FRANK LESLIE's

SUNDAY MAGAZINE .

T. DE WITT TALMAGE , D.D. , EDITOR .

VOLUME XVII.- JANUARY TO JUNE , 1885 .

NEW YORK :

FRANK LESLIE's PUBLISHING HOUSE ,

53 , 55 & 57 PARK PLACE .

36 Glances at Bible History .

GLANCES AT BIBLE HISTORY .

( Condensed from Geike's " Hours with the Bible .” )
I.- FROM THE CREATION TO THE DISPERSION.- (Genesis i.-xl.)
THE name Genesis, or the Beginning, is simply the The question of the authorship of Genesis and the
Greek equivalent for the first word in the Hebrew text, other books of the Pentateuch has been fiercely debated,
which, after having been from time immemorial used by and it has even been made a question of orthodoxy to be
the Jews as a title for the book, was adopted by the trans- lieve that they were composed by Moses in the exact form
lators of the Septuagint or Greek version of the Old Tes in which we have them . But a little reflection will show
tament, began in the third century before Christ. that it in no way affects their sacred authority, to whomso
Aside from its higher claims as part of divine revelation ,ever their authorship be ascribed , for that of many of the
the extreme antiquity of Genesis gives it a surpassing books of the Bible is unknown. Nor is it wise to conclude
value. Its composition has been assigned by the Jews that in the lapse of ages it was not part of the Divine plan
from the earliest ages that some of the inspired
to Moses, and modern writers should be led to
controversy has done fill up the outline of any
nothing to shake this sacred book as the re
belief, though it has quirements of time may
shown that the great have demanded, or to
lawgiver made use , as arrange its parts as
might have been ex migut ultimately be
pected, of documents best. To invent a hard
ancient even in his day, and fast theory on &
and has pointed out, subject so utterly be
here and there, minute yond our comprehen
additions of & later sion as the composition
hand ; but this also was of a Revelation is at
only what must patur once unwise and rash .
ally have happened , for It is enough for us that
the sacred books would overwhelming evidence
doubtless be annotated
sustains our acceptance
and revised as was need. of all its parts as the in
ed in the course of ages, spired word of God, in
by some of " the holy the form in which we
men of old , ” in the have received them .
schools of the prophets, The mysterious era of
“ who spake as they the creation of the world
were moved by the Holy must be kept carefully
Ghost." distinct from that of the
As a whole, Genesis creation of man . With
stands at the head of the the former, Scripture
literature of the world , has nothing to do ; the
the very oldest book latter is abundantly vin
dow in existence. Its dicated by the corro
design is indeed itself boration of advancing
enough to show its im knowledge. The dis
measurable superiority
coveries of geology bave
to all other remains of conclusively proved that
primeval literature. THE TEMPTATION OF BVE.- GEN , III, 6. periods vast beyond im
From the opening to the agination must have
close it has an aim which sets it far above all uninspired elapsed since the first stages of the history of our earth .
productions, It is an introduction to the history of With these primeval ages, however extended , the narrative
God's dealings with man , which forms the ruling theme of creation in Genesis comes in no degree into conflict, for
of the whole. Scriptures. It breathes a high spirit of there is no limit set to that " beginning " in which the
liberty and respect to man. Instead of giving pompous heavens and the earth were called into being.
recitals of the deeds of conquerors and kings, it follows With the period at which man was created it is different.
the history of simple patriarchs and their households. The chronology of Scripture, thence, till it falls into that
Amidst the slavish splendors of Egypt, it dwells on of profane history, has always been a difficult and dis
the fortunes of an humble shepherd tribe. It sees no puted question . That of the Hebrew text gives a period
charms in the merely outward and accidental ; the of 2,021 years from the creation to the journey of Abra
spiritual and essential alone are valued. The story of the ham to Canaan ; the Samaritan Pentateuch, 2,322 ; and
common people is its great theme. It is a history of a the Greek version , 3,507.
chosen family which swells into a tribe and a nation. After Thewhole subject of numbers and dates in connection
a brief introductory glance at truths needful to lead the with the Old Testament is, in fact, a difficult one, partly
way up to it, it devotes itself to this humble but glorious from the fact that the sacred writers speak of descendants
obronicle, and all the subsequent books continue it to its by a given progenitor as his sons, in accordance with the
culmination in Jesus Christ. Eastern custom , and partly from the use of letters for
 Glances at Bible History . 39

The traditions of the Deluge penetrate even to the peoples | Thus it often stands for Palestine alone ( Joel i. 2 ; Ps.
of America . Alfred Maury, a French writer, speaks of it xxxvii. 9, 11 , 22, 29 ; xliv. 3 ; Prov. ii. 21 ; 2. 30), and even
AS “ a very remarkable fact that we found in America for the small district around a town (Josh. viii. 1), or a
traditions of the Deluge coming infinitely nearer those of field or plot of land (Gen. xxiii. 15 ; Exod. xxiii, 10).
the Bible and of the Chaldean religion than the legends Little is told us of Noah's life after his wonderful pro
of any people of the Old World ." The ancient Mexicans servation . Descending with his family from the ark, he
had many variations of this legend. Some believed that a built the first altar of which there is any mention, and
vulture was sent out from the ship ; others, that a hum. offered on it, as was fitting, a burnt-offering " of every
ming -bird returned alone with a leafy branch in its mouth . clean beast and of every clean fowl." A brief phrase which
The Cree Indians have a similar tradition , and the natives henceforth became the standing form for the Divine satis
of Tahiti have a legend that all the world was drowned, faction with a sacrifice expresses the reconciliation which
and two people and their families only were saved. The followed between earth and heaven. God “ gmelled &
legend of the Fiji Islanders gives the number of human sweet savor, " and graciously gave a promise that man
beings saved as eight. François Lenormant tells us that should never again be destroyed by a deluge. Hence
every branch of the human family , with the exception of forth seed - time and harvest, cold and heat, and Summer
Africa , has a tradition of the Flood. It is a singular con. and Winter, should never cease. God had given His bless.
firmation of the Deluge as a great historical event that it is ing to man when first created , and now repeated it when
thus found engraven in the memories of all the great our race was beginning anew. The rainbow had glittered
nations of antiquity. on the clouds for immeasurable ages before man's creation ,
The precise shape of the ark has been the subject of no but it was now to be adopted as a divine pledge of good.
little controversy . The Hebrew word for it is apparently will to our race . Other covenants would be made with
Egyptian , and is translated in the Greek version by the word Abraham and with Moses, but they were sealed only by
for a wooden box , chest or coffer, while in the Vulgate it personal or passing pledge ; this had a perennial sign, and
is called an ark — that is, a chest. The Egyptian word heaven vouchsafed it. The rainbow is the pledge of friend
means a chest, or coffer, or saroophagus ; so that all agree ship between God and man, the token of divine grace and
in the idea of a vessel four - cornered like a box ; if we are pity, the assurance of preserving care . Appearing only
to understand them literally. when the sun has finally broken through the clouds, it is,
Cheap skepticism has said that if an ark were built in moreover, a special sign that the watery destruction
the proportions given in the Bible, it would not float. In which the clouds held in their bosom is already turned
the beginning of the seventeenth century a ship was built aside.
with a rounded hull, after the exact proportions given in The only additional mention we have of Noah is appar
Genesis, and it was found, to the astonishment of all, that ently given to introduce the historical notice of his descend
these proportions given in the oldest book in the world ants. Having betaken himself after the Flood to the
were precisely the most advantageous for safety, for stow . growth of the vine, it became, we are told, the occasion
age, and even for swiftness. of revealing in his son Ham a trait in which the patriarch
In 1609, Peter Jansen, a Mennonist at Hoorn , in North read the unworthy future of the offender's family (Gen.
Holland , took the notion that he would build a ship of ix. 20-25 ). The reverent modesty of Shem and Japheth
the same proportions as Noah's ark, only smaller : that is, in the same way foreshadowed the better future before
120 feet long, 20 feet broad, and 12 feet high. While it their children. From Shem were to spring Israel and the
was building every one laughed at him ; but, Dutchman races most closely connected with the earthly kingdom of
like, he kept sturdily on, and found in the end that it God ; from Ham, among others, the Canaanitish nations,
justified his expectations. For when launched it proved contrasted most strongiy to the Chosen People in history,
to be able to bear a third more freight than other ships of religion and morals ; but the descendants of Japheth,
the same measurement, required no more hands to man rough indeed , like the northern nations they were to
age it than they, and sailed far faster. The result was choose, yet uncorrupted and vigorous, were to press even
that the Dutch built many others like it, calling them into the bounds of the Semitic stock. History verifies the
Noah's Arks, and they only ceased to be used , after the complete fulfillment of the patriarchal prediction.
close of the truce between the Spaniards and the Dutch in The table of nations desoended from Noah, given in the
1621, because they could not carry cannon , and thus were tenth chapter of Genesis, is a fitting sequel to the story of
not safe against privateers or pirates. the great patriarch. Beginning with the descendants of
The ark is said in Genesis to have rested on the mount , Japheth, the table opens with the name of Gomer, the
ains of Ararat, and not on & mountain called Ararat. Cimmerians of antiquity , the Cimbri of Roman times, and
The word in the Assyrian inscription is a name for Ar- the Cymry or Celts of still existing communities.
menia, but there is no hint of any particular mountain Three races are named after the “ sons " of Gomer
bearing the name. In later times the name was given to Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah, which are not easily
the mountains themselves, and especially to their highest identified . They are probably the progenitors of the
summit, which rises 16,254 feet above the sea, and has Indo-Germanio or Aryan races.
long been known as the Greater Mount Ararat, while an. Magog, the second of the " sons ” of “ Japheth, occurs
other peak close by, 4,000 feet lower, is called the Lesser elsewhere in Scripture as the name of a country in con
Ararat. The mountain now known as Ararat is an almost nection with Gog, the prince of tribes known as Rosh,
isolated volcanio cone, It has no crater. Its name in Tubal and Meshech, the two latter named in Genesis as
Armenian is Massis. the fifth and sixth “ sons” of Japheth. Hence it would
Thoughtful men of all shades of religious opinion have almost seem as if Magog had been a vague term among
come to the copolusion that the Deluge was only a local the Hebrews for the barbarous races of Northern Asia ;
one, though sufficiently extensive in its area to destroy all like the name “ Scythians " among the Greeks.
the then existing human race, and this opinion is in per The Madai, who come next in order in the list, bear the
fect harmony with the Soriptare narration, for the word very pame by which the Medes are known on the Assyrian
translated “ Earth " in our version has not only the mean monuments, and in the great inscription of Darius. Ja
ing of the world as a whole, but others maoh more limited , van , the next, is the land of the Greeks or Ionians in a
 The Gladdest Event of the Centuries . 41

Lower Tigris, east instance of the diſ

of Babylon , south
of Assyria and north
of the Persian Gulf ;
Asshur, the Assyrian
stock ; Arphaxad , a
district north of As
syria proper ; Lud,
the people of Lydia ,
in Asia Minor ; and
Aram , the races liv
ing in Armenia on
the north, Taurus
and Lebanon on the
west ; North Pales
tine, the Arabian
Desert - in general
those races known
as Aramaic.
It is a curions
evidence of the an
tiquity as well as
the correctness of
the table in Genesis
that, though it
mentions Elam, it
knows nothing of
Persia . The ex
planation lies in the
fact that, till the
rise of Cyrus in the
sixth century before
Christ, Persia was
alike unimportant
and unknowo.
Of Aram's four
ebildren , Uz, the
first, is the name of
the home of Job .
Hul, Gether, and
Mash , the other sons
of Aram, have all
been identified with
places by modern
archæologists.
Arphaxad's line
is specially traced ,
AS from bim come
the Jews. It runs
thus in descept :
Arphaxad , Selah,
Eber, Peleg, Reu ,
Serug, Nahor, Terah
and Abram . Se
lab, or Shelach ,
means “ sending
oat," and his first
born is Eber, the
“ crossing over ," or
the " farther- side.”
Kneucker translates
Eber as “ coast ,"
" shore, ” " shore
land . " The name,
however, is used by Die Arbeiterinnen der lik :
Balaam (Num. xxiv.
24) as that of a coun.
THE GLADDEST EVENT OF TIE CENTURIES.— 1. THE ANGELIO ANNOUNCEMENT
try, no doubt part
of Mesopotamia , an
192.240 : 10 :
X
Cigarrenfabrik u:d: 25 : 1876
TO THE SHEPHERDS. 2. THE HOLY FAMILY. SEE PAGE 42.
ficulty there is in
knowing when these
names refer to his.
toric personages,
and when to the
country from which
individuals or races
sprang . We have,
in all likelibocd , in
Shelach and Eber &
hint of the original
migration of the
forefathers of the
Hebrews from tbeir
mountain homes in
the far Northeast to
the fertile plains of
Mesopotamia , On
the south west. Ac
cording to the
chronology of Arch
bishop Usber ,
Abram was born in
B. C. 1996 , or 2008
of the world's
history.
Of this tenth
chapter of Genesis,
Sir Henry Rawline
son calls it, “ the
most authentic re
cord we possess for
the affiliation of
nations. ” Its bis
torical exactness
recalls the article
of Jewish faith
which maintains
that its verses are
as fully and directly
inspired as the
words “ I am the
Lord your God . "
But it is also of the
utmost Falue for
the proof it gives of
the limited concep
tion of the world
by the ancient He
brews. The north
edge of Africa, not
very far below
Egypt, Arabia ,
Elam, & fringe of
unknown territory
north of Armenia ,
and the Black Sea ;
Thessaly, Greece,
part of Italy, and
the islands of the
Mediterranean , em
brace in their circle
the whole Hebrew
earth , with the ex
ception of Tarshish
in Spain, known in
the days of Moses ,
or even earlier.