  to his mother: and his    22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac
mnother made savoury meat, such as  his father; and he felt him, and said,
his father loved.                        The voice is Jacob's voice, but the
Hab.       15 And Rebekah took Igoodly rai-  hands are the hands of Esau.
desirable. ment of her eldest son Esau, which       23 And he discerned him  not, bewere with her in the house, and put  cause his hands were hairy; as his
them  upon Jacob her younger son:    brother Esau's hands: so he blessed
i6 And she put the skins of the  him.
kids of the goats upon his hands, and       24 And he said, Art thou nmy very
upon the smooth of his neck:             son Esau?   And he said) I am.
15. goodly raiment of her elder son Esau]    20. Because the LORD thy God brought it
St Jerome ('Qg. Hebr.' in loc.) mentions  to me]  The covering of his falsehood with
it as a tradition of the rabbins, that the  this appeal to the Most High is the worst
firstborn in the patriarchal times, holding  part of Jacob's conduct. In the use of the
the office of priesthood, had a sacerdotal  names of God, Jacob speaks of JEHOVAHI as
vestment in which they offered sacrifice; and  the God of his father. A little further on in
it was this sacerdotal vestment which was  the history, Jacob vows that, if he is prokept by Rebekah for Esau, and which was  spered in his journey, then JEHOVAH shall be
now put upon Jacob. See on ch. xxxvii. 3.   his God (ch. xxviii. 2I).  This is exactly
accordant with the general use of these sacred
16. the skins of the kids of the goats]  names. Elohism would, so to speak, correMartial (Lib. xII. Epig. 46) alludes to kid  spond with our word Theism.. Though Jaskins as used by the Romans for false hair to  cob was a believer in JEIIOVAH, yet revelaconceal baldness. The wool of the oriental  tion in those early days was but slight, and
goats is much longer and finer than of those of  the knowledge of the patriarchs imperfect.
this country. (Cp. Cant. iv. I,. See Bochart,  There were gods of nations round about.'Hieroz.'p. I, Lib. i. c. C,5. See also Rosenm.,  JEHOVAH had revealed Himself to Abraham
Tuch, &c.)                                 and was Abraham's God, and again to Isaac,
and Isaac had served Him as his God. It is
18. cwho art thou, my son?] The anxiety  quite possible that Esau, with his heathen
and trepidation of Isaac appear in these  wives, may have been but a half worshipper
words. He had perhaps some misgiving as  of JEHovAH; but Jacob recognizes Him as
to the blessing of Esau;, and doubted whe-  the God of his father Isaac (cp. ch. xxxi. 53),
ther God would prosper him in the chase  and afterwards solemnly chooses Hinm as the
and bring him  home with venison to his  object of his own worship and service. See
father.                                    however note on ch. xxviii..,




v.$5 —37.]              GENESIS. XXVII.                                          163
25 And he said, Bring it near to         31 And he also had made savoury
me, and I will eat of my son's veni-  meat, and brought it unto his father,
son, that my soul may bless thee.  and said unto his father, Let my faAnd he brought it near to him, and  ther arise, and eat of his son's venison,
he did eat: and he brought him wine,  that thy soul may bless me.
and he drank.                              32  And Isaac his father said unto
26 And his father Isaac said unto  him, Who art thou?  And he said, I
him, Come near now, and kiss me,  am thyv son, thy firstborn Esau.
my son.                                    33 And Isaac ttrembled very ex- teb.
27 And he came near, and kissed  ceedingly, and said, Who? where is t~,,,lZ
him: and he smelled the smell of his  he that hath  ttaken  venison, and gezt
raiment, and blessed him, and said,  brought it me, and I have eaten ofit0,.
t Heb.
See, the smell of my son is as the  all before thou camest, and have bless-....t1e.
smell of a field which  the  LORD   ed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.
hath blessed:                              34 And when Esau heard the words
"H eb. Ti.   28 Therefore aGod give thee of  of his father, he cried with a great and'*1M   the dew of heaven, and the fatness of  exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his
the earth, and  plenty of corn and  father, Bless me, even me also, 0 my
wine:                                    father.
29 Let people serve thee, and na-        35 And he said, Thy brother came.tions bow down to thee: be lord over  with subtilty, and hath taken away
thy brethren, and let thy mother's  thy blessing.
sons bow  down to thee: cursed be    36 And he said, Is not he rightly
every  one  that curseth  thee, and  named'Jacob? for he hath supplant- 1Thatis, 
blessed be he that blesseth thee.       ed me these two times: he took away  -t.r
30 qT And it came to pass, as soon  my birthright; and, behold, now  he
as Isaac had made an end of blessing  hath taken away my blessing.  And
Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone  he said, Hast thou not reserved a
out from  the presence of Isaac his  blessing for me?
father, that Esau his brother came in      37  And Isaac answered  and said
from his hunting.                        unto Esau, Behold, I have made him
26. kiss mzel Tuch has suggested that  brightness ofherrising"...when theabundance
Isaac asked his son to kiss him, that he  of the sea should be converted unto her, the
might distinguish the shepherd who would  forces of the Gentiles should come unto
smell of the flocki from the huntsman who  her" (Isa. lx. 5, 6. Cp. Rom. xi. 25).
would smell of the field. It may have been    29. cursed be every one, &c.]  This is
so (see next verse), or it may have only been  the continued promise to the chosen race, first
paternal love.                            given (Gen. xii. 3) to Abraham. It is ob28. God]  Lit. The God, i. e. that God  served, however, that Isaac does not pronounce
just named, the God of thy Father, viz. on Jacob that emphatic spiritual blessing, which
JEHo VAh. It does not indicate (as Keil)  God Himself had assured to Abraham twice
"the personal God," nor is it (as some would  (xii. 3; xxii. i8), and to Isaac once (xxvi. 4),
have it) a Jehovistic formula. The article is  " In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth
perfectly  natural as referring to  Jacob's  be blessed." There was something carnal and
words v. 2o.  The blessing is, as usual,  sinfiul in the whole conduct of the persons
thrown into the poetic form  of an anti-  concerned in the history of this chapter, Isaac,
strophic parallelism.                     Rebekah, Jacob, Esau: and it may have been
29. Let people serve thee, and nations bous this which withheld for the time the brightdocwn to thepe]  This was fulfilled  in the  est promise to the family of Abraham; or
extensive dominions of the descendants of perhaps it may have been that that promise
Jacob under David and Solomon, buat, no  should come only from the mouth of God Himdoubt, has a fuller reference to the time when  Se, as it is given aferwards in ch. xxviii. 4.
"the LORD should arise upon Israel, and His    36. Is not he rightly named Jacob?] Lit,
glory should be seen on her, when Gentiles  " Is it that he is called Jacob, and he supshould come to her light, and kings to the  planteth or outwitteth me these two times?"
L2




I64.                          GENESIS. XXVII.                              [v. 38-45.
thy lord, and all his brethren have I  father blessed him: and Esau said in
given to him  for servants; and with  his heart, The days of mourning for
n Or,    corn and wine have I " sustained him:  my father are at hand; dthen will I dObad.io.
~.,orled. and what shall I do now  unto thee,  slay my brother Jacob.
my son?                                     42 And these words of Esau her
38 And Esau said unto his father,  elder son were told to Rebekah: and
Hast thou but one blessing, my fa-  she sent and called Jacob her younger
ther? bless me, even me also, O  my  son, and said unto him, Behold, thy
father.  And Esau lifted up his voice,  brother Esau, as touching thee, doth
Heb. I2. band wept.                               comfort himself, purposing to kill thee.
17.       39 And Isaac his father answered          43 Now  therefore, my son, obey
c er. 8.  and said unto him, Behold, cthy dwell-  my  voice; and  arise, flee thou to
fir t ing shall be "the fatness of the earth,  Laban my brother to Haran;,n-ss.    and of the dew of heaven from above;    44 And tarry with him a few days,
40 And by thy sword shalt thou  until thy brother's fury turn away;
live, and shalt serve thy brother; and      45 Until thy brother's anger turn
it shall come to pass when thou shalt  away from  thee, and he fbrget that
have the dominion, that thou shalt  which thou hast done to him: then I
break his yoke from off thy neck.        will send, and fetch thee from thence:
4I eT And Esau hated Jacob be-  why should I be deprived also of you
cause of the blessing wherewith his  both in one day 
A paronomasia on the name Jacob. See on  7).  Judas Maccabxus defeated them frech. xxv. 26.  The words seem to mean, Is  quently (i Macc. v.; 2 Macc. x.).  At last
there not a connection between the meaning  his nephew Hyrcanus completely conquered
of his name Jacob, and the fact that he thus  them, and compelled them to be circumcised,
supplants or outwits me?                  and incorporated them into the Jewish nation
39. thy dqwelling shall be the fatness of  (Joseph.'Ant.' xIii. 9. I); though finally
the earth, and of the deaw of heaven from   under Antipater and Herod they established
above]  Lit. " from the fatness of the earth  an Idumaan dynasty, which continued till the
and from the dew of heaven."  Castalio, Le  destruction of the Jewish polity.
Clerc, Knobel, Del., Keil, render the prepo-    when thou shalt have dominion] More prosition "from" by I"far from."  So apparently  bably when thou shalt toss (the yoke).
Gesenius ('Thes.' p. 8o0, absque, sine).  But  So the LXX., Vulg. (eycutias); Gesen.'Thes.'
the Authorized Version corresponds with the  p. I269; Hengst., Keil, &c. The allusion is
ancient versions. The very same words with  to the restlessness of the fierce Edomite under
the very same preposition occur in v. 28, and  the yoke of the Jewish dominion. The proit is difficult to make that preposition parti-  phecy was fulfilled when they revolted under
tive in v. 28, and privative in v. 39.     Joram  and again under Ahaz; and finally
40.  by thyt sword thou shalt live, and  when they gave a race of rulers to Judca in
halt serve thy brother, &tc. JOsephus (Bv   J I the persons of Herod and his sons (see last
IV. 4. I) describes the Edomites as a tumultuous, disorderly race, and all their history    43. Haran]  It appears that not only Aseems to confirm the truth of this description.  braham and the family of his brother Haran
The prophecy thus delivered by Isaac was  must have left Ur of the Chaldees (see ch. xi.
fulfilled in every particular.  At first Esau,  3 ); but that the family of Nahor must have
the elder, seemed to prosper more than his followed them to Haran, which is therefore
brother Jacob. There were dukes in Edom   called "the city of Nahor" (ch. xxiv. io).
before there reigned any king over the chil-  The name Harran still remains in the centre
dren of Israel (Gen. xxxvi. 3I); and whilst  of the cultivated district at the foot of the
Israel was in bondage in Egypt, Edom was an  hills lying between the Khabour and the Euindependent people. But Saul defeated and phrates.
David conquered the Edomites (I S. xiv. 47;    45. why should I be deprived also of you
2 S. viii. I4), and they were, notwithstand-  both in one day?] i.e. of Jacob by the hand of
ing some revolts, constantly subject to Judah  Esau, and of Esau by the hand of justice (ch.
(see I K. xi. 14; z K. xiv. 7, 2z; z Chr. xxv.  ix. 6). The sacred history has shewn us the
i I; xxvi. a) till the reign of Ahaz, when they  sins and errors of the family of IsLac; it here
threw off the yoke (2 K. xvi. 6; 2 Chr. xxviii.  briefly but emnphatically exhibits the distress




v 46 —rI.]   GENESIS. XXVII. XXVIII.                                              165
ha. 26.   46 And Rebekah said to Isaac,    I  the land twherein thou art a stranger, t Heb.
35-     am  weary of my life because of the  which God gave unto Abraham.                j5D r ZY,M
daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a          5 And  Isaac sent away  Jacob:
wife of the daughters of Heth, such  and  he went to  Padan-aram  unto
as these which are of the daughters of  Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian,
the  land, what good shall my life  the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and
do me?                                    Esau's mother.
6 ~l When Esau saw that Isaac
CHAPTER  XXVIII.                  had blessed Jacob, and sent him  away
I Isaac blesseti _74cob, andsenet/ih him toPoa'on-  to Padan-aram, to take him  a wife
aram. 6 Esz ma't/ AahaLzt  the dg-and that as he blessed
ter of ishmael. Io The vision of Yacob's
cr of is/imoel  1 The visiong of 7co    fro m  the nce; and that as he blessed
laZdder. I8 T'he stone of Be/i-el. 2o zcoh's  him  he gave him  a charge, saying,
vow.                                   Thou  shalt not take a wife of the
AND Isaac called Jacob, and bless-  daughters of Canaan;
ed him, and charged him, and                7 And that Jacob obeyed his father
said unto him, Thou shalt not take a  and  his mother, and  was gone to
wife of the daughters of Canaan.          Padan-aram;
aHos. 22.  2 a Arise, go to Padan-aram, to.8 And Esau seeing that the daughthe house of Bethuel thy  mother's  ters of Canaan t pleased not Isaac his tbine.
father; and  take thee a wife from   father;                                     Z't /,tc
thence of the daughters of Laban thy        9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, eys, &C.
mother's brother.                        and took unto the wives which he
3 And God Almighty bless thee,  had Mahalath the daughter of Ishand make thee fruitful, and multiply  mael Abraham's son, the  sister of
t Heb.  thee, that thou mayest be  a multi-  Nebajoth, to be his wife.
Oan assem-,;y Of   tude of people;                             IO  ST And Jacob went out from,p5eee.    4 And' give thee  the blessing of  Beer-sheba, and went toward bHaran.  b Calleld,
Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed           i i And he lighted upon a certain C/arr..'
with thee; that thou mayest inherit  place, and  tarried  there  all night,
and misery which at once followed; Isaac  character, or enfeebled by age. (See on ch.
and Rebekah left in their old age by both  xxiv. so.)
their children; idols become scourges; Esau
d:sappointed and disinherited; Jacob banished. God Almg
fr-om his hom.e, destined to a long servitude  under this name that God appeared to Abraand a life of disquietude and suffering.  Even  ham, ch. xvii. i, and gave him the blessing to
those, whom God chooses and honours, can-  which Isaac now refes.
not sin against Him without reaping, at least    4. the land cwheretn thou art a stranger]
in this world, the fruit of evil doings (I Cor.  Lit. the land of thy sojournings.
Xi. 3?2).                                    8. pleased not] Lit. were evil In the
eyes of.
CHAP. XXVIII. 1. Isaac called Jacob,
and blessed him]  Isaac has learned that God    11. he lighted upon a certain place] Lit. he
had decreed that Jacob should be the heir  lighted  on  the  place.   The definite
of the promises, the recipient of the blessings.  article probably indicates either that it was the
Accordingly, in v. 4, he invokes on Jacob  place appointed by God, or that it was the
"the blessing of Abraham," that "he and his  place afterwards so famous from God's reveseed should inherit the land of his sojourning,"  lation to Jacob. We may well picture to ourand no doubt also the spiritual blessings pro-  selves the feelings of Jacob on this night, a
nounced on the descendants (if Abraham.    solitary wanderer from  his father's house,
going back from the land of promise, con2. P0adan-aram]  See on xxiv. to, xxv.  scious of sin and in the midst of danger, with
l0, XXV~I. 43.                             a dark and doubtful future before him, yet
Bethuel] This looks as if Bethuel were still  hitherto having always cherished the hope of
living, not as the Jewish tradition says, that  being the chosen of God to bear the honours
he died before Isaac's marriage.  It is more  and privileges of his house, to have the inheritlikely that he was either naturally of weak  ance promised to Abraham, and now too with




i66                         GENESIS.  XXVIII.                              [v. I2-20.
because  the  slun  was set; and  he        15 And, behold, I am with thee,
took of the stones of that place, and  and will keep thee in all places whiput them for his pillows, and lay down   ther thou goest, and will bring thee
in that place to sleep.                   again into this land; for I will not
I2 And he dreamed, and behold a  leave thee, until I have done that
ladder set up on the earth, and the  which I have spoken to thee of.
top of it reached to heaven: and be-        I6 ql And Jacob awaked out of his
hold the angels of God ascending and  sleep, and he said, Surely the LoRD is
descending on it.                        in this place; and I knew it not.
~ chap. 35.   I3 cAnd, behold, the LORD stood        iy  And  he was afraid, and said,
48. 3.  above it, and said, I am  the LORD   How  dreadful is this place! this is
God of Abraham  thy father, and the  none other but the house of God,
God of Isaac: the land whereon thou  and this is the gate of heaven.
liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy   I8 And Jacob rose up early in the
seed;                                    morning, and took the stone that he
14- And thy seed shall be as the  had put for his pillows, and set it up
~Heb.   dust of the earth, and  thou  shalt  for a pillar, and poured oil upon the
eua.   t spread abroad d to the west, ancd to  top of it.
deut I2. the east, and to the north, and to the      I9 And he called the name of that
e chap.. south: and in thee and ein thy seed  place "I Beth-el: but the name of that li That is,
3.                                                 the housr
3& 18. I8. shall all the families of the earth be  city was called Luz at the first.     of God.
& 2.8. blessed.                                     20o And Jacob vowed a vow, say46. 4.
the words of Isaac's blessing just ringing in  feeling is encouraged by the highest sanction
his ears. Whether would fear or faith prevail?  in Ex. iii. 5.
12. a ladder]  God takes this opportu-    18. set, it up for a pillar, and poured oil
nity to impress Jacob more deeply with the  zpton the top of it] This was probably the most
sense of His presence, to encourage him with  ancient and simplest form of temple or place
promises of protection and to reveal to him  for religious worship; excepting the altar of
His purpose of mercy and love.            stones or earth for a burnt sacrifice. Whether
The ladder might only indicate that there  this is the first example of such an erection we
was a way from God to man, and that man  cannot judge. It was a very natural and obmight by God's help mount up by it to hea-  vious way of marking the sanctity of a spot;
ven, that angels went up from man to God,  as in Christian times wayside crosses and
and came down from God to man, and that  the like have been set up so frequently. The
there was a continual providence watching  pouring oil on it was a significant rite, though
over the servants of God. So the dream would  what may have been the full significance to
teach and comfort the heart of the dreamer.  Jacob's mind it is not easy to say. St AugusBut we cannot doubt, that there was a deeper  tine (' De C. D.' xvI. 38) says that it was
meaning in the vision thus vouchsafed to the  not that he might sacrifice to the stone or worheir of the promises, in the hour of his greatest  ship it, but that as Christ is named from chrism,
desolation, and when the sense of sin must  or unction, so there was a great mystery (sahave been most heavy on his soul. Our Lord  cramentum) in this anointing of the stone with
Himself teaches (John i. SI), that the ladder  oil.  The constant connection in religious
signified the Son of Man, Him, who was now  thought between unction and, sanctification
afresh promised as to be of the Seed of Jacob  seems a more probable solution of the ques(v. 14); Him, by whom alone we go to God  tion.
(John xiv. 6); who is the way to heaven, and
who has now gone there to prepare a place    19. Beth-ell  Abraham had built an altar
for us.                                    in this neighbourhood (xii. 8, xiii. 4); and
it is possible that the spot thus sanctified
13. the LORD stood above it]  Onkelos  may have been the very place which Jacob
renders "the glory of the LORD."          lighted on (v. II), and which he found to be
16. Surely the LORD is in this place]  It  the house of God and the gate of heaven.
is possible that Jacob may not have had quite    The place consecrated perhaps first by
so intelligent a conviction of God's omnipre-  Abraham's altar, and afterwards by Jacob's
sence as Christians have; but it is apparent  vision and pillar, was plainly distinct from the
throughout the patriarchal history that special  city which was " called Luz at the first," and
sanctity was attached to special places. This  which afterwards received the name of Bethel




v. 21-3.]    GENESIS. XXVIII. XXIX.                                                  I67
ing, If God will be with me, and    enter/ainetl him. iS  r'aob covenanteth for
*Rachel. ta3 He is dGeiZed w vi h Leah. ~8 ]2re
will keep me in this way that I go,    Raeh. 23 He is deceived wi/c Leak. 2ie
wi;~ O 3    s~marrie/th also Rachel, and serve/th foor her
and will give me bread to eat, and    seven years more. 3,2 Leah bearreh Reuben,
raiment to put on,                           33 Simeon, 34 Levi, 35 and 7udah.
2i So that I come again to my  T             HEN  Jacob Iwent on his jour- tibH
father's house in peace; then shall the          ney, and came into the land offeet.
LORD be my God:                            the t people of the east.                t eb.
22 And this stone, which I have            2 And  he looked, and behold  a
setfor a pillar, shall be God's house:  well in the field, and, lo, there were
and of all that thou shalt give me I  three flocks of sheep lying by it; for
will surely give the tenth unto thee.   out of that well they watered  the
CHAPTER  XXIX.                     flocks: and a great stone was upon
I 7acob cometh to the well of Hran. 9 He  the well's mouth.
takelh acquainzance of Rachel. 13 Laban    3 And thither were all the flocks
from its proximity to the sanctuary.  So late  I; Deut. xvi. 22, &c.). What was good in
as the time of Joshua (see Josh. xvi. I, z) the  its origin had become evil in its abuse.
two places were distinct.  When the tribe of    21. then shall the LORD  be my Godj
Joseph took the city (Judg. i. 21-26), they  So the LXX., Vulg., Syr.; but the Arab.
appear to have given- to the city the name of  and several of the Hebrew commentators put
Bethel, formerly attaching only to the sanc-  these words in the protasis;   And if the
tuary, and  thenceforward, the name Luz   LORD will be my God, then shall this stone
having been transferred to another town, the  be God's house," &c. The Hebrew is amold town of Luz is always called Bethel.  biguous, and so is the Targum  of Onkelos:
According to Eusebius and Jerome ("Ono-  but the change of construction and of tense
mast.' art. usaleBm) it lay about twelve miles  certainly appears to be at the beginning of
from Jerusalem on the road to Sichem.  Its  v. Its   v2, for all the verbs, beginning with "will
ruins are still called by the name of Beitn.  keep me " in v. 20 to the end of v. ii, are in
The rocky character of the hills around, and  the same form (the perfect with vau converthe stony nature of the soil, have been much  sive); and in verse 2 there is a change to the
noted by travellers (see Robinson,' B. Ro' II.  fuure.  I this be so, the whole assage will
pp. I27 —I30, and Stanley,' Sinai and Pales-  then run,  "If God will be with me and will
tine,' pp. -I7-223).  It has been thought by  keep me in the way that I go, and will give
many that this act of Jacob, in setting up a  me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, and
stone to mark a sacred spot, was the origin of if I come again to my father's house in peace
Cromlechs and all sacred stones.  Certainly  and if the LORD will be my God, then shalc
we find in later ages the custom  of having   this stone, which I have set fol a pillar, be
stones, and those too anointed with oil, as  the house of God, and of all that Thou shalt
objects of idolatrous worship.  Clem. Alex.  give me, I will surely give a tenth unto Thee."
('IStromat.' Lib. vII. p. 713) speaks of "wor-  The fulfilment of this vow is related in ch.
shipping every oily stone," and Arnobius,  xxxv. I5, where God again appears to Jacob
(' Adv. Gentes,' Lib. I. 39), in like manner,  on his return from  Padan-aram, and Jacob
refers to the worshipping of " a stone smeared  restores the pillar which he had before set up,
with oil, as though there were in it a present  and again solemnly gives it the name of Bethpower." It has been conjectured farther that tle  el,  the house of God" (see Qiarry,'on
name Bzetulia, given to stones, called animatedGenesis, p 486)
stones (XioL EgtrvXot), by the Phoenicians'  
(Euseb.' Proep. Evang.' I. io) was derived   22. give the tenth unto thee  In ch. xiv. 20,
from this name of Bethel. (See Spencer,'De  we have an instance of Abraham giving tithes
Legg.' I. X; Bochart,'Canaan,' II. 2.) These  to Melchizedek. -Here we have another proof
Bztulia, however, were meteoric stones, and that the duty of giving a tenth to God was
derived their sanctity from the belief that they recognized before the giving of the Law.
had fallen from  heaven: and the name has
probably but a fancied likeness to the name    CHIAP. XXIX. 1.  Then Yacob, &c.] Lit,
Bethel.  Still the connection of the subse-  "~ Then Jacob lifted up his feet and came into
quent worship of stones with the primitive  the land of the children of the East,". e into
and pious use of them to mark places of wor-  Mesopotamia, which lies East of Judma.
ship is most probably a real connection. The    2.  he looked, and behold a ovuell]  Cp.
erection of all such stones for worship was  ch. xxiv. II-I5.  The similarity of the two
strictly forbidden in later times (see Lev. xxvi.  stories results from the unvarying customs of




I68                            GENESIS. XXIX.    I.     4-19.
gathered: and they rolled the stone  tered the flock of Laban his mother's
from  the well's mouth, and watered  brother.
the sheep, and put the stone again           I   And Jacob kissed Rachel, and
upon the well's mouth in his place.    lifted up his voice, and wept.
4- And Jacob said unto them, My           I2 And Jacob told Rachel that he
brethren, whence be ye?  And they  was her father's brother, and that he
said, Of Haran are we.                    was Rebekah's son: and she ran and
5 And he said unto them, Know   told her father.
ye Laban the son of Nahor?  And              13 And it came to pass, when Lathey said, We know him.                   ban heard the   tidings of Jacob his t Heb.
i Heb.     6 And he said unto them, tIs he  sister's son, that he ran to meet him, h/anritg
Is there
tae to  well?  And they said, He is well:  and embraced him, and kissed him,
and, behold, Rachel his daughter comn-  and brought him  to his house.  And
eth with the sheep.                       he told Laban all these things.
tHeb.      7 And he said, Lo, f4it is yet high       i. And Laban said to him, Surely
iet'ay day, neither is it time that the cattle  thou art my bone and my flesh. And
should be gathered together: water ye  he abode with him  tthe space of atHeb.
the sheep, and go and feed them.          month.                                  ofdy.
8 And they said, We cannot, until    I5 q And Laban said unto Jacob,
all the flocks be gathered together,  Because thou art my brother, shouldest
and till they roll the stone from  the  thou therefore serve me for nought?
well's mouth; then  we  water the  tell me, what shall thy wages be?
sheep.                                       I6 And Laban had two daughters:
g  1iT And while he yet spake with  the name of the elder was Leah, and
them, Rachel came with her father's  the name of the younger was Rachel.
sheep: for she kept them.                    17 Leah  was tender eyed;  but
Io  And it came to pass, when Ja-  Rachel was beautiful and  well facob saw Rachel the daughter of La-  voured.
ban  his mother's brother, and  the          I8 And Jacob loved Rachel; and
sheep of Laban his mother's brother,  said, I will serve thee seven years for
that Jacob went near, and rolled the  Rachel thy younger daughter.
stone from the well's mouth, and wa-         19  And Laban said, It is better
the East, and from the natural halting place    14. the space of a month] Lit. " a month
being a well outside a city.               of days;" the word " days" being frequent5. Laban the son of Nahor] i.e. the de-  ly added to a note of time, as we might
scendant, the grandson of Nahor.  Just as in  say " a month long," or as here in the Authov. I2, Jacob calls himself the brother of La-  rized Version, "' the space of a month."
ban, being in truth his nephew. The omis-    17. tende' eyed_ i.e. weak eyed, so LXX.,
sion of Bethuel is here again observable.  Vulg., &c.
6. Is he well?] Lit. "Is it peace to him?"    18. I cqvill serve thee seven years for
8.?We cannot]  Probably because there  Rachel]  In the case of Isaac and Rebekah,
was an agreement not to roll away the stone  Abraham's servant gives handsome presents to
till all were assembled, not because the stone  Rebekah, ch. xxiv. S3, the Eastern custom at
was too heavy for three shepherds to move.    marriages. Jacob could give neither presents
9. Rachel came zwith her father's sheep]  nor dowry, for he was a fugitive from his faSo Ex. ii. i6, the daughters of Reuel', the  ther's house, and describes himself as having
priest of Mlidian, led their father's sheep to  passed over Jordan with only his staff (ch.
waier-. And even now among the Arabs it is  xxxii. io).  He proposes therefore to serve
not beneath the daughter of an Emir to water  Laban seven years, if he will give him his
the sheep.                                 daughter to wife, a proposal, which L,aban's
13. he told Lahbarn all these things] i.e.  grasping disposition prompts him to accept,
proIably the caulse of his exile fro  home, his  even firom  one whom  he calls brother and
father's blessing and command to him to marry
a wife of his mother's kindred, and the va-    19. It is better that I should gi-ve her to
rious events of his journey,               thee, &c.]  It has always been the custom




V. 20-33.]               GENESIS. XXIX.                                          I69
that I give her to thee, than that I       27 Fulfil her week, and we will
should give her to another man: abide  give thee this also for the service which
with me.                                 thou shalt serve with me yet seven
20o And Jacob served seven years  other years.
for Rachel; and they seemed unto           28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled
him  but a few  days, for the love he  her week: and he gave him  Rachel
had to her.                              his daughter to wife also.
21 eI And Jacob said unto Laban,    29 And Laban gave to Rachel his
Give me my wife, for my days are  daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be
fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.    her maid.
22 And Laban gathered together all    30 And he went in also unto Rathe men of the place, and made a feast.  chel, and he loved also Rachel more
23 And it came to pass in the even-  than Leah, and served with him  yet
ing, that he took Leah his daughter,  seven other years.
and brought her to him; and he went    31 If And when the LORD  saw
in unto her.                             that Leah was hated, he opened her
24 And Laban gave unto his daugh-  womb: but Rachel was barren.
ter Leah Zilpah his maid for an hand-      32 And Leah conceived, and bare
maid.                                    a son, and she called his name 1 Reu- eThatso
25 And it came to pass, that in the  ben: for she said, Surely the LORD
morning, behold, it was Leah: and  hath looked upon my affliction; now
he said to Laban, What is this thou  therefore my husband will love me.
hast done unto me? did not I serve         33 And she conceived again, and
with thee for Rachel? wherefore then  bare a son; and said, Because the
hast thou beguiled me?                   LORD hath heard that I was hated,
26 And Laban said, It must not  he hath therefore given me this son
tHeb.   be so done in our tcountry, to give  also: and she called his name'Si-l Thatls 
0place.   the younger before the firstborn.      meon.
with Eastern tribes to prefer marrying among  Isaac and Esau. The polygamy of Jacob
their own kindred.                        must be explained on the same principle as
20. but a feoe days, for the love he had  that of Abraham. It had not yet been exto her]  He loved Rachel soy much, that he  pressly forbidden by the revealed law of God.
valued the labour of seven years as though  The marriage of two sisters also was afterit were the labour of but few days in cor-  wards condemned (Lev. xviii. 8g), but as yet
parison with the great prize, which that la-  there had been no such prohibition.
bour was to bring him.                      31.'was hated] i.e. less loved (cp. Mal.
24. Zilpah his maid for an handmaid]  A 3)
So ch. xxiv. 6I.                            32. Reuben] i.e. "Behold a son." The
25. it.was Leah] This deception was  words which follow are but one of those plays
possible, because there appears to have been  on a name so general in these early days;
no religious or other solemn ceremony, in  they do not give the etymology of the name;
which the bride was presented to the bride-  they have however led some to think that the
groom, and the veil in which brides were  meaning of "Reuben" is rather "the son of
veiled was so long and close that it concealed,  vision," or as Jerome interprets it, " the son
not only the face, but much of the figure also.  of God's gracious regard,"filium respectusgra27. Ful~fil her'week] i.e. celebrate the  tuiti.  The Syr. and Josephus give the name
as Reubel, the latter explaining it as "ithe pity
marriage feast for a week with Leall (cp. of God" ('IAnt.' I. x9. 8), which is supported
Judg. xiv. x2); and after that we will give
thee Rachel also. " It  as nrot afer allnother  by Michaelis, though it is obviously a corrupt
week of years that he should receive Rachel  reading (see Rosenm  in  c. and Gesen
to wife; but after the seven days of the first
wife's nuptials."  (St Jerome,'Q. Hebr.'   33. Simeon] i.e. "hearing." The birth of
in loc.)  It has been cuOserved that the  her first son convinces her that God hath
fraud practised by Laban on Jacob was a fit seen her, the second that God hath heard
penalty for the fraud practised by Jacob on  her.




I70                      GENESIS. XXIX. XXX.                                 [v. 34 —-I4.
34 And she conceived again, and            4. And she gave him  Bilhah her
bare a son; and said, Now  this time  handmaid to wife: and Jacob went
will my husband be joined unto me,  in unto her.
because I have born him  three sons:         5 And Bilhah conceived, and bare
R That is, therefore was his name called I Levi.   Jacob a son.
joined{.   35 And she conceived again, and            6  And  Rachel  said, God  hath
aMatt. I bare a son: and she said, Now  will I  judged me, and hath also heard my
II That. is, praise the LORD: therefore she called  voice, and hath given me a son: thereaiseb.   his name  l"Judah; and tleft bearing.  fore called she his name i Dan.             H That it,
oodfros M
bioarg.                                              7 And Bilhah Rachel's maid conCHAPTER  XXX.                     ceived again, and bare Jacob a second
I Rachel, in grief for her barrenness, giveth  son.
Bilhah her maid unto 7acob. 5 She beareth  8 And  Rachel said, With    reat t Heb.
Dan and Naphtali. 9 Leah giveth Zilipah                                           wrestlinga
her -maid, who beareth Gad and Asher.  4  wrestlings have I wrestled with my of God.
Rezebenfindeth mandrakes, with which Leah  sister, and I have prevailed: and she
buyeth her husband of Rachel. 17 Leakl bear-  called his name "' aNaphtali.       n That is,
eth Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah. 22 Rachel                                      coy wrestbeareik yoseph. 25 7acob desi-reih to deart.    9 When Leah saw that she had left'Ywng.
27 Labatn stayethA Aim on a new covenant.  bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and' Called,
37 yacob'spolicy, whereby he became rich,.    gave her Jacob to wife.             13,
AND  when  Rachel saw  that she          Io And Zilpah Leah's maid bare linm.
_     bare Jacob no children, Rachel  Jacob a son.
envied her sister; and said unto Ja-          Ii And Leah said, A troop cometh:
cob, Give me children, or else I die.  and she called his name  Gad.                E That is,
a iroo/', or,
2 And Jacob's anger was kindled            I2 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare co,,tpay.
against Rachel: and he said, Am I in  Jacob a second son.
God's stead, who hath withheld from          I 3 And Leah said, t Happy am I, for  Heb.t
thee the fruit of the womb?               the daughters will call me blessed: and /aoi,,ieso
3 And she said, Behold my maid  she called his name'Asher.                      /That is
Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall        I4 ql And Reuben went in the days
IHeb.   bear upon my knees, that I may also  of wheat harvest, and  found  mane bZuit by t have children by her.                 drakes in the field, and brought them
34. Le~vi] "Association"or "associated."  tune cometh, or, "in good fortune," i.e.
35. Judah] i. e. "praised" (from the Ho-  happily, prosperously. The rendering of the
phal futzure.of Jadah).                    Authorized Version is favoured by the Samaritan version, and has been supposed to be in
CHEAP. XXX. 3. that I may also have  accordance with ch. xlix. i9. The latter, howchildren by her] Lit. "that I may be builtup   ever, may have no reference to the derivation,
by her."  (See on ch. xvi. 2.)              but be only the common Oriental play upon a
word. The LXX., Vulg., Syr., Onk., Jerus.,
6.  Dan] i. e.'judge."                   Pseudo-Jon., all interpret Gad to mean " sue8.   i/sth great wrestlings]  Lit. " with  cess," " good fortune,"  "prosperity."  So
wrestlings of God." The LXX. renders " God  Gesen., Rosenm., Knobel, Del., Keil, &c.
has helped me," and Onkelos, "God has received my prayer."  So virtually the Syriac.    13. Happy am I, &c.] Lit. in my hapThough the addition of the name of God  piness (am I), for the daughters call
often expresses a superlative, yet "wrestling"  me happy; and she called his name
being a type of prayer, it is most probable  Asher, i.e. happy.
that in this passage the allusion is to Rachel's    14. mandrakes]  So with great unaniearnest striving in prayer with God for the mity the ancient versions and most of the
blessing~ of offspring.   (So Hengst., Del.,  Jewish commentators. There is little doubt
Keil.)  Above, v. I, Rachel had manifested  that the plant was really the atropa mandraimpatience and neglect of prayer, seeking from   gora, a species closely allied to the deadly
Jacob what only could be given of God.  nightshade (atropa belladonna).  It is not unJacob's remonstrance with her, v. 2, may have  common in Palestine (Tristram, pp. Io03, Io4).
directed her to wiser and better thoughts.  It is said to be a narcotic, and to have stupefy11. A  troop cometh] Rather, Good for-  ing and even intoxicating properties.  It has




v. 15-25.]                GENESIS. XXX.                                           I7I
unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel  maiden to my husband: and she called
said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee,  his name RIssachar.                           That i&
of thy son's mandrakes.                     I9 And Leah conceived again, and
I5 And she said unto her, Is it a  bare Jacob the sixth son.
small matter that thou hast taken my        20o And Leah said, God hath enhusband?  and  wouldest thou  take  dued me with a good dowry; now
away my son's mandrakes also? And  will my husband dwell with me, beRachel said, Therefore he shall lie  cause I have born him  six sons: and
with thee to night for thy son's man-  she called his name   bZebulun.             Thatis,
drakes.                                     2 I And afterwards she bare a daugh- b Called,
Matt. 4I6  And Jacob came out of the  ter, and called her name U Dinah.              13,
field in the evening, and Leah went    22 S[ And God remembered Rachel, iZabzI;
out to  meet him, and said, Thou  and God hearkened to her, and opened j,,ngileui
must come in unto me; for surely  her womb.
I have hired thee with my son's man-        23 And she conceived, and bare a
drakes.  And he lay with her that  son; and said, God hath taken away
night.                                   my reproach:
I7 And God hearkened unto Leah,    24 And she called his name " Jo-'.That isand she conceived, and bare Jacob the  seph; and said, The LORD shall add
fifth son.                               to me another son.
I8 And Leah said, God hath given         25 ql And it came to pass, when
me my hire, because I have given my  Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob
broad leaves and green apples, which become  has been inferred from this, that Joseph was
pale yellow when ripe, with a strong tuberous  born at the end of the second seven years of
bifid root, in which Pythagoras discerned a  Jacob's servitude; though it is by no means
likeness to the human form, whence many  certain that Jacob demanded his dismissal at
ancient fables concerning it. They are still  the first possible moment. The words of this
found ripe about the time of wheat harvest  verse seem to indicate that Jacob did not deon the lower ranges of Lebanon and Hermon.  sire to leave Laban, at all events till after JoThe apples are said to produce dizziness; the  seph's birth. Many reasons may have induced
Arabs believe them to be exhilarating and sti-  him to remain in Padan-aram longer than the
mutating even to insanity; hence the name  stipulated fourteen years; the youth of his
tuffah el jan, "apples of the jan" (Thomson,  children unfitting them  for a long journey,'Land and Book,' p. 577). The ancients be-  the pregnancy of some of his wives, the unlieved them calculated to produce fruitfulness,  happy temper of his beloved Rachel, whom he
and they were used as philtres to conciliate  may have been unwilling to take from her
love, hence their name in Hebrew, dudaim,  parents, till she had a son of her own to comi. e. love-apples.  Rachel evidently shared in  fort her; above all, the fear of Esau's anger,
this superstitious belief. (See Held. Tom. II.  who had resolved to slay him. There is nothing
Ex. xix.; WAriner,'R. TNr. B.' voc. Abram;  necessarily inconsistent in the narrative. It is
Ges.'Thes.' p. 324; Rosenm. in loc.; Smith's  possible that Leah should have borne 6, Ra-'Dict.' voc. mandrake), &c.                chel i, Bilhah 2, and Zilpah 2 sons in seven
18. Issachar] i.e. " there is a reward."  years. It is not certain that Dinah was buorn
20. Zebuln] i..  "Idwelling," derived from   at this time at all. Her birth is only incidentzabal, to dwell, with a play on the word  ally noticed. It would be possible even that
Zabad, "to give, to endow."                Zebulun should have been borne by Leah
ithought  later than Joseph by Rachel; it being by no
21. ~Dinah] i.e. "judge~ment'." It is thought  means necessary that we should believe all the
that Jacob had other daughters (see ch. xxxvll.  births to have followed in. the order in which
35; xlvi. 7). Daughters, as they did not con-  they ale enumerated, which is in the order of
stitute links in a genealogy, are not mentioned  mothers, not of births.  The common expla
except when some importans t history attaches  nation is, that the first four sons of Leah were
to them, as in this case the history in ch. born as rapidly as possible, one after the
xxxiv.                                     other, in the first four years of marriage. In
24. Joseph] i.e. "adding," from jasaph,  the meantime, not necessarily after the birth of
" to add," with a play on asaph, " to take  Leah's fourth son, Rachel gives her maid to
away.'                                     Jacob, and so very probably Bilhah gave birth
25.  whepen Rachel had born Joseph]  It  to Dan and Naphtali before the birth of Ju.




172                            GENESIS. XXX.                               [V. 26-36.
said unto Laban, Send me away, that  do this thing for me, I will again feed
I may go unto mine own place, and  and keep thy flock:
to my country.                              32 I will pass through all thy flock
26  Give  me my wives and  my  to day, removing from  thence all the
children, for whom  I have  served  speckled and spotted cattle, and all
thee, and let me go: for thou know-  the brown cattle among the sheep,
est my  service which I have done  and the spotted and speckled among
thee.                                    the goats: and of such shall be my
27 And Laban said unto him, I  hire.
pray thee, if I have found favour in        33 So shall my righteousness anthine eyes, tarry: for I have learned  swer for me tin time to come, when tHeb.
by experience  that the  LORD  hath  it shall come for my hire before thy frow."
blessed me for thy sake.                 face: every one that is not speckled
28 And he said, Appoint me thy  and  spotted  among  the  goats, and
wages, and I will give it.               brown among the sheep, that shall be
29 And he said unto him, Thou  counted stolen with me.
knowest how I have served thee, and         34  And  Laban said, Behold, I
how thy cattle was with me.              would it might be according to thy
30 For it was little which  thou  word.
br/eb.  hadst before I came, and it is now tin-     35 And he removed that day the
Jrr/r.   creased unto  a multitude; and the  he goats that were ringstraked  and,al llyo,/a. LORD  hath blessed  thee tsince my  spotted, and all the she goats that were
coming: and now when shall I pro-  speckled and spotted, and every one
vide for mine own house also?            that had some white in it, and all the
3i And he said, WVhat shall I give  brown among the  sheep, and  gave
thee?  And Jacob said, Thou shalt  themn into the hand of his sons.
not give me any thing: if thou wilt    36 And he set three days' journey
dah.  Leah, then finding that she was not  originally meaning to "divine," but then havylikely to bear another son soon, may, in the  ing the general sense of "investigate," "disstate of jealousy between the two sisters, have  cover," " learn by enquiry," &c.
given Zilpah to Jacob, of whom were born
Asher and Naphtali, and then again in the    30. increased] Lit. broken  forth.
very last year of the seven, at the beginning of   since my coming]  Lit. "at my foot," i.e.
it, Leah may have borne Issachar, and at the  God sent blessing to thee following on my
end of it Zebulun.  Another difficulty has  footsteps, wherever I went. (See Ges.'Th.'
been found in Reuben's finding the mandrakes:  p. I26z.)
but there is no reason why he should have    32. removing from  tence all the spotted
been more than four years old, when he dis-  and speckled cattle] It is said, that in the East
covered them, and attracted by their flowers  the sheep are generally white, very rarely black
arnd Iuits, brought them to his mother. (See  or spotted, and that the goats are black or
PeLav.'De Doct. Temp.' x. I9; Heid. II.  brown, rarely speckled with white. Jacob
Excr. xv. xviii.' Kurtz'on the Old CoveExer. xv. xviii.;  Kurt,'on the O)ld Cove-  therefore proposes to separate from the flock
nan,,' in loc.; Keil in loc. &c., and note at
neat,' in bc.; Kend of ch xxxi )           all the spotted and speckled sheep and goats,
end of ch. xxxi.)                 which would be comparatively few, and to
27. I have learned by experience]  I have  tend only that part of the flock which was
learned  by  divination, literally either  pure white or black. He is then to have for' I have hissed, muttered" (so Knobel on ch.  his hire only those lambs and kids, born of
xliv. 5), or more probably, "I have divined by  the unspeckled flock, which themselves should
omens deduced fromn serpents" (loch.' Hier.' i.  be marked with spots and speckles and ringo20; Gesen.'Th.' p. 875). The heathenism of strakes. Laban naturally thinks that these will
Laban's household appears by ch. xxxi. I9, 32;  be very few; so he accepts the offer, and, to
and though Laban acknowledged the LORD as  make matters the surer, he removes all the
Jacob's God, this dlid not pievent him from   spotted and ringstraked goats, and all the
using idolatrous and he-atibenish practices.  It  sheep with any brown in them, three days'
is however quite possible that the word here  journey from  the flock of white sheep and
Beed may have acquired a wider signification,  brown goats to be left under Jacob's care (see




V. 37 —8.]         GENESIS. XXX. XXXI.                                         173
betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob            CHAPTER  XXXI.
fed the rest of Laban's flocks.         I 7acob u/pon0 displeasure deparrethi secrelfy. r9
37  1 And Jacob took him  rods of   Rachel stealetl herfJatler's imaofes. 2z L.Zoban
p37  rszethl ater him, 26 antd comipoaine/h of
green poplar, and of the hazel and    the wrong. 34 Rachel's policy to hide the
chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes   images. 36 7zcob's complaiit of Laban2. 43
in them, and made the white appear    The covenant of Laban and Thacob at Galeed.
which was in the rods.         /AND  he heard the words of La38 And   he set the rods which he  f    ban's sons, saying, Jacob hath
had  pilled  before the flocks in the  taken away all that was our father's;
gutters in the watering troughs when  and of that which was our father's
the flocks came to' drink, that they  hath he gotten all this glory.
should conceive when they came to          2 And Jacob  beheld the countedrink.                                  nance of Laban, and, behold, it was
39 And the flocks conceived before  not toward him tas before.              t Teb
the rods, and  brought forth  cattle       3 And the LORD said unto Jacob, ZZnd
ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.     Return unto the land of thv fathers, 4o"~.
4o And  Jacob  did separate the  and to thy kindred; and I will be
lambs, and set the faces of the flocks  with thee.
toward  the ringstraked, and all the    4 And Jacob sent and called Rabrown in the flock of Laban; and he  chel and Leah to the field unto his
put his own flocks by themselves, and  flock,
put them not unto Laban's cattle.          5 And said unto them, I see your
4i And it came to pass, whenso-  father's countenance, that it is not
ever the stronger cattle did conceive,  toward  me as before; but the God
that Jacob laid the rods before the  of my father hath been with me.
eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that    6 And ye know  that with all my
they might conceive among the rods.  power I have served your father.
42 But when the cattle were feeble,    7 And  your father hath deceived
he put them not in: so the feebler were  me, and changed my wages ten times;
Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.      but God suffered him  not to hurt
43 And the man increased exceed-  me.
ingly, and had much cattle, and maid-    8 If he said thus, The speckled
servants, and menservants, and camels,  shall be thy wages; then all the catand asses.                              tle bare speckled: and if he said thus,
vv. 35, 36), lest any of them might stray unto  he contrived that the ewes and she goats should
Jacob's fock and so be claimed by him, or any  have the speckled lambs and kids in sight.
lambs or kids should be born like them in  "His own flocks" mentioned in the latter part
Jacob's flock.                            of the verse were the young cattle that were
37. plar]  So Celsius (Hirobo   born ringstraked and speckled; "Laban's
37. paplmar  So Celsius    aftHierobot.' th
292), an6d many other authorities after the  cattle," on the contrary, were those of uniform
Vulg., but the LXX. and Arab. have the storax  colour in the flock tended by Jacob; not that
tree, which is adopted Arab. have the storax  flock which Laban had separated by three days'
tree, which is adopted by Gesenius(p. 740).
and many others.                   740  journey from Jacob.
hazel] Almond, Ges. (p. 747).             CHAP. XXXI. 2. as before]  Lit. "as
chesnut tree] Plane-tree, Ges. (p. I07I).  yestelday and the day before."
40. And yacob did separate the lambs]    5. the God of my father hath been with
The apparent inconsistency of this with the  me] i.e. God has been present with me and
rest of the narrative, especially with v. 36, has has protected me. Jacob calls him the God
induced some commentators to suspect a cor-  of his father; so distinguishing the Most High
ruption in the text. The meaning, however,  from the gods of the nations and from the
appears to be, that Jacob separated those  idols, which perhaps the family of Laban had
lambs, which were born after the artifice men-  worshipped. vv. I9, 30.
tioned above, keeping the spotted lambs and    7. ten times]  i.e. probably "very firse.
kids apart; but though he thus separated them, quently."  Cp. Num. xiv. 22z; Job xix. 3.




174                           GENESIS. XXXI.                               [L. 9-20.
The  ringstraked  shall be thy hire;        I4 And Rachel and Leah answerthen bare all the cattle ringstraked.    ed and said unto him, Is there yet any
9 Thus God hath taken away the  portion or inheritance for us in our
cattle of your father, and given them   father's house?
to me.                                      15 Are we not counted  of him
Io And it came to pass at the time  strangers? for he hath sold us, and
that the cattle conceived, that I lifted  hath quite devoured also our money.
up mine eyes, and saw  in a dream,          I6 For.all the riches which God
l or,    and, behold, the trams which leaped  hath taken from  our father, that is
upon the cattle were ringstraked, spec-  ours, and our children's: now  then,
kled, and grisled.                       whatsoever God hath said unto thee,
I I And  the angel of God spake  do.
unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob:          I7 qT Then Jacob rose up, and set
And I said, iHere am I.                  his sons and his wives upon camels;
I2 And he said, Lift up now thine        i8 And  he carried  away all his
eyes, and see, all the rams which leap  cattle, and all his goods which he had
upon the cattle are ringstraked, spec-  gotten, the cattle of his getting, which
kled, and grisled: for I have seen all  he had gotten in Padan-aram, for to
that Laban doeth unto thee.              go to Isaac his father in the land of
a chap. 28.   13 I am the God of Beth-el, awhere  Canaan.
"8.    thou anointedst the pillar, and where        19 And Laban went to shear his
thou vowedst a vow  unto me: now   sheep: and  Rachel had  stolen  thetmb.
arise, get thee out from this land, and     images that were her father's.       t Heb.
return unto the land of thy kindred.        2o  And Jacob stole away tuna- ~/Iza,
10. the rams]  The he goats.            to be his hire should multiply rapidly: but yet
grisled] i. e. "1 sprinkled as with hail," the  consistently with his mixed character, partly
literal meaning of the word I"Igrisled. "  believing and partly impatient of the fulfilment, he adopted natural means for bringing
about this event which he desired (so Kurtz
Beth-el.") In v. ii it is said, "the angel of  and apparently Keil).
God spake unto me."  The Jewish com-                 hath sold us]  Probably refertnentators explain this by saying that God  ring to Laban's giving his daughter to Jacob
spoke through the mouth of the angel, and
spoke throug~h  the mouth of the angel, anrl ring to Laban's giving his daughter to Jacob
therefore though the angel actually spoke to   as wages for his service.
Jacob, yet the words are the words of God.    19. And Laban t went to shear his sheep]
The Christian fathers generally believe all such  The force of the tenses in the Hebrew will
visions to have been visions of the Son of God,  perhaps be better explained as follows: " Now
who is boath God and the angel of God: see  Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and (or,
on ch. xvi. 7.                             whereupon) Rachel stole the Teraphim which
There is no necessary contradiction between  were her father's, and Jacob stole away unathis dream and the account of Jacob's artifice  wares to (lit. stole the heart of) Laban the
given in the last chapter.  If the dream oc-  Syrian."  There may be a series of paronocurred just before the flight of Jacob from   masias in the Hebrew,  "Rachel stole the
Laban, it would be an indication to Jacob  Teraphim," "Jacob stole the heart of Laban;'
that all his artifices would have had no effect,  andagain, "the heart of Laban" is Lebhad it not been God's pleasure that he should  Laban, the first syllable of Laban correspondgrow rich. The labours of the husbandman  ing with the word for "heart."
do not prosper' but through the blessing of   images]  Teraphim.  These were unGod. It seems, however, not improbable that  doubtedly images in the human form, but
Jacob is here relating to his wives two dreams,  whether whole length figures or only busts
that concerning the sheep and goats having  has been much doubted. In i S. xix. 13, Mich:'l
occurred at the beginning of his agreement  puts teraphim (the plural. perhaps for a single
with Laban, and that in which he was com-  image) in David's bed to deceive the messenmanded to depart from  Padan-aram  just  gers of Saul; which looks as if the image was
before his actual departure. This was sug-  of the size of life. In the present history as
gested by Nachmanides and iS approved by  Rachel hides them under the camel's saddle,
Rosenmuiler. If so, we may infer, that Jacob  they were probably not so large. Laban calls
believed the promise that the sheep which were  them his gods v. 30, which corresponds with




v. 2 —34.]               GENESIS. XXXI.                                         I75
wares to Laban the Syrian, in that he      28 And  hast not suffered me to
told him not that he fled.               kiss my sons and my daughters? thou
21 So he fled with all that he had;  hast now done foolishly in so doing.
and he rose up, and passed over the        29 It is in the power of my hand
river, and  set his face toward the  to do you hurt: but the God of your
mount Gilead.                            father spake unto me yesternight, say22 And it was told Laban on the  ing, Take thou heed that thou speak
third day that Jacob was fled.          not to Jacob either good or bad.
23 And he took his brethren with         30 And now, though thou wouldhim, and pursued  after him  seven  est needs be gone, because thou sore
days' journey; and they overtook him  longedst after thy father's house, yet
in the mount Gilead.                     wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?
24 And God came to Laban the             31 Anld Jacob answered and said
Syrian in a dream  by night, and said  to Laban, Because I was afraid: for
untro him, Take heed that thou speak  I said, Peradventure thou  wouldest
tl.eb.   not to Jacob teither good or bad.       take by  force thy  daughters from
frm good
to and.   25 q Then Laban overtook Jacob.  me.
Now  Jacob had pitched his tent in         32 With whomsoever thou findest
the mount. and Laban with his bre-  thy  gods, let him  not live: before
thren pitched in the mount of Gilead.  our brethren  discern  thou  what is
26 And  Laban  said  to  Jacob,  thine with me, and take it to thee.
What hast thou done, that thou hast  For Jacob knew not that Rachel had
stolen  away  unawares to me, and  stolen them.
carried away my daughters, as cap-         33 And Laban went into Jacob's
tives taken with the sword?              tent, and into Leah's tent, and into
27 Wherefore didst thou flee away  the two maidservants' tents; but he
Heb.   secretly, and tsteal away from  me;  found them not.  Then went he out
sitea/  and didst not tell me, that I might  of Leah's tent, and entered into Rahave sent thee away with mirth, and  chel's tent.
with songs, with tabret, and with harp?    34 Now Rachel had taken the imwhat we find afterwards concerning their wor-  alluding to their use as oracles; and that by
ship (see Judg. xvii. 5; xviii. I4, I7, T8, o0).  Prof. Lee,' from the JEthiopic root, signifying
They are condemned with other idolatrous  " to remain, survive," so that the name may
practices (I S. xv. 23; 2 K. xxiii. 24), and in  originally have meant " relics." The motive
later times we find that they were consulted  of Rachel's theft has been as inuch debated as
for purposes of divination (Ezek. xxi. 2i; Zech.  the root of the word and the use of the images.
x. 2). They have been generally considered  It is at all events probable, that Rachel, though
as similar to the Penates of the classical na-  a worshipper of Jacob's God, may not have
tions. Most probably they were of the nature  thrown off all the superstitious credulity of her
of a fetish, used for purposes of magic and  own house, and that she stole the teraphim for
divination, rather than strictly objects of di-  some superstitious purpose.
vine worship. In them we perhaps see the    20. stole away unaqwares to Laban]  Lit.'
earliest form of patriarchal idolatry; a know-  "stole the heart of Laban," i.e. deceived his
ledge of the true God not wholly gone, but  mind and intelligence.
images, perhaps of ancestors, preserved, re-    21. the rivers The Euphrates
vered and consulted.  There have been ru-                  
moznt Gileadl   So called by anticipation.
merous conjectures as to the derivation of the          name from what l ccurred bename. The majority of recent Hebraists refer  It received the name from what occurred beto the Arab. root tarafa, " to enjoy the good  low, vv 46 47.
things of life," and think that teraphim were    26. as captive: taken cwith the sword]
preserved and honoured, like the penates, or  As captives of the sword.'the household fairy, to secure domestic pro-    29. It is in the power of my hand]  So
sperity (see Ges.' Thes.' p. 520o). Other but  probably, not as Hitzig, Knobel, Keil, &c.,
improbable derivations are that suggested by  " my hand is for God," i.e. my hand serves
Castell from the Syriac Teraph, "to enquire,"  me for God, is powerful.




176                           GENESIS. XXXI.                             [v. 35-47.
ages, and put them  in  the camel's        4I Thus havre I been twenty years
furniture, and sat upon them.  And  in thy house; I served thee fourteen
tIIeb.   Laban'searched  all the tent, but  years for thy two daughters, and six
found them not.                          years for thy cattle: and thou hast
35 And she said to her father, Let  changed my wages ten times.
it not displease my lord that I cannot    42 Except the God of my fi_;lr,
rise up before thee; for the custom of  the God of Abraham, and the fear of
women is upon me.  And he search-  Isaac, had been with me, surely thou
ed, but found not the images.            hadst sent me away now empty. God
36 q And Jacob was wroth, and  hath seen mine affliction and the lachode with  Laban: and  Jacob  an-  bour of my hands, and rebuked thee
swered and said to Laban, What is  yesternight.
my trespass? what is my sin, that    43 qt And  Laban  answered  and
thou hast so hotly pursued after me?   said unto Jacob, These daughters are
fHeb.     37 Whereas thou  hast tsearched  my daughters, and these children are
Je~'t.  all my stuff, what hast thou found of  my children, and these cattle are my
all thy  household stufif? set it here  cattle, and all that thou seest is mine:
before my brethren and thy brethren,  and what can  I do this day unto
that they may judge betwixt us both.  these  my  daughters, or unto  their
38 This twenty years have I been  children which they have born?
with  thee; thy  ewes and  thy  she        44 Now  therefore come thou, let
goats have not cast their young, and  us make a covenant, I and thou; and
the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.  let it be for a witness between me
39 That which was torn of beasts  and thee.
I brought not unto thee; I bare the        45 And Jacob took a stone, and
Ex. 22. loss of it; of bmy hand didst thou  set it upfor a pillar.'2.     require it, whether stolen by day, or    46 And Jacob said unto his brestolen by night.                         thren, Gather stones; and they took
4-0 Thus I was; in the day the  stones, and made an heap: and they
drought consumed me, and the frost  did eat there upon the heap.
by night; and my sleep departed fiom       47 And Laban called it' Jegar-sa- l That.
mine eyes.                               hadutha: but Jacob called it Galeed. to, z-~p
34]  the camels furniture] The word for  Abraham appears as of livelier faith and as
furniture (Car, perhaps cognate with currus,  admitted to a more intimate communion with
car, carry, carriage, &c.), seems to have signi-  God. Hence Jacob not unnaturally calls his
fied a covered seat, litter, or palanquin, which  father's God "' the fear of Isaac."
was placed on the back of the camel for carrying women and children and supplied with    47. Laban called it Jegar-sa/:aduzta: but
curtains for concealing them, not only from   Jacob called it Galeed]  Jegar-sahadutha is
sun and wind, but also from public view (see  the Aramaic (Chaldee or Syriac) equivalent
Ges.'Thes.' p. 715 and the authorities there  or the Hebrew Gaieed; both meaning the
referred to). The Teraphim, being probably  "heap of witness."  It appears therefore that
not of large size, would easily be concealed  at this time Jacob spoke Hebrew whilst his
under such apparatus.                    Iuncle Laban spoke Syriac.  We can only acUnder such appacount for this by supposing either that the
38. This tcwenty years]  See above, v. 4I,  family of Nahor originally spoke Syriac and
On the chronology, see Note A at the end  that Abraham  and his descendants learned
of this chapter.  Hebrew in Canaan, where evidently the He40. in the day the drought consumed me, brew language was indigenous when he first
and the frost by night]  In the East it is com-  went there, having probably been acquired by
mon for extremely hot days to be succeeded  the Hamitic Canaanites from an earlier Sheby very cold nights.                      mite race-or else, which is not otherwise,
42. the fear of Isaac]  That is to say,  supported, that the ancestors of Laban having
the object of Isaac's reverential awe. The  left the early seat of the family had unlearned
whole history of Isaac points him out to us as  their original Hebrew and acquired the Syriac
a man of subdued spirit, whilst his father  dialect of Padan-aram.




v. 48-55.]              GENESIS. XXXI.                                            I77
48 And Laban said, This heap is  pillar be witness, that I will not pass
a witness between me and thee this  over this heap to thee, and that thou
day.  Therefore was the name of it  shalt not pass over this heap and this
called Galeed;                           pillar unto me, for harm.
I That is,   49 And 1IMizpah; for he said, The       53 The God of Abraham, and the
sva oleo- LORD watch between me and thee,  God of Nahor, the God of their fawhen we are absent one  from  an-  ther, judge betwixt us.  And Jacob
other.                                    sware by the fear of his father Isaac,
50 If thou shalt afflict my daugh-        54  Then  Jacob  offered sacrifice nor,:ters, or if thou shalt take other wives  upon the mount, and called his bre- bizst
beside my daughters, no man is with  thren to eat bread: and they did eat
us; see, God is witness betwixt me  bread, and  tarried  all night in  the
and thee.                                 mount.
5I And Laban said to Jacob, Be-          55 And early in the morning Lahold this heap, and behold this pillar,  ban rose up, and kissed his sons and
which I have cast betwixt me and  his daughters, and blessed them: and
thee;                                     Laban  departed, and  returned unto
52 This heap be witness, and this  his place.
~49. Mizpah] i.e. 6"watch-tower."        though he felt the power of the God of Jacob
-We learn from Josh. xxiv. 2, that the ancesgThe Lo Rewatch] Here Laban adopts both  tors of Abraham  worshipped strange gods.
the language and the theology of Jacob. He  There is a very marked unity of purpose
calls the place Mizpah, which is a Hebrew  throughout this chapter in the use of the names
name, and he acknowledges the  ratchfulness  of the Most High, utterly inconsistent with
of JEHOVAH the God of Abraham.             the modern notion of a diversity of authors,
according to some not fewer than four, in the
53. The God of Abrahamn, and the God of different portions of the same chapter. To
Nahor, the God oftheirfather, judge hetucen us]  Jacob He is JEHOVAH, v. 3, and the God of
The verb judge is in the plural. This looks as  his father, v. 5, &c., whilst Laban acknowif Laban acknowledged JEI-IOVA  as Jacob's  ledges Him as the God of Jacob's father, v.
God and Abraham's God, but being himself-de-  29. Once more Jacob.refers to Him as the
scended from Nahor and Terah and doubting  God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac (v. 42),
whether the God who called Abraham from his  by appeal to whom it was but likely that
father's house was the same as the God whom   Laban would be moved; and lastly Laban,
Terah and Nahor had served before, he couples  being so moved, himself appeals to the watchthe God of Abraham with the God of Nahor  fulness of JEHOVAH, V. 4%9 but yet joins with
and Terah, and calls on both to witness and  Him, as possibly a distinct Being, the God of
judge. Polytheism had still hold on Laban,  their common ancestor Nalhot
NOTE A  on CIAP. XXXI. V. 4I.  ON THE CHRONOLOG,' -OF. JA&O''S LIFE.
(I) Difficulty of the question.  Common reckoning.  (2) Su gestion, of Dr, Kennicott.
(3) Dates on this hypothesis.  (4) Greater facility for explaining, the events thus
obtained.
THiE difficulties-in the Chronology of the life of  Jacob servei  for his wives;: an:inference,
Jacob and his sons are very great, so great  which would oblige us to. cuqnlde tha t all
that Le Clerc has said, "There occur en-  the sons, of Jacob except Benjamin, eleven in
tanglements (nodi) in these things which no  number, were born in six years, a thing not
one has yet unravelled, nor do I believe  quite impossible, but highly improbable (see
will any one ever unravel them."  It has  on ch. xxx. 25). The second,> is,, that, Jacob,
been generally held by commentators, Jew-  in vv. 38,.41, of this ch. xxxib seems to. say.
ish and Christian, that Isaac was I37 and  that his whole sojourn. in Padan-aram, waJacob 77 when Jacob received his father's, only twenty years. If these points be made:
blessing, and left his father's house to go to. out, we cannot deny the conalulsion, that asPadan-aram. (See note, ch. xxxvii. i.)  This  Joseph was 39 whenr Jacob was 130, an.d so
calculation rests mainly on the following two  born when Jacob was 9X} therefore Jaco.h
-points: the ist is that Joseph was born. just  must have been 91-I44  77, when he fled:
fourteen years after Jacob went to Haran, i.e.  from Beer-sheba to Padan-ar.am.
at the end of the second hebdonmade which    As regards the first point,. however,   it h. a
VOL. I.




178                            GENESIS. XXXII.                                    Iv. I-4.
already. been seen (note on ch. xxx. 23), that   Years of Jacob's
it is not necessary to conclude that Jacob          life
should have wished to leave Laban immediately        o  Jacob and Esau born.
on the conclusion of his 14 years' servitude.       40  Esau marries two Hittite wive%
On the contrary, with his children too young                en. xxvi. 34.
to carry on so long a journey, with but little       7  Jacob goes to Padan-aram, Isaac
independent substance, and with the fear of                being II7.
Esau before his eyes, it is far more likely that   1 58  Esau goes to Ishmae and marries
he should have been willing to remain longer              his daughter, Gen. xxviii. 9.
tl  63  Ishmaeldies, aged I 37, Gen. xxv. i 7.
in the service of Laban.  But, if this be so,       63  Ishmaeldies, aged 3 7, Gen. xxv. 17.
we have then an indefinite time left us for this    a,  64  Jacob marries Leah and Rachel,
additional sojourn, limited only by the words          F  Gen, xxix, Li, 27, 28.,     Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,
1"when Rachel had born Joseph" (ch. xxx.                  born of Leah.
25). Jacob may have lived and worked for                Dan and Naphtali born of Bilhah.
twenty years longer-with Laban, and not haveah.
twienty years longerwith   Laban, and not have     L7   End of fourteen years' service.
asked. for his dismissal, till Joseph was old       7z  Beginning of zo years mentioned
7~  Beginning of 20 years mentioned
enough to travel, or at all events till he was            in Gen. xxxi. 38.
born.                                        MXFo Gad and Asher born of Zilpah, 
As to the second point, almost all commen- c   e       Issachar and Zebulun born of >
tators take the statements in vv. 38 and 41 as             Leah
identical, v. 4I being but a repetition, with         {  l eDinah. born
greater detail, of the statement in v. 38, as
appears in the translation of the Authorized        9i  Joseph born of Rachel.
bes b   9 aAgreementmade,Gen.xxx. 25-34.
Version. It has, however, been suggested by               vents in the  mily unknown.' Events in the family unknown.
Dr Kennicott, that very probably the twenty      Flight from Padan-aram.
years in v. 38 are not the same twenty years        
as those mentioned in v. 41, and that the           98  BenJamin born, Rachel dies,
sense of the Hebrew would be better express-  1o8  Joseph at 17 is carried to Egypt,
sense of the Hebrew would be bGen. xxxvii. 2.
ed as follows, v. 38, "one twenty years I was           Isaac dies at      en. xxxv. 8.
with thee" (i. e. taking care of thy flocks for    IZI  Joseph, aged  30,  Governor of
thee but not in thy house); and (v. 4.), "another twenty years I was for myself in thy                   goes down to Eypt, Gen.
house, serving thee fourteen years for thy two     130  Jacob goes down to Egypt, Ge
daughters and six years for thy cattle." This,          Jacob dies, Gen. xIvii. 28.
he contends, is a legitimate mode of rendering  It is not possible to date accurately the
the repeated particle (zeh, zeh). Each mention  events in ch xxxi.    iii. but the above
of the twenty years is introduced with the       s a far more probabl ch  ronology than
"oIthis," which word, when repeated,  seems a far more probable chronorogy than
word ZO), Lthis,7Xwhilch   nrorduhenrepeated, that commonly acquiesced in.  According to
is used in opposition or by way of distinction  the common calculation, Judah and his sons
(see Ex. xiv. 2o; Job xxi. 23, 25; Eccl. vi. 5).  Er and Onan must have been quite children
He understands Jacob therefore as saying, that  when they married, whereas the assigning 40
he had served Laban fourteen years for his  instead of 20 years to the sojourn of Jacob in
~wives, after  that he had for twenty years  Padan-aram, will allow time for them to have
taken care of his cattle, not as a servant but  grown up, though even so their marriages
as a neighbour and friend; and then, not  must have been for that time unusually early.
satisfied to go onl thus without profit, at last The common calculation, which makes Jacob
for six years more he served for wages, during  84 at his marriage, whilst his son Judah could
which short period Laban had changed his  not have been more than 20, and his grandhire Io times.                               children Er and Onan not above 15 when
If this reasoning be correct, and Bp Horsley  they married (see Keil on ch. xxxviii.), must
has said that Dr Kennicott assigns unanswer-  surely require some correction, even allowing
able reasons -for his opinion, then the following table will give the dates of the chief events  for the  length of patriarchal lives on th e one
side and for the early age of eastern marriages:in Jacobs:life,                            on the other.'CHAPT:ER  XXXII.                     2 And when Jacob saw  them, he.I'yao's vision at.ahanaioz.  3 His rEves  said, This  is God's  host: and  he
sage to Essan. 6 He is V-fizaid of Esau's  called the name of that place  i Ma- I Th tis.
corning.  9 HIe poray4et  for deliverance.                            pc           two k s..S
13 He sendeth a freseznt to Eseau.  24 He                                          Or, cJ/9,J
wrestleth with an anel at iPenzi, where he is  3 And Jacob sent messengers becalled srael.  3i He laltelh.            fore him  to Esau his brother unto the
A ND  Jacob went on his way, and  land of Seir, the t country of Edom.  t uIb.
the angels of God met himr.. And he commanded them, say-f"''




v. 5 —o.]                 GENESIS. XXXIT.                                            I79
ing, Thus shall ye  speak unto my   and distressed: and  he  divided  the
lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith  people that was with  him, and the
thus, I have sojourned with Laban,  flocks, and herds, and the camels, inand stayed there until now:                to two bands;
5 And  I have  oxen, and  asses,   -8 And said, If Esau come to the
flocks, and menservants, and women-  one company, and smite it, then the
se.rvants: and I have sent to tell my  other  company  which  is left shall
lord, that I may find grace in thy   escape.
sight.                                       9:  ~i And Jacob said, O  God of
6 S1 And the messengers returned  my father Abraham, and God of my
to Jacob, saying, We came to thy   father Isaac, the LORD which saidst
brother Esau, and also he cometh to  unto me, a Return unto thy country, a chap. 31
meet thee, and  four hundred  men   and to thy kindred, and I will deal't-Ieb
with him.                                  well with thee:                          I az zess
7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid    Io'I am  not worthy of the least &c.
CHAP. XXXII. 1.  the angels of God  neh is still retained in the supposed site of the
met him]  The conjectures of various Jewish  ancient town (Robinson).
interpreters concerning this vision of angels    3. unto the land of Seir, the country of
may be seen in Heidegger, Tom. ii. Ex. xv.  Edom]  It does not folw necessarily from
~ 37. The real purpose of it seems to have  this verse, that Seir had by this time become
been this. LWhen Jacob was flying fiom Esau's   Esau's permanent place of residence.  The
anger into Mesopotamia, he had a vision of  historian calls Seir the country of Edom, beangels ascending and descending on the ladder  cause it had become so long before Moses
of God.  HIe was thus assured of God's pro-  wrote.  Esau was a great hunter, and very
vidential care over himn, and mysteriously  probably a conqueror, who took possession of
taught that there was a way frowm heaven to  Seir, driving out or subjugating the H-lorites.
earth and from earth to heaven. Now he is  t may have been for this very conquest, that
again about to fall into the power of Esau;  he  as no  at the head of 400 armed men
and so the angels encamped, perhaps on each  (v. 6).  He had not yet removed his houseside of him (.Iahanain, v. a, signifying "two  hold from  Canaan (ch. xxxvi. 6); and did
camps"), may have been sent to teach him,  not settle permanently in his newly conquered
as a sinilar vision tailgh't afterwards the serv-  possession till after his father's death, when,
ant of Elisha (z K. vi. I6, r7), that, though  yielding to the assignment made to Jacob by
he was encompassed writh danger, there were  Isaac's blessing, he retires to Idumxa, and leaves
more with him than could be against him, or,  Canaan to Jacob (ch.     -)  (See Kur
as the Psahmist wrote afterwards, that "the  in  c.)
angel ef the LORD encampeth round about
them tha't fur him, and delivereth them" (Ps.    7. Jacob  cwas greatly afraid and disxxxiv. 7)t fThus Josephls ('A. J.' I. aso)  ttressed] Though he had just seen a vision of
says, "these visions were vouchsafed to Jacob  angels he was not ulnaturally alarmed at the
returning into Canaan, to encourage him with  apparently hostile approach of Esau.  He
happy hopes of what should befal. him after-  makes therefore all preparation for that apwards," and St Chrysost. ('Hom. 58 in Gen.'),  proach, and then takes refuge in prayer.  His
"the fear of Laban havig passed away, there  faith was ing  perfct, but he was a religious
succeeded to it the fear of Esau; therefore the  man, and so ie seeks in his telror  help from
merciful Lord, willing that the pious man  God.
should be encouraged and his fear dispelled,    9.  0 God of nmy father AZbraham,  and
ordained that he should see this vision of  God of my father Isaac, the Loon]  Tihis
angels."                                    combination of names is natural and exact.
2.  1ah anaim] i.e. "Itwo camps." Some  He appeals to the Most High as the Covenant
have thought the dual here used for the plural;  God, who had given promises to his fathers,
others -t1hat Tacob thought of his own camp  of which promises he himself was the heir,
and the camp of angels.  (So AbenexJra, and  and who had revealed Himself to the chosen
after him Clericus.)  More likely the angels  family as the se.f-existent JEHOVAH, who
were encamped on the right-hand and on the  would be their God. The whole prayer is
left, so seeming to surround and protect Jacob  one of singular beauty and piety.
(see on v. I).  The place called Mahanaim     10. I am not'worthy of the least of all
was in the tribe of Gad, and was assigned to  the mercies]  Lit. " I am  less than all the
the Levites, Josh. xxi. 38. The name Mah-  mercies."
M2




i80                          GENESIS. XXXII.                             [v. I-24.
of all the  mercies, and  of all the  ther meeteth thee, and asketh thee,
truth, which thou hast shewed unto  saying, WVhose art thou?  and whithy  servant;  for with  my  staff I  ther goest thou? and whose are these
passed over this Jordan; and now  I  before thee?
am become two bands.                        I8 Then thou shalt say, Whey be
I I Deliver me, I pray thee, from   thy servant Jacob's; it is a present
the hand of my  brother, from  the  sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold,
hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest  also he is behind us.
he will come and smite me, and the          19 And so commanded he the seHeb.   mother t with the children.              cond, and the third, and all that fol12 And thou saidst, I will surely  lowed the droves, saying, On  this
do thee good, and make thy seed as  manner shall ye speak unto  Esau,
the sand of the sea, which cannot be  when ye find him.
numbered for multitude.                    20o And say ye moreover, Behold,
I3  ~1 And  he lodged  there  that  thy servant Jacob is behind us.  For
same night;'and took of that which  he said, I will appease him  with the
came to his hand a present for Esau  present that goeth  before me, and
his brother;                             afterward I will see his face; peradI4  Two hundred she goats, and  venture he will accept t of me.              t Heb.
twenty he goats, two hundred ewes,    21 I SJ went the present over before "Yface/.
and twenty rams,                         him: anld himself lodged that night in
IS5 Thirty milch camels with their  the company.
colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty    22  And he rose up that night,
she asses, and ten foals.                and  took  his two  wives, and  his
I6 And he delivered them into the  two womenservants, and his eleven
hand of his servants, every drove by  sons, and passed over the ford Jabthemselves; and said unto  his ser-  bok.
vants, Pass over before me, and put    23 And he took them, and tsent t eb.
a space betwixt drove and drove.        them  over the brook, and sent over ccfue"d,
I7  And he commanded the fore-  that he had.
most, saying, When Esau my bro-            24  N And Jacob was left alone;
11. the mother cwith the children]  Lit.  face" was equivalent to accepting a person
"upon the children."  Whence some have  favourably (lb. p. 915).
thought that there was allusion to the mother    22. the ford Jabbok] or "the ford of
protecting the child, as a bird covers its young  Jabbok."  The name Jabbok is either derived
(Tuch, Knobel, Keil), or to the slaying-of the  from bakak, "to pour forth, to gush forth,"
child before the parent's eyes, and then the  or from abak, "to wrestle," from the wrestparent upon him (Ros.); but the sense seems  lin of acob there. I:t flowed into the Jorcorrectly expressed by " with," as in Ex. xxv.  dan about half way between the Dead Sea and
22; Num. xx. ii; Deut. xvi. 3; Job xxxviii. the sea of Galilee, at a point nearly opposite
32, &c. (See Ges.'Thes.' p. Io27.)       to Shechem. It is now  called Zerka, i.e.
13. of that'vhich came to his hand]  "blue" (Ges.'Thes.'p. z32).
or perhaps "that which had come to his    23. the brook] The word signifies either
hand," i.e. into his possession, what he pos-  a brook, a torrent, or the bed of a torrent,
sessed.                                   sometimes dry and sometimes flowing, like
20. I'will appease him, &c.]  The sen-  theArabicWady.
tence literally rendered would be, "I will    24.  Jacob  awas left alone]  He  recover his face with the present that goeth be-  mained to the last that he might see all his
fore me, and afterward I will see his face,  family pass safely through the ford, that he
peradventure he will accept my face."  " To  might prevent anything being left behind
cover the eyes or the face" was an expression  through carelessness; and most probably that
apparently signifying to induce the person to  he might once more give himself to earnest
turn away from or connive at a fault. (Ges.  prayer for God's protection in his expected
pp. 700, 706.)'To accept or lift up the  meeting with his brother Esau.




V. 25-26.]                GENESIS. XXXII.                                               18I
and there wrestled a man with him   hollow  of Jacob's thigh  was out of
f Heb.   until the   breaking of the day.            joint, as he wrestled with him.
ascending
of tsce    25 And when he saw that he pre-              26 And he said, Let me go, for the
novn'g"n. xvailed not against him, he  touched   day breaketh.  And he said, b I will b Hos. 
the  hollow  of his  thigh;  and  the  not let thee go, except thou bless me..
there'wrestled a man wzith him]  He is  should he obtain mercy and be received back
called " the angel," Hos. xii. 4, and Jacob  to his father's house as the heir of the prosays of him  (v. 30), " I have seen God face  mises?  This eventful night, this passage of
to face."  The Jews of course believed that  the Jabbok, was to decide; and the myshe was a created angel, and said that he was  terious conflict, in which by Divine mercy
the angel of Esau, i.e. either Esau's special  and strength he is permitted to prevail, is
guardian  angel (cp. Acts xii. si),  or the  vouchsafed to him  as an indication that his
angel that presided over Esau's country (cp.  repentance, matured by long schooling and
Dan. x. I3).  So Abenezra and Abarbanel.  discipline and manifested in fervent and humMany Christian commentators also prefer to  ble prayer, is accepted with God and blessed
consider this a vision of a created angel, as  by the Son of God, whose ancestor in the
thinking it inconsistent with the greatness of  flesh he is now once more formally constituted.
the Creator to have manifested I-Timnself in
the Creator to hae manifested   iself   the hollow of the thigh]  The socket of the
this manner to Jacob.  Most of the fatlhers,
however thought this to have been one of th   hip-joint, the hollow place like the palm of a
however, thought this to have been one of the
manifestations of the Logos, of the eternal hand (Heb. Caph) into which the neck-bone of
Son, anticipatory of His incarnation.  Theo-  the thigh s  inserted.   The reason of this act
dorett (QaL. 92 in  Gen.)  argfues  thus a of the Angel was very probably lest Jacob
len~gth.  (See also Justin Mt.'Dial.' ~   at,-  should be puffied up by the "abundance of the
kTertull.'Contra  MarLcion.' c  I.'ub    revelations;" he might think that by his own'H. E.' I. %X; August.'4De. D.'  Euseb.  strength and not by grace he had prevailed
c. &C').  From  vv. 29, 3, this seem' tXV.e 3    with God; as St Paul had the thorn in the
&c. &c.).  From  vv. 29, 3, this seems the  flesh sent to him lest he " should be exalted
true opinion. The word for' wrestle" (abak)  above measure," 2 Cur. xii. 7. (So Theodoret
is derived from abak, "dust," from the rolling  in oc.).
of athletes in the dust when wrestling with
each other.                                     26.  Let me go, for the day breaketh]
until the breaking of the day] lit.   till the  Lit. " for the dawn ariseth." The contest had
rising of the dawn."                         taken place during the later hours of the night.
It was now right that it should be ended: for
25.  whuen he sawzv that he prevailed not  the time had arrived, the breaking of the day,
against him]  There must have been some  >when Jacob must prepare to meet Esau and to
deep significance in this wrestling, in which           s anger.  It was for Jacob's sake,
an1 Angel, or mor-e probably the God of  not for His own conver.ience, that the Divine
angels, Himself "the Angel of the LORD,"  wrestler desired to go. (So Abarbanel, Heiprevailed not against a man. The difficulty  degger, &c. &c.).
of believing that man could prevail against
God led to some forced interpretations, such    except thou bleJJ me]  Jacob had plainly
as that of Origen (' De Principiis,' Lib. Iii.),  discovered that his antagonist was a heavenly
and Jerome (' in Epist. ad Ephes.'c. vi.), that  Visitor. Though he had been permitted to
Jlacob ~wrestled against evil spirits, and that  p-prevail in the contest, he still desired blessing
the " MIan" is said to have wrestled with him  for the future.
in the sense of assisting him, wrestling on his    28. Israel:for as a priw-e hast thou power],
side; an interpretation refuted by the words  The verb Sarah and its cognate Sz~r sigof the "Man" Himself in v. 28.  The mys-  nify "to contend with," and also "to be a
tical meaning of the whol. transaction seems  prince or leader." See Judg. ix. zz; Hos. xii. 4
probably to be of this kind. The time was  (Ges. pp. 326, 1338, Ros. in loc.).  It is
an important epoch in Jacob's history.  It  quite possible that both senses are conveyed
was a turning-point in his life. There had  by the word, and it might be rendered either,
been much  most faulty  in  his character;  "thou hast contended with God,"' or "thou
which had led him to much trouble, and sub-  hast been a prince with God."  The Authorjected him to a long penitential and reforma-  ised Version combines both. The best Vss.,
tory discipline. He was now returning after an  LXX., Vulg., render, "-Thou hast had power
exile, of 20o or more probably 40 years, to the  with God, and how  much more wilt thou
land of his birth, which had been promised to  prevail with men," which has been followed
him for his inheritance.  It was a great crisis.  by many moderns, as Heidegger, Rosenm.,
Should he fall under the power of Esau and  &c.  The sense is thus rendered more perspiso suffer to the utmost for his former sins? or  cuous, as implying a promise of safety from




182                  GENESIS. XXXII. XXXIII.   [v. 27-8.
27 Anld he said unto him, What is    AND  Jacob lifted up his eyes, and
thy name?  And he said, Jacob.             A     looked, and, behold, Esau came,
chap. 35.   28 And he said, CThy name shall  and with him four hundred men. And'~'     be called no more Jacob, but Israel:  he divided the children unto Leah,
for as a prince hast thou power with  and unto Rachel, and unto the two
God  and with  men, and hast pre-  handmaids.
vailed.                                      2 And he put the handmaids and
29 And Jacob asked him, and said,  their children foremost, and Leah and
Tell me, I pray thee, thy name.  And  her children after, and Rachel and
he said, Wherefore is it that thou  Joseph hindermost.
dost ask  after my name?   And he            3 And he passed over before them,
blessed him  there.                       and  bowed  himself to  the  ground
30 And Jacob called the name of  seven  times, until he came near to'That s, the place  U-Peniel: for I have seen  his brother.
t/df %God face to face, and my life is pre-         4 And Esau ran to meet him, and
served.                                   embraced him, and fell on his neck,
31 And as he passed over Penuel  and kissed him: arnd they wept.
the sun rose upon him, and he halted         5 And he lifted up his eyes, and
upon his thigh.                           saw  the women  and  the  children;
32 Therefore the children of Israel  and said, Who are those twith thee? t Heb.
eat not of the sinew  which shrank,  And he said, The children which God i" t/ee?
which  is  upon  the  hollow  of the  hath graciously given thy servant.
thigh, unto  this day:  because  he          6  Then  the  handmaidens  came
touched the hollow  of Jacob's thigh   near, they  and  their children, and
in the sinew that shrank.                 they bowed themselves.
7 And Leah also with her children
CHAPTER  XXXIII.                   came  near, and bowed themselves:
7 The kindness of 7acob and Esau at their  and after came Joseph near and Ra- t Heb.
meetingz. I 7 7acob comethi to SzcLoth. IS                                       What iv
At S/cae he bcyet/ ca field, andto  bccidd' an  chel, and they bowed themselves.  l f/its
altar caled E/ -elohe- srael.              8 And he said, t What meanest thou baZd to
Esau. The difficulty, however, of thus ex-  nerve of oblivion."  Whatever be the literal
plaining the particle Fau before 1"hast pre-  sense of the words, they doubtless mean the
vailed" is great.                          "' sciatic nerve," the nervus ischiadicus, which
29.  Wherefore is it that thou dost ask  is one of the largest in the body, and extends
aftermy name?] Comp. Jumdg.x i. I8, "And  down the thigh and leg to the ankle. The
the  Angel of the Lord said unto him (i. e.  Arabs still use this same word (NJasheh or
lanoah), Wghy  askest thou  after my name  Naseh) to designate the sciatic nerve (see Ros.
seeing it is secret?" lit.  wonderful.'  In the  in loc., Ges.'Thes.' p. 924).  The  cuspresent instance perhaps the words mean,  tom  prevailing among the Jews to this day of
" IWShy dost thou ask my name? as it may be  abstaining religiously from eating this sinew
plain to you who I am."                    seems a lasting monument of the historical
30. Penie  i.e.theface of God." Else-  truth of this wonderful event in the life of
30. Peniel] i.e.'the face of God."  Else-  T  5
where it is always Penuel, and the Samaritan  Jacob.
Pentateuch and the Vulg. have Penuel here.
The LXX. does not give this name itself,XIII.  3. bed h                         to 
but translates it both here and in v. 3I. Jose-  groound]  A deep oriental bow, not probably
phus has Phanuel only. The words only difphus has Phanuel only. The words only dif-  such profound prostration as is expressed in ch.
fer by a single line in one letter, and have no    X.: "he bowed himself with his face to
difference of meaning. Strabo (' Geogr.' L.  the ground."
XVI. c. 2, ~~ I5, I8) mentions a town among    5.  thf!o are those with thee?]  Lit. "to
the Phcenician cities with a Greek name of the  thee; " i. e. that thou hast.
same meaning, viz. Theouprosopon.             8. W3'hat meanest thou by all this drove]
32, the sinew  which shrank]  This is  Lit. "W What to thee is all this camp?"  The
the rendering of LXX., Vulg., Onk. Many  sheep with their shepherds assumed the apJewish and Christian commentators have ren-  pearance of a band or troop, hence called
dered it "the nerve of contraction" or "' the  "camp."




v. 9-1-8.]                GENESIS. XXXIlI.                                          183
by all this drove which I met?  And   tender, and the flocks and herds with
he said, These are to find grace in the  young are with me: and if men should
sight of my lord.                          overdrive them  one day, all the flock
9 And Esau said, I have enough,  will die.
eb.   my  brother; tkeep  that thou  hast           I4 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass
eethat unto thyself.                              over before his servant: and I will
aihne.    Io  And Jacob said, Nay, I pray  lead on softly, t according as the cattle t Heb.
thee, if now  I have found grace in  that goeth before me and the children accordigfoo
thy sight, then receive my present at  be able to endure, until I come unto of te 
my hand: for therefore I have seen   my lord unto Seir.                             adzacthy  face, as though I had seen the           15 And Esau said, Let me now c/tef of
face of God, and thou wast pleased'leave with thee some of the folk that the i4Zwith me.                                   are with me.  And he said, tWhat tHcb. set,
i i Take, I pray thee, my blessing  needeth it? let me find grace in the tr H l.
that is brought to thee; because God   sight of my lord.                            isa.isf
hath  dealt graciously with me, and           I6 ql So Esau returned that day on
because  I have  enough.   And  he  his way unto Seir.
urged him, and he took it.                    I7 And Jacob journeyed to Suc12 And he said, Let us take our  coth, and built him  an  house, and
journey, and let us go, and I will go  made booths for his cattle: therefore
before thee.                               the name of the place is called ISuc- viThat is,
13 And  he  said  unto  him, My   coth.                                          booths
lord knoweth that the  children  are          i8 q And Jacob came to Shalem,
10. for therefore I have seen thy face,  before me and the children be able to endure]
&c.]  Rather "for I have seen thy face, as  According to the pace (lit. "the foot")
though I had seen the face of God." The same  of the cattle that is before me, and acparticles are rendered "because," Gen. xxxviii.  cording to the pace of the children.
26; *" forasmuch as," Num. x. 31;' because,"  The word for cattle is literally " work;" thence
Num. xiv. 43 (see Ges.'Thes.' p. 682).  Ja-  anything acquired by labour, property, and
cob pleads as a reason why Esau should accept  hence cattle, the chief possession of a pastoral
his present, that Esau's face had seemed as  people.
gracious and favourable to him as though it    until I come unto my lord unto Seir]  It is
had been God's face. It is highly probable  probable that Jacob here intimated a hope that
that Jacob here refers to his vision of God in  he might one day visit Esau at Seir. It does
the night past at Peniel. The words he uses  not necessarily mean that he was directly on
are "for I have seen thy face, like a vis'on  his way thither; his course being evidently toof Peney EZl-ohim," i.e. "the face of God." It  wards Shechem.
might have seemed likely that Jacob on his    17. booths]   Perhaps only wattled enmeeting with Esau would use the special name  closures, or very possibly some simple conof their father's God, JEIOVAH; but this, in  trivance of branches  and leaves made for
addition to the reason given above, would have  sheltering the milch cattle from   the heat of
been like claiming to be the heir of the pro-  the sun.
mises and under the peculiar care of JEHso-    Succoth] "Booths," from saccac, to entwine,
VAH, which would have been very offensive to  to shelter. Jacob could easily visit his father
Esau.                                       from this place. Jerome ('Qut. Heb.' ad h.l.)
11. my  blessing]  That is,  "this gift  says that " Sochoth is to this day a city beyond
which is meant to express good will and affec-  Jordan in Scythopolis."  According to Josh.
tion, offered with prayers for blessing on the  xiii. 27, Judg. viii. 4, 5, Succoth was in the
recipient" (cp. Judg. i. 15; I S. xxv. 32, xxx.  valley of the Jordan, "on the other side of the
26; 2 K. v. i$).                            Jordan eastward," and was allotted to the
I have enough]  Lit. *" I have all."      tribe of Gad.
w1t3. chitb young]  In milk.                18. to Shalem]  Or "in  peace."  The
LXX., Vulg., Syr. render "Shalem." Robin..
if men should o   bverdri've them  one day] Esau s   son (' B. R.' lIs. 322) and Wilson (;Lands of
400 horsemen would be likely to move too  the Bible,' II. 72) mention a place still called
rapidly for the milch cattle.               Salim to the east of Nablus.  On the other
14. according  as  the cattle that goeth  hand the Sam. Pent. has Shalom, i.e. "safe."




I84                  GENESIS. XXXIII. XXXIV.   [v. 19-7.
CCalled, a city of " Shechem, which is in the Hamor the Hivite, prince of the
Ats7,,  land of Canaan, when he came from   country, saw  her, he took her, and
Padan-aram;  and  pitched  his  tent  lay with her, and tdefiled her                tHeb.
before the city.                              3 And his soul clave unto Dinah Ker.
I9 And he bought a parcel of a  the daughter of Jacob, and he loved
field, where he had spread his tent,  the damsel, and spake tkindlv unto t Hehb. t
U Called,  at the hand of the children of " Ha-  the damsel.
Acts 7. i6,
>mmor.I6 inor, Shechem's father, for an hundred       4 And Shechem  spake unto his fasIOrt3,  1pieces of money.                       ther Hamor, saying, Get me this dam2o And he erected there an altar,  sel to wife.,1 That is, and called it U El-elohe-Israel.          5 And Jacob heard that he had deGod the
odtzeR  XXXIV                                      filed Dinah  his daughter:  now  his
Israe.         CHAPTER    XXXIV.
I Di1at is rovished by Shechem. 4 le sueth'  sons were with his cattle in the field:
to mrorr  /zer. I3 The sons of yaob offir the  and Jacob held his peace until they
conditioln of cir'cumcision to the Shech/emites.  were come.
Go faintotr and Shechemn persuade theot to  6 q And Jiamor the father of Sheaccept it. 25 The sons of 7wcob upon that
atlvawztagre slay thenz, 27 aznd slpoil thzeir city.  chem  went out unto Jacob to com30 _7zcob repsrovfh Sioeon and Levi.    mune with him.
/ND  Dinah the daughter of Leah,            7 And the sons of Jacob came out
which she bare unto Jacob, went  of the field when they heard it: and
out to see the daughters of the land.   the men were grieved, and they were
2 And when Shechem  the son of  very wroth, because lie had wrought
Onkelos renders " in peace," and he is follow-  of God. Jacob therefore calls El the God of
ed by Saadias, Rashi and most Jewish corn-  Israel, and gives this title to the altar, which
mentators,. by  Rosenm., Schum, Gesen.,  he built on the spot which had already been
Tuch, Del., Knobel, Keil.                   consecrated by Abraham  (ch. xii. 7).  Jacob
a city of Shechem]  If instead of "to Sha-  had hitherto always spoken of EnOVAI-I as
lem" we adopt the rendering " in peace," or  the God of Abraham, and the God, or the
"in safety;" then we must render here "to   Fear, of his father Isaac.  Now on his grathe city of Shechem."  It was perhaps called  cious acceptance by Him, his change of name
after Shechem the son of Hamor (v. 7Tg).  In  by His appointment, his return to Canaan as
ch. xii. 6 (where see note), we read of "the  the heir of the land, he calls Him  his own
place of Sichem," i.e. perhaps the site on  God, El, the God of Israel.
which Sichem or Shechem was afterwards built.    CHAP. XXXIV. 1. Dinah the daughter
It was the first place in which God appeared  of Leah] Her birth is mentioned (ch. xxx.
to  Abraham, and it is the place at which,I) before the birth of Joseph (vv. 22, 23).
Jacob re-enters the promised land; for Suc-  If Jacob's sojourn in Padan-aram  was 40
coth, whence he came to it, was on the other years long and not 2o only (see note at the
side  of Jordan. Abraham only purchased a  end ofch. xxxi.), it is quite possible that Dinah
burial-place, Jacob purchases a dwelling-place. may have been some years older than Joseph,
Perhaps the country had now become more   ho was 77 at the beginning of the history
fully inhabited, and therefore land must be related in ch. xxxvii. (see v. a), i.e. probably
secured before it could be safely lisved upon.    about a year or two after the events related in
19. an hundred pieces of money]' A hun-  this present chapter.  In: any case therefore
dred Kesita." All the ancient Versions (except  she was not less than I5 years old at this time,
Targg. Jerus. and Jonath.) render "a hun-  supposing her to have been no older than
dred lambs," whence it has been inferred that  Joseph; so that the objection urged by Tuch
the Kesita was a piece of money bearing the  and others that at this time she was but 6 or 7
impression of a lamb. It appears however to  years old cannot be maintained.
have been either an ingot or bar of silver of'went out to see the daughters of the landc]
certain weight, or perhaps merely a certain  Josephus (' Ant.' I. Xi) states that a feast
weight of silver; a word of the same root in  among the Shechemites was the occasion of
Arabic signifying "a balance," "a pair of  this visit.
scales." (See Ges.'Thes.' p. I24I. Lee,' Lex.'    3.  spake Kindly unto the dmsel   Lit.
in voc.).                                  "' Spake to the heart of the damsel."  So ch. 1.
20.  El-elohe-Israel]  The name Israel  2I; Judg. xix. 3; Isa. xl. z; Hos. ii. i4, &c.
contains in it the syllable El, one of the names    7. he had wrought foily in Israel...cwhicb




v. 8-25.]              GENESIS. XXXIV.                                        I85
folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's    17 But if ye will not hearken undaughter; which thing ought not to  to us, to be circumcised; then will
be done.                               we take our daughter, and we will be
8 And  Hamor communed  with  gone.
them, saying, The soul of my son          I8 And their words pleased Hamor,
Shechem  longeth for your daughter:  and Shechem Hamor's son.
I pray you give her him to wife.          19 And the young man deferred
9 And make ye marriages with us,  not to do the thing, because  e had
and give your daughters unto us, and  delight in Jacob's daughter: and he
take our daughters unto you.           was more honourable than  all the
Io And ye shall dwell with us:  house of his father.
and the land shall be before you; dwell    20 ST And Hamor and Shechem his
and trade ye therein, and get you pos-  son came unto the gate of their city,
sessions therein.                      and communed with the men of their
i I And Shechem said unto her fa-  city, saying,
ther and unto her brethren, Let me    2I These men are peaceable with
find grace in your eyes, and what ye  us; therefore let them  dwell in the
shall say unto me I will give.         land, and trade therein; for the land)
I2 Ask me never so much dowry  behold, it is large enough for them;
and gift, and I will give according as  let us take their daughters to us for
ve shall say unto me: but give me  wives, and  let us  give  them  our
the damsel to wife.                    daughters.
13 And the sons of Jacob answered      22 Only herein will the men conShechem  and Hamor his father de-  sent unto us for to dwell with us, to'
ceitfully, and said, because he had  be one people, if every male among
defiled Dinah their sister:            us be circumcised, as they are cir14 And they said unto them, We  cumcised.
cannot do this thing, to give our sister    23 Shall not their cattle and their
to one that is uncircumcised; for that  substance and every beast of theirs be
were a reproach unto us:               ours? only let us consent unto them,
15 But in this will we consent un-  and they will dwell with us.
to you: If ye will be as we be, that    24 And unto Hamor and unto Sheeverv male of you be circumcised;    chem his son hearkened all that went
I6 Then will we give our daugh-  out of the gate of his city; and every
ters unto you, and we will take your  male was circumcised, all that ewent
daughters to us, and we will dwell  out of the gate of his city.
with you, and we will become one          25 qi And it came to pass on the
people.                                third day, when they were sore, that
thint ought not to he done]  Lit. " and so  ceitfully" from the former clause, rendering
it is not done." These are not the words  and "spoke deceitfully:" but the rendering
of the sons of Jacob, but of the sacred histo-  of the Authorised Version seems preferable.
rian. It is not likely that the family of Jacob    18. their words pleased Hamor, &c.]
should by this time have acquired the generic  The readiness of the Shechemites to submit to
name of Israel; but Moses uses the designa-  circumcision may be accounted for, if circumtion which had become familiar in his own  cision had by this time become a rite known
(lay. The words of this verse seem to have  to others besides the descendants of Abraham
become proverbial, they are almost repeated  (Herod. Ii. Io4). At al events, it was now
in 2 S. xiii. I2. But this is no reason for practised not only by the sons of Jacob and
supposing that the words of this present verse  his household, but by the Ishmaelites, and'should be ascribed to a later hand than that of the family and household of Esau, all growing
Moses.                                  into important tribes in the neighbourhood of
13. and said] Schultens, Gesen. (p. 3I$),  the Shechemites.
Knobel, Del., &c. translate here "and plotted"    25. Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren,'r "laid snares:" others repeat the word " de-  took each man hi; svord] i.e. sons of the same




i86                    GENESIS. XXXIV. XXXV.   [v. 26-3.
two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and together against me, and slay me; and
Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man   I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
his sword, and came upon the city             3I And they said, Should he deal
X chap. 49. boldly, and aslew all the males.        with our sister as with an harlot?
H6e.      26 And they slew Hamor and She-                 CHAPTER   X
tiebi.   chem  his son with the *edoge of the
sword, and took Dinah out of She-  I Godsenleth tocob to Be//-el.           e Jorgeh
his house of idols. 6 He buildetl a al atar at
chem's house, and went out.                  Belh-el. 8 Deborah dieth/ at Allon-bachut/h.
27 The sons of Jacob came upon    9 God blesseth yacob at Beth-el.  i6 Rachel
the slain, and spoiled the city, because    travaileth of Beeziamin, anzZ die/i in the zway
to Edar. 22 Reubent lieth wih/ Rilhah/,  23
they had defiled their sister.               The sons of Yacob. 27 7acob cometh to Isaac
28 They took their sheep, and their    at Hebron.  28 The age, death, and burial of
oxen, and their asses, and that which    Isaac.
was in the city, and that which was            ND  God said unto Jacob, Arise,
in the field,                                    go up to Beth-el, and dwell there:
29 And all their wealth, and all  and make there an altar unto God,
their little ones, and their wives took  that appeared unto thee awhen thou a chap. 27
thev captive, and spoiled even all that  fleddest from  the face of Esau thy 43
was in the house.                          brother.
30 And Jacob said to Simeon and            2 Then Jacob said unto his houseLevi, Ye have troubled me to make  hold, and to all that were with him,
me to stink among the inhabitants of  Put away the strange gods that are
the land, among the Canaanites and  among you, and be clean, and change
the Perizzites: and  I being few  in  your garments:
number, they shall gather themselves          3 And let us arise, and go up to
mother, Leah, as well as of the same father,  treachery and murder. This is only another
Jacob.  In ch. xxiv. 50o, s5, &c. we saw La-  instance of Jacob's weak character, and of the
ban taking a principal part in giving his sister  fidelity of the historian.  Jacob's own fault
in marriage  Michaelis (in loc.) mentions it as  was want of straightforward honesty.  It is
a prevalent opinion in the East that a man is  reproduced with grievous aggravations in his
more affected by the dishonour of his sister  sons. The timidity of his disposition, a kinthan even by the dishonour of his wife, as he  dred defect with untruthfulness, shews itself
may divorce his wife but can never cease to be  now in his exclamation of fear rather than of
LhS sister's brother.  We are not to suppose  moral horror.  His more righteous indignathat Simeon and Levi without help from others  tion, the result of calmer thought, is expressed
attacked and slew all the males: they had no  in his final judgment on the fierceness of their
doubt a retinue from their father's household  anger and the cruelty of their wrath (ch. xlix.
with them, and perhaps were accompanied by  5, 6, 7).
some of their brothers, though they only are
specially mentioned, as having taken the lead  CHAP. XXXV. 1. Beth-eli  See on ch.
in the assault, and as most strongly actuated  xxviii. I9.
by the spirit of revenge.                      2. strane gods] Not only had Rachel
27.  the sons of Jacob] i. e. others be-  stolen her father's teraphim, but probably
side Simeon and Levi, for all appear to have  others of Jacob's company had secreted injoined in the original stratagem (see v. I3),  struments of idolatrous worship in the camp.
and probably all assisted in spoiling the city.   As they had just spoiled a heathen city (ch.
30.  I being fe-w  in number]  Litt.   I  xxxiv 27), it is not unlikely that they brought
being men of number."  That is, I and my  such instruments from that also.
family and followers (compare "I am become    be clean]  "Purify yourselves." The same
two bands," ch. xxxii. Io) are men so few   word is frequently used under the Law for
that we can easily be numbered.  A common  purification  from  legal uncleanness before
idiom: see Deut. iv. 27; T Chr. xvi. I9; Ps.  access to sacred ordinances (Lev. xiv. 4; Num.
cv. I2; Isa. x.. I9; Jer. xliv. 28.         viii. 7; 2 Chr. xxx. IS; Ezra vi. 2o; Neh. xii.
It seems strange that Jacob should have  30; xiii. 22). Such purification was probereproached his sons as having brought him  bly in the patriarchal times, as often even
into danger, not as having been guilty of  under the law, by washing merely, all such




v. 4 —II.]               GENESIS. XXXV.                                           I87
Beth-el; and I will make there an  b called the place   El-beth-el: because bchap. 2&
altar unto God, who answered me in  there God appeared unto him, when   rThatis,
the day of my distress, and was with  he fled from the face of his brother.   t
me in the way which I went.                 8 But Deborah  Rebekah's nurse
4 And they gave unto Jacob all the  died, and  she  was buried  beneath
strange gods which were in their hand,  Beth-el under an oak: and the name
and all their earrings which were in  of it was called I Allon-bachuth.          n That is,
their ears; and Jacob hid them under        9 qT And God appeared unto Jacob eep oj g/'
the oak which was by Shechem.            again, when he came out of Padan5 And they journeyed: and  the  aram, and blessed him.
terror of God was upon the cities that      Io And God said unto him, Thy
were round about them, and they did  name is Jacob: thy name shall not be
not pursue after the sons of Jacob.      called any more Jacob, cbut Israel Cchap. 32,
6 5[ So Jacob came to Luz, which  shall be thy name: and he called his 28.
is in  the land of Canaan, that is,  name Israel.
Beth-el, he and all the people that         i i And God said unto him, I am
were with him.                           God Almighty: be fruitful and mul7 And he built there an altar, and  tiply; a nation and a company of nac:remonial washings being the prototypes of  LXX. and Vulg. Versions have the verb in
baptism, by which, false religions being re-  the singular, which may be the true reading;
jetted, men are brought into the Church of but see on ch. xx. I3.
the living God.                              8. Allon-bachuth] "The oak of weeping."
4. ear-rings] perhaps talismans or idola-    9. God appeared unto?acob again,'when
trous symbols worn in the ear.  Augus-  he came out of Padan-aram] He was now at
tine ('Qu.' ad h. 1.) calls them "idolatrous  Bethel, the place from which he may be conphylacteries," idolorumphylacteria, and(' Epist.' to have set out for Padan-aram, and
ccxLv.) he mentions a superstitious use of ear-  where he made his vow that if God would
rings even in his own day among the African  be with him and be his God, he would make
Christians "not to please men but to serve  that place the house of God. He had now
demons."                                   come back again to the same spot; he had
the oak'which cwas by Shechem]   See  fulfilled his vow by consecrating Bethel as the
note on ch. xii. 6. It may have been finder  temple of God; this might then well be conthe very oak, or oak-grove, where Abraham  sidered as the accomplishment of his return
pitched his tent, and which seems to have  from Padan-aram.  Accordingly God apbeen sacred -even in Joshua's time (Josh. xxiv. pears to him here once more, promises him
26).                                      again, and more emphatically, protection,
5. the terror of God]  God  inspired  blessing, inheritance, confirms the name of
into the minds of the neighbouring tribes a  Israel to him, a name given by the angel at
sense of fear, so that they did not pursue  the ford of the brook Jabbok, but now fixed
Jacob in order to avenge the slaughter of the  and ratified, and assures him that his posterity
Shechemites.                              shall be numerous, powerful and blessed
Accordingly Jacob, recognizing the fulfilment
6. Luz]  See ch. xxviii. I9.            of all that had been promised him when he
7. El-beth-el  i.e. "the God of Beth-  fled from Esau, and of all that his vows had
el," or "the God of the House of God."  pointed to, rears again a stone pillar as he had
At Bethel God first appeared to him. Then  done forty years before, and again solemnly
he devoted himself to God's service and re-  names the place Bethel. The whole of this
ceived the promises of God's protection. He  history thoroughly fits in to all that has gone
accordingly called the place Bethel, which  before, there being nothing whatever to supname he now renews with addition of El.    port the notion that it is a mere legendary
God appeared unto him] The word for  repetition of the previous vision.
God, I" Elohim," being here as generally in the    11.  I am  God Almighty]  El-Shaddai.
plural, the verb is by a kind of attraction put  It was by this name that God revealed Himin the plural also. Some have discovered in  self to Abram, when he changed his name to
this a relic of polytheism, and Onkelos has  Abraham, and promised. him  the land of
rendered angels, a most unwarrantable trans-  Canaan for an everlasting possession (see ch.
lation. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the  xvii. 8). The use of the same name here is




T88                          GENESIS. XXXV.                              [v. 12 —27.
tions shall be of thee, and kings shall  ried in the way to Ephrath, which is
come out of thy loins;                   Beth-lehem.
I2 And  the land which  I gave           20o And Jacob set a pillar upon her
Abraham  and Isaac, to thee I will  grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's
give it, and to thy seed after thee will  grave unto this day.
I give the land.                           21'i And Israel journeyed, and
I3 And God went up from him in  spread his tent beyond the tower of
the place where he talked with him.   Edar.
14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the      22 And it came to pass, when Isplace where he talked with him, even  rael dwelt in that land, that Reuben
a pillar of stone: and he poured a  went and dlay with  Bilhah his fa-dchap. 1
drink offering thereon, and he poured  ther's concubine: and Israel heard it. 4.
oil thereon.                             Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
i5 And Jacob called the name of    23 The  sons of Leah; Reuben,
the place where God spake with him,  Jacob's firstborn, and  Simeon, and
Beth-el.                                 Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and
i6 SIT And  they journeyed  from   Zebulun:
Hf eb.   Beth-el; and there was but ta little       24 The sons of Rachel; Joseph,
a ine~  way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel  and Benjamin:
F~4M't  travailed, and she had hard labour.        25 And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's
17 And it came to pass, when she  handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali:
was in hard labour, that the midwife       26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's
said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt  handmaid; Gad, and  Asher: these
have this son also.                      are the sons of Jacob, which were
PlThat is,    i8 And it came to pass, as her soul  born to him in Padan-aram.
ie son of was in departing, (for she died) that    27  T And Jacob came unto Isaac
rot.    she called his name tIBen-oni: but  his father unto Mamre, unto the city
I' That fis, ate                                                                   he-r 
atiZe sof his father called him "Benjamin.      of Arbah, which is Hebron, where
lzetgz.t    19 And Rachel died, and was bu-  Abraham and Isaac sojourned.
therefore singularly appropriate, and Jacob  stood after the land had been so long inhabitrefers to it with evident comfort and satisfac-  ed by unfriendly tribes.  On the knowledge
tion at the close of his life (see ch. xlviii. 3).   of the geography of Palestine by Moses, see
16.  a little'way]  These words pro-  Introduction to the Pentateuch, p. I7.
bably in the original denote a definite space.    21. towver of Edar] i.e. "tower of the
The LXX. does not translate the principal  flock."  It was apparently a watch-tower for
word. The Vulg. improperly renders "in the  the protection of flocks against robbers and
Spring time."  Onk. has "an acre of land;"  wild beasts. (Cp. 2 K. xviii. 8; X Chr. xxvi.
the Syr. "a parasang;" Saad. and Arab.  Io, xxvii. 4.)
Erpen. "a mile." The Jews generally incline
to understand "a mile," because of the tra-.               
ditions that Rachel's tomb  was a mile from   punished by his being deprived of his right of
ditions that Rachel's tomb was a mile from   p..,        v
Bethlehem or Ephrath (v. 9).   primogeniture, ch. xlix. 3, 4; I Chr. v. a.
Bethlehem or Ephrath (v. I9).
18. Ben-oni] i.e. "son of my sorrow."     and  rael heard it]  The LXX. adds
B"and it was evil in his sight."  The sllence
Benj~amin] i.e. "son of the right hand," a  of the Hebrew expresses more eloquently the
name of good significance, the right hand  indignation of the offended patriarch.
being connected with prosperity, as the left
hand was with calamity. Some ancient ver-    26. in Padan-aram]  i.e. except Ben
sions (favoured by the Samaritan Pentateuch)  jamin, whose birth has just been recorded in
interpret Benjamin as "son of days," i.e.  Canaan (v. i8).
"son of old age." There is evidently, how-    27. Jacob came unto Isaac his father]
ever, an antithesis between Benoni, "son of  Whether this was just before Isaac's death,
sorrow," and Benjamin, "son of prosperity."  or whether Jacob spent some time at Mamre
It might possibly be interpreted "son of  with his father, we do not read. If this were
strength," from the "strong right hand."  only just before his death it is very probable
20. unto this day] i.e. till Moses wrote.  that Jacob had visited him from time to time
It was worthy of notice that the pillar still  before.




V. 28-13.]   GENESIS. XXXV. XXXVI.                                              I89
28 And the days of Isaac were an  his sons, and his daughters, and all
hundred and fourscore years.            the tpersons of his house, and his cat- t Heb.
29 And Isaac gave up the ghost,  tle, and all his beasts, and all his iso,chap. 25. and died, and ewas gathered unto his  substance, which he had got in the
people, being old and full of days: and  land of Canaan; and went into the
his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.   country from  the face of his brother
Jacob.
CHAPTER  XXXVI.                     7 For their riches were more than
i Esan's three wives. 6 His removing to mount that they might dwell together; and
Seir. 9 His sons. 15 The dukes which de- the land wherein they were strangers
scended of his sons. 20 The sons and dukes of
Seir. 24 Anahfindeth mules. 3I The kiings  could not bear them  because of their
of Edom. 40 The dukes that descended of  cattle.
Esau.                                    8 Thus dwelt Esau in I mount Seir: a Josh. 2+
NTOW   these are the generations  Esau is Edom.                                4.
of Esau, who is Edom.               9 qT And these are the generations
2 Esau took his wives of the daugh-  of Esau the father of t the Edomites  ITheb.
ters of Canaan; Adah the daughter  in mount Seir:                              Edoin.
of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah        Io These are the names of Esau's
the daughter of Anah the daughter  sons; cEliphaz the son of Adah the c Chron
of Zibeon the Hivite;                   wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Bashe- I. 35, &C.
3 And Bashemath Ishmael's daugh-  math the wife of Esau.
ter, sister of Nebajoth.                   i i And the sons of Eliphaz were
a Chron.   4 And aAdah bare to Esau Eli-  Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam,'-35.   phaz; and Bashemath bare Reuel;    and Kenaz.
5 And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and        I2 And Timna was concubine to
Jaalam, and Korah: these are the  Eliphaz Esau's son; and she bare'to
sons of Esau, which were born unto  Eliphaz Amalek: these were the sons
him in the land of Canaan.              of Adah Esau's wife.
6 And Esau took his wives, and          I3 And these are the sons of ReuCHAP. XXXVI. 2, 3. Adah, &c.] See  and Pseudo-Jonathan put here Gabala for
note A at the end of the Chapter.         Seir. The southern part is called Sherah.
6. cwent into the country]  Lit. "into    9. the father of the Edomites] Lit. "the
a land." Onk. and Vulg. has "into another  father of Edom," i.e. either " the father of the
land." The Sam. Pentat. has " from the land  Edomites," or "the founder of Idumaea."
of Canaan." The LXX. "from the land."   11.  man We read elsewhere of a disThe Syr. reads " into the land of Seir," which t in Idumsa  caled Teman, famous for its
is adopted by Ewald, Knobel, Delitzsch, Keil,  trict in Idumma called Teman, famous for its
wisdom (Jer. xlix. 7, zo; Amos i. Ii; Hab.
&c. In ch. xxxii. 3, Esau is mentioned as in  iii. 3); and in Job we meet with Eliphaz the
the land of Seir, but then probably he was  Temanite, probably descended from this Teonly there for a time, perhaps engaged in its man, the son of Eliphaz, the son of Esau.
conquest, now he finally takes up his abode  Pliny (' H. N.' vI. 32) speaks of the Thimathere. See note on xxxii. 3.              nmi in connection with Petra.
7. the land vwherein they wvere strangers    Omar] is compared by Knobel with the
could not bear them because of their cattle]  Beni Ammer in Southern Palestine and NorThey were not settled inhabitants, but only  them  Idumea, and with the Amarin Arabs
sojourners in the land: and though they were and the Amir Arabs, all mentioned by Seetallowed to pasture their flocks in the land, yet  zen Burckhardt and R
it was not to be expected that the settled in-                 obinson.
habitants would tolerate more than a reason-    Zepho] Compare Zaphia, a place to the
able number of cattle from one family to eat  south of the Dead Sea (Knobel).
up the produce of their fields.             Kenaz] Compare Aneizeh, the name of an
8. mount Seir]  Mount Seir was the  Arab tribe, and of a fortress to the north-east
mountainous country between the Dead Sea  of Petra (Knobel).
and the Elamitic Gulf, the northern part of    12. Amalek] The ancestor of the Amawhich is called Jebal, i.e. "the hill country,"  lekites, who probably at an early period sepaby the Arabs. So the Targums of Jerusalem  rated themselves from the rest of the Edom



190                          GENESIS. XXXVI.                             [v. 14-24.
el; Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah,             i8 qT And these are the sons of
and Mizzah: these were the sons of.Aholibamah Esau's wife; duke Jeush,
Bashemath Esau's wife.                   duke Jaalam, duke Korah: these were
14 $I And these were the sons of  the dukes that came of Aholibamah
Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah  the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife.
the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife:        I9 These are the sons of Esau, who
and  she bare to  Esau  Jeush, and  is Edom, and these are their dukes.
Jaalam, and Korah.                         20 ~ dThese are the sons of Seir Id Chlron
I5 q  These were dukes of the sons  the Horite, who inhabited the land;  38.
of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the first-  Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and
born son of Esau; duke Teman, duke  Anah,
Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kenaz,              21 And Dishon, and Ezer, and DiI 6 Duke Korah, duke Gatam. and  shan: these are the dukes of the Horduke  Amalek: these are the dukes  ites, the children of Seir in the land
that came of Eliphaz in the land of  of Edom.
Edom; these were the sons of Adah.         22 And the children of Lotan were
17  1 And these are the sons of  Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister
Reuel Esau's son; duke Nahath, duke  was Timna.
Zerah, duke Shammah, duke Mizzah:    23  And  the  children  of Shobal
these are the dukes that canze of Reuel  were these; Alvan, and Manahath,
in the land of Edom; these are the  and Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.
sons of Bashemath Esau's wife.              24 And these are the children of
ites, and formed a distinct and powerful tribe.    15. dukes]  i.e. duces, leaders of tribes,
The Arabs have a legend concerning an abo-  phylarchs. The Hebrew alluph is connected
riginal tribe of Amalek, with whom it has  with eleph, which signifies either " a thousand"
been thought that the Edomitish Amalekites  or "a family."  Hence Bochart and others
were fused. N6ldeke has a monograph on  understand here chiliarchs, leaders of thouthe Amalekites, in which he shews that the  sands; whilst others, with more probability,
Arabian legends concerning them are drawn  understand phylarchs, heads of tribes or famidirectly or indirectly from the Old Testa-  lies, (see Ges.'Thes.' pp. Iog, xo6). Roment, and are utterly valueless when they de-  senmuller thinks that the word is used metopart from that only historical source. There  nymically for a family, and would render
is no authority in the Old Testament for the  "' These are the families (or tribes) of the sons
existence of this aboriginal tribe, except the  of Esau."  This interpretation would apply
mention in ch. xiv. 7 of " the country of the  well throughout the catalogue, but does not
Amalekites."  This, name, however, is pro-  so well correspond with the etymology and
bably given by anticipation, not because the  formation of the word.
country was so called in Abraham's time, but    16.  Duke Korab]  These  words  are
because it had become known by that title  omitted in one MS. in the Sam. Pent. and
before the time of Moses and the Exodus.  Version.  They are considered as having
The Amalekites, having their chief seat to the  crept in through a clerical error fron v. i8,
south of the mountains of Judah, as far as  by Kennicott, Tuch, Knobel, Delitzsch,
Kadesh (Num. xiii. 29, xiv. 43, 45), spread  Keil, &c.
over the whole of the northern part of Arabia    20. sons of Seir the Horite]  The inPctrea,  from Havilah to Shur on the border
Pctrua+t   from Havilah Xt Shur on theborder  habitants of the country previously to the
of Egypt (I S. xv. 3, 7, xxvii. 8); whilst one  Edomitish invasion. The Horites (i.e. Trog.
branch penetrated into the heart of Canaan  Edomitish invasion. The Horites (he. Trog.
branch penetrated into the heart of Canaan  lodytes or dwellers in caves), mentioned ch,
(Judg. xii. Is).                          xiv. 6 as an independent people, were partly
13. Nahath]  " A  descent."  Cp. with  exterminated and partly subdued by Esau and
the valley of Akaba of like significance  his descendants (Deut. ii. 12, 22).
(Knob.).         -                          Lotan] is compared with Leyathan, the
Shammah] Cp. the Sameni, a tribe of No-  name of a fierce tribe in the neighbourhood of
mad Arabs mentioned by Steph. Byzant.  Petra (Knobel).
(Knob.)                                     22. Hemam]  Cp. Homaima, a place to
14. Aholibamah] See note A on vv. 2,  the south of Petra (Knobel).
3 below.                                    23. Alvan] Cp. the  lazwarin, a tribe of
Korah] Perhaps perpetuated in the mo-  Arabs of evil notoriety to the north of Akaba
dern tribe of Kurayeh (Knobel).           (Knobel)




V. 25-33.]              GENESIS. XXXVI.'9r
Zibeon; both Ajah, and Anah: this           29 These are the dukes that came
was that Anah that found the mules  of the  Horites; duke Lotan, duke
in the wilderness, as he fed the asses  Shobal, duke Zibeon, duke Anah,
of Zibeon his father.                       30 Duke Dishon, duke Ezer, duke
25 And the children of Anah were  Dishan: these are the dukes that came
these; Dishon, and Aholibamah the  of Hori, among their dukes in the
daughter of Anah.                        land of Seir.
26 And these are the children of    31 1 And these are the kings that
Dishon; Hemdan, and Eshban, and  reigned in the land of Edom, before
Ithran, and Cheran.                       there reigned any king over the chil27  The  children  of  Ezer  are  dren of Israel.
these; Bilhan, and Zaavan, and A-           32  And  Bela the son  of Beor
kan.                                      reigned in Edom: and the name of
28  The  children  of Dishan  are  his city was Dinhabah.
these; Uz, and Aran.                        33 And Bela died, and Jobab the
Manahath]  Ptolemy, v. I 7, 3, mentions  an emphatic promise from  God Almighty
Manychiates west of Petra (Knobel).        (E1-Shaddai) to Jacob that "kings should
Shepho] Cp. the hill Shafeh north of Akaba  come out of his loins."  The Israelites, no
(Robinson,'B. R.' I. 256; Knobel).        doubt, cherished a constant hope of such a
kingdom and such a kingly race. Moses him24. Anah that found the mules] Anah that  self (Deut. xxviii. 36) prophesied concerning
found the hot springs. (See note on vv. 2,3  the king that the Israelites should set over
below.) The Greek Versions do not translate  them; and hence it was not unnatural that,
the wordyemim  (the LXX.  has ray'IatszIv).' when recording the eight kings, who had
The Samaritan text has " the Emim," a gigan-  reigned in the family of Esau up to his own
tic people, with which agrees the Targum  of  time, he should have noted that as yet no
Onkelos, "the giants."  This is followed by  king had risen from the family of his brother
Bochart, Patrick, and others. The Targum   Jacob, to whom a kingly progeny had been
of Pseudo-Jonathan renders "mules," being  promised. The words in the original are
followed herein by Saad., Kimchi, and many  "before the reigning of a king to the sons of
Rabbins, by Luther, and the Authorised Ver-  Israel;" and might be rendered, "whilst as
sion. The Vulgate renders "warm waters,"  yet the children of Israel have no king;" there
aquas calidas, and the Syriac has "waters,"  being nothing in the words expressive of a
a rendering adopted by Gesen. (see'Thes.'  past tense, or indicating that before the writp. $86), Rosenm., Schumann, and most mo-  ing of the sentence a king had reigned in
dern interpreters. There were many warm  Israel.
springs in this region, the most famous being    The other difficulty in the passage is chroCallirrhoe, in the Wady Zerka Maein, which  nological, it being thought that so many dukes
some suppose to have been the very springs  and kings could not have succeeded one andiscovered by Anah.                        other in the period which elapsed from Esau
31.   nd these are the kings that reined  to Moses. But there is no reason to suppose
in the land of Edom, before there reigned any  that the dukes, mentioned from  r. -5 to Iv
king over the children of Israel] These words  reigned in succession, then the kings from v.
have led many to suppose that this and the  31 to 39, and then again the dukes mentioned
following verses were a late interpolation, as,  from v. 4 to 43. On the contrary a comparihave been written  son of Num. xx. 4 with Exod. xv. OI shewsr
it is thought, they must have been written     a s
after kings had reigned in Israel. Spinoza  that a single  ing was reigning in Edom conargued from them  that it was clearer than  temporaneously with several dukes or phylmidday that the whole Pentateuch was written  archs.  The dukes (as their title indicates)
centuries after the time of Moses; a most il-  were not sovereigns of the whole of Idum-a,
logical conclusion, for the utmost that could  but princes or rulers of tribes or provinces:
be inferred would be that (as Kennicott sup-  moreover the kings do not appear to have
posed) these verses were taken from I Chron.  succeeded by inheritance, the son never suc
i. 43-54, and having been inserted in the  ceeding to his father. Hence they were promargin of a very ancient MS. of Genesis, had  bably elected by the dukes.
crept into the text.                         33. Jobab]  The LXX. and some of the
There is however nothing inconsistent with  fathers consider this to have been the same
the Mosaic origin of the whole passage. In  person as Job; and the mention of Eliphaz in
the last chapter (ch. xxxv. I i) there had been  v. ii in connection with Teman, and of Eli



192                         GENESIS. XXXVI.                               [v 34-43.
son of Zerah of Bozrah  reigned in  Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in
his stead.                               his stead: and the name of his city
34 And Jobab died, and Husham   was Pau; and his wife's name was
of the land of Temani reigned in his  Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred,
stead.                                    the daughter of Mezahab.
35 And Husham  dNed, and Hadad           40 And these are the names of the
the son of Bedad, who smote Midian  dukes that came of Esau, according
in the field of Moab, reigned in his  to their families, after their places, by
stead: and the name of his city was  their names;  duke  Timnah, duke
Avith.                                   Alvah, duke Jetheth,_
36 And Hadad died, and Samlah            41 Duke Aholibamah, duke Elah,
of MIasrekah reigned in his stead.       duke Pinon,
37 And Samlah died, and Saul of    42 DukeKenaz, duke Teman, duke
Rehoboth by the river reigned in his  Mibzar,
stead.                                      43  Duke  Magdiel, duke  Iram:
38 And Saul died, and Baal-hanan  these be the dukes of Edom, accordthe son of Achbor reigned  in  his  ing to their habitations in the land of
stead.                                    their possession: he is Esau the fa39  And  Baal-hanan  the son  of  ther of  theEdoites.
phaz the Temanite in the book of Job favours  this verse " after their places, by their names"
this belief.                               with those in v. 43, "' according to their hahiBozrah]  A famous city of'Idumaea (see  tations in the land of their possession," it Is
Isa. xxxiv. 6, lxiii. I, &c.), remains of which  inferred with great probability, that this seare still traced in El Buseireh, a ruined village  cond catalogue of dukes is, not a catalogue of
in Jebal. (Burckhardt,'Syr.' 407; Robinson,  dukes who reigned subsequently to the kings
1i. i67.)                                  of the preceding verses, nor a different version
37. Rehoboth by the river] or Rehoboth  of the catalogue given in vv. IS to I9, but raHannahar, so distinguished from Rehoboth Ir,  ther a territorial catalogue, recounting, not
ch. x. i. The river here is probably the  the names, but the cities in which the various
Euphrates.                                 dukes or phylarchs before named had their
39. Hadarl Called Hadad in I Chr. i.  seat of government. If so, we must render
so, and here also in the Samaritan text. He  " the duke of Timnah, the duke of Alvah, the
probably was living when Moses wrote, as no  duke of Jetheth, &c."  Two of the names in
mention is made of his death, an argument for  this list correspond with two in the former
the Mosaic origin of this chapter; for Hadad  list, viz. Timnah and Kenaz, because, as it is
could hardly have been living after the time of supposed, the dukes Timnah and Kenaz called
the kings of Israel, to which period those who  their cities after their own names. Aholibafrom v. 3I consider it to be an interpolation  mah may have been a city called afer the
would assign this genealogy, or perhaps the  Horite princess (v. 25). (So Schumann, Kno.
whole chapter.                             bel, Del., Keil, Kalisch, &c.).
40.   And these are the names of the    43. the father of the Edomites]  See on
dukes, &c.]  From comparing the words in  v. 9.
NOTE A on CHAP. XXXVI. VV. 2, 3.
Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and              Ch. xxxvi. 2.
Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daugh-    1. Aholibamah, daughter of Anah daughter of Zibeon the Hivite; and Bashemath, Ish-      ter of Zibeon the Hivite.
mael's daughter, sister of Nebajoth]  The dif-    2. Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite.
ficulty of reconciling this with the names of    3. Bashemath, daughter of Ishmael, sister
the three wives of Esau, as g.ven in ch. xxvi.    to Nebaioth.
34, xxviii. 3, will be seen by comparing the    From this table it appears that every one of
two accounts as follows:                   the three wives is designated by a different
Ch. xxvi. 34, xxviii. 9.         name in the earlier history from that in the
1. Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite.   later genealogy. Yet there can be little doubt
2. Bashemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite.  that 2 Bashemath the daughter of Elon = Adah
8. Mahalath, daughter of Islhmael, sister  the daughter of Elon, nor that 3 Mahalath=
to Nebaioth.                        Bashemath, both being described as daughter




v. 1, 2.]                  GENES IS.  X                 X    I I.                         193
of Ishmael, and sister of Nebaioth.  We may  to admit of solution by saying that Hittite
therefore conclude also that 1 Judith - Aholi-  (like Amorite) was a generic name for a large
bamah. This excludes the explanation sug-  portion of the Canaalitish people, compregested by several commentators, that the wives  hending both Hivites and Horites.  It is not
of Esau, named in ch. xxvi. 34 had died with-  improbable that Hivite in v. a may be an
out offspring, and that Esau had married  error of transcription for Horite (inM for'It),
others.  It seems far more probable that the  in which case we have only to conclude that
one set of names were those which they bore in  the Horites of Mount Seir were reckoned by
their father's house, the other set having been  Isaac and Rebecca as among the Hittite ingiven to them by Esau, or by the Edomites,  habitants of Canaan.  If, however, the readafter they had become mothers of tribes.      ing Hivite be correct, it is not impossible that
1. The identity of Judith and Aholibamah  the Hivites, a southern people, may originally
may appear thus. Judith is called the daugh-  have come from  Mount Seir, and have beenl
ter of Beeri the Hittite, whilst Aholibamah is  dwellers in its rocky fastnesses, which is the
called "the daughter of Anah, the daughter  meaning  of the word Horite (troglodyte,
of Zibeon the Hivite."  Anah was probably  dweller in caves).  If this be correct, then
not the mother, but the father of Aholibamah,  we must conclude that Judith the daughter
the second "daughter" being referrible back  of Anah, called Beeri, from  his finding the
to Aholibamah, and not attributable to Anah  hot springs, and the granddaughter of Zibeon
(unless the reading of the Samaritan, LXX.,  the Horite, one of the tribes reckoned in the
and Syriac, "' the son of Zibeon," be the right  great Hittite family, when she married Esau,
reading); for in v. 24 we find that Anah was  assumed the name of Aholibamah (" the tent
the son of Zibeon, and the grandson of Seir' of the height").
the Horite. The reason why the same person      2.  Bashemath is described exactly as Adah
has been called Anah and Bteeri has been de-  is, i.e. as the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
rived by Hengstenberg and others from the  There is no difficulty here except in the
fact that Anah is said, in v. 24, to have dis-  change of name into Adah, " ornament," a
covered the hot springs, from which very pro-  change not improbable for Esau to have made.
bably he acquired the name of B3eeri, i. e. font-    3.  In the same manner Mahalath is the
anus, "the well-finder."  A greater difficulty  daughter of Ishmael the sister of Nebaioth,
is apparent in his being called a' Hittite"  and Bashemath is the daughter of Ishmael the
(xxvi. 34), a "1 Hivite" (xxxvi. 2), and a  sister of Nebaioth.  There -would be no diffi"Horite" (xxxvi. 2o).  It is observed that  culty in this, except that Bashemath, the sethese three words'i irittite," " Hivite," and  cond name of the daughter of Ishmael, is the
"1 Horite," differ in Hebrew  by one letter  same with the first name of the daughter of
only, and that they were easily interchanged  Elon the Hittite.  If this seems to some irrein transcription.  It is, however, clear (from  concileable with probability, it may be ascribed
xxvn. 46) that Rebekah calls Judith a daugh-  to an error of transcription, likely enough to
ter of Heth.  And from xxxvi. o20, 24, 25,  occur in the writing out of genealogies, and
that Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, was  the Samaritan text reads Mahalath in the gea Horite. The difficulty seems therefore rather  nealogy as well as in the history.
CHAPTER XXXVII.                       AND  Jacob dwelt in the land
2 /osej is iz ted of his brlezthrenz. 5 2is tco  t  wherein his father was a stranger, f eb.
tteanlzs.  13 Yacob send'eth hizm to visit his  in the land of Canaan.               thers
brethren. iS His brethrenz cons'ire ihis deat.  2 These are the generations of Ja-jO,""~
zIY ReuIben saveth hAnr. 2 6 They sell hin to  cob.  Joseph, being  seventeen years
the ftisneelites.  3i His ft)her,; deceived by
the bloody caot, noatrneth for bim. 36 He is  old, was feeding  the flock with  his
sold to Potll5ar in h>jly.                brethren; and the lad was with the
CHAP. XXXVII. 1.  And Jacob d.-welt in    2.  These are the fgenerations of Jacob.]
th/e land, &c.]  Ch. xxxv. concluded the his-  The'Toleeoth, or genealogical history of Isaac
tory of Isaac.  Ch. xxxvi. disposed of the  began (ch. xxv. I9) after the death of his
history of Esau and his descendants down to  father Abraham, a few  verses having beein
the very time of the Exodus.  (See on ch.  allotted (vv. i -i8) to dispose of the hisxxxvi. 39.)  This first verse of ch. xxxvii.  tory of his brother Ishmael.  In the same
now  lands us in the time and place, from   manner, the Toledoth of Jacob are given in this
whence the succeeding history is to begin.  chapter after the death of his father Isaac,
Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's  ch. xxxvi. having intervened to account for
eojournings, in the land  of Canaan.  Esau and his family.  Many of the preceding
Esau had left Canaan to Jacob, who after  chapters had been occupied with the history
their father's death became the sojourner in the  of Jacob and his sons, but Jacob's Toledoth
land, which his posterity were to possess.   begin at this point, because now he has become
VOL. I.                                                                     N




194                          GENESIS. XXXVII'                                 [v. 3 —O
sons ofBilhah, and with the sons ofZil-  sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf
pah, his father's wives: and Joseph  arose, and also stood upright; and, bebrought unto his father their evil report.  hold, your sheaves stood round about,
3 Now  Israel loved Joseph more  and made obeisance to my sheaf.
than all his children, because he was         8 And  his brethren said to him,
the son of his old age: and he made  Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or
O r,    him  a coat of many H colours.            shalt thou indeed have dominion over
pieces.    4 And when his brethren saw that  us?  And  they  hated  him  yet the
their father loved him  more than all  more  for his dreams, and  for his
his brethren, they  hated  him, and  words.
could not speak peaceably unto him.           9 q And he dreamed yet another
5 qt And Joseph dreamed a dream,  dream, and told it his brethren, and
and he told it his brethren: and they   said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream
hated him  yet the more.                   more; and, behold, the sun and the
6 And he said unto them, Hear, I  moon and the eleven stars made obeipray you, this dream  which I have  sance to me.
dreamed:                                      Io  And he told it to his father,
7 For, behold, we  were binding   and to his brethren: and his father
the sole head and father of the chosen seed.  ing to the hands and ankles as worn by Jewish
The Toledoth, or family history, of Jacob con-  maidens.  But the engraving at Beni Hassan
tinues now till his death ch. 1.            just mentioned makes the former interpreta2. Joseph, being seventeen years old.] This  tion (I) the more probable.
history goes back a few years; for Isaac must    It has been thought by some that Jacob,
have been living when Joseph was seven-  in his anger at thR   sins of  his elder sons,
teen.  (See note at the end of ch. xxxi.)  especially of Reuben his firstborn, and in his
Btlt the historian had fully wound up the  partiality for Joseph, the firstborn of Rachel.
history of Isaac, before commencing the Tole-  designed to give him the right of primogeniture,
doth of Jacob; and he now gives unity to the  that this robe was the token of birthright, and
history of the descent into Egypt by beginning  perhaps even designating the priestly office of
with the adolescence of Joseph, his father's  theheadof thefamily (Seeeidegger, Tom..
fondness for him, and his brothers' jealousy  p. 58I.  Braunius'de Vestitu sacerdotali,' pp.
of him.                                     473 sqq., Kurtz, Vol.. p. 378, Clark'stransla3.  the sJon of his old ague]  It is not im-  tion, Blunt,'Undesigned Coincidences,' p. is.)
possible that the greater part of this narrative    7.'we were binding sheaves in the field]
may have been chrbnologicaily before the birth  It appears from this, that Jacob was not a
of Benjamin and the death of Rachel, related  mere nomad, but, like his father Isaac (ch.
in ch. xxxv. i8.                            xxvi. Ix), had adopted agricultural as well as
coat of many colours]  (I). The LXX.  pastoral employments.
Vulg. and most modern versions render a    10.  his father rebuked him]   Joseph
garment made of different pieces, of patch-  may have told the dream in the simplicity
work, and so of many colours.  In the well-  of his heart, or perhaps he may have been
known scene from the tomb of Chnoumhotep  elated by his father's partiality and by "the
at Beni Hassan, a tomb of the XIIth dynasty,  abundance of the revelations" (Z Cor. xii. 7).
the Semitic visitors who are offering presents   thy mother]  It is possible that Rachel
to the Governor are dressed in robes of rich  may have been living now, for neither the date
colouring, apparently formed of separate small  of the dream nor of Rachel's death are clearly
pieces or patches sewn together. There is an  given. The dream may have been some time
excellent engraving and explanation in Brugsch,  before the selling of Joseph, and is only re-'Histoire d'Egypte,' p. 63.                 lated here as one of the reasons which caused
(2). The versions of Aquila, Symm., Syr.  his brethren to hate him. If, however, Rarender a tunic with sleeves or fringes extending  chel was dead, we must then understand Jacob
to both hands and feet, tunica manicata et  to mean by "thy mother" either Leah, who
talaris (see Hieron.' Q.' ad h. i.), which is  would be his step-mother, or perhaps more
the interpretation adopted by most modern  likely Bilhah, who was Rachel's handmaid,
Hebraists (see Ges.'Thes.' p. 1117). WVe find  and at once nurse and step-mother to JoThamar, the daughter of David, wearing this  seph; and it is not impossible that in either
same dress (z S. xiii. i8): and Josephus  Leah or Bilhah the dream may have been ful-'Artnt.' vii. 8. I) speaks of long garments reach-  filled; for we do not know whether they were




V. I —24.]              GENESIS. XXXVII.                                            I95
rebuked  him, and  said  unto  him,  went after his brethren, and found
What is this dream  that thou hast  them  in Dothan.
dreamed?  Shall I and thy  mother            I8 And when they saw  him  afar
and thy brethren indeed come to bow   off, even before he came near unto
down ourselves to thee to the earth?   them, they conspired against him  to
I  And his brethren envied him;  slay him.
but his father observed the saying.          19 And they said one to another,
I2 q And his brethren went to feed  Behold, this t dreamer cometh.              tHeb.
their father's flock in Shechem.             20 Come now  therefore, and let d,,seo,/
13 And Israel said  unto Joseph,  us slay him, and cast him  into some
Do  not thy brethren feed the flock  pit, and we will say, Some evil beast
in Shechem? come, and I will send hath devoured him: and we shall see
thee  unto  them.  And  he  said  to  what will become of his dreams.
him, Here am I.                              21 And a Reuben heard it, and he a chap. 4a
I4 And he said to him, Go, I pray  delivered him out of their hands; and 22.
Heb.  thee, t see whether it be well with thy  said, Let us not kill him.
pee tof  brethren, and well with the flocks;         22 And Reuben said unto them,
/zy) bpre-  and  bring  me word again.  So he  Shed no blood, but cast him  into this
sent him  out of the vale of Hebron,  pit that is in the wilderness, an; lay
and he came to Shechem.                   no hand upon him; that he might rid
15 qT And a certain  man  found  him out of their hands, to deliver him
him, and, behold, he was wandering  to his father again.
in the field: and the man asked him,    23 ST And it came to pass, when
saying, What seekest thou?                Joseph was come unto his brethren,
i6 And he said, I seek my bre-  that they stript Joseph  out of his
thren: tell me, I pray thee, where  coat, his coat of many' 1 colours that l Or,
they feed their flocks.                   was on him;
17 And the man said, They are             24  And they took him, and cast
departed hence; for I heard them  say,  him into a pit: and the pit was empty,
Let us go to Dothan.  And Joseph   there was no water in it.
alive or not when Jacob went down into  of the water in these wells. Dothan is said
Egypt.                                     (Euseb.'Onomasticon') to have been twelve
14. out'of the zlvae of Hebron, and he  Roman miles north of Sebaste (i.e. Shechem
came to Shechem]  It appears from this that  or Samaria) towards the plain of Jezreel. It
Jacob was now dwelling in the neighbourhood  still retains its ancient name (Robinson,' B. R.'
of Hebron where his father Isaac was still  III. I22).
living (see on v. 3). After the slaughter of    20. some pit] A cistern, or well, dug by
the Shechemites (see ch. xxxiv.) Jacob jour-  the shepherds of the country, to catch and
neyed southward; but from the fact that his  preserve the rain-water. Some of these cissons were sent to feed sheep in Shechem, it is  terns were very deep, and a lad thrown into
not impossible that he may have left some of  one of them would have been unable to escape.
his cattle still in their old pastures, and his    24. the pit ewas empty, there uwaas no
anxiety here about his sons, who were thus  weater in it]  Apparently referred to byZech.
feeding in Shechem, may have arisen in part  ix. II, in a prophecy of the Messiah. Joseph
from the enmity excited against them in that  has been recognised by most Christian interneighbourhood by their violence. In ch. xxxv.  preters as a type of Christ; in his father's love
we trace Jacob's southward journeyings from  for him, in his being sent to his brethren, reShechem first to Bethel, v. 6; then to Bethle-  jected by them, sold to the Gentiles, delivered
hem, vv. I6, 19; then to the tower of Edar,  to death, in the sanctity of his life, in his huv. 2I; and finally to Hebron, v. 27, where  miliation, in his exaltation to be a Prince anti
Isaac died, v. 29. But from this verse, ch.  a Saviour, in that his father and mother and
xxxvii. I4, we infer that Jacob must have  brethren all came and bowed down to him.
ar rived at Hebron several years before his  We may notice here, that the counsels of his
father's death.                            brethren to prevent the fulfilment of his dreams,
17. Dothan] or Dothnin, the two wells or  like the counsels of Herod and the Jews to
cisterns. They may have gone there because  prevent the fulfilment of the prophecies conN2




I96                         GENESIS. XXXVII.                               [v. 25 —35.
25  And  they  sat down  to  eat          30 And he returned unto his brebread: and they lifted up their eyes  thren, and said, The child is not;
and looked, and, behold, a company  and I, whither shall I go?
of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with        31  And they took Joseph's coat
their camels bearing spicery and balm   and killed a kid of the  goats, and
and myrrh, going to carry it down to  dipped the coat in the blood;
Egypt.                                      32 And they sent the coat of many
26 And Judah said unto his bre-  colours, and they brought it to their
thren, What profit is it if we slay  father; and said, This have we found:
our brother, and conceal his blood?       know  now  whether it be thy son's
27 Come, and let us sell him  to  coat or no.
the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand       33 And he" knew it, and said, It is
be upon him; for he is our brother  my son's coat; an c evil beast hath de-  clcap. 44.
t Heb.   and our flesh. And his brethren twere  voured him; Joseph is without doubt 25.
arkee content.                            rent in pieces.
28 Then there passed by Midian-          34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and
ites merchantmen; and they drew and  put sackcloth  upon  his loins, and
Psal. i05. lifted up Joseph out of the pit, band  mourned for his son many days.'7
Wisd ro. sold Joseph  to  the  Ishmeelites for    35  And all his sons and all his
3cts7,.  twenty  pieces of silver; and  they  daughters rose up to comfort him;
brought Joseph into Egypt.               but he refused to be comforted; and
29 ql And Reuben returned unto  he said, For I will go down into the
the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not  grave unto my son mourning.  Thus
in the pit; and he rent his clothes.     his father wept for him.
cerning Jesus, only served to bring about  bours, and very probably joined together in
God's counsels, which were wrought out by  caravans and commercial enterprizes. Very
the very means taken to defeat them. If  probably too the Ishmaelites, being the more
Joseph had not been sold to the Midianites,  powerful tribe, may have by this time become
he would never have been exalted to be gover-  a general name for several smaller and assonor in Egypt. If Christ had not been perse-  ciated tribes.
cuted and at last crucified, He would not    spicery] probably "storax," the gum of the
have worked out redemption for us, have risen  styrax-tree. So Aqu. followed by Bochart,
from  the dead, and ascended up into His'Hieroz.'II.p.532, Gesen.'Thes.'p.883,&c.
glory.                                     The LXX. and Vulg. give only "perfumes."
25. they sat down to eat bread]  In    balm] Probably the gum of the opobalsam
this heartless meal Reuben can have taken  or balsam-tree, which grew  abundantly in
no part. It appears from  verse 29, that  Gilead, and was especially used for healing
he must have left his brethren, perhaps with  wounds. This is the interpretation commonly
the very purpose of seeking means to rescue  given by the Jews, and adopted by Bochart
Joseph. The simplicity and truthfulness of  ('Hieroz.' i. 628); Celsius ('Hierob.' l. i8o);
the narrative are all the more apparent by  Ges.'Thes.' x8s5, &c.). Lee (Lex. in loc.)
the indifference of the writer to the ques-  contends for "mastich" as the right rendering.
tion how and why it was that Reuben was    myrrh]  According to almost all modera
absent at this point of the history. A forger  interpreters Ladanum, an odoriferous gum
would have been likely to tell all about it, and  found on the leaves of the cistus creticus or
make it all plain. Yet strangely enough, this  cistus ladanifera. (See Celsius,'Hierob.'.
very artlessness has been made an argument  280-288, Gesen.'Thes.' p.748, Smith,'Dict.
against the historical truth of the narrative, as  of Bible,' s.v. Myrrh.)
being clumsily arranged, and inconsistent in
these details..                          27.   ere content]  hearkened.
25. a compa;ny of Ishmeelites]  "A  tra-   35. his daughters] See on ch. xxx. zi2.
velling company" or "caravan."  Ishmaelites    into the grave]  To sheol. He thought
atterwards called Midianites in v. 28, and  his son devoured by wild beasts, therefore the
Medanim in v. 36. See note on ch. xxv. 2.  word Sheol translated " grave" must here mean
Medan and Midian were sons of Abraham  the place of the departed. The word appears
by Keturah; Ishmael his son by Hagar. The  to signify a hollow subterraneous place(comp.
ishinaelites and Midianites were near neigh-  hell, hole, &c.).  (See Ges.'Thes.' p. I348.)




V. 36 —6.]  GENESIS. XXXVII. XXXVIII.                                               I97
tie>nucbk  36 And  the Mbidianites sold him           2  And Judah saw there a daughter
But the  into Egypt unto Potiphar, an tofficer  of a certain Canaanite, whose name
signify not of Pharaoh's, and  clicaptain of the  was aShuah; and he took her, and a  Chron
only eu-                                                                                    2. 3.
ny chs, butguard.                                  went in unto her.
arsoiCag     CHAPTER  XXXVIII.                       3 And she conceived, and bare a
coarfi ers,                                        son; and he called his name Er.
and off,-  I %dEtah becrreteh Er, Onan, and Shelah. 6    bAnd  she conceived again  and  bNllnl
Cers.     Er manrieth Tamear. 8 The trespass of Onan.                                        26. s c g.
cdH eftfHe  II banzar stayeth for Shelah.  13 She de-  bare a son; and she called his name
slaungclter-  ceivetih tda/h. -27 She beareth twins, Ph/arez  Onan.
nen, or,   and Zarae. 
ex-c' l- ecto      *                 t                5 And she  yet again  conceived,
Oers,   A ND  it came to pass at that time,  and bare a son; and called his name
crtie mar-  k   that Judah went down from  his  Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when
/cfa4.    brethren, and turned in to a certain  she bare him.
Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.            6 And Judah took a wife for Er
36. Pot;phar]  Generally supposed to be  exception of that which was involved in the
the same as Potiphera, i.e. "devoted to Ra,"  history of Joseph. There is also a remarkthe Sun-God.  (See Ges.'Thes.,' p. Io94.)  able contrast brought vividly out by  this
It is far more probably "devoted to Par or  juxtaposition of the impure line. of Judah and
Phar," i.e. to the Royal House or Palace.  his children with the chastity and moral in(See'Excursus on Egyptian Words' at the  tegrity of Joseph as seen in the succeeding
end of this volume.)                        chapter.
an offcer of Pharaoh's] Heb. "an eunuch;"    at that time]  It is by no means certain
but used also of chamberlains and other offi-  that this note of time is to be immediately
cers about the court. The immediate prede-  connected with the events in the last chapter.
cessor in Manetho of Sesostris, who was of  The strict chronological sequence in these
the same dynasty with Joseph's Pharaoh, was  Toledoth is not always followed. Episodes,
slain by his eunuchs.                       like the genealogies of Ishmael and Esau above
captain of the guard] Chief of the execu-  referred to, are introduced here and there, in
ti oners, or " commander of hebody guard,"  order to avoid interrupting the general order
who executed the sentences of the king. (Cp.  of another narrative, and so this episode of the
2 K. xxv. 8; Jer. xxxix. 9, lii. I.)  Herod.  history of Judah is brought in to prevent an
(nI. x68) tells us that "a thousand Calasirians  interruption in the history of Joseph. If the
and the same number of Hermotybians form-  chronology in note at the end of ch. xxxi. be
ed in alternate years the body-guard of the  adopted, Judah would have been at least 26
king" of Egypt.                             at the time of Jacob's flight from  Padanaram, and from that time to the going down
CHAP. XXXVIII.  1. it came to pass at  to Egypt there would be an interval of 33
that time]  This chapter may appear to be  years.
an useless digression inserted at an incon-   swent down from  his brethren] i.e. went
venient time; but in reality it supplies a very  southward (Abenezra, Rosenm. &c.).
important link, and this was probably the    Addullamite]  Adullam, a place afterwards
best place for its introduction. In the Tole-  famous in the history of David, r S. xxii. I
doth, or family history, of Jacob, the two  (see also Josh. xii. Is; 2 S. xxiii. I3; i Chr.
chief persons were Joseph and Judah; Joseph  xi. I5; z Chr. xi. 7; Micah i. I$), is menfrom his high character, his personal import-  tioned by Jerome as existing in his day, then
ance, his influence in the future destinies of  a small village to the east of Eleutheropolis.
the race, and his typical foreshadowing of the  It must have lain in the southern part of the
Messiah; Judah, from his obtaining the vir..  plain of Judah, but its site has not been distual right of primogeniture, and from  his  covered by modern travellers.
being the ancestor of David and of the Son of
David. Hence, at a natural pause in the        2. a certain Canaanite, whose name zvas
history of Joseph, viz. when he had been  Shuah]  Shuah was the name of the father
now sold into Egypt and settled in Potiphar's  of Judah's wife, not of the wife herself,
house, the historian recurs to the events in  as appears from  the Hebrew  and from  v.
the family of Judah, which he carries down  xZ. This marriage of Judah with one of the
to the birth of Pharez, the next link in the  daughters of the land was the fruitful source
ancestry  of the Saviour. Thus he clears  of sinandmisery inhisfamily.
away all that was necessary to be told of    5. at Chezib] Probably the same as Achzib
the history of the twelve patriarchs, with the  mentioned with Adullam, Mic. i. I4, IS.




I98                        GENESIS. XXXVIII.                              Lv. 7-17.
his firstborn, whose name was Ta-  up unto his sheepshearers to Timmar.                                    nath, he and his friend  Hirah  the
cNumb.    7 And c Er, Judah's firstborn, was  Adullamite.
26. -.  wicked in the sight of the LORD; and       I 3 And it was told Tamar, saying,
the LORD slew him.                      Behold thy father in law goeth up to
8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go  Timnath to shear his sheep.
in unto thy brother's wife, and marry      I4 And she put her widow's garher, and raise up seed to thy brother.  ments off from her, and covered her
9 And Onan knew that the seed  with a vail, and wrapped herself, and
should not be his; and it came to  sat in tan open place, which is by the t Ieb.
pass, when he went in unto his bro-  way to Timnath; for she saw  that tye, door O,
ther's wife, that he spilled it on the  Shelah was grown, and she was not Enajim.
ground, lest that he should give seed  given unto him to wife.
to his brother.                            I 5 When Judah saw her, he thought
Io And the thing which he did  her to be an harlot; because she had
tHeb.   displeased the LORD: wherefore he  covered her face.
n Me eyes slew him also.                           I6 And he turned unto her by the
f tot.        II Then said Judah to Tamar his  way, and said, Go to, I pray thee,
daughter in law, Remain a widow at  let me come in unto thee; (for he
thy father's house, till Shelah my son  knew not that she was his daughter
be grown: for he said, Lest perad-  in law.)  And she said, Wlhat wilt
venture he die also, as his brethren  thou give me, that thou mayest come
did.  And Tamar went and dwelt in  in unto me?
her father's house.                        I7 And he said, I will send thee'Heb.     I2  f And tin process of time the  *a kid from the flock.  And she said, tbch.,erfuct.r daughter of Shuah Judah's wife died;  Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou'/tjZ!
tiflied.  and Judah was comforted, and went  send it?
6. Tamar] i.e. "a palm-tree."          Heb.'), Gesen., Winer and most modern in8. raise up reed to thy brother]  As this  terpreters. Enaim  is probably the same as
was before the law of Moses, it would appear  Enam, Josh. xv. 34. Enam is a place in the
probable that this lex leviratus, law of mar-  plain which lay on the road from  Judah's
riage with a brother's widow, rested on some  dwelling-place to Timnath (Knobel). Other
traditional custom, very probably among the  possible renderings are "at the opening of the
Chaldees. The law of I Moses did not abo-  eyes," i.e. in a public place, such as "the
lish it, but gave rules concerning it (Deut. ossing oftwo roads, (so V    yrand
xx~v. 5), as was the case as regards many  many Jewish interpreters); and "at the breakother ancient practices. This law of levirate  ing forth of two fountains" (so Abenezra,
marriage prevailed among Indian, Persian,  Rosenm. and others): but the first i3 pretty
African, and some Italian races (Diod. Sic. certainly he true.
XMI. I8).                                  15. an harlot; because she had covered her
face]  Probably Judah thought her to be
11. Then said Judah to Tlamar] Judah  a woman having a vow. In v. 2I, he calls
perhaps superstitiously seems to have thought her by a title translated "harlot," meaning
Tamar in some way the cause of his son's  literally "consecrated," i.e. to the impure
death (cp. Tobit iii. 7); or he may have  worship of Astarte, as was the custom of
thought Shelah too young to marry.       Babylon in the worship of Mylitta (Herod. 1.
12. Timnathl Probably not the border town  I99). This abominable worship was very
of Dan and Judah, between Ekron and Beth  early introduced into Canaan and Egypt. So
Shemesh (Josh. xv. io), but Timnah in the  Kedeshah, "a consecrated woman," appears to
mountains of Judah (Josh. xv. 57).       have come into use as a kind of euphemism.
his friend] The LXX., and Vuig. have  The veil probably led Judah to think her thus' his shepherd," but Onkelos, Syr., Arab. and  under a vow: for there is no reason to supmost modern interpreters, render as the Au-  pose that mere profligates so covered their
thorised Version, which is probably right.    faces (seeGes.'Thes.'p. II97). The worship
of the Dea Syra at Byblos is recorded at a
14. in an open place] In the gate of very early age. In the time of Rameses II. it
Enaim. So the LXX., Jerome (in'Loc.  was already very ancient.




v. I8 —.]   GENESIS. XXXVIII. XXXIX.                                            99
I8 And he said, What pledge shall  By the man, whose these are, am  I
I give thee?  And she said, Thy sig-  with child: and she said, Discern, I
net, and thy bracelets, and thy staff  pray thee, whose are these, the signet,
that is in thine hand.  And he gave  and bracelets, and staff.
it her, and came in unto her, and she      26 And Judah acknowledged them,
conceived by him.                       and said, She hath been more righteous
19 And she arose, and went away,  than I; because that I gave her not
and laid by her vail from  her, and  to Shelah my son.  And he knew her
put on the garments of her widow-  again no more.
hood.                                     27  I And it came to pass in the
20 And Judah sent the kid by the  time of her travail, that, behold, twins
hand of his friend the Adullamite, to  were in her womb.
receive his pledge from  the woman's    28 And it came to pass, when she
hand: but he found her not.             travailed, that the one put out his hand:
2I rThen he asked the men of that  and the midwife took and bound upon
place, saying, Where is the harlot,  his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This
Or,.i',n  that was " openly by the way side?  came out first.
And they said, There was no harlot    29 And it came to pass, as he drew
in this place.                          back his hand, that, behold, his brother
22 And he returned to Judah, and  came out: and she said, "IHow hast i o,,
said, I cannot find her; and also the  thou broken forth? this breach be up-/, e..t
men of the place said, that there was  on thee: therefore his name was called t/-......
no harlot in this place.                IdPharez.                              g,-ainst
23 And Judah said, Let her take         30 And  afterward  came out his T'hatis,
Heb.  it to her, lest we'be shamed: be-  brother, that had the scarlet thread a hrea.....'emt.. hold, I sent this kid, and thou hast  upon his hand: and his name was 2M4t
p                                    Mrislllpf.  ~R/Iatt. 4.
not found her.                          called Zarah.
24 qT And it came to pass about
three months after, that it was told           CHAPTER  XXXIX.
udah, saying, Tamar thy daughter  I 7oseJh advanced in P]otiha's house. 7 fie
uda   saying,   amar ty  augter    esisteth his zmistress's temptation. 13 tAe is
in law  hath played the harlot; and    falsely accused.  o He is cast in prison. 2 
also, behold, she is with child by    God is uith ALzi there.
whoredom.  And Judah said, Bring           PND Joseph was brought down to
her forth, and let her be burnt.        A     Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer
25 Wheil she was brought forth,  of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an
she sent to her father in law, saying,  Egyptian, bought him  of the hands
18. Thy signet]  A  seal or signet-ring.  nearest of kin was to take the widow to wife,
The ancients wore it sometimes, not as a ring  hence when Shelah does not take her, she
on the finger, but hanging round the neck by  considers Judah the right person with whom
a cord or chain (Ges.'Thes.' p. 534).   to form such an alliance.
thy bracelets] Thy cord: the cord or string    29. How hast thou brokenforth? this breach
by which the seal was suspended (so Ges.,  be upon thee]  Or, "why hast thou made
Rosenm., Schum., Lee).                   - rent for thyself?" or a"hast rent a rent for
staff]  It was probably of considerable  thyself?"
value, as among the Babylonians, and on
value, as among the Babylonians, and o     Pharez] t.e. "breach" or "breaking forth."
Egyptian monuments.
21. openly] At Enaim. See on v. 14.      30. Zarah] i.e. "rising."
26. She has been more righteoes than 1]    CAP. XXXIX.. And Josh   as
Judah acknowledges that he had done wrong    C   dAP. XXXIX.  1. And Joseph   as
to Tamar in not giving her his son, Shelah, broght dow  to Egypt, &c.]  A recapitula
according to the lex leviratus, that the bro-  ton of the narrative in ch. xxxvii. 36, which
ther should raise up seed to his brother. had been interrupted by the history of Judah'
It appears further from Ruth ch. iii. iv. that,  family in ch. xxxviii.
according to the patriarchal custom, the    Ishneelites] See on ch. xxxvii. 2.5.




200                          GENESIS. XXXIX.                                [v. 2 — 3.
of the Ishmeelites, which had brought       7 qI And it came to pass after these
him down thither.                        things, that his master's wife cast her
2 And the LORD was with Joseph,  eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie
and he was a prosperous man; and he  with me.
was in the house of his master the          8 But he refused, and said  unto
Egyptian.                                his master's wife, Behold, my master
3 And  his master saw  that the  wotteth not what is with me in the
LORD  -was with  him, and that the  house, and he hath committed all that
LORD made all that he did to prosper  he hath to my hand;
in his hand.                                9 There is none greater in this house
4 And Joseph found grace in his  than I; neither hath he kept back anlly
sight, and  he served him: and he  thing from  me but thee, because thou
made him  overseer over his house,  art his wife: how their can I do this
and all that he had he put into his  great wickedness, and sin against God?
hand.                                       I o And  it came to  pass, as she
5 And it came to pass from  the  spake to Joseph day by day, that he
time that he had made him  overseer  hearkened not unto her, to lie by her,
in his house, and over all that he had,  or to be with her.
that the LORD blesszd the Egyptian's        i i And it came to pass about this
house for Joseph's sake; and the bless-  time, that 7oseph went into the house
ing of the LORD was upon all that he  to do his business; and there was none
had in the house, and in the field.      of the men of the house there within.
6 And he left all that he had in         12 And she caught him  by his garJoseph's  hand; and  he knew  not  ment, saying, Lie with me: and he
ought he had, save the bread which  left his garment in her hand, and fled,
hle did eat.  And Joseph was a goodly  and got him  out.
person, and well favoured.                   I3 And it came to pass, when she
2. the LORD  zvas'with Josephl  The  tions of the household, the garden, the field,
variety in the use of the Divine names; in the  &c.
history of Joseph is very observable. The
name  J EHOVAH  occurs only  where the    6. Joseph cwas a goodly person, and rZuel1
narrator is speaking in his own person; until favouredl  Lit. "was fair of form and fair of
we come to ch. xlix. where Jacob uses it in  aspect," or "appearance."
the midst of his blessing on Dan, ch. xlix. I8.    7. his master's zuifel   The licentiousIn all other speeches in the history we haveess of the Egyptiar  woen has T lways  been
Elohim, sometimes Ha-Elohim with the arti-  colained of th e Egyptian women has always been
cle, and sometimes El, or Ha-E1. The rea-    mplained of (see Herod..  I; Diod. i.
cS9) The same appears from the monuments,
son of this is generally apparent. The whole  59)w   The same appears from the moluments
history, though given by an inspired writer  which prove also that women did not live so
history, theough give~n by  an  inspired fam-iter,retired a life in Egypt as in other ancient and
to whom the name cJEHIOVAII was fiamiliar,  especially Eastern countries (XVilkinson, Vol.
concerns the history of Joseph and his kindred  es. p. 389, Hengstenb.c Egypt.} p. 26). TheVe
in contact with a heathen people. It is there-  is a very remarkable resemblance between this
is a very remarkable resemblance between this
fore on all a    ccounts natural that he general  passage in the history of Joseph and a very
name Elohim, and not the specially revealed  ancient Egyptian Romance in the Papyrus
name JEHOVAHI, should be used in dialogue. Even the narrative, as in ch. xlvi., is  "The Two Brothers," in which the wife of
most naturally carried on in a so-called Elo-  the elder brother acts in the same manner
histic form, the name Elohim being of com-  and uses almost the same words towards
mon use to both Hebrews and Egyptians.  the younger brother as Potiphar's wife uses
The adoption of the name El (or I-Ha-El) in  towards  Joseph  (see Ebels,'Ig)-pten,
xlvi. 3, is probably with marked reference to
the blessing on Abraham pronounced in the  P. 3II).
name of El-Shaddai in ch. xvii. I.           9.  sin against God]   The direct sin
4.  overseer]  The Egyptian sculptures  would have been against his master; but
represent the property of rich men as super-  Joseph clearly recognized that the true guilt
intended by scribes or stewards, who are  of all sin consists in its breach of the law, and
exhibited as carefully registering all the opera-  disobedience to the will of God.




V. 14-3.]           GENESIS. XXXIX. XL.                                           20r
saw  that he had left his garment in  seph, and tshewed him  mercy, and tHeb.
her hand, and was fled forth,             gave him  favour in the sight of the kiEdo.....
I4 That she called unto the men  keeper of the prison.                         unfto zim
of her house, and spake unto them,          22 And the keeper of the prison
saying, See, he hath brought in an  committed to Joseph's hand all the
Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came  prisoners that were in the prison; and
in unto me to lie with me, and I cried  whatsoever they did there, he was the
Heb.   with a tloud voice:                       doer of it.
treat.     15 And it came to pass, when he           23 The keeper of the prison looked
heard that I lifted up my voice and  not to anything that was under his
cried, that he left. his garment with   hand; because the LORD  was with
me, and fled, and got him out.           him, and that which he did, the LORD
I6 And she laid up his garment  made it to prosper.
by her, until his lord came home.
I7 And she spake unto him accord-                CHAPTER  XL.
ing to these words, saying, The He-  I Thze bdtier and baker of Pharaoh ii 2rison.
brew servant, which thou hast brought    4 posetP  ziath cha~rge of t/hem. 5 fle interreltetl/z their dreams.  2o They come to/ass
unto us, came in unto me to mock me:    according to his iitei/prettizo;z. 23 7'he inI8 And it came to pass, as I lifted    gratitude of the butler.
up my voice and cried, that he left his /~ND  it came to pass after these
garment with me, and fled out.             ~   things, that the butler of the
19 And it came to pass, when his  king of Egypt and his baker had ofmaster heard the words of his wife,  fended their lord the king of Egypt.
which  she spake unto him, saying,          2 And Pharaoh was wroth against
After this manner did thy servant to  two of his officers, against the chief
me; that his wrath was kindled.           of the butlers, and against the chief
20 And Joseph's master took him,  of the bakers.
and put him  into the prison, a place       3 Aind hie put them  in ward in the
where the king's prisoners were bound:  house of the captain of the guard,
and he was there in the prison.           into the prison, the place where Jo21 q But the LORD was with Jo-  seph was bound.
20. prison]  The word here used oc-  of his confinement was mitigated, and at
curs only here and in ch. x1. It probably  length the* chief of the executioners himself
means a turret or rounded (perhaps arched)  (either Potiphar, or, as some think, his sucbuilding or apartment, arched or rounded for  cessor) intrusts him  with the care of imstrength, used as a prison or dungeon. It  portant state prisoners. The fact that Joseph
appears from ch. xl. 3, to have been a part of  was not put to death, and by degrees treated
the house of the captain of the guard or chief  kindly in prison, has given rise to the conjecof the executioners, in which the state pri-  ture, that Potiphar did not wholly believe his
soners were kept, and to have had a special wife's story, though he to a certain extent acted
jailer or keeper of the prison, an officer of the  on it (Cleric in loc., Keil, &c.).
chief of the executioners, placed over it. In
ch. xl. i5, Joseph speaks of it as "a dungeon"    CI-IAP. XL. 2. the chief of the butlers]
or pit, which would quite correspond with  The chief of the cupbearers. The office
the character of an arched or vaulted room.  of cupbeare' to the sovereign was one of imIn Ps. cv. 17, I8, the imprisonment of Joseph  portance and high honour in the East. See
is represented as having been very severe,  Herod. II. 34.
"whose feet they afflicted with the fetters,    chief of the bakers] or "confectioners."
the iron entered into his soul."  It is most  The Targum  of Pseudo-Jonathan adds that
probable that at first Joseph's treatment may  "they had taken counsel to throw the poison
have been of this character, the crime with  of death into his food and into his drink, to
which he was charged having been such that  kill their master, the king of Mlizraim." This
a slave would most likelS have been instantly  is probably only a conjecture from the fact
put to death:for it. By degrees, however, he  that the two  offending persons were im.
gained, under God's Providence, the confi-  mediately concerned with the food and the
dence of the jailer (v. *2), when tihe rigour  drink of the king.




202                             GENESIS. XL.                               [v. 4-'6.
4 And the captain of the guard  branches: and it was as though it
charged Joseph with them, and he budded, and her blossoms shct forth;
served them: and they continued a and the clusters thereof brought forth
season in ward.                          ripe grapes:
5 qT And they dreamed  a dream           I  And Pharaoh's cup was in my
both of them, each man his dream in  hand: and  I took the grapes, and
one night, each man according to the  pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and
interpretation of his dream, the butler  I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.
and the baker of the king of Egypt,    I2 And Joseph said unto him, This
which were bound in the prison.          is the interpretation of it: The three
6 And Joseph came in unto them   branches are three days:
in the morning, and looked upon them,       13 Yet within  three days shall
and, behold, they were sad.              Pharaoh' lift up thine head, and re- IOr,
7 And he asked Pharaoh's officers  store thee unto thy place: and thou reck'n.
that were with him in the ward of his  shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his! Heb.  lord's house, saying, Wherefore tlook  hand, after the former manner when
or? ye so sadly to day?                        thou wast his butler.
8 And they said unto him, We             14 But t think on me when it shall t Heb.
have dreamed a dream, and there is  be well with thee, and shew kindness, rez:e,,{
no interpreter of it.  And Joseph said  1 pray thee, unto me, and make men- See.
unto them, Do not interpretations be-  tion of me unto Pharaoh, and bring
long to God? tell me them, I pray you.  me out of this house:
9 And the chief butler told  his    15 For indeed I was stolen away
dream to Joseph, and said to him, In  out of the land of the Hebrews: and
my dream, behold, a vine was before  here also have I done nothing that
me;                                      they should put me into the dungeon.
io And  in  the vine were three          I6 When the chief baker saw that
4. they continued a season]  Lit. "days,"  the fresh juice, which would accord with the
by which the Jews very generally understand  statement of Plutarch (' Is. et Osir.' ~ 6) that
a year.                                   the Egyptians before the time of Psammetichus
9. a -vine]  Herodotus denies the ex-  neither drank wine nor made libations thereof,
istence of vines in ancient Egypt, and says  as esteeming it to have sprung from the blood
that the Egyptian wine was made of barley  of those who made war with the gods; but
(II. 77). Yet Herodotus himself (II. 42, 48,  the monuments represent the process of fer44) and DiodorYus (I. II) identify Osiris  menting wine in very early times. See last
with the Greek Bacchus, the discoverer of the  note.
vine, and Diodorus (I. i5) expressly ascribes    13. shall Pharaoh lift up thine head] Some
to Osiris the first cultivation of the vine. But,  think this expression merely means "will take
moreover, it now appears from the monu-  count of thee," " will remember thee."  Cp.
*ments that both the cultivation of grapes and  Ex. xxx. I1; Num. i. 49; where the marginal
the art of making wine were well known in  reading is 6 "reckon."  More probably the
Egypt from the time of the Pyramids. Wine  meaning is, "xw'ill take thee out of prison"
was universally used by the rich throughout  (see Ges. p. 914).
Egypt, and beer supplied its place at the tables    15. the land of the Hebrecvs]  Though
of the poor, not because " they had no vines  the patriarchs had been strangers and pilgrims,
in the country, but because it was cheaper."ham,  Isaac and Jacob had effected
(Sir G. WVilkinson's note in Rawlinson's  something like permanent settlements in the
lHerod. I. 77.  See also Rosellini, Vol. Ii.  neighbourhood of Mamre, Hebron, Shechem,
pp. 365, 373, 377; Wilkinson, Vol. Ir.'43;  &c. Probably too the visit of Abraham to
Hengstenberg,'Egypt,' &c. p.i6; Havernick,  Egypt and the intercourse of the Egyptians
I Introd. toPentateuch,' is hl.l.; Ebers,'.gyp-  with the Hittites and other Canaanitish tribes,
ten,' p. 323.)                             had made the name of Hebrew known to the
11. I took the grapes, and pressed them]  Egyptians. Joseph does not say "the land of
Some have thought that this indicates that the  Canaan," lest he should be confounded with
Egyptians did not at this time practise the  the Canaanites, who were odious to himself as
fermentation of the grape, but merely drank  being idolaters.




v. 17 —6.]            GENESIS. XL. XLI.                                          203
the interpretation was good, he said              CHAPTER  XLL.
unto Joseph, I also was in my dream,  I P/zaraah's two dreams.  25 7osepz interlOrffu  and, behold, I had three   white bas-   jreteh them. 33 legiveh Pharaoh counsel.
bozl,38 3 osephI is advanced.  50  le begetetlk
vF/tOS. gkets on my head:                          JManasseh and Ephmraim. 54 The famine
17 And in the uppermost basket    deninneth.
tHeb.  there was of all manner of bakemeats    AND  it came to pass at the end
Pfhait  for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat th   of two full years, that Pharaoh
the zBu,  them out of the basket upon my head.  dreamed: and, behold, he stood by
or, cook.    18 And Joseph answered and said,  the river.'This is the interpretation  thereof:      2 And, behold, there came up out
The three baskets are three days:        of the river seven well favoured kine
19  Yet within  three  days shall  and  fatfleshed; and  they  fed  in  a
It Or,    Pharaoh  I lift up thy head from  off  meadow.
axc/.snd thee, and  shall hang thee on a tree;      3 And, behold, seven other kine
tke thy  and the birds shall eat thy flesh from   came up after them  out of the river,
ofice from
eee..   off thee.                                ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood
20 q- And it came to pass the third  by the other kine upon the brink of
day, which was Pharaoh's birthday,  the river.
that he made a feast unto all his ser-    4 And the ill favoured and lean-,Or,    vants: and he Hlifted up the head of  fleshed kine did eat up the seven well
recvonead. the chief butler and of the chief baker  favoured and fat kine.  So Pharaoh
among his servants.                      awoke.
21 And he restored the chief but-    5 And he slept and dreamed the
ler unto his butlership again; and he  second time: and, behold, seven ears
gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand:        of corn  came up upon  one  stalk,
22 But he hanged the chief baker:  t rank and good.                          tf eb.,tE
as Joseph had interpreted to them.         6 And, behold, seven thin ears and
23 Yet did not the chief butler re-  blasted with the east wind sprung up
member Joseph, but forgat him.           after them.
16. three white baskets] Probably "baskets  The Nile had a sacred and  a profane
of white bread;" so LXX., Aq., Vulg., Syr.,  name. The sacred name was Hapi, i.e. Apis.
Onk. Some prefer "' baskets full of holes,"  The  profane name was Aur-, with  the
" perforated," or " wicker baskets."      epithet aa great. The Coptic forms ilpO,
on my head] See Herod. II. 35, of the men   &pCu, correspond exactly to the Hebrew
bearing burdens on their heads.           yeor.
17. bakemeats for Pharaoh] Lit. "food. kine]  The Egyptians estmed the
for Pharaoh, te wor  of a baer."  The    2  kine]  The Egyptians esteemed the
or Paraoh, the wor  o  a bae.  The  cow above all other animals. It was sacred
Egyptians appear to have been very luxurious  to Isis (Herod. Io. 41) or rather to Athore
in the preparation of different kinds of bread  to Isis (Herod.' 41), or rather to Athor,
and pastry. (See Rosellini, Vol.. 264;  the Venus Genetrix of Egypt, and was looked
ainson, pa. (384; IIengstenberg,  p.II- 2{;7.)  W on as 1" a symbol of the Earth and its cultivation and food" (Clem. Alex.'Strom.' v. p.
19. shallPharaoh lift up thy head fronz off 67I). Hence it was very natural that in Phathee] The same words as those used in v. J13,  raoh's dream the fruitful and unfruitful years
with the addition of " from off thee," malking  should be typified by well-favoured and illthe most vital difference. The mode of pu-  favoured kine (see Hengstenb.' Egypt,' p. 28).
nishment was probably decapitation, the most   inameadow]  In thereed grass. The
common form of execution in Egypt (Ges.  word (Achu) is of Egyptian origin.  It is
p. 915); though some have thought hanging  not common, but occurs in a papyrus of early
or crucifixion, as Onkelos in loc. Possibly  date (akh-akh, green, verdant). Jerome (on
the words may only indicate capital punish- Isai. xix. 7) says that " when he enquired of
ment, like the capite plecti of the Latins.  the learned what the word meant, he was told
by the Egyptians that in their tongue every
CHAP. XLI. 1. the river] The " yeor,"  thing green that grows in marshes is called by
an Egyptian word signifying " great river,"  this name."  It probably therefore means the
or "canal," used in Scripture for the Nile.  sedge, reed, or rank grass by the river's side.




204                             GENESIS. XLI.                               [v.7-18.
7 And the seven thin ears devour-  dreams; to  each man according to
ed the seven rank and full ears.  And  his dream he did interpret.
Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a        I3 And it came to pass, as he indream.                                   terpreted to us, so it was; me he
8  And it came  to  pass in  the  restored unto mine office, and him
morning  that his spirit was trou-  he hanged.
bled;  and  he sent and called  for         I4    T  bThen  Pharaoh  sent and pbl o05
all the magicians of Egypt, and all  called Joseph, and they   brought him;~i,.
the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh  hastily out of the dungeon: and he..... /I i
told them  his dream; but there was  shaved himself and changed his rainone that could interpret them  unto  ment, and came in unto Pharaoh.
Pharaoh.                                    I5 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
9  I Th n spake the chief butler  I have dreamed a dream, and there
unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remem-  is none  that can interpret it: and
ber my faults this day:                  I have heard say of thee, that II thou ii Or,
I o  Pharaoh was wroth with  his  canst understand a dream  to inter- whel,.ki..l
servants, and put me in ward in the  pret it.                                    dre
captain of the guard's house, both me       I6 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, i,,/,,re,,
and the chief baker:                     saying, It is not in me: God shall a.
i i And we dreamed a dream  in  give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
one night, I and he; we dreamed             17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
each man according to the interpreta-  In my dream, behold, I stood upon
tion of his dream.                       the bank of the river:
12 And there was there with us a         I8  And, behold, there came  up
young man, an Hebrew, servant to  out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed
the captain of the guard; and we told  and well favoured; and they fed in a
chap. 4o. him; and he ainterpreted to us our  meadow:
I2, &C.
6.  east uvind]  Probably put for the  compound imitating an Egyptian name (see
S. E. wind (Chamsin), which blows from the  Ges.' Thes.' p. 2 I). There has, however,
desert of Arabia. The East wind of Egypt is  no Egyptian name been found like it. The
not the scorching wind, and indeed seldom   magicians appear to have been a regular order
blows; but the South-east wind is so parching  of persons among the Egyptians, learned
as to destroy the grass entirely, if it blows  priests, who devoted themselves to magic and
very long (see Hengstenberg, p. io).       astrology (see Hengstenberg, p. 28, and Poole
7. bebold, it kwas a dreacm] The impression  in Smith's' Dict. of the Bible,' art. Margic).
on Pharaoh's mind was so strong and vivid,    13. me he restored  Joseph prophesied
that he could hardly believe it was not real. that I should be restored, and, as he propheThe particulars of the dream are all singu-  sied, so it came to pass.
larly appropriate. The scene is by the Nile,    14. shaved himsef] The Hebrews cheon which depends all the plenty of Egypt.  rished long beards, but the Egyptians cut both
The kine and the corn respectively denote the  hair and beard close, except in mourning for
animal and the vegetable products of the
animal and the'vegetable products of the  relations, when they let both grow long (Herod.
country. The cattle feeding in the reed grass  relations, when they letboth grow lon rod
shewed that the Nile was fertilizing the land  II  36) t On  the  monuments when it was.,intended  to convey the idea of a man of low
and supporting the life of the beasts. The lean
condition or a slovenly person, the artists
cattle and the scorched-up corn foreshadowed  represented him with a beard" (tilkinson,
a time when the Nile, for some reason, ceased
to irrigate the land. The swallowing       Vol. III. p. 357; Hengstenberg, p. 3o). Joto irrigat    land.The swallowing  up of seph, therefore, when about to appear bethe fat by the lean signified that the produce  fore
of the seven years of plenty would be all con-  Pharaoh, was careful to adapt himself to
the manners of the Egyptians.
sumed in the seven years of scarcity.    
8. maicians] Apparently "sacred scribes-     15. that thou canst understand a dream
the name, if Hebrew, being composed of  to interpret it]  Lit. that thou hearest a
two words signifying respectively a style and  dream  to interpret it.
sacred.  Some have thought the word to be    18. in a meadow]  In the reed grass.
of Egyptian origin, or perhaps a Hebrew   See on v. 2.




v. 19-40.]                GENESIS. XLI.                                       205
19 And, behold, seven other kine  of Egypt; and the famine shall concame up after them, poor and very  sume the land;
ill favoured and leanfleshed, such as    31  And the plenty  shall not be
I never saw in all the land of Egypt  known in the land by reason of that
for badness:                           famine following; for it sha;!l be very
20 And the lean and the ill fa-  tgrievous.                                t Heb
voured kine did eat up the first seven    32 And for that the dream  was tavy.
fat kine:                              doubled unto  Pharaoh twice; it is
ca it;m/tae~   2i And when  thea  had tteaten  because the thing is n established by UOr,
i,.7.ari  them up, it could not be known that  God, and God will shortly bring it  Iord.
15arr's of                                                                           of Gtod
x/,le.   they had eaten them; but they were  to pass.
still ill favoured, as at the beginning.    33 Now therefore let Pharaoh look
So I awoke.                             out a man discreet and wise, and set
22 And I saw in my dream, and,  him over the land of Egypt.
behold, seven ears came up in one         34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let
stalk, full and good:                  him  appoint   officers over the land, Jl o,,
MOr, aI. 23 And, behold, seven ears, Pwi-  and  take up the fifth part of the
thered, thin, and blasted with  the  land of Egypt in the seven plenteous
east wind, sprung up after them:        years.
24 And the thin ears devoured the       35 And let them  gather all the
seven good ears: and I told this unto  food of those good years that come,
the magicians; but there was none  and lay up corn under the hand of
that could declare it to me.           Pharaoh, and let them  keep food in
25  F And Joseph said unto Pha-  the cities.
raoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one:    36 And that food shall be for store
God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is  to the land against the seven years of
about to do.                           famine, which shall be in the land of
26 The seven good kine are seven  Egypt;  that the land  tperish  not tHeb.
years; and the seven good ears are  through the famine.                        ott
seven years: the dream is one.            37 IT And the thing was good in
27  And  the seven  thin and ill  the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes
favoured kine  that came up  after  of all his servants.
them  are seven years; and the seven      38 And Pharaoh said unto his serempty ears blasted with the east wind  vants, Can we find such a one as
shall be seven years of famine.        this is, a man in whom  the Spirit of
28 This is the thing which I have  God is?
spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is    39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.  Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee
29 Behold, there come seven years  all this, there is none so discreet and
of great plenty throughout all the  wise as thou art:                          Psail. o,
land of Egypt:                            40 - Thou shalt be over my house,:~Iac. 2.
30 And there shall arise after them   and according unto thy word shall all 532kcts 7. io.
seven years of famine; and all the  my people be truled:  only in  the ~Heb.
plenty shall be forgotten in the land  throne will I be greater than thou.   or,,d
34. take up the ffth part of the land]  the Egyptian kings usually imposed a tribute
i. e. Let him exact a fifth of the produce of of one tenth, and that in this season of unthe land. The Hebrew is literally I"let him  usual abundance Joseph advises Pharaoh to
fifth the land."  (Compare our phrase " to  double the impost, with the benevolent intentithe the land.") It has been questioned whe-  tion of afterwards selling the corn so collected
ther the advice was to purchase a fifth of all in the time of famine (Cleric. in loc.). On
the produce, or rather to impose a tax amount-  the large storehouses and granaries of Egypt,
ing to one fifth of the produce of the land.  see Hengstenb., p. 36, Wilkinson, II. 135.
It has been not improbably conjectured that    40. according unto thy word shall all my




206                             GENESIS. XLI.                             [v. 4I-45.
41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,  they cried  before  him,'tBow  the  Or,
See, I have set thee over all the land  knee: and he made him  ruler overfate,..
of Egypt.                                all the land of Egypt.                 taHbebc
42 And Pharaoh took off his ring         44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
from  his hand, and put it upon Jo-  I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall
seph's hand, and arrayed him  in ves-  no man lift up his hand or foot in all
Or, silk. tures of rfine linen, and put a gold  the land of Egypt.
chain about his neck;                       45  And Pharaoh called Joseph's
43 And he made him  to ride in  name Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave
the second chariot which he had; and  him  to  wife Asenath  the daughter
people be ruled]  So, or nearly so, ("at thy  ('Opusc.' I. zo7); Rosellini ('Monuments,' I.
word shall all my people arm themselves, or  p. I85), have so interpreted it. They are
dispose themselves,") the Versions, Targg. and  followed in the main by Gesenius (p. Ii8I,
most commentators. But Kimchi, Gesenius,  "the supporter or preserver of the age") and
Knobel, &c., render "and all my people shall a majority of modern commentators. The true
kiss thy mouth," as a token of reverence and  meaning appears to be "'the food of life," or
obedience. The objections to the latter in-  "of the living." (See Excursus on Egyptian
terpretation are that the kiss of reverence was  Words at the end of this volume.)  The
on the hand or the foot, not on the mouth,  Targg., Syr., Arab. and Hebrew interpp. renwhich was the kiss of love, and that the con-  der I"a revealer of secrets," referring to a
struction here is with a preposition never used  Hebrew original, which is on every account
with the verb signifying "to kiss."       improbable.  There can be no doubt that
42.  ring]   The signet-ring  was the  Pharaoh would have given his Grand Vizier
special symbol of office and authority. The an Egyptian name, not a Hebrew name, just
seal to this day in the East is the common  as the name of Daniel was changed to Beltemode of attestation, and therefore when Pha-  shazzar, and as Hananiah, Azaiah and Mishael,
raoh gave Joseph his ring he delegated to him   were called by Nebuchadnezzar, Shadrach,
his whole authoritv.                       Meshach, and Abednego.
fine linen]  The byssus or fine linen of the    Asenath] either "devoted to Neith," the
Egyptians. The word used for it is Shes, a  Egyptian Minerva (Ges.'Thes.' p. I30), or
well-ascertained Egyptian word. It is men-  perhaps compounded of the two names Isis
tioned in Ezek. xxvii. as imporLed into Tyre  and Neith, such a form of combination of two
friom Egypt. It was the peculiar dress of the names in one being not unknown in Egypt.
Egyptian priests.                         (See Excursus on Egyptian W~ords at the end
a gold chain]  Probably " a simple gold  of this volume.)
chain in imitation of string, to which a stone    Poti-bpherah i.e. " belonging" or " devoted
scarabeus set in the same precious metal was  to Ra," i.e. the Sun, a most appropriate
appended." (WVilkinson, Ii. 376. See also  designation for a priest of On or Heliopolis,
Hengstenberg, p. 3I.)                     the great seat of the Sun-worship. (See Excursus on Egyptian WVords at the end of this
43. Bolzu the knee]  Abrech.  If the  volume.)
volume.)
word be Hebrew, the rendering of the Au-    On]  Heliopolis (LXX), called, Jer. xliii.
th:orised Version is probaibly correct. The  13, Beth-shemesh, the city of the Sun. CyTargums all give "father of the king" (cp. ch  ril ad. Hos.. 8), says,  On is with them
xlv. 8), deriving from the Hebrew.4b, a father,  the Sun."  The city stood on the Eastern
and the Chaldee Rech, a king, which, how-  ban  of the  i a fe  miles north of Memever, is thought to be a corruption of the   his, and was famous for the worship of Ra,
Latin Rex. It is generally thought to be an  th Sun as also fo         
Egyptian word signifying "Bow the head,"                      the learning and wisdom.EgvPtia  vWolc sigmifying'ebon  the headl"  of its priests (Herod. Ii. 3). There still rehaving solmle resemblance in form  to the  mains an obelisk of red granite, part of the
Hebrewv (De Rossi, IEtymol. Egypt.' P. *     Temple of the Sun, with a dedication sculpSo Gesren. Tshes.,' p. I9, and most of the  tured by Osirtasen or Sesortasen I. It is the
Gsermas).    A    more probablhe interpretation  oldest and one of the finest in Egypt; of the
is that which is given in the Excursus on  zth dynasty. (Ges. p. 52,  ilkinson,  Vol.. 2th dynasty. (Ges. p. n2, WVlkinson, Vol.
Egyptian Words at the end of this volume,. 44; also  Rawlinson's Herod. is. 8,
viz. "Rejoice" or "Rejoice thou!"          Brugsch,'H. E.' p. 254.)
45.  Zaphnaoh-paaneah]  In the LXX.    The difficulty of supposing that the daughPsonthompnhanek. The Vulg. renders Salvator  ter of a priest of On should have been married
lundi, "Saviour of theWorld." Several learn-  to Joseph, a worshipper of J E.HovA-I, has been
ed in the language and antiquilties of Egypt,  unduly magnified. Neither the Egyptians nor
Bernard (in Joseph,'Ant.' II. 6); Jablonski  the Hebrews were at this time as exclusive as




v. 46-2.]            GENESIS. XLI. XLII.                                         207
o0r,    of Poti-pherah   priest of On.  And         53 ~ And the seven years of pien.
2p"s.   Joseph went out over all the land of  teousness, that was in  the land of
Egypt.                                   Egypt, were ended.
46 qI And Joseph was thir'y years        54 e And the seven years of dearth epsal. Io
old when he stood  before  Pharaoh  began to come, according as Joseph 26.
king of Egypt.  And Joseph went  had said: and the dearth was in all
out from  the presence of Pharaoh,  lands; but in all the land of Egypt
and went throughout all the land of  there was bread.
Egypt.                                     55 And when all the land of Egypt
47  And  in  the seven  plenteous  was famished, the people cried to Phayears  the earth  brought forth  by  raoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unhandfuls.                                to all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph;
48  And  he gathered up all the  what he saith to you, do.
food of the seven years, which were        56 And the famine was over all
in the land of Egypt, and laid up  the face of the earth: And Joseph
the food in the cities: the food of  opened tall the storehouses, and sold t Heb.
the field, which  was round  about  unto the Egyptians; and the famine, tZlhereevery city, laid he up in the same.      waxed sore in the land of Egypt.
49 And Joseph gathered  corn as       57  And  all countries came into
the sand of the sea, very much, until  Egypt to  Joseph  for to buy corn;
he left numbering; for it was with-  because that the famine was so sore
out number.                              in all lands.
d chap. 46.  50 dAnd unto Joseph were born
204. 5two sons before the years of famine                 CHAPTER  XLII
& 4a. 5came  which Asenath the daught5er      7acob sendeth his ten sons to buy corn in
of  pries  ~'gytI    6 They are inyirisoned by 7ose/h
cOr,    of Poti-pherah  n priest of On  bare    for spies. I8 They are set at liberty, on confrrice.   unto him.                                dition to bring Beljaniin. 2I T/ihey thave
5I  And Joseph called the name of'remzorsefor 7joseph. z24 Simzeon is kept for a
And Joseph called the name  o f pee. i5 They return wit/ corn, and their
IlThat is, the firstborn  I Manasseh: For God,   1mo,)ey.  29 Their rclatioz to Jitcob.  36
{e,~2;ig.  said he, hath made me forget all my    Y7icob refuseti to send Benejamnin.
toil, and all nay father's house.T  OW   when  a Jacob  saw  that aAct3
52 And the name of the second    1    there was corn in Egypt, Ja- I2'
U That is, called he IIEphraim: For God hath  cob said unto his sons, Why do ye
triit., caused me to be fruitful in the land  look one upon another?
of my affliction.                           2  And he said, Behold, I have
they became afterwards. The Semitic races    52. Ephraimz] i.e. "doubly fruitful," a
were treated with respect in Egypt. Joseph  dual form.
had become thoroughly naturalized  (see    54.  the dearth]   Notwithstanding the
v. 5I and ch. xliii. 32), with an Egyptian name  fertility generally produced in Egypt by the
and the rank of Viceroy or Grand Vizier.  overflowing or the Nile, yet the swelling of the
Abraham  had before this taken Hagar, an  Nile a few feet above or below what is necesEgyptian, to wife, which would make such  sary, has in many instances produced destrucan alliance less strange to Joseph. Wrhether  tive and protracted famines, such that the
Asenath adopted Joseph's faith we are not told,  people have been reduced to the horrible nebut, in the end at least, she probably did. (See  cessity of eating human flesh, and have been
also Excursus on Egyptian AV ords, on " Ase-  almost swept away by death. (See Hengstennath wife of Joseph," at the end of this volume.)  berg,'Egypt,' &c., pp. 37,.38; HAvernick,
46. thirty years oldJ He must therefore  Int. to Pentateuch, p. 2i8; also Smith's'Dict.
have been thirteen years in Egypt, either in Poti-  of Bible,' art. Famine.)
phar's house or in. prison. (See ch. xxxvii. z.)   in all lands]  The drought which affected
51. Manasseh] i.e. "causing to forget."  Egypt reached the neighbouring countries also.
He was comforted by all his prosperity, so  Ethiopia, Arabia, Palestine, and Syria, would
that he no longer mourned over his exile. It  be especially affected by it; and the Egyptians,
does not follow that he was ungratefilly for-  and Hebrews also, would look on these lands
getful of his home.                       as comprehending the whole known world.




o08                            GENESIS. XLII.                               [v. 3-19.
heard that there is corn in Egypt:  my  lord, but to buy food are thy
get you  down thither, and buy for  servants come.
us from  thence; that we may live,          i I We are all one man's sons; we
and not die.                             are true men, thy servants are no spies.
3  ~T And  Joseph's ten  brethren        I2 And he said unto them, Nay,
went down to buy corn in Egypt.          but to see the nakedness of the land
4 But Benjamin, Joseph's brother,  ye are come.
Jacob sent not with his brethren; for       13  And they said, Thy servants
he said, Lest peradventure mischief  are twelve brethren, the sons of one
befall him.                              man in  the land of Canaan; and,
5 And the sons of Israel came to  behold, the youngest is this day with
buy corn among those that came: for  our father, and one is not.
the famine was in the land of Canaan.       14 And Joseph said unto them,
6 And Joseph was the governor  That is it that I spake unto you,
over the land, and he it was that  saying, Ye are spies:
sold to all the people of the land: and     15 Hereby ye shall be proved: By
Joseph's brethren came, and bowed  the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go
down  themselves  before  him  with  forth  hence, except your youngest
their faces to the earth.                brother come hither.
7 And Joseph saw  his P':thren,          I6 Send one of you, and let him
and he knew  them, but made him-  fetch your brother, and ye shall be
self strange unto  them, and spake  tkept in prison, that your words may Io Ie
t Heb    t roughly unto them; and he said un-  be proved, whether there be any truth
katrds   to  them, Whence come ye?  And  in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh
tit/ tkzem. they said, From  the land of Canaan  surely ye are spies.
to buy food.                                I 7 And he t put them all together t    deb.
8 And Joseph knew  his brethren,  into ward three days.
but they knew not him.                      I8 And Joseph said unto them the
A chap. 37.  9  And Joseph b remembered the  third day, This do, and live; for 1
I.      dreams which he dreamed of them,  fear God:
and said unto them, Ye are spies; to        I9 If ye be true men, let one of
see- the nakedness of the land ye are  your brethren be bound in the house
come.                                    of your prison: go ye, carry corn for
IO And they said unto him, Nay,  the famine of your houses:
CHAP. XLII. 6.  he it'was that sold  plexion had been much darkened by living so
to all the people of the land]  We are not  long in a southern climate.
to suppose that Joseph personally sold the    9. the nakedness of the land] i.e. the decorn to all buyers, but that he ordered the  fenceless and assailable points of the country;
selling of it, and set the price upon it; ard  like the Latin phrases, nuda urbs presidio, nuvery probably, when a company of foreigners  data castra, nudi defensoribus muri (Ros.; Cp.
came to purchase in large quantities, they  Horn.'11I. xI.39, rtLXos' Eyviv5Sr).  The
were introduced personally to Joseph, that  Egyptians were alwavs most liable to be ashe might enquire concerning them and give  sailed from  the East and North-east. (See
directions as to the sale of corn to them.  Herod. Ill. 5.)   The  various Arab and
7. spake roughly unto them] Lit. "spake  Canaanitish tribes seem to have constantly
hard things with them," as the margin. This  made incursions into the more settled and
did not arise from a vindictive spirit. It was  civilized land of Egypt.  Particularly the
partly that he might not be recognized by  Hittites were at constant feud with the Egypthem, and partly that he might prove them  tians. Moreover the famous Hycsos invasion
and see whether they were penitent for what  and domination may have been very nearly
they had done to him.                      impending at this period.
8. they knew not him] He was only  7    15. By the life of Pharaoh]  Cp. similar
when they sold him; he was now at least 37,  phrases (I S. i. 26; xvii. 55; z S. xiv. I9;
and had adopted all the habits and man-  2 K. ii. 2, 4, 6).  Not distinctly an oath, but
ners of the Egyptians; probably even his com-  a strong asseveration.




V. 20-35.]                GENESIS. XLII.                                         209
Cchap. 43.  20 But cbring your youngest bro-        28 And he said unto his brethren,
ther unto me; so shall your words be  My money is restored; and, lo, it
verified, and ye shall not die.  And  is even in my sack: and their heart
they did so.              rfailed them, and they were afraid, t eb.
2I qT And they said one to an-  saying one to another, What is thiso"rtt
other, We are verily guilty concern-  that God hath done unto us?
ing our brother, in that we saw the        29 Nq And they came unto Jacob
anguish  of his soul, when  he be-  their father unto the land of Canaan,
sought us, and we would not hear;  and told  him  all that befell unto
therefore is this distress come upon us.  them; saying,
22 And Reuben  answered them,    3o The man, who is the lord of
dchap. 37. saying, dSpake I not unto you, say-  the land, spake t roughly to us, and tHeh.
2I'     ing, Do not sin against the child;  took us for spies of the country.           /l.. S
and ye would not hear?  therefore,         31 And we said unto him, We are ti'g.
behold, also his blood is required.      true men; we are no spies:
23 And they knew not that Joseph         32 We be twelve brethren, sons of
tHeb.   understood them; for t he spake unto  our father; one is not, and the youngan in er-,t-erwas them by an interpreter.                 est is this day with our father in the
eh/ueen   24. And he turned himself about  land of Canaan.
them.                and wepti and returned
from  them, and wept; and returned         33 And the man, the lord of the
to them  again, and communed with  country, said unto us, Hereby shall
them, and took from  them  Simeon,  I know  that ye are true men; leave
and bound him before their eyes.         one of your brethren here with me,
25 4q Then Joseph commanded to  and take food for the famine of vour
fill their sacks with  corn, and  to  households, and be gone:
restore every man's money into his    34 And bring your youngest brosack, and to give them  provision for  ther unto me: then  shall I know
the way: and thus did he unto them.  that ye are no  spies, but that ye
26 And they laded their asses with  are true men: so will I deliver you
the corn, and departed thence.           your brother, and ye shall traffick in
27 And as one of them opened his  the land.
sack to give his ass provender in the      35 qT And it came to pass as they
inn, he espied his money; for, behold,  emptied  their  sacks, that, behold,
it was in his sack's mouth.              every man's bundle of money was in
20. bring your youngest brother unto me]  been one of the most unfeeling and cruel
There seems some needless severity here on  towards himself, according to the savage temthe part of Joseph in causing so much anxiety  per which he shewed in the case of the Sheto his father.  WVe may account for it per-  chemites. See ch. xxxiv, xlix. 5.
haps in the following ways. Ist, Joseph felt    25. their sacks] Rather, their vessels;
that it was necessary to test the repentance of  the word is different from that elsewhere used
his brethren and to subject them to that kind  for sacks, and apparently indicates that they
of discipline which makes repentance sound  had some kind of vessel for corn which they
and lasting. 2ndly, He may have thought  carried within their sacks.
that the best mode of persuading his father to    27. in the inn]  The khan, or caravango down to him in Egypt was first of all to  serai in the Eas   The kwasand is, or caravan
bring Benjamin thither. 3rdly, He was mani-             ca    n  nd  room to ret,
where men and cattle can find room to rest,
festly following a Divine impulse and guiding,  but which provides neither food for man nor
that so his dreams should be fulfilled, and  fodder for cattle.  It is doubtful, however
his race brought into their house of bondage  whether anything of this kind existed so early
whether anything of this kind existed so early
and edtucation.                           as the time of Joseph. The Hword means only
24. Simeon]  It has been thought that  "a resting place for the night," and very
he took Simeon, either because he was the  probably was only a station, at which caranext in age to Reuben, whom he would not  vans were wont to rest, near to a well, to
bind as having been the brother that soug'ht  trees, and to pasture, where the tents were
to save him, or perhaps because Sirneon had  pitched and the cattle were tethered.
VOL. I.                                                              ~




2Io                      GENESIS. XLII. XLIII.    Lv. 3G-6i.
his sack: and when both they and  with us, we will go down and buy
their father saw the bundles of money,  thee food:
they were afraid.                           5 But if thou wilt not send him,
36  And  Jacob  their father said  we will not go down: for the man
unto them, Me have ye bereaved of said unto  us, Ye shall not see my
my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon  face, except your brother be with you.
is not, and ye will take Benjamin           6 And Israel said,'Wherefore dealt
away: all these things are against me.  ye so ill with me, as to tell the man
37  And  Reuben  spake  unto  his  whether ye had yet a brother?
father, saying, Slay my two sons, if    7 And they said, The man t asked i  e.
I bring him not to thee: deliver him   us straitly of our state, and of our,aseci us.
into ray hand, and I will bring him   kindred, saying, Is your father yet
to thee again.                           alive? have ye another brother? and
38 And he said, My son shall not  we told him  according to the   tenor t Teb.
go down with you; for his brother  of these words: tcould we certainly tfiYl,.
is dead, and he is left alone: if mis-  know that he would say, Bring your...tZ
chief befall him  by the way in the  brother down?                               know.
which  ye go, then  shall ye bring          8 And Judah said unto Israel his
down my gray hairs with sorrow  to  father, Send the lad with  me, and
the grave.                               we will arise and go; that we may
live, and not die, both we, and thou,
CHAPTER  XLIII.                  and also our little ones.
I  z7aob is hardly persuzaded to send Benjamin.    9 I will be surety for him; of my
15 7oseJih entertaineth his brethren. 31 He  hand shalt thou require him: b if I J chap. 44.
makseth them afeast.                   bring him not unto thee, and set him 32.
ND  the famtine was sore in the  before thee, then  let me bear the
land.                              blame for ever:
2 And it came to pass, when they           o  For except we had lingered,
had eaten up the corn which they  surely  now  we had returned  " this " Or,
twice by
had brought out of Egypt, their fa-  second time.                                this.
ther said unto them, Go again, buy          I I And their father Israel said unus a little food.                        to them, If it must be so now, do
3 And Judah spake unto him, say-  this; take of the best fruits in the
tHeb.  ing, The man tdid solemnly protest  land in your vessels, and carry down
/proersti~n   unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my  the man a present, a little balm, and
echa.   face, except your a brother be with you.  a little  honey, spices, and  myrrh,
" ces, 42d                                                                        myrrh,
2o.       4  If thou wilt send our brother  nuts, and almonds:
36. Me have ye bereaved]  Jacob sus-  ported into Egypt annually from the neighpects that they had been in some way the  bourhood of Hebron (see Ros. and Ges.
cause of Joseph's supposed death and of  p. 319).
Simeon's captivity.                          spices]  Probably Storax.  See on xxxvii.
against me] Lit. " upon me," i.e. upon me  z5.
as a burden too heavy for me to bear.        myrrh]  Ladanum. See on xxxvii. 25.
CHAP. XI,III. 11. of the best fruits in    nuts] Pistachio nuts. So Bochart ('Hie.
the land]  Lit. "of the song of the land,"  roz.' II. iv. Iz); Ceis. ('IHierobot.' Tom. i. p.
i.e. the most praised produce, the fruits cele-  24); Ges. (p. 2oz). The LXX., followed by
brated in song.                            Onk., Syr., Arab., renders terebinth, probably
because the pistachio nut tree was considered as
balzm] See xxxvii. 25.                   a species of terebinth. All these fruits may
honey]  So rendered in all the Versions,  have grown in the land of Canaan, though the
though some think that it was composed of the  corn-harvest may have utterly failed. Thus
juice of grapes boiled down to a syrup of the  also may we account for the fact, that the
cousi-tency of honey, called in Arabic Dibs;  small supply, which could be carried from
which even in modern times has been im-  Egypt by ten asses, sufficed for a time to sup



v. 12-29.]              GENESIS.  XLIII.                                      211
i2 And take double money in your deed down at the first time to buy
hand; and the money that was brought  food:
again in the mouth of your sacks,    21 And it came to pass, when we
carry it again in your hand; perad-  came to the inn, that we opened our
venture it was an oversight:            sacks, and, behold, every man's money
i3 Take also your brother, and  was in the mouth of his sack, our
arise, go again unto the man:           money in full weight: and we have
I4  And God Almighty give you  brought it again in our hand.
mercy before the man, that he may         22 And other money  have we
send away your other brother, and  brought down in our hands to buy
U Or, And Benjamin.   If I be bereaved of my  food: we cannot tell who put our
haze been, children, I am bereaved.            money in our sacks.
Ci.      15 qi And the men took that pre-    23 And he said, Peace be to you,
sent, and they took double money in  fear not: your God, and the God of
their hand, and Benjamin; and rose  your father, hath given you treasure
up, and went down to Egypt, and  in your sacks: tI had your money. t Heb.
stood before Joseph.                   And he brought Simeon out unto them......ey
i6 And when Joseph saw Benja-    24 And the man brought the men ~,'
min with them, he said to the ruler of  into Joseph's house, and dgave them d chap. 18.
his house, Bring these men home, and  water, and they washed their feet; &4. 32.,Heb.kiii tslay, and make ready; for these men  and he gave their asses provender.
kill, killYvg.    shall tdine with me at noon.              25 And they made ready the preteb.       7 And the man did as Joseph  sent against Joseph  came at noon:
bade; and the man brought the men  for they heard that they should eat
into Joseph's house.                    bread there.
I8 And the men were afraid, be-    26 ~1 And when Joseph came home,
cause they were brought into Joseph's  they brought him  the present which
house; and they said, Because of the  was in their hand into the house, and
money that was returned in our sacks  bowed themselves to him to the earth.
at the first time are we brought in;    27 And he asked them  of their
f Neb.  that he may t seek occasion against us,  twelfare, and said, t Is your father well, t Heb.
ro, and fall upon us, and take us for bond-  the old man of whom  ye spake? Is "'..
Vs.     men, and our asses.                    he yet alive?                         I nhere
leace to
I 9 And they  came near to the         28 And they answered, Thy ser- yorffi.
echap- 4.2. steward of Joseph's house, and they  vant our father is in good health, he tter
cIeb.   communed with him  at the door of is yet alive.  And they bowed down
dow, sZe the house,                            their heads, and made obeisance.
down.     20 And said, O sir, Cfwe came in-    29 And he lifted up his eyes, and
ply Jacob's household. There was a griev-  reaved.] Cp. Esth. iv. i6; 2 K. vii. 4. The
ous famine, but still all the fruits of the earth  expression seems partly of sorrow and partly
had not failed. Corn was needed; but life  of submission and resignation.
can be supported, especially in a warm climate,    18. that he may seek occasion against us]
with hut a moderate amount of the more solid  Lit. " that he may roll himself upon us," that
kinds of food.                          is, probably, "' that he may rush out upon us."
14. God Almighty]  El Shaddai. Jacob    20. 0 Sir] "Pray, my lord," or "Hear,
here uses that name of the Most High, by  my lord," the word translated 0 is a particle
which He made Himself known to Abraham,  of earnest entreaty.
and afterwards renewed His covenant with    26.  ind bouwed themselves]  Joseph's
Jacob himself (ch. xvii. x, xxxv. II; where  first dream  is now  fulfilled.  The eleven
see note). Hereby he calls to mind the pro-  sheaves make obeisance to Joseph's sheaf. It
mise of protection to himself and his house, as  is observable, that Joseph's dream, like Phawell as the power of Him  who had pro-  raoh's, had reference to sheaves of corn, evimised.                                   dently pointing to the supply of food sought
If I be bereaved of my children, I am be-  by the brethren.
02




212                      GENESIS. XLI1I. XLIV.                              [v. 30-5.
saw his brother Benjamin, his mot her's  much as any of theirs.  And they
son, and said, Is this your younger  drank, and twere merry with him.   tHeb
brother, of whom ye spake unto me?                                               lrgely.
And he said, God be gracious unto                 CHAPTER  XLIV.
thee, my son.                            I yosefh'spolicy to stay his brethren. 14 71130 And Joseph made haste, for              deh's hbljre szp~lieation to 7oselih.
his bowels did yearn upon his brother:       ND he commanded tthe steward t Heb.
and he sought where to weep; and he             of his house,  saying, Fill the him tae
entered into his chamber, and wept  men's sacks with food, as much as his A/oug,
there.                                   they can carry, and put every man's
3i And he washed his face, and  money in his sack's mouth.
went out, and refrained himself, and        2 And put my cup, the silver cup,
said, Set on bread.                      in the sack's mouth of the youngest,
32 And they set on for him  by  and  his corn money.  And  he did
himself, and for them  by themselves,  according to the word that Joseph had
and for the Egyptians, which did eat  spoken.
with him, by themselves: because the        3 As soon as the morning was light,
Egyptians might not eat bread with  the men were sent away, they and
the Hebrews; for that is an abomina-  their asses.
tion unto the Egyptians.                    4 And when they were gone out
33 And they sat before him, the  of the city, and not yet far off, Joseph
firstborn according to his birthright,  said unto his steward, Up, follow after
and  the youngest according  to his  the men; and when thou dost overyouth: and the men marvelled one  take them, say unto them, Wherefore
at another.                              have ye rewarded evil for good?
34 And he took and sent messes           5 Is not this it in which my lord
unto  them  from  before  him:  but  drinketh, and whereby indeed he "di- 1 Or
make/A
Benjamin's mess was five times so  vineth? ye have done evil in so doing. tri-;,l?
29. my son]  Joseph addresses Benjamin  marvelled that strangers should have seated
his younger brother with this paternal saluta-  them exactly according to their ages.
tion, not only from  the difference in their    34. sent messes unto them] The custom
ages, but as being a governor he speaks with  is met with elsewhere, as a mark of respect
the authority and dignity of his position.  to distinguished guests (see I S. ix. 23, 24).
32. the Egyptians might not eat bread   five times so much]  Herodotus mentions'with the Hebrewvs]  The Egyptians feared to  the custom of giving double portions as a
eat with foreigners, chiefly because they  mark of honour. The Spartan kings'"are
dreaded pollution from such as killed and ate  given the first seat at the banquet, they are
cows, which animals were held in the highest  served before the other guests, and have a
veneration in Egypt. Hence Herodotus says,  double portion of everything" (vI. 57; cp.
that an Egyptian would not kiss a Greek, nor  also Hom.' II.' VI. 32z, VIII. I62).
use a knife or a spit belonging to a Greek,he word is
nor eat any meat that had been cut with a  chiefly used of drinking to excess, but not
Greek knife (Her. IL 45). Joseph probably  always; see for instance Hagg. i. 6.
dined alone from his high rank, the distinctions of rank and caste being carefully ob-    CHAP. XLIV.  2. my cup] or rather
served; but, as he was naturalized in Egypt,  bowl. In Jer. xxxv. 5 the word is rendered
and had, no doubt, conformed to their do-  "tpots."  In Ex. xxv. 31, xxxvii. 17, it is
mestic customs, he would probably not have  used of the "bowl" or calix of the sculptured
needed to separate himself at meals from the  flowers. It was evidently a larger vessel,
native Egyptians, as would his brethren from  flagon or bowl, from  which the wine was
the land of the Hebrews.                   poured into the smaller cups.
33. they sat before him]  The Egyp-    5. diuineth]  Divination  by cups was
tians sat at their meals, though most of the  frequent in ancient times. Jamblichus (' De
ancients, and, in later times at least, the He-  Myst.' III. 14) mentions it, so Varro (ap.
brews, reclined.                           August.' Civ. Dei,' VII. 35), Pliny (' H. N.'
the men marvelled on.' at another]  They  XXXvll. 73, &c.). The latter says that "in




v. 6 —8.]                 GENESIS. XLIV.                                            2I3
6 ~ And he overtook them, and he           13 Then they rent their clothes,
spake unto them these same words.    and laded every man his ass, and re7 And they said unto him, Where-  turned to the city.
fore saith my lord these words?  God          I4 q[ And Judah and his brethren
forbid  that thy  servants should  do  came to Joseph's house; for he was
according to this thing:                   yet there: and they fell before him
8 Behold, the money, which we  on the ground.
found in our sacks' mouths, we brought        IS And  Joseph  said unto  them,
again unto thee out of the land of  WVhat deed is this that ye have done?
Canaan: how  then should we steal  wot ye not that such a mail as I can
out of thy lord's house silver or gold?  certainly I divine?                      Id Or,
9 With whomsoever of thy servants          I6 And Judah said, What shall we ".-:.z?
it be found, both let him  die, and we  say unto  my lord? what shall we
also will be my lord's bondmen.            speak?  or how  shall we clear ourIo And he said, Now also let it be  selves?  God hath found out the iniaccording unto your words: he with  quity of thy servants: behold, we are
whom  it is found shall be my servant;  my lord's servants, both we, and he
and ye shall be blameless.                 also with whom  the cup is found.
i i Then they speedily took down           I7 And he said, God forbid that
every man his sack to the ground, and  I should do so: but the man in whose
opened every man his sack.                 hand the cup is found, he shall be my
I2 And he searched, and began at  servant; and as for you, get you up
the eldest, and left at the youngest:  in peace unto your father.
and the cup was found in Benjamin's           i8'i Then Judah came near unto
sack.                                      him, and said, Oh  my lord, let thy
this hydromantia images of the gods were  in not declaring himself to them until he had
called up."  It was practised either by drop-  tested their repentance and had brought his
ping gold, silver, or jewels, into the water,  schemes concerning his father to a point, there
and then examining their appearance; or sim-  can be little doubt.  He was never tempted
ply by looking into the water as into a mirror,  to deny that he was joseph, for no one sussomewhat probably as the famous Egyptian  pected that he was. In fact he simply premagician did into the mirror of ink, as men-  served his disguise. But in the present pastioned by the duke of Northumberland and  sage he seems to have used words which,
others in the present day.  (See Lane,' Mod.  though not affirming that he could divine, yet
Egypt.' II. 362.)                           nearly implied as much. It is to be observed,
The sacred cup is a symbol of the Nile,  however, that whatever may be thought on
into whose waters a golden and silver patera  this head, Joseph is not held up to  us as
were annually thrown. The Nile itself, both  absolutely perfect.  As it was in the case of
the source and the river, was called " the cup  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the history is
of Egypt" (Plin.'H. N.' vTII. 7I).  This  simply told of the events as they occurred.
cup of Joseph Wvas of silver, while in ordinary  Joseph was a man of singular piety, purity,
cases the Egyptians drank from  vessels of  and integrity, in high favour with Heaven,
brass (Hecat us in'Athen.' xI. 6; Herod.  and even at times inspired to declare the will
II. 3 7; see Haivernick,' Introd. to Pentateuch,'  of God. It does not follow that he was perfect.
ad h. 1.).                                  If inspired apostles were sometimes to be
15. gwot ye not that such a man as I can  blamed (Gal. ii. II, I3), the holiest patriarchs
certainly divine?] Joseph here adapts him-  are not likely to have been incapable of error.
self and his language to his character as it  If the act was wrong, we must not consider
would naturally appear in the eyes of his bre-  it as the result of Divine guidance, but as
thren. We are not to assume that he actually  the error of a good but fallible man, whilst in
used magical arts. This would be quite in-  the main carrying out the designs of Proviconsistent with what he said to Pharaoh, ch.  dence.  Making the worst that can be made
xli. i6, disclaiming all knowledge of the fu-  of it, it is difficult to say that any character in
ture, save as revealed by God.  It has been  Scripture, save One, (of which at least we have
questioned how far Joseph was justified in the  any detailed account) comes out more purely
kind of dissimulation which he thus used to  and brightly in the whole course of its history
his brethren. That he was perfectly justified  than the character of Joseph.




214                      GENESIS. XLIV. XLV.                              [v. I9-4.
servant, I pray thee, speak a word in  not with us; seeing that his life is
my lord's ears, and let not thine anger  bound up in the lad's life;
burn against thy servant: for thou art    3I It shall come to pass, when he
even as Pharaoh.                         seeth that the lad is not with us, that
I9 My lord asked his servants, say-  he will die: and thy servants shall
ing, Have ye a father, or a brother?    bring  down  the gray hairs of thy
20o And we said unto my lord, WVe  servant our father with sorrow to the
have a father, an old man, and a child  grave.
of his old age, a little one; and his    32 For thy servant became surety
brother is dead, and he alone is left of  for the lad unto my father, saying,
his mother, and his father loveth him.  CIf I bring him not unto thee, then I c chap. 43
2I And thou saidst unto thy ser-  shall bear the blame to my father for 9.
vants, Bring him down unto me, that  ever.
I may set mine eyes upon him.              33 Now therefore, I pray thee, let
22 And we said unto my lord, The  thy servant abide instead of the lad a
lad cannot leave his father: for if he  bondman to my lord; and let the lad
should leave his father, hisfather would  go up with his brethren.
die.                                       34 For how shall I go up to my
23 And thou saidst unto thy ser-  father, and the lad be not with me?
a chap. 43. vants, aExcept your youngest brother  lest peradventure I see the evil that
come down with you, ye shall see my  shall "come on my father.                  t nt.
face no more.                                                                  af.a er.
24 And it came to pass when we                 CHAPTER  XLV.
came up unto thy servant my father,  X Yoseph ma/eteh himszsef knozwn to his bh-rf/.wz..
we told him the words of my lord.          5 Hle comforteth them in God's providence.
25 And our father said, Go again,   9 lre sendeth for his fath/er. I6 Pharaoh
2z~~~c5 And our faiMether sad o again cZ   it.   I 7osefifraiisheth thezlbr
and buy us a little food.                 theirzjozrney, and exhorteth them to concord.
26 And we said, We cannot go    25 7acob is revived with the newrs.
down: if our youngest brother be  T           HEN  Joseph could not refrain
with us, then will we go down: for             himself before all them  that
we may not see the man's face, except  stood by him; and he cried, Cause
our youngest brother be with us.         every man to go out from me.  And
27 And thy servant my father said  there stood no man with him, while
unto us, Ye know that my wife bare  Joseph made himself known unto his
me two sons:                             brethren.
28 And the one went out from me,    2 And he t wept aloud: and the t HeB
chap. 37. and I  said, Surely he is torn in pieces;  Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh/foaz,,:,s
33.     and I saw him not since:                 heard.                                 weeig
29 And if ye take this also from         3 And Joseph said unto his breme, and mischief befall him, ye shall  thren, a I am Joseph; doth my father a Acts.
bring down my gray hairs with sorrow   yet live? And his brethren could not 13.
to the grave.                            answer him; for they were "troubled II or,
30 Now therefore when I come to  at his presence.                             errmf
thy servant my father, and the lad be    4 And Joseph said unto his bre28. Surely he is torn in pieces]  From   a slave. He is evidently now much softened;
these words probably for the first time Joseph  has witnessed Jacob's affliction with deep symlearns what had been Jacob's belief as to his  pathy and sorrow,, and so has been brought to
son's fate.                               contrition and repentance. The sight of his
34. hoiw fhould I go uip to my father]  repentance finally moves Joseph at once to
The character of Judah comes out most fa-  make himself known to his brethren.
vourably in this speech. He had, in the first
instance, saved Joseph from death, but yet he    CHAP. XLV.,.'wept aloud] Lit., as the
had proposed the alternative of selling him as  margin, "' gave forth his voice in weeping."




v. 5-15.]                  GENESIS. XLV.                                          215
thren, Come near to me, I pray you.  all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry
And they came near.  And he said,  not:
I am Joseph your brother, whom  ye          io  And thou shalt dwell in the
sold into Egypt.                         land of Goshen, and thou shalt be
5 Now  therefore be not grieved,  near unto me, thou, and thy children,
t Heb.   tnor angry with yourselves, that ye  and thy children's children, and thy
ithere et sold me hither: "for God did send  flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou.e...eri  me before you to preserve life.         hast:
chap. so.   6  For these two years hath the         i i And there will I nourish thee;
20.     famine been in the land: and yet there  for yet there are five years of famine;
are five years, in the which there shall  lest thou, and thy household, and all
neither be earing nor harvest.           that thou hast, come to poverty.
Heb.      7 And God sent me before you t to         I2 And, behold, your eyes see, and
X.,,trem preserve you a posterity in the earth,  the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that'ant.   and to save your lives by a great de-  it is my mouth that speaketh unto
liverance.                               you.
8 So now it was not you that sent         I3 And ye shall tell my father of
me hither, but God: and he hath  all my glory in Egypt, and of all that
made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord  ye have seen; and ye shall haste and
of all his house, and a ruler through-  bring down my father hither.
out all the land of Egypt.                  I4 And he fell upon his brother
9 Haste ye, and go up to my father,  Benjamin's  neck,  and  wept; and
and say unto him, Thus saith thy son  Benjamin wept upon his neck.
Joseph, God hath made me lord of            15 Moreover he kissed all his bre6.   earing]  i. e. " ploughing."   To  field of Zoan" or Tanis, Ps Ixxviii. 12, 43),
" ear" is an old English word from the An-  and probably extending south as far as to the
glo-Saxon root erian, "' to plough," cognate  head of the Red Sea, and nearly to Memphis.
with the Latin arare. (See Bosworth,' An-  It appears, in Gen. xlvii. iI, to be called the
glo-Saxon Dict.' 25 k.) It occurs in the Au-  land of Rameses, and the Israelites, before the
thorised Version; Ex. xxxiv. z2; Deut. xxi. 4;  Exodus, are said to have built in it the cities
i S. viii. I2; Isa. xxx. 24.               of Raamses and Pithom  (Exod. i. II). It
7. lo preserve you a posterity in the earth,  was probably, though under the dominion of
and to save your lives by a great deliverance]  the Pharaohs, only on the confines of Egypt.
To make you a remnant in the earth  Hence the LXX. here renders "Gesen of
(that is, to secure you from utter destruction),  Arabia."  In ch. xlvi. 28, where Goshen oc
and to preserve your lives to a great  curs twice, the LXX. call it L'the city of
deliverance (i.e. to preserve life to you, so  Heroopolis in the land of Ramasses." Joseph
that your deliverance should be great and  placed his brethren naturally on the confines
signal).                                   of Egypt, nearest to Palestine, and yet near
himself. It is probable, that either Memphis
8.  but God]  Lit. "The God."  That  or Tanis was then the metropolis of Egypt,
great Personal God, who had led and guard-  both of which are in the immediate neighed Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and who still  bourhood of the region thus marked out.
watched over the house of Israel.          (See Ges. p. 307; Poole, in Smith,'Dict.
a father to Pharaoh] i.e. a wise and confi-  of Bible' Art. Goshen; Hengstenb.'Egypt,'
dential friend and counsellor. The Caliphs  &c. p. 42 sq.).
and the Sultan of Turkey appear to have    11. and thy household] Thehoushold of
given the same title to their Grand Viziers.  Abraham  and of Isaac consisted of many
(See Burder,'Oriental Customs,' ad h. 1.;  servants and dependents, besides their own
Gesen. p. 7; Ros. in loc.).               families. So Jacob, when he came fi-om Pa10. the land of Goshen]  The land of  dan-aram, had become "two bands."  It is
Goshen was evidently a region lying to the  probable that some hundreds of dependents
north-east of lower Egypt, bounded appa-  accompanied Jacob in his descent into Egypt,
rently by the Mediterranean on the north, by  and settled with him in Goshen. So again in
the desert on the east, by the Tanitic branch  v. i8, Joseph's brethren are bidden to take
of the Nile on the west (hence called " the  their " father and their households."




216                      GENESIS.  XLV. XLVI.                              [v. I6-2-.
thren, and wept upon them: and after  good things of Egypt, and ten she asses
that his brethren talked with him.       laden with corn and bread and meat
i6 ~ And the fame thereof was  for his father by the way.
heard  in  Pharaoh's  house, saying,    24 So he sent his brethren away,
Joseph's brethren are come: and it  and they departed: and he said unto
tf -eb.   t pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.  them, See that ye fall not out by the
iot zhe eyes  17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,  way.
rt/.fP-  Say unto thy brethren, This do ye;    25 ~ And  they went up out of
lade your beasts, and go, get you unto  Egypt, and  came  into the land of
the land of Canaan;                      Canaan unto Jacob their father,
i8 And take your father and your    26 And told him, saying, Joseph
households, and come unto me: and  is yet alive, and he is governor over
I will give you the good of the land  all the land of Egypt.  And tJacob's i Heb.
of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of heart fainted, for he believed them not.
the land.                                  27 And they told him all the words!9 Now thou art commanded, this  of Joseph, which he had said unto
do ye; take you wagons out of the  them: and when he saw the wagons
land of Egypt for your little ones,  which Joseph had sent to carry him,
and for your wives, and bring your  the spirit of Jacob their father revived:
father, and come.'                         28 And Israel said, It is enoulgh;
I-rteb    20 Also Iregard not your stuff; for  Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go
y...o'e  the good of all the land of Egypt is  and see him before I die.
spyzae, &'C. yours.                                      CHAPTER  XLVI.
21 And the children of Israel did  I yacob is coenforted by God at BIeer-sheba: 5
so: and Joseph gave them  wagons,    7hence he with his company Zgoeth into Lg'et.
according to the'commandment of   8 The nm nber of his faozily that wcent into
]z~~pt.   29 _7osej/h meez'ez' ~ob.   3r _f~e
Pharaoh, and gave them  provision for    ipzstr9ucet  ishz brneeteltz oz  io ansuer to
the way.                                  Pharaoh.
22 To all of them  he gave each           ND  Israel took his journey with
man changes of raiment; but to Ben-  all that he had, and came to
jamin he gave three hundred pieces of  Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices unto
silver, and five changes of raiment.    the God of his father Isaac.
Hae,.m  23 And to his father he sent after   29 And God spake unto Israel in
cy,,;rr.ig this zmanner; ten asses t laden with the  the visions of the night, and said,
24. See that ye faJll not out by the wvay]  four-wheeled car, mentioned by Herodotus,
So all the Versions; but as the word rendered  was used for carrying the shrine and image
"ifall out" expresses any violent emotion as  of a deity. (See Sir G. WVilkinson's note to
of fear or anger, some prefer to render, " Be  Rawlinson's Herodotus, ii. 63, and the ennot afraid in the journey;" so Tuch, Baumg.,  graving there.) When Jacob saw the wagons,
Gesen., and many moderns. The ancient in-  he knew that they had come from Egypt, and
terpretation is more probable. They had al-  so he believed his sons' report, and was comnready travelled on that journey several times  forted.
without meeting with any evil accident; but
there was some danger that they might quar-    CHAP. XLVI. 1.  to Beer-sheba, and
rel among themselves, now that they were re-  offered sacrifces, &c.]  Here Abraham  and
conciled to Joseph, perhaps each one being  Isaac, built altars (ch. xxi. 33, xxvi. 25), and
ready to throve the blame of former miscon-  worshipped. Jacob naturally felt it to be a
duct on the others (Calvin).              place hallowed by sacred memories, and being
27.  vmagons]  Carts and wagons were  anxious as to the propriety of leaving the land
known early in Egypt, which was a flat coun-  of promise and going down into Egypt, he here
try and highly cultivated; but they were pro-  sacrificed to the God of his fathers, and no
bably unknown at this time in Palestine and  doubt sought guidance from  Him.  BeerSyria. The Egyptian carts, as depicted on  sheba was South of Hebron on the road
the monuments, are of two wheels only, when  by which Jacob would naturally travel into
used for carrying agricultural produce. The  Egypt.




V. 3 -I2.]                 GENESIS. XLVI.                                            2I7
Jacob, Jacob.  And  he  said, Here            7 His sons, and his sons' sons with
am  I.                                     him, his  daughters, and  his  sons'
3 And he said, I am God, the God  daughters, and all his seed brought
of thy  father: fear not to  go down  he with him  into Egypt.
into Egypt; for I will there make of    8 qT And bthese are the names of  Exo&. a.
thee a great nation:                       the children of Israel, which came into T. & 6. I4
4 I will go down with thee into  Egypt, Jacob and his sons: cReuben,  Numb.
Egypt; and I will also surely bring  Jacob's firstborn.                             I Chronl.
thee up again: and Joseph shall put          9 And the sons of Reuben; FIahis hand upon thine eyes.                  noch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and
5 And Jacob rose up from  Beer-  Carmi.
sheba: and the sons of Israel carried         Io  t dAnd  the sons of Simeon  dExod 6.
Jacob their father, and their little ones,  Jenluel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Chron. 4
and their wives, in the wagons which   Jachin, and  Zohar, and  Shaul the 24.
Pharaoh had sent to carry him.             son of a Canaanitish woman.
6 And they took their cattle, and          i I qT And the sons of eLevi; Ger- 6,Chron.
their goods, which they had gotten in  shon, Kohath, and Merari.
JoSh. 24. the land of Canaan, and came into           12  T And the sons offJudah;  Er f-chron.
2. 3.
4sal. i05. Egypt, aJacob, and all his seed with  and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, & 4. 2.
-2 3,.  sh. 4                     h imP. 
IS. 52. 4  him:                                    and Zarah: but Er and Onan died in Chap.38. 3
3. I am God, the God of thy father] "I  with them on asses, have women and children
am El'-a reference again to the name " El-  with them, and are armed with bows and clubs.
Shaddai," by which the Most High so specially  They are described as Absha and his family,
made covenant with the patriarchs. See on  and the number 37 is written over in hieroch. xliii. I4.                              glyphics. The signs, which accompany the
fear not to go doown into Egypt]  Abraham   picture, indicate that they were either captives
had gone down there and been in great danger.  or tributaries.  Sir G. Wilkinson, however,
Isaac had been forbidden to go thither (ch.  has suggested that possibly this indication may
xxvi. 2). Abraham, Isaac, Jacob had all been  result from the contemptuous way in which
placed and settled in Canaan with a promise  the Egyptians spoke of all foreigners, and the
that they should in future possess the land.  superiority which they claimed over them.
Moreover, Egypt was, not only a heathen land,  Moreover, they are armed, one of them is playbu-t one in which heathenism was specially de-  ing on a lyre, and others bring presents; which
veloped and systematized. Jacob might there-  things point rather to an immigration than to
fore naturally fear to find in it dangers both  a captivity. (See XWilkinson, Vol. i. p). 296,
worldly and spiritual.  Hence the promise of  and plate. Brugsch, IH. E.' p. 63, where the
God's presence and protection was signally  scene is well engraved, and a good description
needed.                                     annexed.)
4. Joseph shall put his hand upon thine    7. his daughters]   Only one daughter
eyes]  The ancients, Gentiles as well as Jews,  is named and one granddaughter. This verse
desired that their dearest relatives should close  implies that there were more. Married women
their eyes in death (Hom.'I1.' xI. 453;'Od.'  would not be mentioned in a Hebrew genexxIv. 296; Eurip.'Hec.' 430;'Pheen.' 2465;  alogy; hence Jacob's sons' wives are not reVirg.'IAn.' Ix. 487; Ov. 1Heroid.' I.      counted among the seventy souls that came into
5. the son  of Irae crrid Jco  their  Egypt. See v. 26. Dinah remained unmarried. IIence she only of Jacob's daughters is
father]  The scene depicted on the tomb of  named n
Chnoumhotep at Beni Hassan cannot be the
Egyptian version of the arrival of the Israelites    10. Jemuejl]  Called Nemuel, Num. xxvi.
in Egypt; but it is strikingly illustrative of the  12; I Chron. iv. 24.
history of that event. The date of the inscrip-    Ohaa'] Not named in Num. xxvi. I2; I Chr.
tion is that of the  zth dynasty, which was  iv. 24.
probably the dynasty under which Joseph lived;    Jac.Jn n] "Jarib," I Chr. iv. z4.
a number of strangers, with beards (which the    Zohar] "Zerah," Num. xxvi. 13; I Chr.
Egyptians never wore, but which in the sculp-  iv
tures indicate uncivilized foreigners), and with
dress and physical characteristics belonging to    11. Gershon]' Gershom,' I Chr. vi. I6.
the Semitic nomads, appear before the governor    12.  A4d the sons of Pharez wvere Hezron
offering him  gifts. They carry their goods  and Hamul]  The difficulties in the chro



218                             GENESIS. XLVI.                               [v. I3-21I
the land of Canaan.  And the sons of  nah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah,
Pharez were Hezron and Hamul.              and Serah their sister: and the sons of
-x Chron.   13 Il rAnd the sons of Issachar;  Beriah; Heber, and Malchiei.
7' I-   Tola, and  Phuvah, and  Job, and              I8 These are the sons of Zilpah,
Shimron.                                   whom  Laban gave to Leah his daughI4 q[ And  the sons of Zebulun;  ter, and these she bare unto Jacob,
Sered, and Elon, and Tahleel.              even sixteen souls.
15 These  be the  sons of Leah,            19 The  sons of Rachel Jacob's
which she bare unto Jacob in Padan-  wife; Joseph, and Benjamin.
aram, with his daughter Dinah: all    20 q[ iAnd unto Joseph in the land chap. 4I.
the souls of his sons and his daughters  of Egypt were born  Manasseh  and
were thirty and three.                     Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter
i6 qe And the sons of Gad; Zi-  of Poti-pherah R priest of On bare unto1 Or,
phion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon,  him.
Eri, and Arodi, and Areli.                   2 I  qr kAnd the sons of Benjamin k  Chrom,
-, Chron. i       and              A     r6 8.
7. 30.     1 7 ~ zAnd the sons of Asher; Jim-  were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, 76 &8. 
nology of this catalogue have suggested the  Benjamin.  Now Judah was probably 79 at
thought that it did not form  a part of the  Jacob's death, at which age his son Pharez
original history of Genesis. The difficul-  may easily have had two sons.  Indeed, the
ties are really no greater than we might expect  statement immediately coupled with the names
to find in a document so ancient, and where  of Hezron and Hamul, viz. that Er and Onan
names and numbers are concerned, which of  had died in Canaan, seems introduced on purall things are most likely to puzzle us. In this  pose to account for the reckoning of these
verse it appears that Er and Onan having died in  grandchildren of Judah, born in Egypt, with
Canaan, two of Judah's grandchildren are sub-  others who had been born in Canaan.
stituted for them. It has been said that Hezron
and Hamul could not have been born before  I Chr. vii Called Jashub Nm. xxv
the descent into Egypt, as the events related
in ch. xxxviii. took place after the selling of    15. thirty and three] that is, including
Joseph, and that, therefore, Pharez could not  Jacob himself, but not Er, or Onan, who
have been old enough to have two sons at the  were dead, nor perhaps Leah.
time of that descent. Moreover, it is argued,    16. Ziphion]'Zephon' in Num. xxvi. 15.
that Judah himself could not have been more    Ebon        i,'  Num. xxvi. 6.
than 42 at this time, which is inconsistent with  o]    o' Num. xxvi. 
the apparent statement that his third son, Pha-    Arodi]'Arod,' Num. xxvi.  7.
rez, not born till after the marriage and death    17. Ishtbh]  Not mentioned in Numbers.
of his two elder brothers, Er and Onan, should  Probably he had not left descendants and
himself have had two sons. To this it may be  founded families.
replied, (I), that we must not assume that the
events in chap. xxxviii. necessarily took place  of this verse the  XX. inser.]  At the end
after those in ch. xxxvii. It is most likely that  of th  verse the LXX. insert the names of
ch. xxxviii. was introduced episodically at a          son of Manasseh, and Galaa the
convenient point in the history, to avoid break-    n of  lachir, and Sutalaam and Taam  the
sons of Ephraim, and Edem the son of Sutaing the continuity of the story.  (See note on  laam. (See Numb. xxvi. 28-37; I Chr. viio
xxxviii. I.)  (2) Again, if the chronology of
the life of Jacob proposed in the note at the  14.)  Thus the whole number of persons bte
end of ch. xxxi. be correct, Judah was, not 42,  comes 75  The passage however is not inhe
but 62, at the descent into Egypt, in which case    maritan, with which the LXX.mostly agrees.
the two sons of Pharez may easily have been    21. the sons of Benjamin]  These are
born then.  (3) Moreover, it is quite possible  ten in number. According to Numb. xxvi. 40
that the names in this catalogue may have  two of them, Naaman and Ard, were grandcomprised, not only those that were actually  sons of Benjamin. According to the common
of the company, which went down into Egypt,  chronology Benjamin was only 23 at the combut also all the grandchildren or great grand-  ing into Egypt; an age at which he could
children of Jacob born before Jacob's death.  hardly have had ten sons, or eight sons and
This would not be inconsistent with the com-  two grandsons, even if he had two wives and
mon usage of Scripture language, and it would  some of the children had been twins. The
allow   7 years more for the birth of those two  considerations alluded to at v.  2, however, will
grandsons of Judah and for the ten sons of  allow us to calculate that Benjamin was 3z at




V. 22-34.]               GENESIS. XLVI.                                         219
Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh,  chariot, and went up to meet Israel
Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.             his father, to Goshen, and presented
22 These are the sons of Rachel,  himself unto him; and he fell on his
which were born to Jacob: all the  neck, and wept on his neck a good
souls were fourteen.                    while.
23  qT And the sons of Dan; Hu-          30 And Israel said unto Joseph,
shim.                                    Now  let me die, since I have seen
24 q And the sons of Naphtali;  thy face, because thou art yet alive.
Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and          31 And Joseph said unto his breShillem.                                 thren, and unto his father's house,
25 These are the sons of Bilhah,  I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, and
which Laban gave unto Rachel his  say unto him, My brethren, and my
daughter, and she bare these unto  father's house, which  were  in  the
Jacob: all the souls were seven.         land of Canaan, are come unto me;
t eut. o.   26 ZAll the souls that came with       32  And the men are shepherds,
2'2.    Jacob into  Egypt, which came out  for ttheir trade hath been to  feed f Heb.
t Heb.   of his tloins, besides Jacob's sons' cattle; and they have brought their thaeyn
wives, all the souls were threescore  flocks, and their herds, and all that cttle
and six;                                 they have.
27 And the sons of Joseph, which         33 And it shall come to pass, when
were born him  in Egypt, were two  Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say,
souls: all the souls of the house of What is your occupation?
Jacob, which came into Egypt, were         34 That ye shall say, Thy servants'
threescore and ten.                      trade hath been about cattle from our
28  [ And he sent Judah before  youth even until now, both we, and
him  unto Joseph, to direct his face  also our fathers: that ye may dwell
unto Goshen; and they came into  in  the land of Goshen; for every
the land of Goshen.                      shepherd is an abomination unto the
29  And  Joseph  made ready his  Egyptians.
the going down to Egypt (see note at the end  reckoning. The genealogical tables of the Jews
of ch. xxxi.), and therefore forty-nine at the  were drawn up on principles unlike those of
death of Jacob, by which age he might easily  modern calculation. And there would be no
have been the father of ten sons.         impropriety, on these principles, in reckoning
Three of Benjamin's sons, Becher, Gera and  the children of Joseph only, or in adding to
Rosh, are wanting in the table given in Num. them his grandchildren also, especially if the
xxvi., probably because they had not left chil-  latter became founders of itnportant families
dren enough to form independent families.    in Israel.
Ehi, 2M~uppim, and Huppim] Called' Shup-c   28. he sent Judah before him unto Joseph,
ham, Hupham, and Ahiram,' in Num. xxvi. 38, to direct his face unto Goshen] i.e. He sent
39.                                       Judah before himself (Jacob) to Joseph, that
27. all the souls of the house of Jacob,  Joseph might direct him to Goshen.'which came into Egypt,'were threescore and    34. every shepherd is an.abomination unto
ten]  The number is made up of the 66 men-  the Egyptians]   Herodotus speaks of the
tioned in the last verse, Jacob himself, Joseph,  aversion of the Egyptians for swineherds (II.
and the two sons of Joseph. The LXX.  47).  The monuments indicate their conreads here " The sons of Joseph, which were  tempt for shepherds and goatherds by the
born to him in Egypt, were nine souls. All  mean appearance always given to them. Neithe souls of the house of Jacob, who came with  ther mutton nor the flesh of goats was ever
Jacob into Egypt, were seventy-five."  See  eaten or offered.  Even woollen garments,
above note on verse 2o. St Stephen (Acts vii. though sometimes worn over linen, were es..
14) adopts the number 75, probably because  teemed unclean. No priest would wear them.
he, or St Luke, quotes the LXX. version, as  They were never worn in temples, nor were
all Greek-speaking Jews would naturally have  the dead buried in them. To this day, sheepdone; and it may be fairly said, that both  feeding is esteemed the office of women and
numbers were equally correct, and that the  slaves. The fact that the Egyptians themselves
variation depends on the different mode of  were great agriculturists, tillers of land, and




220                            GENESIS. XLVII.                                 [v. -9.
CHAPTER  XLVII.                    we come; for thy servants have no
I 7osefih presenleth five of his brethren, 7 and  pasture for their flocks; for the fahis father, before Pharaoh.  ii He give/h  mine is sore in the land of Canaan:
them habitation and maintenance.  13 He
eetteth all t/e Egy/fftians' mzoney, i6 their  now  therefore, we pray thee, let thy
cattle, i8 their lands to Pharaoh. 222 The  servants dwell in the land of Goshen.
priesls' land lwas not bought. 23 He [letet  5 And Pharaoh spake unto  oseph
the zandto itemrfor afifth zpart. 28 7cob's age.    5 And Pharaoh sp     unto Joseph,
29 He sweareth yoseph to buay him with his  saying, Thy father and thy brethren
fzthers.                                 are come unto thee:
HEN   Joseph  came  and  told           6  The  land  of Egypt is before
Pharaoh, and said, My  father  thee; in the best of the land make
and  my  brethren, and their flocks,  thy father and brethren to dwell; in
and  their herds, and  all that they  the land of Goshen let them  dwell:
have, are come out of the  land  of  and if thou knowest any men of actiCanaan; and, behold, they are in the  vity among them, then make them
land of Goshen.                            rulers over my cattle.
2 And he took some of his bre-             7 And Joseph brought in  Jacob
thren, even five men, and presented  his father, and set him  before Phathem  unto Pharaoh.                        raoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
3 And Pharaoh said unto his bre-           8 And  Pharaoh said unto Jacob,
thren,  What  is  your occupation?    How old art thou?                             heb
And  they said unto  Pharaoh, Thy            9  And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, Ho~
mnany are
servants are shepherds, both we, and,The days of the years of my pil- tjy days
also our fathers.                          grimage are an hundred  and thirty years of
4 They said moreover unto Pha-  vears: few  and evil have the days of t' fe?
raoh, For to sojourn in the land are  the years of my life been, and have 9, 3.
that their neighbours the Arab tribes of the  in Egypt.  (Robinson,'B. R.' I. p. 78, 79;
desert, with whom they were continually at  Kurtz, Vol. Ii. p. Is.) M. Chabas has collected
feud, were nomads only, may have been suffi-  notices of great interest showing the riches
cient to cause this feeling.  The Egyptians  and beauty of the district under the x9th
looked on all the people of Egypt as of noble  dynasty ('Mel. Egypt.' II.)
race(Diod. v.5 8), and on all foreigners as low-    7. and Jacob  blessed Pharaoh]  Some
born. Hence they would naturally esteem   here reider " Jacob saluted Pharaoh," a posa nomadic people in close proximity to them-  sible translation, as the Eastern salutation is
selves, and with a much lower civilization  often with words of blessing: but the natural
than their own, as barbarous and despicable.  sense of the word is'" to bless;" and if Jacob
W~hatever be the historical foundation for the  had bowed himself to the ground before Phaexistence of three dynasties of Hycsos or Shep-  roh according to a familiar Eastern custom
herd-kings extending over a period of froi-m   it would probably have been so related in the
5o0 to icoo years, there can be little doubt  history.  MAore probably the aged patriarch,
that the Egyptians were frequently harassed  with the conscious dignity of a prophet and
by incursions from the nomadic tribes in their  the heir of the promises, prayed for blessings
neighbourhood.  Some of these tribes appear  upon Pharaoh.
to have subdued portions of Lower Egypt aid
to have fixed their seat of government at    8. Horw old art thou?]  How many are
Tanis (Zoan), or even at Memnphis.  The           days of the years of thy lif?
great Hycsos invasion was after the time of    9. rumy pilg'rimage]  Lit. "my sojournJoseph, Mwho probably lived under a Pharaoh  ings." Pharaoh asked of the days of the years
of the twelfth dynasty (see Excursus); but  of his life, he replies by speaking of the days
the hostility between the Egyptians and the  of the years of his pilgrimage.  Some have
nomad tribes of Asia had no doubt been of  thought that he called his life a pilgrimage,
long duration.                              because he was a nomad, a wanderer in lands
not his own: but in reality the patriarchs
CHAP. XLVII. 6. in the best OfSthe land]  spoke of life as a pilgrimage or sojourning,
The modern province ot Es-Shurkiveh. which  because they sought another country, that is a
appears nearly to correspond with the land of  hea.vecly (Heb. xi. 9, Ix).  Earth was not
Goshen, is said to "' ear the highest valuation  their homte, but their journey homnewards.
and to yield the largest revenue" of any   Jfow and evil]  The Jews speak of Jacob's




v. 1o —.]                GENESIS. XLVII.                                          221
not attained  unto  the  days of the        I6  And Joseph said, Give your
years of the life of my fathers in the  cattle; and I will give you for your
days of their pilgrimage.                cattle, if money fail.
Io And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and        17 And they brought their cattle
went out from before Pharaoh.            unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them
I I ~ And Joseph placed his father  bread in exchange for horses, and for
and his brethren, and gave them  a  the flocks, and for the cattle of the
possession in the land of Egypt, in  herds, and for the asses: and he t fed  He,
the best of the land, in the land of  them  with bread for all their cattle
Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.  for that year.
I2 And Joseph nourished his fa-          I8  When  that year was ended,
ther, and  his brethren, and all his  they came unto him  the second year,
11 Or,   father's household, with bread, Utac-  and said unto him, We will not hide
ca a tie  cording to their families.             it from  my lord, how that our money..H.e. 1d.  3 IS  And there was no bread in  is spent; my lord also hath our herds
cordittng all the land; for the famine was very  of cattle; there is not ought left in
zize ones. sore, so that the land of Egypt and  the sight of my lord, but our bodies,
all the land of Canaan fainted by rea-  and our lands:
son of the famine.                          19 Wherefore shall we die before
14 And Joseph gathered up all the  thine eyes, both we and our land?
money that was found in the land of  buy us and our land for bread, and
Egypt, and in the land of Canaan,  we and our land will be servants unto
for the corn which they bought: and  Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we
Joseph brought the money into Pha-  may live, and not die, that the land
raoh's house.                            be not desolate.
I5 And when money failed in the          20o And Joseph bought all the land
land of Egypt, and in the land of  of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the EgypCanaan, all the Egyptians came unto  tians sold every man his field, because
Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for  the famine prevailed over them: so
why should we die in thy presence?  the land became Pharaoh's.
for the money faileth.                      2I And as for the people, he reseven afflictions: (I) the persecution of Esau;  according to the LXX. corresponded with the
(2) the injustice of Laban;  (3) the result of  Heroopolis of after times. (See on this city
his wrestling with the Angel; (4) the viola-  Hengstenberg,' Egypt,' p. 5I, and Excursus
tion of Dinah; (5) the loss of Joseph; (6)  at the end of the volume.)
the imprisonment of Simeon; (7) the depar-    12. according to their families] Lit. "to
ture of Benjamin for Egypt.  They might  the mouth of their children;" meaning very
well have added the death of Rachel and the  probably, "1 even to the food for their chilincest of Reuben (Schumann).               dren."
11. the land of Rameses] In Ex. i. I I,    20. Joseph bought all the land of Egypt
the Israeli!:es are said to have built treasure for Pharaoh]  All the main points in the
cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses. It  statements of this chapter are confirmed by
is possible that Goshen is here called the land  Herodotus, Diodorus, Strabo, and the monuof Rameses by anticipation, as it may have  ments. Herodotus (II. Io9) says that Sesosbecome familiarly known to the Israelites by  tris divided the soil among the inhabitants,
the name " land of Rameses" after they had  assigning square plots of land of equal size
built the city Rameses in it. Very probably,  to all, and obtained his revenue from a rent
however, the Israelites in the captivity only  paid annually by the holders. Diodorus (. 54)
fortified and strengthened the city of Rameses  says that Sesodsis divided the whole country
then already existing, and so fitted it to be a  into 36 nomes and set nomarchs over each to
strong treasure-city. The name Rameses be-  take care of the royal revenue and administer
came famous in after times from the exploits  their respective provinces. Strabo (xviI. p.
of Rameses II., a king of the g9th dynasty:  787) tells us that the occupiers of land held
but he was of too late a date to have given  it subject to a rent. Again, Diodorus (I. 73,
name to a city, either in the time of Joseph,  74) represents the land as possessed only by
or even at the time of the Exodus. Rameses;  the priests, the king, -and the warriors, which




222                            GENESIS. X LVL II.                          [v. 22-26.
moved  them  to cities from  one end         24  And it shall come to pass in
of the borders of Egypt even to the  the increase; that ye shall give the
other end thereof.                        fifth part unto  Pharaoh, and  four
I Or,      22  Only the land of the   priests  parts shall be your own, for seed of
Ptieces.  bought he not; for the priests had  the field, and for your food, and for
a portion assigned them  of Pharaoh,  them  of your households, and for food
and did eat their portion which Pha-  for your little ones.
raoh gave them: wherefore they sold          25 And they said, Thou hast saved
not their lands.                          our lives: let us find grace in the
23 Then Joseph said unto the peo-  sight of my  lord, and we will be
ple, Behold, I have bought you this  Pharaoh's servants.
day and your land for Pharaoh: lo,           26 And Joseph made it a law over
here is seed for you, and ye shall sow   the land of Egypt unto this day, that
the land.                                 Pharaoh  should have the fifth part;
testimony is confirmed by the sculptures  nonmes and into square plots of equal size by
(W'rilkinson, I. p. 263). The discrepancy of  Sesostris be the same transaction as the purthis from the account in Genesis is apparent  chasing and restoring of the land by Joseph.
in the silence of the latter concerning the  The people were already in possession of
lands assigned to the warrior caste. The re-  their property when Joseph bought it, and
servation of their lands to the priests is ex-  they received it again on condition of paying
pressly mentioned in v. zz; but nothing is  a fifth of the produce as a rent. But whether
said of the warriors. There was, however,  or not this act of Sesostris be identified with
a marked difference in the tenure of land by  that of Joseph (or the Pharaoh of Joseph),
the warriors from that by the priests. Hero-  the profane historians and the monuments comdotus (II. I68) says that each warrior had  pletely bear out the testimony of the author
assigned to him twelve arurce of land (each  of Genesis as to the condition of land tenuie
arura being a square of Ioo Egyptian cu-  and its origin in an exercise of the sovereign's
bits); that is to say, there were no landed  authority.
possessions vested in the caste, but certain    21. he removed them to cities]  He had
fixed portions assigned to each person: and  collected all the corn, which he had stored
these, as given by the sovereign's will, so  up for the famine, into the various cities of
apparently were liable to be withheld or  Egypt, and so he removed the people into the
taken away by the same will; for we find  cities and their neighbourhood, that he might
that Sethos, the contemporary of Sennacherib  the better provide them with food (Schum.).
and therefore of Hezekiah and Isaiah, actually deprived the warriors of these lands,    22. Only th land of the priests bought he
which former kings had conceded to them   not]  See on v. 2o.
(Herod. II. I41).  It is therefore, as Knobel   the priests had a portion assigned them of
remarks, highly probable that the original  Pharaoh, and did eat their portion uwhich Phareservation of their lands was only to the  raoh gave them] This does not mean that
priests, and that the warrior caste did not  the priests were Pharaoh's stipendiaries, which
come into possession of their twelve arurte  would be inconsistent with the immediately
each, till after the time of Joseph. In the  preceding words, as well as with the statement
other important particulars the sacred and  of profane authors as to the landed possessions
profane accounts entirely tally, viz. that, by  of the priests. On the contrary, it means,
royal appointment, the original proprietors of that Pharaoh had such respect for the ministhe land became crown tenants, holding their  ters of religion, that, instead of suffering
land by payment of a rent or tribute; whilst  Joseph to sell corn to them and so to buy up
the priests only were left in full possession of their land, he ordered a portion of corn to
their former lands and revenues. As to the  be regularly distributed to them during the
particular king to whom this is attributed by  famine, and so they were not reduced to the
Herodotus and Diodorus, Lepsius (' Chronol.  necessity of selling their lands. This regard
Egypt.' I. p. 304) supposes that this was not  for the priests is expressly assigned to Phathe Sesostris of Manetho's 12th  dynasty  raoh, not to Joseph, and so there can be no
(Osirtasen of the Monuments), but a Sethos  need to apologize for Joseph's respect to an
or Sethosis of the x9th dynasty, whom he  idolatrous priesthood.
considers to be the Pharaoh of Joseph. The    26. Joseph made it a law]  The final
x9th dynasty is, however, certainly much too  result of Joseph's policy was that the land
late a date for Joseph. It may be a question  was restored to the Egyptians, with an obliwhether the division of the land into 36  gation to pay one fifth of it to Pharaoh for the




v. 27-.1    GENESIS. XLVII. XLVIII.                                                   223
Or,    except the land of the I priests only,  and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt,
$rinces.  which became not Pharaoh's.               and bury  me in their buryingplace.
27 ~T And Israel dwelt in the land   And he said, I will do as thou hast
of Egypt, in the country of Goshen;  said.
and they had possessions therein, and         31 And he said, Swear unto me.
grew, and multiplied exceedingly.          And he sware unto him.  And cIs- IHe 
28 And Jacob lived in the land of  rael bowed himself upon  the  bed's 2
tHeb.   Egypt seventeen years: so t the whole  head.
Vth/te   age of Jacob was an hundred forty
years of  and seven years.                                  CHAPTER  XLVIII.
29 And the time drew  nigh that    ose    with his sonis visiteth his sick father.
2 f7rcob strengtheneth himself to bless them. 3
Israel must die: and he called his son    He repeateth the promise.  5  l:e taketh
Joseph, and said unto him, If now            Ephraim and Manasseh as his ownz. 7 IRe
I  have  found  grace  in  thy  sight,    elleeti 7oseph of his mothear's grave. g He
blesseth Ephraim  and  /Manassek.  I7 lge
c.hap. 24. b put, I pray thee, thy hand under    prefeprret/ i te younzger before thze elder.   I
2.      my thigh, and deal kindly and truly           Heprophesieth their return to Canaan.
with me; bury me not, I pray thee,             ND  it came to pass after these
in Egypt:                                        things, that one told  Joseph,
30 But I will lie with my fathers,  Behold, thy  father is sick: and he
purpose of maintaining the revenues of the    The: fifth part" which was paid to Phastate.  Much has been written in condemna-  raoh for the revenues of the state, and perhaps
tion, and again in vindication of these pro-  for public works of all kinds, agricultural
ceedings.  Was Joseph a mere creature of  and others, was not an exorbitant impost.
Pharaoh's, desirous only of his master's ag-  The Egyptians appear to have made no diffigrandizement? or was he bent on establishing  culty in paying one-fifth of the produce of
a tyrannical absolutism  in violation of the  their land to Pharaoh during the years of
rights and liberties of the subject? The bre-  plenty; and hence we may infer that it would
vity of the narrative and our imperfect ac-  not have been a burdensome rent when the
quaintance with the condition of the people  system  of agriculture was put on a better
and the state of agriculture in ancient Egypt  footing.
make it impossible fully to judge of the wis-    28  the'whole age of Jacob]   Lit. the
dom and equity of Joseph's laws. This much,  days of Jacob, even the years of his life.
however, is quite evident. The land in favourable years was very productive. In the plente-    29. bury me not...n Egypt]  Jacob had
ous years it brought forth by handfuls (ch.  a firm faith that his descendants should innerit
ous years I  brought forth by handfuls (ch,  the land of Canaan, and therefore desired to
xli. 47). Even the fifth part of the revenue of be buried there. Moreover, he very probably
corn (v. 34) was so abundant that it is de- be buried there. Moreover, he very probably
scribed as like "the sand of the sea, " and  wished to direct the minds of his children to
" without number" (v. 49). Yet there was a  that as their future home, that they might be
liability to great depression, as shewn by the  kept from setting up their rest in Egypt.
seven years of famine: the monuments too in-    31. boewed himself upon the bed's head]
dicate the frequent occurrence of scarcity, and  So the Masorites point it. So the Targg.,
there was evidently no provision against this  Symm., Aquila, Vulg., but the LXX., Syr.,
in the habits of the people or the management  and Epistle to the Hebrews (xi. 2I), read " on
of the tillage. If Pharaoh had not been moved  the top of his staff." The Hebrew word withto store up corn against the famine years, the  out the vowel points means either " bed" or
population would most probably have perished.  I" staff."  The only distinction is in the vowel
The peculiar nature of the land, its dependence  points, which do not exist in the more ancient
on the overflow of the Nile, and the unthrifty  MSS.  It is therefore impossible to decide
habits of the cultivators, made it desirable to  with certainty which was the original sense of
establish a system of centralization, perhaps to  the word.  It is quite possible that the meanintroduce some general principle of irrigation,  ing is, as the Apostle quotes the passage, that
in modern phraseology, to promote the pros-  after Joseph had sworn to bury him in Caperity of the country by great government  naan, Jacob bowed himself upon the staff
works, in preference to leaving all to the uncer-  which had gone with him through all his wantainty of individual enterprize. If this was so,  derings (Gen. xxxii. Io), and so worshipped
then the saying,' Thou hast saved our lives,"  God.  And this seems the more likely from
was no language of Eastern adulation, but the  the fact that it is not till after these things
verdict of a grateful people.                that one told Joseph, " Behold, thy father is




224                           GENESIS. XLVII I.                               [V. 2-12.
took with him  his two sons, Manas-          7 And as for me, when  I came
seh and Ephraim.                           from  Padall, cRachel died by me in cchap. 35.
2 And one told Jacob, and  said,  the land of Canaan in the way, when'9
Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto  yet there was but a little way to come
thee: and Israel strengthened himself,  unto Ephrath: and I buried her there
and sat upon the bed.                      in the way of Ephrath; the sane is
3  And  Jacob  said  unto  Joseph,  Beth-lehem.
God Almighty appeared unto me at             8 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons,
a chap. 28. aLuz in the  land  of Canaan, and   and said, Who are these?
35. 6.  blessed me,                                   9 And Joseph said unto his father,
4 And  said unto  me, Behold, I  They are my sons, whom  God hath
will make thee fruitful, and multiply   given me in this place.  And he said,
thee, and I will make of thee a mul-  Bring them, I pray thee, unto me,
titude of people; and will give this  and I will bless them.
land  to thy  seed after thee for an          I   Now  the eyes of Israel were
everlasting possession.                    tdim  for age, so that he could not see. f reT,.
" chap. 4r.   5 IT And now thy btwo sons, Eph-  And he brought them  near unto him; hkeary
josh. 13. raim  and Manasseh, which were born  and he kissed  them, and embraced
7'      unto thee in the land of Egypt before  them.
I came unto  thee  into  Egypt, are          I i And Israel said unto Joseph, I
mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they   had not thought to see thy face: and,
shall be mine.                            lo, God  hath  shewed  me also thy
6 And thy issue, which  thou  be-  seed.
gettest after them, shall be thine, and       I2 And Joseph brought them  out
shall be called after the name of their  from between his.knees, and he bowed
brethren in their inheritance.             himself with his face to the earth.
sick" (ch. xlviii. i), so that Jacob probably  Christ came, who is over all God blessed for
had not as yet taken to his bed. At the same  ever.  There was, however, a kind of setime we must not always press the quotations  condary birthright given to Ephraim (see xlix.
in the New Testament as proof of the true  22 sq.), who became ancestor of the royal
sense of the Hebrew original, for it is natu-  tribe among the ten tribes of Israel.
ral for the Apostles to quote the LXX. as    6. shall be Lalled after the name of tCeir
being the Authorised Version, just as modern  brethren]  Shall not give names to separate
divines quote modern versions in the vernacu-  tribes, but shall be numbered with the tribes
lar languages without suggesting a correction  of Ephraim and Manasseh. XWe hear nothing
of their language, v,-hen such correction is un-  of any younger sons of Joseph, and do not
necessary for their argument.               know for certain that any were born to him;
but it has been thought that they may be menCHIAP. XLVIII. 3. GodAlmighty] " El-  tioned in Num. xxvi. 28-37, I Chr. vii.
Shaddai."  See on ch. xliii. I4.
14 29'
at Luz] i. e. Bethel. See ch. xxviii. I7, I39    7. Rachel died by me]  When adopting
xxxv. 6, 7.                                 the sons of Joseph, Jacob turns his thoughts
5. as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be  back to his beloved Rachel, for whose sake
mine] Thy two sons shall be as much count-  especially he had so dearly loved Joseph. Roed to be my sons, as Reuben and Simeon, my  senm., Gesenius and some others propose to
own two eldest sons, are counted to be mine;  translate here "Rachel died to my sorrow,"
accordingly Ephraim  and Manasseh became  lit. "upon me," and therefore as a heavy
patriarchs, eponymi, heads of tribes.  Some  burden to me; but the received translation is
think that, as Reuben was deprived of his  supported by the Versions, and by the frequent
birthright, so here the birthright is given to  use of the preposition in the sense of "near
Ephraim, the elder son of the firstborn of  me," "by my side."
Rachel.  But the birthright seems rather to    12. Joseph brought them  out from  behave been trans'erred to Judah, his three  twveen his knees]  Joseph brought them out
elder brothers being disinherited, the first for  from between Jacob's knees, where they had
incest, the other two for cruelty (see ch. xlix.  gone that he might embrace them, and pro8-Io)  Accordingly, Judah became the royal  bably placed them in a reverent attitude to
tribe, from  whom  as concerning the flesh  receive the patriarch's blessing




v.r 3 —22.]             GENESIS. XLVIII.                                         225
I3 And Joseph took them  both,  remove it from  Ephraim's head unto
Ephraim  in  his right hand  toward  Manasseh's head.
Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in         I8 And Joseph  said unto his fahis left hand  toward  Israel's right  ther, Not so, mv father: for this is
hand, and brought them near unto him.  the firstborn; put thy right hand upon
I4 And  Israel stretched  out his  his head.
right hand, and  laid it upon Eph-          I9 And his father refused, and said,
raim's head, who was the younger,  I know  it, my son, I know  it: he
and his left hand upon Manasseh's  also shall become a people, and he
head, guiding his hands wittingly; for  also  shall be great:  but truly  his
Manasseh was the firstborn.              younger brother shall be greater than
d eb...       5 T And dhe blessed Joseph, and  he, and his seed shall become a tmul- tHeb.
2'X     said, God, before whom  my fathers  titude of nations.                           fdtness.
Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God         20o And he blessed them  that day,
which fed me all my life long unto  saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saythis day,                                ing, God make thee as Ephraim and
i6 The Angel which redeemed me  as Manasseh:  and he set Ephraim
from  all evil, bless the lads; and let  before Manasseh.
my name be named on them, and the           2i And Israel said unto Joseph,
name of my  fathers Abraham  and  Behold, I die: but God shall be with
I Heb.   Isaac; and  let them  tgrow  into a  you, and bring you again unto the
as~,sh   multitude in the midst of the earth.    land of your fathers.
ctrease.   17 And when Joseph saw  that his    22 Moreover I have given to thee
father laid his right hand upon the  one portion above thy brethren, which
head of Ephraim, it displeased him:  I took out of the hand of the Amorite
and he held up his father's hand, to  with my sword and with my bow.
and he bowed himself ewith his face to the  showing that these three are but one God, and
earth] i.e. Joseph bowed down respectfully  that the Angel is one with the fathers' God
and solemnly before his father. The LXX.  and with the God who fed Jacob like a sheep.
has "They bowed themselves," which differs    22. Moreover I have given to thee one
but by the repetition of one letter from the  portion]  There is little doubt blt that this:received reading.                        rendering is correct. The past tense is used
14. guiding his hands wvittingly]  So Ge-  by prophetic anticipation, and the meaning is,
sen., Rosenm., and most modern interpreters;  "I have assigned to thee one portion of that
but the LXX. Vulg. &c. "putting his hands  land, which my descendants are destined to
crosswise."  This has been defended by some,  take out of the.hands of the Amorites."  The
comparing an Arabic root, which has the  word rendered portion is Sh.chem, meaning
sense "to bind, to twist," but it cannot be  literally "a shoulder," thence probably a ridge
shewn ever to have had the sense "to cross."   or neck of land, hence here rendered by most:
versions and commentators "portion."  She16..he  ln~el which  redeemed me from   chem, the city of Samaria, was probably named'
all evil] There is here a triple blessing:  from the fact of its standing thus on a ridge
"The God, before whom my fathers walked,  or shoulder of ground. (See on Gen. xii. 6.):,
"The God, which fed me like a shepherd, all  Accordingly here the LXX., Targ. of Pseudo -.
my life long,                         Jonath., as also Calvin, Rosenm., and sorme
"The Angel, which redeemed (or redeemeth  moderns, have, rendered not "portion," but
me) from all evil."                    "Shechem," a proper name. The history of,
It is impossible that the Angel thus identified  Shechem is doubtless much mixed up with the
with God can he a created Angel. Jacob,  history of the Patriarchs, and was intimately
no doubt, alludes to the Angel who wrestled  connected with all their blessings. It was
with him and whom he called God (ch. xxxii.  Abraham's first settlement in Palestine, and
24-30), the same as the Angel of the Cove-  there he first built an altar (ch. xii. 6). There
nant, Mal. iii. x. Luther observes that the  too Jacob purchased a piece of ground froro
Verb " bless," which thus refers to the God of  Hamor the father of Shechem, and built an
his fathers, to the God who had been his  altar (xxxiii. i8-2o). This was, however,
Shepherd, and to the Angel who redeemed  not "taken out of the hand of the Amorite
him, is in the singular, not in the plural,  with sword and bow," but obtained:peaceably,
VOL. I.                                                                 P




226                             GENESIS. XLIX.                                    [v. I-5.
CHAPTER  XLIX.                        3 qI Reuben, thou art my firstborn,
I  acob calleth his sons to bless them. 3 Their  my might, and the beginning of my
blessing in5_articular.  29 Hle chargeth them   strength, the excellency  of dignity, Heb.
about his burial.  33 He dieth.cellency of power: 
and the excellency of power:              dono.fthou
I ND  Jacob  called unto his sons,           4  Unstable  as water, tthou  Shalt p.: 35.
i       and said, Gather yourselves to-  not excel; because thou awentest up 22.
gether, that I may tell you that whiJh   to  thy  father's  bed;  then  defledst I            
shall befall you in the last days.          thou it:   he went up to my couch.   my erorc,
2 Gather yourselves together, and           5 ql Simeon and Levi are brethren; isg Or, te
hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken    instruments of cruelty  are in  their swords are
unto Israel your father.                    habitations.                              violeSne.
by purchase.  Some have thought therefore  end, but rather that from  which his predicthat the allusion is to the victory over the  tions took their beginning.  It was not the
Shechemites by Simeon and Levi related in  terminus ad quem, but the terminus a quo.
ch. xxxiv., the Shechemites being here called  The return to Canaan was a fact established in
Amorites, though there Hivites, because Am-  the decrees of Providence, the certainty of
orite was a generic name, like Canaanite: but  which rested on promises given and repeated
it is hardly likely that Jacob should boast of a  to the Patriarchs.  Jacob therefore does not
conquest by his sons, as though it were his  repeat this, farther than by the injunction, in
own, when he strongly reprobated their action  the last chapter, and again at the end of this,
in it, and even "cursed their anger, for it was  that he should be buried, not in Egypt, but
fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel" (ch.  at Machpelah, the buryingplace of his fathers.
xlix. 7). Though, therefore, it is undoubtedly  3.  the beginning of my strength]  Some
told us, that Jacob gave Shechem to Joseph,  important Versions (Aquila, Symm., Vulg.)
and that Joseph was therefore buried there  render "the beginning of my sorrow," a pos(Josh. -xxiv. 3z; John iv. 5. See also Je-  sible translation, but not suited to the parallelrome,'Qu1. in Gen.' xlix.); and though there  isms.  For the expression, as applied to firstmay be some allusion to this gift in the words  born sons, comp. Deut. xxi. 17; Ps. lxxviii.
here made use of, by a paronomasia so com-    I cV. 6
mon in Hebrew, it is most likely that the
rendering of the Authorised Version is correct.    4   Unstabl as water]  or "boiling over
The addition of "one" to "portion " seems to  like water."  The meaning of the word is
decide for this interpretation. I"I have given  uncertain.  The same root in Syriac expresses
thee one Shechem," would be very hard to  "wantonness;" in Arabic, "pride," "swelling
interpret.                                   arrogance."  In this passage it is clearly connected with water.  The Vulgate translates,
CHAP. XLIX.  1. in the last days] The  "Thou art poured out like water."  Symmafuture generally, but with special reference to
fulture generally, but with special reference t   chus renders "Thou hast boiled over like
the times of MIessiah. The Rabbi Nachmani-  water."  The translation of the LXX. is pecudes says, " According to the words of all, the  liar, but it also seems to point to boiling as
last days denote the days of Messiah." The  well as to the insolence of pride (e';po-r ole
passages in which it occurs are mostly Messi-  uiup, /07 EKxEo1s). Modern lexicographers
anic predictions (see Numn. xxiv. 14; Isa. i.;   (as Gesen., Lee, &c.) generally give "boiling
Jer. xxx. 2z4; Ezek. xxxviii. I6; Dan. x. I4;  ove.
Hos. iii. 5; Mic. iv, t). The exact words of    thou shalt not excel   Perhaps, though,
the LXX. are used in Heb. i. I, and virtually  through thy swelling wantonness, thou risest
the same in Acts ii. I7; a Tim. iii. I; I Pet. i.  up like water when it boils, yet it shall not be
20; 2 Pet. iii. 3, where the reference is to the  so as to excel and surpass thy brethren.  Not
times of Christ.  (See Heidegger, Vol. II.  one great action, not one judge, prophet, or
xxIi. 6; Gesen.' Thes.' p. 73.)  The pro-  leader from the tribe of Reuben is ever menphecy of Jacob does not refer exclusively to tioned in history.
the days of Messiah, but rather sketches gene-    then defiledst thou it] " Thou hast polluted"
rally the fortunes of his family; but all is  or  desecrated it."
leading up to that which was to be the great    5. instruments of cruelty are in their haconsummation, when the promised Seed should  bitations]  Probably,  "Their swords are income and extend the blessings of the Spiritual  struments of violence;" so the Vulg., several
Israel throughout all the world.  It is to be  Rabbins, and the most eminent moderns. The
carefully noted, that the occupation of Canaan  word occurs only here, is very variously renby the twelve tribes under Joshua was not the  dered by the Versions, and is of doubtful c(eripoint to which his expectations pointed as an  vation.




v. 6-o.]                   GENESIS. XLIX.                                             227
6 0  my soul, come not thou into   brethren shall praise: thy hand shall
their secret;  unto  their assembly,  be in the neck of thine enemies; thy
mine honour, be not thou  united:  father's children shall bow  down befor in their anger they slew  a man,  fore thee.
Or,    and in their selfwill they H digged down       g Judah is a lion's whelp: from
owAed   a wall.                                     the prey, my son, thou art gone up:
7 Cursed be their anger, for it was  he stooped  down, he  couched as a
fierce; and  their wrath, for it was  lion, and as an old lion; who shall
cruel: I will divide them  in Jacob,  rouse him  up?
and scatter them  in Israel.                  Io  The  sceptre  shall not depart
8 ql Judah, thou art he whom  thy  from  Judah, nor a lawgiver from  be6. mine honouer]  Probably a synonym         8. Judah, thou art he vwhom thy brethren
for " my soul" in the first clause of the paral-  shall praise]  Judah, thou, thy brethren
lelism. The soul as being the noblest part of  s hall praise thee. The word "thou" is
man is called his glory.  See Ps. viii. 5 (6  emphatic, probably, like "Judah," in the vocaHeb.), xvi. 9, xxx. 12 (13 Heb.), lvii. 8 (9  tive, not, as some would render it, "Thou art
Heb.), cviii. I (z Heb.); (Ges.'Thes.' p. 655).  Judah,'.' which is far tamer. The reference is
cdigged down a call  HaLms trung an ox.  to the meaning of the name. Leah said, "Now
So the margin'"houghed oxen."  The singlu-  will I praise the Lord, therefore she called his
lar "an ox" must be used to retain the paral-  name Judah" (ch. xxix. 35).  Judah, notlelism  with "a man" in the  former clause,  withstanding the sad history of him and his
both have a collective intention. This is the house in ch. xxxviii., shewed on the whole
rendering of the LXX. and gives the com-  more nobleness than any of the elder sons of
moner sense of the verb. It is therefore adopt-  Jacob.  He and Reuben were the only two
ed by most recent commentators. The same who desired to save the life of Joseph (ch.
Hebrew word, with a distinction only in the  xxxvii. 22z, 6); and his conduct before Jovowel point, means "' ox" and "' wall."      seph in Egypt is truly noble and touching (see
7.  ill dvide them in Jaco, and scat-  ch. xliv. 18-34).  Hence, when Reuben is
ter7. I   ll dd them in  JTcobhs  andas mo scaly  deprived of his birthright for incest, Simeon
ter them in Israe]  This was most literally    d L    for manslaughter,  Juah, who is
fulfilled, for when Canaan was conquered, on  next in age, naturally and rightly succeeds
the second numbering under Moses, the tribe  to it
of Simeon had become the weakest of all the
thy hand shall be in the neck of thine ene
tribes (Numb. xxvi. I4); in Moses' blessing  mies; thy father's children shall bow  do'wn
(Deut. xxxiii.) it is entirely passed over; and  before thee] He was to be victorious in war,
in the assignment of territory it was merely  and the leading tribe in Israel; the former
mingled or scattered among the tribe of Ju-  promise being signally fulfilled in the victories
dah, having certain cities assigned it within the  of David and Solomon, the latter in the elevalimits of Judah's possession (Josh. xix. I-9);  tion of Judah to be the royal tribe; but both
whilst the Levites had no separate inheritance,  most fully in the victory and royalty of Dabut merely a number of cities to dwell in, scat-  vid's Son and David's Lord.
tered throughout the possessions of their brethren (Josh. xxi. I-40).  \Vith regard to    9. Juda  is n lion's whelp: from the prey,
the latter, though by being made dependent on  my son, thou art gone up]  Judah is comthe tithes and also on the liberality of their fel-  pared to the most royal and the most powerful
low countrymen, they were punished, yet in  of beasts  The image is from the lion retiring
process of time the curse was turned into a  to the mountains after having devoured his
blessing. (See Mede, %'WTorks,' Bk. I. Disc. prey: not probably, as Gesenius and others,
xxxv.)  Of this transformation of the curse  "thou hast grown up from feeding upon the
into a blessing there is not the slightest intima-  prey."
tion in Jacob's address: and in this we have a    as an old lion] As a lioness (Bochart,
strong proof of its genuineness.  After this   Hieroz.' I. p. 7i9; Ges.'Thes.' p. 738).
honourable change in the time of Moses (due  The standard of Judah was a lion, very proin great part to the faithfulness of Moses him-  bablyderived from these words of Jacob.
self and of the Levites with him), it would    10.  The sceptre shall not depart from
never have occurred to the forger of a pro-  Judah, &c.]  Render
phecy to cast such a reproach, and to foretell  A sceptre shall not depart from Judah
such a judgment on the forefather of the Le-    Nor a lawgiverfrom between his feet,
vites.  In fact, how  different is the blessing  Until that Shiloh come,
pronounced by Moses himself upon the tribe    And to him shall be tile obedience of
of Levi in Deut. xxxiii. 8 sqq.  (See Keil.)        the peoples.




228                              GENESIS, XLIX.                                 [v. ~-,3,
tween  his feet, until Shiloh  come;  he  washed  his  garments  in  wine,
and unto him shall the gathering of and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
the people be.                                  12 His eyes shall be red with wine,
I I Binding his foal unto the vine,  and his teeth white with milk.
and his ass's colt unto the choice vine;        I3  e  Zebulun shall dwell at the
A remarkable prophecy of the Messiah, and  the Targums add the name of Messiah, and
so acknowledged by all Jewish, as well as  all the more ancient Jews held it to be an
Christian, antiquity.  The meaning of the  undoubted prophecy of Messiah.
verse appears to be "The Sceptre (either of    5.  1"Unto him shall the gathering of the
royal, or perhaps only of tribal, authority)  people be."  Rather, " Unto him shall be the
shall not depart from  Judah, nor a lawgiver  obedience of the nations." The word for obe(senator or scribe) from before him, until Shi-  dience occurs only onde besides, in Prov. xxx.
loh (i.e. either'the Prince of peace,' or'he   I 7 but, if the reading be correct, there is little
whose right it is') shall come, and to him   doubt of its significance.  (See Ges. pp. 6zo,
shall the nations be obedient."  There are  I2oo; Heidegger, Tom. IL. p. 748.)
some obscure expressions, but we may confi-      As regards the fulfilment of this prophecy,
dently hold that the above paraphrase conveys  it is undoubted that the tribal authority and
the true sense of the passage.                the highest place in the nation continued with
1. The word sceptre, originally denoting a  Judah until the destruction of Jerusalem.  It
staff of wood, a strong rod taken from a tree  is true that after the Babylonish Captivity the
and peeled as a wand, is used (I) for " the rod  royalty was not in the house of Judah; but
of correction, (2) for "Ithe staff of a shep-  the prophecy is not express as to the possessioni
herd," (3) for "the sceptre of royalty" (as  of absolute royalty.  Israel never ceased to be
Ps. xlv. 7; cp. Hom.'II1.' II. 46, Ioi), (4)  a nation, Judah never ceased to be a tribe with
for "a tiibe," which may he because the  at least a tribal sceptre and lawgivers, or ex-.
sceptre denoted tribal as uwell as regal au-  positors of the law, Sanhedrim or Selnators, and
thority, or because tribes were considered as  with a general pre-eminence in the land, nor
twigs or branches from  a central stem. (See  was there a foreign ruler of the people, till at
Ges. p. 1353.)  It is probable that the sceptre  least the time of Herod the Great, just before
in Balaam's prophecy (Num. xxiv. I7) has a  the birth of the Saviour; and even the Herods,
reference to these words of Jacob.             though of Idumaan extraction, were consi2.  " A lawgiver," so, more or less, all the  dered as exercising a native sovereignty in
Ancient Versions. The LXX. and Vulg. ren-  Judah, which did not quite pass away till a
der " a leader," the Targums paraphrasing by  Roman procurator was sent thither after the
"I scribe or interpreter of the law." The word  reign of Archelaus, the son of Herod the
certainly means "a lawgiver" in Detut. xxxiii.  Great: and at that very time the Shiloh came,
2z; Isa. xxxiii. z2; and all ancient interpreta-  the Prince of peace, to whom  of right the
tion was in favour of undtrstanding it of a  kingdom belonged.  (On the meaning of the
person. The R. Lipmann, however, proposed  name Shiloh, see Note A  at the end of the
the sense of "a rod or staff" answering to   Chapter.)
"the sceptre" in the former clause, in which     11.  Binding his foal unto the vine, &c.]
he has been followed by eminent critics, such  Many think that the patriarch, having spoken
as Gesenius, Tuch, Knobel, who think that  of the endurance of the reign of Judah till the
this sense is more pertinent here, and in Num.  coming of Christ, returns to speak of Judah's
xxi. 18; Ps. lx. 7 (see Heidegger, Vol. II. p.  temporal prosperity during all that period;
738; Ges. p. 154); but it requires proof that  but the Targums of Jerusalem  and Pseudothe word, naturally signifying  ", lawgiver,"  Jonathan refer this verse to the Messiah.  So
sometimes  undoubtedly tneaninig "'lawgiver,"  also several Christian fathers (e.g. Chrysos-.
and always so rendered in the Versions, can  tom, in loc., Theodoret, Qu. in Gen.'); inmean lawgiver's staff or sceptre.             terpretirg  the vine of the Jewish people, and
3.  " From  between his feet" is rendered  the  wild ass of th      e g converts  brought
by the Versions, and generally by commenta-  into the vineyard of the Church.  The washtors  fi-om  among his posterity. (See Ges.  ing of the garments in wine they consider an
4i. 2 1 4. til Shiloh come."  Forfllercon-)   allusion to Christ as the true vine (John xv. 1),
4.  "Untl Sho  come"  For fuller con-  to His treading "the winepress alone" (Isa.
sideration of the name "Shiloh," see Note A at  lxiii. 1-3), and empurpling His garments with
the end of the Chapter. The only two admis-  His own Blood.  (See  eidegger, II. pp. 
sible interpretations are that the word is (I)  sqq.)
a proper name, meaning "the Peace-maker,"
"the Prince of peace,' or, (a) according to    12.  His eyes shall be red'with'wine,] &c.
the almost unanimous consent of the Versions  Or perhaps (as the LXX., Vulg., Targg. Jeand Targums, " He, whose right it is."  All  rus., and Pseudo-Jon.), "His eyes shall be




v. 14-I9.]               GENESIS. XLIX.                                           229
haven of the sea; and he shall be           I6  T Dan shall judge his people,
for an haven of ships; and his border  as one of the tribes of Israel.
shall be unto Zidon.                        I7 Dan shall be a serpent by the
i4 ~T Issachar is a strong ass couch-  way, t an adder in the path, that biteth t Heb.
ing down between two burdens:             the horse heels, so that his rider shall s~''e.
15 And he saw that rest was good,  fall backward.
and the land that it was pleasant;          18 I have waited for thy salvation,
and bowed his shoulder to bear, and  O  LORD.
became a servant unto tribute.               19 ql Gad, a troop shall overcome
redder than wine, and His teeth whiter than  A paronomasia on Dan (i.e. a judge).  The
milk."  This is generally supposed to refer to  words may mean that, though he was only a
the land flowing with milk and honey, and  son of Bilhah, he shall yet have tribal auithoabounding in vineyards; but the fathers ap-  rity in his own people. The word translated
plied it to thO Messiah's kingdom in the same  " tribe " is the same as that translated " scepmanner with the last verse, e.g. "That His  tre" in v. io. Onkelos and others after him
eyes shine as with wine know all those mem-  suppose the allusion to be to the judgeship of
bers of His Body mystical, to whom it is  Samson, who was of the tribe of Dan (Judg.
given with a sort of sacred inebriation of mind,  xv. 20o).
alienated from the fleeting things of time, to
*   * b  r  *  X X    17. Dan shall be a serpent by the Cway,
behold the eternal brightness of wisdom."            n           The rorn  for adder,
(Agustin. C. Faust.  II 42 Tom  VIII  an adder in the path]  The word for adder,
2(A4)stin. I C. Faust.' X1. 42, Tom. vXii.  Shephiphon, is translated by the Vulg. cerastes
P. 24).                                    the horned snake, the coluber cerastes of Lin13. Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of nxeus, a small snake about I4 inches long and
the sea] "Zebulun shall dwell on the shore of  one inch thick, lurking in the sand and by the
the sea, and he shall be for a shore of ships,"  way  side, very poisonous and dangerous.
(i.e. suited for ships to land on), "and his  (Bochart,'Hieroz.' Pt. ii. Lib. Iin. c. I2.)
border" (or farthest extremity) "shall be by  The people of Dan in Judges xviii. 27, shewed
Zidon."  As far as we know of the limits of  the kind of subtlety here ascribed to them.
Zebulun, after the occupation of Canaan, it  Perhaps the local position of the tribe is
reached from the sea of Gennesareth to Mount  alluded to. It was plarced originally on the
Carmel, and so nearly to the Mediterranean.  outskirts of the royal tribe of Judah, and
It did not reach to the city of Zidon, but its  might in times of war have to watch stealthily
most western point reaching to Mount Car-  for the enemy and fall on him by subtlety as
mel brought it into close proximity to Zido-  he was approaching. The comparison of
nia, or the territory of Tyre and Sidon. The  Dan to a serpent lying in wait and biting the
language here used, though in all material  heel seems to imply some condemnation.
points fulfilled in the subsequent history, is  It is certainly observable that the first introjust what would not have been written by a  duction of Idolatry in Israel is ascribed to the
forger in after times. Zebulun had not pro-  tribe of Dan (Judg. xviii.), and that in the
perly a maritime territory; yet its possessions  numbering of the tribes in Rev. vii., the name
reached very nearly to both seas. It was far  of Dan is omitted. From  these or other
from the city of Zidon; and yet, as approxi-  causes many of the fathers were led to believe
mating very closely to the land of the Syrians,  that antichrist should spring from the tribe of
might well be said to have its border by or to-  Dan (Iren. v. 30, 32; Ambros.'De Benewards Zidon. Tyre probably was not built  dict. Patriarch.' c. 7; Augustin.' In Josuam,'
at this time, and therefore is not named in the  Quest. 22; Theodoret,'In Genes.' Q(aest.
prophecy.                                   Io 9; Prosper,' De Promiss. et Przedict.' p. 4;
14. Issachar is a strong ass couching  Gregorius,'Moral.' c. 18, &c.).
down between two burdens]  Probablv "Issa-d for t
18. I have waited for thy salvation, 0
char is a strong-boned ass, couching down  LORD]  This ejaculation immediately followbetween the cattle pens," or "sheepfolds."  ing the blessing on Dan is very remarkable,
The last word occurs only here and in Judg.  but not easy to interpret. The Targg. Jerus.
v. 16, where it is rendered sheepfolds (see  and Pseudo-Jonath. (and according to the
Rcediger in Ges.'Thes.' p. I470).  The  Complutensian Polyglot Onkelos also, though
prediction all points to the habits of an in-  the passage is probably spurious) paraphrase
dolent agricultural people, and to what is  the words by saying that Jacob looked not
likely to accompany such habits, an endur-  for temporal redemption, such  as  that
ance of oppression in preference to a war of     ht by Gideon
independence.                              wrought by Gideon or Samson, but for the
eternal redemption promised by Messiah. Is
16. Dan  shall judge his people, &c.]  it not possible, that Jacob, having been moved




230                            GENESIS. XLIX.                               [v. 20-25.
him: but he shall overcome at the            23 The archers have sorely grieved
last.                                     him, and  shot at him, and  hated
2o IT Out of Asher his bread shall  him:
be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.   24 But his bow abode in strength,
2I e Naphtali is a hind let loose:  and the arms of his hands were made
he giveth goodly words.                   strong by the hands of the mighty
22 1q Joseph is a fruitful bough,  God of Jacob; (from  thence is the
t Heb    even a fruitful bough by a well; whose  shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
dau{l;ters. branches run over the wall:              25 Even by the God of thy father,
-by the Spirit of God to speak of the serpent  beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of
biting the heel, may have had his thoughts  him -that bringeth good tidings."
called back to the primal promise made to    Bochart, after whom  Michaelis, Schulz,
Eve, the Protevangelium, where the sentence  Dathe, Ewald and others, follow the LXX.
that the serpent should bruise the heel was. altering the vowel points, and render, " Naphsucceeded by the promise that the serpent's  tali is a spreading tree, which puts forth
head should be crushed by the coming Seed?  goodly branches."
This combination of thoughts may easily have    22. Joseph is a fruitful bough]  Perelicited the exclamation of this verse.    haps "Joseph is the son," or branch, "of a
19. Gad, a troop shall overcome him:  fruitful tree, the son of a fruitful tree by a
but he shall overcome at the last]  Perhaps  well, as for the branches" (lit. the daughters)
" Gad, troops shall press on him, but he  Ieach one of them runneth over the wall"
shall press upon their rear" (so Gesen. p.  (see Ges. 2I8, 220).  The construction is
27I; Ros., Schum.); the allusion being to the  difficult and the difference of translations very
Arab tribes in the neighbourhood of Gad,  considerable; but so, or nearly so, Gesen.,
who would invade him, and then retire, Gad  Tuch, Knobel, Delitzsch, &c. The profollowing them  and harassing their retreat.  phecy probably refers to the general prosEvery word but two in the verse is some  perity of the house of Joseph. The fruitful
form  of the same root, there being a play  tree is by some supposed to be Rachel. The
of words on the name Gad and Gedud, i. e. a.luxuriance of the tendrils running over the
troop; we might express it,. "Gad, troops  wall may point to Joseph's growing into two
shall troop against him, but he shall troop on  tribes, whilst none of his brethren formed
their retreat." (See on ch. xxx. I.)      more than one: so Onkelos.
20. Out of Asher his bread shall be fat,    23.  The archers  have  sorely grieved
and he shall yield royal dainties]  The trans-  hirm]  Though the Targums and others have
lation may be a little doubtful; but the sense  referred this to Joseph's trials in Egypt, the
is probably that expressed by the Authorised  prophetic character of the whole chapter
Version. The allusion is to the fertility of.shows that they point rather to the future
the territory of Asher extending from Mount  wars of his tribes and the strength which he
Carmel along the coast of Sidonia nearly to  received from the hands of the mighty God
Mount Lebanon. It was specially rich in  of Jacob.
corn, wine and oil (Heidegger), containing    24. from thence is the shepherd. the stone
some of the most fertile land in Palestine  Of Israe]  "Fron thence," referring to "the
(Stanley,' S. and P.' p. 265).            mighty one of Jacob " in the last clause. Some
21. Naph-tali is a hind let loose: he giv-  understand here that Joseph, having been
eth goodly wvords]  The Targg. Pseudo-Jon.  defended from  the malice of his enemies,
and Jerus. explain this that "Naphtali is a  was raised up. by God to be a Shepherd or
swift messenger, like a hind that runneth on  Guardian both to the Egyptians and to his
the mountains, bringing good tidings."  So  own family, and a stone or rock of support
virtually the Syr. and Sam. Versions. The  to the house of Israel.  Others see in this
allusion is obscure, as we know so little of  a prophecy of Joshua, the great captain
the  history of Naphtali.  The Targums  of his people, who came of the tribe of
above cited say that Naphtali first declared  Ephraim, and led the Israelites to the proto Jacob that Joseph was yet alive. As the  mised land. Others again have thought that,
tribe of Naphtali occupied part of that re-  when Jacob was speaking of the sufferings
gion which afterwards became Galilee, some  and subsequent exaltation of his son Joseph,
have supposed that there was contained in  his visions were directed forward to tha~;
these words a prophecy of the Apostles (in  greater Son, of whom  Joseph was a type,
Hebrew Sheluchim, the same word with She-  whom the archers vexed, but who was vic.
lucha here rendered "let loose"), who were  torious over all enemies, and that of Him he
Galileans and of whom it was said, " How   says I" From  GOD cometh the Shepherd, the




v. 26-33.]                GENESIS. XLIX.                                            231
who shall help thee; and by the Al-  unto them, I am to be gathered unto
mighty, who  shall bless thee with   my people: bbury me with my fathers  chap. 4
blessings of heaven  above, blessings  in the cave that is in the field of Eph- 30.
of the deep that lieth under, blessings  ron the Hittite,
of the breasts, and of the womb:             30 In the cave that is in the field of
26 The blessings of thy father have  Machpelah, which is before Mamre,
prevailed  above the blessings of my  in the land of Canaan, c which Abra- Cchap. 2
progenitors unto  the  utmost bound  ham  bought with  the field of Eph-6.
of the everlasting hills: they shall be  ron the Hittite for a possession of a
on the head of Joseph, and on the  buryingplace.
crown of the head of him  that was           31  There  they  buried  Abraham
separate from his brethren.               and Sarah his wife; there they buried
27  It Benjamin  shall ravin as a  Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there
wolf: in the morning he shall devour  I buried Leah.
the prey, and at night he shall divide       32 The purchase of the field and
the spoil.                                of the cave that is therein was from
28 eT All these are the twelve tribes  the children or Heth.
of Israel: and this is it that their father  33 And when Jacob had made an
spake unto them, and blessed them;  end of commanding his sons, he gaevery one according to his blessing he  thered up his feet into the bed, and
blessed them.                             yielded up the ghost, and was gather29 And he charged them, and said  ed unto his people.
Rock of Israel."  As both Joseph and Joshua  clauses is preserved, and the violence done to
were eminent shadows and forerunners of the  the two words translated in Authorised VerSaviour, it is quite possible that all these  sion "progenitors" and "utmost bounds"
senses, more or less, belong to the words,  is avoided.
though perhaps with special reference to the
last. The translation advocated  by many    separate from  iJs brethren]  So Onkelos.
recent commentators, "From  thence-from   The Vulg. and Saad. have "the Nazarite
thle Shepherd —the Rock of Israel" is against  among his brethren."  Either of these translathe original and the Versions.              tions would allude to the separation of Joseph
25. Ev3en by the God of thy father, cwho  from  his family, first by his captivity and
shall help thee, &c.]  Rather " From the God  afterwards by his elevation. The word for
of thy father and He shall help thee, and with  " separate" means "one set apart," " conse(the aid of) the Almighty even He shall bless  crated," especialliy used of a Nazarite like
thee."                                      Samson (Judg. xiii., xvi.  7), and of the Nazarite under the law  (Num. vi. z). It is possi26.  The blessings of thy father have  ble that this consecration may apply also to
prevailed above the blessings. of my progenitors  princes who are separated to higher rank in
unto the utmost bound of the everlarting hills]  dignity, just as the word nezer, " consecraIf this be the right rendering of a very obscure  tion," signifies a royal or high-priestly diadem.
passage in the original, the meaning obviously  Accordingly, the LXX., Syr., Targg. Jerus.,
is, that the blessings of Jacob on the head of  Pseudo-Jon. and many recent interpreters, renJoseph and his offspring are greater than those  der "a prince or leader of his brethren" (see
which Abraham  had pronounced on Isaac  Ges. p. 871).
and Isaac on Jacob, and that they should
last as long as the everlasting hills. This is    27.  Benjamin shall ravin as a cwolf,
more or less the interpretation of all the  &c.] The reference is, no doubt, to the warJewish commentators following the Targums  like character of the tribe of Benjamin.  Exand  the Vulg. The  LXX  (with  which  amples of this may be seen Judg. v. I4, xx.
agrees the reading of the Samaritan Penta-  I6; I Chron. vii. 7, xii. 17; X Chron. xiv. 8,
teuch) has a rendering which is adopted by  xvii. 17. Also Ehud the Judge (Judg. iii. Is)
Michaelis, Dathe, Vater, Tuch,  Winer,  and Saul the king, with his son Jonathan, were
Maurer, Schumann, Knobel, and  Gesen.  Benjamites. The fathers (Tertul., Ambrose,
(see Ges. pp. 38, 39 ), 1" The blessings of thy  August., Jerom.) think that there is a referfather prevail over the blessings of the eternal  ence also to St Paul, who before his convermountains, even the glory of the everlasting  sion devastated the Church and in later life
hills."  By this the parallelism  of the two  brought home the spoils of the Gentiles.




232                            GENESIS. XLIX.
NOTE  A  on CHAP. XLIX. V. Io.  SHILOH.
i. Different renderings of word.  I. "He who shall be sent."  2. "' His son."  3. "Until he
come to Shiloh."  4. "The Peace-Maker."  5. "He, whose right it is."  ii. Choice
of renderings, either 4 or 5.   iii. Messianic, by consent of Jewish and Christian
antiquity.  iv. Answer to objections.
Shiloh. A word of acknowledged difficulty.    4.  Far more probable is the rendering
x. The Vulgate renders "He, who shall be  which makes Shiloh a proper name, and the
sent" (comp. Shiloah, Isai. viii. 6; John ix. 7  subject of the verb, signifying " Peace," or
-xI). This would correspond with a title of  rather, "the Peace-maker," the "Prince of
the Messiah, "Hethat should come" (Matt.xi.  peace."  So, with slight variations, Luther,
3).  Such a translation is unsupported from   Vater, Gesenius, Rosenmuller, Hengstenberg,
other sources and rests on a different reading  Knobel, Keil and others of the highest authoriof the original, the letter n (cheth) being sub-  ty. The title is one most appropriate to Messiah
stituted for in (he) of the received text.  (see Isai. ix. 6). The word is legitimately
2. The Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan and  formed from the verb Shalah, to rest, to be at
some rabbins render " his son."  So Kimchi,  peace; and if the received reading be the true
Pagninus, Calvin and others: but it requires  reading, there need be little doubt that this is
proof that the word shil, "a son," has any  its meaning.  It has been thought by some
existence in Hebrew.                        that Solomon received his name Shelomo, the
3. The Rabbi Lipmann, in his book called  " peaceful," with an express reference to this
" Nizzachon,"' suggests that it was the name of prophecy of Shiloh, and it may be said that in
the city Shiloh, and that we should render  Solomon was a partial fulfilment of the pro"until he (Judah) shall come to Shiloh."  A   mise. Solomon was very markedly a type of
similar construction occurs I S. iv. I2 (he  the Messiah, himself the son of David, whose
" came to Shiloh"), and it is said that Judah,  dominion was from sea to sea, who established
in the march to the encampments in the wil-  a reign of peace in the land and who built the
derness, always took the first place (Num. ii.  temple of the Lord; but Solomon was not
3-9, x. I4), but that, when the Israelites came  the true Shiloh, any more than he was the
to Shiloh, they pitched the tabernacle there  true "Son of David."
(Josh. xviii. I —i), and, the other tribes de-    5. The authority of the Ancient Versions
parting from Judah, his principality closed.    is all but overwhelming in favour of the
It seems fatal to this theory, that every  sense, "He, to whom  it belongs," or "He,
ancient Version, paraphrase and commentator  whose  right it is."   So, more  or less,
make Shiloh, not the objective case after the  LXX., Aq., Symm., Syr., Saad., Onk.,
verb, but the subject or nominative case before  Targ. Jer., all, in fact, except Vulg. and
the verb.  Moreover, whether it were a pro-  Pseudo-Jonathan.
phecy by Jacob, or, as many who adopt this    The objections to this are:
theory will have it, a forgery of after date,    (r) That if the letteryod (expressed by the
nothing could be less pertinent than the sense  i in Shiloh) be genuine, the translation is into be elicited from the words, "till he come to  admissible: but it is replied that very many
Shiloh."  Probably the town of Shiloh did  Hebrew  MSS. and all Samaritan MSS. are
not exist in Jacob's time, and Judah neither  without theyod, and that the evidence is much
lost nor acquired the pre-eminence at Shiloh.  in favour of the belief that the yod did not
He was not markedly the leader in the wilder-  appear till the I oth century (see Prof. Lee,' Lex.'
ness, for the people were led by Moses and  in voc.). It may be added that, as the reading
Aaron; nor did he cease to have whatever  without the yod is the harder and apparently
pre-eminence he may have had when they  the less probable, the copyists were more likecame to Shiloh. This has induced some to  ly to have inserted it by mistake than to have
vary the words, by translating, ",when he  omitted it by mistake.
comes to Shiloh," a translation utterly inad-    (2) It is said, that by this reading so intermissible; but it will give no help to the solu-  preted, a form is introduced unknown to the
tion of the passage, for Judah did not acquire  Pentateuch, Aramrean and of later date. To
any fresh authority at Shiloh.  It was the  this it is replied, that the form occurs in the
place of the rest of the tabernacle and there-  Song of Deborah (Judg. v. 7), which is very
fore perhaps was named Shiloh, " Rest:" but  ancient; that Aramuaan forms were either very
it was no turning point in the history of  ancient or decidedly modern, to be met with
Judah.  Notwithstanding therefore the autho-  in Hebrew when the patriarchs were in conrity of Teller, Eichhorn, Bleek, Hitzig, Tuch,  tact with the Chaldeans (and Jacob had been
Ewald, Delitzsch, Kalisch, &c., we may pro-  forty years in Mesopotamia), or not again
nounce with Hofmann, that the rendering is  till the Jews were in captivity at Babylon.
utterly impossible.                          An Aramaism or Chaldaism therefore was na.




V.,2.]                        GENESIS. L.                                            233
tural in the mouth of Jacob, though not in    I. The patriarchal age had no anticipation
the mouth of David or Solomon.              of a personal Messiah, though there may have
This rendering of the Vss. is supported by  been some dim hope of a future deliverance.
the early Christian writers, as Justin M.. This is simply a gratuitous assertion.  Ad(' Dial.'~ Izo) and many others. It is thought  mitting even that the promise to Adam may
that Ezekiel (xxi. 27) actually quotes the  have been vaguely understood, we cannot tell
words, " Until he come whose right it is,"  how much the rite of sacrifice, the prophecies
expanding them a little, and St Paul (in Gal.  of men like Enoch and Noah, and the proiii. 19) is supposed to refer to them.      mises to Abraham and Isaac, had taught the
On the whole, rejecting confidently the  faith of the fathers. There is the highest of
senses i, 2, 3, we may safely adopt either 4 or  all authority for saying that " Abraham re5; 4, if the reading be correct; 5, if the read-  joiced to see the day of Christ; he saw it, and
ing without the yod be accepted.            was glad" (Joh. viii. 56). It was not indeed
All Jewish antiquity referred the prophecy to  to be expected, that much beyond general inMessiah. Thus the Targum of Onkelos has  timations should be given in very early times,
"until the Messiah come, whose is the king-  the light gradually increasing as the Sun-rise
dom;" the Jerusalem Targum, "until the time  was drawing near: but there seems no more
that the king Messiah shall come, whose is the  likely time for a special teaching on this vital
kingdom." TheTargum ofPseudo-Jonathan,  point than the time of Jacob's death. He
"till the king the Messiah shall come, the  was the last of the three patriarchs to whom
youngest of his sons."  So the Babylonian  the promises were given. He was leaving his
Talmud ('Sanhedrim,' cap. ii. fol. 982),  family in a foreign land, where they were to
"' Vhat is Messiah's name?  His name is  pass some generations surrounded by idolatry
Shiloh, for it is written, Until Shiloh come."  and error.  He was foretelling their future
So likewise the Bereshith Rabba, Kimchi,  fortunes on their promised return to Canaan.
Aben-ezra, Rashi, and other ancient Rabbins.  What more natural than that he should be
The more modern Jews, pressed by the argu-  moved to point their hopes yet farther forward
ment, that the time appointed must have  to that, of which the deliverance from Egypt
passed, refer to David, Saul, Nebuchadnezzar  was to be an emblem and type?
and others (see Schcettgen,'Hor. Heb.' p. I264).    2. The New Testament does not cite this
There can be no doubt that this prophecy was  as a prediction of Christ.
one important link in the long chain of predic-    Bishop Patrick has well observed, that the
tions which produced that general expectation  fulfilment of the prophecy was not till the
of a Messiah universally prevalent in Judea at  destruction of Jerusalem, when. not only the
the period of the Christian era, and which  Sceptre of Royalty, but even the tribal authoSuetonius, in the well-known passage in his  rity, and the Sanhedrim or council of elders
life of Vespasian, tells us had long and  (" the lawgiver") wholly passed from Judah.
constantly pervaded the whole of the East.  Then, and not till then, had the foretold forWith the Jewish interpreters agreed the whole  tunes of Judah's house been worked out.
body of Christian fathers, e.g. Justin M.  The sceptre and the lawgiver had departed,' Apol.' I. ~~ 32, 54;' Dial.' ~~ 52, 2o; Iren.  and " He, whose right it was," had taken the
Jv. 23; Origen,' C. Cels.' I. p. 4I,' Hom.'  kingdom. The "Prince of peace" had come,
in Gen. i7; Cyprian,' C. Jud.' I. 2o; Cyril.  and nations were coming into His obedience.
Hieros.'Cat.' xII.; Euseb.'H. E.' I. 6;  But it would have been no argument to the
Chrys.'Hom. 67, in Gen.'; Augustine,   De  Jew to cite this prophecy, whilst the Jewish
Civ. D.' XVl. 4I; Theodoret,'       GQ1St. ii Gen.'  nation was still standing and still struggling
IIo; Hieron.' Quest. in Gen.', &c,        for its freedom, still possessing at least a
The only arguments of any weight against  shadow  of royal authority  and  judicial
the Messianic character of the prophecy, ex-  power. There is therefore abundant reason
cept of course a denial that prophecy is possi-  why the New Testament should not refer
ble at all, seem to be the following.       to it.
return.  25 He taketh an oati of t/iem for
CHAPTER  L.                      his bones. 26 He dieth, andis ch/ested.
I Thie mournwin, for 7atob. 4 7osepi getteth   AND  Joseph fell upon his father's
leave of Pharaoho to g-o to bury hium.  7 Thface, ad wept upon him, and
funeral.  I5 yose5/h comforteth his brethren,  kissed him.
who craved his ardon. 22 His age.          2 And Joseph commanded his serHe seet/ the t/hird g-'ne'taion of htis sons.
24 He p-rophesieth unto his brethren of their  vants the physicians to embalm  his
CHAP. L.  2. his servants the physi-  all places were crowded with physicians for
cians] Herod. (II. 84) tells us, that in Egypt  every different kind of disease. The physi



234                                GENESIS.  L.                             [v. 3 —I.
father: and the physicians embalmed         7 q1 And Joseph went up to bury
Israel.                                  his father: and with him went up all
3 And forty days were fulfilled for  the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of
him; for so are fulfilled the days of  his house, and all the elders of the
those which are embalmed: and the  land of Egypt,,ileb.   Egyptians  mourned for him  three-         8  And all the house of Joseph,
uwept.   score and ten days.                      and  his brethren, and  his  father's
4 And when the days of his mourn-  house: only  their little  ones, and
ing were past, Joseph spake unto the  their flocks, and their herds, they left
house of Pharaoh, saying, If now  I  in the land of Goshen.
have found grace in your eyes, speak,    9 And there went up with  him
I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh,  both chariots and horsemen: and it
saying,                                  was a very great company.
chap. t7.   5 a My father made me swear, say-      Io And they came to the threshing59.    ing, Lo, I die: in my grave which  floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan,
I have digged for me in the  land  and there they mourned with a great
of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me.  and very sore lamentation: and he made
Now  therefore let me go up, I pray  a mourning for his father seven days.
thee, and bury my father, and I will        i i And when the inhabitants of
come again,                              the land, the  Canaanites, saw  the
6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and  mourning in the floor of Atad, they
bury thy father, according as he made  said, This is a grievous mourning to
thee swear.                              the Egyptians: wherefore the name
cians of Egypt were famous in other lands  as meaning the same as the Scriptural account
also (Herod. IIi. I, Iz9). It is not wonder-  and that of Diodorus.  His words are,
ful therefore that Joseph, with all his state,  "Having done this they embalm in natron,
should have had several physicians attached to  covering it up for 70 days. Longer than this
his establishment. Physicians, however, were  it is not lawful to embalm." (See Sir G. Wilnot ordinarily employed to embalm, which  kinson in Rawlinson,'Herod.' II. 86; Hengwas the work of a special class of persons  stenb.' Egypt,' &c. p. 68.)
(Herod. ii. 85; Diodor. I. 9g); and the custom of embalming and the occupation of the  r     Joseph spake unto the house of Phaembalmer were probably anterior to Moses  raoh] He probably did not go himself to
and to Joseph. Very probably the physicians  Pharaoh, because in mourning for his father
embalmed Jacob because he was not an he had let his hair and beard grow long, which
embalmed Jacob because he was not an
Egyptian, and so could not be subjected to  was the custom in Egypt at the death of relathe ordinary treatment of the Egyptians, or  tions (Herod. II. 36): and it would have been
ermlbalmed by their embalmers.             disrespectful to go into the presence of Pharaoh without cutting the hair and shaving the
3.  And forty days were fulfilled for  beard. (See on ch. xli. I4, and Hengstenb.
bhim] The account given by Diodorus (I. 9I)' Egypt,' p. 7I.)
is that the embalming lasted more than 30
days, and that when a king died they mourned    7. with him,went up all the servants of
for him  72 days. This very nearly corre-  Pharaoh] Such large funeral processions are
sponds with the number in this verse. The  often seen on the Egyptian monuments (Romourning of 70 days probably included the  sellini, ii. p. 395; Hengstenb. p. 7I; Wilkin40 days of embalming. Herodotus (iI. 86),  son,'A. E.' Vol. v. ch. xvi. and plates
who describes at length three processes of em-  there).
balming, seems to speak of a subsequent steeping in natron (i.e. subcarbonate of soda) for     10. threthingfoor of Atad] or o   GorenAtad," or II"the threshingfloor of thorns."
70 days. He probably expresses himself with
some inaccuracy, as both the account in    beyond Jordan] i.e. to the West of JorGenesis, which is very much earlier, and the  dan. Moses wrote before the Israelites had
account in Diodorus which is later, give a  taken possession of the land of Israel, and
much shorter time for the whole embalming,  therefore whilst they were on the East of Jori.e. either 30 or 4o days, and seem to make  dan. This accords with what we hear of the
the whole mourning last but 70 days. It is  site of Goren-Atad and Abel-Mizraim; for
possible, however, to understand Herodotus  Jerome ('Onom.' s. v. Area-Ataid) identi



v. 12-25.1                    GENESIS. L.                                          235
lThat is, of it was called nAbel-mizraim, which       I8  And  his brethren  also  went
the moum~.,toJ.~ f is beyond Jordan.                         and fell down before his face; and
Eifyt.    I2 And his sons did unto him  ac-  they  said, Behold, we be thy  sercording as he commanded them:             vants.
Acts 7.    I3 For b his sons carried him  into       19  And Joseph  said unto them,
26.     the land of Canaan, and buried him   dFear not: for am  I in the place Ofdchap. 0
in the cave of the field of Machpe-  God?                                          5'
chap. 23. lah, which  Abraham  cbought with          20 But as for you, ye thought evil
the field for a possession of a bury-  against me; but God meant it unto
ingplace of Ephron the Hittite, be-  good, to bring to pass, as it is this
fore Mamre.                               day, to save much people alive.
I4  e And Joseph  returned  into          2I Now  therefore fear ye not: I
Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all  will nourish you, and your little ones.
that went up  with  him  to  bury  And he comforted them, and spake
his father, after he had  buried  his  t kindly unto them.                         t Heb.
father.                                      22 qT And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, toeats.
15 IT And when Joseph's brethren   he, and his father's house: and Joseph
saw  that their father was dead, they  lived an hundred and ten years.
said, Joseph will peradventure hate          23  And  Joseph  saw   Ephraim's
us, and will. certainly requite us all  children of the third generation: ethe e Numbo
the evil which we did unto him.           children also of Machir the son of 32 39.
tHeb.      I6 And they   sent a messenger  Manasseh were tbrought up upon Jo- t Heb.
Ceaged. unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did  seph's knees.
command before he died, saying,              24 And Joseph said unto his bre17 So shall ye say unto Joseph,  thren, I die: and fGod will surelyf Heb.,I.
Forgive, I pray thee now;, the tres-  visit you, and bring you out of this 22'
pass of thy brethren, and their sin;  land unto the land which he sware
for they did unto thee evil: and now,  to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
we pray thee, forgive the trespass of    25 And -Joseph took an oath of.xEoad.x.
the servants of the God of thy father.  the children of Israel, saying, God'.
And Joseph wept when they spake  will surely visit you, and  ye  shall
unto him.                                 carry up my bones from hence.
fies it with Beth-Hoglah, which lay between  of "the ark of the covenant."; Herodotus,
the Jordan and Jericho, the ruins of which  after describing the embalming, says, "The
are probably still to be seen (Rob. i. 544  see  relatives inclose the body in a wooden image
Smith's' Dict. of Bible,' I. p. 200.)      which they have made in the shape of a man.
T11   Means either      Then fastening the case, they place it in a
11. Abel-mizrair]  Means either " the  sepulchral chamber, upright against the wall.
field of Egypt," or " the mourning of Egypt,   This is the most costly way of embalming the
according to the vowel-points. The violence  dead" (Ii. 86).  The description is of that
of the Egyptian lamentations is described by  which we commonly call a mummy-case.
Herodotus  (ii. 85). See also Wilkinson,  Such coffins, made of wood, chiefly of syca-'A. E.' ch. xvI.                            more wood, were the commonest in Egypt;
19.  Am I in the place of God?] i.e. it  and though some very rich people were buried
is God's place to avenge, not mine. See Rom.  in basaltic coffins, yet, both from Herodotus'
xii. I 9.                                   description above and fiom other sources, we
23. Were brought up upon Joseph's knees]  know  that wooden coffins were frequent,
Lit. I" were born on Joseph's knees."  Comp.  for great men, even for kings. The coffin
the phrase ch. xxx. 3. It seems as if they  of king Mycerinls, discovered A.D. 1837 in
were adopted by Joseph as his own children  the third Pyramid of Memphis, is of syca1from the time of Itheir birth.             more wood. The command of Joseph and
the promise of the Israelites, that his bones
26.. They embalmed him, and he uwas put in  should be carried back into Canaan, were
a coffin]  The word for coffin is literally  reason enough for preferring a wooden to
"'airk" or "chest;" a word used alwa-ys of  a stone coffin. (See Hengstenb.'Egypt,' pp.
a wooden chest, elsewhere almost exclusively  7x, 72z. Various coffins of wood, stone, and




236                               GENESIS. L.                                   [v. a6.
26 So Joseph died, being' an hun- embalmed him, and he was put in
dred and ten years old: and they a coffin in Egypt.
earthenware are described and engraved in  remembrance to his children and his people,
Wilkinson's'A. E.' Vol. v. p. 479.)  The  that Egypt was not to be their home. His
coffin was, no doubt, deposited in some se-  coffin laid up by them, ready to be carried
pulchral building (see Herod. above) and  away according to his dying request whenever
guarded by his own immediate descendants  God should restore them to the promised land,
till the time of the Exodus, when it was car-  would have taught them to keep apart from
ried up out of Egypt and finally deposited in  Egypt and its idolatries, looking for a better
Shechem (Josh. xxiv. 32). The faith of Jo-  country, which God -had promised to their
seph (Heb. xi. az) must have been a constant fathers.




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JOSHUA....................  Rev. T. E. ESPIN, B.D.
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Archbishop of Canterbury (A. C. TAIT, D.D.).    Bishop of Chester (WILLIAM  JACOBSON, D.D.),
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Bishop of London (JOHN JACKSON, D.D.).          Speaker of the House of Commons (the Rt. Hon,
Bishop of Llandaff (ALFRED OLLIVANT, D.D.).    J. E. DENISON).
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Section  I.-The Pentateuch. (Now, reaay.)
5  Right Rev. E. HAROLD BROWNE, D.D., Lord Bishop of Ely,
GENESIS...................            author of Exposit;on of the Thirt3-nine Articles, Sermons
on the Atonement, The Pentateuch in Reply to Colenso, &c.
EXODUS, Chap. I.-XIX.....   The EDITOR.
is       6"  XX. to the end..    Rev. SAMUEL CLARK, M.A., author of The Bible Atlas, &de.
LEVITICUS................    Rev. SAMUEL CLARK, M.A.
NUMBERS   and  DEUTE-    Rev. T. E. ESPIN, B.D.~ Warden of Queen's College, BirRO:~lB~~NOMl{Y~~... Y..,....,      Rmingham, author of Critical Essays.
Section  1I.-The Historical Books. (yustziu3lished.)
JOSHUA....................    Rev. T. E. ESPIN, B.D.
( Right Rev. Lord ARTHUR tIERVEY, M.A., Lord Bishop of
JUDGES, RUTH, SAMUEL.                   Bath and Wells, author of Inspiration of the Holy Scrip.
tures, Genealogies of Our Saviour, &c., &'c.
KINGS, CHRONICLES,  ( Rev. GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A., Camden Professor of AnEZRA, N E H E M I A H,              cient History at Oxford, author of TThe Five Great Mon.
ESTHER................             archies of the East, Manual of Ancient History, G&c.
Section  11.-The  Poetical Books.
JOB.                                The EDITOR.
Vely Rev. G. H. S. JOHNSON, M.A., author of Sermons
~P$~~ALMS....~ ~Preached in Well's Cathedral.
S   THE EDITOR.
Rev. C. I. ELLIOTT, M.A.
Rev. E. H. PLUMPTRE, M.A., author of Christ and Chris.
PROVERBS................               tendom (Boyle Lectures), Sermons on Theology and Life,
&'c., &Wc.
ECCLESIASTES...........    Rev. W. T. BULLOCK, M.A., Secretary to the S.P.G.
SONG OF SOLOMON......              Rev. T. KINGSBURY, M.A., Trinity Coll., Cambridge.
Section  IV.-The Four Creat Prophets.
Rev. W. KAY, D.D., late Principal of Bishop's College, (C.ISAIAH.....................  cutta, author of The Psalms translatedfrom the Hebrew,
Essays on the Promise of Christianity.
Rev. R. PAYNE SMITH, D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity,
JEREMIAH................             Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, author of Bampton Lee.
tures for I869, Authenticity of Isaiah, d&c.
EZEKIEL...................    Rev. G. CURREY, D.D., author of Hulsean Lectures, 1851.
Ven. H. J. Rosz, B.D., Archdeacon of Bedford, author of
DAlqNIEL.                             Sermons on the Duty of the Clergy, The Gospel an Abid
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Section V.-The Twelve Minor  Prophets.
Right Rev. CONNOP THIRLWALL, D.D., Lord Bishop of St. David's, author of History of GraW,
Translation of' Niebuler's Rome, &-c., d&c.
HOSEA and JONAH........    Rev. E. HXTABLE, M.A., author of Sacred Record of Cr
tion Vindicated, Ministry of St. 7ohn the Baptist, &c.
AMOS & other PROPHETS..   Rev. R. GANDELL, M.A., Professor of Arabic, Oxford.
JOEL and OBADIAH........    Rev. F. MEYRICK, M.A., author of Theology of the ChuetA
of Rome, Ecclesice Anglicanoe Religio, &'c.
ZE3 CH1ARI^AHR & NMALACHI. I Rev. W. DRAKE, M.A., Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen,
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Section Vi.-The Cospels and Acts.
Most Rev. W. THOMSON, D.D., Lord Archbishop of York,
author of Limits of Philosophical Inquiry, Life in the
Light of God's Word, &'c.
Very Rev. H. L. IMANSEL, B.D., Dean of St. Paul's, author
of'Metaphysics, Philosophy of the Conditioned, Limits of
Religious Thought, &'C.
~ST. LUKE ~................... Ven. WM. BASIL JONES, M.A., Archdeacon and Prebendary
4     of York, author of Peace of God (Sermons), &c.
Rev. B. F. WESTCOTT, M.A., Canon of Peterborough, author
ST. JOIN..................           of History of the English Bible, Elements of the Gospel
Harmony, Sermons on Gospel Miracles, &'c.
THE ACTS                       i Right Rev. W. JACOBSON, D.D., Lord Bishop of Chester,
author of Patres Apostolici, Sermons, O&c.
Section  VII.-The Epistles of St. Paul.
ROMANS...................    Rev. E. H. GIFFORD, D.D., Honorary Canon of Worcester.
Rev. T. EVANS, M.A., Professor of Greek in Durham Univer
I. and II. CORINTHIANS..              sity.           I
Rev. J. WAITE, M.A., Master of University College, Durham.
Very Rev. J. S. HowsoN, D.D., Dean of Chester, author of
GAATIAN...............  Life and Epistles of St. Paul, Metaphors of St. Paul.
J. A. JEREMIE, Very Rev. Dean of Lincoln, Regius Professor
PHILIPPIANS.............            of Divinity, Cambridge, author of History of the Scenes
in the Life of St. Paul, &'c.
Rev. J. B. LIGHTFOOT, D.D., Hulsean Professor of Divinity,
Cambridge, Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen, author of
E: P H E S I A N S,  COLOS-           Commentary on St. Paul's Epistles to the Galatians and
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NIANS, & PHILEMON,     Rev. B. F. W.ESTCOTT, B.D., author of History of the Eng.
Rev. E. W. BENSON, D.D., Head Master of Wellington College.
PASTOR AL 9EPISTLES...,    Right Rev. JOHN JACKSON, D.D., Lord Bishop of London,...PASTORAL EPI.  L   e     1        author of God's kWord and Man's Heart.
Rev. W. KAY, D.D., author of The Psalms translatedfrom
HEBREWS................             t -he H   ebrew.
Section  Viill.-The Catholic Epistles and  Revelations.
EPISTLE OF ST. JOHN....    Right Rev. W. ALEXANDER, D.D., Lord Bishop of Derry.
EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES...    Rev. R. SCOTT, D.D., Master of Balliol College, Oxford.
ST. PETER and ST. JUDE..    THE EDITOR.
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BY THE CLE-RGY AND THE PRESS
From Rt. Rev. HORnATIO POTTEr, Bishop of New York.       The treatment of the great subject of sacrifices, in the
There can be no manner of doubt of its great value, or of  introduction to Leviticus, " The Bearings of Egyptian Iie -
its eminent success. We have long felt the want of just such  tory upon the Pentateuch," and other elaborate articles,
a comprehensive and complete Commentary on the Holy  will amply repay the reading.  And, judging from tHis
Scriptures for our Students of Divinity, our Clergy, and for  volume, we cordially recommend this work, more than rillen
a large class of general readers. The Editor, the Rev. Canon  years ago projected by dignitaries and scholars of the EngCook, has for many years been one of my most highly  lish Church, as well representing the present status of Bibvalued friends. He is an able man; and most of the dis- lical science.                   M. W. JACOBus,
tinguished contributors are well known to me personally or                            Professor Exegesis, &c.
by reputation.
eutt.HoRATIo POTTER.   From Rt. Rev. THOMAS M. CLARE, Bishop ofRhode Island.
I have examined "The Bible Commentary," which you
From Rev. Prof. W. G. T. SHEDD, D.D.            are now republishing, with sufficient care to satisfy me that
I have examined the first volume of The Bible Com-. it will probably be the most valuable work of the kind for
mentary, and find it a superior work. While it would be  general use which has ever been produced in the English
premature to pronounce a judgment respecting the manner  tongue. The common reader will derive a vast amount of
Ain which the exposition of passages relating to disputed  information from its pages, and the most accomplished
doctrinal points will be made, there can be no doubt that  scholar can read it to advantage.
the Commentary, as a whole, will be firmly evangelical, and                               THoMAs M. C(LARI.
that the whole influenct of the work will be to strengthen
From Prof. CHARLES A. AIKEN, D. D., LL.D., ofPrincetolz.
the reader's confidence in Divine Revelation, and put him
As a compendium it will be prized by many who have
in a way to popularize it either in the Sabbath-school or the
access to more exhaustive Commentaries, and will flurnish
W. G. T. SHEDD.    helps fresh, solid, and sound to many who have no access
to, or leisure for using the more extensive storehouses of
iFrom  Rt. Rev. ARTHUR  CLEVELAND  CoxE, Bishop of Biblical learning.                    CHARLES A. AmxEN.
Western;e/sw York.
"The Speaker's Commentary" is a feature of the age in            From Rev. Dr. GEO. L. PRENTISS.
which we live. It cannot fail to mark an era in the Scien-    It is evidently the work of thought hl, devout, and earnest
tific Exposition of Scripture for popular ends.         Christian scholars. Its tone and spirit are excellent; and
A. CLEVELAND COXE.   if the whole Commentary is executed in the manner of this
--                              first volume, the result will be a most desirable and imporFron  Right  Rev. F. ). DIU.NTr~GDON,  Bi,8hop of Central
From Right Rev.. D.  N  Bisop of Central  taut addition to our exegetical literature of the Holy Scrip.
New York.
The chief merits of this first volume seem to me to be:  tares.                          GEO. L. PRENTIss
I. A reverential, believing spirit; 2. Thorough learning,,          From the Church Journal.
not ostentatiously displayed, but always present and indi-   Certainly,-this first volume is marked by soundness of incated in the results of scholarly investigation; 3. nemark-  terpretation, by sufficient fulness of exposition, by fairly
able condensation of matter,,. Clearness and simplicity of  grappling with heretical and wicked perversions of truth,
style; 5. A judiciouss selection of the oi-nts of exposition  and by confuting errors of all kinds rife at the present day.
made pronsinent; 6. Moderate and fair views of the alleged
issues between Faith and Modern Science, with a wise         Fros' the PacfN7c Churchmanz (San Francisco).
handling of objections; 7. A felicitous use of comparative    We hope our clergy will all be able to bsey it-or what will
exegesis; 8. A good balance of the critical faculty with  be btter, let their parishioners buy it for them and n0make
spiritual insight.                                      them a present of it; they will be amsply repaid frosm the
F. D TIUNTrNeTON.       petlpit.
From Rev. HOWAaD CROSBY, D.D., Pastor of the Fourth                    From the Christian Union.
Aventte P2resbyter7ian  ChuZ6r7ch.
Avenue Presbyterian  hurch  Thank God for this glorious constellation of talent, learnThe Speakcr's Comnsentary fully realizes the expecta-  oing, and piety, combined to elucidate the Word of God for
Zion of its most hopefll friends. It is pithy and clear, and
tion of its most hcopefs  friends. It is pithy and clears, and  the use of those great masses of the people who are not and
exhibits the condensed results of the best and latest scholar-  cannot be scholars.
cannot be scholars.
ship. It will do much to put illto possession of all, that
which hitherto has been the exclusive property of a few              From the Association Monthly.
erudite investigators. I devoutly thank God for this pub-   It is emphatically a Commentary for the times, treating oj
Plation, and expect great things from it for the cause of  what is latest in Biblical criticismn ancd research. TLee esideLt
trutn.                              EowvARD CRosBY.   effort to compress the work into the snmallest possible comnpass, cosoistent with the object proposed, will make the book
From Rev.'. W. JACOBUS, D.D., of the Allegheny Theo-  attractive and popular.
logical Seminary.
The notes themselves are brief, often meagre, and corn-             From the Arew York Tribsune.
monly too cursory for the popular need, and seem to be put    The execuction of the  o7rk appears to have been successat a disadvantage by the fuller treatises. But this work  fully accomlplished in cosnfornmtty with the original plan.
will fill a pldce ntot wholly occupied by any that has pre-  It exhibits ample lear-ning, remarkable power of illustra
ceded it, and will add to the sc/holarly facilities placed  tion, and ant earnest desire to support the prevalectt concep.
aifthi reach of Bible students in ostr day, for thorough  tioes o' the Bible amid the sceptical sueggestions of cterresn
Iacdrstanding of the word of God.                       science.
Numerotus other equally important and valuabk notices are omitted for want of space.




PROSPECTUS
OF A
EDITED BY
HENRY B. SMITH, D.D. AND PHILIP SC-AFF, D.D.
PROFESSORS IN THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEW YORK.
TVm undersigned propose to publish a select and compact Library of Text-Books upon all the main departments of
Theology and Philosophy, adapted to the wants especially of ministers and students in all denominations.
Some of the works will be translated from the German and other languages; others will be based upon treatises by
various authors; some will be written for the Library by English or American scholars. The aim will be to furnish at
least one condensed standard work on each of the scientific divisions of Theology and Philosophy, giving the resfults of
the best critical investigations, excluding, however, such histories and commentaries as extend through many volumes.
BIBLICAL THEOLOGY.                                   SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY.
Introductions to the Old and New Testaments; a Critical   Encyclopsedia of Theology; Apologetis; a Collecticn of
Edition of the Greek New Testament; the Canon; Biblical the Creeds and Symbols of the Church; a Collecuon of
Theology; Biblical Psychology; and perhaps a Grammar Theological Definitions of Doctrine, il the varioas schools
and Dictionary of the New Testament Greek.              of Theology, on the basis of HASE:, LUTHARDT. HEPPE, and
SCHwEIZEn; Symbolics, or the Comparative Theology of
PRACTICAL THEOLOGY.                           Confessions of Faith; Polemics. with parLicular reference
History of Church Government; Canon Law; Homile- to the Roman Carilolic Controveliy; Doctrinal Theology;
tics; Catechetics; Liturgies, including Hymnology: Pas- Christian Ethics; Collections of Essays on particular Doo
torial Theology.                                       trines.
PHILOSOPHY.                                    HISTOICAL THEOLOGY.
Compends of Church History, and of the History of Doe
History of Philosophy; Logic and Metaphysics; the Phil- trines; Patristics; Ecclesiastical Statistics; Jewish and
osophy of Nature; Psychology; Ethics; Esthetics; the  Christian Archooology: Monographs on the History of Spe
Philosophy of Religion; the Philosophy of History.      cial Doctrines or of Signal Epochs.
This scheme is not presented as final, but as indicating the aim of the editors. If sufficient encouragement be given,
no pains will be spared to make the project.complete, and thus to meet a great anr  acknowledged desideratum in the
apparatus for study. On all these topics every student needs, at least, one good work. To supply this will be the aim
of our Library.
The various volumes will be published in the best style, on reasonable terms, and as rapidly as the nature of the work
and the encouragement of the public will allow.
The editors will be assisted by eminenf scholars of various denominations, who will respectively assume the literary
responsibility for the volumes prepared by themselves within the general plan and aim of the Library.
NOW READY, THE INITIAL VOLUME
IN
aidS,  wu$sologifalfn ~t                                  10isopa fra l                   ran, WO~
UEBERWEG'S HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY.
Vol. I.-History of the Ancient and Mediaeval Philosophy.
By Dr. FRIEDRICH UEBERWEG. Translated from the fourth German edition, by GEO. S. MORRIS, A.M., with addi
dons by NOAH PORTER, D.D., LL.D., President of Yale College, and a general Introduction by the Editor of the Philo
tophical Library. One vol. 8vo, cloth. $3.50.
2    ws works sent, post-paid, on receipt of tAe price by the Putblisher.
SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO.,
654 Broadway, Nezw York,
PUBLISHERS




Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical.
TRAN SLATED, ENLARGED, AND EDITED
PHILIP SCHAFF, D. D.,
Professor in the Union T/2eological Seminary, New  ror'k.
654 BROADWAY, New York, January, x873.
THIS great work is rapidly approaching completion. The New Testament Part
is finished, with the exception of the volume on Revelation and an Index, which are
now in the hands of the printer. The Old Testament Part is more than half done.
The German work, on which the English edition is based, is the product of
about twenty distinguished Biblical scholars, of Germany, Holland, and Switzerland,
and enjoys a high reputation and popularity wherever German theology is studied.
The American edition is not a mere translation (although embracing the whole
of the German), but to a large extent, an origzzzal work; about one-third of the
matter being added, and the whole adapted to the wants of the English and American student.
The press has been almost unanimous in its commendation of LANGE'S COMMENTARY. It is generally regarded as being, on the whole, the most useful Comnmentary, especially for ministers and theological students-in which they are more likely
to find what they desire than in any other.  It is a complete treasure of Biblical
knowledge, brought down to the latest date. It gives the results of careful, scholarly
research; yet in a form sufficiently popular for the use of intelligent laymen. The
Hoomiletical department contains the best thoughts of the great divines and pulpit
orators of all ages on the texts explained, and supplies rich suggestions for sermons
and Bible lectures.
The following are some of the chief merits of this Commentary:
1. It is orthodox and sound, without being sectarian or denominational. It
fairly represents the exegetical and doctrinal coiserzsus of evangelical divines of the
present age, and yet ignores none of the just claims of liberal scientific criticism.
2. It is comprehensive and complete-giving in beautiful order the authorized
English version with emendations, a digest of the Critical Apparatus, Exegetical
Explanations, Doctrinal and Ethical Inferences and Reflections, and Homiletical
and Practical Hints and Applications.
3. It is the product of about forty American (and a few Britisb) Biblical
Scholars, from all the leading denominations and Theological and Literary institutions
of the United States.  Professors in the Theological Seminaries of New York,
Princeton, Andover, New Haven, Hartford, Cambridge, Rochester, Philadelphia,
Cincinnati, Alleghany, Chicago, Madison, and other places, representing the Presbyterian, Episcopal, Congregational, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, and Reformed
Churches, have contributed or are engaged now in contributing to this Commentary.
It may, therefore, claim a national character more than any other work of the kind
ever published in this country.
For Names of Co.ntribuStors, oluoies issuedt, etc., see next page,




LIST OF AMERICAN CONTRIBUTORS TO
LANGE'S COMMENTARY.
Prof. PHILIP  SCHAFF, D. D., GEIVERAL EDITTO/,  nion Theo'l Sero'y, N. Y.
Prof. CHARLES A. AIKEN, D. D.,.. Presbyterian,.,. Theo'l Seminary, Princeton, N. J.
Rev. S. R. ASBURY,.........Episcopalian,                     Moorestown, N. Jo
Prof. GEORGE BLISS, D. D.,....... Baptist,......Leisburg University, Pa.
Rev. CHARLES A. BRIGGS,.......Presbyterian......................Roselle, N. J.
Prof. JOHN  A. BROADUS, D. D.,..Bapt.,.. Greenville Theo'l Sem'y, South Carolina.
Rev. T. W. CHAMBERS, D. D.,...]Reformed.,...............,New York.
Rev. THOS. C. CONANT,     D. D.,....Baptist.........................Brooklyn, L. I.
Rev. E. R. CRAVEN, D. D.,....... Presbyterian,.................... Newark, N. J.
Prof. GEORGE E. DAY, D. D.,....Congregational,...Yale College, New Haven, Ct.
Prof. CHAS. ELLIOTT,. D.,....Presb.,........N. VW. Theo'l Sem'y, Chicago, Ills.
Prof. L. J. EVANS, D. D..........Presb.,...Lane Theo'l Seminary, Cincinnati, O.
Prof. PATRICK FAIRBAIRN, D. D.,.Presb..... Prin. Free College, Glasgow, Scotland
Prof. JOHN FORSYTH, D. D........ Reformed, Chapl'n Mil'y Acad., WMest Point, N.Y.
Prof. FRED. GARDINER, D. D.,...Epis.,.. Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Ct.
Rev. A. GOSMAN, D. D.,...........Presbyterian,........ Lawrenceville, N. J.
Prof. W. H. GREEN, D. D...........Presbyterian,,..Theo'l Seminary, Princeton, N. J.
Prof. H. B. HACKETT, D. D.,......Baptist,..............Rochester University, N. Y.
Rev. E. HARWOOD, D. D.,........ Episcopal........................ New Haven, Ct.
Prof. W. H. HORNBLOWVER. D. D., Presbyterian,.......Theo'l Sem'y, Alleghany, Pa.
Prof. J. F. HURST, D. D............. Methodist,....Drew Theo'l Sem'y, Madison, N. J.
Prof. A. C. KENDRICK, D. De,.....Baptist,.......Rochester University, N. Y.
Rev. JOHN  LILLIE, D. D.,.........Presbyterian.........................(Deceased.)
Rev. J. FRED. McCURDY,.......... Presbyterian,.................... Princeton, N. J.
Prof. C. M. MEAD, D. D.,.....Congregational,....Theo'l Sem'y Andover, Mass.
Rev. J. ISIDOR I MOMBERT, D.D., Episcopal,.................Dresden, Germany,
Miss EVELINE  MOORE,...........resbyterian,.....................Newark, N.J.
Prof. MURPHY, D. D.,............... Presbyterian,...Queen's College, Belfast, Ireland.
Prof. J. PACKARD, D. D.,...........Episcopal,.......... Theo'l Sem'y, Alexandria, Va.
Prof. D. W. POOR, D. D............Presbyterian,...............S..an Francisco, Cal.
Prof. M. B. RIDDLE, D. D.,........ Reformed,... Theological Seminary, Hartford, Ct.
Prof. CH. F. SCHAEFFER, D. D.,.. Luth.,.. Lutheran Seminary, Philadelphia, Pa.
Prof. W. G. T. SHEDD, D. D.,.....Presbyterian,....Union Theo'l Sem'y, New York.
Rev. C. C. STARBUCK,.............. Congregational................Berea College, Ky.
Prof. P. H. STEENSTRA...........Episcopal,...Divinity School, Cambridge, Mass.
Prof. CALVIN  E. STOWE, D. D.,..Congregational,.......formerly of Andover, Mass.
Prof. JAS. STRONG, D. D.........M..ethodist,.......Drew Seminary, Madison, N. J.
Prof. W. G. SUMNER...............   Episcopal,......... Yale College, New Haven, Ct.
Prof. TAYLER LEWIS, LL.D.,......Reformed,....Union College, Schenectady, N. Y.
Prof. C. H. TOY, D. D.,............Baptist,..... G..reenville Sem'y, South Carolina.
Rev. IE. A. WASHBURN, D. D.,....Episcopal,.   Rector Calvary Church, New York.
Prof. WILLIAM  WELLS,..........  Methodist,...Union College, Schenectady, N. Y.
Rev. C. P. WING, D. D.,.....P.......resbyterian,.,.........Carlisle, Pa.
Rev. E. D. YEOMANS, D. D.,...... Presbyterian,.(Deceased.)
There are now issued of LANGE'S COMMENTARY six volumes of the OLD TESTAMENT and
zinze of the NEw TESTAMENT, as follows:
OLD  TESTA7IfE~NT:
I. GENESIS.                                 V. PROVERBS, SONG OF SOLOMON, ECCLESIII. JOSIUA, JUD)GES, and RUTH.                     ASTES.
III. FIRST and SECOND KINGS.                 VI. JEREMIAH and LAMENTATIONS.
IV. PSALMS.
JZ Ireyartiionz: MINOR PROPHETS (I vol.), JOB (I vol.), EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUILBERS, DEUTERONOMY (I vol.),
ISAIAH (I vol.), DANIEL and EZEKIEL (I vol.)
NVLE WV TE'STA.IEINIV'.'
I. MATTHEW.                                 VII. GALATIANS, EPHESIANS, PHILIPPIANS,
II. MARK and LUKE.                                   COLOSSIANS.
III. JOHN.                                   VIII. THESSALONIANS, TIMOTHY, TITUS, PHIIV. ACTS.                                             LEMON, and IHEBREWS.
V. ROMANS.                                    IX. JAMES, PETER, JOHN, and JUDE.
VT. CORINTIIIANS.
Cemjfe/iznfg this sec/ionz of /le Scritlures, excebtiog FteveZafi'on, odUich, /ogefther viz/s an Iarde.r to W5N. 7., zoill be
fiub/ished s/ioratly.
Each one vol. 8vo. Price plr vol. in half calf, $7.50; in sheep, $6.50; in cloth, $5.00.
Any or all the volumes of LANGE'S COMMENTARY sent, post or express charges paid, to any address on receipt of the price.
SCRIBNEBR, ARESTRONG & CO., 654 Broadway, N. Y.




THE
AND FIFTY DOLLARS' WORTHI OF BOOKS
FOR THiIRTlSY DOLLARS.
A RARE CHANCE FOR CLERGYMEN AND
STUDENTS.
Isc order to bring within the reach of Clergymen and Students of the most moderate means
some of their leading standard works, Messrs. SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & Co. announce the issue
of
THE MINISTER'S LIBRARY.
As will be seen from the list below, this Library includes a number of the most valuable works
ever published in this country, in the various departments of Religious Literature, Exegesis, Homilectics, Sacred History, descriptions of the Holy Land, the Life of Christ and of St. Paul, with a
choice selection of Sermons by some of the most famous American divines; and by a special
arrangement, the series is placed at so low a price that every student and minister can afford to
purchase it. The volumes, if bought singly, would cost FIFTY DOLLARS, while the set is furnished
at THIRTY DOLLARS. THE MINISTER'S LIBRARY includes:
No. of VolY
ALEXANDER'S (Dr. J. W.)........... CONSOLATION..........................            I
ALEXANDER'S (Dr. J. A.).........ISAIAH................................    2
do            do........... PSALMS............................          2
do             do.......... SERMONS.............................    I
ADAMS (Dr. Wm.)................ THANKSGIVING SERMONS...............    I
ANDREWS (Rev. S. J.)............... LIFE OF OUR LORD....................            I
BUSHNELL'S...................N....NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL......    I
CONYBEARE & HOWSON'S........ ST. PAUL.............................    2
FISHER'S (Prof. Geo. P.).............. SUPERNATURAL ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY.    I
HURST'S (Prof. J. F.)................. HISTORY OF RATIONALISM..............       I
LILLIE'S (Dr. John)..................LECTURES ON PETER................     I
SHEDD  (Dr. W. G. T.).............. SERMONS TO THE NATURAL MAN........             I
STANLEY'S (Dean).................. HISTORY OF THE JEWISH CHURCH.......    2
do          do..................HISTORY OF THE EASTERN CHURCH......    2
THOMPSON'S (Dr. J. P.)............. THEOLOGY OF CHRIST..................    I
WOOLSEY  (Dr. T. D.)................ RELIGION OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE..    I
The volumes are handsomely and substantially bound in cloth.
SPECIAL NOTICE.,
THE MINISTER'S LIBRARY will be sold only in sets.'1 he volumes comprised in it nlay be had in
the styles in which they were formerly issued at the old prices; but under no circumstances will the
works, as printed for this Library, be sold separately.
THE MINISTER'S LIBRARY zmay be had of all booksellers, or it will be sent, express charges paid, by
te publishers on receipt of the price, $30.
SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & Co.,
654 BROADWAY, NEW  YORK.