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Title: A Class-Book of Old Testament History Author: George Frederick Maclear Release Date: October 22, 2020 [EBook #63528] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLASS-BOOK OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY *** Produced by Richard Hulse and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) A CLASS-BOOK OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. (‡ Colophon) Transcriber’s Notes The cover image was provided by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain. Punctuation has been standardized. Most abbreviations have been expanded in tool-tips for screen-readers and may be seen by hovering the mouse over the abbreviation. This book has illustrated drop-caps at the start of each chapter. These illustrations may adversely affect the pronunciation of the word with screen-readers or not display properly in some handheld devices. This book was written in a period when many words had not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated with a Transcriber’s Note. Index references have not been checked for accuracy. Footnotes are identified in the text with a superscript number and have been accumulated in a table at the end of the text. Transcriber’s Notes are used when making corrections to the text or to provide additional information for the modern reader. These notes have been accumulated in a table at the end of the book and are identified in the text by a dotted underline and may be seen in a tool-tip by hovering the mouse over the underline. Elementary Theological Class-Books. A CLASS-BOOK OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY BY THE REV. G. F. MACLEAR, D.D. WARDEN OF ST AUGUSTINE’S COLLEGE, AND HONORARY CANON OF CANTERBURY. LATE HEAD MASTER OF KING’S COLLEGE SCHOOL, LONDON. WITH MAPS. London: MACMILLAN AND CO. AND NEW YORK. 1894 [The Right of Translation is reserved.] First Edition printed January 1865. Second Edition printed November 1865. Reprinted with slight alterations 1866, with slight alterations 1868, with slight alterations 1869, 1871, 1872, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1892, 1894. NOTICE. The present Volume forms a Class-Book of Old Testament History from the Earliest Times to those of Ezra and Nehemiah. In its preparation the most recent Authorities1 have been consulted, and wherever it has appeared useful, Notes have been subjoined illustrative of the Text, and, for the sake of more advanced students, references added to larger Works. The Index has been so arranged as to form a concise Dictionary of the Persons and Places mentioned in the course of the Narrative, while the Maps, which have been prepared with considerable care at Stanford’s Geographical Establishment, will, it is hoped, materially add to the value and usefulness of the Book. London, Christmas, 1864. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. BOOK I. From the Creation to the Dispersion of Mankind. Chap. I. The Creation Chap. II. The Fall Chap. III. The Flood Chap. IV. The Confusion of Tongues Chap. V. Rise of Idolatry. The Patriarch Job. BOOK II. The Patriarchal Age. Chap. I. The Call of Abraham Chap. II. Life of Abraham continued Chap. III. The History of Isaac Chap. IV. Life of Jacob Chap. V. History of Joseph Chap. VI. Jacob’s Descent into Egypt, and Death of Joseph Note. Survey of the Patriarchal Age BOOK III. From the Settlement of the Israelites in Egypt to the Giving of the Law. Chap. I. The Birth and Call of Moses Chap. II. Signs and Wonders in Egypt Chap. III. The Last Plague—The Passover—The Exodus Chap. IV. The Journey from the Red Sea to Rephidim Chap. V. Sinai and the Giving of the Law Chap. VI. Moses in the Mount. The Construction of the Golden Calf BOOK IV. The Mosaic Worship and Polity. Chap. I. The Tabernacle Note. History of the Tabernacle Chap. II. The Priests Chap. III. The Sacrifices and Offerings Chap. IV. Holy Times and Seasons Chap. V. The Great Festivals—The Jewish Calendar Note. Laws of Purity, &c. Chap. VI. Civil and Moral Laws BOOK V. From the Departure from Sinai to the Death of Moses. Chap. I. Kadesh-Barnea and the Mission of the Spies Chap. II. The Wanderings—Death of Miriam and Aaron Chap. III. Conquest of the East of Jordan—Balaam and Balak Chap. IV. War with the Midianites—Death of Moses Note. His Work and Character BOOK VI. Joshua and the Conquest of Western Palestine. Chap. I. The Passage of the Jordan, and Fall of Jericho Chap. II. Conquest of the Southern and Central Mountains Chap. III. Battle of Merom, and Division of the Land BOOK VII. Period of the Judges. Chap. I. Events subsequent to the Death of Joshua Chap. II. Micah and the Danites—The Tribal War Chap. III. Othniel and Ehud, Deborah and Barak Chap. IV. Invasion of the Midianites—Gideon Chap. V. Abimelech and Jephthah Chap. VI. Invasion from the South-west, Samson BOOK VIII. From the Time of Samuel to the Accession of David. Chap. I. Eli and Samuel Chap. II. Samuel’s Judgeship Chap. III. Election of the First King Chap. IV. The Battle of Michmash Chap. V. Saul and the Amalekites—David and Goliath Chap. VI. David’s Life as an Outlaw Chap. VII. David at Ziklag—Battle of Mount Gilboa BOOK IX. The Reigns of David and Solomon. Chap. I. David’s Reign at Hebron Chap. II. David’s Reign at Jerusalem Chap. III. David’s Army, his Conquests, his Sin Chap. IV. The Rebellion of Absalom Chap. V. Close of David’s reign Footnote. David’s Work and Character Chap. VI. Accession of Solomon Chap. VII. The Building of the Temple Chap. VIII. Solomon’s reign continued BOOK X. Kingdoms of Judah and Israel. PART I. Period of Mutual Hostility. Chap. I. The Revolt of the Ten Tribes Chap. II. Rehoboam and Abijah, Jeroboam and Nadab Chap. III. Asa and Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri PART II. Period of Mutual Alliance, and Hostility to Syria. Chap. I. Accession of Ahab—Era of Elijah Chap. II. Wars of Ahab and Benhadad Chap. III. Murder of Naboth—Battle of Ramoth Gilead Chap. IV. Wars of Jehoshaphat. Translation of Elijah I Chap. V. Jehoshaphat and Jehoram—Era of Elisha Chap. VI. Elisha and Naaman—Siege of Samaria PART III. Renewal of Hostilities; Decline of both Kingdoms before the power of the Assyrian Empire. Chap. I. Accession of Jehu Chap. II. Athaliah and Joash; Death of Elisha Chap. III. Amaziah and Jeroboam II.; Era of Jonah Chap. IV. Decline and Captivity of the Kingdom of Israel Chap. V. Reign of Hezekiah Chap. VI. Reign of Manasseh—Reforms of Josiah Chap. VII. Death of Josiah—Captivity of Judah Note. Duration, Relation, Contrasts of the Two Kingdoms BOOK XI. From the Captivity to the Close of the Canon. Chap. I. Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar Chap. II. Reigns of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius Chap. III. Rebuilding of the Temple—Esther and Ahasuerus Chap. IV. Times of Ezra and Nehemiah—Close of Canon Appendix and Chronological Tables Index MAPS. 1. The Dispersion of Noah’s Descendants (Genesis x.) 2. A Map of Canaan, Egypt, and Sinai, to illustrate the Patriarchal History and the Exodus. With Mount Sinai enlarged 3. The Holy Land divided among the Twelve Tribes 4. Solomon’s Dominions, The Kingdoms of Judah and Israel, and the Lands of the Captivities BOOK I. FROM THE CREATION TO THE DISPERSION OF MANKIND. CHAPTER I. THE CREATION. GEN. I. II. B.C. 4004. N the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. With these simple but sublime words commences the History contained in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, teaching us that the Universe did not exist from all eternity, but owed its origin to the creative act of God. To us this truth appears so elementary and self-evident that we can hardly appreciate the dim and uncertain notions on this point, which the best and wisest of the heathen possessed. Certain it is, however, they were very much in the dark respecting the origin of the world. Some philosophers held that it existed from all eternity: others taught that there are two independent Causes, the one Light, and the other Darkness, and that out of the unending struggle between them the Universe had its origin; others imagined that all the marvellous order and harmony we see around us was the result of Chance; others, again, conceived that the world was an emanation from Deity, and a part of Deity. Distinct from all these guesses and conceptions is the declaration of the Scripture Narrative. It affirms that the world is not eternal; that it had its origin with time and in time; that it owed its beginning neither to Chance, nor Necessity, but the Creative will of a Personal God, infinitely exalted above it, the Maker and Sustainer of all things. (Comp. Joh. i. 1–3, Rom. xi. 36, 1 Cor. viii. 6, Col. i. 15, 16, Heb. i. 2, 3). The creation, however, of the present order of things was not instantaneous, but progressive, and took place in six Days, or vast Periods of time. On the first day light was created, and divided from the darkness; on the second, the firmament, or atmosphere encircling the globe; on the third, a separation was made between the water and the land, and the surface of the earth was covered with vegetation, with the herb yielding seed, and the tree yielding fruit after its kind. On the fourth, the sun, moon and stars were bidden to give light upon the earth, and to be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years. On the fifth, animal life appeared in its lowest forms, the waters brought forth the various marine tribes after their kind, and this was succeeded by the creation of every winged fowl. The sixth day was marked by the production of land animals, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, which, like all the preceding products of Creative Power, received the Divine approval, and were pronounced to be very good. But the work of Creation was not yet complete. A being higher than any yet created was to be called into existence. Accordingly God said, Let us make Man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over every living thing, and over all the earth; and the Lord God formed Man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Man became a living soul. Then having seen that all things He had made were very good God ended His work, and rested on the seventh day, sanctifying it as a day of Rest for man. (Gen. i. 2–26). The language here employed in reference to the creation of man deserves attention. It teaches us that man did not, as some have taught, slowly emerge by his own efforts from a brutish state. Unlike other created objects, he was originally made in the image and after the likeness of God. Endowed not only with a body, but also with an immortal soul, he was to combine intellectual power with liberty of will, and the faculty of conscience. And as he was great himself, so also was the work to which he was called. His was to be universal dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. As God’s vicegerent, he was to exercise lordship over nature, and guide it towards its destined perfection (Gen. i. 26). But though the first man Adam, was endued with those high prerogatives, he was not destined to attain immediately to the end for which he was created. His activity was to commence in a particular spot, and thence to extend in all directions, until all the earth was subdued and moulded to the will of its Creator. The Almighty, therefore, planted a garden in a region of the East, corresponding probably to the high table-land of the modern Armenia, and watered by four streams. Of two of these, Pison and Gihon, the situation is absolutely unknown, the others were the Tigris and Euphrates. Here, then, in a spot endued with everything pleasant to the sight and good for food, man’s work was to commence. Action and not contemplation only was essential to his nature, hence a charge was given to him to dress and keep the garden. Nor amidst everything to gratify his senses and supply material for his understanding and reflection was he left alone. A responsible being, bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, was created a help-meet for him. The Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and taking one of his ribs, He made thereof a woman, and brought her unto him, and Eve, the mother of all flesh, one with himself in nature and in origin, was united to him in holy bonds, which He, Who thus instituted them in Paradise, afterwards adorned and hallowed with His own presence and first miracle at Cana of Galilee (Joh. ii. 1; Eph. v. 23–33). O CHAPTER II. THE FALL. GEN. III. B.C. 4004. F the life of the first human pair in Paradise we are told but little. We know, however, that it was not only a state of innocence, and therefore of happiness, but also, like all human life since, of probation. Besides the charge to dress and keep the fair enclosure in which they had been placed, our first parents received but one additional command. It was couched in negative terms, and forbade in the most distinct and solemn manner possible the eating of the fruit of a mysterious tree growing in the midst of the Garden, and called the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. Of the fruit of every other tree they might eat freely, of the fruit of this tree the Almighty said to them, Ye shall not eat, for in the day ye eat thereof ye shall surely die. In this single prohibition lay the test of their loyal obedience to their Creator, on it depended their innocence and their happiness temporal and eternal. How long they were faithful and obedient we are not told. But whether the period was long or short, certain it is that it came to a close. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, implies that Evil was already present in God’s world, and therefore in part prepares us for the dark shadow that now gathers round the sacred page. The creation of man had been watched by a supernatural Being of infinite subtilty and malignity, the Enemy of God and of all goodness. Respecting this mysterious Being, though the Sacred Narrative does not gratify our curiosity with any lengthened details, yet to his existence and his unceasing hostility to man, it bears direct and explicit testimony. The name under which the supernatural Tempter appears in the earliest and latest portions of the Bible is the same (comp. Gen. iii. 1, with 2 Cor. xi. 3; Rev. xii. 9, xx. 2), and though but seldom mentioned in the Old Testament (Job i., ii.; 1 Chron. xxi. 1; Zech. iii. 1, 2), the same attributes are uniformly ascribed to him. Created originally good, like all the works of God, he abode not in the truth (Jn. viii. 44), but rebelled against his Maker and fell from his high estate (1 Tim. iii. 6), and henceforth, at the head of numerous other spirits (Matt. xxv. 41), whom he had dragged down with him in his fall (2 Pet. ii. 4; Jude 6), he arrayed himself in conscious hostility to the Supreme. This Being, then, here called the Serpent, in other places Satan, i.e. the Enemy, and the Devil, i.e. the Slanderer, approached the woman, as being the weaker vessel, for the purpose of seducing her, and so her husband, from their allegiance to their Creator. With affected solicitude he began by enquiring, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? To this the woman replied by repeating the Divine prohibition respecting the fruit of one particular tree. Thereupon the Tempter proceeded to declare that the penalty of death would not follow the eating of this fruit, nay that the Almighty knew that in the day they ate thereof, her eyes and those of her husband would be opened, and they would become as gods, knowing good and evil. A more subtle scheme for shaking her allegiance to the Almighty, and her confidence in His goodness and His love, could not have been devised. A prohibition hitherto regarded as a solemn but merciful warning was now invested with an arbitrary character, and a selfish motive. In mere envy, so the Tempter affirmed, the Almighty had denounced an impossible penalty; what she had been taught to observe as the condition of innocence and happiness was nothing more than the expedient of One, who grudged His creatures their rightful advancement, lest they should approach too nearly to Himself2. The idea of an envious God, of a hard taskmaster, was thus instilled into the mind of Eve, sapping the foundations of all real faith and trust, and rendering the more irresistible the temptation to disobey the command of Him, who had thus enviously set these bounds to her freewill. In an evil hour she believed the Tempter’s words, and seeing that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. Thus the fell counsels of the Tempter were accomplished. Through want of faith in God’s word, through a longing for independence, through a vain desire to become gods unto themselves, our first parents were beguiled into sin, and when their eyes were opened, instead of greater happiness they now experienced the strange and hitherto unknown consciousness of shame, and degradation, and unmeetness for God’s presence (Gen. iii. 1–7). Brief and summary as is the information here given us respecting the enigma of enigmas, the origin of Evil, it is yet of unspeakable importance. For it teaches us that Sin is not a part of man’s nature, but the fault and corruption3 of it, that it did not spring from his nature by any inevitable necessity, but in consequence of his yielding to the seductions of a powerful and malignant Foe. He did not, like his Tempter, choose sin for its own sake, but was beguiled into it. Hence, though he became liable to all the penal consequences of his disobedience, though his being was poisoned with sin, yet it was not converted into sin. He did not lose all remembrance of his former state of purity and innocence; the shame which overwhelmed him and made him hide himself from the presence of God, testified to his consciousness of transgression, and in this sense of guilt lay the possibility of his restoration4. For now the Sacred Narrative, while it refuses to gratify our curiosity respecting a subject which doubtless passes our understanding, proceeds to do what is for us of far greater practical importance, namely, to place the inroad of sin in immediate connection with the Divine Counsels of Redemption. We learn that God in infinite mercy now intervened between His creatures and their Tempter. For them, indeed, it remained to taste the bitter fruits of their disobedience and mistrust. Eve was informed that sorrow and pain must henceforth be the condition of her existence; in sorrow should she bring forth children, her desire should be to her T husband, and he should rule over her (Gen. iii. 16). Adam learnt that with himself henceforth nature too must undergo a change; thorns and thistles must grow upon the face of the earth, toil must be the price of his existence, and his end the silence of the grave, for dust he was, and unto dust he must return. Even thus, however, Justice was tempered with sweet Mercy, and Love mingled blessings with the bitterness of man’s cup. If pain and multiplied sorrow was to be woman’s lot, yet through pain she was to know a mysterious joy, and her anguish should be no more remembered, when she knew that a man was born into the world. And if grievous toil and irksome labour were to be the conditions of man’s existence, yet in the provision of these effectual antidotes to idleness and many other sins was truest mercy. But these gracious purposes extended only to man, they tempered not the judgment denounced on his Seducer. Utterly cursed was he above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. The very creature, over whom he had seemed to triumph, should prove his ultimate Conqueror. I will put enmity, said the Almighty to the Tempter, between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. In these words we trace the first distinct Promise of man’s ultimate Redemption. The state of degradation, into which he had suffered himself to be seduced, was not to last for ever. “In conformity with the Divine Equity, the deceiver was to be judged by the deceived, the Conqueror was to be overcome by the conquered5.” Man need not give himself up to despair; there was still room for hope; in infinite mercy the Almighty had espoused his cause, and He would Himself provide a remedy for his fall. We need not venture on any profitless speculations touching the precise amount of hope the early generations of the human family were likely to have derived from this first Gospel, this “first Promise” of a Saviour. In terms it was undoubtedly indefinite. Neither the time, nor the method, nor the precise mediating cause of man’s deliverance was made known. It was not revealed whether the promised “Seed” should be one or many, the collective Race, or a single Deliverer. On these points greater light was to be shed as time rolled on, and many things were to be revealed, which now man could not comprehend. But of the final Victory, and of its certainty, direct and explicit assurance was given. “Since religion cannot so much as exist without hope, the earliest intimation of Prophecy was adapted to the support of that essential feeling in the heart of man. It was clearly a promise of relief, an antidote to perfect despair. It contained the prediction that some one should be born of the Seed of the Woman, who ‘should bruise the head of the Tempter,’ by whom, therefore, the penal effect of man’s transgression should be in some way reversed. With all its uncertainty as to the mode in which this End should be effected, the Promise had within it a principle of Hope and Encouragement, and the materials of a religious trust fitted to keep man still looking to his Maker6.” In the encouraging assurance thus given to Adam, in this first Promise of a Saviour, Sacred History finds its definite starting-point, and the Old Testament becomes a true introduction to the New, because it reveals the several steps whereby the Divine Wisdom provided for its fulfilment. From first to last Sacred History is “instinct with life and hope;” it ever points onward to the future; its key- note is ever preparation for the Coming of Him, who was to be the true “Seed of the Woman,” in whom the Father counselled before the worlds to gather together in one all things, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth (Eph. i. 10; Phil. ii. 9, 10). CHAPTER III. THE FLOOD. GEN. IV.–IX. B.C. 4004–2348. HOUGH thus assured of ultimate restoration, the first man, as a fallen being, could not be permitted to remain in the region, which had been the scene of his trial and his failure. He might take of the fruit of another Tree, that grew in the midst of the Garden, the Tree of Life, and eat, and live for ever, and thus prevent the possibility of his recovery. Accordingly he was sent forth from the Garden, at the east of which were stationed Cherubim, a particular order, in all probability, of Angels (Comp. Ex. xxv. 17–22; Ezek. i. 5, Rev. iv. 6), while a flaming Sword which turned every way guarded the approach to the Tree of Life. Thus driven forth from Eden, and re-commencing under new and altered circumstances their course of probation, Adam and Eve in due time became the parents of two sons, Cain (gotten, or acquired), and Abel (breath, transitoriness). From their earliest years the most opposite tendencies distinguished the brothers. The mysterious rite of sacrifice, which meets us at the very threshold of Sacred History, and which, it is supposed, not without probability, the Almighty Himself instituted, when He made for the first pair coats of skins, and clothed them (Gen. iii. 21), became the occasion of a fatal quarrel between them. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, Abel of the firstlings of his flock, an offering unto the Lord. The offering of Abel was accepted, that of Cain rejected. The reason for this distinction cannot be pronounced with absolute certainty. Either the offering of Abel was a free and bounteous presentation of the best that he had, while that of Cain was merely commonplace and perfunctory, or Abel brought his offering in a spirit of faith, and trustful acquiescence in a divinely-instituted though mysterious command (Heb. xi. 4), a motive which the offering of his elder brother lacked. Whatever was the precise reason of the distinction, it roused all Cain’s latent jealousy, and he became his brother’s murderer (1 Joh. iii. 12). For thus shedding righteous blood (Matt. xxiii. 35) he was condemned by the Almighty to perpetual banishment from the region of Eden. Fearful of vengeance from the other children of Adam, whose family we may infer from the mention of Cain’s wife had largely increased, he feared to depart before he received from the Almighty a special sign or pledge of security in the land of his banishment7. This having been granted, he removed into the region of Nod (exile), and there became the ancestor of numerous descendants, the heads of whom are enumerated to the sixth generation, under the names of Enoch, Irad, Mehu-jael, Methu-sael, and Lamech. In this region, too, he built the earliest city of which we have any record, and called it Enoch, after the name of his eldest son. The Cainite families were distinguished for their attention to the development of the arts and pleasures of life. As Cain built the first city, so Lamech instituted polygamy, while of his three sons Jabal introduced the nomadic life, Jubal the use of musical instruments, and Tubal-Cain the art of working in metals (Gen. iv. 16–24). Meanwhile with another son Seth (substituted), who had been given to Adam in place of Abel, commenced a line distinct in its social and religious tendencies from that of Cain. The heads of this family are enumerated to the tenth generation under the names of Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah. While the descendants of Cain advanced indeed in civilization, but were addicted to luxury and violence, the descendants of Seth were distinguished for pastoral simplicity. They called upon the name of the Lord (Gen. iv. 26); they were the chosen repositories of the Promise of Redemption, and the witnesses for a God of Righteousness in the midst of a generation which already began to become corrupt, and in the seen to forget the unseen. An eminent type of the characteristic virtues of this line was Enoch, the son of Jared, the seventh from Adam (Jude 14). All his life long he walked in closest communion with the Most High and the spiritual world. Faith (Heb. xi. 5), implicit trust in a Righteous Ruler of the Universe, was the principle of his life, and the secret spring of his holiness. One day he vanished from the society of his fellowmen. He was not, for the God whom he served took him to Himself, and translated him to the unseen world, without undergoing the penalty of death (Gen. v. 21–24). A peculiar feature of this period was the great length to which human life was prolonged. Adam attained to the age of 930 years, Methuselah to that of 969, the others nearly as long. From this accrued many advantages to the race. It tended to promote its speedy increase, it preserved uninterrupted such knowledge as men were able to acquire, and pre-eminently the original revelation respecting the one true God, the remembrance of Paradise, and the hope of ultimate Redemption. But the great longevity of the men of this period did not tend to hinder their increasing alienation from the paths of righteousness, and obedience to the Supreme. Amidst the extreme brevity of the sacred narrative it is clear that the wickedness of men reached a desperate pitch, the earth was filled with violence, and all men corrupted their way upon it. At length this alienation from God reached its culminating point in a catastrophe, to which the Sacred Record attaches a peculiar and mysterious importance. When men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all that they chose. Whatever be the true meaning of the expression sons of God, whether it refers to the Angels, as some have thought, or the descendants of Seth, certain it is that a superhuman spirit of wickedness broke out at this period. From these mixed marriages sprang men remarkable for strength and power, for violence and arrogant wickedness, through whom both races speedily became hopelessly corrupt. The salt even in the line of Seth lost its savour, and the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen. vi. 1–5). In this awful crisis one man only found favour with God, Noah, the son of Lamech, in whom at his birth, with prophetic glance his father beheld a pledge of that rest and comfort, which the men of faith felt they so sorely needed from the burden of weary and irksome labour on the ground which Jehovah had cursed (Gen. v. 29). When Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Like Enoch he was a righteous and perfect man in his generation, and in this age of universal apostasy maintained an unflinching trust in the Righteous Ruler of the Universe, and at length, when the cup of man’s iniquity was full, he received intimation from the Almighty of His intention to bring an awful judgment upon the world. Behold I, even I, said God, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die. From the general catastrophe Noah and his family alone were to be preserved, and he was directed to construct an Ark, a huge vessel of enormous dimensions, into which, when completed, he was to repair with his wife, his three sons and their wives, and also two of every species of beasts and birds accounted “unclean” or unfit for sacrifice, and seven of every species accounted “clean.” The vessel thus ordered was to be constructed of gopher-wood, probably cypress, and was to be overlaid within and without with pitch or bitumen; in length it was to be 300 cubits, in breadth 50, in depth 30. But though the impending Judgment was thus announced, and a visible pledge of it directed to be constructed, the Doom itself was not to be as yet. He who afterwards waited 400 years till the cup of the iniquity of the Amorites was full, who gave the Ninevites forty days for repentance, now waited (1 Pet. iii. 20), with much long-suffering, for a space of 120 years. During this period according to all that God commanded Noah, so did he. Though the things, of which he was warned, were not yet seen (Heb. xi. 7), nay, must have seemed to the men of his generation in the extremest degree improbable, moved with fear he yet persevered in his awful task, and by this act of faith, as well as by his own works, continued to warn his fellowmen of what was to come. But his warnings fell on unheeding ears. The men of his generation set at naught all his counsel and mocked at his reproofs: they did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage (Matt. xxiv. 38; Lk. xvii. 26, 27), until the day of Doom arrived. On the seventeenth day of the second month of the 600th year of Noah’s life he and his family entered into the Ark, and the Lord shut them in. Then, after a solemn pause of seven days, the elements of destruction were bidden to do their work. The fountains of the great deep were broken up, the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain descended, till the waters covered the highest hills, and all flesh wherein was the breath of life died, of fowl, of cattle, of wild beast, and of every creeping thing which creepeth upon the earth, and every man. In these simple but impressive words the Sacred Narrative describes the appalling catastrophe. Written for a far higher purpose, it paints no scenes as a human writer would have done. “We see nothing of the death-struggle; we hear not the cry of despair; we are not called upon to witness the frantic agony of husband and wife, of parent and child, as they fled in terror before the rising waters. Not a word is said of the sadness of the one righteous man who, safe himself, looked upon the destruction, which he could not avert. But one impression is left upon the mind with peculiar vividness, from the very simplicity of the narrative, and it is that of utter desolation8.” All flesh died, Noah only was left, and they that were with him in the ark. For 150 days the waters prevailed, till at length on the 17th day of the 7th month the Ark rested on one of the peaks of Ararat. From this time the waters gradually decreased till the first day of the 10th month, when the tops of the mountains having begun to appear, Noah sent forth a raven, which returned T not to the Ark. A week afterwards he sent forth a dove, to see if the waters were abated from the lower and more level country. But the dove finding no rest for the sole of her foot returned unto the Ark. Again he waited seven days, and once more sent her forth, when she returned with a fresh olive-leaf pluckt off in her mouth, a sign that the waters had still further subsided. Yet again, after a similar interval, Noah sent her forth. This time, however, she did not return, having found on the earth a rest for the sole of her foot, and then he knew that the awful Judgment had indeed come to a close, and at the Divine command left the Ark, and set foot on the dry land9 (Gen. viii. 1–19). CHAPTER IV. THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES. GEN. X.–XI. B.C. 2347–2233. HE first act of Noah on leaving the Ark was to build an altar, and offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl. His sacrifice was accepted, and now for the first time a solemn Covenant was ratified between the Almighty and the Patriarch, to which definite promises were annexed, and “an outward and visible sign.” From its baptism of water the Earth had risen once more to be the habitation of man, and Noah and his sons were solemnly assured that all flesh should never again be cut off by the waters of a Flood, but that while the earth remained, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter and day and night should not cease. Again too the blessing of Paradise was bestowed, sovereignty and dominion over the animal creation were assured, and once more men were bidden to be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. At the same time animal food was expressly allowed, while the sanctity of human life was as solemnly enforced, whoso shed man’s blood, by man should his blood be shed. Of this covenant the Rainbow was the visible pledge, assuring man that he might enter afresh on his course of probation, nor dread its interruption by any catastrophe like that with which the earth had been so lately visited (Gen. ix. 8–17). The elevation of the Armenian plateau, in the neighbourhood of which the Ark had rested, being equidistant between the Black and Caspian Seas on the north, the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea on the south, being also the region in which all the great rivers of Western Asia, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Araxes, and the Halys take their rise, formed a natural and convenient centre whence the descendants of Noah might overspread the whole earth. But on this migration they did not set out, before an unseemly incident revealed the natural character of his sons, prophetic of their future destinies. Noah began to practise agriculture, and planted a vineyard, and through ignorance, as it has been supposed, of its properties, drank of the wine in excess, and lay exposed in his tent. Ham, his youngest son, mocked him while he lay in this condition, but Shem and Japheth, with more filial feeling, averting their eyes covered their father with a garment. Awaking from his slumbers Noah became conscious of what his youngest son had done, and justly angry at the irreverence he had displayed, brake forth into prophetic utterances of blessing and cursing, foreshadowing the diverse destinies of the descendants of his family. Upon Canaan, the fourth son of Ham, and probably a partaker in his father’s transgression, he pronounced the doom of perpetual servitude to his brethren10. Shem he declared to be the chosen one of Jehovah, from whom the promised Salvation should proceed, while Japheth, multiplied and enlarged should dwell in his tents11, and be received as a partaker in his spiritual privileges. With their future destinies thus foretold, the sons of Noah went forth, and took up their abode for some time on the rich alluvial plain of Shinar between the Tigris and Euphrates. Here their descendants began to form a great fraternal community, which it was the more easy to do, seeing that they all proceeded from the same parental home, and had all one language. But here, in defiance of the Divine command, which bade them disperse themselves abroad and replenish the whole earth, they resolved to make a City and a huge Tower whose top might reach unto heaven, to serve as a central point of union, and a great World-Metropolis. But their design was counteracted. The Almighty interposed, and by confounding their language, so that they could not understand one another’s speech, rent the closest bond of human society. Unable to continue the erection of their City and Tower, which was henceforth called Babel or Confusion, they were scattered abroad over the face of the earth, and thus constrained to fulfil the eternal designs of Him, who has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of the habitations of the sons of men (Acts xvii. 26)12. Before, however, it leaves them to pursue their own ways, the Sacred Narrative presents to us a Genealogical Table, in which the names of the several nations descended from Noah, and their geographical distribution, have been preserved. With this Table antiquity has handed down nothing that can be compared for accuracy or comprehensiveness. “It exposes the fallacies of the mythical genealogies of pagans, contradicts their fables respecting gods, heroes, and periods of millions of years, and also affords a firm foundation for investigations concerning the origin and the traditions of nations.” From this Table, then, it appears that (i) The descendants of Japheth (enlargement) after leaving the original cradle of the human race, occupied chiefly the isles of the Gentiles, or the coast-lands of the Mediterranean Sea in Asia Minor and Europe, and thence spread chiefly in a northerly direction over the entire European Continent, and a great portion of Asia. Thus Gomer was the ancestor of the Cymmerians or Cimbri, Magog of the Scythians, Madai of the Medes, Javan of the Ionians and Greek race, Tubal and Mesech of the Tibareni and S Moschi, two Colchian tribes, and Tiras of the Thracians. (ii) The descendants of Ham (“heat”) proceeded in a southerly direction, and occupied the whole of Africa, and the Southern peninsulas of Asia, India, and Arabia. Of his four sons Cush extended his settlements from Babylonia to Ethiopia, Mizraim colonized Egypt, Phut Libya, and Canaan the land called by his name. (iii) The descendants of Shem established themselves in Central Asia, and thence extended in an easterly and westerly direction, Aram colonising the country afterwards known as Syria, Lud Lydia, Arphaxad Chaldæa, Asshur part of Assyria, Elam Persia, Joktan a portion of the Arabian peninsula (Gen. x. 1–26). Thus He, who hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth (Acts xvii. 26), directed the repeopling of the world by the descendants of Noah. Like prodigal sons they were to go into far countries, and learn by bitter experience that neither human strength nor human wisdom can work out the righteousness of God, or win back for man his lost inheritance. But the preservation of their names in this Table of Nations is a proof that no one of them was forgotten by a God of Love; that though they might forget Him He yet guided their destinies, and overruled their counsels only to the accomplishment of His gracious purposes of Redemption. The Day of Pentecost in the New Testament corresponds to the Confusion of Tongues in the Old. Then, not till then, did men hear, each in their tongue wherein they were born, the Glad Tidings of One, very God and very Man, in whom there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female (Gal. iii. 28). THE DISPERSION OF NOAH’S DESCENDANTS CHAPTER V. RISE OF IDOLATRY—THE PATRIARCH JOB. GEN. X. 6–12. JOB. ACRED History does not record many facts connected with the immediate descendants of Noah. The scene of the Confusion of Tongues continued to attract around it a large number of the early inhabitants of the world, and here was established one of the earliest of the great empires of the earth by Nimrod, a son of Cush, and grandson of Ham. Of great powers and gigantic stature, he first obtained wide-spread renown by his exploits as a mighty hunter, and the services he rendered the surrounding populations by ridding them of the terror of noxious and terrible animals. In process of time, however, he combined with his exploits as a hunter the conquest of men, and founded a great empire on the plains of Shinar, the chief towns of which were Babel, Erech (Edessa), Accad (Nisibis), and Calneh (Ctesiphon). Thence (for such seems to be the meaning of Gen. x. 11) he extended his dominions along the course of the Tigris into Assyria, amongst the descendants of Shem, where he founded a second group of cities, Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen. At a period when men’s lives were prolonged so far beyond the period now allotted them, it is probable that this great conqueror may have carried on his successful invasions for nearly 200 years, and after death was worshipped under the title of Belus, or Bel, the Lord. Certainly the vast ruins that overspread the site of the ancient Babylonian empire seem to tell of the days when there were great heroes in the earth; and to Nimrod the modern Arabs ascribe all the great works of ancient times, the Birs-Nimrûd, near Babylon, Tel Nimrûd, near Baghdad, and the Mount of Nimrûd, near Mosul13. Whether the practice of idolatrous worship was introduced, as some have supposed, by this great hero of the ancient world, or not, certain it is that mankind became more and more addicted to idolatry. Though the knowledge of the one true God, and the promise of salvation, had been handed down by tradition, and though His invisible attributes, even His eternal power and Godhead, were clearly to be discerned in the works of creation (Rom. i. 19, 20), yet mankind glorified Him not as God, neither were they thankful. They began to worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator. The sun, moon, and stars, the principle of fire, even the inferior animals and departed heroes, came to be regarded with veneration, and usurped the worship due only to the Supreme. With idolatry came its usual consequences, a deep moral degeneracy, cruelty, tyranny, and licentiousness. One of the earliest allusions to the worship of the heavenly bodies occurs in the Book of Job (xxxi. 26–28). The age and writer of this book are alike unknown; by some it is ascribed to Job himself, by others to Moses, by others to some writer who lived at a still later period. As, however, the scenes therein described had with great probability been referred to a period very little removed from that at which we have now arrived, it may be well to speak of them here. Job was an eminent Eastern chief, dwelling in very early times in the land of Uz (Job i. 1), probably Arabia Deserta, or, as some suppose, Mesopotamia. Greatest among “the sons of the East,” endowed with all the riches of his age, he ruled piously and wisely over a happy and numerous household, having seven sons and three daughters. To considerable mental attainments he added a moral uprightness, which preserved him blameless in all the relations of life, and was declared by the Lord Himself to be without his like in all the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God, and eschewed evil (Job i. 8). With large and liberal hand he distributed to the necessities of the poor, so that whenever the ear heard him then it blessed him, when the eye saw him it gave witness to him; the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him, and he caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. But in the midst of this almost perfect temporal happiness he was suddenly overwhelmed with the heaviest misfortunes that can befall the sons of men. He who slandered God to Eve slandered Job before God, and affirmed that he did not fear Him for naught; that if he were stripped of all his possessions he would be as other men, and curse the Lord to His face (i. 11). To put, therefore, the patriarch’s faith to the most certain test, the Accuser of mankind received mysterious permission to cast him down, and try him with the most grievous afflictions. Blow after blow descended upon him. From being the lord of a numerous and attached household he suddenly became childless, for the storm of the desert swept over the house where his sons and daughters were assembled, and crushed them all beneath its ruins. From being the richest of the sons of the East he suddenly became a beggar, for the thunderbolt, “the fire of God,” fell and struck down all his sheep, as they were grazing quietly with their shepherds, while his camels were carried off by a band of Chaldean robbers, and his oxen and asses by a horde of Sabeans. And not only did he become a childless, beggared, ruined man, but upon his own body the black leprosy of the East set its awful mark, making him an object hateful and loathsome to look upon. Smitten with sores from the sole of his foot even unto his crown, he sat apart, forsaken by his friends and even by his wife. But amidst these awful trials his faith was not prostrated. When the terrible tidings reached him of the fate of his household he said, in words of sublime resignation, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord; when his wife, utterly unable to bear up, bade him curse his Maker and die, he replied, What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? (Job i. 21, ii. 10). Before long the news of his terrible affliction was noised abroad, and three of his old friends, Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuah, and Zophar of Naamath, came to mourn with him and to comfort him. In their presence Job at length brake forth into desperate words, and cursed the day of his birth (Job iii. 1). The storm of his soul was not calmed by the sympathy of his friends. Instead of pouring in the oil of comfort, they only heightened his griefs by ascribing his calamities to some great sin, some secret guilt, if not committed by himself at least by his children, for which he was now punished. A distinct question was thus propounded, Is great suffering a proof of great guilt? Job’s friends affirmed it was, and exhorted him to repent and confess. Job denied, and at great length laboured to refute this (Job iv. 5–xxxii). At the close of their dialogue, Elihu, another and younger friend of the patriarch, intervened, to moderate between the disputants. Unable to solve the problem of Job’s calamities, he declared that afflictions, even when not the direct consequences of sin, were intended for good, and he reproved his friend for justifying himself rather than the Almighty, and speaking unadvisedly of His works (Job xxxii–xxxvii). At length the Lord Himself condescended to interpose in the controversy. From the midst of a whirlwind, in words of incomparable grandeur and sublimity, he silenced the murmurs of his servant, bidding him reflect on the glory of creation, and learn from the marvels of the animal kingdom the stupendous power and wisdom of Him with whom it is useless for a created being to contend (Job xxxviii–xli). Thereupon, in deep contrition, Job acknowledged his error and supplicated the Divine pardon for the bitterness and arrogance of his complaints. This penitent acknowledgment was accepted, and Job’s three friends were severely reproved for their uncharitable surmises respecting the origin of his misfortunes. On the intercession, however, of the patriarch they were pardoned; and He who had suffered him to be thus sorely tried, when his trials had served the purpose for which they had been sent, once more showered down upon him the riches of His goodness, restoring him to still greater prosperity than he had even enjoyed before, and made him the father of seven sons and three daughters14, celebrated for their beauty above all the maidens of the East. Job survived his altered fortunes upwards of 140 years, and then, hav...