Page:Studies in the Scriptures - Series I - The Plan of the Ages (1909).djvu/48

 42 The Plan of the Ages.

which they were intimately and fully acquainted. Yet, since God desired to make a revelation to men, the fact that these histories of passing events have a bearing on that rev- elation would be a sufficient ground to make the inference a reasonable one, that God would supervise, and so arrange, that the honest writer whom he selected for the work should be brought in contact with the needful facts. The cred- ibility of these historic portions of the Bible rests almost entirely upon the characters and motives of their writers. Good men will not utter falsehoods. A pure fountain will not give forth bitter waters. And the united testimony of these writings silences any suspicion that their authors would say or do evil, that good might follow.

It in no way invalidates the truthfulness of certain books of the Bible, such as Kings, Chronicles, Judges, etc., when we say that they are simply truthful and carefully kept his- tories of prominent events and persons of their times. When it is remembered that the Hebrew Scriptures contain his* tory, as well as the law and the prophecies, and that their histories, genealogies, etc., were the more explicit in de- tailing circumstances because of the expectancy that the promised Messiah would come in a particular line from Abraham, we see a reason for the recording of certain facts of history considered indelicate in the light of this nineteenth century. For instance, a clear record of the origin of the nations of the Moabites and of the Ammon- ites, and of their relationship to Abraham and the Israel- ites, was probably the necessity in the historian's mind for a full history of their nativity. (Gen. 19: 36-38.) Like- wise, a very detailed account of Judah's children is given, of whom came David, the king, through whom the gen* ealogy of Mary, Jesus' mother, as well as that of Joseph, her husband (Luke 3:23,31,33,34; Matt. 1:2-16), is traced back to Abraham* Doubtless the necessity of thor-

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