Excerpt from Genesis I. XXV. 10: A Devotional Commentary

Abraham if the purpose had been to record the ordinary history of an ordinary people, yet inasmuch as Israel was not an ordinary people, but charged with God's purposes for the whole of mankind, it was necessary to show - at least in brief form - the connection between the progenitor of the human race and Abraham, in whom and in whose descendants the Divine purpose was to be realised.

The two main divisions, therefore, are chapters i. to xi. and chapters xii. to 1. The former section can be divided by the Flood, and the two parts referred respectively to Adam as the head of the original race, and to Noah as the head of the new race. Then follows the record of Abraham, the head of the family through which God's purposes for the race were to be fulfilled, and the story of his three great descendants - Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Before proceeding to a more detailed consideration of the book it is essential that these main outlines should be clearly in view.

II. Its Plan. - Taking up the book again for the purpose of fuller study, as we look at it more closely we become conscious of the recurrence of a phrase, 'These are the generations, ' or 'The book of the generations, ' and we observe that it occurs no fewer than ten times.

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