name.

'Abram' = 'lofty father'; 'Abraham'='father of a multitude of nations.' 'Jacob'='supplanter'; Israel'='one who has striven with God.' The reference is to a vision in which this Jacob wrestled with an angel representative of God, and prevailed in obtaining a blessing. From this 'Israel' the Chosen People come to be permanently named: the 'Children of Israel.'

Pages 19 to 34. Story of Joseph and his Brethren.—This is one of the most beautiful stories in all literature. (1) It has an important place in history, Joseph being a link between the Children of Israel and the empire of Egypt. (2) Note the character of Joseph, how he makes an impression on all with whom he comes into contact. (3) Note also the sketches of varied life which make a background to the story as it moves along-such as glimpses of wandering shepherd life, trading caravans, palace life in Egypt. (4) There is the interest of dreams, five in all, mysterious foretellings which gradually become clear as they are fulfilled. (5) At last we have a double, or, as it is called, ‘ironic' situation, when Joseph recognizes his brethren but is not recognized by them. This situation of affairs, when it has once arisen, is prolonged to the utmost length by Joseph's conflict of feelings, between resentment and family affection. A climax is found when, among the very men who once united to enslave their brother Joseph, one is now found consenting to be a slave in order to deliver their brother Benjamin. (6) Beyond all other interests there is that of the providential overruling of human events; see page 31: And God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth . . . so now it was not you that sent me hither, but God. What we call 'Plot' in art is the reflection of 'Providence' in real life.

Page 22. Do not interpretations belong to God? In the Book of Ecclesiasticus (above, page 422) there is a short essay on Dreams, warning against them as mere vanities. But an exception is made: "If they be not sent from the Most High." As Providence can bring about its purposes by what seem small 'accidents,' so God can use the vanities of dreaming as means of communicating truth to favored souls. The same idea is found in Daniel (page 116).-Page 26. Joseph made himself strange unto [his brethren]. The word strange means foreign (French étrange). Joseph spoke through an interpreter, etc.-Page 30. Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby he indeed divineth? . . . Know ye not that such a man as I can indeed divine? Joseph's steward in his simplicity, and Joseph himself speaking ironically, are talking from the Egyptian standpoint. The cup was no doubt carved with idol images, by which according to Egyptian magic future events could be guessed.-Page 33. They came into the land of Goshen. A district of the country lying between Egypt and Canaan.

Page 34. The Exodus.-Books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers.— The reader must distinguish "The Exodus" from the Biblical Book of Exodus. The former describes an era of more than forty years, during which the Chosen People were passing through the wilderness, and were gradually being consolidated into a nation. This covers three Biblical books: Exodus, Leviticus,

=

Numbers. What appear as the first five books of the Bible are often called The Pentateuch. In the original Hebrew Bible all this was continuous, and known as The Law, or Law of Moses. The division into five books comes from the 'Septuagint,' the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, at a time when Greek was the literary language of Jews and Gentiles. [N. T. volume, page 7. Accordingly, the titles of the separate books are Greek. Genesis: origin. Exodus emigration. Numbers = statistics. Deuteronomy second law (for the special significance of this see below, page 471). Leviticus is so called from its containing much about duties of the Levites. The tribe of Levi was different from the other tribes: no land of its own was assigned to it, but it was to be spread through the whole of the Holy Land, for the purpose of religious duties. One family of this tribe, the descendants of Aaron, constituted the priesthood. The rest of the tribe, under this name of Levites, had minor religious duties, especially duties of police and singing. (Compare page 133.)

Page 35. Story of the Plagues of Egypt. This emphasizes the beginning of the Exodus, presenting the Children of Israel as slaves; the Story of Balaam illuminates the completed process by which they have become one of the formidable nations of the world.-The plagues of Egypt strongly affected the imagination of ancient Israel. Besides the epic description of them here in the Book of Exodus, they are lyrically presented in two of the National Anthems [pages 54 and 98]. They appear again at length in the Wisdom of Solomon. It is a very interesting literary exercise to compare the different treatments of the same matter. Thus, the account in Exodus contains a very striking phrase (in reference to the Plague of Darkness): “darkness which might be felt.” In the book of Wisdom this idea is, by a process of imaginative analysis, carried forward into an elaborate picture of all that the Egyptians may be supposed to have felt during the horror of this darkness.

When lawless men had supposed that they held a holy nation in their power, they themselves, prisoners of darkness, and bound in the fetters of a long night, close kept beneath their roofs, lay exiled from the eternal providence. For while they thought that they were unseen in their secret sins, they were sundered one from another by a dark curtain of forgetfulness, stricken with terrible awe, and sore troubled by spectral forms. For neither did the dark recesses that held them guard them from fears; but sounds rushing down rang around them, and phantoms appeared, cheerless with unsmiling faces. And no force of fire prevailed to give them light, neither were the brightest flames of the stars strong enough to illumine that gloomy night: but only there appeared to them the glimmering of a fire self-kindled, full of fear; and in terror they deemed the things which they saw to be worse than that sight on which they could not gaze. For even if no troublous thing affrighted them, yet, scared with the creepings of vermin and hissings of serpents, they perished for very trembling, refusing even to look on the air, which could on no side be escaped. But they, all through the night which was powerless indeed, and which came upon them out of the recesses of powerless Hades, all sleeping the same sleep, now were haunted by monstrous apparitions, and now were paralyzed by their soul's surrendering; for fear

sudden and unlooked for came upon them. So then every man, whosoever it might be, sinking down in his place, was kept in ward, shut up in that prison which was barred not with iron: for whether he were a husbandman, or a shepherd, or a laborer whose toils were in the wilderness, he was overtaken, and endured that inevitable necessity; for with one chain of darkness were they all bound. Whether there were a whistling wind, or a melodious noise of birds among the spreading branches, or a measured fall of water running violently, or a harsh crashing of rocks hurled down, or the swift course of animals bounding along unseen, or the voice of wild beasts harshly roaring, or an echo rebounding from the hollows of the mountains: all these things paralyzed them with terror. For the whole world beside was enlightened with clear light, and was occupied with unhindered works; while over them alone was spread a heavy night,—an image of the darkness that should afterward receive them. But yet heavier than darkness were they unto themselves.

Both treatments are equally fine, and the contrast enhances both.

Page 35. The Passover. This is the name of the chief festival of the Israelites, in commemoration of the departure from Egypt. The name is connected with the last of the Plagues of Egypt, by which the firstborn of the Egyptians were destroyed. "For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel" [of the Israelites' houses]. “. . . the LORD will PASS OVER the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you." A feature of the festival was the eating of unleavened bread, symbolizing the hurry of the departure. "And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders."

Page 35. Song of Triumph at the Red Sea. This is one of the grand lyrics of the Bible. It also is interesting to the literary student as throwing light upon the evolution of poetry.

At first it seems strange to find, in such a primitive epoch of history, a poem that appears so advanced and modern. Not only is it late in general style, but the latter part of it speaks of the panic of Moabites and Canaanites which would only happen a generation after the event of crossing the Red Sea. The primitive form of poetry is what is called the 'Ballad Dance': a combination of verse with musical accompaniment and the significant movements of the body which in ancient poetry (and in the Bible) are called 'dancing.' An explanation, like a footnote, follows the Song:

And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them,

Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously;

The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

This represents the simple Ballad Dance which would be used on the occasion itself, of which the sole words would be the couplet given above. The rest of the

Song as it appears in Exodus is made by what are technically called 'accretions.' This is one of the modes by which the passage is made from primitive poetry, which is communal, to the individual poetry of later times. In performances of the Ballad Dance there would be pauses, and individual speakers would recite matter of praise, short or longer ejaculations; the dance would then be resumed in celebration of what had been advanced by the individual speakers. The Song as it stands in the Book of Exodus is made up of successive accretions of this kind, which have been added all through the generations to the late period when the collection of Biblical books was made.

It is instructive to read side by side with this Song of Triumph another lyric poem of the Bible which also goes back to the era of primitive poetry. This is the first of the four National Anthems, the Song of the Wilderness (see page 41). The structure of this is represented in the present work by the modern terms 'Solo' and 'Chorus.' What is assigned to the Chorus is another Ballad Dance, of which the words are

For his mercy endureth for ever.

The 'Solo' passages correspond to the 'accretions' in the Song of Triumph; but there is a difference. If the reader will follow these Solo passages apart from the Chorus parts, he will find that they read as continuous matter; and further, in the latter part of the anthem the grammar of this continuous statement is interrupted by the breaking in of the Chorus.

To him which smote great kings—and slew famous kings-Sihon king of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan—and gave their land for an heritage-even an heritage unto Israel his servant.

This method of 'interruptions' of the Ballad Dance is another of the modes by which primitive poetry develops into the later poetry of individual composition.

Lyric poetry can be fully appreciated only when it is spoken. If readers will recite these poems, taking parts as Soloists and Chorus, they will catch the full effect. It is hardly necessary to remark how magnificently this grand Song of Triumph has been utilized by Handel in his oratorio "Israel in Egypt."

Page 38. Law of the Ten Commandments from Sinai.-These Ten Commandments are the foundation of the Divine legislation for Israel. It should be noted that, as given in this work, certain parts are printed in capital letters. This is connected with a matter of great importance for our understanding of Biblical prophecy. Prophets are 'mouthpieces of God' (compare page 144). In performing this function the prophets regularly mingle the actual Divine message they have received with their own words of explanation or enforcement. Usually, the two are inextricably blended; but that there is a distinction is shown by the usage of a special word [translated in the A. V. by the English word burden, in the R. V. by the word oracle] to express the actual message of God, as distinguished from the prophetic comment. [The interpretation of an important psalm turns upon this usage: see below, page 500.] This distinction applies to the Ten Commandments: the capital letters are for the actual words of God. These commandments are represented as spoken by God amid the thunders of Sinai; and again as written "by the finger of God" upon tables of stone. Yet the argumentary style of certain passages, especially in the second

and fourth command nents, seems hardly compatible with such description. The difficulty ceases if all that is not capitalized is understood as words of enforcement by the prophet Moses. A confirmation of this suggestion is found in this fact. The Ten Commandments appear twice, once in Exodus and once in Deuteronomy. In both cases they are introduced by the words And God said. Yet (in the fourth commandment) the reason assigned for the observance of the Sabbath is entirely different in the two versions. In Exodus, the Sabbath is to commemorate God resting from the work of Creation; in Deuteronomy, it is to be in memory of the slavery of Egypt. This ceases to be strange if that part of the second commandment is the comment of Moses, not the actual words of God. It may be suggested that the use of the Ten Commandments on the walls of churches would be much assisted if the presentation were limited to the actual Divine words.

Page 39. Story of Balaam.-This is fully explained above. The reader should note how the narrative breaks from prose to verse to convey the successive messages with which Balaam has been inspired.

Page 41. National Hymn of the Wilderness.-This is one of four National Anthems (compare pages 53, 96, 107) appearing in the collected lyrics of Israel. The thought of these National Anthems is always the history of Israel; the four are adapted to four stages in that history. In the present case, the matter of the song is confined to the experience of the wanderings in the wilderness; there is no hint of the passage of the Jordan. The structure of this Song is based upon the Strophe: see page 511.-He giveth food to all flesh: an allusion to the rain of Manna.

Page 43. Book of Deuteronomy.—I. The title of the book. As pointed out above (page 468), the titles in our Bibles of the five books of Moses are taken from the Greek Bible (or Septuagint). In the present case the title is curious. The book describes a 'Book of the Covenant' given by Moses into the custody of the Levites and Elders. This Covenant makes provision for the possibility of a King in Israel; and in this connection appears a passage which in the R. V. [translated of course from the original Hebrew] reads thus:

When he [the King] sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites, etc.

The corresponding part of the Septuagint uses a Greek word deuteronomion which means, not copy of the law, but second law, or repeated law. Upon this mistranslation in the Greek Bible the traditional title of this Book of Deuteronomy is founded.

II. The character of the book as a literary work has been fully described above. Though the 'Book of the Covenant' is the nucleus of the whole, yet, as a piece of literature, Deuteronomy is a succession of orations and songs, embodying a great dramatic movement. This idea of a drama built up of orations is unique in literature.

III. Origin of Deuteronomy.-The first known appearance of this book in