THE SILENCES OF SCRIPTURE, 



77 



to be passed over as matters of course just in proportion to 

 their regularity. It is precisely the exceptions to the rule which 

 are marked and noted. 



The omissions from the history not only indicate that there 

 was a plan and purpose, but, by throwing into bold relief the 

 isolated events and characters which are recorded, enable us 

 to trace what that plan and purpose was. 



It is quite clear that it was not a comprehensive history, or 

 even the outhne of a history, of the human race which was 

 aimed at. From Adam down to the call of Abram the interest 

 is centred only in one particular Hue of descent. The Dispersion 

 of the nations is just mentioned, and then the great majority 

 of the peoples are left in silence and darkness ; the great empires 

 and civiHzations that are now known to have existed are altogether 

 passed over. 



Next, the fortunes of the patriarchal family are followed, but 

 still only in outline, and its offshoots, the descendants of Lot, 

 Ishmael and Esau, only appear as in later times they come in 

 contact with the Chosen People. 



Is it, then, a history of Israel that is given ? Again, we have only 

 fragmentary notices. What were their fortunes from the time 

 of the migration into Egypt till the Exodus ?' How much do 

 we know of the 40 years in the Wilderness, and how long was 

 the stay in Kadesh ? See how difficult it is to form a clear idea 

 of the invasion and settlement of the Promised Land, or of the 

 troublous times of the Judges. There is a long Ust of Kings of 

 Israel and Judah, but it is only of a very few reigns that any 

 details are given ; even the glories of Solomon's Kingdom are 

 barely indicated, and the long and prosperous reign of Jero- 

 boam II is summed up in seven verses. The period of the Return 

 from Captivity is full of gaps. It is certainly nothing Hke a 

 complete political history of Israel that is set before us. 



Is it, then, a history of the Hebrew rehgion ? Certainly the 

 Pentateuch sets forth that the Hebrew religion was Divine in 

 origin, derived in the first place from God's revelations of 

 Himself to the patriarchs, and afterwards more fully from the 

 revelations to Moses ; that the Law, moral and ceremonial, 

 was given in minute detail before the entry into Canaan ; that 

 God Himself gave instructions for the erection of a Sanctuary 

 at which alone sacrifice should be lawful, and that this should 

 be afterwards replaced in the Promised Land by a permanent 

 Central Sanctuary " in the place which the Lord thy God 



