fulfilment. The entire history and order of salvation are unfolded in this proto-evangelium. Like a sphinx it couches at the entrance of sacred history. Later in the period of Israelitish Prophecy and Chokma, the solution of this riddle of the sphinx begins to dawn; and it is only solved by Him through whom and in whom that has been revealed, towards which this primitive prophecy was aimed.

Rem. I. Even granting that both times, or even once, had a similar signification with inhiare (LXX tηpetv, Jerome insidiari), nevertheless it could not be construed with a double accusative of the person and of the member: No verb indicating a hostile disposition is construed with a double accusative, only verbs signifying a hostile meeting as Gen. XXXVII, 21; Judg. XV, 8; 2 Sam. III, 27; Ps. III, 8; Deut. XXII, 26; 7 Deut. XXXIII, 11; 797 Jer. II, 16. The verb however signifies even in Job. IX, 17 conterere and is the stereotyped Targum word for contundere, commolere, and p comminuere; Paul too (Rom. XVI, 20) renders it with ouvrpißetv. All the stems derived from the root or presents various shades of the radical signification terere.

Rem. 2. In the Babylonian tradition the great serpent is Tihâmat, the original source of all evil, namely as the personified in. This tradition expresses a profound thought, since the essence of evil is a falling back into chaos. This serpent Tihâmat seduces mankind, by seeking to sustain itself in its authority, it destroys the grove of life. It is called preeminently aibu () and it is named exactly as in the Apocalypse siru mauru tihamat ὁ ὄφις ὁ ἀρχαῖος. Likewise in the Iranian tradition, where it is the first creation of Ahriman, who himself is both represented and called a serpent, the serpent disturbs the peace, destroys paradise, and casts down Yima the ruler of the golden age, that is the first man. We see in these traditions true reminiscences and rational thoughts respecting the origin of evil although in a mythical garb.

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Enosh and Enoch.

The first echo of the word of promise received by faith is the name (Gen. III, 20, Sept.: Zon) which Adam gives his wife. While then the worldly tendency of the Cainitic race rises to a blasphemous self-confidence in Lamech, the seventh, from Adam, yet in the Sethitic line the religious community begins with Enosh, the third from Adam, and the tendency towards God, which is indigenous in this line, constantly deepens until it culminates in Enoch, the seventh from Adam, in an endearing relation to God which resembles the one lost through sin and which raises him above the law of death. This Enoch was, according to the

tradition which has been put in form in the book of Enoch, a prophet and foretold according to Jude vs. 14-15 the parousia of the Lord in judgment. For the redemption, or what is the same, the victory of the seed of the woman cannot henceforth be completed in any other way than through a final decision and separation (xpíos), which not only overcomes all evil without, but also within

the human race.

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The words of Lamech at Noah's Birth.

Furthermore Lamech, the ninth from Adam, when his first son was born, hoped that in him, the tenth from Adam in the line of promise, the period of the curse would come to a comforting conclusion. This is evident from his elevated and prophetic words, when he says (Gen. V, 29): "This one shall comfort us (2) concerning our work and the toil of our hands from the ground. [compare the curse going from the ground, Gen. IV, 11], which Jehovah has cursed." Lamech's hope is directed to the ultimate comfort, and was also fulfilled in Noah, not indeed finally, but in a glorious manner, for the covenant after the flood was a comfort, whose blessing is destined to extend from then until the end of time.

הנִיח מן

Remark. The root signifies to breathe out, the verb respirare, and the piel facere ut quis respiret, hence consolari. Therefore the notion of comforting, when the comfort is meant as an act, can be expressed through If we compare Esth. IX, 16; Deut. XII, 10; Is. XIV, 3 and Gen. XXVII, 42; Is. I, 24, we shall see that Noah's name (V, 29) is explained according to the sense. Moreover is an old synagogical designation for the Messiah; compare Schoettgen, De Messia, Dresdae 1742, p. 18. The promise of Christ: "He shall give you aλov парázλyτov” (Joh. XIV, 16) presupposes that Christ himself is napáxλntos (

.(מנחם =

§ 6.

The Blessing of the Nations in Abraham's Seed.

Noah is the first mediator of the redemptive history, and the second, who constitutes an epoch in the mediatorship, is Abraham. He is the first man in sacred history, who is called a prophet ( Gen. XX, 7), but his mediatorial calling reaches farther than his prophetic. When the unity of the post-diluvial human race had been separated into a multitude of nationalities, God chose Abram from the line of Shem out of the midst of the nations, in accordance

with Noah's prophecy (Gen. IX, 26. 27), and connected with his seed, as the center and starting-point, the promise of the future redemption of the entire human race. The promise concerning the seed of the woman now enters a second stadium, advancing to the promise concerning the seed of the patriarch, as the chosen possessor of the divine blessing, which is to be the goal of the longing of all nations. As the promise, which makes Abram and Sarah ancestors of kings (Gen. XVII, 6. 16 compare XXXV, 11) culminates in Christ, the son of David, so the mediatorship of the blessing in the seed of the patriarch. is ultimately fulfilled in Christ, the son of Abraham (Gal. III, 16, compare the retrospective reference in Ps. LXXII, 17).

Rem. 1. The prophetic words of Noah give Shem the preeminence, by naming Jehovah as his God, and since the names of the sons are ominous of their future, Shem seems to be intended as the bearer of the divine name (), that is of the historical revelation of God; for God's name signifies his revelation in the works of creation and the acts of history. That Japhet comes to dwell in the tents of Shem foreshadows the future conversion of the Japhetic family of nations to the God of revelation, and the harmonious relation of the Shemitic and Japhetic group of nations, by which the unanimous and filial conduct of both brothers is rewarded.

"And all the nations of The phrase "they shall

Rem. 2. The patriarchal words of promise are: the earth shall bless themselves in thee" [in thy seed]. bless themselves" is expressed partly by the Niphal : (Gen. XII, 3; XVIII, 18; XXVIII, 14), partly by the Hithpael 2 (XXII, 18; XXVI, 4). Although the Niphal which is originally reflexive came to have in very many cases a passive signification, yet since the Hithpael was only used as a passive at a late period (according to which the LXX renders all these passages: ¿veuλoyndýσονται ἐν τῷ σπέρματί σου πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς, compare Ps. LXXII, 17 and Acts III, 25; Gal. III, 8), therefore we are led to assign a reflexive meaning to the parallel passages where the Niphal occur, as well as to those where the Hithpael is found. The Hithpael signifies to wish one well, fausta sibi apprecari (Deut. XXIX, 18: 1), and with to wish oneself the happiness, which any one possesses and which proceeds from him (Is. LXV, 16:2

¿v autÿ ed). The promise therefore means that all nations will wish themselves the blessing of which Abraham and his seed are the bearers, so that since this desire for a blessing is a desire for salvation, Abraham and his seed become the means of blessing for the human race; first in the people of salvation (Is. XIX, 24, compare Acts III, 25), but to the highest degree in the one Saviour, who springs from Abraham. The reflexive interpretation really coincides with the passive, because the desire for salvation is followed by its attainment. Since the nations will desire the blessing of Abraham they will on that account be blessed. Spiritual blessings, according to God's order, fall to those who long for them.

CHAPTER VII.

The Prophetic Benedictions of the Dying Patriarchs.

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The Prophetic Blessings of the Patriarchs.

Cicero, De Divinatione, Lib. I, § 63, says: Appropinquante morte [animus] multo est divinior, and Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene 2, affirms that "holy men at their death have good inspirations". The patriarchs in accordance with this experimental and psychological phenomenon, just before their death, became seers and uttered testamentary words of a prophetic character respecting their children. Even in itself considered there is a close relation between benediction and prophecy, since the one who blesses as well as the one who prophesies anticipates future events. But there is this difference, that the one prophesying proclaims the revealed character of the future, while the one blessing, himself moulds the future by the energy of his believing prayer. There are however blessings, which are not only wishes, whose result coincides with the result of the prayer of faith, but also prophecies whose truth is conditioned upon God's discovery of the future. Of such a sort are the of Isaac and Jacob, by which the blessing bestowed upon Abraham is continued and made special.

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The Prophetic Blessing of Isaac.

It is the promise respecting the benediction of the nations through the seed of the patriarchs, and therefore of the completion of the divine work, which the patriarchs bestow as a blessing upon their firstborn, since they thus make them bearers of the great promised blessing, and mediums of the preparation for its fulfilment. Isaac is Abraham's first and only son by Sarah, and hence entitled to the reception of this blessing. Jacob snatches away the blessing of the first-born, which belonged to Esau, and even retains it, but

only as he atones for the sin connected with the act and obtains it anew from Jehovah by wrestling in prayer and tears. The blessing of the first-born (Gen. XXVII, 27-29), consists of four parts, in which Jacob is promised:

(1) The possession of the land of Canaan, under the divine bene

diction (vs. 27. 28): "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Jehovah has blessed; and God will give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the land, and plenty of corn and must";

(2) The subjection of the nations to such an extent that every limitation is contrary to the words of the text (ver. 29a): "Peoples shall serve thee and nations shall bow down to thee"; (3) The primacy over his brothers, that is over those blood-relations, whose posterity were outside the line of promise (ver. 29b): "Be lord over thy brethren and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee";

So high a position in redemptive history that blessings and curses are conditioned by the relation which men take to him who has received the blessing (ver. 29): "Cursed be they that curse thee, and blessed be they that bless thee". Compare XII, 3 and Num. XXIV, 9, which is referred to the people of Israel. This fourth part shows that it is the same promise, received by Abraham, which Isaac bestows upon Jacob. Its goal is Christ. The promise extends to the nations, and even shortly becomes national and so Messianic. For Jacob's twelve sons form the transition from the family to the people of promise.

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Jacob's Prophetic Blessing upon Judah.

The question now arises, from which of the twelve tribes the salvation, that is, the victory of mankind and the blessing of the nations, shall arise. Reuben through his incest with Bilhah forfeited the right of primogeniture (Gen. XLIX, 3-4). It could not be transmitted to Simeon and Levi on account of their outrage on the inhabitants of Shechem (Gen. XLIX, 5-7). Therefore the dying father transfers the double inheritance which is connected with the right of primogeniture to Joseph, his favorite son (vs. 22-26), but the primacy (1 Chron. V, 1) and the blessing of the promise upon his fourth son Judah (Gen. XLIX, 8—12). Jacob promises