influence of the kingdom: so that even Joseph's servant is made to say to the sons of Israel, 'your Elohim, and the Elohim of your father,' xliii.23. In these phrases we seem to have the transition step towards the distinct recognition of the name 'Jehovah' itself, without further definition, as the Name of Jacob's God, the covenant God of Israel.

312. In J3 we find another step taken in the same direction. The name 'Jehovah' has now, in the latter part of David's reign, become more freely and popularly used; and the writer determines to introduce it at once in his story from the first, not considering, apparently, or not regarding as of any moment, the contradiction which would thus be imported into the narrative. And, indeed, having already begun to employ it, in his previous insertions (J2), perhaps he may have thought it best to do this,— abandoning the Elohistic idea of the origination of the Name in the time of Moses, and representing it as known from the days of the first man downwards. But, in order to guard against any mistake, he pertinaciously couples the two names together, Jehovah-Elohim,' in ii.4-iii.24, twenty times, as if desiring to impress strongly upon the reader that the Jehovah,' of whom he was about to write, was the same exactly as the Elohim' of the older writer.

313. Thus in 269 verses J3 uses 'Elohim' 29 times, and 'Jehovah,' 89 times: or, if we remove the 20 instances, where 'Elohim' is merely inserted to support, as it were, Jehovah,' -as also vi.2, 'sons of Elohim,' (for which sons of Jehovah is never used), and ix.26, where 'Jehovah' is called the 'Elohim of Shem,'-we shall have only seven instances in which Elohim' is used in (J3) as the Personal Name of God, viz. iii.1,3,5,5, (in the conversation between the woman and the serpent), ix. 27 'Elohim shall enlarge Japheth,' (with whom Jehovah' had no special connection), xxxix.9, (where Joseph says to the Egyptian woman, Shall I sin against Elohim?'), and iv.25, Elohim

6

hath appointed to me another seed,' (in the style of the older notices of the same writer, xli.51,52).

Yet Jehovah' is used here eighty-nine times as the Personal Name of God, and is freely employed in the story of the Patriarchs, before the Flood and after it.

314. Lastly J4 in 297 verses has Elohim' 20 times, and 'Jehovah,' 52 times. But of these Elohim,' that in xvi. 13, 'Thou El, seest me!' is connected with the derivation of the name 'Ishmael'; in xxiv.3,3,7,12,27,42,48, xxvi.24, xxvii.20, xxxii.9,9, 'Elohim' is merely used as an appellative with reference to 'Jehovah,'-'Jehovah, the Elohim of heaven, the Elohim of earth, the Elohim of my master Abraham, the Elohim of Abraham (Isaac),''thy Elohim'; in xxx.2 we have probably a proverbial saying, 'Am I in the place of Elohim?' as in 1.19; and in xxxv.1,3,7, we have a peculiar reference to the 'EL of Beth-El.' Removing these, we have only four instances, in which 'Elohim ' occurs freely in J1, as the Personal Name of God, viz. xxvii.28 (ELOHIM) and xxxiii.5,10,11,-in three of which the expression is very similar, Elohim give (granted),' * comp. xliii.29, while in xxxiii.10 we have, I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of Elohim.'

Thus in J', as in J3, Jehovah' is used almost exclusively, as the Personal Name for God.

=

These three phrases seem, in fact, to have been used so commonly, as to have become almost proverbial. Thus we have the names Elnathan, 2K.xxiv.8, and Nethaneel, N.i.8,='El gave,' Jonathan, Ju.xviii.30, and Nethaniah, 2K.xxv.23, = 'Jehovah gave,' Nathanmelech, 2K.xxiii. 11,= 'the King (? Molech) gave,' as also Elhanan, 2S.xxi.19, and Hananeel, Neh.iii.1,='El granted,' Johanan, 2K.xxv. 23, and Hananiah, 1Ch.xxv.23, = 'Jehovah granted,' Baalhanan, 1Ch.xxvii. 28, = 'Baal granted,' the inverted form of which, Hannibal, does not occur in the Bible; but comp. Hanniel, N.xxxiv.23.

It will be seen from the above instances that, in David's time, 1Ch.xxvii. 28, Baal was used, as well as El and Jah, in the composition of Proper Names, a phenomenon of great importance, of which other instances are to be found in the Bible, and to which we shall draw more particular attention hereafter.

315. Upon the whole, then, we feel strongly confirmed in the conviction that there is distinct evidence here-as we believe there is in the Psalms (App.II)—of the name Jehovah' having become more and more freely used, as the name of the covenant God of Israel, after the time of Samuel. It is possible, of course, that these different sets of passages, J1, J2, J3, J1, may have been written by more than one hand in the slightly-different ages to which we assign them,-as this would sufficiently account for the similarity of style which exists between them. But there are no distinct indications of this. And the interval of 40 years, assigned as the duration of David's reign, 2S.v.4, 1K.ii.11, would allow of the same writer (Nathan, suppose) having written the first of these sets of passages under Saul at the age of 20, and the last under Solomon at the age of 70. It is probable also that the term of forty years' is only a general formula to express a long reign, and must not be understood too closely, as determining accurately the duration of David's reign.

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CHAPTER XVII.

THE COMPLETE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE IN GENESIS.

I SHALL now set before the reader a translation of the complete Elohistic narrative in Genesis, as we have been able to extract it from the mould in which it now lies embedded. It will be remembered that, in respect of this document, there is very. little difference of opinion between the two eminent German critics, HUPFELD and BOEHMER, and myself. It is probable, therefore, that future investigations will not materially modify these conclusions, to which we have been brought independently of each other, and starting from very different points of view. It may be presumed, consequently, that the reader will have here before him a tolerably correct representation of this most interesting narrative-the basis of the Pentateuchal story, and one of the most ancient attempts at historical writing in the world, and, except in its closing portions, almost in its original form.

In making this translation, as already observed in IV.103-105, I have endeavoured to reproduce the original as exactly and literally as I could,-taking care to render, as far as possible, the same Hebrew word or phrase always by the same English equivalent: so that, as I have said, IV.p.64 :—

The following version does not pretend to be an elegant, but only a strictly faithful, representation of the original.

THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE.

N.B.-The mark indicates that an interpolated passage has been removed.

1. In the beginning Elohim created the Heaven and the Earth. 2 And the Earth was desolation and emptiness, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of Elohim hovering upon the face of the waters.

3 And Elohim said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. And Elohim saw the light that it was good; and Elohim divided between the light and the darkness. And Elohim called the light 'Day,' and the darkness He called 'Night.' And it was evening, and it was morning,-one day.

• And Elohim said, 'Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it be dividing between waters (to) and waters.' 7 And Elohim made the expanse, and divided between the waters which were beneath the expanse and the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8 And Elohim called the expanse Heaven.' And it was evening, and it was morning,—a second day. • And Elohim said, 'Let the waters beneath the Heaven be gathered into one place, and let the dry-land appear'; and it was so. 10 And Elohim called the dry-land Earth,' and the gathering of waters called He Seas'; and Elohim saw that it was good." And Elohim said, 'Let the Earth vegetate vegetation, the herb seeding seed, the fruit-tree making fruit, after its kind, whose seed is in it, upon the Earth'; and it was so. 12 And the Earth brought forth vegetation, the herb seeding seed after its kind, and the tree making fruit, whose seed is in it, after its kind; and Elohim saw that it was good. 13 And it was evening, and it was morning,—a third day.

14 And Elohim said, 'Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the Heaven, to divide between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for luminaries in the expanse of the Heaven, to give light upon the Earth': and it was so. 16 And Elohim made the two great luminaries, the greater luminary for the rule of the day, and the lesser luminary for the rule of the night, and the stars. 17 And Elohim (gave) placed them in the expanse of the Heaven, to give light upon the Earth, is and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness: and Elohim saw that it was good. 19 And it was evening, and it was morning,—a fourth day.

20 And Elohim said, 'Let the waters swarm with swarming-things of living