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- Herausgeber: Booksell-Verlag
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
Alfred Edersheim: Collected Works offers a compendium of theological and historical writings that delve into the intricate tapestry of Jewish traditions and their intersection with early Christianity. Edersheim's meticulous research, combined with his vivid narrative style, renders complex theological concepts accessible, providing readers with profound insights into the cultural and spiritual landscape of ancient Judea. This collection captures the essence of Edersheim's work during the 19th century, a time when the relationship between Judaism and Christianity was critically examined through historical-critical methods and harmonized theological perspectives. Alfred Edersheim, born into a Jewish family in 1825 in what is now Romania, later converted to Christianity, which informed much of his scholarship. His blend of personal experience and rigorous academic inquiry shaped his writings, positioning him as a bridge between the two faiths. Drawn to the life and teachings of Jesus within the Jewish context, Edersheim's works reveal his deep commitment to illuminating the nuances of the early Christian narrative through a Jewish lens, establishing him as a vital figure in biblical scholarship. This collection is highly recommended for scholars, theologians, and lay readers alike who seek a comprehensive understanding of the Jewish roots of Christianity. Edersheim's clarity and depth invite readers to engage with the complexities of faith, history, and culture, making this volume an essential addition to any theological library. In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience: - A comprehensive Introduction outlines these selected works' unifying features, themes, or stylistic evolutions. - A Historical Context section situates the works in their broader era—social currents, cultural trends, and key events that underpin their creation. - A concise Synopsis (Selection) offers an accessible overview of the included texts, helping readers navigate plotlines and main ideas without revealing critical twists. - A unified Analysis examines recurring motifs and stylistic hallmarks across the collection, tying the stories together while spotlighting the different work's strengths. - Reflection questions inspire deeper contemplation of the author's overarching message, inviting readers to draw connections among different texts and relate them to modern contexts. - Lastly, our hand‐picked Memorable Quotes distill pivotal lines and turning points, serving as touchstones for the collection's central themes.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Alfred Edersheim: Collected Works
Table of Contents
Introduction
This collection presents Alfred Edersheim’s principal contributions to biblical history and Christian origins in a single, coherent body of work. Its scope runs from the earliest narratives of Scripture through Israel’s national story, and culminates in a detailed study of the Jewish world and the ministry of Jesus. By bringing together Bible History, the multi-part Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, The Temple—Its Ministry and Services, and Sketches of Jewish Social Life, the volume offers readers a unified pathway for approaching the historical contexts of the Bible. The purpose is both pedagogical and integrative: to situate Scripture within the concrete institutions, customs, and chronology of its world.
The arrangement traces a clear arc. Bible History moves from primeval beginnings and the patriarchs, through the Exodus and wilderness, the settlement of Canaan, the united and divided monarchies, and the period leading to the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah is presented in sustained sequence: the Jewish background to the Gospels, the beginnings of Jesus’s ministry, the Galilean period, the later Judean and Perean ministry, and the final phase, supplemented by extensive appendices. Two further studies, The Temple—Its Ministry and Services and Sketches of Jewish Social Life, illuminate ritual practice and everyday culture in the Second Temple period.
The texts collected here encompass several genres: narrative history synthesizing biblical books; exegetical and historical essays that explain passages and events; social and cultural studies of first-century Judaism; and detailed treatments of worship, law, and festivals. Edersheim writes in extended chapters supported by notes and appendices, allowing readers to move between continuous storytelling and topical inquiry. The materials are not fiction, poetry, or personal correspondence; rather, they comprise historical surveys, interpretive commentary, background studies, and documentary compendia. The inclusion of appendices provides concentrated reference material that complements the main discussions and anchors them in sources and explanatory detail.
A consistent feature of these works is attention to historical setting and primary sources. Edersheim correlates the narratives of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament with ancient Jewish literature and established historical information to clarify institutions, chronology, and custom. He describes festivals, sacrificial regulations, and Temple service alongside civic structures and domestic life, so that legal and narrative texts are read against the practices they presuppose. In the Gospels, he synthesizes accounts with contemporary Jewish background to elucidate places, offices, and expectations familiar to first-century audiences. The result is a steady movement from text to context and back again.
Several unifying themes run throughout. The collection emphasizes the continuity of Israel’s story, from patriarchal promises through kingdom, exile, and hope, and how that story frames the environment in which the Gospels unfold. It highlights the centrality of worship and instruction—Temple, synagogue, law, and festival—as formative for communal identity. It also attends to the interplay of prophecy and fulfillment as an interpretive lens linking older narratives with the Gospel environment. Across the volumes, history is presented not as isolated episodes but as a connected thread in which institutions, customs, and convictions shape and explain the events recorded in Scripture.
Stylistically, the writing balances accessibility with learned detail. Edersheim’s chapters are organized to guide general readers while offering sufficient documentation for students. Descriptions of ritual, geography, and custom are kept closely tied to textual citations and explanatory notes, avoiding technical barriers without compromising substance. His prose favors clear exposition, steady synthesis, and carefully signposted argument, inviting readers to follow complex subjects—such as Temple service or legal procedure—through orderly stages. The narrative sections aim for coherence and momentum, while the excursuses and appendices supply concentrated depth, enabling both continuous reading and targeted consultation.
These works have remained significant because they assemble, within a unified framework, historical, cultural, and religious contexts essential for reading the Bible with understanding. Their enduring usefulness lies in the breadth of synthesis and the way background information is made serviceable to the text itself. As nineteenth-century scholarship, they reflect the methods and resources of their time, and readers will naturally supplement them with more recent studies. Yet the combination of scope, clarity, and documentary care continues to recommend this collection to pastors, students, and interested readers seeking a substantive foundation for engaging Scripture in its world.
Historical Context
Alfred Edersheim (1825–1889), born in Vienna to a Jewish family and educated in Central Europe, wrote amid the Victorian expansion of biblical studies. Converted to Christianity in Pest under John Duncan in 1846, he served the Free Church of Scotland and later, after Anglican orders in 1875–1876, worked within England’s scholarly milieu before dying at Menton, France. His corpus spans Bible History (1876–1887)—from The World Before the Flood and the History of the Patriarchs through the Assyrian and Babylonian Captivity—to The Temple—Its Ministry and Services (1874), Sketches of Jewish Social Life (1876), and Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (1883) with its Appendices.
Edersheim’s oeuvre stands at the crossroads of the German historical-critical school and British confessional scholarship. While the approaches of De Wette, Ewald, Graf, and Julius Wellhausen (Prolegomena, 1878/1883) reshaped debates on Mosaic authorship and Israel’s institutions, Edersheim drew on their historical tools yet defended the unity and historical substance of Scripture. His Bible History volumes—covering The Exodus and the Wanderings in the Wilderness; Israel in Canaan Under Joshua and the Judges; Israel Under Samuel, Saul, and David; and the reigns from Solomon to the Exile—reflect an effort to narrate Israel’s past in conversation with contemporary criticism without surrendering a theological through-line.
The nineteenth century’s new antiquities revolution furnished chronologies and contexts that Edersheim mined. Assyriology advanced through Henry Rawlinson’s work on the Behistun inscription (1835–1851) and A. H. Layard’s Nineveh excavations (1845–1851), while the Black Obelisk (1846) named Jehu, and the Moabite Stone (1868) illuminated Omri’s house—touchstones for his History of Judah and Israel volumes, from the birth of Solomon to Ahab and beyond. George Smith’s 1872 publication of the cuneiform flood narrative invited comparison with Genesis and The World Before the Flood. The Siloam Inscription (1880) and the Assyrian eponym canon (anchored by the 763 BCE eclipse) undergirded his regnal synchronisms and exilic timelines.
Edersheim’s readings of Second Temple Judaism drew deeply on sources mapped by Wissenschaft des Judentums. The scholarship of Leopold Zunz, Abraham Geiger, and Zacharias Frankel, together with accessible editions of the Mishnah and the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, enabled his sustained engagement with rabbinic tractates (e.g., Pesahim, Yoma, Sukkah), the Targums, Josephus, and Philo. The Preparation for the Gospel: The Jewish World in the Days of Christ, along with Sketches of Jewish Social Life, distilled this literature into portraits of law, custom, and piety. The Temple—Its Ministry and Services and the extensive Appendices organized calendars, priestly courses, festivals, and courts to frame the Gospels historically.
British religious culture shaped Edersheim’s aims and audience. Formed in the Free Church of Scotland and later ordained in the Church of England during the post-1833 Oxford Movement, he addressed controversies over ritual, authority, and scriptural typology. The Temple—Its Ministry and Services satisfied Victorian curiosity about priestly rites while arguing their fulfillment in Christ. Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah—issued as From the Manger in Bethlehem to the Baptism in Jordan; The Ascent; The Descent; and The Cross and the Crown—placed Jesus within living Judaism yet sustained a messianic reading. Missionary currents to Jews (e.g., the London Society, 1809) informed his pastoral, explanatory tone.
Developments in historical geography lent concreteness to Edersheim’s narratives. Edward Robinson’s Biblical Researches in Palestine (1838), W. M. Thomson’s The Land and the Book (1859), and the Palestine Exploration Fund (founded 1865) produced maps and toponymic data through the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem (Charles Wilson, 1864), Charles Warren’s excavations (1867–1870), and Conder and Kitchener’s Survey of Western Palestine (1871–1877). Such resources allowed him to situate the Exodus route, the campaigns under Joshua and the Judges, and Galilean itineraries in Life and Times. The 1869 opening of the Suez Canal typified widening European access whose travelogues supplied the descriptive color that pervades his reconstructions.
Victorian print culture facilitated the collection’s reach. Published by leading Edinburgh and London houses and promptly reissued in Boston and New York, the Bible History series (1876–1887) served clergy, schools, and popular readers, often cited alongside Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible (1863–1865) and the Speaker’s Commentary (1871–1882). Edersheim’s robust indexes and Appendices mirrored contemporary reference norms. Advances in textual criticism—Tregelles and, for the New Testament, Westcott and Hort (1881)—sharpened his Gospel harmonies and discussions of the Septuagint’s wording, even as he wrote for a broad audience. Illustrations, maps, and chronological tables integrated scholarship into accessible narrative arcs across the collection.
Composed before the Merneptah Stele (1896) and long before the Dead Sea Scrolls (1947), Edersheim’s works nonetheless absorbed the first wave of archaeological corroboration and the rabbinic renaissance of print. They offered English readers a continuous, source-informed history from The World Before the Flood to The History of Israel and Judah to the Captivity, and from The Preparation for the Gospel to The Cross and the Crown. By his death in 1889, he had modeled a synthesis of confessional exegesis with emerging historical sciences. The collection’s enduring significance lies in that synthesis: a learned, culturally attentive frame for Scripture that shaped Anglophone biblical imagination.
Synopsis (Selection)
Bible History
A narrative survey of the Old Testament from Creation to the Exile, integrating Scripture with historical and cultural background to trace Israel’s covenant story.
The World Before the Flood, and the History of the Patriarchs
Covers Genesis from creation and the fall through the flood, Babel, and the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, establishing the promises and lineage of Israel.
The Exodus and the Wanderings in the Wilderness
Recounts Israel’s deliverance from Egypt under Moses, the Sinai covenant and tabernacle, and the forty-year journey to the borders of Canaan.
Israel in Canaan Under Joshua and the Judges
Follows the conquest and settlement of the land under Joshua and the turbulent period of the Judges, marked by cycles of apostasy, deliverance, and nascent nationhood.
Israel Under Samuel, Saul, and David
Traces the shift from tribal confederation to monarchy through Samuel’s leadership, Saul’s reign, and David’s rise and consolidation of the kingdom and worship in Jerusalem.
History of Judah and Israel From the Birth of Solomon to Reign of Ahab
Surveys Solomon’s reign and the building of the Temple, the division into the northern and southern kingdoms, and developments leading to Ahab’s ascension in Israel.
History of Judah and Israel From the Reign of Ahab to the Decline of the Two Kingdoms
Examines the intertwined histories of Israel and Judah during and after Ahab, featuring the ministries of Elijah and Elisha and the progressive weakening of both realms.
The History of Israel and Judah From the Decline of the Two Kingdoms to the Assyrian and Babylonian Captivity
Narrates the final decades of the monarchies amid prophetic warnings and imperial pressures, culminating in Israel’s fall to Assyria and Judah’s exile to Babylon.
Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
A comprehensive life of Jesus that situates the Gospel narrative within first‑century Jewish belief, practice, and geography, harmonizing the accounts from birth to resurrection.
The Preparation for the Gospel: The Jewish World in the Days of Christ
Surveys the Jewish and Greco-Roman context—sects, institutions, literature, and diaspora communities—to explain the setting into which Jesus and the Gospels emerged.
From the Manger in Bethlehem to the Baptism in Jordan
Covers the infancy narratives and early years, the ministry of John the Baptist, and Jesus’ baptism as the threshold of His public work.
The Ascent: From the River Jordan to the Mount of Transfiguration
Presents the early Judean and Galilean ministry, the calling of disciples, major teachings and miracles, and growing recognition culminating in the Transfiguration.
The Descent: From the Mount of Transfiguration Into the Valley of Humiliation and Death
Recounts the later ministry marked by intensified opposition, pivotal signs and discourses, and the approach to Jerusalem and the Passion.
The Cross and the Crown
Details the Passion, trials, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and ascension, bringing the Gospel story to its climax and conclusion.
Appendices
Technical studies supporting the Life and Times, including chronologies, legal customs, rabbinic parallels, calendar questions, and notes on temple and festivals.
The Temple—Its Ministry and Services
Describes the Second Temple’s layout, priesthood, sacrifices, feasts, and daily rites, elucidating how its services frame New Testament events and imagery.
Sketches of Jewish Social Life
Portrays everyday life in Palestine—family, education, trade, law, synagogue, and social customs—providing context for the teachings and actions of Jesus.
Alfred Edersheim: Collected Works
BIBLE HISTORY
PREFACE
One of the most marked and hopeful signs of our time is the increasing attention given on all sides to the study of Holy Scripture. Those who believe and love the Bible, who have experienced its truth and power, can only rejoice at such an issue. They know that “the Word of God liveth and abideth for ever,” that “not one tittle” of it “shall fail;” and that it is “able to make wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Accordingly they have no reason to dread the results either of scientific investigation, or of searching inquiry into “those things which are most surely believed among us.” For, the more the Bible is studied, the deeper will be our conviction that “the foundation of God standeth sure.”
It is to help, so far as we can, the reader of Holy Scripture — not to supersede his own reading of it — that the series, of which this is the first volume, has been undertaken. In writing it I have primarily had in view those who teach and those who learn, whether in the school or in the family. But my scope has also been wider. I have wished to furnish what may be useful for reading in the family, — what indeed may, in some measure, serve the place of a popular exposition of the sacred history. More than this, I hope it may likewise prove a book to put in the hands of young men, — not only to show them what the Bible really teaches, but to defend them against the insidious attacks arising from misrepresentation and misunderstanding of the sacred text.
With this threefold object in view, I have endeavored to write in a form so popular and easily intelligible as to be of use to the Sunday-school teacher, the advanced scholar, and the Bible-class; progressing gradually, in the course of this and the next volume, from the more simple to the more detailed. At the same time, I have taken up the Scripture narrative successively, chapter by chapter, always marking the portions of the Bible explained, that so, in family or in private reading, the sacred text may be compared with the explanations furnished. Finally, without mentioning objections on the part of opponents, I have endeavored to meet those that have been raised, and that not by controversy, but rather by a more full and correct study of the sacred text itself in the Hebrew original. In so doing, I have freely availed myself not only of the results of the best criticism, German and English, but also of the aid of such kindred studies as those of Biblical geography and antiquities, the Egyptian and the Assyrian monuments, etc.
But when all has been done, the feeling grows only more strong that there is another and a higher understanding of the Bible, without which all else is vain. Not merely to know the meaning of the narratives of Scripture, but to realize their spiritual application; to feel their eternal import; to experience them in ourselves, so to speak — this is the only profitable study of Scripture, to which all else can only serve as outward preparation. Where the result is “doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness,” the Teacher must be He, by whose “inspiration all Scripture is given.” “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” But the end of all is Christ — not only “the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth,” but also He in whom “all the promises of God are Yea and Amen.”
A. E.
HENIACH BOURNEMOUTH.
INTRODUCTION
That the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” is also the “God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” and that “they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham,” — these are among the most precious truths of revelation. They show us not only the faithfulness of our God, and the greatness of our privileges, but also the marvelous wisdom of the plan of salvation, and its consistency throughout. For the Bible should be viewed, not only in its single books, but in their connection, and in the unity of the whole. The Old Testament could not be broken off from the New, and each considered as independent of the other. Nor yet could any part of the Old Testament be disjoined from the rest. The full meaning and beauty of each appears only in the harmony and unity of the whole. Thus they all form links of one unbroken chain, reaching from the beginning to the time when the Lord Jesus Christ came, for whom all previous history had prepared, to whom all the types pointed, and in whom all the promises are “Yea and Amen.” Then that which God had spoken to Abraham, more than two thousand years before, became a blessed reality, for “the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” That this one grand purpose should have been steadily kept in view, and carried forward through all the vicissitudes of history, changes of time, and stages of civilization, — and that without requiring any alteration, only further unfolding and at last completion — affords indeed the strongest confirmation to our faith. It is also a precious comfort to our hearts; for we see how God’s purpose of mercy has been always the same; and, walking the same pilgrim-way which “the fathers” had trod, and along which God had safely guided the Covenant, we rejoice to know that neither opposition of man nor yet unfaithfulness on the part of His professing people can make void the gracious counsel of God: -
“He loved us from the first of time, He loves us to the last.”
And this it is which we learn from the unity of Scripture.
But yet another and equally important truth may be gathered. There is not merely harmony but also close connection between the various parts of Scripture. Each book illustrates the other, taking up its teaching and carrying it forward. Thus the unity of Scripture is not like that of a stately building, however ingenious its plan or vast its proportions; but rather, to use a Biblical illustration, like that of the light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. We mark throughout growth in its progress, as men were able to bear fuller communications, and prepared for their reception. The law, the types, the history, the prophecies, and the promises of the Old Testament all progressively unfold and develop the same truth, until it appears at last in its New Testament fullness. Though all testify of the same thing, not one of them could safely be left out, nor yet do we properly understand any one part unless we view it in its bearing and connection with the others. And so when at last we come to the close of Scripture, we see how the account of the creation and of the first calling of the children of God, which had been recorded in the book of Genesis, has found its full counterpart — its fulfillment — in the book of Revelation, which tells the glories of the second creation, and the perfecting of the Church of God. As one of the old Church teachers (St. Augustine) writes:
“Novum Testamentum in vetere latet, Vetus in novo patet.”
That in a work composed of so many books, written under such very different circumstances, by penmen so different, and at periods so widely apart, there should be “some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest,” can surely not surprise us, more particularly when we remember that it was God’s purpose only to send the brighter light as men were able to bear it. Besides, we must expect that with our limited powers and knowledge we shall not be able fully to understand the ways of God. But, on the other hand, this may be safely said, that the more deep, calm, and careful our study, the more ample the evidence it will bring to light to confirm our faith against all attacks of the enemy. Yet the ultimate object of our reading is not knowledge, but experience of grace. For, properly understood, the Scripture is all full of Christ, and all intended to point to Christ as our only Savior. It is not only the law, which is a schoolmaster unto Christ, nor the types, which are shadows of Christ, nor yet the prophecies, which are predictions of Christ; but the whole Old Testament history is full of Christ. Even where persons are not, events may be types. If any one failed to see in Isaac or in Joseph a personal type of Christ, he could not deny that the offering up of Isaac, or the selling of Joseph, and his making provision for the sustenance of his brethren, are typical of events in the history of our Lord. And so indeed every event points to Christ, even as He is alike the beginning, the center, and the end of all history — “the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.” One thing follows from this: only that reading or study of the Scriptures can be sufficient or profitable through which we learn to know Christ — and that as “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” to us. And for this purpose we ought constantly to ask the aid and teaching of the Holy Spirit.
A few brief remarks, helpful to the study of patriarchal history, may here find a place. In general, the Old Testament may be arranged into “The Law and the Prophets.”
It was possibly with reference to this division that the Law consisted of the five books of Moses — ten being the symbolical number of completeness, and the Law with its commands being only half complete without “the Prophets” and the promises. But assuredly to the fivefold division of the Law answers the arrangement of the Psalms into five books, of which each closes with a benediction, as follows: -
Book 1: Psalm 1-41
Book 2: Psalm 42-72
Book 3: Psalm 73-89
Book 4: Psalm 90-106
Book 5: Psalm 107-150
- the last Psalm standing as a grand final benediction.
The Law or the Five Books of Moses are commonly called the Pentateuch, a Greek term meaning the “fivefold,” or “five-parted” Book. Each of these five books commonly bears a title given by the Greek translators of the Old Testament (the so-called LXX.), in accordance with the contents of each: Genesis (origin, creation), Exodus (going out from Egypt), Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (Second Law, or the Law a second time). The Jews designate each book by the first or else the most prominent word with which it begins.
The book of Genesis consists of two great parts, each again divided into five sections. Every section is clearly marked by being introduced as “generations,” or “originations” — in Hebrew Toledoth — as follows:
PART 1 — THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD TO THE FINAL ARRANGEMENT AND SETTLEMENT OF THE VARIOUS NATIONS
General Introduction: Chap. 1-2:3.
1. Generations of the Heavens and the Earth, 2:4-4:26.
2. Book of the Generations of Adam 5-6:8.
3. The Generations of Noah, 6:9-9:29.
4. The Generations of the Sons of Noah 10-11:9.
5. The Generations of Shem, 11:10-26.
PART 2 — PATRIARCHAL HISTORY
1. The Generations of Terah (the father of Abraham), 11:27-25:11.
2. The Generations of Ishmael 25:12-18.
3. The Generations of Isaac, 25:19-35:29
4. The Generations of Esau, 36.
5. The Generations of Jacob, 37.
These two parts make together ten sections — the number of completeness, — and each section varies in length with the importance of its contents, so far as they bear upon the history of the kingdom of God. For, both these parts, or rather the periods which they describe, have such bearing. In the first we are successively shown man’s original position and relationship towards God; then his fall, and the consequent need of redemption; and next God’s gracious provision of mercy. The acceptance or rejection of this provision implies the separation of all mankind into two classes — the Sethites and the Cainites. Again, the judgment of the flood upon the ungodly, and the preservation of His own people, are typical for all time; while the genealogies and divisions of the various nations, and the separation of Shem, imply the selection of one nation, from whom salvation should spring for all mankind. In this first part the interest of the history groups around events rather than persons. It is otherwise in the second part, where the history of the Covenant and of the Covenant-people begins with the calling of Abraham, and is continued in Isaac, in Jacob, and in his descendants. Here the interest centers in persons rather than events, and we are successively shown God’s rich promises as they unfold, and God’s gracious dealings as they contribute to the training of the patriarchs. The book of Genesis, and with it the first period of the Covenant history, closes when the family had expanded into a nation.
Finally, with reference to the special arrangement of the “generations” recorded throughout the book of Genesis, it will be noticed that, so to speak, the side branches are always cut off before the main branch is carried onwards. Thus the history of Cain and of his race precedes that of Seth and his race; the genealogy of Japheth and of Ham that of Shem; and the history of Ishmael and Esau that of Isaac and of Jacob. For the principle of election and selection, of separation and of grace, underlies from the first the whole history of the Covenant. It appears in the calling of Abraham, and is continued throughout the history of the patriarchs; and although the holy family enlarges into the nation, the promise narrows first to the house of David, and finally to one individual — the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one Prophet, the one Priest, the one King, that in Him the kingdom of heaven might be opened to all believers, and from Him the blessings of salvation flow unto all men.
VOLUME I: THE WORLD BEFORE THE FLOOD, AND THE HISTORY OF THE PATRIARCHS
CHAPTER I: CREATION — MAN IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN — THE FALL.
(GENESIS I-III)
“He that cometh unto God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Hence Holy Scripture, which contains the revealed record of God’s dealings and purposes with man, commences with an account of the creation. “For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead.”
Four great truths, which have their bearing on every part of revelation, come to us from the earliest Scripture narrative, like the four rivers which sprung in the garden of Eden. The first of these truths is — the creation of all things by the word of God’s power; the second, the descent of all men from our common parents, Adam and Eve; the third, our connection with Adam as the head of the human race, through which all mankind were involved in his sin and fall; and the fourth, that One descended from Adam, yet without his sin, should by suffering free us from the consequences of the fall, and as the second Adam became the Author of eternal salvation to all who trust in Him. To these four vital truths there might be added, as a fifth, the institution of one day in seven to be a day of holy rest unto God.
It is scarcely possible to imagine a greater contrast than between the heathen accounts of the origin of all things and the scriptural narrative. The former are so full of the grossly absurd that no one could regard them as other than fables; while the latter is so simple, and yet so full of majesty, as almost to force us to “worship and bow down,” and to “kneel before the Lord our Maker.” And as this was indeed the object in view, and not scientific instruction, far less the gratification of our curiosity, we must expect to find in the first chapter of Genesis simply the grand outlines of what took place, and not any details connected with creation. On these points there is ample room for such information as science may be able to supply, when once it shall have carefully selected and sifted all that can be learned from the study of earth and of nature. That time, however, has not yet arrived; and we ought, therefore, to be on our guard against the rash and unwarranted statements which have sometimes been brought forward on these subjects. Scripture places before us the successive creation of all things, so to speak, in an ascending scale, till at last we come to that of man, the chief of God’s works, and whom his Maker destined to be lord of all. (Psalms 8:3-8) Some have imagined that the six days of creation represent so many periods, rather than literal days, chiefly on the ground of the supposed high antiquity of our globe, and the various great epochs or periods, each terminating in a grand revolution, through which our earth seems to have passed, before coming to its present state, when it became a fit habitation for man. There is, however, no need to resort to any such theory. The first verse in the book of Genesis simply states the general fact, that “In the beginning” — whenever that may have been — “God created the heaven and the earth.” Then, in the second verse, we find earth described as it was at the close of the last great revolution, preceding the present state of things: “And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” An almost indefinite space of time, and many changes, may therefore have intervened between the creation of heaven and earth, as mentioned in ver. 1, and the chaotic state of our earth, as described in ver. 2. As for the exact date of the first creation, it may be safely affirmed that we have not yet the knowledge sufficient to arrive at any really trustworthy conclusion.
It is of far greater importance for us, however, to know that God “created all things by Jesus Christ;” (Ephesians 3:9) and further, that “all things were created by Him, and for Him,” (Colossians 1:16) and that “of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things.” (Romans 11:36. See also 1 Corinthians 8:6; Hebrews 1:2; John 1:3) This gives not only unity to all creation, but places it in living connection with our Lord Jesus Christ. At the same time we should also always bear in mind, that it is “through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Hebrews 11:3)
Everything as it proceeded from the hand of God was “very good,” that is, perfect to answer the purpose for which it had been destined. “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” It is upon this original institution of the Sabbath as a day of holy rest that our observance of the Lord’s day is finally based, the change in the precise day — from the seventh to the first of the week — having been occasioned by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which not only the first, but also the new creation was finally completed. (See Isaiah 65:17)
Of all His works God only “created man in His own image: in the image of God created He him.” This expression refers not merely to the intelligence with which God endowed, and the immortality with which He gifted man, but also to the perfect moral and spiritual nature which man at the first possessed. And all his surroundings were in accordance with his happy state. God “put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it,” and gave him a congenial companion in Eve, whom Adam recognized as bone of his bones, and flesh of his flesh. Thus as God had, by setting apart the Sabbath day, indicated worship as the proper relationship between man and his Creator, so He also laid in Paradise the foundation of civil society by the institution of marriage and of the family. (Comp. Mark 10:6, 9)
It now only remained to test man’s obedience to God, and to prepare him for yet higher and greater privileges than those which he already enjoyed. But evil was already in this world of ours, for Satan and his angels had rebelled against God. The scriptural account of man’s trial is exceedingly brief and simple. We are told: that “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” had been placed “in the midst of the garden,” and of the fruit of this tree God forbade Adam to eat, on pain of death. On the other hand, there was also “the tree of life” in the garden, probably as symbol and pledge of a higher life, which we should have inherited if our first parents had continued obedient to God. The issue of this trial came only too soon. The tempter, under the form of a serpent, approached Eve. He denied the threatenings of God, and deceived her as to the real consequences of eating the forbidden fruit. This, followed by the enticement of her own senses, led Eve first to eat, and then to induce her husband to do likewise. Their sin had its immediate consequence. They had aimed to be “as gods,” and, instead of absolutely submitting themselves to the command of the Lord, acted independently of Him. And now their eyes were indeed opened, as the tempter had promised, “to know good and evil;” but only in their own guilty knowledge of sin, which immediately prompted the wish to hide themselves from the presence of God. Thus, their alienation and departure from God, the condemning voice of their conscience, and their sorrow and shame gave evidence that the Divine threatening had already been accomplished: “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” The sentence of death which God now pronounced on our first parents extended both to their bodily and their spiritual nature — to their mortal and immortal part. In the day he sinned man died in body, soul, and spirit. And because Adam, as the head of his race, represented the whole; and as through him we should all have entered upon a very high and happy state of being, if he had remained obedient, so now the consequences of his disobedience have extended to us all; and as “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,” so “death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Nay, even “creation itself,” which had been placed under his dominion, was made through his fall “subject to vanity,” and came under the curse, as God said to Adam: “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.”
God, in His infinite mercy, did not leave man to perish in his sin. He was indeed driven forth from Paradise, for which he was no longer fit. But, before that, God had pronounced the curse upon his tempter, Satan, and had given man the precious promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent; that is, that our blessed Savior, “born of a woman,” should redeem us from the power of sin and of death, through His own obedience, death, and resurrection. And even the labor of his hands, to which man was now doomed, was in the circumstances a boon.
Therefore, when our first parents left the garden of Eden, it was not without hope, nor into outer darkness. They carried with them the promise of a Redeemer, the assurance of the final defeat of the great enemy, as well as the Divine institution of a Sabbath on which to worship, and of the marriage-bond by which to be joined together into families. Thus the foundations of the Christian life in all its bearings were laid in Paradise.
There are still other points of practical interest to be gathered up. The descent of all mankind from our first parents determines our spiritual relationship to Adam. In Adam all have sinned and fallen. But, on the other hand, it also determines our spiritual relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, as the second Adam, which rests on precisely the same grounds. For “as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly,” and “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” The descent of all mankind from one common stock has in times past been questioned by some, although Scripture expressly teaches that “He has made of one blood all nations, for to dwell on the face of the earth.” It is remarkable that this denial, which certainly never was shared by the most competent men of science, has quite lately been, we may say, almost universally abandoned, and the original unity of the human race in their common descent is now a generally accepted fact.
Here, moreover, we meet for the first time with that strange resemblance to revealed religion which makes heathenism so like and yet so unlike the religion of the Old Testament. As in the soul of man we see the ruins of what he had been before the fall, so in the legends and traditions of the various religions of antiquity we recognize the echoes of what men had originally heard from the mouth of God. Not only one race, but almost all nations, have in their traditions preserved some dim remembrance alike of an originally happy and holy state, — a so-called golden age — in which the intercourse between heaven and earth was unbroken, and of a subsequent sin and fall of mankind. And all nations also have cherished a faint belief in some future return of this happy state, that is, in some kind of coming redemption, just as in their inmost hearts all men have at least a faint longing for a Redeemer.
Meanwhile, this grand primeval promise, “The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent,” would stand out as a beacon-light to all mankind on their way, burning brighter and brighter, first in the promise to Shem, next in that to Abraham, then in the prophecy of Jacob, and so on through the types of the Law to the promises of the Prophets, till in the fullness of time “the Sun of Righteousness” arose “with healing under His wings!”
CHAPTER II: CAIN AND ABEL — THE TWO WAYS AND THE TWO RACES.
(GENESIS IV)
The language in which Scripture tells the second great event in history is once more exceedingly simple. Two of the children of Adam and Eve are alone mentioned: Cain and Abel. Not that there were no others, but that the progress of Scripture history is connected with these two. For the Bible does not profess to give a detailed history of the world, nor even a complete biography of those persons whom it introduces. Its object is to set before us a history of the kingdom of God, and it only describes such persons and events as is necessary for that purpose. Of the two sons of Adam and Eve, Cain was the elder, and indeed, as we gather, the first-born of all their children. Throughout antiquity, and in the East to this day, proper names are regarded as significant of a deeper meaning. When Eve called her first-born son Cain (“gotten,” or “acquired”), she said, “I have gotten a man from Jehovah.” Apparently she connected the birth of her son with the immediate fulfillment of the promise concerning the Seed, who was to bruise the head of the serpent. This expectation was, if we may be allowed the comparison, as natural on her part as that of the immediate return of our Lord by some of the early Christians. It also showed how deeply this hope had sunk into her heart, how lively was her faith in the fulfillment of the promise, and how ardent her longing for it. But if such had been her views, they must have been speedily disappointed. Perhaps for this very reason, or else because she had been more fully informed, or on other grounds with which we are not acquainted, the other son of Adam and Eve, mentioned in Scripture, was named Abel, that is “breath,” or “fading away.”
What in the history of these two youths is of scriptural importance, is summed up in the statement that “Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.” We next meet them, each bringing an offering unto Jehovah; Cain “of the fruit of the ground,” and Abel “of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof.” Jehovah “had respect unto Abel and his offering,” probably marking His acceptance by some outward and visible manifestation; “but unto Cain and his offering He had not respect.” Instead of inquiring into the reason of his rejection, and trying to have it removed, Cain now gave way to feelings of anger and jealousy. In His mercy, God indeed brought before him his sin, warned him of its danger, and pointed out the way of escape. But Cain had chosen his course. Meeting his brother in the field, angry words led to murderous deed, and earth witnessed the first death, the more terrible that it was violent, and at a brother’s hand. Once more the voice of Jehovah called Cain to account, and again he hardened himself, this time almost disowning the authority of God. But the mighty hand of the Judge was on the unrepenting murderer. Adam had, so to speak, broken the first great commandment, Cain the first and the second; Adam had committed sin, Cain both sin and crime. As a warning, and yet as a witness to all, Cain, driven from his previous chosen occupation as a tiller of the ground, was sent forth “a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth.” So — if we may again resort to analogy — was Israel driven forth into all lands, when with wicked hands they had crucified and slain Him whose blood “speaketh better things than that of Abel.” But even this punishment, though “greater” than Cain “can bear,” leads him not to repentance, only to fear of its consequences. And “lest any finding him should kill him,” Jehovah set a mark upon Cain, just as He made the Jews, amidst all their persecutions, an indestructible people. Only in their case the gracious Lord has a purpose of mercy; for they shall return again to the Lord their God — “all Israel shall be saved;” and their bringing in shall be as life from the dead. But as for Cain, he “went out from the presence of Jehovah, and dwelt in the land of Nod, that is, of “wandering” or “unrest.” The last that we read of him is still in accordance with all his previous life: “he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.”
Now, there are some lessons quite on the surface of this narrative. Thus we mark the difference in the sacrifice of the two brothers — the one “of the fruit of the ground,” the other an animal sacrifice. Again, the offering of Cain is described merely in general terms; while Abel’s is said to be “of the firstlings of his flock” — the first being in acknowledgment that all was God’s, “and of the fat thereof,” that is, of the best. So also we note, how faithfully God warns, and how kindly He points Cain to the way of escape from the power of sin. On the other hand, the murderous deed of Cain affords a terrible illustration of the words in which the Lord Jesus has taught us, that angry bitter feelings against a brother are in reality murder (Matthew 5:22), showing us what is, so to speak, the full outcome of self-willedness, of anger, envy, and jealousy. Yet another lesson to be learned from this history is, that our sin will at the last assuredly find us out, and yet that no punishment, however terrible, can ever have the effect of changing the heart of a man, or altering his state and the current of his life. To these might be added the bitter truth, which godless men will perceive all too late, that, as Cain was at the last driven forth from the ground of which he had taken possession, so assuredly all who seek their portion in this world will find their hopes disappointed, even in those things for which they had sacrificed the “better part.” In this respect the later teaching of Scripture (Psalm 49) seems to be contained in germ in the history of Cain and Abel.
If from these obvious lessons we turn to the New Testament for further light on this history, we find in the Epistle of Jude (ver. 2) a general warning against going “in the way of Cain;” while St. John makes it an occasion of admonishing to brotherly love: “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” (1 John 3:12) But the fullest information is derived from the Epistle to the Hebrews, where we read, on the one hand, that “without faith it is impossible to please God,” and, on the other, that “by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he, being dead, yet speaketh.” (Hebrews 11:4) Scripture here takes us up, as it were, to the highest point in the lives of the two brothers — their sacrifice — and tells us of the presence of faith in the one, and of its absence in the other. This showed itself alike in the manner and in the kind of their sacrifice. But the faith which prompted the sacrifice of Abel, and the want of faith which characterized that of Cain, must, of course, have existed and appeared long before. Hence St. John also says that Cain “was of that wicked one,” meaning that he had all along yielded himself to the power of that tempter who had ruined our first parents. A little consideration will explain this, and, at the same time, bring the character and conduct of Cain into clearer light.
After the fall the position of man towards God was entirely changed. In the garden of Eden man’s hope of being confirmed in his estate and of advancing upwards depended on his perfect obedience. But man disobeyed and fell. Henceforth his hope for the future could no longer be derived from perfect obedience, which, indeed, in his fallen state was impossible. So to speak, the way of “doing” had been set before him, and it had ended, through sin, in death. God in His infinite grace now opened to man another path. He set before him the hope of faith. The promise which God freely gave to man was that of a Deliverer, who would bruise the head of the serpent, and destroy his works. Now, it was possible either to embrace this promise by faith, and in that case to cling to it and set his heart thereon, or else to refuse this hope and turn away from it. Here, then, at the very opening of the history of the kingdom, we have the two different ways which, as the world and the kingdom of God, have ever since divided men. If we further ask ourselves what those would do who rejected the hope of faith, how they would show it in their outward conduct, we answer, that they would naturally choose the world as it then was; and, satisfied therewith, try to establish themselves in the earth, claim it as their own, enjoy its pleasures and lusts, and cultivate its arts. On the other hand, one who embraced the promises would consider himself a pilgrim and a stranger in this earth, and both in heart and outward conduct show that he believed in, and waited for, the fulfillment of the promise. We need scarcely say that the one describes the history of Cain and of his race; the other that of Abel, and afterwards of Seth and of his descendants. For around these two — Cain and Seth — as their representatives, all the children of Adam would group themselves according to their spiritual tendencies.
Viewed in this light the indications of Scripture, however brief, are quite clear. When we read that “Cain was a tiller of the ground,” and “Abel was a keeper of sheep,” we can understand that the choice of their occupations depended not on accidental circumstances, but quite accorded with their views and character. Abel chose the pilgrim-life, Cain that of settled possession and enjoyment of earth. The nearer their history lay to the terrible event which had led to the loss of Paradise, and to the first giving of the promise, the more significant would this their choice of life appear. Quite in accordance with this, we afterwards find Cain, not only building a city, but calling it after the name of his own son, to indicate settled proprietorship and enjoyment of the world as it was. The same tendency rapidly unfolded in his descendants, till in Lamech, the fifth from Cain, it had already assumed such large proportions that Scripture deems it no longer necessary to mark its growth. Accordingly the separate record of the Cainites ceases with Lamech and his children, and there is no further specific mention made of them in Scripture.
Before following more in detail the course of these two races — for, in a spiritual sense, they were quite distinct — we mark at the very threshold of Scripture history the introduction of sacrifices. From the time of Abel onwards, they are uniformly, and with increasing clearness, set before us as the appointed way of approaching and holding fellowship with God, till, at the close of Scripture history, we have the sacrifice of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to which all sacrifices had pointed. And not only so, but as the dim remembrance of a better state from which man had fallen, and of a hope of deliverance, had been preserved among all heathen nations, so also had that of the necessity of sacrifices. Even the bloody rites of savages, nay, the cruel sacrifices of best-beloved children, what were they but a cry of despair in the felt need of reconciliation to God through sacrifice — the giving up of what was most dear in room and stead of the offerer? These are the terribly broken pillars of what once had been a temple; the terribly distorted traditions of truths once Divinely revealed. Blessed be God for the light of His Gospel, which has taught us “the way, the truth, and the life,” even Him who is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
CHAPTER III: SETH AND HIS DESCENDANTS — THE RACE OF CAIN
(GENESIS IV)
