354 



PROF. H. EDOUARD NAVILLE, D.C.L., LL.D.,, OX 



of a forger who wrote Deuteronomy, a book revealed in the 

 year 621 ? 



We know little of Isaac's life ; all the interest of the writer is 

 focussed on his sons and especially on Jacob, who was to be the 

 father of the twelve tribes, and who was to give his name to the 

 nation. However, there was one point which could not be 

 omitted, and which was of first-rate importance. It was abso- 

 lutely necessary to say that the covenant had been renewed with 

 Isaac, and that the promises made to his father held good for 

 him. This is done in the episode of Isaac with Abimelech, when 

 Isaac at first feels tempted to go to Egypt because of the famine, 

 and he is told not to do so because the land which he inhabits is 

 given to him and to his seed, and, says the Lord, " I will establish 

 the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father, and I will 

 multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven .... because that 

 Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my command- 

 ments, my statutes and my laws " (Genesis xxvi, 5). These 

 words are the renewal of the charter given by the Lord to His 

 chosen people, and it seems quite erroneous not to attribute 

 these words to the main part of the book, but to call them 

 an addition made by the latest contributor, the redactor. 



Though I consider Genesis as the work of Moses, the fact of 

 its having been written on tablets and put in a book form and 

 transcribed, in Aramaic first and in Hebrew afterwards, may 

 have given occasion to those who made those changes to insert 

 explanatory glosses, to replace here and there geographical 

 names, putting that which was in use in their time instead 

 of the old one which would have been forgotten, or would 

 not have been understood. Perhaps also some of the genealogies 

 were carried further than they had been originally, for instance 

 (xxxvi, 31) it is said: "and these are the kings that reigned in 

 the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the children 

 of Israel," where instead of these last words the LXX have " at 

 Jerusalem." 



One must remember also that with the history of Jacob the 

 writer begins to have in view, not only one man, or one family, 

 but the people which he was going to take to Canaan. The 

 episode of Judah and Tamar, which seems a digression, explains 

 why in the catalogue of Jacob's family the son of Judah, who 

 seems to be his heir, is Perez. The genealogies of Edom in their 

 present form contain probably late additions, but in the 

 original they may have been part of them. Edom had much 

 prospered, had become a nation which Israel would find on its 

 way, and it was useful to show the Israelites how they were 



