Ver, 6,-Whoso sheddeth. Literally, he fessor Lewis, who quotes Jona hen Gannach shedding, i. e. wilfully and unwarmntably; in its support. Shall. Not merely a per- nnd not simply accidentally, for which kind mission legnlising, but an imperative com- of mnnslaughter the law afterwards pro- mand enjoining, capital punishment, the vided (vide Num. xxxv. 11) ; or judwially, reason for which follows. For in the image for thnt is commanded by the present statute. of God made he man. To apply this to Man's blood. Literally, blood of the man, the magistracy (Bush, Murphy, Keil), who humo.n blood. By man. Not openly and are sometimes in Scriptnre styled Elobim directly by God, but by man himself, acting (Ps. lxxxii. 6), and the ministers of God of course as Gotl's instrument and ai;ent-an (Rom. xiii. 4), and who may be said to instruction which involved the settmg up of have been made in the Divine image in the the magisterial office, by whom the sword sense of being endowed with the capacity of might be borne (" Hie igitur fons est, ex ruling and judging, seems forced and un- quo manat totum jus civilo etjus gentium." natural ; the clause obviously assigns the -Luther. Cf. Nurn. xxxv. 29-31; Rom. original dignity of man (ef. eh. i. 28) as the xiii. 4), and equally laid a basis for the reason ,vhy the murderer cannot be suffered law of the goel subsequently established in to escape (Calvin, Poole, Alford, 'Speaker's Isrnel (Deut. xix. 6 ; Josh. xx. 3). The Commentary,' Candlish, Lange) Chaldeo paraphrases, "with witnesses by Ver. 7.-And you, be ye fruitful, and sentence of the judges." The LXX. sub- multiply ; bring forth abundantly in the stit•1tes for "by man" civri rou a'iµarot;: earth, and multiply therein. Vide on abroii-an interpretation followed by Pro- ver. 1.
HOMILETICS. Vera. 1-7.-New arrangements for a new era. I. PROVISION FOR THE INC,P,EASI!! OF 'l'HE HUMAN FAMILY. 1. The proximate instrumentality - the ordinance of marriage (vers. 1, 7), which was - (1) .A. Divine institution appointed by God in Eden (cf. eh. ii. 22, and Matt. xix. 5). (2) A sacred institution. Every ordinance of God's appointment, it may be said, is in a manner holy ; but a special sanctity attaches to that of marriage. God attested the estimation in which be held it by visiting the world's corruption, which had principally come through its desecra- tion, with the waters of a flood. (3) A permanent institution, being the same in its nature, uses, and ends that it had been from the beginning, only modified to suit the changing circumstances of man's condition. Prior to the fall it was exempt from any of those imperfections which in human experience have clung to it ever since. Subsequent to the melancholy entrance of sin, there was superadded to the lot of woman an element of pain and sorrow from which she had been previously free; and though anterior to the Flood it had been grossly abused by man's licentious- ness, after it, we cannot doubt, it was restored in all its original purity, though still with the curse of sorrow unremoved. 2. The originating cause-the Divine bless- ing (vers. 1, 7), without which-(1) The marriage bed would not be fruitful (Ps. cxxvii. 3). Cf. the casP. of Rachel (eh. x.x.x. 2), of Hannah (1 Sam. i. 11), of Ruth (Ruth iv. 13), (2) The married life woitld not be holy. What marriage is and leads to when dissociated from the fear of God had already been significantly displayed upon the theatre of the antediluvian world, and is abundantly declared in Scripture, iloth by precept (eh. xxiv. 3; x.xviii. 1; Exod. xxxiv. 16; Deut. vii. 3, 4; Josh. xxiii. 12, 13; 2 Cor. vi. 14) and example; e. g., the Israelites (Judges iii. 6, 7), Sam- son (Judg·es xiv. 1-16), Solomon (1 Kings iii. 1), Jews (Ezra ix. 1-12). (3) The marriage tie would not be sure. As ungodliness tends to violate the marriage law by sins of polygamy, so, without the fear of God, there is no absolute security that the bond may not be broken by adultery and divorce (cf. eh, xix. 5, 8; xxxv. 22; 2 Sam. xi. 1-5; Mark vi. 17, 18). II. PROVISil>N Fon TUE PROTECTION OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. 1. Against the world of animals. (1) In Eden such protection was not required, wllil having been con- stituted lord of the inferior creation, and the beasts of the field never rising to dis- pute his c.uthority, bis rule being characterised by gentleness and love (eh. ii. 20). (2) After the fall such protection was incomplete. A change having passed upon the master, there is reason to suppose that a corresponding change transpired upon the servant. The moral order of the world having been dislocated, a like instability would doubtless invade those economical arrangements that depended on man for THE BOOK OF GENESIS. [OH, IX, 1-7,