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1863.] fie Hutoric Character of the Pentateuch. 429
that were made to Abraham (Rom.iv.13, 17, 18; he.9; Heb.
xi. 18; Gal. iii. 8, 16) ; tbe covenant of circumcision (Rom.
jy.ll); bis extraordinary age aud Sarab's when Isaac was
bom (Rom. iv.19; Heb. xi. H) ; tbe offering of Isaac on the
altar (Jas. ii. 21; Heb. xi.l7), and God's acceptance of bis
faith (Gal. iii. 6; Jas. ii. 23 ; Rom. iv. 3 seq.). Those writers
also declare of Isaac that he was tbe child of promise
(Gal. iv. 29; Rom. ix. 7, 9), was mocked by Ishmael (Gal. iv.
29) ; that Rebecca was the mother of bis children, Jacob
and Esau (Rom. ix.lO, 13); that before their birth God pronounced
tbe superiority of the younger over the elder (ix.12) ;
that Esau sold bis birthright for "a morsel of meat," and
that his subsequent grief was unavailing (Heb. xii.l6,17) ;
and that Isaac "ble88ed Jacob and Esau concerning things
to come" (Heb. xi. 20). It is asserted of Jacob that though
heir with him of the same promise as his fathers, Abraham
and Isaac, he like them sojourned in the land of promise as
in a strange country (Heb. xi. 9) ; that when dying he
blessed the sons of Joseph (vs. 21), and that Joseph in turn,
"when he died, made mention of the departure of the
children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his
bones (V8. 22). The dwelling of the people" as strangers in
the land of Egypt," and their deliverance by God" with an
high arm," is asserted by Paul (Acts xiii. 17) and by Jude
(\'8. 5), and in general" the affliction of the people of God"
while there (Heb. xi. 25).1 The outlines of Moses's history
are stated as facts (Heb. xi. 23 - 29): his concealment for
three months by his parents; his being called the SOn of
Pharaoh's daughter, and renouncing the privilege when he
grew up; his departure from Egypt; his institution of the
"pasl!Over, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed
the first-born should touch them" j the passage
through the Red Sea; and tbe drowning of the Egyptians
I We would call the reader's attention to the great lalnesa with which Stephen
tpecifiee the details (Ac&s vii.). at a time .when he was "roll of the Holy
Gboit."
IS
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