The People's Bible history

I. Published By

THE HENRY O. SHEPARD COMPANY, CHICAGO.

COPYRIGHT BY

THE HENRY O. SHEPARD COMPANY, CHICAGO, 1895.

THE AUTHORS—THEIR POSITIONS,

DENOMINATIONS, AND THEMES.

• RT. HON. WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE, Episcopalian, Ex-Premier of England,

GENERAL INTRODUCTION, Setting Forth the Value of Scriptural Studies to the Laity. 1-26

REV. A. II. SAYCE, Episcopalian, Professor of Assyriology, Queen’s College, Ox¬ ford, England.

Book XI. —literature Of The New Testament

REV. CASPAR RENE GREGORY, PH.D., D.TH., LL.D ., Evangelical Lutheran,

Professor Ordinaries Honorarius of Theology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.

BOOK XI. —MANUSCRIPTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. - - - - -

REV. WILLIAM CLEAVER WILKINSON, D.D., Baptist, Professor, University of

Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.

Preface

rpHE PEOPLE’S BIBLE HISTORY, while planned by the editor in the interest of evangelical religion, was not designed to be either narrow or repressive. Truth is never advantaged by seeming dread of thorough investigation and reasonable freedom of expression. The intelligent public has a right to know what eminent scholars think on subjects closely interwoven with man’s spiritual welfare, and to judge for itself how far recent researches may or may not invalidate cherished faiths. It has not, therefore, been considered necessary or desirable by the editor that every representation relative to the human element in the sacred writings which does not commahd his own approval should be excluded. Certain extreme statements of a purely conjectural and speculative character he has prevailed on their authors to modify or eliminate; and an occasional, and as he trusts, involuntary, display of denominational bias he has ventured to suppress. As the prime purpose of this volume is to unfold the history recorded in the Bible, and not to discuss theories of inspiration or defend a system of theology, a wider range of opinion has been allowed than would have been admissible in other circumstances. But at the same time this generous latitude has made it apparent that there is a distinctively evangelical school of higher criticism — a school loyal to the cardinal doctrines of Christianity, though diverging somewhat from traditional estimates of their documentary sources. While the editor dissents from several of the positions assumed by some of his learned coadjutors, as being inconsistent and untenable, he is more than gratified to acknowledge their manifest loyalty to the Headship of Christ. Assuredly it is a great gain to the Christian world to see for itself that the old faith has nothing to fear from the freest thought and the most brilliant scholarship.

The reader of these pages should realize that the novel views set forth by various erudite teachers concerning the dates and composition of the sacred books, especially of the Hexateuch, are not as yet finally accepted, though, of course, their advocates regard them as irrefutable. But these enthusiasts overlook the fact that while such critics as Dillmann and Delitzsch, on the one side, and Graf and Wellhausen, on the other, coincide in the opinion that the Hexateuch has been compiled out of documents far older than itself, they are not altogether agreed as to the true analysis of its component parts. The differences may be slight, but they are real. Dillmann’s A. is Wellhausen’s P. C.; while his B. and C. stand for what is usually represented by E. (Elohist) and J. (Jahvist). Wellhausen considers one part of the composition, that marked J., as older than Dillmann does. The latter, likewise, concurs in the general truthfulness of the patriarchal histories as recorded in Genesis, and has no sympathy with Stade who regards their heroes as primitive deities, nor with the former in beginning his “ History of Israel ” at the birth of Moses. Dill¬ mann is also impatient with some recent Assyriologists who insist on tracing the Biblical accounts of Creation and the Flood to Babylonian sources, rendered accessible by the

EDITORIAL PREFACE.

vi

Captivity. These variations are instructive and indicate that the end is not yet. There is no doubt that the Hexateuch reveals distinctions in vocabulary, style, and construction, and that narratives apparently are duplicated and enactments repeated on its pages, some accounts being Jehovistic and others^ Elohistic. But then we have psalms thus differentiated by the Divine Name, and yet no hard unyielding theory of their origin and age has been elabo¬ rated from such slim materials. We may, therefore, well pause before committing ourselves irrevocably to all of the confident assertions of modern critics. As dealing with the human side of the Scriptures, with which this history has especially and almost exclusively to do, their suggestions and representations are not out of place, and add immeasurably to the interest and value of this volume; but at the same time they ought to be taken with caution and reserve. Even as these words are being penned, and while the brilliant assaults of George Adam Smith, Cheyne, and Driver, on the unity of “Isaiah,” are still fresh in the public mind, Principal Douglas, their peer in learning and ability, is challenging their conclusions in a masterful treatise, entitled “Isaiah One and His Book One.” It is consequently impossible at this date to anticipate the final findings of genuine and wellbalanced criticism. That must be left to the future. Each author connected with this Bible History is alone responsible for the views he advocates; but whatever these personal teachings may be, every candid student will admit that they have not obscured the sublime truths, which the movements of the mighty past disclose, that God is in all history, and that all the ages have providentially been made tributary to his Unique manifestation in the Divine Christ.

From the slow development of religion, which is perhaps the most notable feature of the inspired chronicle, it is evident that we cannot hope to comprehend its meaning in a moment or without patient application. God does not hasten: we cannot. It is also observable, that not only has religion been of tardy growth, it has been the product of various and oftentimes of indirect agencies. At the beginning God did not put cOal in the mine, neither did he plant the full-grown tree, but scattered living germs on the earth, which afterward became forests. These forests drank in the sun until they were soaked with flame; then they sank into the darkness to be transmuted in the laboratory of nature into substance for heat and light. Thus the final religion had to pass through successive stages. At first it was but a seed; then it took shape in antediluvian, postdiluvian, patriarchal, theocratical, ceremonial, and prophetical eras—more than once being submerged in the night of exile, oppression, and apostacy — at last to blaze forth in all the splendors of the Christian dispensation. No wonder, then, if the history of this sublime progress should reveal the touch of many hands, and the interblending of diverse materials. It may be compared to a mosaic in which piece to piece has been joined that a glorious picture of heavenly things might be produced. Though the seams and divisions of this picture may not be apparent to all — for the Bible is not fashioned like the Byzantine mosaics, where all the articulations are palpable and rough, but like those of Rome where all the lines are ground down until they are nearly invisible — they still exist; and when some master-workman shows them to us and makes clear the various fragments that enter into the composition of the whole, let it not be doubted that even this may be true, and the divine origin of the grand old book remain uninvalidated. For one controlling, guiding,

EDITORIAL PREFACE.

vii

unifying mind must have been operative through all the weary ages to produce out of such composite elements a result so wonderfully unique, uplifting, and unfathomable as the Bible: and that mind in the nature of things could not have been human.

It has been customary in volumes of this character to give an account of the four centuries between the last of the Hebrew prophets and the first of the Roman emperors, and to embrace in the narrative a description of the overthrow of Jerusalem. This introduction of material not contained in the Scriptures is justified as necessary to an understanding of the relation existing between the old economy and the new, and to the coherent unfolding of the divine purpose in the calling of the Gentiles. But it has always seemed to the editor that the reason, good and sufficient as it is, for this method, ought to lead the historian yet farther. Instead of arresting his work at the point of catastrophe, he ought to carry it onward to the period of victory. That the student may perceive how Christianity emerged from obscurity to the preeminence it attained under the Caesars; that he may see how it began to fulfill what was foretold of its career, and observe the manner of its emancipation from the influence of Judaism and from reliance on miracles: in a word, that he may be able to form some idea of its transition by which, though never of the earth, it came to be in many respects like the kingdoms of earth, under the dominion of natural law, there should be furnished, at least in outline, an account of the events which make the two hundred years subsequent to the Apostolic era singularly significant in the spiritual annals of mankind. This will explain the unusual extension of the present treatise beyond the ordinary limits conventionally set to Bible history.

It is only right that the editor should refer in befitting terms to the publishers, and to others who have had much to do in preparing this volume for the press. All that money could do has cheerfully been done by Henry O. Shepard and his partners to render this contribution to religious literature scholarly in treatment and artistic in execu¬ tion. The paper, letterpress, pictures, and binding speak for themselves, and the names of Gladstone and Farrar, to say nothing of the others, are evidence that the text is not unworthy its beautiful accessories. But if the company has been generous in its use of money, the business manager of the book, Mr. G. L. Howe, has been equally lavish in the thought and labor he has spent on its production. Though the editor is the architect, in a very real sense the book must be regarded as Mr. Howe’s monument. He it was who invited the editor to elaborate the plan of the work and choose colaborers to aid in the execution. To him alone is due the merit of enlisting the pen of the Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone in the enterprise; and from first to last he has exercised an unsleeping oversight of its progress toward completion. And now that he assumes control of all agencies employed in its circulation, the public may receive him in confidence as a gentleman entitled to the highest consideration.

No pains have been spared to render the text as accurate as possible. This has not been an easy task, the editor and his literary associates living remote from one another, some of them being beyond the sea. The greatest care has been taken to guard against mistakes; and if the result is in any commensurate degree satisfactory, credit is largely due to the very thorough proofreading done in Chicago, especially by Mr. Robert D. Watts, and to the final supervision of the page proofs in Boston by the Rev. Charles Follen Lee, A.M.,

EDITORIAL PREFACE.

viii

to whose scholarly attainments and critical taste testimony need hardly be borne. The exhaustive index to the entire work — which it is believed will add much to the value of the publication for purposes of reference — has been prepared with the utmost care by Walter B. Wines, A.M., LL.B., whose painstaking, conscientious labor is entitled to all praise. And now that this History passes from the workshop of the editor to the great world outside, he trusts that it may find its way into multitudes of homes, and prove a fresh incentive to the study of that mysterious Book, wherein the highest genius of man appears enkindled and inspired by the Spirit of God.

GEORGE C. LORIMER,

TREMONT TEMPLE,

BOSTON, U. S. A.

Table Of Contents

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

The banner of Christianity, 5. The struggle around the standard, 5. No real division among Christians as to essen¬ tial belief, 5. The Canon, or list of books of divine inspi¬ ration, 5. Death agony of Paganism, 5. Mahomet and his influence, 5. Gradual widening of the boundaries of the Church, 5. The impulse of nineteenth century civilization upon Christian expansion, 5. The Scriptures the universal authority, 5. Christianity proved to be the dominant relig¬ ion, 6. Wonderful accumulation of influence, 6. The achievements and energies of Christian civilization, 6. Chris¬ tian nations are the arbiters of the destinies of the world, 6. The Bible has held allegiance for fifteen hundred years — Its challenge to the powers of the world, 6. Great work of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 7. Multiplication of the Scriptures and enlargement of missionary activity contem¬ poraneous, 7. Contents of the sacred Books, 7. Claim to authority is absolute throughout, 8. Gradual formation of the New Testament, 8. Adaptation of the Scriptures to the progressive needs of mankind, 8. Majestic trilogy of the Bible, 8. Deals with the destinies of our race from the cradle to the grave, 8. Authorship of the Scriptures, 8. Position of Moses in history unassailable, 8. Profound influence of legislation of the Pentateuch, 8. Wonderful purity of Bible teachings, 9. Doctrine of Trinity is based on Unity, 9.

Doctrine of New Testament an echo of the Old, 9. Koran only helps to illustrate authority of the Bible, 9. Bible demands supremacy, not precedence, and is immeasurably separated from all competitors, 10. Divine authority recog¬ nized throughout Old and New Testaments, 10. The Hebrew records compared with Achaic, Assyrian and Confucian teachings, 10, 11. The Hindoo cosmogony, 11. China illustrates primeval monotheism, 11. Comparison of Per¬ sian books with Hebrew' records, 11. The diversities and agreements of the Eastern books of religion, rationally solved by the Hebrew records, 12. Ethnological researches only indorse Bible truths, 12. Hebrews were the only pre¬ servers of records in the primitive conditions of mankind, 12. Assyrian tablets prove truth of Bible records, 12.

Book I. —literature And Manuscripts Of The Old Testament. Literature

History properly defined as the record of the past actions of civilized man, and the picture of the man him¬ self, 29. Various characteristics of the historian, 29. Truth in history indispensable, 30 — but mathematical exactitude an impossibility, 31. Value of archaeological discovery in corroborating Old Testament history, 31. Genesis the dawn of civilized life, 32. Starting-point of civilization and cul¬ ture w r as on the banks of the Euphrates, 32 . Semitic art and learning acquired from the Babylonians, 32. Junc¬ tion of Chaldean and Egyptian civilizations, 32. Babylonia the background of patriarchial and Israelitish history, 33. God’s call to Abraham, 33. His early environments, 34.

Culture, morals, and religion among the Babylonians — genuinely pious, but enmeshed in superstitions, 34. Influ¬ ences upon Abraham of these early surroundings, 34. End of the patriarchal age — migration of Jacob and his sons to

Egypt, 35. Natural antagonism between the Egyptians and their bondsmen, 35. The cuneiform tablets and their con¬ tribution to history, 36. Israelites carried away the “ wis¬ dom of the Egyptians” in knowledge of literature, 38. In the desert the patriarchal age disappears and Hebrew national history begins, 38. Evolution of the theocracy, 38. Conquest of Canaan by the Israelites, 39. Epoch of the Judges, 39. Formation of the kingdom of Israel, 39.

Division by the revolt of the ten tribes, 40. Rise of the Assyrians, and overthrow of Israel — Judah retains its independence, 40. Unity in religion and politics centered at Jerusalem, 41. Birth of prophecy and its message, 42.

Purification of Judah by exile, and supersession of Jewish monarchy by Jewish Church, 42. Judah restored, 43.

Prophet succeeded by priest. Spread of Greek culture, and conflict between Greek polytheism and Jewish monotheism,

X

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

43. Maccabean revolt, and its consequences, 44. Greeks translate the Old Testament, and call it Septuagint, 44.

The Old Testament Canon, its meaning and limitations,

44. Contentions of Josephus, 45. Separation of inspired and apocryphal works, 45, 46. Modern revision of the con¬ tents of the Canon, 46. 47. The three codes of the Mosaic dispensation, 47, 48. The Law .revealed to Ezra, 48. The Pentateuch the authentic record of early Hebrew times, 49.

Further demonstration of the authenticity of Old Testament records by archaeological discoveries, 50. The Pentateuch only of the Old Testament of divine origin and the sole rule of faith, 52. Other books of purely historical nature,

53. Books of Joshua, and Judges, Samuel, and Kings proven by archaeology to be authentic records of absolute facts,

53, 54, 55. The books of the prophets — analysis of the con¬ ditions under which they were formulated, 56. Anomalies in the Books of Zechariah and Isaiah, 57. Books of the Hagiographa, 58. The Book of Proverbs, 59. The Book of Job and its lessons, 59. The Song of Songs a Hebrew lyric poem, 60. The Book of Esther, 61. The Book of Daniel a parable for instruction and not a historic text-book—its facts

MANUS

Authenticity of the Old Testament, 68. Traditional view and that of modern evangelical critics, 68. Faithful study of the origin and composition of the Bible will restore the Old Testament to its place of honor and confidence, 69. Object of the Old Testament not historical, but to set God’s truths before his people, 70. The Pentateuch the growth of many centuries, 70. Hebrew literature passed away, but the Old Testament survives, 71. A well ordered preparation for the coming of Christ, 71. Origin of the books providential,

72. Formal acknowledgment of the authority of the Penta¬ teuch in time of Ezra, 72. The era of prophesy, 72a. The prophets preachers of righteousness, 72a. Object of the pre¬ dictions of Isaiah, 72b. Divine power and foreknowledge controlled Old Testament Scriptures, 72b. Histories and prophecies prepared under direct superintendence of God’s spirit, 72c. Divine wisdom manifested in gathering and pres¬ ervation of the sacred books. 72c. Testimony regarding the three divisions of the Old Testament, 72d. Recognized as contradicted by authentic history as developed by archaeo¬ logical discovery, 61, 62. Ezra and Nehemiah relate events following the return from exile — disputed chronology, 62.

The Books of Chronicles and their origin — probably com¬ piled by the author of the Book of Esdras, 63. The Apocry¬ pha, 63. Tobit, Judith, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon possess little claim to historical accuracy, 63. The Wisdom of Solo¬ mon and Ecclesiasticus, the latter translated into Greek, 64. Book of Enoch an example of apocalyptic literature, 64.

Development of the two great church parties, Pharisees and Sadducees, 64. Jewish Canon completes its work with the closing of the Old Testament Canon, 64. Three lessons learned from the history of Israel: 1. The indissoluble con¬ nection between Jewish history and the Jewish Church; 2. How varied the literature and how long a time over which it extends. 3. The slow education for the great mis¬ sion which they were destined to fill which the history of Israel conveys, 65. Jewish colonies invade the shores of the Mediterranean, and Judaism becomes a universal reli¬ gion. 65. In life and death of Jesus Christ, the Old Testa¬ ment was summed up and fulfilled, 65, 66.

Scripture by the Jews at the Council of Jamnia,90 A. D., 72d. Original languages of the Old Testament, 73. Hebrew not the primitive language, 73. Analysis of the characteristics and significance of Hebrew philology, 74. Jesus spoke in Aramaic, 74. Witnesses for the authenticity of the Old Testament, 74a. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septu¬ agint version both corroborate, 74a. Witness of the Talmud and the Targums, 75. Proof of a fixed text, 75. The Syriac version, 76. Testimony of Jerome, 76. Of the preservation of the ancient manuscripts, on stone, clay tablets, or papyrus, 76. Ten Commandments and Deuteronomy preserved on stone and plaster, 76a. Use of the roll, 76a. Faithfulness of the Talmudic transmission of the books, 76a. Method of the preparation of the sacred roll, 77. Regarded as a solemn religious work, 77. The division of the Pentateuch, 78.

Preservation of the Old Testament little less than mirac¬ ulous, 78.

Book Ii—from The Creation To The Dawn Of Human History

From creation to the dawn of history, 81. Light of mod¬ ern criticism on the composition, meaning and origin of the Scriptures, 81. The four documents of the Hexateuch, 82.

Their distinguishing characteristics, 81. Features of the Priestly Code, 83. The Elohist, 83. The Yahvist, 83. The Redactor, 84. Careful examination a duty to the Scrip¬ tures, 84. The question of inspiration, 84. Testimonies to the grandeur and moral value of the Bible, 85. The first eleven chapters of Genesis, 86. Unique in scope, con¬ centration, choice of selection, and in conformity to the results of scientific inquiry, 86. Narrative of the creation of the world and of man, 87. Appointed function of the Hebrews, 87. Initial movements of time and creation, 88.

False method of Clement and Saint Augustine in illustrating the Genesis, 88. The first suggestion of the Trinity, 89.

Analysis of meaning of the opening book of the Hexateuch, 89. The majestic story of the creation, 90. Scriptures have nothing to do with science, 91. Multiplied religious beliefs of the human family, 91. The original chaos, 92. Eduction of the cosmos, 93. Work of the first day, 93. The creation of heaven, 94. The third day — separation of sea and land, 95. The fourth day, 95 — creation of the stars, 96. Fifth day — creation of the fishes and birds, 97. Sixth day — cre¬ ation of the animal kingdom and man. 97. Likeness and similitude of man to God, 98. The divinity in man recog¬ nized even by the heathen philosophers, 99. Man is endowed with dominion, 100. God pronounces his work good, 100. The rest of the seventh day, 101. Blessing and sanctification of the sabbath, 101. Contrast with the Baby¬ lonian cosmogonial myths, 102. Cosmogonies of the Per¬ sians and Hindoos, 103. Harmony between Genesis and physical science an impossibility,* 104. The comment of the eighth Psalm, 105. Second chapter — the retrospec¬ tive narrative, 105. The woman formed out of man, 105.

The first man, 106. The appointing of the garden in Eden and Adam placed there to till it, 106. The tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 107. Location of the garden, 107. Paradise probably somewhere in the table lands of Armenia, 108. The first man and the first com¬ mand, 109. The creation of woman, 109. The temptation and the fall, 110. The Scripture account largely allegorical,

111. The holiness of childhood. Ill. Entrance of sin into the soul of man, 112. Power of the external force of evil,

112. Dawn of self-will in the mind of Eve, 113. The for¬ bidden tree, 114. All wickedness from evil thought, 114.

The fall, 114. The mother of mankind eats of the fruit, 115. The man tempted by the woman, 115. The entry of shame with sin into the world, 115. The alienation from God, 116. The summons of God and Adam’s meanness, 116. Eve’s excuse, 117. The curse of the serpent, 117. The first Messianic promise, 118. Woman’s doom of drudgery, 118.

The punishment of man, 118. Adam and Eve are clothed by God, 119. Earthly immortality forfeited, 120. The Cherubim and their functions, 120. The first natural birth into the world, 121. Cain and Abel, 121. The beginning of worship by sacrifices, 122. Abel's offering preferred to that of Cain, 122. The anger and jealousy of Cain, 123. The firstborn man becomes the first murderer, 124. Spiritual lessons derived, 124. The awakening of conscience, 125. The curse pronounced upon Cain, 126." The sign given by Yahveh to Cain, 126. Cain’s wife, 127. Birth of Enoch,

127. The first city, 127. Great cities the graves of the phy¬ sique of the race and also of its best morality, 127. Lamech the first polygamist, 128. The beginning of civilization by the sons of Lamech, 128. The first justifiable homicide,

128 . Cain furnishes the first lesson of repentance, 128 . Seth and Enos, 129. The first organized worship, 129. The gen¬ erations of man from Adam to Noah through the line of Seth,

129. Longevity of the early generations, 130. Increasing contraction of human life since the antediluvian epoch,

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

xi

130. Enoch walks with God, 131. His translation without death, 131. Great age of Methuselah, 131. Noah at 500 years the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, 131. The corruption of man, 132. Fallen angels corrupt the daughters of men, and become the fathers of the race of giants, 132. God punishes the fallen spirits, 132. The giant demons destroy each other, 132. Ancient belief in tribes of gigantic men, 133. Yahveh determines to blot out from the face of the earth the race of men and the animal kingdom, which shared the curse, 134. Noah set apart to continue the race, 134. Building of the ark and prepara¬ tion for the deluge, 134. Fountains of the great deep broken up — the ark uplifted on the waters, 135. Cessation of the rain and drying up of the earth, 135. The ark on the moun¬ tains of Ararat, 135. Moral and spiritual significance of the deluge, 136. It w r as a new beginning, 136. Account of the deluge partially hyperbolical, 137. Similarity of legends of the deluge among the Greeks, Indians, and Chaldees to the Biblical account, 138. The building of an altar and sacrifice by Noah, 140. God blesses the survivors of the flood, 140.

Flesh allowed to man for food, 140. God’s promise and his sign, 141. The sin of Noah, 141. Intemperance introduced into the world, 142. Drunkenness of Noah, 142. The infamy of Ham, 142. Noah’s awakening and the curse pro¬ nounced upon Canaan, 143. Grave of the prophet Noah, 144.

The tables of national affinity, 144. The episode of Nimrod, the son of Cush, 145. The founder of Babylon and Nin¬ eveh, and builder of the tower of Babel, 146. The building of Babel, 146. The dispersion by Yahveh, and the confu¬ sion of tongues, 147. The breaking up of the race an act of highest benefaction, 147. Hebrew not the primitive language, 148. The generations from Noah to Adam, 148.

Comparison of the Hebrew, Samaritan, and Septuagint tables, 149. Hebrews from Shem to Terah had no distinct tradition regarding their ancestors, 149, 150. The genealogy of Terah, 150. First clear traces of the family of Abram, 150. The migration of the family of Terah to Canaan, 151.

“ Came to Haran and dwelt there,” 151. Abram receives at Haran the intimation that he was to go out of his country into an unknown land to be appointed of God, 151. Birth of the “ child of promise,” 152. Abram the “ father of mis¬ sionaries,” 152. Close of the meager record of the prehis¬ toric age, 152.

Book III. —from The Call Of Abraham To The Bondage Of Israel

Birth and training of Abraham, 155. Migration of Terah his father from Ur to the plain of Haran, near Baby¬ lon, 155. Death of Terah, 156. Abraham’s Chaldean envi¬ ronments, and their influences upon his character, 156. His revolt at the sensual superstitions of the Chaldeans, 157.

Chosen as God’s instrument for the great revelation, 157.

Pilgrimage at Haran part of the divine plan. 158. Reasons for the stay there, 158. Laxity of domestic relations — Abraham to introduce monogamy as well as to found mono¬ theism, 159. The purification of the family relation, 159.

Departure of Abraham for Canaan, 160. Promise of the Lord to Abraham, 161. Family relations — Abraham and Lot, 162. Lot’s cupidity leads him to "Sodom, 162. The de¬ struction by volcanic eruption of the cities of the plain, 164. The departure of Abraham and his household into Egypt, 164. Condition of government in Egypt, 165. An alliance with Pharaoh, 165. The Hyksos, or Shepherd rulers, 165.

Transfer of Sarah to the monarch’s harem, the sending of a plague, and the restoration of Sarah to her husband, 166.

Lot captured by the King of Elam, 166. Lot rescued by Abraham — Magnanimous treatment of the captives, 166.

Melchizedek and his mysterious personality, 168. Chedorlaomer, the Elamite prince, first of the great Oriental conquerors, 168. Marvelous indorsation of Biblical history deciphered from Chaldean monuments, 170. Abraham and Ishmael, 170. Jealousy of Sarah at the handmaid Hagar, 171. Institution of the rite of circumcision, 172. God’s promise to Sarah — The birth of Isaac, 172. Casting forth into the wilderness of Hagar and Ishmael, 172. A striking lesson against polygamy, 174. The sacrifice of Isaac, 175.

Abraham’s proof of his faith and trust in God, 175. Dean Stanley’s interpretation of the tragedy, 176. A prototype of Calvary, 176. Abraham prepares his sepulcher—Death of Sarah, 178. - Isaac seeks Rebekah to wife, 180. Romantic courtship and the return into Canaan, 182. Beauty and talent of Rebekah, 183. Birth of Esau and Jacob, 184: The sale of Esau’s birthright for a soup of lentils, 184. Esau is robbed of his patriarchate by the device of Rebekah, 185. Jacob’s flight to Padan-aram, 185. Isaac’s prophecy for Esau, 185. Edomites described by Josephus, 185. The two sons of Isaac distinct prototypes of their descendants, 186. Jacob’s ladder and its shining occupants, 187. He feels called of God, and vows himself to his service, 187. The simple origin of the majestic ritual of the Levitical priests, 188. Jacob’s meeting with Rachel, 188. His bargain with Laban, 190. Laban’s crafty deception, 190. Another seven years’ service rendered to secure Rachel for his wife, 190. The birth of Joseph, 190. Departure from Haran for Canaan, 192. Laban’s pursuit and reconciliation, 194. The return to meet Esau, 196. Wrestles with the angel, and is named Israel, 196. Affectionately received by Esau, 198. The out¬ rage of Dinah and her brothers’ revenge, 198. Death of Rachel and birth of Benjamin, 198. Isaac is joined to his fathers, 198. Joseph and his brethren, 200. Joseph is sold into Egypt, 200. Cast into prison, 201. Interprets Pharaoh’s dream, 201. Becomes Pharaoh’s chief counselor, 202. His achievements as a statesman, 204. Visit of Joseph’s brethren to Egypt, 205. Joseph’s demand for his brother Benjamin, 206. Dramatic revelation of his personality to his brethren, 206. The glad tidings brought to Jacob, 207. Departure into the land of Goshen, 207. Jacob’s visit to Pharaoh, 208. Increase of the Hebrew colony, 209. End of Jacob’s career, 209. He blesses his children, 210. His Messianic piophecy relating to Judah, 210. Imposing obsequies of the patri¬ arch, 210. He is laid to rest in the tomb of Abraham and Isaac, 210. The passing of Joseph, 211. A new dynasty and the beginning of persecution, 211. Reduced to slavery, 211. Review ot Joseph’s career as an instrument of God, 212.