Exposition of Genesis by H. C. Leupold About Exposition of Genesis by H. C. Leupold Title: Exposition of Genesis URL: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/leupold/genesis.html Author(s): Leupold, Herbert Carl (1892-) Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library Print Basis: The Wartburg Press, 1942 Rights: Copyright 1942, The Wartburg Press. Copyright renewal record not found. 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 H. C. Leupold Table of Contents About This Book. p. ii Title Page. p. 1 Introduction. p. 2 Chapter 1. p. 17 Chapter 2. p. 49 Chapter 3. p. 68 Chapter 4. p. 91 Chapter 5. p. 112 Chapter 6. p. 123 Chapter 7. p. 142 Chapter 8. p. 152 Chapter 9. p. 161 Chapter 10. p. 175 Chapter 11. p. 187 Chapter 12. p. 198 Chapter 13. p. 212 Chapter 14. p. 219 Chapter 15. p. 231 Chapter 16. p. 240 Chapter 17. p. 249 Chapter 18. p. 260 Chapter 19. p. 267 Chapter 20. p. 279 Chapter 21. p. 287 Chapter 22. p. 298 Chapter 23. p. 309 Chapter 24. p. 317 Chapter 25. p. 333 Chapter 26. p. 347 Chapter 28. p. 368 Chapter 29. p. 377 Chapter 30. p. 388 Chapter 31. p. 400 Chapter 32. p. 416 Chapter 33. p. 428 iii Exposition of Genesis H. C. Leupold Chapter 34. p. 434 Chapter 35. p. 451 Chapter 36. p. 460 Chapter 37. p. 468 Chapter 38. p. 477 Chapter 39. p. 484 Chapter 40. p. 491 Chapter 41. p. 498 Chapter 42. p. 509 Chapter 43. p. 518 Chapter 44. p. 527 Chapter 45. p. 533 Chapter 46. p. 540 Chapter 47. p. 549 Chapter 48. p. 559 Chapter 49. p. 567 Chapter 50. p. 589 Indexes. p. 597 Index of Scripture References. p. 597 Index of Scripture Commentary. p. 602 iv Exposition of Genesis 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 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 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. 2 Exposition of Genesis H. C. Leupold 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 easily have been written by Moses during the time of the Wilderness Wanderings, which extended.