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He washed his garments in wine,-P and his clothes in the blood of grapes: 12 His eyes shall be red with wine,-and his teeth white with milk.'

13

14

Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea;

And he shall be for an haven of ships;-and his border shall be unto Zidon.2 Issachar is a strong ass-couching down between two burdens:3 15 And he saw that rest was good,-and the land that it was pleasant; And bowed 'his shoulder to bear,—and became a servant unto tribute. 16 "Dan shall judge his people,- --as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path,

That biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

19

20

21

22

- Gad, a troop shall overcome him:-but he shall overcome at the last.
"Out of Asher his bread shall be fat,—and he shall yield royal dainties."
Naphtali is a hind let loose :-he giveth goodly words.

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23 The archers have sorely grieved him,—and shot at him, and hated him : 24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong. By the hands of the mighty God of Jacob:

(From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel :)

25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee;

'And by the Almighty," who shall bless thee-with blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lieth under,-blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: 26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills:

They shall be on the head of Joseph,

10

And on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf:-in the morning he shall devour the prey, And at night he shall divide the spoil."

28

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according, to his blessing he blessed 29 them. And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the 30 Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a 31 possession of a burying-place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. The 32 purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

1 The appearance of the people would indicate their happy lot. These verses (11, 12) describe, in poetical terms, the peace and plenty of Messiah's reign.

Probably not the city, which lay far to the north, but the territory of the Zidonians: the word 'haven' referring either to the Zidonian ports, or, more probably, to the coast of Zebulun on the sea of Galilee. Tiberias was in this tribe.

3 Or, 'borders.' In the portion of this tribe lay the rich plain of Jezreel, bordered by the range of Carmel and the hills of Galilee. The patient and laborious ass aptly represents an orderly, industrious people, who prefer agricultural pursuits to military or commercial enterprize. The men of Issachar, however, occasionally displayed both valour and wisdom. See Judg. v. 15; 1 Chron. xii. 32. 4 So the name Dan signifies. The stealthy character of their warfare (resembling that of the Bedouin) is illustrated in Judges xviii.; and aptly represented by the attack of the cerastes or horned viper, which lies unperceived in the sand.

5 Or, I am expecting thy salvation, O Jehovah :' possibly referring to some unrecorded revelations of the great redemption.

6 The words 'troop' and 'overcome' are allusions to the name Gad, whose tribe was most exposed to predatory incursions from the Syrian and Arabian deserts. At last

P Can. 5. 10-16.

9 Pro. 23. 29. Deu. 33. 18, 19; Jos. 19. 10, 11.

Judg. 5. 16.

1 Sam. 10. 9.

Deu. 33. 22; Julg. 13. 2, 24, 25; 15. 20, 18. 1, 2

Judg. 18. 27.

y Ps. 95. 5: 40. 1; 119. 166, 174: Is. 25. 9; Mic. 7. 7.

Den, 3, 20; 1 Chr. 5. 18-22.

a Deu. 33. 21; Jos. 194

b Deu. 33. 23.

e eh. 41. 52: 48. 19: Jos. 17. 14, 17.

d eh. 37. 4, 24. 28; 39. 7-20; 42. 21; Ps. 64. 3. 11. 13.

Job 29. 20; Ps 28.8; 37. 15.

Ps. 18 32-35; 132. 2.5.

8 ch. 45. 11; 47. 12; 50. 21.

A Ps 8. 1; Is. 40. 11. i Deu. 32. 4; Is. 28. 16: Eph. 2. 20.

* eh. 28. 13. 21: 35. 3; 43. 23.

ch. 17. 1; 35. 11.

Deu. 3. 13-16

"eh. 27. 27-29.

Deu. 33. 15; Hab.3.6.

P Deu 33 16

7 ch. 37. 28.

Judg. 20, 21, 25;
Eze. 22. 25, 27.
Num. 23. 24: Est.
811; Eze. 39. 10.
Zech. 14. 1, 7.

ch. 15. 15; 25. 8.
ch. 47. 30; 2 Sam.
19. 37.
ch. 50. 13.

y ch. 23, 16.
eh. 23. 19; 25. 9.

@ ch. 35. 29.

7 Partly from his proximity to the commercial Phonicians, and partly from the fruitfulness of his own land on the western mountain-slopes.

8 This verse is very obscure; and may be translated, as by Bochart, from the Greek, Naphtali is a spreading (terebinth or oak) tree, producing beautiful branches;' or, 'Naphtali is a free (or, graceful) hind, bringing forth beautiful young ones' (or, 'occasioning beautiful sayings'). 9 Or rather, as the Samaritan and Syriac, by the name of;' answering to the former part of the parallel, 'by the hands of.' This blessing on Joseph, which was fulfilled in the portions of Ephraim and Manasseh, is the fullest and most elaborate of all. Heaven above,' with its rains and dews,' the deep,' the western sea, the lake of Tiberias, and the Jordan through much of its course,and the everlasting hills,' mount Ephraim, and mount Gilead,-promoted the increase of their families and of their possessions, and made Joseph as a 'fruitful bough by a well.' See Deut. xxxiii. 13–17.

10 Or, 'The blessings of thy father exceed the blessings of the eternal mountains, the desirable things of the everlasting hills.' Comp. Deut. xxxiii. 15.

11 In the first times of Israel, the Benjamites were noted for their courage and success in war. From them sprang Ehud the second judge, and Saul the first king. They were afterwards united with Judah, returned with

ver. 14.

21; 25 23.

17 grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's 18 head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the first19 born; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, Id ver. 14: ch. 17. 20, know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall 20 become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee Nom. 1. 33-35: 2 shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

21

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And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and 22 bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

Jacob prophetically blesses his sons.

49 AND Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may 'tell you that which shall befall you " in the last days.3

2

3

Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob;

And hearken unto Israel your father.

Reuben, thou art my firstborn,-my might, and the beginning of my strength, The excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel:*

Because thou wentest up to thy father's bed;

Then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

5 Simeon and Levi are 'brethren;

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7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce;-and their wrath, for it was cruel:

8

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I will divide them in Jacob,-and scatter them in Israel.

Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise :*

Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies;

Thy father's children shall bow down before thee.10

9 Judah is a lion's whelp :-from the prey, my son, thou art gone up:

He stooped down, he couched as a lion,

And as an old lion;" who shall rouse him up?

10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,-nor a lawgiver 'from between his feet,

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12

Until Shiloh come;" and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. colt unto the choice vine;'

11 Binding his foal unto the vine,-and his ass's 1 Though Manasseh had more land, Ephraim was always the more powerful tribe, ranking next to Judah; so that the ten tribes, after their separation from the kingdom of Judah, were called collectively by the name of Ephraim. See Hos. viii., ix.

2 This is supposed by many to refer to an event otherwise unnoticed, in Jacob's life, when he had to regain by force the land he had purchased near Shechem.

3 Or, hereafter.' This chapter contains prophecies of the future destinies and characters of the tribes, as well as references to their founders. It should be compared with Deut. xxxiii.; and with the allotments of the different tribes, as recorded in Joshua.

4 No judge, prophet, prince, or person of renown is found of this tribe; nor was the tribe itself ever distinguished for anything good.

5 Or, 'their swords are weapons of violence;' but perhaps it is better to read, with the Septuagint and Samaritan, "They perpetrated wickedness by their schemes.'

6 Or, 'houghed oxen;' or, perhaps, 'destroyed a prince;' i. e. Hamor or Shechem (chap. xxxiv).

7 Jacob is said to do that which he predicts. Similar phraseology is common in prophetical writings.

8 In allusion to the meaning of his name (Praise). 9 Or, over all thine enemies thou shalt be victorious.' 10 The supremacy and the great promise of Messiah are separated from the rest of the birthright and given to

13

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Jos. 19. 1-9: 91.
5-7; 1 Chr. 4. 24,39.
deh.29.35 Den. 33, 7.
Judg. 1. 1, 2; Ps
18. 40.
feh. 27. 29: 1 Chr.5.2
Hos. 5. 14: Rev. 5.5

A Num. 2, 24: 24.9.
iNum 24. 17: Jer. 30.
21; Zech, 10. 11.
P. 6. 7; 108. 8; or,
Num. 21. 18.

Den. 28. 57.

I. 9. 6; 11. 1-5: 62 11; Jer. 23, 5, 6; Eze. 21. 27; Dan. 9. 25, 2: M. 1 21; 21. 9: Lk. 1. 32, 33 "Ps. 7. 8, 11, J

2; 11. 10, 11:42. L 4:49. 6. 7. 22. 23: 55 4,5 60 1,3-5; Hag. 2.7: L.A. 1. 32, 33; 2. 30-32: John 12. 32. R 15 12: Rev. 11. 15.

2 K. a. 3.

Judah. See 1 Chron. v. 2, and note on chap. xlviii. 5.
11 Rather, lioness.' These figures, rising in a beau-
tiful climax, indicate the warlike character and power
of the tribe. First, it is compared to a lion's whelp,
then to a full-grown lion, then to a lioness, which,
when roused in defence of her cubs, exceeds all in fierce-

ness.

12 Some of the most ancient versions give this word the meaning, He to whom it (i. e., the sceptre or kingdom) belongs.' But as the text now stands it is better to render it peace,' or 'the peaceful one.' Having announced the sovereignty of Judah, the patriarch goes on to declare that it should have no end, until one should come bearing the name of 'Shiloh,' whose sway both Israel and all mankind should acknowledge. The subsequent history presents the fulfilment of this prediction. In the journeyings of the Israelites through the wilderness, and under the theocracy in the promised land, this tribe took the precedence; after the return from Babylon, it absorbed the others, and gave its name to the whole nation; and even under the dominion of the Romans it retained a measure of authority. But, on the appearance of Christ, all this quickly passed away to make room for the spiritual and universal reign of the Prince of Peace.

13 On the hills of Judah the vine was extensively cultivated, and numerous flocks were pastured.

He washed his garments in wine,-P and his clothes in the blood of grapes: 12 His eyes shall be red with wine,-and his teeth white with milk.'

13 T

14

Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea;

And he shall be for an haven of ships;-and his border shall be unto Zidon.❜

Issachar is a strong ass-couching down between two burdens:3

15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant;
And bowed his shoulder to bear,—and became a servant unto tribute.
Dan shall judge' his people,-
-as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way,-a
-an adder in the path,

16

That biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

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19

20

21

2-2

- Gad, a troop shall overcome him :-but he shall overcome at the last. Out of Asher his bread shall be fat,-and he shall yield royal dainties."

* Naphtali is a hind let loose :--he giveth goodly words.

Joseph is a fruitful bough,-
‚—even a fruitful bough by a well;
Whose branches run over the wall:

23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong.
By the hands of the mighty God of Jacob:

(From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel :)

25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee;

'And by the Almighty," who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lieth under,-blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: 26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: 10

They shall be on the head of Joseph,

And on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf:-in the morning he shall devour the prey, And at night he shall divide the spoil."

28

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P Can. 5. 10-16.

9 Pro. 23. 29.

Deu. 33. 18, 19; Jos. 19. 10, 11.

Judg. 5. 16.

1 Sam. 10. 9.

Deu. 33. 22; Julg. 13. 2, 24, 25; 15. 20, 18. 1, 2

Judg. 18. 27.

y Ps. 25. 5: 40. 1; 119. 166. 174: Is. 25. 9; Mic. 7. 7.

Deu. 31, 20; 1 Chr. 5. 18-22.

Deu. 33. 21; Jos. 194

b Deu. 33. 23.

ch. 41. 52: 48. 19: Jos. 17. 14, 17.

d eh. 37. 4, 24. 28; 39. 7-20; 42. 21: Ps. 64. 3. 11. 13.

Job 29. 20; Ps 28.8; 37. 15.

Ps. 18 32-35; 132. 2.5.

geh. 45 11; 47. 12; 50. 21.

A P. 81. 1; Is. 40. 11. i Deu. 32. 4; Is. 28. 16: Eph. 2. 20,

kel. 28. 13 21 35. 3; 43. 23.

eh. 17. 1; 35. 11. "Den. 3. 13-16 "ch. 27. 27-29.

Deu. 33. 15; Hab.3.6. P Deu 33 16

9 ch. 37. 28.

Judg. 20. 21. 25;
Fze. 22. 25, 27.
Num. 23 24: Est.

& 11; Eze. 39. 10.
Zech. 14. 1, 7.

teh. 15. 15; 25. 8.
ch. 47. 30; 2 Sam.
19. 37.

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according, to his blessing he blessed 29 them. And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the 30 Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a 31 possession of a burying-place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; ch. 23. 16. there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. The 32 purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

1 The appearance of the people would indicate their happy lot. These verses (11, 12) describe, in poetical terms, the peace and plenty of Messiah's reign.

? Probably not the city, which lay far to the north, but the territory of the Zidonians: the word 'haven' referring either to the Zidonian ports, or, more probably, to the coast of Zebulun on the sea of Galilee. Tiberias was in this tribe.

3 Or, borders.' In the portion of this tribe lay the rich plain of Jezreel, bordered by the range of Carmel and the hills of Galilee. The patient and laborious ass aptly represents an orderly, industrious people, who prefer agricultural pursuits to military or commercial enterprize. The men of Issachar, however, occasionally displayed both valour and wisdom. See Judg. v. 15; 1 Chron. xii. 32. 4 So the name Dan signifies. The stealthy character of their warfare (resembling that of the Bedouin) is illustrated in Judges xviii.; and aptly represented by the attack of the cerastes or horned viper, which lies unperceived in the sand.

3 Or, I am expecting thy salvation, O Jehovah :' possibly referring to some unrecorded revelations of the great redemption.

6 The words 'troop' and 'overcome' are allusions to the name Gad, whose tribe was most exposed to predatory incursions from the Syrian and Arabian deserts. At last'

ch. 50. 13.

ch. 23. 19; 25. 9. a ch. 35. 29.

7 Partly from his proximity to the commercial Phonicians, and partly from the fruitfulness of his own land on the western mountain-slopes.

8 This verse is very obscure; and may be translated, as by Bochart, from the Greek, Naphtali is a spreading (terebinth or oak) tree, producing beautiful branches;' or, 'Naphtali is a free (or, graceful) hind, bringing forth beautiful young ones' (or, 'occasioning beautiful sayings'). 9 Or rather, as the Samaritan and Syriac, by the name of;' answering to the former part of the parallel, 'by the hands of.' This blessing on Joseph, which was fulfilled in the portions of Ephraim and Manasseh, is the fullest and most elaborate of all. 'Heaven above,' with its rains and dews,-' the deep,' the western sea, the lake of Tiberias, and the Jordan through much of its course,and 'the everlasting hills,' mount Ephraim, and mount Gilead,-promoted the increase of their families and of their possessions, and made Joseph as a 'fruitful bough by a well.' See Deut. xxxiii. 13-17.

10 Or, The blessings of thy father exceed the blessings of the eternal mountains, the desirable things of the everlasting hills.' Comp. Deut. xxxiii. 15.

11 In the first times of Israel, the Benjamites were noted for their courage and success in war. From them sprang Ehud the second judge, and Saul the first king. They were afterwards united with Judah, returned with

33

Jacob dies in Egypt, and is buried in Canaan,

:

ver. 29

ech. 46 4

d2 Ki. 13 14

ver. :6; 2 Chr. 16 14. M. 26 12; ML. 14. 8: 16. 1; 1.k. 24 1; John 12 7; 19. 39. 40.

AND when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people. 50 And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father and 3 the physicians embalmed Israel. And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned 4 for him threescore and ten days. And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in 5 your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, My father madech. 47. 29-31. me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray

h

6 thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.

7

34.8

Num. 20. 29; Den
Est. 42

Chr. 16. 14; Is

22 16; Mt. 27. 60.

1 Sam. 31. 13; Job 2. 13

And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of 8 Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and 9 their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. And there went up 10 with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company. And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond3 Jordan, and there they mourned 2 Sam. L. 17; Ac.8.2 with a great and very sore lamentation: 'and he made a mourning for his father seven 11 days. And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abel-Mizraim, [i. e. the mourning of the Egyptians.] 12 which is beyond Jordan. And his sons did unto him according as he commanded 13 them: for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham "bought with the field for a 14 possession of a burying-place of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

15

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Joseph's assurance to his brethren; his old age, and dying charge. AND when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil 16 which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy 17 father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive,

meh. 49. 29, 30; Ac.
7. 16
"elt. 23. 16.

Joh 15. 21, 22; Ra 2. 15.

P Pro, 28 13

eh. 37. 7-11

Feb. 45. 5.

I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God 9 ch. 49. 25. 18 of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy 19 servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: 'for am I in the place of God? 20but as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to 21 bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

22

And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house and Joseph lived an 23 hundred and ten years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh'were brought up upon Joseph's knees.

24

e

Den. 32 35; 2 KL 5 7: Jub 34 29; Ro. 12 19; Heb. 10. 31.

"P.. 56.5; Is. 10. 7. ch 455-8; Px 10 16, 17; Ac. 3 13-15 V eh. 45. 13, 11; 47. 12: Mr. 5 44; Ro. 12 20, 21.

# Job 42. 16 Num. 32. 39 ch. 30. 3.

ch. 15. 14-16; 46 4; 48 21; Ex. 3, 16, 17; Heb. 11. 22

del. 15 18:26. 3:31 12: 46% 4.

And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, 25 and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God 26 will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was ver. 2 put in a coffin in Egypt."

1 Persons of high rank in Egypt had a number of family physicians, each devoting himself to one class of diseases. In later times, the embalmers formed a distinct class. This art was carried to such perfection by the Egyptians, that their mummies remain to the present day, after a lapse of more than 2000 years. It afforded facilities for their pompous and lengthened funeral ceremonies, of which representations are seen in their tombs.

2 That is, a great number. See note on chap. vii. 19. 3 The west of Jordan; beyond the river to a person on the east of it, where Moses probably finished his books:

Ex. 13. 19; Jos 24 32; Ac. 7. 16

or it may be rendered, near the passage of Jordan.' This was probably the greatest funeral procession that was ever known. The journey was about 300 miles.

4 In the seventy-first year after his family came to Egypt. Comp. chap. xli. 46, 47, with chap. xÏv. 11.

5 Neither his own alliance and prosperity in Egypt, nor the length of time which had elapsed since the promise was given, had impaired his faith.

6 That his remains might be ready for removal at the proper time; which would serve to keep up among the Israelites the expectation of a return to Canaan.

NOTE ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS.

THERE is great difference of opinion as to the chronology of the earlier portion of Genesis, arising from variations between the Hebrew and Samaritan texts, the Greek version of the Seventy, and the statements of Josephus, Theophilus, and others, who profess to follow the Scripture as it existed in their time. These authorities generally agree as to the ages of the patriarchs, but assign the births of several to different periods in the lives of their fathers. Thus there is a difference of 100 years between the Hebrew and the Septuagint in the instances of six of the patriarchs before the floodnamely, Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, and Enoch, making a total of 600 years-while, after the flood, the name of Cainan, which is not in the Hebrew, is found in the Septuagint (and in Luke iii. 37), thus adding 130 years; and there is an addition of 100 years, as before, in every instance from Arphaxad to Serug, and of 50 years in the case of Nahor; making together 650 (or with Cainan 780) years after the flood. This amounts altogether to a difference of 1250 (or 1380) years down to the time of Terah, who was 130 years old at Abraham's birth. Upon these conflicting data two systems of chronology have been constructed, which are commonly known in this country by the names of their chief supporters, Usher and Hales: the former of whom follows the present Hebrew text, adopting the shorter computation; whilst the latter generally prefers the longer reckoning of the Septuagint and Josephus, which is in part sustained by the Samaritan text. The table at the end of this note exhibits some of the leading epochs of this period, according to both schemes. The longer chronology adopted by Hales is by many considered to be the best entitled to confidence, and among other reasons for the following:

1. The Hebrew is deemed the more likely to have been altered; inasmuch as, for some time after the Christian era, its use was almost entirely confined to the Jews (and chiefly to the more learned amongst them), who had a motive for shortening the period between the creation and the birth of Jesus, in order to make it appear that the epoch in the world's history which their expositors had always fixed for the appearance of the Messiah had not yet arrived :—whilst, on the other hand, no motive for lengthening the chronology can be supposed to have existed on the part of the Jewish translators of the Septuagint; nor could there have been an opportunity to alter the Greek text afterwards; for it was in extensive circulation, and in constant public use, both among Jews and Christians. And there is good reason to believe that, from the year 280 B.C., when the Greek version was made, to the end of the first century of the Christian era, the numbers in the Hebrew and Greek texts were identical.

2. The length of time assigned by the Septuagint, the Samaritan text, and Josephus, to the period between the deluge and the birth of Abraham (about 1000 years), is deemed more consistent with historical facts than the shorter time assigned by the Hebrew (about 350 years), which appears insufficient for the great multiplication and extended dispersion of Noah's descendants over immense tracts of country, extending from India and Assyria to Ethiopia, Egypt, and Greece; and for the establishment of the organized and powerful monarchies of Babylon, Nineveh, and Egypt; besides the lesser chieftaincies of Canaan, which seem to have been founded by descendants of Ham, after the expulsion of some other tribes who had settled in the country.

3. The longer chronology appears to bring the duration of the successive generations into better proportion to the gradually diminished length of human life, at the several stages of the history.

Those who adhere to the shorter computation urge principally the following considerations:

1. The authority and accuracy of the original Hebrew text, which has been supposed to have been preserved by the Jews with such jealous care as to exclude all possibility of error. It must, however, be remembered, that the extended researches of modern times have brought to light numerous verbal discrepancies, which, though not affecting a single truth of Scripture, weaken the force of this argument, especially when applied to dates and numbers. 2. The facilities afforded by the shorter genealogy for the safe and rapid transmission of revealed truth in the earliest ages; Lamech being contemporary both with Adam and with Shem, whilst Shem was contemporary with Abraham. This is, however, of little moment, if we suppose more numerous revelations of the Divine will.

3. The coincidence (at least, within a few years) of the date fixed for the creation with a remarkable astronomical epoch, when the major axis of the earth's orbit coincided with the line of the equinoxes. But there is no necessity for supposing the creation to have taken place at this rather than at some other period.

4. The objection drawn from the shortness of the interval between the deluge and the birth of Abraham is met by adducing the rapid increase of mankind in some newly-peopled districts, such as the United States of America, where the population has doubled itself in fifteen years. This, however, is clearly owing, in the case adduced, to extensive immigration and the absence of war.

Upon the whole, the evidence preponderates in favour of the longer period after the deluge; it is more nearly balanced in the antediluvian period, the chronology of which is of less importance.

TABULAR VIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL EPOCHS IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS.

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Deluge......
Birth of Arphaxad

Birth of Noah

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4289 1122 2155
4124 1287 2126
3937 1474 1998 2006
1996 2008
3914 1487 1921 2083
3755 1656 1896 2108
3155 2256 1836 2168
3153 2258 1728 2276

1849

Birth of Nahor

2362 3049

1878

Birth of Terah

2283 3128

Death of Noah.

Birth of Abram..

2153 3258

Abram arrives in Canaan
Birth of Isaac

2078 3333

2053 3358

Birth of Jacob and Esau
Joseph goes to Egypt

1993 3418

1885

3526

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