The Gospel by Moses, in the book of Genesis; or, The Old Testament unveiled

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THE

GOSPEL BY MOSES, H^L

Preface

Much has been said and written in relation to the types and symbols of Scripture ; and various have been the opinions of the learned in all ages upon the subject. Ancient writers very generally acknowledged a typical sense to the Old Testament, but many of them brought the matter into disrepute by their injudicious and unauthorized treatment of it. Instead of being guided in their interpretations by the analogy and unity of divine truth, they followed the leadings of false philosophy and gave license to vain fancies, which imparted to the subject a visionary character, and involved it in transcendental mysticism. Some even went so far as to deny to the writings of Moses any other than a mystical sense ; insisting that no such events really occurred as are recorded by him ; that the entire Old Testament history is but a system of divine mysteries, and not an authentic narrative of actual facts. But vague and often extravagant as were the views entertained in regard to the nature and extent of a typical sense, it was certainly much to the credit of these ancient systems, and did much to atone for their errors, that they all agreed in considering Christ and the things of his spiritual kingdom to be the one great end and aim of every part of divine revelation.

In more modern times the vital spirit of religion gave j)lace to a dull formality, which savored of rationalism and infidelity. The faith of the gospel was exchanged for theories more upon a level with human reason, which discarded all divine mysteries and all necessity of the Spirit's teaching, and in which Christ and his redemption-work had no part, — either as intimated in the Old Testament, or accomplished in the New.

But we trust a better day has dawned, and that God will not longer suffer this part of his Word to " return unto him void," but it will " accomplish that whereto he has sent it." We fully believe that it was for the spiritual benefit of his Church that he ordained and constituted a connexion between the Old and New Testaments, as between type and antitype ; that he was pleased, in this way, to instruct his saints of old into the mysteries of his will in the great plan of grace ; that they might believe the promise and rejoice in hope, though they "died without the

VI PREFACE.

sight." Not only so, but this same connexion is designed to confirm the faith of those who have " received the promise." It is like having in their own hands the " handwriting" or promissory note of Jehovah, to compare with the actual payment of all that it pledged, when that " handwriting" was taken out of the way by being nailed to the cross I Hence their duty and their privilege to look into these things, that they may not be " slow of heart to believe all that the scriptures testify" of Christ and his great salvation.

And here we would ask, if a secret unbelief in reference to the plenary inspiration of the Bible, does not lie at the bottom of much of the doubt and ignorance which so generally prevail upon the typical character and design of the Old Testament ? If we regarded it as coming immediately and wholly from God, in all and every part, should we not be likely to attach an importance, and look for a meaning, in things which we pass over as trivial and of no particular interest ? In fact, it is hardly possible to reconcile the divine inspiration of the books of Moses with the idea that they convey nothing higher and more important than a literal meaning. It is only when viewed in their typical character that these writings assume their proper dignity and value. Barren details may, it is true, serve a subordinate purpose in exhibiting the dealings of God with the subjects of his moral government ; but if understood only in this view, these records are shorn of their chief glory, and sink to a level with other history. How trivial and insignificant in themselves are the incidents recorded ! Yet let these very details be considered as divinely appointed to shadow forth God's everlasting scheme of grace, and how rich and fruitful do they become, both " for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness I" The smallest item becomes replete with the glories of the new heavens and the new earth, and imbued with the great mysteries of " God manifest in the flesh."

Again, if the books of Moses claim no higher character than a mere literal history ; if, under the veil of familiar facts, common events, and minutely detailed rituals, there lies no hidden, spiritual, and prophetic intimation of the mysteries and glories of redemption — then, whence the necessity of a divine inspiration ? Why was a supernatural agency requisite ? It was surely easy for God, by merely natural means, to preserve a record of common events and transmit them to us, without any immediate operation of the Holy Spirit. But, on the other hand, if these events were designed to convey spiritual instructions, to reveal unto us those " deep things of God," which none but the Spirit of God knows or can reveal, then we see the necessity that "holy men of old should speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

The apostle Paul was certainly speaking of the Old Testament when he said to Timothy, " All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." But when did any uninspired writing, any mere literal history, however replete with the best moral sentiment, ever deserve this high

PREFACE. Vll

character, or accomplish this great work ? Christ says, " Search the scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." But how do these scriptures testify of Christ ? Is it merely in some few isolated passages, which all allow to be prophetic because they are so quoted in the New Testament ? On the contrary, does not the New Testament everywhere justify the inference that if " the law " was rightly understood it would always teach gospel truth ? — that it invariably testified of the comino- of the Just One, and the o-lories of his kingdom — not vaguely and incidentally, as if more by accident than design, but with an exactness and expressiveness which fully demonstrates the fact of an ultimate object, infinitely transcending a mere literal record ?

"When God said to Moses, " See that thou make all things according to the pattern shown you in the mount," did he furnish him with no other and better direction than an architectural model of a mere " worldly sanctuary" ? — was it this that Moses saw in the mount with God, or was it the New Jerusalem — the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ? Was he to order and regulate the work of making a tabernacle, by mechanical rules, or was he moved and inspired by a sight of those things " which God has laid up for them that fear him" — things which " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, but which he reveals to us by his Spirit" ? In speaking of one part of the service of this worldly sanctuary, Paul expressly declares what the Holy Ghost signified by it ;* and if a part was significant of heavenly things, why not the whole ? Indeed, if it be not the design of God, throughout the books of Moses, to make known, " in a figure," the mysteries of his grace, then do these writings present greater and more insuperable difficulties than any which are found in conceding the fact of their typical character; and well may the question of the apostle, in reference to the 4th verse of Deut. xxii., be applied to a multitude of similar instances : "Doth God take care for oxen, or saith he it altogether for our sakes ? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written." (1 Cor. ix. 9, 10.) That Israel, as a people, with all that was connected with them, were typical of the church of Christ, and ought to be so regarded by us, is abundantly and variously attested. In speaking of God's dealings with them, it is expressly declared, " All these things happened unto them for ensamples (or types) ; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the earth are come." It is in accordance with this fact that Paul demands of the Galatian church, in a tone of both surprise and reproof, " Do ye not hear the law ?" (this being often used as a general term for the whole of the Old Testament) ; as if, by the events of this history alone, they ought to have understood the great doctrine of the two covenants !

But if particular parts of these writings are allowed to be typical, because they are declared to be so in the New Testament, is it not absurd to suppose that these stand alone in their figurative character and design,

* Heb ix. 8.

Vlll PREFACE.

while all connected with them is a mere record of common facts ? Do the Scriptures, which are allowed by all to be a model of fine writing, thus mix the literal and figurative together ? Do they mingle in one indiscriminate mass, the trivial and unimportant details of history, with, the most sublime truths and principles of a divine revelation ?

On this branch of our subject, we beg leave to quote from a recent publication, "The Typology of Scripture," by Patrick Fairbairn ; his remarks being more to the purpose than anything we could say. Speaking of the works of Professor Stowe and Moses Stuart, Fairbairn says, " The view embraced by this school of interpreters lies open to one objection, in common with the school that preceded it. While a certain number of types were admitted, nothing was done to investigate and explain the internal nature of the connexion existing between them and the corresponding realities under the gospel. There are fewer points of resemblance presented to us by these writers, between type and antitype, than in the works of an older date, but the resemblances themselves are just as much of an outward and superficial character. There is as little to be met with of the rationale or grounds of the doctrine in the one system as in the other. But other defects adhere to the view in question. The leading excellence of the previous system was the reference which it supposed the Old Testament scriptures to bear toward Christ and the gospel dispensation ; and the practical disavowal of this, may be said to constitute the great defect of the more meagre system which has now obtained the general suffrage of the learned. It drops a golden principle for the sake of avoiding a few lawless aberrations. It furnishes indeed a clear and well defined rule for our guidance ('that just so much of the Old Testament is to be accounted typical as the New Testament declares to be so, and no more'), with which it is scarcely possible to be guilty of extravagance. But it is a rule which leaves more untaught than it teaches, and is itself almost a more vicious error than the evils it is applied to correct. For it breaks the link of connexion between the Old Testament and the New, in regard to a large portion of the former, thus depriving the Christian Church of much of the instruction in divine things which these scriptures are designed to impart, and unduly contracting the light which they are intended to shed over the events and the dispensation of the gospel. Were men accustomed, as they should be, to search for evidences of Christ in all scriptures, and to regard the inspired records of both covenants as having for their leading object ' the testimony of Jesus,' they would know how much they are losers by such a curtailment of the typical matter of Scripture, and in proportion as they grow in depth of spiritual discernment, and enlarged acquaintance of the truth of God, they will be less inclined to feel satisfied with such a limited and superficial system.

" The rule of interpretation just mentioned, is manifestly built on the ground, that nothing less than inspired authority is sufficient to guide us to the discovery and explanation of the types. But why should this be deemed necessary ? No one holds the necessity of inspiration to explain

PREFACE. IX prophecies and decide even with certainty upon their fulfilment, and whyshould it be reckoned absolutely indispensable to the closely related subject of types ? * * * From the analogy subsisting between the two subjects — for what is a type but a prophetic act or institution ? — we might reasonably infer the same liberty to have been granted and the same obligation imposed in regard to the typical parts of ancient Scripture. But we have something more than a mere argument from analogy to guide us in this conclusion ; for the very same complaint is brought by an inspired writer against private Christians concerning their slowness in understanding the types, which our Lord brought against the apostles in regard to the prophecies. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, a sharp reproof is administered to the disciples for their imperfect acquaintance with the typical character of Melchizedec, and subjects of a like nature; thus placing it beyond a doubt, that it is both the privilege and the duty of the church, with that measure of the Spirit's aid which it is the part of every believer to expect, to inquire into and understand the typical as well as the prophetical matter of ancient Scripture, whether inspiration may have thrown any special light on it or not. To deny this, is certainly to withhold an important privilege from the Christian church ; to dissuade from it, is to encourage the neglect of an incumbent duty.

" But the unsoundness of the principle which would limit the number of the types to those which are expressly mentioned in New Testament Scripture, becomes still more apparent when we consider what these really are, and in what manner they are introduced. Leaving out of view the tabernacle, its sacred furniture and the services therewith connected, the typical nature of which has been placed beyond dispute by the Epistle to the Hebrews, the following are all the types, for which anything like an express warrant of Scripture can be produced : 1. Persons or characters; Adam (Rom. v. 11, 12 ; 1 Cor. xv. 22), Melchizedec (Heb. vii.), Sarah and Hagar, the latter also identified with Sinai and Jerusalem (Gal. iv. 22-26), Ishmael and Isaac (ibid.), Moses (Gal. iii. 19 ; Acts iii. 22-26), Jonah (Matt. xii. 40), David (Ezk. xxxvii. 24 ; Luke 1. 32), Solomon (2 Sam. vii.), Zerubbabel and Joshua (Zech. iii.). 2. Transactions or events ; the preservation of Noah and his family in the deluge (1 Pet. iii. 20), the exodus (Matt. ii. 15), the passage through the Red Sea, the giving of manna, the putting a veil on the face of Moses while the law was read, the rock that was smitten and the serpent that was lifted up in the wilderness, with some judgments also which were inflicted on the Israelites in the wilderness (1 Cor. x ; John iii. 14, 15, v. 33).

" Now let any person of candor and intelligence take his Bible and examine the passages to which reference has just been made, and let him say whether the manner in which these particular characters and things are there introduced, is such as to indicate that these alone were prefigurative of similar characters and things under the gospel — that in naming them, in short, the inspired writers had exhausted the typical bearing of the Old Testament history ? On the contrary, it seems im-

X PREFACE.

possible to avoid the conviction, that in adducing these particular examples, they were merely singling out a few, as occasion required, from a vast storehouse, where many similar ones were to be found. They have all the appearance, at least, of having been selected merely as examples suited to the immediate purpose in view, and are consequently to be taken as mere specimens of the class to which they belong. And this being the case, they should rather have the effect of prompting further inquiry than of checking it. * * * Indeed, were it otherwise, nothing could be more arbitrary and unmeaning than the typology of Scripture. For what is there to distinguish the characters and events which Scripture has thus particularized, from a great multitude of others in sacred history, so that they alone should have been invested with a typical meaning ? * * * So much the reverse, that it is scarcely possible to avoid the conviction, that if those were typical, so also must many others be, which hold not a less but even sometimes a more prominent place in the page of sacred history. Can it be seriously believed that Sarah and Hagar were raised up as typical characters to teach important lessons to future times concerning the gospel dispensation, while there was nothing properly typical in Abraham, from whom, notwithstanding, they derived their whole importance, their very existence even, as scriptural characters ? "What reason can we imagine for Melchizedec and Jonah having been constituted types, while such leading characters as Joseph, Samson, and Elijah are excluded ; or for selecting the passage through the Red Sea, and the incidents in the wilderness, while the passage through Jordan and the conquest of Canaan are thrown out of view?"

In addition to these remarks from Fairbairn, we shall subjoin a single passage as quoted by him from another author. The leading views presented in these quotations, particularly the last, embody, as we fully believe, the grand principle upon which the doctrine of types must stand. To develop this principle — that Christ and his spiritual kingdom is the one great theme of divine revelation — is the sole object of the author in the present work :

" Christianity sprung out of Judaism. Long before Christ appeared, the world was prepared in which he was to appear ; the entire Old Testament is a great prophecy, a great type of him who was to come, and has come. Who can deny that the holy seers of the Old Testament saw in spirit the advent of Christ long before he came, and in prophetic anticipations, sometimes more, sometimes less clear, descried the new doctrine ? The typological comparison of the New with the Old Testament, was by no means a mere play of fancy. Christianity lay in Judaism as leaves and fruit do in the seed, although it requires the divine sun to bring them forth."

We pass to consider one more point, not as yet alluded to ; we mean the relation between the natural world and the spiritual kingdom. The New Testament declares, " The invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." What are we to under-

PREFACE. XI

stand by these words, but that the Holy Ghost designed, by the works of creation, the visible things of the material world, and the order and arrangement of them, as they proceeded from the hand of Him by whom and for whom all were made, to show forth, symbolically and emblematically, the invisible and spiritual things of that new heaven and new earth which were to stand when the old should have passed away for ever? The learned Augustine so understood it, as appears from the 11th and 12th book of his " Confessions," though he says, " the wise will say 1 Moses did not mean so.' " A learned writer of our own time expresses this same view of the subject. Gaussen, in his work upon " The Divine Inspiration of the Scriptures," says, " His (God's) great aim, without doubt, was to reveal to us the eternal glories of the invisible world, not the barren secrets of that which is to perish."

A strong proof of such a design is certainly found in the analogy which the Scriptures everywhere recognise between natural objects and spiritual things — an analogy far too remarkable to be the result of mere accident, and which none bat the God of nature could have established.

To those who look with alarm upon the least attempt to spiritualize Scripture, we say that we by no means advocate a rash or premature conclusion, in regard to any such meaning. "We do not give a spiritual sense ; we only endeavor to discover it, — like the sculptor who said, " The image is in the marble, I only bring it out." We are aware that in this attempt we are treading on holy ground ; and not unfrequently have our steps been staid, and our efforts almost paralysed by a solemn conviction of the danger of " perverting the right ways of the Lord," or trifling with his Word ! The work of investigation and study has, at least, not been hastily done ; it has been the delightful business of nearly thirty years.

We request those who differ from us in opinion, to suspend their judgment until they have given the subject a fair investigation. If they will only consent to lay aside preconceived notions, and look into these things in the spirit of candid inquiry, we have full confidence that the result will be a discovery of the fact that many a scripture whose dead letter yielded nothing to their perception but barren historic detail, is really a " well of salvation," out of which they may draw " living water f — that the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations, extends on both sides of that "river" which proceeds from the throne, and " makes glad the city of our God ;" and that these leaves are not confined to the sunny banks of the gospel, but grow equally abundant and equally verdant under the shade of the darker dispensation.

The Author.

%\t fepel hg ^m;

THE OLD TESTAMENT UNVEILED.

THE FIRST BOOK; OR, GENESIS.

CHAPTER I. The Letter

1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Note.

The original of this verse, according to Calmet, would read, — "In the beginning God created the substance of the heavens and the substance of the earth."

This would intimate that the phrase, " the beginning" implies nothing definite in point of time ; but only that the unformed mass of matter out of which the objects of creation now described, were made, had previously existed. So far as respects the natural world, we leave this question to the speculation of geologists ; our object being to find, if, in revealing to us the order and manner of this fair creation, God had any other and greater object to effect, than making known "the barren secrets of that which is to perish," — or, whether he designed by " the things that are made," symbolically to represent " the invisible things of himself; even his eternal power and Godhead;" — the eternal glories of the new heavens and new earth, which he would make when the former have passed away !

Jesus, the anointed of God, who was " set up from everlasting," is in many 2

The Spirit.

John i. 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2. The same was in the beginning with God.

3. All things were made by him ; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Col. i. 16. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him :

17. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Prov. viii. 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

23. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. *****

27. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth :

28. When he established the clouds above : when he strengthened the fountains of the deep :

29. When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass passages of scripture called, "the ning" — not only as " the beginning, the first-born of every creature," being first made manifest to men, but as being the Head of the church which is his mystical body, " chosen in him from the foundation of the world." Of this body he speaks by the mouth of David, thus ; — " Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect ; and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them."

his commandment : when he appointed the foundations of the earth :

30. Then I was by him, as one brought up with him : and I was daily Ms delight, rejoicing always before him :

31. Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.

Isa. lxv. 17. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth : and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

18. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create : for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

Rev. xxi. 1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth : for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away ; and there was no more sea.

The Letter.

2. And the earth was without form and void ; and darkness was upon the face of the deep ; and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Note.

This verse represents the condition of the mass or lump of matter, as it was in the beginning, before the work of creation began.

It was a shapeless impenetrable substance covered with the waters of the deep, with no light or heat in itself to modify its native hardness. " Darkness was upon the face of the deep."

This state of things exactly describes the condition of the moral world, when lying in the ruins of the fall, alienated from the life of God, immersed in sin, and lying under the curse.; not a ray of light to make manifest the thick darkness, or pulse of spiritual life to animate the dead and senseless lump. Sin, like an overwhelming flood, covered the entire mass, and darkness reigned over the face of this blighting element.

Upon the face, or surface of these waters of corruption, the Spirit of God has moved from time to time ; but, until the

The Spirit.

Rom. in. 9. * * We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin ;

10. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one :

11. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

12. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable ; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

16. Destruction and misery are in their ways :

17. And the way of peace have they not known.

18. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Eph. iv. 18. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart :

19. Who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness'with greediness.

v. 8. For ye were sometime dark-

Or, The Old Testament Unveiled.

purpose of grace in Christ is brought to bear upon them, and its quickening, regenerating power is put forth to " create all things new," nothing is effected by it, except to stir up their raging waves to resistance and opposition.

When the Holy Spirit strives with the natural conscience, its effect is like the wind upon the waves of the ocean, — to make them rise and foam and dash against the shore that bounds them. It is only when this divine agent, with his sharp two-edged sword, slays the enmity of the heart, that it is subdued, softened, and changed into the image of the Son of God.

The Letter.

3. And God said, Let there be light : and there was light.

Note.

Till now all was darkness ; but " where the word of a king is, there is power ;" and darkness can no longer rule and reign supreme.

Light and darkness, in their very nature, are antagonist principles; they hold a totally opposite and distinct sceptre, which admits of no sympathy or partnership with each other. But light has a positive character and an absolute power, to which darkness must of necessity yield. Where light shines darkness is expelled ; yet may the clearest light shine all around the region where darkness reigns, and wholly without effect, unless admitted within. Hence it is written, " the true light lighteth every man that cometh into the world;" lighteth, but not enlightens; for "it is the entrance of thy word which giveth light." Ps. cxix. 130.