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THE BEGINNINGS OF BIBLE HISTORY.

It is our purpose in this series of studies to trace the progress of events as related in the Bible from the dawn of history down to the opening of the New Testament era. The aim will be not to give a mere catalogue of facts, but rather to show the relation of cause and effect, and to unfold the development of the divine purpose which extends through all the history in the Bible. We recommend the student, first of all, to read the preface to this book.

Turning back to the beginnings of Bible history we notice six events between the Deluge and the Exodus. We begin with the Deluge as the starting-point of history. Back of that event is a land of shadows. We have so little knowledge of the world before the flood that its history cannot be written. But since that fact we tread upon firm ground, having both the Bible and secular history to confirm each other.

I. THE DELUGE. With regard to this event we note:

1. The fact of a general deluge is stated in Scripture (Gen. 7.), and attested by the traditions of nearly all nations. Compare the story of Xisuthros in Berosus; the record in the Chaldean tablets; the Greek myth of Deucalion; the Mexican tradition; and the legends of the North American Indians.[A]

2. The date is given in reference Bibles (following Archbishop Ussher) as B. C. 2348. This is probably incorrect. It may have been a thousand years earlier. But as archæologists are not yet agreed, we give Ussher's chronology, here and elsewhere, merely as a convenience in the arrangement, not as accurate.

3. Its cause was the wickedness of the human race (Gen. 6. 5-7). Before this event all the population of the world was massed together, forming one vast family and speaking one language. Under these conditions the good were overborne by evil surroundings, and general corruption followed.

4. Its extent was undoubtedly not the entire globe, but so much of it as was occupied by the human race (Gen. 7. 23), probably the Euphrates valley. Many Christian scholars, however, hold to the view that the Book of Genesis relates the history of but one family of races, and not all the race; consequently, that the flood may have been partial, as far as mankind is concerned.

5. Its purpose was: 1.) To destroy the evil in the world. 2.) To open a new epoch under better conditions for social, national, and individual life.

II. THE DISPERSION OF THE RACES. (B.C. 2247?) 1. Very soon after the deluge a new instinct, that of migration, took possession of the human family. Hitherto all mankind had lived together; from this time they began to scatter. As a result came tribes, nations, languages, and varieties of civilization. "The confusion of tongues" was not the cause, but the result of this spirit, and was not sudden, but gradual (Gen. 11. 2, 7).

2. Evidences of this migration are given: 1.) In the Bible (Gen. 9. 19; 11. 8). 2.) The records and traditions of nearly all nations point to it. 3.) Language gives a certain proof; for example, showing that the ancestors of the English, Greeks, Romans, Medes, and Hindus—races now widely dispersed—once slept under the same roof. At an early period streams of migration poured forth from the highlands of Asia in every direction and to great distances.

III. THE RISE OF THE EMPIRES. In the Bible world three centers of national life arose, not far apart in time, each of which became a powerful kingdom, and in turn ruled all the Oriental lands. The strifes of these three nations, their rise and fall, constitute the matter of ancient Oriental history, which is closely connected with that of the Bible. These three centers were Egypt (called in the Bible Mizraim, Gen. 10. 6, 13), of which the capital was Memphis; Chaldea, of which the capital was Babel or Babylon (Gen. 10. 10; 11. 2-9); and Assyria, of which the capital was Nineveh (Gen. 10. 11). We might add to these the Canaanite or Phenician city of Sidon (Gen. 10. 15, 19), and its daughter Tyre, the great commercial centers of the ancient world, whose empire was not the land, but the sea. Note that all of these early kingdoms were established by the Hamitic race.

IV. THE MIGRATION OF ABRAHAM. (B. C. 1921?) No other journey in history has the importance of that transfer of the little clan of Abraham from the plain of Shinar to the mountains of Palestine in view of its results to the world. Compare with it the voyage of the Mayflower. Its causes were: 1. Probably the migratory instinct of the age, for it was the epoch of tribal movements. 2. The political cause may have been the desire for liberty from the rule of the Accadian dynasty that had become dominant in Chaldea. 3. But the deepest motive was religious, a purpose to escape from the idolatrous influences of Chaldea, and to find a home for the worship of God in what was then "the new West," where population was thin. It was by the call of God that Abraham set forth on his journey (Gen. 12. 1-3).

V. THE JOURNEYS OF THE PATRIARCHS. (B. C. 1921-1706?) For two centuries the little clan of Abraham's family lived in Palestine as strangers, pitching their tents in various localities, wherever pasturage was abundant, for at this time they were shepherds and herdsmen (Gen. 13. 2; 46. 34). Their home was generally in the southern part of the country, west of the Dead Sea, and their relations with the Amorites, Canaanites, and Philistines on the soil were generally friendly (Gen. 20. 14; 26. 26-31).

VI. THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT. (B. C. 1706-1491?) After three generations the branch of Abraham's family belonging to his grandson Jacob or Israel removed to Egypt (Deut. 26. 5), where they remained either two hundred or four hundred years, according to different opinions.[B] This stay in Egypt is always called "the sojourn." The event which led directly to the descent into Egypt was the selling of Joseph (Gen. 37. 28). But we can trace a providential purpose in the transfer. Its objects were:

1. Preservation. The frequent famines in Palestine (Gen. 12. 10; 26. 1;42. 1-3) showed that as shepherds the Israelites could not be supported in the land. On the fertile soil of Egypt, with three crops each year, they would find food in abundance.

2. Growth. At the end of the stay in Canaan the Israelites counted only seventy souls (Gen. 46. 27); but at the close of the sojourn in Egypt they had increased to nearly two millions (Exod. 12. 37; Num. 1. 45, 46). The hot climate and cheap food of Egypt has always caused an abundant population. In Egypt Israel grew from a family to a nation.

3. Isolation. There was great danger to the morals and religion of the Israelites in the land of Canaan. Abraham had sent to his own relatives at Haran for a wife for Isaac (Gen. 24. 3, 4) in order to keep both the race and the faith pure. One of Isaac's sons married Canaanite wives, and as a result his descendants, the Edomites, lost the faith and became idolaters (Gen. 26. 34, 35). Jacob sought his wives among his own relatives (Gen. 28. 1, 2). We note a dangerous tendency in Jacob's family to ally themselves with the Canaanites (Gen. 34. 8-10; 38. 1, 2). If they had stayed in Canaan the chosen family would have become lost among the heathen. But in Egypt they lived apart, and were kept by the caste system from union with the people (Gen. 46. 34; 43. 32). It was a necessary element in the divine plan that Israel should dwell apart from other nations (Num. 23. 9).

4. Civilization. The Egyptians were far in advance of all other nations of that age in intelligence, in the organization of society, and in government. Though the Israelites lived apart from them, they were among them, and learned much of their knowledge. Whatever may have been their condition at the beginning of the sojourn, at the end of it they had a written language (Exod. 24. 7), a system of worship (Exod. 19. 22; 33. 7), and a leader who had received the highest culture of his age (Acts 7. 22). As one result of the sojourn the Israelites were transformed from shepherds and herdsmen to tillers of the soil—a higher manner of living.

Blackboard Outline.

Six Ev. I. Del. 1. Fac. Scrip. Trad. 2. Dat. 2348? 3. Cau. Wick. rac. 4. Ext. par. 5. Pur. 1.) Des. ev. 2.) New ep. II. Disp. Rac. 1. Inst. mig. 2. Evid. Bib. Trad. Lang. III. Rise Emp. 1. Eg. 2. Chal. 3. Ass. 4. Sid. and Tyr. IV. Mig. Abr. Causes. 1. Mig. inst. 2. Pol. cau. 3. Rel. mot. V. Jour. Patr. Str. in Pal. Shep. Hom. Relat. VI. Soj. in Eg. Obj. 1. Pres. 2. Gro. 3. Isol. 4. Civ.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW.

What is the purpose in this series of studies?

At what point does history begin?

Name the six great events in early Bible history.

How is the fact of a deluge attested?

What date is commonly given to this event?

What was the moral cause of the flood?

What was its extent?

What was its purpose in the plan of God?

What new spirit took possession of men soon after the flood?

To what results did this lead?

What was the relation of this fact to the confusion of tongues?

What evidences of these migrations are found?

What were the three great centers of national life in the Oriental world?

What city became the center of commercial life?

To what race did the earliest empires belong?

What was the most important journey, in its results, in all history?

What three causes are given for this migration?

What was especially the religious motive of this journey?

How long did Abraham's descendants remain in Palestine?

In what part of the country did they live?

What were their relations with the native peoples in Palestine?

What is meant by "the sojourn?"

What was its immediate cause?

What four providential results came to Israel through this sojourn?

How long was the time of the sojourn?

How were the Israelites protected from corruption through this sojourn?

What was the effect of the sojourn upon their civilization?