Commentary on the Holy Bible

I have already compared Joseph with bis father Jacob, see chap, xlviii. 12, and shall make no apology for having given the latter a most decided superiority. Joseph was great; but his greatness came through the interposition of especial providences. Jacob was great, mentally and practically great, under the ordi- >)ary workings of Providence; and, towards the close of his life, not less distinguished for piety towards God tlian his son Joseph was in the holiest period of his life.

Thii.s terminates the Book of Genesis, the most ancient record in the world; including the history of two grand subjects, Creation and Pkovidenpe, of each of which it gives a summary, but astonishingly minute, and detailed account. From this honk almost all the ancient philosophers, astronomers, chronologists, and historians have taken their respective data; and all the modern improvements and accurate discoveries in different arts and sciences have only served to confirm the facts detailed by Moses; and to show that all the ancient writers on these subjects have approached to or receded from tkuth and the phenomena of nature, in proportion as they have folloioed the Mosaic history.

In this book the creative power and energy of God are first introduced to the read(!r's notice, and the mind is overwhelmi^d with those grand creative acts by which the universe was brought into being. 1 When this •■econnt is completed, ami the introdnctiim I of SIN, and its awful consequences in the destruction of the earth by a flood, noticed, then the Almighty Creator is next introduced as the Restorer and Preserver of the world; and thus the history of Providence commences: a history in which the mind of man is alternately delighted and confounded with the infinitely varied plans of wisdom and mercy in preserving the human species, counteracting the evil propensities of men and devils by means of gracious influences conveyed through religious institutions, planting and watering the seeds of righteousness which himself had sowed in the hearts of men, and leading forward and maturing the grand purposes of his grace in the final salvation of the human race.

After giving a minutely detailed account of the peopling of the earth, ascertaining and settling the bounds of the different nations of mankind, the sacred writer proceeds with the history of one family only; but he chooses that one through which, as from an ever-during fountain, the streams of justice, grace, goodness, wisdom, and truth, should emanate. Here we see a pure well of living water, springing up unto eternal life, restrained in its particular influence to one people till, in the fulness of time, the fountain should be opened in the house of David for sin and for uncleanness in general, and the earth filled with the knowledge and salvation of God; thus by means of one family, as extensive a view of the economy of providence and grace is afforded as it is possible for the human mind to comprehend.

In this epitome how wonderful do the workings of Providence appear I An astonishing concatenated train of stupendous and minute events is laid before us; and every transaction is so distinctly marked as everywhere to exhibit the finger, the hand, or the arm of God! But did God lavish his providential cares and attention on this one family, exclusive of the rest of his intelligent offspring 1 No: for the same superintendence, providential direction, and influence, would be equally seen in all the concerns of human life, in the preservation of individuals, the rise and fall of kingdoms and states, and in all the mighty revolutions, natural, moral, and political, in the universe, were God, as in the preceding instances, to give us the detailed history; but what was done in the fomily of Abraham, was done in behalf of the whole human race. This specimen is intended to show us that God does work, and that against him and the operations of his hand, no might, no counsel, no cunning of men or devils, can prevail; that he who walks uprightly walks securely; and that all things work together for good to them who love God; that none is so ignorant, low, or lost, that God cannot instruct, raise up, and save. In a word, he shows himself by this history to be the invariable friend of mankind, embracing every opportunity to do tbcm good, and, to speak after the manner of men, rejoicing in the frequent recurrence of such opportunities; that every man, considering the subject, may be led to exclaim in behalf of all his feUows, BEHOLD now HE loveth THEM!

On the ch.aracter of Moses as a historian and philosopher (for in his legislative character he does not vet appear) much might be said, did the nature of this work admit. Bui as brevity has been everywnere studied, and minute details rarely admitted, and only where absolutely necessary, the candid reader will excuse any deficiencies of this kind which he may have already noticed.

Of the accuracy and impartiality of Moses as a historian, many examples are given in the course of the notes, with such observations and reflections as the subjects themselves suggested; and the succeeding books will afford many opportunities for farther remarks on these topics.

The character of Moses as a philosopher and chronologist, has undergone the severest scrutiny. A class of philosophers, professedly infidels, have assailed the Mosaic account of the formation of the universe, and that of the general deluge, with such repeated attacks as sufl^ciently prove that, in their apprehension, the pillars of their system must be shaken into ruin if those accounts could not be proved to be false. Traditions, supporting accounts different from those in the sacred history, have been borrowed from the most barbarous as well as the most civilized nations, in order to bear on this argument. These, backed by various geologic observations made in extensive travels, experiments on the formation of different strata or beds of earth, either by inundations or volcanic eruption, have been all condensed into one apparently strong but strange argument, intended to overthrow the Mosaic account of the creation. The argument may be stated thus: " The account given by Moses of the time when God commenced his creative acts is too recent; for, according to his Genesis, six thousand years have not yet elapsed since the formation of the universe; whereas a variety of phenomena prove that the earth itself must have existed, if not from eternity, yet at least fourteen if not twenty thousand years." This I call a strange argument, because it is well known that all the ancient nations in the world, the Jeios excepted, have, to secure their honour and respectability, assigned to themselves a duration of the most improbable length; and have multiplied months, weeks, and even days, into years, in order to support their pretensions to the most remote antiquity. The millions of years wliich have been assumed by the Chinese and the Hindoos have been ridiculed for their manifest absurdity, even by those philosophers who have brought the contrary charge against the Mosaic account! So notorious are the pretensions to remote ancestry and remote eras, in every false and fabricated system of family pedigree and national antiquity, as to produce doubt at the very first view of their subjects, and to cause the impartial inquirer after truth to take every step with the extreme of caution, knowing that in going over such accounts he everywhere treads on a kind of enchanted ground.

When in the midst of these a writer is found who, ■without saying a word of the systems of other nations, professes to give a simple account of the creation and peop.ing of the earth, and to show the very conspicuous part that his own people acted among the various nations of the world, and who assigns to the earth and to its inhabitants a duration comparatively but as of yesterday, he comes forward with such a variety of claims to be heard, read, and considered, as no other writer can pretend to. And as he departs from the universal custom of all writers on similar subjects, in assigning a comparatively recent date, not only to his own nation, but to the universe itself, he must have been actuated by motives essentially different from those which have governed aU other ancient historians and chronologists.

The generally acknowledged extravagance and absurdity of all the chronological systems of ancient times, the great simpUcity and harmony of that of Moses, its facts evidently borrowed by others, though disgraced by the fables they have intermixed with them, and the very late invention of arts and sciences, all tend to prove, at the very first view, that the Mosaic account, which assigns the shortest duration to the earth, is the most ancient and the most likely to be true. But all this reasoning has been supposed to be annihilated by an argument brought against the Mosaic account of the creation by Mr. Patrick Brydone, F. R. S., drawn from the evidence of different eruptions of Mount ^Etna. The reader may find this in his " Tour through Sicily and Malta," letter vii., where, speaking of his acquaintance with the Canonico Recupero at Catania, who was then employed on writing a natural history of Mount iEtna, lie says; " Near to a vault wliich is now thirty feet below ground, and has probably been a burying-place, there is a draw-well where there are several strata of lavas, (i. e., the liquid matter formed of stones, &c., which is discharged from the mountain in its eruptions,) with earth to a considerable thickness over each stratum. Recupero has made use of this as an argument to prove the great antiquity of the eruptions of this mountain. For if it requires two thousand years and upwards to form but a scanty soil on the surface of a lava, there must have been more than that space of time between each of the eruptions which have formed these strata. But what shall we say of a pit they sunk near to Jaci, of a great depth? They pierced through seven distinct lavas, one under the other, the surfaces of which were parallel, and most of them covered with a thick led of rich earth. Now, says he, the eruption which formed the lowest of these lavas, if we may be allowed to reason from analogy, must have flowed from the mountain at \e3.s\, fourteen thousand years ago! Recupero tells me, he is exceedingly embarrassed 'jy these discoveries, in writing the history of the mountain; that Moses hangs like a dead weight upon him, and blunts all his zeal for inquiry, for that he really has not the conscience to make his mountain so young as that prophet makes the

" The bishop, who is strenuously orthodox, (for it is an excellent see,) has already warned him to be upon his guard; and not to pretend to be a better natural historian than Moses, nor to presume to urge any thing that may in the smallest degree be deemed contradictory to his sacred authority."

Though Mr. Brydone produces this as a sneer against revelation, bishops, and orthodox-y, yet the sequel will prove that it was good advice, and that the bishop was much better instructed than either Recupero or Brydone, and that it would have been much to their credit had they taken his advice.

I have given, however, this argument at length; and even in the insidious dress of Mr. Brydone, whose S81 feith in Divine revelation appears to have been upon a par wiili tliat of Signior Recupero, both being built nearly on the same foundation; to show from the answer how slight the strongest arguments are, produced from insulated facts by prejudice and partiality, when brought to the test of sober, candid, philosophical investigation, aided by an increased knowledge of the phenomena of nature. " In answer to this argument," says Bishop Watson, (Letters to Gibbon,) " it might l)e urged tliat the time necessary for converting lavas into fertile fields must be very different, according to the different consistencies of the lavas, and their different situations with respect to elevation and depression, or their being exposed to winds, rains, and other circumstances: as for instance, the quanlili/ of ashes deposited over them, after they had cooled, &c., &.C., just as the time in which Iieaps of iron slag, which resembles lava, are covered with verdure, is different at different furnaces, according to the nature of the slag and situation of the furnace; and something of this kind is dcducible from the account of the Canon (Recupero) himself, since the crevices in the strata are often full of rich good soil, and have pretty large trees growing upon them. But should not all this be thought sufficient to remove the objection, I will produce the canon an analog// in opposition to his analogy, and which is grounded on more certain facts.

"^tna and Vesuvius resemble each other in the causes which produce their eruptions, in the nature of their lavas, and in the time necessary to mellow them into soil fit for vegetation; or, if there be any slight difference in this respect, it is probably not greater than what subsists between different lavas of the same mountain. This being admitted, which no philosopher will deny, the canon's (Recupero's) analogy will prove just nothing at all if we can produce an instance of seven different lavas, with interjacent strata of vegetable earth, which have flowed from Mount Vesuvius within the space, not o{ fourteen thousand, but of somewhat less than one thousand seven hundred yed^is; for then, according to our analogy, a stratum of lava may be covered with vegetable soil in about two hundred and fifty years, instead of requiring <«jo Moufonrf for that purpose..

" The eruption of Vesuvius, which destroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii, is rendered still more famous by the death of Phny, recorded by his nephew in his letter to Tacitus. This event happened A. D. 79; but we are informed by unquestionable authority, (7?emarks on the nature of the soil of Naples and its Vicinity, by Sir William Hamilton, Philos. Transact., vol. l.\i., p. 7,) that the matter which covers the ancient town of Hrrculancum is not the produce of oyie eruption only, for there are evident marks that the matter of.si.r eruptions has taken its course over that which lies immediately over the town, and was the cause of its destruction. The strata are either of lava or burnt matter with veins of good soil between them. You perceive," says the bishop, " with what ease a little attention and increase of knowledge may remove a great difficulty; but had we been able to say nothing in explanation of this phenomenon, wo should not have acted a very rational part in making our ignorance the foundation of our infidelity, or sufTer- S83

ing a minute philosopher to rob us of our religion." In this, as well as in all other cases, the foundation stands sure, being deeply and legibly impressed with God's seal Sec also Dr. GreavesU Lectures on the Pentateuch.

There is a very sensible paper written by Don Joseph Gioeni* on the eruption of ^tna in 1781; in which, among many other valuable observations, I find the following note: " I was obliged to traverse the current of lava made by the eruption of 1766, the most ancient of any that took this direction, viz., Bronte. I saw several streams of lava which had crossed others, and which afforded me evident proofs of the fallacy of the conclusions of those who seek to estimate the period of the formation of the beds of lava from the change they have undergone. Some lava of earlier date than others still resist the weather, and present a vitreous and unaltered surface, while the lava of later date already begin to be covered with vegetation." — See Pinkerton on Rock, vol. ii., p. 395.

On the geology and astronomy of the book of Genesis, much has been written, both by the enemies and friends of revelation; but as Moses has said but very little on these subjects, and nothing in a systematic way, it is unfair to invent a system pretendedly collected out of his words, and thus make him accountable for what he never wrote. There are systems of this kind, the preconceived fictions of their authors, for which they have sought support and credit by tortured meanings extracted from a few Hebrew roots, and then dignified them with the title of The Mosaic System of the Universe. This has afforded infidelity a handle which it has been careful to turn to its own advantage. On the first chapter of Genesis, I have given a general view of the solar system, without pretending that I had found it there. I have also ventured to apply the comparatively recent doctrine of caloric to the Mosaic account of the creation of light previous to the formation of the sun, and have supported it with such arguments as appeared to me to render it at least probable: but I have not pledged Moses to any of my explanations, being fully convinced that it was necessarily foreign from his design to enter into philosophic details of any kind, as it was his grand object, as has been already remarked, to give a history of Cre.\tion and Providence in the most abridged form of which it was capable. And who, in so few words, over spoke so much? By Creation I mean the production of every being, animate and inanimate, material and intellectual. And by Providence, not only the preservation and government of all being, but also the various and extraordinary provisions made by Divine justice and mercy for the comfort and final salvation of man. These subjects I have endeavoured to trace out through every chapter of this book, and to exhibit them in such a manner as appeared to me the best calculated to promote glory 'o God in the highest, and upon earth peace and good will amono men.

Observations on the Jewish manner of dividing and READING the Law and the Prophets.

The ancient Jews divided the whole law of Moses xnio fifty -four sections, which they read in their 85ma- gogues in the course of the fifty-two Sabbaths in the year, joining two of the shortest twice together, that the whole might be finished in one year's space; but in their intercalated years, in which they added a month, they hs.A fifty-four Sabbaths, and then they had a section for each Sabbath: and it was to meet the exigency of the intercalated years that they divided the law into fifty-four sections at first. Wlien Antiochus Epiphanes forbade the Jews on pain of death to read their law, they divided the prophets into the same number of sections, and read them in their synagogues in place of the law; and when, under the Asmoneans, they recovered their liberty, and with it the free exercise of their religion, though the reading of the law was resumed, they continued the use of the prophetic sections, reading them conjointly with those in the law. To this first division and mode of reading the law there is a reference, Acts xv. 2 1: For Moses of old lime hath in every city them that preach him, being read

second division and conjoint reading of the law and the prophets we also find a reference. Acts xiii. 15: And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, (Sfc. And that the prophets were read in this way in our Lord's time, we have a proof, Luke iv. 16, &c, where, going into the synagogue to read on the Sabbath day, as was his custom, there loas delivered unto him the book of the Prophet Isaiah: and it appears that the prophetical section for that Sabbath was taken from the sixty-first chapter of his prophecies.

These sections have their technical names, from the words with which they commence; and are marked in the Hebrew Bibles with three 333 pe's, which are an abbreviation for HifflS parashah, a section or division; and sometimes with three DDO sameclCs, which are an abbreviation for the word no seder, or NITD sidra, an order, a full and absolute division. The former are generally called nriyiD parashioth, distinctions, divi ■ sions, sections; the latter D''^^0 sedarim, orders, arrangements; as it is supposed that the sense is more full and complete in these than in the parashioth. See the Tables, &c., at the end of the Book of Deuteronomy, where all these matters, and others connected with them, are considered in great detail.

At the end of all the books in the Hebrew Bible, the Masoretes have affixed certain notes, ascertaining the number of greater and smaller sections, chapters, verses, and letters. These they deemed of the greatest importance, in order to preserve the integrity of their law, and the purity of their prophets. And to this end they not only numbered every verse, word, and letter, but even went so far as to ascertain how often each letter of the alphabet occurred in the whole Bible! Thus sacredly did they watch over their records in order to prevent every species of corruption.

The sum of all the verses in Bereshith (Genesis) is 1534. And the memorial sign of this sum is lb "]X — aleph S signifying 1000; final caph "j 500; lamed b 30, and daleth n 4.= 1534.

The middle verse of Genesis is the fortieth of chap, xxvii.: By thy sivord shall thou live.

The parashioth, or greater sections, are twelve. The symbol of which is the word m:eh, this, E.xod. iii. 15: And this is my metnorial to all generations. Where zaint stands for 7, and he T\ for 5.= 12.

The sedarim, or orders, (see above) are forty-three. The symbol of which is the word DJ gain. Gen. xxvii. 33: Yea (DJ gam) and he shall be blessed. Where gimel J stands for 3, and mem n for 40. =43.

The perakim, or modern division of chapters, are fifty; the symbol of which is l'? lecha, Isa. xxxiii. 2: We have waited for thee. Where lamed S stands for 30, and caph 1 for 20. =50.

The open sections are 43, the close sections 48, total 91: the numerical sign of which is NX tse, get THEE OUT, Exod. xi. 8, where tsaddi X stands for 90, and aleph N for l. = 91.

The number of letters is about 52,740; but this last is more a matter of conjecture and computation than of certainty, and on it no dependence can safely be placed, it being a mere multiplication by twelve, the number of sections, of 4395, the known number of letters in the last or twelfth section of the book. On this subject see Buxtorf's Tiberias, p. 181.

OF THE PRINCIPAL TRANSACTIONS RELATED IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS, ACCORDING TO THE COMPUTATION OF ARCH- BISHOP USHER, WHICH IS CHIEFLY FOLLOWED IN THE PRECEDING NOTES; SHOWING IN WHAT YEAR OF THB WORLD, AND WHAT YEAR B'EFORE CHRIST, EACH EVENT HAPPENED.

The reader will observe, from the chronological notes in the margin of the preceding work, that in a few instances I have departed from the Usherian computation, for which he will find my reasons in the notes.

This table I have considerably enlarged by inserting the Edomilish kings and dukes, and a few other transactions of profane history contemporary with the facts mentioned by Moses, by which the reader will have a synopsis or general view of all tlie transactions of the first two thousand four hundred years of the world, which stand upon any authentic records.

The first year of the world, answering to the 710th year of the Julian period, and supposed to be 4004 before the vulgar era of the birth of Christ.

First day's work: Creation of the heavens and earth; of light, with the distinction of day and night, Gen. i.

Second day: Creation of the firmament, and separation of the superior and inferior waters, i. 6—8.

Tenth day: The first woman sins, leads her husband into the transgression, is called Eve, iii. 1—20. They are both expelled from Paradise, iii. 22-24.

N. B. This opinion, though rendered respectable by great names, is very doubtful, and should be received with very great caution. I think it wholly inadmissible; and though I insert it as the generally received opinion, yet judge it best to form no guesses and indulge no conjectures on such an obscure point.

Enos son of.Seth born, iv. 26. Hence followed the distinction between the descendants of Cain and those of Seth; the fiirmer being called sons of men, the latter sons of God, vi. 1—4.

Birth of Cainan, son of Enos, v. 9.

Birth of Methuselah, son of Enoch,v. 2 1.

Enoch is translated in the 365th year of his age, v. 24.

Birth of Noah, son of Lamech, v. 29.

God commissions Noah to preach repentance to the guilty world, and to announce the deluge. He commands him also to build an ark for the safety of himself and his family. This commission was given 120 years before the flood came, 1 Pet. iii. 20; 2 Pet. ii. 5; Gen. vi. 17.

Birth of Japhetli, son of Noah, v. 32, compared with x. 21.

Noah, his family, and the animals to be preserved, enter the ark the 17th day of the 2d month of this year, vii. 11. The rain commences, and continues 40 days and nights, and the waters continue without decreasing 150 days; they afterwards begin to abate, and the ark rests on Mount Ararat, viii. 4.

Seven days after he sends out a dove, which returns the same day; after seven days he sends out the dove a second time, which returns no more," viii. 8-12.

Noah, his family, &c., leave the ark. He offers sacrifices to God, viii. and ix.

1816 Commencement of the regal government of Egypt, from Mizraim,son of Ham. Egypt continued an independent kingdom from this time to the reign of Cambyses, king of Persia, which was a period of 1663 years, according to Constantinus Manasses.

1915 About this time, ^gialeus founds the kingdom of Sicyon, according to Eusebius.

2079 Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, subdues the kings of the Pentapolis, Sodom, Gomorrah, &c., to whom they continued in subjection 12 years, xiv. 4.

2083 The calling of Abram out of UR of the

Chaldees, where the family had been addicted to idolatry. Josh. xxiv. 2. He comes to Haran in Mesopotamia, with Lot his nephew, Sarai his wife, and his father Terah, who dies at Haran, aged 205 years, xi. 31, 32. -^— Abram comes to Canaan, when 75 years of age. Gen. xii. 4. From this period the 430 yearsofthe sojourning of the Israelites, mentioned Exod. xii. 40, 41, is generally dated.

famine, xii. 10; causes Sarai to pass for his sister. Pharaoh {Apophis) takes her to his house; but soon restores her, finding her to be Abram's wife, ver. 14-20.

2086 Abram and Lot, having returned to the land of Canaan, separate; Lot goes to Sodom, and Abram to the valley of Mamre, near to Hebron, xiii.

2090 The kings of the Pentapolis revolt from Chedorlaomer, xiv. 4.

S091 Chedorlaomer and his allies make war with the kings of the Pentapolis; Lot is taken captive; Abram with a his allies pursues Chedorlaomer, defeats him and the confederate kings delivers Lot and the other captives, and is blessed by Melchizedek, king of Salem, xiv.

God makes a covenant with Abram; gives him the promise of a son; changes his name into Abraham, and Sarai's into Sarah, and enjoins circumcision, xvii. 1,5, 6, &c. Abraham entertains three angels on their way to destroy Sodom, &c., xviii. He intercedes for the inhabitants; but as ten righteous persons could not be found in those cities, they are destroyed, xix. 23. Lot is delivered, and for his sake Zoar is preserved, ver. 19, &c.

Abraham retires to Beer-sheba, afterwards sojourns at Gerar. Abimelech, king of Gerar, takes Sarah, in order to make her his wife, but is obliged to restore her, xx.

Abimelech and Phichol his chief captain make an agreement with Abraham, and surrender the well of Beersheba for seven ewe lambs, xxi.

About this time Husham, the third king of the Edomites, began to reign, xxxvi. 34.

God appears to Isaac, and gives him glorious promises, xxvi. 4. He stays at Gerar during the famine, xxvi. 6.

Jacob by subtlety obtains Esau's blessing, xxvii. He goes to Haran, and engages to serve Laban seven years for Racbol, xxviii., xxix.

Jacob espouses Rachel seven years after his engagement with Laban: Leah is put in the place of her sister; but seven days after he receives Rachel, xxix.

Evechous begins to reign over the Chaldeans 224 years before the Arabs reigned in thai country (Julius Africanus.) Uxher supposes him to have been the same with Belus, u-ho was aftenvards worshipped by the Chaldeans.

Jacob and his family, unknown to Laban, set out for Canaan. Laban, hearing of his departure, pursues him; after seven days he comes up with liim at the mountains of Gilead; they make a covenant, and gather a heap of stones, and set up a pillar as a memorial of the transaction, xxxi.

Jacob wrestles with an Angel, and has his name changed to that of Israel, xxxii. 24-29.

Dinah defiled by Shechem, and the subsequent murder of the Shechemites by.Simeon and Levi, xxxiv.

Joseph, aged seventeen years, falling under the displeasure of his brothers, they conspire to take away his life, but afterwards change their minds, and sell him for a slave to some Ishmaclite merchants,who bring him to Egypt and sell him to Potiphar, xx.xvii.

Joseph, through the false accusation of his mistress, is cast into prison, where, about two years after, he interprets the dreams of the chief butler and the chief baker, xxxix., xl.

Joseph makes himself known to his brethren, sends for his father, and allots him and his household the land of Goshen to dwell in; Jacob being then 130 years old,.xlv., xlvi.

Joseph sells corn to the Egyptians, and brings all the money in Egypt into the king's treasury, xlvii. 14.

All the Egyptians give themselves up to be Pharaoh's servants, in order to get corn to preserve their lives and sow their ground, xlvii. 18, &c.

Jacob, having blessed his sons and the sons of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh, dies, aged 147 years. He is embalmed and carried into Canaan, and buried in the cave of M.ichpelah, xlix. 1.

About this time Baal-hanan, the seventh king of the Edomites, began to reign, xxxvi. 38.

eighth and last king of the Edomites, began to reign, xxxvi. 39. About this time the regal government

Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, born forty years before he was sent by Moses to spy out the land of Canaan.

Ramasses Miamun died in the 67th year of his reign, under whom, and his son Amenophis, who succeeded him, the children of Israel endured the cruel bondage and oppression mentioned in Exodus i.

•T^HE name by which this book is generally distinguished is borrowed from the Septuagint, in which it is called Eforfof, Exodus, the going out or departure; and by the Codex Alcxandrinus, EfocSof Ktyv-KTov, the departure from Egypt, because the departure of the Israelites from Egypt is the most remarkable fact mentioned in the whole book. In the Hebrew Bibles it is called nioB' nSxi ve-elleh shemoth, these are the names, which are the words with which it commences. It contains a history of the transactions of 145 years, beginning at the death of Joseph, where the book of Genesis ends, and coming down to the erection of the tabernacle in the wilderness at the foot of Mount Sinai.

In this book Moses details the causes and motives of the persecution raised up against the Israelites in Egypt, the orders given by Pharaoh to destroy all the Hebrew male children, and the prevention of the execution of those orders through the humanity and piety of the midwives appointed to deliver the Hebrew women. The marriage of Amram and Jochebed is next related; the birth of Moses; the manner in which he was exposed on the river Nile, and in which he was discovered by the daughter of Pharaoh; his being providentially put under the care of his own mother to be nursed, and educated as the son of the Eg\'ptian princess; how, when forty years of age, he left the court, visited and defended his brethren; the danger to which he was in consequence exposed; his flight to Arabia; his contract with Jethro, priest or prince of Midian, whose daughter Zipporah he afterwards espoused. While employed in keeping the flocks of his father-in-law, God appeared to him in a burning bush, and commissioned him to go and deliver his countrymen from the oppression under which they groaned. Having given him the most positive assurances of protection and power to work miracles, and having associated with him his brother Aaron, he sent them first to tiie Israelites to declare the purpose of Jehovali, and afterwards to Pharaoh to require him, in the name uf the Most High, to set the Israelites at liberty. Pharaoh, far from submitting made their yoke more grievous; and Moses, on a second interview with him, to convince him by whose authority he made the demand, wrought a miracle before him and his courtiers. This being in a certain way imitated by Pharaoh's magicians, he hardened his heart, and refused to let the people go, till God, by ten extraordinary plagues, convinced him of his omnipotence, and obliged him to consent to dismiss a people over whose persons and properties he had claimed and exercised a right founded only on the most tyrannical principles. The plagues by which God afflicted the whole land of Egypt, Goshen excepted, where the Israelites dwelt, were the following: —

1. He turned all the waters of Egypt into blood. 2. He caused innumerable frogs to come over the whole land. 3. He afflicted both man and beast with immense swarms of pestilence among their cattle. C. Smote both man and beast with boils. 7. Destroyed their crops with grievous storms of hail, accompanied with the most terrible thunder and lightning. 8. Desolated the whole land by innumerable swarms of locusts. 9. He spread a palpable darkness all over Egypt; and, 10. In one night slew all the first-born, both of man and beast, through the whole of the Egyptian territories. What proved the miraculous nature of all these plagues most particularly was, 1st, Their coming exactly according to the prediction and at the command of Moses and Aaron. 2dly, Their extending only to the Egyptians, and leaving the land of Goshen, the Israelites, their cattle and substance, entirely untouched.

After relating all these things in detail, with their attendant circumstances, Moses describes the institution, reason, and celebration of the passover; the preparation of the Israelites for their departure; their leaving Goshen and beginning their journey to the promised land, by the way of Rameses, Succoth, and Etham. How Pharaoh, repenting of the permission he had given them to depart, began to pursue them with an immense army of horse and foot, and overtook them at their encampment at Baal-zephon, on the borders of the Red Sea. Their destruction appearing then to be inevitable, Moses farther relates that having called earnestly upon God, and stretched his rod over the waters, they became divided, and the Israelites entered into the bed of the sea, and passed over to the opposite shore. Pharaoh and his host madly pursuing in the same track, the rear of their army being fairly entered by the time the last of the Israelites had made good their landing on the opposite coast, Moses stretching his rod again over the waters, they returned to their former channel and overwhelmed the Egyptian army, so that every soul perished.

Moses next gives a circumstantial account of the different encampments of the Israelites in the wilderness, during the space of nearly forty years: the miracles wrought in their behalf; the chief of which were the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, to direct and protect them in the wilderness; the bringing water out of a rock for them and their cattle; feeding them with manna from heaven; bringing innumerable flocks of quails to their camp; giving them a complete victory over the Amalekites at the intercession of Moses; and particularly God's astonishing manifestation of himself on Mount Sinai, when he delivered to Moses an epitome of his whole law, in what was called the Ten Words or Ten Commandments.

Moses proceeds to give a circumstantial detail of the different laws, statutes, and ordinances which he received from God, and particularly the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, and the awful display of the Divine Majesty on that solemn occasion; the formation of the Ark, holy Table and Candlestick; the Tabernacle, with its furniture, covering, courts, &c., the brazen Altar, golden Altar, brazen Laver, anointing oil, perfume, sacerdotal garments for Aaron and his sons, and the artificers employed on the work of the Tabernacle, &c. He then gives an account of Israel's idolatry in the matter of the golden calf, made under the direction of Aaron; God's displeasure, and the death of the principal idolaters; the erection and consecration of the Tabernacle, and its being filled and encompassed with the Divine glory, with the order and manner of their marches by direction of the miraculous pillar; with which the book eoncludes.

7%e names and number of the children of Israel that went down into Egypt, 1-5. Joseph and all hu brethren of that generation die, 6. The great increase of their posterity, 7. The cruel policy of the king of Egypt to destroy them, 8-11. They increase greatly, notwithstanding their affliction, 12. Account of their hard bondage, 13, 14. Pharaoh's command to the Hebreio midwives to kill all the male children, 15, 16. The midwives disobey the king's commandment, and, on being questioned, vindicate themselves, 17-19. God is pleased with their conduct, blesses them, and increases the people, 20, 21. Pharaoh gives a general command to the Egyptians to drown all the male children of the Hebrews, 22.

these are the names of llic children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every mcin and his household came with Jacob.

5 And all the souls that came out of the