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THE KING’S BUSINESS revelation in paradise/’ Evidently, the writer is as ignorant of the history of doctrine as he is of the history of English literature. It has never been generally supposed by orthodox teachers that the higher conceptions held by the Hebrews were transmitted to them in a direct line from Adam, It has been held that they were a revelation made to Moses and the prophets, just as the Bible teaches that they were. The writer gos on to tell, us what is meant by man being created in the image and likeness of God. We cannot go into it, but it would be amusing if it were not about so serious a matter. The writer says further on, “ The name of Jehovah (or more properly Jahweh), under which Israel’s God revealed Himself ,to Moses, was not known to the patriarchs.” He does not say here, though he does further on, that this state ment is founded upon Exodus 6 :3, but it is founded upon a misinterpretation of that statement,and this passage does not say that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob did not know the name Jehovah. It does say that He was not known to them by that name, i. e., that is not the name by which He was commonly revealed to them. The name stands for the Person as revealed and this was not the prominent thought in the revelation made of God before Moses, But that the name Jehovah was known to the patriarchs is evident over and over again from Genesis 15; 24:12, and other passages. For example, in verse 8 of this chapter, Abraham addresses. God as “ Ford Jehovah” (see the Hebrew and the American Standard version). Of course, the writer would probably say that this is the work o f the redactor, or a later account of the Jehovist, and not an accurate account of what Abraham really said to Jehovah, but that will not bear examination for a moment. On page 11 the deep significance of the call o f Abraham in Genesis 12 is diluted until all we have left is that Abraham’s call was “ the challenge of the ideal.” “ The challenge of the ideal” sounds well. It is a kind of high sound ing, etherial and vague phraseology that is much liked by a certain school of thought and expression in our day, but to any one who has deeply studied Genesis 12 it is simply sickening. Further on the same page the writer says, “ The true hero is he who hearing the challenge o f the ideal, hears also in the voice of conscience the sovereign call of God, and who in obedience to that call counts not his life dear unto himsglf nor ever stops to calculate rewards.” This needs no comment. On page 13 we read “ From Abraham sprang three of the great religions of the world—Judaism and Christianity-through Isaac and Mohammedanism through Ishmael.” This statement is of course, historically untrue and absurd. Mohammedanism did not spring from. Abraham. It did come from a descend ant of Abraham through Ishmael, and Abraham is honored in Mohammedan ism, but Mohammedanism did not in any sense spring from Abraham. It came from Mohammed. We are told oti page 15 that the early Hebrews and Moses did not regard their God as the only Deity in the universe. In support of this statement we are referred to Exodus 15:11, where Moses cries “ Who is like unto thee, O, Jehovah, among the gods!” This is a pretty slight foundation for such a large superstructure. The strictest Christian monothe ist o f today might say the same thing; for the strictest monotheist knows perfectly well that there are others who are worshiped as God, but that they are not in reality like unto the Only One, Jehovah, who really is God. Mbses would doubtless have been willing to admit that those worshiped by other nations were real beings, supernatural beings, but a thoroughly intelligent Christian would be willing to admit the same thing, viz., that there are
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