OF THE

BOOK OF GENESIS.

THIS, which is the first book in order of the Pentateuch, is called Beresith in those Hebrew copies, which adopt the division of the Pentateuch into five books [A]. This word signifies in the beginning, and being prefixed, it gave rise to the Hebrew custom of denominating the sacred books from their initial words respectively. The book, however, is usually entitled Genesis, from a Greek word [B], which imports generation. It was written by Moses, as the concurrent testimonies of all ages declare [c], (as some suppose, in the land of Mi

[A] Some private copies only are divided, those used in the Jewish synagogues are not.

[B] TV

Generation, production. It is remarkable that the New Testament begins with the same word Bibλos yeviews

Ιηση.

[c] Du Pin. Diss. Prel. Sect. I. Huet. The mention which is made in chap. xii. 6. xiii. 7. of the Canaanites and Perizzites does not prove that the passages were written after the expulsion of those nations, as they import probably that these nations were thus early in possession of it. The expression also of kings that "reigned in Edom before there reigned any over the children of Israel," has been thought by some to refer proleptically to kings, who according to divine promise, were to reign over Israel, ch. xxxv. 11.; others imagine that it ap

dian, where Moses fed the flocks of his father-inlaw, in the wilderness), with design, it is said, to comfort the Hebrews in their servitude, by the example of constancy in their fathers, and by a display of the oracles and promises of God; as particularly of that remarkable revelation to Abraham, that "his seed should be a stranger in a land not theirs, should serve them, and be afflicted 400 years, and that God should judge that nation whom they should serve, and that afterwards they should come out with great substance [D]." Eusebius [E] intimates his respect for this opinion, but Theodoret [F] and others suppose that the book was written in the wilderness after the promulgation of the law. A third hypothesis has been offered from the Rabbi Moses Ben Nachman, that God dictated to Moses all the contents of the Book during the forty days that he was permitted to have a communication with the Deity on Mount Sinai, and that at his descent, he committed the

plied to Moses, who was king in Jeshurun, Deut. xxxiii. 5.: it is possible, however, that the remark was originally a marginal note which crept into the text; or that the account of the kings of Edom, which corresponds with that in the Book of Chronicles, was inserted by some prophet or authorized person.

[D] Gen. xv. 13, 14. From the birth of Isaac to the deliverance from Egypt were 405 years. The 430 years men. tioned in Exodus xii. 40. include the twenty-five years of Abraham's sojourning in Canaan, before the birth of Isaac. Vid. Patrick in loc.

[E] Euseb. Præp. Evan. Lib. II. cap. 7.

[F] Theod. Quæst. in Gen. Ven. Bede, &c. Exod. xxiv. 12.

G

whole to writing. It is, however, as impossible, as it is of little consequence, to determine which of these opinions is best founded. It is sufficient for us to know, that Moses was assisted by the spirit of infallible truth, in the composition of this sacred work [&], which he deemed a proper introduction to the laws and judgments delivered in the subsequent books, as exhibiting the ground upon which the divine claims to worship are established, and the considerations upon which his statutes were made, when God is represented as the Creator to whom all obedience is due.

The description which Moses gives in this book concerning the creation, as relating to circumstances, which occurred previously to the existence of mankind, could be derived only from immediate revelation [H]. It was received by the Jews with full conviction of the truth, on the authority of that inspiration, under which Moses was known to act. But when the book was first delivered, many persons then living must have been competent to decide on the fidelity with which he relates those events which were subsequent to the creation. They must have heard of and believed the remarkable incidents in the lives of the Patriarchs, the prophecies which they uttered, and the actions which they performed; for the longevity of man in the earlier ages of the world, rendered tradition, in some measure, the criterion of truth. In the

[G] Rom. iv. 3. Gal. iii. 8. Jam. ii. 23.

[H] Origen Homil. 26 in Numer.

days of Moses, the channels of information must have been as yet uncorrupted; for though ages had already elapsed, even 2432 years before the birth of the sacred historian, yet those relations were easily ascertained, which might have been conveyed by seven persons from Adam to Moses; and that the traditions were so secure from error, we shall immediately be convinced, if we consider that Methusalem was 340 years old when Adam died, and that he lived till the year of the flood, when Noah had attained 600 years [1]. In like manner Shem conveyed tradition from Noah to Abraham, for he conversed with both a considerable time. Isaac also, the son of Abraham, lived to instruct Joseph in the history of his predecessors, and Amram, the father of Moses, was contemporary with Joseph [x]. The Israelites then, must have been able, by interesting tradition, to judge how far the Mosaic account was consistent

[1] Adam died, A.M. 930, 126 years only before the birth of Noah, and therefore must have been seen by many of Noah's contemporaries. Lamech, the father of Noah, had certainly seen Adam and his children, being born fifty-six years before Adam's death; and Noah himself might have seen several memorials existing, to prove the truth of those events afterwards recorded by Moses, for Noah died only two years before the birth of Abraham; and Isaac might have seen Shem and Selah, who conversed with Noah many yearɛ.

[K] The tradition then was conveyed from Adam, through Methuselah, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, and Amram to Moses, seven intermediate persons. This account of the longevity of mankind, in the first ages of the world, is confirmed by Manetho, Berosus, Hestiæus, &c.

with the truth [L]. If the memory of man reached beyond the period assigned to the creation, they must have disbelieved the Mosaic history; but if through so small a number of immediate predecessors, they could trace up the origin of mankind to Adam, we need not wonder at the implicit veneration which ratified the records of the sacred historian; which accepted a revelation, confirmed by every received account, and stamped by every sanction of divine authority. The sacred character of the book is established also by the internal evidence of its inspiration; by a detail of the creation which carries with it the presumption and the marks of truth by the several predictions afterwards fully accomplished; and lastly, by the suffrage of our Saviour and his apostles, who have cited from it at least twenty-seven passages verbatim in the New Testament, and thirty-eight according to the sense [M].

Genesis contains the history of 2369 years to the death of Joseph, or thereabouts, if we follow the account of the ages of the Patriarchs, and suppose the flood to have happened about 1656 years after the creation. It is perhaps scarcely worth the trouble to remark, that some very futile objections have been made to the period which is assigned by Moses to the creation, as thought it were too recent to be reconciled with some physical observations; for it has ever been found, upon ac

[L] Euseb. Præp. Evang. Lib. IX. cap, ult. [M] As Rivet has elaborately calculated.