might thereby learn a fact so necessary to know, and
which could only be known through that means.
623. Japhet begins the genealogy.
Joseph folds his arms, and prefers the younger.
624. Why should Moses make the lives of men so long, and their generations
so few?
Because it is not the length of years, but the multitude of generations,
which renders things obscure. For truth is perverted only by the change of
men. And yet he puts two things, the most memorable that were ever
imagined,
namely, the creation and the deluge, so near that we reach from one to the
other.
625. Shem, who saw Lamech, who saw Adam, saw also Jacob, who saw those who
saw Moses; therefore the deluge and the creation are true. This is
conclusive among certain people who understand it rightly.
626. The longevity of the patriarchs, instead of causing the loss of past
history, conduced, on the contrary, to its preservation. For the reason
why
we are sometimes insufficiently instructed in the history of our ancestors
is that we have never lived long with them, and that they are often dead
before we have attained the age of reason. Now, when men lived so long,
children lived long with their parents. They conversed long with them. But
what else could be the subject of their talk save the history of their
ancestors, since to that all history was reduced, and men did not study
science or art, which now form a large part of daily conversation? We see
also that in these days tribes took particular care to preserve their
genealogies.
627. I believe that Joshua was the first of God's people to have this
name,
as Jesus Christ was the last of God's people.
628. Antiquity of the Jews.--What
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