D S c s DIVINITY SCHOOL TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY COMMENTARY THE PENTATEUCH. tfranilott)! frnm tl;B '§nmm nf OTTO YON GERLACH. REV. HENRY DOWNING, INCtTMBKJJT OF ST. MARY'S, KINGSWIKFORD. PHILADELPHIA: SMITH, ENGLISH •& CO. EDINBURGH: T. & T. CLARK. 1860. J>v:tt tr -4 3 a PREFACE. The life of the author of the following " Bible work," as it is called, or explanation of the Bible, offers very little that will be interesting to the general reader. It was not, in the usual sense of the word, at all an eventful life, being that of a studious hard working German Pastor in Berlin. Otto Von Gerlach was born in that capital in 1801. His mother belonged to the family of Von Eaumer. His father's family originally came from Pomerania. For three generations his ancestors had held offices under government. Otto was the youngest of four. He studied at the Universities of Berlin, Heidelberg, and Gottingen, as it is usual in Germany for students to attend more than one university. For some time the study of jurisprudence engaged Von Gerlach's attention ; but, after a while, he devoted himself entirely to theology. He attended the lectures of Schleiermacher, then in the zenith of his influence, and also of Neander, Marheineke, and Hengsten- berg. After the completion of his university studies, he hesi tated whether he should follow the vocation of a professor, or that of a parochial clergyman. He determined on the latter, though he delivered some lectures in Berlin on ecclesiastical law and history, and on the interpretation of Scripture. His publi cation in Germany of a translation of Baxter's " Saints' Rest" and " Reformed Pastor," had attracted to him the attention of the King. He was ordained in 1835, and appointed to the lately consecrated Elizabeth Church. In this post he remained, devoting himself indefatigably to his pastoral duties and to study, IV PKEFACE. until 1847, when he was nominated Preacher at the Dom (Cathedral). In 1849 the third portion of his work on the Holy Scriptures appeared. He had devoted great part of his life to its preparation ; but he did not survive to complete it. He died in the October of the same year. This Scripture Commentary bears a high character in its own country. It has passed through several editions, and is regarded as a standard work of its kind. The notes of Von Gerlach can not be called learned. They do not make pretension to such a character. The work is rather of a popular than a scientific caste. It is intended to help towards the profitable devout read ing of Holy Scripture ; and the author of the annotations never loses sight of the practical application of the text, and yet the notes will be found to condense a great amount of Scriptural knowledge, as a patient reader who will examine them carefully is sure to find. The general meaning and bearing of different passages are usually explained with sufficient fulness. The portion of the work chosen for translation is the Penta teuch, which has been selected chiefly because commentaries in English on this part of Scripture are less accessible than on other books of the Bible. Should the present translation of the notes on the Book of Moses be considered useful, a version of those on the Minor Prophets will next appear. These latter deal rather more in explanation than those on the Pentateuch ; but, it is. believed, few will use the notes of Von Gerlach in their study of the Bible, without finding their knowledge of God's word enlarged. The Translator may be allowed to add, as some proof of the estimation in which the work is held by Germans themselves, that Professor Ranke recommended it to him as a Bible com mentary which deserved to be better known by all educated Englishmen. December, 1859. INTBODUCTION SCEIPTUEES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, MORE PARTICULARLY TO THE BOOKS OE MOSES. The belief in a redemption of mankind, which is the soul and support of the Christian Church, must have its essential origin in a revelation of the Divine love and wisdom. The invisible ex istence of God, " His eternal power and godhead," so far as man can have a conception thereof, -may indeed be seen from His works ; but the mirror of the Divine image in the human soul, which had been marred by sin, had not the power of reflecting with clearness the illumination which had been received from thence. As the Divine life is the light of His creatures, so was there needed some working on God's part, which should renew, awaken, strengthen, as well as enlighten the whole man, in order to lead him back to his sublimely exalted destiny. This work on God's. part is Revelation, — a history of God's doings for man's re demption from the very beginning of the human race to its com pletion, — a history which, the farther it proceeds, shall in the same proportion explain itself by the Word which accompanies A 2 INTRODUCTION TO THE it. It shows us how the condescension of God vouchsafed, from the very beginning, to deal with man after a manner intelligible to man ; to speak to him after a human fashion ; and, while it appeared to single out some individuals for preference, and to be completely occupied in some particular portion above the rest, nevertheless kept in view the grand connection by which each portion was united in one majestic whole. But what God had done for man, and spoken to him, needed abiding record in Scripture in order to be retained by man. Had God's almighty power redeemed a people from the dark ness and bondage of Egyptian heathenism, and then by His law united that people into one community, — had Christ enlightened His disciples, and sent them out into the world to preach His Gospel, and to found His Church, without affording the written witness of His will and love in a Law and a Gospel — then, indeed, must God's people and kingdom on earth have been deprived of His immediate guidance. The Church might be established without the written Word ; but it could not continue in exist ence without the ever pure and fresh life-giving stream of that Word. Accordingly, the Lord Himself wrote the Ten Commandments on tables of stone, and Moses collected all the memorable events and laws in a Book, which was laid up " in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord" (vide Deut. xxxi. 26). We find, at a later period, that Joshua added the history of his own life to the Book of the Law (vide Joshua xxiv. 26) ; that Samuel laid up " before the Lord," for preservation, a description of the privi leges of the kingdom (1 Sam. x. 25) ; that one of the greatest of the prophets, Isaiah (chap, xxxiv. 16), even laid an injunction on his descendants, that they should read in the " Book of the Lord " his own prophecies. We find that, after a long period of national degradation under kings and priests, the Book of the Covenant was discovered in the House of the Lord, in the days of Josiah, 2 Kings xxiii. 2. Thus were the laws, the histories, and the prophecies, that had been divinely attested, already in ancient times laid up for preservation in the Sanctuary, where, indeed, they often remained closed, an unvalued treasure ; still they had from time to time a reviving and renovating effect on the Church of God. When the people returned from the Baby lonish captivity, and in mournful days set to work to re-establish SCRIPTURES OP THE OLD TESTAMENT. 3 themselves in their own land, at the outset the prophets of the Old Covenant were still at hand to urge on these tardy Israel ites to rebuild the Temple, and to restore the ordinances and statutes of the Lord, to restrain them from contamination with heathen corruptions. But in the Sanctuary the " ark of the covenant" was no longer ; the High Priest was deprived of the " light and righteousness" from the Lord. During the Capti vity the great body of the people had exchanged the Hebrew language for the Chaldee. They could not understand their own Scriptures without interpretation, and the Spirit of prophecy soon vanished from among them. In this period were the men of God, who built up again the fallen Zion, anxiously occupied in collecting the Sacred Writings, and establishing 'their hold on the people. In the days of Ezra and Nehemiah was the collec tion of the writings of the Old Testament made, under the direc tion of a body of pious scribes, or men learned in Scripture, to whom Jewish tradition of a later period gave the name of " the Great Synagogue." About that time gradually were established in all the greater, and even smaller places, schools, or syna gogues, for the purpose of keeping alive among the people a knowledge of the law ; so that, since that time, " Moses had in every city them that preached him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day:" Acts xv. 21. At first the Law, afterwards the Prophets also to the end, were divided into separate portions. A variety of Chaldee translations and paraphrases made the Jews who lived in Palestine acquainted with the Word of God in their own tongue ; and the same benefit was conferred on the Greek-speaking Jews, by means of the Greek translation of the Seventy, which was gradually completed, under the Ptolemies in Egypt, about the third century before Christ. This was the time, too, when a clear definite conception of the meaning of the Old Covenant taught the distinction to be drawn between the Word which was really given by the Lord Himself, and that which, though written with a good religious purpose, was still the word of man. We gather from the history of the time of the Maccabees, that the people, under the guidance of gifted, pious men, were animated to marvellous deeds of heroism in defence of their law — restored the Sanctuary and the ordinances of God's Word with carefulness; but we meet in these times with the clearest proofs that then no prophet existed in Israel, as for a long 4 INTRODUCTION TO THE time none had arisen (1 Mace. iv. 46, ch. ix. 27, ch. xiv. 4). The grandson of Jesus Sirach, who lived before this period, and who translated into Greek his grandfather's book, speaks in the pre face to it of the Holy Scriptures, as of a collection already con cluded. He is acquainted with the customary division into " the Law, the Prophets, and the other Writings," which still exists among the Jews. The collection of the books of the Old Testa ment -was, accordingly, distinctly separated from everything which emanated from the reviving Jewish literature, whether consist ing of histories of the period (as the Books of the Maccabees), or of allegories (Judith and Tobit), or of other instructive writ ings, which either followed the pattern of the Old Testament (as Ecclesiasticus), or copied the manner of the Hellenist Jews, as in the Book of Wisdom. The original division, therefore, of the collected writings of the Old Testament, as it existed in the time of Christ and the apostles, viz., into the Law, the Prophets, and the other Scrip tures, is still the customary one among the Jews of this day, and is found in our Hebrew Bibles. The name "the Law" (Thorah, i. e., instruction, teaching) comprises often the whole of the Old Eevelation, but in the more precise division signifies only the five Books of Moses. These books, in the time of the Old Covenant, were esteemed the more especial foundation of the whole Divine revelation ; and all the posterior histories and prophecies were either built upon them, or had immediate rela tion to them. The second division of the Prophets (Nebiim) is subdivided into the " Earlier and Later Prophets." To the first of these subdivisions belong the historical books, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings ; to the latter, the first three prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets. The histo rical books are reckoned among the " Prophets," for this reason, that their authors, according to the generally received opinion, were esteemed prophets by virtue of their office and position among God's people. The third division of the Scriptures (Kethubim) comprises all the remaining sacred books, whose authors either were not, strictly speaking, " prophets" (however high they stood as servants of God, and however much they were under the guidance of His Holy Spirit), or writings which by reason of the nature of their contents, were properly classed under other heads of these last divisions ; as, for example, the SCRIPTURES OP THE OLD TESTAMENT. 5 Lamentations of Jeremiah were classed under the same head with the Psalms. The old order of the writings of this division is as follows : Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles. This is the order of the sacred writings as it existed in the time of Christ and His apostles. All the books of the first two divisions are written in Hebrew, but a part of Daniel and of Ezra is in Chaldee. Not one of these writings was wanting in the collection in the time of Christ. They are all regarded as sacred by the Jews. Christ Himself both quoted them as the Word of God, and expounded them to His disciples. They have therefore a claim on all Christians to be received as sacred and inspired ; and, in respect to their origin, stand on the same footing with the books of the New Testament ; at the same time, as regards the character of their contents, they are composed with reference to the times of nonage, for which they were especially written, and were preparatory to the time of fulfilment of all which God hath spoken. " The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ :" John i. 17. These simple words of the evan gelist point out to us not only the difference of the Old and New Testaments, but they declare the perpetual importance of the Old Testament to Christians. While the mass of the nations of the ancient world had wandered away from that original reve lation of the holy, beneficent, personal Deity, which had been given to them, and which leaves an irrepressible yearning in the soul of every man, and had adopted a Worship of nature, or made vain imperfect attempts to rise above it, there stood out one people from among the mass, altogether peculiar in character, which has preserved in its holy writings the historical revelations of the Deity, who is at the same time immeasurably raised above creation, yet intimately united with it, whose hand created all things, whose breath animates all things. In these writings we have the narrative of the creation : man is elevated above the order of the natural world as God's image; his fall, and its necessary consequence, punishment, are the beginnings of his history, in which God's wisdom and love in a wonderful manner lead him on to redemption. The law witnesses against sin, since God, by giving therein a pattern and rule of holiness of life, with which no man perfectly conforms, awakens a presage 6 INTRODUCTION TO THE of the accomplishment and fulfilment of the will of God, and is itself the greatest of all predictions. While all heathen nations, from the earliest times even to our own days, after a short season of prosperity, have languished and perished, without hope of re vival, among the people of God's covenant, in the time of deepest misery, the Spirit of prophecy has been awakened most power fully, and has pointed to times when God's people shall receive twofold for all their sins, when the kingdom of God shall em brace the whole world, and be raised to a height of glory never before experienced. The times of the fulfilment in Christ have a twofold relation to the Old Covenant : Christ and His apostles build on the Old Testament revelation concerning the creation, the fall of man, and the law, which witnesses against sin, all their doctrines, which are only developments of the earlier truths on these subjects ; and likewise they explain and determine more accurately what of ancient prophecy has been already fulfilled, and what is in course of fulfilment in Christian times. The grace and the truth of the Gospel are therefore unintelligible without the law ; for how can we understand the gift of grace without the fact of sin to be forgiven ? or how can we under stand the power of truth unless we are acquainted with the sha dows which have gone before ? Where the indissoluble con nection of the Old and New Testament is lost sight of, there inevitably will their contents be misunderstood, and perverted at pleasure. " The law " contained in the five Books of Moses forms the foundation-stone of the revelations of the Old Cove nant. Of these Moses clearly gives himself out as the author, although he speaks of himself in the third person. It was a deep feeling of the intense sublimity and dignity of the sacred history which moved the men of God to treat their own individuality, wherever it was mixed up with the events they related, as some thing foreign to themselves, and merely as part of the narrative. In this way the evangelists wrote, and Matthew and John speak of themselves in their own writings as if they were strangers. The first Book of Moses, Genesis, though it begins with the creation, by no means consists of fragments loosely tacked together, partly agreeing with, partly contradicting, each other, which is the notion of a superficial scepticism. Even the conjecture of an original writing, worked out by a later hand, is utterly untenable without the most violent expedients ; such as SCRIPTURES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 7 the supposition of interpolations, wherever the text itself contra dicts the presupposed idea. There runs throughout this book, from beginning to end, a carefully conceived plan, which is never lost sight of, and at the same time a constant reference to the contents of the other books. It is much less conceivable that the history of the primeval period, and of the patriarchs, in Genesis, could have been compiled from fragmentary writings, even than that Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, which are arranged with so much art, and contain references of the later parts to the earlier, could have sprung into existence out of the rhapsodies of wandering bards. At the very commencement we meet with a connected history of the creation in seven days, in which God is revealed only as the Creator. No repetition of this account is given ; but there follows a more minute description of the crea tion of man as preparatory to the history of his fall, and the first historical revelation of God in man's original condition, and after the fall. A string of genealogies is drawn from thence through the whole book up to Jacob, which often seems dropped, but is again resumed with marked completeness and purpose. In these tables of genealogy, in the history, of the flood and of the patri archs, there are abundant references to the history of the crea tion and of the fall (see, e. g., ch. v. 29, vi. 3, ix. 2, xiv. 22, xviii. 25). And in almost every narrative may the reason clearly be perceived why it is told in this particular place, and could not stand anywhere else (see, e. g., ch. xxxviii.). Moreover the law is not intelligible without sin, of which it witnesses ; the passage out of Egypt presupposes the promises made to the patriarchs; the establishment of the ordinance of marriage forms the groundwork of all precepts about the relation of the sexes ; the particular regulations about the hallowing of the ground and of the trees (Lev. xix. 25), point back to the curse pronounced on the ground ; the unblessedness in Jacob's double marriage is certainly not mentioned without an eye to the forbidding of such unions with two sisters (Lev. xviii. 18). In the prophecy about Canaan, in the histories of Moab and Ammon, and of Edom, may we perceive plain references to the events relating to their de scendants which are mentioned in the following books ; and so in other cases. That the following books were written by Moses is told us repeatedly in them. At the first triumph of Israel over Amalek (Exod. xvii.), it is expressly commanded that the 8 INTRODUCTION TO THE account of this event should be recorded in " the Book " — plainly, i. e., a known, then existing book. The laws which follow imme diately after the Ten Commandments were written in " the Book of the Covenant " (Exod. xxiv. 4-7), which was read in the ears of the people at the solemn conclusion of the covenant. In the last days of his life, in the field of Moab, Moses arranged toge ther all the particular histories and laws, and made some addi tional observations, as, for instance, Exod. xvi. 35. How far Moses wrote and arranged the books is told us plainly in Deut. xxxi. 24. The song which follows (ch. xxxii.), and the blessing, was written or dictated by him, although after he had concluded the book, and handed it over to another. This other carried on the narrative from thence (as the words in the place above quoted show), and concluded with the death and burial of Moses. This person probably was Joshua, since both his position towards Moses, and also the evidence that he wrote the history of his life in the Book of the Law of God (see Joshua xxiv. 26), point out to him as the author. In even a higher sense than he intended, has the opinion of a learned map of the last century (J. D. Michaelis) been verified in our days. " The more one pays attention to little points in the Books of Moses, and carefully investigates theni,^ the more will a man be convinced of their antiquity and au thenticity ;" note on Gen. xliv. 2. It was supposed, in the last century, that the chronology among the people of Eastern Asia, the Hindoos, the Chinese, the Japanese, pointed to a much earlier date for the creation than the scriptural chronology could allow of; when, lo ! the more accurate inquiry of our age has shown that the authentic history of these people did not extend, at most, farther back than 800 years B. C, somewhat about the time of Isaiah, and all before that is uncertain or fabulous ! It has again been supposed that the intellectual horizon in the time of Moses was far too circumscribed to allow of the extensive view of the relation of the different people, such as we meet with in the 10th of Genesis ; and yet recent investigation has shown that long before the time of Moses the whole of Asia Minor was subject to the Egyptians, and with this country (as the Egyptian remains prove) the most constant intercourse on the part of the people of those countries was carried on. It has been doubted whether the whole world could ever have had "one SCRIPTURES OP THE OLD TESTAMENT. 9 speech and one language." At the same time the notion was received with much favour, that men were a kind of natural product of the particular countries they inhabited, and were not derived from a single pair ; and yet later inquiry has mosf satis factorily proved that all the languages on the face of the globe have an original connection. People have found in the Books of Moses intimations of a knowledge of Egypt which appeared not to agree with what was known from other sources of the state of culture in that country. About half a century ago the French were prompted by motives of avarice to invade Egypt. They contended with the English for the mastery over those countries which were the scene of the most ancient history of the Bible. Vast changes in the world's politics seemed likely to arise from thence. These, however, lasted but a short time, and matters returned to their former state, in which they now continue, and the great political commotion appeared to have taken place to no purpose. But the French had brought one thing out of Egypt, — a small, black, much damaged basalt stone, with a surface not quite four feet square : on this stone stood the remarkable inscription from Rosette, in three characters, which became the key to all the subsequent discoveries in the inscrip tions of Egyptian monuments, and though much that is uncer tain may still remain, it has been the means of discovering to us some very remarkable facts. The notion used to be, that, in the time of Moses, the art of writing, if discovered, as might be the case, was still not yet in such general use, as to render it probable that a work of the compass of the Pentateuch could have been composed in the wilderness. But these witnesses of former ages, newly brought to light, show us, that in old Egypt the art of 'writ ing was in use in all relations of life, and especially that there was in the priest-caste a class of " holy scribes," who kept the books which contained their higher knowledge. In accordance with the origin of the people of Israel from a patriarchal family, the oldest Israelitish officers are scribes1 (see Exod. v. 6), who probably carried on the genealogical tables, with the composition of which the art of writing had begun among them. Every where in the Books of Moses we see references to Egyptian cus toms and regulations, which prove at the same time an acquaint- 1 The word rendered in the Engl, version "officers" means properly " scribes ; " Heb. " Schoterim." — See note in loc. 10 INTRODUCTION TO THE ance with them, and yet witness against their spirit. Modern geographical science has removed, in the most easy and obvious way, a number of apparent contradictions ; and if at present every difficulty is not solved — if all the discoveries of modern science are not in all points agreeing with revelation — still must our age thankfully acknowledge that it entertains a lively hope of its perfect triumph over unbelief from the progress made in modern scriptural research, which a short time ago was so un- looked for. Truly these Books of Moses display to us a wonder ful richness and harmony in their revelation of the' Divine wis dom and knowledge, though for some time their important and prophetic histories were treated as mere fables, and their momen tous precepts regarded as the arbitrary unmeaning fancies of a bygone age, not worth remembering. While we consider Moses to be an eye-witness and an actor in most of the events of the four last books, yet he must, in the composition of the first book, have made use of the ancient traditions, which, together with the genealogical tables, were in existence. Some short and now scarcely intelligible notifications (e. g., ch. v. 24, vi. 4, x. 12) in these ancient memorials show how much was inserted in them which appeared to the contemporaries of more conse quence than to posterity, and at the same time offer a proof of their great antiquity. The perfect resemblance of the style, the purpose shown in the arrangement of events, and the reference to the law (which was mentioned above), all this proves that Moses independently worked out the whole which came into his hands. The account of the creation and of the flood form in the narrative an entire connected history, and point back to an ori ginal-revelation which existed before the flood, and was handed down, by means of an unbroken tradition, as a precious legacy in the family of God's children. But that these narratives were only the concealed figurative representations of some general truth which the history contained, cannot be admitted, since in such very ancient times the conscious clothing of a history in the garb of allegory is altogether inconceivable. In compiling these old narratives into a continuous history of the kingdom of God, one and the same Spirit of God inspired Moses ; which Spirit he had received in a greater measure than all his brethren, since he was the servant to whom was intrusted the administra tion of the whole house of God. (Num. xii. 7.) SCRIPTURES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 11 The first book may be divided into the following principal sections : — I. The history of mankind before the flood : (1.) The creation, ch. i.-ii. 4. (2.) Paradise, the institution of marriage, the fall and its punishment, ch. ii. 5-ch. iii. (3.) Cain and Abel, the genealogy of Cain's descendants; Seth and Enos, ch. iv. (4.) The genealogy of the patriarchs to Noah, ch. v.— II. The flood and the dispersion of the nations : (1.) Cause, prediction, coming, and course of the flood, ch. vi.-ix. 17. (2.) Shem, Ham, and Japhet, ch. ix. (3.) The list of the nations, ch. x. (4.) The dispersion. (5.) The descendants of Shem up to Noah. — III. The history of Abraham: (1.) His call and journey to Canaan, ch. xii. 1-9. (2.) His journey into Egypt, ch. xii. 10 to end. (3.) His separation from Lot, ch. xiii. (4.) The war of the kings, and the blessing of Melchisedec, ch. xiv. (5.) The cove nant of God with Abraham, ch. xv. (6.) Hagar's flight and the birth of Ishmael, ch. xvi. (7.) The sign of the covenant, the institution of circumcision, ch. xvii. (8.) The promise of Isaac, and the destruction of Sodom, ch. xviii. 19-29. (9.) The origin of the children of Moab and Ammon, ch. xix. 30-38. (10.) Sarah hi the house of Abimelech, ch. xx. (11.) The birth of Isaac, and the expulsion of Hagar, ch. xxi. 1-21. (12.) Abraham in the land of the Philistines, ch. xxi. 22-34. (13.) The offer ing up of Isaac, ch. xxii. (14.) Sarah's death and burial, ch. xxiii. (15.) Rebecca sought in marriage, ch. xxiv. (16.) Death of Abraham, ch. xxv. 1-11. (17.) The descendants of Ishmael, ch. xxv. 12—18. — IV. The history of Isaac and Jacob : (1.) Birth of the twins, sale of the birthright, ch. xxv. 19-34. (2.) Isaac in the land of the Philistines, ch. xxvi. (3.) Blessing upon Jacob and Esau, ch. xxvii. (4.) Jacob's flight; his sojourning with Laban, marriages, children, return, ch. xxviii.— xxxiii. (5.) Dinah's shame, ch. xxxiv. (6.) Jacob in Canaan ; Isaac's death, ch. xxxv. (7.) Esau's descendants, ch. xxxvi. — V. The history of Joseph : (1.) His dreams, and his being sold, ch. xxxvii. (2.) The children of Judah, ch. xxxviii. (3.) Joseph in the house of Potiphar, and his imprisonment, ch. xxxix. xl. (4.) His interpretation of Pharaoh's dream, ch. xii. (5.) Joseph and his brethren, ch. xlii.-xlv. (6.) Jacob comes down into Egypt ; the genealogy of the descendants of his sons, ch. xlvi. (7.) Jacob in Egypt, ch. xlvii. (8.) The bless- 12 INTRODUCTION TO THE ing of Jacob on Ephraim and Manasseh, ch. xlviii. (9.) Jacob's blessing on his sons, and his death, ch. xlix. (10.) The en tombment of Jacob and' Joseph, ch. 1.— In order to understand the plan and arrangement of the narrative, it is important to follow the continuous order of the genealogical tables : they are found, ch. v. ; ch. vi. 9-10 ; ch. x. ; ch. xi. 10-27 (interposed are, ch. xxii. 20-24; ch. xxv. 1-4, 12-15); ch. xxv. 19, 20; ch. xxv. 22, 26 (interposed ch. xxxvi. 9-19); ch.xxxvii. 2; ch. xxxviii. ; ch. xlvi. 8-26. The principal contents of the second book, Exodus, are as follows :— I. (1.) The oppression of Israel, ch. i. (2.) Birth and education of Moses, the killing of the Egyptian, the flight of Moses, ch. ii. (3.) His call and return, ch. iii. (4.) The first nine plagues, v.-x. (5.) The last plague, the institution of the Passover, the passage out of Egypt, the preservation, ch. xi.- xiv.— II. The march to Mount Sinai, and the delivery of the law : (1.) Events in the wilderness up to the arrival at Mount Sinai, ch. xv.-xviii. (2.) The delivery of the Ten Command ments, ch. xix. 20, 21. (3.) Further explanations of their meaning : the Book of the Covenant, ch. xxiv. (4.) Conclusion of the covenant, ch. xxiv. (5.) Regulations with respect to the Tabernacle, ch. xxv.-xxxi. (6.) Idolatry of the people, renewal of the covenant, ch. xxxii.-xxxv. (7,) Making, etc., of the Taber nacle, its dedication, ch. xxxvi.-xl. The third book, Leviticus, concludes the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, with the order of sacrifices and of the priests, and the laws of purification. (1.) The general order of the sacrifices, ch. i.— vii. (2.) Consecration of the priests, and the circumstances accompanying it, ch. viii.-x. (3.) The laws of purification, ch. xi.-xv. (4.) The day of atonement, ch. xvi. (5.) Eating of blood and of the fat forbidden, ch. xvii. (6.) Un lawful marriages forbidden, ch. xviii. (7.) Sundry laws, ch. xix. (8.) Penalties for certain offences, ch. xx. (9.) Description of the character of the priests and of the sacrifices, ch. xxi. xxii. (10.) Appointment, of the feasts, ch. xxiii. (11.) Preparation of the oil and of the shew-bread, ch. xxiv. 1-9. (12.) Laws con cerning blasphemy, ch. xxiv. 10-xxv. (13.) The year of rest and of jubilee, ch. xxv. (14.) Conclusion of the law-giving on Mount Sinai, with promises and threatenings, ch. xxvi. (15.) Supplemental laws respecting vows and tithes, ch. xxvii. SCRIPTURES OP THE OLD TESTAMENT. 13 The fourth book, Numbers, contains — I. (1 .) The number of the men of war, the order of the camp, the number of the Levites and firstborn, the qualifications of the different families of the Levites, ch. i.-iv. Here is inserted (2.) The command concern ing the purification of the camp, the trial of jealousy, the law of the Nazarite, ch. v.-vi. 21. (3.) The form of blessing, ch. vi. 22-27. (4.) Sacrifices and gifts to the Tabernacle, dedication of the Levites, ch. vii. viii. (5.) The first Passover ordained, and an after Passover for those who were defiled, ch. ix. 1-14. (6.) Signs for encamping and marching, ch. ix. 15-23. (7.) The trumpets, the departure. — II. The march through the wil derness to the borders of Canaan : (1.) The graves of lust, ch. xi. (2.) Miriam's and Aaron's opposition, ch. xii, (3.) The spies, ch. xiii. xiv. (4.) Law of meat and drink offerings, ch. xv. 1-31. (5.) Punishment of the Sabbath-breaker, ch. xv. 32-41. (6.) Korah's rebellion, ch. xvi. (7.) Confirmation of the priesthood by means of Aaron's rod, ch. xvii. (8.) The portion of the priests and Levites, ch. xviii. (9.) The water of separation, ch. xix. (10.) Water out of the rock at Kadesh ; Aaron's death, ch. xx. (11.) The fiery serpents ; Arad, Sihon, and Og overcome, ch. xxi. (12.) The prophecies of Balaam, ch. xxii.— xxiv. (13.) Seduction by the Midianites, ch. xxv. (14.) Fresh numbering of the people, ch. xxvi. (15.) The law of inheritances, ch, xxvii. 1-11. (16.) The death of Moses announced ; Joshua his successor, ch. xxvii. 12-23. (17.) Regu lations concerning different sacrifices, ch. xxviii. xxix. (18.) The binding of vows, ch. xxx. (19.) Defeat of the Midianites, ch. xxxi. (20.) Division of the land east of Jordan, ch. xxxii. (21.) Specification of the journeys of the Israelites, ch. xxxiii. (22.) Borders and division of Canaan, ch. xxxiv. (23.) The cities of the Levites, and the cities of refuge. (24.) Law con cerning heiresses, ch. xxxvi. The fifth book, Deuteronomy, contains — I. The farewell words of Moses to the people : (1.) The first address, ch. i.-iv. 40. (2.) Separation of three cities of refuge on the east side Jordan, ch. iv. 41—43. (3.) The second address ; recapitulation of the Ten Commandments, with exhortations, ch. v.— xi. The service of God's worship to be in one place, ch. xii. Punish ment of idolatry, of the seducer and seduced, ch. xiii. Regula tions concerning mourning, meats, tithes, ch. xiv. The year of 14 INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURES, ETC. release ; concerning the firstborn, ch. xv. The feasts, ch. xvi. Of judges and kings, ch. xvii. Of priests and prophets, ch. xviii. The cities of refuge, false witnesses, ch. xix. Laws of war, ch. xx. Sundry laws, ch. xxi.-xxvi. — II. Events to the death of Moses : (1.) Appointing of the stones of memorial, of blessing and cursing, promises and threatenings, ch. xxvii. xxviii. (2.) Renewal of the covenant, ch. xxix. xxx. (3.) Moses delivers up his office to Joshua, the Book of the Law to the priests, ch. xxxi. (4.) The song of Moses, ch. xxxii. (5.) The blessing of Moses, ch. xxxiii. (6.) The death of Moses, ch. xxxiv. THE EIKST BOOK OF MOSES, (CALLED GENESIS, i. e., CREATION). CHAPTER I. God, the eternal, self-existent, personal source of all life, — He who was before all things, and in whom all things subsist, has created heaven and earth, and all that therein is, visible and in visible, by means of His Word, the utterance of His will. With this one declaration at its commencement does the Book of all books distinguish itself from everything which heathen tradition or human wisdom has ever taught of the origin of things. The world is not God, — not an effluence from God, a part of His being ; but it has been created by His will, to be a glorious ma nifestation of His eternal might, wisdom, and love. ( Vide Ps. xxxiii. 6, 9 ; Isa. xiii. 5 ; Neh. ix. 6.) Of this His great work has God given to His children the history in Holy Scrip ture, which is designed to prove a word of instruction and wis dom for life in Him, in order that He may instruct man, created after His own image, and who is His fellow-worker, after the example of his Creator, to tend the little field of labour which is intrusted to his care ; to bring it out of disorder and wildness, and to make it more and more subject to His Spirit. By means of this Word has He taught him to strive after rest through labour, and at the end of every week to place a land mark on his journey, from whence he may look back on what is done, observe what is wanting, and gather up strength for the coming days' labour. By means of this same rest has He given 16 GENESIS I. 1. to man, pressed down under the burden of sin, and labouring in his work of the new creation (viz., sanctification), a type of the eternal rest, in which God has called His people to participate. The works of the first three days and the last three corre spond with one another. On the first day is light created ; on the fourth day, the lights in heaven : on the second, the visible heaven with the waters ; on the fifth, the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air : on the third, the dry land, with its clothing of vegetation ; on the sixth, the land animals and man — on the first three days the inanimate substances, on the last three the living inhabitants, are produced. In the vegetable world the dry land attains its destined purpose, as the animal world, and indeed the whole creation, attains its end in man. All the fol lowing history is written only for man ; and therefore the sun, moon, and stars, and the whole host of heaven, appear only as lights in the firmament of heaven. Of the inhabitants of heaven nothing is told us.- Still in this book angels are fre quently spoken of, and the fall of some is presupposed (ch. iii.). In the book of Job (ch. xxxviii. 7), it is intimated that the angels were spectators of the six days' work of creation. CHAPTER I. Ver. 1. In the beginning ; i.e., of all things, since all things have had a beginning, and are not eternal as God is. All crea tion is temporal, and time was created with it. But in the be ginning, when all things came into existence, there existed already the Word (St John i. 1). It never was created, had no beginning in time ; and through the Word was everything in the beginning created. Created. — " To create," in Scripture language, always means, to call forth something into real existence. Heaven and earth are created, and not, as the heathens imagined, merelv formed out of matter already existing. This teaching raises the reve lation of Holy Scripture above the whole heathen wisdom, which never could soar beyond the notion of opposition between God and the world, Spirit and nature. And still is the doctrine of GENESIS I. 1. 17 the creation the boundary-line betwixt Christianity and the speculations of philosophy. God. — Where in the Old Testament, in our translation, the word" God" stands, there in the Hebrew is the word "Elohim" (which signifies strictly, "the One to be feared, to be reverenced"). Where the word " Lord " occurs, it is commonly in Heb. " Jeho vah." Elohim is properly a plural, " the Beings to be feared ;" it has, however, the verb in the singular. Elohim is the more general name, answering somewhat to our word "Deities," and is therefore used also of the gods of the heathen. The Plural "Deities" ex presses the comprehensiveness of all Divine attributes. This more general word " God " describes the Almighty in His relation as Creator and Lord of the world, whose " eternal power and god head" might be known by the heathen, as declared in the works of creation (Rom. i.19,20). Theword "Jehovah," properly expressed " Jahaveh " (the Jews, out of superstitious fear of uttering this word, placed the vowels of " Adonaj " [Lord] under " Jahaveh," and read this word instead of " Jahaveh"), means Him " who is ;" i. e., the true, only, eternal Self-existent. This word represents always the living, personal God, in His revealed character, in His covenanted relations to man (see Exod. iii. 14). Where the true God appears in His character as the " Creator " (as here), where the serpent (ch. iii. 2), where the heathen (ch. xx. 4) use His name; again, in the description of the flood (ch. vi. 11), of the dispersion of mankind (ch. ix. 10), — in all these cases the word God, Elohim, occurs : but where, in the revelation of Himself in the prayers and sacrifices of men, the covenanted relation be tween the personal God and mankind is prominently repre sented (e.