'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. RAWLINSON, M.A. REV. A. PLUMMER, M.A., D.D.
NEW EDITION.
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY LONDON AND NEW YORK 1907 PRJNTBD BV WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS1 LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLBS, PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED Rx THE
VERY IlEV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OJ' GLOUCESTEB;
AND BY THE
REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A.
GENESIS. J!nttobuctions 8Y THE VERY REV, F. W. FABRAR, D.D., DEAN OF OANTERBURY; RIGHT REV. H. COTTERILL, D.D.; REV. T. WHITELA.W, M.A..
(Exposition anJJ f!1omil2tics BY REV. THOMAS WHITELAW, M.A. ll'!omflf2s bu 1:latious ~utbou. VERY REV. J. F. MONTGOMERY, D,D, REV. PROF.R. A. REDFORD, M.A., LL.B. BEV, W. ROBERTS, M,A, REV. F, HASTINGS,
NEW EDITION.
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY LONDON AND NE\V YORK 19Qj GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO
THE OLD TESTAMENT. BY Tl!JI:
VERY REV. F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S., DEAN OF CANTERBURY.
IT is clear that it would be impossible to use to any good purpose the small apace at my command without the most rigid limitation of the object in view, If it were my duty to enter into the masses of literary and critical questions which affect the date and authorship, the unity and special difficulties, of the books of the Old Testa- ment, it would require a much larger space to furnish an adequate introduction to any one of them. In these few pages it would, for instance, be difficult to treat fully of the single question which meets us as soon as we begin to study even the Book of Genesia, namely, what a.re the true inferences to be drawn from the use of the different names of God-now Jehovah, now Elohim, and now both together, or in terchangea.bly-which we find in the first chapters of the Bible. 1 For the discussion of all such questions the reader must turn to the Introdnctions to the several books, or to other sources. My present task is directly limited by the character oJ: this Commentary as essentially HOMILETIC, I am required to furnish some suggestions respecting the use to be made of the Old Testament, the methods to be followed, and the principles to be kept in view, in dealing with it for purposes of religious instruction, Now exegesis is one thing, and pulpit exhortation is another. A man may be a most useful preacher-he may have great powers of oratory, and may be enabled to enforce many practical and religious lessons with fervour and acceptance-without any pretence to the learning which is essential to a profound and thorough knowledge of Scripture. And such men are sometimes misled into the supposition that they can speak with authority on the meaning and interpretation of particular passages. The supposition is entirely baseless. Any man may gather for his own use, and that of others, the manna. which lies everywhere upon the surface of the grolllld ; but no man can without labour become master of all the hidden treasures which lie beneath. Holy Scripture contains all things necessary to salvation. A Christian child, an ignorant peasant, may have a deeper and more spiritual appreciation of all that is most necessary for the inner life of the regenerate soul than is possessed by the greatest master in Israel. But this saving knowledge, though infinitely more 1 Jehovah, for instance, occurs in twelve consecutive passages in Gen. L-ix., and Elohim in fifteen consecutive passages. For a brief examination of the subject, see 'Quarry on Genesis,' passim, and the' Speaker's Commentary,' i. pp. 21-30. GENESIS. b ii GEKERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT.