SJIEM ARPEAXAD 100 35 500 403 600 438 100 135 600 303 600 438 100 135 500 400 I 600 535 (Kaiv<iv) 130 330 460 SALAII 30 403 433 130 303 433 130 330 460 EBER 34 430 464 131 270 40! 13! 270 40! PELEG. 30 209 239 130 109 239 130 209 339 REU 32 207 239 132 107 239 132 207 339 SERUG 30 200 230 130 100 230 130 200 330 NA.Ron 29 119 148 79 69 148 179 125 304 Tl>lR.AlI 70 135 205 70 75 145 70 135 205 890 1040 1270 Fro.Ill this table it nppears that 292 years, 175 ==: 367 between the Floo,l aml the call uf according to the Hebrew text, pnssed away Abraham. Reckoning, however, the age ol between the Flood uml tb a birth, or 292 , Tcrah nt Abram's birth ns 130 (viM Ex• 172 TllE BOOK OF GENESlS. (cH. XI. 10-28.
position), the full period between the Deluge numbers would be entirely nt fault. 'l'his con- and the patriarch's doparture from Haran sideration might have gone far to explain the = ,viii be 367 + 60 427 years, which, allomng wide divergence between the numbers of the five pairn to eech family, Murphy computes, Saruaritim nnd Septuagint as compared with would in the course of ten generations yield the Hebrew text, had it not been that they a population of 15,625,000 souls ; or, sup- both agree with it iu setting down seventy as posing a rate of increase equal to that of the ago of Terah at the dat.o of Abro.m's Abraham's posterity in Egypt during the birth. Tho palpable artificiality also of 400 years that elapsed from the call to the these later t.'tblcs renders them oven Jess exodus, the inhabitants of the world in the worthy of credit than the Hebrew. The time of Abraham woulcl be between seven and introduction by the LXX. of Cainan 11s eight millions. It must, however, be remem- the son of Arphaxad, though seemingly bered that an element of uncertainty enters confirmed by Luke (Luke iii. 35, 36), is into all computations based upon even the clearly an interpolation. It does not occur Hebrew text. The age of Ter:i.h at the birth in the LXX. version of l Chron. i. 24, (apparently) of Abram is put down at seventy. and is not found in either the Samaritan But it admits of demonstration that Abram Pentateuch, the Targums or the ancient ver- was born in the 130th year of Terah. What sions, in J osepb us or Philo, or in the Codex guarantee then do we possess that in every Beza of the Gospel of Luke. Its appearance i ustance the registered son was the first born 1 in Luke (and probably also in the LXX.) can Jn the casa of Arphaxad this is almost im- only be explained as an interpolation. Words- plied in the statement that ho was born two worth is inclined to regard it as authentic in years after the Flood. But if the case of Luke, and to suppose that Cainaan was ex- Eber were parallel with that of Terah, and cluded from the Mosaic table either to render J oktan were the son that he begat in his it symmetrical, as Luke's table is rendered thirty-fourth year, then obviously the birth of symmetrical by its insertion, or because of Peleg, like that of Abram, may have happened some moral offence, which, though necessi- sixty yelll'B later; in which case it is apparent tating his expulsion from a Hebrew register, that any reckoning which proceeded on the would not prevent his ro11ppearance in his minute verbal accuracy of the registered proper place under the gospel.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 10-26.-From Shem to A.fo·am. I. THE s;c/ABATION OF THE GODLY SEED. The souls th:it constitute the Church of God upon the earth are always, as these Hebrew patriarchs-I. Known to God; and that not merely in the mass, but as indi- viduals, or units; nor simply superficially and slightly, but minutely and thoroughly. He knows the fathers they descend from, thP families they belong to, the names by which they are designated, the number of years they live, and the children they leave behind them on the earth (cf. Ps. i. 6; 2 Tim. ii. 19). 2. Separated by Cod. This was one of the great ends contemplated by the division of the people which happened in the days of Peleg, which was designed to eliminate the Shemites from the rest of mankind. Then the migration of the sons of Eber contributed further to the isolation of the children of the promise. And, lastly, the selection of the 1,on, not always the firstborn, through whom the hope of the gospel was to be carried on tended in the same direction. So God afterwards separated Ierael from the na- tions. So be still by his providence and bis word calls 011t and separates his people from the world (cf. 1 Kings viii. _53; 2 Cor. vi. 17). 3. H?noured_ before G?d_; by being selected as the vessels of his grae;e, the channels _of his prom10e, the mm1sters of his gospel, and the messengers of bis covenant, w~1le others are passed by; nnd by being written in God's hoe:~. of remembrance, wh1I~ ot~~rs are for&'~tten (cf. 1 Sam. ii. 30 • Ps. xci. 15 • Mai. m. 16 ; Matt. x. 32; 2 Tim. 11. 20; Hev. 111. 5). II. THE 'sHOBTENING ~F HUMAN LIFE. A second characteristic of the postdiluvian era. 1. A patent fact. Even Shem, the longest liver of the men of this period, did 11ot continue on the earth so long as La.mech, the shortest liver of the previous age, OH, XI. 10-26.] THE BOOK OF GENESIS 17S