PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis
Thomas Whitelaw [1840-1917] · 541,608 words · 594 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 1
'fHE PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY l'EIE VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OF GLOUCESTER; AND BY THF. REV. JOSEPH S, EXELL, M.A. WlTII INTRODUCTIONS BY TIIE VERY REV. F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S., DEAN OF CANTERBGRY, RIGHT REV. H. COTTERILL, D.D., F.R.S.E. VERY REV. PRINCIPAL J. TULLOCH, D.D. REV. CANON G…
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important than any other kind of knowledge, doM not entitlo any one to an opinion of the smnllest '\"Rlne on the removal of exegetical difficultiM, or on difficult nnd dubioue questions of fart or doctrine. The remark of St. Jerome, that in hie day there wns no old womRn Bo ignorRTit and eo stupid ae not to hold her…
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from heaven, equipollent in all lta parte," but contoine the remnantR of a lihrnry, the inspired frngmente of o national literature, preeerved for us by God's providence out of much that hos pneeed 11woy. To 11ee that thifl is the case we need go no further than the Bible iteelf, which quote■ pass11ges from mony boo…
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mankind of the hroRd, mRin truth11 of hie revelation, has yet inflicted a twofold ITIJury. Thie injury coneM.11 partly in thci perpetuaticn of the virulent projmHce1 and hnNI errol'I! of a loveless religioniem, p11rtly in the niduction of large portions of the Bible, to the condition of a eeven-eealed book, to be op…
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Dut in this divcrBity, so important llnd so precio119, we o.re led nlso to re- cog11isl' 11nother point of the extremest vAlue for II right estimate of the Old Teetn• ment revelntione-nemcly, ite fr11gmentarinees; or prog"Mi'IJfflUI. It wae given to u~ ,roXv,.,p.-:.,-" in many parts." The revelation wae not given al…
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that tho Moenio conooeeion of polygamy was not in itself good, and IHuJ. merely heun gro.nted to the Jews-as a boon evil indeed, but neceesary-becauile of the hurrlnesR l'f their hearts. 1 Although the eabbath bed become to the Jews the very badgl'l oE nationality, and was being more and more identified by them with th…
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1 hat "In Yctcrc Teet11ment.o Novum latet; in Novo TeBtamonto Vctus pntet," The fact that, from the days of Origen onw&t'ds, allegory arid typology have been ell:&g• geritt.ed to a most artificial extent, and that many events and allullione nnd cuetome have been made prophetic of Christ in which nothing of prophecy was…
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• Isa. xi. 1. 8 Rev. :rix. 10. 10 Acts L 43. 11 But useful for this line of study W3 may recommend the beautiful treatise of Davison, ' On Prophecy.' 12 See on this subject the article Bible in Smith's 'Dictionary of the BiLle.' 13 I have illustrated this danger in two papers on • Wresting tho Scriptures' in tho •Ex…
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1111portant on which I could touch-it may now be useful to give a brio£ glance, from 11 homiletic point of view, at the great divisions oi the Old Testament Scriptures. The earliest trace of a classification of the OJ.I Testament books is found in the Prologue to the Dook of Ecclesiaeticus, where '11"8 are told that…
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religion, How con thoy claeh, seeing tliat truth muHt be truth, ancl that Goel reveul~ himself in the £nets of nature no less surely than he reveals himself in his word? If ' the clergy desire to enter into scientific controversies, first let them ncquire tl,e requisite knowledge, and then let them urge their viBwe …
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about the tabernacle and the dress of the priests, hEI will see that there is h:m!ly OM of thoso details, whether of substance, material, or colour, which is not demonstrnhly eymbolicnl, and which did not tend to the one purpose of witnessing to the presence nnd holiness of God.I This is sWI more the case with the whol…
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to keep God in his remembrance. The days of BOITOW came, and he flung hitneelf with sincere repentance into his Father's arms." 1 But even over hie repentance crept the insincerity of formalism. In the days of his idolatry Israel murdered the rrophets ; in the days of his Pharisaism he crucified the Christ. Yet thro…
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mencement of a renl decndence, It produced the revolt in the reign of RP,hobo~m. Isrnel and Judah split asunder for ever. The ten tribes apostatised into calf worRhip and Boal worship, and for 250 years, through a list of six unhappy dynasties and nineteen unhappy kings, of whom not one was good, their story dragged…
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psRlrnists we haYe Rs it were the iYy e.nd the passion-flowers which t\vine around its bole. But it is in lyric poetry thRt the Hebrew genius most characteristically dis• played iteelf, and in its songs we have, e.e Luther said, "a garden in which the fairest flowers bloom, but oYer which there blow tempestuous ,vin…
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In the celebrated chapel of King's College, Cambridge, the huge windows of itained glass are filled on one side with subjects from the Old Testament, and on the other with subjects from the New; and often on summer days the student who walks on one side may see the windows nearest to him blazing with sunlight which st…
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r~alm I with which the Dook of Psalms commence~, and which appears to be, a1 Jerome s1tys, "the preface of the Holy Spirit" to thoa whole book, represents the mnn <in whom God pronounces blessings as one whose "delight is in the la,v of Jehovah nn<l in his lnw doth be meditate dny and night." In other psalms the wri…
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ChriHI, ll,nt very serious errors, even nmong those who nre zet1lous for the "great things of God's linv," nmy nrise from the hnbit of treating the law given by MoHes curRorily nnd superficially, !la hardly necessary to us in the clearer light of the gospel. '!'hey remind us that much, which to the careless student …
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1.rn(hs arc nil h11.sed on thoso profound relntions helween the law and the gospel, which he di~cuseee so fully nnd exactly in his Epistles to the Galntians nnd the Homans. And it must be remembered thnt while no one so clearly oxhibite tl10 lnw in its 1tspcct of law, ns the opposite pole to the gospel, yet it ie St…
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LAW BEFORE THE FALL. 7. For the ~rigin of Divine la,v, both as regards those fundamental principleg of the religious and 'moral duty of man of which "the law" is the formal exponent, anr1 in respect of the reasons· whi.ch mnke law, in its strict sense, necessary for man as man, we must look' to that history of creatio…
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gnt.ion. For exnmple, Hookcr, 1 in opening hia argumont on law, defines it thns: "Tlrnt which doth n11sign unto ench thing the kind, thnt which doth modcmte tho forco nnd power, thnt which doth nppoint the form nnd measure, of working, the Mmo wo term o. lnw." And he distinguishes four kind11 of lnw: (1) "Th9 law w…
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Mosaic teaching. Vlhen we pass to the New Testnment we find that Christ mor& than once, refers expressly to the prime.I state of mnn ne supplying the standard by v,hich the law itself must be interpreted. These cases we shn\l examine hcrenfter, St.. Paul nnd other npostolic writers not unfrcquently base duties ,vhic…
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marking dislinotly Urnt man, in hie bodily nature, is related to the rest of creatP,d flelng, which Ima in him its completion, the creation of man has not a day to itself; 1 It is not sopamtod from the creation of the lower animals even so widely aR that is from the creation of the vegetable kingdom. Man is reminded th…
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nnture, a relntion which "the law" gh·cn by God through Moses fil'!lt expreaely revealed. 11. (III.) But the history of creatkin supplies the foundation not only of the rela- tions between God and man, and of eaoh man with every other individual of the human race, but also of tlie socio.I rolationa of the various m…
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nnve fonncl II. be.sis for nil those fundamental principles of religion and morality which tho universal conscience of rn:m cannot but recognise. We trace distinctly tho lines of a Divine order, to which the nature of man, created aa he is in God's imago oncl liltonese, itself bears witness. But it is certain, not only…
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crntive power, inc-h1dee the whole of the work of redemption, a ,vork in n higher sphere of epiritual power, and more truly Divine, and one which, except in the eternal couneele of the Almighty, in which it W68 ordained before the tonndatione of the eartn ,r-ere laid, conld not begin until the finit Ad11n1 had been …
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pntrlnrchnl times before the giving of the MoRaic law. It is Rufficient t1J say, on the one hrmrl, that both in the Scriptural history of man during that period, and in many nntions of the Gentile world even to the preRent day, indicationR are found of a hebclomndal division of time,1 which cannot easily be accounted…
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()f his spiritnnl life, but. also in order that man, haYing n body by nature morta] 1 might haYe life in that body. Thero is nothing to indicate that man's body, thong·h free from concupiscence nnd sin, would naturally, without that righteousness which is the result of obedience to a law, be exempt frotn the decay c…
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the Foll. We need not dwell on this further than as it affects our argument. The necessity for s:m10 external 11nd positive law in pamdise we have concluded from general considerations, as well as from some to which the teachings of the New Testa- ment direct us. The force and meaning of the particular prohibition a…
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thid "·crc. offererl do not 11ppC1nr to have originated in any express command of God though lie ma~• hitve intimated to Adam himself, ae to Abel, his acceptnnce of sue!~ olforing-s. Abel's offering was nccepted na the expression of his faith; but there is 11othing- to prove thnt the offering of Cain, thoup;h reject…
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21. But, before we enter on any discussion of this important subject, it will be well first to examine briefly how far, independently of any express revelat.ion from God either to man or through man,- at all events any known to us,-the Divine onler, which man being created in God's image to some extent recognises, and …
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23. The cho.rncterislics of Egyptian law, so fnr as they arc known to UB, arc well worth noticing The ohject of tho laws was to preserve life 1md reclaim th<l offender; and therefore capital punishment was not inflicted except in caijeB of murrler, and of eomo £ow otLor crimes specially injurious to the community. But …
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independent confinnntion of that which in this argument ho.a been derived eimply from the Scripture history of man, viz. that human law, in order to bo the baeie of nntional life, 11111st be thll nssertion of principles of the Divine order which rnnn'e nature, 11s n whole, recognises. I prefer to use the languagll o…
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26. There is, however, onothor part of the world with the history of which we are more fnmilior th1m with thone of Egypt, or China, or even of India, and in this history the actual process of the development of law may be more exactly traced from its elementary principles to its matured forms. Maine, in his well-known …
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nn,i prop<'rty, "·hich nrc the. preciO!ls rcsnl!s of fnl1y-developc1l hnmnn lnw, lie out6ide the purposes for which the Divine law was necessnry. Dut it must be remembered that DiYine lnw hnd to fulfil these purposes, as St. Pnul tonchee ue, hy its being truly law, and not merely a code of moral and religious precep…
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•rlltlual dntica nru.l responsibilities of nil human rcbtions. It is nho ccrbin, ,is has been nlrondy intimated, that hnman 11w l,as indirectly aider! religion, hy ennbling mnn to understand more clearly, and appreciate more fully, the relations between the Divine law nnd tho gospel of Christ. But it has been only t…
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of law in its slrictcst and fullest ~cnso, ns commanded by an auth,irity which man could_ not question, imp?sing obligations of all the strongest, mid enforced by the ■ anctwns of a power winch none could resist. 28_- It_ is impor~ant that this definite idra of law should be present to our mind in cons1dermg the hi…
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30. The promulgation of the Divine law from Mount Sinai is described twice in the Torah, first as part of the history in the nineteenth and hventieth chapters of Exodus, and a second time, with some slight modifications, in the addresses made by Moses to •the people before his death. 1 The event was one, as Moses remin…
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but by tho very finger of God. It is emphatically said by Moses of the lnw Urn$ gi,en, '' And he added no more." 31. ,~hat then were these ten solemn words proclaimed to the chosen nntion by the ,oice of God with such awful testimonies of his dreadful presence and almighty power? Simple enough they !leem to men now…
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love lii111, Ainco iltis is tlio principle which alone will prevent us from doing l,irn any injury; and if it is right to love him, it is wrong not to love him. And thus it follows tho.t every commandment of God's law reveals to us all that in that sphere we are either commanded or forbidden to do. 1 But there is indee…
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hut may lrn,c n ro11crC'fo form and substantial reality, through the definite lince of thought, foC'ling, and net.ion, which law mnrks out. Or, as that Apostle said, who of nil men spoke most fully and most profoundly of love both to God and to man: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God…
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duty to onr neighbour, wo will examine them in order, RO as to determine the distinct principle which each embodies. 36. (I.) The first commandment, as oxpressing tJie most fundamental of all prin- ciples, vii. tho unity of God, is, in a certain sense, the basis and root of the whole lnw. In it he who wae in covenant …
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of Goll, that ho specially needs to ho rcrnindctl t.hat "Go(I will not hold him g-11iltles~ that takclh his mime in vain." On the other hand, regarding the law in its positive aspect, 'l\·e must obsen•e that tho whole force and scope of the dnty which man o~rns to God under this head can only be completely expounded …
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:htiee as to the othor. For the nnthority of parenfa is to b1: respected and their persons aro to be honoured, beco.uso they represent God to ns, from whom the paren tr.l rela- tion is derived 11.nd in whom it i~ constitute<l. 1 And certainly we rnny adapt to this cnso the nrgument which St. John uses mure generally: …
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innocence indicates,-firet, "for the mutual society, help, and comfort which one ought to have of the other;" secondly, "for the procreation of children, to bo brought up in the fear nnd nmture of the Lord, and to the praise of his holy no.me;" o.nd thirdly, to preserve the purity of human life ngainst the lusts of the…
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consoience a yet deeper foundation of these duties than any which human intereats can supply. For the ethical virtues of love, purity, honesty, and truth are in ma.n t.he counterpart of God's own perfections, and all that is contrary to these perfectiona must be, in the nature of things, sinful, because it is the contr…
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!lentenC'e~ by the light of tl1c knowledg11 and experience that God has vonchsafed to man during the int.en·cning pe1iod 1 we find in them a profound eignificnnce, I\ completeness, a harmony, and a due proportion of morn\ and spiritual truth, euch ne afford proofs of their Divine power and authority, far clearer 1tn…
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dcntli, und "brought life and immortality to light through tl1e gospel."' At the Bllme time it must be remembered that Christ himself teaches us tbnt the language o.l: the Toralt itself implies both the immortality of the soul, and even the resm- rcction of the body. 2 THE SECONDARY LAWS. 48. If the law given to Isra…
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49. Those secondary laws which concern man's relations to God include all that are ritual or ceremonial, or are in any sense religious. In regard to these we must first of all recall to mind some general principles, affecting and governing the whole ritual and ceremonial system, which explain, what otherwise would h…
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TheHe principles nro apoci111ly exemplified in the sacrificial system, which was thfl centre of the ceremoninl luw, nnd the key to 1111 its observances and requirements. The qlloslion of tho typical meoning of these, that is, the 11spect of the Mosaical riteR nnd ceremonies, when viewed in the full knowledge of the …
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In patriarchal times, sacrifices were offered by the head of the family, though the case of Melchizedec and probably also that of Jethro 1 are instanoes of a priest- hood among the servants of the true God ; while in heathen lands, ae in Egypt, the priests had long held the position of a privileged class. At the tim…
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62. (2) Again, the law, while adopting generally sacrifice as a suitable method of worshipping God, made very complete and elaborate provisions both as to the ritual of sacrifice, and as to the different kinds of offerings. These regulations, beside8 guarding against abuses of the rite, were obviously intended, and wer…
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which it was giYcn to man. Of this ceremonial law it is true that every "jot n11d tittle" must be fulfilled, not only by Obrist himself" A.I! born under the lnw," or in Christ ns the antitype and subst:.anoe of these shadows and figures, but, in their spirit, by the disciples of Christ. For the principles of the worshi…
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Tm!: CrvrL L.&ws OF TUE MosArc Comi:. 54. Those secondnry lows, given by Moses, which were the development and npplicntion of the fund11ment11I principles of man's duty to his neighbour, are, ns before observed, intermingled in the T01'ak with those of a religious and cere- monial character. The reasone for this we …
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that the judges, representing the congregation, determined respecting one who hnd taken refuge, aecording to the evidence of witneseee,1 what the punishment should be. Adultery, c,en when the women was only betrothed, was punished by the denth of both offenders. Since the most precious poeseeeion of man is hie own per…
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66. (2) But to renliee thie it is important that we should look at these civil laws of Moses from a different aspect from that of their "sanctions." Few ChriRtians, even though reverent students of the Bible, sufficiently appreciate the fact that these lawa do embody, and aometimes express in the very words, those prin…
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57. In our rapid survey of the secondary laws of the Torah, we have found no difficulty in proving,-for indeed the evidence lies (we may almost say) on the sur- face of the record,-that the principles embodied in the religious and ceremonial laws are none other than those which are necessary to the Christian under a be…
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Mozley. 1 In regnr<l to some questions in the Moe&ic la,v with which he deals, par- ticularly those of the 111w of retaliation and of the Goel, he does not 11ppear to distin- guish sufficiently between the law as representing God's justice, and the lawns n guk'e to man's conscience, or indeed to give due weight to c…
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of hie own will submitting to it; moral evil, in hie departing from that order, whether by omission or by positive action, through the l1r16vµla ( or desire for that which he has not) in a nature not regulated in accordance with that order. It necessnily follows from these considerations, that moral good and evil in …
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of man wee not et that period prepared for ite abolition, nor would human eociety have benefited by Bllch interferel'lce, The Mosaic legislation recognised it ,vhile ae in the caee of the law of marriage, it greatly ameliorated the condition' of th~ bondsmM and bondswoman, especially of those of the Hebrew nation, w…
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Yet it was not until the publication by Astruc (1753) of what has since become known as the hypothesis of documents that the contrary belief of the post-:Mosnio origin of the Penta.teuch was able to make progress; but since then it has advanced with gigantic and rapid strides, more particularly in Germany, where it hns…
677 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.