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is the picture of suffering sent, in the counsels of providence, upon a man, not because of sin, but because of his righteousness. Suffering thus appears as a test of saintship; the test made the more severe as the saintship is stronger to endure it. If this idea of making experiments on character seems harsh, it must be remembered that it is no more than is implied in calling this life a state of probation. One use of trouble is to develop character: with the preciousness of character no material prosperity can compare. But it is involved in this train of thought that, when the experiment has done its work, the original prosperity must be restored.

NOTES

The reader will observe that the Notes which follow are of two kinds: (1) Notes to Particular Passages or Books of Scripture, cited by pages; and (2) General Notes (commencing page 509) on points common to many books.

NOTES TO PARTICULAR PASSAGES OR BOOKS

Notes to the Historic Outline

Page 9. Book of Genesis.—This first book of the Bible must be thought of as in two parts. The Historic Outline really begins with the Call of Abraham; what precedes this is the Preface to the Old Testament as a whole. It contemplates the world before the appearance in it of the Chosen Nation.

Page 9. The World before the Call of Abraham.-This prefatory matter differs from what follows in regard to two important points.

As to Covenants. This is the key word to the Bible, which is concerned with covenants between God and man: covenant with a Nation (the Old Testament) and with a spiritual People (New Testament). But it gives recognition to covenantal relations between God and men outside the chosen people. In this Preface we have covenants between God and all mankind as represented in common ancestors; at first Adam, and after the Flood, Noah.

As to the Prefatory Stories. It is a clear principle of the Bible to use Story for the emphatic points of History. From the Call of Abraham onwards these Bible stories are to be understood as records of events. But ancient literature is distinguished by its use of Symbolic Stories, in which the form of story is thrown over philosophic reflections. There has always been a great difference of opinion among Bible readers as to whether these stories in the Preface to the O. T. are to be understood as records or symbolic stories. Without deciding this disputed question it may be well to explain what is meant by calling these symbolic. The Historic Outline, which is the framework binding together the elements of the O. T., commences with the Call of Abraham. The Preface may be interpreted as reflections on what the world was before the appearance of Abraham.-1. There is first the Creation of the World. This does not read like a mere record: it is a celebration [see note below] of the harmony of the universe with God as its Creator.-2. From the Bible point of view the next stage would be the appearance of evil in this good universe. The Story of the Temptation suggests symbolism especially at two points: (a) the mention of a serpent speaking (without anything to call attention to the miraculous nature of such an incident); (b) the designation of a tree as "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”—3. Sin so far is a principle; it solidifies into crime in the Story of Cain and Abel: a typical picture of family jealousy becoming in a moment of passion a criminal act which cannot be recalled.-4. The Flood. The traditions of all nations include the sweeping away of an early generation by water; the Biblical story is eminently reasonable in the way it lays stress on the contrast of corrupt and righteous, the preservation of all types of life, the renewal of God's covenant with Noah, as new ancestor of mankind. This Story of the Flood almost announces itself as a symbolic story by attaching to God's covenant

with Noah the perpetual symbol of the rainbow.-5. There still remains another preliminary stage: there must be nations in the world before there can be a chosen nation. The symbolism of Babel is just suited to emphasize diversity of language as the main factor underlying differences of nations. With this the Preface terminates, and the Call of Abraham follows immediately.

Page 9. The Creation of the World.-This Story of the Creation reads like a chant, with refrains repeated, one at the beginning and one at the end of each 'day'; thus:

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A glance at the above scheme shows how the Creation thus described falls into two similar parts, the first day corresponding with the fourth, the second with the fifth, the third with the sixth. The impression left upon our minds is (1) that the whole universe is one harmonious plan, (2) that each portion of this universe is God's own work, (3) that an evolution runs through the whole, from the single creation of light to a climax in man, the image of the Creator.The closing paragraph, with its six days of work and one of rest, brings out the great law of life which we call the week.—A firmament . . . let it divide the the waters from the waters. The word firmament means barrier: the rain clouds [waters above the firmament] float upon the expanse of air, the seas and rivers [waters under the firmament] are below it.

Page 12. Story of Babel.-They found a plain in the land of Shinar: this was the old Jewish word for what the moderns would call Mesopotamia.And the Lord came down to see the city . . . and the Lord said, Behold, they are one people, etc. This is an example of a type of phraseology which is found in various parts of the Bible, the misreading of which has been the cause of grave errors of interpretation. The constant thought of the Bible is that a personal God is the sole ruler of the universe, as against the conception of other literatures which, besides personal deities, recognized impersonal forces like Destiny, Fate, Chance. It follows that anything appearing in the constitution of the

world can be referred to God as its sole origin, occurring by his action or his permission. Similar phraseology is seen where it is said that God "hardened Pharaoh's heart"; or where, in the Call of the Prophet Isaiah (above, page 181), God says to him, "Make the heart of this people fat, and close their eyes, etc." Modern speech would express this by saying how it is a "law" of psychology that resistance to spiritual appeals hardens the heart. Whatever is a "law" in the constitution of God's universe the Bible refers to as the action of God. The misinterpretation lies in treating as if it were a direct act of God something which merely follows from the freedom of the will which God has made part of the constitution of his world. The present case is an extreme example: the gradual divergences in the language of mankind, inherent in the constitution of man, are symbolically presented as brought about by God.-Therefore the name of it was called 'Babel,' because the Lord did there 'confound.' The O. T. is full of this etymological play upon words; in the present work quotation marks are used to indicate the exact point. ['Babel'. . . 'confound'].—This Story of Babel has in the New Testament its counterpart in the Incident of Pentecost: the varied nations are to be drawn together again, not to uniformity of language, but to a spiritual unity transcending linguistic and national differences. [N. T. Volume, page 250.]

Page 13. The Patriarchs.-As long as the descendants of Abraham are an aggregation of families the constitution of the Chosen People is 'patriarchal.' This implies two things: (a) the single family under headship of a father represents local government; (b) beyond this there is an advance to what in the end will be national government by the recognition of Abraham, or his oldest representative, as exercising a vague authority over all other families.

Page 13. Wooing of Rebekah.-Two points should be considered in reference to each Bible story: (1) its position in the Historic Outline; (2) how it is a reflection of manners and life. The second is very obvious in the Wooing of Rebekah. The connection of this with history is the care exercised in guarding the purity of the coming race; for the first mother that has to be chosen they go back to the country from which Abraham had migrated.

Page 17. The Intercepted Blessing. The Patriarch, or nearest representative of Abraham, transmits his authority by the "blessing of the first born." In the present case this is intercepted by the fraud of Jacob. Jacob becomes the next ancestor in the descent of the Chosen People. But races that will in future encounter this Chosen People as neighbors or rivals are derived from other descendants of Abraham. Esau is the ancestor of the Edomites. [Compare Book of Obadiah, page 267.] The Ishmaelites (a name for various Arabian tribes) are descended from the son of Abraham by his slave wife Hagar. The Moabites and Ammonites are descended from Lot, a kinsman of Abraham who joined his mission.

Page 18. And he called the name of that place Beth-el. The word means 'House of God.'

Page 18. Israel. In primitive life when names were supposed to describe personalities it was natural for some spiritual experience to lead to a change of

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