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"If, in order to discover the object which this varying usage has in view, we examine the other books of the Pentateuch, it will appear that the same usage prevails in these as is to be found in the later historical writings. In the first four chapters of Deuteronomy, in eighty-one instances where the Supreme Being is mentioned, the term Elohim occurs only seven times.

"Further, the important fact is not to be omitted, that, in other books besides Genesis, where the name Jehovah predominates, Elohim is used exclusively in sections of considerable length. This is the case in Jud. ix. and 2 Sam. ix. And, as might naturally be expected, instances of the contrary usage are also to be found.

"It has been stated that an examination of passages proves the word Jehovah to be much more frequently used than the other. This might have been expected, as it designates God as having revealed himself. And, inasmuch as the Israelitish people constituted the scene of his operations, their existence, and the condition of it, both civil and ecclesiastical, comprehending their institutions and whole manner of life, were the result of his revelations. Consequently the name Jehovah must have been all-important to the Israelites. It is unnecessary therefore to inquire under what circumstances this term would be employed, but when the other might or must be used.

"This general term, Elohim, referring to the Creator, is in contradistinction to the name Jehovah; which refers to him as having made a revelation of himself. See Deut. iv. 32-40 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou

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hast heard, and live? Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Jehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that Jehovah he is God; there is none else besides him. Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; aad thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; to drive out nations from before thee, greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that Jehovah he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, for ever.' Compare also 1 Kings, xviii. 24: 'And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of Jehovah: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.' In these and other cases, God, as he is in his nature, is distinguished from God as having revealed himself. Elsewhere this difference is not essential, and then the two expressions imply no contradistinction, and may be used indifferently, as is the case in many places." p. 9, 10, 17, 20.

The term Elohim, then, is the general designation of the glorious maker, preserver, and governor of the universe, the great and dreadful God, a proper estimate of whose attri

butes must fill the mind of every intelligent creature with reverential awe, the more profound in proportion as those attributes are truly understood and appreciated. The other word, Jehovah, designating the same eternal and infinite being, has a particular bearing. God is contemplated as having a grand and ultimate object in view. To accomplish this, he displays himself with different degrees of clearness as a being without the possibility of change, and with infinite freedom of volition and of action. In this light he is Jehovah; and in this light, his revelations and actions towards his people are proper exhibitions of him as the unchangeable and the infinite.

If, now, a clearly marked difference of meaning in the terms themselves, and also a clearly marked difference of object on the part of the writer, are the general grounds of the varying usage under consideration, the gain to the truth as historically transmitted is considerable. The inference, which at one time was drawn without hesitation, namely, that the fact indicates different authors, is evidently unfounded. The same writer may have chosen different terms, as, in his judgment, the one or the other harmonized the better with the character of the accompanying contents.

But still the question arises, is this the invariable ground of the usage? Are there no cases where either term might have been employed without weakening the impression designed to be conveyed by the narrations in connexion with which one of them is used? I am compelled to express the opinion, that there are. It is manifest to me, that in several places either term might have been chosen, and, as it would seem, without affecting even in the slightest degree the influence of the connected portion on the mind of the reader. However true the principle laid down may be as the general ground of the usage, the two learned authors referred to appear to me occasionally to carry the application of it un

warrantably far. They sometimes make the sacred writer scrupulously and minutely particular in the choice of his terms, at the expense of simplicity and nature. Jehovah and Elohim, which, although differing in primary meaning, do, it is allowed, designate the same God, may sometimes be used as proper names, without regard to their original or etymological meanings, just as Jesus and Christ are ordinarily used by Christians, and occasionally in the New Testament.

I proceed now to take a cursory view of the application of these terms respectively in some of the most important portions of the book of Genesis. This will afford me an occasion of illustrating the remark just made, and give the reader an opportunity of judging of its correctness.

Genesis commences with an account of the creation, and consequently Elohim is the more suitable word. At the period here referred to, God had not appeared as Jehovah, revealing himself to his creature. It is only in his general connexion with the whole universe that he is here brought forward as the Almighty, the creator of all, and consequently superior to all. The Hebrew, in speaking of the creation, could undoubtedly have used the term Jehovah to designate the creator, inasmuch as both this term and the other represented the same object to his mind. And hence we find it repeatedly thus employed, as in Ex. xx. 11; xxxi. 17; Ps. viii. 1; xxxiii. 6; civ. 16, 24; Isa. xlii. 5. But in the first introduction of an account of the creation, the author very judiciously places himself, as it were, in the very time of the act, and therefore mentions the Divine Maker under the name which is particularly appropriate to the subject. "The heavens declare the glory of God;" and it is "the law of Jehovah" which is said to be "perfect." Ps. xix. 1, 7.

Man, originally good, in the direction of all his powers to God, is the subject of what follows. Consequently Elohim

appears as Jehovah, thus making his connexion with man. the subject of positive revelation. The combination of the two terms is to show that the same being is intended by both.

The supposition that the second chapter contains a second history of the creation different from the former comprised in the first chapter, is founded on a misapprehension of its meaning. It is not a history of the creation; it merely contains historical information introductory to what follows in the third chapter.

These brief observations sufficiently explain the ground of the usage in the second and third chapters. But for the reader's satisfaction, I add the following abridged remarks of Hengstenberg. Both names are here used, thus implying that the being designated by each is one, that the true Elohim is Jehovah, and that Jehovah is really Elohim. Sometimes the exclusive use of one followed by an exclusive use of the other, implies the same thing, as is the case in the book of Jonah. In the portion under consideration, the name Jehovah is that which is best adapted to the nature of the contents. The living God, revealing himself to his creatures, is now manifested. He appears as the affectionate guardian of men, the disposer of moral life, commanding and prohibiting, threatening punishment, and opening before the mind the restoration which shall be hereafter. If the author had had in view those only who had attained to a clear recognition of the connexion of Elohim and Jehovah, the latter term alone would have been sufficient. But, inasmuch as he rather aims first to intimate the grounds of the connexion of Jehovah and Elohim, the transition from the use of the latter term to that of the former alone would have been too rapid. He wished to avoid the misapprehension, which would be implied in the supposition, that the God who dealt so humanely with men might be a different

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