NOTE.

In Dr. Driver's Genesis these are the parts allotted to the
"Book of the Priests," chap. i.-ii. 4 Creation of heaven and earth
and God's subsequent rest upon the Sabbath); v. 1-28, 30-32
(the line of Adam's descendants through Seth to Noah);
vi. 9-22, vii. 6, 11, 13-16a, 17a, 18-21, 23, viii. 1-2a, 3b-5,
13a, 14-19, ix. 1-17, 28-29 (the story of the flood); x. 1-7,
20, 22-23, 31-32 (list of nations descended from Japhet, Ham,
and Shem); xi. 10-26 (line of Shem's descendants to Terah);
xi. 27, 31-32 (Abraham's family); xii. 4b-5, xiii. 6, 11b-12a
(his migration into Canaan, and separation from Lot); xvi.
1a, 3, 15-16 (birth of Ishmael); xvii (institution of circum-
cision); xix. 29 (destruction of the cities of the Vikkār);
xxi. 1b, 2b-5 (birth of Isaac); xxiii. (purchase of the family
burial-place in Machphelah); xxv. 7-11a (death and burial
of Abraham); xxv. 12-17 (list of 12 tribes descended from
Ishmael); xxv. 19-20, 26b (Isaac's marriage with Rebekah);
xxvii. 46-xxviii. 9 (Jacob's journey); xxix. 24, 28b-29);
xxxi. 18b, xxxiii. 18a (Jacob's marriage, etc.); xxxiv. 1-2a,
4, 6, 8-10, 13-18, 20-24, 27-29 (refusal of his sons to sanc-
tion intermarriage); xxxv. 9-13, 15 (change of name); xxxv.
22b-29 (death of Isaac); xxxvi. (Esau and Edom); xxxvii.
1-2, xli. 46 (Joseph's elevation); xlvi. 6-27, xlvii. 5-6a, 7-11,
27b, 28 (migration of Jacob's family); xlviii, 3-6, 7 (Joseph's
adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh); xlix, 1a, 28b-33, I.
12-13 (Jacob's burial).

CHAPTER V

THE CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

I

WE come now to the final stage in the In the Days growth of the Old Testament.

of

the Exile.

I have already pointed out that two stages must be clearly recognized in the Making of the Bible.

Ist. The gradual agelong formation of a religious literature.

2nd. The selection or acceptance or recognition of certain parts of this literature as Divine and authoritative, an inspired Canon or Rule of life and doctrine.

Up to this we have been briefly sketching the first stage. We now come to the second. And here it will be convenient to run over again lightly the line of thought on which we are travelling.

(1) Behind the Bible was a religious community called by God for His great purposes to humanity, and in which, as in a cherishing home or nest, the Bible was to grow.

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2) In this community, in the Providence of God, arose a primitive literature mainly with a religious purpose, songs and legends and laws and histories, etc.

(3) Later came written collections and selections of this old literature, to what extent we know not-such as the Book of Jasher and the Book of the Wars of Jehovah, etc.

(4) Still later, as the need arose, came fuller books, the Four "Bibles before the Bible"-like the Four Gospels in the New Testament, committing to writing, just as the Gospels did, a selection of the oral and fragmentary written records of the past.

(5) Beside these was much other literature, in which most important of all were the inspired utterances of the Prophets.

(6) THERE WAS NO BIBLE YET, in our solemn sense of the word, only religious literature of varying spiritual value in which some parts stood out more prominently in the estimation of the faithful.

(7) The reason of this prominence was the silent conviction that God was more behind these parts, that they revealed the nature and will of God in an especial manner and degree.

(8) This conviction came not through any external authority, through any miraculous at

testation or any formal decision, but through the persistent appeal of the books or utterances themselves to the Spirit-guided conscience of the community in which they grew. Slowly, gradually, unconsciously that community was making a selection. By the quiet influence of the Holy Spirit on their minds they were preparing for the Making of the Bible.

§ 2. In the day then, when the nation fell and the last of the kings of Judah went away into Captivity, there was still no "Bible." The Jewish Bible, as we have it, belongs to a later day.

Which starts some questionings. How did the Jewish nation live its life without a Bible? I think the reply is that they had their teaching church, their religious services, especially their great Festivals, reminding them of God's dealings in the past. They had the teaching of their priests and, far above all, they had the living voices of the Prophets, the holy men of old who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, declaring to them the Word of God and the presence of God. They did not need a Book religion. The records of the past existed in various fragmentary forms, but the people certainly had no Bible. They did not need it yet. They could not read it even if they had it.

Remember that the English people had no Bible for one thousand years until Tyndale's day. They were taught the Creed and the Gospel story and learned the words of the Psalms. They had their church services and the great ceremony of the Holy Communion, keeping them always in touch with their Lord. The clergy had the sacred books of Scripture from which to teach them. The teaching church kept religion alive without a People's Bible.

Something like that was the religious life of early Israel. The need of a Bible was not felt. It was not until the prophet voices ceased and the national life was passing away that it was necessary to put down in complete form the great Deeds and Words of the past.

§ 3. Then came the final stage in the Making of the Old Testament. God took that poor faulty Church and nation into Captivity, "apart from the multitude," and prepared them to give to the world their BIBLE. Very wonderful is the working of His Divine Providence. That terrible trouble seems to have done more for Israel than all the years of prosperity. Without it they had hardly been fitted for the Making of the Bible. Their misery brought them closer to God. "The nation as it were went into retreat and performed