Exposition of Genesis: Volume 1 by H. C. Leupold Christian Classics Ethereal Library About Exposition of Genesis: Volume 1 by H. C. Leupold Title: Exposition of Genesis: Volume 1 URL: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/leupold/genesis.html Author(s): Leupold, Herbert Carl (1892-1972) Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library Print Basis: The Wartburg Press, 1942 Rights: Copyright Christian Classics Ethereal Library Date Created: 2005-10-07 Status: This document would benefit from proofreading. The Greek text needs to be corrected. CCEL Subjects: All; Bible; LC Call no: BS1151.B3 LC Subjects: The Bible Old Testament Works about the Old Testament Exposition of Genesis: Volume 1 H. C. Leupold Table of Contents About This Book. p. ii Title Page. p. 1 Introduction. p. 2 Chapter 1. p. 19 Chapter 2. p. 55 Chapter 3. p. 76 Chapter 4. p. 102 Chapter 5. p. 126 Chapter 6. p. 138 Chapter 7. p. 158 Chapter 8. p. 169 Chapter 9. p. 179 Chapter 10. p. 194 Chapter 11. p. 208 Chapter 12. p. 220 Chapter 13. p. 235 Chapter 14. p. 243 Chapter 15. p. 257 Chapter 16. p. 267 Chapter 17. p. 277 Chapter 18. p. 289 Chapter 19. p. 297 Chapter 20. p. 310 Chapter 21. p. 318 Chapter 22. p. 330 Chapter 23. p. 343 Chapter 24. p. 352 Chapter 25. p. 369 Chapter 26. p. 384 Chapter 28. p. 407 Chapter 29. p. 416 Chapter 30. p. 428 Chapter 31. p. 442 Chapter 32. p. 459 Chapter 33. p. 472 iii Exposition of Genesis: Volume 1 H. C. Leupold Chapter 34. p. 479 Chapter 35. p. 497 Chapter 36. p. 507 Chapter 37. p. 516 Chapter 38. p. 525 Chapter 39. p. 533 Chapter 40. p. 541 Chapter 41. p. 549 Chapter 42. p. 561 Chapter 43. p. 571 Chapter 44. p. 581 Chapter 45. p. 587 Chapter 46. p. 594 Chapter 47. p. 604 Chapter 48. p. 615 Chapter 49. p. 624 Chapter 50. p. 648 Indexes. p. 657 Index of Scripture References. p. 657 Index of Scripture Commentary. p. 663 iv Exposition of Genesis: Volume 1 H. C. Leupold 1 Exposition of Genesis By H. C. LEUPOLD, D. D Professor of Old testament Exegesis in the Capital University Seminary Colombus, Ohio 3 To the Memory of my FATHER and to my MOTHER Exposition of Genesis: Volume 1 H. C. Leupold INTRODUCTION 5 Name of the Book The name universally used in English for this book is "Genesis." This name is a transliteration of the Greek word γένεσις, which constitutes the regular title from of old in the Septuagint and was taken over by Jerome into the VulgateÐLiber Genesis. Luther made a new departure when he substituted in his German Bible the title "The First Book of Moses"Ða designation requiring no further commentary. In the Hebrew Bible the book constitutes the first part of the Pentateuch. As a distinct part it so naturally stands out as a unit that there can be no doubt that it was designed to be just such a unit; and so even criticism from its point of view is ready to accept the division of the Pentateuch as a whole into five parts and that the book of Genesis in particular was a part of it at so early a date as at least four centuries before the Christian era. Though no evidence is available, we are inclined to believe that the Jews discerned the fivefold division of the Pentateuch from the time that the work was put into their hands. They are wont to refer to the book by the title of Bereshith, the very first Hebrew word, meaning: "in the beginning." Author Genesis contains no statement as to who its author was. Yet we hold very definitely to the conviction that , Moses wrote Genesis as well as the rest of the Pentateuch, except (Deut. 34). In our day such a position is regarded as so utterly outmoded that we must indicate, at least briefly, what grounds we have for standing thus. Our grounds are those which have satisfied conservative scholarship in the church throughout the ages. Neither is the group of those who still accept these arguments so inconsiderable as critics would have us believe. The internal evidence of the Pentateuch runs as follows. In Exodus the passages (17:14; 24:4; 34:27), if rightly construed, indicate that Moses wrote more than the specific passages that appear under immediate consideration, in fact, all of Exodus. In like manner the numerous statements of Leviticus to the effect that "the Lord spake unto Moses" ("and unto Aaron"), such as (Le 1:1; 4:1; 6:1, 8, 19, 24; 7:22, 28; 8:1), etc., again, if rightly construed, lead to the same result, in fact, cover Leviticus. For why should the exact nature of the revelation be emphasized, unless it be presupposed that this revelation was immediately conserved in writing in each case? In fact, the assumption that these directions were not committed to writing is most unnatural. The same argument applies to much of what is found in Numbers; but in this book the special portion that came by immediate revelation requires the background of the rest of the historical material of the book. (Nu 33:2) is the only passage that refers to the fact that Moses wrote, a statement inserted at this point in order to stamp even what might seem too unimportant to record as traceable to Moses. In Deuteronomy a comparison of the following passages establishes the Mosaic authorship: (De 1:1; 17:18,19; 27:1-8; 31:9; 31:24). If, then, on the basis of the evidence found in these four books we may very reasonably conclude that they were written by Moses, the conclusion follows very properly that none other than the author of these later four books would have been so suitable as the author for 2 Exposition of Genesis: Volume 1 H. C. Leupold Genesis also. Certainly such a conclusion is far more reasonable than that GenesisÐor for that matter the entire PentateuchÐis to be ascribed to another one of these genial Nobodies of whom criticism has a large number in reserve as authors. We shall not now trace down how the Old Testament in its later books historical as well as prophetic strongly supports the idea of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch and by implication also of Genesis. The critic, misreading the evidence, misdates all these books, and so the argument means nothing to him. The man who is not affected by critical arguments can find proof more ample than we can here reproduce in the writings of Hengstenberg, Keil, Rupprecht and Moeller. The support that the New Testament lends to our position is singularly strong and, for that matter, even decisive on the whole issue, at least for him who believes in the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures. It is sufficient in these introductory remarks merely to list the major passages as such, passages that all refer to the Mosaic authorship of the whole or of parts of the Pentateuch. In the Gospels we find: (Mt 8:4; 19:7, 8; 23:2; Mk 1:44; 7:10; 10:3, 4; 12:26); (Lu 5:14; 16:29, 31; 20:37; Joh 3:14; 5:45; 6:32; 7:19; 7:22, 23). Aside from these passages which are from the lips of Christ Himself there are the remarks of the evangelists found (Lu 24:27, 44; Joh 1:17). To the apostles must be ascribed the following words: (Ac 3:22; 13:39; 15:1, 5, 21; 26:22; 28:23; Ro 10:5, 19; 1Co 9:9; 2Co 3:15). To attribute ignorance on matters involved in literary criticism to Christ or to inspired apostles is unwarranted assumption. To class Christ's attitude as accommodation to prevalent opinion grows out of failure to apprehend the fact that Christ is absolute Truth. Any two or three of the above passages are sufficient , to indicate to him that weighs their evidence that to Christ and to His apostles the Torah (the Pentateuch) was Mosaic. In answering the question, At what time was Genesis written? we are, of course, entirely, in the field of conjecture. It seems highly probable that the bulk, if not practically all of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, was written after the fashion of a kind of journal, especially those parts embodying specific words of direction given by God. This would naturally suggest some introductory work like Genesis, which could.