Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

11 :27-32 GENESISti,‘:,;‘
grows very top-heavy, when so ,elaborate a conclusion ,is
built upon an accidental possibility. ,aH
“A second equally grievous hisconcep tion is that
which describes the religion of the ptriarchs as dncestor
worship. In proof of this, mention; is made, for.,example,
of the fact that certain graves are mentioned, like that of
Deborah (Gen. 35:8) in connectiofi with.-which an “oak
of weeping” is referred to, or where3 it is asserted, sacri-
fices to the dead were made. Nowhere are the statements
found, however, that would actually prove that the spirits
of the dead were thought of as gods. The whole con-
ception is as shallow and as unscientific as it can be.
“Then even fetishism has been attributed to the pat-
riarchs. Israel’s religion is supposed ’to give indication that
holy hills were reverenced as a fetish; so, too, fountains,
trees, and stones. Yet even the unlearned will be able to
detect quite readily that these strange reconstructions of
the text must be read into the text in a manner which
does violence to all sober and honest interpretation of the
text. The thought lying behind all such attempts is, of
course, this: since such lower levels of religion are seen on
the part of many other nations, therefore they must be
characteristic of Israel’s religion in its earlier stages-a
faulty style of argument.”
We may summarize all this, and refute forever the
implications involved, by affirming the fact which the
Biblical content emphasizes from beginning to end, namely,
that God called the fleshly seed of Abraham out of the
nations and put them in the pulpit of the world for the
specific twofold purpoise of preserviiig the knowledge of
the living and true God and preparing mankind for the
advent and ministry of His Son, Messiah. And even
though they yielded at times to the temptation to adopt
the coarse notions and licentious practices of their pagan
neighbors, it must be admitted that they did accomplish the
dual task to which God called them. Christians must
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