SECTION IX.-EXPOSITION OF THE MOSAIC NARRATIVE. GENESIS I. 123. Verse 1.-"In the beginning." The article is omitted in the Hebrew to show that it is not the beginning emphatically or absolutely. It, therefore, does not refer to the great emphatic beginning-the beginning of all things; but simply the beginning of those events which are afterwards recorded—the local changes which terminated in the formation of man. §"God,"-Heb. Elohim. The word is plural in Hebrew, not because Moses was a polytheist, but because it denotes the majesty of God. The same plural form is used to denote idols, as in 1 Sam. v. 7; 2 K. i. 3, and xix. 37. §"Created,"-made visible, (see par. 111.) §"The heaven and the earth,"-the atmosphere and land, (see parr. 108-110.) The word heaven is used in the plural, because the atmosphere being filled with vapour, would seem to be composed of an indefinite number of small clouds. The land refers solely to that which became, in process of time, the scene of happy Eden. 124. v. 2.—“And the earth,”—i.e., the land just mentioned, and afterwards more fully defined, v. 10. § "Was without form and void," the scene was characterized by the absence of order and life, (see parr. 51-53.) "And darkness," not absolute, though very intense, (see par. 114.) §"Was upon the face of the deep," the moving element-thehom, from hum, to be troubled, or moved. § "And the spirit,"ruach, Gr. pneuma-the wind, (see par. 75.) The word was used in later times to designate the spirit, because it was thought that the breath was the spirit. "Of God,"-Elohim, from El, power. The name of God is used in Hebrew to form the superlative degree, as in 1 Sam. xiv. 15. "A very great trembling," Heb., "a trembling of God," Ps. xxxvi. 7. "The great mountains," Heb., "the mountains of God." The words rendered "the spirit of God," mean, therefore, a strong wind. §"Moved," (see parr. 75, 76.) The idea of the Creator spreading himself over the sea to hatch the eggs of crustacea, is far below the dignity of Scripture; but the motion of a strong wind is very natural. We afterwards read of its effects the clearing of the atmosphere. 125. v. 3.-"And God said," &c. These words were audibly heard in the dream, probably, though in nature they refer simply to the divine volition, acting in the dispersion of the mist directly, or by means of his own laws, which, in every age, express his own will-the laws of nature. 126. v. 4.-"And God divided the light from the darkness," the light was the day, and the darkness night, v. 5. Hitherto, in this locality, there had been no distinction between day and night. The difference between day and night became now evident, for God divided, or made a difference-vayabdel— between them. 127. v. 5.—“And the evening and the morning were the first day." The Hebrew is, " and there was evening, and there was morning, one day." This has special reference to the dream. The disappearance of the light would be the first thing to strike Adam's mind as he watched it waning: therefore he mentions the evening first. The mention of the evening, when the light is gone, reminds him of the morning, so he adds, "and there was morning." Our translators have hid this beautiful idea from the general reader, by departing from the Hebrew. 128. v. 6.-"Let there be a firmament,”—a clear expanse, or clear space, or air. § "In the midst of the waters"—in the mist of the vapour. § "And let it divide the waters from the waters,"-i.e., the waters on the earth from the waters in the air or clouds. This was done, v. 7. 129. v. 8.-"And God called the firmament heaven.” It is strange that commentators, by a desire to find something marvellous in the Bible, should take the word "heaven," to signify almost everything but what the narrative says it means. The firmament is the heaven in which the clouds floated, and in which the birds flew-it is the atmosphere. 130. v.9.—“Let the waters....be gathered together" -by the elevation and depression of the land: a common occurrence in volcanic regions. 131. v. 10.-"And God called the dry land earth." The meaning of the word earth is here fully explained. It means the dry land, but not necessarily "all dry lands." "And the gathering together of the waters called he seas. "The Hebrew word here used for seas, yamim, is used to signify a lake (Num. xxxiv. 3; Jos. iii. 16, xii. 3); a river, as the Euphrates (Jer. li. 36; Zech. x. 11); or the Nile (Nah. iii. 8; Ezek. xxxii. 2). This water refers to the rivers of Eden, afterwards mentioned, chap. ii. 10. 132. v. 11.-"Let the earth bring forth grass," &c. -(see parr. 88-90). 133. v. 14-"Let there be lights," &c.—let the disks of the sun and moon appear. In the dream, no doubt they were seen as light-bearers, as the Hebrew, meoroth, signifies. § "In the firmament of the heaven,” i.e., they were to appear in the expanse of the air. § "Let them be for signs," that is, for marks, as the word othoth-from uth, to cut, to engrave-signifies. The "signs" refer to the heavenly bodies, as marking the seasons, &c. § "And for seasons." The ve trans lated and should evidently be rendered both, here; as the heavenly bodies are not to mark out signs and seasons, &c., but are to be the signs or markers of the seasons, &c. § "Seasons"—moʼadim, from yaʼad, to appoint. It refers to the months, as distinguished from the days and years afterwards mentioned. Ve. 20-23.-See parr. 91, 92. Vr. 24, 25.-See parr. 95, 96. Us—the plural 134. v. 26.—“Let us make man.' of excellence. Those who find the Trinity here, can find anything in the Bible. §"Make." This word. shows the superiority of man. It is not, Let the earth bring forth man, but "Let us make;" as if all the powers of God had been employed in his formation. "Man," Heb., Adam, which should be retained, as men had existed before Adam. The existence of pre-Adamite men seems to me to be fully made out by recent discoveries; but whether they had all become extinct before the formation of Adam, or are represented by some existing tribes, is a question I hope to examine in a future work. Here I simply wish to rectify the translation in the text. § "In our image, after our likeness." Man, as originally made, was, intellectually and morally, a finite representation of the Infinite-a miniature portrait of God. § "Let them have dominion"-let men be made so that all the animal creation be |