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NOTE-In the first part of the above Tables, comprising the principal epochs in the Pentateuch, the dates assigned by Usher and Hales respectively are given in separate columns; Usher following in the main the present Hebrew text, and Hales the Septuagint. After the entrance upon Canaan, the dates given in the Tables differ from both systems, and are the result of careful computation, together with a comparison of the best authorities. Although it must be admitted that in the earlier parts of the history there are few instances in which

Great fire at Rome, first persecution of the Christians.

GALBA Emperor

Отно and VITELLIUS E-
perors.
VESPASIAN Emperor.

TITUS Emperor.
DOMITIAN Emperor.
Persecution of Christians.
NERVA Emperor.

TRAJAN Emperor.

63

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perfect exactness can be asserted, there are so many checks upon any serious mistake as to give a reasonable degree of probability to the general line of the chronoings. It will be observed that no dates of contemporary events in heathen countries are given before the first Olympiad, B. C. 776: secular chronology before that era being uncertain. And some of the later dates which appear in the Table have been placed there, according to the usual chronology, without reference to the questions which have been raised as to the events themselves.

The dates marked have been corrected in accordance with the Assyrian inscriptions-At p. 77, observe, that 2 Kings xx. (= Isa. xxxviii.-ix.) precedes chronologically 2 Kings xviii. 13-xix. 37 (= Isa xxxvi-vii) by about 12 years. An error has by some means crept into 2 Kings xviii. 13, the real date being Hezekiah's 27th year.-DRIVER

COMPENDIOUS CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES.

TABLE I.

FROM THE DEATH OF SOLOMON TO MALACHI, EXHIBITING THE CONTEMPORARY HEBREW
KINGS AND PROPHETS.

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ROPHET'S
NAME.

TABLE II.

FOR READING THE BOOKS OF THE PROPHETS IN THEIR CHRONOLOGICAL Order.

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In the reign of Jehoahaz
In the reign of Uzziah.

In the reign of Jeroboam II.

From the reign of Jeroboam II. to the captivity of
the Ten Tribes.

From the reign of Uzziah to that of Hezekiah or
Manasseh.

In the reigns of Hezekiah (Jer. 26. 18) & Manasseh.
Probably at the end of the reign of Manasseh.
In the reign of Josiah.

From the reign of Josiah until after the com-
mencement of the Babylonian captivity.
Shortly before the captivity.

During the whole of the captivity.

Shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Chaldeans.

Among the Jewish exiles, before and after the de-
struction of Jerusalem.

During the rebuilding of the Temple.

About 520

About 520
About 420

During, or shortly after, the time of Nehemiah.

For the Contents of the other Books of the Bible chronologically arranged, see the Historical Epitome of the Bible; and for further information as to dates, see Bases of Scripture Chronology.

ORIGIN OF NATIONS

(In GEN. X. On the use of this oldest extant record, see Prof. Sayce's Art. Ethnology of the Bible

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PRINCIPAL NATIONS SPRUNG FROM THEM.

Kimmerians, and kindred tribes living about the Black Sea
Scythians, Le peoples N. of Caucasus Mts, and in the parts
Medes.
(about the Cria

Ionians, and Greeks (generally).

The Tibareni (between the Black and Caspian Seas).
Probably Moschi between Colchis on the Black Sea & Armenia".
Thracians (so Josephus and the ancients); or people about Mt
Taurus; or the Etruscans, called by the Greeks Tyrsera si
most recently, Tuch, Noldeke, Dillmann). The identification
is uncertain, there being no Biblical clue.

Elamites of Susiania, i.e. the N. coastland of the Persian Gulf.
Assyrians.

"Chaldeans [in Heb. Casdim] are Arphaxadeans.”—Josepá us.
Lydians.
Syrians, including peoples of N. Mesopotamia (Pedan Aram )..
Ethiopians, or Abyssinians.
Fgyptians.
Libyans.
Canaanites.

AN HISTORICAL EPITOME OF THE HOLY BIBLE;

WITH THE CHIEF EVENTS OF THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE TESTAMENTS.

"Believers in Christ are the true Israel; the Church of Christ is only a continuance of the plan according to which God called Abraham and separated his descendants to be His peculiar People."-SPEAKER'S COMMENTARI NOTE.-On the Chronology, see Dr. Green's art. Bases of Biblical Chronology.

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THE

PART I.-OLD TESTAMENT.

The Creation and Fall of Man.

CREATION-A history of the stages in the earth's development, and of its progressive adaptation to become the habitation of mankind, concluding with an explanation of the origin of the Sabbath. Days (periods or stages) of Creation, viz. 1. Light and darkness: day and night — 2. The firmament (see Glossary) or atmosphere.-3. Water and land vegetation 4. The heavenly bodies' and their order.-5. Animal life, in water and air: Fishes and Fowls.-6. Animal life on land from Insects to Man in God's own image' having dominion over created life.-7. God rests from his creative work. Hence Heb, “Sabbath) cp. Heb. iv. 9, ‘a rest,' Gk. ‘a Sabbath-rest."]—A second history, dealing specially with the origin of Man. The animals affording no suitable companion, Woman is formed to be his help.' (Meet for him,' i.e. corresponding, adapted to him.)

The Fall-Adam and Eve, expelled from Paradise, are doomed with their descendants to live by toil, and to suffer pain and death, but are promised ultimate redemption through a descendant of Eve.

The World Peopled.-Line of the Promised Seed' till the Flood (Luke iii. 36—8 Birth of (1) Cain, (2) Abel.-Abel's sacrifice is accepted and Cain's rejected (see Heh, ri 4; 1 John iii. 12). Cain, through envy, murders Abel. The curse on the first murderer. The Origin of Civilization and different arts.

The Generations of Adam (ie, the account of Adam and his descendants) -Birth of
Seth, Abel's successor, and heir to the Promise. The Sethites-contrasted with the worldly
Cainites. Seth's direct descendants, riz. Enos; Cainan; Mahalaleel; Jared; Enoch;
Methuselah: Lamech; Noah.

The public worship of a Covenant-God (Heb. Jehovah) begins among the Sethites.
Adam dies, aged 930 years.

Enoch, whose life pleased God,' is taken up to God (Heb. xi. 5: Jude 14.

Noah, son of Lamech, the future father of the world renewed after the flood, is born
Great and increasing corruption of mankind-ascribed to inter-marriages of the 'sons of
God' with the daughters of men.'

The Generations of Noah-God commissions Noah, alone found faithful, to preach repentance and to build the ark (Heb. xi. 7: 2 Pet. ii. 5, during a respite of 120 years before the flood 1 Pet. iii. 20). Meanwhile, i.e. after his 600th year, Noah's 3 sons are born, riz Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Birth of Shem, the ancestor of Abraham, and through him of the Promised Seed Methuselah dies, aged 969.-Noah enters the ark in his co0th year, with his wife, his three sons and their wives, and with every species of living creature by sevens or pairs. The flood destroys mankind, except the eight persons preserved in the ark (1 Pet. n. 20).

The World re-Peopled.—The 'Promised Seed' from Noah to Abram'the Hebrew." The flood subsides; Noah, &c. leave the ark. Noah offers in thanksgiving a burntoffering, which God accepts. God enters into a covenant with promises attested by the rainbow as a sign or seal) with Noah as the representative of surviving humanity, giving

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PART I-OLD TESTAMENT.

mankind dominion over the animal creation and permitting them to use animals as food, but He forbids them to eat blood, and commands them to respect human life. He promises never again to destroy the earth by water (Is. liv. 9; 2 Pet. iii. 6, 7).

Noah blesses Shem and Japheth for filial conduct; but curses Canaan, 4th son of Ham and ancestor of the Canaanites. [Ham's evil disposition, transmitted to the Canaanites, explains their dispossession and almost total destruction by Israel, cp. ch. xv. 16-21, &c.] The Generations of the sons of Noah.-[See the Origin of Nations and Sayce's art. Ethnology. The historian deals with the origin of the nations involved in Hebrew history.] The world is re-peopled by Noah's family [first from Ararat, i.e. the Armenian plateau, the watershed of W. Asia, and later from the valley of the Euphrates and Tigris].

The Generations of Shem, i.e. Shem's descendants in the line of the Promised Seed, viz. Arphaxad (born two years after the flood); Salah; Eber; Peleg, in whose days the earth 'was divided' [? =mankind dispersed from Babel]; Reu; Serug; Nahor; and Terah father of Abram.

Nimrod founds the Assyrian, the first recorded monarchy, in the rich plain of Shinar [between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, the later Padan Aram, or Aram (ie. highland) Naharaim (i.e. of two rivers), Gk. Mesopotamia. Surviving monuments suggest that Nimrod's prowess as a destroyer of wild beasts was connected with his elevation to lead men and found a kingdom around the tetrapolis of Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calnch, and later of Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen to the N. in Assyria].

Babel is built [the later Babylon: Babel,' in Assyrian, means Gate of God], as if to concentrate mankind. A confusion of language disperses the builders.

Mizraim (pl.), son of Ham, gives his name to the kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt [still Misr in Arabic: the land of Ham,' Ps. cv. 23, 27].

The Generations of Terah.--In Ur of the Chaldees, Terah's sons Nahor, Haran, and Abram [1996] are born: Nahor marries Haran's daughter Milcah and has issue. Haran begets Lot and dies. Sarai, Abram's half-sister (ch. xx. 12) and future wife, is born, B.C. 1986.-Noah dies, aged 950 years, B.C. 1998 (ch. ix. 28, 29).

The Migration of Terah-Terah (8th from Shem), with Abram and Sarai, and with Lot, remove from Ur to Haran (Charran, Charre) in Mesopotamia, the city of Nahor,' Gen. xxiv. 10 & xxvii. 43. Terah, aged 205, dies in Haran.

The Patriarchs.-The Covenant Family (The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob').-Call of Abram (cp. Acts vii. 2-16; Ps. cv 5-23).-The Promises.

The first of the Promises is made to Abram, viz. that he should be the father of a great nation, and the medium of a world-wide blessing. God bids Abram leave Harau and his kinsfolk [? to preserve the Promised Seed" from idolatrous influences, 'strange gods, Josh. xxiv. 2, 15].

The Migrations of Abram.-Abram, aged 75 years, with Sarai and Lot, leaves Haran, and crossing the R. Euphrates (the Hebrew' may mean the Crosser) with his clan (A. V. house) and stock, adopts a nomad life. In faith, he wanders southward; at length, in Canaan, when encamped by the Oak (A.V. plain of Moreh (Shechem), he receives the second Promise, viz. that his seed should inherit Canaan. Abram believes, erects a memorial altar, and moves near to Bethel (see Acts vii. 4; Heb. xi. 8. 9).

Famine in Canaan. Abram enters Egypt. Pharaoh takes Sarai, who passed as Abram's sister, into his harem (cp. Esth. ii. 3, 12), but surrenders her when undeceived.

NOTE-The 430 years of the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt' dates hence. See Ex. xii. 40; Gal. iii. 17.

Abram and Lot return into Canaan, to Bethel. Their stock exceeding the pasturage and water-supply (cp. Num. xxii. 3, 4), Abram magnanimously offers Lot the choice of Country: Lot selfishly and recklessly chooses the tropical and well-watered valley of the infamous Pentapolis of the Plain of the Dead Sea, and settles in Sodom.

Abrain receives the third Promise-an emphatic repetition and enlargement of the two former. He encamps by the Oak (A. V. plain) of Mamre, near Kirjath-arba (Hebron). Lot, captured in Sodom by Chedorlaomer, is rescued at Laish (Dan) by Abram and his allies, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Melchisedek (? a faithful Canaanite patriarch, cp. Job, Jethro, &c.) meets Abram (see Heb. vii. 1-4). Lot returns to Sodom.

Abram, lamenting his childlessness, receives the fourth Promise, viz. of a son whose seed, numberless as the stars, shall inherit Canaan [from Egypt to the R. Euphrates, fulfilled under Solomon]. Adopting as a sign or pledge the customary covenant-sacrifice, God also reveals the intervening 400 years of exile from Canaan and of bondage in Egypt, and the return of Abraham's seed as a great and wealthy nation into the land of Promise in the fourth generation, when the cup of Canaanite iniquity should be full. Abram believes (see Rom. iv. 3)-but Sarai gives to Abram Hagar her handmaid [whose child would reckon as Sarai's, ch. xxx. 3, &c.]. Next year, Hagar bears Ishmael, whom even Abram regards as the promised heir (ch, xvii. 18).

God

In Abram's 99th year God makes an everlasting covenant' with Abram and his seed, ordaining circumcision as its perpetual national sign. God confirms the Promises and changes significantly the names of Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah. promises Sarah a son, Isaac, to be heir to the new everlasting covenant;' and reveals Ishmael's future. Abraham immediately adopts circumcision.

Abraham still at Mamre] entertains three angels unawares, who repeat to him and Sarah the Promise of a son. God reveals the doom of the five cities of the plain; Abraham intercedes for Sodom (see Heb, xiii. 2).

Two angels urge Lot to flee from Sodom. Lot permitted to intercede for Bela, i.e Zoar, escapes thither. The other four cities are destroyed. Lot's wife perishes. Lot and his two daughters leaving Zoar dwell in the mountains (see Luke xvii. 29; 2 Pet. ii. 6-8; Jude 7), the future home of Moab and Ammon, Lot's descendants by his two daughters [and so kinsmen and future neighbours, but generally foes, of Abraham's seed].

Abraham migrating S. sojourns in Gerar; Abimelech the Philistine king acts as Pharaoh
B.C. 1920 in respect of Sarah.

Birth and circumcision of Isaac in Abraham's 100th year.

Ishmael and Hagar are sent away. Ishmael settles in the Wilderness of Paran and marries an Egyptian. Abraham settles at Beersheba.

Abraham's faith and obedience, being tested by the command to sacrifice Isaac, is rewarded by a confirmation of the Promises. Abraham still at Beersheba

Sarah dies in Kirjath-arba (Hebron), aged 127, and is buried in the Cave of Machpelah, E. of Mamre, Abraham's sole possession in Canaau.

Abraham [to keep the heir of the Promises in Canaan, yet to protect him from local idolatrous influences] obtains a wife for Isaac of his own kindred from Haran, viz. Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel, the Aramæan (A. V. Syrian) of Padan Aram, Nahor's son.

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