THE FIRST BOOK OF MOSES CALLED GENESIS -Year before the common era of Christ, 4004. -Julian Period, 710. -Cycle of the Sun, 10. -Dominical Letter, B. -Cycle of the Moon, 7. -Indiction, 5. -Creation from Tisri or September, 1. CHAPTER I First day's work-_Creation of the heavens and the earth... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:2. _THE EARTH WAS WITHOUT FORM AND VOID_] The original term תהו _tohu_ and בהו _bohu_, which we translate _without_ _form and void_, are of uncertain etymology; but in this place, and wherever else they are used, they convey the idea of _confusion_ and _disorder_. From these terms it... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:3. _AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHT_] הי אור ויהי אור YEHI OR, _vaihi or_. Nothing can be conceived more dignified than this form of expression. It argues at once uncontrollable authority, and omnific power; and in human language it is scarcely possible to conceive that God can spe... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:4. _GOD DIVIDED THE LIGHT FROM THE DARKNESS_.] This does not imply that _light_ and _darkness_ are two distinct substances, seeing _darkness_ is only the _privation_ of light; but the words simply refer us by anticipation to the rotation of the earth round its own axis once in _twent... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:6. _AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE A FIRMAMENT_] Our translators, by following the _firmamentum_ of the Vulgate, which is a translation of the στερεωμα of the Septuagint, have deprived this passage of all sense and meaning. The Hebrew word רקיע _rakia_, from רקע _raka_, to _spread out as... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:10. _AND GOD CALLED THE DRY_ LAND _EARTH; AND THE GATHERING_ _TOGETHER OF THE WATERS CALLED HE SEAS_] These two constitute what is called the _terraqueous globe_, in which the earth and the water exist in a most judicious proportion to each other. Dr. Long took the papers which cove... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:11. _LET THE EARTH BRING FORTH GRASS -- HERB -- FRUIT-TREE,_ _c_.] In these general expressions all kinds of vegetable productions are included. _Fruit-tree_ is not to be understood here in the restricted sense in which the term is used among us it signifies all trees, not only thos... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:12. _WHOSE SEED WAS IN ITSELF_] Which has the power of multiplying itself by seeds, slips, roots, c., _ad infinitum_ which contains in itself all the rudiments of the future plant through its endless generations. This doctrine has been abundantly confirmed by the most accurate obser... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:14. _AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHTS, C_.] One principal office of these was to divide between day and night. When night is considered a state of comparative _darkness_, how can lights divide or distinguish it? The answer is easy: The sun is the monarch of the day, which is the st... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:16. _AND GOD MADE TWO GREAT LIGHTS_] Moses speaks of the sun and moon here, not according to their _bulk_ or _solid contents_, but according to the _proportion of light_ they shed on the earth. The expression has been cavilled at by some who are as devoid of mental capacity as of ca... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:20. _LET THE WATERS BRING FORTH ABUNDANTLY_] There is a meaning in these words which is seldom noticed. Innumerable millions of animalcula are found in water. Eminent naturalists have discovered not less than 30,000 in a single drop! How inconceivably small must each be, and yet eac... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:21. _AND GOD CREATED GREAT WHALES_] התנינם הגדלים _hattanninim haggedolim_. Though this is generally understood by the different versions as signifying _whales_, yet the original must be understood rather as a _general_ than a _particular_ term, comprising all the great aquatic anima... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:22. _LET FOWL MULTIPLY IN THE EARTH_.] It is truly astonishing with what care, wisdom, and minute skill God has formed the different genera and species of birds, whether intended to live chiefly on land or in water. The structure of a single _feather_ affords a world of wonders; and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:24. _LET THE EARTH BRING FORTH THE LIVING CREATURE, C._] נפש חיה _nephesh chaiyah_ a general term to express all creatures endued with animal life, in any of its infinitely varied gradations, from the half-reasoning elephant down to the stupid _potto_, or lower still, to the _polype... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:25. _AND GOD MADE THE BEAST OF THE EARTH AFTER HIS KIND,_ _ c_.] Every thing both in the animal and vegetable world was made _so_ according to its kind, both in _genus_ and _species_, as to produce _its own kind_ through endless generations. Thus the several races of animals and plan... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:26. _AND GOD SAID, LET US MAKE MAN_] It is evident that God intends to impress the mind of man with a sense of something extraordinary in the formation of his body and soul, when he introduces the account of his creation thus; Let US make man. The word אדם Adam, which we translate _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:28. _AND GOD BLESSED THEM_] Marked them as being under his especial protection, and gave them power to propagate and multiply their own kind on the earth. A large volume would be insufficient to contain what we _know_ of the excellence and perfection of man, even in his present degr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:29. _I HAVE GIVEN YOU EVERY HERB - FOR MEAT_.] It seems from this, says an eminent philosopher, that man was originally intended to live upon _vegetables_ only; and as no change was made In the structure of men's bodies after the flood, it is not probable that any change was made in... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 1:31. _AND, BEHOLD_, IT WAS _VERY GOOD_.] טוב מאד tob meod, _Superlatively_, or _only good_; as good as they could be. The plan wise, the work well executed, the different parts properly arranged; their nature, limits, mode of existence, manner of propagation, habits, mode of sustenanc... [ Continue Reading ]