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cannot appear surprising that some obscure hints of it should have appeared in the very earliest communications of God to man. This is altogether in accordance with the analogy of Divine revelation. We mean not that the doctrine of the Trinity can be proved from such hints as those contained in the Mosaic narrative, but that its subsequent revelation explains these hints.

In our image, after our likeness. The image of God lies in man's spiritual nature, which Moses here brings prominently to view. Elsewhere he teaches that man's body was formed, like the bodies of beasts and birds, of "the dust of the ground." This body of flesh and blood cannot bear God's image, except in a sense altogether secondary, as symbolizing, by its upright, majestic, and beautiful form, the character of the soul that inhabits it. The soul itself must be the real seat of God's image. This image is all which constitutes man a rational and moral being, the accountable subject of God's law, and capable of knowing God and holding fellowship with him. We cannot, in the present connection, restrict it to the actual possession of holiness. It is rather a moral nature capable of holiness. When man had fallen, he still retained the natural image of God, with the possibility of recovering, through grace, his moral image; and for this reason his life was guarded by the highest earthly sanction: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made he man." 1

And let them have dominion. It is by no arbitrary act that the dominion of this lower world is conferred upon man. Because he is made in the image of God, and therefore capable of exercising dominion over the irrational animals, they are committed to his hand, and he is put in possession of "all the earth," as his lawful patrimony.

And over all the moving things that move upon the earth (Vasa-be web weg), ver. 26; and ver. 28: " And over all the living creatures that move upon the earth (yahn man-başa 78). The position of in ver. 26, after the clause and over all the earth, shows that it does not describe a class of

1 Gen. 9: 6.

land animals, as in vs. 24, 25; but is rather a general term for all moving things (see above notes on vs. 24, 25). For this reason, in ver. 28, is substituted for it, in the sense of living creatures generally. Compare Gen. 8: 17. Lev. 11: 46, etc.

"The man "stands here as the

And God created the man. representative of human nature.

Male and female. In the case of the irrational animals, the creation of male and female is tacitly implied; but in the case of rational man, it is expressly named, because of the high moral relations which it involves. For the same reason the formation of woman from man is subsequently described, the moral significancy of which the inspired penman himself gives.

And God blessed them. The blessing of God bestowed upon moral beings, under a system of pure law, implies their perfect rectitude. The happy pair had both the natural and the moral image of God.

Vs. 29, 30. And God said: Behold I have given to you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth; and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed: to you it shall be for food. And to all the beasts of the earth, and to all the fowl of the heavens, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, in which is a living soul [I have given], all green herbage for food: and it was so.

God gives to man seed-bearing plants, and fruit-trees, for his sustenance; and to the irrational tribes all green herbage; in the original: pb, all the greenness of herbs, grasses being especially intended. The true explanation of this latter clause is, that God simply specifies that part of the vegetable kingdom which is unsuitable for human food, as given to the animals. To say nothing of the carnivorous races, it certainly does not mean to teach that all the irrational animals and birds are to feed on grasses and green herbage alone. In this passage, no grant is made to man of animal food, and all attempts to torture the text till it should utter such a grant, have proved unsuccessful.

V. 31. And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.

It was very good. He no longer says "good," but "very good," because God's creation is a whole; and it is not till all the parts are finished, that each particular part can attain to its highest excellence.

The sixth day (" "). The article is now added for the first time, to indicate this as the day on which the work of creation was completed. For the syntax, see Roediger, § 109. 2. a. ; Nordheimer, § 724. II. Note.

Ch. II. vs. 1—3. And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their host. And God finished, on the seventh day, his work which he made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God created to make.

All their host. Tuch remarks that this is the only passage in which the word includes earthly objects along with the heavenly host. It denotes the orderly marshalling and arrangement of all created things in heaven and earth. The same idea belongs to the Greek Kóoμos, and the Latin mundus.

And God finished, on the seventh day, his work which he made. The reading "sixth day," of the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint, and the Syriac, is justly thought to be an emendation for the purpose of avoiding a supposed inconsistency. The language is simply loose: "God finished, on the seventh day, his work which he made," for, God brought his work to an end when the seventh day came, so as not to continue it on that day.

He rested on the seventh day; namely, in a special sense, from the work of creating the world, having already completed it. That he rested from all exercise of creative power, is neither asserted nor implied.

And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. The only natural interpretation of these words is, that God blessed and sanctified the seventh day at the time when he rested from the work of creation. When God had made the aquatic animals he blessed them: he blessed the land animals also, and man, at the time of their creation. He instituted

marriage, moreover, at the very time when he symbolized the marriage relation by giving to Adam bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. Why now should one maintain, in the face of all these analogies, that these words mean: God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath some twenty-five hundred years afterwards, at the giving of the law upon Sinai, unless he has a preconceived theory to maintain? We do not mean that all the particular precepts of the Mosaic law respecting the Sabbath belonged to it from the beginning; but that it was, from the beginning, a day consecrated to God, and, therefore, according to its true idea, a day of rest from worldly toil, and joyous contemplation of God's character and works. The arguments by which the existence of the Sabbath from the beginning, may be maintained, our limits will not permit us to review here. We have simply presented that drawn from the passage under consideration. The bearing of these words on the question concerning the six Mosaic days of creation, we reserve for consideration in a subsequent Article, as also the very significant omission of the formula: "And there was evening, and there was morning," by which the close of each of the preceding six days has been indicated.

ARTICLE V.

BASHAN, ITURÆA, KENATH.

By Rev. J. L. Porter, Missionary at Damascus.

§ 1. BASHAN.

IN the Bible, this word is always written, but has sometimes the article. The general form, in the LXX., is Baráv, though Baσaviris is also used, Ez. 27: 6. In Josephus, we find the Greek form Baтavaía. The latter was VOL. XIII. No. 52.

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almost always used to signify Batanæa the province, and not Bashan the kingdom. Josephus uses it in the latter sense more than once; but he likewise uses the word Tavλwvîtis, to signify the whole kingdom of Bashan (Ant. iv. 5. 3). The word "Bashan" may probably be regarded as descriptive of the country: it means "a light and fertile soil;" and the corresponding word in Arabic, which is the modern name of the ancient province, conveys the additional idea of level

بتنية Solum Equale planum et molle ; and بثنة : ground

w

is opposed to, the former denoting a fertile and plain

country, the latter hilly and barren land.

Bashan must have been inhabited from a very early period, probably prior to its occupation by the descendants of Canaan. In Gen. 14: 5, we read that the princes of Mesopotamia marched against the land of Canaan, and on their way defeated the Rephaims of Ashtaroth-Karnaim. These Rephaims appear to have been the original inhabitants of this whole country; but the Amorites, the posterity of one of Canaan's sons, gradually took possession of these territories, and increased in numbers and strength, while the others diminished, until the days of Moses, when Og alone remained of this ancient and gigantic race. Ashtaroth was one of his royal cities. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, the whole region east of the Jordan was under the rule of two great monarchs, Sihon and Og. The former held the country south of the Jabbok, and was called King of Heshbon; the latter governed the district extending from the Jabbok northwards to Mount Hermon. This kingdom was divided into two parts: the northern part was called Bashan, and the southern half-Gilead; the other half of Gilead belonged to Sihon (Deut. 3: 11-13), who also possessed the Valley of the Ghor on the east bank of the Jordan, up to the Sea of Chinneroth (Josh. 12: 2-6). Reuben and Gad obtained from Moses the kingdom of Sihon, and all Og's kingdom was given to the half tribe of Manasseh; who thus possessed all Bashan and half-Gilead. Hermon, Salcah, Gilead, and the Jordan, are given as the limits of Bashan (Josh. 12: 4, 5, and

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