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  [Transcriber's Note:

  _Italic words_ have been enclosed in underscores.

  As the oe ligature cannot be included in this format, it has been
  replaced with the separate letters in "manoeuvre" and "Phoenician".

  A few minor typographical errors have been silently corrected.
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  The Table of Contents refers to original page numbers.]



                   THE BOOK
                      OF
                   GENESIS.

                      BY
              MARCUS DODS, D.D.,

        AUTHOR OF "ISRAEL'S IRON AGE,"
         "THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD,"
    "THE PRAYER THAT TEACHES TO PRAY," ETC.

                  NEW YORK:
           A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON
               714, BROADWAY.




CONTENTS.


                                                PAGE
    CHAPTER I.
    THE CREATION                                   1

    CHAPTER II.
    THE FALL                                      15

    CHAPTER III.
    CAIN AND ABEL                                 28

    CHAPTER IV.
    CAIN'S LINE, AND ENOCH                        42

    CHAPTER V.
    THE FLOOD                                     55

    CHAPTER VI.
    NOAH'S FALL                                   68

    CHAPTER VII.
    THE CALL OF ABRAHAM                           81

    CHAPTER VIII.
    ABRAM IN EGYPT                                96

    CHAPTER IX.
    LOT'S SEPARATION FROM ABRAM                  108

    CHAPTER X.
    ABRAM'S RESCUE OF LOT                        121

    CHAPTER XI.
    COVENANT WITH ABRAM                          134

    CHAPTER XII.
    BIRTH OF ISHMAEL                             147

    CHAPTER XIII.
    THE COVENANT SEALED                          159

    CHAPTER XIV.
    ABRAHAM'S INTERCESSION FOR SODOM             172

    CHAPTER XV.
    DESTRUCTION OF THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN       186

    CHAPTER XVI.
    SACRIFICE OF ISAAC                           198

    CHAPTER XVII.
    ISHMAEL AND ISAAC                            212

    CHAPTER XVIII.
    PURCHASE OF MACHPELAH                        226

    CHAPTER XIX.
    ISAAC'S MARRIAGE                             240

    CHAPTER XX.
    ESAU AND JACOB                               254

    CHAPTER XXI.
    JACOB'S FRAUD                                267

    CHAPTER XXII.
    JACOB'S FLIGHT AND DREAM                     279

    CHAPTER XXIII.
    JACOB AT PENIEL                              293

    CHAPTER XXIV.
    JACOB'S RETURN                               307

    CHAPTER XXV.
    JOSEPH'S DREAMS                              321

    CHAPTER XXVI.
    JOSEPH IN PRISON                             339

    CHAPTER XXVII.
    PHARAOH'S DREAMS                             355

    CHAPTER XXVIII.
    JOSEPH'S ADMINISTRATION                      369

    CHAPTER XXIX.
    VISITS OF JOSEPH'S BRETHREN                  383

    CHAPTER XXX.
    THE RECONCILIATION                           396

    CHAPTER XXXI.
    THE BLESSINGS OF THE TRIBES                  415




I.

_THE CREATION._

GENESIS i. and ii.


If any one is in search of accurate information regarding the age of
this earth, or its relation to the sun, moon, and stars, or regarding
the order in which plants and animals have appeared upon it, he is
referred to recent text-books in astronomy, geology, and palaeontology.
No one for a moment dreams of referring a serious student of these
subjects to the Bible as a source of information. It is not the object
of the writers of Scripture to impart physical instruction or to enlarge
the bounds of scientific knowledge. But if any one wishes to know what
connection the world has with God, if he seeks to trace back all that
now is to the very fountain-head of life, if he desires to discover some
unifying principle, some illuminating purpose in the history of this
earth, then we confidently refer him to these and the subsequent
chapters of Scripture as his safest, and indeed his only, guide to the
information he seeks. Every writing must be judged by the object the
writer has in view. If the object of the writer of these chapters was to
convey physical information, then certainly it is imperfectly fulfilled.
But if his object was to give an intelligible account of God's relation
to the world and to man, then it must be owned that he has been
successful in the highest degree.

It is therefore unreasonable to allow our reverence for this writing to
be lessened because it does not anticipate the discoveries of physical
science; or to repudiate its authority in its own department of truth
because it does not give us information which it formed no part of the
writer's object to give. As well might we deny to Shakespeare a masterly
knowledge of human life, because his dramas are blotted by historical
anachronisms. That the compiler of this book of Genesis did not aim at
scientific accuracy in speaking of physical details is obvious, not
merely from the general scope and purpose of the Biblical writers, but
especially from this, that in these first two chapters of his book he
lays side by side two accounts of man's creation which no ingenuity can
reconcile. These two accounts, glaringly incompatible in details, but
absolutely harmonious in their leading ideas, at once warn the reader
that the writer's aim is rather to convey certain ideas regarding man's
spiritual history and his connection with God, than to describe the
process of creation. He does describe the process of creation, but he
describes it only for the sake of the ideas regarding man's relation to
God and God's relation to the world which he can thereby convey. Indeed
what we mean by scientific knowledge was not in all the thoughts of the
people for whom this book was written. The subject of creation, of the
beginning of man upon earth, was not approached from that side at all;
and if we are to understand what is here written we must burst the
trammels of our own modes of thought and read these chapters not as a
chronological, astronomical, geological, biological statement, but as a
moral or spiritual conception.

It will, however, be said, and with much appearance of justice, that
although the first object of the writer was not to convey scientific
information, yet he might have been expected to be accurate in the
information he did advance regarding the physical universe. This is an
enormous assumption to make on _a priori_ grounds, but it is an
assumption worth seriously considering because it brings into view a
real and important difficulty which every reader of Genesis must face.
It brings into view the twofold character of this account of creation.
On the one hand it is irreconcilable with the teachings of science. On
the other hand it is in striking contrast to the other cosmogonies which
have been handed down from pre-scientific ages. These are the two patent
features of this record of creation and both require to be accounted
for. Either feature alone would be easily accounted for; but the two
co-existing in the same document are more baffling. We have to account
at once for a want of perfect coincidence with the teachings of science,
and for a singular freedom from those errors which disfigure all other
primitive accounts of the creation of the world. The one feature of the
document is as patent as the other and presses equally for explanation.

Now many persons cut the knot by simply denying that both these features
exist. There is no disagreement with science, they say. I speak for many
careful enquirers when I say that this cannot serve as a solution of the
difficulty. I think it is to be freely admitted that, from whatever
cause and however justifiably, the account of creation here given is not
in strict and detailed accordance with the teaching of science. All
attempts to force its statements into such accord are futile and
mischievous. They are futile because they do not convince independent
enquirers, but only those who are unduly anxious to be convinced. And
they are mischievous because they unduly prolong the strife between
Scripture and science, putting the question on a false issue. And above
all, they are to be condemned because they do violence to Scripture,
foster a style of interpretation by which the text is forced to say
whatever the interpreter desires, and prevent us from recognising the
real nature of these sacred writings. The Bible needs no defence such as
false constructions of its language bring to its aid. They are its worst
friends who distort its words that they may yield a meaning more in
accordance with scientific truth. If, for example, the word 'day' in
these chapters, does not mean a period of twenty-four hours, the
interpretation of Scripture is hopeless. Indeed if we are to bring these
chapters into any comparison at all with science, we find at once
various discrepancies. Of a creation of sun, moon, and stars, subsequent
to the creation of this earth, science can have but one thing to say. Of
the existence of fruit trees prior to the existence of the sun, science
knows nothing. But for a candid and unsophisticated reader without a
special theory to maintain, details are needless.

Accepting this chapter then as it stands, and believing that only by
looking at the Bible as it actually is can we hope to understand God's
method of revealing Himself, we at once perceive that ignorance of some
departments of truth does not disqualify a man for knowing and imparting
truth about God. In order to be a medium of revelation a man does not
need to be in advance of his age in secular learning. Intimate
communion with God, a spirit trained to discern spiritual things, a
perfect understanding of and zeal for God's purpose, these are qualities
quite independent of a knowledge of the discoveries of science. The
enlightenment which enables men to apprehend God and spiritual truth,
has no necessary connection with scientific attainments. David's
confidence in God and his declarations of His faithfulness are none the
less valuable, because he was ignorant of a very great deal which every
school-boy now knows. Had inspired men introduced into their writings
information which anticipated the discoveries of science, their state of
mind would be inconceivable, and revelation would be a source of
confusion. God's methods are harmonious with one another, and as He has
given men natural faculties to acquire scientific knowledge and
historical information, He did not stultify this gift by imparting such
knowledge in a miraculous and unintelligible manner. There is no
evidence that inspired men were in advance of their age in the knowledge
of physical facts and laws. And plainly, had they been supernaturally
instructed in physical knowledge they would so far have been
unintelligible to those to whom they spoke. Had the writer of this book
mingled with his teaching regarding God,