Which he commanded our fathers
That they should make known to their children;
That the generation to come might know them, the sons which should be born;
That when grown up they might declare them to their children,
That they might set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
And keep his commandments.—Ps. lxxviii.
“Israel is rich in such psalms as this. The history of our nation lives in their poetry, it is interwoven with their prayers, it is the groundwork of doctrine and the theme of narrative; all our festivals rest upon it as their basis, and nothing great or important can take place in Israel, which has not an historical reference. The cause of this lies in the promise of Jehovah and in its fulfilment. We seek our wisdom in the revelation which God has given us—ye seek it in your own reflections: hence our wisdom is historical, yours speculative. What we know of God and of his law, was communicated to us through the discourses of God to our fathers, or derived from the observation of his dealings with them. It is therefore a bold undertaking in which I engage, to relate the history of our nation, and I must stipulate beforehand that you will not expect from me any thing like a perfect view of it, in the halts of a caravan. You must also permit me, Myron, to go on, after the oriental manner, in an unbroken narrative, which besides better suits a history, than that dialogue form, interrupted by question and objection, in which you Greeks so much delight. There will be time for these when my narrative is ended.”
“Make what stipulations thou wilt,” said Myron, “only begin.”
“For to-day,” said Elisama, resuming, “I must confine myself to the patriarchs, not only because our discourse has been accidentally led to them, but because the knowledge of their history is absolutely necessary to understand what follows.