But Genesis is neither like the Vedas, a collection of hymns more or less sublime; nor like the Zendavcsta, a philosophic speculation on the OMgin of all things; nor like the Yih-king, an unintelligible jumble whose expositors could twist it from a cos moloLiical essay into a standard treatise on ethical philosojjhy (Hard wick, Christ and other Masters, III, i, IG). It is a historj', and it is a religious history. The earlier portion of the book, as far as the end of the eleventh chapter, may properly be termed a history of the woild; the latter is a history of the fathers of the Jewish race. But from first to last it is a religious history : it begins with the creation of the world and of man ; it tells of the early happiness of a paradise in which God spake with man ; of the first sin and its consequences ; of the promise of redemption ; of the gigantic growth of sin, and the judgment of the Flood ; of a new earth, and a new covenant with man, its unchangeableness typified b}' the bow in the heavens ; of the dispersion of the human race over the world. It then passes to the storj' of redemption ; to the promise given to Abra- ham, and renewed to Isaac and to Jacob, and to all that chain of circumstances which paved the waj' for the great symbolic act of Redemption, when M'ith a mighty hand and a stretched out arm Jehovah brought his people out of Egypt.
It is very important to bear in mind this religious aspect of the history if we would put oiu'selvcs in a po- sition rightly to understand it. Of course the facts must be treated like any other historical facts, sifted in the same way, and subjected to the same laws of evi- dence. But if we would judge of the work as a whole we must not forget the evident aim of the writer. It is only in this way we can understand, for instance, why the history of the Fall is given with so much minuteness of detail, whereas of whole generations of men we have nothing but a bare catalogue. Only in this way, too, can we account for the fact that b}' far the greater portion of the book is occupied, not with the fortunes of nations, but witli the biograpliies of tho three patriarchs. For it was to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob that God revealed himself. It was to
GENESIS
777
GENESIS
them that the promise was given, which Avas to be tlie hope of Israel till "the fulness of the time" should come. Hence to these wandering sheiks attaches a grandeur and an interest greater tlian that of the Ba- bels and Ninirods of the world. The minutest circum- stances of their lives are worthier to be chronicled than the rise and fall of empires. Tliis is not merely from the patriotic feeling of the writer as a Jew, but from his religious feeling as one of the chosen race. He lived in the land given to the fathers ; he looked for the seed promised to the fatliers, in whom himself and all the families of tlie earth should be blessed. See Abra-
IIA.M.
II. Vnitij of Design. — This venerable monument, with wliich the sacred literature of the Hebrews com- mences, and which forms its real basis, is divided into two main parts; one universal, and one special. The most ancient history of the whole human race is con- tained in chapters i-xi, and the history of Israel's an- cestors, the patriarchs, in chapters xii-1. These two parts are, Iiowever, so intimately connected with each other tliat it would be en-oneous to ascribe to the first merelj'^ the aim of furnishing a universal history. That a distinct plan and method characterize the work is now generally admitted. This is acknowledged, in fact, quite as much bj^ those who contend for, as by those who denj' the existence of different documents in the book. Ewald and Tuch are no less decided advo- cates (if the unity of Genesis, as far as its ]ilan is con- cerned, than Kanlvc or Hengstenberg. Ewald, indeed (in liis Ciimposittoii der Genesis), was the first who es- taljlished it satisfactorily, and clearly pointed out the principle on wliich it rests.
AVliat, then, is the plan of the writer? First, we must bear in mind that Genesis is, after all, but a por- tion of a larger work. The five books of the Penta- teucli form a consecutive whole : they are not merely a collection of ancient fragments loosely strung to- gether, but, as we shall prove elsewhere, a well-digest- ed and connected composition. See Pentateuch.
The great subject of tliis history is the establishment of the theocracy. Its central point is the giving of the law on Sinai, and the solemn covenant there rati- fied, whereby the Jewish nation was constituted "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to Jehovah." With reference to this great central fact all the rest of the narrative is grouped.
Israel is tlie people of God. God rules in the midst of them, having chosen tliem to himself. But a nation must have laws, therefore he gives them a law ; and, in virtue of their peculiar relationship to God, this bod}' of laws is both relij:ious and political, defining their duty to God as well as their duty to their neigh- bor. Fiirtlier, a nation must have a land, and the promise of the land and the preparation for its posses- sion are all along kept in view.