Chapter I: Front Matter

A
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL
COMMENTARY
ON
GENESIS

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The International Critical Commentary
on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments

UNDER THE EDITORSHIP OF

THE REV. SAMUEL ROLLES DRIVER, D.D.
_Regius Professor of Hebrew, Oxford_

THE REV. ALFRED PLUMMER, M.A., D.D.
_Late Master of University College, Durham_

AND

THE REV. CHARLES AUGUSTUS BRIGGS, D.D.
_Professor of Theological Encyclopædia and Symbolics
Union Theological Seminary, New York_

The International
Critical Commentary

On the Holy Scriptures of the
Old and New Testaments

EDITORS’ PREFACE

THERE are now before the public many Commentaries, written by British and American divines, of a popular or homiletical character. _The Cambridge Bible for Schools_, the _Handbooks for Bible Classes and Private Students_, _The Speaker’s Commentary_, _The Popular Commentary_ (Schaff), _The Expositor’s Bible_, and other similar series, have their special place and importance. But they do not enter into the field of Critical Biblical scholarship occupied by such series of Commentaries as the _Kurzgefasstes exegetisches Handbuch zum Alten Testament_; De Wette’s _Kurzgefasstes exegetisches Handbuch zum Neuen Testament_; Meyer’s _Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar_; Keil and Delitzsch’s _Biblischer Commentar über das Alte Testament_; Lange’s _Theologisch-homiletisches Bibelwerk_; Nowack’s _Handkommentar zum Alten Testament_; Holtzmann’s _Handkommentar zum Neuen Testament_ Several of these have been translated, edited, and in some cases enlarged and adapted, for the English-speaking public; others are in process of translation. But no corresponding series by British or American divines has hitherto been produced. The way has been prepared by special Commentaries by Cheyne, Ellicott, Kalisch, Lightfoot, Perowne, Westcott, and others; and the time has come, in the judgment of the projectors of this enterprise, when it is practicable to combine British and American scholars in the production of a critical, comprehensive Commentary that will be abreast of modern biblical scholarship, and in a measure lead its van.

Messrs. Charles Scribner’s Sons of New York, and Messrs. T. & T. Clark of Edinburgh, propose to publish such a series of Commentaries on the Old and New Testaments, under the editorship of Prof. C. A. BRIGGS, D.D., D.Litt., in America, and of Prof. S. R. DRIVER, D.D., D.Litt., for the Old Testament, and the Rev. ALFRED PLUMMER, D.D., for the New Testament, in Great Britain.

The Commentaries will be international and inter-confessional, and will be free from polemical and ecclesiastical bias. They will be based upon a thorough critical study of the original texts of the Bible, and upon critical methods of interpretation. They are designed chiefly for students and clergymen, and will be written in a compact style. Each book will be preceded by an Introduction, stating the results of criticism upon it, and discussing impartially the questions still remaining open. The details of criticism will appear in their proper place in the body of the Commentary. Each section of the Text will be introduced with a paraphrase, or summary of contents. Technical details of textual and philological criticism will, as a rule, be kept distinct from matter of a more general character; and in the Old Testament the exegetical notes will be arranged, as far as possible, so as to be serviceable to students not acquainted with Hebrew. The History of Interpretation of the Books will be dealt with, when necessary, in the Introductions, with critical notices of the most important literature of the subject. Historical and Archæological questions, as well as questions of Biblical Theology, are included in the plan of the Commentaries, but not Practical or Homiletical Exegesis. The Volumes will constitute a uniform series.

The International Critical Commentary

ARRANGEMENT OF VOLUMES AND AUTHORS

THE OLD TESTAMENT

=GENESIS.= The Rev. JOHN SKINNER, D.D., Principal and Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature, College of Presbyterian Church of England, Cambridge, England. [_Now Ready._

=EXODUS.= The Rev. A. R. S. KENNEDY, D.D., Professor of Hebrew, University of Edinburgh.

=LEVITICUS.= J. F. STENNING, M.A., Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford.

=NUMBERS.= The Rev. G. BUCHANAN GRAY, D.D., Professor of Hebrew, Mansfield College, Oxford. [_Now Ready._

=DEUTERONOMY.= The Rev. S. R. DRIVER, D.D., D.Litt., Regius Professor of Hebrew, Oxford. [_Now Ready._

=JOSHUA.= The Rev. GEORGE ADAM SMITH, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Hebrew, United Free Church College, Glasgow.

=JUDGES.= The Rev. GEORGE MOORE, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Theology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. [_Now Ready._

=SAMUEL.= The Rev. H. P. SMITH, D.D., Professor of Old Testament Literature and History of Religion, Meadville, Pa. [_Now Ready._

=KINGS.= The Rev. FRANCIS BROWN, D.D., D.Litt., LL.D., President and Professor of Hebrew and Cognate Languages, Union Theological Seminary, New York City.

=CHRONICLES.= The Rev. EDWARD L. CURTIS, D.D., Professor of Hebrew, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. [_Now Ready._

=EZRA AND NEHEMIAH.= The Rev. L. W. BATTEN, Ph.D., D.D., Rector of St. Mark’s Church, New York City, sometime Professor of Hebrew, P. E. Divinity School, Philadelphia.

=PSALMS.= The Rev. CHARLES A. BRIGGS, D.D., D.Litt., Graduate Professor of Theological Encyclopædia and Symbolics, Union Theological Seminary, New York. [_2 volumes. Now Ready._

=PROVERBS.= The Rev. C. H. TOY, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Hebrew, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. [_Now Ready._

=JOB.= The Rev. S. R. DRIVER, D.D., D.Litt., Regius Professor of Hebrew, Oxford.

=ISAIAH.= Chapters I‒XXXIX. The Rev. G. BUCHANAN GRAY, D.D., Professor of Hebrew, Mansfield College, Oxford.

=ISAIAH.= Chapters XL‒LXVI. The Rev. A. S. PEAKE, M.A., D.D., Dean of the Theological Faculty of the Victoria University and Professor of Biblical Exegesis in the University of Manchester, England.

=JEREMIAH.= The Rev. A. F. KIRKPATRICK, D.D., Dean of Ely, sometime Regius Professor of Hebrew, Cambridge, England.

=EZEKIEL.= The Rev. G. A. COOKE, M.A., Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, University of Oxford, and the Rev. CHARLES F. BURNEY, D.Litt., Fellow and Lecturer in Hebrew, St. John’s College, Oxford.

=DANIEL.= The Rev. JOHN P. PETERS, Ph.D., D.D., sometime Professor of Hebrew, P. E. Divinity School, Philadelphia, now Rector of St. Michael’s Church, New York City.

=AMOS AND HOSEA.= W. R. HARPER, Ph.D., LL.D., sometime President of the University of Chicago, Illinois. [_Now Ready._

=MICAH TO HAGGAI.= Prof. JOHN P. SMITH, University of Chicago; Prof. CHARLES P. FAGNANI, D.D., Union Theological Seminary, New York; W. HAYES WARD, D.D., LL.D., Editor of _The Independent_, New York; Prof. JULIUS A. BEWER, Union Theological Seminary, New York, and Prof. H. G. MITCHELL, D.D., Boston University.

=ZECHARIAH TO JONAH.= Prof. H. G. MITCHELL, D.D., Prof. JOHN P. SMITH and Prof. J. A. BEWER.

=ESTHER.= The Rev. L. B. PATON, Ph.D., Professor of Hebrew, Hartford Theological Seminary. [_Now Ready._

=ECCLESIASTES.= Prof. GEORGE A. BARTON, Ph.D., Professor of Biblical Literature, Bryn Mawr College, Pa. [_Now Ready._

=RUTH, SONG OF SONGS AND LAMENTATIONS.= Rev. CHARLES A. BRIGGS, D.D., D.Litt., Graduate Professor of Theological Encyclopædia and Symbolics, Union Theological Seminary, New York.

THE NEW TESTAMENT

=ST. MATTHEW.= The Rev. WILLOUGHBY C. ALLEN, M.A., Fellow and Lecturer in Theology and Hebrew, Exeter College, Oxford. [_Now Ready._

=ST. MARK.= Rev. E. P. GOULD, D.D., sometime Professor of New Testament Literature, P. E. Divinity School, Philadelphia. [_Now Ready._

=ST. LUKE.= The Rev. ALFRED PLUMMER, D.D., sometime Master of University College, Durham. [_Now Ready._

=ST. JOHN.= The Very Rev. JOHN HENRY BERNARD, D.D., Dean of St. Patrick’s and Lecturer in Divinity, University of Dublin.

=HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS.= The Rev. WILLIAM SANDAY, D.D., LL.D., Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, Oxford, and the Rev. WILLOUGHBY C. ALLEN, M.A., Fellow and Lecturer in Divinity and Hebrew, Exeter College, Oxford.

=ACTS.= The Rev. C. H. TURNER, D.D., Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and the Rev. H. N. BATE, M.A., Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of London.

=ROMANS.= The Rev. WILLIAM SANDAY, D.D., LL.D., Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and the Rev. A. C. HEADLAM, M.A., D.D., Principal of King’s College, London. [_Now Ready._

=CORINTHIANS.= The Right Rev. ARCHBISHOP ROBERTSON, D.D., LL.D., Lord Bishop of Exeter, the Rev. ALFRED PLUMMER, D.D., and DAWSON WALKER, D.D., Theological Tutor in the University of Durham.

=GALATIANS.= The Rev. ERNEST D. BURTON, D.D., Professor of New Testament Literature, University of Chicago.

=EPHESIANS AND COLOSSIANS.= The Rev. T. K. ABBOTT, B.D., D.Litt., sometime Professor of Biblical Greek, Trinity College, Dublin, now Librarian of the same. [_Now Ready._

=PHILIPPIANS AND PHILEMON.= The Rev. MARVIN R. VINCENT, D.D., Professor of Biblical Literature, Union Theological Seminary, New York City. [_Now Ready._

=THESSALONIANS.= The Rev. JAMES E. FRAME, M.A., Professor of Biblical Theology, Union Theological Seminary, New York.

=THE PASTORAL EPISTLES.= The Rev. WALTER LOCK, D.D., Warden of Keble College and Professor of Exegesis, Oxford.

=HEBREWS.= The Rev. A. NAIRNE, M.A., Professor of Hebrew in King’s College, London.

=ST. JAMES.= The Rev. JAMES H. ROPES, D.D., Bussey Professor of New Testament Criticism in Harvard University.

=PETER AND JUDE.= The Rev. CHARLES BIGG, D.D., sometime Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford. [_Now Ready._

=THE EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN.= The Rev. E. A. BROOKE, B.D., Fellow and Divinity Lecturer in King’s College, Cambridge.

=REVELATION.= The Rev. ROBERT H. CHARLES, M.A., D.D., sometime Professor of Biblical Greek in the University of Dublin.

GENESIS

JOHN SKINNER, D.D.

THE INTERNATIONAL CRITICAL COMMENTARY

A
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL
COMMENTARY
ON
GENESIS

BY

JOHN SKINNER, D.D., HONORARY M.A. (CAMBRIDGE)

PRINCIPAL AND PROFESSOR OF
OLD TESTAMENT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE,
WESTMINSTER COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1910

TO
MY WIFE