they are placed. Thus, having described in very simple, but grand and impressive, language the work of the Creation, he says that 'Elohim saw all that He had made, and behold! it was very good,' i.31. And so, according to this writer, the Sabbath was instituted, ii.1-3, a day of rest and refreshment for man and beast, in remembrance of Elohim's resting 'from all the work which He had created and made.' 45. At the end of 2000 years, however, a grievous change had passed over the scene: 'The earth was corrupted before Elohim, and the earth was filled with violence; and Elohim saw the earth, and behold! it was corrupted; for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth,' vi.12. And then he describes the judgment of the Flood, when 'All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died, and Noah only was left, and they that were with him in the Ark,' vii.22,23. The Elohist, therefore, manifestly had a deep sense of sin and its consequences. Yet still, after this, once more in his story is the blessing renewed, as at first, 'Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth,' ix.1,7. No curse is passed upon the earth, no woe inflicted permanently, on man in respect of the labours of the field, or on woman in regard to the pains of childbirth. An 'everlasting covenant' is made with man, and with every living creature of all flesh,' that no such judgment should ever again be inflicted upon the earth. As a sign of this covenant the bright bow of Elohim is set in the sky. Into man's hand are all things given; only blood, 'which is the life,' shall not be eaten, ix.2-4. Though man has greatly sinned, and 'corrupted his way,' and 'filled the earth with violence,' yet still is he reminded that he is made in the image of Elohim,' and therefore his life is awfully sacred, 'Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of Elohim made He man,' ix.6. 46. In short the Elohist knows nothing about the garden of Eden, the forbidden fruit, the wily serpent, the whole story of the Fall, by which, as Dr. THOMAS BURNET says, Arch. Phil.p.295, The work elaborated through six days, and that by the Hand of Omnipotence, was destroyed by the infamous beast in so many hours. 6 It is only the Jehovist, who multiplies curses,' and regards the work of agriculture and the pains of childbirth as the bitter consequences of our first parents' sin. It is only he that speaks of the 'sweat of the brow,' the very privilege and pledge of human health and happiness, as only to be considered a sign of his degradation, a token of his guilt and shame. 47. And, in accordance with the above, it is the Jehovist who gives us all the darkest parts of the histories of individual life. While no stain of moral weakness is attached by the older writer to the character of any one of the three patriarchs, in the other parts of Genesis we find each of them exhibited as grievously faulty in some particular. It is here only that we meet with incidents such as these. (i) the disobedience of Adam and Eve, iii.6; (i) the murderous jealousy of Cain, iv.8; (iii) the violence of Lamech, iv.23,24 ; (iv) the intercourse of angels with the 'daughters of men,' vi.2,4; (v) the drunkenness of Noah, ix.21; (vi) the irreverence of Ham, ix.21,22,24; (vii) the presumption of the Babel-builders, xi.1–9; (viii) the cowardice and insincerity of Abraham, xii.11-13; (ix) the greed and selfishness of Lot, xiii. 10,11,13; (x) the insolence of Hagar, xvi.4; (xi) the jealousy and severity of Sarah, xvi.5,6; (xii) the untruthfulness of Sarah, xviii.15; (xiii) the uncleanness of Sodom, xix.4,5; (xiv) the unnatural proposal of Lot, xix.8; (xv) the sin and punishment of Lot's wife, xix.26; (xvi) the incestuous conduct of Lot and his daughters, xix.30-38; (xvii) the cowardly insincerity of Abraham repeated, xx.11-13; (xviii) the petulant behaviour of Ishmael, xxi.9; (xx) the partiality of Isaac and Rebekah, xxv.28; (xxi) the selfish over-reaching of Jacob, xxv.31,33; (xxii) the reckless impatience of Esau, xxv.32; (xxiii) the weakness of Isaac, like his father's, xxvi.7; (xxiv) the gross deceitfulness of Rebekah, xxvii.1–17; (xxv) the ready lying of Jacob, xxvii.19,20,24; (xxvi) the deadly hatred of Esau, xxvii.41, xxxii.7,11; (xxvii) the subtlety and fraud of Laban, xxix.23; (xxviii) Jacob's unkind neglect of Leah, xxix.30,31-34, xxx.15; (xxix) the passionate envy of Rachel, xxx.1,8; (xxx) the dishonest duplicity of Jacob, xxx.37-43; (xxxi) the covetous greed of Laban, xxxi.7,8,41,42; (xxxii) the idolatrous conduct of Rachel, &c. xxxi.19, xxxv.2,4; (xxxiii) the abject fear of Jacob, xxxii.7,11,20; (xxxiv) the supple servility of Jacob, xxxiii.3,8,10; (xxxv) the sly pretext of Jacob, xxxiii.13-15; (xxxvi) the dishonour of Dinah, xxxiv.2,31; (xxxvii) the treacherous guile of the sons of Jacob, xxxiv.15–17; (xxxviii) the ruthless ferocity of Simeon and Levi, xxxiv.25,30, xlix.5–7; (xxxix) the rapacity of the sons of Jacob, xxxiv.27-29; (x1) the incest of Reuben, xxxv.22, xlix.4; (xli) the talebearings of Joseph, xxxvii.26; (xlii) Jacob's partial fondness for Joseph, xxxvii.3; (xliii) the hatred felt towards Joseph by his brothers, xxxvii.4,8,11; (xliv) the self-conceit of Joseph, xxxvii.10; (xlv) the conspiracy of his brothers to kill him, xxxvii.20; (xlvi) their ill-usage of him, and selling him, xxxvii.24,28; (xlvii) their deceit practised on their father, xxxvii.31,32; (xlviii) the wickedness of Er, Judah's first-born, xxxviii.8; (xlix) the wickedness of Onan, xxxviii.9,10; (1) the deceit practised on Tamar, xxxviii.14; (li) Tamar's incest and Judah's incontinence, xxxviii.18; (lv) Pharaoh's wrath with his officers, xl.2,3,22, xli.10,13; (lvi) Joseph's harsh treatment of his brethren, xlii.9,12,14-17,19,24, xliv.17; (lvii) Joseph's want of truthfulness, xlii.9,12,14,16; (lviii) Joseph's putting a lie in the mouth of his steward, xliv.4,5,15; (lix) Joseph's hard measures with the Egyptians, xlvii. 15,16,20,21: (1x) the dread of Joseph's brethren, lest he should take vengeance upon them after his father's death, 1.15-18. 48. It is true, of course, that together with the darker features of the history there are mixed in X by way of contrast some also of brighter character. Thus we read of Noah's grateful sacrifice, viii.20, of Abraham's obedience, xii. 4a,xxii. 1-10, of his habitual piety, xii.7,8,xiii.4,18, unselfishness, xiii.8,9, courage, xiv.13-16, generosity, xiv.22-24, faith, xv.6, hospitality, xviii.2-8, faithfulness, xviii.19,xxvi.5, humanity, xviii.23-32, fatherly concern, xxiv.3,4,6-8,—of Pharaoh's uprightness, xii. 18-20, Abimelech's integrity and generosity, xx.4-6,14-16, xxvi.9,11, his just rebuke of Abraham, xx.9, and of Isaac, xxvi. 10,-of Isaac's meekness, xxvi.20-22,-of Jacob's diligence, Xxx.29,30,xxxi.38-40,—of Esau's generous conduct, xxxiii.9,12, 15,-of Reuben's kindliness, xxxvii.21,22,xlii.22,37,-of Judah's fraternal, xxxvii.26,27, and filial affection, xliii.8-10,xliv.18–31, -of Jacob's love for his children, xxxvii.34,35,xlii.36,38,xliii. 14, xlv.26–28,xlvi.30,-of Joseph's fidelity, xxxix.2–6,8,21-23, chastity, xxxix.9,10,13, modesty, xl.8,xli.16, patience, xl.14,15, tenderness of heart, xlii.24,xliii.30,xlv.1-15,xlvi.29,1.1,19–21,-of Pharaoh's liberality, xlv.17-20,xlvii.5,6. 49. Yet still the more sombre traits greatly predominate in these portions of Genesis; and especially those stories of impurity, which make so many passages of Genesis totally unfit for public or family-if not for private-reading, are all due to the hand of the Jehovist. And, though we speak of Joseph's tenderness of heart' towards his father and brothers, yet it is hard to reconcile with this those parts of the story, which represent him as having lived for the seven fruitful years in possession of all the power of Egypt, yet never having sent during all that time a single messenger into Canaan, to comfort his father's heart with the tidings of his own existence, or to learn whether his father still lived, and how he and his brother Benjamin fared. 50. It is just as difficult to explain consistently the fact that when Joseph knew by his brothers' report that his father still lived, he, such a dutiful and loving son, allowed his old father to remain for twelve months longer in entire ignorance of his own fate, and made no provision whatever to supply him and his family, and his brothers' families,—at least seventy souls, not reckoning his brothers' wives and servants, xlvi.26,27,-with food during all that time, amidst the straits of that terrible famine, except by sending them, free of expense, as much corn as the ten asses could carry, xlii.25. It is still more impossible to believe that such a tender-hearted son and brother could have left it to the mere chance of his brothers coming again in the following year, whether he should ever hear of his father and Benjamin again, or, when they did come again, could have made the attempt-by lying himself, and teaching his steward to lie to steal Benjamin from his father, as he himself had been stolen, and to send his brothers back to Canaan to carry to the aged patriarch the heart-breaking tidings, that his darling son was seized by the governor of Egypt, and condemned to be treated as a slave for theft, xliv.17. 51. But, indeed, from the composite character of the whole Book of Genesis, it must necessarily follow that we obtain but a broken and distorted view of the life and character of any one of the patriarchs. This is a point of great interest, and, of course, is not at all considered by ordinary readers and expositors of the Bible. We often hear, for instance, the character of Abraham set forth, as a model of excellence for the imitation of all ages. But what Abraham? Which of the Abrahams, whose doings we find mixed up in such utter confusion, by the different writers concerned in the composition of the story in Genesis? How perplexing it is to find, in the account of the father of the faithful,' the record of conduct so mean and unworthy as that narrated in xii.11-20, and then to find, after an interval of some twenty years, the very same base act repeated by him,-at a time, too, when Sarah was (according to the narrative) 'old and well-stricken in age,' xviii.11,—in fact, a worn-out woman of ninety, xvii.17,—yet miraculously pregnant with Isaac, the child of promise, the centre of such great hopes, the reward of so many years of patient faith and expectation! |