Arab. ABBREVIATIONS. The Arabic version of the Polyglott. Arab. Erpen. Another Arabic version published by Erpenius. Chal. The Chaldee version, or Targum of Onkelos. Targ. Jon. The Targum of Jonathan. Targ. Jerus. The Jerusalem Targum. Sam. The Samaritan Pentateuch. The Greek version of the Seventy. The Syriac version of the Polyglott. The Latin version commonly called the Vulgate. IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS. CHAPTER I. the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. a John, 1. 1, 2. Heb. 1. 10. b Ps. 8. 3. & 33. 6. & 89. 11, 12. & 102. 25. & 136. 5. & 146. 6. Is. 44. 24. Jer. 10. 12. & 51. 15. Zech. 12. 1. Acts 14. CHAPTER I. logy or preamble, or any of the formaThe general scope of the first chapter lities both common and proper in h.stoof Genesis is too obvious to stand in ries composed by men, acquaints us need of comment. It is the record of with the naked fact, that 'In the bethe creation of the heavens and the ginning God created the heaven and earth-a work which we learn was not the earth.' Nothing is said by way of effected by a single instantaneous act of assertion or proof even of the fundaOmnipotence, but performed by gradual mental truth of the being of a God. stages through the space of six succes- This is a truth taken for granted; as if sive periods of time, that begin to be the idea of its being questioned was an reckoned from the first emergence of idea which never entered into the wrilight from the previous darkness by ter's mind; or as if it were designed to which the globe was encompassed. Of teach us that those who denied the existthe interval between the original pro- ence of an intelligent First Cause, were duction of the matter of which the earth rather to be rebuked than reasoned was formed, and the formation of light, with. But although the Mosaic history nothing is said, because the objects for of the creation does not embrace all the which a revelation is given to man did points on which it might have been supnot require any thing to be said. Nor posed, a priori, that a divine revelation does it appear that it entered into the would have instructed us, yet it is to design of the sacred writer, or rather of be borne in mind, that it is true as the Holy Spirit by whom he was mov far as it goes, and in no way inconsisted, to give an account of the whole crea- ent, when rightly explained, with any tion, but merely of that which it more subsequent discoveries which have been immediately concerns us to know. The made in the structure of the globe, or Scriptures were not written to gratify the laws of the planetary system. As curiosity, not even all laudable curio- the Bible and the universe have one and sity, but to nourish faith and govern the same Author, we may be sure that human conduct. Accordingly, they af- the truths of the one can never miford no answer to a multitude of ques-litate with those of the other. That tions that might be asked respecting the when and the why and the how of the divine operations. A simple it was so, is the sum total of the information given on a great variety of ine most interesting subjects which can occupy the mind of man. An introduction of majestic sublimity ushered in without apo they may in some cases apparently come in collision, may be admitted; but time, and patient research, and a wider collation of facts, will not fail in the end to bring nature and revelation into the most perfect harmony with each other. 1. In the beginning. That is, in the be ginning, or at the outset, of the work of structed; the first verse condensing in Elohim, is a very remarkable word, See Ex. 21. 4. Is. 19. 4. Mal. 1.6. Ps. 58. 11. The use of the plural in such cases seems to be merely for the purpose of giving to the word greater fulness, emphasis, and intensity of meaning. The rendering of the name in the singular in other languages, however, has the unequivocal sanction of holy writ; for the New Testament writers, copying the Septuagint, uniformly translate it Osos God, instead of Oso Gods, an example which has been properly followed by all the versions ancient and modern, as no other language can in this particular reach the propriety and exactness of the Hebrew, The English word 'God,' Germ. ' Gott,' is of Anglo-Saxon origin, supposed to be a contraction of 'good;' God and good being justly considered as correlative terms. It may be remarked, that the Hebrew word Elohim, is sometimes applied to angels, Ps. 8. 5, and sometimes to magistrates, and distinguished personages, Ex. 21. 6; in which last case, it is rendered by 'judges.'- -T Created. It is a matter rather of rational inference than of express revelation, that the material universe was created out of nothing. Yet it is such an inference as cannot be resisted without doing violence to the fundamental laws of human belief. For as every material existence is, from the very constitution of our minds, conceived of as an effect, the production of some adequate cause, it necessarily supposes a previous state of non-existence or nothing, from which it passed into being. But it does not appear that the original word here employed (a) was designed to convey precisely this idea, or that there is any word in any language which does. The leading import of the present term is twofold :-(1.) The production or effectuation of something new, rare, and wonderful; the bringing something to pass in a striking and marvellous manner, as Num. 16. 30, 'But if the Lord make a new thing (Heb. create a creation or a creature), and the earth swallow them up,' &c. Jer. 31. 22, 'For the Lord hath created a new thing (Heb.) in the earth, A woman shall compass a man,' (2.) The act of renovating, re-modelling, or reconstituting something already in existence. In this sense it is used almost exclusively in the Scriptures in reference to the effects of the divine influence in the moral or spiritual creation, i. e. regeneration and sanctification. Thus, Ps. 51. 10, Create () in me a clean heart, O God,' explained by the parallel clause, 'Renew a right spirit within me.' Is. 65. 17, 'Behold, I create (1) new heavens and a new earth,' i. e. I re-create the heavens and the earth; I establish a new order of things; I effect a stupendous revolution moral and political. The corresponding Gr. term (<ri) with its derivatives, is unequivocally used in the same sense, as Eph. 2. 10, We are his workmanship, created (TIGDEVTES) in Christ Jesus.' 2 Cor. 5. 17, 'If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (καινή κτίσις). In all these cases the act implied by the word is exerted upon a pre-existing substance, and cannot therefore strictly signify to create out of nothing. And as in no other instance throughout the sacred writings, if this passage be excepted, has the word necessarily or naturally this signification, we perceive no sufficient ground for so interpreting it here; for the usus loquendi, or prevailing usage, is the only sure guide in determining the import of words. Allowing then that the materials, the primordial elements, of the heavens and the earth, were brought into existence at an inde finitely prior period, the term 'create' may be understood as express.ng the action of the Almighty Agent upon the rude chaotic mass, in moulding and arranging it into its present comely order and grand and beautiful forms. This view of the writer's language is undoubtedly more consistent with ascertained geological facts, than any other, and it is certainly desirable to harmonize, as far as possible, the truths of revelation with those of natural science. - The heaven. Heb. shamayim. The root of the original word, which is lost in Hebrew, is supposed to be preserved in the Arabic Shamaa, to be high, lofty, sublime. As to its true import in this place, we cannot doubt that we are bound to be governed by the sense assigned to it by the sacred writer himself, in v. 8, where we are expressly told, that God 'called the firmament, heaven,' as he did 'the dry land, earth' The 'heaven' and the 'earth,' therefore, which were now created, we take to be precisely the same heaven and earth which are subsequently described, v. 6-10, and that these are necessarily confined to our planet and its surrounding atmosphere, we shall endeavor to show in our notes on those verses. This view of the subject, if we mistake not, effectually precludes the idea that by heaven and earth in the first verse, is meant the matter of which they were composed, and which, it is supposed, is here said to be first brought into existence out of nothing. Such an hypothesis, we think, will be found to introduce inex tricable confusion into the narrative. See · governed solely by the exigency of the place in rendering any particular word in one of these tenses or the other. 'Was,' therefore, in this instance, we hold to be more correctly translated by 'had been,' or perhaps had become,' i. e. in consequence of changes to which it had been subject in the lapse of ages long prior to the period now alluded to. Vatablus suggests that the true clew to the connection is to inclose the whole of the verse in a parenthesis, rendering it, 'For the earth,' &c. It has indeed been generally supposed that it describes the rude and chaotic state which ensued immediately upon the creating command. But this we think is contrary to the express declaration of Jehovah himself, Is. 45. 18, 'For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself, that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he creat2. Without form and void. Heb. ed it not in vain (Heb. 872 700 83 tohu varohu. Chal.' Desert he created it not (Tohu) desolate);' i. e. and empty.' Gr.'Invisible and incom- the action denoted by the word posed,' i. e. chaotic. The original words, created, did not result in the state dethough rendered adjectively, are real noted by the word desolate, but the substantives, employed in several cases reverse-'he formed it to be inhabited where the object of the writer is to ex- ( ).' It was in this desolate press in significant terms the idea of and formless state when the process of dreariness and desolation, particularly creation commenced. The words 'withas the effect of divine judgments in lay-out form and void,' therefore, are not to ing waste a country or city. See to be considered as strictly epithets of the this purpose, Jer. 4. 23. Ps. 107. 40. In earth as such, but as descriptive of that Is. 34. 11, they are rendered confusion chaotic state which preceded the 'earth,' and emptiness. They are in fact the very and which ceased simultaneously with words which a Hebrew writer would the developement of the earth out of it. naturally use to express the wreck and Thus we may say of a statue, 'This ruins of a former world, if such an one statue was a block of marble,' but it were supposed to have existed. In the can never be properly said, 'This stapresent connection they refer wholly to tue is a block of marble,' because the the surface of the earth, and imply a two states of the material are opposite desolate, dreary, hideous waste, with- to each other, and the one ceases when out order or beauty, inhabitant or fur- the other begins. The state of the globe niture. This verse is probably to be therefore designated by the terms' withconsidered as descriptive of the state out form and void,' continued till the and appearance of the globe antecedent second day, and to that part of the to the commencement of the six days' third, in which the dry land liberated work, so that in the order of sense, it is from the dominion of the water, obtainin reality prior to the first. As there is ed the name 'earth,' v. 9, 10. As to no distinction of past, perfect, and plu- the condition or history of our planet, perfect tenses in Hebrew, we are to be during the ages that may have interven |