GENEALOGY. A thread of genealogy runs through the Bible, beginning from Adam and end ing in Jesus Christ. But while this principal line through God's Providence has been preserved entire, the branches which spread out from it are for the most abruptly cut off, and although we often find seveml such threads running parallel to each other for a time, their connection with the principal line is often invisible, and their order in many places is tangled and disturbed, so that, generally speaking, we must be content to gather some notion of the genealogy of the Hebrews from a broken and imperfect tissue.
That such an acknowledgment should be made respecting matter contained in the Bible may seem surprising, but the compilation and preservation of genealogical tables is a matter which God has evidently been pleased to leave in the hands of man ; as He has invested him with various powers for his personal preservation and comfort, so He has endued him with a disposition to keep a record of the lines of ancestry from which he is descended, and He has made this disposition subservient te His great purpose of mercy towards mankind, by letting it afford proof of the fulfilment of prophecy in the birth of Jesus Christ, but we have no reason to believe that He has made these matters the sub ject of a special revelation or interfered miracu lously to preserve them. lf, however, we make
allowance for the errors which may have intro duced themselves into these records, the occasional ambiguity of thcir form, and their liability to muti lation and displacement, holding with some of the most pious and respected commentators* that these are things which the lIoly Spirit allowed the inspired penman to take as he found them,' and if we bring to bear upon them those principles of criticism which we apply to other ancient documents, we may find in their study much to interest and enlighten us.
The subject presents itself to our consideration in two great divisions. The one reaching from the creation to thc settlement of Jacob's sons in Egypt, the other from the settlement in Egypt to the birth of Christ.