278 THE VERY REV. H. WAGE, D.D., ON THE OLD TESTAMENT 



illustrates exactly the first pages of the Old Testament." 

 This, in fact, constitutes the main characteristic of M. Naville's 

 argument. He insists that a book like Genesis should be con- 

 sidered first of all in relation to its main purport, its occasion, 

 the persons for whom it was intended, and the influence it 

 was calculated to have upon them. In this point of view, 

 consider the broad effect of the Book of Genesis. It commences 

 by a revelation of the God whose actions it proposes to relate, 

 and describes Him as the one supreme and sole Creator of 

 heaven and earth. It proceeds to give a brief sketch of the 

 history of mankind up to the time of Abraham, and then devotes 

 itself entirely to an account of how Abraham was called by 

 that one God to a special relationship with Himself. He called 

 on Abraham to walk before Him and to be perfect, and promised 

 that He would multiply him exceedingly, that all nations of 

 the earth should be blessed in him, and that the land of Canaan 

 should be given to him and his seed. The narrative then confines 

 itself to the history of Abraham's descendants, down to their 

 settlement in Egypt, until the moment comes when Moses is 

 called upon to lead them out of Egypt and to conduct them to 

 the Promised Land. Now this was the very moment when the 

 information in the Book of Genesis was of supreme value for 

 them. It proved to be a task of extreme difficulty to induce 

 them to follow their leader, on this expedition through a wilder- 

 ness, to a land as yet unknown to them. It was imperative 

 to assure them of the nature of the authority under which Moses 

 was acting, and to bring home to them the truth that they were 

 invited to a special place and function by that Divine authority. 

 It was of the first importance to revive in them at that moment 

 a recognition of their inheritance from their great ancestor, 

 and of the destiny which had been promised to them as his 

 descendants. In that covenant between God and their fathers 

 lay the whole future of the nation, and, by solemnly recording 

 it, Moses laid the indispensable foundation of their whole history. 

 Their office was to maintain in the world a witness to the one 

 God of heaven and earth, and to the laws which He had revealed 

 to their fathers, and proclaimed in thunder and lightnings 

 through Moses. The Book of Genesis, from this point of view, 

 is the Magna Charta of the Jewish nation, and the time when 

 that nation commenced an independent life under Moses was 

 the unique moment for its composition. 



