592 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



recognition of this distinction has led to further discoveries of far- 

 reaching importance, but too complicated in their nature to be here 

 detailed. The conflicting statements of the two accounts, which we 

 have just indicated, have induced scholars to regard them as the work 

 of different writers. In Genesis iv. we learn that in the days of Enosh, 

 Adam's grandson, men began to call on the name of Jehovah ; iu 

 Exodus vi., on the contrary, that the name Jehovah was first revealed 

 to Moses, being unknown even to the patriarchs. 



Gen. xvi., Hagar is driven from her home by the jealousy of her 

 mistress ; escapes into the desert ; beholds a vision of God at a well in 

 a wilderness. Gen. xxi., the flight of Hagar is related a second 

 time. The general scheme of the narrative is the same as above ; but 

 there are important divergencies of detail. As narrated in chapter 

 xvi., the escape took place immediately before the birth of Ishmael. 

 Fifteen years elapsed, 1 and Ishmael, now approaching the years of ma- 

 turity, is once more driven forth from the house of Abraham. But, to 

 our surprise, in chapter xxi. the lad is described as a mere infant ; he is 

 carried on his mother's shoulders, and laid away, like a helpless babe, 

 under some bushes by the wayside. It appears that we have before 

 us two accounts touching the same event, agreeing in the main inci- 

 dents of the escape, but showing a disagreement of fifteen years as to 

 the date of its occurrence. The narratives are distinguished as above 

 by the employment of different names of the Deity : Jehovah in the 

 one instance, Elohim in the other. 



Gen. xxxii., Jacob at the fords of Jabbok, after wrestling during 

 the night with a divine being, receives the name of Israel. Gen. 

 xxxv., without reference to the previous account, the name Israel is 

 conferred upon Jacob at a different place and under different circum- 

 stances. 



Gen. xlix., the dispersion of the Levites among the tribes is 

 characterized as a punishment and a curse. They are to be forever 

 homeless and fugitive. Deuteronomy xxxiii. and elsewhere, it is de- 

 scribed as a blessing. The Levites have been scattered as good seed 

 over the land. They are the apostles, commissioned to propagate 

 Jehovah's law. 



Passing on to the second book of the Pentateuch, we pause before 

 the account of the Revelation on Mount Sinai, beyond a doubt the 

 most important event of Israel's ancient history. Exodus xxiv. 2, 

 Moses alone is to approach the divine presence. Exod. xix. 24, 

 Aaron is to accompany him. Exod. xxiv. 13, Aaron is to remain be- 

 low and Joshua is to go in his stead. Again, Exod. xxxiii. 20, instant 

 death will overtake him who beholds God. Exod. xxiv. 9-11, 

 Moses, Aaron, two of his sons, and seventy elders of Israel " ascended, 

 and they saw the God of Israel. . . . Also, they saw God, and did eat 



1 Gen. xvii. 25. In quoting from the Old Testament, we follow the order of the 

 Hebrew text. 



