Bible Outlines: Genesis
Table of Contents
Bible Outlines: Genesis 3
Ver. 1. " Subtle" may mean familiar. “Yea hath" is as the continuation of some conversation. This friendship is put an end to in ver. 15.
Ver. 3. Eve here added to God's words. See Prov. 30:6.
Ver. 4. In ver. 1 Satan had cast an imputation on God's goodness, and Eve ought immediately to have left him. Here he gives God the lie, and attributes the same motives (envy) that moved him (Satan) to blight the happiness of the human race.
Ver. 5. "As gods"-lit. as one of us, i.e. the angels of God..
Ver. 6. Here we get what has always happened, disobedience and failure wherever God has set anything up in the hands of responsible man. The results, dishonor to God,, both as regards truth or love which are alike impugned, terror of God, self justification, seeking to cast on another and even on God (" whom thou gavest to be with me,") that of which we have been guilty. After this, we get, not the restoration of fallen., man, or any promises made to him, but judgment on the tempter coupled with promises to the second Man. Observe how complete the fall was. Man is composed of body, soul, and spirit. These three successively yielded to Satan's artifice. The body-" good for food; " the soul, or emotions-" pleasant to the eyes; " the spirit or intellect-" desired to make one wise." In short the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. (1 John 2 is.)
"Saw," the eyes; " desired," the heart; " took," the hands. This is the order for good or for evil. The object enters by the eyes or ears, it affects the heart, and this moves the hands or feet for its attainment, thus:-Lot beheld, chose, pitched, (Gen. 13:10-12); Job, mine eyes, my heart, my step (Job 31:7); Bartimaeus saw, glorified, loved, and followed (Luke 18); the prodigal son, " give me the portion," his heart gone; " not many days after" his feet follow. The temptation of our Lord was of this three-fold character: the stones made into bread, the lust of the flesh; the sight of the world, the lust of the eyes; and the casting down from the temple, the pride of life.
Man here believed Satan rather than God, and cast off God who had blessed him, to gratify his own desires, using, as men do now, his own will to seek happiness by, instead of trusting God. In Phil. 2, the Lord Jesus glorified God in the very points where Adam failed. Adam sought to exalt himself, to be as God, while Christ emptied Himself to become as man. Adam was disobedient, Christ was obedient unto death. Observe Adam was not deceived, but ate out of love to Eve (1 Tim. 2). Man here got by the fall the evil heart, the flesh or carnal mind which is enmity against God, and which he has had ever since.
Ver. 8. " Hid themselves among the trees" an example of right things turned to a wrong use; trees were not made for hiding places from God. So now even religion itself may be turned into a hiding place. Observe man ran away from God before he was driven out of His presence.
Ver. 9. The first words uttered by man to God are still those of all unbelievers. " I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid," while the last words uttered are the language of every true believer, " Even so, come Lord Jesus." The cross of Christ, which stands between, has made all the difference.
Ver. 10. All hiding of sin from self is gone when God comes in. Adam, who had covered his nakedness, speaks of it to God, as if he had done nothing to cover it. So it is with all our efforts to hide our sins by our own righteousness.
Ver. 21. After the sentence of the justice of God, we get His mercies to fallen man. God clothes Adam and Eve with garments which cover their nakedness, garments which though they had their origin in death, which had come in, hid the effects of the sin which had introduced it. Man was no longer naked. God Himself had clothed him. In ver. 20 we get a true though obscure glimpse of Adam's faith in God in changing his wife's name to Eve, the mother of all living.
Bible Outlines: Genesis 2
In this chapter we have first of all the rest of God.
The work of creation was finished. Compare also in this connection the word " finished " in Ex. 40 with regard to the tabernacle, in 2 Chron. 7:2 as to the temple; also John 17, and our Lord's last words John 19 Also at the end of all, Rev. 21
We do not get simply God and His creatures as in Chapter 1 but Jehovah God, that is, God in especial relationship with man.
Compare in the new creation John 20:22 with verse 7, and contrast Luke 23:43 with verse 8.
Ver. 9. Here we have the purpose for which trees and flowers were formed, a purpose told us before the entrance of sin. Compare this with Chapter 3:6, where we find Satan's addition to "pleasant to the sight " and " good for food " is " a tree to be desired to make one wise," which suggests a something which God had withheld; namely, wisdom.
Eve, not content with innocently enjoying what God gave, seeks to use these things, harmless in themselves, for the gratification of human pride, and for the denial of God's love. Ponder carefully these two verses in this connection.
Ver. 10. Christ is the giver of life, seen as one and undivided in the paradise of God (Rev. 22) but here as flowing out to the earth for the benefit of man, parted into four heads, just as Christ is presented in Matt., Mark, Luke, and John in four distinct aspects.
Ver. 11-14. The three rivers that are not now generally known, and whose course had probably been changed when Moses wrote, after the Deluge, are here specially described for their identification. The fourth does not need a detailed description.
Ver. 17. We have in this chapter the two great principles from which everything flows as to man-man's responsibility, fulfilled by obedience, and God's sovereignty, in giving and preserving life. The first man failed as to the first and hence forfeited the second; the Second man perfectly glorified God as to the first and therefore in Him we get the second. Hence in Revelation, (the tree of responsibility having been fully met by Christ), we only have the tree of life.
In the garden the knowledge of good and evil did not yet exist, obedience in refraining from an act, which was no sin had it not been forbidden, constituted the test. Man was in direct relationship with God, inasmuch as he became a living being through God Himself breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. All animals are called living souls, and are said to have the -breath of life, but God did not breathe into any in order that they might become living souls. Upon Adam therefore rested the duty of obedience. His blessing consisted in dependence on and intercourse with God: this he forfeited, and became the craving center of his own wishes and ambition, which he could never satisfy.
That he might not be alone here, but have a companion, fellowship, and the enjoyment of affection, God formed, not another man-for then the one would not be a center-but out of the one man himself, his wife, that the union might be most absolute and intimate, and Adam head and center of all.
Such is the beautiful picture of Christ and the church. Adam slept and awoke to receive his bride. Compare John 12:24. This answers to Christ's two comings; first by His sleep of death, when out of His side flowed the blood and water by which the church, His bride, is redeemed and cleansed; secondly-, when He comes in the morning at the close of the long night through which she is being built up and completed, to receive her unto Himself. Observe that this relationship of the woman and the man was constituted by God before sin came in, and is in no way the result of the fall.
Ver. 23. Man-woman, lit: ish,-isha: so now, Christ-Christian " Bone of my bone," compare Eph. 5:30.
Such then was Adam in innocence,—-blessed with a perfect nature, in relationship with God by creation, enjoying divine intercourse, the head of all earthly things, with a companion suited to him, a source of eternal existence and (all being dependent on his obedience) a means of putting him to the test. In this latter he failed and lost all, as we may see in the next chapter.
Bible Outlines: Genesis 1
This book has a peculiar interest. It has been called the seed plot of the Bible, and contains the germs of all the relationships between God and man excepting perhaps the law; though as we know there was one given to Adam in innocence, and Hagar is a type of Sinai. We have in this book, (so fiercely assailed by skeptical critics, so universally referred to throughout Scripture) Creation, Satan, God's promises, God's call, God's judgment, God's redemption, God's covenant, God's people, their position in the earth, resurrection, Israel in the land, the blessings of all nations, the promised seed; all, even the church itself, is foreshadowed here.
This book moreover though containing the only true account we have of well-nigh half the stream of time (about 2400 years) mainly consists of incidents more or less grouped around seven men, four of them evidently types of Christ corresponding in the main to the four Gospels, and three typical of the Christian. The four are Adam, the typical man, corresponding with Christ in the Gospel of Luke; Isaac, the typical son corresponding with the teaching of John; Jacob (in part of his life at any rate) the typical servant, as Christ is presented in Mark; and Joseph, the typical ruler, as Christ is seen in Matthew. It is worthy of notice also that we get the marriage recorded of each of these, the bride doubtless foreshadowing in each case the glorious bride of the great Antitype as spoken of in. Revelation. We can only glance at these now. In Eve we get the bride of the second Man, her distinctive characteristic being that she is part of His body, a part of Himself. In Rebecca we see the bride of the Son, fetched from earth and led to heaven by the Holy Ghost, while the Son is hidden in the Father's house. In Rachel, the bride of the Servant won by his hard toil, which seemed but a few years for the love he had towards her (Eph. 5) In Asenath, the bride of the Ruler, seated on the throne, and in a nearer place to the Ruler than His earthly brethren. The three characters representing the believer, are Enoch, the saint walking with God, Noah witnessing against the world, and Abraham, the believer in all his varied experiences and life of faith.
But we must pass on to look at the chapters in order.
Chapter 1. -We have here the work of God; in Chapter 2 the rest of God. This account is not a history of all God has done, but only what is needful and profitable for us to know. We shall know all things, but this revelation of the beginning is but partial. The Bible nowhere gratifies men's curiosity, only that which directly concerns man is here told us. Hence we have no account of angels, good or bad, no history of their creation. Nor indeed have we any account of the creation of this world. We have the bare fact, however all important in its meaning. " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." What follows is no account of how this was done, making ver. 1 a summary of the chapter. We are told nothing of what may have occurred on this earth between its creation and ver. when all was without form and void.
Morally the world was again in this state 4000 years later, when God once more began to work, and out of the darkness to bring the new creation, saying again " Let there be light " and there was light.
It is interesting to note that the word "moved" or " brooded " in verse 2 is stated to be wonderfully descriptive of the undulations of ether that transmits what we call light. The same word is used in Deut. 32:11. Comparing the old with the new creation we may link together Gen. 1:3 and 2 Cor. 4:6; Gen. 1:4 and 2 Cor. 6:14. In the first four days God brings light and order out of darkness and confusion. Before God formed man, He filled sea earth and air with life, the proof of His power, in that to matter He could communicate living energy.
Observe in 1:5, the " evening" before the " morning." So in the new creation the evening of the cross, and the morning of the resurrection compose its first day.
1:6, 7. -The division of the waters in the air from those on the earth, is important, and forms one chief difference between Egypt and Canaan, Deut. 11:10, 11.
1:8. -Heaven. There are three spoken of in Scripture, 1st. (Deut. 4:19) the firmament above us, where the birds fly, and the clouds gather, 2nd. (Matt. 24:29) the whole of space where the stars, the sun, and moon are, and 3rd. (Psa. 2:4; 2 Cor. 12) the dwelling-place of God, the "heaven of heavens" or third heaven. Observe, God brings forth generally light, water, and the earth on the first three days and then deals with each again particularly in the same order in the last three.
1:14 "Lights" or " lightbearers," not the sources of light, or light itself.
1:15 These lights were all made by God (it does not say when), and on the fourth day they were brought into relation with the earth to give light, and to mark the course of time. The object of their existence is specially stated, because they so soon became the objects of idolatry. "Sun," and "moon," and "stars." In the new creation, Christ is the Sun, Christians looked at collectively are the moon, (Matt. 5) reflecting Christ's glory in His absence, and Christians individually are the stars (Phil. 2:15).
And now in the midst of the prepared scene man is placed. He did not spring out of matter by the mere will of God as did the beasts. God formed man out of the dust. He was not "brought forth" by the earth, but "made" by God.
But though the " image" of God on the earth as being the head and center of creation, and ruler over it all and in His " likeness" in the absence of evil, we cannot go further, and say of the first man of the old creation, as of those in the new that he was created in " righteousness and true holiness," Eph. 4:24.
1:26. In the new creation and concerning the Second Man read Col. 1:15. " Us" means the Trinity, for it was not then a kingly expression as now. Kings formerly said " I" not " we" Gen. 12:18;19 Ezra 6:8 Sc.
1:27. Eve is here seen blessed in Adam before her actual creation, just as the Church is in Christ.
1:28. Observe here we get the dominion of the earth and all in it in the hand of the first man. He failed, but the book does not close till the government is in the hand of him who is the most remarkable type in the Old Testament of the Second Man, dead and risen, and reigning in glory.
1:29, 30. The fruit of the earth is for man, grass for the beast. No animal food till Gen. 9:3.
Bible Notes: Genesis 9-14
In Chapter 9, we find (ver. 3) life given for food, and government placed in measure in the hands of man (ver 6). We also have the bow in the cloud, (for the bow without the cloud, see Rev. 4) the sign of God's covenant. We then have the first mention of the sin of drunkenness (ever since such a terrible scourge to our race) and Noah falling in the midst of the blessings with which he was surrounded.
Ver. 26 may be read, " Blessed of the Lord God is Shem; God shall enlarge Japheth, but He shall dwell in the tents of Shem."
We find first Shem, in whose family the covenant was to be established, and God to be in relationship as Jehovah, next Ham the servant, and last, though eldest and proudest, the Gentile Japheth.
In the details in Chapter 10 Japheth is given first.
In Chapter 10 we find seventy nations, viz: Japheth 14; Ham 30; Shem 26; in accordance with Deut. 32:8,for Israel numbered at first seventy souls, See Gen. 46:27. The seventy disciples sent out by Christ the second time may refer to the preaching to these seventy nations before the millennium, just as the twelve sent out previously refer to the twelve tribes of Israel. We also see power established in Nimrod, the center of whose kingdom was founded in Babylon. See Mic. 5:6. Thus the place of judgment becomes the seat of t he appointed power, but there was no common center or rallying-point for the human race. This center should have been in God, but men. having turned their backs on him, seek (Chapter 11) to make one for themselves. Babel was not built, as imagined, to escape from another deluge, but as a center apart from God This God could not allow. Hence " let us build " becomes and they left off to build;" " let us make a name " results in the name being called Babel-confusion; while the fear of being " scattered abroad " results in " the Lord scattered them abroad."
11:9. This was overcome in grace at Pentecost.
11:29. "Iscah" here is probably "Sarah." We have here also the rapid shortening of men's ages.
At the close of this chapter too, idolatry, comes in (Josh. 24:2). Man had been disobedient, murderous, full of corruption and violence, drunken and apostate, but not until now do we definitely arrive at the fearful evil of idolatry. Satan, seizing the idea of God in men's minds, placed an idol before them and so men worshipped devils under the idea they were God. For those idols were demons (1 Cor. 10:20. see Deut. 32:17). Here it had even contaminated Shem's family so that the earth, as such, had not only entirely departed from God, but set up Satan in His place, and thus man's very religion and worship now most deeply corrupted him. From chapter 12 a new order of things begins-the calling by God out from all this fearful evil of a people for Himself.
From this twelfth chapter we have unfolded in detail the way in which God called a solitary man out from the rest of the world; and 140w he became the head of an elect nation destined throughout the long course of the world's ages never again to mingle on equal terms with the rest of the world's stream. We have seen the earth re-peopled by nations after the deluge, and we have also seen them scattered abroad over the face of all the earth, and further even in the family of Shem already given up to idolatry (Josh. 24:2.) From this point therefore there is a marked change in God's dealings. He called out a man, and in him a people who are to be entirely separate from the world at large, unto God. God's voice here came to Abraham summoning him to leave his country and '1 his kindred and his father's house, and to enter on a life of faith, resting solely on the word and promises of God.
Speaking in rather more detail, we may notice the threefold call and the threefold blessing. If Abram is called to give up his nationality, God will make of him a great nation, if his family, it is that all families may be blessed through him, and if he gives up his descent and name, God will begin a new line in him and make his name great. God is never our debtor. We are all aware how in his first step in this new path Abram broke down, but we may not stay to do more than suggest the valuable lessons that may be learned from a comparison of 11:31; 12:5 and Acts 7- At first Abram only broke one of the 3 links, that of his country; in verse 5 he breaks with his relations gradually; but not until 13:11 is he clear of the last link with his father's house.
And now when Abraham arrives in Canaan, he gets possession of nothing, for all must still be of faith, and when in the promised land itself, he has but his altar and his tent, touching expressions of his links with heaven and with earth. The grand moral effect of this on Abram's soul is detailed for us in Heb. 11 His eyes are lifted from earth to heaven, and he sees by faith the better country. So with us, though we come into the church here below, there is no possession yet, nothing but the path and energy of faith, and the heavenly place before us.
God called Abram by His glory (Acts 7) into the path of faith, and when there further reveals His ways (ver 7),producing communion and worship. The rest of the chapter is a history of Abram's personal events of faith, his path in Egypt being marked by foolish subterfuges of his own devising instead of confidence in God's power. How often our faith thus breaks down in trying details, when suddenly presented, though strong enough to sustain us as to our general path.
From ver. 8 to 13:4 Abram had no altar. Indeed it is not possible to walk in our own ways, and at the same time to be in communion with God.
In chapter 13 we see that sooner or later the difference must show itself between the true believer, who walks by faith and the believer (true it may be) who rests on another's faith, not his own. The worldly-minded believer, Lot, still clung to the ease at least of the world, and when once he acts for himself he shows his true tastes. He lifts up his eyes, moved by his own will, and sees what seems Canaan, but which was soon to be the scene of God's judgments. It was like Egypt (the world) though not bearing its name, and Lot seeks thus to combine the heavenly calling with a worldly career-a path that can bring only chastening on every true believer who makes the same attempt. Abram, on the contrary, does not lift his eyes till told to do so by God, and gets the promise of God renewed, and dwells in Hebron (friendship or society) in communion with God. Observe Lot had a tent, but never an altar, Abraham had both; the force of this we shall see further on.
The battle in chapter 14, followed by the appearance of the royal priest Melchizedek, doubtless foreshadows the great final battle of the kings of the earth against the Lamb (see Dan. 2 and vii. and Rev. 17), subsequent to which He who is after the order of Melchizedek will come forth with blessing to Israel, typified here doubtless by Abraham.
The four great Gentile kingdoms will all, as we know, be represented in the battle, hence the significance of Amraphel king of Shinar, i.e. Babylon, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam (Heb. form of Persia) Arioch, king of Ellasar (Sept. Hellas, Greece) Tidal, king of nations (Rome, mistress of the ro subkingdoms of Christendom.) In Melchizedek (righteousness) king of Salem (peace) we see, as we have said, the One in whom alone "righteousness and peace have kissed each other" Psa. 85:10. Separate and indeed contrary until the cross, (for righteousness demanded from man could never bring peace)' there both met. Divine righteousness being then satisfied in Christ, peace is proclaimed through Him to all. Melchizedek as a priest is without beginning of days, or end of life, without father and without mother (Heb. 7) therein contrasting with the Aaronic priesthood, which depended solely on genealogical sequence; hence he was fitted to foreshadow the eternal priesthood of his great Antitype. The deep moral lesson to be learned from the fate of one whose tent outside Sodom had already been changed for a house in it, are too obvious to need pointing out. Well for us if in danger (as we surely all are in measure of following in Lot's footsteps), we take to heart the solemn warning as to the result of a Christian leaving a life of faith for the ease and This favor of this world.
Bible Outlines: Genesis 4-8
Chapter 4:1. Eve evidently believed that Cain was the promised seed.
This chapter sets before us the difference between natural and revealed religion. Cain, an honest laborer according to the terms of the curse, yet fails to recognize the barrier that sin has interposed between himself and God in placing him outside, instead of inside the gates of Paradise, and supposing all is right he brings the very fruit of the sweat of his brow, results of the curse, as an offering to God. Abel, on the other hand, recognizes he is unable to draw near to God save as sheltered by the death of another, hence through his gifts he was accounted righteous, and by them he being dead yet speaketh. Cain then kills Abel, and God asks " What hast thou done?', In 3:9 it was " Where art thou "? a question of state, or sin the root, here "What hast thou done"? a question of actions or sins the fruit. Thus in these chapters are already prefigured Israel's two great sins,—breaking God's law, and murdering Christ. The devil is a liar in Chapter 3, and a murderer in Chapter 4 By these two sins both tables of the law were broken in principle, before they were given; the sin in Chapter 3 being a denial of love to God, and that in Chapter 4 a denial of love to one's neighbor, on which two hangs the whole duty of man.
4:17. Compare Psa. 49:11. We here see, that, though now under a double curse, Cain sets himself to make himself comfortable and happy (even inaugurating the arts and sciences) apart from God, while in Lamech we find a further violation of God's commands as to marriage. His words in verse 23 doubtless foreshadow the fact that, though guilty Israel (Cain) has slain Christ (Abel), their descendants (Lamech) will be watched and specially preserved by God.
5. We find a great contrast here to Cain's descendants. Of these we read nothing but that they lived and died. Observe the order of the passing away from the earth. First Abel was murdered, then came Adam's death, and then Enoch was taken to heaven without dying before Seth died.
Enoch walked with God, but Noah did also. This " walking " with God is as necessary for a preacher of righteousness as for an Enoch.
6. Here we get the judgment of God on His defiled creation, with the mercy of God towards Noah and his house. We may notice in passing that verses 3 and 7 are not addressed to Noah, and in verses 13, 14 which are, God declares that the end of all flesh is come before Him. There is therefore no Scripture to show that the ark took any long time in building; but on the contrary, inasmuch as Noah's eldest son was only born 100 years before the deluge, and his youngest son was married before even the ark was commanded to be built (ver. 18) it could only have been a short time being prepared. Besides Lamech lived to within 5 years, and Methusaleh till the very year of the flood.
6:8. Though Noah was righteous, he was saved because he found grace.
6:19. Noah was just in his acts, perfect in his ways and, Godly in his walk. So we get in Titus 2:12 which also gives the three aspects of a Christian's walk,-righteously-soberly -godly.
6:10. Japheth was the eldest, 10:21. Shem was not born till Noah was 502, 11:10.
6:12. Compare 1 Cor. 3:17, " all flesh had corrupted his (or its) way, " God says, " I will destroy (lit. corrupt) them." " If any man destroy (or corrupt) the temple of God, him will God destroy " (corrupt.)
14. Pitch it with pitch. Heb. "copher" "cover" translated "ransom" Ex. 21:30; 30;52. The plural is translated " atonement" Ex. 29:36;30. To; Lev. 23:27. The same root-word is translated " mercy seat" Ex. 25:17;30. 6; 31:7.
23, " With him" the ground of their security, also 8:16, 17,; 9:8.
7:21. " The end of all flesh," everything being put out of God's sight, either by being destroyed, or hidden in the ark (Christ).
8:11. The olive continues green under water. It grows in the Red Sea.
8:21. The same reason given here for not cursing, as previously for cursing, " Why should they be stricken any more?" showing that man was not improved or regenerated by the judgment of God, but was as bad after it as before. The division of chaps. 8 and 9 here mars the connection of the passage. Ver. 21 and 22 are only the negative side of what flows from the burnt offering, that is, what is according to the measure of my need. What follows in Chapter 9 is the positive side of the blessing, and equally _flows from the smell of the burnt offering (the perfection of Christ to God). Christians are often thus satisfied with the one half of their blessings.
8:4. This was the very day that Christ rose from the dead, for the seventh month was changed to the first month (Ex. 12) and the 17th day was the 3rd day after the passover on the 14th.
In ver. 11 we have peace, ver. 18 liberty, ver. 20 worship, Chapter 9:1 fruitfulness.
Bible Outlines: Genesis 12-15
Gen. 12:5.-Canaan (so called from Canaan, the son of Ham) lies between the Mediterranean Sea on the west, the wilderness of Paran, Idumea, and Egypt on the south, the mountains of Arabia on the east, and the mountains of Lebanon and Phenicia on the north. Its length, from Dan to Beersheba, is about zoo miles; and its breadth, from the Mediterranean Sea to its Eastern borders, about 90.
Gen. 12:15.-" Pharaoh" was a common name of the Egyptian kings, and signified a " ruler " or " king," or father of his country.
Gen. 13:10.-Instead of Zoar, which was situated at the extremity of the plain of Jordan, the Syriac reads "Zoan," which was situated in the south of Egypt, in a well-watered country.
Gen. 14 pits. Places where asphaltus or bitumen sprung out of the ground. This substance, which is properly denoted by the word "slime," abounds in those parts. Chapter 11:3.
Gen. 14:17.-Valley of Shaveh or Valley of Jehoshaphat. This valley, running from north to south,. between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, is a little more than a mile long. Its greatest breadth is supposed to be from 150 to 200 yards, but in other places it is only a deep, narrow ravine. The bottom is ordinarily dry, excepting after heavy rains. The valley is rocky on both sides, and now abounds in sepulchers of various shapes and sizes, with only a few scattered olives to relieve the eye. For nearly three thousand years it has been used as a place of burial by Jews, Mahometans, and Christians. In addition to the tombs of kings and patriarchs, there are tens of thousands of stones, the only memorials of the mighty dead. Thither persons repair from all parts of the world, to seek from the Turks a last resting place for their bodies, even though it be at great cost, believing that Christ will there appear in judgment. The valley is divided into three parts; of which the northern is called the valley of Kedron, the middle, the valley of Jehoshaphat, and the southern, the valley of Siloam, from the fountain of that name on the one side, and the village on the other.
Gen. 15:13.—This passage has been conceived to contradict Ex. 12:40; but the passages are perfectly consistent with the computation being made from two different epochs. In Genesis, the time is calculated from the promise made to Abraham of a son, or from the birth of Isaac, but in Exodus it is computed from his departure from his native country, in obedience to the Divine command. The probability is that there is a defect in the Hebrew text in the passage at the head of this article; for the Samaritan Pentateuch in all its copies, as well as the Alexandrine copy of the lxx. reads, " Now the sojourning of the children of Israel and of their fathers in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt was four hundred and thirty years." And the same statement is made by Paul in Gal. 3:17; who reckons from the promise made to Abraham, and the giving of the law which soon followed the departure from Egypt. That these three witnesses depose to the truth, the chronology itself proves; for it is evident that the period from Abraham's entry into Canaan to the exodus is exactly that number. Thus, from Abraham's entrance to the promised land to the birth of Isaac, was 25 years: Isaac was sixty years old at the birth of Jacob, and Jacob was 130 at the time of his going into Egypt; which three sums make 215 years. And then Jacob and his children having remained in Egypt 215 years more, the entire sum of 430 years is regularly completed.